Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 225, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 September 1919 — FIGURES OF AMERICA’S PART IN WAR PASS ALL FORMER RECORDS [ARTICLE]

FIGURES OF AMERICA’S PART IN WAR PASS ALL FORMER RECORDS

Col. Leonard P. Ayers Prepares a Remarkable Statistical Summary Shewing Comparative Costs in Men, Money and Material for All the Countries Engaged—Cost to the United States Is $22,000,000,000.

Washington.—The war cost the United States directly about $22,000,000,000, or nearly enough to*jmy the entire cost of running the American government from 1791 up to the outbreak of the European war. For eatery hundred American soldiers and sailors who served in the war with Germany two were killed or died of dlsr ease during the period of hostilities. The number‘of men serving in the armed forces of the nation during the war was 4,800,000, of whom 4,000,000 served in. the army. These facts are set forth in a statistical summary of “The War With Germany,” compiled under the direction of Col. Leonard P. Ayers, chief of the statistics branch of the general staff of the army. . This summary, just published by Colonel Ayers by direction of the secretary of war, is a complete review of America’s participation in the war against . Germany condensed into less than 150 pages. It is a detailed summary of American military operations, and yet the long statistical tables usually found in official reports are entirely lacking. Goh Leonard P. Ayers is the only officer from civilian life who has risen to the position'of chief of a division of the general staff. Before the war he was a director of the Russell Sage Foundation. He was chief statistical officer of the peace committee. After his reEurn here he received the (Ha—- • tlngulshed service medal. Some of the. Figures. Some of the statistical summaries In the report show: The war cost the United States considerably more than $1,000,000 an hour for over two years. America’s expenditures in the war were sufficient to have carried on the Revolutionary war continuously for more than a thousand years at the rate of expenditure which that war actually Involved. During the first three months expenditures were at the rate of $2,000,000 a day. During the next year they averaged more than $22,000,000 a day. For the final ten months the daily average was over $44,000,000. The total war costs of all nations were about $186,000,000,000, of which the allies and tlie United States spent two-thirds and the enemy one-third. The Jhree nations spending the greatest amounts were Germany, Great Britain and France, in that order. After them come the United States and Austria-Hungary, with substantially equal expenditures. The United States spent about oneeighth of the entire cost of the war

and something less than one-fifth of the expenditures of the allied side. The total battle deaths of all nations in this war were greater than all deaths, in all the wars in the previous hundred years. Russian battle deaths were 34 times as heavy as those of the United States, those of Germany 32 times as great,* France 28 times and tire “British 18 times as large. Infantry Suffered Most. In the American army the casualty rate in the Infantry was higher than in any other service, and that for officers was higher than for men. ,< For every man killed in battle seven were wounded. Five out of every six men sent to hospitals on account of wounds were cured and returned to duty. Pneumonia killed more soldiers than were killed in battle. Meningitis was the next most serious disease. The British sent more men to France in their first year of war than we did in our first year, but it took England three years to reach a strength of 2,000,000 men in France, and the United States accomplished it in one-half of that time. — In the physical examinations the states of the middle West made the best showlng. Country boys did better than city boys, white better than colored and native better than foreign born. Most of the troops who sailed for France deft New York.' Half-of thenr landed in England and the other half in France. Of every 100 Americans who went over, 49 went in British ships, 45 in American ships, three in Italian, two in French and one in Russian shipping under English control. American cargo ships averaged one complete trip every 70 days and troop ships one complete trip every 35 days. The cargo fleet was almost entirely American. It reached the size of 2,600,000 deadweight tons, and carried to Europe about 7,500,000 tons of cargo. Work of Engineers. American engineers built in France 83 new ship berths, 1,000 miles of standard gauge track and 538 miles of narrow gauge track.

The signal corps strung in France 100,000 miles of telephone and telegraph wire. Prior to the armistice 40,000 trucks were shipped to the forces in France. Construction projects in the United States cost twice as much as the Panama canal, and construction overseas was on nearly twice as large a scale. The entire number of American machine guns produced to the end of 1918 was 227,000. The Browning machine guns are believed to be more effective than the corresponding weapons used in any other army. American production of rifle ammunition amounted to approximately 3,500,000,000 rounds, of which 1,500,000,000 rounds were shipped overseas. The number of rounds of complete artillery ammunition produced in Amerieanplantswasinexcessof2o,000,000, compared with 9,000,000 rounds secured from the French and British. In the first 20 months after the declaration of war by each country the British did better than the United States in the production of light artillery, and the United States excelled them in producing heavy artillery and both light and heavy ammunition. At the end of the war American production of smokeless powder was 45 per cent greater than the French and British production combined. The American production of high explosives was 40 per cent greater than ’Great Britain’s and nearly double that of France. Out of every hundred days that *. t ■

American combat divisions were in line in France they were supported by their own artillery for 75 days, by British artillery for five days and by French for one and a half days. In round numbers, America had in France 3,500 pieces of artillery, of which nearly 500 were made in Amer-' ica, and Americans used on the firing line 2,250 pieces, of which over 100 were made in America. Airplane Production. When the United States entered the war the allies made the designs of their planes available to Americans, and before the end of hostilities fur* nished from their own manufacture 3,800 service planes. Aviation training schools in the United States graduated 8,602 men from elementary courses and 4,028 from advanced courses. More than 5,000 pilots and observers were sent overseas. There were produced in the United States to November 30, 1918, more than 8,000 training planes and more than 16,000 training engines. The American air force at the front grew from three squadrons in April to 45 in November, 1918. On November 11 the 45 squadrons had an equipment of 740 planes. Of 2,698 planes sent to the zone of the advance for American aviators, 667, or nearly one-fourth, were of American production. American air squadrons brought down in combat 755 enemy while their own losses of planes numbered only 357. American divisions were in battle for 200 days and engaged in 13 major operations. From the middle of August until the end of the war the American divisions held during the greater part of the time a front longer than that held by the British. In October the American divisions held 101 miles of line, or 23 per cent of the entire western front. In the battle of St. Mihlel 550,000 Americans were engaged, compared with about 100,000 on the northern side in the battle of Gettysburg. The artillery fired 1 - more than 1,000,000 shells in fonr hours whleh is the most Intense concentration of artillery fire recorded in history. The Meuse-Argonne battle lasted for 47 days, during which 1,200,000 American troops were engaged.