National Wealth

Assembling their summaries, reports, surveys and other economic data, statisticians in the Washington Bureau of Internal Revenue last week finished their logarithmic and slide-rule computations and put the total U. S. income for 1926 at nearly 90 billion dollars--3 billions more than in 1925. It was only an estimate. Two more years of statistical accumulation will be necessary before an actual figure can be determined.

About 40,723,981 persons of the U. S. 117,000,000 population last year were workers and, share alike, they each earned $2,210. So great a living standard prevails nowhere else.

Carl Snyder, statistician of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, thought the Bureau's approximation reasonably correct.

Then a supplementary report was made public. The Department of Commerce had actual figures to reveal. They were for 1924, but they were right and, with the League of Nations aiding, comparisons with the income of other powers became available. Pitiful contrasts they proved.

In that year (1924) 79 billion dollars was the U. S. income; for each person $685. Other rankings were: Great Britain 19 billions, each person $430; France 9 billions, each person $225; Germany 13 billions, each person $210; Canada $2,500,000,000, each person $270; Italy $4,330,000,000, each person $105; Japan $2,765,000,000, each person $45.