p. 3 | The Cheapness of Human Life by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 30, 1916

The Cheapness of Human Life

By F. M. W.

IT has been occasion for frequent remark during the last year that there has been of late a great lessening of moral responsibility, a deadening of the consciousness of sin. This has been attributed to the terrible casualties which have been witnessed by land and by sea during the last two years. We read in the newspapers of the unprecedented slaughter which has occurred on the great battle fronts. Reports of the conflict tell of whole companies’ being decimated by artillery fire; of thousands of corpses strewing the hillside; of thousands of wounded men left on the field of carnage where they fell, unattended and exposed to rain and snow till death mercifully brings an end to their suffering.

Nor does the picture of suffering end with the burial of the dead on the field of battle. Every nation has a rapidly increasing army of maimed and crippled, who, during the remainder of their lives, will keep fresh in the minds of men the horrors of this awful conflict. Regarding this the Boston Post says:—

The editor of the Christian Advocate speaks of the present world suffering, in the following striking language:—

“It is with this ever-increasing population of cripples, of the maimed and helpless, that the warring nations have to deal. The field of industry there has lost hundreds of thousands of its competent workers; some of them return blind, some with loss of the hands trained to delicate mechanical operations, some without legs upon which to stand at the work table. What is to be the future of these men? Already the appeal goes out for world benevolence in aid of their support.”

“War has filled the world today with the voice of bitter lamentation. Happiness has fled from a million homes. Widows, with tear-furrowed faces, stagger under double burdens. Little children, not knowing what it all means, reach out their arms for fathers who will never return. Hearts that were cheerful are now heavy with the somber pall of unassuaged grief.

“The frightfulness of it! Hatred has supplanted brotherly love. Bitterness has thrust out kindness. Vengeance has put a black blot upon sympathy. Cruelty has slaughtered gentleness. Suffering, anguish, and woe are the unmerited lot of millions of innocent men, women, and children. Verily we have come to ‘a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.’”

These and similar terrible scenes which men experience or read about have had their effect, no doubt, in leading to a cheaper estimate of the value of human life. When the rulers and political bureaucracies of the nations sacrifice without hesitation thousands of men in order to gain some slight or temporary advantage over the foe, is it to be wondered at that in the private walks of life men hold the lives of their fellows as of little consequence?

But the rapid increase of crime in countries politically at peace shows that there is a deeper underlying spirit at work paralyzing the moral consciousness of mankind. More than eight thousand murders were committed in the United States during 1915. The low estimate placed upon human life by some of the thugs of society is a startling commentary upon our present-day civilization. Recently a woman in the Middle West who desired to secure revenge upon an offending neighbor, hired an assassin for the sum of five dollars to waylay him and accomplish his destruction. The Washington Post of March 8 tells of an indictment for murder which has just been returned against a gang of men in New York who were employed by a shirt makers’ union to ‘beat up and kill strike breakers.’ One of the quartet admitted that he had agreed ‘to shoot any one desired for one dollar.’

That there exist in many large cities organizations for the purpose of aiding and abetting crime, and of furnishing men to commit crime for others, has long been recognized. The extent to which this system has been perfected is indeed

significant, and shows something of the great undercurrents which exist in the world at the present time. Two years ago, in 1914, The Macmillan Company, of New York, issued a book, “Violence and the Labor Movement,” by Mr. Robert Hunter. This author is responsible for the following statement of the workings of this criminal system. We quote his remarks from the Literary Digest of April 5, 1914:—

“You have only to call on the telephone any one of hundreds of ‘detective’ agencies to obtain an assassin of the very choicest brand. You should not, of course, ask for a thief or a pickpocket or a murderer. You should ask for an operator or a special officer or a private detective. But, no matter what you ask for, you will get a man carefully selected for his skill in criminal work. You will obtain a man who can shoot straight, an agent who needs no troublesome explanations or detailed instructions. He will be an understanding person, who will comprehend very easily and quickly the nature of the work to be done. Trained in the ways of the underworld, the ‘detective’ will undertake to see that the patron is successful in whatever mischief he wants done. He will steal the correspondence of a business rival, bribe his clerks, burn his factories, or incite a strike among his employees. He will dynamite his works, slug him or any one else, and, in case court work is necessary, he will obtain enough perjured evidence to accomplish almost any purpose whatever. There is, in fact, hardly any conceivable crime that the mercenaries supplied by the American mafia are not capable of committing. And, most important of all, no matter what the agents do, it is understood that they will be fully cared for by the mafia, and protected all along the line by its able attorneys. This American mafia has its agents in every city and town in the country.”

The report of the United Press as published in the Post of March 9, tells of the precautions which have been taken by the millionaires of New York to protect their own lives and the lives of their wives and children against assassins and bomb throwers. It is claimed that some of the leading capitalists of that city are paying out thousands of dollars for detective services in safeguarding their property and the lives of their families. Surely these are evil days into which we are coming,—times, as expressed by the prophet, when men’s “feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.”

When for a small pittance a hired assassin can be secured to take the life of his fellow men, where shall safety be sought? With the spirit now taking possession of the hearts of men, it cannot be found even under the most stable government. In the times before us, as iniquity shall increase, our only refuge will be found in God. He alone will prove a shield, our rock of defense, our strong tower into which we may run and be safe.

The Lord declares that his angels are “ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation;” and the divine promise is, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” In these days of peril,—peril by disease, peril by accident, peril by the sword, peril from evil men, peril from the elements,—our only refuge is in God. We are not safe a single moment, sleeping or waking, outside of his protecting care. How close we need to keep to him! How free we need to keep ourselves from the contamination of sin, that we may claim the protection of his Holy Spirit! In that protection we may trust and not be afraid. In that blessed companionship we may walk through danger and darkness with confidence and abiding joy. F. M. W.