/ { 34.8062 t º C : : i * § º * “º -& i sºi § º É zºº. # *: ſt sº : # º : # i ; § § º eº-4）№ •…º№ ſae∞~ №taeae：№ſ:（:iſ:№ſ）r.•！ae^ ae-vae ±，±，±，±，±，±，±，±，±，±，±，±，±№ ，ſaeeraeaeaeae-№-sae！！！--<;ºrº！！！！！！！！！！！！！！*®^*® €， ， ， ， ， .ae vaeſsaeſae！！！！！！！ ！！ ！！ ！！<！--~~~~;~~****** ！！！№！！！！！► ► ► ►►， ， ，ae rºsae ¿:：:::：::：::::::：：::：::№ſ№aei！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！::::：:：:：：:::::：:*№. ！*®：→×∞|- ~··∞ ae … …ae … • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~ + ： ** **ae …） ： •••••→--~~~~ ~==~~~~ •••• • ►º！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ 5！?！！?！！?！！！！！！！！！！！ ！！ ！！！ --~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ******************~~~~ ~~ ~~ ！}，\;*№rt： |-ſ'iſſiſ, №. !!！!!!.….!!！š\\}\\\\$yffºſſſſſſſſ （~~~~-|%t} +----- •.rw||،- - A * N III, > tº) MI. I RS |,INIVE |T.I.I.I.I.T •=4*** | # # . •）,k, ſ ķ •\.*¿¿ {} \，e^* ,ſae. ț¢{&#~ • V.► N LIBRARY -ºº: t! -- f • ' ". . . . * , ; ; * , jºi. The End of the Armament Rings \!'. {\ By H.G. WELLS In this smash-up of empires and diplomacy, this utter disaster of international politics, certain things which would have seemed ridiculously Utopian a few weeks ago have suddenly become rea- sonable and practicable. One of these, a thing that would have seemed fantastic until the very moment when we joined issue with r r; | & N rš : & Germany and which may now be regarded as a sober possibility, is the absolute abolition throughout the world of the manufacture of weapons for private gain. Whatever may be said of the prac- ticability of national disarmament, there can be no dispute not merely of the possibility but of the supreme necessity of ending for ever the days of private profit in the instruments of death. That is the real enemy. That is the evil thing at the very centre of this trouble. At the very core of all this evil that has burst at last in world disaster lies this Kruppism, this sordid enormous trade in the instruments of death. It is the closest, most gigantic organization in the world. Time after time this huge business, with its bought newspapers, its paid spies, its agents, its shareholders, its insane sympathizers, its vast ramification of open and concealed asso- ciates, has defeated attempts at pacification, has piled the heap of explosive material higher and higher—the heap that has top- pled at last into this bloody welter in Belgium, in which the lives of four great nations are now being torn and tormented and slaughtered and wasted beyond counting, beyond imagining. I dare not picture it—thinking now of who may read. ONE UNIVERSAL RESOLVE So long as the unstable peace endured, so long as the Emperor of the Germans and the Krupp concern and the vanities of Prussia hung together, threatening but not assailing the peace of the world, so long as one could dream of holding off the crash and saving lives, so long was it impossible to bring this business to an end or even to própose plainly to bring this business to an end. It was still possible to argue that to be prepared for war was the way to keep the peace. But now everyone knows better. The war . .” . . * * g º © * © i . º ºp º º º q has come. Preparation has exploded. Outrageous plunder has passed into outrageous bloodshed. All Europe is in revolt against this evil system. There is no going back now to peace; our men must die, in heaps, in thousands; we cannot delude ourselves with dreams of easy victories; we must all suffer endless miseries and anxieties; scarcely a human affair is there that will not be marred and darkened by this war. Out of it all must come one universal resolve: that this iniquity must be plucked out by the roots. Whatever follies still lie ahead for mankind this folly at least must end. There must be no more buying and selling of guns and warships and war-machines. There must be no more gain in arms. Kings and Kaisers must cease to be the commercial travellers of monstrous armament concerns. With the Goeben the Kaiser has made his last sale. Whatever arms the nations think they need they must make for themselves and give to their own subjects. Beyond that there must be no making of weapons in the earth. THE IMPERIALISM of BERLIN This is the clearest common sense. I do not need to argue what is manifest, what every German knows, what every intelli- gent educated man in the world knows. The Krupp concern and the tawdry Imperialism of Berlin are linked like thief and re- ceiver; the hands of the German princes are dirty with the trade. All over the world statecraft and royalty have been approached and touched and tainted by these vast firms, but it is in Berlin that the corruption has centred; it is from Berlin that the intol- erable pressure to arm and still to arm has come; it is at Berlin alone that this evil can be grappled and killed.* Before this there was no reaching it. It was useless to dream even of disarmament while these people could still go on making their material uncon- trolled, waiting for the moment of national passion, feeding the national mind with fears and suspicions through their subsidised Press. But now there is a new spirit in the world. There are no more fears; the worst evil has come to pass. The ugly hatreds, the nourished misconceptions of an armed peace, begin already to give place to the mutual respect and pity and disillusionment *It is a great mistake not to recognize that England also has been a great centre for the armament rings. This is powerfully exposed by Philip Snowden, M.P., in his ; : address on “Dreadnoughts and Dividends,” just being published in pamphlet form by the World Peace Foundation. of a universally disastrous war. We can at last deal with Krupps and the kindred firms throughout the world as one general prob- lem, one world-wide accessible evil. Outside the circle of belligerent States, and the States which, like Denmark, Italy, Rumania, Norway and Sweden, must neces- sarily be invited to take a share in the final re-settlement of the world’s affairs, there are only three systems of Powers which need be considered in this matter, namely, the English and Spanish- speaking Republics of America and China. None of these States is deeply involved in the armaments trade; several of them have every reason to hate a system that has linked the obligation to deal in armaments with every loan. The United States of America is now, more than ever it was, an anti-militarist Power, and it is not too much to say that the Government of the United States of America holds in its hand the power to sanction or prevent this most urgent need of mankind. If the people of the United States will consider and grasp this tremendous question now ; if they will make up their minds now that there shall be no more profit made in America or anywhere else upon the face of the earth in war material; if they will determine to put the vast moral, financial and material influence the States will be able to exercise at the end of this war, in the scale against the survival of Kruppism, then it will be possible to finish that vile industry for ever. If, through a failure of courage or imagination, they will not come into this thing, then I fear if it may be done. But I misjudge the United States if, in the end, they abstain from so glorious and congenial an opportunity. Let me set out the suggestion very plainly. All the plant for the making of war material throughout the world must be taken over by the Government of the State in which it exists; every gun factory, ſevery rifle factory, every dockyard for the building of warships. It may be necessary to compensate the shareholders more or less completely; there may have to be a war indemnity to provide for that, but that is a question of detail. The thing is the conversion everywhere of arms-making into a State monopoly, so that nowhere shall there be a ha'p’orth of avoidable private gain in it. Then, and then only, will it become possible to arrange for the gradual dismantling of this industry which is destroying . . humanity, and the reduction of the armed forces of the world to . * > reasonable dimensions. I would carry this suppression down even to the restriction of the manufacture and sale of every sort of gun, pistol, and explosive. They should be made only in Govern- ment workshops and sold only in Government shops; there should not be a single rifle, not a Browning pistol, unregistered, un- recorded and untraceable, in the world. But that may be a counsel of perfection. The essential thing is the world suppression of this abominable traffic in the big gear of war, in warships and in great guns. t ARMAMENTS AND THE STATE With this corruption cleared out of the way, with the arma- ments commercial traveller flung down the back stairs he has haunted for so long—and flung so hard that he will be incapac- itated for ever—it will become possible to consider a scheme for the establishment of the peace of the world. Until that is done any such scheme will remain an idle dream. . . . If there is courage and honesty enough in men, I believe it will be possible to estab- lish a world council for the regulation of armaments as the natural outcome of this war. First, the trade in armaments must be abso- lutely killed. And then the next supremely important measure to secure the peace of the world is the neutralization of the sea. It will lie in the power of England, France, Russia, Italy, Japan and the United States to forbid the further building of any more ships of war at all; to persuade, and if need be, to oblige the minor Powers to sell their navies and to refuse the seas to armed ships not under the control of the confederation. To launch an armed ship can be made an invasion of the common territory of the world. This will be an open possibility in 1915. Already human intelligence and honesty have contrived to keep the great American lakes and the enormous Canadian frontier disarmed for a century. Warlike folly has complained of that, but it has never been strong enough to upset it. What is possible on that scale is possible universally, so, soon as the armament trader is put out of mischief. The age of armed anxiety is over. Whatever betide, it must end. And there is no way of making it end but through these two associated decisions, the abolition of Kruppism and the neutralization of the sea. Copyright by the World Syndicate. Reprinted by permission. WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION 4o Mt. Vernon Street, Boston § ^ $ 0 $ s < o $ $ º 5 § 3 = ſæ~© § = 2 − 6：3§ = ©§ 5º traeae<！==~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~<！---。、。、、、、、、、、、、。ſ！！！！！！！！:：=?+==~:=≡： <<， <~ ~ ~ ~~~º}}* ——.º.≡≡≡ 2→ſrael ∞ſae ，ș，º！ ！ ！！ !！ ！！§：№aeae:ſaeae ， ， ， ， ， ， ，aeae- →=~~~~ ***&= <！--<！-- ģ№-№-№-№-№-№ ：º，：-）.Ķ… …∞：，-·-<！ſae - №- � •■ ■ ■ ■sae， ſº sae- «= <== <==<！=>*= ** **<！-- ∞ √∞， √ --~~~~ ~~~~œ ••• • • • •*s*=+！！ i : g i ". º: * * * * * ! *:::: º ;