Wichita eagle., 1888-08-28

the Franco German war the French army
was largely professional, and it was be-
cause the standing army Of professional
soldiers went down like ninepins before
the irresistible rush Of an armed nation
that all military systems have been revo-
Iutionized. Now every natonhas armed
all its able bodied adults.
In former DAYS the mastering Of a half
million of soldiers was regarded as a
mighty feat. Today Prince Bismarck
adds to the ranks of the army Of the
fatherland, with one stroke of his pen,
100000 fathers of families, and not
single voice is raised even in passing
protest. Germany in the center Of
Europe fronts east and west with an
available host Of 5000, 600 trained SOL
diers. France will have between 9, 000,-
900 and 5000, 900 ready to hand. Rus
sia before long viii be able to put 5. 600, =
900 into line. Austria and Italy we need
not count. The blast Of the trumpets
that proclaims the beginning Of war will
summon the manhood Of Europe to the
work of slaughter.
Not ouly will the number of the COM
batants be far beyond those which were
raised even in the days of the First Ma
poleon-the grand army with which he
crossed the frontier on bis march to
Moscow only consisted Of the same num-
Der of men that has been added this year
to the German arny-but the spirit in
which it viii be brought out will differ
for the worse. Prince Bismarck has
frankly told us what kind Of war it will
be. We shall fight, he said, if we do
fight, until we are bled as white as veal.
1t will be duel to the death-a war in
which the avowed object of the COM
batants is the utter destruction of their
adversary.
s'Saigner a blanc,'' to drain the very
life blood of your enemy until you leave
his carcass as white as that of the calf
from which the butcher seeks to drain
every ruddy drop Of gore-that is the
declared ideal of the foremost nation of
the continent in the year of grace 1888.
The imagination refuses to picture what
it means. All our recent wars were
short. The longest was that Of the Cri-
mea, which was little more than the
siege and the defense of single fortress
by professional soldiers. The Franco
Italian war was almost an affair Of
weeks. The Danish war was over al
most before it began. The Austro-Pr1ls-
sian-Italian war lasted just six weeks
The Franco German war was over In six
months. The conquest Of Turkey was
completed in about the same time.
But the next war will not be over in
six weeks or six months. To bleed each
other white, when both combatants are
pretty well matched, and when there are
millions of men in reserve, is an affair
Of years. But when all the business is
suspended, and the reapers have been
summoned from the farm to the battle
fields, it will be impossible to carry on
war on this scale for years without utter
collape and CHASTITY famine. Hence the
embattled millions will fight with the
grim and desperate energy Of men who
know that, like Judas, what they do
they must do quickly. They will strike
terror. ALI the tourney rules of civil
lied war will be in danger of going by
the board. 1t will be contest of titans
waged with the ruthlessness of fiends.
The next war will be in danger of de-
generating into the Nineteenth century
version of the horrors of the thirty years
war, on a scale far more gigantic, and
therefore characterized by crimes far
more colossal. Mall Gazette.