The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1918-12-28
EVERETT TRUE
ny RSTII

COAST OF MENIco. Dec. IS
Old Man Figgcrs had gone back to
the old subject.
"But II the Germans wanted
/. place in the sun" ventured. they
should hav. come here"
The mercury registered rs The
waters OF the Gulf steamed around
" The mangrove swanps reeked
Of heat and vcrdure-of Unframed
natural energy going 10 rot.
Old Man FisEers settled back into
his hammock and grunied
Eight cents a day. How would
ycu like 10 live on cents day-ev-
Try day. all the years OF your lifes"
thought I would play safe, That
wouldn't buy much. But what's IL
got 70 do with a place in the sum"
The Old Man was silent for
while. and knew he was reaching
into his mental storehouse of stats
tics. They were hungry. They
were crarnped in their lives. They
were huddled into too narrow spaces.
That's why the German people were
disseminated. and were willing even
to make war a. last resort AT
least. that's one OF the why's"
Il had an idea they were pretty
well fed and bred" I said
so have lot Of people. But what
are the facts7 What do the figures
show
I've forgotten the population and
area OF Prussia"
You remember the total produc-
ton OF Germany You remember
that Helserrich. who was minister OF
finance. gave u at the time OF En-
peror williams e5th coronation an.
niverNary7"
did not just remember. But II
made no difference. The Old Man
was launched.
The total product OF the German
people was ten billion n year. The
population was then ss.000. 900. One
sixty-elght miIlionth Of that would be
si47. Suppose the average family IL
five people Such a family would
have as its share OF the annual prod
uct s735 year 20 live on.
The game year Ellis Barker. the
English statistician. gave similar fig. |
ures for England. showing that the
average English family would have
si.3s5 a year TO live on.
AT the same time, the United !
States census showed our gross an /
nual product at fifty billion dollars. /
which. divided among n hundred mil /
ION people. would give each family 4,
1850 year to live on"
objected. Mighty few American /
families have that much
Quotes Figures
"Of couser. OF course Fingers
mapped. These are averages They 4
show the relative standards Of living
That's all. Very few German fami-
lies had S735 a year TO live on. either.
Fact Is. that there were $500. 600
families In Prussia who had only
fs2 year to live on. You will find
the figures in The Principles OF Eco
rornics. published in 1917. by our
own Professor r. w. Tausslg. Of
Harvard. lie says Prussia had Tor
mad at the time he wrote about
10000 Of the 5000. 900 population
u Germany. or these. he found that
2z,5oo. 900. or $500. 900 families. had
yearly incomes OF s225 or less. The
average for them was si62 "A year
Think OF II, Keep n family OF five
Or more on ti62 a yeari Why. that
Would be only s32.50 a year for each
person, or less than 81 n month. That
comes down TO less than 10 cents "A
day. 70 cover food. clothes. shelter
and fun. Now. II you had TO live on
that. wouldn't you feel ready for al.
most anything? And when they
pronised you "a place In the sum-
wouldn't you fall for ~
They couldn't do IT," I objected.
Must be something wrong with your
figures
But they did do IT," Figgers per.
sisted. And you can take another ,
e4ass ~ the populatlon-add the next ,
100000 families OF better-off people. ,
ana you viii find that IS 900 900
frussians-more than half their pop ,
uiation--liyed on less than 20 cents /
day--between cents and 20
cents :
They bought things cheaper" I
mentioned.
They bought cheaper things" he 4
ZANE back. Don't fool yourself
With the idea that the cost Of food
" cotton cloth is cheaper I'm different
parts Of the earth. II the Prussian
a'e wheat before the war. he ate the
.ane priced wheat you ate. In fact,
ne paid more for II, because he paid
'ne freight from America or the Ar. |