The Washington herald., 1922-04-04
Gas Has Its Defenders.
To the Editor, The wsshington Hersld:

To the Editor, The WashinEton hehlo' |
In today's issue Of The Herald you
have an editorial entitled Ban on
Gas" The tenor Of your remarks
| fs that you hope to see war sban-
doned. So say we all of us, ana par
ticulsriy your Regular Army man.
He has been through war and ne
knows what II is. He knows also
that battles are never won by try
| ing to dodge the issue. When war
comes. the man who can face facts
with the clearest vision wins other
things being at all equal.
Are we not doing serious damage
In the cause of universal peace
when we act on perverted facts. mis-
Information, or sophistries OF any
sort? Do we not retard the coming
Of peace by trying to abolish hrst
the most universal, the most hu-
name, and at the same time the
most powerful weapon OF waging
war?
Tht term casualties in war in
cludes killed and wounded. The out
come Of battles is determined large
w by casualties. Psychology also
PLAYS a very great part. You, IN
YOUR editorial, state that the psy-
Geological effect on troops was
greater from gas than from any
other form of warfare. II we could
make the psychology so great as
s TO win a battle without loss o,
life, would not that be deslraole
In writing your editorial, you
< vere struCgling under the same
handicap that the majority OF th'
(. American people are struggling un'
der today. Your historian was no
accurate. We had 70.55e men ad
mitted to hospitals in the worI'
y war suffering from gas. or those
oeI died. Possibly a couple OF nun
n. dred more died on the field OF battle
Tn other words. a bare per cen
ie died nm to June 30. 1920. when tn
last man suffering from gas ma
been discharged from army hospi
tails. a.,
ia 537 admitted to hospitals suner
ing from wounds other than ga
19t70 died. In addition, 1909 oie'
, on the field Of battle. Adding thes
ie two figures together and getting tn
nercentage, we fnd that more Una
!. 20 per cent Of those struck oy pui
e. lets and high explosives dieo-a oil
ference of 22 per cent In taVor !
gas. Apply this % per cent 10 On
u. wiII fnd that had the same numoe
hsen struck by bullets and his
he srnIosIyes. 1880 more America
sc boys would be today sleeping ur
>s' der the red poppies in Flandel
Field, Furthermore, some 5000 az
I'D ditional <wouldSbe totally or parta
Iv blind, or totally or partially cril
pied.
Is err effects from gas today. In oth'
1t words. in fighting with gas twent
Its TWO ouf of each hundred who othe
isl vice would have, died lived to
ed turn to their homes and hresid
with an excellent chance Of maj
. years, Of life. Isn't II worth Will
Your historian Is wrong again wit
he informs you that with swor
only a few were killed. For !
stance, in the battle" Of Cannae
? southeastern Italy. 216' B. C., Z
tween Hannibal Of Carthage a
.ss yarro Of Rome, approximately
ht- eoo Romans were killed. This
the barely 1000 less than we Il
In IN killed or died of wounds
dg- together in twenty months
war. The Battle Of canr
hile lasted one day or less, and the ki
has ing was done by the sword ana
spear-perhaps 90 per cent by
J to sword. The dead In any number
lrs other Roman battles varied from
'uid 900 up to $4,000 in battle oetwe
rty- the Greeks and Romans. ~ 3.
ant where $4,000 Greeks were slain.
has The dead on the field Of battle
feel from wounds later has constan
here fallen from the days Of the sword
are the days of gas. The total put
. II of action has become greater,
that tens of thousands who would b