POISON GAS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18888, 31 December 1926, Page 11

POISON GAS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

SAN FRANCISCO. November 25.

. While several prominent American army officers have declared that poison gas cannot be banished from warfare, at least by the United States, members of the American Legion of erstwhile soldiers have appealed to President Coolidge to withdraw his support of the Geneva gas protocol, which will soon be before the U.S. Senate for ratification. America's former soldiers believe that the United States can never afford to go into any war with its hands tied behind its back, and National Commander Howard P. Savage told the President that not a single' nation which joined the United States in this treaty to eliminate gas has shown the slightest disposition to ratify it. '•Gas proved to be a highly effective weapon during the World War," Savage said, "and the history of warfare proves conclusively that when the unity of a nation is threatened, that nation will make use of every effective weapon at its command, regardless of any agreement to the contrary. "Wheie a number of great Powers are not even considering the ratification of this protocol, the great danger to our national defence and perhaps to our independence as a nation through the deliberate abandonment of this effective weapon should be apparent to all." Savage ridirraied the claim that the limitation of gas will make the next war ''humane.'' He said that only 2 per cent, of the gas casualties died in the World War. while the death-rate from other arms was 24 per cent. Savage said: "Ask any veteran of the American Expeditionary Force whether war could be humane, with or without gas. Would anyone consider high explosive shells humane, or the combination of barbed wire and machine guns humane!' The very nature of war prevents it from being humane.'' DL'NEDIN MAN'S DEATH. (PRESS *S3OCUTIO» TILIGRAU.) DUXEDIX, December 30. Neil Gould, a City Corpoiation electrical engineer, and a married man, was knocked down and run over by a motorcar at Forbury corner early this afternoon. He was admitted to the hospital suffering from severe head injuries and general abrasions, and died soon after admission.