The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-01-02
SECRET REVEALED
Of NEWSPAPER
WiIi-o-.he-wfsp Patriot Which Was
Regularly Published In Spite
Of German
Orders.
EDITOR HAS JUST DIED
For Four Years Huns Tried to Find
Plant and Destroy II, But
Were Never
Able.
rBy United Press

| BRUSSELS, Dec. 15-(By MALL
With the coming of liberty to Bel
GUM, La Libre Belgique has de-
| parted, and The Patriot has re-
| appeared. 1t Is now possible to tell
! that the most remarkable OF war
time newspapers, La Lbre Belgique,
| which successfully defied German
efforts to suppress 1t for four years,
| was The Patriot, long established
| Catholic weekly. in disguise. Victor
Jourdain, aged editor Of The Patriot.
likewise edited the will-othe-wisp
sheet which kept German officials
in a constant state Of irritation dur
ing their occupation Of his country
and helped to keep the spirit OF the
Belgian people steadfast.
He died few weeks ago. just too
soon to see his city OF Brussels ltber-
ated
The Patriot was suppressed by
German order at the outset OF the
war. A few weeks later copies Of
new paper began to fall into the
hands of the German officials and
army officers. 1t did not prove popu-
lar with the latter. General Won
Kissing, military governor, offered
$4,000 francs reward for the name
of the editor and promised one years
Imprisonment to any Belgian found
reading 1t. There were arrests in
great humber of persons suspected
Of the editorsnip, but no convictions.
1t seemed that almost everybody who
could possibly have been guilty was
arrested at one time or another
everybody except Jourdain. One man
was held by the Germans to have
been proved sufficiently guilty to
warrant a one-year sentence, but
Pelgians in the secret say he was
innocent
The baffled German police were
kept busy running down clues. Given
the tip that the printing plant would
be found at such-and-Such a street,
they would rush thither, only to find
vacant lot or an empty house. Told
that a ma of certain name was
the actual editor. they would comb
Brussels for him, learning eventually
he was not in the city and never had
been.
While the police hunted, Victor
Jourdain prepared copy. He pointed
out intentional errors In the German
official communique. he gave the
Belgian people the latest news OF
the Belgian army and the allied
armies, he ridiculed and lampooned
the German officials. and generally
kept alive the peoples faith in bet
ter day to come.
a few times obscure printing shops
In this city set up and printed the
little four-page paper. For the most
part, however. the work was done
in shops elsewhere. Jourdain would
appear by night at the home of some
small town or city printer. always
selecting one for the moment free of
German troops. Next morning he
would depart in his automobile with
the entire issue concealed in the car.
Distribution would begin as far as
possible from the place where the
printing was done.
In spite Of the difficulties of publ.
cation, La Libre Belgique was nearly
always neat and attractive typograph-
ically. Sometimes, when the serv-
ices OF complete printing plant
were obtainable, the first page would
be bordered IN the national colors.
red, yellow and black Editions, OF
course, were not gularly
irregular" was the papers own state.
ment OF It's publication dates, but
Jourdain managed usually to issue
one each month.
Part compensation for his troubles
was found by the editor in such an
nouncements as these:
Not submitted to any censor"
Telegraph address, Commando
tur, Brussels"
Offices: Not being able to estab-
lish these in fixed place, they are
installed in an automobile cellar"
Advertisements: Business being
nil under the German domination,
We have suppressed the page OF ad-
yertfsing, and advise our readers to
keep their money for brighter days"
Price per copy: Elastic, from zero
to the infinite. Please do not exceed
this limit"
A typical article from La Libre
Beigique, printed on the third ami
versary Of the war, follows:
August 4, 1914, Dame Germany
started off to war. The plan is SIM
pie: Belgium does not count. Paris
taken in six weeks Russia crushed
| before winter. England remaining
alone, too small thing not to IN
derstand that nothing is left but to
negotiate.
We made the house of cards
crunble. We, After they decided
to take Calais, pass into England
cts, there was the User, Still Us,
"Zeppelins were to destroy London.
London suffered little. the reputation
of the Zeppelins suffered much.
Meantime they tried to finish Rus
STA, by military means first; the
coup failed; by diplomatic means
then; the Russian people put a stop
to that. They plotted in the Bal
kans. taey bled themselves white at
Verdun. All was useless. And all
this time the people of Germsny