Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1915-09-30
PRODICIOUS COST
OF EUROPEAN WAR
Divine FOfeSaW Great Conflict
Two Years Ago.
HIS PROPHECY FULFILLED.

One Year Has Cost More Than Esti-
mated Value of All Property Of
United States West of Mississippi.
Would Pay National Dc1ts of All
Nations.
Philadelphia.-Rev DR.. ]. Henry
Smythe, editor, author, traveller, lee
turer, chancellor of the American uni
versity, Tennessee, two years ago last
February made the following startling
prophecy while speaking at Knoxville:
Zone hundred years or more ago Ma
poleon, in the fiery flush Of manhood's
morning, was master Of all France.
The Egyptian and the Austrian cam
paigns were over. Russia was invaded.
England was threatened. Spain was
subjugated.
1.-The whole continent of Europe was
prOstrate and paralyZed. Millions of
armed men were in the field. and con-
fiict and carnage ragged from the Tiber
to the Thames. But Nelson pounded
Napoleon on the sea, and Wellington
pounded him upon the land, and to-
gether they pounded him to pieces.
Elba and Waterloo were but the blood
stained stepping stones to st. Helena.
eff you will stand with me tonight
at the hinges of history and look along
the sky line of current events you will
see that war is simmering in every
arsenal Of Europe and every wave that
breaks upon the shore is red with
blood Yet TientSin and Port Arthur,
Havana harbor and Manila bay wer.
but the shifting scenery, moved by the
hidden hand of God. in the awful and
unending tragedy of time"
"We estimate the cash cost of tie
European war to Aug. /, 1915. at ST.
O,000,OO0," says DR.. Smythc, "while
other known losses will amount up to
make a grand total of $46,00OO00,O
No one can have even the fainteSt con-
ception of what $46,O0O,O00O may be.
1t is four times all the coin in the
world. If this sum were measured out
in%twenty dollar gold pieces and they
were placed side by side on the rail
way track. on each rail- they would
cover with gold every line from New
York to the Pacific ocean, the two
Canadian lines included. There would
be enough left over to cover each rail
of the Siberian railway from VladivOs-
tok to Petrograd. There would still
remain sufficient to rehabilitate Bel
gium and to buy the whole of Turkey,
at her own valuation, wiping her finally
and forever from the map.
"Or We may figure in some other
fashion. The average WOrkinglnan In
America earns $51S per year 1t would
take 90,000,OO0 years work to pay the
cost of the war up to date or 90OOO,O0O
American laborers might pay it off in
one year if all their living expenses
were paid.
'"The cost of a year of the great war
is a little more than the estimated
value Of all the property Of the United
States west of the Mississippi river
It is nearly equal to the total value Of
all the property in Germany, $48,OOO,
100000 as estimated in 1906. The
whole Russian empire, $35.O00OOO,O0O,
could have been bought for less sum
before the war began. 1t could be had
on a spot cash sale, more cheaply now.
This sum would have paid for all
the property in Italy, $13,0O0,OOO,O 1000;
Japan, $10O00,O0O,O00 Holland $5,O0O,-
100000; Belgium, $7,OOO,O0O, Spain,
$6,OOO,O00O0O, and Portugal, $1,000, ,OOO,
OOO 1t is three times the entire yearly
earnings in wages and salaries Of the
people of the United States. $15,500,-
100000.
"The first years cost of this war
would pay the national debts Of all the
nations in the world at the time the
war broke out If all the farms, farm
ing lands and factories in the United
States were wiped out of existence the
cost of this war would more than re-
place them. If all the personal and
real property of half our nation were
destroyed or if an earthquake of In
credible dimensions should shake down
every house from the Atlantic to the
Pacific the waste would be less than
that involved in this war up to date.
And such an elemental catastrophe
would leave behind it no costly legacy
of hate.
"And then the aftermath-good God,
the aftermathr'