Devouring the Earth by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 7, 1916

Devouring the Earth

By F. M. W.

Gigantic and World-Wide Preparations for War; Present Conditions Subjects of Prophecy

To speak of this age as a momentous one is to use an almost commonplace expression. The problems with which we have to deal are so colossal that the greatest questions of a few months ago sink into insignificance. We estimate national armies by millions in place of hundred thousands; our estimates of national expenditures are by billions in place of millions. The world is becoming so inured to suffering on a large scale, to direful disasters, to frightful holocausts, that ordinary accidents and casualties pass almost unnoticed. The unusual is becoming the commonplace; the startling appears as a matter of course. We forget the horror of yesterday in the greater horror of today.

It is well, of course, that human nature can thus adjust itself to changing world conditions. If it could not, the whole human family would be driven to desperation and insanity. But in this readjustment to the changing conditions lies a greater danger, the danger that we shall fail to sense the significance of the events taking place, and their relation to fulfilling prophecy and to the greater and more momentous events which they foretell.

The Desolation of the Earth

It is evident to the student of prophecy that these times to which we have come are clearly pointed out. The prophet Isaiah describes the general conditions which would result from war's fearful havoc and from other last-day agencies of destruction:—

“Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” Isa. 24: 1-6.

Copyrighted by International Film Service, N. Y.

Incomprehensible Figures

To understand how strikingly these prophetic delineations are being fulfilled we have only to lift up our eyes and note the things which are taking place on the earth. For the last twenty-five months the nations of Europe have been engaged in such a warfare as the world has never before witnessed. In its vast proportions and far-reaching ramifications it affects practically the entire world. The estimate of the loss in life and treasure can only be approximately made. But the figures relating particularly to the expenditure of money are incomprehensible. Says the Washington Post for July 30: “No definite figures can be given of the cost of the great war in blood and gold, but the most reliable estimates present figures so vast that they become practically meaningless.”

According to this journal, the total losses in men to all the belligerents since the war began, up to March, 1916, amounted to 13,053,000. This included dead, wounded, and prisoners. “As to the money question, figures are more reliable, but still vague. They present sums which are so beyond anything previously known to international finance, so impossible of any human comparison, that they become little more than a jumble of figures.”

According to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, the belligerents have borrowed approximately $40,000,000,000 in the two years of the war. In addition to this, they have expended $10,000,000,000 more from their own exchequers, making a grand total of $50,000,000,000 for two years of warfare, an amount equal to ten times the amount spent in the American Civil War. But these figures fall far below other estimates. The American Peace Society estimates that the nations of Europe have spent for war purposes, directly and indirectly, $140,000,000,000.

War’s Ravages

Nor do the loss in men and the direct expenditure of war funds indicate the sum total of national losses. There must be considered as well the great loss to industry, science, and art occasioned by the withdrawal of tens of thousands of men from these pursuits to engage in the work of destruction. Thousands of mills which before were engaged in the manufacture of products of commerce have been turned into munition factories. Tens of thousands of homes have been desolated and family ties severed forever. Thousands of families have been driven out or banished; millions of men have been buried in unmarked graves; thousands of others have been sent home helpless invalids for life, gruesome relics so long as they shall live of the barbarous havoc which war wages. Some of the fairest and most fruitful sections of Europe have been turned into desolate wastes or into great cemeteries of the dead.

And the end is not yet. A deadly hate still possesses the hearts of the antagonists. It is a war to the death; a war gauged by human endurance, in which all the resources of genius, science, education, and wealth are contributing their fullest measure. No man living knows

what the end will be. We only know this, that the unparalleled situation constitutes a terrible sign of the times in which we live, a sign that we are in the closing days of earth’s history.

And this war spirit is by no means confined to the nations of the Eastern Hemisphere. Every nation under heaven feels that in these times of stress and storm, when any turn of political fortune may bring into the field new adversaries or new alignments of opposing forces, there is great need for national preparedness; that no country is safe unless it is prepared to repel any probable invasion; that there must be an available army and naval equipment equal to any force which is likely to be brought against it. Hence we find among neutral nations the work of war preparation going steadily forward.

American Preparedness

This has been particularly marked in the spirit of preparedness which has swept over the United States of America. Aside from a few pacifists, this has become the rallying cry of every political party in the field. And Congress itself, prompted by administration influences and irrespective of party lines, has taken effective steps in meeting this nationwide demand. The program agreed to in both branches of Congress provides for “the building of one hundred and fifty-seven war vessels within the next three years, with four battle cruisers and four battleships included among the ships for 1917.”

The Washington Post for August 16 reports Secretary Daniels as saying that the adoption of this program “will give the United States the second largest navy in the world, and that the appropriations are the largest ever made at one time by any nation.”

The New York Times of August 16 reviews the whole program of preparedness which has been before Congress during the present session. Of the number of men authorized for the regular army and the funds required for their maintenance, this journal says:—

“The defense program, which approval of the navy bill by the House virtually completes, has been the most important achievement of the session, and has involved appropriations totaling $661,418,000. In addition to the navy bill, it included reorganization of the regular army and National Guard, bringing the enlisted peace strength of the army to 187,000 men, capable of expansion to 220,000 men in time of stress, and providing a federalized National Guard which at full strength will number 450,000 men. “For the maintenance of the reorganized army and militia and for supplies and equipment, Congress appropriated $267,597,000. More than $13,000,000 of this is for development of aeronautics, and $11,000,000 is for government plants for the manufacture of armor plate. The army bill also carried an appropriation of $20,000,000 for a government plant to produce nitrate for use in manufacturing munitions. Coast Defense Improvement “Provision was made for the extension and improvement of the coast defenses, with appropriations aggregating $25,748,050. To furnish needed officers in the army and the navy the personnel of the naval and military academies were enlarged, the former to 1,760, and the latter to 1,152. For the Military Academy a special appropriation of $1,225,000 was made, the fund for Annapolis being carried in the Naval Appropriation bill. “Congress also provided for the creation of a Council for National Defense, composed of Cabinet officials and citizen experts to coordinate the military, industrial, and natural resources of the country in time of war. “In the navy bill the President is authorized, in the event of emergency, to increase the strength of the navy to 87,000 enlisted men. A Senate amendment providing for 6,000 apprentice seamen, in lieu of 3,500 proposed in the House bill, was approved.”

According to the New York Times of the same date, the following provision has been made for the financing of the naval program:—

“For this unprecedented program of construction the bill makes available at once approximately $110,000,000. In addition to this amount, the construction will cost eventually about $488,000,000, making the total obligation of the government for new naval construction more than $600,000,000.”

“The Most Militaristic Naval Nation on Earth”

The words of Representative Kitchen, the Democratic floor leader, in opposition to this program of preparedness, are significant. According to the Times, he declared: “Approval of this building program means that the United States today becomes the most militaristic naval nation on earth. The ultimate expenditures under this bill within a three-year period exceed the naval authorizations of all nations of the earth for ten years prior to the outbreak of the European war.”

Of this aggressive policy the editor of the Washington Post says in the issue of that paper for August 16:—

“The United States now enters upon a naval policy that cannot fail to command the immediate attention and profound respect of the world’s greatest nations. The meaning of this legislation is unmistakable. Despite the imminence of a Presidential election, when the majority in Congress usually tries to hold down appropriations, the two parties have swept politics aside, and with patriotic zeal have made provision for the early protection of the New World. Within three years vessels will come into being which will be more than a match for anything that floats. The superdreadnaughts and battle cruisers to be constructed, together with the capital ships existing, and the submarines, aeroplanes, supply ships, and other auxiliaries provided for, will make the coasts of America safe. Whatever turn the war in Europe may take, however tempting the Western Hemisphere may appear, no foreign nation or combination of nations will seek war with the United States.”

Our Responsibility

Shall we recognize the significance of these preparations, or shall we forget their fearful portent? The prophet tells us that these conditions that we see in the world, that these gigantic preparations for war which are going forward, will take place just preceding the coming of the Lord. Joel 3: 9-16. They should speak to us in clarion tones that the coming of the Lord draweth near. And realizing the significance of these fulfilling signs, shall we be guiltless if we fail to pass on to our fellows the light which the Lord has permitted to shine on our pathway?

Millions in the world are going down in darkness and destruction. God has made us the almoners of his grace, his sentinels, his gospel messengers. Woe to us if we give not the message, if we sound not the warning. By the preaching of the word, by Bible study, by the circulation of literature bearing upon these conditions, let us herald abroad the meaning of the events which are now taking place upon this earth. Only as we seek to deliver others shall we be able to deliver our own souls. F. M. W.