The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-18
English People Do Not Like the Way
They Are Kept in the Dark
Regarding tho
War.
WHETHER GOOD OR BAD
Even When British Arms Have
Gained Great Victory, the Peo-
pie Are Not Told
About II.

| [By Wilbur 8. Forrest, United Press
Stan Correspondent
LONDON, May 10. (By mail to New
York. )-The British public wants the
facts.
An organized clamor against the
governments policy of reticence re-
garding the successes or failures OF
the British forces on land and sea.
threatens to become roar.
Led by Austen Chamberlain, memb ar
OF parliament, and other well known
public men. q campaign is under way
today to force ofhcialdom to remove
the "blinkers" A half dozen leading
newspapers have taken up the cry,
demanding that II the people are to
show confidence In the government by
the government owes some confidence
to the people.
"Any government that tries to ride
the best out of the mount" declared
backing him up.
THE people are human: they are
mortal; the nation Is ready to make
but after nine months Of war they
ought to know what the army and
navy are doing The policy OF exces-
sive secrecy with regard to the deeds
done by our fighting regiments has
chilled the fighting spirit Of the ma
ton" says the London Evening Star,
ordinarily staunch supporter of the
present liberal government
80 <~A {n{t
ball rolling in England. Will irwin,
months after the battle of Ypres,
quietly gathered the facts and tod
the British public for the first time
Just what the Englishmen who fought
and died in that historic action, ac-
|complished: how they stemmed the
German tide and stopped the German
drive on Calais.
new thrills into the early retreat from
ped in their advance on Paris. A
London newspaper printed Twins
story and later reprinted 1t in pamph-
let form. The British public bought
a million copies Of the pahmphlet and
is still buying them, to get the real
story that the army authorities wero
30 TcluCLAuI W lcL lu0 puUIiC hAoW.
The battle Of Neuve Chapelle oc-
CURED March 10, II and II. Nearly
thirteen thousand British soldiers fell
in these three days. The British pub
lie first got the facts five weeks later
when the Prince Of Wales came to
London bearing an 5000 word dis
patch from Sir John French. But it
had to wait four days more to read
the real story Of the heroism and hor-
rors of Neuve Chapelle. written by n
British newspaperman who had been
permitted to visit the scene.
The British public knows vaguely
that an allied fleet is operating in and
about the DaTdanelles. It knows that
two British warships and one French
warship have been destroyed there by
the Turkish batteries. 1t knows un.
officially that the operations have
slackened since the disaster but 1t
does not know why. The censor
knows. But he won't tell, nor will he
let anyone else tell.
| The public knows that thousands OF
British soldiers are holding trenches
! in northern France, but 1t doesn't
know whether more big battle have
been fought like Ypres or Neuve
Chapelle.
! The French war ONCE in Paris Is
sues an official communique every dag.
The Russian war Office tells Of every
important engagement in which the
cars troops have gained or lost.
These communications circulate free
| " throughout England. On several oc-
casions before and after the big Brit
ltsh action at Neuve Chapelle the Brit
lish public first learned from the
French OF British engagements. On
April II the British troops carried an
important hill east of Ypres. British
machine guns moved the Germans
down like wheat and on the following
day the British repulsed several count
I err attacks. On the afternoon OF the
18th the French communique circulae-
/ ed in England news Of the British VIC
/ tory
| The British official press bureau
waited another day before it told the
public OF the action.
HAvRE. France. May 1o.-King AL
| bert OF Belgium has presented to iOO,-
900 OF his soldiers small "husifs" con-
tanning needles. pins. pieces OF court
plaster comb, writing pad and
lpencil.
| The entire output required for max
ing seven miles of cloth q inches
wide. 2h miles Of red fiannelette, 500
joles OF mending wool, hundreds OF
thousands CT needles and pins and
great quantities OF other necessary
supplies.
| LONDON, May 10.-A British sol
der brought to a London hospital
from the front suffered complete loss
of memory for days until doctor
placed looking glass before him. On
seeing his own face his memory re
turned instantly.
! Read The Daily Gate City.