New Britain herald., 1930-11-11

oil the memories which the Armis- tice Day brings back he is led to be- | l;eve that patriotism rooted in war has not served the best inter ests of the world. "Armistice Day serves to remind l us what the war cost in human life. l Twelve years have passed since the lrmistice was signed. In that time the poignant sorrow which the en- tire world experienced during the war days has grown dim. We have forgotten how whole communities were plunged into mourning when the news came from the battlefields that their finest young men had been killed in action. Indeed, so little do we care now that we use the days for remembering the heroic dead as occasions for jollity and mirth. We no longer remember what an appalling thing that war Was. We have forgotten that 13,- o0o,ooo of the finest young men of the world were killed by war; that c1,000,000 were wounded. many of them so seriously that they since have died or are inca pacitated for any service. We give little heed to the thought that these dead were not the weddings and the degener- ate but the finest young men of the nations
 Added to the cost of the war in human life is it's cost in dollars and cents. The cost of the war was not mere million dollars. It ran into billions. The Carnegie Endowment of International Peace has estimated the figure at we'll over one hundred and ejghty-six billions. If to this we add indirect costs, such as the capitalized value of lives lost, prop crty and production losses, %he grand total reaches more than three hundred and thirty-seven billion dollars.
 Truth Among Casualties
 "Armistice Day also serves to re- mind us what war costs a people morally and spiritually. Here are losses which cannot be measured but which are real. none the less. Kirby Page in his little book. War: Its Causes and Cure. says, It has been well said that truth is the first great casualty of war. Deceit and falsehood are inherent in war. Not truth but expediency is the stand 9 r6 ha of ha frNp the vantage point of twelve years of peace, during which time many of the secrets of the war have been tcld, we recognize the force of his assertions. We wonder now how we could have been so gullible. We wonder now how long the common people would have supported their governments if the real truth about the war had been published.
 You and I now know that we were aroused to a trem endous fury and hatred against the Germans by utterly false propaganda. still carry vivid memories of moving pie lures I saw during the war days, pictures which convinced me beyond peradventure that the Germans were nothing short of cruel beasts and as such should be hunted down and cxterminated.
 Let-DoWn in Morals
 Truth is not the only moral cas- ualty in time of war, however. A general let-down Of all moral stand ards is one of the inevitable accom- paniments of war. A characteristic of the war and postwar period is the light and frivolous way in which sexual transgressions are treated. One almost might suppose that chastity is a virtue which no longer secms either desirable or necessary in the building of an upright and yirilc civilization. The philosophy Of war is that in time of war the only thing which counts is winning the war. Morals, ethics, culture. re- ligioH--none of these count. The supreme task is to win the war! All that mankind ordinarily holds dear must be sacrificed to achieve that tlln. AllQ ndlu1dlIS, III tue post War period we are suffering because of this philosophy. If war with all it's degradation and beastliness is SC important then truth and honor and purity cannot be particularly desir- able even in times of peace. If war demands that these shall be reln- quished then why bother with the attempt to regain them afterwards As Q result it is quite possible that the greatest losses of the war will be in the moral field due to the blunt ing of moral and ethical sensbili- ties.
 War Kills Christianity
 "To the moral losses must be added the spiritual. One of the most calamitous happenings Of Christian history occurred when war broke out between the nations of 1 Chrjstendom. For four long years we were treated to the not very cdifying spectacle of Christian peo- pic who had been taught and be- licved that their God was the Father