"'_Taking the lowest of our three estimates of industrial accidents, the
total number of casualties suffered by our industrial army in one year
is equal to the average annual casualties of our Civil War, plus those
of the Philippine War, plus those of the Russian-Japanese War._
"'_Think of carrying on three wars at the same time, world without
end._'
"_Said President Roosevelt in his Annual Message for 1907_:
"'_Industry in the United States now exacts ... a far heavier toll of
death than all of our wars put together.... The number of deaths in
battle in all the foreign wars put together for the last century and a
quarter, aggregate considerably less than one year's death record for
our industries.'..._
"_Glancing over these comparisons between war and peace, we find that
much of the horror of war dwindles away. Comparing those actually killed
in industry and accident with those killed or dying from wounds in
various wars, we find that the annual peace rate is approximately two
and a half times that of the average annual Japanese loss, three times
that of the Union loss in the Civil War, five times the Russian loss in
the Japanese War, six times the Confederate loss in the Civil War,
twenty-eight times the English loss in the Anglo-Boer War, and ninety
times the American loss in the Spanish War. In other words, it would
take the average annual deaths of the English and French in the Crimea,
the Americans in the Mexican War, the North in the Civil War, the
Americans in the Spanish War, the English in the Boer War, and the
Japanese in the Russian War to approach the annual United States peace
rate. Assuming the burden of all these wars, at once, and without
ceasing, would be no more a drain than our peace death rate! Need we say
more as to the cost in lives, as to the sorrowing mother, sweetheart,
and wife? Think of these things. Where now is the bestiality and horror?
Does it belong more to war where comparatively few die for their country
willingly and nobly, or to peace where the multitudes die for sordid
gain--for dollars and cents? Would it not be meet for the pacifists,
assuming that they have the best interest of the country at heart, to
turn first to the horrors of peace, and lastly to the horrors of war?_"
* * * * *
It is well to observe that a very large percentage of the injuries and
deaths in the United States in times of peace, noted by Dr. Strong, are
due to preventable causes, and one of the best remedies is a military
training. In Germany, the number of persons per capita of population
killed and injured by accidents in time of peace is not half as great as
it is in the United States.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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