West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-07-24
RUSSIAN CENSORSHIP.
How the Guar Provides That Notl.sas OF
fensivc Bc Published.


The censorship for all publications
is composed of two courtS-thc Ccnsure
Committee and the Press Department.
In addition TO these two there existed
NJ this period third division for "press
cenSurc' organized by tho notorious
Third Section. where tho chief of the
gendarmcric roignod supreme. At pres
ent this Third Section has been trans
formed into a department of the State
police, and consequently the whole cen
sorship is confined To the Ministry of
the Interior There exists besides these
an ecclesiastical censorship for all
works touching upon religion, and one
of the Ministry of Public Instruction.
that deals with all books or periodicals
intended for young persons Every
publication, whether book or periodi-
cal. must undergo either preliminary"
or subsequent censorship. Those
subjected to preliminary censorship
are dealt with i'm manuscript, and the
printed text must H. no wise ditlcr from
this corrected manuscript. often cut
down Wholesale and utterly spoiled bv
the censor. With regard to publca-
tions exempted from this censorship.
once printed they are presented to the
Ccnsure Committee, but the permission
TO set them in circulation is only grant
ed after the expiration of seven DAYS for
books and of four days for periodicals,
provided that during this period the
censor has not entered any objection.
This formality complied with. the book
review passes on to "a member of the
Press Department, who exercises
superior control. III all the cen
sors think the publication of n book
or periodical Is damaging or disa-
grceable to the Government. the
printed copies are sequestercd or, ac-
cording 10 circumstances, other steps
taken. In addition TO the administrative
measures, the censorship, through the
medium of the procureur. can summon
| author or editor before the tribunal
and the administration (the 'hc ad no
| lice, } and can eXpel them from the
capital or have them deporteJ in order
To place these "disturbers of the peace"
under surveillance Of the police. Ii fire.
quently happens that an author acquit-
ted by the tribunal il deportod by vir-
tue of an order from the chief of the gen
darmerie. | could cite numbers of
cases showing the relations between the
administration and the men of letters
But believe that one little adventure
that took place at st. Petersburg will
suffice rs evidence what law and Justice
arcin Russia when the press is concerned
One M. koukol Jasnopolsky was
the proprietor of printing office. One
fine morning he received visit from
General Tchebikine, commissioned to
examine all printing stocks in tho cap
ital. With the account books before
him, and not in the least knowing how
to set about discovering if the weight of
the type corresponded with that in the
books, he ordered nj! the different
kinds of type To bc mixed up together
and weighed. The weight was exactly
that stated. But the type broken i'm
the process was useless and the propri-
etor OF the Office put to considerable
loss. The Civil Tribunal condemned
the Over-energetic General to pay several
thousand rubles damages. Here the
affair seemed at an end. but the admin
lstration, feeling outraged by tho YER
dict of the tribunal which, by the way.
was never put into eiIcct-gave an or
der TO have NJ. KOukol JasnOpolsky de-
ported TO Makaricil, "A little town in the
Province OF Mini Novgorod There he
remained several years under police
surveillance. - IStdOr GOLdSmuh, in
Nineteenth CeRtITU