Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-11-14

ton concerning the adjustment of artillery
to infantry action. or else 1t was Sir Will
liam Robertson who used the terrible word
to Lloyd George and showed him the door.
These conversations all took place in private
your nformer really mustn't tell you how
he knows. But these are the very words.
The words ought TO be deleted by censor.
No Rumors on What They Know
About one thing there are no rumors:
the effect of the Zeppelin raids. That is a
matter which cannot be hidden If a town
were devastated, munitiOn factory razed
hundred people killed in one place-well,
II couldn't be kept quiet. And yet there
are no rumors. The figures given for cas-
ualties are never questioned and no one
in all of London knows of n place of mill
tary Importance which has been hit. There
are perfectly sober people who take the
German claims and go out to verify them
and come back much relieved. The howler
about Regent street was the last straw. and
no one has the least faith in the German
claims any longer.
The other kind of Zepp rumors-that
they are coming or are not coming-you
hear regularly in the last quarter of the
moon, for in this case people are moon
struck most when the moon does not shine
Far better are the munitions rumors. The
tanks" were suggested as early as last
summer and loudly pooh-poohed by those
who knew Now the faVorlte idea is the
the wonders it can perform with its shell
six feet high. There is nothing against
that, except that those who speak Of il
haven't seen 1t and never will. Then there
is the species known as the rumor explosive
1t deals with that awful thing, / don't
know how to pronounce it, but you know
what mean" which is so deadly that even
the Germans won't use it--because IL is
equally deadly for the army using IT,
Presently you are told that a way has been
1Ns..
new gas masks were ordered at n factory
around the corner from where his aunt
lives. Crhe actual number ordered per
week Is presumably several times that mum.
Der and improvements are regularly being
made) But you put the two facts together
and you have first-class rumor which hap
PLY ends the war by Christmas.
Then there is the idea of a fve-year war
(from 1914, of course), and you link that
up with the report, which you heard, you
don't remember where, that the Russian
army is about one-thrd the size of the
British forces, and you have another stra-
teglcal review OF the war done. You also
have heard that Italy is playing politics,
and you see some mention of Greece and
the Balkan angle is so clear that you want
TO write to the papers or TO the Foreign
Office and tell them all about it, or, per-
| haps, the runner of rumors goes in for poll
| tics Yesterday he saw a note that Mr..
| Lloyd George had lunched with Winston
| Churchill. Tomorrow he may see Asquith
| walking down the street with Lord Haldane
| He forms a new Cabinet on the spot, and II
| is a good Cabinet. He recalls that six weeks
| ago a paper suggested the present reap
pearance Of Churchill in office, and he is
made glad.
The rumor Of the unseen hand is very
| complicated, but you never hear the end
| of H. II goes back TO the Marconi scandal
| and takes in such details as the personality
| OF a commission which recently visited a
| hospital Dreadful secrets are known in
| Germany. and the Germans are threatening
TO reveal them if-if what7 Well. II the
war is carried on, presumably.
| Just why England should 90 In for ru-
| mors, most of which are unpleasant, when
she is beginning TO win the war is a bit OF
| mystery, Perhaps the explanation is that
4 she is only beginning 10 realize the cost
| Certainly the sum total Is that everything
| is for the worst, and this comes just when
| the general belief is that everything is foI
| the best on the whole those who believe
one rumor are unconscious of the rest. and
each likes to feel that he has a bit of spe-
| cial and inside information. But none OF
them can compare with the report OF the
war received by newspaper man who wai
| with Stefansson In the Arctic, and who
beating back. got "moccasin rumor" that
| there was war In Europe. The Germans
had invaded Great Britain, and after de-
| stroying the navy had driven army anc
i civilians across the Irish Channel There
| with the Irish, the British had rallied aud
| driving all before them. had reconquereG
England, and were now on their way e
| Berlin.
Because All rumors end In Berlin. whsr,
some people stu expect the war 70 end.