MILITARY DISPLAY.

Evening Star, Issue 21253, 7 November 1932, Page 11

MILITARY DISPLAY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—The suggestion put out by your paragraph of Thursday evening that the small body/ of marines drilling ou the Oval during that day might be increased at some future date was quickly acted upon, as Friday morning saw a considerable body of men from the warship in port, complete with military equipment such as rides, bayonets, etc*., turned out and executing inaiiccuvros ou tho Oval, after which they paraded through part of the city, led by the band playing martial music. One of the curses of the world to-day is militarism, and, besides the millions of lives lost as the result of the Into exercise ot that will, there is to-day imminent threat of war in various quarters, and staggering totals of billions are being spent on war preparation; yet your paper asks for “bigger and better’ displays of that force which wo are supposed to be trying to pass into the background and eliminate from our civilisation. There are quite a few of us who resent and protest against these large or small military or naval displays, since wo realise tho power of such to ‘further consolidate in the average mind the “ inevitablenoss ” of war and its machinery. With war-like preparations everywhere and the notorious veneration of the warrior by the masses, it needs little hard thinking or deduction to know why we get so little forward in the disarmament efforts. The naval and military side of our civihsation should be (even if it is conceded to bo a necessary evil at present) kept as much in tho background as possible. No effort should he made to encourage any such display anywhere. It may bo urged that a small demonstration in a small country “ away down south ” can have little influence or do little harm one way or the other, but where principle is concerned majorities or geographical situation do not cuter into the matter at all. As long as the people of the different nations are “ educated by military displays the fight to_ force tho hands of their Government in the direction of peace is not likely to boar fruition.--I am, etc., FWF November 5.