The Dolores star., 1923-10-19

Of the Rhine predicts that the next war viii be
4 war particularly OF chemistry. He dwells on
the possibilities Of the combination Of gas and
aircraft and he that prohibition or agree
uent Is going to stop the use Of such weapons
when national existence is believed TO be AZ stake
But It IS Col. J. F. C. Fuller. D. s. o. who car
ries this talk Of chemical war to its logical con-
cluson in his book, The Reformation OF
War" He is Englishnsn and professional
soldier who knows war both in theory and prac-
tice. His book gives pen pictures Of war as Il
will be fought when the fighting airplane, tanks
and gas reach the full maturity OF their terrible
power
Colonel Fuller's basic proposition is that war
IS Of the Inevitable" He has the utmost contempt
for peace talk, disarmament propositions, and the
outlawlng OF certain weapons and certain methods
OF fighting. He believes that when comes
nations will use the most efficient weapon avail
able. be It what 1t may He asserts that the ira
GIti0naI soldier is doomed that in the coming
our present-day armies and navies will he value
less, that the world will be the last of its
kind. Up to the end of the last great struggle
he says. Of two dimensions The air
plane made three dInenslonal. What is the
use of armies fighting II airpIanes can leap the
armies and carry the to the heart Of the
eneny's country. The airplane, however, Is a mere
means of transportation for gas the most efficient
OF destruction the world has yet seen. He
says 300 bullets minute can be fired in shrapuel
from 4 field gun and then says:
Gas is however composed of chemical mole
cules each Of which can disable: consequently
the proJectIles Of gas bombar1ment cannot be
reckoned by thousands per minute. but by thou
sands Of triIIiOns. In fact. so immense number
that it Is not even necessary TO know the position
Of the target all that IS necessary is to know in
what area It IS. and then inundute this area
Unlike bullet the effect OF gas does not cease
once the force generated prnpel it is spent for
willie the bullet is dead the gas nolecule Is
alive and may remain alive for days after gas
has been projected. II the reader can imagine
machine gun which fire millions Of bullets
a second. each bullet drifting on after the force
Of the original discharge has been spent. creeping
through trees and houses. wandering over walls
and into shelters and dugouts. then he will have
some idea how gas be used economfze mill
tary time"
Colonel Fuller says the traditional soldier will
be succeeded by the war scientist whose STRAIT
cgy will be to attack the nerves rather than the
bodies Of the enemy. THE brute force theory of
traditional warfare" will 20: in its place will be
"the direct attack the of all military
power-the nerves and will of the civil popu
lation." He says:
"a nation which destroys the economic resources
of its enemy, destroys its eventual markets. and
thus wounds itself War must entail some less
but the less this loss is the greater will be the
victory; consequently, the military object of a
nation Is to kill and destroy, but to enforce
the policy of its government with the least pos
sble loss of honor life and property. II the enemy
can be compelled accept the hostile policy with
out battle. much the better. II he opposes II
by military force. then II should never be forgot.
ten that the strength of this force on the
Will OF the government which employs IT, and that
in its turn this will the will of the nation
which this government represents. II the will of
the nation cannot be directly attacked, then must
the will of the army protecting 1t be broken In
the past this will has been attacked by attacking
the flesh of the soldiers and consistent has this
been that the idea has arisen that the military
object of is to kill and destroy. Thus, in the
popular and military imaginations, the means have
obscured the end consequently, the prevailing idea
of all parties in the recent war was destruction,
to destroy each other. and so blinded were they
by the means that they could not that In the
very act they were destroying themselves not only
during the war, but in the peace which must some
day follow the
II believe that the world IL slowly learning this