Show ARE WE TIGHT WADS when the cold light of figures is turned upon american contributions in aid of the war sufferers in europe the showing is not nearly so flattering as we have been in the glib habit of believing it to be says last fridays deseret news that the united states was feeding belgium beleiu all has so often been stated as a f fact act that we have come to accept it as such badour boast about feeding the world when subjected to statistical analysis is found to mean that we have done very little feeding without being pretty well paid for it this may not particularly disturb our conscience but it assuredly is not soothing to our pride A fairly accurate computation for the two years of the war reveals that so far as belgium is concerned the food gift of the people of the united states has reached the splendid sum of ten cents apiece new zealand in proportion to population gave more than twelve times as much and the south americans far surpassed us in generosity if we had contributed thirty times as much as we have we would still not have fed belgium in the true sense of the word for a careful estimate shows that our total giving was about one tenth of the sum needed to give each belgium one third as much food per day as is considered necessary for a soldier altogether the united states has probably given a sum that may be roundly stated at forty million dollars during the two years european agony yet our foreign trade for the same period most of it with europe was just short of eleven bullions the latter is therefore times as great as the former we sold to the warring nations thirteen times as much in war munitions with which to destroy one another as we gave gava them in supplies with which to sustain the lives of their suffering non combatants these figures should tend to dissipate some of our self se f complacency and take away a p portion r tion of that emotional satisfaction n which as a nation we have been finding so comfortable |