WHAT WAR COSTS.

Waikato Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 591, 8 March 1900, Page 3

WHAT WAR COSTS .

In the great struggle between France and Prussia, the former lost as many as 136.000 men, of whom some 80,000 died of wounds received in ha tie ; 36,C00 hy sickness, accident, su cidc, etc. ; and 20.000 iu German p Rons. A French statistician estimates that his countrymen who were wounded, hut who survived, numbeied 138,000: those injured on the march or hy accident, 11,421 ; those who r.coveted from illness, 328,000, making a total of 477,421 direct sufferers. The German killed numbered 40 877 ; 17,255 died on the field, and 21,023 in the ambulances, making 79,155 in all. The wounded who survived numbered 18,543 men. From first to la c t the German field artillery fired 340,000 shots, and the infantry 20,000,000. The booty of war consisted of 5526 fortress guns, 1915 field guns and rapid-firing cannon, 107 eagles and flags, and 855,000 rifles, exclusive of what was captured at leisure on abandoned fields. The monetary loss to France was 12,656,487,522 francs, including the war indemnity paid to Germany of 5,742,938,714 francs.

A survey of the Powers of Europe shows that from the beginning of the emtury to the end of 1896 Turkey had experienced 37 years of war and 59 of peace ; Spain comes next with 31 years of war and 61 of peace; France with 47 years of war and 69 of peace ; Rus sin, 24 years of war and 72 of peace ; Italy, 23 years of war and 73 of peace ; England, 21 years of war and 75 of peace; Austria-Hungary, 17 and 79; Germany (exclusive of Prussia), 13 and 83; Sweden, 10 and 86; Portugal, 12 and 84; and Denmark, 9 and 87.