The Civil War lasted four years. The number of those enlisted
in the Union army was 2,113,000. The number killed in action
was 67,000; died of wounds received in action, 43,000; while
the total number of deaths from all causes was 359,000. I have
no statistics of the Confederate army, but certainly they would
largely increase the total casualties of the war. On the other
hand, the Spanish War lasted but a few months. The total number
of men mustered in was 223,000. The number killed in action
was only 218--not as many as have been killed in many a single
mining catastrophe; the number of those that died from wounds
received in action was 81; the number dying from disease,
3,848. The total casualties during that war were less than the
number killed in railroad accidents in this country during a
single year. According to the report of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, the number killed on our railways during the year
ending June 30, 1908, was 3,764; the number injured, 68,989.
Other years show a greater fatality. In the Civil War were some
of the greatest battles of history and a terrible loss of life
on either side. In the Spanish War, outside of two brilliant
naval engagements, there were only a few skirmishes. The two
wars taken as a whole compare about like a twelve-inch rifled
gun with a small pistol; and yet, as we have seen, after the
Civil War there was no cry for an increase in armament, no
call for a navy to challenge the fleets of the world, a steady
payment of the national indebtedness, a devotion to the pursuits
of peace, and a magnificent enlargement of our industries and
business, while after the Spanish War we increased our army,
and we have been steadily building ironclad after ironclad,
until now our navy stands second among the navies of the
world.--DAVID J. BREWER.
(3422)
See SACRIFICE, TOO COSTLY.