The Washington times., 1917-03-31

tion which the hardest hero might
shrink from facing. Yet seasoned
warriors who had tried and faced
these things laughed and made offers
with respect to them which reminded
me very strongly of the bets which
my colleagues on the old ST. Pam
cras vestry used to make when we
discovered q new method of detect
ing the germs Of deadly disease in
milk. They would, for bet of half
q crown, drink a quart of 1t, and they
never paid the penalty which science
declared inevitable.
The danger OF these internal ma
chimes Is real and appalling enough,
but IL cannot seek its foe as q man
does. At Ypres, when the gas scat
tered one regiment and its victims
lined the road, coughing their lungs
out in torment, another regiment, un-
daunted by the spectacle, went right
through them up toward the gas and
carried on. No doubt these miracles
can be explained, but they certainly
occur; and the moral Is, do not be in
a hurry to bid the devil good morn
ing. Life Is very uncertain at the
front, but so is death The inevi-
table does not always come on.
A Point for America
to Remember.
Ny second reason foy insisting is
the aforesaid British. taxpayer. He
must be taught that war Is not pre-
else and economical. IT Is almost in
wastefuI and extravaga1t.
It burns the houses to roast the pig,
and even then seldom roasts him eff
fectively. 1t Is a gamble In which the
German citizen and the British citizen
must play the impossible martingale
of double or quits. The German Is
economizing his ammunition only that
he may waste IT madly when the bat
tie is Joined again. We are damning
the expense of hammering away be-
cause II IL a poor heart that never
rejoices: also no doubt because we
have calculated that extravagance
pays.
But calculation or no calculation,
waste IL the law Of modern war; and
nothing is cheap on the battlefield ex-'
cept the. lives OF men. Give your sol
diers trench mortars enough, and no
enemy can live in his trench or escape
being buried alive In his dug-out
But the Kaiser can say as much
with equal truth. Therefore, my tax
payer, resign yourself to this: That
we may fight bravely, fight hard.
fight long. fight cunningly. fight
fight in a hundred and
fifty ways. but we cannot fight cheap
ly. That means we must organize to
increase our production. Mere saw
ing wins no battles. II we are to de-
stroy with one hand we must create
with the other.
One more moral. All the gases and
poisons and flame projectors that our
enemies can invent and we copy are
as factors In victory COM
pared to an increase In the number
and precision OF the weapons which
kill wholesale. And you can increase
precision not only by improving the
weapon but by keeping your head bet
ter when using II. That Is the mischief
OF hatred: IL IL bad for the head. The
man who says: II will turn the
Of the machine-gun; but will
not hate my enemy" Is really more
likely to hit him. He who buries the
hatchet Is more likely to bury 1t in
the skull of his respected foe than to
chop his own shins with It.
But / must reserve my moralizing
for my next and last article.
1917. by tae Wheeler
Syndicate, Inc.
: The concluding article In tkts serses
bv Mr.. shoV sOiU BE- pGbIisAed sezt
Softrdoy. Il