THE SUPREME TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1915, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE SUPREME TRAGEDY.

APPALLING WAR FIGURES. OP LOSS IN BLOOD AND WEALTH. The San Francisco Examiner has been making a computation of the cost to the world in blood and wealth of the supreme tragedy that is now being enacted in Europe. Here are the figures:— Number of men having taken part in the war up to August 1, 1915 24,770,000 Estimated number of men having taken part up to January 1, 1910 30,054,000 Number of men killed in battle during first six months of war—Red Cross figures 2,14G,000 Total of men killed up to August 1, 1915—partially from Red Cross figures .. 4,347,000 Estimated total of men killed in battle up to January 1, 1910 0,212,166 Seriously wounded during f first six months—Red 'doss figures 1,150,000 Total seriously wounded up to August I—partially Red Cross figures 2,450,000 Estimated total seriously wouuded up to Jan. 1, 1910 3,759,000 Died of disease, exposure, etc., first six months (incomplete figures) .. .. 1,140,000 Total dead of disease up to August 1, 1915 3,347,000 Estimated total dead of disease to January 1, 1910 .. 0,000,000 Invalids, disease and crippled as an aftermath of the war end January 1, 1916 .. .. 10,000,000 Number of insane and mentally incapacitated .. .. 1,557,791 The above figures indicate that, exclusive of those who are missing and insane and mentally incapacitated, over 10,000,000 men had been destroyed up to August 1 last. Of these nearly 4,500,000 were killed on the field of battle, nearly 3,500,000 died of disease, the other 2,500,000 being seriously wounded. In all, nearly 8,000,000 men had died on the battlefield up to August 1. If the carnage lasts till January of next year over 12,000,000 will have been killed in battle or disease and exposure, another 10,000,000 will rank aa permanent cripples, invalids, etc., and another 1,500,000 will have been rendered insane and mentally incapacitated.

COST IN WEALTH. To the cost in blood has to he added the cost in wealth. The Examiner declares that the actual cost to August 1, 1915, is £2,112,712,500. The actual cost up to January 1, 1916, will be £4,437,500,000, which, it is estimated, is equal to 65,000,0001b of gold. The entire production of gold during the last 500 years has been but 30,000,0001b. This moans catastrophic debt. In £2O notes this sum would stack up- to a height of 71,660 ft —2oooft move than Mount McKinley, the Eiffel Tower, the Woolworth Building, the Pyramids of Cheops, and the Washington Mounment on top of each other. If these bills were plastered over a field side by side and end to end they would cover an area of approximately 21 acres. The entire cost of the war up to 1916 in loss, real and I potential, is fixed at more than £20,000.- : 000,000!

, A COLOSSAL TRAGEDY. The Examiner prints some comparisons, showing the colossel tragedy. The 12,000,000 men dead from battle and disease would fill a coffin 1389 ft long, 347 ft deep, and 403 ft broad at its widest part. The 11,557,791 men doomed to death and mental disease within five years after the war would make one man 1590 ft high who could straddle New York's East River. The army of 1,557,791 insane and mentally diseased would, if ranged 10 abreast and 4ft apart, stretch 119 miles away. If they were all heaped in a single grave the mound would be 1157Jft long, 463 ft broad, and 347Jft high. If the war's total dead on January 1, 1916, and its aftermath up to 1921 were stretched out head to foot they would make a ring of bodies around the globe at the latitude of Washington. The tragedy behind .these cold figures is appalling beyond the limits of our capacity to either know or adequately feel. The millions of dead and suffering mankind are with an exception too insignificant to mention, men of the working class. Hay the tragedy end before the race is exterminated, and may the working class ideals so take hold of the world that such a blood orgie may never agaiu be witnessed.