New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1911-09-27
The Cost Of Militarism.

For the eight years preceding tn
war with Spain our average annua
expenditure for the army was less thai
ga, 900, 600, for the eight years follow
ing the war the annual average lespet
to more than sS3, 900, 900; and now TO-
the current year the army appropris
ton is s95, 440, 567. The navy hat
done even better. For the eight year.
preceding the Spanish war the average
annual expenditure was little more
than 1900, 900; for the next eight
years it averaged Sl02, 400, 0cO, and
this year the navy get 1871, 1854.
Adding the navy and army appropria.
tions gives the sum of 1926, 79l, 42l
which is rather neat price to pay
for initiating the antics of those ghost
dancers on the farther side Of the
Atlantic. But that isn't all by any
means. To this sum must be added
the current appropriation for the
military academy 81, .249; the APP
preparation for forts and Notifications
$751;, 200: and the pension appropria
ton of Sl55, 75S, 900 making a grand
total of 1890, 922, $50 as the cost Of
militarism for one year, or at the rate
of 81 ,O6S, 5o7 day for every day in the
year.
This enormous sum is paid out of
the United States Treasury, bene-
fcient institution which seems too re-
mote and intangible to concern the
average man. But when you bear in
mind, as you should that even the
United States Treasury cannot pay
out what it does not take in and that
its Unsuitable nav is fed, but never
filed, from your pocket and mine an d
from ever one else's, the matter
assumes quite different aspect. The
reality of your contri button is in no
wise affected by your inability to per-
ceive when you pay for it Every
mouthful you eat every thread you
wear, every need of your life, bears
it's tax which goes to make up the vast
aggregate of Government expenditure.
Three hundred and ninety million
dollars is 1924 per capita for the in
habitants of the United States exclu-
sive of our possessions" But this
counts in the women and children, the
idle and the incapacitated. Getting
down to an average for heads of
families would multiply this per capita
tax by FIVE, at least, or S2l. 20 as the
sum that each hoad of a family, spea-
king in averages, must contribute out
of his earning. Whether he wants to
or not, toward the support of the army
and navy and the frills that go with
them this year. Next year the forced
contribution will be larger; for the
year after that still larger; for the
succeeding year larger yet, for once
the military craze gets started there is
no limit to its extravaganza.
Many men consider themselves lucky
when they are able to squander s2l on
one suit of clothes. Lots of them do
not get that much for weeks work.
Few can lose that much, even in q
poker game, without wincing, inward
ly if not outwardly. Twenty one
dollars would provide porterhouse
steak for two persons for forty-two
meals, or it would pay the hired girl 8
wages for a month, or it might pay
the premium on $1,000 life insurance
for a year. Twenty-one dollars, in
short, is most useful sum of money.
When il is multiplied by lS,400.0O0,
the number of families here assumed
its potentialties for good are almost
incomprehensible. - From Military
Moniacs, in October Technical World
Magazine.