Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-02-23

intend to build an invincible ar
mazda.
And from the moment they lay
down their first keel, with that end
in view, the main business of every
secretary of state for war in Eng
land will be to do unto that feet
as England has already done to Ger
many's. unless the old order on
which M. Clemenceau pins his faith
be superseded by new one, as Mr..
Wilson demands.
Let us see how far the war itself
has changed the problem of arma-
ment. 1t has certainly greatly les
sened the value of disarmament as
security for peace by demonstrating
that a land armament including a
conscript army millions strong can
be improvised virtually in no time
and that feats of transportation of
soldiers across the sea which no
body believed possible year ago,
are easy.
No nation can be prevented from
making and secreting the jigs, dies
and presses on which a rapid me-
chanical output of weapons depends.
Aircraft Problem.i
Further, the most dreaded arma-
ment is now the aircraft armament;
and the commercial aeroplane Of
which there will be hundreds of
thousands, is potentially a bomb
ing aeroplane.
Psychologically, it has been shown
that a complete preparation for war
in time of peace, though every bel
ligerent accuses the enemy Of it, is
impossible.
Everyone knows that as in the
midst of life we are in death, we
should always be ready to meet it,
with our wills made, our consciences
clear and our moral accounts bal
anced.
Always Be Ready.
We know equally we'll that in the
midst of peace we are at war, and
should always be ready for the fir
ing of the first shot.
But in the one case as in the other,
we never are. AS we have seen, the
British forces were the best pre-
pared in 1914; but the preparation
did not go very far beyond the nor
NAL establishment, and was ridicu-
lousy inadequate to the share that
the country had to take in the land
warfare.
In all the bell;gerent countries the
age limit for CONSUMPTION had to be
raised during the conflict; and the
armies had to be learnt their bust
ness; the rule at first being insult
fciency and ineficiency on all sides.
The moral is that disarmed ma
tons can put up quite as disastrous
a fight as armed ones if they are de-
termined to fight.
If the will to fight continues, the
means will always be forthcoming
and the less skilled and the less pre-
pared the belligerents are, the more
horrible will be the suffering and the
carnage.
On the other hand, the use of high
explosives, poison gas. aircraft and
guns ranging up to 20 miles has
made the possibilities of destruction
and death so appalling that the nee
essary precautions against them,
even if effective, make life as intol
cradle for the civil population whom
the armies formerly projected, as for
the soldiers themselves; indeed, |
more SO, for the soldier has nothing
to do but deal and dodge death,
while the civilians have to support
the soldiers, support themselves, and
take care of the children into the
bargain under this terrible FIRE.
The expense and decentralization
are enormous Formerly war was
the sport of kings; an extravaganza
which they could afford and even
profit by, if successful.
100000 Died From Pestilence.
Nine million deaths from war pes
thence, which is only family allie
waited by calling t Spanish influer-
"a; pile on the uncertainty as to
whether even the victor can avert
the revolution which is now practic-
ally de rigueuer N the case of de-
feat, and it will be seen that Bloch,
the Polish banker, whom the war
was at first supposed to have sig
nally refuted, has in fact been Colt
frmed by it in his essential thesis
that modern war las passed from
the stage of Wholesale murder to
that Of state suicide. .....
Therefore, the fact that the nations,
though afraid to disarnl, are vet more
afraid to face the war for which
their ornaments are intended, may
avert an absolute deadlock. Dis
armament will not prevent war nor,
if it could, would that sort Of pre-
ventive have much moral value.
The peace that is produced by dis
ablement is worth no more than that
which is produced by manacles and
letters.
The disarmament Of nations will
follow the course of the disarma-
ment OF individuals.
On the wild edges Of civilization
in America men carry revolvers and
cartridges. If by chanse they emf
CRATE to New York or boston or
London, it is not necessary to dis