A PACIFIST WAR MEMORIAL IN U.S.A.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares " is to be inscribed on a War memorial in Plainfield, New Jersey, to be dedicated on Armistice Day ; and some of the soldiers there, who survived the War, protest against the pacifism of the inscription. Yet surely those whose names are thus to be honoured fought that their children might plough ; and they themselves would much have preferred the simple life of following the plough to their unhappy lot of dropping bombs, hurling hand-grenades or driving in the bayonet.
We can do them no more honour than to remember with what spirit they went to war—to end war, " to make the world safe for democracy," or to quote a soldier's letter (G.Lowes Dickinson : The Choice Before Us, p. 268), " to build a better order which shall create happier men." To those who can read the writing on the wall every War memorial is a reminder of the need for fewer swords and more plough- shares.—I am, Sir, &c., -
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