by Richard van Pelt, WWI Correspondent

The day’s headlines from The Daily Capital Journal:

KAISER NARROWLY ESCAPED CAPTURE
Aviators Located Him and Russian Calvary Charged
One of Party Caught

AIR, LAND, SEA, AND SUBMARINE BATTLE WAS FOUGHT TODAY
Germans Fought Demoniacally in Their Attempt to Capture Dunkirk
EXPLOSIVES RAINED FROM BIG ZEPPELINS
Submarines Loosed Torpedoes and Great Guns Pounded the Forts

KAISER IS MAKING SUPREME EFFORT
Estimated 500,000 on Fighting Line in France and More Coming

BATTLE IS RAGING ALONG FRONTIER
Kaiser’s Big Guns in Action, Battlefield Is One Vast Quagmire

The editor, commenting on the toll the war has taken, writes:

After daily perusing the stories of losses in the present war, which, if true, would leave all the armies a minus quantity, we are forced to disbelieve the stories of the ancient wars and their terrible death lists. On the contrary, we are proud to state that the evidence now points to the fact that present-day war correspondents are no bigger liars that those who reported Thermopylae. Considering the many more things there are to lie about, and the improved means of getting those lies before the public, we unhesitatingly state the world is getting better and the newspaper correspondents more truthful and reliable. In two thousand years the improvement is not striking, but it is encouraging.

The Oregon Statesman’s daily column, “Bits for Breakfast” commented on the war:

The great murder game in Europe proceeds, with dishonors about even.

If the people of the United States would all decide to resume and push business, we could use all the refugees of Belgium and the other countries, the victims of the insane war.

Poor Belgium, like the small boy in school, has to take a licking for the crime of being a small fellow.