The New York herald., 1921-11-20
War Serves No Economic Need

the expenditure of a million, IL could
hardly be contended that human na-
ture would tolerate a conflict merely
in the cause of gold. 1T seems CAL
lous,' says the author, even to init
mate that the origin of the world war
was economic We know that propa-
ganda on both sides in its well studied
and perfervd eXhortation understood
that the economic appeal was futile
This is(true in spite of the fact that
"the unseen influence of the property
interest, working in our subconscious
mind, capitalizing our racial and ma
tional animosites, foments the war
emotions and invents sentimental
phases to characterize them" But few
men except the professional bucca-
neer would go to war believing that
the only object was to give their coun-
try favorable balance of trade; few
men would go to war unless they
imagined that they were serving some
noble cause of which they were the
inspired champions and of which their
enemies were the unscrupulous oppo-
nents. For no matter how unworthy
the cause he serves the common SOL
der of any army is apt to consider
himself of the line of Prometheus; he
is apt to be convinced that he pos
sesses all the heroic qualities while
his antagonist monopolizes the at
tributes of the craven and the neast.
If he did not feel this to be so he
could not fight; and so his propagan-
dist and leader takes care that such
delusions are firmly implanted And
On la,O dn1Itcinnc tN he
instilled war is likely to endure.
+ Unfortunately, recent years have
tended to strengthen rather than TO
abolish the emotions that are at the
root of war. The last generation has
seen sinister change. "a difference of
such deep sounding that we
cannot yet measure it's influence on
the future" Twenty or thirty years
ago the word war was surrounded by
a mysterious spell: it betokened the
glamourous, the unreal and the far
away; to-day it has become common
place and may be mentioned without
so much as a thrill. The world has
grown more educated to war; II has
come to accept it more as matter of
fact; it has learned to acquiesce more
readily in the sacrifices of wa: to
adopt the attitude Of a certain Greek
peasant whom Mr.. Palmer observed
driving his flocks out of the path of
contending armies, while consoling
himself with the assumption that war
had to be. that it was unfortunate, but
no more to be averted than the earth
quake or the thunderstorm.
1t is this attitude that must be COM
hot fA1 he eli
and the submarines. War is no. in
evitable, but it is unavoidable so Ions
as we believe it so. We must awaken
to the fact that ii is an artificial IT.
stitution which meets no inherent need
that cannot be better supplied else
where; that it is unnatural as it Is
hideous, since man is almost alone
among the animals that habitually de-
stroy their own kind. If war gratifies
the sense of rivalry, athletic games do
so even more thoroughly. if war
strengthens men physically it does so
less perfectly than the less ruinous
diversions of peace. If it is employed
to enforce justice it accomplishes the
end with a crudeness worse than
primitive; If it is used as a weapon to
compel order it is less successful than
the police power might be.
In former times, war was confined
to small portion of the population;
tc day, it has extended itself to prac-
tically the entire able bodied male ele-
mcnt, and future conflicts give promise
Of including the women and children
as habitual objects of attack This
condition is no more natural than 1t
is desirable; it is the result of the
combination of what is most primitive
in human nature with what is most
advanced; II is the outcome of the
harnessing of the implements OF
science to the instincts of savagery.
Modern warfare means the mastering
OF civilization by the barbarian: 1t
means the releasing OF the bull into
the china shop, the surrender of the
reins Of civilized refinements into the
hands of the brutal forces that civili-
zation aims to suppress.
There is nothing auspicious in this
control of the power of civilization
by the will of the savage. Two con-
flicting elements are contending for
supremacy. and one must ultimately
dominate. If il is the civilized in
fuence that triumphs, all will be well;
If the force of savagery, the progress
of ages will have been in vain. The
contest is an unnatural and anomalous
one. and the outcome is in doubt; but
there is no logical or inherent reason
why civilization should not be the vic
tor. and warfare he abolished. BY re-
naming passive. or phlegmatically
looking upon war as unavoidable, we
are succoring the power of savagers.
by recognizing that war Is an evil but
not necessary one, we arc taking
that first step toward making strife
| impossible. The road to the consum-
nation of that goal may be long and
difficult but the end can be attained
IL only we proceed with faith that we
are on the path not to a Utopia, but
to practical and essential good. And
the chief giants we shall have to fight
on the way will he the superstitious
respect for war as inevitable, and the
misguided emotions that blind the eyes
of men and induce them to squander
their devotion and their lives i'm the
cause of destruction.
STANTON a. COBLENrz