in history; groundwood pulp output advanced 3 percent to 127 during the month. The comparatively lower level in the groundwood pulp index is attributed chiefly to lack of intensified demand.

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The index of sulphate pulp output reached an all-time peak of 203 well above the current unadjusted index of production of durable goods, standing at 176 in March. But the high level of the sulphate index is not alone the result of stepped-up demand.

The Reserve Board's index is based on

1935-39 production. During the latter part of this base period a tremendous expansion in the productive facilities of sulphate pulp occurred in the South.

Since production expanded in the latter part of the Board's base period, utilization of new capacity caused the index to stand above 120, with but two exceptions, since mid1938.

The output of this expanded capacity looms as a large factor in the level of the current index.

WARNING

The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce has widely circulated a letter signed by Nelson A. Rockefeller, Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics, urging United States firms not to select new outlets or accounts in South America without checking with the Commercial Intelligence Unit of the Bureau.

Many of these buyers and agents support doctrines directly inimical to our concepts of life. Unable to obtain goods from their former suppliers, either in Europe or the United States, they are attempting to buy from manufacturers in this country.

Recently the Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce invited all "business concerns in the United States to make the fullest use of the facilities of this Bureau in the selection of new outlets in American Republics."

This is now repeated and urged again. Your local office of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce will be glad to check, without charge, the desirability of any present or prospective agent, distributor, or customer, or you may write direct to the Bureau in Washington.

WONDERING ABOUT AN EXPORT LICENSE? IF SO, PLEASE READ

Arrangements have been worked out by the Office of the Administrator of Export Control in cooperation with the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce and its field offices, under which exporters will be able to determine, without undue loss of time, whether or not a

particular product requires an export license. The Office of the Administrator of Export Control has set up an Information Division in the Commerce Building, which is now prepared to give prompt replies on doubtful cases of licensability.

In order not to clog the operations of the Information Division, exporters are requested to make careful study of published Export Control Schedules and to discuss their problems with the nearest Field Office of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce before submitting their inquiries to the Information Division.

The Field Offices are charged with giving the desired information on the Export Control program, when available.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES CONFERENCE TO MEET JUNE 3

The Thirty-first National Conference on Weights and Measures will be held at the Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D. C., on June 3 to 6, inclusive.

Weights and measures officials representing municipal, county and State governments, the Federal Government, and manufacturers of weighing and measuring apparatus will attend.

Since 1905, when the first of these meetings was held under the auspices of the National Bureau of Standards, these officials have met almost every year to discuss their problems and to encourage uniformity in the handling of weights and measures matters.

While the actions of the Conference are not binding, its conclusions are recognized as representing the consensus of leaders in this field, and are often incorporated in laws and regulations.

The table presents for each of the nine geographic regions of the country the proportions of reporting personal finance companies showing increases and decreases in loan volume during March 1941 as compared to the same month of 1940. Additional figures also show typical percent changes in loan volume (March 1941 vs. March 1940) for each region.

The "typical change" figures are based on median values. In other words, the median percentage change in loan volume is the figure at the midpoint of an array of individual company percent changes in loan volume for March 1941 vs. March 1940, listed from the greatest decrease to the greatest increase.

Thus the typical change for a region may

be quite different from the change in total personal finance company loan volume in that region, as the total figures would be heavily weighted by the results of the larger companies, a factor eliminated in the typical change figures.

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The typical changes in personal finance company loan volume for March 1941 as pared to March 1940 were recorded as decreases in 5 regions and increases in 4 regions. These regional comparisons exclude data of companies whose operations extend over more than one region.

In the West North Central region typical personal finance volume went ahead 9 percent with 61 percent of the companies in this region reporting increases. This is the fourth consecutive month that companies reporting from the West North Central region have shown an increase in loan volume for the current month over the same month a year ago as large or larger than increases revealed for any other region.

On the other hand, March 1941 loan volume of the typical company from the West South Central region was 14 percent below volume in March 1940.

No more than 35 percent of the reporting companies in this region showed increases in loan volume for March of the current year as against March 1940.

The average age of the population increased between 1930 and 1940 in each of the 14 cities of 500,000 or more inhabitants in 1940, the Bureau of the Census announced.

In each of the cities of this size-group the proportion of persons 65 years of age or over increased between 1930 and 1940, and the proportion of persons under 20 years of age decreased.

Based on a 5 Percent Cross-Section

These data are based on a preliminary tabulation of a 5 percent cross-section of the 1940 census of population returns.

Although the figures on sex and color composition for individual cities may be changed somewhat in the final tabulation, it is clear that in general the proportion of

the migrants to these large cities than in the 1930 populations of these cities.

The possible difference in the rate of natural increase (excess of births over deaths) between nonwhites and whites and between females and males is not sufficient to account for the large differences observed in their respective rates of growth between 1930 and 1940.

In the table are shown the sex ratios in

1940 and 1930 and the percent increase from 1930 to 1940 of the white and nonwhite population.

The 1940 figures (except the total population) are estimates based on a preliminary tabulation of a 5 percent cross-section of the population enumerated in each of the census enumeration districts and are subject to some revision when the complete tabulations become available.

Relatively low percentages of urban dwelling units were reported as vacant and for sale or rent in 697 counties in the United States, the Bureau of the Census reports.

In these 697 counties, less than 2 percent of the urban dwelling units were vacant and for sale or rent, as indicated on the accompanying map showing, by counties, the distribution of urban vacancy rates in the United States.

The map is based on revised data, previcusly announced separately for each State, from the Census of Housing, and represents ccnditions on April 1, 1940.

More than one-half of the 697 counties with urban vacancy rates below 2 percent were located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Carolina, and Georgia.

None of the counties in Massachusetts, Frode Island, Delaware, and Arizona had an urban vacancy rate of less than 2 percent.

Where Vacancies Are Largest

There were relatively few counties having 6 percent or more vacancy of urban dwelling

units.

The majority of the 129 counties with 6 percent or more vacancy were located in New York, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Washington, and California.

No county had an urban vacancy percentage

above 5 percent in the following 9 states: Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, Delaware, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Nevada.

In no county in Alabama was there an urban vacancy rate of 4 percent or more.

The 1,257 counties which are entirely rural are shown on the map in white. Symbols are used for 1,817 counties to indicate the urban vacancy percentage for all urban places in the county.

The remaining 26 counties are independent cities not shown on the map. The following table gives the number of counties (including independent cities) in each vacancy group.