The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-15
uGHTEsT WAR DEATH TOLL.
Statistics Which Show Trencii Fighting
Far From Slaughter.

North American Review: As q con
sequence of ignorance of :he facts and
unceasing mouthings Of traitors ard
pacifists. trench fighting" has come
To he regarded as virtually synoLymCus
with slaughter" and the impression n"s
been strengthened materially by per.
sonal tales OF minor engagement mnd-
vivid by ghastly pictures. The trutn Il
that the death toll exacted By modern
warfare Is immeasurably smaller than
ever before in history and has decreased
steadily since the fighting began.
Innumerabe comparisons NIGH. be
cited from the days of Alexander IN
substantiation of this assertion. but
few will suffice. In the charge Of the
Light Brigade ll3 were killed and lSi
wounded out OF 674. or 36.7 per cent.
In our own Civil war the Ninth Illinois
lost at Shiloh 63.3 per cent the First
Minnesota at Gettysburg So per cent.
and the Sixty.Ninth New York 1000
out OF 1,2O0. in twenty minutes. Even
the Prussians' sacrifice of the Third
Westphalian regiment at Mars Ia Tour,
in 1871, ]. l.4Sl men out of 5000 or i9.4
per cent.
Similar losses We're experienced. es-
pecially by the inefficiently officered
British, in the early engagements of
the present war, but in open fighting.
not in trenches. Later. too, as we noted
last month, the splendid Canadians left
500 out of 500 on the field. in conse.
quence Of an unrescinded order. by
way Of contrast we are indebted to Sir
Charles Ross for statement of the
casualties at the recent battle OF Mes
sines as follows: Total number of men
engaged, 2S0.O00; total casualties less
than Q per cent; total fatalities less
than one in seven of total casualties.
Reported from the same authoritative
source of another recent battle: Engaged
First line 100000; second line 100000;
casualties: Walking 5000; stretcher
900: killed and wholly disabled 400.
These of course, We're single engage
ments. and can be regarded only as
illustrative. But take the percentage
of casualties in the entire French army
in proportion to mobilized strength. with
this result:
Battles of Charleroi and of the Marne,
Sal: first six months of 1915. 2.S9 sec
ond six months of 1915, 1.6S, first six
months OF 1916 1.47; second six months
of 1916 1.2S.
These figures, taken when the casual
ties were greatest in proportion To mo-
bilized strength and combined with the
highest proportion of deaths, show loss
es due to deaths from wounds and killed
in action to be approximately IL In ev-
cry 1000 of mobiliZed strength. Ac-
cording to the figures presented by the
French high commissioner in his letter
to the secretary of war. the high water
mark of casualties in the French army
was reached early in the war-at the
battles of Charleroi and the Marne. The
casualties I'm that period were 5.41 per
cent OF the mobilized strength. or 81
men in every 10000 with the colors.
Military experts in this country agree
that the killed i'm action and died of
wounds have never at any time in this
war exceeded 20 per cent of the total
casualties. This gives "a figure of lOS.2
from the causes in every lo,-
300 mobilized strength; or practically
/ men killed in action or died of wounds
for every / 1000 with the eolors "A ratio
Of IL per cent.
To say. as we used To say of crossing
the Atlantic. that fighting in Franco as
now conducted is safer than crossing
would seem absurd: and Vet /
the concrete fact is that If the perc mt
age of American fatalities, in an army
Of 100000, in 1918, should not exceed
that of the French last year. moe
viii perish from Intentional
and accidental use Of firearms in the
United States than in Europe.