Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-08-06

Icost-staggering and stupendous-
has been more than 100000 men
and more than O,000,0O0,0O0 in
money, according to estimates made
| by the International News Service.
These figures are only an estimate,
however, for it is obviously impos-
sible to get the real figures.
Since men have written down the
records of their fighting and called it
history, their war god, Mars. has
never presided over so colossal an en-
gagement.
Imagine 31,66O,OOO men under
arms, equipped with the most power
full explosives and engines that the
brain of man and the cunning of his
hands have been able to devise, de-
voting all their time and all their en-
ergy and all their combined ingenuity
to the work of destroying themselves
and each others property-imagine
| it, if you can-and you will catch a
semblance of the tremendous strug-
gle.
No Decisive RESULTS.
Eleven nations are at war and
almost all lands are affected, directly
and indirectly. Millions of men have
been killed, wounded or carried to
captivity in hostile countries. Bill
lions of dollars have been expended.
Thousands of square miles of terri
tory have been devastated and hun
dreds of cities and towns laid waste.
Half the world is in mourning for the
dead. And although the war has
been in progress with unexampled
fury for a year the result may be
summarized in one brief sentence:
No decisive results have been achieved
and the end is not in sight.
i Determination to pursue the war
to a decisive ending has been ex-
pressed by high officials of all the bel
Iligerent nations, preparations are
being made for next winters cam
paign, and, in fact, indications from
Europe are that it is more likely to
increase in size rather than decrease.
1t is still an open question whether
Bulgaria, Rohmania or Greece will be
drawn in.
Il In view of the immensely of the
!, struggle, previous standards count
for little in considering the price the
world is paying. The figures involved
are so vast as to convey little mean
ing. The nations at war have poured
out their treasures of men and gold
} without limit. The usual standards
!, OF life have been subordinated OF
disregarded, and in some cases social
industrial and political activities
have been virtually reorganized on a
militaristic basis, to make all con-
tribute to the supreme necessities OF
war.
On the one side are 100000
fighting men who call themselves
allies; and against them are pitted
100000 men, who are the Teutonit
allies, and between them in 365 days
they have succeeded in setting the
world back to the tune of $4,000.
100000.
The sums are so staggering that
the world halts. Fifty billion dol
lars! 1t is four times all the coined
money that the whole world con
tains.
A Few Comparisons.
If minted into $40 gold pieces and
laid side by side on the rails, they
would make two lines of gold on
every railroad between New York and
San Francisco, including the two
Canadian lines. There would be
enough left over to cover both Of the
rails of the trans-Siberian line from
vladivostok to Petrograd. And there
: would be still enough left to rehabil'
itate the whole of Belgium, and then
buy Turkey at it's own valuation and
!, give it to someone as Christmas
gift.
The average American working
man, earning $518 a year. would
? have to work 100000 years to
, pay for this war; or 90,000,00C
American workingmen would have
, to work for one whole year to earn
> the sum.
I 1t is more than the whole esti
t mated value of property in Germany
t $48, 900, and is considerably
l more than the value of the United
States west of the Mississippi river
Z The sum would have paid for thu
I whole of Russian and Italian proper
e ty before the war, $4s,0OO.O0o. ant
r is as great as the combined wealth o
Italy ($13,O00.000,OOo). Japal