The Sentinel=record. (Hot Springs, Ark.) 1900-current, 1914-10-14

land, Belgium or France, or are they
not For weeks there were hints,
illusions and limitations that Rus
sian troops had been taken to Eng
land from Archangel and were now
on their way to the western theatre
of war. English news dispatches
said they had been seen at various
points in England. English war cor
respondents met them and talked to
them in Belgium and France. TRAY
oilers spoke with mysterious air Of
impending surprises for the Germans.
fish admiralty which said that the
route to Archangel was now open and
that shipments of butter and eggs
would soon come that way-said but
ter and eggs being interpreted as
Russian troops. A Swedish engineer
said ne saw the Russians embark II
Archangel, while a Dutch merchant
in that port, returning home, assured
everybody that the story was absurd
and that, as a matter of fact, the un
dertaking was impossible.
More English war correspondents
saw the Russians. Finally a Dutcn
correspondent saw them; another
spoke to a Belgian wno had seen
them, and a second knew somebody
who knew somebody who had seen
them. BY that time the Russians
were in Belgium, or France or Eng
land beyond the shadow of doubt.
But few days ago the English Of
fetal press bureau denied point blank
that there was anything in the story.
A man VINO writes military matter
and knows what he is writing about
took the pains to compile a table Of
AustroNGerman losses, as announced
by the French, English and Russian
press. When his totals had reached
one and three-quarter millions he de-
cided That the task was not worth
while. That was two weeks ago. The
odd part of it was that he only used
those figures which appeared in off,
cial dispatches and in reprint in the
Dutch papers.
In common with all others the
Dutch press suffers at the hands of
the censors. Due to the commercial
relations Holland maintains in nor
NAL times with England and Germany
its newspapers keep large staffs of
correspondents in those countries.
To their credit be it said that they
have made every effort to present to
the Dutch public something re
sembling the real state Of affairs, ex-
GLIDING subjects in Belgium. But
such efforts invariably come to grief
on The shoals of the censorship which
carry neither buoy nor beacon and
which refrain studiousiy from letting
the correspondent know what can
and what cannot go through.
In a general way everybody surmis-
es that statements, true or false, in
favor of the country which the cen
sor serves will be admitted. Direct
ly a Dutch correspondent says so
mucn as a word for the enemy, and
ne II bpI lliOiC liiuh PCbthS AoSNt
into the wastebasket goes his copy.
That the man is telling the truth, and
as far as he knows, nothing but the
truth; truth, moreoved, which has
no military import, makes no differ
ence. The very suspicion that the
man intends to be honest with the
public renders him persona non gra-
ta A Dutch paper which has COM
mitted no other sin than merely
take a rational, impartial view of the
official dispatches received, had to
discover that it would be just as wei
to recall its correspondents. But
there is a great deal of backbone in
the Dutch press. Thus one reads:
I'VE learn from sources" or 1--WE are
informed from the English side" AMI
when the matter printed is still not
sufficiently disinfected by this intro.
duction, the editor attaches his COM
ment and asks the public ito accept
the above With caution"
u