INVENTION AND WAR.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19450, 14 December 1934, Page 9

INVENTION AND WAR.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Notable inventions • have been recorded for many oenturies, and an interesting comparison can be deduced from such records. Up to the sixteenth century A.D., from the fifteenth century 8.C., the records show 54 inventions. In the seventeenth century A.D. 43, tlie eighteenth 91, the nineteenth 227, and for the first quarter of the twentieth oentury to A.D. 1925, 27, making a total of 442 notable discoveries.

Analysing the departmental discoveries we arrive at the following results: Science 51, arts 28, astronomy 49, medical 46, industrial 53, penal 2, and military and naval 213 —48.19 per cent, for wilful destruction of human life and 51.81 per cent, for useful services to mankind. Science and industry form 23.53 per cent, of disand /these include the aeroplane, discoveries of Pasteur, etc.' — peaceable inventions, but liable to be .used for military purposes, and therefore adding to the percentage for war needs * What responsibility rests upon inventors for this progression is a matter for conjecture, but there is no doubt upon a responsibility resting upon our statesmen, politicians and the people who elect them to use every effor.t to stop tills spirit of hatred and militarism that is engendered by a pernicious social and economic system. —I am, etc., INVESTIGATOR. Hamilton, December 11, 1934.