The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-06
WAR ECHOES

| @ftW iOfh Cdii. II IS HUI ta1s to eAa
 derstand the psychology of the expres
 sion, T am sick of war news, It seem
 hardly possible that anyone should b
 s) narrow in his interests, so lacking il
 human sympathy as to become surfeite'
 with the details of one of the most DOT tentous crises of humanity.
 Not merely generations but centuries t'
 come will dwell upon the present clasi
 of nations. Libraries will be written upor 1t, lives spent in it's study. It will b' | the source of inspiration to countless millions, and thousands of the wise ol near wise will deduce conclusions iron I 1t for the guidance of mankind. Imagina- 1 ton and emotion will enrich themselves
 from it's slightest episodes. The effects
 are lncalculable. The physical aspects oi 1 civilization now scared and blackeneo l and presently to be beautified and 1 adorned on account of it only typifs the abasements and qualifications which the soul of the world will undergo. Yet there are people to whom destiny has granted the supreme privilege of be- ing contemporary observers of the strug- gle, holders of front seats at the spectacle p- tht d5tSs Siidi tio Ol ltb SfCctt cilotiOiiSi who still turn away from it. not from agony or horror. but apparently from sheer blase indifference. They are sick of it. T wish" they say they'd give
 us something else'' Truly, we have here
 curious frivolity. intolerance of the
 higher call, of world realities, of stuff of
 the spirit which is as strange and inex-
 plicable as war itself.
 Of course the newspapers are blamed. They are the natural scapegoats for the alterations of their readers. ''Cut out the army of words" says distin- guished national legislator just give us the information" He does not realize that there are not words enough to give the information, that language is bank rrpted by the facts, that 1t is only by heaping Ossa upon Pelion that some dim picture of the reality can be thrown be- fore the eyes of such as will read with 1 imagination and feeling.
 Philadelphia Public Ledger: Psychology is playing larger part in the battles of this war than many realize. Observ-
 CTS report some interesting mental phases l ol lilt tonllltt tudl are NdSlly not only in determining the result but as criterions of. our civilization. For one l thing. it is being noted that the city l dwellers-much dispised hitherto as de- generate, enervated weaklings-are prov l ing the better soldiers They wear better | in battle than their sturdier brethren I of the country. They stand much better 1 the nervous strain of bombardment, of ali-day excitement and uncertainty. Their l ger, has trained them.
 l Yet even they are not proof against the psychology of the German siege opera 1 tions. They wear down mentally and | physically under a mental torture that 1 Professor Muensterburg himself might 1 have devised-the firing of the great siege
 guns just so far apart as to give the {, impression each time that the lombard ment is at last over.
 Leslie's Weekly: Isolated battles, such as Chancellorsville, Antetam, Fredericks- burg and Gettysburg, Sedan and Grave 1 lotte, while of heavy import in them selves. and often decisive, are not to be l tDIuDdTtu WllH tnOSe Ol lnfS war. III those
 days armies sought each other out and fought; then came long wait, sometimes
 months. while both repaired their shat l tered columns. and along came another l battle. Simultaneously, perhaps. came another action in a remote part of the | general fighting ground. But in between l the two locations stretched sometimes l hundreds of miles of smiling country un- I torn by shot and shell. The distant battle
 might be a part of the same scheme oi campaign as the one near at hand, but
 there was no physical connection between 1 them-no chance to the lending of aid
 by the one commander to his fellow. l How different it all is today con- l tinuous battle line of league upon league
 sLrging, sweating masses of combatants over the whole length-swaying now this way, now that, as charge and. counter charge force sullen retirement over DOT | ton of the field. It's all one vast strife along an entire nations boundary, with rapidly changing alinement, advances, re- pulses, yet all the while keeping unbroken 1 lines against the assaiant Then, when 1 forced back upon a new row of intrench- ments, fresh troops come up from the
 rear, replacing those who have borne the heat of the day, to be again replaced when, on the morrow, another savage | assault has been checked, or has agair forced the lines. No breathing spells here no chance to patch up broken regiments
 no getting out of touch, once the great battle has really begun. It's just crash
 and roar and turmoil, morning, noon and night. and often all through the night. un- | til after a week of constant conflict sheer exhaustion forces a days respite | The shrieking shells and bursting shrap- nel then no longer drown the screams from mortal bodies horribly torn, long trainloads of broken men send their
 way far from the field of carnage, and the trains come back with fresh fodder for cannon
 Providence Journal No more touching appeal has been made during the present | war than that which comes in behalf of the Belgian noncombatants. The appeal | as those who make 1t say almost superfiu- ously, is in no sense political. They ex- press no opinions as to the merits of the
 controversy. They merely call attention 1 to the needs of those who have been
 stricken by the awful wave of war and
 desolation that has swept over neutra | Belgium.
 | Put in the tersest language, Belgium l fate Is fearful to contemplate. Pros 1 porous Beligan cities have been practi-