Evening star., 1924-03-12
CAN YOUR TAXES BE CUE?
A Series of Articles on the Cost of Government;
Where the Money Goes, and Why.
BY JOHNFF. SINCLAIR,
Author Of 'Can. Europe Hold Together ~

4
! present Secretary Of War.
| With this preliminary statement
let us now move little closer into
the inner activities of the War De-
of the Department of War since 1891.
In that first year the United States
spent $632,000 on the department.
Then for twenty years the annual
lion dollars year. The war of 1912
boosted them again to about an aver
| age of fifteen millions for the next
] hve-year period. For another thirty
| for the department were from three
| to fve millions year. And the Mex
| lcan war boosted the figures again.
From 1876 to 1851 the amount aver
aged about $2o.000.000 year.
Eighteen Billions in War Period.
| Then came the civil war. 1t result
ed in terrific expense. The nation
/ spent from 1862 to 1866. inclusive. an
! average of approximately $3.50, 900
, year.
/ Then another drop. Sixty millions
| year on the Army. was not again
! reached until 1898. Mark that date!
The big Army expenses have risen
! rapidly from that time on to the
| present. The year aSoS saw IT'S mil
!
millions annually had been passed.
| Then the big war. with it's titanic
war expense account. Now listen!
| From 1917 to 1928. inclusive, the
! people of the United States. through
/ Congress, gave to the War Depart
| ment. in round figures. eighteen
| billions Of dollars to spend. Well, it
| was spent.
| Here is one case: Three hundred
| and ninety-five thousand horses and
] m n hv
! ment during the war. Not over 300,-
| 600 were serviceable at any one time.
Although not half the animals re-
quired harness, the rest being cav
| mules, a total of 2,551,087 sets of har-
! ness were purchased-nearly nine
sets for each animal. Nine hundred
! and forty Ave thousand saddles were
! bouSht-about nine for every animal
reqniring a saddle; 2,s50,s53 halters
| were bought-about nine for each
! animal. The end of the war saw a
+, huge surplus. of leather goods on
hand. They were disposed of with
] just as much negligence as they were
purchased
But how much is eighteen billions?
| 1t is so large, so vast, SO difficult to
| in the abstract Let US try to make
| the figures more concrete by COM
| parison.
4
| What could be done with this huge
| amount? 1t could have paid the 679.-
| 900 teachers in the 271,000 public
schools of America. twice the salary
, they received during this period, paid
all the running expenses OF all the
| e18 colleges in tha United States dur
| ing the period and doubled the sal
aries of all the professors in them;
| doubled the endowment of all the 145
| colleges in America, which have now
| a fund of 31.000,ooo and over.
! But stin our fund would be far
| could could build 1000, 900 workingmen's
| homes costing $4,000 each. Then we
| could buy out at, par all the capital
stock of the 10000 banks in the
phone and telegraph companies in the
| United States, and still the unthink-
! able sum of nearly $1,000, 600, 900
would be returned to the Treasury of
| the United States.
The sum is more than the total
] assessed real estate value of the
! states Of Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky,
| Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Da-
| kota, Washington and New jersey
| all rich states. We could have pur-
| chased all the railroads in the United
/ States and have had several billions
10 spare. .
But instead Of having assets to
| show for our trouble: we have Q)
eighteen billions of debt, on which
/ more than $2,0o0,000 interest a day
| must be collected from the taxpayers
| and paid to the bondholders; (2) bad
| feelings generated through hate, and
F., (3) disOrganized industrial machine
| throughout the entire world.
! The interest alone on this eighteen
! billions of dollars would pay for the
| upkeep of the State Department, De-
| partment of Commerce. Department
! of Labor. Department Of Agricul-
| ture, Department of Interior, Depart
| ment of Justice. Post Office Depart
| ment and more than half Of the
| Army. and Navy departments, even
using their present huge expenses in
| the estimate.
Perhaps James Bryce. former Brit
| ish ambassador to the United States,
| then was right when. he said. I'VE
| must end war or war will end U.S."
: fCopyright, 1924, in United States and Great
| Britain by North American Newspaper ALI
| ance. ALI rights reserved.l
Tomorrow. S7oe Out Of Each $1,000