Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1890-03-15
JOURNALISM IN GERMANY.
Some of the Things Which Make It HUI
morous for Outsiders.

Germany comes To light when news.
paper is conliscated by the govern
ament for political reasons. That is.
it is amusing to people who have seen
the way the thing is donc-tlIe owners
or publishers of The coniiscated paper
don't look at the funny side of it. The
first copy of every newspaper must be
sent TO the "Stauts Anwult. = or public
prosecutor, who is the censor Of the
press. Herr Stats Anwalt, with tbs
press laws before him, carefully reads
the paper, while lie sips his mug Of
beer His eye suddenly lights OH
passage which criticiscs adversely alI
action or remark Of the emperor.
Hesreads it through, and rereads it,
and beginsto-get: mad.
..Donnerwetter noch Elm mai. The
says hatnust be stopped"
He hurdetilys draws blue pencil
line around s't1fe paraguay phi aud steps
;uptos liisstele pholie He asks cen tisaEs;;
eseonnect HIM IS til liescafie llSt55
Ice Nv hen this fun tiona airy iseat the
other end Of the phone. Mr. Stats
fAnwalt orders him to. Send a squad Oh
police to the printer Of the paper, for
IBID its further publication, and seize
all the copies thereof lie canlay his
hands on. The chief answers ia
wohl, and repeats the order TO his rs
sistant. The assistant turns to hi:'
sub and transmits it TO him, who il,
turn tells his sub" what is wanted
and finally, after a long delay, sevela.
policemen start for the office Of the pa
per in hired liacre. In Germany,
when the police are engaged in any
special work. they do not ride III the
ordinary street cars, nor do they walk.
but they must hire lacrc or a coach
This adds secrecy and dignity to The
affair. When the policemen enter tllt
publication Office, they intimidate til,
frightened foreman Into handing ovel
all the copies he has in the place.
These are taken down stairs and
thrown into the tiacre If there are
very many OF them, another tiacre is
called. The printers must take the
objection able matter from the forms.
and the police make 'pI,' of it.
Usually these officers bear war.
rant for the arrest of the editor The
German editor has been there before,
however. and on the editorial page OF
most papers, right Under the terms It.
subscribers, he keeps name, say.
Johann Schmidt, responsible editor.
And when there is any a,resting TO be
done the police must wreak their ven
gcance OH Herr Schmidt, WHO i'll most
cases is some petty writer on the pa
per. When lie is in jail for writing
something which lie didn't write, the
paper pays him good salary and
looks out for his family. Tie liberal
newspapers and socialistic publications
always keep a couple OF responsible
editors on tap. and when number one
is in the lookup the name Of number
two takes lis place III the paper until.
through some trouble with tie police,
number three begins his inning. This
functionary is called a sltz rcdak- :
:teur, or scat editor. The scat re-
fers to lissojourn i'll a dungeon. The
penalty Of the law increases with each
offense, and after the unfortunate edi- !.
tor has sat several times a-neW-Qne. is {
5est.punis[lra en-. fQHaat.A Grsta Gepse.
The real editor usually gets wind OF |
the intended visit of the police and Sc
.cretcs several copies ofthc publication;
When they arrive, and he has read
their letter OF authority, he hands over
the restof the papers, which join their
companions in tho llacre. The officers
read to him tho warrant for his ar
rest. When they finish, the editor
says:
We'll, mcine IIcrrcn, I am only
salaried writer here. There stands
tho responsible editor"
Tile police scowl at the speaker and
march off the responsible editor. Ii
frequently happens that the news,
paper has already been sent out and
distributed throughout the city, IN
which case the police must travel
around and get hold of all the copies
they can. They visit every reading
room and cafe in the city, and cut
the obnoxious paragraph out from pa
per on the files. In Vienna there are :
ZOO cafes, and one can imagine what
a job it is to visit each one and look
for the unfortunate newspaper.
While the police are going the
rounds of the city, the editor is pre-
pairing second edition emitting the
article which provoked the wrath OF
the Stats Await In the center OF
the space this omission naturally Gre
ates the word "Confscated" is usually
inserted. a Berlin paper from which
n speech had been taken out, read III
the second edition.:
1.-The speaker mounted the platform.
and began in a clear voice,
"Confiscatcd'
In Russia publications are conhs-
Gated with greater regularity than
they are issued. At the frontier towns
the foreign newspaper mail is regular
ly opened and read When the OH.
Gals come across something Which
they think would lower Russia in the
estimation of the reader. to say moth
ing of political utterances, they have
Il very effective method of doing away
with it. A roller, made for the pur.
pose, is dipped in printers ink and
carefully rubbed over the paragraph.
after Which the paper is wrapped and
sent on to its address. Many aRusslan
reader Of German and American publ
cations has received lis paper bearing
tile black mark If the officials note
that some ore person is repeatedly re
ceiving such forbidden articles, they
report the fact to st. Petersburg, ane
the person stands an unenviable sho"
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