PERSHING ON DISARMAMENT

Many are the advocates of disarmament and many their arguments. One of the most notable speeches made in its favor was delivered recently in New York, notable, not because it said anything new, but because the speaker was General John J. Pershing. It is hard to think of military men except as experts in their trade; just such a feeling accounts for the tradition that no professional solider be appointed Secretary of War. What are we to think then, when a fighting man like "Blackjack" Pershing says: "The world does not seem to learn from experience. It would appear that the lessons of the last six years be enough to convince everybody of the danger of nations striding up and down armed to the teeth. Ours is not an aggressive nation. We want no territory, and we have no designs on other people. If other nations have the same attitude, it seems unreasonable not to believe that all would not be willing to prove it by consenting to limit armaments."

General Pershing as a professional soldier echoes the very word spoken by thousand of private citizens unreasonable. Why cannot the nations get together? From all quarters the movement is growing, abroad as well as at home. Nothing is more encouraging to the thousands who advocate reasonable and practicable disarmament as the path to both peace and economy than the support of a great soldier like General Pershing.