BANKING STANDARDS 
decide as between loans and investments in the use of banking 
resources. 
There is another approach which is of interest in studying the 
ratios of loans and discounts to earning assets for the banks in 
the different districts during this series of years. The foregoing 
discussion was concerned with (1) the amounts themselves, (2) 
the variations from the district averages, and (3) the percentage 
changes from year to year. Attention is now directed to the posi- 
tions which the several district ratios each year hold relative to 
the yearly average for the country as a whole. The differences by 
amounts and signs are shown for the country as a whole in Table 
10. How are these details to be summarized and interpreted? 
TABLE 10 
PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCES OF DISTRICT AVERAGES OF RATIOS OF 
LoaNs AND DiscoUNTS TO EARNING ASSETS FOR ALL 
MEMBER BANKS, FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, FROM 
AVERAGES FOR THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE 
Prep mack Drereoener ~ *RoM THE COUNTRY’S AVERAGES 
FEDERAL 
RESERVE 
Di1sTRICTS 
Boston...... 
New York, .. 
Philadelphia.. 
Cleveland.... 
Richmond. .. 
Atlanta. ..... 
chicago. . ... 
3t. Louis. ... 
vinneapolis.. 
Lansas City. 
Jallas....... 
San Francisco, 
Average 
1010-25) 
 & 
019 } 1920 1921 
"a 
+ 
ns 
m- 
» 
= 76 
3.3% 
wo. Jy 
1022 l 1023 | 1024 
TT = 07 
~.62 
en 
es 
+ n.66 
— 4.41 
—14.95 
— 5.93 
+10.33 
L 2 6 
rr 
GG. 
+ 5.20 
| 
192% 
+ 2.11 
— 4.18 
~13.82 
— 0.28 
+12.75 
+11.49 
+ 3.88 
3.74 
Lo.29 
+ 6.47 
© 16.8” 
+ 2.38 
If the average ratios for the period 1919 to 1925 are considered 
first, it is seen that Districts 2, 3, and 4 (New York, Philadelphia, 
and Cleveland) are relatively below, while all of the other dis- 
tricts are relatively above the averages for the country as a whole. 
But in how many of the separate years do the districts hold a 
given position? The answer to this question is found in Table 11. 
From this table, consistency is apparent, the districts tending un- 
mistakably to hold a given position during the entire period. In 
none of them does there tend to be a chance—fifty-fifty—be- 
havior. Moreover, those which are above, as those which are be- 
low, tend to be contiguous.