White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1920-03-28

When the Germans Stopped PublIea-
tion Of the Patriot, Its Editor, Jour.
dain, Began Issuing Wili-o'-the-WIsp
Sheet Which for Four Years Kept
the Teuton OFFICIALS In 4 Constant
State Of Irritation.
With the coming Of liberty to Bel.
GUM. La Libre BelgiQue has departed,
and the Patriot has reappeared.
1t Is now possible to tell that the
most remarkable of wartime newspa-
pers, La Libre Belgique, which success
fully deied German efforts to suppress
1t for four years, was the Patriot. a
long-established Catholic weekly, In dis
guise. Victor Jourdain. aged editor Of
the Patriot, likewise edited the will-o'.
the-wisp sheet which kept German OF.
fcials In q constant state of irritation
during their occupation Of his country
and helped to keep the spirit OF the
Belgian people steadfast.
He died a few weeks ago. just too
soon to see his city Of Brussels nber.
ated.
Suppressed by Germans.
The Patriot was suppressed by Ger.
man order at the outset of the war. A
few weeks later copies of a new pa
per began to fall into the hands Of the
German officials and army officers. It
did not prove popular with the latter.
General Won Kissing, military gov.
ernor, 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 number Of persons suspected
Of the editorship. but no convictions.
It seemed that almost everybody who
could possibly have been guilty was
arrested at one time Or anothsr-ev.
erybody except Jourdaln. One man was
held by the Germans to have been
proved sufficiently guilty to warrant .
one-year sentence. but Belgians In the
secret say he was innocent.
The baffied German police were kept
busy running down false clews. Given
the tip that the printing plant would
be found at such-and-such a street.
they would rush thither, only to find q
vacant lot or an empty house. Told
that q man of a 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 c~ommunique, he gave the Bel
gian people the latest news of the Bel
glan army and the allied armies, he
ridiculed and lampooned the German Of
ficials, and generally kept alive the
\ peoples faith In a better day to come.
A few times obscure printing shops
n the city set up and printed the lit
tie f%our-page paper. For the most part.
however, the work was done in shops
elsewhere. .J%ourdain 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 con-
cealed in the car. Distribution would
begin as far as possible from the place
where the printing was done.
Compensation for Troubles.
Part compensation for his troubles
was found by the editor in such an
nouncements at these:
"Not submitted to any censor"
Telegraph address, Commandatur,
Brussels"
"Ofices: Not being able to estab-
Iish these I'm a fixed place, they are
installed In an automobile cellar"
Advertisements Business being nil
under the German domination. We
have suppressed the page of advertis-
ing, and advise our readers to keep
their none for brighter days"
"price per copy: Elastic, from zere
to the infinite. Please do not exceed
this limit"
A typical article from La Llbre Bel
gique, printed on the third annivers
sary Of the war, follows:
"Aug. 4, 1914, Dame Germany start
ed off to war. The plan Is simple:
Belgium does not count. Paris taken
| in six weeks. Russia crushed before
winter. England remaining alone. too
small q thing not to understand that
| nothing Is left but to negotiate.
"We made the house Of cards crum-
blei We! After they decided to take
Calais, pass into England, etc, there
vas the User! Still usl
"Zeppelins were to destroy London.
London suffered little. the reputation
| of the Zeppelins suffered much. Mean
time they tried to finish Russia. by
military means first the coup failed;
by diplomatic means then; the Rus
sian people put a stop to that. They
| plotted In the Balkans, they bled
themselves white at verdun. All was
useless. And all this time the people
Of Germany were suffering enormous
~. The new chancellor began to real
ixe II. Then they made their last