The Washington times., 1921-10-09

Allen Fiske, u. S. ~, on armn-
nsents. He toiu shoio, as only an er-
pert IN naval ,oarfdre and a cool,
scientific historian can, the f,testi-
nsabie importance Of the Interna-
tional Conference on Limitation of
Armaments in Washington neat
month. Admiral Fiske is one of
the worlds foremost naval experts,
and he Vrites from an Americdn
point Of view. As a writer and tn
Venttpe genius his leadership
has been recognized BY his election
as president Of the United States
Navai Institute. .i
TTAVING been asked to write q
jul series of articles on limitation
of ornaments and kindred
topics. beg leave to begin with a
brief discussion Of ornaments in
general. because much ,haziness as
to what armament Is exists in the
minds Of most people. This hazi.
ness Is evidenced by even the die
tionaries. The first definition. OF
armament given In the Standard
Dictionary. for instance. il "A body
Of men prepared for war; land or
naval force" while the second def.
milton is THE equipment. as to
guns. muskets, torpedoes and other
munitions Of war. or a fertilization
or vessel" 1t will be noted that by
the first definition. armament con-
sists Of men, while by the second
definition. 1t consists Of weapons.
As a matter OF fact the armament
OF nation consists of not only the
men In its navy, army and aerial
forces and the weapons that they
use. but Of its ships and forts. and
even the armor that protects them.
It comprises all the elements by
means Of which the nation protects
itself. and includes even the police
force in every city.
At the present day. the cost of
armament, not. only in money, but
in men. time and effort is prodigious.
That Is. It is prodigious among the
civilized nations. Among the I'M
civilized. the cost is not great: while
among the wholly savage tribes, the
cost is extremely small and always
has been.
II we survey the numerous tribes
ana nations that exist upon the
earth today. we see nearly all the
stages Of civilization that ever have
existed: for there now exists tribes
as nearly low in civilization as any
tribes that ever have existed, there
are nations Of the highest civiliza.
ton that we know Of, and there
seem to be all the possible grades
OF civilization between these two
extremes.
If we then survey the ornaments
now possessed by all the tribes and
nations. beginning with the spear
and club Of the savages Of Central
Africa and ending with the battle
ship. submarine and airplane Of the
United States. Great Britain and
Japan, we can see that the least
civilized have the least armament.
and that the most civilized have
the most armament. And We can
also see that the degree Of arma,
ment Of any tribe or nation is .
fairly correct indication Of its civ.
ilixati0n.
This looks very discouraging, In
deed. to the cause Of disarmament.
Perhaps It is and perhaps It is not.
To enable US to come to a little
clearer idea about It, let US try to
find out how all the civilized ma
tons have come to adopt such
costly ornaments.
ARMAMENT DEVELOPMENT.
The safest way to 60 about this
IL, Of course, to trace the develop
ment of ornaments in history. This
Is not hard to do. because History
has more to say about war than
about any other one thing, and dis
cusses II more clearly.
We can not go back in the records
Of history for more than about
1000 years. Of course, because we
can find no records OF previous
times. At that time, armaments had
already become a very important
matter and had advanced to a high
degree Of complication. compared
with the armament Of the primevai
savage, as is proved by the inscrip-
tons on monuments in Egypt,
Babylonia and Assyria; while many
centuries before Christ. there were
chariots drawn by horses and
carrying warriors who were not
only armed with weapons but clad
in armor.
Stone wall defenses were also in
existence, as well as war engines for
throwing projectiles over the walls