Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-12-16
The Daily Story
Forecast-By F. A. Mitchell.
Copyrighted. 1914. ny Associated Literary rurea,


ca into every department. fncfna,
war. Having swifter means n, .i. .''ns
ter. the nations will be mora ,o laugh
hght one another. That. believe ~, ~
stop war; VIII
You arc wrong. monsieur. Wa, wa,
never cease." WIZ
well. then. 1t will grow Ies. .,
quent.'' s ire
Suppose that. century from -.
united Germany shall attemn. :,
crush France. What them
The old man thought for some g..
without replying. Then he said.
"A group of nations is forn;,.
crush Bonaparte. This will bs tha - y
ginning of groups OF allies yet TO corDe
Some statesmen will see the 49,
tage Of uniting several nations w,,s
view to controlling Europe. This 90,
lead to counter group
And when war comes Il will hs
tween these groups and all Er,n,.
VIII be involved. see. Never.
the political consequences OF tbesa a.
liances. Give me the military ,ssrsss
I'm a hundred years the peon,e :.
Europe will have more than douh,sd
| perhaps quadrupled Armies that a.
now composed Of few hundred. :,
thousands will then be millions IN.
killed and wounded and prisoner !,
war instead Of being counted by ,hor
J sands will be hundreds Of thousands-
And the battle line" Napoleon mn,
in. will be 80. 100. perhaps 200 miles
! long"
II thought, monsieur, you asked mo N
give you the military future You seem
quicker in this than I. defer to You"
ITO move such armies" Napoleon
continued, ignoring the speaker. avfu
be a herculean task. There will nor
be roads enough for their advance
you forget the new power of steam.
1t may develop"
You mean armies will be moved in.
stead of moving. Well, grant that
there are inventions that will carry
thousands of them and at a speed Of
a hundred miles in a single day.
grant in this case they can be moved
within a reasonable time. But do you
not know, monsieur, that an army
moves on its belly? million Of men
to be fed
Perhaps 1000, 600"
1.-TWO million men to have two meals
a day. The food must be transported
or the men will starve. And the am
t. -
tons upon tons. How will a general
be able to follow up an enemy aud
carry with him such weight? And
granting he could do it in a time Of
peace, how would he do it with bis enc
my destroying the roads and bridges
before him!
THE point d'appui will be then, as
now. the enemy's capital. Suppose
French army attempts to seize. as
Bonaparte has done. Vienna. He will
reach it with a starving army and
short of ammunition. Suppose a unit
ed Germany marches on Paris. 1t will
be the same. Let Russia attempt to
capture Berlin. The more men she
has with whom to do it the worse on
she Will be. so far as feeding and pro
viding them with ammunition are con-
cerned.
"And how are these starving armies
to batter down such Notifications as
will be constructed a hundred years
from now? Enormous cannon weighing
many tons will be required. How can
an invading force expect to move these
enormous weights over roads and
bridges destroyed by a retiring enc
my? Believe me, my friend, Wnen
that day comes war will be deaa-
lock. No power can attack another
with a hope of success, for one rea-
son alone. to say nothing OF otners-tns
invading force will starve."
Then" rejoined the old man. us
eye lighting with prophetic feryor'
perhaps the good God will suggest 10
his stupid peoples 70 establish an ~
ternational court"
"Ah. monsieur. But will It avail I'd.
less based on that which uphoids al
our courts-force:"
Napoleon paused and appeared 10 "
ost in deep thought When be spoae
again the light Of prophecy shone ID
his eyes.
You have spoken of what these wv
Americans have done. the one III e'ee
-ricity, the other in steam. see
1 hundred years from now arms
moved by either one or both OF tne.e
powers. Posterity will not cease
make war: il will rather enlarge ".
scope of war. Who knows out ina'
hey will fight In the air and unoer 'ue
yea? Who knows but that some eu'
,eror of the future will succeed "ne'e
8onaparte has failed in striking Pc
idious Albion through the atmosphe.s
n by first destroying her navy nun
Monsieur" said the other when 'pe
Emperor had finished. surely u'ue1
on these things has mace 'O'
mad"
Napoleon arose and asked the nawe
f the man with whom he had pesH
aIling, then walked away.
The next day Il young officer re'e
d n valuable official appointment an'
n old man a pension. But neither
Dyed his good fortune long. TOT Wv
isturber of Europe's peace was 80