Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Current Economic Affairs (1924).pdf/51

Rh There is no generally accepted, composite index reflecting the status of all affairs. However, for the estimation of the national income by my method it is necessary to have such an index. After an examination and study of all index numbers I deduced a series as the “most probable” composite. Comparison of this with the index of compensation to railway employees appears in the table on page 36.

What I have called the “most probable composite index” may also be described as the “general economic index.” It aims to represent the general average of the rises in prices that have occurred as the correlating factor between the national production of goods and