he public utilities, the total will probably exceed
three quarters of the total wealth of the United States. If, in
addition, account is taken of the fact that much of the wealth classed
as "raw materials, etc.," is the immediate product of the land (coal,
ore, timber), some idea may be obtained of the extent to which the
estimated wealth of the country is in the form of land, its immediate
products, and buildings. Furthermore, it must be remembered that great
quantities of ore lands, timber lands, waterpower sites, etc., are
assessed at only a fraction of their total present value.

The personal property of the country is valued at less than one
fourteenth of the total wealth. It is in reality a negligible item, as
compared with the value of the real property, of the public utilities,
and of the raw materials and products of industry.

The wealth of the United States is in permanent form--land and
improvements; personal possessions are a mere incident in the total. In
truth, American wealth is in the main productive (business) wealth,
designed for the further production of goods, rather than for the
satisfaction of human wants.

3. _Ownership and Control_

Who owns this vast wealth? It is impossible to answer the question with
anything like definiteness. Figures have been compiled to show that five
per cent of the people own two-thirds to three-quarters of it; that the
poorest two-thirds of the people own five per cent of it, and that the
well-to-do or middle class own the remainder. These figures would make
it appear that more than one-fourth of the population is in the middle
class. If the income-tax returns are to be trusted this proportion is
far too high. On all hands it is admitted that the wealth of the
country is concentrated in the hands of a small fraction of the people
and the important wealth--that is, the wealth upon which production,
transportation and exchange depends--is in still fewer hands.

Neither the total wealth of the country, nor that portion of the total
which is owned directly by the propertied class is of most immediate
moment. Ownership does not necessarily involve control. A puddler in the
Gary Mills may own five shares of stock in the Steel Corporation without
ever raising his voice to determine the corporation policy. This is
ownership without control. On the other hand, a banking house through a
voting trust agreement, may control the policy of a corporation in which
it does not o