Note 528 — Chapter XXIV

A single observation does not justify very confident conclusions, and figures for subsequent years may alter this. There is reason for supposing that commodity collateral was unusually large in proportion in the Comptroller's figures for national banks in June, 1915, (1) because the banks had been trying to reduce stock collateral loans, following the collapse of the outbreak of the War, (2) because they were aiding cotton owners to tide over a period of stress, and (3) because of great grain speculation. Later: 1916 figures show this. Comptroller's Report, I, p. 30. Stock loans increase from 66% to 71.2%, of collateral loans.