The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-04-15
War to the Knifs-on Paper.
rom the Kansas City Star

From the Kansas CITY star.
The sea reprisals OF england and Ger
many have brought out much e~xtravagant
talk on both sides about war to the knife,
war to the last man, war to the last
charge Of powder wal to the last
Fortunately these phrases, none of
which "a new, belong rather to the ntera-
ture OF war than to its practical opera
tons. None knows better than the states
men that war cannot be prosecuted to
the last man. When It reaches that stage
It is a I'll Of war hat Is dealt with by
no nation will soon be reduced to the last
charge OF powder and the last loaf of
bread, It Is very safe to say that II such
n situation should come about those re-
sources would not be used in the prosecu-
ton OF q foreign war. The police would
need the powder to shoot the domestic
fnanciers who would try to corner the
loaf.
It is, however, a recognized belligerent
right Of nations to issue these war-to-the-
knife manifestoes whenever occasion re-
Quires and to phrase them IN the most pic
t%uresQue language OF dehance All ma
lions have been pretty good at It. The
Phoenicians threw a bar Of iron into the
would not be ~subjugated until it rose and
fioated on the surface, Frenchmen put a
wooden horse with a bundle Of hay tied
around his neck on the ramparts OF Thion-
VILE and proclaimed to the besIeging Aus
TRANS that the city would rot surrender
until the horse had eaten his hay.
All fighting animals are given the same
way. Cocks crow and beat their wings
In the pit, AND while the loudest Growing
may not affect the result OF the main it
has sometimes been known to affect the
result Of the betting. The elephant doubt
less has his own psychology of noise n
trumpets as he charges, the lion does not
underestimate the terror of his roaring,
and even the mosquito. denied the brute
v~entriloquial voice that enables him to
attack his victim from an entirely differ
emit quarter than that which his SONG
seems to proceed.
81 Certainly no nation can be blamed for
declining to admit that there IL a limit
beyond which It will not fight. Such an
admission would not only be Of very poor
well. No patriot would march on any
such announced policy and no loan would
float. So while 1t 10 a necessity Of states
this war as a last ditcher It Is letting out
no state secret to hint that when II is
over there stin win be left In England
and Germany enough powder and bullets
to give disarmament a prominent place
on the peace congress program. There will
be bread left n men to sell 1t at a profit,
and there will be money left to pay the
interest On the war debts. Those debts,
translated into Investments, coupons and
anDuitIes, will for generations be q source
Of life and luxury to the descendants OF
those Englishmen and Germans who now
NOW them only a. a source Of %privatIon
and death.
So all this talk Of starving entire civil
populations must not be taken to mean
too much. About no last person in the
world who would desire to see the popu-
lation Of Germany e1terminated II the
English trader, and about the last person
ulation OF England exterminated IL the
German trader. Statesmen may illuminate
and captains command, but the English
u has not yet been cast that will blow
up an English market abroad, and before
Germany attempts, IN any seriousness, to
destroy its market, In England 1t will re-
fleet that export beer ID, after all, thicker
than water.