Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/102

80 Brigadier-General Mitchell, assistant chief of Army Air Service, in report on recent bombing tests by army and navy, criticized the present coast defense system asserting that at least 1.87 billion dollars has gone to create coast defence that is little more than useless against hostile aircraft and sea forces. The investment in the American Navy as of June 30, 1920, was $2,911,480,543, divided as follows: Ships, $1,292,329,530; stations, $533,682,737; stores of supplies, $1,085,468,276.

My inventories of physical wealth show a gain in the aggregate of a little more than four billion dollars from the end of 1916 to the end of 1920. Per person of population, however, the average decreased from $2,638 to $2,573. These figures take no account of our foreign credits, which are omitted owing to the uncertainty of their realization. Attention may here be drawn, moreover, to a subject that is discussed at more length, in a following chapter, viz., that the increase in inventory was largely in consumable goods—furniture, clothing, automobiles, etc.—rather than in capital goods. Finally, there is considerable ground for the suspicion that “stocks of goods,” at the end of 1920 are over-estimated. For these reasons, although the aggregate inventories show a relatively small gain in the physical wealth during this period, I shall be found speaking in the subsequent pages as if there had been no increase in the wealth of the American people since 1916, but rather an impairment thereof.

For purpose of comparison is given the following table of the pre-war wealth of European countries, which is generally accepted.