depends upon banking resources for the necessary operating 
capital. 
The tendency of business enterprises to consolidate for 
economies in production, overhead and marketing has created 
a demand for larger units of credit. As the lending power of 
banks is limited to a defined percentage of assets, the con- 
siderable number of bank mergers effected in the Pittsburgh 
district during the past few years testifies to the alertness of 
local financiers to keep apace with requirements of their 
customers, and to anticipate the further growth of the district. 
A recent business survey of the Pittsburgh metropolitan 
district furnishes figure proof that ‘Pittsburgh Promotes 
Progress” is not a mere slogan. 
Pittsburgh’s population is growing faster than Phila- 
delphia, Buffalo, St. Louis, New York and Boston. In the 
past eight years population has increased at the rate of 15%, 
according to estimates of the census bureau. 
Pittsburgh’s industrial production is appraised at more 
than one billion, five hundred million annually. 
The annual wage and salary roll of the Pittsburgh area is 
$£328,000,000. 
$1,125,000,000 is the estimated capital investment in 
the mills, factories, mines and quarries of the metropolitan 
area—showing an increase of about 25%, during the past 
decade. 
Mills and factories of Metropolitan Pittsburgh manufac- 
ture approximately $393,000 worth of goods per plant, leading 
the industrial establishments of almost every other similar 
community in the United States. 
Workers in Pittsburgh plants earn on an average of $1,444 
a year per man, leading Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis and 
Baltimore.