Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-14
WAR AS SOLDIERS SEE 1T

TN THAT graphic book. Under Fire" in
] which Henri Barbusse tells the story of
the daily life OF the French army squad OF
which he was the leader, there Is partlcu-
larly impressive chapter In which some
common soldiers voice their conception of
the war and of what must be its outcome.
On the day before they had taken part n.
fierce battle n tile group had been sepa-
rated from their companions, had lost their
way. had finally, overcome by weariness,
sunk down on the side of a small mound
and slept through a night OF pouring rain
They awakened to find themselves floating
in mud, incased In mud and some of them
drowned in It NJ Barbusse writes Of 1t:
II used to think that the worst hell in
war was the flame of shells and then for
long | thought II was the suffocation of
the caverns which eternally confine us. But
it is neither Of these. He'll is water.
"Thev begin to talk Of the immensity of
the misery. Says Paradis: AN we can see
is only speck, You've got to remember
hat this morning there are 5000 kilometers
of eGra' evils, or nearly equal or worse
"A bass voice rolled to us from further
away, NO, one cannot Imagine it,
AT these words burst Of harsh laugh
ter tore itself from some one else How
could you imagine it. to begin with, II you
hadn't been there?'
"You'd have to be mad said the chas-
seur
Then he who spoke sorrowfully, like n
bell. said. Itll be no good telling about H.
Ell? No one can know it, only u.s.
NO, not even US not even usv some
one cried.
""Thats what say. too. We shall for.
get--we're forgetting alreadyv
We've seen too much to rememberr
"'And everything we've seen was too
much We're too little to hold it,
III We remembered said another
there wouldn't be any more war;
"There'n be no more war; growls one,
when there Is no more GERMANY
That's not the right thing to saw, crte.
another 1T isn't enough. ThereIl be no
mere war when the spirit of war is de-
feated'
Germany and milltarism,' some one IN
his anger precipitately cut in. they're the
they'd planned 1t beforehand. They are
mitarism,'
"'Yes. Today miltarlsm is called Ger.
many
"'Yes, but what will It be called tomor-
row.? S''''''
~ don't know said a voice ser,ous ,s
prophets. II the spirit of war isn't killed.
you'll have a struggle all through the
ages"
They have much discussion. as tbev
founder In the mud. pull themselves out Of
it, sink down with the bleeding of their
WOunuS, ol tHc cause OF war, or whera
how the spirit of war has its origin, of ius
tice and equality. And then the author
goes on:
MY still living companions have at last
got up. Standing with difficulty on the
foundered soil, inclosed IN their 9bemired
garb, laid out In strange upright collins of
mud. raising their huge simplicity out Of
the earths depths-a profundity like that
OF ignorance-they move and cry out, with
their gaze. their arms and their fists toward
the sky whence fall daylight and storm.
- But their eyes are opened. They
are beginning to make out the boundIess
simplicity OF things. And Truth not onIv
invests them with dawn of hope bnt
raises on 1t renewal of strength and cour-
age. That's enough talk about those others.
one OF the men commanded; all the worse
for them Us! Us all The understa n6ins
between democracies. the entente among the
multitudes' the uplifting of the people Of the
world the niuntly simple faith! All the
rest. aye. all the rest. In the past ths
present - ~ future. matters nothins
! 4 Y <..1 7, .- =. s. ~ *