The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-07-02
THE COST OF THE WAR.

The world has shown a great curios-
ity as to the cost Of the late Russo
Japanese war. A partial statement has
been made public from the Russian au'
thorities which places the cost Of the
war considerably under 81 900. 900. 900
This is absolutely an incredible state
ment; for II leaves out very many Items
OF tremendous cost, such as the losses
Of the navy, OF the great city OF Dalny,
on which more than 800. 600 was
spent the part Of the railroad through
Manchuria which was ceded to Japan,
the destruction OF stores and military
supplies. and a large number OF other
items.
The computation Of the wars cost TO
Russia has been undertaken by the
military journal OF Berlin, and we find
a translation of the chief points in It
in the Literary Digest. This Berlin
organ of the general staff OF the Ger
man army computes the money actu-
ally spent by the Russian treasury as
l.677 900. 900 rubles (sS55, ,27o ooO). This
sum, however. does not include the ex-
penses which rise out OF the war, such
as the support and return OF Russian
troops and japanese prisoners: the cost
of these two items being placed a,
405. 375.775 rubles (s206. al $40. The loss
In chips. besides transports and other
auxlllarles, embracing fourteen ships of
the line. three arrnored coast defenders,
seven unprotected cruisers and thirty.
four minor vessels. including torpedo
boats; these naval losses being put at
| 600 rubles (s132. .60o000). This
makes a grand total paid out OF the
Russian treasury OF S1,194, 4,611 .644 And
still the estimate Of loss is not COM
| piete. for 1T leaves out altogether tho
| item of the loss Of the railroad in Man
churia. the building of Dalny. the for
| tifications at Port Arthur, the work on
that harbor, and a large number of
other expenditures which would easily
war at 81, 500. 900, 600 If we add the loss
that will accrue in the handling OF the
| finances and the putting down of do
mestic outbreaks and in strikes and the
| loss Of public property In riots. the
past year. all being results of the war,
| 1t would easily be seen that 81, 900, 0O0-
900 would hardly cover the cost OF the
war and the disturbances arising there
| from.
On the other hand. the German pa
| per referred TO puts Japan's actual ex-
| penses in the war at SO, 155. l14086, not
| Including the loss of warshipe, OF which
no estimate has yet been publicly given.
1t Will be noted that the German au-
thorlty places the expenses OF Japan In
this war at almost three times the cost
| of It to Russia, This ie clearly an
| absurdity, or else an error in the COM
putation OF the figures. 1t Is quite i'm
| possible that Japan's money losses In
| the war could have been as great as
| those Of Russia. AS a matter of fact.
we believe they were but little II any
more than one-half as great. First Of
all, Japan was operating on short lines.
with immediate and close connections.
Again, the supplies for the Japanese
army are far less costly than those
for the Russian army. The rations
comprised chiefly fish and rice, which
| were to be had at a rate aston
ishingly cheap; they could be trans
ported easily and quickly, and 1t Is out
OF the question to suppose that these
supplies could be anything like as cost
ly In price as the supplies for the Rus
sian army, which had to be transport
ed across two continents by rail. The
probability Is that the immediate cost
OF the war, counting everything, was
about 81 500, 600 900 for Russia and about
$500. 900 900 for Japan. We believe that
IL the accounts are ever fully pub
lished these figures Will be found to be
about right.