Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/221

Rh The total of the above issues was $19,291,359,700. On short time notes about three billion dollars was owed. The gross public debt June 30, 1921 was $23,977,450,552, and the net debt was $23,427,772,446.

The short time notes, which are expedients for temporary financing are mainly held by the banks, but the Liberty bonds and Victory notes are now held largely by small investors. We can perhaps get some idea of the amount of their holdings by considering the total number of these bonds and notes in denominations of $500 and less, which aggregated about five billion dollars. The distribution of government bonds is still going on, as is shown by a tabulation in the Federal Reserve Bulletin for September, 1921. Government securities owned by, or pledged to, members of the Federal Reserve system, including all national banks, in May, 1920, amounted to $2,766,011,000. In September, 1921, the total had fallen to $1,995,448,000.

The holdings of Liberty bonds and Victory notes by small investors together with the savings bank deposits are claims upon the wealth of the country. The corporations were originally large subscribers to both Liberty bonds and Victory notes, but to a large extent they have been compelled to sell their holdings, constrained thereto by shrinkage in their inventories and other adverse conditions, and in general they had to sell for about $90 that for which they had paid $100. The Liberty bonds were issued on terms that caused them very quickly to sell in the market at a discount of about 10 per cent.

These data are fragmentary, but they are sufficient to indicate clearly the extensive distribution of wealth among the people of the United States. Not only is