El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-04-20
WILD RUMORS FROM WALL STREET.
ARE AS DAMAGING AS ENEMY LIES

BAD as the German propaganda is the faxed news
n sent out private wives and scattered broadcast
over the country It is generally extremely favorable
news which tends to send the spirits Of the American
people soaring It reports great victory great drive
OF great advantage Of some kind nearly always for
the allies in all Of which there Is not more than mere
shred Of truth If indeed there shred Most often
It is nothing but a pure fabrication
We have had number Of these wild stones IN the past
tba7, the Ca-7rane
began their grand offensive this spring There the
that 10000 Germans had been captured In places
another cipher added for good measure making If
100000 Il really didn't make any difference, because
set Of figures much lie the other. This bit Of
fiction carried on railroad wire and newspapers every
where were busy Tor hours answering telephone calls ana
obliged TO dash the hopes Of the people by saying nothing
rad been received from any reputable source 70 justify such
Then there was the story that the German crown prince
had been killed. That caused excitement and the
newspapers had another bad session. Disappointing their
HqureTs BY telling them the report unfortunately
The only foundation for that rmor-whch had been
sent out z private wire straight statement Of
facwas that obscure member Of the German nobility,
the prince OF Reussnad been killed IN action The great
gathering associations dismissed him with about three
lines.
A dsv or two ago came third wild story that the
French had broken through the German line 56-me
front Like its predecessors this spread along Fl
Pasos streets and through hotel lobbe dining and
restaurants, creating many ipromptu celebration One
might suppose this story would appear 50 improbable on
the face Of it. view Of the Of the fighting hereto
fore that people would credit It. But the unusual has
become the usual IN this gigantic combat and the IN
expected has occurred often that nothing is improbable
any People who heard this story and became excited
about doubtless had mind the allied army Of
Of which have heard much and which, far We
know has not yet been in action It has been expected to
deal blow somewhere the west 'front.' but could not
make successful attack front Of So niles unless II IS
very much larger than has heretofore been supposed In
fact there IS doubt whether the army Of aneuver
has not already been swallowed up IN the fighting and
longer exists as an independent force At any rate, there
was no foundation whatever for this story and 1t
doubtedly manufactured in its entirety, complete bit
Of lying propaganda ever enanated from enemy
source.
These are but few conspicuous examples Of imaginary
battle operations sent out to the people Of the United
States almost daily, and Of them coming from New
York Usually they transmitted over brokers' wires
from New YORK houses to their inland connections Ap
parenty their purpose is to create spirit of optimism an
extreme and false optimism tending to bull the market and
force the prices Of favored stocks up with heavy buying
orders Trying TO manipulate the spirit Of people
order 10 into cash IN Wall street is as despsbe
as anything can be- The must have succeeded II
would not be repeated over and over
The federal government ought to have way Of sup
pressing these harmful stories If the "buckeshops sent
out equally bases reports Of great German successes they
would quickly enough find themselves IN trouble Really
though bases reports Of victories bad baseles
reports Of defeats The after effect Of IS bad the
direct effect Of the other.
The allies viii win this certainly the suns
rising, but the VIII not be campaign Of lies,
and earnest sacrificing people deserves TO be spared being
stunE BY swarm Of money leeches.