The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-03-03


v.
MAGNITUDE OF BILLIONS
1 have been throwing the incredible
figures M yOnr head. Neither You nor
anybody else has the fsintest coneep-
tion Of what one billion dollars really
Is. We speak Familiarity OF billions az
= commonplace, bus most Of rs I'VE
our lives in terms Of hundreds.
have shown you that every one
OF Us. man, woman and child. In this
country, paid last year S53.i1 each
toward the support OF the government.
or course, every person does not pay
exactly Sj3.77 A great many pay
more and some pay less; but those
who pay the most try to take II out
Of those who pay the least by ncreas-
ing The prices Of what they have to
sell, or Of services rendered or work
performed, so that IL averages out at
S53.71. 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 ~ our
paying less for some years.
In this way we have all paid our
share In the World war. The net cost
Of that enterprise 10 date has been
S24. 100, 900, 900. or, including our loans
To foreign governments. which have
moi been repaid. S33 ,455 OOO,OOO. These
are official treasury figures. Do no,
let your eyes run over them lightly.
ThIrty-three billion four hundred anG
fifty-five million dollars Is All almost
incomprehensible sum. The ccst of
running the national government Is
now around $1,000, OOO,OOO year. The
experts say that for the next two ur
three years the cost of the government
win not descend below about $1,000.
100000 year.
] want you clearly to understand the
immensely the magnitude. the over
wheIming size of such sums. We
chatter about billions nowadays with.
out In the least knowing what Is a
billion. Let iue try to bring It home
TO you. II 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 day
Christ was horn. But under the Gre
gorian calendar, according to which
we now reckon time, we have n
record Of the days since January first
Of the year one, Ammo Do,aini. From
the beginning Of the year one to Jan.
nary I. 1921, there elapsed about 7Ol..
2G1 days. ors to reduce II further,
IG.SD, i0S hours. which being reduced
again. means 1909, 1874. 4sO minutes.
will ask YOU to remember that the
whole history OF the modern world
from the first second OF the year one
to the last second OF the year 1920
has been compressed into 1909. S24 .4SO
minutes. ~
Now let ny suppose that with the
permission Of the Roman authorities
the United States had established a
disbursing officer al Jerusalem on the
first day Of the year one with instruc.
lions 10 pay out s. 4 minute day and
night Sundays and holidays included,
right down through the centuries to
New Years day. 1921.
Suppose he had been given S5,GS8..
,, OO5.IUi Ia start him on his long spell
OF spending. That Is one estimate Of
the sum that II cost to run this gov.
eminent In 1920. On the morning Of
January l, 1921 this mythical dlsbnrs.
Ing officer, giving money away NJ the
rate Of 81 a minute. would have spent
only 5000, l22, 400. and would still
be one Of the richest men Ia the
world. for he would have left on
hand $638,SS3, 200 OF the original sum.
Paying out nj the rate OF 81 a minute
Tor more than 1900 years. he would
not have kept pace with the cost IL
npkeep of this government for the one
single year 1920
Suppose this imaginary government
spender had been authorized To pay
out At the rate OF S23 minute through
the centuries He would not have
finished on January !. 1921, paying
for our share Of the cost OF the Word
war by some S7S4. O38,9 800. He would
have that much left over after paying
out S23.2c5. 1892 ,040. lie would have been
paying ouI nearly ~ cents ever, src.
ond the clock licked for more than 10
centuries without icing able TO Dis.
charge our share III the World war
cost
DO yom ever bother your head about
these bushels and bushels of dollars
that You contribute To the support Of
the governments You earned them.
You know whether they came easily or
not. po YOU know where they go
after they leave you. how they are
srent. whether wisely or foolishlyY
It's all Your money. contributed for the
proper and economic conduct OF your
business. There l. no such thin. M
government money. The government
never earned cent
You own the govern neni and Won
support II, and u Is merely admins
tered by men of YOUR selection. I
have always heen pnzxl q about whv
you do not lake at active and eager
'n'eres' in what hecomes NJ your
money that you las in taxes
KIT LET'S nm rat a