The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 16, 1919 Page: 3 of 4
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
BERNHARD SHAW'S CUTTING THRUSTS
df\
* *W
R
ion and exemption from poverty.
No one can be as bad in a regi-
ment as he can be in a slum, for
bayonet fighting uses up the super-
fluous energy and irritability that
might vent itself at home in savage
assaults.
But if criminals behave better as
soldiers than as civilians, honest
men, unfortunately, often behave
much worse.
Many honest men serving in this
war are not highly civilized men.
They are men who have formed
part of lynching mobs.
How would such people come
out of an impartial investigation of
atrocities?
Both for Starvation.
As to sentimentalities about
women and children, of which the
English and German are so full,
how, with any countenance, can
they be put forward by the states-
men of two powers which have
openly set themselves to the task
of starving one another out?
This starving out is the most di-
rect form of war on women and
children; for the soldier must be
fed at all hazards; he is the last to
starve, while the women and chil-
dren are the first.
I hope I am not an exceptionally
ferocious person, but I had rather
torpedo a baby or drown it than
starve it to death. Officially it has
been claimed in parliament that for
every bomb dropped by German
airplanes on our towns 100 have
been dropped by allied airplanes.
From our own experience we can
guess theTesult.
The German raider aims, pre-
sumably, at Woolwich Arsenal and
wrecks a house in Maida Vale. His
best shots, aimed apparently at the
house of parliament, strike the
Little Theater and chip Cleopatra's
Needle.
Our airmen. I judge, have no bet-
ter means of selecting the spots
where our bombs drop. This mean's
that in raining hundreds of bombs,
as we have, on the Rhine towns, we
must have killed many more
women and children than the Ger-
mans. In the case of Bruges, sev-
eral of the victims must have been
our own allies.
The truth is this war has literally
exploded the notion that civilians
or women and children can hope to
escape from the undiscriminating
engines of death and destruction
which have come into use.
The use of starvation as a
means of defeating the enemy in-
volves warfare on ships as such
without regard to their living
freight. Under its principles any
vessel capable of carrying provi-
sions to the enemy must go down,
no matter who is on board.
It is idle to plead that the ship
of cruelty to children to deal with carries no food, no'ammunition, no
F.nglish men and English women1 soldiers, or that it i£ a hospital
who treat their own children not ship or a passenger ship. If it is
simply like Huns devasting their spared it may carry food on its
enemies, as Joshua devastated the: riext trip, so down it goes.
tribes of the Promised Land, but Blockades Are Alike.
like incarnate fiends let loose on
their own flesh and blood. i Tht-' question whether the Lein-
A cynic might say that one man ! -,er had troops on board is viewed
in every hundred is a rascal. Thi^ :n l^is light, of no importance. It
would give us a figure of 60,0001 ~he had, all the better .rom the
rascals in the British army alone.' 'merman point of \iew and al! the
An optimist puts it as low as one worse from ours, hut the real rea-^
hundred in a thousand; but even on f°r sinking her was that she j
this would give us 6,000 rascals. , was capable of carrying food to i
We must, therefore, make the England.
Germans an allowance of at least ( And whilst we kept up the block-1
10,000 rascals, including several; ade against Germany and through'
hundred quite infernal scoundrels, -very means m^our Pr'^'eJ^ .
before we dare assume that we1 every channe
BERNARD SHAW.
LONDON—It is only to be ex-
pected that the innocent civilian
who understands little of peace and
less of war should continually cry
out against the operations of war
as crimes demanding punishment.
And as it is necessary that those
who write at first hand about the
war should dwell on the worst fea-
tures and incidents of the war as
carried on by the enemy, whilst
passing lightly over everything
harsh and shocking in our own pro-
ceedings, the innocent civilian is
led to imagine his own country
must needs come spotless out of
any subsequent judicial investiga-
tion, whilst the enemy must emerge
covered with infamy, with many of
his officers marked out for condign
punishment.
First, in order to head the indig-
nant citizen off a hopelessly wrong
track, it must be understood that
the objection to bringing offenders
to account is not in the least that
their crimes are exaggerated or
were not committed.
When we say that an English-
man is incapable of cruelty, treach-
erv, rapine, theft and murder we
are speaking of the respectable
Englishman. We know quite well
that we have kept prisons and gal-
lows to deal with desreputable Eng-
lishmen amply capable of all these
crimes.
We know, too, that the very
judge who sentences these dis-
reputables, as in the case of Jef-
fries, is sometimes a more cruel
sd6undrel than the people he sends
to the stake.
We know that we have had to
set up a society for the prevention
British should come out of any
searching and impartial investiga-
f'ni fnv more creditably than they
should.
It must not be forgotten
'hough apparently it often is—
that an investigation into war
stroci
C.e r
We rr
.
turning
. -
Europe
than in
armies
cirline
by which Germany
ould obtain food for her starving ■
population we had no moral right1
to complain if she used every!
means in hers.
As a matter of fact soldiers and
real statesmen do not complain:
they at least do not imagine that
any impartial tribunal could nake
] a moral or legal distinction bc-
I twecn blockade bv submarine and
Relapse After War. blockade by grand fleet war is no'
lust, however, beware of as j a crime.
that the criminal classes of , It is silly to kwp on abusive].
dto more mischief in war flinging that epithet at it Xar
peace. On the contrary ought to hi made a crime no
live under conditions of dis doubt But it has not been ins^e
comradeship, public opin-jonc On tht.' contrarv it has been
could not be confined to i
atrocities.
glorified for centuries as the
noblest of human activities, and
not one of the belligerents has ever
yet renounced the right to make it.
The kaiser's mailed fist and shin-
ing armor were perfectly in order.
Had he been victorious he would
no doubt have taken a place of
honor in history beside Alexander
the Great.
The very Englishmen who now
clamor for his punishment as a
criminal have not yet proposed
that he shall be punished more
severely or contemptuously than
they are themselves now punishing
their own countrymen who have
ventured to express and act on a
conscientious objection to the war.
Take our own conquests away
and what remains of the British
empire?
The outcry against the crime of
Germany might have some mean-
ing if it came from a community
of Quakers. From a nation which
still boasts of Agincourt and has
since, to be quite frank, grabbed
every corner of the earth it was
strong enough and adventurous
enough to lay its very heavily
mailed fist on, the outcry is worse
than nonsense; it is a sort of
treachery to our own past anJ an
insult to our dead (and living) cap-
tains.
It is just such inconsiderately
spiteful crackling and raving that
has already robbed us of some of
the moral advantage we might
justly have claimed on the bare
facts of the case.
For example, there is no sub-
stantial evidence that the French
used poison gas in the war before
the Germans. But the Germans are
able to allege that they did, and do
it on the authority of the English
press!
At the beginning of the war the
sort of journalist who invented the
Nearer, My God, to Thee" fable
about the Titanic set to work tj in-
vent the terrible gas discovery by
a Monsieur Turpin and to write
descriptions of trenches full of
dead German soldiers standing
stiffly to their arms just as they
had stood when the deadly gas
smote them.
Our papers published these 'ales
and exulted in them. And now the
tales and exultations, idle ro-
mances and blitherings as they are.
nevertheless put us effectually out
of court when we pretend to be
virtuously indignant with the Ger-
mans for actually doing just the
thing that we ourselves imagined
and suggested.
I shall be asked whether England
is to be held responsible for the
fancies of all her ignorant idiot*
I reply simply, yes. We can not
help ourselves.
What we can do. however, is to
take care that these same ignorant1
idiots shall not wreck the settle-1
ment of the war by screaming for
a proscription to consol them for;
the cessation of the accustomed;
daily dose of blood and destruc-
tion.
The runishment of German-. wiP
be. and. indeed, already has been j
terrible enough to satisfy all ex-1
cept the little creatures who car
understand some vindictive re'..l a
tion on a single visible and con liv-
able person with a name and ad-
dress. bur to whom the dowifall
and failure of a grear ?<■ er m -an*
nothing.
Must Save ( ivilization.
In truth, the consequences of
the war must be so appalling for
the central empires that our
ness is not to rub them in
rather to plan how civilzat
self can be saved now that th<
tom has fallen out of Europe.
Having knocked German
her feet the most pressing
we have to do for her is to s<
on her legs again
is not a political lunat;
the rrospect of Europea
When we break a Ge
with a bullet and then
prisoner, we immed:a
work to mend his leg
tonishment of our idio
BE WITHDRAWN FROM RUSSIA
Wisconsin Senator Characterizes Sisson Papers
as Covered With "Slime of Chicane, Fraud
and Forgery"—One Defender Arises.
WASHINGTON While Menu tor l«u
Follette, from the floor of the senate,
was demanding Tuesday the withdraw-
al of American troops from Russia
and other senators wen* criticizing the
circumstances under which United
States forces are being maintained
there, Secretary linker made public
the first official report on casualties
and living conditions of tlx* Yanks
around Archangel.
About one-fifth of the American
contingent consists of Michigan mid
Wisconsin Holdlers, whose relatives
have been made anxious by reports
that the allied forces were outnum-
bered by the Bolshevlkl and are In
want of adequat* food and clothing.
IHM IIS M MltliH 132.
The official report by Maker 1h a
paraphrase of a cablegram received
from Col. James A Hugglcs, military
Intelligence attache at Archangel, un-
der date of Jan. 1. Maker's paraphrase
follows:
"General health of American
troopM In north KunhIu excellent.
"Casualties to date: Killed In ac-
tion and died of wounds - Officers,
3; enlisted men, 57; wounded In ac
don, 159; accidentally wounded, 15;
drowned, officers, I; enlisted men, 2;
missing in action, enlisted men, 10;
died of disease, officers, 2; enlisted
men, <13; accidentally killed, enlisted
men, I " Total deaths, all causes,
officers, <1; enlisted men, 126.
"Living conditions best available
—in some cases primitive. Would
rate them from fair to very Kood
on the several fronts.
"Food conditions very good; the
greatest defect is lack of fresh vege-
tables and limited supply of dried
vegetables.
"Sufficient clothing Hiipply and
other supplies ample and excellent.
"General morale is very good."
fn criticism of the administration
policy in Russia, La Follette was Joined
by Kenyon, Iowa; Norris, Nebraska,
Republicans, and Kirbv, Arkansas,
Democrat.
WANT MOIil FACTS.
Ali agreed that the senate commit-
tee should be forced fo make a favora-
ble report on the Johnson resolution
calling on the state department to sup-
ply facts about the situation
Hitchcock, Nebraska, chairman, for
eign relations committee, intended to
lay the facts of th<- Russian situation
before the senate, but postponed his
speech until Thursday.
OVi: fU f I M>V I! (>I ITS
The assault on the t ondurt in the
Russian situation be< ;imc so vigorous ;
that Hwanson Virginia Democratic!
member of the foreign relations com*
mittee, undertook to defend it He
declared there were two principal rea-
sons for the presence of American
troops in the Archangel district
They were, first, to prevent the r|f.r
mans establishing a submarine bare
there, and, second, to keep vast stor* n !
belonging to th* alliey from filin,"
into the hands of the fjerrnans and!
Bolsheviki. The number of allied'
troops in the Archangel district, he |
*aid was between la.000 and 20 000
of v. hich about 2.a00 were Americans
fft ! «•* been officially r«|K rtcj| that
the number of American tin
Kij'x-ia I- U.OOO JitfKin 1~ reported to
have derided to withdraw 3J.OOO
troops from there. \ di.npatrh from
l/tridon Tuesday said there were more
than 20.000 British -oklhr* fn Ria->
•da —I dilor - Not*
my power to find out definitely by
what right hundreds of Wisconsin
boys have been sent upon such an
enterprise."
Hwanson said great apprehension
was felt some months iiho that the
Germans would capture Archangel,
lie said It would be necessary to keep
the Americans there until order had
been sufficiently restored to Insure the
safety of supplies.
Iirrs SISSON l \l l ltN.
I *u Follette Insisted the menace
which necessitated the wndliiK of
troops to Russia hnd been removed,
lie charged (hat the people of the
world were being deceived as to the
actions and policies of the sovlets
"The proof Is overwhelming, If It
ever comes to the American people,
as It will, fluit the sovlets exerted
themselves In every way to enlist the
sympathy and aid of the 1'nlted Hlntes
to resist the German uKgrcsslon," Iji
Fcdlette said.
The Mlsson pa pen*. Issued by the
Creel committee, us documentary
proof of the ilolshevlk friendliness for
Germany, I «ii Follette characterized as
covered with "the slime of chicane,
fraud and forgery."
1,1 I'l l Its Mil: 1(1 \l>.
"The war Is ended," the senator
continued, "and there can be no pre
text that our troops there are fight
I rig anybody but the Russian people.
That we do not like a Kovernmenf Is
no reason why we should make war
on It It's the sort of government
the Russian people want and it's their
buslness. We have enough to do fit
home A n explanation must come
from the administration In lariKtiage
that we can understand."
Kirby told the senate that the
American troops there were over-
whelmingly out n umbered.
"Wither withdraw them or reinforce
them before they are absolutely de-
stroyed." he urged.
Kenyon read Into the record sev-
eral letters written to him by mothers
j pleading for information about thefr
| sons who were members of the Run
I sian expeditionary forces.
SO\ Il ls T \ K I KM. \
RONDOS' The port of Riga wis
captured at noon Jan. 4 by the flol-
; hevlkl, according to a Russian wire
I !'-ms dispatch received here Tuesday
In Kstbonla the Rolshevlkl are
. marching on Reval ami have reached
' 'harloterioff. about 30 miles east
Koutheast of Reval
A general advance by the Itolshe
j ikl forces marching westward In Old
Russia I claimed by the Russian
I soviet government, The capture of
numerous illuKes Is reported.
Lithuanian troops, the official re-
port states, have occupied f'odbrod-
7.le, about 30 miles northeast of Vllna
In th« region of Htepa.novo the Roi
shevikl say they have taken 3,000
prisoners and considerable booty.
I ROI /.k \ ITS UNI VI
rOI'l ffAOKN' I.* on Trotzk /
Rolshevlk war minister, has been pro-
ciaimed db ' itor of flussb. and has
•i rr< * 'l f'r' rriler f^enlne on charge
of forming > coalition with the Men
sheviks. .it-cording to a Moscow dis ,
patch receded Wednesday by The
I'l OI'I.I \ft
I I ( I I \ I It
SOCIAL-DEMOCRATS WIN
BADEN VOTE CONTEST
not understand why we do r pro- The - or. 1 i . tha> russi.a IS n"'
ceed to break his other left yet so completely and ",ut
e shall have to act on 'h-- ,me she in the i,
frederick ould
h the German mtion. Seven Y<;ar- V . .,
hack and v,vro- Jefea- th^il:': but he °?,d1
bur
c rave •<.• ■ •>«« «• ,■ >uvivai . .
t have to get its hack mended and did wa/u'' " ■'
a^ain someno
to kill ir and
able a.'t'nar;
Those who
. r . j v
ic can
chao
•man'?
n take
.iv
lez
! a a
i react
le aiternat.ve ind saved
s not a c'j r Mo v < the alliance bet<vsen
R-ita Franc: an: the I.nited
pt to introduce should by any chance be
;nr, fU,. a crated by fools who arc noth-
'
jnder the rel! to a*ach themselves to on<* r>
VAUZ7.1
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Ameringer, S. The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 16, 1919, newspaper, January 16, 1919; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc148675/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.