Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-11-08
By FRANK H. SIM0MDs.
NU OF "THE GREAT VAR"
Copyright. 1916-The Tribune Assn
(The New York Tribune.)

IS lGNt ENSS "
(The New York Tribune.)
Many times in recent months L have
been asked to give IN this saturday
article an estimate OF the total losses
OF tie various nations at war. Such
an estimate necessarily must be based
on Il very large Number of different and
even contradictory assertions made by
the various press agencies of the ma
toms al war. They will be the result OF
ca~lcuiatinns. many Of them too in
tilcate to explain III detals. ! am, there
tore. going 10 present my estimate as
representing The best guess that L can
make from the information ! ave been
able TO get hold oil, to support such por-
tons OF the statements / make as !
aan support by evidence and let the
rest stand, with the express under
standing ttlat ii represents Il personal
conclusion.
AZ the outset we have one interest
inS piece Of evidence supplied by the
compilation made by British officials
u the German official lists, compila-
ions confirmed by similar research
made IN neutral countries like Holland
and Denmark, and never denied, so far
rs know by The German government.
~ represents the addition of the vari-
'uS casualty lists that have been post
I'd by the German government since
She war began.
Iae last list of which ! know brought
he total up TO 3,550,00o, of which some
10000 stood for deaths, 10000 for
missing and captured. and the balance
or the wounded, who remained in Ger
nan INES. We can say without debate
hat the men killed, captured and miss
!ng are permanent /: lost to Germany.
But, III addition, ne fraction of the
men who have been wounded will be
unable 10 return to the firing line. /
am tod by a friend lately returned from
p nrtl N ~ fInt So D-.r. .:- r.--- -
set down at 10 per cent of the gross
numhe of wounded, that is, in the case
Of the present list, 225. 900.
Roughly speaking, then. we may say
that of the $3.50. 600 Germans, whose
names appear on the casualty list, $780,
QUO. or ~ per cent, are dead; $50, 600, or
~ per cent. are captured or missing;
225.o0o. or 6.S per cent. are permanently
disabled. And the sum of these per-
centages 3 exactly so per cent of the
total oas-.tity list. when there is added
the per cent which represents the
oundc who at m given
will not he fit for duty because they
This last element is technically de-
scrlbed as the permanent temporary
loss.
Now it is generally agreed among all
neutra! observers that the German lists
are somewhat behind the fact. This is
PSN" W SioSS WHO nave taken the
trouble to examine these lists. They
discover that the lists of September.
Tor example. will still be carrying the
names Of men who were killed.
wounded or captured way back in the
opening days On the Verdun operation.
we get some notion OF the actual stu
alton from statements of the total of
French casualties, which are certainly
not IN excess. proportionately, of the
German, regard being had for the per-
iods OF quiet in the west, during which
the Germans have been carrying on
major operations on other fronts. If
France. with a population OF 40, 00O. 600,
has made a loss of 2,500. 900, Germany,
with a population of above 65, OO0, 600,
can hardly have escaped with q total
casualty list of less han 1000, 900, a
figure, somewhat. but not very greatly
In excess of the official German state
n.ent Of $3.50. 600. Even this figure
comedies a somewhat greater proper
Tomato loss for the French. which is a
matter cpen for conjecture and debate
and sire to be challenged by French
and British commentators.
But accepting the figure we have set
forth, namely 100000 for the Ger
mans and similarly the $500. 900 for
the French, we are able to make some
sort Of statement for all the combat
ants. These estimates / am now GO
ing to put forth in tabular form and
then discuss.
rfan 9 2, so, 600
Great Britain 10000
Central Powers
Germany 1900. COO
kAuklIi 4 nlo nm