Arizona republican., 1898-07-26
ONR LOSSES IN CUBA

eastern CuDa mas not DS0H cU1upitlcu
 without great loss of life on both sides,
 especially on that of the enemy; but
 our casualties are by no means large, compared with these of most modern
 battles. We had approximately 20.000
 men engaged before the city on the
 first three days of July, and our losses,
 as reported officially by General Shaf
 ter, were: Killed, 231; wounded, 1,2S3;
 missing, S1, total of 1895. In other
 words, about eight per cent of all our troops engaged were killed, disabled or
 unaccounted for at the close of the
 fighting. General Draper, ambassador
 to Italy, tells a Boston Herald reporter
 that the losses in many of the battles
 of the civil war were much greater in
 comparison that that. At Gettysburg
 for instance, the fed5rals lost 23, 186. or
 twenty-seven per cent, ard the confed-
 crates 22,72S, or thirty-s;x per cent. At
 Chickamauga the, losses were twenty
 five and thirty; at Antietam fourteen
 and sixteen; at Spotsylvania fourteen
 and fifteen; and in many other con ficts the percentages were even higher than the average of these enumerated.
 The same general truth is observable
 in the European battles of modern times. At Sedan, indeed, the French loss approximated forty-two per cent. And in the battles of the last century the casualties were frequently as great in proportion as in those of more recent years. That is an interesting fact, in view of the supposed destructiveness of the modern rife and other improved weapons. One explanation of this ap- parent contradiction is that ''the very ease with which the small caliber re- peater is manipulated turns much of it's destructive ability to waste, for the sol- dier in action is prone to fire as often as he can, and takes less care about his aim than he did with an arm out of which he could not pump lead"
 Our naval victories have been won almost entirely without loss of life. Half a dozen seamen were wounded at Manila and there have bsen perhaps a dozen casualties in the fleet off San tiago. On shore we have lost, as 1 stated, less than 25O killed, and very few of the wounded are expected to die. owing partly to the excellent care they are receiving and partly to the | fact that the Mauser rifles of the en- emy inflicted wounds, as a rule, that disabled but did not terribly mangle the men they hit. That would be ideal warfare, indeed, if such a condition may be imagined, in which a large body of soldiers might be rendered temporarily incapable of bearing arms without suffering permanent injury or Why should we seek to tear an enemy up in such horrid that he cannot ever recover from his wounds? How much better to put him out of the fight for the time being with a mild flesh wound, from which in due season he may bs expected to rally. Nor is this an i'm dream. IL came nearer to being realized at Santiago than ever before, and the experience of that bat tie may set the military experts to de vising some gun which will exceed even the Mauser in gentle efficiency.
 The invasion of Porto Rico, if wisely executed, ought not to cost us very much in the way of human life. If a sufficiently large force is landed there San Juan may be taken after a com paratively bloodless campaign-though there is never any telling about such things. When it comes to the reduc- ticn of Havana there will be different story to tell. General Blanco has used his time to good purpose since the dec laration of war, and that may be the reason why he and his men are so ready to continue the conflict Formid- able Notifications now surround the city on every side, and an attack by di- rect assault could no. be expected to be successful except at a great out pouring of American blood. But even if the losses were much larger than those at Santiago they might still be less than the casualties in many mod ern battles, both in this country and abroad.