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The Daily Colonist, September 8, 1914

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#dailycolonist1914 - News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today.

September 7 was Labour Day Monday in 1914 and there was no paper, and there will be no more Monday extra edition since it was clear toward the end of August that there just wasn't enough fresh news coming from the front to fill even one sheet of newsprint. Today's paper is rather sparse with news from the war, and it is not clear whether it is censorship or a genuine lack of new developments that makes it that way. While it is impossible to do this without some "advance" knowledge and a 21st-century criticality of the naïve propaganda, nationalism and racism, but I keep that commentary parenthetical, I do try to look at these 100 year old papers from the perspective of someone living here and this being their only access to news.

  • Germans are approaching Paris. A map of Paris is printed on the front page.
  • Funding for the Canadian Northern Railway is secured, despite fears that funds might be withheld because of the war
  • Germans sink a British ship, killing 242 men.
  • A British submarine sinks ships in Bremerhaven Harbour
  • The Komagata Maru arrives in Yokohama after being refused landing in Vancouver in July on an immigration technicality [designed specifically to hamper immigration from Asia]. The spokesman for the would-be Indian immigrants [some of whom starved while waiting in Vancouver] says, "I thought that my fellowmen would be allowed to enter any part of the British domain as British subjects and I think racial prejudice somewhat influenced the court on its decision in the case."

http://www.britishcolonist.ca/dateList.php?year=1914