The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-06-29
Gen, Sir William Robertson Gives
Graphic Facts About Pres.
ent Struggle.
DEATH TOLL IS APPALLING
British in France Fired 100000 Tons
Of Ammunition In Five or Six
Weeks-How Transportation
Difficulties Are Overcome.

London.-Gen. Sir William Robert
son In a speech recently gave a graph
ic impression Of some Of the extraor-
binary aspects Of the present war. 1t
has become merely trite to observe
hat the war has now completely over
Swallowed every other occupation and
interest in the world, but the extent to
which it has lone this is suggested in
Il most forcible way by some figures
which General Robertson employed.
In the armies of all the belligerents,
he said, there are now 24,OOO,OOO men,
which excludes the great civilian
armies behind the front in the Fran
c~o-prusSian war thu total of all casual
ties was less than 100000, while in
this war the killed alone can be cunt
ed by tire million.
During the past five or six weeks
We have, | suppose said General Rob
ertson, expended some 100000 tons of
ammunition, which has had to be
moved by road, rail and sea from the
factories in England to the guns In
France and m~an-handled probably not
less than half a dozen times"
Great Transportation Task.
Two hundred thousand tons of am
munition means rather more than 49,
900 carloads as measured by the minia-
ture freight cars commonly loadinI
about twelve tons that are used IL
England. General Robertson ditn't
suggest, but any railroad manager with
whom one talks will promptly make
good the omission, that the mere trans
portation of this M item of war sup
plies at Il time when freight ears have
been sent to France by the thousand
constitutes a terrific drain on the coun-
try's capacity to move things.
TO transport ammunition is q par
ticularly delicate and dangerous bust
ness and 1t is only because of splendid
organization and high efficiency among
railroad employees that there have
peer SO very few accidents and prac-
tically nc real disasters as incidents to
this service. General Robertson paid
a special tribute to the men who have
organized and carried on this branch
of war work.
Comparing the scale and scope of
the present war with former struggles,
General Robertson was particularly In
teresting and impressive. He observed
that the greatest popularity OF the
present var is in the colossal numbers
of men employed ut the front. AS a
matter Of fact, he omitted to empha-
size his figures by observing that the
great proportion of the civil popula-
ton Immediately engaged In work for
the support of the army is quite as i'm
pressive a popularity Of this struggle.
A Warfare Of Machinery.
1t is a warfare of machinery and
mechanisms, many of them new and
heretofore almost untried. These have
required to be produced, to be tested
and to have great bodies Of men
trained for using them.
Comparing the present wal with
that Of 1870 between Germany and
France, General Robertson observed
that Sin the 1870 war armies were
counted by the hundred thousand, and
at the battle Of Gravelotte, where the
heaviest losses were incurred, the to-
tai casualties were only about $4,000
men on both sides, while for the whole
war the total casualties Of both sides
were less han half a million.
In the present war the killed alone
can be counted by the million, while
the total number Of men engaged
~ -, ~, o. n00 ON tn fon<
this war is not, as In the past, a war
merely Of opposing armies, but q wal
Of nations, and there is not today a
man or woman in the empire who Is
not doing something either to help or
to hinder the winning Of the war. A
man of great distinction told me the
other day that he estimated the weight
of purely military effort at only 25 per
cent Of the whole, the remaining Is
per cent being. strictly speaking, Of a
nonmilitary nature, and made up of
many Observation-Disclosures, food,
shipping, diplomacy, etc. l think he Is
probably not far wrong, md when peO-
pie ask me, as they sometimes do. how
the war is getting on, l feel inclined
to reply, why ask me? Why not ask
yourself and the remainder Of the IS
per cent?"
Allies Outnumber Enemy.
General Robertson's figure Of "a
600, 600 as the number Of men actually
engaged in the military operations IS
probably based on as good information
as any man in the world possesses.
The British general staff knows all
about the armies of the entente cou
tries, and knows oil that anybody out
side Berlin and Vienna knows about
those OF the central powers.
He didn't suggest how the numbers
are now divided between the two sides,
but it is very certain that the entente
nations decidedly outweigh their ene-
mics in mere numbers. The Germanic
powers on the other hand, have the
great advantage of shorter lines and
easier communications. With Russia
comparatively inactive, it Is not at all
cortoin that tho weigh Of numbers is