The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-01-18
BIG FIGURES


The budget OF the United States
is sl7,4S5,52s,OOO. but you can get
It all for 81.
That's the price at the govern
ment printing office If a paper
bound copy will do. Fancier ones
come higher.
1t weighs four and half pounds
and looks like a metropolitan tele-
phone 5ooa. But It has different
numbers.
1t begins with President Roose-
velt's message that the huge figures
reflect "a world at war" 1t ends on
page l,O7l with a calculation that
the public debt on June 80, 1912
win' be S5s.367o65o56-snd 6S
cents
Between the tan covers. the items
run the gamut from SlS7o2O for
the collection OF garbage In the
District OF Columbia to $4,000 for
federal participation in the l29th
anniversary OF the star Spangled
Banner.
The women may be attracted by
s2l4s.O0O item for welfare OF en-
listed men, especially since TINS
welfare includes the hiring OF host
esses for the army camps.
a1F
$500 required to furnish a portrait
OF Herbert Clark Hoover. tAe man
he beat in 1882, for the Wh.e House
collection.
Between the covers, the items
run all the way from S5-the small
est single item to pay storage for
cars and other vehicles OF the plant
quarantine control investigation
service OF the Agriculture Depart
ment 10 s1,225.000,0O0-,he largest
for payment OF interest on the
public debt. There are other items,
such as 500 for rubber erasers for
the Treasury Department tmis-
takes come high in governmenD.
The fiscal experts will use $4,000
worth OF ink. The budget book
doesn't say whether it will be black
or red.
Operation OF the worlds shortest
railway-the tram between the
Senate office building and the Capt.
tol-will require $4,000.
Finally, the item that reminds us
OF Santa Claus. the government pro-
poses 10 spend s90.74O for the rein
deer service in Alaska
The $4,000 000. 900 figure for de-
Tense. represents a limitation set
by the production output OF de-
Tense industries. rather than a fl
nancial limit II II becomes pos
sible 10 spend more. taking into
consideration the speed-up asked
by President Roosevelt, It is likely
that more will be appropriated.
On December %. almost half
way through the current fiscal
year, military expenditures by the
War and Navy Departments were
only slightly above sl,600,000, 900.
To spend as much as $500, 100000
or $1,000. 900. 900 by June 80 will
require a vast increase In output
The present fiscal year may be
relatively slow. but before 1t
has passed there will have been
developed in the United States a
record breaking capacity for de-
Tense spending.
When we come to point where
the amount OF money We can
spend is limited only by the a
mount OF merchandise We can buy,
we may be sure that the delay in
making bigger expenditures pos
sible will be OF short duration. We
in America have learned the AIT Of
mass production. We have devel.
oped effective sales methods TO
dispose OF great quantities Of mer-
chandise. Now manufacturers find
that their problem has suddenly
become not one Of selling, but
merely a question Of production.
They will work fast 70 meet the
emergency and there will be
plenty Of government aid in build
ing new factories.
Incidentally it may be that this
government aid has been partly
the cause OF delay. Private capt
tai is more difficult 10 get II it is
20 be placed IN competition with
the government OF II factories are
TO be taken over by the govern
ment. but u will gradually filter
through for the greatest industrial
development OF our history.
II the war continues there GER
tainly will be busy months ahead.