III
THE "FOURTH OF JULY FAKE"
Aside from the regulation "censorship" cry, the thing that worked principally to the prejudice of the Committee on Public Information was the charge that I "elaborated" a "cryptic" cable sent by Admiral Gleaves, and gave to the country an utterly false account of submarine attack upon our first transports. Although disproved fully, the falsehood persisted to our hurt and discredit, and even to this day there are people honestly of the opinion that the initial troop-ships had a "safe and uneventful voyage." Of the many lies leveled against the Committee during its existence, I think I minded this lie the most, for not only was it peculiarly indecent in its groundlessness, but its contemptible course carried far beyond me and struck down a people's pride in their navy at the exact moment when that pride was a war necessity. For the first time in history American soldiers were being sent to fight on foreign soil, traveling ocean lanes thick with U-boats, and the period of suspense was our "zero hour." The news of safe arrival, of dangers met and conquered, was a clarion to the courage of the nation, yet this helpful enthusiasm was changed into a sneer for no greater reason than that a press association might have a "story" and that partizan Senators might take a fling at the Administration. Here are the facts:
The first transports, leaving in June, sailed in four sep-
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