The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-09-02

from ANt ANANAN' 4NfWN'
I'm up stump" confessed puzzled
young man the other Day as ae ran ms
fingers through his hair aud looked the
picture Of perplexHy Il thought ! could
do figures and | believe I can yes but
my theories OF life are sadly shaken by
them. 4 dady friend OF mine vino calls
himself "a socialist started me going on -
problem. He said ne could prove that con
tinued compound interest would ruin the
world IN the course of time. ana there
fore interest was wrong.
How does ne figure thnt out7'' dueried
the worried youths confidant
How doesn't ne figure 10 outT II q
better question. was the queruious an
ssyer. "He has set my brain going until
Il whirls with trying 10 multiply trillions
by the Infinite Wait till / tell you what
he sprung on me.
HE said ana / laughed at him. that
n cent put ~ s per cent. compound inter
est at the year ] would now have value
equal to the weight Of the solar system
IN gold for each and. every second Of time
since the beginning Of the Christian era.
! thought he was crazy. but ! figured IL
out and found u was right"
why. believe you're crazy. too -
blurted out the c0nndnut with look com
blning compassion and curiosity
mo. I'll show YOU how tho figures are
all straight You can easily hEure out that
money at per cent. doubles itself IN
twelve years. That's easy 20 understand
At the end OF the hrst twelve years A.
D. u would he worth cents A. the end
OF the second twelVo-year period Il would
be- worth 4 cents. AZ the end az the fourth
Il would be worth 70 cents At the end
Of che sixth, or az u A. D.. Il would pe
worth 90 cents. Seventh. or 50 A. D.
would land Il az S25s. Doubling every
twake years. you see The ninth period
woud take Il 10 t5.i2 and the tenth, or
az 100 A. b.. would make IL 1924
ia other words. at the end OF i2n yeas
tho cent would have increased 81 6 per
cent coniDol nj interest 10 be worth 40
That Is o thougard times worth WHIST i
was at the start. The next 100 years would
see it worth 100 times more. or $1,000
instead Of so. The year go would bring
II through thrce i2O-year periods aud
would TX its worth at 100000 Each pc
riod Of 10 years would. you understand
ndd three ciphers. which a. the same as
multiplying &C by Loo At $50 A. ID. It
would be worth $1,000. 0ad.00a By 10 A.
d. 100000 90. 10000 would be iss value
Add three more sets OF ciphers for the
next three i2o-year periods ana bring Il TO
$1,000 90 90 900 o00. 900 900 90. That would
b. a. the end Of 100 A. D.. wouldn't it2
From 1850 A. D. 80 1870 A. d. Is IN
years. equal 10 six OF the i2o-yoar periods
That would mean adding six more set Of
zeroes so bring Il down 10 the beginning
Of this century The figure would look
like $1,000 co., 900 600. 900 600 900 GO 900 90
oso.o0o.00oeQ0. Pronounce that II you cant
There SIN remain a hundred years more
OF compromising interest. As figured ont
a few months ago, u took eight twelve
year periods. or nincty-six years. 60 In
crease che cent 10 S2S. The ninety-six
years Is about the same as a century
and 10 g, what the cent would now be
worth we would simply multiply our last
big sum BY 2S. which would give 2.S0oo. .
00o. ooo. 90. 90. 90. glo00oool. 0oD.0N0ee. COZ
wouldn't that fade John ID. Rockefeller
NOW for the number OF seconds In the
1900 years. Sixty seconds IN minute
600 In an hour and $500 In a day Is che
way they run. In . year Of Is days
there are II. $4,000 seconds. IN a century
100 times that, and ia nineteen centuries