Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1919-04-01
WHAT Al SOLDIER THINKS
or WAR

service In the Argonne forest section
during the anaI drive has this to say
about war
The truth Il that there Is nothing
pleasant about war nothing The pen
III the sternest reaiist could not exag-
gerate the IoathsomenesB of It This
modern civilized warfare, this wgffaFe
o. mechanics, IL the worst form Of all
When ssrst went 10 the western front
] expected IN some degree TO be thrill
ed and to feel some inspiration to
write about II. came away cold. de-
pressed mentally exhausted with the
iilllnitabie destructiveness Of the thing
You 20 ID the front, and for days you
zee only destruction, disease. decay
Nothing growing, nothing blooming
nothing constructive II III not so
much the fiying death lthe sieiis) that
III terrinIe: 1t Is the rotting dead
trees rotting, houses rotting crops
rottlng. machines rotting, horses rott-
Ing. men rotting. That Is war Not
bugles and battles, but mud and pu
trefaction The flying death whistles.
and you fiatten down IN the mud and
putrefactiun for an instant to escape
lying IN Il forever You do this again
and again and again until you cease
to care your mind already rotting.
your soul II routing. saw some Of
UAr boys who had been over the top
three times In twenty -four hours The
skin OF their faces was pulled tight
over the bone. Their eyes were the
eyes Of Wild animals hunted to the
point Of utter WEAKNESS, Only the
gashes which were mouths showed the
will 10 90 on. All men are sometimes
afraid under IRE; probably most men
are afraid every time, but their cour-
age consists IN forcing themselves to
go ahead Mud and putrefaction
That Is war. The only excuse for II
lis to prevent II ever happening again :.
Private McNeal has written cfas-
sic: not one thing that ne has said can
h0 denied, yet there ID something fine
about war, something that is en-
pllaaized BY every word which the
young soldier has written with such
truth and force.
The line thing about war ii that all
these horrible things are true, and vet
men OF fine aensibilities willingly I'M
dergo them all because they arc doing
IL for j cause, an Ideal RI there was
anything pleasant and inspiring about
war IN Itself. what our men Ii, France
did could not be anything like ais fine
and great
What soldier McNeal has written is
very timely. and may tend to correct
certain mistakes that have grown up
during the war. A great many things
were eaid and written then which will
hardly bear the acid test when We
examtnue them after the passions Of
war have cooled
Everything possible. for instance,
was said to build up what the military
men call "tha moral" OF our flghting
force. An efgort was made to paint
war as : glorious thing and TO build
up what they termed "a righteous
hatred or the enemy. Perhaps this
was al right for the occasion. but
now that the war Is over, we want
To look at things az they are, for no
permanent thing can be built upon q
foundation which is not true and sim
cere.
The truth about Germany Is bad
enough, 10 BE sure. but we don't want
to think harder. even Of Germany, than
the facts compel Us to think II many
Germans were honestly deceived, We
want 10 give them whatever credit is
due them there: IL they did things
that other men do when they are In
famed and wild with the horrible
feelings which war engAnders. as the
soldier describes. we must make what
ever allowances can be made in fair
ness, Deal them justice no more and
no less.
To return TO the letter and what
young AfcNeai says about war Sure
~, he had message to the American
people and 10 Ill people The only
excuse for war Is to prevent It from
happening again. he said. Perhaps
this is Just i little overstated. for It fsl
conceivable that war might Be right
eous III some other cases. For In
stance. We might avoid var by allow
Ing an invader TO take possession Of
our country without fight, or drive
him out only 70 have him come back.
we coaid avoid war by not hghtings
and make another possible By light
aag
The statement 4 true, 10 general