ANOTHER WORLD WAR WOULD FINISH US
Militarist theories predicate winning one’s wars. No nation won the last war. France is less secure than in 1914; England is less prosperous. All the “victor” nations are staggering under taxes and armaments; and there are the multitudinous dead.
Herbert Hoover at Los Angeles on Armistice Day declared that another great war would be the “cemetery of civilization.” Winston Churchill describes it as the “general doom.” His article entitled “Shall We Commit Suicide?” should be widely read.
A war of airplanes, poison gas, and hate—a baby killers’ war—the women conscripted and exterminated with the men—a city wiped out at a time—America’s cities almost as vulnerable as Europe’s, now that airships and submarines carry planes—such a war would surely be the twilight of the white civilization. We should perish as other civilizations in the brief span of human history have perished before us.
Consequently, while war is threatening from every quarter, preparedness for war offers no hope to any nation—not even the hope of victory. Increasing preparedness can only hasten the “general doom.” Our sole hope of survival lies in preparing adequately and intelligently for peace.