"I want to speak briefly of the destruction of manhood and wealth in France, and the economic results arising from this destruction. I wish I had the power to transport you thence in spirit to-night, that you might see with my eyes just what France and her people have suffered. "Imagine a belt reaching from Newburyport to Washington and from five to thirty miles in breadth, an area of six thousand square miles, filled with utter desolation; one thousand cities and towns and villages completely destroyed. Imagine Newburyport, Haverhill, Salem, Lowell, Springfield, Worcester, and so on down to Baltimore and Washington, destroyed beyond recognition, with all the towns and villages between, and all the farms and forests blasted until they were sterile, unprofitable masses of chalk and clay. Imagine, back of this vast shelltorn region, in country occupied by the enemy, cities comparable with Lowell looted and wantonly destroyed, as St. Quentin was by the Germans, and all of its thousands, men, women, and children, dragged from their homes and carried away into the enemy's country. It must be seen to be appreciated, but you can get some realization of it from this distance, I think, of the pathetic ruins that are Rheims and Verdun, shelled to destruction, and of St. Quentin, which was deliberately blasted out of existence after its 45,000 inhabitants had been deported to Germany, and after it had been stripped of every movable thing of value which it contained. "The destruction of St. Quentin was typical of the kind of warfare which the Germans carried on. After sending the inhabitants away, they systematically looted and destroyed the place. They took its splendid library, the faucets off the water pipes, and everything movable in between. They even opened the tombs and stripped the bodies of the dead. What they could not take away they destroyed, wantonly and maliciously. They destroyed the public records of births, marriages, and deaths; they destroyed the records of probate, they dynamited the pumps at the water works, and when they left, they placed a bomb in every building in the city, save two, and blew them up. The beautiful cathedral was saved because, though they had excavated under the pillars to put bombs under them and topple the great structure to the ground, they lacked time to complete their savage task. The wonderful City Hall, a venerable specimen of ancient art, was also, by some chance, spared. One fourth of the taxable property of France has been wiped out of existence. The destruction of property has been variously estimated at from $15,000,000,000 to $50,000,000,000, depending, I presume, upon how much of the indirect loss of the war is included in the estimate. "So much for the loss of property. The loss of manhood was even more appalling. France lost 1,500,000 men killed, and 700,000 mutilated to the point of disability. On the basis of population, if our loss had been proportionately as great we should have had 7,500,000 men killed and disabled. If our loss had been as great you could go through the streets of every town and city in the United States and, knocking at every door, ask: 'Has any man from this house been killed or permanently disabled in the war?' and at every third door the answer would be 'Yes.' And of these 7,500,000 dead and disabled soldiers, 57 per cent would have been under thirty-one years of age. "While the war was in progress, France gave very little thought to her losses in wealth and man-power. Her thoughts were entirely in the direction in which her energies were bent, in driving out the enemy. Her whole aim, her full determination, was to fight to her last franc and her last drop of blood in the gigantic task of turning out the invader. Victory! Assurance that her future generations would not have to go through this agony and bloody sweat! Nothing else counted then. "After the fighting ceased she awoke to a sudden realization of her awful loss. Then she wanted to show her wounds, and was hurt when certain distinguished representatives of the United States would not look. France thought of her ruined cities and devastated farms. She thought of her savage enemy, whose towns and whose lands were untouched by the wrack of war. She thought of her factories, sacked and despoiled of the wonderful machines which had made her textiles the most beautiful and delicate in the world. She remembered the brutal threat of the foe to bleed France white,' and the forty years of ominous menace of the coming of war with Germany, with the German shadow laid over the land, and a great fear came over her people. Her statesmen demanded reparation and military guarantees and, when they were denied, or only partly and vaguely conceded, the French people became nervous and irritable. Can we blame them? A tax of twenty-five per cent on all wealth in France was proposed to the French government, but the people wanted Germany to pay for the wanton damage she had done. They wanted a definite sum named as the reparation Germany should make for the ruined and despoiled cities and villages. 'Germany must pay,' they declared. "It was at this point that the George Washington episode took place. The American delegates to the conference proposed that an indefinite indemnity be assessed against Germany, the size of the indemnity being contingent upon her ability to pay without becoming bankrupt. Lloyd George sided with the Americans. A petition signed by 6,000,000 Frenchmen was presented to Clemenceau, demanding that Germany be made to pay.' Then followed the famous telegram to Lloyd George, signed by 300 members of the British Parliament, asking the British premier if he intended to go back on his preëlection promises. Lloyd George reversed his position, and the situation was saved. Now, what are the fundamental lessons which this war and the settlement of the problems arising from the war ought to teach us? There are two that I shall speak of. The first is that war is no longer conducted by governments, with the assistance of a limited number of soldiers and a small portion of its factories. Instead, wars are between peoples, and all the able-bodied men and all the means of production and distribution of materials of every sort must be mobilized when war is declared. "The second lesson is that, unless we can find some way to prevent war, we must keep up a huge navy, a great standing army, and our factories and railways must be so mobilized that they can be instantly converted to the production of and transportation of army and navy equipment. We must have on hand supplies of powder and shells and bombs and poison gas, and every sort of engine of destruction to life and property. "It seems to me that there should be some means devised to either force nations to settle their disputes by arbitration, and without resort to war, or to educate peoples to the realization that wars of aggression, such as Germany began in 1914, cannot be justified. This is what the League of Nations undertakes to do. It is not a perfect document, but it offers a hope. It seems to me that it is the only hope. It is an experiment, but so was the Constitution of the United States. If my memory serves me, the latter document has required twenty perfecting amendments. [Applause.] "Out of this war has come, not 'peace without victory,' of which we once heard a great deal [laughter], but peace with victory! [Applause.] That, to my unregenerate mind, is much better. [Applause.] And out of this war and this victorious peace has issued something that never issued out of any other war. It did not issue out of the Franco-Prussian War, nor the Spanish-American War, nor the Russo-Japanese War, nor any other war. It is the realization that wars of aggression must cease; and out of this realization has come a common effort to find a way. The League of Nations may or may not prove to be the way, but it holds out a reasonable hope and is the only solution in sight. Some sacrifice on the part of the nations composing it will be necessary; some share of the burdens must be borne by each. But so long as it serves to prevent a return of such a brutal war as followed Germany's attempt to wreak her will upon the world, so long will this experiment, these national sacrifices, and the bearing of these national burdens be justified." [Prolonged applause.] At the dinner, previous to the address by Dr. Prince, the following spoke briefly: Col. Edward L. Logan, Major Judson Hannigan, John D. Street, and Capt. Henry H. Hough, commander of the U. S. battleship Utah. IN REVIEW CONCERT ON OCTOBER 2 On Thursday evening, October 2, the members of the Club were entertained with a concert by the Boston Opera Players, with Elmer Wilson directing. The program consisted of operatic selections interspersed with popular music, and was considered of very high character. Harold Tripp rendered tenor solos, which pleased the audience to the utmost. THE YANKEE DIVISION PICTURES Capt. Edward H. Cooper, official photographer of the 26th Division, showed before a crowded house the official pictures of the Yankee Division in France. The pictures proved highly interesting to the members in the audience, and to those who had served in France they brought back vividly the scenes and the memories of the American Expeditionary Force. At the dinner preceding Captain Cooper's lecture, brief addresses were made by the following: Col. Edward L. Logan, Lieut.-Col. J. F. J. Herbert, Major Carroll J. Swan and Frank P. Sibley. EXHIBIT OF FRENCH WAR PAINTINGS November 1 to November 15 The exhibit of the official French War paintings, by Monsieur J. F. Bouchor, which was scheduled for October, has been delayed in transit by the strike of the New York longshoremen, and will not be hung in the clubhouse until Monday, November 3. Members of the Club may procure cards of admission for nonmembers, from the cashier on the street floor. Ladies will be admitted from 9 to 11 in the forenoon and from 2 to 4.30 in the afternoon. IN MEMORIAM Brig.-Gen. Philip Reade, U. S. A. (retired) Walter J. Luke William T. Smith H. D. Kemp H. G. Hinckley Arthur C. Harvey RECIPROCAL RELATIONS The Boston City Club has reciprocal relations with the clubs listed below, and members of the Boston City Club may have all the privileges of these clubs by presentation of their membership cards. ALBANY, N. Y..... ..Albany Club, 102 State Street. Sleeping rooms, (18); restaurant, 7 A.M. to midnight. Ladies not admitted. BALTIMORE, Md... Restaurant, noon to 4 P.M. BUFFALO, N. Y... Restaurant, 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. CHICAGO, ILL.. City Club, S.E. cor. Calvert and Fayette Streets. Also Ladies' dining-room. ..City Club, 315 Plymouth Court. Ladies admitted daily after 3.30 P.M; also Satur . Hamilton Club, 18 So. Dearborn Street. 8 A.M. to 9 P.M. Ladies' dining room, 12 M. to Business Men's Club. . City Club. Ladies admitted only on special occasions. . Commercial Club, Ninth and Locust Streets. Ladies admitted. Restaurant, 12 to I P.M, 6 to 7 P.M. HARTFORD, CONN.... Restaurant, 9 A.M. to 12 midnight. INDIANAPOLIS, IND.. Restaurant, 11.30 A.M. to 2 P.M. KANSAS CITY, Mo....... Restaurant, 11.45 A.M. to 2 P.M. MEMPHIS, TENN.... Restaurant, 12 M. to 3 P.M. MILWAUKEE, WIS.. Restaurant, 11.30 to 2.00 and MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.. City Club, 7 Central Row. Chamber of Commerce, 28 So. Meridian Street. City Club, 1021 Grand Avenue. Ladies admitted. . City Club, 211 Grand Avenue. 5.30 to 8.00. Ladies admitted. .Athletic Club, 621 Second Avenue South. Sleeping rooms (135); restaurant and every club facility. Ladies admitted. NASHVILLE, TENN.. Commercial Club, 311 Fourth Avenue North. Restaurant, 11.30 to 3.00 and 6.00 to 8.30. Ladies admitted. Arkwright Club, 320 Broadway. NEW YORK, N. Y.. Restaurant, 7 A.M. to 6 P.M. Ladies admitted. NEW YORK, N. Y.. ОМАНА, NEB.... Restaurant, 11.30 A.M. to 2 P.M. PHILADELPHIA, PA.. Underwriters Club. Chamber of Commerce, 14th and Farnam Streets. Ladies admitted. City Club. Sleeping rooms (20); restaurant, 7 A.M. to 8 P.M. Ladies admitted. Members should consult this list in its latest form, as changes are constantly being made. This list will be published each month in the Bulletin. |