Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-12
COST OF SIN In AMERICA
PLACED AT Sl3,OOO,OOO,OOO
Estimate Much Too Little, Says Editor
of Figure-Would Put 1t at
$4,000, 100000.

! real bread earners. One we'll known
writer puts it thus: In 1921 there
were S.211 Federal employees. or one
| Federal emplOye for every 425 per
| SONS gainfully employed at that time:
! In March. 1928. one out of every 20
American bread winners had a hoof
| in the Federal trough. That means
! that orr Federal army of job holders
| has grown five times as fast as our
| population
Expense Of Elections.
Reflect a moment on our terrible
cost of politics-the printing OF bal
lots. the paying of election Judges.
the registering Of voters for our
! farcically numerous elections. ana our
| ridiculous numbers and droves OF
public officials. A cost of single
urinary election in New York State
| is nearly s. 900. 900. That is just for
paving judges at polling booths. regis
tering voters and printing ballots.
Think of the S20.000.000 estimated
as the cost of a single presidentlal
election Consider how in every city
in America of which there are about
10 900 there is at least one primary
and one general election annually,
and in some as many as four Seneral
elections in a single year. We must
|
the appalling sums used to oil UP
political machnes-untold amounts
lost in the secrecy of bribery.
Pause for a moment on the mill
tary budget-the annual $500 ,Ooo.000
used to prepare for destruction. rms
waste in war preparation Is min
/ stone about prosperity's neck. IL
| should be gotten rid Of as soon as
possible.
"Of course. everybody knows that
we waste in public printing, In Great.
ing fat sinecures in the form OF
obsolete forts and military posts, in
making a show of maintaining Indian
schools so far off the reservation that
the employees have nothing to do but
keep faith with their political
hackers.
Comparison of Expenditures.
These wastes are not large in
hulk They are perhaps more anus
ing than important. even If they do
embody expenditures far III excess OF
what Congress approprlateS Tor eouca-
tional. scientific and cultural puf-
poses
THAT is a rather incomplete pic
lure of the Federal Government, Al
of these abuses are duplicated ana
triplicated to an even more dis
tressing and vulgar degree in cur
state and local Governments. Inc
Federal Congress is infinitely above
the average State Legislature. While
the average State Legislature Is IN
finitely above the average board OF
aldermen in intelligence, honesty and
economy.
That is an amazing picture OF
governmental waste. | am sure that
the old regime in France could not
have been anywhere near as waste
full. and yet they lost their heads
for their extravaganza. WHAT othef
forms of waste are there
Waste in government is not
unioue in our society. 1t is a par
ticular aspect of the general social
wastage revalent in every phase
of our modern life. When considered
uuantitatively, the wastes or gov
eminent are insignificant when com.
pared with the economic and social
waste involved in modern industrial
production and consumption.
Views of an Authority.
Stewart Chase, an authority. wrote
the Tragedy of Waste and he sad:
An airplane view of America Woulo
disclose a very large fraction or the
given working day: would disclose
another large fraction making and
distributing things which are of 10
real use to anybody, and third
fraction taking two hours TO do
lob which engineers have found can
he done In one-and which some
men are actually doing In one
Equipped with a sort of Array, the
observer would see water invading
priceless oil sands, mountains COM
ing in on the coal measures-and
above ground the gusher giving on
its gas to the air and its oil to the
surrounding landscape, the rush or
millions of horsepower down unyokeo
rivers, the glare Of forest fires, the
refuse piles charged with unclaimed
chemical riches
You said something to me some
time back about the cost Of sin in
the United States. Tell me some
thing more about that
IL. r. Barrows. an eminent Amer
lean business eXecutive-one VINO
had handled great financial prob
lens all his life-wrote not so long
ago The Economic Waste of Sin.
This was an estimate of the total
annual cost of sin in the United
States-what 1t costs the American
people in hard cash to be happy
in this world and red hot in the
next. BY careful and conservative
calculations. Barrows put the amount
at Sl3,56S,5SS,743 a year. II. l..
Mencken. the noted American editor,
thus commented on Barrow's compu-
tation:
Only Half Ground Covered.
~ accent what he SAYS but prompt
" file a caveat BarrowS figures
cover only half the ground. For in
stance. he has said nothing about
cigarette making. If anything has
been we'll established by moral scien-
fists, it is that cigarette smoking is an
immense and crying evil-responsible
for at least one-half of all current de-
hatchery among the young-a part In
the etiology of practically every form
of crime-a drtig that destroys the
mind and palsies the frame. Mr.. Bar
row has said nothing about tobacco
chewing Nor joy riding. Nor use
of cosmetics. Nor bobbing of hair. Nor
gambling For rouges, lipsticks and
hair dyes, American white women
spepd $4,000. 900 annually. Colored
women throw in S15000.000 more to
get their hair Strengthened out.
lone professor at Yale estimated
that if cigarette smoking could ne cut
out at that university. it would save
Yale 81. 500 900 a year, and Yale is
but one of 1882 schools in this
country.
JOY riding. with its roll of $1,000
killed and 432 500 mutilated every
wear. has been omitted from the scroll
of accounts.
Huge Cost Of Sin.
"'Sin costs the people of the United
States not thirteen billions year. but
forty billions.
What is the remedy for this canker-
Gus disease of waste in America, DR..
Barnes" | asked as a final parting