Evening star., 1934-03-18
ANNIHILATION NEXT COAL
OF WAR, SAYS ADMIRAL
Women and Children to Be as Fodder,
and Only Change in World Thought
Can Avert Ruthless Havoc.
BY YATES STIRLING, JR.,
Rear Admiral. u. 6. Navy,

Rear Admiral. U. g. Navy.
TN THE next war there will be no
line drawn between the civil pop
ulation, women and children, and
L the military forces. From the
moment war is declared, each side
will endeavor to destroy completely
the economic resources of its enemies.
Human life being an economic re-
source will be sacrificed as ruthlessly
as material General annihilation
will be the objective in this fight to a
finish.
Limitation OF armamentS Will have
the effect merely of retarding this de-
etruction Even disarmament cannot
alter this final result.
1t is becoming increasingly evident
that there is only one avenue Of escape
for the people in this world. The
thoughts of men must be turned away
from war The almost universally ac-
cepted slogans, Man is war" and
WAR is a biological necessity for the
salvation of mankind" must be trans
lated as expressing the natural COM
batiyenesS OF man along mental
rather than physical lines.
Physical war must be, by mutual
consent. taken out of the Pandora's
box of statesmen. In the intercourse
between national groups, war must
be outlawed. If the people of the
world permit war to remain the final
arbiter in a conflict of national in
terests civilization must be thrown
back thousands of years to the era
when the annihilation of whole peo-
Piles was the accepted method of
achieving victory.
Planes and Subs Means.
The airplane and the submarine
give to ruthless men the supreme
means Of diobolical destruction.
High explosives, lethal gas, death
dealing germs and incendiary COM
pounds will be rained from the air
The treacherous torpedo with a head
of high explosive, unheralded, will sink
the palatial liner. Vast accumula-
tions of mans handiwork through
countless ages in the arts, literature
and music will be lost Untold wealth
will disappear.
Air forces will not fight air forces.
Countries near enough to each other
will unleash their air force to ac-
resources of the other The oppos-
ing nations, shaken to their very core
amid havoc beyond mans power to
visualize, will stand naked; a civiliza-
ton destroyed.
Nations like planets in their orbits,
are tracing courses in their economic
and political development without re-
gard to centripetal and centrifugal
forces exerted upon them by the mass
attractions Of other nations. Sooner
or later, these paths must converge
>and cross. That intersection is war.
The nations, foreseeing this eventu-
atty. are raising their hands, not to
change the course of the nations
whose paths are converging but to
make the impact more destructive
and more terrible. Armies, fleets,
sirplanes and submarines are the
nations answer. The world thus
Acknowledges that the people, human
nature in general, are unwilling to
forego the brutal ecstasy Of bloody
conflict.
The United States, long hoping for
o real awakening by the nations to
the result Of these haphazard paths
fully expecting traffic regulation" to
. avoid fateful collisions. permitted its
sea forces to dwind1e by refusing to
build up to ratios allowed under
treaties.
vinson Bill Significant.
The Vinson bill is an acknowledge
inent that this hope has been blast
ed. OF the 96 ships authorized in
this bill, a large proportion Is for
submarines to replace the worn-out,
over-age and obsolete vessels built
during and shortly after the World
War.
The submarine at sea, like the
airplane on both land and sea, is
force impossible to regulate when
once it starts on its errand of de-
struction.
The London treaty, despite the
efforts Of the British Empire, failed
to abolish the submarine.
The German submarine brought
starvation very close to the British
Isles despite a victorious war fleet.
In the next war, the airplane will
add its weight to the destruction Of
ships carrying food and supplies.
The convoy system that baked the
submarine in 1917 will, by its con-
centration of vessels within a limited
area. make the task of the airplane
all the easier.
The powers. however, did place
limit upon submarine construction.
That limit is fifty thousand tons for
each Of the treaty powers.
Modern types of submarine have
developed along two lines Of stra-
tegical thought, based upon their use
In war. This has produced two classes
of underwater vessel, each conceived
for an important yet quite different
role.
The feet submarine, which has at
tracted interest in this country and
q number of which we have built and
are building, is vessel of relatively
great tonnage. Our largest displace,
In surface condition, as high as 1000
tons; nearly equal to small light
surface cruiser. The other class is
held down to about $500 tons. Each
has one characteristic in common,
that of great radius of action, per
rnitting operations for long periods of
time before returning to q base.
The Fleet Submarine.
The feet submarine is the more TO
mantle class, appealing to our
humanitarian ideas Of warfare. 1t Is
designed to accompany the battle
fleet and engage in a much desired
Hanf onfion For this nllrnoSo q