War Preparation by L. L. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 5, 1916

War Preparation

By L. L. C.

As students of prophecy, we have long looked for preparations for war to be made on a scale such as has never been seen in the past. The Washington Post of September 5 says, editorially:—

“All the previous records of war have been shattered by the intensity and wide area of the European war. Not only have all the great battles of previous history been dwarfed by the scope of the struggle in Europe, but actual percentages and averages have been changed.”

Several points are brought out in the Post editorial, in which these records have been broken. The percentage of those killed in battle was formerly estimated as one in ten. This percentage is much greater now. Edwin Samuel Montagu, minister of munitions of Great Britain, has pointed out recently some new standards which prevail in war preparedness. He says that the production of heavy shells is ninety-four times as great as it was in 1914. In four days there is now produced as much howitzer munition as was produced during the whole of last year, while every month there are turned out as many heavy guns as were in existence when the English ministry of munitions was formed, about nine months after the beginning of the European war. It is expected that this number will soon be doubled, making the monthly output twenty-four times as great as in the early months of the war. The output of high explosives is sixty times as great as a year ago, and the amount required for fighting is twelve thousand times as great as at the beginning of the war. Thus the demand is more than keeping up with the supply.

In the closing paragraph the editorial says:—

“All the standards of previous wars have been wholly shattered, and what would have seemed excessive preparedness three years ago must now be regarded merely as adequate measures of safety.”

We may therefore well look for greatly increased national armament in the future, rather than the general disarmament, which some peace advocates are predicting.

L. L. C.