Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-07-05
WASTEFULNESS OF WAR.
HIkola Tesla Considers IT the Great
est Obstacle to Human
i z Progress.

+ Il '@E Progress. f.
In an article in Century, Nikola
Tesla considers the various obstacles
to the progress of mankind. r.
"However ignorance may have re-
tarded the onward movement of man
in times past, it is certain that, now
adays, negative forces have become
of greater Importance. Among these
there is one of far greater moment
than any other. 1t is called organized
warfare. When we consider the mil
lions of individuals, often the ablest
in mind and body, the flower of hui
manity, who are compelled to a life
of inactivity and nproductiveness,
the immense sums of money daily re-
CURED for the maintenance of armies
and war apparatus, representing ever
so much of human energy, all the
effort uselcssly spent in the produc-
ton of arms and implements of de-
struction, the loss of life and the
fostering of a barbarous spirit, we are
appalled, at the inestimable loss to
mankind, which the existence of these
deplorable conditions must involve.
What can we do to combat best this
great evil? ...-"
Law and order absolutely require
the maintenance of organized force.
No community can exist and prosper
without rigid discipline. Every coun-
try must be able to defend itself,
should the necessity arise. The con-
ditions of to-day are not the result
of yesterday, and a radical change
cannot be effected tomorrow. If the
nations would at once disarm, it is
more than likely that state of things
worse than war itself would follow
Universal peace is a beautiful dream,
but not at once realizable. We have
seen recently that even the noble eff
fort of the man invested with the
greatest worldly power has been vir-
tually without effect. And no Won
der, for the establishment of uni
versal peace is, for the time being,
a physical impossibility. War is a
negative force. and cannot be turned
in positive direction without pass
ing through the intermediate phases
1t is the problem Of making a wheel,
rotating one way. turn in the oDpo-
site direction without slowing it
down, stopping it, and speeding it up
again the other way.>
1T has been argued that the per-
lection of guns of great destructive
power will stop warfare. SO 1 myself
thought for a long time, but now l
believe this to be a profound mistake
Such Developments will greatly modi-
fy, but not arrest it. On the con-
trary. I think that every new arm
that is invented, every new departure
that is made in this direction, mere
ly invites new talent and skill. en-
cages new effort, offers new in
centive, and SO only gives a fresh
impetus to further Development
Think of the discovery OF gunpowdcr.
Can VIC conceive of any more radical
departure than was effected by this
innovation? Let us imagine ourselves
living in that period: would we not
have thought then that warfare was
at an end, when the armor of the
knight became an object of ridicule,
when bodily strength and skill. mean
ing SO much before, became of COM
paratively little value? Yet gunpow-
der did not stop warfare; quite the
oppositc-it acted as most power
full incentive. Nor do I believe that
warfare can be arrested by any sci
entific or ideal development, so long
as similar conditions to those now
prevailing exist, because war has it.
self become a science, and because
war involves some of the most sacred
sentiments of which man is capable.
In fact, it is doubtful whether men
who would not be ready to fight for
high principle would be good for
anything at all. 1t is not the mind
which makes man, nor is it the body:
it is mind and body. Our virtues and
our failings are inseparable, like force
and matter. When they separate,
man is no more"