Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/9



In bringing out the second edition of this work I have taken advantage of the opportunity to correct some typographical errors that occurred in the first, which fortunately were generally of an obvious nature, and also to amend some oversights and clarify some obscurities. To a few important tables I have added later data. The original chapters of the book having been written from the standpoint of 1921 I have thought it best to leave them as originally presented, save for the corrections above mentioned, although if rewriting entirely in the light of later views, I should express myself differently with respect to some matters (for example, as to the outlook for the automobile industry). I have added three new chapters and any inconsistency between them and the earlier ones will be explained in this way. I have also added another appendix setting forth how later knowledge compares with original representations, or amplifies them.

The new edition affords me also the opportunity to correct some misunderstandings that have appeared in reviews of the first edition. It was not my purpose to refute the quantity theory of money, which I leave to more competent hands, but merely to state my non-acceptance thereof, which was necessary in order to make clear the basis of some of my computations. No less an authority than the Harvard University Committee on Economic Research has recently expressed the opinion that prices will run high for the next 10