Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-12-10

IT'S 10TH, Sucn agreement is expected to take the
place of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, for which
there will be no further justification, and which has
been the source of great dissatisfaction. 5,
CHEMICAL WARFARE.
The use of chemicals in warfare is one of the
subjects now receiving attention at the hands of the
hands of the delegates to the armament conference
in Washington. The subject is one Of the most per
picking of the many which come before the confer
ence for consideration because Of the difficulty ex-
perienced in insuring the observance of any rules
which may be adopted.
Prior to the late war, the use OF such agencies
as poison gas was universally condemned. The
German authorities chose to employ poison gas and
because they did SO, it became necessary as a matter
OF self protection for the other nations to respond,
and the doors were thrown wide open for the use of
poisonous mixtures of every Imaginable kind
which would either destroy life or incapacitate men
for action.
The purpose of warfare is to destroy the enemy.
Nature has made no provision according to which
one method of killing the enemy may be declared
lawful and another unlawful. The general senti-
ment of humanity has universally condemned
methods which will infict needless suffering on an
but short of this. there seems to be no rea-
son why it is not as Legitimate to kill an opposing
soldier by means of a dose of gas as it is to send a
bullet through his body or to shatter his frame to
pieces by means OF a bomb or other high explosive.
One of the most undesirable features about the
use Of poison gas is that it tends to involve in the
sufferings and casualties of war not only the men
under arms, but entire populations remote from the
battle fronts. including both women and children.
Since the war, Investigations into the chemical field
have led to the perfection of forms Of gases by
means Of which it is said the entire population OF
large cities can be destroyed i'll a matter of a few
hours, Perhaps, this is the ultimate and the logical
ultimate of war. War, insofar as it has ever been a
national activity, has been a thing involving in
greater or less degree, not soldiers alone but whole
nenn1ee aifhnn,oh IN tho eaf1ter 0Ae thu oar<:o;c,-
ton OF civilians was in a form which did not subject
them to attack and under conditions which made
civilians, according TO common consent, immune
from the attacks which were considered legitimate
against men Under arms. These conditions have
changed, generation by generation. More and more
has the civilian come to be an active participant and
as necessary as those of the men in the trenches. TIC
all intents and purposes the entire population oil
all the nations involved was engaged in actual war.
fare. Peaceful industries were continued only to the
extent necessary to supply the immediate and press.
ing wants of the people at home, and every ounce oil
energy that could be spared was devoted to fitting
arming, and supplying the men at the front. The
logic Of the situation seems, therefore, to tend in the
direction Of warfare against populations because we
have reached a period where warfare is a warfare
by populations, and the population which engages
in war must expect itself to be subjected to attack
1t might be possible to secure a new agreement
that poison gas shall not be used in warfare. Tina,
agreement would be effective only so long as all the
] h0loAAo ~ " OOSGk It, j uO III
whereby observance Of it could be compelled. Jus,
as Germany took the initiative in the use of gas in
the late war, some other nation conceiving it to BE-
to its interest to do SO, might again take the same
step, and when that step was once taken, all the
gases that have ever been invented would be lei
loose not only against men in the trenches and near
the front, but against cities, villages, and groups o.
people wherever they might be found. Probably thu
only way in which the world can be freed from the
menace of this diabolical device is by the abolition
of war absolutely, and this is true not only Of the
use of poison gas, but of the use of the submarine
and the airplant in attacks which involve the lives
of civilians as well as those of armed forces. This
then seems to be the direction in which we ar.
driven: that we must choose either between the risi
Of having entire populations wiped out, or Of abol
ishing that warfare from which such holocausts ar.
insepar1bie
If you have = mans past record you can ,oredic
his future with reasonable accuracy.
Remember the old simple Christmas, with
little candy and nuts and a big red apple to fill on
the stocking?
Most nesighbors will never become bosom
friends as long as they can look into each other.
back yards.
i might be well while correcting our disobe
dent offspring, to remember that we did not di
Young.
Two important periods in 4 mans life are whei
Ifte finds the hair coming ON his upper lip and whei
he discovers il going from the top Of his head.
Mexican volcano has been throwing Oh
smoke and ashes forstwo years. Somehow Il e