CHINESE ATROCITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 19533, 14 April 1927, Page 3

CHINESE ATROCITIES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Having read with some wonder and no little amusement the five effusions in which I am attacked, I return undaunted to the fray. I am wondering that the legends aforementioned still live, and am amused at the blundering attempt of £ome of the attackers to draw the discussion off the lines upon which it began. To begin with, Mr F. A. Nelson opens by calling my letters “ contemptible.” That letter contained n question to yourself, sir, wherein I wished to be assured that tbe sources of your news of this present crisis in China are more to be relied upon th?n those which you, in common with other editors, drew upon during 1914-18. I was and am engaged in a search for truth. On the answer to ray question hangs the acceptance or otherwise of the news. Surely it is not too much to expect that answer. Mr Gordon Catto informs me that his wife was a nurse in the Ramsgate General Hospital, where she «aw women from Belgium with their breasts off and children whoso bands bad been hacked off from the wrists, tho victims of Hun rapacity and fiendishnoss. This is strange information, to say the least of it, in view of what one reads in the Bryce report, which, by the way, is entitled * Alleged Atrocities of the Germans in Belgium.’ and is printed by tho Government Printers, hi that report not a single instance is recorded of such injuries being treated in any English hospital. _ Furthermore, two at least of tho English newspapers offered sums of money for tho production of Belgian children so mutilated. These newspapers were unsuccessful in their quest. It is strange, notwithstanding what the pseudo-Chinaman writes, that no_ illustrated newspaper in Great Britain gave us any of these photographs his friend saw The gazettes of the “movies” showed nothing in this line. And now 1 wish to draw attention to what P. 11. Hayward, D.Lit., R.Sc., and B. N. Langdon Davies, 31. A., say in their book, ‘ Democracy and the Press ’ (page 14), in which they, criticising the censor who officiated during 1914-18, ask the question: “If the censor sought truth why did he permit, if not-Encourage, the accounts of such atrocities as the cutting off of children’s hands, the corpse factory, the murder of the Doy Scout in Alsace, the Bolshevist intrigue with the Gormans, the ‘ nationalisation ’ of women in Russia, and a thousand others? It is quite clear that in the censor we had an official controller definitely warping the public judgment, and illustrating democratic government impossible.” In face of all this and much more, including the late Lord Northcliffe’s admission that, the “ legends wero excellent propaganda,” can . 3lr Gordon Catto not see mo faced with a real difficulty in putting any great truth in newspaper reports? Of course, I am advised by newspaper men to read between the lines, and not to forget tho salt box. But I must now hurry on and satisfy “ Pro Patria ” by informing him that T did not close my shop dueing the unveiling of the monument, holding as I do that the money spent on its building would have been far better and humanely spent in the erecting of twelve five-roomed concrete houses for the use of those crippled and incapacitated soldiers, many of whom are finding it difficult pay rent. And now in response to “ Fiat,” I answer that I am loyal only to the truth in so far as I am able to recognise it. I believe that the great factors for preserving peace lie in a proper satisfaction to begin with of those _ basic material needs of the workers in respect to food, clothing, and shelter, and after theso the satisfaction of the aesthetic and spiritual needs. I hold that the most important part of the

Empire, as it is of the whole civilised world, lies in the combined effort of the workers. The whole superstructure of society rests on and is supported by their labor. In regard to the reception of visitors, Royal or otherwise, I trust that I may always bo found courteous andjkind, without being prodigal in expenditure. lam Scotch.—l am, etc., -April 14. John Gilchiust.