The times., 1898-09-06
WAR FIGURES.
Queer Statistics of the army and Of
It's Supplies.

It's Supplies.
(From the New York SUM-
NOW that the war is over some per-
sons wouAf like to know how many bull
lets were fired during the conflict. but
since that cannot be ascertained, il is
| striking enough to consider that the
ZnIVO0 men now composing the army of
the United States carry in their car
fridge belts more than II 600, 600 rifle balls
AT all events they would carry that many
IL all or them were armed with the new
magazine rifle, commonly known as the
hras-J 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 "archa-
ic" Springfield
Thus equipped. the 27700O men now en-
listed would carry 372 tons of bullets at
their waists; and this makes reckoning
of only the leaden balls and not of the
cartridges containing them. Each of the
cartridges is a bit over three inches long.
ana II all OF those contained in the belts
OF the soldiers were placed end to end
they would stretch 1866 miles. Just
thlnk or the destructive power repre-
sented by that line of cartridgesi
Inc barrel of one of these regulation
rifles is 80 inches long. If all of them
the "a WO-were placed end to end, so as
would extend 13l miles or lust about the
distance from Washington to Philadel-
pnla But, TO render the thing more
striking, consider the fact that the new
rlIe VIII XIII man at 400 yards This
makes total effective range of e92. 500
miles for 2I7G00 rifles. Accordingly If The
Veiocities of all the bullets could be com
olned, three sharpshooteys on the earth
would be able TO shoot far enough 20
Kill three men on the moon
Each soldiers uniform, with cape over
coat requires eleven and q quarter
square yards of material. Hence II an
pears that the cloth used for making war
costumes for the 277. 600 men in the army
II spread out. would cover just about 64i
acres, or little over a square mile AT
slo.to a suit an outfit of uniforms for all
the troops of the United States costs the
Government s5,1e6. 050 enough 10 build
furnish and arm the biggest and finest
kind of a battleship, such as the Oregon.
Most OF the volunteers in the war have
received only one blanket apiece from
Uncle sam. though the usual allowance
is two These blankets are of exception
ally fine material, costing 1893 apiece.
10 provide every man in the army with
one means an expense Of $922 40 and
these 2170oo blankets would cover "a.
acres of ground. They are seven feet
long and five and one-haf feet wide and
1t Is agreed by both officers and men in
the service that better poker can be
played on them than an any other kind
of a cloth.
To make the army shirt of flannel re-
quires three square yards of stuff and
the Government pays S195 for the fin
ished garment. Thus 1t is easily calcu-
lated that such shirts for all the troops
would come TO total of $4,000 and the
fGri-al f1,- a
acres. More interesting is the fact that
81 .625 calves would be required 10 furnish
leather for the shoes of all the regi-
ments and this would take no account of
the soles and heels which would have 10
be supplied 10y 0233 cows. The rubber
cloaks for the army. called ''ponchos
would cost $3s0,570 and would cover 1i3
acres.
One acre of good land yields 375 pounds
of cotton which can be woven into 147
half tents of the shelter kind used in
the field. Each two soldiers have a tent
between them, one carrying the right half
and the other the left half. Such a tent
costs s3.9T complete, with jointed pole,
etc, the total expense of sheltering the
entire army under canvas being S549, s45.
Spread out the canvas needed would
cover 212 acres, each half tent having 81
yards of material. To produce the cotton
1889 acres, or nearly three square miles.
An ordinary canteen holds two quarts.
With all these receptacles filled. the
present army of 2T 600 men carries 3,64i
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 filled they would con-
tain Q 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,
and 277, 600 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 impossible
to ascertain, even approximately how
many miles were traversed by the army
as whole, or by the average soldier
However it may be said that the average
enlisted man during the present war did
not travel less than 200 miles. If it 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 hah the distance from
the earth to the sun. and a paid ticket on
tnat OASIS WOuIQ eHtllie an liulNiuudl SUI
der to 1l5 round trips TO the moon.
The War Department says that 1t costs
IS cents a day 10 maintain a soldier. This,
of course, means simply the regular ra-
tions. Transportation of provisions means
an extra expense and so it is reckoned
that a fighting man requires p cents
day for his maintenance. Now, at this
rate. the Government is obliged to pay
$40 day for food for the 277,000 men
enlisted. Each man is entitled to an al
lowance of twenty ounces of fresh meat
a day. which means a total of S46, $50
pounds for fl1e entire army. OF flour the
allowance is eighteen ounces, amounting
to 1,5S9 barrels day for the whole army.
Reckoning things on the same basis the
army as at present constituted requires
l731 barrels of potatoes daily, and for the
same period 277e9 pounds of coffee, $50
pounds of sugar, 11,279 pounds of salt,
$3.50 pounds of soap, 4,324 pounds of can
dies, 500 pounds of pepper and Al hogs
heads of vinegar.
During the war the loss to the Span
iards by ships destroyed has been s24, co.,
O0O The cost of the war to the United
States may reach a billion dollars.