The copper era and Morenci leader., 1918-02-08
Figures Stupendous Beyond Pow CT of Human Mind to
 Compass.
MOST OF THEM ARE KILLED
Big Price Being Paid for the Worlds Future Security = Money Cost Nearly $175,ooo.ooo a Day
 Capital Cut Down.
ey FREDERIC ;. HAsKIN.

WaSnlngtOn, ID. O.-In0 ngureS re hating to the cost of this war are stu pendous beyond the power of the hu- man mind to compass.
 The number of men killed in battle has been between 7,500O00 and g. 100000. Offsetting the number of jdeaths which would have occurred in stimes of peace, 1t Is safe to set the war loss at more than 100000 men. This Is about one man in twenty for each year of the whole number mo- bilized.
 The figures are large. but they are based on the greatest armies the world has ever seen Moreover, the death rate has been falling steadily through out the war, as methods more econom- Deal of human life are adopted and hospital efficiency increases. The well-prepared nations lose least. Rus gia has suffered casualties dispropOr-. tionately large because in the first year of the war her troops were sent to the front poorly supported by artil- 1ery and sometimes literally unarmed. On the western front the French losses were heaviest for the first two years, but as England takes over the bulk of fhe fighting her casualties increase hnd those of France fall off.
 Total Of B,2s0,ooo Disablsd.
 In addition to the dead, the perma- hently disabled total about 6,25O,OOo men. Thus the net loss In men hmounts to about 18O00, 900. There have probably been about 100000 tmen less seriously wounded in such . way that they have either been re- burned to the front or able to pursue bonS useful occupation in civil life. Some realization of the meaning of ehese totals may be gleaned from the FedectiQn that the dead and the total ,y disabled equal more than half the abae. bodied men in the United States.
 The money cost Is vastly more confusing problem. The total Is be- yond all comparison with any nation al debts, loans or expenditures of the past. At the beginning of the war the cost of S3O,OOOO00 a day. It was predicted Europe could not stand 1t Tor six months. Now, well along in the fourth year, the cost is nearly k1zS, S,0O0, 600 a day and there are no &igns of a financial breakdown.
 IT Sss become increasingly evident Ahat lack 1f money" will never make any nation surfender. As long as suf- ficient economic resources actually ex- fst in the shape of men and munitions, food and beasts and iron and steel, Ao long can the nation in question con tinue to make war. In looking for German breakdown the eye should turn not toward the absurdly depreci- ated German mark. but toward what Germany has left in men and food and steel. '''ss s'' 'sSdS afS'-
 It's Future Mortoaged.
 This Is because @ nation can mort gage it's future like @ man who enters a shop with empty pockets and pays for goods with signed notes piedging the labor of his children. The worlds deht since the war has increased by SgO. .OOO. 100000 The total cost has ex- ceeded this figure by at least '$15.OOO,- 100000, the difference representing the amount levied in taxes in excess of the interest requirements.
 It is easy to see that if all the inter- est is paid to people living in the United States, and the principal at the end of the term also paid to resi- dents in the United States, the United States as a nation is no weaker finan- ci:ily for having borrowed $20OOO,OOO,- co than if if had never borrowed Il cent. Such enormous loans will prob ably effect a redistribution of wealth for the interest charges will be met hv taxation. and provision made for a sinking fund ill the same way. B! reelstributing this taxation wisely and egu,,ably. the end of the period that the Liberty bonds have to run ma! well see a more efficient balance oi wealth than the present.
 AS in reckoning war strength, thu basic realities of the problem are eco homie rather than financial. Sucf part of the great war loans as IS in vested in convertible factories. Il increase of food production and simi lar real assets, cannot be regarded a lost. On the other hand, the dollar that are spent for shells which ex plode and ships that sink are lost Il fact.
 WorIdPs Capital Cut Down.
 Moreover, the cost in dollars Is n
 measure of the real economic cost O the war, because 1t takes no accoun of the enormous destruction of proI erty that has taken place. This rel resents a cutting into the capital the world. The sinking of millions tons of shipping, the destruction
 cities, the ravaging of farm lands' tn
 deterioration of industrial equ1pmeI
 in the last three years, are only re
 of the items that must be charged
 this account. One huge item Is u labor of 55,OOO,OOO men who have bee
 taken completely from productive icunations. Even reckoning their vail