Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 39

was shown to have most decided limitations, especially because of their admission that they eventually would have to give up all occupied territory in view of the frightful cost in men and money.

FIGURES POSITIVELY STAGGERING.

Supplementing these statements, as showing the progress of the war, it was stated just before the United States took its memorable step to break off diplomatic relations with Germany, members of the National War Council estimated the total casualties of the war at that time as in excess of the population of the United Kingdom, which in 1911 was more than 45,000,000. This of course included those maimed, injured or so stricken that they were unfit for future service. The number actually killed was estimated at more than 7,000,000.

Staggering as these figures are they are easily conceivable when it is remembered that the German front lines covered more than 500 miles with Allied troops opposing them, and that in a single battle millions of sh.e.l.ls were fired by one side or the other. In one battle it was officially reported that 4,000,000 shot and sh.e.l.l were used, and in another the English mined the German trenches for a distance of several miles and blew out the strongholds, using more than 1,000,000 pounds of high explosives.

One of the great 42-centimeter guns of the Germans is said to have used a charge of guncotton involving the use of a full bale of cotton to make the explosive--and a bale of cotton contains 500 pounds. The shrapnel of the heavy field artillery of the United States contains 717 b.a.l.l.s or bullets about the size of a common marble, and the sh.e.l.l, so timed that it explodes just before it touches the ground, scatters the bullets or b.a.l.l.s over an area estimated at one yard for every bullet, or more than 700 yards. With thousands of such sh.e.l.ls being rained over the entrenchments is it any wonder that the list of wounded and killed was great?

Thousands were killed by poisoned gases, and where they were not killed a very large percentage of those affected suffered consequences which rendered them unfit for battle--turned them into invalids. The gas bombs produced hemorrhages of the lungs and bowels in thousands of cases and left those who inhaled the fumes in an anemic and permanently disabled condition. And what of the thousands who succ.u.mbed to fevers, and who because of the terrible shock became mental and physical wrecks and were made unfit for further duty on the actual firing lines?

A MATTER OF DOLLARS AND CENTS.

When it comes to the cost in dollars and cents it is possible to tell something of what they mean with reference to war construction and maintenance, although no one can estimate what it represents in destruction. No one has yet devised an accounting system to determine the percentage of "depreciation" through wear and tear on guns and devices that cost thousands of dollars each, but everybody knows that guns wear out and that some of the larger ones have a very decided limit on the number of times they can be fired without being rebored or rifled.

Railroads which have taken years to build and develop have been destroyed, telephone and telegraph lines put out of commission, great castles and temples razed, works of art burned, whole cities devastated, green fields turned into great craters torn up by bombs and sh.e.l.ls, factories dismantled, herds of cattle fed into the maw of the armies, and the ruthless Germans even went so far as to wantonly cut down and destroy whole forests and magnificent shade trees which it took generations to grow.

How the indebtedness of the nations grew during the progress of the war is shown in the following statement issued by some of the financial inst.i.tutions of the country in the Spring of 1917:

"Indebtedness of the seven princ.i.p.al nations engaged in the European war has crossed $75,000,000,000. In the middle of 1914 the indebtedness of these seven nations was $27,000,000,000."

Financing on an extensive scale followed this state of affairs. France issued a second formal war loan, Germany a fifth loan and Russia a sixth loan. Great Britain issued temporary securities in enormous sums.

The war cost $105,000,000 every twenty-four hours, according to the statistics, expenditures of the Entente Allies being fully double those of the Central Allies.

COMPARATIVE WAR EXPENSES.

Without for one moment taking into consideration the billions which were thrown into the war-pot by America the figures are staggering. An interesting comparison is found in the cost of the previous great world wars. The American Civil War, the greatest conflict in prior history cost $8,000,000,000, a sum equalled every three months in the conduct of the European war.

Approximate cost.

Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815 $6,250,000,000 American Civil War, 1861-1864 8,000,000,000 Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 3,000,000,000 South African War, 1900-1902 1,250,000,000 Russo-j.a.panese War, 1904-1905 2,500,000,000 European War, 1914-1917 (3 years) 75,000,000,000

It was further estimated that after the year 1917, the payment of $3,800,000,000 a year would be required to pay the interest on the debt, and that the total Government expenditures in Europe for bond interest and support of the various branches of the Governments would require in the neighborhood of 20 per cent of the people's income.

POPULATION AND WEALTH OF COUNTRIES.

Another comparative table that is important to any one desiring to study the costs and their effects is that relating to population and wealth of the princ.i.p.al countries. The latest available figures are:

Population Wealth United States 101,577,000 $187,739,071,090 British Empire 394,930,000 130,000,000,000 Germany 67,810,000 80,000,000,000 France 39,700,000 50,000,000,000 Russia 187,379,000 40,000,000,000 Austria-Hungary 53,000,000 25,000,000,000 Spain 20,000,000 5,400,000,000 Belgium 7,500,000 9,000,000,000 Portugal 5,958,000 2,500,000,000 Italy 37,048,000 20,000,000,000

Taxes have been the main sources for raising money to carry on the war.

In Germany taxes on all incomes from the Kaiser to the ordinary business man were kept at the highest rate, the Kaiser paying $500,000 on his fortune of $35,000,000 during the early part of the struggle. This was in addition to his income tax which amounted to $440,000, making a total annual tax of nearly $1,000,000. The Krupps are said to have been a.s.sessed at $3,000,000.

When the new military service laws were approved in Paris, which was about the middle of July, 1913, the French Cabinet was at its wit's end to provide the financial end of the tremendous military budget.

Investment markets were sluggish, and there were thousands of notes whose values were rapidly depreciating. The French Government was unable to float a loan of $200,000,000 which was necessary for making preparations.

Then in her desperation Paris closed her doors to all foreign loans.

The Viviani Ministry practically duplicated the plan of its predecessor in proposing an issue of $360,000,000 3-1/2 per cent bonds, which were redeemable in 25 years.

One year previously to this financial struggle the Belgian Government had started to raise $62,800,000 in order that the people of this country might prevent its being used as the battleground for the world war which they had seen away off in the future. This money was raised for the purpose of making Antwerp an impregnable fortress.

IMMENSE SUM FOR ARMY AND NAVY.

Russia had taken steps to raise $3,700,000,000 which the Russian Minister of Finance had informed the Budget Committee must be spent in the next five years on the army and navy. During the first year of the war there was $500,000,000 spent by this country in military and naval defence. This does not include the cost of those strategic railroads of which so many were constructed by the Russian Government, and which cost so many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Previous to the time Great Britain declared war on Germany the House of Commons had voted $525,000,000 for Emergency purposes, and within a couple of days of this appropriation an additional $500,000,000 was granted by the British Parliament.

One of the things accomplished by war was to bring out the fact that the resources of individuals are far greater than is ordinarily suspected.

In 1870 Bismarck imposed an indemnity of $1,000,000,000 on France, never believing that country could meet the great debt, but with the help of all the inhabitants the debt was lifted within a few months.

When countries are at war the cost of continuing fighting does not stop with those actually engaged. The trade of the world is affected, and this means loss in all quarters of the globe. Of the import trade of the United States more than $500,000,000 was directly with those nations engaged in the war at the opening of hostilities. This was out of a total of $1,850,000,000. A great part of this commerce is cla.s.sed as among that which yields the greatest import tax, which means that internal taxes must be imposed on the people to make up for the money necessary to meet with the yearly loss occasioned during the continuance of the war.

ANNUAL NATIONAL INCOME.

In the United States there is an annual national income of $50,000,000,000, the total bank resources being $35,000,000,000, the individual deposits being $24,000,000,000, with cash held by the banks totaling $2,500,000,000, total gold stock in the country being $3,000,000,000, and available additional commercial credits on the basis of cash holdings totaling $6,000,000,000.

The borrowing power of the American Government does not total less than $40,000,000,000, from domestic sources, and this does not disturb the ordinary financial and economical affairs of the nation.

During the first five months in 1917 the Government of the United States reached a record for expenditures never before equalled in American history. The total amount expended was $1,600,000,000.

The chief item of the increase--$607,500,000--was the purchase of the obligations of foreign Governments in exchange for loans advanced to the Allies. The sum did not represent by approximately $140,000,000 the total amount authorized in loans. An increase of approximately $245,000,000 in the ordinary disburs.e.m.e.nts of the Government, chiefly due to military and naval needs, also was recorded and another item going to swell the grand total of expenditures was the payment of $25,000,000 for purchase of the Danish West Indies.

War loans of the six chief European belligerents, early in 1917, aggregated approximately $53,113,000,000.

Loans of the chief Entente nations, Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy, were placed at about $36,300,000,000; those of Germany and Austria-Hungary, not including the sixth German loan reported to have yielded about $3,000,000,000, at $18,800,000,000.

The amounts of the various loans were placed at:

Great Britain, to March 31, 1917, $18,805,000,000; France, to February 28, $10,500,000,000; Russia, to December 31, 1916, $7,896,000,000; Italy, to December 31, 1916, $2,520,000,000; Germany, to December 31, 1916, $11,226,000,000; Austria, to December 31, 1916, $5,880,000,000; Hungary, $1,730,000,000.

The total included the advances made by the United Kingdom and France to the smaller belligerent countries allied with them.

SOME IDEA OF NATIONAL FINANCING.

Some idea of what all this financing means to a country may be judged by the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who in October, 1916, replying to questions regarding the English loans in the House of Commons, declared that England was paying at that time about $10,000,000 a day in the United States, for every working day in the year.

When the English mission visited the United States in May, 1917, after the country had entered the war, there was handed to Arthur James Balfour, ex-Premier of England, a check for $200,000,000, said to have been one of the largest single checks ever paid in this country. It was a loan for war purposes. In the month of June it was stated that the total advance made to the Allies was $923,000,000, among the loans made then was one of $75,000,000 to Great Britain, and $3,000,000 to Servia.

The Servian loan, the first made by the United States to that country, was mainly for the improvement of railway lines. A small portion was used for the relief of the distressed population, and Red Cross work.

It was stated that the allied countries would spend in America, in the neighborhood of $200,000,000 a month for the year; which brings attention to the resources which America turned in against Germany when she joined the allied forces. To meet the demands made upon it the Government borrowed at once $3,000,000,000 by popular subscription--a matter of history of which the nation is proud.

From its funds the country loaned Russia $100,000,000, which was the first loan made by the United States to that Government. A credit of $45,000,000 to Belgium was also established by the Secretary of the Treasury. This also was Belgium's first partic.i.p.ation in the loan of the Allies.