The Bienville Democrat. [volume] (Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La.) 1912-1980, 1922-01-05
By EDWARD G. LOWRY
Copyright, Western Newspaper Union
MAGNITUDE OF BILLIONS

have been throwing the incredible
figures at your head Neither you mol
anybody else has the faintest c0ncep
ton of what one billion dollars really
Is. We speak Familiarity of billions as
a commonplace, but most Of us live
our lives In terms Of hundreds.
l have shown you that every one
Of as, man, woman and child, in this
country, paid last year $5377 each
toward the support of the government
OF course, every person does not pay
exactly $5377. 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 1t averages out at
$53.n. 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
S4,lOOOO,OOO, or, including our loans
to foreign governments, which have
not been repaid, $33, 4j5, 100000. These
are official treasury figures. Do not
let your eyes run over them lightly.
Thirty-three billion four hundred and
fifty.fve million dollars Is an almost
incomprehensible sum. The cost of
running the national government Is
now around OOO,OOO,OOO a 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 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 1t 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, Ammo DomIni From
the beginning Of the year one to Jan.
nary |, 1921, there elapsed about 7O1,.
267 days. or, to reduce 1t further,
1880 0S hours, which being reduced
again, means 1,0O9,S24,4SO minutes.
] will ask you to remember that the
whole history Of the modern world
from the first second Of the year one
70 the last second Of the year 1920
has been compressed into 1909, 1924, 4SO
minutes.
Now let us suppose that with the
Termission Of the Roman authorities
the United States had established a
dlsburslng officer at Jerusalem on the
dirst day Of the year one with instruc-
'tions to pay out SIS minute day and
might, Sundays and holidays included,
right down through the centuries to
New Years day, 1921.
Suppose he had been given $685.
M,7W 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, 1927, this mythical dlsburs-
Ing officer, giving money away at the
rate Of 81 a minute, would have spent |
only $5,049,122,4OO, and would still |
be one Of the richest men In the
world, for he would have left on
hand $3.50, SS3,308 Of the original sum,
Paying out at the rate of IS 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. pay
ont At the rate Of $23 a minute through
the centuries, He would not have
finished, on January l, 1927, paying
for our share Of the cost Of the World |
war BY some $7S4,O36,9GO. He would
have that much left over after paying
out $23. 90, 98S, 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.
Do you ever bother your head about |