The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-04-03
LOSS OF LIFE IN WAR.
Chicago Timcs-Herald.

Chicago Timcs-Eerad
The civil war cost Sos, 900 lives. or ,bi.
number 9S,osa were slain in battle. TLe VAS,
arm! which suocumbcd TO disease was no less
IMAM isi,sSi' while the remaining so.0OO or so
died of wounds received
AT the battle of Waterloo 81 900 mon woro
Killed or disabled, There we're $4,000 SOL
diers In that great struggle, and II III esti-
mated that one man was either killed or dis
ahied FOR every 400 shots fired, counting both
the artillery and rifle shots.
In tho Crimean war o5,615 lives were sacri-
feed, and at Borodino, when the French aud
Russians fought, 5000 men were left dead on
the battlefield. There were 900 troops In
combat in that engagement.
OF the $685. men who persisted in the
Crimea $4,000 were Turks and Russians. In
1881 great uproar was caused because Eng
lishmen took UP all the skeletons they could
find, brought them to England and converted
the bones into fertilizer IL is said that nearly
the entire $4,000 skeletons of the Turks and
Russians we're thus made into money
Since the birth Of Christ 1000. 900 900 men
have been slain in battle BEFORE the begin
ming of the Christian era the losses can not
be estimated, owing to the very indistinct
and Inaccurate accounts that have been hand
ed down. II is generally conceded, however,
that the numbers said to have participated
.in tbeobattes of tho Greeks and other war
ring nations of the ancient world have been
greatly exaggerated.
At Canea. however where the Romans SUI
fered the worst defeat in their history, 1t Is
said that 5000 OF their soldiers were slain.
Tie Roman army In this t0ttle consisted OF
$4,000 mtn-Athe picked brawp and sincw oil
tie empire.
In the Frat ,o-Prussian war. 1000 French
men were killed. Ths Germans fired }O.oeU.-
600 rifle shots to nttain this result During
the samo war the Germans fired $4,000 aitil-
lcry charges.
In rtne OF the battles mentioned was jyna-
mite used. In the wars of the future this
terrible agent of destruction mist be rcek-
cned on. Men who have studied the mortality
statistics of the past shudder at the thought
OF what may be In store in the wars that are
to come. Only recently has tho use OF dyna-
mite In land warfare been considered sife
for the army using IL. The modern dynamite
gun, however. has seemingly solved the1prUu-
lem, and the men who go tn war hereafter
viii face an agent of destruction beside ThicE
the charges OF Napoleon's old guard were
chid's play.
Even new civilized nations rather shrink
fearful explosive hns been used IN cuba, but
only by the Insurgents. The reports that have
Leea allowed TO pass the Spanish consors hint
at the destruction caused by the new weapon
rather than give the details. The Cubans,
however, claim that the result of shot from
II dynamite gun Is something appalling. At
amy rate, while the truth about the success
of this new agent is rather obscure, enough
is known for soldiers 10 make the prediction
that IL must be figured on as the most tel
rlble thing that has come TO the lront IN con
ncetion with warfare. Some men who have
studied tho progress made With the Zallnskl
air-chafged dynamite gun say that IL VIII
not be long before war vii become all AFFAIR
of extinction. III which tho more exposed
Amy viii be wiped out OF being by means OF
dynamite.
Not long ago writer, whose name is not
made public, but who Is supposed TO be none
other than John nrisben Walker, the vigorous
editor Of the Cosmopolitan, composed ianci-
ful sketch called "A History Of Our Late
War With Spain Il was printed In tho
named 1t sheds wondrous hood
OF light upon what a war OF TO-DAY wouio
mean.