Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-29
GOD OR GATLING GUNS?


f41E awfulness of war is not all on the
battlehelds. Diseases follow in the wake
~ armies. Xerxes brought some with him
4pm the East to Greece and the science of
4 A3nfope and America has not been able
$ot TO eradicate them. 1t is boasted in Ber
slin that 10 per cent of the wartime Prus
GCAn births are illegitimate. and n Berlin
4 city Councillor solemnly AYERS that "this
oreat number t2oo,ooo) Of illegitimate chill
( dren IL evidence Of the moral healthiness
\ ~ the German race" 1t is German doc.'
1x1ne that patriotic women must sacrifice
Il &helr motherhood to the exigencies Of race
4 poverty and paternalism takes the accepted
\ for1n Of utilizing females for mere breeding
I, purposes. as II Prussia were a human stock
zarm. But In France, too. the accepted
u otnndards Of morality have suffered
3 of1ovous setbacks. 1t is invariably the
Uoes When war is epidemic immortality
\ - epidemic. The human temple appar-
< ently cannot be desecrated by shot and
oA611 without hardening of the conscience
ma loosening of restraint.
It seems probable. on the other hand.
Mat never has there been in this country
guch a religious awakening as is now in
4 pfogress The successive shocks humanity
Aos suffered in the last three years have
turned the minds Of those at home to spec
ulative pursuits. Men announce lectures
m the Second Coming of Christ and pack
4 ~ assembling places to the doors. Others
/. poarch the Scriptures on their own account,
>UDectang to find the prophecies fulfilled in
6 ll1o events Of today. Even agnostics cry,
hero must be a God. q Supreme Being to
loQe us from our misery" Nevertheless,
increasing recklessness in religious
& fDfocttce Is reported from the countries
Uzeder Immediate military pressure. The
Efsnch. at tho time Of the Revolution, were
uot content merely to abolish kings. They
etclished God also. When they attempted
40 DO that. they pulled the temple down
u hoOt their heads. Napoleon shot respect
y ~ authority back into his compatriots
With artillery. The master military genius
& % the world in his day grasped the prin-
4 cipls that IL order is to be maintained "lt
= either God or gatling guns"
England, following the example set by
4 This country. has decreed n day of national
bsQyer. The discipline of religion and the
Goor Of God are essential to civilization as
~ know 1t. In Cicero's day educated men
40 longer had faith in the mythology to
7 &v11ich their forebears had given allegiance.
! Ehey became frank doubters, and their
I, ,foDntzy was doomed. The old religion was
fGoo6 and II was to be three hundred years
Z 1870 the truths Of Christianity could find
nofal lodgment in Europe. There is no
1oxnment on earth that could retain its
oknority a month and preserve order
nply by the enactment of laws.
-1n obey the statutes and carry them
- decently because there is ingrained
1olen . belief in immortality and long
~ ~ measure up to the standards religion
x. - - Wncn tnose stdnuaros are no
/ nonror sought and life is viewed merely
; ~ = period between birth and DEATH chaos
Ht11ns 70 engulf the race and submerge It.
h 10 Kaiser's intimate references to God
s md his impious definition of Divinity as
- ally of his own is the more disgraceful
oeoune II Is In fact denial of Divinity
~ assertion Of the principle that the
1c<ce OF importance Is the bullet, an
" worship Of which IS directly as
5o Indirectly the cause and source Of
Uor. A. between God and gatling
Ne Kaiser has selected gatiing guns
not the first time kings have made
= choice. but the churches they pill
again raised their spires and the
lnnts prayed in them.
= true that civilization as We know
nds on God or gatiing guns and the
has pinned his faith to the latter.
not worry about his military VIC
= Italy or anywhere else There was
ng bseore there were gatling guns
- win b God long after satling
1k1@ys only in museums among
- .of barbarian.
Il