The Hartford herald., 1917-08-22

The war is beyond the power of
the human mind. 1t staggcrs the
power of imagination.
Its existence rs in violation OF all
precedents and contrary to cvcry
theory of students Of government,
students of finance and students. of
human endeavor.
When will it end? No one knows.
In the beginning on the surface
our interests were sentimental and
academic. AS a fact they were vital.
At first the war disturbed the chan
nels of trade. Then there was for q
few davs collapse Of prices. For a
few weeks the market products of the
:, country ceased to command credit
and in the south there was what ev-
cry one now knows to have been a
foolish and timerous panic.
In 1914, Russia was far away from
the United States. 1t was almost an
' unknown land, and the ocean between
France, England and America was
wide.
We knew England from our school
histories, from Macauley's essays,
and from the pages of Scott, Thack-
cray and Dickens.
We knew the France of Napoleon
and the Paris Of the Revolution at
the close of the Franco-Prussian
War.
We also knew Paris because Of its
fashions. it's arts. and what we
thought to be the faults of its wom-
en- and the lightheadedness of its
men.
We knew there was a city in
France called Rheims. where queens
and kings were crowned; where once
Joan of Arc stood at the shoulder of
king.
We knew Belgium because of Wa
terloo and the Brussels carpets.
We did not know whether Cham
pakne was north Of Paris of at the
foothills of the Alps.
Az ledSl, WltIlii tiilcc years VIC
have learned geography.
We know the villages of France as
we know the cross-road stores in our
own country.
We know the rivers of Eastern
Europe as we know the bayous of
Arkansas and Mississippi. We know
4 of all the races of men because of
their friendships or hatreds in the
war.
We have seen the dash and music
the elan-taken out of the war.
y There is no beautiful poetry in it any
more. Only death seems to arouse
the poet.
A man charging a cannon's mouth
is no more.
Galloping cavalry is forever un-
horsed.
Artillery is fired after a calcula-
ton involving logarithms.
A professor of mathematic is more
effective than the charging Bayard.
Electricity, chemistry, ballistics and
aeronautics are the factors in this
war.
1t commands the applied intelli-
gence of those most highly trained
in science.
And vet, and vet, and yet; the is
sue will finally be settled by pre-
ponderance of the same force that
has adjusted all wars since Cain slew
Abel.
Almost three years from the dec
laration of war, America is getting
her first troops into the firing-line.
A second contingent of Americans
have arrived in France. Others will
follow, and still others will follow.
This war will gradually absorb the
minds and the bodies of America. We
are just beginning to realize that it
is our war.
The war spirit, either deadening or
exhilarating, is ever sweeping in and
out of the rooms of American pal
aces and American cottages.
Next week individuals in every
neighborhood will receive call from
the commander-in-chief to report
somewhere and then to go some
where.
This week a million young Ameri-
cans will begin journey, the end of
which they do not know.
This week they are beginning to
discharge an obligation for the priv
ileges Of citizenship, which have been
~ l,irs and their ancestors.
Vim 80 years all of them would be
dead, anyhow. They are merely in
creasing the danger Of death during