WAR 



6135 



WAR 



agreements have been reached stating what 

 may be done and what may not be done in the 

 carrying on of hostilities. 



War is primarily a matter of destruction, and 

 modern invention has been largely devoted to 

 means by which the power of the enemy may 

 be destroyed quickly and effectively. Modern 

 rifles, cannon, machine guns, telegraphy, sig- 

 naling apparatus, aeroplanes, balloons all have 

 taken a prominent place among the land forces 

 leading to destruction. Railroads, the greatest 

 builders of prosperity in peace time, become in 

 the most destructive assets of a nation. 

 The sea, usually the highroad of commerce, 

 combines with the railroads in providing the 

 safest means of conveying soldiers to zones of 

 conflict and of supplying the necessities of ex- 

 istence to the contending armies. The power 

 that controls the sea routes has indeed a ter- 

 rible advantage over the power that depends 

 entirely on land forces; and the power that can 

 control the sea and also deliver an effective 

 blow on land will eventually dictate to the 

 world. 



War is not the action of an unorganized mob, 

 without cohesion or definite plan, but is the in- 

 telligent cooperation of a disciplined army, act- 

 ing under the direction of one will, with a 

 definite object in view. It is said that in multi- 

 tude of counsel there is safety, but in a multi- 

 tude of orders there is confusion. Successful 

 war is the result of the working together of 

 trained minds, and in no modem pursuit is the 

 advantage of the trained intellect more appar- 

 ent than in war. 



By whatever process a state of war has been 

 arrived at, whether formally declared, stated to 

 exist by manifesto, or entered into without pre- 

 liminary formalities, certain usages and : 

 of war have come to be generally recognized. 

 These usages permit the destruction or cap- 

 ture of the enemy's armed forces, both military 

 and naval, the destruction of property likely to 

 prove of use, interruption in forwarding sup- 

 plies and the confiscation of \< rything needed 

 for the support of an invading army. The 

 enemy legally may be starved into submission 

 by the stoppage of all food supplies, 

 method, striking at the nation itself as w 

 at its armed forces, makes that nation realize 

 more fully than by any other means the horrors 

 of war, and that it in indeed the opposite of 

 peace. Though the enemy may be stm 

 , women and children suffering perhaps more 

 than men, it is expressly forbidden by r 

 national law to bombard defenseless towns, to 



illtreat civilians or to destroy property wan- 

 tonly. Water supplies may be cut off, but 

 water must not be poisoned ; torture, to extort 

 information, must never be resorted to ; wound- 

 ing and killing must be strictly confined to 

 battle. The modern tendency has been to 

 render war as humane as possible, but in the 

 War of the Nations there were sad and costly 

 departures from this rule. 



Property at sea belonging to the enemy is 

 subject to capture and confiscation when 

 found, except in distinctly neutral waters. The 

 United States has strongly resisted this inter- 

 national ruling, insisting that commercial ship- 

 ping should in no case be interfered/ with. 

 European powers, however, do not agree with 

 the United States and claim that such hu- 

 manity, while it may be magnificent, is not war. 



Cost of Wars. From an economic standpoint 

 wars are the most expensive undertakings in 

 which man has ever engaged. This statement 

 applies both to destruction of life and property 

 and to expenditure of money. The tables listed 

 below give the incredible sums spent by 

 ilized nations in warfare in barely more than a 

 hundred years. 



Cost to the United States. Between th< 

 year 1812, when America waged its first im- 

 portant war as an independent nation, and 1 ( .'17 

 when it entered into the War of the Nations, 

 the government expended the following sums: 



War of 1812 (1812-1815) $ 119,624.000 



War with Mexico (1846-1848) 173.298,000 



War of Secession (1861-1865) 3.478,121.000 



Spanish-American War (1898) 1.901,926,000 



Grand total $5,672,969.000 



This sum, vast as it is, is not impressive when 

 compared with the expenditures entailed by 

 the War of the Nations. The special war ses- 

 sion of Congress, convened by President Wil- 

 son in April, 1917, voted appropriations 

 amounting to $21,300.000,000, of which it was 

 planned to spend $12,067,278,679 within the 

 first year of the conflict. In other words, it 

 cost the government over twice as much to 

 finanri' thr first year of the war of 1917 as it 

 did to finance four other wars from begin: 

 to end. 



Cost of Euro]>< 11 Up to November 11. 

 1918, the expenditures of the belligerents in tin 

 War of the Nations were as follows: 



Kntcnte Allle- , . $101, '100,000,000 



Teutonic Allies . . 66.800.000.000 



Total . $166,400,000,000 



A comparison of the above total with the fin- 

 I'.-i tli. wars waged between 1793 and 1914 



