The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-07-08
NOT 1000, 900 BUT 10000 o

In the July American Magazine APP
pears an exceedingly important ar
ticle entitled Lord Kitchener's Great
Bluff" 1t is a report Of how England
has secretly raised an army four
times as big as she has admitted. The
details of the story include an inter
esting account Of the tremendous part
that advertising played in persuading
men to enlist.
The author Of the article is J. Her
bert Duckworth, of whom the editors
of The American Magazine say in a
note:
"Mr. Duckworth is an E%nglishman
belonging to a family of w%ell-known
London and Liverpool journalists, but
for the past ten years, with the excep,
ton of two years in London, he has
lived, most of the time, in New York,
where he has been connected with
newspapers. At the outbreak of the
war he went to England, where he has
remained most of the time. During
the winter, because of his unusual op-
portuntiies for getting inside informa-
ton pertaining to England's part in
the war, he came confidentially into
possession Of the facts in this article.
On account of the strict censorship i'm
posed by Lord Kitchener, no English
journal has published them, and in
truth, few Englishmen have known
the real facts. Indeed, Mr.. Duckworth
himself has been unwilling, until now,
to communicate publicly what he has
learned"
Following is a brief extract from Mr..
Duckworth's article:
How Kitchener's Army was secret
ly increased from one million to four
million men right under the very
noses of the ubiquitous German spies
is one of the most amazing stories of
the war.
"The grim joke on the Kaiser was
concocted by Lord Kitchener himself.
He Communicated the services of the
press to assist him to carry out the
great bluff.
when the British Secretary of
State for War first conceived the idea
of putting into the field four million
men, he realized that it would be a
grave strategic blunder to allow the
enemy to know what was really afoot.
Rather, the game should be to call for
a million men, and then press-agent
the world with stories lamenting the
fact that, at last, the British Empire
was about to crumble up because the
men Of England had not the pluck to
defend it. The scheme worked out ad.
mirably.
1.-THE campaign of silence was con
Quoted on strictly scientific lines. The
newspaper editors were first warned
that any indiscretion would mean a
court-martial, under the Defense OF
the Realm Act, on charges of having
spread reports likely to interfere with
the success of His Majesty's Forces.
They were instructed to publish only
the recruiting returns sent out by the
War Office. Independent census-tak-
ing was strictly forbidden. All arti-
cles on the new army, and even pic.
lures of soldiers. had first to be sub.
mitted to the censor. A permit was
required even to own a Gamers
"One London editor refused to stay
put He published a picture of some
soldiers without the permission of the
censor. Lord Kitchener sent for the
offender.
IA second in~discretion,' he explain.
ed. will a court-martial and Jail.
"'On what charges?' suffered the
astonished editor.
"'Never mind answered Lord
Kitchener; we will clap you into pris-
on first, and find the charges after the
war is over
when 1t came to moving the new
troops to France extraordinary pre-.
cautions were taken to mislead the
spies. The regiments were not all
transported from Southampton to
Roulogne or Havre. Instead they
were shipped from what were really
out-of-the-way and inconvenient ports
Bristol. Avonmouth. Cardiff, Swan.
sea and Barrow. Of example.-to
French ports a. far from the firing
line ~ st. Malo. Brest. and even Dor.