Show I I TRAFFIC IN MUNITIONS l WHEN HEN the dm da l 1 xe business magazine For W WHEN 1 tune made its startling starling regArding regarding re- re gArding munitions profits anti and intrigues if it did not start the senate about American Amen Ameri- can c'an at least it must haye stimulated t tie e interest which is now noV reflected cd in the inv in- in v being If the probe is t tb bear worthwhile fruits any no one of of c urse urse may sa say But there have Ilave been fruitful investigations s by the past two congresses and this may turn out fo be bc another For advance advance- of of the sacred cause cause of international p ii ace it is to be 11 that it does Even though governments playa play a significant p i rt in the design and manufacture re of war and paraphernalia nevertheless from die tie beginning act actual al production in quantity of war material has been in the hands of private li ms Monumental profits accrue to the bus bus- iness There is perhaps no ot er industry in h competition is so so breathless no other in secrets are arc so closely guarded I. I In the the article April Harpers Harper's t e How q Arias AIms is an expose of one nations nation's f devotion to wholes wholesale le production of pOtential war horror that makes nal es the readers reader's blood chill IL If all that is stated as fact in int inthe t the e article is true it should go far to inflame the world against the unholy preparation for mass murder If Germany watched by a dis- dis world under the restrictions of the Versailles illes treat treaty is doing such rash things in i g gentle art or of de ling and 1 po l W p. p th o er cr nations lations Vc know that nowhere even in the stress or of poverty and hunger among whole peoples is preparedness being neglected Preparedness is a milder word than armament In its sugar nr coated form it is made less offensive e b it maintenance of by calling uS' uS national na- na defense The profits ill in this highly specialized business busi busi- ness are arc astronomical in proportion That is what has stirred the senate into action Economics Economics Eco Eco- alwa always s 's outranks morality The strange part of it all is that tile the unregulated munitions trade of the world exposes er c every nation to the danger that it may be hoist b by its own petard Our own arms explosives gases and other war instrumentalities are sold abroad either as raw materials or fabricated products Likewise we wego wego go into foreign markets for part of our own materiel In action in a future war waran an Amer Amer- American ican dough doughboy oy might well be 11 hit it b bya a splinter of iron that once was a Detroit flivver wrecked and sold to a foreign munitions maJer maJ- maJ er as scrap iron to be made over over- into 1 tile 1 III this wa way even eyen the ubiquitous Amen can tin can cati ma may be bc into a bayonet bay bay- onet that one day will spill the blood of some American mothers mother's SOil n It all sums up into the undisputable fact that there are arc mighty vested interests in hI the world which thrive on war and war tion Peace for these is a season of bad business busi- busi ness fleas in wart wartime they arc re in in their he heyday da Their carn 1 s spring from torn bodies bashed brains scorched lungs murdered youth routh and the anguish of kin in the homes where the trAgedy or of war stalks grim and cruel The fhe senate investigation will in all likelihood do dolittle dolittle little toward ending tills this grisly business but bitt at least it Ina may give the countr country r facts which will vill help it to understand some things about waving Jag it has not known in the past |