The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-06-14
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of our troops had been killed. She /
stated that she had the information I
from the Red Cross officials and |
could prove it,
Similarly, a correspondent in Pitts !
burgh writes:
Last Sunday, May 5, in the smok
ing room on the Twentieth Century
Limited. the remark was made that
10000 of our wounded boys from the
front in France were already back
here in our hospitals in Connecticut
and New York. The man who made
the remark said it was a positive
fact He said he had his information
from one Of the doctors in a hospital
in Connecticut. He refused the name
CT the doctor and refused to give his
! own, as he said he didn't want to
get anybody in trouble, but he insis-
ted that the Government was keep
/ ing the real truth back from the pub
| lie
| Both these stories are entirely I'M
! true. There have been no such losses
among the troops of the Rainbow Di-
vision Up to the 1st of May, some
weeks after the statement was made
/ in Charlotte, there had been killed
! in all the divisions of the Army only
! 345 men. At the same time all our
/
| this included submarine casualties
among our troops.
An investigation showed that the
! lady who spoke at Charlotte, an Eng
lishwoman by birth, was a fervently
/ loyal war worker. She had appar-
emily been imposed upon by a Ger
man rumor mouger. The same is
perhaps true of the man in the
smoking car who was so reluctant to
"get anybody in trouble except his
Government.
The Government is aware that on
ly by frankness can it maintain pub
lie confidence. 1t gives out the news
of casualties as soon as the lists are
received from France. A conspiracy
to conceal any such disaster as the
loss of 1000 men in the Rainbow Di-
| vision, or the presence of 10000
wounded men in the Connecticut
hospitals, would involve so many
conspiring Government agents that
secrecy would be impossible. Ru-
mors of such losses and disasters are
persistently circulated by German
sympathiZers in order to depress the
spirits of loyal Americans and weak
en- their trust in the. good faith of
| their Government. All such stories,
however circumstantial, are untrue.
! The casualty lists, published day by
day, are the whole truth. They keep
nothing back from the public ex-
cept those details of time and place
which would enable German agents
to learn the number and location of
our troops in France.
No. 8. The Committee on Public
Information has received a report of
a story circulating in Chicago to the
effect that Gen. Pershing's head
quarters in France have been leased
by the Government for a period of
seven years and that the quartermas-
ter's premises have been leased for
nine years." 1t is only necessary to
point out, in reply to this absurdity,
that Revised Statutes 1919 and $500
as construed by the Attorney Gener-
al, prohibit any agent of the Govern
ment entering into any contract or
lease that binds the Government be-
yond the fiscal year in which such
contract or lease is executed. Fur
thermore, Gen. Pershing's headquar-
ters are no more stationary than any
other military headquarters behind a
changing battle line The story is a
ridiculous pro-German invention, de-
signed to convince the American peo-
pie of the recognized impossibility
of defeating the Kaiser's forces with
out an interminable conflict.
All such stories as these should be
reported to the Committee on Public
Information, s jackson Place, Wash
| in OFT n n