Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-06-09

Cney SAID IL fepeaIeu tle N1oiloe ooetIilie anu
made it possible that this country might be
dragged into war in Europe without the approval
and consent Of its people. The president said it
had not such meaning, but when he got it
amended so as to specifically recognize the
validity of the Monroe doctrine, and to
specifically provide that no nation could be COM
PEELED to 60 to war without it's own consent, the
critics howled louder than ever and said it was
ten times worse than it was before it was
amended to meet their insincere objections
GETTING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR
The department of war has felt obliged to
issue some official reports of the losses sus-
tained, the advances made and the official record
of the various divisions engaged in the war at
France to settle controversies and establish facts
The special correspondents Of various large
papers published in the big cities very naturally
sought to glorify the particular divisions raised
in their home cities, and no particular harm
came from that except that they frequently
attributed honors to them that belonged to some
other division and SO left soreness with those
robbed of their just deserts. The Seventy
seventh division raised mostly in New York city
and vicinity got more credit than was justly its
ASeIA
Justly due it at that, being of our best fight
ing divisions The official record shows that it
made more miles of advance than any other regl-
ment, IT'S kilometers. On the other hand It's
casualties were hardly half as great as those
suffered by the Second (regular) division. 1t
we are to Judge the amount and severity Of the
fighting by the casualties suffered the Second
(regulars) came first with 25,076. The First
(regulars) came next with 23345. The Third
(regulars) next with 1854. The Twenty eighth
had 1921. The Forty-second had 16,OO5. The
Twenty-sixth had 15,168. The Fourth had
14,183. The Thirty y-second had 1884. The
seventy-seventh (Rainbow) had 1885. The
TWenty-seventh North Carolina which first
broke through the Hindenburg line) had 11,218.
The Thirtieth (Which also broke the Hindenburg
line little later) had II 031. The newspapers
generally gave the Thirtieth the credit for break
ing the Hindenburg line, but the official records
make it clear that the Twenty-seventh was the
first to get clear through and come out on the
other side There is plenty of glory for all of
them, but the publication of the official state
ments show that generally speaking the regulars
did the hardest fighting and suffered most.
We are also beginning to get some corrections
of widely circulated statements which reflected
on the German fighting spirit. The Springfield
Republican says in this connection
.'Picturesque legends are apt to be the hardest
of errors to kill, and perhaps a rule their sur
vival does least harm. 1t does not matter greatly
who said Lafayette, we are here, or what Gen.
Bundy said about retreating, or what invitation
Major Whttlesey extended to the Germans in
the Argonne. Historians may vince when one
of the old fictions crops up, but what real harm
is done? 1t must be admitted, however, that as
a result of the censorship some rather wild ver
sions Of the exploits of the American expedi-
tionary force had wide currency last year, and
vigorous educational work may be needed to
correct false impressions.
"Some Of the American correspondents with
the army are now doing their best to run down
and destroy these imaginative stories, and one
of them also undertakes to correct stories about
the Germans. There is, for example, the yarn,
which had wide currency, about captured Amerl-
cans being carried about in iron cages and ex-
hibited like lions or monkeys. This appears to
be misapprehension of remark about the So
called cages or Enclosures in which in all armies
prisoners are rounded up. Two other yarns
which have to be discarded are the German
machine gunner chained to his gun, and the Ger
man woman aviator. Both have been officially
investigated and "napoo"-theres nothing to
them The case is that the Germans used chains
in carrying the machine guns. It is now pretty
generally recognized admits this correspondent
that German atrocity stories as rule were
magnfied by the time they were published in
the states.
"Atrocity stories are among the things which
after every war need to be carefully investigated
Some of them may be deliberately invented for
a purpose, but in the atmosphere OF war they