Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-05-02
SEVEN BILLION IS
SURE SOME MONEY
Its Magnitude Can Be Real
lied Only by Comparisons
Here Are Some
Submitted by d. B. Jarman of The
Golden Rule Stores, Salem)

Submitted by d. B. Jarman of The
Golden Rule Stores, Salem)
The congress has passed-without
dissenting vote-a bill authorizing the
expenditure of seven billions of dol
lars! And this, if the war lasts
through another winter, is only a
starter!
We said last week that such vast
sum, most of it to be spent in the next
half year, could not but stimulate bust
ness in every direction.
Within the week many staple COM
modities have advanced Hides are up
from one to five cents pound. Some
kinds Ct feathers have advanced from
one to five cents foot.
Seven billions of dollarsl Think of
this, and most of it to be spent in the
next few months, and every dollar
here at home-not dollar, most likely,
will leave our country. 1t is the pur-
pose to loan about half of this money
to our Allies-extend to them this
amount of credit to buy our merchan-
disc of various sorts, and the other
half to be spent at home by our own
government-also in the consumption
of similar commodities.
! $7000,000, 900! Behold that string
of ciphers. There are so many-eleven
of them-that they mean but little un-
less reduced to more familiar objects.
1t may be of interest-it can do none
of us any harm-to look into and try
to comprehend what Seven Billions OF
Dollars really means.
Twenty times the cost of the Pana-
ma Canal! Three hundred and fifty
times the cost of the biggest battleshir
afloatl Eight times the assessed vaIu
alton of the City of st. Louis!
! There are more dollars in Seven Bill
lions than there are seconds in 222
years! Since the signing of the
| Declaration of Independence, July 4th
1776, to date, there are only 4 IL bill
4 lion seconds.
Seven billions in gold coin is l3,44o
tons and would load down nearly l20C
) cars. each with $4,000 pounds, and make
! a solid train thirteen miles long.
Let us look at it in time, or in dis
tance.
y
8 hours and 50 minutes.
Imagine seven billions of miles! 4
rifle bullet mas a speed of about hal
mile a second, yet at this great veloc
ity it would require almost exactly
444 years to cover the distance
. Seven billions of silver dollar
stacked in pile would go up towar'
the stars to a distance of 1876 miles
q And it would take the United States
: mint. working day and night, 224 year
c to coin the dollars.
e At five dollars an acre, this vast sur
y would pay for every acre of land l
+ the Continental United States.
S Imagine, if you can, seven billion
$ of dollars in dollar "gleen backs, = an
t to end-they will go around the cart
II at the equator nearly "a times! An
I # would take an express train, run
$ ming forty miles an hour day an
) night. continuously, for two and on
: half wears. to cover the distance.
u Seven billions of dollars will buy tW
Il pairs Of good shoes for every MAJ
- woman and child on earth today
J. Christian and pagan. I,
q Had an express train started at u
n dawn Of the Christian era, going at tn
i rate of a mile a minute, it would e
Is dav. nineteen centuries after Chr'
e was born, figurativcly speaking, har'
Il " have botten out of the train shed
for it would have only gone ON
e seventh of the distance. And woui
u now, 1917, yet have over elecen thou
# and four hundred years to comple'
20 the Journey of seven billion miles.
Sc Count it-ridiculous. Imagine an G:
& pert counter of money counting seVe
e billions of dollars in dollar bills, an
2, f. expert expert enough to count one second
'e q belonging to the "union,o w9rkil
a 4 nine hours day, Sundays and hollda!
" ,s included, and then imagine him wor
10 10 inc at the job for fifty years, the
4. turning the work over to another
4. the first man who tackled the jt
e, tended. A social in the former cor