The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-02-21
THE OBSCURE ARMY.
From tho Lon den Spectator.

One of these lays II will happen. we may
quite confidently expect: the spirit Of
Gallo irony will poise a moment over the
British western front and wing back to
Paris gay with the discovery that there
are English soldiers fighting there. One
can imagine, though one dare not try 10
initiate, the impish wit with which the
theme will be developed. Jean Pas de
Nom will record how, or going to the
battlefield to see the heroic deeds OF the
Australians, Canadians, Irish. Newfound-
landers, New Zealanders. Scottish, South
Africans and Welsh IN the British army.
he encountered Unexpectedly another tribe
of fighters, the English, hitherto UNI
known and unrecorded. lie will tell OF
their habits, customs, speech, and manner
or fighting with the glee of a d'scoverer.
Not more glad was Sir Joseph Banks find
Ing a new world of botany opened to him
on landing at Botany bay.
1t Is not given to an English pen to VEN
ture on such irony. So | must be content
In a duller way to state explicitly that
there are English soldiers on the British
front; that indeed there are more Eng
fish soldiers than all the rest combined
Ia quite natural fact. since the white
population Of England is greater than that
of the other parts Of the empire); and try
TO give a reason why this fact has been
so much ignored in popular comments on
the war.
The reason lies in what may be called
the philosophy Of publicity. A great New
York editor, seeking to explain to a cub
reporter" what Is news, !llustrated: III
this afternoon on Broadway a dog bites
q man, that is not news. But If a man
bites a dog, that Is news" II Is the unus-
ual. the abnormal. that a newspaper must
seek to record. 1t is not its business to
write history, but to provide day by day
soma nf tho rluy y,nfaria1 30 htGt1r,y
newspaper that sought to give a con-
sidered and we'll balanced record of a
days events would take a year in going
TO press, and would then be suitable for
the library rather han the breakfast
table.
Look backward at the campaign on the
British front In Flanders and Artois in the
light of newspaper conditions. At first
very little publicity OF any kind was al
lowed We heard nothing at all OF that
modern THermopyae when the first five
divisions held the allied left flank. The
first five divisions were made up of Eng
lish soldiers in excess of the due racial
proportions In the British islands). When
the ban On news was a little less severe,
contemporary English newspaper records
gave the casual reader the idea that the
British army was almost wholly made up
OF Indian troops, or at least that the In
dian troops were doing most of the work.
The Indian troops We're the unusual feat
ure of the army. They stood out from the
mass. They had paragraph value. Their
place was taken for a brief while by ter
ritorial troeps-the London Scottish in
particular-for the same reason. Later the
Canadians arrived at the front, and they
had, as newcomers, as colonial volunteers,
the chief paragraph value for a time.
When the AnZacs made their appearance
first, they held the stage. Now at differ
ont tirnA nnH rAI1r Er npnt1ar - An $4,000
imperial army comes into the field Of the
snap shot camera with which the journal
list records the events Of the day. But the
mass Of the army, which is English, rarely
gets special attention, because It Is the
mass, and as the mass It's news function"
Is to provide the background for some
group or other. Yet In every great battle
the English troops. naturally. have been
the most numerous, have done their full
share Of the work in hand, and have not
been backward In gallant emulation among
their imperial brothers to do deeds of
shining courage. When a considered his
tory OF the war comes to be written this
fact will be plain. But 1t Is not, and never
will be. made plain In current popular
accounts.
And the high command, fer other
reasons than those governing newspaper
conditions. often has to assist in but
tressins an incorrect ana disproportionate
view or the English work at the front.
II In a dispatch speciaa mention Is made of
the g~allAntry OF Canadian or Australian
troops In some action. noGstng in the way
Of information Is given to the enemy. But
special mention OF English" troops would
be so vague as to be almost useless; the
mention reeds to be Of Kents, of wor-
cestershires, or Lo"fHrers, or Yorkshires:
and that might communicate to the enemy
really valuable information az to the dis
position of our troops. and so Is not
always possible. A great amount Of the
staff work at the front is devoted to
Identifying the enemy's divisions In differ
ent sections Of the line, watching out for
the appearance Of new divisions, for the
splitting up Of veteran units to stiffen
weaker units, and so OF. This work is
easy to us. for we are constantly taking
prisoners. 1t Is harder for the Germans.
because they rarely get prisoners from us
now. We have to be on guard against
giving the enemy facts which might prove
the keys to the solution OF puzzles that
are worrying him. A current incident to
illustrate the value of Identification is the
large reward which we know the Germa.s
to have offered to their regiments In the
line for the capture OF the first American
prisoner. 1t Is not that the Teuton Intends
to scalp that American prisoner and burn
him at the stake (for he Is probably short
Of fueD, but that he IL worrying thus
early as to the direction from which the
new attack Is likely to come. When he
can certainly identify an American divi-