The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-19
WAR ECHOES

Martin Marshall in Leslies: Some ldea
 of the enormous number of men killed can
 be gathered from statement made py
 GaIacian priest who saw the clearing or
 battlefield in Galicia- after conflict be-
 tween Russian and Austrian troops which
 lasted for hours. He reports the number bof dead buried in a grave four miles
 long at, about 4o.00o This Is only one
 days slaughter on part of. one of three
 battle lines. A writer in the American
 Underwater recently estimated the num-
 Der of men who would be killed in battle
 if the present war lasts 12 months to
 be at least 540,000. This is exclusive of
 those. permanently crippled, but includes
 those who die from disease. This esti-
 mate is based on the ratio of deaths to
 the total number of men in the war be-
 tween the states, Franco-Prussian war.
 Boer was, and the .Russo-Japanese war.
 As an officer of mathematical turn of
 mind has calculated from statistics that 1t
 requires 5S6O bullets to kill one soldier, or
 about 16s pounds, it is easy to estimate
 the amount of missiles that will be used in
 disposing of the 00O0 soldiers that the
 statistician above quoted has doomed to death. That only one bullet out of 6s6o
 should cause a fatality seems almost in- credible until we remember the condi- tions under which fighting is now done Long range. rifles have undoubted mili- tary value, but they do not tend to in- crease the standard of marksmanship. and more execution was done with the smooth bore muskets of Napoleons time than by the highly efficient Mausers of today Le- cause the firing was formerly at close range. whereas now a great deal of 1t is done at a range of more than one mile, Emile vandervelde in the January Metropolitan: The forces that came into collision on the plains of Belgium in Au- gust, 1914 represents two opposite types of military organization. The German
 army Is the army of monarchy. It fears l God, It's Emperor, it's officers, and It's subalterns. It fears the Emperor more than God, it's officers more than the Elm peror, it's subalterns more than its of ficers. It has all the advantages of the
 most careful, detailed preparation, of ex- acting military drill and discipline. It is | marvellous machine. But it is a ma
 chine. The Belgian army on the contrary | is, and will be more and more, the army l of democracy As a machine, it Is man. | ifestly greatly inferior to the German
 army. It's drill Is not so thorough. It's officers, lacking the means to inspire the | fear with which the German officers in- | spire the rank and file, are obliged to make themselves beloved. The indiyid-
 uals composing it have not been trans
 formed into automatons; and if one were | to try to make them march as the Ger man soldiers are made to march, they would probably not fight nearly so we..
 as the Germans. But when they saw
 their territory invaded, their families and
 belongings threatened, when they knew l they were defending both the indepen-
 dence of their country and the cause of | liberty in Europe, they fought with fran l tic energy They battled for themselves, | not for others. They put all their in- telligence and devotion at the service of l their country. This is the secret of their l glorious resistance This and nothing else