Burrerin No. 20
The ratio for the gas and electric companies is lowest of the three
with 405, although it has a high percentage of cases grouped about
the mode. The ratio for Traction Companies is 472, which is ap-
proximately the same as the ratio for holding companies, .452. The
percentage figures denoting concentration of cases about the mode for
these three distributions are all high.
DISTRIBUTIONS BY TYPE YEARS
As in the previous analyses by years, the years 1917, 1919, 1921,
and 1924 were selected to note the effect over a period of years and
under varying degrees of prosperity upon the ratio of Capital Stock
to Total Equities.
Table IIe of the Appendix gives the frequencies for each year
and also the comparable percentages. - For the year 1917 the distribu-
tion is even and symmetrical, whereas in the years 1919, 1921, and
1924, the distribution has become steadily less symmetrical. Changes
are taking place. The nature of these changes are readily grasped by
noting the number of class intervals having more than 5 per cent of
the cases. In 1917, eight of the class intervals each had over 5 per
cent of all the cases for that year; in 1919, seven class intervals con-
tained over 5 per cent of the cases each; in 1921, only six of these
intervals reached the 5 per cent figure; and by 1924, only five of the
class intervals contained over 5 per cent of the cases. This change has
taken the form of an increasingly greater percentage of the cases fall-
ing in a smaller number of class intervals.
The approximated modes for these years are as follows:
1917 1919 1921 1924
.482 .427 .421 .410
499%, 529%, 52% 51%
Except for the year 1917, the ratios are practically constant.
There is a drop from .482 in 1917 to 427 in 1919, while between 1919
and 1921 and also between 1921 and 1924 there is little variation, al-
though there still appears to be a downward tendency for the ratio of
Capital Stock to Total Equities when analyzed by vears.
SUMMARY OF THE CAPITAL STOCK RATIO
When other factors are not taken into consideration, the ratio o?
Capital Stock to Total Equities which is most typical of all the com-
panies in the United States is .417. Fifty-two per cent of all the cases
are located in three class intervals out of twelve—attesting to the fact
that this approximated modal ratio is representative.