Omnicide

PEACE OR WAR?--J. M. Kenworthy, M. P.--Boni & Liveright ($2.50). The Thesis. Nine years after the "war to end war," war is still a legal institution. Italy rattles her arms in France's ear; Great Britain looks at Japan and prepares Singapore; Japan, the United States and Great Britain engage in a naval armament race; Russia growls at Rumania; in times of peace everyone is making ready. But isn't war unthinkable? Would it be possible to prosecute another war successfully with the memory of the Great War's horrors so fresh in the minds of the people? War is always unthinkable--until it happens. Then propaganda is organized; patriotism is preached; popular apathy and aversion give way to the fife and drum; war is suddenly a noble venture. But take the United States and Great Britain, for example. Isn't war between these two foremost powers an impossibility? Again, war is always an impossibility--until it happens. In the case of Great Britain and the United States war might arise from this circumstance. Or that circumstance. Strife between France and the German Republic might be occasioned by another circumstance. Japan and Great Britain might become embroiled through still another circumstance. Other powers might fly at each other's throats through other circumstances. A combination of these circumstances might draw in a combination of powers. And these are the circumstances: If war is necessary, why not do as we have always done and prepare for it as best we can? War is no longer what it was. No longer does the outcome depend on military strength and strategy; no longer is the civilian reasonably safe to carry on for posterity. Science, especially chemistry and aviation, has translated the next war into terms of universal destruction. . . . "In man slight and transitory nasal irritation is appreciable after an exposure of five minutes to as little as one part of diphenyl-chloroarsine in two hundred million parts of air. ... A concentration of one part in ten million will probably incapacitate a man within a minute from the pain and distress, and nausea and vomiting accompanying an exposure of from two to three minutes of this concentration. . . . These substances are generally used to cause such sensory irritation that the victim is unable to tolerate a respirator." Airplanes capable of transporting and disseminating diphenyl-chloroarsine (or worse) can be built cheaply, quickly, and in overwhelming numbers. Zut! There goes your civil population.

But what about these conferences at Geneva and Locarno and Washington? What have they accomplished? Virtually (in the opinion of Author Kenworthy) nothing.

Then, since another war must be avoided if we are to exist, how may the cataclysm be averted ? Senator Borah has said: "War must be declared a crime and be no longer recognized, in any way or at any time, as a legitimate method of settling international disputes." Author Kenworthy submits that if this attitude were officially and solemnly adopted by the most powerful nations "everything else would follow automatically."

The Significance. Preachments against war have come to savor strongly of zwieback, a victual which most people can take or leave at will. However, Author Kenworthy seems to have achieved a really fine book which people should take regardless of will. It is a logical exposition of a troublous situation; a graphic and presumably authoritative prophecy; an earnest and sensible plea for sanity. His strict impartiality lends much weight to the writer's statements, arguments and suggestions.

The Author. Lt. Commander Kenworthy, R. N., M. P., 41, is the eldest son of Baron Strabolgi. During the War he commanded a British ship with distinction, was a member of the Admiralty War Staff. Until recently a discontented Liberal, he is now a Laborite, a leader of that party in the House of Commons. He is given to free and caustic comment which generally finds an attentive audience. At one time he referred to the eminent H. G. Wells as having "gone gaga." Mr. Wells has replied by contributing a very good-humored and worthwhile foreword to Author Kenworthy's book.