Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-12
GERMANY is
SOWING THE WIND
Airplane Raids on Lon d on
Likely to Provoke Merciless
Reprisals on Prussian
Cities
BY GILBERT VIVIAN SELDES
Special Correspondent EuerirD Ledger
T,,.o

By GILBERT VIVIAN SELDES
Special Correspondent Euerino Ledger
LONDON, June %.
TTERY few impartial judges remain in
this world II the war goes on much
longer 1t is quite possible that Germany Will
not have single neutral to appeal to when
the indictment Is made up against her.
We used to say IN the United states that
no one who had been through an air raid
was m to talk about reprlsas We always
felt that, being impartial and neutral, we
Of the United states we're a little better
able to keep our heads and to determine
what was just and what unjust. I felt that
way myself
And now 7 have been thoroughly bombed,
/ have seen what ia certainly the most eN.
citing spectacle available for civilian eyes,
and can testify that It is more thrilling
than all the bombardments Of the front In
the calm heat Of MONDAY in London I have
seen German planes dropping bombs over
the city. And l want to talk about re-
prisas.
First, the raid You know Of the hundred
dead, the half thousand casualties, the
school which was bombed and the unim-
people Of London took the raid calmly. Here
are some details.
! had left my rooms to mail letter
and was walking down ----- which Is
one Of the few streets Of London wide
as Broad street. For the last ten DAYS
there had been Intermittent gun-testing
and anti-aircraft practice in various parts
Of the city, so no one was alarmed at the
booming Of guns. To me- just back from
the front the booming meant nothing. And
suddenly | saw woman dragging her
husband, an army officer, into "a covered
archway In moment tho arChway was
full, and the crowd began surging out again
into the street. ! looked up and saw the
familiar woolly bursts of white cloud which
mean shrapncL
Then, very clear in the sunlight. I saw
three golden lines, like gildod foot rules,
steadily making their way northward. A
moment later another gun shot out and
I saw flash Of flame, which I took TO be
an explosion in a petrol tank. And after
It "A horrible noise
Far on the other side came a silver plane,
flying so low down that you could distin-
guish the wings. Then all noise stopped al
once.
Bomb Watching at First a Lark
The people were out in the street talking,
laughing, only mothers brushing their chill
dren into doorways. The grown-ups posi-
lively crowded into the open street, haltng
the busses and taXis which We're hurrynE
eastward to the scene. For there was n
scene. a cart drove up and the driver told
us that ha had just come from
He had escaped the bomb by fifteen feet
II was lark the greatest lark OF Lon
don for days. Men and women dashed for
| taXis, ! got one and hurried down to the
---; the fire engines came behind us and
we stopped At the market the police had
stretched fire Gordon, and a gay crowd
was watching n smoldering fire Several
panes OF glass had been knocked out along
the street.
II was late that afternoon before Lon
don realized what had happened
Well. the fun has gone out of that raid
| II went out for me when ! heard that two
| Of my friends had barely escaped and when
! my tOhaCConist told me that his wife was
| lying in a hospital so badly hurt that he
| despaircd Of her life The bomb we had
heard was the last OF many; the planes
we had seen had finished their attack on
| the fortress" of London.
And now Germany has served warning
| on us that II we attempt reprisals we also
must seek out fortified town We must
| not attack Berlin; we must spare Munich.
| We must go in against the German guns.
What does England think about it?
! find myself called a bloodthirsty lingo
/ l
| because | think that they are the only pun
| ishment which will make the German peo-
| ple feel their share in the guilt But |
| cannot persuade my friends Of that There
! was a great "reprlsal meeting" scheduled ;
before il came off a vast amount Of letter
writing was done for the papers, The sur
| prising thing is that the ants were so
| numerous Quite apart from the military
| advantage Of not keeping airplanes either
| near London or for purely bombing pur-
| poses, a tremendous number of quite un-
| important people persist in refusing TO sane
! tion the brutality of bombing open towns in
| Germany
Patience Nearing the Breaking Point
| saw quite unimportant people" because
| In making up the accounts of Britain ver-
| sus Germany these people are or the high
| est importance The facts as they stand
| today are simply two:
The common people OF Germany in
large measure approve Of the bombing
| of London. They have been taught that
this is right by the military authorities
and il will take n cataclysm to uproot
that teaching
. The common people OF England are
not at all convinced that bombing Lon
| don is right and they do not purpose TO
prove it wrong by bombing Berhn FROM
time to time they will allow a raid as
reRrettabe necessity. But they will not
| be moved. even by revenge to depart
from their idea Of war as a compare
| lively clean operation.
There is the situation at this moment
hut II will not stay put Some other factors
| will come In.
First. We Americans and Britons are
not going to see London bombed TO the
danger point When German planes can
cross the channel in twelve minutes, as
those did and when the necessity Of
Keeping our planes at the front is 80
messing, we will have to do the undesir-
able next best thing, l. e.. stop Germany
from raiding by raidng her. We too,
can make the army detach planes for
home defense.
Second. The supply Of American planes
will presently overwhelm Germany. II
will relieve many British flyers, and IL we
| 40 not care TO share in the proper work
| of soaring Germany off London, we will
at least allow Britain to do 1t.
Third. war temper is a peculiar thing
Fft rtY d afaIa