The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-09-21
THE COST Of killing
War Grows More Expensive
But Fewer Are Slaughtered
HAS BECOME A SCIENCE

Bloooiest Contests Of the Century
One English King Prevented
from Waging War Because He
Was over 100000 in Debt.
1t costs far more to kill a man In
modern than it did in ancient warfare.
According to the best authorities Of
Russia and Japan, the conflict recently
ended involved a total cost Of 1500,-
100000 OF this the Russians suffered
loss approximately $1,000 900 900 and
the japanese $500, 900. 900. The Russian
casualties amounted to 400, 900 and the
japanese to 100000 men, says the New
York Tribune.
II may be estimated, therefore, that
every man who fell on either side in the
recent struggle for supremacy in the
far east represented an expenditure OF
s2.5O0. 1t cost s1,225 to vanquish one
Russian, and Russia had to spend s5,-
600 to overwhelm one japanese.
Although more money is spent today
in war than in olden times, yet fewer
are killed. The great guns Of modern
invention, costing thousands of dollars
fire, and the battleships. representing
expenditures of from $4,000, 900 to S5.-
100000 each, are less destructive to hui
man life than the spears and arrows Of
the ancients. At the same time that
men have devised more powerful en-
gines Of warfare. they have gone still
further IN inyeEting more nearly in
vulnerable methods Of defense.
Some Of the great battles and wars
Of the last century seemed bloodier
than they actually were in comparison.
The battle Of Waterloo was one Of the
bloodiest of the contests Of the century.
OF those who fought under WellingtQS
and Napoleon in this battle, 35.s pei
cent gave up their lives or were wound
cd. The battle Of Leipsic ranked next,
with 20 per cent Of casualties. On tho
field Of Gettysburg the percentage waa
20.6. Judging, by percentages, the bat.
tie Of Moukden in the recent war vas
bloodier than any of these. Its per-
centage Of casualties was 1868. Taking
some Of the recent wars as a whole, tho
percentages have been: American civil
war, Ga; Franco-Prussian war, 10,7;
Boer war, l9
A comparison Of the cost of providing
a gun and firing Il, as it has grown
within the last century, gives a good
impression as to the increase in tho
cost of warfare. 1t is said that in the
time Of the war for the overthrow OF
Napoleon Bonaparte, when solid shot
were used, a 32-pound ball cost only
five shillings, or Sl25. At the time OF
the Crimean war, in the SOS, these had
been replaced by 32-pound shells. The
shells cost, ready filled fer firing, s..
The charge OF powder and wadding cos!
So more A GS-pound shell, powder
etc, cost $3.50 The cannons weighed
from three TO five tons, and cost from
1925 to s47j each. 4 12-inch gun, an
inches larger than the great howitzero
used by the japanese at Port Arthur,
costs the United states government
sl1 900. 1t weighs from "a TO 60 tons,
and each time ii Is fired the treasury
is mulcted of $40, or the cost of a can
non less than 80 years ago.
That war relatively cost less in the
middle ages than today is indicated by
the fact that one English king was pre-
vented from going to war because he
was debtor for S2,50O,000 and could
borrow no more.
Two or three centuries ago it was
discovered that money for warfare
could be secured more easily and in
larger quantities by bonding the nation
for it and taxing the people to pay the
interest Wars began to cost more. In
less than 300 years, Great Britain has
spent on warfare $6,795, 100000. The
revolution Of 1858 cost sl55, 000, 900; the
War Of the Spanish Succession, $780,
100000; the Spanish war, 1926, 200 900;
the Seven Years War, $685., 900, 900; the
American War Of Revolution, s725, ,000,-
600; the war of the French revolution,
s23G0 600 90; the war against Napoleon,
$2,930, 100000. The Boer war cost Great
Britain in cash more than 100000, 900.
It Is estimated that the wars of the
nineteenth century cost the world Sl7,-
922 100000.
The debts of the chief nations of the
earth aggregate more than s34,00O,000,-
900. 1t is believed that three-fourths
Of this sum was swallowed up in war
fare and preparations for ii. Nearly all
the sum represented by the debts Of
Great Britain, France and Germany
was spent for warfare. These countries
are spending annually in interest on
their debts nearly s29O,OOO,OOO.
The Hotel on Wheels.