The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-11-12
PRO-CERnAR LIES
SPREAD OVER LAND
PEOPLE DECEIVED AND ALARMED
BY GRoTEsouE STORIES
WITHOUT BASIS.
RED CROSS MUCH ANNOYED
Lies Told for Purpose Of Stopping the
Making Of SuppIies-other Wretch.
ed FaIsehoods Concerning Loss OF
Life In American Forces.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

BY EDWARD q. CLARK.
Washington.-In the war depart.
ment, in the Red Cross headquarters.
and In virtually all the other branches
of the government there continues to
be unrest because of the continuance
OF the vicious stories which are put
out by pro-German agents to deceive
the people of the United States, to
make fathers and mothers anxious and
70 hurt the cause of the country fight
Ing for democracy against the most
persistent and insistent autocracy that
the world has known since medieval
ism passed into modernism In history.
There Is no apology to be made
when II Is said that the belief Is
strong In Washington that not only
alien enemies of Uncle Sans domain,
but some r~ative-borr citizens. the one
group for one purpose and the other
group for another, still deliberately
are spreading tales intended to injure
this free land and to benefit the land
Of a military autocracy.
Washington authorities still are en-
gagged In an attempt to run down the
spies which infest the country and
those who. while not being spies in
the strict sense. are doing what they
can TO divide this land against itself.
Things have reached a pass when soft
words cannot be used. One of the
worst features OF the whole thing Is
the apparent ease with which the liars
seem TO be able to make many of the
people believe their fantastic stories.
Outrageous Lies About Red Cross.
Again within a week the Red Cross
authorities have been compelled to
Issue denlals of stories so grotesque
as seemingly 10 bear refutation on
their faces. and yet which have been
accepted as true In many parts Of the
United States 10 the hindering In
many places and to the actual stop
ping in other places. of work for our
soldiers and sailors In the field and on
the sea.
Some Americans I'm the districts
where the tales most widely are
spread do not believe them in full and
have sense enough 10 make inquiries
at headquarters concerning their truth
or their falsehood. Hundreds Of In.
quiries have come In concerning the
tales bearing on the work. of the Red
Cross and with them are hundreds Of
Inquiries concerning stories which
have been spread and which con
tinue to be spread of great losses
Of life among the American troops.
Sometime ago a story was spread
throughout the United States that the
Red Cross had enough surgical dress
lngs and bandages of various kinds
to meet every possible requirement OF
. war. which might 20 to any length.
Women stopped working. The story
was a pro-German lie In Its inception
and in its spreading. The Red Cross
still needs bandages and surgical dress
Ings. and everything else which II has
asked the noble women of the countsy
to help to make.
Another story bearing on the Red
Cross was TO the effect that 1t was
selling to soldiers and sailors at large
profit prices the knitted garments
which women were making. This
story was no sooner denied In the
quarters from which IL emanated than
II appeared in other places In the
United States. The women must Knit
and continue to knit, for the product
OF their hands will be needed by the
men who are defending the flag. The
Red Cross is not selling these things.
Lies About Loss Of Life.
In several of the great cities enemy
agents have been driving fathers and
mothers Of soldiers into a state of
terror by stories to the effect that
every American soldier who has en-
barked to France has lost his life at
sea. The war department Is doing
what II can to offset these lies. II has
promised time and again to make pub
lie at once every casualty which may
be suffered bv the American army or
the American navy.
On the last days OF the drive" for
the Liberty loan there came accumu-
lated proofs to Washington that in
many parts Of the country alien enc
mics had been at work trying to keep
the people from subscribing for n Of
the best investments ever offered, and
from showing their patriotism by a
willingness to support their country In
its endeavor to keep its freedom safe.
The dificulty In tracing the liars home
20 their lairs Is found In the fact that
they work In which may be called a
merely gossipy way. They drop a hint
and then shake their heads as II they
felt q heart sorrow because OF the
nature of the story which they were
telling. They sow the seeds Of fear
and apprehension and trust to their
sprouting and spreading. and then they
leave the field.
A Washington Official has said that
the best thing an American a do
when he hears q story is to apply the
test Of common to II, and an
other good thing for the American to
do Is to take down the name and the
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