The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-12-27

Herbert BayArd SWupe. the New
York World war correspondent, VINO
succeeded first in getting to see the
operations OF the German armies on
to the United States with his heart full
of the misery and desolation in the
wake Of the war now devastating
Europe
Mr. Swope's trained newspaper
mind has grasped the situation and
he knows fun well what the United
States can do to relieve it. He has
written the following description or
the scenes in Europe for the Commit
tee of Mercy, a neutral, nonpartisa n
orga nization, headed by Senator Elihu
Root. whose purpose is to alleviate, If
that be possible. the suffering among
the women, children and other In
nocent noncombatants made hungry
by the war:
IF any words of mine can help the
Committee of Mercy in its noble work
/ shall feel that | have beee partly
compensated for the awful things /
saw--scenes that must be witnessed
personally 10 feel their horror for.
otherwise. they are impossible of be-
lief They have left memories that
cannot be dulled: many of them too
terrible to be told
II was fortunate enough speaking
from the standpoint of the newspaper
man, to see action on two fronts. I
was with the German armies both on
the Russian border and on the fight
ing lines against the French from Bel
fort to Verdun. II I had only seen
action in the military sense ! think
the nine weeks I spent in Germany
for the New York World would have
brought me no regrets for in the ex-
citement that goes with battle one
loses a true perspective and the death
of a few thousand soldiers, more or
less, through actual war means little
at the time. This may sound brutal
but 1t must be remembered that kill
ling and being Killed is the main bust
ness of a soldier and so the CORES
pendent looks at il with the fighter :
view--that It is all in the days work.
But 1t is behind the lines. away
from the glamor of battle. where the
rife and cannon sing paean of blood
and iron. Intoxicating and bestializing
THAT war is unfolded in its true color
Not In the lighting trenches, ter
rible as they are: not where the men
In uniforms may be found; not where
1.-THE flags are flying: not where the
graves of the countless brave are dug,
lis to be seen the real nature of war
Tt must be looked for away from these
Elorfed scenes. among the women and
children. fatherless. brotherless,
homeless.
War But n Vast Terror.
There the false coiors fail away
under the eve and you see war as II
truly is--a vast terror demanding "a
the least of the sacrifices. Love. Life
land Wealth. War may cleanse the
inner soul OF nation but at what
"a cost In France and Germany to-
day there ia not a family that has
not felt the agony of death and there
ARE many from which every man has
been obliterated. living In unrecorded
bitches or lacking even that pretense
OF burial
But death is the least Of the
ira gedies that have befal1en those who
lived In the direct path of the war
These have lost their men. who died
lin battle: the houses that had beer
their homes for wears. their every
possession save the clothes on thei'
backs and the few poor triflles they
could seize In their flight. And. IL
fieeting these innocent victims have
been hopelessly scattered so that their
families already shattered by death
have been separated and lost to one
Eanother in the darkness of the wal
lareas where there is no inter-com
Imunication. and. because of the mill
itary restrictions. search for the miss
ling ones is impossible.
The theme of individual atrocities
stark as they may have been, does not
need to be developed to point a moral,
1.-THE atrocity of the thing in its bigger
side, falling heaviest upon the help
less. is enough: indeed too much. War
lis cruelest to those not directly en-
gagged in 1t; they are the ones who
ipay the price and only they can know
how heavy that price 1t.
The Awfulness OF 1t All.
TN East Prussia and over the Rus
sian border, saw the shattered. black
ened shells OF what had been hun
dreds OF villages and towns. And
saw the women who had dwelt II
these peaceful little places. staggering
along the road miles away from VIVA
had been their homes and falling b,
the wavside, heavy with sorrow ant
faint from starvation. What refuge
was there for them? Even II the,
reac hed a place of shelter they had
no means of life. 1t is these that the
COMMITTEES OF Mercy will save: it Ii
through this work that more deaths
and suffering will be checked.
''And I saw these scenes repeated
along the eastern border of France
Always were therA to be seen womer
and children, hopeless and helpless
Now and then among these nomads