Grand Forks daily herald and the evening times., 1914-08-26
WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST 2e, 1914
WHAT WOULD BE THE HARM

Of every kind af1oat were sunk: If ev-
cry cannon, big and little, and every
swarlike arm of every description were
melted down; if every military powder
magazine were exploded: If every fort
were RACED to the ground and grass
sown w the site; If every piece of
machinery for the manufacture Of
arms, ammunition and warlike appli-
ances generally were broke up or
made available only for ordinary in
dus.rial purposes. what would be the
harm? What would be the effect on
humanity?
For one thing, the standing armies
whose business it is to use these i'm
plements of death woul be disband-
ed, and there would be- released for
the industries and the commerce and
the arts and sciences of the world
many hundreds of thousands of men
who, under present conditions have
no occupation ave that of war or pre-
pairing for war. That many men
would be added to the effective popu-
lation Of the world, an item of no
small moment in itself.
There would also be released, for
the same purposes, the millions of
men who constitute the great reserve
forces of all the military countries,
and a considerable part of whose time
Is now occupied with the same I'M
necessaryaand proftless military prep
arations.
There would be released for the
manufacture of the thousands of
things that people eat and wear and
use, millions of dollars worth of cost
ly equipment in the shape of machin-
cry and sites, and the things that men
Inc women need for the living of ra-
tional ives would be available at
prices which are Impossible under
present conditions.
A statisticiann recently said that in
the German empire. under the mill
taristic systeno which bestrides the
country like an incubus, one-ffth of
all the %nconle of the country are
paid into the government in the shape
Of war taxes. Such a transformation
as has beer suggested would put that
fifth. thai twenty dollars out Of every
hundred that he earns. into the pocket
Of the man who earns it. instead of
having it wasted in powder smoke or
d~issipated in the red rust of obsolete
ships. In olur own country two-thirds
of all the of the government
are paid out for wars, past, or pros
pecttve. Soon. when the costs Of past
wars had been ~liquidated, We could
either cut out federal taxes down two
thirds. or we would have available,
on the present basis. over half a bill
ion dollar a year for river improve
rnent, for inland waterways generally,
for national highways. for the build
ing of a creditable public building in
every village in the country, for the
protection of the public health, for
the investigation of the causes of plant
and animal diseases. for the promo
ton of better farming methods. for
the purchase and operation. outright,
If We chose, Of 2 splendid feet Of gov
M merchant vessels every wear,
~. II PoiIi1oSS VI fulfilling CT Id-
tional railways If we wished for them
for the revolutionizing of our whole
Industrial system. It would mean
this to the United States alone, where
our military expenditure is relatively
email. What would it not mean to
the great military nations Of the
world?
And what else would it mean Just
now? There would be no two or three
million of the best rnen in Europe fly
ing at each others Threats and wor-
rying like a lot Of dogs. There would
be no harvests ruined for lack of har-
vesters, or being gathered by the wo-
men, the old men, the cripples and the
children who cannot march to the
a There would be no famine
stricken cities, no thousands of men
going down with their ships, no burned
bridges and torn up railroads, no level
ed walls and shattered buildings, no
fields drenched with blood as red as
any of ours, no homes bereft of their
best and bravest, no hellish curse of
war spread like a black pail over all
humanity, binding, d%eafening and in
~furiating man and bringing him back
Z to the level of the brute.
80 NFTTA-r