Evening star., 1939-11-19
Lond and Buildings
Make Real Wealth
By Frederic J. HdSkin.

majority of people think of wealth In
terms of things they can handle and
consume. For the individual, that prob
ably is well nigh inescapable rule, but
it is not the rule which nations follow.
They must think of wealth in quite diff
ferent terms. The child may think of
riches in terms of lollypops and ice cream
cones, and rightly SO. An adult may en-
vision automobiles, champagne and rich
personal adornments as meaning wealth.
These persons, little and big, might be
somewhat bewildered by official views Of
wealth. To the Bureau of the Census
and the various other organizations
which deal in economic studies, the lolly-
pops and the champagne have their
place, but it is relatively unimportant
place. The latest figures which have
been gathered show that the United
States is fabulously rich as compared
with other countries, but fur coats and
automobiles are not very important items
in the total.
To great many American minds a
fine automobile represents the very acme
of luxury and riches and yet all the
motor vehicles in the whole broad land
represent but 18 per cent of the total
wealth, according to the statisticians
Nor does this mean merely the limousines
and the long, rakish roadsters of the
showily wealthy 1t includes every kind
of motor vehicle, taking in the jugger-
naut trucks of building contractors coal
dealers, and movingmen and the busy
little delivery trucks of the grocerymen
The whole lot of them put together mean
but 1.8 per cent of all the American
wealth. OF course the aggregate value is
given as S614l 100000, but that is not
much compared with the grand total
In fact, all those items of visible mov-
able wealth which one may handle and
consume in one way and another-food,
clothing, jewelry and the things the av-
erage individual thinks of in connection
with riches-all the goods of every kind
in the hands of consumers represents but
lib per cent Of the national wealth.
From the dawn of civilization nearly
the precious metals, gold and silver, have
spelled wealth to the human mind. Yet
although the United States has more gold
than any other Nation in the whole
world indeed, as much monetary gold as
all other nations in the world combined
yet its store of gold and silver represents
only 36 per cent of its wealth. And that
figure may be dWelt upon in connection
with the small percentage value of auto
mobiles, for in that field the United
States equals all other nations combined.
Gold and automobiles, special symbols
of wealth, and yet, in terms of percent
age, they do not rank high.
Further, as to this movable, usable,
handleable wealth, it may seem to the
casual observer that the wealth of Ophir
must be represented by the vast collec-
tions Of valuable goods in the warehouses
and shops of the Nation, thousands upon
thousands of them. Yet the cold figures
show that the wholesale warehouses hold
goods only representing IL per cent of
the national wealth, while the retailers
have but is per cent BY far the greater
part of this type of wealth already is in
the hands of consumers, already the
people are in possession of these goods to
eat, to wear, to enjoy.
The latest figure on the national
wealth is 1921 1872 900 900, truly a fabu-
lous sum. No other country in the en-
tire history of the world ever was any,
where near so rich as the United States
is today 1t is true that the country has
been richer. Back in 1929, the highest
year of all time, the figure was s352.621,-
100000. Presumably that figure will be
reached again and, probably surpassed,
but in the meantime a purse holding
nearly 1922 000000,0OO is not to be
scorned
So if with all this tremendous wealth
SO little of it is represented by the things
which the everyday layman thinks of as
real wealth, of what does it consist?
The statisticians' answer is: Land and
buildings. The philosopher could moral
lze over this Indefinitely. In spite of all
the movable, consumable things, still it
is held that the land itself represents
the greatest value. There are traders on
The New York Stock Exchange who could
almost be said never to have seen any
land, any real land. They have lived on
concrete pavements and marble floors
etAAN AioNC liioOSllI VI IOl lluleS III IeTLlS OF
pieces of paper, stocks and bonds and
the like. But the real fact is that those
pieces of paper would be without value
unless somewhere back along the line,
they were based on land or the products
of land
Land and buildings in the United
States now are valued at s17O89O 900 900,
or 54'4 per cent of the total national
wealth. Compare this with the meager
little 1.8 per cent representing the value
of all the motor cars, commercial and
pleasure, and compare with the gold and
silver, representing but 36 per cent.
Of course, there is the greatest varia-
tion in land values, depending on the
possible yield of the land in natural
products or in use. Mineral bearing
land, if sufficiently rich, has higher
value than farm land and the highest
value of all attaches to land in cities,
land on which Office buildings stand. Yet
still it is the land itself which is the
basis of all the wealth reared upon it.
The value attached to the buildings
does not include what is in them. For
instance among the more valuable prop
critics in the country are the great fac
tories. and small ones, too, for that mat
ter which produce wealth in the form of
conSumable articles. But the buildings
and land alone 20 into the figure given.