New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

L. w. Patrick in "The Scienc1n<
~ Monthly" has vindicated itself in
its practical applications. Consid-
ering science in its relationship to the
Great War and to the Great Peace, the
writer says:
"ln this connection we are reminded that
there is one field in which science has dis
tinguished itself beyond all others, and
that is in the art of war. To the exquisite
perfecting of this art every science has
been called upon to contribute its very best
and latest results-mathematics, engineer
ing, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, me-
chanics, optics, radio-actvity, electro-dy-
namics, aeronautics, economies, Zoology.
psychology and many others. An i'm
measurable weight of the best and keenest
thought of the world has been expended in
the application of science to the parapher-
MALTA Of war, resulting In an amazing prog
ress in the development of this art to the
highest conceivable degree of perfection.
tion Of science one should say that by this
art civilization has been saved, it would
only be because by this art it was threat
ened. Given an unscrupulous nation
dreaming of world dominion and harassed
by the need of commercial and industrial
expansion, that nation would never have
fc
had it not been for the fact that she found
herself in possession of such an arsenal Of
cunning devices as to make success appar.
emily certain; submarines and superdread-
noughts, mines and torpedoes, airplanes
and monster dirigibes, titanic cannon and
marvellous machine guns, secret formulas
for super-explosives, poison gases and IL
quld fres-these are some of the imple-
ments of war which applied science had
put into her hands
The results, whether one choose to re-
gard them in terms of sorrowing homes.
OF outraged and degraded morals, of the
loss OF the best young blood of all the
nations, of enslaving national debts, of the
disorganization and ruin of world commerce
and industries, of the destruction of art
treasures, are equally appalling.
"If, many believe one of the promi
nent causes of the war was the urgent need
which Germany felt for commercial and
industrial expansion, we seem in this yerv
fact to have Indictment of the mechanic
and industrial arts when viewed in the
light of the leading motive in the social
order Nowhere else in the world had
science been applied so extensively and sue
cessfully to the satisfaction of human
wants as in that country. Yet these wants
were not satisfied and Germany had to fall
back on the age-old method of the exploita
ton of other nations. But we are cvi-
IDENTIFY coming to the time when this
method will not work Perhaps it may be
long time before it will again be tried
Each nation must satisfy its own wants by
peaceful means and thus the question faces
us whether any possible development of the
mechanical and industrial arts, upon which
we rely so fondly, Will satisfy the desires
of man.
I'm former times acted to purify
racial stocks by eliminating weak races.
Modern wars have precisely the opposite
effect, owing to the fact that a modern war
kills or disables the best young men of all
the warning nations, and SO, by destroy
ing the most valuable germ -pasm of the
race, causes irreparable damage to society
Applied science has devised every conceiv-
able means to make the destruction COM
pete. Would it not be well, therefore, in
the years to come for science to apply itself
directly to the problem Of preventing wars?
1t is idle to say that they cannot be pre-
vented or that science has nothing to do
with this problem. 1t lies distinctly within
the field of such sciences biology, psy-
chology, sociology and education. For ap.
piled psychology it offers a most allurinc
field. 1t may be immense problem, bus
the possibilities of science are immense"