The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-02-07
RISKS TOMMY RUNS.
Chances and Misehanees OF the Sol.
dier in Service.

dier IN Service.
Cheer when sou come back, YOU
silly chumps' That's the time TO
! cheer said a cynical sailormau who
was standing OH the deck Of the Cano-
pus next TO me as We were responding
TO the seud-off of the populace when
We were moving away from the jetty
on our way to the Egyptian war in
lSS2
didn't agree with the advice then,
and ! don't think it worth much now,
for If a soldier waits 10 cheer until he
comes back he may not got in a cheer
at all.
What arc a soldiers chances OF pass
ms through the ranks Of cheering
multitude as a returned warrior who
has deserved well Of his fellow-coun-
trymen?
We'll. the chances vary in every
war There are regiments that gen.
cral will not trust in the forefront of
battle owing perhaps, 10 the rawness
81 tho majority Of the men composing
it but more often 10 the fact that the
general has no confidence in the ca
pacity Of the commanding officers. II
is evident that the soldier who serves
DO such a regiment, which is gcncr-
ally employed upon the lines of COM
municatiOn or left 10 garrison the
base. runs much less risk Of being
Killed or dying as the result of Illness
brought on by exhaustion than a man
serving m live regiment that is al
ways in the firing line.
Officers Chances Less.
Again tho chances in favor of a sol
Gier's returning viii vary considerably.
according as he is officer or man. An
officer has much poorer chance u
emerging safe from a war than man
IA the ranks has. I'm the Franco Ger
man war the German officers ran twice
as much risl, of being killed as their
men. aud their chance of being wound
cd was a. three 20 one. The British
oihccr IN the past has run greater risk
Than that, owing to his foolish prac-
tice Of unnecessarily exposing himself;
and even as late as the Bocr war, the
proportion Of officers To men killed was
approximately as one is TO nine, while
The proportion based on equal chances
would have been but 10 one Is to
thirty.
But these figures do not represent
an officers real chance of returning,
because lac has much better prospect
OF escaping death 10y sickness than his
men have, and in war for every man
killed ~ battle many die from sick
ness IN the British army the pro-
portion Of disease to deaths is much
greater than in any other owing to
British campaigns being largely car
RED on In bad climates
But the deaths by bullet would be
grcater--out of all proportion If 1t
were not for the fact that II takes II
terrible lot of ammunition to kill II
soldier
OF all the silly sayings that are cur
rent In the English language, | know
of none moro untrue than the one that
allirms that every bullet has It's billet.
II every bullet fired in war found "a
billet armies would be annihilatcd
very carly ia the proceedings. aud
peace ~ any price" propagandists
would get a much more respectful
hearing than Is the casc at present.
I'm the Crimcsn war. about 1900
rounds of small-arm ammunition AMI
a quarter Of u tom or shot and shell
Wero fred to- account for the downfall
If one soldier.
In the Franco German war. the Ger
mans fired 30.OOo.0O0 ncedle-gun ear
tridgcs ana $4,000 rounds from can
non. The total bag was 1900
F'renclmcn. which gives 600 bullets
aud nearly five shot and shell for every
corpse.
haven't the figures for the Bocr
war. but imagine that they would not
be much different from those last
given. Notwithstanding the great i'm
provemcnt the intervening thirty years
made la soldiers craftsmanship and
w the precision of their rifles.
Against these improvements must be
set the fact that In 1870 soldiers fought
IL, solid masses. whereas they now at
tack In open order. and take advan-
tage of every bit of cover.
II we take the seven biggest wars
of the last century and reduce the cas-
ualtIrs IN them To the terms OF the
betting ring. We arrive at the concln-
sion that In war II Is twenty-five to
one against "a soldier being killed and
twelve To one against his dying of dis
case II we consider the British ar
my by itself, we get the odds against
being killed or dying of disease as
twenty to one and eleven to two re-
Observation-Disclosures Answers.