The mirror., 1920-11-11


armistice was signed forty-two American
divisions had been trained and sent to
Europe, twelve others were in training in
this country, and four others were being
organized. The plans on which the army
was acting when hostilities ceased called
for eighty divisions over seas before July,
1919, and 100 divisions before January,
1920.
OF the forty-two divisions that reached
France, twenty-nine took part in active
combat service. Seven of them were regu-
lar army divisions, eleven were organized
from the national guard and eleven were
made up of national army troops.
American divisions were in battle 200
days and engaged in thirteen major oper-
ations. From the middle of August until
the end of the war the American divisions
held the greater part of the time front
longer than that held by the British. In
October the American divisions held 101
miles of the line, or "a per cent of the en-
tire western front.
In France, in addition to the fighting,
American engineers built eighty-three new
ship berths and 1000 miles of standard
guage and 53S miles of narrow guage
railroads. The signal corps strung 100,-
0GO miles of telephone wires In this
country the army construction projects cost
twice as much as the Panama canal and
were on nearly as large scale overseas.
AT no time was there a shortage of food
in the expeditionary forces. Soldiers some
times went hungry in this as in all other
wars, but the condition was focal and tenn
porary. 1t occurred because of transporta-
tion difficulties during periods of active
fighting or rapid movement when the
units outran their rolling kitchens.
1t is estimated that two out of every
three officers and men who reached France
were engaged in battle, and the health
and casualties are thus summarized:
"Of every 100 American soldiers and
sailors who served in the war two were
killed or died of disease.
"The total battle deaths of all nations
in this war were greater than all the
deaths in all the wars in the previous 100
years.
''The number of American lives lost
was 122,s00, of which about 10000 were
in the navy and the rest in the army and
the marines attached to it.
"In the American army the casualty
rate in the infantry was higher than in
any other service, and that for officers was
higher than for men.
"For every man killed in battle, seven
were wounded. Five out of every six men
sent to the hospitals on account of wounds
were cured and returned to duty.
Battle losses were twice as large as
deaths from disease, and the death rate
from battle was higher, than in any pre-
,ious American war;"
The low death rate from disease was
due to greater medical and nursing eff
fciency; while the too great number of
deaths in battle may be attributed to the
udSL VI OuI duu TIC id(h Va
thorough military preparedness.
The war cost more than a million dol
lars an hour for over two years. 1t
amounted to nearly as much as the entire
cost of running our government from 1871
to 1917. 1t would have carried on the
Revolutionary war for 1000 years. As
the war progressed the expense increased.
During the first three months they aver
aged $2,Ooo,0oo day; during the next
year they exceeded $22,ooo,O00 day, and
during the year ending April /, 1919, the
daily average was $44,000,000. Another
comparison is made. The pay of the army
during the war exceeded the combined
salaries of all the school teachers and prin-
cipals in the United States during the five
years from 1912 to 1917. The army ex-
penditures, too, are equal to the entire