THE Sourcis or PusLic UriLity CAPITAL 
35 
the previous discussion of the ratios, the years selected are 1917, 1919, 
1921, and 1924. The class intervals which have the most cases in them 
and which represent the center of greatest concentration for each year 
are as follows: 
1917 1919 1921 1924 
Class interval with most cases .27-.319 .22-.269 .17-.219 .12-.169 
Concentration about interval. 509, 469%, 449, 479, 
The most interesting fact here is the shifting of the class interval. 
For each of the.years given above, the dominant class interval has 
shifted to the next lower interval. Whereas 50 per cent of the cases 
had ratios approximating .27-.319 in 1917, 47 per cent of the cases 
have ratios approximating .12-.169 in 1924. The size of the ratio 
group has been cut in half during the period 1917 to 1924, from .27-.319 
to .12-.169. In spite of this rapid lowering of the ratios of Common 
Stock to Total Equities, the percentage of cases concentrated about 
these ratios is almost as high in 1924 with 47 per cent as it was in 1917 
with 50 per cent. 
Although the vears chosen for analysis are years of differing 
business prosperity, the degree of prosperity.seems to have little, if 
any, effect upon the downward trend of the ratios of Common Stock 
to Total Equities.