Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1921-12-09
Copyright. Western Newspaper Union
MAGNITUDE OF BILLIONS
By EDWARD G. LOWRY

| nave DceIl throwing the llIcfeQlDle
figures at your head. Neither you nor
anybody else has the faintest concep-
| ton of what one billion dollars really
Is. We speak Familiarity of billions as
commonplace, but most OF us live
our lives in terms Of hundreds.
lave shown you that every one
of us, man, woman and child, I'm this
country, paid last year $5377 each
toward the support Of the government.
OF course, every person does not pay
exactly $53.77. A great many pay
more and some pay less; but those
who pay the most try to take it out
Of those who pay the least by increas-
ing The prices Of what they have to
sell, or Of services rendered or work
performed, so that ii averages out at
S53.77. Some pay more than their
share. others pay less. This Is called
an incident of taxation. The whole
point is that we all pay that we pay
now more than we ever paid before;
and there is no present prospect of our
paying less for some years.
III tiiS why we nave all palQ our
share In the World war. The net cost
Of that enterprise to date has been
$24, 1O0,W0O00, or, including our loans
to foreign governments, which have
not been repaid, S33, 455, 100000. These
are official treasury figures. Do not
let your eyes run over them lightly.
Thirty-three billion four hundred and
fifty-fire million dollars is an almost
incomprehensible sum- The COS,
running the national government
now around $5,OOO,OOO, 900 a yea. r..
experts say that for the next two or
three years the cost of the govern .ment
will not descend below about S4.OOO.-
DOC, 900 year.
want you clearly to understand the
immensely, the magnitude. the over
whelining size of such sums. I'VE
chatter about billions nowadays with.
Esout in the least knowing what is a
billion. Let me try to bring 1t home
to you. 1t is now, roughly speaking.
1920 years since the birth of Christ.
! We do not know precisely and accu-
rateIy at what hour and on what CAV
Christ was born. But under the Gre
gOrian calendar, according to which
we now reckon time 1--WE have a
record Of the days since January first
of tie year one, Ammo Dom'ni. From
the beginning Of the year. one to Jan
nary ], 1921, there elapsed about 7O1.-
26I days, or. to reduce ii further,
l6,S36.4OS hours. which being reduced
again.. means l.0Da. 1924. $50 minutes.
| | will ask you to remember that the
whole history of the modern world
from the first second of the gear one
to the last second of the year 1920
has been compressed, into 1,OO9,S24,4S
minutes.
| Now let us suppose that with the
permission OF the Roman authorities
the United States had established a
tishursing officer at Jerusalem on. the
first day Of the year one with instruc.
tons to pay out So a, minute day and
night, Sundays and holidays included
right down through the centuries to
New Years day. 1921.
Suppose he had been given $3.50
OOa,7O6 to start him on his long spell
Of spending. That is one estimate of
the sum that it cost to run this gov
eminent in 1920. On the morning of
January l, 1922, this mythical disburs-
ing officer, giving money away at the
rate of 81 minute. would have spent
only 5000, 122, 400, and would still
he one of the Richest men In the
world, for he would have left on
hand $6}G,SS3,306 of the original sum
Paying out ut the rate OF S. a minute
for more than 1900 years. he would
not have kept pace with the cost Of
upkeep of this government for the one
single year 1920.
Suppose this imaginary government
spender had been authorized to nav
out at the rate of S23 minute through
the centnlies He would not have
finished, on January l. 1921, paying
for our share Of the cost of the Wor d
war by some $7S4,036. 900. He would
bave that much left over after paving
olt S23225 040. He would have been
paying out nearly 40 cents every sec
ond the clock licked for more than 10
centuries without being able to DIS
chnrge our share of the World war
cost.
lao you ever bother your head about
these bushels and bushels of dollars
that You contribute to the support of
the government? You earned them.
You know whether they came easily or
not. DO YOU know where they go
after they lelve rou how they are
sient, whether wisely or foolishly?
MS all your money, contributed for the
proper and economic conduct of YOUR
business Therc i no such thing as
government money. The government
never earned cent
/ You own the govern cent and you
support it. and 1t is merely admins
tered by men o. your selection. /
| have always been puzzl ahont why
you do not take an active and eager
'nteres in what becomes Of your
money that you pay in taxes.
But let's go on and get down to
| cnSes