Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-01-22

the wounded OF the war.
Wars ErlehtfuI Cost.

/ Wars FriShtful Cost.
Her voice is husky, her hands are
tired. but she must count On. Six and
| n half million Of her sons were marked
missing and prisoners in the official
war score. Many of these have come
back to her. but she does not question
| them-she dare not. Their faces tell
of the unSpeakable horrors they en-
! dured. She sees in their eyes a depth
of pain that is unfathomable. She is
! mother-she knows.
| The war is over. but she is not over
! the war. Must she never stop count
/ ing? Is there no end TO her losses?
The graveyards are crowded. Her
thoughts turn to the dead who. while
they did not die In the war, died be-
cause of the war. Those who went out
lin battle left life in a burst of glory.
Others there were who fell in their
tracks-exhaustion, broken hearts sent
them "west." She has not forgotten
how the home flank suffered. The stay
at-homes were not all slackers. They
fought hunger and cold, bent their
backs beyond the straning point.
Worst Of all, they waited. 1t is esti-
mated that 20,0OO.OO0 civilians died
from weakness, fatigue, strain broken
hearts-the horror of waiting de-
strOyed resistance. These we're the
underfed older men and women, the
scared, undernourished children. Is
there any wonder that Europe has
death look In her eyes? Death has :
been her morning thought it has been
her night sob, and for four years made
up of mcnths, weeks, days, hours,
minutes and seconds death has been
her Nemesis. IA 81
She is now totaling, The figures are
appalling. They staggcr her imagina-
tion. 1t is easy to write them, Inn
possible to understand their full IlearIa,
Ing. The mind can't Grasp it.; the
world is bewildered by the number. Il
is too stupendous, too horrible for un-
Think Cf it, seven and
half million young men, for the most
part between the ages of eighteen and
thirty, the youth, the strength, the
spirit, the man power of Europe, dead
twenty million from civil life dead,
over twelve and a half million wound
ed.
Who can measure this l0ss2
War brought death IT did more
Il stopped birth. In the devastated re-
yions Of Ralgiuu1, Franea ftalys Pc
Aszue ai,sf1
land, parts of Russia and The Balkan
the birth rate fell to al
most nothing. In England and Wales
The birth rate in the last part of 1915
was 1915, the lowest on record. NAL
EFT calculated that the birth rate had
'allen 70 per cent in England and
Wales by 1916.
The Journal of Heredity quotes Saw
rgnan as having estimated that 1t will
axe England at least ten years, Ger
many 12 years, Italy 3S years and
rance &c years to recuper0te their
on1latiOnS. These calculations by
avorgnan were made before The fear
II losses of the campaign Of 1918.
A village in France, Rlerancourt,
Ills what the war has done to he man
over of Europe This village, which
in the Chateau Thicrry-Sossuns dis
'lct, had population of a thousand
aOpIe before the war. It's losses have
zen tabulatcd TWenty-siX soldiers
ON this village were killed in the
ar. Ninety-seven of the villagers
ed from war privatons. The total
1913 is the death toll Of n village
a thousand.
The figures | have quoted from the
lculations of Savorgnan and Mallett