The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-01-09
French General Figures That For
Every Soldier Killed Over $751;
600 Is Expended, Most Of
Which Goes For the Making Of
IProiectiIes - German Siege
Guns Fire Away $1,000 With
Every Shot.

TT has been stated In q certain
American paper that 1t costs
about $4,000 to kill n man In
modern warfare. This figure
seemed to me exaggerated and / de-
termined to Investigate. My research
es have proved that this paper was be-
low, rather than above, the real cost,
says General Percin of the French
army.
The cost Of killing one man in war
h. broadly speaking, the total war
budget Of n country divided by the
total number Of men killed and dis
abled on the other side.
In 1901 France expended In round
figures 500, 00O, 1000. She spent also
e200.O00,000 more rebuilding houses
and forts, giving aid to the victims Of
the war and for other expenses prop
erly included in the expense Of the
war.
France also spent $1.OO0,000,O00 for
The Indemnity and $500. 000,O00 more
Tor interest on this sum, cost Of col
lect1ng It, loss In custom duties, con-
tributions imposed by the enemy and
the support of the German army Of
occupation. But this third class Of
expenses may not occur in all wars,
80 1t may hardly be fairly included in
the cost.
AVERAGE COST OVER $4,000
Here, following the same order of
classification. are some figures Of the
expenses incurred in other vars:
Russo-Turkish war Q877-0: Turks,
100000. Russo-Japanese war Q9O5):
Russians. 5 1,20O.OOO.O0O.
On the other hand, the number of
men killed or who died from their
wounds were respectively as follows:
Franco-German var Germans, 28,-
300; Russo Turkish war, Russians, 49,
COO; Russo-Japanese war, japanese.
b8, 600.
Whence the result appears to be
that for each man killed the cost was:
In 1901. $4,000: In 1878, $4,000: in
1906. $21.5O0.
I expected, when undertaking this
calculation, to find an increasing pro-
gression in cost from 1870 to 1905.
While on the one hand the engines
of war have been perfeced. their price
has risen In full proportion. On the
other hand, progress In the art Of kill
Ing has been matched or surpassed by
progress In the art Of defense, so that
the number of men killed or wounded
In an hours fighting has decreased.
EACH BULLET WORTH 2A CENTS
Five million dollars a day is spent
In powder and ~projectiles alone in the
hard fighting In France.
A rife cartridge costs 21a cents. 1t
takes 1000 such cartridges ON an av-
erage to kill n nan Hence 1t APP
pears that the expense of taking one
soldiers life by this means is $25.
The infantryman goes into battle
with 100 rife cartridges in his belt and
100 more in bandoliers over his shout
ders-220 in all. He can fire ten aim
ed shots a minute. But the great de-
struction OF life in the present "a
seems to be accomplished not by small
arm bullets, but by shrapnel. Shrap-
mel ordinarily is fired from three inch
field guns, and each shot costs $40.
In the battle of Liaoyang. in Man
churia, 12S Russian guns lin the thick
est of the fighting) fired 10S.00O rounds
OF shrapnel at the Japanese In two
days. This Is a matter OF military
record. At $40 a shot this meant an
expenditure of considerably over ST.
100000 for those guns a~lone-only a
fraction of the artillery engaged on
the Russian side.
Roughly estimated. the German ar
tillery comprises about 10000 field
guns and howitzers. The French have
5000 In all. the Russians 10000, the