Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/15

Rh important economic production reviewing the consequences of the war to Europe, and we may say to the world, shows that the conference in Paris did not possess adequate information (and for that matter did not pay proper attention to what it had).

The National Bureau of Economic Research has confined itself to the subject of income and the division thereof. I was led to revert to my original study by the inquiry as to what effect the war and the years immediately following had had upon the national wealth. Was it true that the United States had become rich as a result of the war, which was the common belief? Or was it true that our national wealth had become impaired by virtue of the economic waste although we had escaped the physical ravages of warfare? An answer to these questions could be given intelligently only after making an examination of the positions before and after the war and making comparisons. In undertaking such an examination, which is the main subject of this work, I found it necessary to make extensive revision of my previous valuation for 1916. That this was found necessary is not surprising, considering that the research is in what is almost a new field of quantitative economics.

In offering the present work I do not feel that I have said the last word on the subject, either in whole or in detail. Many of my figures, conclusions and opinions will be criticized, and often rightfully no doubt. I consider, however, that the work will be a useful contribution in two principal ways: Firstly, it will give a fair idea of how things approximately stand with us and will tend to promote clear thinking. Secondly, it will probably inspire others to examine with greater