New-York tribune., 1914-09-24
German False News.

Nothing is more fairly typical Of the abiding
difference between German autocracy and French
or British democracy than the matter Of war news.
France and England have given out reports guard
cd in language and often delayed but in the main
complete and accurate Their bias has been OBJ
vioug. 1t would be foolish to expect any govern
mcnt TO write impartial history with the sound of
guns still booming in the distance. With little
checking up however, and correction from reports
Of correspondents at the front We in America have
been able to follow the whole .mpagn in the west
with fairly close accuracy. As the detailed reports
Of Sir John French become public even a slight
sense of perspective is possible
The Kaiser's point of view toward publicity is so
different from the democratic notion with which,
Americans are familiar that 1t is difficult for US TO
comprehend it, let alone do 1t justice. The famous
wireless messages early fell into dsrcpute here be-
cause of their obvious absurdiy from the point of
view OF fact. They hardly pretended to tell the
truth. They sounded rather like small boy brag-
ging Count Won Bernsorff added to the disfavor
surrounding German publicity by series of inter
views Of which perhaps the less said the better.
Recently there discernlbe effort on the part
of German oficiadoI.; to repair this and Gve
some sembance of fairness in It's official news But
the effort plainly went against the grain. and we
were presently hearing once more OF uniform Ger
man triumphs and easy defeats of the Allies
The simple fact is that the Faiser's government
has no conception Of democratic standards involv-
Ing free press and full governmental publicity.
The German press is controlled and inspired from
above. In time Of war the last thing that would
occur TO the German officials would be to inform
their citizens Of the true progress Of the war Why
should they? Their object would rather be to keep
up the spirits Of the public and the entire army by
roseate views of what was happening at the front.
The rigid control Of channels being what it is
in Germany such a system Of false news is easily
accomplished. That is how such preposterous ca,
nards as the John Burns speech and the Cornelius
Vanderbilt interview passed unquestioned in Ger
many.
What we should try TO appreciate here is that
such secrecy and distortion the natural and
instructive weapons Of autocracy. Fortythree years
ago Napoleon III was lying to the French people in
exactly the same fashion as the aSer's officials liz
to-day There was swift rctributon for the En-
peror Of the French which may or may not have its
moral to-day. But while Napoleon lasted he won
an unending string of victories At present the only
unfortunate side Of the system for Germany is its
influence upon neutral opinion. Americans cannot
help being favorably impressed by the comparative
frankness and truthfulness of the Allies. Certain
OF our unAmericanized Germans like the prepos-
ferrous gentlemen of the much hyphenated defence
committee and Mr. Herman Ridder, approve the
Kaisers methods and adopt them their own.
But, as letters to The Tribune ""ve made plain. the
true American of German birth descent is as
much disgusted with this policy Of lies and deceit
us any one. In the long 1t may prove one OF
the costliest and most damaging of weapons which
German Oilg ialdom is welding