nvolved the outlay of huge
sums of new capital.

The total capital invested in manufactures was 8,975 millions in 1899
and 22,791 millions in 1914. The total of railway capital was 11,034
millions in 1899 and 20,247 millions in 1914. Manufacturing and
railroading alone secured a capital outlay of over 20 billions in 15
years. Some idea of the increase in investments may be gained from the
amount of new stocks and bonds listed annually on the New York Stock
Exchange. The total amount of new stocks listed for the five years
ending with 1914 was 1,420 millions; the total of new bonds was 2,226
million. (_The Financial Review Annual_, 1918, p. 67.) The total capital
of new companies (with an authorized capital of at least $100,000) was
in 1918, $2,599,753,600; in 1919, $12,677,229,600, and in the first 10
months of 1920, $12,242,577,700. (Bradstreets, Nov. 6, 1920, p. 731.)
The figures showing the amount of stocks and bonds issued do not by any
means exhaust the field of new capital. Reference has already been made
to the fact that the United States Steel Corporation, between 1903 and
1918 increased its issues of stocks and bonds by only $31,600,000,
while, in the same time its assets increased $987,000,000. The same fact
is illustrated, on a larger scale, in a summary (_Wall Street Journal_,
August 7, 1919) of the finances of 104 corporations covering the four
years, December 31, 1914, to December 31, 1918. During this time, six of
the leading steel companies of the United States increased their working
capital by $461,965,000 and their surplus by $617,656,000. This billion
was taken out of the earnings of the companies. Concerning the entire
104 corporations, the _Journal_ notes that, "After heavy expenditures
for new construction and acquisitions, and record breaking dividends,
they added a total of nearly $2,000,000,000 to working capital." In
addition, these corporations, in four years, showed a gain of
$1,941,498,000 in surplus and a gain in inventories of $1,522,000,000.

Considerable amounts of capital are invested in private industry, by
individuals and partnerships. No record of these investments ever
appears. Farmers invest in animals, machinery and improved
buildings--investments that are not represented by stocks or bonds.
Again, the great corporations themselves are constantly adding to their
assets without increasing their stock or bond issues. In these and
other ways, billions of new capital are yearly abso