The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-05-23
what Wars Cost.


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 and the desire for advantages
which war alone can bring that rem
der 1t 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 ooolly as a
farmer places a mortgage on his farm.
According to the estimates Of
French and German statisticians there
have persisted in the wars OF the last
thirty years 2,250,000 men, while
there has been expended to carry
them on no less than the inconceiva-
BILE sum Of $13, 000, 900, 900. OF this
amount France has nearly paid 49,
500, 600, 900 as the cost OF the war
with Prussia while her loss in men
is placed at $4,000. OF these 80, :
900 were killed on the field OF battle,
$4,000 died OF sickness, accidents CIR
suicide, and 20, 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 All, 421, the
lives OF many thousands OF whom
were doubtless shortened by their ill
ness or injuries. According TO DIR.
Roth. German authority. the Ger
mans lost $50, 900 men killed or ren-l
dered invalid. AMI 5000, 600, 900 in
money, this being the excess Of ex-
penditure or OF the material losses
over tho $1,250, 100000 paid by
France by way OF indemnity.
DIR. Engel, another distinguished
German statistician, gives the follow
ing as the approximate cost OF the
principal wars OF the last thirty years:
Crimean war. SO, 900. 900, 900; Italian
war OF 1859, $500. 900, 900; Prusso-
Danish war OF 1864, $35, 0C0, 900; war
OF the rebellion. Mouth, IS, 100, 900, 900;
south, 80. 800, 600, 900; Prusso- Austrian
war OF 1866, $3.50. 900, 900; Russo
Turkish war, 1925. 900, 600; South
African wars, sS,77O, 900; Afghan war
$l3, $50, 900, Servo Bulgarian war,
$176, 600, 600. All these wars were
murderous in the extreme. The
Crimean war; in which few battles
were fought, cost $50, 600 lives, only
so, 900 less than were killed or died OF
their wounds, north and south, dur
ing the rebellion, The figures, it
must be remembered. are Ger
man, and might not agree pre-
cisely with American estimates. The
Mexican and Chinese expeditions cost
5000, 600. 600 and IS, 900 lives. There
were $50, 900 killed and MORALLY
wounded during the Russo-Turkish
war. and As, 600 each in the Italian
war OF 1859 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 &C.
Cured. And this is but part of the
accounting, since it does not include
the millions expended during the last
twenty years in maintaining the war
ornaments OF the European powers,
the losses caused by the stoppage OF
commerce and manufacturers, and the
continual arrangement OF industries
by the abstraction from useful en-
ployment OF so many millions OF per-
sons held for period OF military
service extending from three to five
vears.-San Francisco Chronicle.