Arizona republican., 1922-03-04
PIRACY
BY DR.. FRANK CRANE
Copyright 1921. By Frank Crane)

The efforts made by Mr. Balfour on behalf Of
Great Britain to abolish the use of submarines to
limit them very strictly and the resolutions introduced
into the Disarmament Conference by Eihu Root of the
American Delegation declaring that submarine war
fare against commerce ships is impossible without vio
latlng the principles of humanity were part of des
perate effort the part of honorabemnded people to
maintain semblance of honor and chivary in war
The thing cannot be done, however. War has be-
come incurably vile.
Every war that occurs is dirtier than the last
The trouble is that war does not fit in with the ideals
of modern civilization It is not part of the modern
mans thought as normal thing
Time was when war was regular business 1t
for centuries. The career of arms was acknoWl
edged one most worthy and the flower of Europe
eagerly engaged in it.
the rules of decency which humanity tends to make for
itself IN any regular occupation
1t was an established game, and like every game
the participants were supposed to obey the rules
War in the days Of chivary was generally al
though of course, not always fight between armed
forces 1t was carried by soldiers in uniform and
confined to them.
The last war developed in its later stages into an
effort to exterminate populations The use of poison
gas the bombardment of unarmed seaports the drop
ping OF bombs from airpanes upon defenseess cities
and firing of shells by Big Berhas into the city of
Paris and similar acts marked the transition Of war
away from the canons Of chivary to the brute struggle
toward absolute destruction.
1t is use to say that these things were done by
the German army first This may be the truth Blu.
the other armies had to retaliate in kind.
And in the next conflict the same situation Is
bound to One participant will drop into ruthless
ness and others will have to follow suit
The whole effort to limit war; to restrain it. an
to make it decent is entirely hopeless There is but one
thing to do with war and that is to quit it.
Reduced to its fundamental essential war is an
effort to adjudcate difference of opinion between two
nations by murder and destruction, which, Of course is
absurd.
The only way to settle differences of opinion is by
law and right and that is at not by violence but
by organization.
At the present writing the nations of the world in
their relation to each other in state of pure an
archy mildly tempered by diplomacy.
The effort to get rid of by treaties, ententes
and alliances as eectua as it would be to preserve
the peace of city by forming combinations of the var
ious bands of thugs
There is only one way to get rid of war, and that
is to organize the world that all disputes can be
judged by international tribunal and that the SUI
preme force shall be in the command of that tribunal
and not divided among the contestants 1t does no good
for judge to decide if the contestants can 60
out in the court yard and decide it again in a
private fight.
No wrigging and Squirming, no fear Of a super
state no loud beowngs about national honor can avoid
the inevitable conclusion that another is absolutely
certain unless there is formed sort of world unity
where qarrels are settled by world court and where
that world court has at hand some supreme nterna-
tional police force to carry out its conclusions
If there is anything short of that that will obvate