New Ulm review., 1922-01-11
Bv EDWARD y, 6. LOWRY
MAGNITUDE OF BILLIONS
Copyright. Western Newspaper Union

MAGNITUDE OF BILLIONS
have been throwing the incredible
figures at your head. Neither you nor
anybody else has the faintest concep-
tion Of what one billion dollars really
is. We speak familiarly Of billions as
commonplace, but most Of us live
our lives in terms of hundreds.
have shown you that every one
Of us, man, woman and child, in this
country, paid last year $53.T each
toward the support Of the government.
OF course, every person does not pay
exactly $53.7. 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 it averages out at
$53.77. 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.
In this way we have all paid our
share in the World war. The net cost
of that enterprise to date has been
$24,10O,00O,0OO, or, including our loans
to foreign governments, which have
not been repaid, $33 100000. These
are official treasury figures. Do not
let your eyes run over them lightly.
Thirty-three billion four hundred and
fifty-five million dollars is an almost
incomprehensible sum. The cost Of
running the national government is
now around $5,00O,OOO,0OO year. The
experts say that for the next two or
three years the cost of the government
will not descend below about $4,000
100000 a year.
want you clearly to understand the
immensity, the magnitude, the over
whelming size of such sums. We
chatter about billions nowadays with
out in the least knowing what is a
billion. Let me try to bring it home
to you. It is now, roughly speaking,
1920 years since the birth of Christ.
We do not know precisely and accu-
rately at what hour and on what day
Christ was born. But under the Gre
gorian calendar, according to, which
we now reckon time, we have a
record Of the days since January first
of the year one, Anno Dornini. From
the beginning Of the year one to- Jan
uary l, 1921, there elapsed about 7O1,-
267 days, or, to reduce 1T further,
16,s3O,40S hours, which being reduced
again, means 1,0O9,S24,4SOr minutes.
I 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 1,oO9, 1924, ,4SO
minutes. "a = a.
Now let US suppose that with the
permission of the Roman authorities
the United States had established a
disbursing officer at Jerusalem on the
first day Of the year one with instruc-
tions to pay out $5 minute day and
night, Sundays and holidays included,
right down through the centuries to
New Years day, 1921. - .',--
Suppose he had been given $685.
0O5,706 to start him on his long spell
Of spending. That is one estimate Of
the sum that it cost, to run this gov
ernment in 1920. Il, On the. morning Of
January 1, 1921, this mythical disburs-
ing officer, giving money away at the
rate Of S. a minute, would have spent
only $5,049,122,400, and would still
be one of the richest men in the
world, for he would have left, on
hand $3.50, ,8S3,306 OF. the original sum.
Paying. out at the rate Of $5 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. .; $ = = Hf t5I"TE 1sa
Suppose this imaginary government
spender had been authorized to ppaa1v
out at the rate Of $23 a minute through
the centuries. He would not have
finished, on January 1, 1921, paying
for our share Of the cost of the World
war by some $7s4,O36, $50. He would
have that, much left over after paying
out $23,225, 1868, ,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
charge our share Of the World war
cost. ... e.
Do 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 OF
not. Do you know where they go
after they leave you, how they are
spent, whether wisely or foolishly?
It's all your money, contributed for the
proper and economic conduct Of your
business. There is no such thing as
government money. The government
never earned cent.