TRUTH OR LIES ?

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2455, 7 May 1915, Page 4

TRUTH OR LIES ?

During the. last, few days the German official communique* lnwe persistently referred to a vietorv of considerable magnitude over" the Russians in Western Galieia, and with equal persistence, have claimed successes in West Flanders out of all consistency with the Allies' ollieial commviiir/vrx. The ollieial ciiminiuii<tiics neither eon linn nor deny Lhe Germans' alleged victory— they simply ignore it, confining Iheir statements to a recital of the results of attacks and counter-at-tacks along the Galieian I'runt and elsewhere. Certainly nothing hus appeared in the .Russian' mmmiiiiir/iirx which could be inferred as bearing upon ''any action, or series of actions, which would involve in * r|f?f«-3t. f be loss of an,ooo nien. «nrl tbii in the lfltot totuj ci,£ gapUu'GS

cjairaed by the Germans. The question is: Arc these German assertions all lies ! And if they are sheer lies, what is the motive for their circulation? Some time ago, Mr. Hilaire Belloc, who has earned a great reputation for tho critical analyses he has devotc'l to various aspects of the war, published an interesting criticism of the belligerents' war r.ommuniijiies, and this is what lie said of the German reports: "These official German communiques are in the main remarkably exact, and I believe it is possible to say'why they are so exact. The German General Staff makes war in a purely mcchauical fashion. Jt gravely exaggerates, as do all modern North Germans, the calculable elemont in human affairs. It is what used to be called 'scientific.' It is obvious that if you get a reputation for exactitude your falsehood, where it pays you to tell the falsehood, will be the more likely to work. The "remarkable general accuracy of the official German commtiniaues cannot be due to any other object. It cannot be due to a mere love of truth, for the same Government deliberately circulates to its own provincial Press and to certain neutrals stories which cannot in the nature of things bo true. Nor is this inaccuracy the result either of haste or of stupidity; it is very intelligent and obviously deliberate. \\ hen, therefore, a German communique tells an untruth, that untruth is deliberate and upon an effective scale, and we have to consider what object it has if we are to understand the news. We may take it that the object is nearly alwavs domestic and political. Remember that these official German falsehoods countersigned by the General Staff and the Government, are as rare as they are solid. They do not slip in. They are not vague or led up to by doubtful phrases. Let me take two of them. Scarborough was officially described as a fortified port, like Sheerness oi Cherbourg. That takes one's breath away. , But monstrous as it is, it is not childish, because it was interfiled to (five the public that rend it at home a certain effect, wliicli was ill fact produced."

Wo arc told in one message to-day that the view held by military experts with regard to the alleged success of the Germans is thai thes3 statements arc made with the deliberate purpose of influencing, Italy in her attitude towards the war. This may bo so. But when we consider that Italy, in common with other nations, must have a more or less effective system of military espionage, the Gernjaus could not possibly hope to profit for any length of time by tho perpetuations of such a staggoring falsehood. There remains the possibility that the object of tho lie—and it looks like a lie—is largely domestic. From that conclusion wc might reasonably deduce an embarrassing attitude of tho public mind in Germany towards" the great General Staff at Berlin for its conduct of tho war. The enemy's resort to poisonous vapours, savouring as it does of the desperate remedy for the desperate disease, points in the same direction.