New Britain herald., 1918-04-05


 All the speakers, including George
 Creel. head of the committee on pub
 lic information; S. K. Radcliffe, for
 merly of The Manchester Guardian,
 and Augustus Thomas, playwright.
 made pleas for announcing to the peo-
 pie the truth about the war, all the l reverses of America, and all the Vlc- 1 tories of it's soldiers.
 ! MT. Creel said his committee has l been pledged through the Army and
 Navy to inform the people instantly l and honestly Of all casualties. all ac l cidents and disasters.
 Bear that in mind,' he said, ''Whon
 the air is filled with rumors about the
 sinking of a transport, the loss of 1 thousands of soldiers in France, the l hospitals in Westchester County filled ! with wounded. Brand them as lies l and publish the liar, for the govern ! ment does not suppress such news CT
 seek to minimize it. We do not have
 to conceal reverses because We do not | have to fear for the courage Of | AmeriCa.'
 No Mention of Pc,-shing'S Order.
 This paragraph in MT. Crecl's 1 speech he delivered as it appeared in
 the copy given to reporters in ad-
 vance, but he made no mention of the | recent order sent from France by l Secretary of War Baker and inter- l preted by General March as meaning l that no further news of casualties 1 should be given to the public. Mr. 1 Creel has lately not been handlin& ] the casualty list because of a disa l greement with the War Department,
 which took the stand that no further Identification than the names Of the l killed and wounded should be given | out.
 Tn his address MT, Beck said tha 1 the cause of the Allies is today in 1 more desperate peril than at any time
 since the days that preceded the 1 Marne.
 ! ..The allied armies have sustained
 the most terrible reverse since the
 battle of Charleroi," he declared,
 s"rhe terrible and portentous fact IS
 that in less than week the German
 armies have regained all the terri
 tory that cost the Allies 300,0O0 men
 and four and a half months of time
 in 191e, and they are as near to the
 gates of Amiens, a city of immense
 strategic importance as the upper
 part of Briadway Is to the Battery. "It is believed as a fact that the
 Germans in the West have mini NN'AN
 the appalling fact is that the excess
 of German man power equals the az gregate of any army in authenticated history.
 Had America redeemed the least of it's promises to its brave allies,
 TIindenburg's mighty advance would probably have broken down. We had promised them at least 10000 air planes. A nation that can turn out 1OO pleasure cars year from its ! ia ctories should not have had any real difficulty in rapidly developine the automobile of the air InfoF- ! tunately we have not been able to ship ten. much less 10000, airplancs l to Europe.
 "No one can question the good in tentfons of our country, but the fact is that upon all our foreign policies B and war measures experiences has
 written but one verdict, Too late!
 | Who now questions that we should have begun to prepare after the sink
 ing of the Lusitana?
 We flirted with the Bolsheviki an archists in Russia until they haG S filled LID the poisoned chalice of theil 4 black treachery.
 We have wonderful plans for ship q ping, but in the meantime the ton Fl rage of our alleS IS raplQly decl6dS- U ing and the stranglehold of the sub' marine becomes more terrible "Too late! God grant that wher this great ordeal of battle is over anc the smoke which now obscures oul H vision Is cleared away that we vii ' not find that the honor of our coun- try has been buried almost beyond 4 resurrection and that history shal & not write as it's epitaph Too late! Should Know tue Truth. \ After saying that Lloyd George and i Clemenceau believe that people can & bear the fight with greater fortitude when they know the truth. MT. Beck 8 said that in this country, however q it is accepted that all disa greeable z truths should be suppressed and that H the fighting spirit of the people could & only be excited by deluding them with optimistic delusons.
 For a year past we have been re- galed on mighty armadas of ships, & he continued. the very hulls Of
 which have not even been fashioned on the ways. Industrious press agents have held up to our excited imagination flights of airp1anes as ' thick as the autumn leaves of Val l lambrosa. but they exist only in the perferyent imagination of these
 agents of publicity.
 @ we have had enough of illusions
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