0,150 at $50..

20, 360 at $100.

SCHEDULE 9.-Confirmation and classification of subscriptions.

Number of subscribers.

Amount.

16,558 at $150 to $450, inclusive.. 34,583 at $500

5,166 at $550 to $950, inclusive. 27,583 at $1,000 to $1,950, inclusive. 3,850 at $2,000 to $2,950, inclusive.. 1,134 at $3,000 to $3,950, inclusive.. 559 at $4,000 to $4,950, inclusive.. 2,910 at $5,000...

126 at $5,050 to $5,950, inclusive. 271 at $6,000 to $6,950, inclusive. 185 at $7,000 to $7,950, inclusive. 88 at $8,000 to $8,950, inclusive. 109 at $9,000 to $9,950, inclusive. 1,909 at $10,000...

1,352 at $10,050 to $50,000, inclusive.

95 at $50,000 to $100,000, inclusive.. 39 at $100,050 to $200,000, inclusive..

$27,007, 500 28,036, 900 12, 179, 350 17, 291,500 4,090, 550 29,981, 000 8, 104, 100 3,694, 750 2,262, 400 14,521, 000 749, 300 1,329, 700 1,387,950 738, 400 949, 700

19, 145, 000 29, 111, 150 7,391, 300 5,686, 650

300,000

550,000

202,000

600,000

400,000

500,000

750,000

217,885, 200

SCHEDULE 10.-Annual report of transit operations, Federal Reserve Bank, Atlanta,

Ga., 1918.

SCHEDULE 10.—Annual report of transit operations, Federal Reserve Bank, Atlanta, Ga., 1918-Continued.

NUMBER OF ITEMS AND AMOUNTS OF UNITED STATES TREASURER CHECKS.

Average number of items handled per day, 24,423; average amount of items handled per day, $11,764,894.26; number of banks in this district remitting at par, 635.

DISTRICT NO 7.-CHICAGO.

WILLIAM A. HEATH, Chairman and Federal Reserve Agent.

Measured both by performance and by the financial result of operation, the Federal Feserve Bank of Chicago has just closed a remark

able year.

Without the facilities made available through the bank, the burden of war financing would have been a serious handicap to industrial activity for war purposes in a district where resources are largely agricultural and the business turnover is necessarily slow.

The task of obtaining subscriptions to and providing the facilities for the payments for Liberty bonds, in addition to the heavy war taxes in a single year, and at the same time caring for abnormal business requirements, afforded a severe test of the various functions of the Federal Reserve Bank. In its fiscal agency operations in 1918 the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago distributed 11,096,577 coupon bonds, involving 208,956 registered shipments, through its bond department, while it financed the Treasury through the cash sale and distribution to banks, corporations, and individuals of bonds and certificates of indebtedness to the extent of approximately $3,000,000,000.

This expansion of facilities, so as to render the greatest possible service to the Treasury, the member banks, and to business in general, necessarily involved a considerable increase in the cost of operation, but despite the increased expenditure, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago showed a surplus of $3,100,000 for the year 1918, after all charges, payment of dividends, and reservation for the statutory franchise tax.

In extending the facilities of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to member banks it has been necessary to expand its note issue. Federal Reserve notes in circulation at the close of the year aggregated $428,820,000, as compared with $181,160,000 at the beginning of the year, an increase of $247,660,000. It is safe to say that Government financial operations were chiefly responsible for this abnormal expansion. On the other hand, comparative statements of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago at the beginning and close of 1918 show an increase of approximately $192,738,000 in its gold stock. On De

cember 31, 1918, the gold available as reserve against Federal Reserve notes in circulation, after setting aside 35 per cent against net deposit liability, was 81.5 per cent. On the same day the total reserve against combined net deposit and note liability was 66.1 per cent. The campaign for the transfer of gold from individual banks to the Federal Reserve Bank accounts for $53,000,000 of the 1918 increase in the stock of gold. There also has been collected during the year and turned into the Treasury approximately $12,400,000 in silver and silver certificates. In its fiscal agency operations the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago not only has had the cooperation of banks and bond distributing organizations, but also the services of individuals identified with these organizations, contributed as a patriotic duty. Such cooperation has contributed greatly to the success of the year's undertakings. Appreciation of the services and facilities afforded by membership in the Federal Reserve system is indicated by the interest taken by State banks in the Seventh Federal Reserve District. Considerably more than one-half of the total resources of eligible banks operating under State charters are now represented by memberships in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

The character of the services performed in the year 1918 is clearly depicted in the following résumé of the operations of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and in the statistics and charts accompanying this report.

FINANCIAL RESULTS OF OPERATION.

Earnings for the year 1918 aggregated $8,481,747, compared with $2,020,714 in 1917 and $665,955 in 1916. From the gross earnings of 1918, however, there should be deducted $155,672 because of the discontinuance of the service charges in the transit department, the disbursements without income in the second half of the year more than absorbing the income in excess of disbursements covering the first half. This made the total earnings of the bank $8,326,075, which compares with $2,022,278 for 1917, the latter figure including a credit from the transit department operations.

The total expenses for the year 1918 aggregated $1,495,002, compared with $792,526 in 1917 and $262,730 in 1916. The net income for the year, however, was $6,805,081, compared with $1,229,751 in 1917 and $403,205 in 1916. The earnings for the year 1918 were equivalent to 60.84 per cent on the paid-in capital as of December 31, 1918.

The balance sheet as of December 31, 1918, shows $247,091,000 of total earning assets, compared with $125,490,000 at the close of the previous year and $26,475,000 at the end of 1916.

The total cash reserve at the close of 1918 was $423,574,000, compared with $230,833,000 at the close of 1917 and $54,379,000

at the close of 1916. The total assets shown were $779,187,000 at the close of business December 31, 1918, compared with $401,905,000 at the end of the previous year and $118,790,000 at the end of 1916. The capital account showed $11,185,050 in capital paid in and $3,316,022 in surplus, compared with $9,091,700 paid-in capital and $215,799 surplus at the close of 1917, and $6,683,550 paid-in capital at the close of 1916.

The total Government deposits on December 31, 1918, were $6,566,000, compared with $3,052,000 at the close of 1917 and $2,045,000 at the close of 1916. The total "due to member banks -reserve" at the close of 1918 aggregated $230,604,000, against $169,174,000 at the end of 1917 and $95,390,000 in 1916. The balance sheet also showed $450,938,000 of Federal Reserve notes at the end of 1918, compared with $190,788,000 at the close of the previous year.

The detailed profit-and-loss account and balance sheet will be found in the appendix accompanying this report (Schedules 1 and 3).

TREND OF DEPOSITS.

The trend of deposits for the year 1918 has been consistently upward. Reference to net deposit figures compiled as at the close of business each Friday during the year shows that the lowest point touched was about $116,000,000, while the high point for the year was $226,000,000. For the first six months deposits averaged about $152,000,000, while for the last six months the average was about $196,000,000. This considerable increase is attributed to the increase in the deposit accounts of member banks, necessitating larger reserves, as well as to the growth in our membership through the addition of 217 State banks during the year.

GENERAL BUSINESS CONDITIONS.

General business was active at the close of the year, with banking conditions in the Seventh Federal Reserve District sound. Necessarily the volume of business is being somewhat curtailed as war contracts are completed or canceled, but in the readjustment to peace conditions the volume of accumulated business, which during the war it was impossible to care for, has taken up a considerable amount of the slack caused by the let down in war production. Instances of this are found in the automobile industry, in the manufacture of furniture and other articles which war economy and conservation of manufacturing facilities affected. The agricultural situation is promising, the seed going into the ground last fall under favorable conditions, and the wheat acreage in this district is large. The labor situation in consequence of this readjustment is slowly improving. There is still a shortage in some lines of skilled work