Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-09-28
BOTH SIDES ARE.
LYING ABOUT war
The Stories of Atrocities Are
Without Foundation of
Any Nature.
GERMANS ALSO
CHARGE SAVAGERY
Kaiser's Soldiers Firmly. Be-
lieve English Shoot their
Prisoners.
(By Herbert Corey.)

London, Sept. 2s.-Both sides have
been lying about each other in this
war. 1t may be added that both sides
seem to have been lying in all good
faith. Each has really believed all it
has said of the other. Here are the
indictments each has found:
The English have said that:
The Germans have mutilated wom-
en- and outraged girls.
Have shot down little children.
Have hamstrung wounded men, and
cut the tendons of their wrists.
Have poisoned wells. provisions and
forage.
Have battered down wounded men
with the butts of their guns.
Have fired upon their own wounded
men, as in the case alleged after the
fight In Heligoland Blight, when Ger
mans were struggling in the water.
Have fired houses in which men
and women and children were penned.
Have tortured men and women to
extort money or information.
the charges brought by the Germans.
But from an American recently re-
turned from Germany I learn that
equally sweeping charges of devilish
inhumanity have been brought by the
Germans against the English and the
French. There. it has been alleged,
and Is believed by large part of
the German populace. that the allies
have:
Done all the things charged against
the Germans by the English, and in
addition have mutilated the corpses
of German dead upon the field of
battle. 1t Is charged that the French,
while in Alsace. .waged a war Of ex-
termination against the German set
tiers there. Neither age nor sex was
spared.
No Proof of Outrages.
The English seem to have had
rather better groundwork for belief
than the Germans. There is no room
for doubt that the German has vio-
lated international law. He has drop
ped bombs from aeroplanes upon un-
fortified towns. he has exacted ran
som from helpless cities. and has
sown neutral waters with mines.
Granting that in isolated cases he had
been guilty Of tiendish cruelty, as
charged. there lis no proof 4hat this
inhumanity howard individuals has
been part Of the German policy: any
more than a similarly barbarous disre-
gard of every principle OF decency has
been a part Of the English campaign.
1t Is obviously true that the Germans
have been utterly ruthless In their
treatment Of the inhabitants of ~the
country they have ravaged. Hundreds
perhaps thousands-of Belgian and
French non-comba batants have been
shot.
But there Is long cry between that
and conduct which would disgrace a
Crow squaw. No proof has been ad-
duced Of the outrages with which they
have alleged against the English and
French-for mere allegation is not
proof. After making what inquiry is
possible here I have come to the con-
clusion that these tales have. in larg,
part, arisen in the hysteria of indiv-
iduals-an entirely natural and COM
prehensible hysteria-and have been
forwarded by the war offices Of both
countries for their own purposes. Here
is a case in point. I talked with a
correspondent who interviewed officers
and men who have been engaged in
the fight at Heligoland.
1.-THE war Office" I said. "in it's Of
fetal statement has charged that Ger
man officers on board unchanged
ships were seen firing at the Germans,
wounded and unwounded. who were
struggling in the water after the sink
ing Of their ships. What do you know
about it?"
II heard no such story" he said.
II did hear that one German cruiser
fore the conclusion of the action had
lowered boats to pick up German
wounded"
The action Of the Britons was in the
highest degree praiseworthy. c