Evening star., 1898-01-29
OPERA BOUFFE WAR;
Continued from First page.)

as accessories Of the crime of rebellion. not
withstanding whatever other of1ense the
publication Of the articles may constitute
Article 1.-The Jurisdiction of war shall be
the only one competent to take cognizance
of all the ofYenses which may be commit
ted through the medium of the printing
press.
Article 5Whatever laws and DEGREES are
contrary to this decree are hereby By re-
Havana, January IA. 1898.
Extent of the Censorship.
From the decree 1t will be seen that the
regulation applies no, only to papers pub
lished in the island. 1t reaffirms the CEN
scrship over foreign publications. The gen.
eral stan must first read them and be sat
isfied they contain nothing injurious to tho
army, to Spain or to autonomy. The Span
ish Papers were frequently confiscated be-
fore the issue of this decree. The demon
stration which the army officers and the
volunteers made against autonomy was
certain to be fully reported in the Amert-
can newspapers though the accounts were
necessarily belated. The people of Ha-
vana knew what had been happening and
understood its significance better than the
people of the United States could possibly
understand. Nevertheless, the American
papers were forbidden circulation. After
ten days the threat to have Spain disci-
plined for violating the provisions of the
International Postal Union caused change
in the order as applied to American news
papers They are row permitted circula-
ton. Possibly the ridicule with which the
decree is treated and also the protests may
cause a temporary loosening of the gag on
the Havana press. But there will be no
real change because the government does
not dare permit publication of the news
and unlicensed comment on it. At any
hour the palace and the autonomist cabi-
net are likely to be thrown into a panic
ard take stronger measures than ever to
protect themselves from their own shadows
However, the internal phases of Spanish
government In Cuba under autonomy are
not of overwhelming weight. The people
have been used Ito tragedy. They can get
along with the opera bouffe. If they refuse
to take things seriously 1t is their own
anair. If they laugh over the official re-
ports of victories in the field and of in.
surgents presentations, they know why
they laugh. Both Spaniards and Cubans
seem TO be serious-minded people. When
they do make merry it must be over some
thing that appeals deeply to their instincts
of hunlor. They may be left to enjoy 1t
while explain feature Of the press CEN
sorsnip, which is of more interest in the
United States. This too. has its humorous
side. The incidents would make first
class comedy for the stage. But the Ameri-
can people may want something more than
this. With realization of what may hap
pen within few weeks, they would prob
ably like trustworthy information from
day to day of what is going on in Cuba
They will have to be content with the un-
biased news twice a week. Here is the
reason:
De LONE and the Cable.
The Spanish authorities control the cable
The censorship of what goes out Is even
more absolute than of what comes in or of
what Is printed within. Twice a week the
newspaper correspondents are enabled to
establish communication with their home
off1ces by means of Key West and Tampa-
Occasionally there is a chance between in
tervals, but 1t is rare. / am sorry to saw
the government takes unfair advantage of
Its opportunities. 1t is important inst now
that an impression be made in Snajn ond
In the United States, that the corpse of
autonomy has little vitality left.
Bianco is in the field, and some results
must be shown on paper So five nights
out of seven news of Spanish victories and
oI Insurgent presentations NAV be expecr-
eo. Blanco's campaign with arms NAV mot
De a success, but the palace and the gen
eral staff will conduct a brilliant neus
campaign through their control or +ha
cable Whenever symptoms of action h,,
congress or by the administration hecoma
strohg' the operations in the field, as re-
ported officially over the cable NAV he
come a sweeping series Of succassss If
lle hrst series does not achieve its mr.
pose second one can be counted on with
certainty. vi Win
Inc authorities in Havana do not re,v o.,
tirely on themselves They Ieevo 49,,
!ie judgment of Minister de LONE In Wosh
~ .ns.oh here, too the advantage over fhe
newspapers Is an unfair one The minister
roa ,mag ue sald to edit the entire Spanish cor
Itespohaence from Cuba. The legation at
.he national capital is the clearing ho,Ss
ior news as the government needs to have
~ presented to the American peonis The
o..clais sII' mere are not always sure Of them
Out with the minister's annotations
they have no misgivings that the inteIii9
Sehce VIII ne presented favorably. It must
oe said that Mr.. de LONE, in the midst of
other pressing duties. does not ne
stect this branch Of his mission
Nor is the minister Iacktnr 1n
otber detaiiS American newspapers At
uihes nave occasion to communica fs with
their representatives in Havana by cable
oher .ne messages are of a confidential
character; frequently they are of slight
consequence. but no matter what t1eir
Importance, if the police authorities take
ehe notion. they are at the disposal of the
fbev aisr ar. 1an,ster daIls in Washington before
mind particularly fragrant instance of
this KIND when 1t was desirable to neu
tralze the effect of Gomez's declarations
Jectlng i'; autonomy: What luck the min
ister had in neutralizing those declara tions
90 not know, but the use of CONFIDENTIAL
messages between newspaper and its cor
respondents certainly gave him a fair start
~ ms enorts 10 influence public opinion in
the United States. This incident was In
no way personal to myself, go / feel rree
TO write of it in illustrating the gigantic
TASK that the Spanish government has nm
uer.aken e!a IN seeking to end the insurrec-
uon IN Cuba by controlling the sources
through which news is spread.
Don't Suppress Everything.
1t should not he said that the authori-
Ties suppress everything. During the riots
Captain General Blanco and Secretary Gen.
eral Congosto both turned themselves into
news agencies. When the mob was quiet
ed they were profuse In volunteering in
formation to the outside world that every
thing was tranquil in Havana. This was
literally true, and II was important. But
they forgot to add something the omission
OF which would have caused their discharge
from any newspaper Office. They omitted
TO state that the tranquility was due to
the presence OF eight thousand regular
troops that had been brought In from the
country. Omissions OF this sort caused an
effort to be made by some of the news
paper correspondents to supplement the
off1cial news. l believe enc or two of them
whose papers were supposed to be of pro-
spanish leanngs were Jealous enough to
emphasize the tranquility, and succeed
ed in having very brief dispatches censur-
cd Eioher that or something about the
weather being mild and pleasant Some
Kind of word apparently came back the
following day which led the general staff
to think it had been fooled. So the palace
that night would not permit q word to