Evening journal., 1918-06-06

And the graves that line the road
of glory, the stencil OF robbery, pillag'
and theft that hangs tbout these mil
lions OF graves? Must culture builC
its cathedrals on hills OF cOrpses. sea:
OF tears, and the death-rattle OF the
Vanquished? Yet, 10 must These ac.
compartments Of the expansion OF cui.
ture may be regarded. il one will. as
the pudenda Of glory; but without
these organs there would be no victory
no multiplication. no conquest and nc
fertilization.
Either II must be denied that cul-
ture Is a blessing 10 humanity, and
dreams Of Arcadian simplicity must be
accepted. or the right 10 rule must
be accorded 10 ones nation. In the lat
ter case, the power OF the conqueror
becomes the supreme moral law to
TO which the vanquished must submit
Vac victis
1t. Karl A. Kuhn. instructor in Mill
tsry History. Charlottenburg. "Dle
wahren Ursachen dos Weltkrieges'
ti9iil, pp. 10, #.
II. WAR, LAW AND HUMANITY o..
Laws OF War Hardly Worth Men
tiOning"
War is an act Of violence intended
TO compel our opponent to fulhll our
will. Violence arms itself with the in
ventiOns Of art and Science IN order
TO contend against violence. Self-im-
posed restrictions, almost impercepti-
bic and hardly worth mentioning,
termed usages Of international law. ac-
company il without essentially impair
Z ing its power.
Clausewitz. "On War" vol {, .. 2
az Spirit Of BeneVolence" Dangerous.
Phlanthropists may easily imagine
that there is skillful method Of
B.. overcoming an enemy with
/ out causing great bloodshed and thai
this is the proper tendency Of the art
OF war. However, plausible this may
appear, still IL Is an error which must
be eXtirpated for in such dangerous
things as war, the errors which pro-
ceed from a spirit Of benevOlence are
the worst. He who uses
force unsparingly, without reference to
the bloOdshed involved, must obtain a
superiority II his adversary uses less
vigOr in its application. The former
then dictates the law 10 the latter.
To introduce into the philosophy Of
war itself a principle Of moderation
would be an absurdity.
Clausewitz. ibid. vol {. pp. 2. 3.
Errors Of the Seventeenth Century.
Plundering and devastating the enc
my's country, which play such an inn
portant part with Tartars. with an
oient nations. and even in the Middle
ACES, were no longer in accordance
with the spirit Of the age OF Louis
20
a. unnecessary barbarity, which might
easily induce reprisals. which did more
injury 10 the enemys subjects than TO
the enemy's government and which
therefore produced no effect beyond
throwing the nation back many stages
In all that relates to peaceful arts and
civilization. War. therefore. confined
Itself more and more. both as regards
means and end. to the army itself. i
Although there lay in this an error
stin, upon the whole, this
change had a beneficial effect for The
people: only It is not TO be denied that
a. had a tendency 10 make war still
more an affair Of the state. and TO Sc
parate it still more from the interests |
Of the people.
/ lClsusewitz. ibid, vol. ili. pp. g. o.
hfAtIeiOn oi W hF NOMdf0 It's hna0iuit /
Perfection"
Since the time Of Buonaparte, war. !
through being first on one side. then |
sgain on the other. an affair Of the |
whole nation, has assumed quite new
nature, or rather Il has approached |
much nearer to its real nature, TO its
absolute perfection. The |
bbjest OF its action was the downfall |
pf the foe; and not until the enemy |
lay powerless on the ground was it |
supposed to be possible TO stop or 20 |
rome 10 any understanding with he |
spect TO the mutual objects Of the con
test.
Thus, therefore, the element Of war. /
freed from all conventional restrictions. |
broke loose. with all ITS natural force /
Clausewltz, ibid. vol ili, PIP. iO2, iO3
Necessity Nervus the Laws Of
War.
Military action must be determined 4
solely in accordance with those con-
dltlons which usually prevail in war;
In this sense It's procedure Is COM
pletely ruthless. For the individual
soldier murder and ill-treatment. rob
berry and pillage are crimes and Of
fenses whether committed In war or
In peace. II goes without saying that.
In actual warfare, it Is hardly ever
possible 10 draw a sharp line between
lhese two courses Of action on the part
,f the fighting forces.
When war supplants peace, force