Eliot uses the technique of quotations to critique the Western traditon by using quotes from what people considered the low culture. He did not draw on the higher culture of the typical Western tradition, but on the lower form of culture. This drawing upon the lower culture implies that the higher, more noble culture of the high traditions of the Western Tradition have failed the people and cannot help them cope with WWI. 

This is a critique of WWI because it says that WWI has reduced the populice into becoming more and more mechanized. The image of this glorious Western Tradition has been blown away due to the mechanized lifestyle the war has brought in. Also the amount of men dead due to the new improvements have created an obssesion with the lower culture due to the fact that it is crude and real, while most of the Western tradition is noble and idealistic,