Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/56

34 immediate consumption, we may do one of three things—or of course all of them together—but the surplus must flow into these channels. (1) We may put it into physical property. (2) We may give it to foreign countries and accept their due-bills in exchange, which will eventually provide us with property or goods if the bills be paid. (3) We may waste it. Of the first and second dispositions there must be evidences that can be seen and measured in some way. Let us therefore proceed to such an estimation in order to ascertain what has become of the surplus since 1916 and determine what there is that can now be seen and in fact how we stand.