THIN WAR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 16 October 1911, Page 6

THIN WAR.

BUT VERY THICK MOONSHINE. ! WAR NEWS WE GET. AND FACTS WE XEVEIt HEAR. (Bv Gvno.^ Conceive Home talking to the licet' just before this perished war was launched "(I, Admiral tliacomo," taid Rome, "lake the naves du bal.t.iglia to sea from Spezzia and do il swil'ta." And you, good Marco l'olo, plca.v; push yourself out of Sertri I'onente, a prora, with tho incrociat'ores corazzali. And never ask why. What? your bunkers, your carbonili, not full? Well (ill theui and go at once! Mount your ponto di commando and get. In fact scoot! And you, Lieutenant Beppo, pleaso quit Gasteilamare with tho torptdiniore. Short of equipaggio? Well, all Governments are always short of equipaggio, but you battle out into the Mediterranean all the same. Alia salute eampania, and all hands assemble south of Syracuse. What spot? Wait till you get there, and then open your orders." It may, or it may not, require the assistance of two languages to mako Truth rumble impressively along the inky way, but Truth works so disastrous a passage on that ghastly pavement that any expedient is iu order. The Italian fleet, almost assuredly, put to sea from various ports under secret orders, assembled at sea. and began the war. If one had hunted on board tho evilsmelling Italian war steamers you would not have found ono war correspondent out of all rieet Street, London, with them. Then, how do wo get tho news? "Never mind," says London, quite cheerfully, "never mind how wo do it, we do it." And so, without budging an inch from London (hey checrfully and easily givo us this:— Rome, October 3, Messages from the Adriatic souadron emphasise the Dulse of Abruzzi's tireless activity, which has given the impression that he does not sleep or rest. Ilia orders tall like hail day aiul night, and his flagship, the armoured crui.scr Vettor I'isani, seems nossessed of the gift of übiquity. Coming from a fleet which, obviously, assembled secrctly at sea, and which cannot have a single reporter with it, this is not bad. But, if there is such a thing as the commonweal, should it be permitled to stand, or should it not rather be knocked down at sight? Let lis be considerate Ijefore we tako up the club. No doubt tho London news agencies—of which the Ilarmswortli publications aro among the chiefest—wero a littlo staggered at the surreptitious way in which tho Italian ships slole out to sea, and began the war without their knowledge, and, no doubt, they said to one another: "Ah, well! It's bail luck for us, but tho poor old public must liavo something to go on with." And they got it. They got tho Rome messago ut supra, ilated October 3. But, having foisted such a palpable piece of moonshine on a public which had never done them any harm, wh.v should they follow it up with more? Chiefly because one thing leads to another—one thing usually doks lead to another. So, in due course, wo got this— still from tho same scribeless and totally unreported fleet:— Rome, October 5. The Italians allowed considerable intervals between the shots, and the bombardment resembled a shootint; competition. tho officers and men betting on the results of particular shots. One gunner, ordered to dismantle a ba.ttcry, was heard to say: "I bet yon 1 will knock the left turret first p.hot." When t'.ie smoke clcared the turret had gone. The gunner said: "Now for the right." Thi-s also disa ppearcd. One wonders what tlio public will really swallow next. I have often thought that, as far as war is concerned, people will swallow anything, and the bigger tho falsehood with which the hook of interest is baited, the more readily is the dreadful morsel gulped down. From a Fleet Street point of view, the two messages given aro probably the most "successful" which have yet appeared. Wo shall get moro liko liiem. O, poor, poor public! How littlo you realise that, in relation to war, you aro entirely in tho hands of the great news agencies in London, and all your mental and national attitude to that tragic I ultimate is shaped by them—them and the cino. men, who never, by any chance, screen anything about war approaching it more nearly than tho "Royal Divorce" approaches history. And that is about as divergent from the real story of Josephine and Napoleon as Cook Strait on a storm day is from a J-inel> jet in a garden of lilies. But the positive moonshine of the great centro, London, where the world's news is fociissed, is a small thing contrasted with the intensity of its negative darkness. The year 1901 probably saw tho greatest suppression which has evt-r nappened in London journalism. In May of that year Ivuroki's army forced a passago of the Yalu River on approved German lines. Other forces—and very mighty ones—wero landed at points along tho Liau-tung peninsula in support, and everything promised a great forward movement. Indeed, it is a cardinal rule in major strategy that an army, once committed to the offensive, must keep tho offensive, and so one naturally looked for it. But it was slow in coming. Iu fact, the forward movement, which had begun in May, 1901, did not really take shape until September of that year, ulien the batle of Liao-Yan" came on. " What had happened? A great and greatly-suppressed catastrophe. Five out of tho six Japanese battleships had been struck by under-water explosion. Two had been sunk, and, of those which floatcd, two were hardly fit to keep at sea. Naturally the Japanese land commanders foresaw trouble, and halted the armies. About August, 1901, however, all were ready to move fonvard again, but tho Battle of Round Island came on nnexpect- | cdly at sea. In this encounter the Japanese fln.gship was struck accidentally by one of her own torpedocrs. and left the line very much down by tho stern, it was only bv tho greatest effort that she was kept afloat at all. Not a word of these things were reported from London. And, again, why? Because Japan had eventually to taper off the war for want of money. She had a loan in prospect in June, and other loans later. If this catastrophe—together with tho probable sailing of the Baltic fleet had been made public in one dramatic message—how much credit could Japan have got on tho world's exchange?- Not 2d. worth. So, putting it all together, well—what think yc?