New-York tribune., 1918-04-28
The Worlds
New God.
A Tank!
n HE need Of the hour is met al.
ready, one is assured by j. G,
L Fletcher, writing in "The Eeo.

whenever the people ask loudly enoi,sxh5
for new thing, they are always granteAS
one, though it is to be doubted if thev ar.A
ever completely satisfied For some time
past various people have been c!amornos
Tor new religion, without seeing that
new one was being born under their noses
Mr.. II. &. Wells, Sir Oliver Lodge. Pro.
lessor Sugimori, and hoe genus on,ne are
hereby respectfully invited to throw thai
books of philosophy into the Thames and
to subscribe once and fer all to eo,a
newspaper Our newspapers. not our souss
have shown. us God, and thev have evar
begun to spell His name in capital Letters
1.-The New God is the Tank Like most
Of the other gods, His birth was somewhat
ridiculous The part taken by Winston
Churchill therein has never been suficiently
cleared up. But His progress since that
event has been nothing short of miracn,on,
1.-The TANK has already travelled furthsr
IN the last two years than any other ~.
ganism. One reads of His appearance Il
France, in England, in America. The ;o-
ponderable barriers of passports, military
permits, customs regulations-moren notant
than barbed wire and machine guns-are mn
for Him. He has already appeared in Pal.
estine, and perhaps has already entered Je.
rusalem in triumph or is about to do so
vaded Germany, and has aroused the pbleo.
matte Boche to pitch of bloodthirstinass
before which Hindenburg's wooden statue
IN the Sieges-Allee was seen to totter yisi
bly,. And as for London, have we not seen
Him hold His court in Trafalgar SQUARE
and are we not about to do so again?
Nor is this all. The Tank has collected
millions for the cause in England ALREADY.
How many millions do not know The sum
increases every day. Here we see the mi;
raculous element clearly at work. The
widows mite becomes thousands on thor
sands Of pounds. And for all this money
the Tank gives US piece of stamped paper,
bearing His promise to pay as interest for
the space OF several years. IN,
writers continually hymn for US His
virtues. Short stories, sonnets, are dedi.
Gated to Him. His picture appears every-
where III our papers. Artists paint Him as
He appears upon the battlefield, and inven-
tive children experiment with model Tanks
Of wood and cardboard. But the censorship
jcalousy keeps his interior a mystery
Truly the Tank has seized upon our imag-
nations. so that He has already become
living symbol for all that is profound and
relentless and great--Hc is already the
archetype of the new dispensation
"Before the Tank there was the Zeppelin.
which baptized US all with fame. But the
head Of the Zeppelin was brought to Lon
don upon a platter mean lorry. Now
the kingdom Of the Tank is preached, and oil
men press forward to attain it.
when the Tank wea-ies Of performing
His miracles with money He may give us
other miracles. He may, for example, 60
about the streets to the houses of food
hoarders and force them to disgorge for
horo h; AZ
loaves and fishes viii be repeated
"1s there. in fact, limit to the power D.
this new God? There is only one: He is
somewhat slow and unwieldy. Bat this can
be avoided if the Tank win surround His
person with troops of aeropianes. The aero
plane cannot be our God; a. the most |.
can only be His Angel Let the Tank,
therefore. guard Himself with aeropanes.
TO thee bipanes and tripanes continually
do cry
"Let no one think this is mere irrever-
ence. 1t is fact that we need some new
form Of religion. Wells, Lodge, and all the
rest are but symptoms of that. 1t is also
fact that the ceremony Of buying war bonds
from the Tank is a religious ceremony. It
is preached to US as a duty. and have seen
it carried out with reverence to the strains
OF the Coldstream Guards band. For the
rest. every one-even the devils per-
mitted to quote Scripture; or at least, so
Shakespeare says. And if Father Vaughan,
who calls himself servant of Christ is not
ashamed to take his stand on the top of the
Tank and to preach TO the assembled multi
tude, neither an, |.
II confidently expect that prayers for the
success of the next Tank war bond cam
paign will be offered in our churches. The
Tank, in fact, is now an institution; ana
! If this is but the beginning, where will sne
/ Tank end? | cannot tell. and if you, casuai
reader, can. l do not envy you
"Ths much is certain The toll anu
! struggle of a great age of mechanical III
vention have eliminated at last IN devices
of supreme destructive and annlhllatoiy
/ power. Among these there Is nothing which,
either by its appearance or by its egendar
/ powers, has aroused more interest," .nah
the Tank. Even in this age Of rapid oDi's-
ion the Tank has, by the exercise oi
commanding personality, captivated many
! imaginations. 1t is true that aeropiane'
produce something CT the same effect. DSs
aeroplanes are becoming too commu.
Whenever Behemoth pays US visit, en'
visit is an event
con the last night of the last visit OF 'l'
Tanks to London was in Trafalgar oquaa.. =.
which was brilliantly illuminated with CO.
c;um refectors. I could not help go"s
back in my mind to the London nave nv
forgotten, but which is now only memoI,
the London of four years ago. Then ths's
were lights for all; now only the TANK .:I ,ssa
lights And as looked at the crowds ~, u
pressing forward to obtain the coveted l.'s ~.
of stamped paper, could not help rec''A"
to myself ths verse; -
"'Consider the Tanks of the battehe'Os
they toll not, neither do they spin' 81
Solomon in all his glory was not array
like one of these"