The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1917-07-06
Ger. Sir William Robertson Gives
Graphic Facts About Pres
emit Struggle.
DEATH TOLL IS APPALLING
British In France Fired 20d.oO0 Tons
OF Ammunition In Five Or Six
Weeks--Aow Transport1tlen
Difficulties Arc Overcome.

son IN a speech recently gave q graph
&c impression OF some Of the txtYaor-
binary aspects Of the present war. II
has become merely trite 10 observe
that the war has now completely over.
? Swallowed every other occupation and
interest In the world. but the extent to
which II has done this Is suggested In
most forcible way by some figures
which General Robertson employed.
In the armies Of all tie belligerents.
he said, there are now 100000 men.
which excludes the great civilian
armies behind the ;.Jat; 10 the Fran
co-prussian war the totL OF oil casual
ties was less than 10000, while In
this war the killed alone can DO count
cd by the million.
During the past Ave or six weeks
we have, suppose" said General Rob
ertson, expended some 10000 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 dozen tines
Great Transportation Task.
Two hundred thousand tons Of am.
munitiOn means rather more than H..
900 carloads az measured by the minih-
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 win promptly make
good the omission. that the mere trans
portation Of this one item Of war sup
plies ut time whom 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 In i par
ticularly delicate and dangerous bust
ness and 1t IL only because Of splendid
Organization and high efficiency among
railroad employees that there have
been No very few accidents and prac~
tically no real disasters AZ 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 OK
the present war with former struggles.
General Robertson was particularly In.
tcresting and impressive. He observed
that the greatest popularity Of the
present war is In the colossal numbers
OF men employed ut the front. As u
matter " fact. he omitted 10 empha-
size his figures by observing that the
great proportion 81 the civil popula'
ton Immediately engaged In work for
the support OF thu army Is quite AZ I'm
prcssiye a peculiarly OF this struggle
A Warfare Of Machinery,
1t Is warfare Of machinery and
mechap lsms, many OF them new and
heretofore almost untricd, These have
required to be produced, TO be tested
nnd to have great bodies OF men
trained for using them.
Comparing the present war with
that II 1870 between Germany and
France, General Robertson observed
that 'tn the 1870 war armies were
counted by tho hundred thousand. and
ut the battle OF Gravelotte. where the
heaviest losses were incurred, the to-
tai casualties were only about 3D."
men on both sides, whila for the whole
war the total casualties Of both sides
were less than half n million.
y "In the present war the killed alone
can b. counted by the million. while
the ttnl number OF men engaged
amounts TO nearly 2i.mNNO, In fact.
this war Is not as In the past. war
merely " opposing armies. but Il war
az nations. and there ~ not today n
man or woman IN the empire who IL
not doing something either 10 help or
II hinder the winning NJ tho war. A
man " great distinction told me the
other day that he estimated the weight
NJ purely military effort ~ only - per
cent ot the whole. the remaining -
per cen, being, strictly speaking. Of n
uormilitary nature, and made up or
nauy elements agrlculturc, food
sh!pptns Diplomacy, etc. think he Is
probably not far wrong and when pt<e
pie ask me, rs they sometimes do, how
the war s getting IA. teN lncl!ne.i
to reply, why ask mel Why not ask
yourself and the repalnier Of the Is
per centr"
AN+es Outnumher Enemy.
General Rotertsou's figure Of "a
ca 40 rs the number Of men actually
engaged In the military operations Ia
probably based On a. Ss,,d Informal ica
rs any man In the world possesses,
The British general staff knows all
about the arynieS 81 the entente coun-
6tes, and knows all tina, enyeo.iy out,
side Berlin and ylenns knows about
those 81 the central powers
He t!in', suggest COW the numbers
are now divided between the TWO sides.
but IL Is very certain that the entente
nations decidedly outweigh their enc
mics IN mere numbers The Gertnau!c
powprs on the other hand, have the
great ADVANTAGE " shorter lines and
easier communications. With Russla
comparatively inactive, II Is not at an
certain that the weight " numbers Is
row very decidedly in fayo- ~ the cs.
tentc p,upleS. Rut the weight Il n3a-