The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-10-25

man agents. They are inventing
also stories of German atrocities and
circulating them in this country.
Such stories are frequently sus-
picious in their origin and easily
disproved. When they are discred-
tied, they have the effect of dis
crediting also the record of German
atrocities in Belgium. When they
are not discredited, they act as a
sort of counterfeit "frightfulness."
They worry the relatives of soldiers
and Red Cross nurses who are ex-
posed to the alleged brutalities
They also lead to popular demand
for reprisals against the German
troops. And with the German
morale breaking down, it is not fanc-
full to assume that the German mil
itary authorities would welcome re-
prisals, and encourage the demand
for them by means of these fake
atrocity stories, in order to make
it difficult for the German soldier
to surrender in the coming battles
as he has been surrendering re-
Gently.
This appears to be the explana-
tion of various forged stories of
German atrocities that are appear
ing in American newspapers. A
paper in Auburn, Nebraska, publish
ed such story under the heading
.Tongue Cut Out By Huns; Ameri-
can doctor sends message to family
written under stamp on envelope"
An investigation discovered that the
doctors family had not received any
message of the sort. The story
had been started by an anonymous
telephone massage that pretended to
come from the family but really
came from some unidentified liar
who was furthering the German
campaign.
A similar story in California pa
per declared that a similar mes
sage had been received by the sweet
heart of an American soldier who
was dying in German hospital. He
had sent her his watch as SOU
venir from his death bed. Concealed
in the watch was message to say
that his tongue had been cut out
and that she would never see him
again. The story proved on inves-
tigation to be a fake.
What appears to be a forged let
ter from an American soldiers
mother is circulating in Iowa, Ne
braska and Colorado newspapers. 1t
alleges that he had been returned to
her without ears, nose, or arms; that
he saw two Red Cross nurses sim
ilarly mutilated by the Germans, and
that the Germans "cut prisoners
eyes out and then stand and laugh
at them"
A Trenton, N. J. newspaper re-
Gently published news item from
the Philadelphia Inquirer to the eff
feet that there were in Holyoke,
Mass, "twenty- three little Belgian
girls, ranging in age from six to
ten years." all of whom had "either
one or both hands amputed at the
wrist, the work, not of German SOL
diers, but of German officers" In
quiry at Holyoke found no mutilated
Belgian girls there. There have
been no Belgian girls brought to
Holyoke, either mutilated or other
wise. This sort of story has the
added advantage, from the German
point of view, that by disproving it
one casts doubt on all the proved
and well-authenticated cases of Ger
man atrocities committed on Belgian
girls during the early days of the
war.
AS result of the campaign to
deceive and inflame and confuse the
American people with fake atrocity
stories, the Military Intelligence
Branch of our War Department has
sent the following letter to newspa-
pers that have been imposed upon.
"Atrocity stories are daily banded
around army camps abroad; they
gain credence through circulation;
and frequently they are communicat-
ed to this country in news dispatches,
or soldiers letters, as fact. Many
of these stories are extremely diff
cult, if not absolutely impossible to
trace to the source of origin. Con-
sequently, we are asking editors to
refrain from publishing atrocity |
stories, whether charged against the
enemy or against our allies, until
facts embraced in them shall have
been substantiated and officially |