For a period of twenty-five months, from April, 1917, through April, 1919, the United States spent for war purposes more than $1,000,000 an hour. All sorts of comparisons are used to make this figure seizable by the imagination. For example, the whole sum, nearly $22,000,000,000, was twenty times the whole of the pre-war debt. Indeed, it was nearly large enough to pay the entire cost of our Government from 1791 up to the outbreak of the European War. In addition to the actual war cost of our own Government Congress paid to various associated governments the sum of $8,850,000,000. As to how this enormous sum of money was spent, two-thirds of the amount practically was spent upon the Army, and the rate of expenditure for the Army was constantly advancing period by period. Even after the termination of hostilities there was a very high daily average owing to the building of ships for the Emergency Fleet Corporation, the construction and operation of naval vessels, food, clothing, pay and transportation of the Army. The Quartermaster's Department had the largest proportion of expenditure. The amount spent about equals the value of all the gold produced in the whole world from the discovery of America up to the outbreak of the European War. The pay for the Army during the period of warfare was larger than the combined salaries of all of the public school principals and teachers in the United States for five years, from 1912 to 1916. Some of the money spent represents permanent assets. At the end of the war there were large stocks of clothing on hand and large supplies of standardized trucks. There were thousands of Liberty motors and service planes that were available for other uses. Engineer, signal and medical equipment still continued to have a value, but if the race for militarism is maintained it is hard to see how the quantities of war munitions can fail to escape the scrap heap in a few years' time. Comparing the individual estimates of war expenditure, it is noteworthy that the Austro-Hungarian Empire spent almost as much as the United States. Of all the powers Germany spent the largest sum, $39,000,000,000--one billion more than England. MONEY LOANED TO ASSOCIATE NATIONS The following is quoted from the _Annalist_ for December, 1918: "Money owed to a government by the nations of the world, with whom it is in active commercial competition, is another line of fortifications in defense of the frontier. Let us, then consider our debts and our debtors, and how we both propose to pay. Our long-time loans may be scheduled as follows: First Loan $2,000,000,000 Second Loan 3,808,766,000 Third Loan 4,170,019,650 Fourth Loan 6,989,047,000 --------------- $16,967,832,650