Mexico Missouri message., 1918-10-10
Imperial Germany Spares No
Community in U. S.
PLANTING SEEDS OF KULTUR
pastardIy Assault Is Under the pirec-
tlon Of General staff and Has
Been Prepared With the Ut
most Care.
BY HARVEY o'HIecINs,

CThis Is the first Of three articles by
Mr.. o'Higgins dealing with the propa-
Sanda of the enemy in our country
Mr.. Citizen, you are now on the
firing line.
Imperial Germany is not merely at
hacking on the western front. She is
attacking I'm every community in the
United States.
Her assault is under the direction of
the German general staff. 1t has been
prepared as carefully as the strategy
and tactics of a military drive. AS in
Russia and In Italy, so here also
campaign of German propaganda--a
gas attack Of poisonous lies and ru-
mors and false reports-has been
launched successfully and is now un-
der way.
The collapse of Russia was not
victory for German arms. 1t was
triumph Of German propaganda.
America is now the strongest enemy
that Germany has. A weakening Of
our public morale is as necessary to
German success as the weakening of
Russia was. And the attempt TO
weaken us has already developed two
main lines of movement. The first
aims to destroy our unity of action
with our allies by setting us against
the French, the British and the Jap
anese. The second proposes to destroy
our domestic unity by encouraging
among ns every sort of class dissen-
sion, religious difference, racial preju-
dice and political quarrel.
SIandering the French.
The officials of the Red Cross report
that many loyal mothers are refusing
20 let their daughters volunteer as
nurses in France because of rumors
of immoral conditions in the hospitals
there. 4 detailed story has been cir
culatcd 10 the effect that 200 Red
Cross nurses have recently been re-
turned on transport from abroad and
secretly removed to maternity hos
pitals here as patients. There Is not
word Of truth In the story. It has
been investigated by federal grand
jury In New York city and found TO
he false. German sympathizers caught
circulating 1t have been interned. The
nurses In service in our hospitals in
France have the same discipline and
protection that they have here-and
need II as little. The story has been
invented TO hamper the work Of the
Rcd Cross and to prejudice us against
our French allies
A similar aim is evident in the re-
ports of drunkenness and immortality
among our forces Mt the front. These
charges, most circumstantlally made.
were even taken up by the national
leaders OF our prohibition societies and
Inrity leagues, and an appeal was
sent out to the readers of the religious
press asking them to protest to Presi-
dent Wilson. The number of these
protests showed the success of the
SANDER.
As matter OF fact, no liquor ration
is served 70 our troops either here or
abroad. No army canteen sells alcO-
hOlic liquors. BY General Pershings
orders, our soldiers in France are for
bidden "either to buy or 10 accept as
gifts from the inhabitants" any "alco-
holic beverages other than light wine
or beer" AS there is little beer sold
in France, General Persbing reports:
"Men who drink are thus limited 10
the light native wine used by all
French people. Even this is discour-
aged among our troops in every pos
sible way. / hope to secure the CO.
operation Of The French government
TO prevent the sale OF all liquors and
wines to eur troops. Personally, 1
favor prohibition in the army, but It
is impracticable and inadvisable to
issue orders that cannot be enforced
without the cooperation of the French
government"
Slsndering Our Soldiers.
The charge of drunkenness among
our expeditionary forces is pro-
German lie designed to alarm the
mothers and fathers of the boys who
have gone to France. The stories of
immortality consequent upon drunken
ness are equally baseless.
When the recruits for the National
army were first assembled in our can
tOnments, the medical examiners sent
as many as 400 out of every 1000 men
20 the hospitals to be treated for We
aereal diseases. The hospital adInis- |
sion rate for venereal diseases in those
camps has since been as low as GA !
per 1000. and the rate for the men
IN our expedltionary forces in France |
has been as low as Az per 1000. |
That is TO say. the statistics Of the !
surgeon generals Office show that our I
.sOldiprs In Franco haya baon oIuooat /
Ven times as free from the effects Of /
immortality as the same sort Of men |
were when they were Grst drafted
These SANDERS upon the nurses and
upon the troops are typical of the
work OF the German general staff. IT
has been their policy IN their cam
paigns Of propaganda to circulate in
an enemy country the faisehoOds that
most appeal 10 that counny's preju-
AZ