The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-04
PARADOX WAR
AWES THRONGS
IN IN FIFTH AVE.
Guns Roar and Cas- Clouds
Spread in Big Battle
Pageant for Loan.
ZIG FLOATS IN LINE
Cost Of Victory Shown by
Panorama Of All Dew ices
q of Modern Com bat.

There was a time yester uay after
noon when staid Fifth aver VI was a
cloud of smoke and gase,,r's vapor
which made people cough and rub
their eyes and wonder. And n ON this
moving cloud came the sharp, staccato
Darks,ot machine guns and - ,casion-
ally a. vicious bang as a blah< bomb
burst from the mouth OF wicked
tHench mortar. i was a floatin z, pull
sating veil of death terrible in IS pos
sfbVities, and people who saw 4 shud-
der'ed at the thought of the a / tua,ity
where real gas and real bonn Is were
used.
1t was just part OF the Victory
Loan parade, the most impressi re pan
Drama OF war paraphernalia IL int has
ever been eHven. 1T was compl pc. ex-
art. scientific. the whole BUSH HISS Of
human destination confined h the
length of a column that VARIED as the
scere of battlefield and. it's ap-
Lproaches. There was nothing: from
the archaic army mule to The cloud
spurning plane. THAT was not included.
long line that typified ais nothing
else could Nhe terrific cost I; md mani
fold completely of modern war and
which carried with it the rOnnoted
need for payment
AS a parade it made any spect sscle that
New York has ever seen paraded through
its streets seem empty and Il tile. It
was a whole exposition of the art OF
war OH wheels--tanks. tractors hauling
heavy guns. caHllry, mortars md the
scientific instruna nts devised for trench
destruction. the devlish ngen hity of
gases and flames which terrify Il e heart
OF man, the boortiing of small cannon
and the rattle OF rapid fire. lorg lines
OF airplanes and devices wild ch enable
man to wage war beyond the reach of
human vision. and back of it all the
supply. ambulance, ammunition and
other field and base service which make
war the complicated business that it is.
Spectators shrink FROM Gm,.
People seemed a bit awed ~ it. They
slirank from the demonstrations Of poi
son gas. the weird colned though di-
ltlted poisons that flowed from cylinders
on their way down the avenue wiped
their eyes and Wondered what, the real
thing was like. They sat silent beneath
the continuous bombardment of tanks
and tractor engines the tractors draw
T ing long files Of chunky hovitzers or
lean and wicked looking long distance
rifles, and IL they spoke then awe 10
their neighbor they had TO roar 1t TO
be heard above the const ant decoration
The mind gave up its task OF seIArat-
ing into all its parts the army machine.
F.. There seemed no end to 1t. Even officers
who had devised the various demonstra
lions. who in the short spase OF three
weeks had brought to bear all tie ma
chinery of the amy service to- make the
1 ~ Ill
over that they never had conceived the
multiplicity of detail that was en- volved
II made people realize what thew have to
nay for. the tremendous expense of war
the perfection of mechanical al chem
ical science that was present on the
western front when Germany gave in
beneath the load OF superiority that was
heaped upon her.
Other Liberty Loan parades haWe been
spectacular. have been of great interest
because they gave some slight idea ot
the things men were underGDflg. but
none of them ever placed before the eyes
Of startled people the whole organiza-
ton of an army. One came away with
The impression that the genera hssmo of
an army in these days is little less ON
nipotent than the Greeks believed their
Zecs to be. and that at nod he could
bring TO bear on the enemy Weapons and
clouds before which the gods of olympus
would shrink
It was unfortunate that people die
not know more generally just what this
parade would be. They had been told &c
some extent, but no cold words of ad
vance Information could carry the con.
vincing story of the thing itself. There
had never been anything like II. and
there nevel' will be again perhaps, SC
there was no way of gauging its i'm
pressiveness. The people along the line
stood silent but with eyes open to theil
fullest.
There have been stories after stories
from abroad since the first days OF the
work of the organization Of an army OF
the front line troops, the supports. theii
Instruments. the communication and the
base OF supplies, the repair department,