Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-10-28
BY Gelett Burgess. in Golfers.
his is the war OF silence.

by 1eletl burgess, III SOlllc Ss
This is the war of silence.
1 laid down the miserable, smudgy
little edition of La Presse," disguised
with it's meager dispatches in italics
insignificant cavalry skirmishes-its
flamboyant editorial. and its padding
of matter clipped from the other pa
pers. We'll, Webster, what d'you think
of he situation, anyway"
Webster smiled at the little Chinese
boy juggler. the daily nuisance of the
cafe. Il think" he said, Just what
they tell me to think. It's the govern
ment that's doing all the thinking!!"
And that 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.
We shall keep silence when silence
is necessary" said President Poincare
at the beginning of the war. but we
shall tell no lies How glad Paris
would be 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?
1t is good reading, all that. and the
daily hopeful letters from the front.
but we dare not believe. We have seen
excerpts from the Berlin papers. They
are optimistic. too! Are both inspired?
"Paris Docs Not Weep!"
NY W experience gives me little
faith. Asked by the editor of Golfers to
cable the title of my last article, I
wrote: Scenes Mobilization Paris en-
harness. This. with my "perlnis de
sejour," / o to the commissioners Of
my reimbursement
A sergeant de ville-what the tourist
calls a ''gendarme" shook his whiskered
head and smiled.
THAT won't 60" he remarked, and
handed it back.
Why not?"
He pointed with a none too clean
finger nail at my words and remarked:
Paris in tears"
But surely Paris was in tears" I
demonstrated, ION that first day Of the
mobilization. l wrote of the scenes on
the street."
The men of Paris do not weep!" he
But the women of Paris do, them"
l insisted. Surely 1 IAN believe my w
eyes, monsieur!"
He shook his head and passed back
the dispatch. 1t was no use. So far, at
least. as the war department is con-
cerned, l am a liar. Paris did not
weep on August L, 1914. L must consult
an oculist. | crossed out the word, and
in four hours the message was returned
from the project of police covered with
rubber stamps. l took it to the tele-
graph office and paid for it. What
happened after that at the office OF the
war censor only the editor of Golfers
can tell.
Hence the "telegrammes de con-
cierge' and all sorts of tours de force
of imagination n credlity. Most fan
tastic. n by far the most popular of
these fairy tales, was that spread about
the "Bouillon Kub" (bouillon cubes)
whose yellow tin signs art tackled up all
owe the countryside. OF course as the
b. K. company was of German origin
the tin signs mus have bee placed to
secretely point the way toward Paris
for an invading army. They were mum
bered so as to give other military in
formations; they were even punched
with seemingly accidental holes that
had mysterious significance. So sale the
concierges, nodding their idle heads.
Half Paris believed it true.
Civilization Running on Three Wheels
More than half h shops still have