Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-09-27
The Cost os war.

Inere mas Deen u Scteidi iIiIb csoioh'
erroneous, to be sure, that Uncle Sans
battle month is April and that he has
always begun his scraps with his neigh
Dor during the month Of showers. This
is not a fact, although the Revolution
started April 10, 1775, the Black Hawk
War April 81, 1881, and the rebellion
April 10, 1861, although really the first
blood shed was in h streets of Balti-
more, when the 9th Massachusetts en-
countered the mob April 10, while en-
route from the Hub to the capital.
Some comparison of the -umber OF men
and the cost Of t=ese various struggles
serve to show the growth Of the coun-
try.
The revolution cost in III num-
bers, according to the best estimate OBJ
tainable, $135, 1913, 7O3, and in this strug-
gle, which lasted within eight days of
eight years, there were employed, u
ing the whole time, 294, 791 men, divid-
ed as follows: Regulars, 130,711:
militia and volunteers, 1854, 1850. No
accurate figures, as to the number of
men lost, can be obtained. h first
battle was at Lexington and Concord,
and the cessation Of hostilities came
April II, 17S3..s rss Eh'A ga.
The next time that your Uncle
Samuel had occasion to call upon his
boys to show the stuff they were made
of, came in 1872, wal being declared
by the president June Is of that year.
While there had been no battle fought
previous to the declaration Of hostil-
tiles, yet Great Britain had angered
the young nation by insisting on its
claimed right to impress into the Brit
ish navy the former subjects of Great
Britain, wherever found. This war
closed on February 1, 1915. There
were engaged in the strife a total force
of 471,622 men, of whom only about
$4,000 were regular soldiers and sea-
mep. the rest being volunteers. This
war of nearly three years cost in round
numbers $1O7, 10000.
The next could hardly be called a
war, although it is designated in his
tory as the Black Hawk War. There
is no data preserved by which an &C.
curate estimate could be given either
as to the cost or the number of men
engaged. The war lasted a little over
a year, beginning in April, 1881, n
ending September 80, 1882. The Semi
mole war is hardly worth the name of
more than a series of scrimmages.
1t was fifteen years after the out
break with the Black Hawk Indians
that the American eagle again became
war-like and plumed itself for battle.
President Polk notified Congress, in
May, 1916, that less than a month be-
fore a small detachment of United
States troops had been captured by the
MeNicans. Congress at once declared
war, and authorized the president to
raise an army Of $4,000 men and to
spend 100000. From the best rec
ords obtainable in the War Depart
ment, it is shown that the United
States put into the field an army of
30,94 regulars and 1916 volunteers.
This war, which ended in 1S4S, cost
about 100000 200.
The great struggle, which came in
1S61-65, was the mos expensive the
country ever saw, both from its cost
in priceless human life and in the
money spent. Reckoned as a whole,
the country spent for this war no less
than $7,4OO,OOO,OOO, Of which the
North expended $5,1oO,O00,O 1000, and the
devoted people OF the South the bal
ance in UNFOLDING a hopeless cause.
1t is estimated that during the whole
of the war, Uncle Sans boys numbered
altogether 2,O1S,2OO men, but the num-
Der Of men which the South put into
the field could only be estimated, at
best. The losses sustained by the
armies in the wal Of the rebellion
have been stated as high as 100000
men, but ex-Deputy Commissioner OF
Patents Bell states that this is greatly
exaggerated, as the best figures obtain
able show the total losses did not ex-
coed 1O1,5OO. In citing instances of
exaggeration he said it was claimed
that at Gettysburg something like 49,
600 men were lost, while, as a matter
Of fact, in that three days fight the
union forces had killed 1854 men and
the Confederates $500 men. The battle
of the Wilderness, according to this
authority, had much greater fatalities
as the union loss then was 5,597 and
the Confederate loss about 1000. Thus
it can be seen that Uncle Sam alto
gether has spent for wars $7,742,352,
7O6, and has put into the field In vari
Gus ways a total of 2,9S6,16S men
armed and equipped for fighting, not
counting the Indian affairs.
4 I"H#. ~
Worth
English locomotives which were bull
In tho vear 1919 are still used Of