War Lies Repudiated by British Press.
War Lies Repudiated by British Press.—The following article deals with venerable subjects that have done much to inflame international hatred and misunderstandings. It is taken from the Glasgow “Forward,” of Glasgow, Scotland (1919), and will have a tendency, it is hoped, to enlighten the minds of many who have believed everything that was printed about war’s atrocities:
We are continually receiving requests for information about the Lusitania, poison gas, aerial bombs, corpse fat, and other popular stock-in-trade of the warmonger. We cannot keep repeating our exposures of wartime falsehoods and delusions, and we ask our readers to keep the following facts beside them, and refrain from subjecting us to a continual stream of postal queries.
“Was the Lusitania armed?”
No. But she was carrying munitions of war. Lord Mersey, chairman of the Court of Enquiry into the sinking of the Lusitania, said:“The 5,000 cases of ammunition on board were 50 yards away from where the torpedo struck the ship” (Glasgow “Evening Citizen” report, July 17, 1915).
“Did the German people rejoice?”
No. There was neither hilarity nor medals nor school beflagging. The London “Times” reported that “Vorwarts” “deeply deplored” the sinking. So did the German naval critic, Captain Persius.
Mr. John Murray, the publisher, issued last October an authoritative book from the pen of the correspondent of the Associated Press of America in Germany, Mr. George A. Schreiner, who was in Germany during the Lusitania period. Mr. Schreiner’s dispatches were extensively quoted in the patriotic British press, and his testimony is above suspicion. His book, “The Iron Ration” (pp. 291-2), says:
The greatest shock the German public received was the news that the Lusitania had been sunk.
For a day or two a minority held that the action was eminently correct. But even that minority dwindled rapidly.