The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-05-02
HORRORS OF WAR.
Rev. ]. I. Scudder's Sermon
Yesterday in the
First Congregations
al Church.
DUTIES OF NATIONAL GUARD
Terrible Nature Of Modern Arm-
aments Feeding Wool
wich Infants.
DUTIES OF NATIONAL GUARD

Congregational Church last night,
preached on Modern warfare The
greater portion Of his discourse was de-
voted to praise of the National Guard.
He said
"fOur National Guard are something
more than play soldiers. They constitute
a wise system of universal protection.
They are duly recognized by Government
and have committed to them an import
ant trust. They do not belong to the
regular army. nor do they receive a
regular salary, but they are liable TO be
called into active service at any moment
by the State, and stand pledged to fight
her battles.
THE State supplies the men with uni
forms, guns and -ammunition; the State
transports them, feeds them and pays
them wages during their summer en-
campment Each man who eniists must
serve five years. During this period he
receives the training of a soldier; he is
q real soldier, but he is a soldier in re-
serve. Whenever the life or property OF
the people Is in danger he hears the COM
mand to fall in and obeys.
If it were not for this extensive sys-
tenn of protection in these United States,
our regular army would have to be much
larger than it is. Today the regular army
is only 26,0W men-a mere handful COM
pared with the armies of the principal
nations OF Europe. In times of peace the
RAt%At ~ 4A1 Il my Vi GG a. - OCltQbV k4A(At
OF France, $4,000; Russia, $1,000. In
America we have no such cumbersome
masses of armed men; we do not believe
in withdrawing able-bodied men from pro-
ductiye employment and imposing heavy
taxes upon the people to support them
in idleness.
In the armory together with a crowd
of congenial spirits, the American citizen
soldier studies how to defend his country
and maintain peace and order within his
native land. He might be tempted to
ranr fhnaAZ I'll 49, - -.-A ~
vicious pastimes and questionable resorts.
but the State skilifully lures him away
from these temptations, amuses him,
teaches him how to fight. There are in
the United States somewhat over 100, 900 of
these National Guards, and while the
the newspapers, they, if called into ser
vice would incur the risk of being killed
or Wounded upon the battlefield. If our
National Guards are not fighters they are
sure to become such in emergencies.
I'm this country, / am very glad to say,
war is regarded only as a last and des-
perate resort, and carries upon it the
condemnation of an enlightened public
sentiment. We are drifting very fast to-
wards the opinion that the taking of hui
man life, even in the name of govern
ment, is an awful crime which cannot
be palliated except upon the ground of
absolute necessity or self-preservation.
We no longer glory in our own f~erocity
and brutishness, as did the earlier ma
lions OIL the earIn. IN THIS age we are
thinking how we can bless our fellow
men, not cut them up.
Fighting has become such a science
nowadays that 1t scarcely pays to fight.
Formerly in battle men used swords and
bayonets; they came into hand-to-hand
conflict with one another; afterwards
they took to shooting one another at
short range; but now they NOV the men
down with Calling guns, very much as
d farmer mows the stalks of grain.
Il heard that they have become so
expert with the Maxim gun that they
can write the word Maxim on a board
made by this modern marvel. owing to
these murderous Calling guns. the late
war between Germany and France prac-
tically lasted only a few days: and now
ing governments of the world. You get
a couple dozen of these machines to
work on an enemy and they will throw
Philip A%rnour's Chicago slaughter house
into the shade in less than ten seconds.
IF / should describe the gigantic can
mons which the navfes of the world are
now employing, many Of you would ques-
drawing upon my Imagination. Arm
| strong guns weighing 100 tons apiece are
becoming quite common. They shoot a
although it weighs considerably more, and
this projectile will penetrate the strongest
kline of steel plate a couple of feet in
thickness at a distance ct Two miles miles, n
E <AL lliO y
England they nave guns faeetiously
| known as the tWoolwich Infants which
| are six times as long as a man is tall, and
six feet thick in the centre. The COM
| mon charge for one of these Infants in
! GLIDING both powder and shot, weighs as
| much as sixteen full-grown men. Each
| one can throw its shot mine miles.
ssOne of these babes Is a trlfe larger
| than the others, and measures A feet in
length. His mouth is four feet In cir
| conference. and when he commences to
| roar the loudeat clap of thunder you ever
| heard is simply nowhere. Every time
they feed this particular baby they pour
| a quantity of powder down his throat
| equivalent in weight to four and one-half
! barrels Of -four, and on top of this they
ram down a projectile Weighing as much
| as nine barrels; and when this colossal
bullet is once started it travels at the rate
| Of 1000 per second and tears through a
| solid plate of steel three feet thick just as
| ii 1t were so much tissue paper.
"But this Is not all. In addition to
| opening up these fearful c~annonades BY
| land and water, modern warfare Is now
reaching out after the third great element
| and learning to fight in the air: Airships
are no longer in the realm Of the expect
| ed. They are in actual existence and
Is YOU see what we are coming to in
| these modern times, we shall either have
| peace or we shall wipe cur enemies off
The face Of the earth in q remarkably
| short space Of time. The process of an
limitation is altogether too rapid and
thorough going to admit of hostilities.
War is becoming so fe~arfully and scienti-
ncally destructive that in time It is sure
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