The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-22
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
By FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Directers
washington, ID. C.
WHAT THE WAR IS COSTING.

Dendous beyond the power of the hu-
man mind to compass. There has
never been any war in history, or any
other human activity, approaching 1t
in MAGNITUDE To reckon its cost in
men, in materials, or in money is to
impose an almost insupportable strain
on the power of the intellect to COM
prehend or to realize. Nevertheless.
the whole world is thinking of this
cost, and of what it means to the in
diyidual and society. 1t is literally
one of the most Interesting subjects in
the world.
The following estimates do not pre-
tend to absolute authority They are
the result of careful study and re-
search, based on great variety of in
formation. Casualty lists of the bel
ligerent nations, the estimates of their
enemies, financial statements, loans,
statements from official sources both
American and Europea6, and the re-
suits of several unofficial compilations
have been studied in an attempt to
arrive at some reasonably accurate
statement of the totals.
The cost in human life is perhaps
the easiest to set down. When hu-
man life is lost, it can be checked OIL
the list. When dollar is spent, it is
not only necessary to record it's spend
material it buys. When a mans Ia
Dor is taken from industry, it cannot
be set down as a loss without giving
credit for any productive value it may
have in new channel.
The number of men killed in bat
tie has been between 100000 and
100000. Some estimates have put
it at over 100000. Against this death
loss must be set down the number of
deaths which would have occurred in
time of peace among the 55,OOO,OOO
men under arms. As most of these
men have passed some sort of a test
of physical fitness and are compare
lively young, this figure cannot be put
very high. 1t is safe to set the war
loss at more than 100000 men,
Notwithstanding the enormous size
of this total, the actual death rate has
| only been about one man in twenty
| for each year, of the whole number
modified. The figures are large. but
| they are based on the greatest armies
the world has ever seen. Moreover,
the death rate has been falling stead
| lily turnout the war, as methods more
| economical of human life are adopted,
and hospital efficiency increases. The
| well prepared nations lose least. Rus
STA has suffered casualties dispropO1-
tionately large, because in the first
year of the war her troops were sent
to the front poorly supported by artiI-
! lery, and sometimes literally unarmed
On the western front, the French
years, but as England takes over the
! bulk of the fighting, her casualties in
crease and those of France fall off.
| In addition to the dead, the perma-
nently disabled total about $3.50, 600
men. Thus the net loss in men
amounts to about 100000. There
have probably been about 10000, 600
men less seriously wounded, in such
a way that they have either been re-
turned to the front, or able to pur-
sue some useful occupation in civil
life. In scanning reports of the
wounded, it should be remembered
that the impression they give is usual
! ly exaggerated. one man may be
wounded several times. The same ap-
plies to figures of total losses" which
not only include prisoners and missing,
but may also include the same man
several times. He may be reckoned
once or oftener among the wounded,
and again among the prisoners or the
dead.
Some realization of the meaning of
these totals may be CLEANED from the
reflection that the dead and the to-
| tally disabled equal more than half
the able bodied men in the United
States.
The money cost is a vastly more
confusing problem. The total is be-
yond all comparison with any ma
/ tional debts, loans or expenditures of
! the past. AT the beginning of the
war, the cost was $3O.o00,000 a day,
and it was predicted that Europe
could not stand 1t for six months.
Now, well along in the fourth year.
the cost is nearly $175, 100000 day,
/ and there are no signs of a financial
breakdown.
1t has become increasingly evident
that lack of money will never make
any nation surrender. Financial oper-
atoms are fundamentally only meth
DDS of getting at the economic re-
sources. AS long as sufficient econo-
mic resources actually exist, in the
shape of men and munitions, food and
beasts and iron and steel, so long can
the nation in question continue to
make war. In looking for a German
breakdown, the eye should turn moi
toward the absurdly deprecated Ger
man mark, but toward what Ger
many has left in men and food and
steel.
This is because a nation can mort
gage its future. 1t can purchase
Everything in sight, or at least in its
power. When its own credit is gone
it can draw on the credit of its chill
dren thru numberless unborn gener-
atoms In drawing on its own re-
sources, the German empire is in the
position of a man who enters a shop
with empty pockets, to pay for goods
with SISHSu uOlSS pleQSlnS the IdDOl
of his children. 1t is easy to sigr
notes. He can only be>made to stoI
buying when there is nothing left ir
the shop to buy, and the shopkeepel
is in no position to question his credit
Note the less, these debts are real
and will have to be paid, as people
seem apt to forget in the dizziness
bred of dealing in billions. The worlds
debt since the war has increased by
$50, 100000. The total cost ha.
exceeded this figure by at least S15,-
600, 100000, the difference represent.
ing the amount levied in taxes in ex.
cess of the interest requirements.
These staggering, and in fact il
comprehensive, figures are likely Il
. be misleading in both directions II
, the first place, a war loan floated a
home does not mean a financial ex