WAR HUMOUR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 264, 27 July 1918, Page 8

WAR HUMOUR

| , LEVITY WITH A GRAIN'OF TRUTH (By "Wi.") ( In tho ups and downs of our world war let us bo thankful for the Bairnslathers, the lan Hays, and the Spud 1 .iniions of tins fretful generation for losing ft smile to brighten our moments ot glooni. I am, at any rate. TholatCht object of my gratitude is the American Press, which seasons its levity with a grain of truth, and garnishes it with quaint philosophy. It was the New lork livening Post," quito a sober journal, that summed up the political contretemps created by the Emperor Uiarles s famous and much-denied letter to Arincc Sixlus on the subject of peace ijegotiahons with the following suggestion for a chapter in Austrian history: Sixtus • Pixt Us. And the same newspaper subsequently suggested that, the Emperor might, in view of the internal situation in his chaotic Empire, be rechristened Charles 1 erha.psburg'! ! The "Erie Dispatch," commenting on the advance in Palestine, optimistically ooserved that "the British will soon fix u. so that «i mail can go from Jerusalem to Jericho without falling among thieves." This is levity, of course, but good levity, with the essential grain of truth.

A touch of gentle sarcasm,is added by the .Philadelphia "North American" oil the same subject when it says: "Tho fact that British bulldog tenacity won Jerusalem after 700 yearu makes ■ Germany's peace feelers seem a trifle premature."

As might be expected, the Bolshevik regime in Russia was a win for tae American humorists. The New York Morning Telegraph," apropos of the Brest-Litovsk T;eaty, Temarked: "So far as treaties are concerned, ono signod by Trotsky is just as good as one of tho Kaisers." The same paper, taking note of Siberia's break from the tottering Empire, observed that "Siberia might get good and even for generations of oppression by exiling political prisoners to Petrograd." ■nT'i 0 '.'® os ' :on Herald," analysing tho Bolshevik, came to the conclusion that the original Maximalist was little Oliver Twist." Tho Philadelphia "Innuirer," disgusted at the prolongation of Russia's state of chaos, declared with plaintive levity that "the next time it is announced that Russia has staged a bloodless revolution wo're going to wait for the official report before tendering congratulations."

"The three B's as taught in Tfussja," said tho Aitchison "Globe," "are riot, retreat, and revolt."

The Chicago "Tribune," after a critical inspection of Trotsky's photograph, remarked: "His picture indicates that if Horr Trotsky lind not been called by destiny to be Foreign Minister at Petrograd, he would have done very well on tho road.in flowers and feathers, or cloaks and suits."

Tho war cablegrams of the old trench days, when villages were taken house bv house, piecemeal, enabled the New York "Telegraph"' to publish, with the comment, the following: "Describing tho British capture of Poelcanpelle, the war correspondent cables:—'A" German detachment clung tenaciously to a brewery in the eastern suburbs, and fought until the end.'"

Some time ago a new artillery expression, "drum-fire," Tjeenn to annear in the dispatches from the West, .For a while neople (lid not nniie know what it meant. But the "Xnshvilln Southern Lumberman" miaintlv helped: "As wo understand it. the object of Ihe British 'drumfire' is to make 'the Germans beat it." Speaking of the blundenVf scheming of German diplomacy, the "Kansas O'ty Star" remarked that "despite tlie scarcity of foodstuffs in Germany. Teuton diplomats continue to spill the b».!"is."

When the firsf of the went i"to the firing-line, a cablegram from a German source announced that thre<weeks' furlough was to be wanted to the German soldier who brought in the Yankee prisoner. , The Mason City "Globe Gazette" added: "He will need it." • "Times certainly change," said the "Chicago Herald" on the same sulfject. "A German commander now offers a reward for an American soldier, dead or alive, and only a few months ago yon Bernstorlt was offering 50,000 dollars if we wouldn't send any!" At tho time of the Litxburp diplomatic scandal at Buenos Aires, when Sweden was protesting her innocence in tho matter of conveying secret messages for Germany under cover of her own diplomatic code, the Boston "Transcript" asked, facetiously: "What did Sweden think was being sent to Berlin in her diplomatic code—the baseball scores?" And the Wnll Street "Journal," referring to Sweden's demand for an expedition from Germany, said: "If explanations are' all that Sweden wants from Germany, she has gone to the world's experts." The New York "Evening Sun" suggested that tho Swedish Government should "get ' its grub from the people it saws wood for"! The German Crown Prince, of course, comes in for not a few digs. One paper suggests that ho is another- argument against the cigarette, while'the Washington "Post," moro free with its punch, says: "It is said to be the death penalty in Germany to impersonate an Army officer, but 'so far the Crown Prince has escaped!" Yes, I'm grateful to the American Press. ■