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Show BAKER PUIS END TO GERMAN Pill TO CAUSE ALARM Statements Concerning the British Loss in Killed During Dur-ing Var Shown to Be Exaggerated. PERCENTAGE SAID TO BE DECREASING Secretary Answers Letter of Inquiry Sent by Senator Sena-tor Willard Saulsbury Asking for Facts. By International News Set". Ice. WASHINGTON, Nov. II. Another phase of pro-German propaganda in this couutr tliat of trying to frighttn the American people out of support ing the war was exposed today In offic'al quarters. quar-ters. A correspondence was made public between Secretary of War Faker and L'nited States Senator V.'illird Saulsbury of Delaware, showing the working a of the system and how ill-founded in fact are the alftrmift reports. Cine striking feature of the U tu-rs is tbe assertion of Secretary Baker that the Rntish loss in killed for the period of the iar, tnc I tiding those months when th-- Hrttish were far under strength in artillery, ar-tillery, while the (ienii.ir.s were at the height of their biz gun power, was only 7 p.r cent. With the winning of artillery preponderance by the allies the percentage percent-age is now much lower, he asserts. The letters follow: Hon. Newton P. Baker, Secretary of War. Washington, L. C. My Pear Secretary : The pro-German campaign to discourage dis-courage American patriotism by pessimistic pes-simistic reports regarding the danger ta our sold. ers in France seems to be very thoroughly organized and I have been end avoring to prove the falsity of some of the many statements state-ments I h-ve heard regarding the military mil-itary tasuaities of th allies. You are probably aware of the rumors ru-mors that have been started in different dif-ferent parts of the country regarding regard-ing the percent ace of dent lis in action ac-tion or from wounds among the sol-diers sol-diers engaged on the French ana tsei-gian tsei-gian front. Percentage Decreasing. My 'distinct understanding is that sine the French and British were ablo to make relatively the same preparations for warfare as Germans have been engaged In for generations j the percentage of their casualties is not excessive and has greatly Je-t Je-t reased. , I believe It would be a good thing if the eact percentage could be m?ide public u you have reliable figures showing what it is. While the Germans furnish for the home consumption of thir n.itiona's official statements covering all matters mat-ters pertaining to the war in the most favorable way, they have cert-imly not overlooked in this country, frnm I the reports which I receive, the possibility pos-sibility of discouraging citizens of the free countries of the world from encountering en-countering dnngers in the defense of the rights which are nccessa ry to make life worth living anywhere. The smallest discouragements are. with Prussian thoroughness, as carefully magnified as the gravest dangers. May I ask you to -rive me, as far as proper, fcr such public use as may seem desirable-, whatever information informa-tion you can regarding the percentage of casuai.'us due to military service in the Brit it-h force engaged on the western or other fronts. 1 have recently re-cently used the figures given by the I'retn h eo ernment through Tardieu snd i; s-ep to nit- a similar statement state-ment retarding the Bnt!h forces would be ci- enlicrhter ii;g and absolutely ab-solutely di.'-pove the mal ic:0M!y false ! s'.atem. nts givn out by the pro-Ger-n prorata una . Vours erv trtilv. WII.I.AF.P SAL LSPI KV. Baker s Heplj . Secretary Baker's reply folic : i M- dear sir: ; Th.e rumors to whi-'lt o-.i refer in ! your letter ha-e been ea'Ied to my attention several time? in th,e past ic vceeUg. ( have ignored them he-cauie he-cauie all of us kc-iu thft the American Ameri-can people are not children to he f'-ishi i:cd out of th- pnih of duty we rhcen. merely lor the reason ih.t th" duty is triim. As (v e i 'ike the pla-e thai is our en turn! boum ge in the war for bb-ert. bb-ert. it ts inevitable t'uil n'Hiiy of our is arid brothers will fa h. How h-;-vy rb's S'crifle inav b- i:o one of us cr'"' io-.tell. I m in inv-tble to clve you m actual numb-Ts tl-.e figures for w hi -i o-i ask. T'p to about June I th- bc-p-is i he British rxpe i ii ion a ry forces in deaths tn actual service and deaths from wounds were about 7 per -ni of rv.e total of all the men ser.i to France since the b-hnn're of the war. It may b added that the ratio of losses of this cb.Fir.ioier today because of improved t actios and th swiftly mounting alliej supt-riri t in the ar-t'll"r ar-t'll"r is less than scw-n to every hundred men. CordialK n.n-. NEWTON' D. iiAKIR. |