The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-04
Aw, 1t Isn't As Bad As That

War is not the horrible thing it has been rep
resented to be by pacifsts and press agents for
the chemical section Of the war department. This
is the burden Of a statement made by Secretary
Of the Navy Wilbur, and given front page space in
the capitalist press of last Monday.
According to poison gas experts, new chemicals
have been invented that would destroy whole coun-
tries and annihilate millions who succeeded in
lodging the draft. A shudder went thru the ma
ton. Happy capitalists who contemplated another
nice little war with the prospect Of making mil
lions of dollars exploiting the workers and robbing
the government muttered: ''Dash it all, If war is
getting to be that bad, there's no fun in it,
The war department Of the capitalist govern
ment began to sniff danger. The capitalists were
beginning to get frightened This kind Of propa-
ganda was more dangerous than the most plati-
tudinous piffle the pacifsts could put out. The
poison gas experts had the best Of intentions They
were proud of their art and proud Of the country
that could produce such deadly poison in large
quantities. Being poor psychologists they thought
the information they were imparting would make
the American capitalists DESTROYS Of starting a
war at the earliest possible moment as the bill
collectors say when requesting payment Of the
monthly installment on the radio. But they almost
knocked them wordless instead
seeming danger, secretary eVF1IDur prOcecueu 10
inject little hop into the public. He said: "The
writer's who seek to terrorize the people by the
statement Of the awful calamities Of the next war
overlook the one fundamental principle Of war that
to have war one must have defense and that the
means Of defense should be commensurate with
the offense.
of poison gas can be used on one side it can be
used on the other as Germany found out to her
sorrow If disease germs can be used on one side
they can be used on the other.
"Moreover, the nations using disease germs as
a means of offense cannot confine the effects to
one side of the fighting line Yon can't keep small
pox or any other disease on one side of given
line and what will make the soldiers on side
of the line immune to disease will make the soldiers
on the other side of the line immune"
This proves conclusively that war is a game
two can play at in fact there can be no war unless
at least two nations are willing to fight Having
made his point, the intellectual secretary of the
navy drops the following spongeful of dishwater on
the heads of those who paint war in colors so black
that wars best customers are being frightened
away :sloy,er !.
First, treaties have been made prohibiting the
use of poison gas in the next war" His second
reason was not Forthcoming. Perhaps one is
enough. - 49,
One is tempted to ask the honorable secretary
of the navy this question If the of poison gas
is prohibited BY treaty in the next war, why are
all the capitalist governments spending millions OF
dollars perfecting already existing gases and dis
covering new ones?
The secretary of the navy knows very well that
treaties can no more prevent the use of gas OF
any other lethal weapon in war than they car
prevent war. His clean bill of health is not con
vincing. The next war will be more horrible thar
the last, and the only hope for the human race is
that the workers of the world take steps to make
the next war the last by stepping in and getting
rid of the capitalist system that is at the bottom
of all modern wars.