NORMS AND TRENDS IN GROSS EARNINGS 73
CHART 13

DiIsTRIBUTION OF YEARLY DISTRICT RATIOS OF GROss EARNINGS TO
EARNING Assets. ALL MEMBER BANKS, 1019-1023

Percentage
Groups

5.25 and under 5.75
5.75 and under 6.25
6.25 and under 6.75
5.75 and under 7.25
7.25 and under 7.75
7.75 and under 8.25
3.25 and under 8.75
B.75 and under 9.25

3

Per Cont
15

30

a

— T—

25 30

Number
of
Cases

4

15
25
18
'4

3

Table 51 that the ratios were predominantly low in 1919, 1920,
1923, 1924, and 1925, and predominantly high in 1921 and 1922.
To this general rule, in the years which are termed low, Minneapolis
 in 1919, New York and Richmond in 1920, and Philadelphia,
 Cleveland, Richmond, and San Francisco in 1924 and 1925,
are exceptions. In the years which are called high, there are no
exceptions to the rule, although the percentage amounts by which
the ratios in the several districts differ from their own seven-year
average levels, particularly in 1921, vary widely. It appears,
therefore, that in the matter of gross earnings, years which are
“poor” or “good” in one district tend to be “poor” or “good”
in all districts.
Such a condition is not surprising in view of the fact that from
87% to 90% of the gross earnings of member banks is received in
the form of interest, and that interest rates, while varying from
district to district, reflect economic conditions. Moreover, the
amount of interest received by a bank or by a group of banks
depends upon the relative composition of its earning assets, and
this changed in a more or less uniform way throughout the country
 during this period. Then, too, the “other income” received
depends largely on the use which is made of current funds. Capital
 represented in such assets is fluid, tending, other things being