360
BANKING STANDARDS
The nature of the changes from year to year in the proportions
of Government securities to total bonds and securities, held by
National banks in “Other Reserve Cities,” is common the coun-
try over, as is indicative by the frequencies in Table 202.
General as is the uniformity
Tamiz woe with which the proportions of
nah O "Oenm Romy Cums on Government securities to total
THE PROPORTIONS oF Unitep States Se- bonds and securities held by
Ties Tain og Nan BoNDs AND SECURI- national banks increase or de-
WITH OR AGAINST THE TREND FOR THE Crease from year to year, as
Torar. vor Suc Crops indicated in Table 201, it is
hardly less marked than that
for other types of securities as
summarized in Table 203. In-
deed, decreases or increases in
the former, in different parts of
the country, are respectively
met by increases or decreases in
the latter. This again shows a
generality of response, among
groups of banks differently
situated, diverse as are the
types of industry which they serve. It is indicative of the fact
that the market for securities is nationwide, and that banks trad-
ing in that market, despite their wide geographical distribution,
generally favor a given type of security at the same time.
Similar as are the shifts from year to year in the proportions
of earning assets represented by investments and in the propor-
tions of total bonds and securities represented by different types of
securities, in all member and in national banks in different parts of
the country, the return on such investments, plus the interest and
discount on loans and the “other income,” leaves the banks in
the different districts with different rates of gross earnings to
earning assets. These differentials, persisting from year to year,
are shown in Table 50 (page 72). Different as are the average
levels by districts, however, the ratios from year to year tend to
move in the same direction, to be above or below their own seven-
year levels at the same time, and to regress to type, the tendency
being for those which are high in a given year to fall, and for
those which are low to rise in the following year.
