Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/191

Rh Year Amount

1913 $ 6,500,000,000 6,500,000,000

1915 9,000,000,000

1916 14'500,000, 000 | 23"500,000,000.

1917 18,000,000,000

1918 22,000,000,000

1919 15,000,000, 000 | 500,000,000

1920 11,500,000,000 Total.......0ccccceeue. $96,500,000,000

Friday’s estimate of capital accumulation to the amount of 66.5 billion dollars in 1917–1920 is not inconsistent with my estimate that the physical wealth of the United States increased but little, if at all, during that period. In the first place Friday included in his estimate the savings of farmers to the amount of “over four billion dollars in 1917, while in 1918 they exceeded five billion dollars, and in 1919 amounted to nearly that sum.” During this period, according to Friday, farmers were paying off their mortgages and their indebtedness at a rapid rate. Insofar as the farmers’ savings found their way to the investment market, through the extinguishment of their indebtedness, they were already included in the total. However, Friday considered that the greater portion of the farmers’ savings went into farm improvements. In my inventories I have shown some gain in wealth by the farmers but not so much as Friday indicates.