Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-05-09
WEDNESDAY. MAY 0, 1917.
A BIG SUM OF y
tSpartanburg Journal.)


Very few people realize what 4 stupen-
dous sum of money 81. 1000. 600. 900. the
war budget recently voted by congress. i.
&. ID Hamilton. of It. Louis. writing in 4
1t. Louis paper. attempts to give some idea
Of how much it j..
The interest on the United States war
budget at 31-2 per cent amounts to almost
5000 a minute, according To Mr.. &. ID,
Hamilton. who j. vice president Of the In
ternational Shoe company, who has figured
out q number of comparisons 10 show lust
what $1,000, 000. 000 means. Ills figures
follow:
There are almost exactly a. many dol
lars in 1000, 600 600 ~ there are seconds
IN III years. Since the Declaration III In
dependence, July 4. 1776. to date. there
are less than 1900. 600. GOO seconds.
"Seven billions in gold coin i l3.440
tons and would load nearly 1.20O cars. each
with 2.400 pounds. and make Il solid train
thirteen miles long.
billions Of silver dollars stacked
in a pile would 20 toward the stars 10 4
distance of l.736 miles. And Il would take
the United States mint. working dav and
night. 224 years to coin the dollars.
AT s. an acre, thi, vast sum would pav
for every acre Of land in the continental
United States.
"Seven billions Of dollars in dollar
'greenbacks'. end 70 end. viii 90 around the
earth at the equator nearly thirtv-four
times. And ii would take an express train
running forty miles an hour, day and night.
continuously. for two and one-half wears.
to cover that distance.
"Let u look al il in time. or in distance.
"Seven billion minutes l. 1878 wears.
o hours and 81 minutes!
-lmagine seven billions Of miles, A rifle
bullet has a speed Of about half 4 mile 4
second, yet nj this great velocity il would
require almost Al years 10 cover the dis
tancet
"iiad an express train started III the
dawn of the Christian era. going In the
rate Of q mile a minute, il would TODAY.
nineteen centuries after Christ was born.
flsuratiyely speaking, hardly have gotten
out Of the train sheds, for il would have
gone only ono-~eventh Of the distance. And
would now. 1917, have l1.400 wear. To run
10 complete the Journey Of 10000 o 900
miles,
Count it-ridiculousl Imagine IN ex-
pert counter Of money counting this IN
II bills and expert enough to count one \
second. Then suppose he belonged IL the
union and worked eight hours i day. sun
days and holidays excluded. Then imag-
Inc hi working on the job for fifty years
dying of old age-the work taken III IN
another. The first man would have been
dead 700 years when the fifteenth man
quit the ta~k-each Of the fifteen having
worked for fifty years, and there would
still be uncounted enough to give each
man, woman and child IN st. Louis $500.
and leave S120, 000.0 eco untouched.
Set u look 1T y. 00G,0 900 in this way
Suppose . man had this sum in the bank
not interest bearing-and every day IL
drew his check for II 100000. BE- would
after twenty-five years. have $4,000. 600 IN
the banki
Suppose again that IL was invested.
paying Il per cent interest, and The mans
expenses were II, go 900 \ dav. lie
would, alter seventy years 1870 spending
a million q day-find that he had four
teen billions left. twice a. much a. 1T the
beginning, and might want to kick himself
for pinching down to y beggardly million
a day,
"This loan hears interest VI 3 l-2 per
cent and the interest in S245. zoe. 900 4
year, nearly 5000 y minuc-iu~t TIE in-
~terestI'