We may, with no regard to the source of the income of each class, also examine the distribution of incomes and wealth among classes. Yet it would not be far wrong to say that the lower income groups are made up almost entirely of laborers, while the higher income groups comprise, for the most part, landowners, capitalists, and enterprisers, and the so-called professional people. Professor King estimates incomes among American families as follows:

An examination of this estimate - for it can be nothing more than an estimate - reveals many significant facts. First, the annual income of more than two-thirds of the families is less than $1000 each, while less than one-tenth of the families each enjoy an income of $1500 or more. Second, the number of families having yearly incomes of as much as $3000 is relatively small (2.58%). To be more specific, a small tradesman or a skilled mechanic with an annual income of near a thousand dollars, even though a portion of it be derived from savings or land, belongs to the upper minority. Also higher-paid railroad employees, such as train conductors and locomotive engineers, must be grouped among the highest one-twentieth.

•Another carefully prepared estimate (made in 1918) throws light on the number of families and individuals in each income group. Estimating the total number of incomes at 27,000,000 and the aggregate income of all groups at $38,000,000,000, the following conclusions were reached:

It is to be noticed in the above table that the number of annual incomes of $1000 or less (column 2) is relatively twice as great (column 4) as the share of the total income received by that group (column 3); also that as the average income rises it enjoys an increasingly large proportion of the total income (compare columns 3 and 4).