Poison Gas.—That the Germans were not the first to use poison gas in warfare, that the practice originated with the English, and that the French used gases in the world war before the Germans, was well known to thousands in a position to inform others, but no denial of this falsehood has ever been made. The first recorded use of poison gas in modern times was in connection with the bombardment of Colenso by the English during the Boer War. The fact is testified to by General von der Golz in a book describing the English military operations against the Boers, which he witnessed as German military attache, and is verified in a number of accounts of the war against the South African republics. The guns used against Colenso to discharge the gas and kill the defenders by asphyxiation were brought from the British dreadnought, “Terrible.” It was a typical English invention. At first there was no thought of using gas in land warfare. It was designed to be discharged by a shell which should penetrate the armor-plate of an enemy vessel. A poisoned gas-shell exploding inside of another vessel was expected to kill everybody under deck. When it was found impossible to effect the surrender of Colenso, the guns were used there for the first time in field operations, as stated. These facts are further corroborated by Mr.George A.Schreiner, Associated Press correspondent during the recent war, author of “The Iron Ration,” and a participant in the defense of Colenso, who to this day is feeling the effect of the gas.

The charge that the Germans were the first to use gas bombs and the attempt to represent their employment of such bombs as acts of barbarism was ridiculed by Gustav HervÉ, the editor of the Paris “La Guerre Sociale,” in these words: “There is a bit of hypocrisy in this show of indignation against the use of asphyxiating gas. Have we forgotten the incredible stories that were told about the effects of turpinite when in August the Germans were marching toward Paris and the craziest stories were in general circulation? People in fits of ecstacy told others about the murderous effect of the asphyxiating bombs of the celebrated inventor. ‘Why, my dear sir, 70,000 Germans were simply stricken down; whole regiments were destroyed by asphyxiation.’ I remember very distinctly. No one protested. As long as we believed in the marvel of Turpin’s asphyxiating powder, Turpin was hailed as a hero. Then why this absurd cry, this hypocritical attempt to condemn the Germans for inventing a powder, that in comparison with the turpinite we called to our aid in the hour of our greatest distress, appears to be as gentle as the holy St. John. Instead of blaming the Germans for utilizing asphyxiating gases, we might better blame ourselves for permitting the enemy to outdo us in inventive genius.”

General Amos A.Fries, head of the Chemical Service of the American Expeditionary Forces, quoted in the February, 1919, issue of “Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering,” described the use of poison gas as “the most humane method of fighting.” Only 30per cent. of American casualties and 5per cent. of the deaths were due to gas. He held that the situation was similar to that when gunpowder was first utilized, a practice “universally frowned upon as unfair and unsportsmanlike, yet it endured.” In a similar vein General Sibert testified before a Senate Committee in June,1919.