The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-04-25

wounded, IL is very hard for the aver
age civilian to comprehend the enor-
nous cost of taking care of wounded
and the war in general. He or she gets
so accustomed TO seeing billions of dol
lars In print hat the significance of
the amount is passed over without
thought.
From an official statement published
In n of the London papers,, II is
stated that IL costs between six and
seven thousand pounds $4,000 to 1885,
OOO) to kill or wound a soldier. This
result was attained by taking the cost
of h war to date and dividing 1t by
the killed and wounded.
1t may sound heartless and inhuman,
but Ii Is a fact, nevertheless, that from
a military standpoint Ii Is better for a
a to be killed than wounded.
If a man Is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive a pension. But IL a man
Is wounded II takes three men from
the firing line, the wounded man and
two men to carry him to the rear TO
the advanced flrst-aid post. Here he is
attended by a doctor, perhaps assist
ed by two X. A. NJ. G. men. Then he Is
put into a motor ambulance, manned
by a crew of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes I'M
der an ~anesthetic, either to have his
wound cleaned or to be operated on
he requires the services Of about three
to five persons. From this point an
other ambulance ride impresses more
men In his service, and then at the am
bulance train, another corps of doc
tors, r. A. NJ. @. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing station, where a good-sized
corps of doctors, nurses, ETC., are kept
busy. Another ambulance journey is
next In order-this time to the hospital
ship. He crosses the channel, arrives
In Blighty-more ambulances and per-
haps q ride for five hours on an Eng
fish Red Cross train with its crew of
Red Cross workers, and at last he
reaches the hospital. Generally he
stays from two to six months, or long
er, In this hospital. From here he is
sent to a convalescent home for six
weeks.
If by wounds he is untitled for fur
ther service, he is discharged, given a
pension, or committed to a soldiers
home for the rest of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
lie that all the ambulances, trains and
ships, not to mention the man power,
used In transporting a wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and re-enforcements for the troops at
the front, 1t will o appear strange
that from a strictly military stand
point, a dead man is sometimes better
than a live n Cf wounded).
Not long after the first digging party.
our general decided, after a careful
tour of inspection of the communica-
ton trenches, upon IAN ideal spot" as
he termed 1t, for a machine-gun en-
placement; took his map, made a dot
on ii, and as he was wont, wrote "dig
here" and the mex night we dug.
There were twenty In the party, my
self included. Armed with picks,
shovels and empty sandbags we ar
rived at the ideal spot and started
digging. The noon IA very bright,
but we did not care as we were well
out of sight of the German lines.
We had gotten about three feet
down, when the fellow next to me, aft
er a mighty stroke with his pick, let go
of the handle, and pinched his lose
with his thumb and forefinger, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
Colt strafe me pink, I'm bloody well
gassed. not 'alf l amt" l quickly
turned in his direction with an inquir-
ing look, at the same instant reaching
for my gas bag. l soon found out what
was ailing him. One Whit was enough
and l lost no time in also pinching my
nose. The stencil was awful. The rest
CT the digging party dropped their
picks and shovels and beat Ii for the
weather side of that solitary pick. The
officer came over and inquired why the
work had suddenly ceased, holding our
noses, we simply pointed in the direc-
ton of the smell. He went Over to the
pick, Immediately clapped his hand
over his nose, made an 'about turn"
and came back. Just her our cap
tain came along and investigated, but
after about a minute said we had bet
ter carry on with, the digging, that he
did not see why we should have
stopped as the odor was very faint.
but If necessary he would allow us u
gas helmets while digging. He would
stay and see the thing through, but he
had to report back to brigade head
quarters Immediately. We wished that
we were captains and also had a date
at brigade headquarters. With our gas
helmets on we again attacked that hole
and uncovered the decomposed body of
a German the pick was sticking in his
chest. One of the men tainted. l was
that one. Upon this our lieutenant
halted nrocapdinOS and cont word hack