WRITTEN TO ORDER

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 130, 4 June 1919, Page 7

WRITTEN TO ORDER

GERMANY'S WAR NEWS

THE CENSORSHIP SYSTEM

DR. MUEHLON'S EXPOSURE,

Revelations of the "stupidity and cunning" of German newspaper censorship which for more than four years obsessed 70,000,000 people with the hope of an impossible victory, hid from them the news of Prussian defeat- and at Ja_t con-' tributod to the downfall of of the structure of pretence it had raised, were brought in Berlin in a remarkable pamphlet said to havo inspired by Dr. Wiihelm Muehlon, formerly director of the Krupp works, whoao exposure of Germany in 1918 im the real instigator of tho war sent him into voluntary exilo into Switzerland. Tho pamphlet, entitled "U<y* Ws Were Lied To," in published oslwnr.iMy under tho name of Kurt 'ifostem, a former Austro-Gcnnati war eaftbupoml cut. It i« filled with ifi-Uncs* vi Military duplicity, allowing th< ; ,;fU,ria lh?,l. were made to conceal from the Ow/jJiUt people everything of a dincouragi-g future that had to do with tho v;;>r. Newspaper editors, accurdirij.' to the document, were forbidden under dire penalties to discuss any r.ubject relating to tho war without the approval of huu- ■ dreds of Government censors operating ! through twenty-one newspaper bureaus and various branches of the Government. ; The Lusitania sinking and the (submarine controversy with the United Statewas so skilfully manoeuvred in the pre«! that for many months the people were led to believe that the negotiations were taking "a course very favourable to us." Only such news was published as the militarists thought would favourably affect public opinion, and to carry out this purpose, the pamphlet points out, all kinds of falsities wero employed. Mr. Lansing, .United States Secretary of State, for instance, was reported as being ill and on the verge of leaving office. A hopeless breach was also said to. have arisen between the,. American Secretary of State and the President. These items, appearing in all the German papers, and bearing the apparent sanction of the authorities, were readily believed by the populace. " . MARNE DEFEAT HIDDEN. Dr. Muehlon, who, in his earlier revelations accused the then Emperor William of having issued the order "Take no more prisoners," points out the astonishing fact that not once in all of the German war reports can ba found any admission that the first battle of the Marne was a German defeat. The only thing ' that the German high command was able to report about that terrible reverse wa6 disguised in the words? '"In the western theatre of the war the operations, details of which cannot yet be published, have led to a new battle, which is developing favourably. Reports spread by the enemy unfavourable to us are false." The former head of the great munition plant at_ Essen, who possessed complete information as to the operation- of the military authorities, declared that there was hardly a day during all the long war when the editorial offices of the German daily press were not "honoured" by the receipt of confidential communications, orders and prohibitions from the censorship authorities, calculated to limit free expression of opinion on the most vital questions, and ultimately to throttle it. TRUTH WAS TABOO. , The Germans, for instance, were never to be charged with conducting a "ruthless" U-boat war, but rather an "unlimited" or "boundless" war. Descriptions of devastation in France and Belgium were.: forbidden, and all references to barbarism and wanton destruction were taboo, with the significant expression: "The army .knows when to use force and when to be mild." Details of the closing down of factories, coal and food shortages, poor crops,, and the employment of prisoners of war in mines and munition plants were suppressed, as were also reports of street disorders, unrest, and strikes. , Referring to the time when hundreds were dying daily in Turkey from starvation and the collapse of the Ottoman Army seemed imminent, and when,. Germany was sending vast quantities of food and munitions and heavy reinforcements of troops to the Near East, Dr. Muehlon recalls the fact that in those dark days "the German people were fed .upon roseate accounts of conditions in Turkey; that the Sultan's army was ' strong land sufficient,' and the Turks were a ' valuable ally.'" " With the enormous masses ■of troops that we had to send to Turkey," continues .the pamphlet, "ft was pretty strong to suggest to the press that the Turkish army.reserve was adequate. It was b, deliberate altering of the facts." PEOPLE IN THE DARK. It must be "understood, writes Dr. Muehlon's collaborator, that all the censorship regulations under which the newspapers were operating were unknown to the people. The distortion of facts: was thus made easy for every editor. He was encouraged to do that, notwithstanding that the Allies were sinking German submarines as fast as • they could be built. " The number of new German U-boats is four times greater than the losses. Our submersible fleet,has grown extarordinavily during the war. The press is to picture submarine warfare as a means of shortening the struggle and not as a measure of retaliation or a weapon to starve our foes." After months of deception and trying to convince tho people that America would never enter the war, asserts the Krupp. director, when President Wilson sent his ultimatum, the German press very readily executed an "about face," and endeavoured to minimise .the United States as a possible adversary. Quoting from the pamphlet: "The entry of America would mean littlo from a naval standpoint. Looked at from all angles, it would be possible for her to use only a few torpedo boat destroyers and a few small, slow cruisers which might, perhaps, be used as convoys. The United States has built no armoured cruisers, which aro decisive in maritime warfare. For the transport of an army corps of 30,000 men,. 75 steamships of 4000 tons each are necessary. For the transport of 100,000 soldiers'with,nothing but their marching equipment 400,000 tons would be necessary for the double trip." Even after the United States had landed more than 1,500,000 men in France, Dr. Muehlon declares, the German papers continued the campaign of falsity and delusion. The censors permitted such statements as " tho damage to German ships lying in American harbours "lias been carried out to our satisfaction. For example, the, giant steamship Vaterlaiid has been made wholly unusable. Even the sketches of the turbine construction have been destroyed." A STUDY OF AMERICA. An interesting sidelight on the psychological view the average German was permitted of the American situation is shown in the following summarization by Dr. Muehlon : "At the beginning of the war America was inimical to Germany. 'But this situation was improved. After the Lusitania things got worse again, Then on improvement sot in because America had such cause for com-

plaint against England. At the time of the breach of diplomatic relations the impression prevailed that the people did not want war with Germany. "Wilson has a .more strongly autocratic position than any European ruler. Since he is English in Ins upbringing, he knows little or nothing about German things and has no use - for Germans. Undoubtedly he has been against us. from the outset, Often, however, he" has had to guard the interests of American high finances. Wilson himself has an unbribable character. He. did not labour to bring about war with Germany, since there does not exist a- positive desire for war. "The impression in America is general that his peace intentions were serious and honourable. He wanted to become the peace president, but the breach of relations was, necessary for him for the maintenance of American prestige...'ln tho war between America and Germany the financial support of the- Entente by America will be very great. In a warlike way, ■ however, the Americans can never become dangerous for us either on land or on water. "Lansing is an outspoken German hater. Ho is the great friend of .England, and always was for participation in the war for America.. His voice can wr/cr mean much for us. Negotiations -/.IK America are no longer possible, for v,t,. ft wanted the war, and that is its AffaJr." 'i'h'j mcßmeric spell which had been «;wfc Mp-n the people as a result of readins; Au'ly "an unbroken chain of vie- • t/>,io-?, announcement-," Dr. Muehlon f_rt'nt- out, was dissipated when Foreign ! Hewet'iry yon Kuhlw.ann declared pub- ! ii-iy that the war could not be won I "militarily." It cost yon Kuhlmann his ; )i.-it, but it awakened the German people j to the fact that they were on the precij pic. of national disaster. ' Thereafter the censors permit less optimistic and bombastic news reports. The loss of the war was charged by the former Krupp expert to two grave mistakes by yon Ludendorff, described as the "brains of the German army," in his failure correctly to estimate the wonderful possibilities of the American troop transport, and his false assumption that Marshal Foch's reserve army had ceased 'to exist in June, 1918. Ludendorff, he said, gambled with the existence of Germany. He was like a jockey in a long race, wjio forced his horse far ahead of the rest of the field, and who, toward the end, when the others began to gain with their, carefully-reserved strength, used "whip and spurs" in a desperate effort to win, virtually killed his mount, and yet lost after all."