Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1917-10-08

The committee on public inforlna-
ton has made public the following ar.
ticle, entitled Lest We Forget" by
Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Just why are we In this war? Fo,
democracy? For the sake OF Belgium L?
For the ancient law among nations
that the word of people is its oath?
Perhaps for all OF them. Perhaps.
too. because we could not keep out.
We tried. Whatever may have been
our record in the past, il can never be
said OF us that we brought this war on
ourselves or that We failed TO use
every honorable method to keep out
of the death grip of Europe. If we
were long in coming to our decision,
was because we remained incredulous.
We were asked to. believe something
that was hard to believe.
So we waited and hoped and stress
ed every point OF International law 10
the breaking point because OF this
thing we would not believe. We were
clean and humane people. We can
understand individual cruelty. We
have had sad experiences Of the hys.
terra OF crowds. But we can not un.
derstand, and today we hardly credit
the cruelty of a government.
We have ourselves constructed a
government that is dignified. just, slow
TO wrath, and humane.
But she continues to disclainl the
been growing among us that one of
the nations in the world war Is none
of these things-not dignified. not
just. not humane. Had Germany's
c"ueltios ceased with Belgium, she
might in time have made her case be
fore the world. For three years in
that wretched country she has been
covering her tracks.
Where Germany Bungled
But Germany has bungIed. She has
disclaimed frightfulness in Belgium
only To bring it home TO the world III
large. She has introduced into war.
fare such crueIties of killing. such in
human methods. such destruction.
such contempt OF the laws OF war az
have set the world pale with horror.
She had added hate to the vocabulary
of war. and hatred is contagiOu.
Yet. persistently and in the face
of the evidence. she has disclaimed
the atrocities in Belgium. She has
been willing to shoulder the sinking
of women and children in unarmed
ships. She is proud OF the invention
of poison gases and of liquid fire. She
believes that the Smelling Of unforti.
fed cities and the use OF the submd-
rinc against helpless fishing boats
will. on her initiative. be accepted b!
the next Hague convention as ethical
and legal.
But she continues TO discclaim the
atrocities In Belgium. Why should
she not? The thousands who died in
the advance of her army,
the other thousands who were shot
without inquiry against the brick
walls OF captured towns, those mon
who were bayonetcd while trying To
protect their women from the assaults
of drunken soldiers, the little children
whose. bodies lay unburied ny the
of them will ever tcr
the story.
The atrocities in Belgium are true.
They are matters of record: German
soldiers themselves have set down the
details in the diaries their govern.
men; gave them. 1 have read some
of those diaries. Not all German sol,
diers turned into beasts in Belgium.
There are some who record that the
horrors sickencd them. 1t is not true
that the German government ordered
assaults on women. But it did order
looting and arson and wholesale muir
der.
The result Of that order for loot