The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1911-03-24
Improvement in the Science of Killing

out by the National News Service OF
New York city is worth reproducing, in
view of the great military movement on
the borders of a friendly nation in the
throes of civil conflict. 1t is also worth
reading, because the war pictures
drawn are vivid and calls interesting
attention to the improvement in the
science of killing which has kept pace
with improvement along other lines.
What a curious world is this in which
we live. We increase the thickness Of
the armor on our battle ships and then
Immediately increase the size and pene-
trative power of our big guns so that
the heavier armor is no better protec-
ton to our ships than was the lighter
armor. We make discoveries in surgery
and therapeutics, improve the methods
of nursing the sick and wounded that
the death rate may be reduced, and
Immediately follow this up with more
certain and deadly methods of killing
human beings. The trusts raise the
price of food, raiment and other
necessaries of life to increase their
profits; the working millions raise the
price of labor to meet the increased
cost Of living; the producer combines
to meet the manufacturing and labor
cost, when all are practically on level
again some one who wants a little the
best Of the game Of life sets the wheels
in motion and we repeat the folly Of
the gunmaker and the armorer.
Life is a constant struggle between
the forces of good and evil, cupidity and
selfshness is arrayed against self preser-
walton. So have we gone on, and will
continue to 60 on while time lasts.
Pardon the depression and ponder
the evidence of mans folly in the fol-
lowing:
twill be ninety-seven years on Mon
day next March 27) since Andrew
Jackson, by his crushing defeat of the
Creek Indians at the Horseshoe bend
of the Tallapoosa river, won from his
troops the nickname, "Old Hickory"
For the first time since the Civil
War, this years anniversary will find
his country mobilizing on the borders
Of friendly neighbor sanguinary
army bent on a fight or frolic, as the
exigencies Of diplomacy may demand.
1t is vastly different army than that
which the sage of the Hermitage"
commanded at New Orleans in 1915
when the British fell like wheat stalks
before the reaper under the whitening
fire from the primitive hintlocks and
smooth bores. And a strangely differ
ent force than he led against the Semi
noles in Florida and that with which he
vanquished the redskins in Alabama.
Nothing more strikingly emphasizes
how fast the world has moved in those
ninety-seven years than the develop
ment of the science OF war. Human
genius has robbed it of some of its tor
ture but OF none OF its cruelty or ter
rors. For the hand to hand combat of
Jackson's day, when individual courage
and individual proves was the test, we
now have long distance fighting with
smokeless powder, noiseless rifles, dyna-
mite and pneumatic air guns that kill
with unering precision miles away and
exact Of beligerants terrific tribute to
the god Of strife.
lhe constitution, lnyulnerable IN her
day, has gone to the scrap heap before
the mighty steel armored battleship,
and Jules Verne's dream OF the con-
quest Of the deep has been fulfilled in
the evolution of the submarine.
The swift winged aeroplane, alert and
agile as the birds with whom it plays,
patrols our outposts, and from its asylum
on high uncovers the secrets of our
enemies" We reconnoitre by auto
mobile and have our camps strung with
telephone wires, as do peacefully dis
posed persons, their homes and their
Offices. The telegraph keeps US in