Now let us try to get an idea of the actual cash cost of war in general by studying, first, the cash cost of one war as a specimen. Let us take the American Civil War. In the statement here following, items (4b) and (5) are somewhat over-estimated; item (6) is greatly underestimated. It is to be noted also that the following on the Civil War does not include all the items of the actual cash cost of that war; for examples, the economic loss in the weakening of the _national_ blood, and the loss of the producing power of the soldiers on both sides _during_ the war, the latter loss being probably more than $2,000,000,000. Two other very heavy items omitted here are the more than $2,000,000,000 that must in future years be paid out as interest on Civil War bonds and as Civil War pensions; and the $600,000,000 paid out in Civil War pensions from 1906 to 1910. However, if the omissions are carefully noted, the itemized statement will be found helpful in realizing the cash cost of war. The American Civil War—Its Cost in Cash: (1) Direct expenditures, South $5,000,000,000.00 (2) Direct expenditures, North 5,000,000,000.00 (3) Increase in National Debt 2,800,000,000.00 (4) Interest on National War Debt: (a) 1865 to 1898 2,562,619,835.00 (b) 1898 to 1910 (estimated) 400,000,000.00 (5) Pensions, total to June 30, 1906 3,259,195,396.60 (6) Lost labor-power: One million selected men, slaughtered in battle or destroyed during the war by disease;[37] or from wounds and disease rendered wholly or partially unproductive for an average term of twenty-five years _following_ the war:—an average loss to society per man, thus killed or weakened, of $500 for twenty-five years for one million men 12,500,000,000.00 —————————————————— Total (“Grand” Total) $31,521,815,231.60 This sum, more than thirty-one and a half billion dollars, _this_ sum looks different from the “Cost of the Civil War” as it is commonly set forth in elementary school histories for deludable children.[38] Here is a suggestion: Have your child or some child of your acquaintance discuss this matter in the public school. The child should be assisted in preparing an attack upon the misrepresentation in the ordinary common school “History of the United States.” This sum, thirty-one and a half billion dollars, is well worth consideration. This sum would pay for a 1700–dollar home and also for 400 dollars’ worth of furniture for each home—for a total population of 90 million people, estimating six per family in each home; or,