War on War: Campaign Textbook

From "The Union Bulletin," Volume 11 [1921]: Disarmament Council Publishes Textbook. An informational handbook intended for those actively engaged in promoting a world peace movement has just been published by the National Council for Reduction of Armaments, of which the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods has become a cooperating member. The book is called "War on War," and is the work of Frederick J. Libby. The book is divided into four chapters dealing with the prevention of war as a duty, a possibility, an immediate program and a societal aim that refutes all the arguments of the skeptics, respectively. Some of the practical steps either initiated or suggested for the prevention of wars, such as the League of Nations, the Washington Conference on Limitation of Armaments and the proposed World Association of Nations are discussed in the book. * * * * * An excerpt from the beginning of: CHAPTER I. WE MUST END WAR NOW, OR PERISH I. Why We Must 1. London in a Gas Raid. "Is it true that practically the entire population of London could be killed by gas within twelve hours?" Thomas A. Edison was asked recently. "It is not true," he replied, "the thing could be done within three hours. There is in existence no means of preventing an airplane flotilla from flying over London tomorrow and spreading over the millions of Londoners a gas which would asphyxiate those millions in a relatively short time." 2. The Lewisite Gas. "The Americans had ready for the 1919 campaign the Lewisite gas, a mysterious compound whose effects, however, are known. It is invisible; it sinks so that it searches out life in cellars and dugouts; breathed, it is instantaneously deadly; if it settles on the skin, even over a fairly small area, it poisons the system, causing death within twelve hours. On good authority it is stated that a dozen one-ton air bombs loaded with Lewisite gas could, given a favorable wind, eliminate all life in Berlin. This gas was not used in the Great War, but we have the formula for its manufacture. So, doubtless, have the European nations by now." - Will Irwin, War Correspondent and Lecturer. 3. Gas Not Banished Yet. "You can bet your life that if we have another war and if we are attacked, we'll use gas," said Rear Admiral William S. Sims, U. S. N., at the annual dinner of the Albany Medical College Alumni Association, June 13, 1922. "If we are attacked, we will use gas," he continued, "and we won't care how, when, or why." 4. A War of Life and Death Uses Every Effective Weapon. "The new warfare is marked by the ruthless use of every possible agency for destruction of life and material. No agency, however terrible, has continued to be unlawful from the moment it is discovered to be practical and effective in determining the course of a battle or in bringing the war to an end. ...In every nation in Europe it is expected that the use of aeroplanes for the bombing of cities in the next great war will be on a scale without precedent in the last one. And all this is due to the fact that a war of nations in arms is in reality one of life and death, in which each will and must do what it can to save itself and destroy its adversary." -General Tasker H. Bliss, "What Really Happened at Paris," page 381.