The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-10-29
BY Gelett Burgess. in Golfers.
lis is the war of silenc&..

This is the war of silencs-
I laid down the miserable. smudgy
little edition Of La Presse." Disguised
with its eag dispatches In italics
Insignificant cavalry skirmishes-its
flamboyant editorial, inc its padding
Of matter clipped from the other pa
pers. well, Webster, what d'you think
of the situation. anyway"
Webster smiled at the littls Chinese
boy juggler, the daily nuisance Of the
cafe. Il think" he said, lust what
they tell me to think. It's the govern
ment that's doing all the thinking!".
And hat sums up the situation that
has existed in Paris since the war be-
gan. We know nothing except what
we are informed Of officially through
the war office and that is mighty lit
tie. But is even that little true? That
is what Paris is asking itself.
1--WE shall keep silence when silence
Is necessary" said President Poincare
at h beginning of the war, but we
shall tell no les" How glad Paris
would b. to be sure that he had kept
his word! No, we can hardly believe it,
all the tales Of German cowardice and
French gallantry. Are the Bavarian
troops SO i'll shod that they cannot
march, and so i'll fed that they will not
fight? Do the Prussian shells miss fire?
It is good reading, all that. and the
| daily hopeful letters from the front,
| but we dare not believe. We have seek,
excerpts from the Berlin papers. They
are optimistic, too! Are both inspired?
"Paris Docs Not Weep!"
My own experience gives me little
faith. Asked by the editor of Golfers to
cable the title of my last article, ]
wrote: Scenes Mobilization Paris en-
harness" This, with my permits de
%sejour," I took to the commissioners OF
my reimbursement
A sergeant de ville-what the tourist
| calls q "sendarme" shook his whiskereC
head and smiled.
THAT won't co. he remarked, ane
handed It back.
why not?"
He pointed with a none too clear
finger nail at my words and remarked;
Paris in tears"
"But surely Paris was in tears"
demonstrated, ION that first day of tn,
mobilization. l wrote Of h scenes o,
the street"
The men Of Paris do not weep!" h
announced.
But the ONE Of Paris do, them!
eyes, monsieur!"
He shook his head and passed bacl
the dispatch. 1t was no use. So far, a
least, as the war department is con
cerned, 1 am a liar. Paris did no
weep on August 1, 1914. I must consul
/ LII oSNilSN = Sok AN w Va ~ sai
in four hours the message was returne4
from the project of police covered wit,
rubber stamps. I took it to the tele
graph office and laid for 1t. Wha
happened after hat at the office of tn
war censor only the editor Of Collier
can tell.
Hence the "telegrammes de con
cierge" and all sorts of tours de fore
of Imagination and credlity. Most fan
tastic. and by far the most popular {
these fairy tales, was thai spread abor
the "Bouillon Kub" (bouillon cubes
whose yellow tin signs art tack ed up a
over the countryside. OF course as tn
B. K. company was of German Origin
the tin signs must have been placed
secretely point the way toward Par
for an invading army. They We're nun
bered SO as to give other military II
formation; they were even punche
with seemingly accidental holes thu
had mysterious significance. So said II
concierges, nodding their idle head
Half Paris believed 1t true.
Civilization Running on Three Vince
More tina half the shops still ha7