Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/161

Rh about 50 per cent of the total for the principal seaports of the United States. If the wharves in the ports outside of New York bore a similar relation to the volume of traffic, a total of about 425 million dollars in this kind of property might be considered. This does not include the wharves at lake ports, nor drydocks, lighters, etc., anywhere. For the purpose of tabulation I may put this item roughly at 500 million dollars, both for 1916 and 1920.

Capital invested in drainage and irrigation enter- prises in the United States in 1912, according to the Census, was $360,865,270. At the end of 1916 the aggregate may be put conjecturally at $370,000,000. At the end of 1919 according to the fourteenth Census it was $373,683,421. For the end of 1920, we may estimate $375,000,000.

The water supply of the cities and towns of the United States is generally furnished by the municipalities themselves, and the value of the plants for the purpose may be considered as being included in the values of real estate, just as are streets, parks and other public services. There are still a certain number of water works, however, that are privately owned. According to the “Estimated Valuation of National Wealth” in 1912, as reported by the Bureau of Census, the value of such plants in that year was $290,000,000. The rate of increase by comparison with the enumerations for 1904 and 1900 was very small. I have been unable to obtain any data on this subject later than that of 1912. Upon this basis I shall not be far out