The herald., 1896-08-17
PEACEMAKING WEAPONS

Another peace-maker has blossomed
He is a Canadian, a resident of Mon
treal. This individual is neither a Quak-
er nor an advocate of international arbi-
tration, but only an inventor. He is a
peace-maker from the point of view OF
some people, because he has invented a
contrivance-it may be called a gun OF
engine-so terribly destructive of human
life that he believes Its adoption by ali
nations will make war impossible.
According to the claim of the inventor,
this thing for the elimination of human
beings will hurl about 260,000 shots per
minute, without noise or smoke, with a
killing effect at 5000 yards. 1t can be
handled like an ordinary field piece AMI
operated by four men, thus requiring no
greater force than that called for by the
usual field gun. The only puzzling fac
tor in its use will be the transportation
of its missiles. A death-dealer with a
consumption of 260,O00 shots per minute
would seem to demand good-sized am
munition train every time it went into
service.
Presuming, however. that the employ
ment of the Canadians invention is
practicable in actual warfare it does
not necessarily follow that it will prove
war deterrent. There is little in his
tory to Justify the belief that Indulgence
in war has been largely discouraged by
the destructive character of the imple-
ments used by armies. With each i'm
provement in weapons for killing. people
have doubtless believed that the era of
hac
the advance was made from the weapons
of offense and defense nature has en-
dowed us with. the fists, to the spear, the
arrow, the sling and the crossbow the
folks who held in adherence the idea of
human beings engaging in physical COM
bat. of course thought the latter would
soon cease to be the mode whereby ma
tions adjusted differences. And SO it has
been as we have gone from the flint
locks to the rifle and from the old fash
Toned smooth-pore cannon to the mighty
eighty-ton guns and the submarine tor
pedoes of today-each step has afforded
encouragement to the notion that out of
mutual fear of annihilation nations
would keep the peace. But. just the
same, warning has continued, the re-
cruiting and training of armies is prose-
cuted with more zeal and skill than ever
before. and except. possibly. i'll the
United States and England, the spirit of
militarism shows little if any decline
among the leading peoples of the earth.
The reason for this failure of the aug
of the apacity of war weapons
for destruction to discourage war is at
least twofold-improveme in the
means and modes of defense has quite,
If not. indeed, more than. kept pace with
the betterment of weapons; and the
masses of most countries continue to be
more emotional than reasoning 1t is A
fact very easily ascertainable by those
who will undertake the necessary histor-
ical research that. in proportion to the
numbers engaged, physical warfare was
more destructive 1000 years ago. when
the battles were of the hand to- hand
kind, than it has been of recent years
with all the modern facilities for tre-
mendous slaughter. Thus the annihila-
tion so repeatedly promised does not
seem to have been realized And so
long as nations view each other through
the glasses of ancien. prejudices, and
the masses are responsive to the arbi-
trary commands or impa assioned ap-
peals of cruel or ambitious monarchs
princes, and dictators, the deadly posi-
bilities of the weapons of warfare will
have little tendency to practically deter
conflicts.