New Britain herald., 1926-11-11
MINISTER DENOUNCES WAR IN
 SPEECH TO FATHERS AND SONS

and boys and girls died of starva- tion. Any moment of tho day could look out and see . small group of boys or girls carrying one of their playmates to the village burying ground.
 Tn another village of 1900 peo. pie every cat and dog had been eaten weeks before and the equiva. lent of 20 cents was being paid for every rat that could bs caught.
 'On the night of October 2S, 1918 the Italians crossed the Piave river after what was said to be the sharp est bit of fighting in the war. At daybreak the next morning when ] crossed the river the toll of the nights fighting had taken was evil dent everywhere.
 One Shot Kills 400
 "One pontoon bridge n the Italian attempt to cross the river had been shattered by a direct hit from the Austrian artillery and 400 men went down from that one shot. On the field bodies lay like sheaves of wheat dropped by the reaper. Every ditch and gully was filled with bodies three and four deep. Al. ready in that early dawn the great trench rats had begun their work. Lips were gone, ears. eyelids, eye balls eaten away. The lipless face, turned their ghastly grin to the morning sky, as we turned over bodies for recognition while the rats scurried out. Out of the marshes they had come to make their ghastly meal. For what? That morning there came into my mind great question mark. l have been asking ever since, Why should all this be. when these men had as much right to live as you or me?'
 This Is not the worst. Only to- day read statement from a man high up in the chemical research department of the government, stat ing that we had now developed a poison gas which could be sprayed over the enemy. Two tons of liquid carried aloft and sprayed from an airplane would lay waste a strip of land seven miles wide and 100 feet long. This gas in possession of Germany during the war could within 10 to 12 hours have anni- Inflated the entire American Expedi- tionary force. The gas Is 50 deadly that touching a mans body any where results in death.
 My heart was broken when saw recently that the American Legion convention in Philadelphia had fail- ed to go on record as against the use of poison gas in warfare. I do not believe that is the sentiment of the individuals of the American | Legion.
 T am chaplain of our local Le- zion post and I know that as in- dividuals those splendid fellows who gave their service in the recent war are not in favor of poison gas. No man who has ever seen blinded men, hands upon each others shoul- ders. stumbling single file out of the lines, can ever sanction the use of such methods.
 "We are too easily led by mili- tarists who make ringing speeche. and before some Of those who think deeply on these things move to re. ply, the mob psychology has done it's work and the word goes out to all the world that the American Legion favors the use of poison gas in warfare.
 T maintain that as individuals, the members of the Legion are op- posed to this deadly type of com bat.
 Plan For Peace, Not War
 "The way to end war Is not to prepare for war. but to plan for peace. As dads and sons if we stand together shoulder to shoulder in the united strength of our man. hood, this thing will cease to be. Let every father say T did not give my time. my energy, my very life blood for this boy of mine to have him poisoned, mained or slaugh- tered in modern warfare
 Manhood was created for some thing bigger and better than this the foolishness of it all. We fly at each others threats for four years. spending $50 billions of dollars, maiming, poisoning, destroying 26 million men and then. when 1t is all over We sit down around a table and settle the terms of peace.
 '"The question I am asking Is, Why can't we sit down around the table with those millions still alive?' eve say war develops courage, fortitude and manliness. It re- quires far more of these virtues to stand out against this thing in an hour like this than 1t ever requires to follow the crowd. t..
 Lasting peace will come only when fathers and sons stand united ly against this great modern crime and say: This thing shall not be-"
 In opening his address Rev. MT. Alderson spoke of the relationship between father and son. Suppose man knew as little about his business or his job as he does about his son." he said. T would be a good thing for the fathers If they knew their boys better. All men like publicity. Why not climb into the limelight by being the father of an outstanding boy. If it hadn't been for that quiet man in the White House, the country never would have heard of John Coolidge, yet all these years on that hard rocky hillside farm he was building into that boy the stuff that made him capable of filling the highest office in all the world. thai of president of the United States.
 Training School For Fathers
 'It would be a good idea to have training school for dads. We train barbers, boiler makers--why
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