The Arizona champion., 1891-02-07
THE RUSSIAN CENSOR.
Examining Letters and News
 papers.
OBJECTIONABLE BATTER PLOTTED OUT.
A COntemptible Feature of the Admin.
 istrative System.

looks 1t over at his leisure during the day
 and returns it to the office with his officia
 stamp of approval on each page. Thi
 copy is carefully filed away as protec
 tion for the editor, who then sets hi
 presses at work and orders the edition distributed to the subscribers. If there i
 anything in it that the censor cannot ap prove he marks the objectionable article which is taken out of the forms and some thing else substituted. If the censor i. otherwise engaged the paper has to wait Sometimes the issue of Tuesday will bt detained till Wednesday and sent out witt the Wednesday issue, but it makes very little difference. Last weeks paper is just as interesting as tOday's.
 All foreign mails are also submitted tC the censor, not the same man who reads the local papers, but another, who has his headquarters and a staff of readers at the general postoffice. All newspaper mail is dumped on his table, except that ad dressed to the members of the diplomatic corps and high officials. That is supposed to be delivered promptly without exam nation. So the American minister gets his papers sometimes a week ahead oi other residents. Every wrapper is opened l II lhO PttpSl COulelll0 arUI cle, something in the way of criticism oi 'the administrative system" of Russia, | for example, the censor takes Q large pad dips it in the ink and stamps it upon the article, obliterating it. Thus no incen- diary ideas are allowed to obtain circula. tion among the people. No criticisms of the government are allowed to be read, and nc news from eXiled nihilists.
 I INha,, ha paper, The London Times, for example, he tucks it back into the wrapper and throws it into basket for delivery, pick | ing up the next paper that comes to his hand. If he finds that it is a copy of The London Times of the same date he stamps out the objectionable article that he has read before and throws it into the basket without further examination. If the first copy examined was found to contain nothing exceptional he examines no more of them, but throws them into the basket as fast as they come. To simplify mat ters, the circulation of very few foreign papers are allowed in Russia.
 The censors cannot possibly read every | thing sent through the mails, so they con- fine their labors to the principal journals of Europe and destroy the remainder. SLO Sttl IGlGlNO 1lC l4OuUOh 1luleS OT News or Standard in Russia, but no other London dailies. He can have Punch and | the monthlies, provided they contain | nothing objectionable. He can have Figaro, Gil Bias, The Petit Journal and one or two others of the Paris papers, but he cannot get the strong re- publican papers of that city. The New York Herald is the only American daily bot lNo A,E- Il read any other, so there is no use having | them sent. had two daily papers sent me from the United States all the time I was in Russia, but not one SS them was delivered. 1 was told at the postof1ce that the censor does not have time to read every transient paper that came in the mails, and none could be delivered till he had read it. He had only time to read one American paper, and if I wanted to subscribe for that it would be delivered
 This censorship of the mails is the most cowardly and contemptible feature of the Russian administrative system. It is simply a confession of weakness that tempts the average man to sympathize with revolutionary element, and they justly make it one of their chief causes of complaint. The Russian postoffice is under the direction of the police like everything else, and is one of their strong holds.
 They have the power to open letters as well as papers, and often exercise 1t. In fact there is no limit to their power. If a citizen or foreigner is suspected of sym pathy with the revolutionary element, or is supposed to be in communication with agitators, whether at home or in exile, the ,I. A,I l. II lzkA delivered to them. The gum upon the lid of the envelope is mOistened by being held over q jet of steam, and opened, or thin knife with keen edge is slipped under the seal. The letter is read, resealed and sent back to the postoff1ce, or 1t is retained as evidence of treason.
 Letters going out of the Russian post offices are examined, as well as those that come in. All packages addressed to foreign newspapers are opened and their contents read Correspondents residing in Russia write upon the thinnest sort of stationery, and address the envelopes to individuals or business firms, so as to avoid the espionage of the police, who destroy everything that in any way re- fleets upon 'the administrative system"
 All manuscripts carried in bags or
 
 Russian custom houses to avoid the circu- lation of incendiary literature. All news papers found in the cars that cross the border are seized and destroyed. had lot of newspaper clippings in an envelope, which had cut from time to time, relat- ing to Russia. A gentleman in Berlin, who was familiar with the operations of the Russian police, advised me not to take them with me, as they would cer tainly cause me trouble if discovered by the police. A gentleman connected with the police at Petersburg, to whom l spoke of this, said my friends advice was good. If they had been found by some police. man or customs officer, they certainly would have resulted in my detention until my character and purposes had been in- vestigated. He kindly suggested, too, knowing my business, that if intended to write anything about the country it would be better not to commence till had passed the borders.
 The same espionage is exercised ever the telegraph as over the mails. A cor respondent dare not send a dispatch by wire from Petersburg to a newspaper. It would never be delivered if it contained anything objectionable, and if it did not, the fact of his having sent such a mes sage would make him the object of sus- picion and police attention. Correspond ents of foreign newspapers in Russia have arrangements by which they send their news by mail to some agent across the border, who opens the envelope and tele. graphs it's contents.-William Eleroy Curtis in Chicago News.