Looking forward

by Arthur Bird

Be this as it may, in the year 1924, a Congress of the leading nations was held in the city of Washington, (then situated in the State of Mexico,) and, as a result of its deliberations a solemn compact was entered into, signed by the Ambassadors of every civilized nation, and a treaty of the most Ærial War Ships Prohibited. binding character was ratified, in which it was stipulated that under no conditions, named or unnamed, would the use of ærial warships ever be permitted as an instrument or medium for waging war among nations.

It was furthermore agreed and stipulated between these nations that if, at any future period, any nation on the habitable globe should ever permit itself to employ a system of ærial warships for the prosecution of war, the other signatories of the treaty would make common cause and combine in an attack against the offender. They would proceed to invade its territory, destroy its cities and monuments, lay waste its plains, obliterate its flag and name from the family of nations. The remaining property of the violator of the treaty must also be seized and sold, the proceeds to be donated to charitable deeds.

It was further stipulated between the signatory powers that the punishment meted out to any violator of this solemn treaty would be in the same kind as its offending. In other words, a nation that employed the use of ærial warships and practiced the horrible system of dropping from great heights heavy charges of high explosives upon cities, fleets or shipping, would be wiped out from the face of the earth and annihilated by the same methods of destruction.

The first violator of the Washington Treaty of 1924 proved to be Spain, the A Bad Rascal Caught. ancient home and abiding-place of the Holy Inquisition, that reprobate among nations; the emaciated and wasted offspring of priestcraft. To her in 1930 was meted out the condign punishment which she richly deserved for her flagrant violation of the Washington Treaty in prosecuting her war against Morocco. During this war, in the year 1929, Spain had resorted to the use of ærial warships and by employing a fleet of “death angels,” she had utterly destroyed the ancient city of Fez, the capital of that barbaric North African State, reducing the city into a heap of ruins and causing the slaughter, in less than thirty minutes, of over 175,000 people. Tangier, on the northern boundary of Morocco, a city of 75,000 population, had also suffered the same fate from the Spanish “death angels.” Tangier, with its inhabitants, was reduced to ashes in less than ten minutes.

In order to chastise Spain for her wanton cruelty and open violation of the international convention of 1924, a peremptory note was served upon the Madrid authorities, signed by the Treaty Powers, with the names of America and England at the head of the list. It was particularly observed that the signature of the United States of the Americas was underscored, as though to remind Spain that America had not forgotten the wrongs of Cuba.

On the 21st day of April, 1930, (just thirty-two years after the declaration of our Hoisting the Storm-signal. first war with Spain,) notice was served upon the Madrid authorities that within thirty days from date, the allied nations of the world would mobilize their ærial war fleets and proceed to devastate Spanish territory. This ultimatum included Ceuta, the Balearic islands, as well as the ever-faithful isles of the Canaries.

This international ultimatum was dispatched in conformity to the terms of the Washington Treaty of 1924, which demanded, irrevocably and without appeal, the extinction of any nation that employed such barbarous methods of warfare as ærial warships and the practice of hurling gun-cotton, dynamite and nitro-glycerine from the skies upon defenceless cities.

At last Spanish pride was humbled. With a terrible doom to face, with no friend to counsel, succor or comfort her, Spain was at last brought to the dregs of humiliation. Spain Sheds Crocodile Tears. In vain did that unhappy country plead for leniency and mercy. Spain was willing to sue for peace and safety upon any terms, but in vain did that stricken nation wave the olive branch.

The countenance of the world was withdrawn from Spain. The Treaty Powers were obdurate and Spain must suffer for the terrible slaughter of Fez and Tangier. The world in 1930 demanded that an example should be made. It was determined to settle, once and forever, the important question of using dynamite and other fulminants as a weapon of war thrown down from airships. It had been determined that any nation employing such barbarous methods of warfare should be uprooted from the face of the earth.

The object and purpose of the thirty-day notice was to allow the entire population, men, women and children, ample time to leave the doomed kingdom. The Treaty Thirty Days to Leave Spain. Powers, in seeking to punish Spain, did not wish to sacrifice life. The punishment Spain was to receive consisted in the annihilation of her kingdom and the destruction of her cities and monuments. Like modern Jews, who had lost their Palestine, they were thereafter to be scattered over the face of the globe, with no country and no national ensign of their own. Such was the fiat of the nations in 1930 and this decree was fulfilled to the letter.