Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-12-18

signed that convention, but she broke
faith at Ipres. That first cloud of poi
son gas came without warning; we had
no defense. 1t left hundreds of SOL
diers dead and dying ON q field which
had to be abandoned. That horror still
sticks in the minds of the world They
forgot the defense we prepared: Il de-
Tense that in our own army reduced
the death rate to 2 per cent although
gas caused p per cent of cur casual
ties"
There was more IF this. I have
rarely been more astoundcd. / pride
myself on having some l.,.sis Of Fact for
my assertions, even for my prejudices
But here l had evidently rested myself
on terrible impression received in the
early months of the war. overlooking
entirely the fact that the chlorine cloud
that wrought such havoc in 1915 would
have left an army furnished w,.h mod
ern respirators unhurt in 1913.
The fact about chemical warfare
seems to be that it is at once the most
effective weapon of attack and defense
ever devised by man and at the same
time it is the most hurnGne--jronical
as it is to use that word with the infer
nal business of war There seems to
U y.
It's strategic value has only been limited
at. For instance, mustard gas can be
50 used that territory can be made
impossible for days, and this without
loss of life. With tear gas properly
used whole army could De routed in
an hour and the ground held. while in Il
few hours the vanquished would he KS
fresh as ever. And think of what al
improvement tear gas would be over
clubs for crowds and mobs.
Useful for Air Service.
In the hands of the air service chem
ical warfare is capable of an endless va
riety of applications. 1t promises to
be more perfect defense against naval
attack than the submarine could
ever be.
But quite apart from the applica-
tons of which it is capable, from the
fact what gas is less horrible in death
and suffering caused than the instru-
ments of war to which we are accus-
toned, is the discovery think it can
be properly called discovery-that
chemical warfare is really by-product
OF peaceful industry.
The two great developments of the
world war were the air fleet and ap-
L
times of peace serve mankind A COM
mercial air fleet, such as we certainly
shall soon see, operating above us, can,
it is believed. be readily adapted to war
purposes; while as for chemical war
fare, all that is needed is to turn your
organic chemical factories, busy with
the making Of beneficent and useful ar
ticles, to manufacturing posons
Where did Germany get her gas?
She had no great gas Krupp devoted
simply to its making. When the Ger
man war staff determined to break the
Hague convention, it called together the
directors of the immense dye combine,
the Unforeseen Gemeinshaft, which had
had a practical monopoly for years of
furnishing dyes not only to Germany,
but to England, France, the United
States, and ordered them to turn their
equipment to making in quantity all the
deadly substances they knew and to set
their chemists at dcvising new ones.
The chlorine gas which caused such
disaster to the allies at Ypres in 1915
is used for all sorts Of bleaching proc
esscs. Millions of gallons of water are
purified daily by it. Combined with
lime it makes the chloride of lime with
which every housewife is familiar.
Chlorine is used freely in every labora-
tory. All that the German chemical
plants had to do was to turn out in
quantity thing which they were ac-
to manufacturing for peace.
Mustard Gas From indigo.
The mustard gas which 30 startled
the allied armies when it was first used
vas obtained by arrcsting alta certain
:tage one of the processes by which in
iigo is made. That is, you start out to
make indigo, and just before you reach
t won stop, take short side step, and
here is mustard gas! Indigo plants
:ten necessary become war plants.
Most of these powerful new deadly
chemicals of which we hear such ter.
rifying stories have been discovered
Continued ON Pare Six-s