The spectator., 1918-10-18
PART IF THE BIC
 COST OF WAR |s
 FINE INVESTMENT
EXPENDITURES BY OUR GOVERN. MENT FOR WORLD DEMOCRACY
 NOW TOTAL eS@,S31 ,ro2, ,47o.
NEARLY HALF TO COME BACK
Material Benefits to Come From Ships and industrial Plant invest-
 nsnts After War.

The preparations for the Fourth Lib erty Bond issue have brought forward . question as to the cost of the war up to date The actual expenditures to date, and the estimated expenditures for the fiscal year of the United States ending June 30. 1919, aggregate a war expenditure of S84.Ss1. .70f,47O, accord ing to the figures prepared by Theo- dore H Price in an article in The Out look on "The War Costs and the War Debt"
 The article referred to probably Is the most concise review of the finan cial situation as to the war that has been presented One of the strange features of the United States activity in war preparations has been that the gross authorizations of Congress have been accepted as the actual cost of the war up to the present As & matter of fact, the gross authorizations have not been spent. and even of that portion that has been spent there has been a large part of the expenditures which can be placed as an investment al 100 per cent instead of an appropriation from which there Is no salvage or re turn
 If worker in the ranks paid cash for a 36 1000 home he could say that he had spent 5000. But 1t would be only part of the truth. as he would still h. inh hA the amount he paid out, and with the advance of time 1t would increase in value and his investment would be d good one.
 Big investment Fi9urss.
 There are tremendous sums being paid out for so-called war expendt lures, but they are investments which. after the war Is over, are going to be worth more than 100 cents on each dollar spent
 When business man or company buys or builds 6 steamship line. or builds or buys . railroad, they have spent that amount of money which it costs to own the property. but they
  line as an asset. So II Is with the United States Out of the sum total of expenditures made by the govern mont the United States. after the war Is over and democracy reigns through out the world, will own railroads that have been constructed in France. steamships that ply the oceans of the world, docks from which the ships de- part, warehouses in which the ship msnts are stored. cranes with which they are loaded and unloaded
 The list of property also will include large manufacturing plants throughout the country which will turn from mu. nitions and war supplies to needed manufactured products which will re- store the emba&tlsd world to a peace full condition.
 As matter of fact. the authorize tons of Congress will aggregate eS0 .000. .000. 900 for the period from the entrance of the war to the end of tho present fiscal year. June 30, 1919. The first years expenditures show that SlS,S7S.l77. was spent and that sS0 .000.ooO.000 was appropriated for the year ending June 30, 1919. These figures. however. are what the govern mont was authorised to spend. not what it actually did spend.
 Not All Wastase.
 A survey of the figures shows that the United States did or will spend S3o ,698. 702.47O IL is proper to deduct from this amount the cost of the Unit ed States government for the same time on basis of pve-war conditions. This expenditure would have been S2, ,S6S. 100000 which. deducted from the amount actually spent under war conditions makes the actual expendi- lures because of the war $3A.SSl.- 70S ,<70.
 First of all. SIG. .O00. .0oO. 900 has been or will be loaned to the Allied govern ments at a rate of one-half of per cent higher than the rate on the bonds in the United States All of these esti mates cannot be exactly correct. but they are so close relatively that no ex
 
 ception can be taken to them Ships and shipyards have cost $27oo. 900 900, railways and other permanent invest ments in France have cost Sl 900 ,000.- 900, funds for the railways in this coun try, for the war finance and grain cor porations aggregate N .O6O .000, 600, army warehouses throushout the Unit ed States s22s 000.0 with other per manent and valuable investments to the sum of s972. .Ooo, 900, This is an az gregate of sound investments of $16,- 900 900 900, leaving total Of slS.331,. 702.470 which may be regarded as the United States financial contribution toward making the world safe haven for democracy
 It does not represent the sacrifices which the mothers of the country are making, because the blood shed is of far more value than any financial con sideration. But the expenditure of life and funds today will prevent the great