“If my soldiers should think carefully, not one of them would remain, in the ranks.”—Frederick II.
Did you ever notice the attractive pictures of well-dressed, well-fed soldiers and marines displayed as our government’s advertisements for army and navy recruits? The pictures are lovely. They are intended to make war look good to the young and hungry wage-earners, especially to those out of a job. But let me tell you: Recently when a crowded transport reached San Francisco back from the Philippines, some of the soldiers, on seeing again the advertising pictures displayed as decoys in San Francisco, shook their fists at the pictures and loudly and bitterly cursed them as part of the bait used to lure them to the hell of war. They had been thinking it all over. A good time to think it over is before you enlist—before you agree to go to hell.
(2) Comment on war:
German proverb: “When war comes the devil makes hell larger.”
The Rev. Doctor Albert Barnes: “War resembles hell.”
Bishop Warburton: “The blackest mischief ever breathed from hell.”
Lord Clarendon: “War ... an emblem of hell.”
William Shakespeare: “O, War, thou son of hell.”
General W. T. Sherman: “War is hell.”
Well, really, it does seem as if the workingmen should at least be sharp enough to stay out of hell.