The evening times., 1898-09-08

ouires three square yards of stuff, and
The Government pays $.95 for the nm
ished garment. Thus II is easily calcu-
lated that such shirts for all the troops
would come TO a total of $4,000 and the
material for them would spread over 172
acres More interesting is the fact that
81 625 calves would be required to furnish
leather for the shoes Of all the regl-
ments. and this would take no account Of
the soles and heels which would have TO
be supplied by 90 233 cows. The rubber
c!oaks for the army. called ''ponchos.
would cost s390.5I0. and would cover li3
acres.
one acre Of good land yields 375 pounds
of cotton. which can be woven into 14I
half tents OF the shelter kind used in
the field Each two soldiers have tent
between them one carrying the right half
and the other the left half. Such tent
costs sS.97 complete, with jOinted pole,
etc, the total expense of sheltering the
entire army under canvas being s5i9, si5.
Spread out the canvas needed would
cover 272 acres. each half tent having 4 @-i
yards OF material. To produce the cotton
for making all this tentage would need
lSS9 acres or nearly three square miles.
An ordinary canteen holds two quarts.
With all these receptacles filled, the
present army of 81 900 men carries 3,6i4
hogsheads of water. This in fact, Is
about equivalent TO the daily requirement
OF water for the troops The quantity
would last one man more than seven
hundred and sixty years. Each man has
a tin cup that holds pint and half. If
all of them were filed they would con-
tain 3 733 hogsheads. But soldiers are
thirsty people, and their belt capacity Is
wonderful. FOrty-nine inches long. by
the way. is the average cartridge belt,
of mt aDd n end would
stretch PA miles.
One of the most interesting questions
in relation TO the fighting problem IS
that Of transportation. II IS iuposs bic
to ascertain. even approximately, how
many miles were traversed by the army
as a whole or by the average soldier.
However II may be said that the average
enlisted man during the present war did
not travel less ,han 2o0 miles II II be
supposed that the journey taken by the
average enlisted man was 200 miles, II
will appear that the total number of miles
traversed was 50 400 900. This total rep
resents more than half the distance from
the earth 10 the sun and a paid ticket on
that basis would entitle an individual sol
Her TO lI5 round trips 10 the moon.
The War Department says that II costs
IL cents a day to maintain a soldier. This,
Of course. means simply the regular ra-
tions Transportation of provisions means
an extra expense and so 1t Is reckoned
that a lighting man requires - cents a
day for his maintenance. Now. at this
rate. the Government - Obliged 10 pay
sN go a day for food for the :1Le0 men
enlisted. Each man is entitled 10 an al
lowance OF twenty ounces of fresh meat
a day. which means a total of $500
pounds for the entire army. OF -four the
allowance Is eighteen ounces. amounting
to /. sSs barrels day for the whole army
Reckoning things on the same basis, the
army as at present constituted requires
f.7si barrels Of potatoes daiy, and for the
sane period 27,7oo pounds Of coffee. 1850
pounds of sugar ll,279 pounds of salt
5.e3s pounds Of soap. 4.32i pounds of can
dies. coz pounds of pepper and "A hogs
heads of vinegar.
During the war the loss to the Span
iards by ships destroyed has been S24.Goo.-
90. The cost of the war TO the United
States may reach a billion dollars.