Evening star., 1932-07-03

/ 600 Nashville plant brought about one
ninth of its war value.
/ During the war the Government was
called upon to spend $3,250000 900 for
| ships, though for reasons of eXpediency
most of our troops were carried to
Europe on British ships at a tranSpor-
tation cost of some $50 100000. The
immediate poSt-armistice value of our
ships was in the neighborhood of 81
900 900, 900, showing a net loss Of ST.
/ $50 900, 900.
! Such numerals and ciphers repre-
1 senting our American war costs, pass
/ ing from the pockets of taxpayers or
| chargeable against them, into the NAV
of war were beyond the human mind.
/ No man can visualize a billion dollars.
/ Possibly not one-hundredth Of ] per
cent of the American people can say
what a million dollars looks like
Jumped in pure gold, million dollars
would be so massive as to defy theft.
A million dollars composed of 100-dollar
! bills, pinned end to end, would make a
/ tape upward Of mile in length. A
billion dollars so fashioned together
/ and considerably beyond. Yet we turn
/ ed out cur wealth during 19 months
1 of war to the tune Of $4,000, 600, 900.
| 1t sounds insane.
Railroads Leave Deficit.
/ Our wartime railroad administration
called upon the taxpayer for deficit
/ of $3.50, 100000 during "a months.
/ American railroads were paying stock
/ holders Sl,000,0 ,000,0 900 annually before
/ the war Moreover, We spent 81 ,200,-
| 100000 on Army camps and canton
| mentS to house soldiers called up in
! the draft. These establishments
! veritable cities in themselyes-were con-
/ structed hurriedly and without regard
/ for expense. In order to get the work
! done, the Government gave out con-
tracts for war camps on the "cost-plus'
/ basis-obligating the Government to
/ pay for all materials. labor and other
/ requisites leaving efficiency, economy
/ of time. money and materials to indi-
vidual contractors. Many contractors
stretched out their work employed un-
+ necessary numbers of men, wasted their
materials and so maneuVered to run the
Governments bill into millions of dol
lars beyond reasonable estimates. This
was shameful graft.
7 There were many incidents OF pure
waStage of money attributable to a sort
of buying hysteria on the part of un-
/ leashed purchasing agents. There were
orders for Al 100000 pairs of Army
shoes and GAS 900 saddles for the
Army's $4,000 Cavalry horses, 2.800. 600
halters, 100000 horse brushes, 2,00O,-
900 feed bags, l0000 900 horse covers
and 1876. 900 copper branding irons. The
irons were never delivered. Their story
is of particular interest as an example
of how war jostled the American busi-
ness sense.
That order for branding irons meant
about one for every two horses in the
American Army. 1t was given to a
New York firm in September. 1918
about two months before the armistice
The specifications required that these
irons should be made Of copper, which
was scarce and expensive. The con-
tracing company purchased 1882
pounds Of copper. Then the armistice
eradicated the need for branding irons
and the contract was Cancelled, The
company had paid 39l2 cents a pound
for the copper. The Government COM
pensated for every pound In addition,
the firm received $4,000 for loss of
profits on the finished article, which, of
course. was never manufactured. There
were many other instances of unfinished
war contracts which netted the party
of the second part handsome unearned
profits.
There is a record of $4,000 900 paid
to a Pittsburgh steel company for
toluol and ammonium sulphate that
was never manufactured and of build
ings erected for the Government by an
other firm at a cost Of nearly $4,000, 900
which were sold back to the firm for
5000 000
System is Required.
One might continue ad infinitum to
set down facts and figures which today
have no meaning except to demonstrate
the insanity of war as an institution.
Unless nation has prepared syStemati-
cally through decades and generations
for a struggle known to be brewing. as
did France, Germany and Austria
Hungary, the material waste is stupen-
dous. Whether civilization was ad-
vanced by the last great conflict is still
a matter OF doubt If this struggle did
nothing more, however, it taught US
that the isolation we once enjoyed is no
more; that war will inevitably knock at
our door and that for perhaps GEN.
tury to come we might as well bastion
our national policy of peace with sane
though non-provocative preparedness
Call it peace anything you
like
The United States recovered from
most recent war costs much more rap
idly than other nations, but what an
utter deluge of wealth went into the
f1gurative gutter. 1t required rich and
virile land like our own to stand the
pressure.
When the Germans began to move 80
divisions of men from the defunct Rus
sion front to the Western battle line
what the European allies lacked was
men. The United states supplied them,
and what men they were! Pershing had
built upon a solid foundation from the
day he arrived in France. He built in
France not for 100000 men but for
1900 ,000 Had the war continued until
the end of 1919-which was not at all
unlikely when Pershing summed up the
situation in I917-the great production
campaign at home would have been
working In perfect unison with him.
What happened was different. The !
emergency of 1918, in which the Ger !
mans stroye to put over the knockout /
blow before the United States should |
put her whole effort into the war, called
for American msnpower rather than
manufactured edilinf3nent and ral1ui.