SYSTEM OF WAR

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 148, 20 June 1934, Page 2

SYSTEM OF WAR

MAN AND THE MACHINE

DR. NORWOOD ”3 APPEAL

; ‘Thc people of the world have no belief in the system of war,” declared .Dr. F. W. Norwood, of London, in an address at the Trinity Methodist Hall, Napier, last night. ‘They are held to it only by feir ,and I suggest that, would not give them the morale to go through another Great War. Jn another world war you would get revolution against a system that could make such demands on humanity and give nothing in return.” Dr. Norwood, who is a noted minister of the City' Temple, London, directed the major portion of his address against war, “the most incredible machine man has forged in all the long centuries.” The Mayor, Mr C. O. Morse, presided over a large attendance. , In introducing Dr. Norwood, Mr Morse said that the people of Napier considered it a great privilege to listen to such a world-renowned speaker. He extended a warm welcome, well knowing that his speech would convey to them enlightenment. It was very noticeable at the present time that quite a number of people whom they believed to he disinterested in the higher things of life had their ears to the ground 1 to try to learn something fresh. Not An Expert Dr. Norwood said he would not call himself an expert. Indeed, it was a question if the expert mind was one that, was needed in this question. His faith was in the ordinary mind's of ordinary .people, if we could only get them to use them.

After referring to his early life, Dr. Norwood said that on the outbreak of war he had found himself in an uncertain state of mind, but ultimately he had gone to the war and had followed the experiences of the troops. This period had left an indelible impression on his mind, and he had decided' to do all in his power against war. He bad never lost his passion to contend against war to the utmost of his ability. Just a year ago he had decided to vacate the pulpit of the City Temple, London, and to wander about the world.

The nations of Europe were facing •each other tilled with suspicion and •armed to the teeth as if there was noone concerned in it but Europe itself. have felt that Europe is not seeing ■straight—that she is probably in something like a condition of statemate,’ ’ ■said Dr. Norwood. "The nations of "Europe are armed for war but are afraid of it. I do not think there is a nation in Europe that would deliber ately let loose the forces of war. I

think we have to recognise that they are arming not necessarily because they intend war, but because they want their own way and think that they can get it better if they are armed.” War In The Witness Box “What are you going to do with war?’ asked Dr. Norwood. “What is the significance of the thing? What can it do? I think it is time to put, war in the witness box. “Modern warfare is the same process as modern commerce,” he added. “It is machine-made and is becoming less arid less a human concern. It is the most incredible mechanism man has foregd in all the long centuries. In my judgment we have never recovered from the last war, not so much economically as psychologically. For four years the world gave up its individuality. For four years there was virtual capitulation of human personality. The very aim and object of the machine is to suppress distinguishing differences. ”

The methods of the last war were the most appalling spectacle his eyes had ever looked upon he continued. It was not so much the blood and suffering, though in God’s name they were bad enough, but the absolute subordination of the finest qualities of life to a machine. “I hated it then and I hate it now,” he said.

His mind went back to the experiment conducted a time ago, when Senator Marconi, on board a ship in the Gulf of Genoa, by wireless had lit lights in Sydney. Dr. Norwood dealt with the invention of a wireless-con-trolled plane that could bomb accurately 1000 miles away from control. "That’s not war; it’s lunacy!” he declared. "If you yield to the machine you go to Hades. This is the most enormous burden the human race is carrying to-day. It clouds every issue. Men and women cannot think straight because there is always in their minds, the appalling spectre of war.” They would never get anywhere unless the thing was pilloried in the public mind. War Against War "My supreme war is against the stupidity and futility of it,” he said. "The world is in danger of being shipwrecked for economical reasons. What can war do?”

Modern warfare was not fought upon money. The next war would be 10 times as expensive as the last. It never varied; it was ruinously expensive. In the last war they had mortgaged the future.

"By all the laws of common sense this was a bankrupt world—that was, if we intended to pay, which unfortunately, we did not. We were not living in a sane world in these matters; we were living in a lunatic asylum. We manipulated the currency. Who had the right to manipulate the currency? If

a man did it at Epsom or the Derby we would call him a sharper. "It is just the sign of our hectic conditions,’’ said Dr. Norwood. "We have lost our standard. We are floundering. Just now we are so deeply engulfed in the quagmire that we have got to get out of it by methods that would have shocked our fathers. We are doing it under compulsion.” It was altogether insane that the world should be spending so much of its wealth on "this thing” when the state of the world was due to it. He Was sane enough to admit that at the back of it was fear. He did not himself clearly see a way out of it. Perhaps it would be sufficient to keep on showing the absurdity of the thing. He wolud declare that unless he was greatly mistaken every person felt he was caught in a machine. "The people of the world have no belief in the system of war,” Dr. Norwood said. "They are only held to it by fear. And I suggest that would not give morale enough to go through another Great War. You would get revolution *in another world war—hundreds of them—against a system that could make such demands of humanity and give nothing in return.’ ’