282 
BANKING STANDARDS 
Confidence in the significance of the results is secured from 
these different approaches to the problem so far as the member 
banks in the Boston district are concerned. It is true that the 
data refer to but two years, but, as indicated in Table 132 for 
district differences and in Table 134 for percentage changes from 
year to year, analogous relations hold for all districts, for the 
Boston district alone for the years 1919-1925, and for the respec- 
tive ‘districts in 1924 and 1925. These results suggest the prob- 
ability, if they do not demonstrate the fact, that the phenomenon 
observed in the Boston district for each of the years, 1924 and 
1923, and for the two years combined, is not peculiar to this 
period and to this district. 
It is unfortunate that data are not available for the individual 
Boston member banks with which to duplicate, for gross earn- 
ings ratios, the types of analyses presented in Chapters IX and 
X, in which district ratios of gross earnings are correlated with 
variable operating conditions. It will be recalled that, accord- 
ing to three methods of measurement, such ratios were positively 
correlated with ratios of loans and discounts to earning assets. 
Moreover, they increased most from year to year when ratios 
of loans and discounts to earning assets were high—that is, above 
the respective district levels—and increased, and they decreased 
most from year to year when such ratios were low—that is, below 
the district levels—and decreased from year to year. On the 
other hand, gross earnings ratios were generally negatively cor- 
related with total deposit ratios and also with ratios of demand 
deposits to earning assets and to total deposits. Again, when 
total deposit and demand deposit ratios increase or decrease, 
ratios of gross earnings decrease or increase, respectively. On 
the other hand, ratios of time deposits to earning assets and to 
total deposits are positively correlated with gross earnings ratios. 
Such are a few of the types of relations found to obtain between 
district ratios of gross earnings and variable operating conditions. 
But district ratios of total expense are correlated in much the 
same way as are district ratios of gross earnings with each of 
the above series. Accordingly, gross earnings ratios and total 
expense ratios tend to be positively correlated with each other. 
This relation is undoubtedly causal so far as interest is common 
to both series. 
District differences in gross earnings ratios depend primarily