The Irish standard., 1920-04-10

leonic Wars, Great Britain had q pop
ulation of about 16,000,0o0 people and
q national wealth Of about $12,500,-
100000. Her national wealth has in
creased in remarkable manner for
a 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, ,O00, 900
to $35, 5,000,0OO,OOO. BY 1895 it was over
100000, 100000. In 1910 1t was over
0,O00, 100000 and at the beginning
of the war it must have been near
100000, 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 $120,O0O,0 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 s5,0Q0,000,000 in
1860; $S,0O0,O0O,O00 in 1895; $12,O00,-
100000 in 1910; $4,000, 100000 in 1914,
and at the present time has reached
the unp. .ecedcnted figure of $20,000,-
100000. And during this time the
British population has grown from
100000 to 40,0OO,O00.
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 1915, at the close of the Napo-
leonic Wars, the French population
was 2S,00O,O00. French wealth was
$13, 200, 100000 and French income
,oOO,O00,o0O. BY 1866, after the wars
with Austria, French wealth had
grown to $4,000, 900, 1000 and French
income to $4,5oo,Ooo,0oO. BY 1894
French wealth, in spite of the loss of
Alsace.Lorraine, had reached $780,
900 900, 900 and French income $780,
100000. In 1910, French wealth was
$65, 900, 100000 and French income
$4,000. 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 $4,000, 100000, nor French in.
come less than $12.ooo.o 100000.
The States that made the German
Empire, though separate in 1S40, had
a total wealth Of approximately $780,.
100000. BY 1870, when the German
Empire was established, the wealth Of
Imperial Germany amounted to $780,
600, 100000 and the income Of the peo-
pie to approximately $4,000,000, 900.
BY 1900, the wealth of the German
Empire had reached $4,000, 600, 900
and the Imperial income tax returns
for 1895 indicated an annual income
from the German people in excess Of
$1,000, 100000. In 1908, official German
figures showed the wealth of the En-
pire to be $S3,O0O,00 and the an
nual income SIS, o,ooo,ooo. 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 100000
100000 and the income of the people
$4,000, 100000.
From 1866, at the end of the war
with Austria, when the population Of
the German Empire was only 33,.
100000 it rose to 6S,00O,000 in 1914.
In other words, while the popula-
tion of German barely doubled in fifty
years the wealth of the country in
creased five-fold, and the income of
the people also increased fve.fold.
Modern Italy dates from 1869. In
1870 the Kingdom Of Italy had a
wealth Of $S.000,000,0oo. 1t increased
to $15, ,o00, 100000 by 1895, and to ap-
proximately $25, 900, 100000 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.o00,o00.0 In
1860 1t was $4,000, 100000. In 1870,