The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1865-07-03
What the War has Cost.

No one has ever attempted to arrange an
aggregate of the entire losses in life and mon
ey during the late war. In tact the underta.
king is one of no small difficulty, as. in a ma
iority of cases, the estimates must be approx
imasive There is an enormous amount OF
destruction, of which we have the figures for
only a very small portion. We know the
amount of the public debt. and with a toler-
able degree of certainty the number of men
who have been killed. Beyond this all is
subject only to conjecture; and yet, outside
of the public debt and the killed. lies the lar
ger share of what the war has cost as.
careful statistiean at Washington thus
sums up the losses of the south in this matter
of capital:
"They have lost in slave property 81 1000, 900,
600; also FIVE crops OF cotton and rice 81 900 =
900 900; banking capital, $40 900 ,OOO railroads,
In stock and destruction $l24 900 900; tobacco,
grain stock, &C., $500 000, 000-so that their en-
rlre loss of actual capital is 81, 500 900 900, lar
ger sum than the entire federal debt. Add to this
their outstanding Indebtedness, to remain forever
unpaid, of 8, Oo0, 0no, 0o0 and we see an entire
loss and indebtedness of 81, 900 600 900, of the
Confederate States, to Say nothing of the loss of
human life.''
The losses sustained by the south are equal
ly the losses sustained by the whole country.
When to them is added the losses by the
north, the aggregate assumes frightful mag
nitude. The three thousand millions of the
public debt may be charged to the losses in
CURED by the north. 1t is not fair to esti
mate all of this amount as wasted, for some
portion of it has been incurred in the stimula.
ton of legitimate production, and has. there.
fore, to q limited extent, been a benefit But
by far the largest portion of it has been ex.
pended in perishabie matesials, and this is
wasted. All that has been used in the con-
cf n
shot, shell, fertilization. &c., &C., has been
Just SO much taken from the capital of the
country, and may, therefore be set down as
dead loss.
In addition to the amount of actual loss in
volved in the public debt, there are the ex-
penditures of states IN the organization of
troops. The exact amount of this we have no
means of sscertaining but it is not remote
from sixty live TO seventy five millions
Large as is this sum, it falls mach below the
amounts actually expended and the indebted
ness incurred by counties and towns in the
payment of bounties to recruits, and In the
support of the families of soldiers, and in 9TH
er municipal expenditures connected directly
with the war. 1t is q very low estimate to
place the expenditures in this direction at
three hundred millions. This estimate is
based upon the supposition that one million
soldiers and their families have received $500
each from local organizations.
To these expenses must be added the am
cunts given to sanitary fairs. christian CON-
missions, and other charities. CONSIDERING
the number of charitable associations, and
the iberality with which they have been sup |
ported, it will not be exaggeration to est.
mate the amount expended in this direction |
at two hundred millions. There have been |
many other expenses incidental to the war |
which We viii not enumerate. Adding up
those specially mentioned, we find that the |
country-that 10 the United States-has Civ. |
On and shot away and wasted and lost, since