CHAPTER II
THE PRODUCTION OF COMMODITIES
Before passing to consideration of the inventory of the wealth of the United States it will be advantageous to examine the data of production, for it is out of production that wealth accumulates. Production involves two elements (besides capital and brains), viz. materials and labor. For raw materials—the basic commodities—we possess statistics that are very well developed and are undoubtedly close approximations to the facts. For the labor applied to the manufacture of those materials, the distribution of the consumable goods, etc. we possess but little data that are useful quantitatively, but nevertheless we can get ideas about this subject.
It is a common belief that the war stimulated great productivity, yet we are told in the same breath that the efficiency of labor diminished, and indeed we know from ample evidence that the latter was often the case. Study of the broad data will throw light on this matter and will dispel some illusions. It will of course be instantly accepted that the two basic elements of production are raw material and labor, or raw material and man-power. The man-power is roughly reflected by the statistics of population. These are given in an
accompanying table, which has been carefully computed by Dr. W. I. King, who has made interpolations between census enumerations by study of the birth
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