The Lamar register., 1891-06-13
THE CAMP FIRE.
WHAT is GOING ON AMONG THE
-. HEROES.
Splendid Record OF Co. E nth Illinois
Csvaiary-An old Veterans Sad sui
cide-The Cost of Late Wars
Tie Eleventh PennsyIvnnIa.
What Wars Cost.

In time OF peace the statisticians
count the cost of wars in men and
money, which does not seem, how
ever to. have any effect whatever in
the way of prevention. The fact is,
neither government nor people want
war in the abstract. though there al
ways exist latent jealousies and ha-
treds aud the desire for advantages
which war alone can bring that rem
der it possible at any moment You
cannot make governments count their
dead beforehand, though it is easy
enough to count them afterward, while
as for the prospective debt, nation
assumes it in advance as coolly as a
farmer places mortgage on his farm.
According to the estimates of
French and German statisticians there
have perished in the wars of the last
thirty years 2,250, 600 men, while
there has been expended to carry
them on no less than the inconceiva-
bic sum of $l3, 900, 600, 600. OF this
amount France has nearly paid S3,-
800, 600, 600 as the cost of the war
with Prussia, while her loss in men
is placed at 155, 600. OF these so, :
600 were killed on the field of battle,
SO. coo died of sickness. accidents or
suicide, and 90 600 in German prisons,
while there died from other causes
enough to bring the number up to the
given aggregate. The sick and
wounded amounted to 477, 421, the
lives OF many thousands of whom
were doubtless shortened by their ILL
ness or injuries. According 20 DIR.
Roth. u German authority. the Ger
mans lost $50, 900 men killed or rem
dered invalid. and 5000, 600 600 in
money. this being the excess of ex-
penditure or OF the material losses
over tie l.250, 600, 600 paid by
France by way of indemnity.
DIR. Engel, another distinguished
German statistician. gives the follow
ing rs the approximate cost Of the
principal wars of the last thirty years:
Crimean war, 50. 900. 600, 900; Italian
war of 1859, $500. 900, 600; Prusso-
Danish war of 1864, s35, OC0, 900; war
OF the rebellion. north. So, 100, 600, 900:
south, 81, 500 coo, 900; Prusso- Austrian
war of 1866. $3.50. 900. 600; Russo
Turkish war. sl25. 600, 600; South
African wars, ss, 40. 600; Afghan war.
SIS. $50 900, Servo Bulgarian war,
sl76, 900, 900. All these wars were
murderous in the extreme. The
Crimean war, in which few battles
were fought. cost $50, 600 lives, only
so, 600 less than were killed or died OF
their wounds, north and south, dur
log the rebellion, The figures, IL
must be remembered. are Ger
man. and might not agree pre-,
cisely v ith American estimates. The
Mexican and Chinese expeditions co It
5000 600. 900 and 90. 600 lives. There
were 250, 600 killed aud mortally
wounded during the Russo-TuriSish
war, and I5. 600 each in the Italian
war OF 1853 and the war between
Prussia and Austria. In the other
wars the loss OF life was relatively
less, which did not make either the
men or money easier to part with in
the more limited areas where they oc,
currcd. And this is but part of the
accounting. since it does not include
shc millions expended during the last
twenty years in maintaining the wal
armameuts Of the European powers,
the losses caused by the stoppage oi
commerce and manufacturers, and the
continual arrangement OF industrie:
by the abstraction from useful em
ployment of so many millions OF per
sons held for period of military
service extending from three to iiv,
years.-Snn Francisco Chronicle.