Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-09-22
Can the Money Hold Out
Until Decisive Victory Is Won?

amount probably altogether beyond the
comprehension OF the ordinary individual.
In the fiscal year ended June 30, last
the cost of maintaining the military es-
Establishment of the United States, as set
forth in the treasury statement, was
$l27, LOG. 65S. 81. The navy cost us for the
full year. $14l, 959. S53. AZ. In other words.
Europe is spending in about Sh hours
what our army cost for a year. and In
Sc hours our total expenditures for tho
maintenance of both our army and navy
would be used up.
Spend in Week Cost Of Penn. Railroad.
Here is another way OF viewing the cost
OF the great war. The Pennsylvania rail-
road, as everybody knows, Is the great
est railroad system in this country. This
system extends from New York westerly
to the Great Lakes at Chicago, and to
the Mississippi river at st. Louis. There
are others of it's ines that run south to
the Chesapeake bay. to the Potomac and
the Ohio rivers. And in an easterly d.
%rection, it extends to the end of Long ISL
and. On its fastest trains 1t takes more
than a full day to travel from its eastern
terminus to it's western. Hardly anyone
IN the east but has, at some time or other.
Travelled over at least a part of this great
railroad. We'll, this war in Europe Is
costing every seven days an amount just
about equal to the combined stock. capital
~ization and bonded debt of the whole
Pennsylvania railroad system. If. as Lord
Kitchener has stated as his belief, the war
is to last for three years. the cost will be
nearly as great as the cost of constructing
LOCO PENNSYLVANIA railroads. And what
will Europe nave to show for this great
expenditure?
Another Way to Figure 1t.
The Interstate Commerce commission.
the federal body hat governs the rail-
4 r0o III In k1fn 0,,,nt fnkn thot mn INN
80. 1914, the total value OF railroad stocks
and bonds, of all classes, for roads in the
United States was $40. S47, 3O1. 2S7. That sum
will be lost in a space OF time slightly less
than the mex six months. The dividends
paid by American railroads, which aggre-
gated $451, 1853, COO in the fiscal year 1914.
would not last for a week and a half.
The total amount Of money in circula-
ton in the United States on September 1
of this year was, according to the figures
furnished by the treasury department.
$3.625, 432, 657, about one months cost and
debt of the United States. which Secre-
tary of the Treasury McAdoo figured at
81, 119, SIG, 1868 on August 81. would equal the
cost and loss for only nine days.
1t may seem absurd that the war should
cost so much. But when it is considered
that shrapnel shells for the hghtest field
guns cost Upward of SIS apiece, and that
1t costs nearly $1,000 to fire one of the big
16-inch guns, it is easily seen that these
: figures given are not too high. Only re-
Gently the cables told OF a single engage
ment on the western front where tho
French artillery used up 100000 shells in
something like three days. That number
of shells at an average price of $40 a
she'll, which is said to be a conservative
estimate, would make the price paid for
this one bombardment 81, OO0. 900. and this
does not include the cost of the guns. the
loss OF property and all the collateral ex-
pensea.