Evening star., 1924-05-31
REAL DEPRESSION
STARTS,SAYS BABS0N
Statistics Show Sales in Leading
States Has Decreased
During Year.
BY ROGER W. BABSON.

BABSON PARK. Mass, May 31.-ls
the current depression in business
that we hear so much about real or
is 1t largely psychological?
When you hear Il man say that
business is poor. sa"s Mr. Babson,
he probably means that his sales are
slowing un. When sales are good
and the orders are coming in in
greater volume than during the same
month the previous year we say that
business is fine. but when the total
heginS to shrink. as compared with.
ur IecGrds Of tweive mon mouths be ago; s @s
barometer then on business condl-
tionS is the volume of sales as rep
resented by debts to individual ac-
counts.
If we compare Ma of 1924 with
May of 1923 get direct nea asure
IN tie actual proportion OF the pres
ant depression. In New England. for
instance. we find business in the state
of Connecticut running 10 per cent
ahead of May last year. and we also
find that Maine is leading year ago
by Fer cent, Rhode Island and Yer
mont are just about holding their
own. New Hampshire is running about
II per cent below last year, while
Massachusetts. the most important OF
this group of states. is running j.
per cent below the figures of last
May. and is suffering acute depression
in textile and leather lines. Unem-
!:loyment in these industries is grow
ing toward rather serious propoftioh'
Middle Atlantic Figures.
New jersey and Delaware are lead
ing the middle Atlantic states ana are
enjoying business slightly better than
that of 4 year ago. New York ana
pennsylvania have business that
might be termed fair inasmuch as it
is running about per cent below
:he figures of last year. Activity in
Maryland and West Virginia is some
what Indifferent and it Is probable
that the final figures will show these
TWO states with about 10 per cent loss
Travelling west We find relatively
active business i'll Michigan. which is
Leading the central states eastern
group with net gain of about per
cent over May OF last year. Indiana,
Illinois and Wisconsin are following
with total sales between per cent
and 3 per cent lower than those Of
last year. Business IS SLOW III this
section but is not suffering severely.
ohio and kentucky show losses Of
per cent each.
West Still Suffers.
The agricultural sections of the
central west are sill suffering. Min
nesota is making the best showing
of the lot just now with a loss Of
but per cent on last May. Missouri
comes second as a favorable sales ter
ritory with a loss of per cent Iowa
and North Dakota are running Ii per
cent under last year. Nebraska shows
a IA per cent loss, Kansas a Il per
cent loss and South Dakota q 26 per
cent loss in sales volume.
Turning to the south We find con-
ditions somewhat better with Florida
leading the group and standing out
I1.r ~.
in the eastern division. Alabama and
North I~,rolina are holding their ow,.
IS compared with last year. Mfssis
Sippi shows per cent loss, Georgia
Tennessee A Is per cent loss. due
largely to slowing up in textile indus
tries.
Texas Suffers Severely.
Texas has suffered severely from
weather conditions but still offers a
fairly good sales territory. Louisiana
Is also holding up we'll in the matter
of volume. Arkansas is running
% per cent below last year and Okla
homa is showing Il 2S per cent loss
In the northwest We find general
business in the states of Washington
and Oregon leading their group with
gain of about 10 per cent over the
last year. These two states offer at
tractive sales territory at the present
time. Idaho is not faring quite so
we'll and is running IA per cent below
last years figures for total busine ss.
Wyoming shows loss of 5 per cent
while Montana is u per cent behind
May of last year.
In picking the best market in the
southwestern group we select Ari-
zona for first place with a gain of s
per cent over last ye4r. Colorado
and California are just about hold
ing their own. Utah comes next with
a loss of 6 per cent and New Mexico.
which made n good showing early
this year. is running 10 Per cent be-