



Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org
(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive)





THE HUMAN SLAUGHTER-HOUSE

_Scenes from the War that is Sure to Come_

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF

WILHELM LAMSZUS

BY

OAKLEY WILLIAMS


WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY ALFRED NOYES



NEW YORK

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

1913




INTRODUCTION


_There is one thing that will certainly be said about this book by some
of its readers. It will certainly be said to exaggerate the horrors of
modern war; and, just as certainly, that is a thing which this book does
not do. It is appallingly reticent; and, for every touch of horror in
its pages, the actual records of recent warfare could supply an obscure
and blood-stained mass of detail which, if it were once laid before the
public, would put an end to militarism in a year. It is not the
opponents of militarism who are given over to "cant" and "hypocrisy" and
"emotionalism." It is the supporters of militarism who on the eve of a
great war go about crying for suppression of facts, censorship of the
facts not only of military plans, but of human suffering. For if there
is one thing that the military journalist dreads it is the sight and
smell of blood. "Let us enjoy this pleasant compaign. Let us present our
readers with a little military music played upon the brass bands of the
press. But for God's sake do not waft over Europe the smell of iodoform,
or of the slaughter-house. Man is a fighting animal; let us enjoy the
fight. And_--pollice verso!"

_Unfortunately for these gentlemen, whose good taste is so impeccable
that they shrink from the whole truth, man is also a fighting god. 'And
the next thing we are going to fight is militarism. There is hardly a
great commander in the history of modern warfare who has not described
his own profession as "a dirty trade" and war itself as hell. The party
of "bad taste" which is going to destroy militarism is not likely to
reject the testimony of Wellington, Grant and Napier in favor of the
sensational journalist. This book deals chiefly with the physical and
mental horrors of war. It presents just that one side of the case; but
it must not be forgotten that there are vast battalions of logic and
common sense on the same side. From a logical point of view a war
between civilized peoples is as insane as it is foul and evil. The
pacificists are fighting the noblest battle of the present day. They are
not going to win without a struggle; but they will win. And they will
win because they have on their side the common good of mankind, common
sense, common justice, and common truth._

ALFRED NOYES.




CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
WILHELM LAMSZUS
LETTER FROM THE CONGRES UNIVERSEL DE LA PAIX
CHAPTER I MOBILIZATION
CHAPTER II SOLDIER
CHAPTER III OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN
CHAPTER IV THE LAST NIGHT
CHAPTER V THE DEPARTURE
CHAPTER VI LIKE THE PROMISE OF MAY
CHAPTER VII BLOOD AND IRON
CHAPTER VIII THE SWAMP
CHAPTER IX THE WHIRLING EARTH
EPILOGUE--WE POOR DEAD




WILHELM LAMSZUS


Few books of its size--one hundred and eleven pages in the original
edition--can perhaps of recent years claim the striking and
instantaneous success of Wilhelm Lamszus's "Menschenschlachthaus." In
appraising this success, I am less concerned with the number of copies
sold (which now, three months after publication, approximates, I
believe, one hundred thousand) than with the impression it has left on
the mind of its readers in Germany and elsewhere on the Continent.
Within a few days of its publication the author awoke to find himself
famous--or infamous, according to the point of view adopted--in his own
country. The fact that his book has been, or is being, translated into
no less than eight European languages is evidence that its appeal is not
confined to the conditions of one country, or of a single nationality.

Its appeal is broad-based. It is addressed to the conscience of
civilized humanity, and as was to have been expected, the conscience of
the individual has reacted to its stimulus in various ways.

The first evidence the author received of the success of his work was
drastic. By profession he is a master at one of the great German public
schools. He was at once "relieved" of his duties, but has now, I
understand, been reinstated. The schoolmaster in Germany, it must be
borne in mind, is primarily a state official. His most important
function is to educate, not only the rising generation of citizens, but
the future levies of conscripts. For a schoolmaster to write a book
"with a tendency" to strip the pomp and