Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/171

Rh country’s stock of goods. When these were consumed, the production of more goods having been gravely impaired, dire distress and poverty overtook the entire people.

In any year, the stock of goods in the United States is subject to seasonal variations and to market variations. The seasonal variations pertain mainly to the products of agriculture. The great crops are harvested in the autumn. The stock of grain is then at its maximum. It is at the minimum just before the next harvest, when it has dwindled to the “carry-over” of the old crop, whereof there is always some. Another example of seasonal fluctuation is found in the production and storing of anthracite coal, whereof the consumption is chiefly in the winter. Stocks are at the lowest in the spring. From that time until autumn the producers accumulate stocks, and so also do consumers who are induced by concessions in price to put their winter requirements early into their cellars.

In other industries—copper, for example—there is no seasonal variation and there must be on hand always large stocks of raw and finished material to act like reservoirs to insure the even running of the business. The smelter should have a month’s supply of ore in his bins. Between the smelter and the manufacturer comes in the refiner, who has normally about one-fourth of the annual production, or three months output, in transit to him and in process of refining. Transit of the ingots and bars from refiner to manufacturer requires an average of half a month. The manufacturer has a month and a half supply in his own stocks and processes. Here we have seven months of production and consumption locked up normally in reserves,