New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-07-05
"HTNANE WARFARE."

Tho correspondent Of THE London Times NJ
The Hague is not too severe in characterlzlng
ne absurd the turn Of affairs nj the Peace Con
croes which nuts Grcnt Britain and the United
States in the apparent attitude OF advocating
inhuman methods of warfare against the hu-
name efforts of all the rest. That is assurediy
the case upon the face of II. These TWO POWERS
alone voted against prohibiting the use OF pui-
let's which. like those made at the Dum-Dum ar
senal. change their shape on entering pody'
and thus give a more serious shock ana innlct
more severe wound than they otherwise would
We shall probably hear chorus OF denuncia-
tion of the two Powers ms favorlng DarDarous
methods of warfare and the infection or need
less suffering upon combatants. perhaps even
comparisoh of them with savages who use pol
soned arrows Nevertheless we are unable 10
regard with any degree of regret the attltude
assumed by the British and American delegates
"a the Congress.
For war is war. and you cannot make any
thing else Of IT, II is thing to be avoided II
nossible But when II is unavoidable. then that
war is tho most humane. or least inhuman, as
Won please. which is shortest and most decisive;
and that war is bound to be shortest and most
decisive which Is most energetcally and eHec-
tivelv waged. Let us take for an example
great infantry charge. which is the supreme ac-
tion IN warfare: charge like that of Pickett at
Gettysburg If it be met with a volley of old
fashioned bullets II will not he stopped For
sucb n bullet will not stop man unless 1t shat
tcrs n LEG bone or hits some vital spot and the
majority of bullets do neither. Probably in that
Gettysburg charge thousands OF men were MI
and slightly wounded who kept right on, per
hans not conscious of their wounds. Some maze
their way with half dozen wounds. some dld
not stop until they were literally riddled. But
suppose there had been used against them bui-
let's which unfailingly stopped all men VINO were
struck by them, no matter how signify; what
then? Suppose that a bullet instead OF making
a clean. small hole through the feshy part OF an
arm or a leg. had shattered every limb 1t struck.
WHY. then the whole army, instead of fighting
IFS way up 10 the very breastworks, would have
been stopped halfway by the second or thrd
vollev. Its loss would have been heavy. But
we seriously doubt whether II would have been
ms heavy MS it actually was. and we are CONN.,
dent that the total loss in the whole battle
would have been less than II was.
We are not arguing for poisoned projectiles or
explosivc bullets or anything Of that sort. The
purpose of a bullet Is TO stop the progress or
the man whom it strikes and disable him for
further lighting And we frankly believe that
IN the long run the bullet that performs that
purpose will be found TO be actually more hui
name than the one that does not. We believe II
IS better for a man to be stopped In his tracks
nv single bullet than to wait until he Is riddled
hv n dozen bullets Men making a charge now
know the chances are ten TO one that they VIII
not be hi at ALL and ten to one that If they are
hit they will not he killed or even disabled But
suppose they knew the chances were Just the
other way. ten 10 one that they would be hit
md i'm that case. ten TO one or hundred TO
one. that they would he killed or disabled.
Why. then. with potentalties so dreadful Turk
ing in every rifle barrel, no army would dare 10
march against another. and no nation would
dare 10 20 to war. For not even the most Zero
cious War Lord would rush to sure destruction
or be such n fool as to send armies to sure
destruction.