WAR'S TOLL ON LIFE AND PROPERTY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 252, 18 July 1919, Page 12

WAR'S TOLL ON LIFE AND PROPERTY

$ : WHAT THE WAR HAS COST THE ALLIES FIGURES THAT STAGGER HUMANITY

Time and the statisticians must be left to work out Inter tho full toll of the war in life and property, but various estimates are available. The most interesting is that of Mr. E. E. "Whittlesey, chief statistician of the Equity Trust Company, New York, who has amassed (£>me illuminating facts ami figures in an attempt to set forth tho sheer physical magnitude of tho war. Among other things he snys that out of the total area over which the flag of war has flown, and which covers the greater pnrt of the hnbitable.ijlobe, about ninety-six per cent, was under the dominance of the Allies, and only four per cent, belonged to the Central Powers. The number of nations actively engaged in the war was twenty-two, with a total of 81,357,383 square miles and a population of 1,349,561,000. Of . these, 30,163,783 square miles, with ''a population of 1,207,870,000, belonged to the Allies, and only 1,203,800 square miles, with a population of 143,721,000, belonged to the Central Powers. He adds:

"In national wealth, the five main Al- ■ lies possessed, before the war £81,200,000,000, a sum nearly four times as great as the national wealth of the two Central Powers, the latter being £21,200,000,- | 000. As to man-power, the Allies could , command Jon the battlefield 53,000,C00 effectives, as against 26,000,000 of the Central Powers, a proportion of about j three to one. The money expended-by the 6even 'leading belligerents for purely war purposes during four years has been , estimated at. about .£26,800,000.000. It has been said that this sum is greater i than all combined money expenditures | for other wars since the beginning ot recorded history. The total cost- of all the wars fought since the American Revolution, Hie aggregate fighting P"'iod j covering sixty years, was only £f.000,000.000, mating the expenditure of the present war for only four years six times neater. It is about one-third of the total national wealth of the chief belliiwrente. The combined average daily I war cost, computed on a four-year basis.

is about i 21.500.000, or £895.800 each hour of the day.'"' These astounding texpenditures have already entailed a debt for these rations six times greater than was their total debt prior to the war, representing the enormous sum of .£25,800,000,000. Assuming (hat the war had lasted another year, the total debt, at the present rate of borrowing, would have amounted to about ,£3.8,000,000,000, and interest charges at 5 per cent, to about £1,900.' 000,000. Further: • , ' • "The total losses in shipping to the Allies and neutrals up to August 1, 1918, are estimated at 15,000,000 tons. This is about one-third of tho world's 48,500,000 tons of pre-war shipping. The cost of the lost tonnage at pre-war value is estimated at .£210,000,000. Of the JC50.000.000 fire losses in 1917, about .£8,711,600 is cstimated as probably due to enemy incendiarism. But the greatest lo?s entailed by the war is the loss of human life. Ml Barriol. the celebrated actuary., gives the following figures as the capital value of man: In.the United. States £800; in Great Britain, £828; in GeS many, £675 j in France, £580; J" Bus. sia, £404; in Austria-Hungary, £404, or an average capital value for the five for. eign'nations of £578 Bs. . "The number of men already losi, is 8,509,000 killed, and 7,175,000 permanently wounded, or a total of 15.684,000. Thus society has been impoverished through the death and permanent disability of a part of its productive man-power to the extent of £9000,000,000. Besides the loss in actual population there is a calculable loss in potential population. Carefully compiled figures show that by 1919 the population in Germany will' be 7,500.000 fewer than .it would have b°en under ordinary cireumstanfes. The people in Austria m 1919 will be cieht per cent, fewer in numbers than" in the year before the war. Hungary will be .still worse oft. with nine per cent, fewer" population than in ante-bellum days. According to the "Economist - " the wartime finances of the British Empire may be summarised as follow - .—

Grand Total-Aueust 1, 1914, to May 3, 1919. ' je' . £ Total snent 9,711,124,583 Raised by revenue 2,756,341,113 ■ Inc in balances 1,529,025 Net borrowings 6,956,312,195 * To t a i 9,712,653,608 Total 9,712,653,608 Estimates for Financial Year, 1919-20. Estimated revenue 'uOUOO,OOO Estimated expenditure ; v 1,Mt,910,w1U Deficit 233,810,000 The expenditure includes loans, to Allies and Dominions, stated in the Chancellor's Budget speech, April 30, 1919, as ,£1,739,000,000, made up as below:(Million £.) Advances Advances Advances Total Advances Advances during during during from August 1, Aug. 1,1914, Financial Financial Financial 1914, to to Mar. 31, Year Year Year March 31, 1916. 1916-17. 1917-18 1918-19. 1919. Dominions " 88 59 47 -23 , 171 - Allies .;........' 288 539 505 236 1,568 Total 376 598 J52 ,213 1,739