The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1872-03-07
FIVE MILLIARDs.
THE MONEY WHICH FRANCE PAYS GERMANY.

The French papers have lately been giving
some curious statistics on the subject of the
enormous indemnify, five miiards of francs,
which France has to pay to Prussia for being
beaten in the late war. From them we gather
the following particulars:
Five milliards, in pieces of five francs,
weigh twenty-five millions of kilogrammes.
"a kilogramme is about "a pounds English }
1t would require, therefore, to transport them
all together by railroad, a train composed of
$500 trucks, each carrying about 10000 'kilO-
grammes.
If, instead of conveying them by rail, ordi-
nary wagons draWn by two horses were EN-
ployed, $4,000 of such would be requisite,
which, placed in single file close together,
would occupy length of 40 leagues (I20
miles)
Suppose the fve-franc pieces which make
up the five milliards to be placed in line
touching each other, they would then occupy
length of Z 400 leagues-about eleven-twelfths
of the whole distance round the globe.
In pieces of one franc, this length would be
1l5,000 kilometres-(5 kilometres make
English miles, )-or $4,000 leagues, about a
quarter of the distance from the earth to the
moon.
The greatest speed which has been attained
by locomotive has scarcely surpassed 100 kill
ometres an hour; this makes one feel giddy;
the Indian mail is nothing in comparison to it,
Well, then, it would require about forty eight
days for locomotive going ut this speed
without stopping. to pass over the line thus
formed by these pieces of one franc.
Piled up one upon the other, the five franc
pieces would form column off, 200 kilometres,
or $40 leagues high. Supposing this column,
having its base in Paris, was to fall over in the
direction of Berlin. the part which would fall
at Berlin would scarcely be the third of the
column; the last pieces would fall beyond ST.
Petersburg; some few, detaching themselves
from the column during its fall, might, owing
to centrifugal force, be scattered as far as the
centre of the White Sea.
The weight of five mllliards in gold is about
| ,600,000 kilOgrammes, or nearly ten times the
weight of the column which stood in the Place
Vendome; it would require, therefore, l3O
wagons, taking 10000 kilogrammes each, to
transport it. In gold pieces of twenty francs
placed in straight line, it would reach from
Paris to Marseilles, distance of 5l2 kilome
tres.
Since the birth of our Lord n miliard OF
minutes has not yet elapsed. Ii then, during
the last 1870 years, a man had put down, day
HlSHtr Hllubut etuPFAhe, h'V W. :
minute, he would not yet have completed the
sum exacted from France by the Ministry o
William the Victorious. Several hundreds o
millions would yet remain.
A skillful bank clerk can count about 10000
francs in five-iranc pieces in an hour. Sup
posing that he began at the age of thirty years
to count the five milliards alone, what would
be his age when he had reached the end of his
task, if he worked for 300 days in year fol
eight hours day without intermission? He
would be eghty,two years old. He would
have required 50 years to finish this monoton
ous work of drudgery, latter which probably
all that would remain to be done would be tC
confine in lunatic asylum this victim of the
rapacity of NJ. DeBismark." If a clerk were
TO count out the pieces franc by franc, four t.
each second, and continue working day and
night, necessarily, 400 years would elapse be-
fore he put down the last piece.