Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-04-29
Special to Times -Repub ltcan.


Des Moines, April 2s.-The most in
forming contribution to the. discussion
on the various phases of the world war
that has been given in Des Moines
Nas TO. the press club. by Harry CD
Evans, ono evening this week. Mr..
Evans was one OF the Ford peace
party in Europe. He had a really con-
spicuous part; for it Is probable that
the members Of the party discovered
that which has not been generally
known in Dies Moines. that Mr.. Evans
is a man Of much general information
as to public affairs, has a well stored
mind and is capable Of giving express
sion to his thoughts in we'll chosen
words. He Is not an orator, but he
had a message for the people and he
was able to tell it in an interesting
way. Mr.. Evans had an interview
with the German foreign minister and
other high dignitaries. he addressed
large meetings in Zurich. Berne.
Copenhagen and elsewhere. he Travelled
several times across Germany. he in
terviewed hundreds Of people in
Europe-he saw the war from the in
side. The message he carried to the
home people was, in short, that the
war is so vast as to be incompre-
hensible, so terrible as to be beyond all
belief so utterly savage and uncivll-
lied that all talk Of rules of warfare
is a waste of time. so contrary to all
that is normal and right that thou
sands are driven to insanity, so de-
structive in it's work that a century
will not erase the evil effects upon the
people Of Europe and the world.
"And the real reason that there is
war in Europe today is because they
were prepared for war he said. in
substance. 1.-The killing Of a prince
down in Serbia is featured as the
cause or occasion Of the war Nothing
Of the kind The real reason is that
the nations had been preparing for
war and were ready for war. or some
of them were, and because OF that
nreparedness and that readiness they
could not be restrained longer. In
Europe. where they have carried the
matter to it's logical conclusions, they
know that preparedness means pre-
paredness for war and that when ma
tons are prepared for war they will
have war;
Mr.. Evans indicated his belief
that there will be no conclusion OF the
war by any decisive victory OF either
side over the other, for the art OF de-
Tense has gone faster than the art OF
attack. and there is virtual DEAD
lock in the western trenches that can
not be broken by either side.
3 III 80
There was short and some
what ELUSIVE address to the chamber
on Monday by young Drake student.
Mr.. Spurlock, which was an earnest
appeal by a. young man on behalI OF
Young men generally for disapprovai
Il of the extreme militarist program OF
d s,,perdreadnaugl1ts and vast stand-
{ ing army. Then Dr.. Duhigg, OF TINS
civ who served in the Philippines
and is an ardent guardsman, presented
the chamber the very best Information
yet made available on the whoie SUP
tect He had with him charts showing
the relative standing of the various
countries in military matters. the
I United States army is comparatively
small but costs much and costs Ia1
more per man than any other. As com
pared with other nations the uniteo
States. taking into account its natural
barriers, should have an army larger
than ut present but not nearly as
large az advocated by the radicals. III
: the cost is to be kept within reason
the larger portion OF the army must
be civilian soldiers subject to call
either an extension of the national
guard or volunteer federal force
The arnsy that IS now being demanded
IN eee RAicA calls Tor an expense q