The Washington times., 1917-12-16
Of MEN
HAS REDUCED
WAR FORCES
I. NEARLY HALF

-
Hoz nay GarmAnY be beaten p
RS1u the Scientific American
Il answers its own question by e1
Slsining that military men and civil
tnns who have been able to maintain
q true perspective have agreed shat
the backbone OF German resistance
Will be broken when the wastage OF
nhn-power-ri6e-be man-powST
-has reached q point where It IL no
longer possible to man the battle
tront IN sufficient strength to hold
back the enemy"
With Germany whipped, the central
powers would be through with the
nEht- Today Germany has practical
~ all OF her armies on the western
front She does not lack food, mu-
ntt1ons, o money. Four years OF
warning has proved that her success
Lonly menacsd by man-shortage.
The ultimate arrival at the end OF
SnAn-power - . mere question Of
mathsmatics the trticle declares, and
continues:
ITO no one are these faets-so we'll
known as to the German stan: and
no part OF the German propaganda
has been SO cleverly handled as that
which is designed to camounags
fhat human cistern, the contents OF
which have bean drained away go
swiftly as the war hss run its course.
The German Answer.
Look at the map cries Won Hoil-
veg.
- Look at the cistsrn,' we snsweri
nd with our eyes on that annual
l1'8s OF one and a quarter million Ger
DAn fighting men who will never
arain shoulder a rife, we care very
4ttle whether the bloodletting be done
q little to the east or q little to
ths west OF a line traced on q map.
l-''As to the bankruptcy of Germany,
- can never happen so long as the
Kaiser has q printing press to turn
cut q cataract of paper money, and
the German citizen Is content to &C.
opt the output at its face value.
Nor will Germany fail to supply
~ the munitions that her rapidly
dHtndling armies can use. She can
d4E coal and iron ore from her mines
hpd coax nitrogen from the atmos-
Dhere for guns, shells and explosives
s-And keep on doing Il indefinitely.
Ths Serbian mines and the kitchen
a the hausfrau will give their yield
Of copper. The stream will now in
aufhciency as long GS the war shall
last.
rood? There is enough arabic
l1nd within the battle lines to raise
Suffcient food TO keep the citizen
aave and provide . special ration for
the man at the front.
Real Limit On Men.
sfTMenf Before this war, military
Efiters, the Germans included, told
- that the proportion Of the popu.
lStion IN any country that could be
made into fighting men was 10 per
oent The population of Germany
ias6S,000,0O0. As a matter OF fact, the
rnpbilization has reached nearly Is per
cant, and. therefore, In August, 1914
Gfs potential fighting strength of
Germany was about 9.5O0,0O0 men
This was the reservoir from
which the human material would
have to be fed to the fghting lines.
ne nine and one-half million fight.
ing men could never be affected by
The birth rateLnot unless the war
should run for eighteen years The
only supply available to Offset the
outflow WAS the physically efficient
young men, some 10000 who would
reach the age Of eighteen each year.
Unlike the question OF paper money,
on munitions or food, there is no
process by which men can be printed
ta q printing press or fabricated In
smelter, rolling mill and lathe. Nor
Gsn you dig up fighting men from
-hA ground, like potatoes
sAnd not even the German chem
1Gts could make q substitute for hu-
man flesh and blood-though they
probably dreamed even OF that
$50 there IL stood at the begin
ming OF the war, a cistern full to the
bfim with e,20C, 900 men and with q
potential annual inflow OF 100000.
5~Now let rs see what has been the
rate Of loss. There are two ways in
which we may get at the facts:
First the German official statement;
second, the estimates made by the
an1ed military intelligence depart
nlsnt Csecret service). And we md
nat these arrive at the same total
R-deAd and hopelessly crippled
bout 100000 men
Real Figures Obtained.
sFor the nrst two years Germany
E1Ys out official hgures-doctOred, Of
oourse. But the allies, Trough their
secret service agents t. Germany,
Srathered the true figures by tabulat-
snF the notices sent TO the relatives of
the dead and recorded on the roll Of
honor OF churches, clubs, labor un-
ions, eto. This revealed that about
I,I6o, 600 men had been kiIleS.or tax
en- prisoners, and reckoning the hope
isssly crippled at 1880 900 men, which
tgsabout the ratio OF cripples to dead
a. determined IN this war, we get q
loss OF 100000 IN the first two years