THE CATHOLIC HOUi^^
301948

DISARMAMENT

BY

THOMAS H. MAHONY

The fourteenth in a series of addresses by prominent Catholic laymen

entitled ‘‘THE ROAD AHEAD/’ delivered in the Catholic Hour, broad-
cast by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the
National Council of Catholic Men, on September 8, 1946, by Thomas H.
Mahoriy, of Boston, Massachusetts, outstanding' authority on interna-

tional affairs. After the series has been concluded on the radio, it wdll

be made available in one pamphlet.

National Council of Catholic Men

Washington, D. C.



DISARMAMENT

Last week's address concerned

the total aspects of modern war

and the urgent and compelling

necessity of preventing any fu-

ture international wars. Today's

talk concerns the crushing cost

of war and the immediate need

of international disarmament as

a relief therefrom.

It requires but little reading

of our daily papers to realize

that today, over a year after

World War II ended, some of

those nations which were allied

in that war and which cooperated

in the defeat of the Axis Powers

are not so cooperative in the at-

tempt to establish world peace

and to maintain world order. In-

ternational distrust and inter-

national rivalry have again be-

gun or intensified a race in arms

and preparedness for a future

war.

Other nations fear American

monoply of atomic weapons and

are doing what they can to off-

set it. Nations which suspect

American preparations for fu-

ture war seek to do likewise and

to engage in unilateral activities

directed allegedly toward their

own national security. A vicious

circle in suspicion and arma-

ment continues to produce dis-

trust and fear.

Unless the suspicion and hat-

red now existing and increasing

among the Great Powers is soon

terminated and unless the com-

petition in armaments soon

ceases, the world is headed for

a third world war. The very

act of arming or increasing arm-

aments, even if done for the

avowed purpose of defense, may

well be regarded as offensive by

other nations not so well armed.

In the belief that they are

threatened thereby such other

nations are likely to begin or in-

tensify an armaments race which

invariably ends in war.

One or the dangers in the

building up of great ‘ national

armaments by some nations

—

allegedly for defense purposes

—

is that when such nations feel

that they have a preponderance

of power, they may use it offen-

sively in the furtherance of their

own national or imperialistic pol-

icies. To provoke such nations

into an arms race is to promote

such a possibility and to invite

such results.

Another danger in an arma-

ments race, and one of the most

cogent reasons against it, is the

economic burden it lays upon the

people of the nations engaged in

such a race. A short survey of

this feature of the problem will

be extremely helpful.

There have been some 518

wars in the 460 years which end-



ed in 1941. There have been two

World Wars in the 28 years from

1914 to 1942. The cost of each

succeeding major war grows by

leaps and bounds.

The cost in dollars and cents

of modern total war constitutes

a heavy if not overwhelming bur-

den to the people of nations

which prepare for or engage in

such wars. A glance at the fi-

nancial cost of recent wars to the

United States alone is sufficient

to make this clear.

1. Public Debt of U. S,

1916—$ 1,235,000,000.00

1920— 24,297,000,000.00

1946— 277,000,000,000.00

2. Annual Appropriations

1916—$ 734,000,000.00

1938— 100,404,596,685.54*

Per Capita

$ 11.96

228.00

2,042.00

Per Capita

$ 7.29

720.00

Per Family

$ 47.84

912.00

8,168.00

Per Family

$ 29.16

2,280.00

From 1916, the year before we

entered World War 1, to 1945,

two World Wars have increased

the average annual costs to every

family in the United States from

less than 30.00 to $2,880.00, and

the average share of the public

debt from less than $50.00 to

$8 ,000 .00 .

In a recent survey it was esti-

mated that wars have cost this

country a total of $414,000,000,-

000.00 or about $114,000,000,-

000.00 more than the present

total value of $300,000,000,-

000.00 placed upon all the farms,

factories, stores, homes and oth-

er property in the United States.

They survey also shows that this

$414,000,000,000.00 would be suf-

ficient to buy an $8,000.00 house

and a $1,200.00 automobile for

every family in the country and

*$90,029,145,512.84 for war expend-
itures.

supply it with a nest egg of

$2,000.00 in the bank.

The total cost of World War I,

to all combatant nations has been

estimated at close to $1,000,000,-

000,000.00. This sum, if expend-

ed for peacetime purposes in the

betterment of living conditions

of the approximate 2,000,000,000

people inhabiting the world,

would permit the expenditure of

about $500.00 for every man,

woman and child now living.

The tremendous cost of arma-

ment still lies heavy upon the

shoulders of the American tax-

payer. In the new fiscal year,

ending July 1, 1947, the United

States, according to the presi-

dential budget, will spend ap-

proximately $41,500,000,000.00.

Of this sum $18,500,000,000.00

—

about 45% of the entire national

expense—is allocated to national

defense. This is more than has



ever been expended before in any

peacetime year—and this, more
than a year after World War II

ended.

In 1939 a married man, with a

wife and two dependent children,

paid a federal income tax of

$48.00 upon a net income of

$5,000.00. In 1946 he pays

$589.00 upon the same income

—

an increase of over 1200%. This

$5,000.00 income group now is

estimated to include some 2,-

200,000 American families or

about 8,800,000 people.

Individual American taxpay-

ers, who prior to World War II,

rarely paid a total of more than

$2,000,000,000.00 in federal in-

come taxes, will, for the fiscal

year ending July 1, 1947, accord-

ing to budget estimates, pay

$18,400,000,000.00 or alnlost as

much as they paid in any of the

years of the war, and about the

same sum as is to be allocated to

national defense.

These figures do not include

the value of property destroyed

by the weapons used in the con-

duct of World War II. They

do not and cannot include the loss

of human life, or the other dis-

membering and disabling casual-

ties.

World War I cost the lives of

about 8,000,000 combatants of all

nations. World War II, it is esti-

mated, cos>t the lives of over

10,000,000 combatants. The to-

tal casualties of World War II,

combatant and noncombatant,

dead, wounded, and missing, has

been placed as high as 58,000,000.

In a recent survey of the loss of

life in World War II the Met-

ropolitan Life Insurance Com-

pany concludes that this war

''was by far the most destruc-

tive in human history in terms

of loss of life, both military and

civilian.''

The cost of preparation for

and waging of a third world war

in terms of monetary and human,

loss will make similar costs for

World War II seem insignificant.

Such a war will be a total war

waged with weapons which will

include atomic bombs.

It has been stated by scientists

and military experts that there

is no adequate defense against

the atomic bomb. A partial so-

lution may be in the dispersion

of industry, institutions and

houses and the burying deep un-

derground of as many of these

as possible. It has been esti-

mated that to disperse and bury

the various industries might cost

as much as $300,000,000,000.00

and take 25-30 years to accomp-

lish. While this would probably

wreck present urban real estate

and security values, nevertheless

it is suggested as a necessary

measure, if atomic war between

nations is not to be made im-

possible.



The cost of exploration of and

experimentation with new major

weapons and means of mass de-

struction will be another perma-

nent and probably increasing

cost of government. The per-

fecting of flying bombs and

rocket bombs, of jet propelled

and rocket planes, of piloted long

distance bombing planes and of

pilotless drones, of atomic weap-

ons, of radioactive gasses and

other substances and of biologi-

cal warfare will cost millions if

not billions of dollars. The manu-

facture of the perfected weapons

will cost additional millions or

billions.

The lives of combatants and

non-combatants which will be

lost in such another war, the

bodies maimed, and the families

made homeless, the lands made

sterile and unfit for habitation

may well render a great part of

the earth’s surface desolate and

barren of life.

Such is the cost of prospective

war and of preparation for it.

The first step in disarmament

and in the elimination of these

crushing costs is to educate the

public conscience and the public

mind to the fact that world peace

is not only possible but is a moral

duty.

To attempt to deprive nations

of the major weapons of war

—

particularly those nations which

are well armed, and to do noth-

ing more, however, is not enough

and will never succeed. It is

necessary to go farther and to

substitute an alternative means

of security for such arms.

The second step, therefore, is

to make armaments and major

weapons of war and means of

mass destruction unnecessary for

national security. This can and

must be done by the substitution

of a system of law and justice for

the practice of violence and pow-

er in the settlement of interna-

tional disputes and by the es-

tablishment of an effective col-

lective security guaranteeing the

continued existence of every na-

tion.

As early as May 23, 1920,

Benedict XV, suggested the cre-

ation of an organic society of

nations and urged as a special

reason therefore, the need of re-

ducing, if it was not possible to

abolish entirely, the enormous

military expenditure, in order

that murderous and disastrous

wars might be prevented and

that each people might be as-

sured independence in and in-

tegrity of its own territory.

In his Christmas message of

1939, Pius XII, called attention

to this urgent necessity. In

stating the second of five funda-

mental conditions for a just

peace and postwar world order

the Pope stated the following:



'To the end that the order so

established may be tranquil and

lasting — cardinal requirements
for true peace—the nations must
be freed from the heavy servi-

tude of the race for armaments

and from the danger that ma-

terial force, instead of serving

to protect rights, may become

their tyrannical violator. Con-

clusions of peace which should

fail to give fundamental impor-

tance to disarmament, mutually

accepted, organic, and progres-

sive both in letter and in spirit,

and which should fail to carry

out this disarmainent faithfully,

would sooner or later reveal their

inconsistence and lack of vital-

ity.’’

In his Christmas message of

1940, Pius XII again called at-

tention to this subject and said:

"As long as the thunder of

armaments continues to be heard

in the grim necessities of this

war, it is scarcely possible to ex-

pect any definite steps in the di-

rection of the restoration of

those rights which are morally

and juridically imprescriptible.”

In his Christmas message of

1941, looking forward to the

postwar world, the Pope said:

"Within the limits of a new

order founded on moral prin-

ciples once the more dangerous

sources of armed conflicts will

have been eliminated, there is no

place for total warfare or for

mad rush to armaments. The

calamity of a world war, with

the economic and social ruin and

[he moral dissolution and break-

town which follow in its trail,

nust not be permitted to en-

;^elop the human race for a third

dme.”

Tn order that mankind be

preserved from such a misfor-

lime it is essential to proceed

vith sincerity and honesty to a

progressive and adequate limi-

ation of armaments. The lack

^f equilibrium between the ex-

aggerated armaments of the

powerful States and the limited

irmaments of the weaker ones

s a menace to harmony and

peace among nations and de-

nands that an ample and pro-

oortionate limit be placed upon

he production and possession of

offensive weapons.”

"We are well aware of the tre-

mendous difficulties to be over-

come and the almost superhu-

man strength and good will

which are required on all sides

if the double task We have out-

lined is to be brought to a suc-

cessful conclusion. But this

work is essential for a lasting

peace that nothing should pre-

vent responsible statesmen from

undertaking it, and cooperating

in it with abundant gopd will, so

that, by bearing in mind the ad-



vantages to be gained in the fu-

ture, they may be able to tri-

umph over the painful remem-

brance of similar efforts doomed

to failure in the past, and may

not be daunted by the knowledge

of the gigantic strength required

for the accomplishment of their

task/'

The same moral law that binds

men in their relations one with

another binds them when col-

lected into nations in their re-

lation with other nations. The

same obligation to refrain from

violence and threats of violence

obtains.

Until and unless the sovereign-

ty of God and the binding obli-

gation of His moral law is so

recognized and respected by na-

tions there can be no permanent

world peace and no established

world order. Until leaders of na-

tions do away with the crushing

burden of national armaments

and substitute justice and char-

ity for violence and hatred there

can be no just and durable world

peace.



,333 ^ 7.^7

THE CATHOLIC HOUR
1930—Seventeenth Year—1946

The nationwide Catholic Hour was inaugurated on

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