Denver labor bulletin., 1917-09-01
THE WORLDS STAGGERING WAR BILL

The apparently unending cyphers
which decorate estimates of war
finance in our newspapers and maga-
zines nowadays, makes ones eyes
swim, and, while they have more or
less educated the average man to
think in terms of thousands of mil
lions, vet the latter's capacity to grasp
their meaning has not been greatly in
creased. There appeared in the pages
of the Fortnightly Review some time
ago an interesting statement of the
worlds huge war bill compiled by Mr.
H. J. Jennings which, further sum-
married. and shorn of much that does
not lend itself to accurate pecuniary
appraisal by writer in the Journal of
Commerce, gives a somewhat clear
cut idea of the expenditures of the va
rious belligerents. 1t reads as fol-
lows:
"In the actual expenditure of the
naval and military departments, Great
Britain takes the lead. Her share in
the total cost has been officially given
in parliament as $19,5 100000 to the
end of last March, including $4,500,-
100000 advanced to the allies. Mr..
Jennings assumes that these loans are
probably included in the expenditures
of the governments to which they were
the official total, leaving a net amount
of 100000. But the United
Kingdom is still spending not less than
$30,000,000 a day, SO that the ap-
proximate net cost of its share of the
war to the end of July (assuming the
same proportion of loans) will be
about S17,750, 100000. To the expen-
diture for which the British parlia-
ment is responsible must be added the
amounts spent or advanced by India
and the Overseas Dominions, and these
our authority estimates at 81 ,250,000,-
900, of which at least S750,000,000 will
have been expended by the third ami
versary of the declaration of war, thus
raising the British total of $1S,500,-
100000.
"Up to the end of 1916 France had
expended in the war a total of $12,-
347, 100000 and the additional cost to
August at the same rate will be
further 1880, 100000, making total
of Sic, 1927 100000. Italy's outlay for
the year ending June, 1916, was ST.
100000, and allowing for a similar
expenditure between that date and the
first of July we get a total of So, ,12O,-
100000.
"Russia's expenditures is largely a
matter of estimate, but for the three
years IL can ndTuly De less IHdH 9lO,-
900 100000. Thus, without counting
the central powers at all, we have the
huge aggregate of S51 ,947 400 900. But
there is also the expenditure of Bel
gium, Serbia and Roumania, partly out
of their own resources and partly out
of external loans, which may be mod
erately estimated at S500,000,000, so
that the total outlay of the allies can
not be much less than $50 800, 100000
up to the first of August.
"Germany's expenditure, in which
are included advanced to Turkey and
Bulgaria, is believed to amount al
ready to $21, 300, 100000, and Austria
Hungary's is estimated at $12,500,-
900, O,OOO-a total of s33, 100000.
Assuming that the present rate of the
German and Austrian military and
naval expenditure is to be maintained
until August, the total expenses of the
war will by that time have consider
ably exceeded 100000, 100000, indie
pendently of the contribution of Japan.
A continuation of the war after July