Plowed-Back Earnings 
That was a gain of 14 per cent. For the first nine 
months the same 600 companies had net profits of 
$3,223,620,000 as compared with $2,679,934,000 
for the corresponding nine months of 1928; a gain 
of $543,000,000, or 20 per cent! The circular of 
the National City Bank adds the following comment : 
“This showing is excellent in itself, but must be re- 
garded as particularly impressive considering the 
fact that the comparison is with 1928, a year that 
surpassed all previous records in earnings.” This 
record is eloquent in justification of a heightened 
level of common stock prices during 1929. 
Excluding railroads and utilities, the manufactur- 
ing and trading companies revealed in the third 
quarter of 1929 a gain of 15 per cent over the same 
Quarter of 1928, and of 26 per cent for the full nine 
months over the corresponding months of 1928. 
1929 Profits Rise Faster Than Stocks 
That is an increase in profits at a greater rate than 
the increase in stock prices, even during its record 
climb of 1928 and 1929, with the exception of two or 
three months antedating the panic. 
Similar comparisons of increased gains for indus- 
trial utilities and railroads are found in the estimates 
of total and plowed-back earnings calculated from 
the averages of the Standard Statistics Company, 
Inc, and from the compilations of Ernst & Ernst, 
accountants. 
The Corporation Earnings Bulletin of Ernst & 
Ernst for the first nine months of 1929 showed that