Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-21
HONEST
IN WAR REPORTS
Losses and Reverses Not
Concealed, Though News
May Be Slow
VICTORY QUICKLY TOLD
BY MAI. CEN. SIR FREDERICK
MAURICE
Special Gable to Evening Public Ledge,
\ copyvioht. 1918. bv Nc,C York Times co.



/ remain essentially an unmiltary ma
sion The German people have been
K brought up on the principle that war Is
tne continuation of national policy, and
the national life of Germany has for
+ generations been regulated by that prin-
cfple. We regard and always have re-
earded war as disruption Of policy and
Of national life. This divergence Of
sentiment touches the very roots OF the
causes for which we are fghtng
Yet war is an evil which must be faced
Is thoroughly and scientifically as
social evil; and TO face it successfully
We must understand It,
IN this respect we entered the war
terribly handicapped. Oc tine great ma
tions which came into the struggle at the
beginning, we alone had not been forced
70 look on war as a national rather
than a military business The others
mad lived. generations In the presence Of
81 and under the menace of armed force
Almost every family had contributed at
least one soldier TO the State
Thus the atmosphere of Paris has
ent from that of London. The French
IApublic knows instinctively how much it
can safely be told and what conclusions
TO draw from the information it re-
ceives. Our public feels instinCtively
that 1t does not know enough. and il
thinks. particularly when things are
going wrong, it should he told more
Now the one solid basis of our informa-
tion is the official Communique.
~ lar sssF tl,A
communication are in military hands for
military purposes
This does not mean that We under
estimate the brilliant dispatches Of
SsPHILIP GIBBS and other correspond
& ents at the front who enable us to un-
= derstand the conditions under which our
7smen are fighting. what they are suffer
ing and what they are achieving The
y one gives us the bare facts the o:her,
ssfhe local color Now. there is a deal Of
= human nature in the communiques-a
IS statement which may astonish the pub
sic. accustomed to the cold sOldier1y
rcticence of Sir Douglas Haigs reports.
These reports tell US what is happening
at the actual front
x The News systems
81 In normal times. when all our tele-
\ phones and telegraphs are in working
4 for news from the front line to pass
Through the various headquarters and
& arrive at general headquarters. 1t re-
.s5quires perhaps two hours to draft from
+ these the press communique and to get
ut TO london. Therefore. the news which
comes in at night gives us the situation
i5up to the afternoon of that day. This
lis the main report, and we see it usually
rsfrst in the morning papers. That which
I In, bn ,,f la
ing and which appears first in the eve
sl ming paper is supplementary and gives
'the account of the events between the
& dispatch of the main report and day
: break.
Now the German system Is somewhat
different. The enemy sends out in the
morning his main report of his doings
up TO nightfall of the previous day, and
this we get in London during the after
noon some hours after Sir Douglas
sEsaig's morning report. which takes the
i story UP to daybreak-that Is. some
II Twelve hours later than the German re-
z port The German headquarters issues
IA second and usually a very brief re-
6 port in the evening dealing with events
\ up TO that morning.
~ Thus in normal times our information
frfs we'll ahead of the German, but in
abnormal times. and particularly il
LInli5RS are eolus "lOhet we may anu
E otten do fall behind
& Take, for example. what happened at
Efhc end of. March. The enemy drove in
Sour front and pressed through con-
stalderabie depth. Telephone and tele-
fsxraph tines had been abandoned. and
fsheaduuarters, Z which are collecting sta
Efions for information. were forced to
= abandon their exchanges and fall back.
fi.i Fresf.. means of transmitting information
Z had TO be improvised, and were required
q as a matter of prime urgency for con-
( troll of the battle.
81 Tris is what is to be expected when
An enemy is successful in attack, and
Fit means that news is delayed just at
Iftne time when the public at home is
.lnsost anxious and most eager for in
!, forma.ioTi Besides all this, there Is
Ethe human factor TO which l have
t4referfeu The attacking enemy, who
Nkainea ground, is flushed with success,
fnnd escry man. from the private in the
front line to the General in the rear,
1QnKes the most of il. The defender,
fhgktirs stubbornly and determined to
Hhoid his ground to the last possible mo-
kmrnt. wills not admit he has lost the posi-
ffion he ID defending till his last man
has been driven from it and his means
tof rccnpturing it are exhausted.
why Reports Conflict
The Germans enter town, and after
l1fitrce f1ghtlng reach the market place
I fteir general knows he has frest troops
Econiing up to support him. and he sends
off report that he has captured let US
say, Bapaume. Sometimes he speaks
too aoon: sometimes he makes good his
I WORD. Our man, perhaps at the same
Nt,nfe. tells his superior he is holding on
10 the town and can retake 1t II re-
I.&n(orcements are sent up There may be
lo re-enforcements to send and ne may
&ave 10 fall back. In that case the Ger
nan report of the capture gets a long
</sf< of our report of the loss
r Identical conditions apply when we are
lacking and the Germans defending
r. my one may verify who cares to turn
Nh the reports of the battles Of 1917 II
moi malice or perversity which makes
|6[5< news of victory swift and that of
8Aster slow. II is of the nature of war
Z vi 4 IS waged today.
Tlltn, as regards the capture OF prison.
*rt which Is often sore point at home,
10 4zsail8nt who makes captures has
&r1p1ftd beforehand his arrangements
Tor 5(ieir custody and for counting his
4&1IIIs The numbers are known to him
1ix16@. At once. The defender who is
1<21;Iy 10 difficulties when he loses men,
las ~ time - call his roll. and II he had
~ GOULD not tell how many OF his miss
RI /tE were temporarily cut on and would
j4in or were killed or had fallen alive
3|zo the enemy's hands. News comes
&tA Very slowly from the German pris,