Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 200, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1919 — COST OF WAR 200 BILLIONS [ARTICLE]

COST OF WAR 200 BILLIONS

PREMIER LLOYD GEORGE GIVES FIGURES IN HOUSE OF COMMONS SPEECH. London, August 17.—The war cost Great Britain 40,000,000,000 pounds, ($200,000,000,000), Premier Lloyd George declared in his speech in the house of commons today on the financial and industrial situation. Most of this sum was spent for purposes of destruction. The house of commons was packed with persons to hear the premier’s speech and practically every member was in his seat. Mr. Lloyd George asserted that the change from war to peace conditions would take just as long as the change from peace to war. The first outstanding facts of the present situation was the alarming adverse trade balance, he said. The import restrictions which will terminate September 1, he said, had given British manufacturers an opportunity of making a dealing in goods which otherwise would have been hurried here from foreign countries. The national debt, he declared, had grown from 641,000,000 pounds to 7,800,000,000 pounds ($39,000,000,000).