Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-07-18

one side from the other, the proT orion
Of these cannon that had become
utterly useless at the end Of the war
was very large. Many were worn out
with use; others were made unserYice-
able by the shot of the enemy; some
went to the bottom of the ocean in
fierce naval conflicts. Hundreds more
of them are now rusting and spelling
inactive, worthless but for old iron.
It was the same with the smalI-arms.
The combined works of America and
Europe could but Just supply the de-
mand of our armies-the armies of
both sides. of cOurse-with rihed mus
kets. There was the most lavish use
Of this weapon, and always a large call
for its replacement After any good
sized battle, wagon-loads of muskets
were picked up on the field, broken,
bent. and injured beyond repair, and
with them all kinds of accOuterments
-knapsacks, haversacks, canteens,
cartridge -bOXes, p-pouches-a large
percentage of which were unfit for re
pair. The actual cost Of all this can
never be known; it would be astOnish
ing if it could be.
Sometimes, as at Savage Station on
the peninsula, the movements Of the
armies compelled the voluntary de-
structiOn of vast amounts Of supplies
of all kinds. The case cited was but
one, although perhaps the largest, Of
this kind of destruction. The aggre-
gate might be counted in millions of
dollars.
All such items of lavish expenditure,
as khas been observed, may be counted
in with the war-debt contracted by
each side. However great the loss in
this respect, it was always replaced, so
far as necessary, by the government
that sustained it, and charged up to
the vast account Of war-indebtedness
But one class of losses there was,
mainly private ones, of which no exact
statement can ever be made. History
has very ittle-tOO little-tO say about
them, and as time goes on, the facts
will only be known in the way of ira
ditiOn. I refer to the destruction of
private property, sometimes of public
buildings, wherever the armies moved
The actual value of what was thus de-
stroyed would make a figure simply
amazing. I verify believe that, could
it be stated, it would be a very re
spectacle companion to the Union ma
tional debt.
Neither cOndemning nor approving
anybody for the confagrati0ns that
marked the track of both Union and
Confederate armies, never inQuiring
whether there was or was not military
necessity in the acts, it is simply ap-
paling to try to take the measure Of
this devastation by the torch The
burned hOmesteads Of the people of the
Red River country, of Georgia, Of the
Carolinas, and the confagration Of
mills and barns in the Shenandoah
Valley, upon one side; the burning of
Chambersburg and LeavenwOrth, and
similar destruction in Maryland, upon
the other, exemplify not only the hor-
rOrs Of war, but show us its enforced
losses in lurid letters. And all this, be
it remembered. was private loss; the
total wiping out Of so much value, for
which no compensation will ever be
made.
Irepeat, that no people, fancying in
advance that they have a cause for
war, will ever pause to consider these
things. Yet the people should know
and none are better qualified than the
soldiers to tell them-not only of the
horrors but also of the prodigioua waste
Of ware hicagO Ledger.