Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1922-01-06
OF BILLIONS

iAGNITUDE OF blLLiONS
have been throwing ia" ihcred'blt
lres nj YOUR head. Neither y"u nor
body else has the faintest c"ncep-
m of what one billion dollars really
We speak faniliarly of billions as
commonplace. hut most or MS live
lives in terms of hundreds.
e. have shown YOU thai every one
K MS. man woman and child, In this
,ntry. paid last year S13.7I each
<yard the support Of the government.
course. every person does not pay
actly S53.T7. A great many pay
re and some pay less; hut those
b pay the most try to take II out
those who pay the least by increnS-
the prices of what they have to
or Of services rendered ar work
formed, so that il averages out at
BIZ. Some pay more than their
are, others pay less. This Is called
Incident of taxation. The whole
int Is that we all pay; that we pay
vs. more than we ever paid before;
ID there is no present prospect of our
, wing less for some years.
In this way we have all paid our
hare in the World war. The net cost
that enterprise to date has been
"a, 100 900, 900. or, including our loans
} foreign governments. which have
4 'ot been repaid. $33, ,455. 100000. These
Re official treasury figures. Do not
t your eyes run over them lightly.
hirty-three billion four hundred and
fty-five million dollars is an almost
comprehensive sum. The cost Of
y bnning the national government is
pw around $1,000 100000 u year. The
perts say that for the next two or
bree years the cost Of the government
lill not descend below about $4,000
900 a year.
| want you clearly to understand the
pmenslty, the magnitude, the over
IIshelming size of such sums. We
& latter about billions nowadays with
b in the least knowing what Is a
lion. Let me try to bring 1t home
you. II is now. roughly speaking.
30 years since the birth of Christ.
do not know precisely and acru-
bly, at what hour and on what day
Fist was born. But under the Gre
fian calendar, according to which
now reckon time, we have a
ford of the days since January first
the year one. Ammo Domini. From
beginning Of the year one to JAN
Try 1. 1921, there elapsed about 70l,-
y days. or. to reduce 1t further,
$40. .4OS hours. which being reduced
gain. means 1909, 1894, ,4sO minutes.
| will ask you to remember that the
hole history of the modern world
1om the first second OF the year one
the last second OF the year 1920
as been compressed into 1909 S24, ,4SC
inutes.
Now let US suppose that with the
ermission Of the Roman authorities
be United States had established q
Z isbursing officer at Jerusalem on the
rst day of the year one with instruc.
Ions to pay out S. minute day and
light, Sundays and holidays included
ight down through the centuries tc
iew Years day, 1921.
Suppose he had been given S5.6S6.
6.7O8 to start him on his long spell
~ spending. That is one estimate O,
ne sum that 1t cost to run this gov
rnment In 1920. On the morning O,
anuary 1, 1921, this mythical disburs
ps officer. giving money away at thu
tie Of IS a minute, would have spen,
ply $5.O49.122, 400, and would still
one Of the richest men in the
crld. for he would have left on
md $eS8sS3, ,SO6 Of the original sum
wing out at the rate Of IS a minut,
more than 1900 years. he would
have kept pace with the cost o,
keep OF this government for the on,
hgie year 1920.
Suppose this imaginary goyernmen,
II ender had been authorized to De,
at the rate Of $23 . minute throuEh
centuries. He would not have
ished' on January 1, 1927, payin,
our share Of the cost Of the WorlC
r by some $7s4,OSe.9eO He woult
We that much left over after Dayins
1892 ,eoS, ,040. He would have bee,
ying out nearly 20 cents every sec
10 the clock licked for more than II
INJURIES without being able to dis
large our share Of the World va,
ut.
DO you ever bother ycsT nsad abou
'ese bushels and bushels Of dollar
Aat you contribute to the support a,
ae governmentf You earned them
ou know whether they came easily o,
~ Do you know where thew .,
Ter they leave you. how they ar,
pent, whether wisely or foolishlv,
ell your money. contributed for tn,
oper and economic conduct of youI
siness. There Is no such thing :,
Venment money. The governmen,
ver earned cent
1ou own the government and 70,
ppor II. and Il Il merely admins
eh ny men Of your selection.
Ve always heen puEZl 4 shout VII,