Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-02-25
BILLIONS A YEAR
IN SMOKE AND DRINK
Frank Fayans Shows Cost of Cup
That Cheers and Weed That
SOOthes.
UNCLE SANS BIG SHARE
IN REVENUE RECEIPTS
Tobacco and Alcohol Taxes Meet
Half the Cost of Maintaining
the National Government.

FRANK Fayant in recent num-
Der of Munsey's magazine, shows
that the smoking and drinking
bill of the American people now
reaches the enormous figure of
$2,700,OO0, 200 a year.
Since the time when Columbus
braved the unknown seas in search
of the treasure of the Indies, man
has dug out of the earth fifteen
thousand million dollars of gold"
he says. "Since the panic of 1907
the American people have spent for
alcohol and tobacco fifteen thous-
and million dollars. Or, to put
these two statements in the form
of a mathematical equation: the
product of four hundred and twen-
ty years of human toll, sacrifice and
bloodshed, of daring discovery and
exploration of continental wilder
nesses. of cruel wars Of aggression
and conquest, Of wonderful engi-
neering triumphs, in the reverend
ing search for the precious metal,
equals six years easy going expendi-
ture Of the American people for the
weed that soothes and the cup that
cheers.
"How much is twenty-seven hun
dred million dollars? If, thous-
and years before the time of Moses
the Lawgiver, the ancient Egyp-
tians had begun boarding a treas
ure of gold at the rate of a dollar
a minute, and if ever since then
every minute, day and night, these
thousands of years-the accumula-
ton of this treasure had continued,
the golden hoard would today be
five hundred years short of the
twenty-seven hundred million dol
lars we spend in one year for alco-
hol and tobacco
"A stack of 100000 dollar
bills would tower a hundred and
forty miles in the sky, far beyond
the earth's atmosphere. In thous-
and-dollar gold certificates the stack
would be higher than the Wool
worth building in New York. If
twenty-seven million dollar bills
were strung end to end they would
cover every mile of railroad track
in the country. This same green
ribbon would reach from the earth
to the moon and hundred thous-
and miles beyond"
Mr.. Fayant says that the bulk of
this money is spent by wage earn
ers. 1t is equal to the earnings of
more than four million workers., 1t
is two and a half times the wages
OF all the men on the railroads. 1t
is fourteen times the great payroll
of the Steel Corporation.
Sir George Paish, the English
economist, estimates that the
American people are saving the
great sum of five billion dollars a
year-that is, that we are putting
this money into new railroads, fac
tories, farms, homes and other pro-
ductive investments and thus add
ing to the national wealth. But we
are spending this sum every TWEEN
ty-two months for tobacco and alco-
hol. Our enormous savings bank
hoard is the wonder and envy of
Europe, but we spend in twenty
months as much money for tobacco
and alcohol as we have laid by in
the savings banks in all these years
OF prosperity and thrift. Every
month we spend more than we add
to our bank savings in whole
year.
More than half the total wealth
of the United States is Incorporate
ed in manufacturing and industrial
companies, banks and other finan-
cial institutions, railroads, tele-
graphs, telephones and other pub
lie service corporations. The COM
bined profits of all these businesses
are less than the expenditure for
smoking and drinking. The TWEEN
ty-seven hundred million dollar an
nual outlay is greater than the to-
tai cost Of all our government from
the presidents salary down to the
crossroads schoolhouse, it is three
times the ma tional debt. 1t Is more
than all Europe is spending for war
and preparation for war.
IF our habits do not change"
says the writer, 1--WE shall consume
more alcohol and tobacco in the
next thirty-five years than could be
purchased for the entire wealth Of
the United States today-the total
value Of everything possessed by
everybody from the Atlantic to the
Pacific"
A quarter of the twenty-seven
hundred million dollars is spent
for tobacco, and three-quarters for
alcohol-that is, the drinking bill