The Irish standard., 1920-04-10

creased In remarkable manner Tor
country in which it would be ex.
pected that the limits Of intensive de-
velopment would have been reached
long ago. In forty-five years, from
1915 to 1860, the, wealth of Great
Britain increased from $12,500, 100000
to $35, 0O,OOO,OOO. BY 1895 it was over
$60, ,0o0, 100000. In 1910 it was over
So, ,000, 100000 and at the beginning
Of the war it must have been near
$9O, 900, 100000. While at the present
time, after five years of exhausting
war, England finds as the result of
the war that, in spite of her enormous
expenditures, the war necessities have
called forth such intensive develop
ment, such an increase of production,
and such rise in the wages Of labor,
that in spite of the cost of the war the
wealth of the country has increased
in sum equal to or greater than the
debt created by the war. The wealth
of Great Britain is today certainly not
less than $4,000, 100000. And she
finds her foreign commerce and her
foreign trade assuming proportions
that were absolutely undreamed of be-
fore the war began.
In the one hundred years from 1915
to 1914, the income of the people of
Great Britain increased from $2,000,-
100000 in 1915 to s5,0QO,0O0,O00 in
1860; $S.O00,OO0,0O0 in 1895; $12,000,-
100000 in 1910; s15.O00,O00,0O0 in 1914,
and at the present time has reached
the Unprecedented figure of $2O,0OO,-
100000. And during this time the
British population has grown from
16, 6,OOO, 900 to 40,0OO,0OO.
In other words, while British pop
ulation has only increased two and
one-half times, British wealth and
British income have increased ten
times, so that both per capita wealth
and per capita income is four hun
dred per cent greater today than it
was hundred years ago.
The same thing is true of the other
Continental countries, as will be seen.
In 1916, at the close of the Napo-
leonic Wars, the French population
was 2S,0O0,OOO. French wealth was
$13 3,OOO, 100000 and French income
$4,000, 100000. BY 1866, after the wars
with Austria, French wealth had
grown to $3O,O00,000,000 and French
income to $4,500,00O,OOO. BY 1894
French wealth, in spite of the loss of
Alsace-Lorraine, had reached $780,
900 200, 600 and French income $780,
100000. In 1910, French wealth was
$65 ,000, 100000 and French income
s., 9,000, 100000. While in this year of
1920 with the restoration of Alsace-
Lorraine and the addition of the Saar
Valley, the wealth Of France. in spite
Of the losses Of the war cannot be less
than $s0,ooo,o 100000, nor French in
come less than $4,000, 100000.
The States that made the German
Empire, though separate in 1910, had
a total wealth of approximately $780,.
100000. BY 1870, when the German
Empire was established, the wealth Of
Imperial Germany amounted to $780,
900 100000 and the income of the peo-
pie to approximately $4,0O0,O00, 900.
BY 1900, the wealth of the German
Empire had reached $4,000, ,000, 900
and the Imperial income tax returns
for 1895 indicated an annual income
from the German people in excess Of
81, ,0OO, 100000. In 1908, official German
figures showed the wealth Of the En-
pire to be sS3,0OO,000,0 900 and the an
nual income $15,000,O00,00 While on
the eve of the war in 1914, the I'M
perial Chancellor laid before the En-
peror statement showing the wealth
of the German Empire to be $100, 0,000,-
100000 and the income of the people
500 900, 100000.
From 1866, at the end of the war
with Austria, when the population of
the German Empire was only 49,.
VVV,OVV IL IOSo W OoSVVV,VVV III 4V47s
In other words, while the popula-
ton Of German barely doubled in fifty
years the wealth Of the country in
creased five.fold, and the income Of
the people also increased five-fold.
Modern Italy dates from 1869. In
1870 the Kingdom Of Italy had a
wealth of $S.000,O00,000 1t increased
to $4,000, 100000 by 1895, and to ap-
proximately $25, ,ooo,ooo.ooo in 1910.
For purposes Of comparison it is we'll
to have before us the growth in
wealth Of our own country.
In 1850, the wealth of the United
States was only $7,000,000,000. In
1860 it was $16,00o,Oo0,Oo0. In 1870,
in spite of the fact that we had fought
a Civil War lasting four years at an
expense equal to the entire wealth Of
81 90