Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1918 — Where Liberty Bond Money Goes [ARTICLE]

Where Liberty Bond Money Goes

Approximately 1,500,000 more men will be added to America’s fighting forces within the next few months. Each man must Immediately have clothing and equipment that costs tbout $l5O. Therefore, it will take 3225,000,000 to provide the Initial equipment of arms and clothing. There are about 27,000 men and officers in an army division. To supply them with shelter tents costs $79,650. To buy their steel helmets takes $Bl,000. To give them gas masks requires $324,000. This means ‘ $26,925,000 for such equipment for the 1,500,000 men who will soon be added to the fighting forces. Shoes. Everybody knows that army shoes are thp most comfortable and the cheapest that can be bought, but when they are bought by the millions they mean a lot of money. General Pershing says that each man needs about nine pairs a year. One pair costs $5.10. One SSO Liberty bond will buy one man’s shoes for a year. To buy shoes for 8,000,0000 men takes $137,000,000. Food. ' The addition of 1,500,000 men will mean that America must provide food for approximately 3,000,000. It costs $l5O a year to feed one soldier, so the nation must provide a fund of $450,000,000 to feed our army during the coming year. Airplanes. Airplanes are one of the most important and expensive items of our fighting equipment. One aviator used from five to eight planes a year, and for every flyer there must be 40 men on the ground after the machine is in commission. Every thousand feet of lumber used costs $lO5, and 10,000,000 feet a month are needed, which totals a sum of- $1,050,000. The planes needed cost from $7,000 to $20,000 each, and the service needs at least 20,000 of them. Appropriations thus far made for them have been $640,000,000 and $450,000,000 more is needed. Rifles. Rifles make a large Item In army expense. The average life of a rifle on the fighting front is nine days. One Enfield costs $19.50. We are shipping 250,000 rifles to France every month, at a cost of $4,875,000. For a year that means a total of $58,500,000. One hundred rounds of rifle ammunition costs $5. To provide 3,000,000 men with 100 rounds each would cost $15,000,000. A sevcn-day’s barrage fire along a front of 11,000 yards costs $63,791,235. This represents the cost of nearly 2,000,000 shells of all sizes and descriptions. The average cost of drafting one man —changing a civilian into a soldier—is $4.93. To add 1,500,000 more men to the service will cost $7,395,000. This represents the cost of the work of the 4,557 draft boards.