The Washington herald., 1915-01-31

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The Red He'll of War.
With the wailing Of devastated Bel
-ium. with the moaning of the wounded
and dying in a thousand hospitals, and
with the cheers and the curses and the
2groans Of millions of fighting men in the
cold winter trenches on the battle front
there also goes up to God an anathema
AGAINST this war from abhOrring CiviliZa-
tiOn. 1t is everywhere pronounced an
incUnCeivable crime. nameless and un-
uameable. save as the damnedest abom-
inatiOn Of all the ages. All join in the
proclamation that the red hell of 1t Will
-,ivc this generation the color Of blood on
the pages Of future history.
As q matter Of cold fact, however,
This war is no better and no worse. is no
moro humane and no more brutal than
wars have always been and neither the
humanity Of it nor the brutality of it is
an attribute peculiar 10 either side.
No such thing is possible as civilized
warfare. War is a man hunt, where men
stalk and kill one another like wild
beasts and when freuzied with the taste
and lust Of blood. they are as savage as
wild beasts.
still. rs most Of the fighting is now
done by labur-saving machinery, and,
consequently, lifc-saving machinery, very
few are killed in proportion to the num-
ncrs engaged.
This war is simply a great interna-
tiOnal CataClysm-an inevitable eruption
nr Iung-peut forces. just as inevita BILE,
Just as natural d result Of producing
causes as any other natural phenomenon.
"As the pent pressure generated by
Subtcrranean fire and water produces
earthquake shock and the volcanic erup-
ton. so does the pent pressure gener-
ated by intense conflicting national inter
rsts result in the eruption Of war and
when the premonitory mutterings ge;
loud we should seek safety.
We may, however. console ourselves
with the optimism of Pope
And spit Of pride, in erring reasons
one truth is cleaT-whatever is, is right.
Sometimes Submerges in Blood.
1t has been the warfare of fire and
water that has raised the continents out
IF the sea and miIled them down for our
use. Similarly. warfare has lifted the
human race out of the slough of intel
leCtuaI darkness into the sunlight Of un-
derstauding. and milled the race for
hardy usefulness. But. just as the earth
uuak,. shock sometimes submerges a con-
tiHeut in the brine Of the sea, 50 does
war sometimes suhmerGc a continent in
blood and the brine Of tears.
. AtA W NO ale lDNNeSI IN lltu NbclIGF-
ations against this war are those peace
pilayUring persons who have been telling
MS all along. during the past twenty
Years. that human nature mad improved
so much lately and International brother
hooI'ry become so dominant, that the
nGhtiuG spirit was nearly dead in the
souls of men.
The peac" rrajers have assured us
from tim" to time that the last great
ftf lt..I
they have told US that no great nations
would dare to go to war any more, be
cause war between any of the great
mowers would mean bankruptcy and
national suicide; they have assured Us
that ali International differences would
hereafter be settled by jurisprudentiaI
procedure. and law would be substk-
tuted for war.
'N bout fftccu years ago. a NJ de
Bloch proved in book that war had
become 50 deadly and destructive. and
above all, SO expensive, as to become
impossible. So impressed was the Gar
"i Russia with de BloCh's arguments
that he called Il conference of the ma
tions to consider disarmament
Since that time a thousand differ
-nt persons have. in a thousand differ
ent ways. proved to us that war on a
large scale was not only impossible,
but also absolutely unthinkable. DroIl.
isn't II. that they keep right on fight
ing: However, we are consoled by the
peace prophets that this war is truly
the last great war We are assured
that this war will be the death of mill
1arism, and then the lamb can safely
ruddIe up to the lion.
No shortage of Wars"
consequently. We have been told that
war on a largo scale. being now impos-
>iblc. the United States needs no army
and no navy, and that it would be folly
10 waste the taxpayers money on such
useless things. We have been strongly
advised to set the other nations great
moral example by completely disarm-
ing. Furthe rThOrc, we have been as
Surcd that the mere possession Of arm
aIncnts leads a nation to wage war.
because being able 10 fight makes one
want to fight; and that, obviously, the
best way to avoid a fight is to be un-
able to night.
At the first annual banquet Of the
Acronautical Society, four. years ago,
at which / presided. I predicted exact
ly the use Of the aerOplane in war that
1t has had since that time. President
Taft was one of the speakers, and his
subject was his pet peace and arbitra-
tiOn treaties. He said that there was
not likely TO be the requisite wars for
testing out the aeroplane in war as
had predicted. He said that there
was going to be a shortage of wars
Ladies and gentlemen, since that
time. we have had the Italian war with
Tripol, the Balkan wars. a continuous
revolutionary performance in Mexico.
and finally, we have the present great
European war. Not much of a short
age in wars, truly,
"a few Americans who were caught
in the war zone when the presSnt war
broke out got some useful knowledge
II wars Inconvenience and harass-
nents. What the people suffered in
Belgium and Northern France, for
whom there was no escape, is beyond
our powers OF conception. No one
who has not experienced it can form
he least idea Of the barbarous atroci-
les perpetrsted by an invading army
IN the defcuseless population.
What would we do to escape The |