"I have been grieved by the sight) of so much destruction in and around Shenghai during the present ho tilities and I wonder when mankind will realise the proper uses of aviation," said Admiral H. E. Yarnell, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, when he and his officers were the guests yesterday of the Royal Air Force Association of Shanghai at the weekly luncheon in "The Dome." There were rules for warfare as much as for any other activity, he said, and it was distressing to see the wanton destruction of property and lives of non-combatants by the belligerents and to realise the helpless plight non-combatants of here in Shanghai.
Mr. J. E. Badeley, president of the association, welcomed their guests. Recalling a statement of the late Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, "In times of trouble walk softly or carry a big stick," Mr, Badeley said that it was comforting and reassuring to see the U.S.S. Augusta, the flagship of Admiral Yarnell—who was the Senior Naval Officer here during the first ten weeks of the hostilities—peac fully and calmly anchored at the head of a long line of men-of-war sent to Shanghai by the various powers for the protection of their nationals. H Mr, Badeley, on behalf of the asso ciation, thanked Admiral Yarnell and his officers, firstly for their presence at the luncheon, and secondly fo: assistance they had rendered making a safe oasis of the foreign settlements in the district of Shanghai.
"Not So Dangerous"
In reply, Admiral Yarnell remarked how happy he was to be in the company of men who had had war experience and who had flown durin the Great War. He reiterated a humorous remark he had made before, that next time he would rather be in the position of a belligerent than a neutral because it might not be so dangerous (laughter).
Rules of warfare, he went on, must be observed and indiscriminate bombing and shelling should be studiously avoided. It was his opinion that bombing did not play the important part in war that people imagined and, more often than not, had the reverse effect of stimulating resistance rather than weakening it.
No useful purpose was fulfilled by wanton destruction of the property of non-combatants, he concluded, and it was time that the nations realised that aviation had far more uses than for the wholesale destruction its operations had effected,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.