Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1921. WHAT WAR MEANS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2258, 2 April 1921, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1921. WHAT WAR MEANS.

! DURING tho recent discussion repa rding relations between Britain ; ,m! the United Suites, the London Times reprinted the following arlieie by Dr. Frank Crnne. one of the most widely-read-publicists in America. Under the heading “Wind it War Between Brent Britain and the j U.S.A. Means," Dr Crime says: — j "We are in the habit of saying that j war between (Ireat Britain and the ; United Stales o! America is nni thinkable, it U not. Anything is | thinkable.’ Suppose we think of it. For there is a very considerable element in this country that is doing its level best to brine on such a calamity. In the first place, there is an ‘ancient grudge,' as Owen W islet' has so vividly described for us. burn in tlie War of Revolution and ' carefully nursed in school histories i ever since. Then there is the lac! j that, ii.u' the mob, patriotism is al- ! wavs hale of some other country ' rather than love of one's own, and (treat Britain was our earliest foe. ; Besides these, the natural friction : and envy between kin and ot late j the Irish question have added to j the heat. Ji is also quite the style ; for politicians and newspapers, of j the baser sort, to indulge in (lie popular pastime of twisting the | Lions’ tail. It is from such small i sparks that "feat conflagrations i prow. Nobody expected the last ; (treat War. It “just growed.’ And j nobody experts a war between the I two great English-speaking Powers. J Bui wars are not planned; they are ! tremendous explosions caused by | the growing pile of (1) long-laugh! hates, (2) carefully nurtured jealousies, ami (3) the possession of proat battle fleets or armies. Thai pile is prowinp. All that is needed

is for some fool lo drop a match iti ir, and it will blow up. Some reckless American or some chuckleheaded Englishman piven just the light occasion, can brinp on the horror. .11 will mean, to begin closest home, the arming of the Canadian border Whose

imagination is equal to the unspeakable results of a war upon so widely .stretched a border * it will mean the bombardment of New York or London. It will mean, of course, a clash between the two most powerful navies in Iho world, with till the loss of life and property that involves. It will mean a war infinitely more frightful than the last, since the Germans raged over only Belgium and parts ol Franco, while 11,i.s ruin will a fleet, the richest and most populous centres of civilisation. There is little doubt Mini today wlial civilisation we have depends upon Great Britain and the United States. If they light both will be destroyed, whichever conquers. That will he the end of the white man and his ideals. By his own incredible folly he will have cut his throat, and the sceptre will pass to the Oriental. In other words, it will he the Day of Judgment and the wiping out of European culture and States, just as Greece perished and Rome was destroyed by the barbarian. Another Dark Ages will ensue, ravaged by the unhinged fanatics of Russia and the imperial plotters of Japan. All this is absurd? So it is. And so was the Ja-t war/'