PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 131, 20 February 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Owing to indisposition Me. Lloyd George was unable to make his promised statement in Parliament on what is referred to in the dispatches to-day as "the .Robertson mystery,' , and Mr. Bonar Law had to parry some pointed questions in the House. Sir William B.obertson, it is now stated, bas been offered and has accepted tho Eastern Homo Command. What that implies may be deduced from the satirical question that followed MR. Bonar Law's announcement. "Why not tho Boy Scouts V asked Mr. Hogge. Tho announcement only serves to deepen the mystery. British newspaper comment to-day indicates in certain quarters a definite secession of support from Mr. Lloyd GeojiOK, but whatever may be tho extent of his offending in the matter of Sir William Robertson, it is clear that his position as sponsor for the- Supreme War Council at Versailles—endorsed by our Allies—is unassailable. Tho remaining issue is whether, in the inevitable readjustment of authority necessitated by tho creation of the Council, he could have disposed of Sir William Kobektson to better advantage to the nation and tho course of the war. The oonflict between the late Chief of the General Staff the Prime Minister has evidently been a much more uncompromising affair than at first appeared, and the manifest interest and impatience of the House of Commons to learn the facts—or as much oi them as may be advisablo at present—is easily understandable. * * * ♦ A COMPARATIVE lull along the Western front has followed the recent brilliant coup by tho French in the Champagne region. To-day's French communique, however, indicates a revival of activity on t'ue Verdun front, where a violent artillery bombardment is in progress. A German attempt to recover tho lost positions in the Champagne was repulsed. Beyond those events uothing of material importance has occurred.

The Sinn Fein clement in Ireland has broken a comparatively long silence by an outrage that recalls the worst excesses of the dynamitards of Fenian clays. A large party of Sinn Feiners armed with gelignite bombs attacked a police barracks in Cork, and one bomb, which was thrown into a police sergeant's bedroom, exploded with terrifk force. Another party raided an aerodrome and at the revolver's point stole all the papers and plans. Whatever may be the hope in the work of the Home Rule Convention for future- peaoo in Ireland, the

fact remains that while tho representative intellects of the various parties are peaceably deliberating in the interests of tho country at tho round table, an insurrectionary legion is openly defying authority and doing its best to create a condition of anarchy at a timo when strong measures h,y the Government might conceivably prejudice tho harmony of the Convention. This state of affairs is a needless and irritating distraction to the concentration of the public mind upon tho war. It is a relief to turn from the contemplation of these senseless outrages by the Sinn Fcincrs to an admirable demonstration of loyalty by tho Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago. This, the largest Irish organisation in that city, addresses to Mr. John Redmond, the Irish Nationalist leader, the following commendable declaration:

Any Irishman who at this timo tries to embarrass .the conduct of the war by any of the European Powers is trying to embarrass America. AVo must tell our Irish brethren at home that they cannot look to America, or Irish-America for any sympathy in any such policy. There is not ii single honest and genuine JrishAiucriciin who does not stand behind tho President and the policy u( the American Government. Loyal ns we have been to the cause of Irish liberty, we must toll the Irish that wo will not, unci cannot, retain sympathy for an Ireland that makes war on our beloved country and her sons.

The declaration, it is stated, will bo submitted to all tho Irish organisations throughout America, and it is understood that it will be ultimately forwarded to Ireland as a concrete expression of support in_ the war by people of Irish descent in America.

The last exposure of Germany's methods in her "war hehind the lines" is contained in a confidential circular which was issued by the German Gcnocal Staff in November of 1914. The following extract speaks for itself: ■Special accounts for needs will be opened in all branches of Hie German bunks iu Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, China, and tho United States'. .Wo authorise you to use these accounts to an unlimited extent . . . destroy factories, military stores . . . food supplies belonging to our enemies . . , stir up strikes . . . destroy ships carrying war materials . . . burn warehouses. . . . , Special agents will bring you a. list of persons willing to undertake the destruction and sabotage. Subsequent events in many parts of the world have demonstrated the extent to which these "special accounts for war needs" have been drawn upon. A recent instance: Tho Arson Bureau of tho Board of Fire Underwriters of the Pacific (in San Francisco) unearthed a gigantic plot to destroy industrial plants and crops on the American Pacific coast. The Germans worked through the members of the I.W.W. organisation, "and already," states a San Francisco contemporary, "niciny incendiary fires have taken place. According to the report of the Arson Board's investigations, every lumber mill on the coast was marked for destruction. Tho plant of tho Bed llivcr Lumber Company at Wostwood, Lassen County, was the first selected, and the incendiary fire of September 17 last destroyed 45,000,000 feet of timber, but the plant, wab uninjured. This the largest lumber mill in the United States was filling Government contracts at tlus time. By March 1 of this year, it is stated, the Pacific coast will be without one lumber mill if the plan is executed according to programme.

Rather late in the day, the British Government has decided to carry the enemy's propaganda war into his own territory, and has appointed Lord Northclifi'K to direct the operations. The Germans owe a largo proportion of their success so iar to their sedulous cultivation of the psychological side of war-making. They have recognised the value of the printed word in its effect upon human imagination, and although they have in their characteristic fashion acted upon (heir conclusions in various most unscrupulous ways, they may fairly claim that these have produced results which in some cases have been equivalent to important military (successes. At all events they have prepared the ground by removing obstacles in the way of securing a strategical advantage. A notable case in point was tho collapse of tho Italian line in the Carso at a sector where a breach immediately widened led to the disastrous rotreat to the Piave line. Tho initial success was achieved by a propagandist trick so scurvy and yet effective that it destroyed the morale of. tho Italian soldiers on that part of the line, and—they withdrew from their positions without fighting. Tho trick was this: Forged copies of Italian newspapers, secretly distributed amongst the soldiers, conveyed tho amazing intelligence that British troops were pillaging and destroying the Italian countryside! Cases in point might bo multiplied, but ,tbe foregoing illustrations will serve.

The British have never adequately realised the enormous importance of exploiting tho immense influence of the newspapers, of tho printed word upon tho public mind. It is an ago of newspapers. Realising this the Germans have spent millions on the purchase of ne-wspapers, launching new publications, or socuring a controlling influence in well-established'and influential journals, all for the purpose of exerting upon tho minds of tho public impressions calculated to servo the German cause. As for pamphlets, their namo'is legion. It may be safely assumed that Lord Noktkcliffe's appointment has to do with a specific object—not the circulation of'lies, or the emulation of the scurvy tactics of the Germans, but the propagation of the naked truth in neutral and enemy countries. The Gorman' public has been living in an atmosphere of mendacity for much longer than the war has lasted. They have literally been papfed for years on prepared .statements in their newspapers. The German people, says President Wilson, will cease lighting as soon as they niiiliso tho truth, as suon as they realise that their only hope of salvation is by a democratic reincarnation. Lord Northcliffe is perhaps the most successful newspaper propagandist in England. * *. * #

Various localised campaigns are now beginning to take definite shape in Russia. Simultaneously with the termination of the armistice between the Bolsheviki and the Germans, the latter have initiated an offensive in the Baltic provinces of Livonia and Esthonia, which means a moyo in the direction of Petrograd, which is in tho adjoining province or Government. The war in Finland is apparently going badly for tho Red Guards, who are being reinforced. The White Guards—the Finns—who are well supplied with artillery, are presumably being assisted by German advisers. In South Russia General Alexieff is developing his operations in tho Don Coseack re-

gion, while the Boisheviki are also opposed in the same region to tlio Church forces. The- Church has every cause, owing to the anti-religious attitude of the Bolshevik authorities, to dnsirq the extirpation of the red clement in the Devolution. The Bolshevik Government apparently will soon have its hands full.