Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-10-22

Sit IN tents SO far away from war that
they can hardly hear the guns. Any
other sort of a general would jam the
motor. The general gets reports i
issues orders for operations extending
along the battle front which may ex-
tend 15O miles. Also, war correspond
ents keep at a a.safe- distance from all
generals, and from all members of
general staff. If5they were found by
one Of these gentry they would cer-
tainly' be arrested. "A staff officer
ond to the enemy. Half a dozen war
correspondents were arrested last
week. AS fast asfthey are located the
key is turned on. them.
They can't get near the front.
Civilians are not wanted there, espe.
cially nosy civilians who might tell too
much. truth about bad generalship.
Wasnt:it Napoleon who said that the
pest general is the one who makes the
peasants Who arecxaght% % between sem the he
lines are sent out I'll need be. Usually
they go Of their OWN accord No one
Is permitted to enter the battle zone.
Even if he was not interfered with
the correspondent could see but the
most vulgar fraction of the days OPP
erations. The modern battle is too
man trying to see a. Landscape through
a crack in paling fence. And, as he
must stay at the rear. or be arrested,
he gets his story from wounded men
who have seen only the enemy i'm
mediately in fropt-and stragglers
who have hidden their clothes under
haystacks and retreated at high rate
OF speed in garments borrowed from
peasants The stories this war has
honaof6
tempt. It Is perhaps the greatest war
the modern world has ever known,
and It is being recorded out of the
mouths of wounded privates and rum
aways and injured peasants. This is
the other war correspondent myth:
when 1 was arrested by the Ger
mans the general commanding order
human courage and ingenuity escap-
ed"
Just piffle. No war correspondent
has been in any danger of life from
the officers of either army. When he
is caught he may be held under guard
for a time. If he has seen nothing of
consequence he is shipped out. His
real danger comes from the ignorant
peasants, enraged by. the destruction
committed upon their wives and
daughters and the ordered murder of
their friends. Few peasants can read,
and the papers each correspondent
carries are Of little value. If he 10 ar.
rested he is quite safe. The danger
Is that pitchfork may be thrust into
him.
The one war correspondent who was
In even the slightest danger was a
young man named Jerbeau, who rep
resented Chicago paper in Belgium.
F. He is French by birth and Belgian by
residence and sympathy. 1t is little
wonder that the Germans at first be-
lieved--or said they believed-that he
was spy. Eventually they put him
in a cell, and will likely keep him
there until the war is over. At any
is largely to blame for this. 1t was
foolhardy bit of business on his
part to attempt to follow the German
army, considering his antecedents,
Russians Didn't Go to France.
But the Russian myth was the most
superb one OF the war. For weeks al
most every one in England believed
that 100000 Russian soldiers had been
secretly brought. here; from: Archa,nEel,
by night, and landed upon French
soil. The pub1tcation$of this story was
forbidden here by a. totally 'unintelli-
gent censorship. which. likewise, de-
clined to deny its truth. BY and by
people began to believe 1t in earnest.
At first one only met those who had
met some one. else who had seen the
Russians. Eventually one began t,
meet people who had seen the Russi-
ans themselves
Two hundred trains passed
through Stoke-on- -Pittsbury-Weed last
night. The blinda were pulled down
in every car. 1 heard men inside talk
ing Russian. The-Station master to-
me IN confidence" =.
THAI. is Just a sample Of the yarns
that Were given complete .credence by
the more cfedulous portion of the
public. BY and by the Russians were
reported from Ostend. One newspa-
per actually defied the censor and
printed the story ! Of their arrival
.there-240,000 Of them, all wearing
sheepskin caftans and other things the
names Of which you find In books.
There was no basis at all for the story.
But when the truth 30 rigidly kept out
OF Q n the papers untrnth is certain to find
Brussels 10 being .evacaated.'.
Now. Brussels isn't evacuated at the
time this story is being written. sto-
ries came into London. newspaper Of
fices stating that Brussels was being
evacuated by the Qsrmans. Other sto-
sries came In, denying this statefn eRt
The first set was printed. The second
was denied the TikliE OF publication,