$5,361,734,365 at the end of 1916. The deterioration of the public services has been one of the grave consequences of the economic conditions of the last five years.
Express Companies
According to the Interstate Commerce Commission the cost price of the real property and equipment of the express companies of the United States at the end of 1916 stood at $38,597,253, while at the end of 1920 it stood at $34,691,199.
Meat Packing Plants
According to Thomas E. Wilson, president of the American Institute of Meat Packers, the packing companies of the United States at the end of 1920 had a capital investment of approximately $590,000,000, compared with $364,000,000 at the end of 1916. I think there is probably some inflation in the total for 1920.
The meat-packing industry may be considered to be a branch of manufacturing, but its methods are so peculiar and its ramifications are so extensive that it seems to me to deserve a separate enumeration.
The figures given above for this industry represent the total capital employed in the business rather than the value of plant alone, and for the latter I have been unable to obtain any data. If I assume that about 70 per cent of the capital in 1916, or roughly $250,000,000, was in plant, and that at the end of 1920 this had increased to $350,000,000 I shall not, perhaps, be far out of the way.
Telephones and Telegraphs
At the end of 1916 the telephone and telegraph plant of the United States was estimated as representing an
