Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1914)
I - - II ' --11- -.. 1 II EACH MAM KILLED: ' BATHITLE COSTS A NATION $3,877 1 t l'rizt I "(S ' 1 1 f v 7tjtZr xr J i FIFTEEN billion human nves Bum total far too great t t grasped by any human Imagi nation, bar been lost in war since the beglnnlar of authentic history, if the exhaustive researches rrjade by Benjamtiv T. True blood. LU V., an authority, are to be accepted. Thus battle h&a coat the world number of people greater than that of ill those who have Inhabited the globe during the laat eix centuries allowing three generatiora to the eeo tury and accepting the estimate of 660,000,000 for the world population at the, beginning of the nineteenth century aa the average population per generation for the eix centuries. But perhaps this statement is too general and complicated of computa tion to be impreealTe to the average mind, eo It may be better to tarn to definite eoneideratlon of tbe nine teenth century. War during this period, according to a very conservative estimate, eoet the Uvea of 14.fr09.0ee mea tbroagb wounds and disease, f ,000,0 being saertfloed In the Napoleonic cam paigns alone, in the 1 years between 17H and 1118. . The war f U1J-H between England and the United States resulted tn the death of .boat M,0 oven. Even Little Wan Costly T"be war of 184-4 between the VuUmA States and MeTlco eoet another M0 lrvts, most of the Amerteaa daata being from disease thm Crimean war of If (4-M 'cost the Owe- nations taveJvwd France, Eng land, Piedmont, Taraay, and Roseia T&M0O men. 0,00 of whetn died train cleknaes and hardship. Little Schleerwlg-Holstein's tteety nnlmpewtant war, ra 1S44, oe XtMnark, wpssla. and Aaetria. as men: . Tn AtneHcan Oil war, 1S64-SS. ooot the United States between SOO.000 and 1,000,000 lives from wounds and or, to strike an average be thn two estimates, 00,0O0 lives, , Tfc short war between Prussia, Anetrla, and Italy, in im, coat 45,(We mm. m o bean expeditions to Sfsxtoo, Cochte-ChtTia, Lebanon. Par- ekx. between and lt eoert M.000 Uvea. Tbg rranco-Pruselan war, 1170-11, eoet more than 12S.0M lives. " Ruseo-Turklsh war of im eoet not less than ,MJ lives. ; Th Zulu arid Afghan wars, In 1171, eost-40.000 llrea, " The Japo-Cblhese wgr .pt l4-5, according to md nd surely Incom plete estimate!, cost 18.000 lives. 1 The English-Soar War In Sooth Africa, 189$;lt0J, eoet the,, Jives of' 125.000 men, of whom. ioQ.OW wets English; and it involved an additional loss something like 11,000 Boer women and children. N ;: The Spanish-American war of ,lS9f Cost both sides from woiuids and dis ease less than (000 Uvea, hut the Phil tppine aftermath of this war has cost the United States the loss of -about 6000 soldiers "and the loss among the ' cative Filipinos, from wounds and .dis ease, during the entire period of defi cits war and occasional fighting has amounted. It Is said, to 600,000. . V The) cost of war In money rune even tertbjsr beyond the limitations of ' hu- rehension, - I ' ' Mil. '.,. ' ,t,'S '( . V 4 J n yt i American Nun Aboard the Steamship "Red Cross? Before SaiUng ' The Srsootesnle wars eoet Prance, -Great Britain, Oermany, Italy Aas trta, Spain. Rsssfa sad Turkey, all ef whom were Involved, In aetnal expend iture and destruction, net eon a Pug less of trade and etner ocoaomlo waste, not less than tlt,,M.000. Thw British-Amerteaa war. XtXS-U, cast S,tO,0, The tmited StatealCszleaa was, lI4-4 S, east tlM,0,0. The Crtraaas war, eeet $- 60,0OC,W0. The Italian war ef ItSf, cost 3V We.0. The Schteswlg-Hoferteln war, ef 1M4, east $14,9,oa. .The Anesrloaa etrfl war, ef XSCUa, cot 6tvoo,oe.e. The rrnswtea-Aaetrlaa war e XtCeV eoet rns,o,aev Tbs eayandUuisa te XexSca, Verveea, CoehhvOktea, eta. 1M1-1, seat !. OOCOM. Thw Pranoo-Prussiaa war, 170-1, The Kasae-Tarktsa war, of XfTf, ri4,o,oot. The ZnJn and Afgtan was; ef ItTf, cost $16. 900 ,000. The China-Japan war. If xm-V eost $o,&0,099. The British-Boer war, of Uf9-f J01, east U,30.OO,0. Th Spanish - American - PniBtpwtos war. ef 119 1 to IfOS, east Spate and the Philippines tKHhffoO.ilJC, and the United States (Edward AtkXnaon's esti mata for the whole five rears). 70 00,00, or a total ef $Sft,O0.O9. Tsa Rosso-Japan ass war, east HJIMMM, ef which Japan's share was $M,06,O0a. The grand total of this vast expend iture, about IZZMO.OVUM, and the eost ef Innumerable little wars, of which England also bad 09 during the past century, and ef which, far exana pte, there bavo been an ajocomrted nans, bar ta Sooth and Central America, aa well aa ta the foreign pesaessfoas of the -rarloas ropeen possessions ef tbs varions Europeaa, nations (as for example. IDs gland's India, weald sure ly add something eloe ts fire biUlona to this total, giving an approxnnatev total ooot at? l,0,ee,08, which, for parpoaea of cooTenlencs aad wita no fear that we really are exagger ating; we may mak 4o,0. Cost of Great Wars Bt ta juggle with such Tigures la aa attempt ta esttmat what it has eost so many nations of the world to kill so many of their neighbor is a, enmberswae task, so we will redaca oar observations t the cost of aad the total of Uvea lost daring: the great comparatively modern wars, boginniag not farther back than the Rapoleosia campaign, including in the list only the Napoleonic wax, the United States-British war ef lftt, tho United States-Mexican War of 1040, tbs Cri mean war of ltS4, the American Civil war, the Franco-Prussian war. the Rasso-Turkish war of im.' the Boer- British war, the 6panish-Amercaa : War, and the Russo-Japanese war. Taking these alone, and with the certainty that most of the estimates are Under father than over stated, but letting the universality of this Olfihii : all . errors and give us an average in which we may have soma faith, we are confronted with a list of 10 cam paigns, la -which 8.096,000 soldiers lost ' their Uvea through wounds or disease,, and which cost the combatant nations XT z ' ' 1 ' V ' ' 1 t "" ' its ' 'f Fifteen Billion Human Lives Have Been Sacrificed in war Sincfe the Beginning of Authentic His tory, and Comparatively Recent Wars Have Cost Thhf aa arithnMCleal It a thlan It rjeTT tekfil Terrible Losses in This War of kming orery nwn whe- faHs ta thm preawt Earopeam straggle, wtn as avoeb greater than that, bx an prsbabfiStr, for, witk Cm de af flgtrtlng. armazaeRC has elsboists aad , eatpeBstra as method sf dafensa haw become more effJeient aad costlr. Each ad dition to th eost of either increases! the east of fadtridaal slanghter. The table apoas which the prerioaa eost of death la based follows: We. Killed. Obst .g0,8e fI5,O00.MA,O9S Was. Kaseieeiiie V. S.-Brtt. 1812... U. S.-Uex.. 1S4,,. Crimesn, 1S54 Amerteaa Ctrll. . Fraaee-FniSt 1871. . Koww-Tark. 1977... Brtt.-Be. 189.... 8eas.-Aaa, .. M.ooe ft&.oee 3oo.or.ooe l.fws.ofio,ooe s,eeo,oooc vow.ooo.ooe i,io.oo,eo Boe.oMiOoe 1.7aft.e,eoa. SOO.009 225.000 2SO.0O9 1SO.0O0 .oeo SO.000 ISO.... Xetasi . aeivooo gesxsea,M Kow, tho actoal cost of kHriag a nn la warfare is really hot a small portion ef the real expanse in money ef conducting, endoriitg and recovering from war. Th deetraction ef property watch accompanies warfare trrariahiy la enormous, and the son total of its amount cannot b toriaded fn any possibly accurate estimate ef a war's cost, for obriosa reasons. Principal among7these ht the fact that there isaJbeolvtely no "'fimr by means of which It can bo determined. Consider the march ef the Germans through Belgium aad. compare it with the march of Oeaoral Sherman's array to the sea. The Sherman marsh was principally through farming country containing few important centers of population, aad offering, therefore, really very alight opportunities or necessity for tho dstructfcra ef prop erty. Tet General Sherman himself esti mated that property ceaeervatlTely valued at fS0,e0e,0 was, destroyed la the course of this - oa military movement. Tserefore. should we faded from property destruction ta the great totals upon which we have , based tho previously given eost ef kming a ibas during . th Civil war in the United States, w should add, by means of this ens Item, ff to the expense of vary victim of our entire Ovil war. And whila Sherman's march may have been, so far as property want, the most deatroctlvo single military movement -which that great struggle knew, Jts expenslrenus would shrink into insignificance If we had" at hand, with " which ;to compare it, accurate figures of the total value of the prop er ty, destroyed elsewhere and-in other, manner during the whole course of the . war. ' Not one of the Civil war campaigns - was- conducted in a region - approx lmatlng in the value of its -material property that pf th section throogh- 4 1 4 - -a 7 for the Earopean War Zone. SI r Uli V x Nearly $40,000,000,000. eat wfcieh the U regjB ; laoat of It was) fowght la eevajtry eeasparatlTety sparsely aetOsd, aae fa the stxtlaa m Che United States had any oa snaaro mil ef arbaa ts ritory bore destractlbio iniprovaBMajt fa rain spytiiAliaating tho prssaao day averaga- vain represented by any arbaa asanas mils ta Taueps, partfe wlarfy ta Belgisan. and nt th rural dtatrtcts ha the United States a-' strwctfblo an lower than they atsiag e anywhere fa Bitrope today,, and probably did not em ii nrl to oue flftlefh as nsoeh as they ehd ta that portion ef rural Beldam Which- was ravaged." Certain rural parts ef Franc which were later wrecked would assess almost as high, bat aerrer ojutte as hlgfc, as th Bel glum rarel '; districta. It seem unlikely that railroad de straetloa wfa play any important part ta th final east ef th piasaut war, far all partlaa concerned eaten raXW roads too highly t nsak BHaek each destruction probable. Wanton destruction ef pitvato prop erty by th contending forces ht time of war is f orbtddea, theoretically, ea tend, bat daring th South African eaarpalgas of th British army there were many "burnings" ef farmer ! ear own Philippine campaigns th de struction of property was large, owing to th awmssltj of razing villages la order ta drive out "snipers f aad what the eventual sum total ef th prop erty destroyed during th present Eu ropean struggle may? amount to has not been, more thaa hinted at in th more or less' complete destruction ef tho wonderfully rich Belgian city of Lotrvain destruction which never can be repaired, for Louvain's value had bean cumulative through the cen turies she was literally priceless. Paris Hard Hit The 'voluntary aarlftoe by th French of property In the ea fir one ef Paris, rased so that It might act obstruct the; play of th defending artillery, might very wen Indicate, in that comparatively tiny area, a total monetary loss much greater thaa that resulting from , Sermas's famous march, No strictly modern war, until the beginning of the one now in progress, has offered much opportunity for this sort of waste. The Russo-Japanese war was fought' in territory compara tively free of high property, values, as was th British South African cam paign. Our ' 8pantsh war signified nothing important of this sort; the Balkan war has 'involved peoples pos sessed of slight property values, and baa beon largely carried on fa aoun ; tain fasUiessc aad infertile valleys. But it seems to be a peculiarity of this war that it win bo fought out la these places where it ean com ira- manity most in material and aesthetic values, as well as by such methods as will make Its tax of homaa life un- procedentodly, , stogreringiy heary. avai aged war: Photograph copyright 1914 Tb aadaarar to make any estimate, whatever, ef th industrial and gen eral sitfuernls Is sees swtsln to result from th present war. would be a foot sea asmi Trip Qua ef the right to proph esy, hot It la not beyond th province of aa liwostlgattvo mind ta consider leases which mast occur. Charlea Klchet. la Xr. David Starr Jordan's recent book. Waste," thaa tabulated the ef th them proposed general sxbibsji or mt umx to tm. SUK3A0SO. i ' Aartrla Me" Eagiaa "" - 1,M.0) sfPTeaK mm e ww. eooseae ? 40H,0BJ ' eenaaay . .....,, a.cuO.QQQ Italy . 2,900.000 Beaaia TO0O)O0 ' Tvtal Zl ,300.000 dailt cost or a great txaoraaji WsUfta Peed of asea ...giz.soo,oo9 read ef screw 1,000.000 Pay (Befepeaa ratea) 4J5O,0e Pay a workswa ta araeBaie aad porta 1.000. one Traarpaetatiee 2.1OO.0OO TraowtaU c ptertaioDa eUOjOae shuStTaa tafaatry. 1 emulosas a Say .... .......... 4.200,000 Aronary to akeea par mj. l.aow.ooo htariae 4 abacs per Aay 400.004 suKipsKnt 4,auo,uoe Aatoaiaacao 6O0.C0S wetmdia r Ul tl per day) SOOOOe Arsntara 500. Owe Beeactlae ef nsporta . eVO8O.0ee Balp te taa soar (39 cssts per eay ta ea la tea) 0.900,000 DeaCractin at eowss, eta... ... 2,00O.W Total per Cay - .t4,S0,iW0 la applying these estlmatest to th general European war whicS) aw ac tually does exist, but a few changes seed b made, Th total actual eost will net ram far below the estimated cost of dost to fS,o,e0. Indeed, it may far surpass tt. The' principle loss undoubtedly win arts from the withdrawal of stem from Industry. Th extetemce ef large standing ar mies la all the nations engaged win make this relatively smaller, j consid ered from on point of view, 'thaa weald he cccasloaed by a war ta this count j Involving a similar number ef mea; hut. Indirectly considered, the very existence of these standing ar mies, which have been a fixed charge upon the people, has been one of the things loading up to this war, and, therefore, tt might be fair to charge up th total eost of armament aad withdrawal of labor from industry for military service daring th preced ing years of peace to the struggle which bow Is la progress. ' ' M; It would be by n means difficult to gather these figure for presentation here, but ft would be waste of time, for they weald have plcturesqu value only. . Tot many years European expendi ture for armament has exceeded a bil lion dollars annually, NO human mind can think a billion dollar. It is too great a value for the brain to grass. . To detail and then total the Cost bf French and German srnales during the peace , years, to count up Great Bri tain's naval a&4 sanitary charges sines th and ef tJi South African campaign and, backward, between that aad Waterloo, would, fee merely p i vast "War aa w - si v - t by Underwood and Underwood) place upon paper a series of figures. For they would mean so much that to a normal mind they weald mean noth ing; And If the cost of this great war may he reckoned as having extended bach through all the years ef prepar atton, ae it may a reckoned aa certain to extend forward through many yeas of recuperation. The major portion of the ultimate cost Of th existing waff will be some by cosnlBg generation, resting as s mighty burden upon mea aad women yet en born. Commercial dlsergaaisetloa Is an other Item which defies the etetiatto taav Who shall aay, far tnetanee, what Germaay's toss already has through th banishment of her mcrdsi shipping from th eeaaf It aarety has exceeded by far th vara ef the y ass tils she has lost, aad, before th war fa ever. It will exceed, in all aamaa probability, the value of every tern ef shipping flying German's flag. Less as suffered by commercial bosi s nun as ea land will aggrcgafs a far arrester, 'and therefore more inconceiv able sum, which wen more completely defies prophecy, and, as th United States has learned, such loss, in these days, by no moans is confined to the warring nations, bat Is spread, sot thinly, over the entire surface of the civilised earth. Whole World Upset Financial disarrangement is new uni versal, as the result of the great war, and Is eating values with appalling greedtnees. Th world's pocketbook t th center of Its nervous system and thai war, recorded as it la not only by ocean telegraph which flashes instan taneous messagea to all parts of the world, but by transatlantic wireless, kas upset it as nothing ever has before. Nor does this business, commercial, aad financial loss comprise the total of the Inevitable dreary aftermath of waste. Our Civil War ended 46 years ago, yet we are still paying Civil war bill. . Ws have spent far mors thaa ,O,0.9 oa ear pension list, sad it will cost as another two billions be fore we have finished with It more thaa half as much aa north aad south together spent upon the actual war. The greater portion of the public debt of th United States ta war debt, and stac the Civil war this has cost tbs government ta latere charge two aad a half bllUona,- with Interest still running on three quarters of a billion and more. Tb state expendi tsres for bounties and ether expend!-' tares directly traceable to th Ctrll war hay totaled more thaa $190,000, OOP.; Tne 'after coat ef European war has been and will be proportionately less thaa ears, for they pension far less liberally than we' do, hot aa approxi mate sues at the price they have been aad still are paying for past wars . may he formed by a glaac at their public debt interest figures, for their public debts are principally war debts. , Before the beginning ef the present wort the- rrsBch . daht was approxi- matoly six billion dollars, demanding interest narmenta Of ever two Ban- dre4 mUUon dollars a year. Interest Payment on n Wart Truebloc ars Thus," says Benjamin blood. In the ; ti years sine v the Franco- Prussian war. Which cost . Francs, in cluding: her on billion dollars ln 'V r V1 , 'lt it 1 h SS N ' X i demnity to Germany, not less than three billion dollars, the wii) have paid4 out, in Interest alone, a sum from two to three time th original cost of that war, or. reckoning the interest oa only three bCBoa, dollars, a sura fully equal to th eost of the war." Th total war debt of Em ops at the beginning of th pre eat war aggre gated ever thirty billion dollars. Thus interest charges of mor than a billion a year have aggregated mere , then thirty-five Mil ton dollars since the ending of the wars which so terribly afflicted the third waartor ef the last century. For definite example, the Boer war increased Great Britain's public , debt by eight hundred mmkms, aad the Russo-Japanes war increased the debts of the two nations involved by a billion and a half. 8 these two ware, neither of them comparable to the struggle which COW seethes throughout an Europe, im posed upon this trio of nations ka interest charge to run on indefinitely at fully sixty millions a year. Th European armaments Which were maintained in preparation forth war which now progresses, and whiah, in the minds of many, are responsible for it, nave cost for a long period more than one billion dollars a year. The absence from productive occu-' patlons of men who have been and who will b killed and maimed will tax th whole world, for the men who fight are th beet meh Selected stock. This is another Item Whieh cannot be estimated we oatt Only realize that if we could but begin to estimate it we agaia would find our selves confronted by unimeglnablo totals. If the annual earning power of each of the million men who lost their live on both sides during our Ameri esn Clva war be estimated at the eg. tremely low figure ef $400, the na tion lost by their death $400,000,000 a year. The net deficit la earning power, ' thorefor. has been, apparently, mere thaa $210v,000v000, bat a part Of this must be deducted bscaass tho 49 years weald have seen, naturally, the death, disablement, and superannuation ' of many of these worker. But this sum nay be eat down far more than halt and still more thaa equal the original cost ef th war to th nation. . 18-Karat Cynicism Bimms ' You're a poor sort of a club member. I very seldom see you around at the clubhouse. Tlmms Why, I got around one or twice a week, gimme . Well, look at me I'm tbe;v. every sight. Timm Tea, but you're married, . . u rm single. Small Portion. "Bow did you find that piece of steak. sirT asked the smiling waiter is anticipation of a liberal tip. "I really don't know," said the large man, gazing at his plate; "I Just hap pened to move that little piece of po tato and the steak was under it-" A Slow Audience ' 1 one ' played to an audience In the coliseum at Rome Georgia that It took 40 minutes to get out of tho theatre after the show was over." "Several thousand people In the au dience! suppose?" "No," only one; he was a . cripple" Cxeighton Brothers.