Bond Issues

Nineteen twenty-four will set a new high record in the issuance of new bonds. By Dec. 1, $2,127,823,688 of bonds had been issued, compared with $1,608,595,788 for the entire year of 1923, $1,675,131,561 for 1922, and $2,145,406,132 for 1921--previously the banner year for bonds. The present year, however, has seen on the average larger bond issues, since to Dec. 1 only 6,589 issues were sold, compared with 7,689 in 1923, 9,434 in 1922, and 7,227 in 1921.

One peculiar feature of the 1924 bond output is the large amount of state and municipal issues. It is expected that this year the new obligations of these local governments will total about $1,400,000,000. This brings total state and municipal debt up to about the total railway indebtedness of the country. The net indebtedness of local governmental units is now estimated at $10,500,000,000 as against $8,679,000,000 and only $3,822,000,000 in 1912.

The constant rise in local American government securities is due to their attractiveness to large investors through their tax-exempt features. The result of their steady expansion is bound to be an increase in local taxation.