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How Far
Nave We
Progressed?
land religious riots, plus the unending
wave of violence with rioting, malicious
demonstrations and outright anarchy
occurring on a global scale. The lattcr
more often than not being perpctrated
by
educated
university students - the
product, if you please, of modern
"enlightenment."
But notice further facts about the his–
tory of "man at war !"
The 21st International Congress of
the Red Cross was told late last year
that more than 90 million people have
been kiUed in wars
since this cen/ury
began.
Further evidence of the
i11e1·easing
-
not decreasing - trend towards war in
recent years is given by Mr. Quincy
Wright in his book
A St11dy
of War.
He draws attention to the increase in
the length of battles and the number of
battles fought during a century. He
reveals that there were 231 major battles
in the 17th Century, 703 in the 18th,
730 in the 19th, and 882 in the 20th
Century- up to 1940.
There is absolutely no foundation of
any kind to support the notion that
better and more widespread education
results in man utilizing a more "civ–
ilized" means of settling disputes. An
intensive study of history reveals the
opposite.
The truth is that "civilization" just
makes wars more sophisticated, deadly
and expensive. Better education, espe·
cially more sophisticated scientific and
technological skill, has simply enabled
man to develop infinitely more complex
and destructive weapons with which to
wage war.
Stockpile of Arms
Witness the stockpiling of nuclear
weapons today! So massive are national
arsenals that the term "overkill" is
used to describe the capacity to destroy
aU human life more than once.
The U. S. arsenal in late 1969 con·
sisted of 3854 thermonuclear warheads.
Since it is estimated that the U. S. needs
only 250 nuclear warheads to "kill" the
Soviet Union - to utterly destroy 50 of
the USSR's largest cities - the U. S.
has 15 times the number of warheads
needed to completely devastate the
USSR. This illustrates the meaning of
"overkill."
Estimates today indicate that the
USSR has sufficient nuclear power to
overkill the U. S. A. by
BYí
times.
And on the stockpiling goes. With
a new delivery system called MlRV
(Multiple Individually Targetable
Reentry Vehiclcs) which enables a
single missile to carry from
three
Jo
twent)
warheads, eacb aimed at a dif–
ferent target.
Economic Burden of War
Do you know how much the world
is now spending on such military
armaments?
The latest figures are for 1969. They
were compiled by the U. S. Arms
Control and Disarmament Agcncy in
cooperation with other U. S. govern–
ment agencies and several international
bodics. Their report shows that by 1969
the combined military budget of aH
nations had reached over $200 billion
annually. The combined U. S. and
Soviet Union military budgets account
for about three
four~hs
of this figure.
Let's
use an illustration or two to
more dearly visualize just how much
200
bíllion dollars
is.
Let's say your $200
billion
was in sil·
ver dollars.
If
you dropped one silver
dollar at the rate of one per
serond,
it
would take 6, 350 years for the last of
the dollars to drop. Or, expressed
another way,
if
stacked one on top of
another the silver dollars would reach
to the moon and on past it for another
76,000 miles.
Let's figure the cost of war another
way. While it is gruesome to think of
the cost of war in terms of how much
it costs to kili ao enemy soldier, it
nevertheless gives a graphic illustration
of the spiralling economic burden war
imposes.
Authorities estímate that in the days
of Julius Caesar it cost about 75 cents to
kdl an enemy soldiec. lnflation, more
sophisticated technology and greatec
armaments spending brought the cost
per death up to about $3000 during the
days of Napoleon.
Since then the costs have skyrocketed.
During World War 1, the United States
spent about $21,000 for each enemy
killed. In Wocld War
JI
the costs rose
to over
ten
times
the amount in the first
World War.
Already the war in Vietnam is costing