The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-07
ILLlNC In MODERN WARS.
Is. SLIGHT COMPARED WITH
OTHER DAYS

likes Tons of Missiles to Settle One
Man-The Lack of Result in Pro-
portion to the Enormous Elk
peEditure of Powder and Shot
During the Recent Fighting Is
Astonishing.
rrespondence The St. Paul Globe.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5.-"Give me
lie lighting era of the sword, lance,
pee and battle-axe," remarked a
ember of congress yesterday. The
Ieaker had been reading of the terri
Ne wounds made by the Mauser bullets
the Spaniards, and the frightful eff
Yet OF shell from one of our battle
lips exploding among the sailors of
Ervera's late lamented fleet. When
man went up against another in hand
hand combat" continued the con-
teSsman, The at least had a fighting
bance for his life. But how unfair to
flesh and blood against such death
ealing missiles as the modern shell
bullet
IIhere We're many asserting voices
fnong the group that composed the
Pngressman's audience, but one dis
fnuent spoke UP who had a very de-
Ided opinion to the contrary, and who
tas prepared to support his state
hents with carefully prepared statistics
thlch show that modern battles are far
fss awful. so far as killing is con-
ferned. than were the battles fought in
he brave DAYS of old
1t was pointed out by the champion
Il old-time methods of fighting that
Ehen missiles were employed but lit
te and the contest was decided by
lword-play, the vanquished were gen.
rally almost annihilated and the vic
prs suffered enormously. At Cannae
POGO Romans out of $4,000 were killed
1t Hastings the victorious Normans
psf 10000 out of 10000; at Crecy 80, 600
['renchmen out of 100000 were killed,
Without reckoning the wounded; while
p Bannockburn $4,000 men fought and
5000 were killed.
TONS OF SHOT WASTED.
J Ma better illustration Of the extra
rdlnary amount of metal missiles nee
ssary to kill one man could be given
Man the recent sea fights, in which the
'paniards wasted tons and tons of shot
nd shell and scored no more victims
han could be counted on the fingers
f one hand. What an awful eXpendi-
ure of powder and shot it took to kill
hat one man. on the Brooklyn, and the
title handful of heroes on the Wins,oW.
such fighting seems child's play when
ompared with the wholesale slaughter
If the days when ships grappled on
he waves and armed men poured over
a n lc-ot - ~,
,loodstained decks until ali on one side
Jr the other had gone down or sur
rendered.
| The record of land battles is all the
kame way. The mortality in the Cri-
mean war was very slight when the
humber Of shots fired are remembered.
Il is estimated that the British troops
Fred 100000 shots and killed p 900
russians, or 700 shots for every death.
Fhe French fired $4,000, 900 shots and
killed $1,000 Russians, or 500 shots for
very death, while the Russians fired
tS.OOO,OO0 shots and killed $4,000 of the
sllies. or every cloth shot was success
kuh
In the Italian campaign of 1859 rifles
we're used on both sides, and the num-
per Of casualties at Magenta and Sol
''erino was SO per 1000 combatants
4 The Franco-Prussian war Of 1901
was the first in which breech- loading
lilies were used, and, strange aIs it may
seem. their introduction only corrob-
DRAFTED the foregoing facts that scientif-
&c war is less deadly than natural.
4 STORM OF SHELLS.
Then it is remembered that for hours
Ipur men faced volley after volley of
Mauser bullets and a storm of shells
and shrapnel during the greatest days
lighting around Santiago, it is remark
able that the casualties were so few.
Equally remarkable is the small dam
age to life done during the lombard
iment OF Santiago by the tremendous
guns Of SIMPSONS feet A French
liner goes down in an ocean collision
'aEd more lives are lost than the great
est efforts OF scientific warfare can
account for in a fierce bon.bardment
lasting for hours.
Since gunpowder was invented the
proportion of killed and wounded
among the troops enga ged has been re-
duced from about one-third to between
lOne-foUrth and one-fifth-from $50 pei
1000 to between $50 to 200 per 1000
And the adoption of breech-loadine
rifles diminished 1t to about one-ninth
Gil per LOCO, though that is greater
than the mortality in the Franco-Aus-
TRAN war. Military authorities now
hold that rapidity of fire is more es-
sential to success than range and pre-
c!sion; craftsmanship, indeed, counts
for little in battle, and modern arms
are certainly less deadly than ancient
The old proverb that every bullet has
its billet has given place to the mill
tary maxim that it takes a ton Of shot
ITO kill a man. This applies equally tt
artillery and rifle fire
War does not increase the mortality
among soldiers so greatly as one would
expect. In South Africa in 1879, Ga pei
1000 British soldiers died or We're kill