Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-09-12
Truth About the Dangers and Risks
OF War Told Accurately as OIL
cial Figures viii Permit.
OF DEATHS
IL SMALL
Advances in Surgery Not Only Save
Life But Wounded Are Made
TO Recover Quickly.

corah and Winneshiek county who
has a son in the army:
War is dangerous. The soldier
risks his life daily. But nothing is
more certain than that the civilian,
stay at home population vastly eXag
gerates the dangers and the risks OF
war.
There have been repeatedly printed
sets Of figures which purported to
show the percentage Of deaths in the
armies OF the allies on the western
front. According TO those tables the
average life of an engineer or sapper
on the battle front was thirty minutes
thirty days of life after reaching the
front; doctors were killed within a
week of going into active service; the
impression was plainly conveyed that
nobody in any branch of the service
could expect,to survive more than
few months on the western line
The figures were false. They were
WICKED. They increased the fear and
suffering Of millions of people who
had sons or other relatives in the uni
form of the United States. II not di-
rect German propaganda, they serve
at least unnecessary to discourage
and alarm the fathers and mothers of
The Truth About Danger.
The truth about the dangers and
risks of war are told in this article,
as accurately as the official figures
will permit.
Canada for example, during the
three years OF war has lost by death
seven out Of every hundred she has
sent to the battle front. In times Of
peace a certain percentage Of men of
military age will die. Deducting that
percentage from the total, it appears
that the direct war loss among the
troops of the dominion has been lit
tie more tnan SIX per cent.
1t is especially noteworthy that
this percentage tends to grow small
Ter with each year of the war. When
in the first winter CT fighting Canada
sent $4,000 practically unframed
troops to the front she lost in that
single season 2,627 men. Consider
how greatly the losses have been re-
duced to bring the total percentage
for three years of constant fighting
down to seven per cent, as against
eight per cent for the first few
months.
Trench Losses Cut.
France, with its vast armies of
nearly 100000 men, has had sim
liar experience. During the first year
OF war it records casualties OF be-
tween five per cent AID six per cent.
Last year these losses were cut down
to two and oIe-quarter per cent For
the last six months of 1916 the per-
centage OF the whole French army
killed, missing, or captured was only
1.2S per cent. about five men out Of
each 400. These are the official
French figures, made public by the
high commissioner of the French re-
public to the United States. They can
be depended on as accurate.
Many more men, OF course, are
wounded. Perhaps one man out OF
four, or % per cent of the total Of
our armies, will receive wound of
greater or less severity if the war
lasts a year longer.
But consider this: OF all the sol
diers wounded in battle the British
surgeons and hospitals are turning
out 80 per cent in such condition that
they can go back to the battle front.
About 80 per cent of the wounded
troops finally recover and only 5 per
cent of them are permanently dis
abled.
Advances In Surgery.
Most startling have been the adj
vances made in the handling and
cure of wounds and in the prevention
of suffering on the part of the wound
ed men. New forms and methods of
alesthesia have been developed and
still other discoveries make more GER
tain and greatly hasten the healing
of gunshot and other wounds.
1t is remarkable that the percen-
tage of deaths from disease among the
troops Of the allied armies is actually
less than it would be among the same
number and kind of men in times OF
peace. In spite of the hardships of
trench life, constant living in the
open air, together with the enforced
physical exercise and the watchful
care of skilled physicians, have re-
duced the percentage of soldiers dy-
ing from disease to little more than