Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1918 — WHERE THIS MONEY GOES [ARTICLE]

WHERE THIS MONEY GOES

Washington, Dec. 9.—Why does it cost the United States so much more to make war than it costs any of its cb-belligerents? What is being done with the tens of billions being raised from Liberty bonds and taxation? One often hears these questions. The answer is not difficult. It is, simply, that it costs an American more to do anything than it costs anyone else in the world. That is the best reason why Americans should buy Liberty bonds. The American army is composed of workingmen. The American workingman demands a higher standard ’of everything than any bther workingman in the world. When he becomes a soldier he carries that standard with him, and, comparatively, gets it. Napoleon said, and everybody ever since has repeated, that an army travels on its stomach. So naturally the subsistence of the American soldier comes first in the long bill which is rapidly running to a day. The regular ration list of the American army calls for forty-nine different items of food. It inI eludes many things which are luxuries t© the soldiers of the foreign [armies. At that, it only costs 32 ! cents a day to feed a soldier. The figure is low because the govern--1 ment has the advantage of dealing 'in billions and tons where the individual deals in, dollars and ' pounds. Even so, the army ha£ felt the increased cost of living because it cost only 12.81 centa a day to feed a soldier during the Spanish-American war.