The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-10-28

Some Queer Statistics Regarding the
Army ana some Of the Sup
plies Used.

* Now that the war is over some per-
! sons would likeato know how many
bullets were fred during the conflict,
but since that cannot be .ascertained,
it is striking enough to consider that
the 277000 men now composing the
army of the United States carry in
their cartridge belts more than ,27,-
100000 rifle balls, AT all events they,
would carry that many II all of them
were armed with the new magazine
rifle, commonly known as the Krag-
Jorgensen, 100 cartridges being al
lowed TO each man. Before long all of
Uncle Sans soldiers will be provided
with this weapon instead of the "ar-
chaic" Springfield. \
Thus equipped, the 277,O0O men now
enlisted would carry 372 tons of bull
let's at their waists; and this makes
reckoning of only the leaden balls, and
not of the cartridges containing them.
Each of the cartridges is bit over
three inches long, and if all of those
contained in the belts of the soldiers
were placed end to end they would
stretch 1886 miles. Just think of the
destructive power represented by that
line Of cartridgesl
The barrel of one of these regula-
ton rifles is 80 inches long. Ii all of
them-the 277,000-were placed end
to end, SO as TO make a continuous
tube, the latter would extend 131
miles, or just about the distance from
Washington to Philadelphia. But, to
render the thing more striking, com
slider the fact that the new rifle will
kill man at 4,400 yards. This makes
a total effective range of 692, 500 miles
for PIT, 1000 rifles. Accordingly, if the
velocities of all the bullets could be
combined, three sharpshooters on the
earth would be able to shoot far
enough to kill three men on the moon.
Each soldiers uniform, with cape
overcoat, requires 11A square yards of
material. Hence it appears that the
cloth used for making war costumes
for the 277,0O0 men in the army, if
spread out, would cover just about 644
acres, or little over a square mile.
At $1S65 a suit an outfit of uniforms
for all the troops of the United States
costs the government $5,166,050,
enough to build, furnish and arm the
biggest and finest kind of battleship,
such as the Oregon.
Most of the volunteers in the war
have received only one blanket apiece
from Uncle Sam, though the usual al
lowance is two. These blankets are of
$3.50 apiece. Tc provide every man in
the army with one means an expense
of 1922, ,410 and these 277,000 blankets
would cover 244 acres of ground. They
are seven feet long by five and half
feet wide, and it is agreed by both Off
GERS and men in the service that bet
ter poker can be played on them than
on any other kind of cloth.
To make an army shirt of flannel re-
quires three square yards of stuff, and
the government pays $1.95 for the
finished garment Thus it is easily cal
culated that such shirts for all the
troops would come to total of $780, |
900 and the material for them would
spread over 172 acres. More interest
ing is the fact that 4,625 calves would
be required to furnish leather for the !
shoes of all the regiments, and this
would take no account of the soles and
heels which would have to be supplied
by 90,233 cows. The rubber cloaks for
the army, called "ponchos." would
cost $500, $40, and would cover 143 acres.
One acre of good land yields 375
pounds of cotton, which can be woven
into lat half tents of the shelter"
kind used in the field Each two sol
diers have a tent between them, one
carrying the right half and the other
the left half. Such a tent costs $3.97
complete, with jointed pole, ETC., the
total expense of sheltering the entire
army under canvas being $549,s45
Spread out the canvas needed would
cover 272 aeres, each half tent having
four and three-fourths yards of mate
rial. To produce the cotton for maxi
ing all this tentage would need 1859
acres or nearly three square miles.
An ordinary canteen holds two
quarts. With all these receptacles
filled, the present army of 277oOo men
carries 3,644 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 760 years. Each man has tin
cup that holds pint and half. If all
Of them were filed they would contain
2,733 hogsheads, But soldiers are
thirsty people, and their belt capacity
is wonderful. Forty-nine inches long,