Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-24
WAR LOSSES NOW
BEING FIGURED
BY THE MILLIONS
More Russians Have Given
Lives Than Pennsylvania
Has People

\ French Atlantic PoPt-It is hard
for us to think in millions. But we
Americans have to do that, now that
we have a huge army in France.
Take the total population of the city
of Philadelphia, and you can have
an idea of how many Frenchmen
have lost their lives in this war. NJ.
Kerensky told me when he was in
Paris, to explain Russia's war weari-
ness. that more Russians had lost
their lives in three years of war than
the total population of the State of
Pennsylvania. We believe that Ger
manys losses exceed the total popu-
| lation of New York city. And so it
goes on.
| With a million and a half Ameri-
| can soldiers in France. and hundreds
/ of thousands disembarking here each
! month. it is inevitable that prob
! lens of revictualment and of caring
! for the sick and wounded are in
| creasing all the time. Our military
authorities have been far-sighted.
They do not intend to be caught
without ample provision for every
need. Up to the present time our
port authorities have been able 10
handle all the soldiers that have
come. The organization of the Ser
vice of Supplies in the American
Expeditionary Force makes us all
over here feel proud of our country.
U. s. Able to Avoid Mistakes
Naturally we have a great advan-
tage in the three years experience of
our Allies and of our enemies as
we'll. We have been able to avoid
mistakes and to profit by their bitter
experience.
In nothing has the experience of
others proved so profitable to us as
in medical and surgical matters. We
know what the French and British
did not know, what provision must
be made for caring for the wounded
during and after a battle. This has
been worked out like life insurance
company's actuarial tables. We
know also in 1913 infinitely more
about first aid and military hospital
surgery than we knew in 1914. 1t
must be a great relief to the Amer !
ican home folks to realize that their
boys in France are being cared for
in the most scientific way. Lack of
facilities and materials and ignor-
ance and faulty preparation, which
caused scandal and suffering and
wastage of precious human lives
three years ago, no longer exist in
the armies.
But in order to meet every need, |
the American medical service has |
decided to evacuate constantly to |
the United States all cases in which |
the patient is out of the fight or |
needs long treatment. In this way /
precious hospital beds are saved for |
newcomers, and the services of doc |
tors and nurses over here are spared |
for new cases and for those whose |
convalescence is rapid. We are /
transporting so many troops to |
France that there is plenty of room I
to return all that can be best looked /
after in the United States This is /
going to spare, also, mothers and .
wives from the anguish of separation
during long periods of illness, and
it is going to give the patients whose
cure is tedious the moral aid of be-
ing at home and near loved ones.
So this port sees frequently SOL
diers homeward bound. One could 7
write graphically of the scenes here
as they go aboard ship and as an
chor is weighed. But soon all over
the United States the casualty lists
and the returned heroes will tell the
story more poignantly than one
could write it. And it is instructive
to wish to draw the veil on suffering.
Wounded Men Happy -
But our boys are so full of spirit,
so wonderful in the glory of the sac
rifce they have made, that the con-
voys homeward bound do not give
one the impression of broken hu-
manity. One is not deceived. 1t is
not a stream of broken humanity
that is returning to the United
States. The boys are happy and gay,
and l can testify from intimate con-
tact with them that the gayety is
not forced. 1t is no bluff, no camou-
fiage. Astounding is the resiliancy
of youth. Nothing is a calamity, no
injury is crushing. Hope and life
and health are left in most cases.
And in all cases. there is the feeling
of a task fulfilled, of a sacrifice1
made, for a good and lasting pur-
pose. Only would there be regret,
If all the others returned without
the victory. 1t is because those
bound feel that their
comrades are well on the way to vic
tory that they are cheerful and rec
onclled to their own sacrifice.