The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-04-18
BILLION DOLLARS.
WHAT IT MEANS

Fin.nriers in these days OF prog
ress and enormous none! dealings
; are wont TO speak glihly OF a billion
, dollars. says the New York Herald
II, is the capitalization of the United
states Steel corporation. IL Is prob
ably not far beyond The tremendous
fortune OF the wcallhiesr OF all the
worlds wealthy men-John u. Rock
,.fcllrr. Ii is merely Il thousand mil
lions. and in this era OF immense for
times il is not a far cry from mil
lions 10 billions
4 Yet where is the human brain that
! can adequately grasp lt> Nastness!
! low many of these tinanciers. IN
Speaking casually of "A billion-dolla:
corporal ion. realize that they are
naming "A SET of figures that, when
carefully considered appalls by its
Very lastncss?
How many OF them know that
since the birth OF Christ there have
but "A few more than a billion min
u,es passed into history? \ minute
is such triiling space OF time ami
3 dollar is slit Il 4 small sum, yet since
the bcginilin- OF the Christian eft
there HAY, been but Il few more than
IA billion minutes, and the silver dol
lars would plate the sides oi every
warship in the United States navy
If John ID. Rockefeller, assuming
that he owns a billion dollars. pos
scssed his fortune in silver dollars,
they would make a pile, stacked as
coins are ordinarily stacked, rs
miles high. Set edge 10 edge tines"
dollars would form a glittering rib
bon stretching from New York to
Salt Lake City. To coin the dollars
would require the use OF 3l,2'o tons
of silver. and to haul ii 10 the mint.
.,0S3 freight cars. drawn by l04 To-
comOtives, would be necessary, while
the combined length OF the trains car
rying it would be more than four
teen miles.
At an ordinary valuation OF agri-
cultural lands in the best farming
sections of the country, Millionaire
could buy a farm as large as the COM
bncd area Of the tSatcs OF New York.
New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
If he could buy land at 81 an acre.
he could purchase all the territory
east OF Montana, Wyoming, Colorado
and New Mexico.
Humorous pictures have been
drawn depicting the worlds wealth
lest man counting his hoard But h.
revcr counted it dollar by dollar, for
il he had the entire sum before him
and could handle ii as rapidly as the
ticks of a watch-abOut 81 to the
second it would take him, working
day and night, six years and four
months to finish his pleasant task. Or
course, il he worked on a union labO;
scale, he would be just nineteen years
on the job. In order to have coined
Ii, for his pastime the mint would
have had to work making dollars for
thirty-two years without pause day
or night
The spcediest element with which
the mind is acquainted is light, foH
we are not yet certain of the speed OF
electricity. Light travels, approx
!matcly, at the rate of $4,000 miles
a second, which, as far as earthly dis
|tanc.s are concerned, is practically
Instantaneous. Yet ii Il scarchlight
sufficiently powerful to east its rays
L billion miles into space were turned
from the earth, it would not light up
its objective point for more than two
months aftcrward II our sole illum-
nation were Il sun billion miles
away, and the fire were suddenly eN-
tinguishcd. We would see that sun
for siNty-two days afterward, that
length of time being required for the
rush to the earth of the rays that
were sent forth before its death.
Men can easily comprehend the speed
of modern rifle bullet. which is !
about half a mile Il second. Were "a
hypothetical rifle fired al Il man a
billion miles distant. he and his de- |
scendants for twcnty-four genera
tions would have time To dodge the
bullet, for the missile would be 500 |
years on its journey.
II a railway train running at the |
rate OF mile minute had been at
the dawn of the Christian era started |
around the earth on straight track,
its object being TO run 100000. uOv
miles without stop. it would have
been necessary for that train TO circle
the earth 10000 times, and it would
not have come to the end of its Jour-