The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-15
PARIS BOU[EVARDS
 COME INTO OWN
Soldiers Allowed Four Days
 Leave From Trenches
CHECK PROPAGANDA
Men Allowed Leave to Investigate for Themselves Charge That While They Are at Front Their Wives Are
 Guilty of Improper Conduct

Paris, August 1.-(Correspondence of the
 Associated Press. .)-The boulevards of
 Paris have come into their own. Thou
 sands of soldiers now mingie with the
 usual wartime Sunday crowds-soldiers
 of all arms and in uniforms of all the
 regulation colors. bringing back some of the joy and animation that disappeared
 last winter. They are grouped with fam files and friends on the terraces of all
 the cafes. they whix along all the streets in taxi-autos or in sumptuous limousines, they crowd the entrances to all the nov ing picture shows and promenade with the arms of women resting on their faded and
 stained sleeves, while little tots hang to their bronzed necks or cling to their call loused hands.
 They are the popular 'poilus' (the hir- sute) home from the front. It seemed last Sunday that all the 5000 that left the trenches Saturday on four-days' leave were there
 Reason for Action It Is believed these soldiers were re- turned from the front to check one pha SC of systematic propaganda of discourage
 ment that started at the beginning of the war and Is still going on. The latest
 
 nous letters to soldiers at the front in forming them that while they were she'd ding their blood their wives were leading loose lives at home. This Is supposed to be the reason for the decision of the war department to give four days leave to the men at the front in contingents of 50, . 600 at time. so that they may look into the situation at home on their own &C., count.
 The anonymous character of much of the news that circulars gave the fabri- cators of false news clear field, the ig- norance in which the public Is kept con cerning the details of the military opera tons making 1t impossible for any one to deny stories that are circulated; it also
 makes 1t difficult for the police to reach the culprits, though the secret service did succeed in tracing some of the work to an eccentric millionaire named Prouyost, living at Saint Raphael. who has been convicted by courtmartial and sentenced to prison.
 After making a fortune out of insur- ance Prouvost espoused the anarchist cause, published subversive pamphlets and journals and finally fell into the clutches of the Bonnot band whose sensational crimes excited Paris two years ago. False news began to circulate behind the lines early in the fall of last year; soldiers in hospitals and at the front received an onymous letters and circulars with signifi- cant headlines such as They are deceiv- ing us." Germany has made peace over lures that we repulsed," Our generals
 have had entire regiments of our soldiers executed"
 Glorify Great Germany | All these documents glorifed great Germany. Names and addresses of sol diers in hospitals, names of refugees ad- vertising for lost relatives, names of | women advertising for employment-al those whose state of mind seemed to make them accessible to depressing news and suggestions received anonymous letters | and circulars A suspicious circumstance | was that those sent to soldiers were post paid, while most of the correspondence sent to them is postfree. Thousands were distributed by unknown means through l the big department stores, slipped by mysterious hands under street doors and into private letter boxes; they were even scattered over the floors of postoffices and the cars of the subway.
 It was finally discovered that the sub- tects treated and the language used wei e l the same as in some proclamations dropped by German ayiators upon posi- | tions held by troops of the second line of Basseux in November. Finally a woman was detected dropping large packets of | letters into letter boxes, and was shad- owed. She received letters from St. Raphael in the department of the Var in | the name of Herman, her real name being | Donnadieu, wife of well known an archist, living with another anarchist named Hurreau. All three were arrested and their correspondence was traced to the
 millionaire Prouvost. Prouvost admitted paying the postage on the letters and cir. | culars, but declared that he had no in- l tention of engaging In guilty propagan- da Behind Prouvost. Hureau and Mad
 anne Donnadieu the police think there
 was a we'll directed system of German | espionage.
 l The Eclair declares that it has traced some of the false news circulated in Paris to naturalized Germans and gives the l names of some of them.