Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/216

194 have nothing wherewith to cover themselves if they did not work to produce more. The gold and silver of the country would be the most useless of all things if industries ceased. The mines, railways and factories are valuable, but they will not feed or clothe anybody unless use be made of them. The picks and shovels of a contractor, which are unproductive in the storehouse, but enable the performance of work when they are in the hands of men, epitomize the whole thing. If all the goods that are immediately available at any time for the satisfaction of human wants were divided among all the people they would last only a few months, after which there would be hunger, cold and misery unless new supplies were produced. This is no mere hypothesis of the economist. Both Mexico and Russia have experimented in the subject, with the same results, which in each case have been in strict conformity with the theory.

An examination of the inventory of the national, internal, physical wealth as it was at the end of 1920 will afford an understanding of the situation. Owned by the people generally, as public utilities, are the following things:

Publicly owned also are large proportions of the gold and silver, and the wharves and drydocks. Widely distributed among private ownership are land and buildings for residential purposes, automobiles, furniture, clothing and jewelry.