[Footnote 2: I have been informed by American officials on duty in Berlin that they have never observed any misstatement of fact, or any essential omission in the _communiqués_ of the German Government. This, during my brief visits within the borders of the Empire, was certainly borne out by my own experience. Defeats are announced as automatically as victories. An illustration of the advantageous effect of this procedure upon public morale and of the disadvantageous effect of the opposite occurred after the Battle of the Marne. The French, who should logically have gained the greatest encouragement, had so learned to distrust their official _communiqués_, that they gained no advantage of this kind whatsoever, while the Germans, who ought to have received no moral stimulus from so material a disaster, underwent a fresh _accroissement_ of their patriotic determination as a result of the frank announcement that the war was no longer going "according to specifications."]
Paris knows with a conviction that nothing can alter that the French armies have met defeat at all points along the line. They do not need dates, or names, or numbers; the one terrible fact that the Germans are again nearing the gates of Paris stands out with greater intensity because all details are withheld.
The Bank of Paris has begun to move. I felt it was an historically memorable day when I stood this morning before its great doors and watched the nervous, hurrying messengers endlessly streaming in and out as they loaded a row of trucks with France's money bags. The bearers looked for all the world like a stream of ants carrying their larvæ to safety when an ant-hill is broken open.
It is commonly reported that the French Government is planning to flee from Paris. If that actually occurs the papers will doubtless announce it as a "strategic retreat." The members of the various Embassies are becoming frightfully nervous and most of them will probably leave at the same time.
At the American _Chancellerie_ all goes on quite as usual, partly because we are so busy that there is no time to worry, but principally because Mr. Herrick is so calm and confident that he sets all the other members a compelling example.