COLONEL POWLES ON POSTWAR LITERATURE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 140, 10 December 1929, Page 10

COLONEL POWLES ON POSTWAR LITERATURE

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —One cannot help feeling a little personal sympathy for such a distinguished soldier as Colonel Powles, when his enthusiasm tempts him to extol the brighter side of war. But his exhortation

"to get rid of the spirit of hatred and spread the spirit of friendship" does not soften the vicious influence of the rest of his message. He tells us that the author of All Quiet on the Western Front" saw only one side of the war, and that not the best.

According to official figures, the war produced 30,000,000 casualties. Of the terrible circumstances in which the vast majority of those casualties occurred no pen (and we may be thankful for it) can give either an adequate or a comprehensive picture. Yet Colonel Powles solemnly invites us to consider that as the wretched and sordid in this city are to the normal, so are the horrors of war to its blessings. In other words and at a generous estimate, 90 per cent, of war is a kind of Sunday school training ground for its participants—the rest if you like is horrible, though it depends on your point of view. The Colonel with a gift for analogies implies a comparison between war and football. "No footballer would dream of giving up the game because of its dangers," and we are led' to infer that equally the dangers of war will not frighten off the followers of the sport. Perhaps they won't. The suicidal tendencies of the race will naturally always welcome a legitimate means of expression, but for the sake of sane, life-loving humanity, to preserve our civilisation, to I save us from a return to barbarism, let us drop this sentimental nonsense about war having redeeming features. If we are going to talk like this only twelve years after the war, twelve years hence wo will be ready to enthuse over another.

War, especially modern war, is an insane fury, and influential men should think many times, and think very clearly before uttering a ■ single word that will encourage people to look at the most destructive of human passions through a mist of sentiment. The "Hell" of some theologians no doubt has also "redeeming features" which Colonel Powles's clear insight might reveal to us, but humanity seems anxious to develop less stoical means of moulding character. Will the militarists give it a chance?—l am, etc.,

A. D. M-K.