The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-10
SOME FIGURES ON The WAR.
Queer Statistics Regarding the Army and
some of the Supplies Used.

Ztf,VOO men now the army
OF the United States carry in their belts
more than q. 1000, 600 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 be-
ing allowed to each man. Before long
all OF Uncle Sans soldiers will be pro-
Vlded with this weapon instead of the
archaic Springfield.
Thus equipped, the "a 1000 men now
enlisted would carry 372 tons of bull
lets at their waists; and this makes
reckoning of only the leaden balls. and
not of h cartridges containing them.
Each OF the cartridges is a bit over
three inches long, and if all Of those
contained in the belts Of the soldiers
We're placed end to end they would
stretch 1856 miles. Just think of the
destructive power represented by that
line of cartridgesi
The barrel of one of these regulation
rifles is 30 inches long. If all of them
the U,OOO-were placed end to end. so
as to make a continuous tube, the lat
ter would extend 131 miles. or just
about the distance from Washington to
Philadelphia. But, to render the thing
more striking, consider the fact that
the new rifle will kill a man at AGO
yards. This maks a total effective
range of 692, 500 miles for 277, 900 rifles.
Accordingly, If the velocities of all the
bullets could be combined, three sharp
shooters on the earth would be able to
shoot far enough to kill three men on
the moon.
Each soldiers uniform. with cape
oVercoat, requires ia square yards of
material. Hence it appears that the
cloth used for making war costumes
for the 277, 600 men in the army. if
spread out, would cover just about GA
aprpg ng a litfla wa d. p,.,ara v,;Ia A.
1855 a suit an outfit of uniforms for
all the troops of the United States costs
the government IS, 166, $50, enough to
build furnish and arm the biggest and
finest kind of a battleship, such as the
Oregon.
Most of the volunteers i'm the war
have received only one blanket apiece
from Uncle Sam, though the usual al
lowance is two. These blankets are of
exceptionally fine material, costing
1888 apiece. To provide every man in
the army with one means an expense
of 1922, 4l0. and these pa, 900 blankets
would cover pa acres of ground. They
are seven feet long by five and a half
feet wide. and il is agreed by both Of
fcers and men in the service that bet
ter poker can be played on them than
on any other kind of a cloth.
To make an army shirt of flannel re-
quires three square yards of stuff, and
the government pays $l.95 for the fin
ished garment. Thus ii is easily calcu-
lated that such shirts for all the troops
would come to a total of $40. 600 and
the material for them would spread
over 1I2 acres. More interesting is the
fact that 34,625 calves would be reuuir-
ed 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 9O,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 l47 half tents of the shelter" kline
used in the field. Each two soldiers
have a tent between them, one carry
ing the right a and the other the
left half. Such a tent costs 1897 COM
plete, with jointed pole, etc, the total
expense Of sheltering the entire army
under canvas being $549, S45. Spread out
the canyas needed would cover 272
acres, each half tent having four and
a quarter yards Of material. To pro-
duce the cotton for making all this tent
age would need 1,SS9 acres or nearly
three square miles.
An ordinary canteen holds two quarts.
With all these receptacles filled, the
present army of 277,000 men carries
3,644 hogshead of water. This in fact
rs about equivalent to the daily require
ment of water for the troops. The
quantity would last one man more than
$50 years. Each man has a tin cup that
holds a pint and a half. If all of them
were filled they would contain 2.733
~hogsheads. But soldiers are thirsty
people, and their belt capacity is Won
derful. F~orty-nine inches long, by the
way, is the average cartridge belt, and
2n,O0o OF them put end to end would
stretch PA miles.
One of the most interesting questions
in relation to the fighting problem is
that of transportation. 1t is impossi-
BILE 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 than
200 miles. If it is supposed that the
journey taken by the average enlisted
man was 200 miles. it will appear thai
the total number of miles traversed
was 55, 400, 900. This total represents
more than half the distance from the
earth to the sun, and a paid ticket on
that basis would entitle an individual
soldier To ll5 round trips to the moon.
The war department says that it
costs Is cents a day 10 maintain a SOL
der. This, of course. means simply
the regular rations. Transportation of
provisions means an extra expense and
so ii is reckoned that a fighting man
requires % cents a day for his main
tenance. Now, at this rate, the gov
is Obliged to pay $50, $50 a day
for the food for the 277. 900 men enlist
ed. Each man is entitled TO an allow
ance of 20 ounces Of fresh meat a day,
which means a total Of $40. $50 pounds
for the entire army. OF nour the al
lowance is Is ounces. amounting to
1889 barrels a day for the whole army.
Reckoning things on the same basis.
the army. as at present constituted. Te-
quires l,731 barrels OF potatoes daily,
and for the same period %, 700 pounds
of coffee, 1850 pounds of sugar, 1929
pounds Of salt. 1853 pounds of soap.
1924 pounds OF candles. 692 pounds OF
pepper, and "A ~hogsheads of vinegar.
During the war the Loss 10 the Snnn-