OY)

BANKING STANDARDS

TABLE 70

NuMBER oF Districts WITH Ratios oF Total EXPENSE TO Gross
EARNINGS FOR NATIONAL BANKS AND FOR STATE BANK AND
Trust CompaANY MEMBERS ABOVE OR BELOW THEIR
RESPECTIVE AVERAGES FOR THE PERIOD, 1019-1025

YEARS

(919. -cocvcnee nee
(G20. cs euunss eee
92.
(922. 0... ee
1023. cvurennn ce
1024...
102%...

ABOVE

National
Banks

State Bank
and Trust
Company
Members

b !
&

<
«

BELOW

National
Banks

State Bank
and Trust
Company
Members

~y

/
6

6
4

£-age

 of gross earnings, is lower for national than for state bank
members.
How do the ratios for the two groups of banks each year compare
 with their respective average levels for the period 1919 to
1925? That is, are they high or low at the same or at different
times in the various districts? Do the high and low years coincide
 district by district for the two groups of bank members?
Answer to the first question is found in the detail in Table 7o,
which shows marked agreement for the two bodies of data as to
the years, from 1919 to 1925, which may be termed “low,”
“moderate,” and “high.” In the first category belong 1919 and
1920, in which the ratios for ten and eleven, respectively, of the
twelve districts for both groups of banks were below their respective
 seven-year levels. The years 1921, 1922, and 1923 are
neither generally “high” nor “low,” the number of ratios for both
national and state banks which are above and below the district
levels being approximately evenly divided. The years 1924 and
1925 are clearly “high,” all the districts for national and all but
one for state bank members giving them this position. In summary,
 therefore, both groups of banks point to the same general
tendency—the early years are low, the middle years moderate and
the later ones high—the standards of comparison being the respective
 district levels.