The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-07-05
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.


Swallowed every other occupation ant
interest in the world, but the extent t.
which it has done this is suggested II
a most forcible way by some figure
which General Robertson employed.
In the armies Of all the belligerents
he said, there are now 24,0OO,0OO men
which excludes the great civilian
armies behind the front; in the Fran
cO-Prussian war the total Of all casual
ties was less than 100000, while II
this war the killed alone can be count
ed by the million.
During the past five or six weeks
we have, I 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 man-handled probably not
less than half a dozen times"
. Great Transportation Task.
Two. hundred thousand tons of am
munition means rather more than 49,
600 carloads as measured by the NINA.
ture freight cars commonly loading
about twelve tons that are used IN
England. General Robertson didn't
suggest, but any railroad manager with
whom one talks will promptly make
good the omission, that the mere trans
portation of this one item of war sup
plies at time when freight cars have
been sent to France by the thousand
constitutes terrific drain on the coun.
try's capacity to move things.
To transport ammunition is par
ticularly delicate and dangerous bust
ness and it is only because of splendid
organization and high efficiency among
railroad employees that there have
been so very few accidents and prac'
tically no 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 war is in the colossal numbers
of men employed at 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 popularity of this struggle.
A Warfare Of Machinery.
It 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 war with
that of 1870 between Germany and
France, General Robertson observed
that ''in 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
penon both sides, while for the whole
war the total casualties of both sides
were less than half a million.
'In the present war the killed alone
can be counted by the million, while
the total number Of men engaged
amounts to nearly 24,OOO,O00. In fact,
this war is not, as in the past, a war
merely Of opposing armies, but & war
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 % 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. I think he is
probably not far wrong, and when Qeo-
pie ask me, as they sometimes do, how
the war is getting on, feel inclined
to reply, why ask me? Why not ask
yourself and the remainder of the Is
per cent?"
Allies outnumber Enemy.
General Robertsons figure of a.
100000 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 coun-
tries, and knows all 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 enc
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
certain that the weight Of numbers is
now very decidedly in favor Of the en-
tente peoples. But the weight of ma
chinery is decidedly to their advantage.
In this connection there has been
some intimation in Petrograd recently
Of the possibility that Japan might be
called upOn in some fashion to take a
more active part in the struggle.