Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1919 — Over 18 Billion, Year’s War Cost [ARTICLE]

Over 18 Billion, Year’s War Cost

What the American People Had to Pay in 1918 for Operation Against Germany

It cost the American people about $18,160,000,000; to riin its war government and make Joans to the allies in the past year, according to computations from treasury reports. December expenditures above $2,000,000,000, the record of the nation’s history, sent aggregate war costs to approximately $24,500,000,000. Of the $18,160,000,000 paid out of the treasury’s coffers in 1918 probably $10,000,000,000 went for the army and the general military, establishment: about $1,000,000,000 for the navy ; $1,000,000,000 for the shipbuilding program; $1,000,000,000 for other civil government needs, and $4,150,000,000 as loans to America’s brothers in arms. 1 That the public has paid only about one-third of the war s. expenses, excluding foreign leans, in taxes in cash and two-thirds in loans to be repaid in another generation is indicated by treasury figures of collections from various sources. y--