Homes and Other Property Destroyed
In one limited section of the territory where the European war is raging, the dispatches tell of 80,000 houses that have been destroyed, and that 300,000 people in that locality are consequently rendered homeless. Out of 100,000 horses owned by the inhabitants, only 6,000 remain. These are some of the things that will enter into the costs of this war that are not reckoned among the billions that the contending nations are borrowing with which to buy guns, ammunition, etc. The cruel suffering that this destruction of property causes in the midst of a north zone winter, presents barbarities that are fully the equal of anything the world has ever witnessed. Things of this character ought to show the people of the world that calling nations Christian does not make them such in fact. Such appalling destruction and suffering does not show that “Christianity has broken down,” but it does show that the nations of Europe, notwithstanding their professions, are not Christian. Christ set no example for any such work, neither does His teaching authorize His followers to engage in such barbarous atrocities in His name.