Evening star., 1898-05-14
THE PRESS CENSOR
He is a Necessity, but Terror to
Correspondents.
TEE TRIALS OF NEWSPAPER MEN
Gable Facilities at Key West Are
Rather Limited.
RC 5 II TO FILE COPY
Copyright. 1898. by Associated Press)

Copyright. 1898. by Associated Press.)
From Staff Correspondent of the Associated Press
KEY WEST. Fla. May II. 1898.
The CABLE office in Key West, since the
~ orld became interested in war talk, has
been the most interesting spot on the island.
The most interesting. the most important,
nan by all odds here is the CENSOR One
naturally comes to associate the two to-
gether. The cable Office is a small brick
building. two stories high. with large CO.
ccanut palm growing on either side.
1t is only a few yards from the door of
the cable office to the government dock. In
fact. il is only few yards from any point
on the island to the water. and when the
tide is at the highest point the sea sets
back through most of the streets and
leaves white fringe Of salt along the gut
tiers when the tide goes out and the salt
soaked earth dries.
Race of the Correspondents.
Up through the narrow streets which lead
from the cable Office to the wharf some
very Interesting and exciting races have
taken place during the past few weeks.
When the newspaper dispatch boats come
in from the gulf they always land as near
TO the cable office possible and when
correnspondents land at the same time the
race for the cable office is more interesting
Some Of them. after a long cruise, go
staggering and reeling their sea legs
like drunken men. Others are weak from
sea sickness and still others are limping
from bruises received from being pitched
In the rough sea But sickness and bruises
are forgotten when land is reached and
every effort put forth to be the first to
file copy" II il be late at night five sec
ends gained in the race from the dock to
the cable office may mean an exclusive
story for one OF the great dailies in the
north Cable transmission is necessarily
sic than sending overland wires, and
tie correspondent who files 5000 words at
midnight is pretty sure that no other paper
will be able To get anything for its morning
edition from Key West that night
Work of the Censor.
But after the copy has been filed the cor
respondents trouble is not at an end Ey-
cry word of IL must be read and passed
upon by the censor. No matter how much
time hardship or expense 1t has required
to get the story. IL in the Judgment of the
censor IL ought not to be printed II cannot
be sent. II IL gives any information as to
ths movements Of the fleet the army it
cannot go.
There are something like one hundred and
fifty newspaper correspondents in Key
West. and while most of them appreciate
the wisdom of the government censorship
OF news matter, some OF them have grown
impatient in their eagerness to tell the in
teresting stories that are to be told and
have tried all manner of ingenious schemes
for getting matters past the censor Usu-
ally. however. all plans have been detected
by the censor. and the apparently innocent
. or stupid dispatch has been returned to
the writer with NO" written in red ink
across it.
The most trying period for the corre-
spondents was on the day the feet started
On its cruise eastward. Every correspond