NORMS AND TRENDS IN EARNING ASSETS 23
The average ratios of loans and discounts to earning assets for
the 12 districts combined increased 8.3% between 1919 and 1920,
but this increase slackened to 1.2% between 1920 and 1921. Be-
tween 1921 and 1922 the ratios fell 4.5%; and between 1922 and
1923, 2.9%. Between 1923 and 1924 there was an increase of
1.0%, this, however, being followed between 1924 and 1925 by a
decrease of 2.2%. Between 1919 and 1921 the ratios increased,
between 1921 and 1925 they decreased. These rates of change
were much the same in all of the districts except the Fifth and
Sixth (Richmond and Atlanta), both of which, for the first two
years, closely agreed with but subsequently markedly differed
from those for the country as a whole. The divergence became in-
creasingly larger for Richmond for the years 1920 to 1925, and
for Atlanta for the years 1920 to 1924. The districts with ratios
throughout the whole period less than the average are Philadel-
phia and Cleveland; those with ratios throughout the whole period
greater than the average are Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Minne-
apolis, Kansas City, and Dallas. Those with ratios most closely
agreeing both in size and in rate of change with ratios for the
country as a whole are Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis,
and San Francisco.
In summary, the norms and trends in the ratios of loans and
discounts to earning assets in the twelve Federal Reserve districts
for the years 1919 to 1925 are as follows:
Norms
1. For all the years, the modal or most common ratio is 76%
to 80%, and the weighted arithmetic mean,’ 72%
2. District ratios were predominantly low, relative to the av-
erage for the period 1919-1925, in 1919, 1923, and 1925. They
were predominantly high, judged in the same manner, in 1920,
1921, 1922. In 1024, five districts were high, while seven were
low.
3. The ratios of loans and discounts to earning assets for cer-
tain districts are consistently below, while others are consistently
above the average for the country as a whole—the districts
occupying the respective positions being contiguous.
8 Obtained by dividing the total loans and discounts by the total earning assets
for the 12 districts combined and multiplying by 100 (see Table 3)
