Preparing for War

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 50.

Preparing for War

IN the year 1899 the theories of the world favoring a universal peace among the nations were crystallized into the first Hague Peace Congress. At the time of the convening of that congress of peace it was considered necessary to have at least from three to four years in which to build and put into commission one of the large battle-ships.

Germany was at that time forging ahead to make herself the leading naval power of the world. It was an open secret that she had strong ambitions in that direction. So long had the song been sung, "Britannia rules the wave," that Germany had fully determined to have a change in the musical program. She would set the world singing that the kaiser is ruler of both land and wave.

While all this was going on, and while the echoes of the concluding speeches of the first Peace Congress had scarcely died away, the nation that had called the congress had gone to war with what had until recent days been considered one of the "insignificant heathen nations of the effete Orient." The issues of that war were largely determined by the successes of Japan's navy on the high seas.

Thru the courtesy of the Japanese Government, some of England's leading naval students were permitted to go aboard her battle-ships to watch and study the conflict.

As a result of this study and the suggestions that were made, England surprised and shocked the whole community of nations by launching the great "Dreadnought" in twelve months from the time when her keel was laid. The "Dreadnought" was planned after the war between Japan and Russia, and not only was she built in far the quickest time of any battle-ship that had been launched, but she was at the same time away ahead of anything in strength of armor to resist attack as well as the effectiveness of her guns in raining destruction upon the enemy. Her launching put consternation in the minds of the naval experts of all the other nations.

The powerful effectiveness of the guns of the "Dreadnought" as was shown by actual test, seemed to paralyze the leading naval architects and constructors for the time. There was a lull, and then a silence. Some thought that the acme of the death-dealing destructiveness of the war-ship had been reached.

But "the latest issue of 'Fighting Ships,' the naval encyclopedia of Fred T. Jane, proves it to have been nothing but the lull preceding the storm—a storm of new battle-ship designs which leave the Dreadnought as far behind as she left any of those ships she was supposed to render obsolete." Compared with the new ships now building for foreign powers, as well as some that are being planned for the United States, the "Dreadnought" is inferior.

The "Dreadnought" carries ten twelve-inch guns capable of firing about 25,500 pounds of steel projectiles every two minutes. One of the best previous records was to fire 23,000 pounds in the same length of time. That gave a superiority of practically eleven per cent in favor of the "Dreadnought" over any ship afloat when she went into commission.

But Japan springs far to the front rank by launching recently a battle-ship that is larger than the "Dreadnought," and she built the monster floating fortress in eight months as against the year it took England to build her ship. And Japan has two other monster ships in construction that will put her still farther ahead. One of the vessels she has under way will be armed with twelve twelve-inch guns, and she will be able to discharge 48,840 pounds of steel projectiles in two minutes.

This makes her almost double in her striking force to what the "Dreadnought" can do. The "Dreadnought" was about eleven per cent ahead of any other fighting craft when she was launched, but here come the Japanese with a ship that is 91 per cent ahead of the "Dreadnought."

These efforts in the naval field have stirred the United States, and so the naval department of this country has just come out with a statement of a program that they think should be carried thru that will put everything now existing in the obsolete class. It is proposed to expend the necessary millions in building ships that will distance the "Dreadnought," as well as any of the ships that Japan is building.

It is, furthermore, a fact that about $500,000,000 (half a billion dollars) is being expended this year in the military and naval program of seven of the leading nations of the world over and above the yearly expenditure of ten years ago. And when we stop to think that it is scarcely over a year since the "Dreadnought" had her trial and was accepted by the British Government, only to be outclassed and rendered obsolete by battleships that have been put in commission by Japan, and that the Japanese ships are being still further outclassed by ships that they are building themselves, it is no wonder that it takes half a billion a year more to keep this up than it did ten years ago.

But right in the midst of this terrible din of war we hear the sounds of those who are saying that we are coming up to an era of peace and that the nations will not go to war any more. They even tell us that the great engines of death that are being builded are "peacemakers;" that they are so terrible in their powers to spread death and destruction that no nation will ever face them.

The efforts of those who are talking for peace are in most cases, no doubt, sincere. And their efforts will doubtless postpone the awful clash on the field of blood that is surely coming on. But we must not overlook the fact that the word of God declares that "when they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in nowise escape." 1 Thess. 5:3.

The facts all show that the world is plunging madly into war preparations. The facts also show that the broils that cause wars are continually coming up among the nations. And God's word tells in no mistakable language that the last days are to be marked, not by peace, but by the most awful war of all the world's history. With all this evidence confronting us, it is well to look the facts squarely in the face and be governed accordingly.

There is, indeed, a great era of perfect peace before the world. But it will not come in the way in which the great mass of mankind is looking for it. The peace that is before this world is to be ushered in by the second coming of Christ. He is the Prince of Peace, and when He comes, all who are prepared to meet Him will enter upon an eternity of peace. There is no prospect of peace in any other quarter. To look for peace in any other direction is to invite the destruction that will come according to the words of the apostle quoted in the preceding paragraph. God's word tells exactly how things will be. The only safety is in standing securely upon that word. T.

British Battle-ship "Dreadnought." Length: 520 feet. Beam, 82 feet. Draft, 20½ feet. Displacement, 19,000 tons. Speed, 21 knots. Armor: bolt, 11 inches; turrets, 11 inches. Guns: ten 12-inch, eighteen 3-inch.