THE KING’ S BUSINESS 367 their practice of the limitation of families. If France had had a normal birth rate during1 the years from the close of the Franco-Prussian war to the opening of this war, or a birth equal to that in Germany, she would have had millions more men to send to the front, and her lack of man power was very largely due to her own folly and sin. The mother of children, of a large family of children, is not only one of the happiest women in society, she is one of the most useful women in society. The present war is waking the nations of the earth up to this fact. And the events of the last three and one-half years has awakened many people to the folly of the recent vigorous agitation in this country to promote the limitation of families. Our Government is wise in calling single men into the army before the married men are called. It would probably have been wise to have carried this still farther and to have made unmarried men between the ages of 30 and 45 liable to the draft, and not only unmarried men, but men who have been married for a period of years and were having no children. 29th, a correspondent in France, John F. Bass, writes : “ Paris, France, Jan. 15. A number of correspondents sat near the battle line on one of the fronts of Western Europe. With them was a statesman of international fame. The conversation fell upon a recent battle. The news paper men were commenting ori the fact that they were allowed to tell of the heroic deeds of a certain regiment, but that they were not allowed to tell what became of that regiment. “Yes/ said the statesman, T have often wondered whether a day of reckoning would not come when we would be called to account for these suppressions.’ Every newspaper correspondent in Europe has felt the burden of these misleading accounts, in which he has been a more or less innocent collaborator. He has supposed that he was hiding things from the enemy, but probably he was only deceiving people at home. At the present moment the atmosphere ought to be cleared in order to force action without which victory is impossible. It is not entirely the censorship that misleads; it is the whole process of self-deception that has arisen, partly through the censorship, partly through a' professionally optimistic and mis guided propaganda, partly through the bombastic half truths of public men, who, in the absence of the healthy tonic of free public discussion, find their vision obscured. The German people have been more lied to, but the peoples of the entente have been more deceived.” ' Is there any good reason why we should feel it necessary to put our dependence in lies. On January 31st, an article appeared in the papers saying that certain of our soldiers had been killed in action some days before, that at the time their death was reported as due to accident, that it was not thought wise at that time to tell the facts. In other words the Government lied to the people. Of course, any one can see that there are things that ought, not to be disclosed at the time for military reasons, but if anything is told the truth Should be told. Lying never does any good. It only undermines faith in the liar. If a few more misrepresentations are made to the people by our Government, when true statements are made they will be disbelieved, and people will begin to wonder whether thè stories that have been told about IIITHY NOT TELL THE TRUTH. In an article in the Los Angeles Evening Express, Tuesday, January
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