‘ THE IYY3TEPI0TJS WEAIOTtf.
Lieut, Col. Yves ton Jenkins, 300th.
It is a curious thing how certain traits in'human nature produce
the same recurring fallacies from generation to generation. One of
these ghosts that will not be laid down is the spectre of the myst
erious weapon.
The ghost of the mysterious weapon dates back to the beginnings
>f history* Then, as it is now. it was probably used as propaganda
to frighten the enemy. King Arthur had■an enchanted sword. All .
•hrough the middle ages necromancy figure 1 in war. The first use
•>f cannon was to frighten the enemy. The Japanese used to wear
rightful masks to strike terror to the hearts of the foe,. The
British in 1812 frightened the American militia at the battle of
r31adepburg with reports of a deadly and mysterious rocket*
At the commencement of the World War, there were persistent rumors',
of a. great and deadly secrret that was to be resurrected from the ar
chives of the British War Office* This secret had been deposited
there years ago and was only to be looked at when England was in the
last ditch, when everything else had been tried and had failed. Of
course it never appeared. When England and France were in the last
ditch it was the Americans they called upon, not the mysterious weapon.
Another of the same sort mas the mysterious French gas we neara
\ jo much about early in the war* There are those who still believe
* in the mysterious weapons which will annihilate thousands with a breath..
-V mist which falling from the sky will poison a countryside so that
jot a thing will be left living.. It will make war impossible. There
-S in Nature no such store of poisonous material which can be ex
tracted without a prohibitive amount of labor and expense*
Experts once figured that the United States could be surrounded
by a deep belt of electrical flame rendering our nation unconquer
able. They never figured the cost or the damage that could be done
to batteries or wires by planes or shells. The diabolical ray, vib
rations of ether, and all such belong to fiction, not to the stern
business of war. Wars are won by the will of the people fighting.
Hard work, training, fighting ability, equipment equal to the enemy,
and above all the will tc win, the will to endure,, to suffer until
the goal is reached, by both the soldiery in the field and the citi
zen at home. The more energy put in side issues like these, the more
taken away from the main issue, the destruction of the enemy armed
force*
The brunt of the fighting that has been in the past, is now and
will be in the future is done by the man on foot and the most terri
ble weapon yet known to man is about five feet eight inches long,
and weighs around one hundred an 1 fifty pounds. It is known as the
American Doughboy.
Julius Caesar would hav
George Washington could re
its stream of bullets. Gas
day. The minute one er*.ear
days its enemy comes ri
our country will always
our citizens.
e tho t a bluno.er‘bur a terrible invention,
ver have attacked against a machine gun with
vo it Id have confounded ilapole on in his
y invents something new in warfare nowa
ht back with :
rest with the
.efenses for it. The safety of
courage, will and ability
of