Imperial Valley press., 1918-10-05
READ THESE HUN
PROPAGANDA LIES
AGAINST j. s,

mittee on Public Information:
"There is story here that Ameri-
can officers are supplied by the ar
my with blue tickets, upon exhibition
of which they are not molested by
military police when seen entering
or leaving houses in the Red Light
district Coupled with the blue ticket
is the story that particular houses
are maintained by the War Depart
men for the special benefit of officers
and men. This is not idle barroom gos-
sip, but is story that is being cir
culated in New York, and believed
and passed on, in all seriousness, by
people who ought to know better. 1t
was repeated to me by one Of the best
known artists in New York, who be-
lieved that it was true. 1t just hap
per1ed that / knew how particular and
careful our military organization is
to keep the men away from venereal
contagion and away from prostitutes
generally, so / was able to say to
the man who told me this story that
it was lie."
1t is lie that, in one form or an
other, is exceedingly popular among
| the Kaiserites in America. 1t is lie
that can be whispered, which is al
ways the sort of lie that has the best
legs. It is lie that our conventions
bar from publicity, which saves it
from public contradiction. And it is
a lie that is peculiarly distressing to
the women relatives of our soldiers,
which makes it a most valuable lie
to our enemies.
AS matter of fact, the campaign
Of our Surgeon Generals office
against immortality and venereal dis
eases among our troops has been one
Of the most successful campaigns of
the war. When the drafted men were
first called to camp, the annual ad-
mission rate to the hospitals was
nearly 400 out of every thousand men.
In the past summer the admission
rate for the whole army has been as
low as 40 per thousand. That is to
say, under military discipline the men
are about ten times as free from
; sexual vice and its effects as they
| were in civil life. All these stories
of immortality among our men are
part of the German whispering prop
aganda," and they are bald lies with
no basis whatever in facts.
Kinderhook, ILL.,, reports a story
"that all sweaters that are knit by
the Red Cross are taken from the
soldiers when they emark for over
seas duty"
This is falsehood, and it is one
of large company Of similar false
hoods designed to discourage Red
Cross work.
Another comes from Dallas, Tex,
to the effect that members of the
133rd Field Artillery were recently
ordered to burn their sweaters, socks.
etc., other than regular ISSUE"
This, being a specific lie, can OBJ
tain a specific denial The Quarter
masters Office at Washington says
that no such order was issued.
Moretown. VT, has heard the fol-
lowing picturesque yarn:
Mrs. j. j. S. Of Los Angeles. CAL.
and her daughter called on an ac-
quaintance one day and found the lady
IN tears. Her son, who had been
drafted and sent to American Lake
cantonment, had been inoculated with
poisonous serum, along with sew
eral others, and her son had died.
The sequel was that four doctors
were courtmartialed and shot," No
such incident occurred. No soldiers
were inoculated with poisonous Sc
rum and no doctors were courtmar-
tailed or shot.
This is one of the rumors about
epldemics in camps that were most
fashionable last winter. Since that
time the army death rate from dis
ease has been reduced as low as 8
men per thousand per annum. The
best record hitherto has been the
Japanese record in the Russo-Japa-
nese war, where the Japanese death
rate from disease was 20 men ner
thousand per annum. Our death rate
from disease among men of military
age in civil life is 6.7 per thousand
per annum, so that our men in uni
for mhave twice as good a chance of
escaping death by disease as the same
| sort of men outsido ~ tho o,