36
BANKING STANDARDS
in 1923 and Cleveland in 1925) were high in 1922, 1923, 1924,
and 19235, as compared with the preceding years. That is, in the
upward swing from year to year, beginning in 1922, all districts
fexcept New York, which began its year-to-year increase in
r921 and showed a slight decrease in 1923; Philadelphia, which
increased from year to year throughout the whole period; and
Cleveland, which showed a decline in 1925 compared with 1924)
participated. The rates are uneven, but consistency of direction
is almost universal. This phenomenon, apparent from Table 21,
probably finds its explanation in the fact that relatively larger
and larger proportions of earning assets are represented in invest-
ments and smaller and smaller proportions in loans and discounts,
thus restricting relatively the form of assets normally giving rise
to deposits.? But the character of total deposits likewise changed
TABLE 21 TABLE 22
NuMBER OF Districts wirHE Ratios oF COMPARATIVE POSITIONS AND YEAR-TO-
Totar DErosiTs To EARNING As- YEAR DirectioNs oF CHANGE IN Dis-
SETS INCREASING OR DECREASING TRICT RATIOS OF ToTAL DEPOSITS
FROM YEAR TO YEAR, 1910-1925 TO EARNING ASSETS
NTe—-—r~ - = DISTPICTS Direction of Change
CC — from Year to Year
1acreasing
' Total
30
42
72
Laws
during these years, which fact supplies the basis for the isolation
of norms and trends relating to the components. The correlation
of the dispersion and year-to-year changes in related ratios is dis-
cussed later.
It is of interest, before leaving the subject of year-to-year
changes, to discuss briefly the changes when they are related to
the districts with high or low ratios relative to the seven-year
level. Do ratios which are high in a given year tend generally to
move downward, and those which are low generally to move up-
ward in the following year? Are the net percentage changes
from year to year functions of the positions of the ratios relative
to the “long-time” levels? Table 22 supplies a negative answer
to the first question. Of the 30 district ratios which were high,
"8 See Charts 2 and 4, pages 22 and 30.
