The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1921-05-08
by QUICK.

- S1A&n
Thus far ! have discussed chemical
warfare without reference 10 tho
great demand that IL be forbidden by
the laws Of wal and OF nations as hor-
rible and inhumane. I have done this
because | have felt that II Il is going
on. II II IL the kind OF warfare which
will be OF greatest advantage 20 us In
war. u to be unpreparcd for It may
mean national suicide-as I believe ~
mayhem We should make ourselves
strong In Il whether II is inhumanc or
not. But In view OF the fact that the
loudest protests against II have been
made because OF IL horrible and in
human character. that question must
be dlac used.
II Is difficult for me TO discuss Il:
because to my mind all war IL un-
~speakably inhumanc and horrible. II
IN the most Tepuisiyc thing IN the
world for men to go out hunting other
men with lethal weapons But the era
OF peace does not seem 10 ave dawn
I'd on US yet.
To the unprepared army attacked
hy poison gas II Is the most horrible
ana inhumane form OF warfare, except
naval war In which when a vessel H.
sunk the chance Of escape IN very
small. but when an army h. .
ed for it-and I am arguing that our
army should be prepared-it rs far
less inhumanc and horrible than wal
with bullets ana high explosives
Take two cases i'm point. when the
Germans In spite Of their pledges not
10 use ~. launched their attack on
the unprcpared British aFmy az Ypres
In 1918. every man who was close TO
the front line got a fatal dose OF the
suffocating gas. chlorine, and died
That IL what will happen TO our army
In any future war In which w may
be engaged. unless we are
The British then had no masks. no
gaE-proof %duEuuts. no protection OF
any kind The result was like that
scene described by Byron;
Tho Angel Of Death spread his
wings on tho blast
And breathcd in the face Of the Zoe
as he passed.
Nothing moro horrible and lnhu-
mane was ever seen IN war. The death
rate over h whole area attacked
was something like 80 per cent.
This was chlorine gas. which auffo-
Gates men Ia horrible agony. After
that the gases grew more deadly all
tho time. but az tho armies OF tho al
lies perfected their masks and other
protective devices. the death rate grew
less all the time.
We were prepared for gas. and our
N"NH wv AHaNNNH NNNNM ANNAN
20 e prepared army gss warfare Ii not
as horrible % inhumanc as warfare
with bullets and high explosives.
All our casualties in the World War
amounted 20 2Ti2l1 These more
than u quarter ~ r. million casualties
caused 5000 deaths. The gas casual
Ties were H71g. The deaths from Eaa
wcro only 1900. Thus bullets and
high explosives cnusod tho deaths Of
1a.A per cent 81 those they injured.
while "a caused the deaths Of only
~ per cent Of its casualties.
In other words, % nan injured and
put out Of the battle hy gas had twelvr
times as many chances of recovery as
q man disabled rs bullets and high
explosives. Guug"d hy recovery nom
injury gas warfare b. twelve times as
humane as b old style OF warfare.
fur the men who were Eassed usu-
ally made complete recovery. ~ they
recovered ~ all Il Is estimated that
not over GOO men died on tho reid
from gas They were hospital Cnays
There are man cA-soldisrs who be
liCvo themselves 10 be still suffering
from their RhSsing. but tho medical
men do not think they are correct IN
this.
u has boon believed that gnsslng
made mon subject 20 tuberculosis. but
this D. not the case. Tho rats OF ~
h~crculosiH among non who were gas
ed is 20 per thousand, while among
troops in general in 1919 u was -
per thousand. ! do not mean 20 say
mat EasslnE rurcs tuberculosis, bat a.
IN O. that The men who were gaHsod
have only a little more than hall az
much tuberculosis as those In the rank
q Tile ~ the forces,
General Fries tells this story;
VIII "a " a fare continue Pc was
tskod of "a hrunzed army commander
who had fought at C~antiEny. the
Marnc 81 Mihiol. aud was just then
awaiting word TO cross into German
territoy on n heels OF the beaten
Toe win u endure?' was his reply
ABSOLUTELY, You might just as well
J expect the neat wal to be fought with.