| Show THE COST OF A CONFLICT until I 1 know the number of men to be brought into service and the scope of preparation I 1 would hesitate in making even a rough estimate of cost it to Is like asking the length of k a string it depends all I 1 can say to is that the cost of war is enormous the greatest greatt tet one item of cost known the foregoing words were spoken by general joseph R hawley states senator from connecticut asked to estimate the probable boft at j a war between the united na spain general hawley was ape ebi solely upon the financial side ottily question his opinion was asked eed this alone the amount of ft which would be eaten up in any of conflict with any nation waa the ahw fr eject aimed at the reply was as an accurate as could be made man general hawley not oo 00 only I 1 experience in the field as a solder during the greatest war the world b alu ever known but he has had yea year at 04 study has become famili familiar ax with as aj problems which confront a go ment on the brink of armed but conservative estimates of abik expert in such matters fix the cost coot 0 of beginning war on the part of ite united states at the authorities estimate the cost of mate majo i cenance for six months at few per persons JO us are so 80 inflated with iw H belief in the invincibility of thew united states as to give voice gotsi opinion that a war with spain terminate in less than six ott this computation of time and therefore it would cost this ment to go to war am A keep it up for the shortest time P W one informed believes to bp be this to is merely the first cost and do not include the loss of life the dihe ower i of thousands of homes and the re dalt ant cost of pensions etc top for aji tl widows of the dead and toy ow v maimed whose injuries would bw b 15 aft direct result of the war i i the authorities drawn upon for abe i foregoing estimates are men who re conversant with the a i they know the detailed cost coat or of cj ance commissary and stores equipment and aral l por tation they know that adf u these things have fixed prices aa given the number of men to be aal aloyed could figure the cost of beau ning and maintenance down to bente these same officers heads of b etc fix the cost to spain at about tte same figures they declare would cost the don to begin war and to it on for six months month 3 AS a W about 20 cents it would be seen mom A fatt in his discussion of the subject era eral hawley mentioned the of cost of war many other authorities base their ideas on the pre experience which that conflict ft 1 I forded corded the american people it was VM ft lesson not only in the assembling f jw and supplies but in the best to be followed in raising great sum of money tor for emergencies y when president lincoln call called congress for men he also 0 for this was at the 1000 1000 for every man called into his message to congress stated itsey that the sum asked was less than 1 on twenty third part f the money alt owned by men wh who seemed rea flyte devote their whole this gives percentage one twenty third as a IL sis of calculating what amount ot of wealth of a country should be 1 boned to aid in its defense secretary chase then at the the treasury estimated aage sum required to begin the war tato proved to be short of the the army appropriation bill passed the extra session of congress afteel aft atte i firing on sumter carried ma the navy bill carried these estimates and app ap n p eions were made it must be bared with no conception of W bhatta if war was to be and with an id t at most moot it would clo close ac months the civit estimates af of wibb MAP usually under rather than baat waat the cost proves to be this experience at hand some idea can be had of the cost of tv to war at the present time the efel na stances are much different and li is the only experience of the I 1 states in modern warfare from lessons can be drawn if any the elements of cost are greater than then in a wax war with spain conflict anict would be essentially differ om M that between ane north and in that spain and the united would be fighting across an ocean Q of hand to hand in one coun would make it essentially EL a naval and a war on commerce and to 5 tent ent the elements of cost would rent nt from land warfare but eph countries having long lines of inflict the elements of providing s cost of land warfare would be less that that of the marine ete prudence would also dictate the scale of preparations would ilnyo to account the possibility even ability ty of forming alliances european powers by which her ipg strength on land and sea would fregly y augmented tp to first cost in going to tb war the e united states it must be borne tt that spain is now practically on footing and has been since the struggle ignie became serious the of a spain is men and inting has been reached if not ex I 1 ln cuba alone the forces there ap fluctuated fuated but the official figures ao gave men in cuba the reserve force in spain and EB the philippines and puerto 6 total is fully up to the war F of spain the same is true of I 1 navy which is and has been on tooting this then would give advantage of having her organ of war in actual operation B the united states would be jated from a state of peace into dwar doubtless a war footing of capa capable atlo e of dealing with cuba have TO be very materially enin dealing with the united bettt at least it would serve as a tat t would save that fcc of a first start up to this time spain has shown no need of a g beyond that above given Jin detail is as follows 17 ie this g Is the war footing of spain on has been made by which extraordinary emergency 1083 could bould be put in the field this taber ajr in a country having but 9 population pu lation to is phenomenal ir is based on an careful estle estie by spain as to her utmost awin case of need it bontem con tern establishment of military deik every spanish district and jett it the center of regimental or uon I 1 of remits and reserves a are some details on the basis of fr of provided to equal r present army bior W infantry etc 10 ILO cents a aday day a man 19 g two to a man tion rounds 9 mulas guns tor for infantry ment ent details are almost limit mo item etem stopping short of a allion rt then following the first cost enormous bill for transportation jfhn scarcely be computed ime scale of elaborate expense mash all branches of naval fe limited however by the navy cannot be expanded or months as an army can although a wax war between states and spain would be emorine marine struggle both of i would have much difficulty at the outset in increasing the number of their ships from the moment war was declared every port in the world would be closed to both in any effort to buy ships while free to buy of the armstrongs Arms tongs or any other foreign firms at the present these markets would be closed the moment hostilities began the arming of merchant ships would be a costly operation for they would be drawn from their regular service and the government would have to pay liberally for their use at such times war profits are expected and exacted and there would be no recourse from it and aside from the first cost to the government of taking these merchant ships from the coasting trade the transatlantic trans atlantic the transpacific trans pacific the west indian and the south american trade there would be the second cost of mounting guns and giving them such armament as would fit them for war service the financing of the civil war was a stupendous operation as may be judged from the fact that today the government is slowly paying off the bonds floating at that time and is maintaining an issue of green backs issued on the faith of the government to tide over the demand for funds in this connection it will prove interesting te to consider the expense of wars to the world since the dawn of the christian era the cost in human lives since christ is computed at the money cost since the crimean war less than half a century ago has been or enough to give every person on the globe 0 in gold during the most peaceful years of the present era the standing armies of the world number soldiers it costs the world a day to maint maintain aln them here are some figures gleaned from the american civil war the navy cost in 1862 in 1863 in 1864 and in 1865 the war department cost for the same years and confederate cruisers captured or destroyed 80 ships 46 brigs 67 schooners ners and eight other vessels flying the american flag the union fleets captured or destroyed schooners ners sloops steamers and othet other vessels trying to run the blockade the federals withdrew men from other pursuits the th e confederates withdrew over in 1866 the united states provost marshal general reported that men on the union side had been killed in battle had died of their wounds had died of disease total deaths total desertions A partial statement on the confederate side declared that men had died in battle of wounds of disease and had deserted during the war the union troops captured confederate prisoners the confederate captured union men of the latter died in confederate prisons while confederates died in confinement during the civil war the ordnance department on the federal side aide served out to the army cannon rifles equipments tor for foot and horse tons of powder tons of shot and cartridges the total cost to both sides has been estimated at over contrasting these figures with the cost in blood and treasure of the two most important modern wars the crimean and franco prussian and some idea of the enormity of the expense will be gained the crimean war was fought out with an army now relegated to rust the civil war with the monitor and the rodman 3 and 2 lidh field rifles set the pace which cuned inthe in the deadly floating and the breech loading rifles fornela for neld naval and sea coas tuse the franco prussian was waa the first war where modern high velocity magazine guns were in service the figures for the civil war have been given in a preceding paragraph here are those of the other two conflicts in the crimean war of ISM 1855 men went to the front of whom were killed in battle were wounded of whom died in the hospital died of disease contracted during the campaign the total deaths were the war cost during the prance franco prussian war of 1870 71 french and germans took the field of the former were killed in battle died of wounds died of sickness were in various ways disabled and were taken prisoners of the germans were killed in action died of their wounds of sickness were disabled the prisoners taken by the french were very few in number in all french and germans were killed or disabled a loss to the world of men the cost was correspondingly pon greit great germany it win will be remembered used the deadly needle gun while france tried the or french gatling it was a failure while the laisers kaisers kai kal sers magazine range rifles picked off the gunners at long these figures fl res show how expensive it Is 1 a to fight any y nation however feeble I 1 it t may be chicago chronicle |
