The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-09

badly torn shoulder. the result of piec,
Of shell which entered a port-hole.
On Friday last she gathered in five fish
ing smacks near the Isle of Pines Theil
| capture reduces. by the amount OF theil
catch. the food supply Of our antagonists
It was not deemed worth while 20 bring
the prizes on to an American port. They
| were therefore loaded with suitable car.
go of combusubles. and set on fire. Al
mad been deserted by their crews, with the
exception OF one. which had two men OF
board What disposition a Spanish cap
| tor would make OF such prisoners Is quite
| con1ectural, but the msgnanimous oap-
! tain of the Yankee gave the poor beggars
| a good supper and q dollar apiece anG
| turned them loose. According 10 the
| breadth and iIbershty OF their views. those
| men will now anathematiZe the Yankees
for burning their boats or they will
preach a new and strange gospel 10 their
fellows regarding the nature Of the Ameri-
can people. This Yankees will make but
= brief stay in port, and then return 20
Join the fgh ting line.
Several vessels have left Key West this
week for stations or the blockade and
the Newark. which arrived a day or two
ago from the north. goes On hsr way to
the front with Commodore Watson on
board. But there IS still a snip or two
left at Key West which cauld be sent
wherever it would do most good.
Although the blue pencil OF the censor
has not been a popular instrument with
the newspapermen. the slashing Of their
kilograms has been accepted by the ma
jority with very good grace An occasion
al clash of judgement mas arisen which
has usually resulted In the submission OF
the newspaper man, for the same reason
which Hans gave for The resignation OF
his wife at the time Of her death. Re
signed!" said Hans, "Mein Gott'' she had
to be.
During the last few weeks there has
been. doubtless, ample ample reasons for
a strict censorship Of all news matter
from our military and naval centres. 1t
has been eminently desirable to conceal,
so far as il was possible TO do so, not
only the movements of our army and
navy, but as well all clue from which any
warranted inference might be drawn con-
corning possible plan of operation. But
it would hardly seem necessary to main
t0AAl 81 SlLtCl d supervision dl the present
stage of the game. and yet there Is little
il any relaxation. The correspondent at
Tampa is instructed to say nothing Of
projected expeditions, and the correspond
ent at Key West is told not to use the
names of incoming ships. He may say
"a vessel" but he must not say 1.-The
Machias," though that ship may have
only moved from one port TO another
Nor may he announce the arrival OF the
Newark, though she comes from Newport
News enroute to the front.
The process handicaps the honorable
paper, because less honorable publications
often find way of evading the ceHsor,
and by the printing of information, gain
a credit for enterprise to which they are
not rightly entitled. 1t frequently happens
that in the printing Of such matter the
publisher is in no way culpable Wholly
respectable papers will innocentIy print
tabooed matter because of the success of
a less scrupulous correspondent in evad- |
ing rhe news blockade. The editor can
not always know just what is and what is |
not allowed by the censor at different |
points, and his energetic correspondent. |
eager to get ahead of his fellows, NAV /
send in matter which Should not be print
I'd. An instance Of this kind occurred with
IN the last few days. While in Tampa |
The writer was given the very interesting
story of the Nunez expedition, then about
70 sail. His Informant was a personal
friend who was high up in the department.
ana VINO was engaged in forwarding the
expedition. But the story was told over
quiet dinner, for its personal interest
It was told confidentially and the CORE
'pondent was told not 10 use it, Yet il
in other papers within a dav
IT two. and the Evening Post which
eally had the story more completely than
I was given. was placed in the position
II appearing 10 be behind in its news mat
er.
1t is not easy to see why any special
estriction should now be imposed Cam
'ra squadron is long way off, and there
hardly shadow Of possibility of its
coming any nearer. Cervera's SQUADRON
would seem to be even less Of a menace
han that of Camara. There are no other
spanish naval factors of any Importance.
he blockading line at Havana is main
aimed. and notice that this or that vessel
ad left Key West for the blockade. while
ONE other had come in from the line.
you'd hardly expose the bIockading ships
o any sudden swoop which would annihi-
ate them all, open the ports on the north
m coast of Cuba to a fleet of blockade
unners, and expose the coast of our
outhern states to devastation by Span
sh fishing smacks
News of army movements, of prepara-
ions for invasion, OF the forwarding of
expeditions, could hardly enable Spain
D make any arrangements for destruct-
re operations, for she has nothing avail
BILE for destroying purposes which cannot
e easily held down by our naval forces
! southern waters. II would seem lust
ow as though the moral force Of a more
eneral publtca tion Of movements might
lr outweigh any question of information
} an almost helpless enemy. While the ,
ews would be Of general interest to news .
saders and Of special Importance to many
ONES. a. CIR
- n ~-~ ~s "A