The Alaska daily empire., 1914-11-05
WAR IS ONE OF
 CONTRADICTIONS

WAR IS ONE OF
 CONTRADICTIONS
 The present struggle hes been lre- Quenny termed "tha war ol the ma sions:" f. recent developments con- tinue. 1t may also ddy be cristenee ethe war of contradictions.
 Not only is there free-for.ali con- troversy-in which royalties, diplo. mats. savants. esthotos, clergy and scribes Of both combatant and neutral lands busny engage-as to the blame for bloodshed and the merits Of vic tory but there Is also conspicuous official disagreement as to military laets and situations. AS these are not Intangible or complex issues Ike the former, it is no wonder that the per plexod neutral trying to follow the war Is inclined to suspect ono or all Of the war offices with adding to their censorship activities deliberate pnr- pose to improve upon the truth. or at leaat by Q judicious selection of point of view to furnish forth olny part truths. The vastness Of the battle lines makes this latter policy.
 Thus. for obvious example, the fiat contradictions every day in the yers- ions put upon war events in the east ern theatre by Che Russian and the Austro-German bulletin dispensers. So also in less degress as to conflicting claims of successful aspect of western operations or assertions by one side that little is happening when the oth- CT claims that things are going very briskly and significantly
 Once in a while this species of con tradichon becomes so specific and pic uresque as to deserve neutral notice. Two or three examples are provided in the past two days.
 On Monday the French war office particularly comments on the manner in which "our troops have been fight ing without respite for more than ten days with Q perseverance and cor- age which has not given way at any time. Likewise on Monday morning tho report of Gen. French, after not ing that his men had been "ceaseless- ly engaged, without 8 days halt or rest. winds up by experimenting them on undiminished spirit, gallan- try and devotion ?
 On Tuesday - perhaps after these chronicles of ardor and activity had been assimlated at Berlin-the Ger man general stan, following it's stock reiteration that the situation in the west shows little change, strikes back verbally with this declaration as to the coast campaign: "The French and British troops. apparently worn out by their efforts to check our advance, are leaving the burden Of the conflict to the Belglans. who are showing great bravery"
 But this contrast Of descripuon-of spirit, courage and perseverance as against exhaustion and shifting Of the burden-is not the most graphic and amusing contradiction. That is to be found by putting this Berlin dic- tum (via Amsterdam) parallel to the following on the same day from Der lin by wireless; TWO Belgian majors told correspondent of Nieuwe Rotter- damsche courant that half of the Bel glan army in Antwerp was informed in Holland, that one-fourth deserted and that the last fourth was so dlsorganiz- ed that 1t was only burden for the Englo-Saxon army"
 The Belgians are brave-yet 25eo deserted. They are once again the burden-bearers-save that half of them escaped, perhaps inYoluntarily. any further burden by taking asylum in Holland. The quarter that survives in arms is accomplishing the entire feat of checking the Germans coastal advance-whils being "so disorgan- ized that is is only a burden for the Anglo-Saxon army" Last weeks mystery as to the whereabouts of the Belgians pales by comparison with this perplexity.
 Verify, it is q conflict Of contradic- tions. Apparently our only sure though slow, dependence is now the unromardc way as recorder of po- sitions and distances and, later on, the history boom as the still slower ar bitrer of causes and e1ects.-( (Boston News Bureau)