The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-24

Gives Information to the Government
While Keeping 1T from the Papers.

WhlIe keeping III from the faperss
New York Commercial Advertiser.
lone of the principal duties of the CEN
sor,'' said Grant Squiers the cable censor
of New York, lis to suppress whatever is
Objectionable in the dispatches from the
front, from the point of view of good taste.
| 1t is difficult to say in a. general way just
what these things are But for the most
| part they consist of the embellishments
that the correspondents put into the ac
counts to make them more thrilling or hor-
| rible. They are not news, and they are not
picked up on the battle field They are
| emanations of the writer's own magma
| tons. One of the most common of these
| embellishments is that in which the vulture
| Is the principal figure. The sensational cor
| respondents are very fond of describing how
| the vultures swoop down after a battle and
| pick out the eyes of our dead soldiers and
tear their flesh from their Bones. Now such
| stories, in the first place, af51n6t true
But do they not see the birds soaring
over the battlefields?' r
| Yes, of course, they see them, but they
don't see them tearing to pieces the dead
and wounded, for the simple reason that
| the dead and wounded are removed from
| the field as soon as they fall. The vuItures
! don't have a chance to get at them All
such stories are written out of the writer's
own heads. But even If they were true we
should suppress them, just as we suppress
everything told about our soldiers that is
revolving or likely to give needless pain to
those whose friends. are at the front.
:. II In OF course. a great many facts have
relates to the future movements of ships
and armies, especially if names and dates
are given, IS cut out. 1t does not matter
much If dispa' n says that an attack
will be made tomorrow or next day for
that will be most likely a matter of com
mon inference. But details of movements
that are to take place week or two weeks
hence cannot go through. The correspond
ents try all sorts of ways to communicate
such information to their papers. The COM
monest trick is to deny the information
they wish to convey. Thus the correspond
ent will wire: 1t is not true as has been
reD0rf06 nd IaP+
such and such place The editor would UNI
derstand at once that the vessel did leave.
form of a question: 1t is not true, is it, the
report ] hear from New York that such a
vessel has left IS such t place.? The editor
never let such messages go through. All
press messages in cipher are, of course sup
pressed. Only the government is allowed
to use cipher. Anything. in fact that has
the least appearance of conveying any in
formation other than what appears on it's
'But suppose the message appears per-
fectly innocent and makes good sense?
Such a message might convey forbidden in
I'VE don't pretend to be infallible. sup
pose that | might let such messages pass,
but | certainly lookout pretty sharply for
Mr. Squiers was sitting in his office, Al
Wall street. His desk was covered with
cable dispatches, which she had hastily
turned over to conceal their contents the
moment the iterviewer appeared on the
scene A messenger boy appeared at this
juncture with a number of dispatches
MY work." continued Mr.. Squers, tear
ing open the dispatches and reading rapid
ly, Consists not merely in reading the
press dispatches. represent in a way the
signal service in New York and have to
communicate information as we'll as censor
other wars since the time of Noah, or
whenever 1t was that men began to fight,
in the complete and rapid communication
that is kept up, with the front all the time.
Never in any war did the telegraph, the
telephone and the cable play such an i'm
portant part and itsis safe to say that with
out them the military and naval author
tiles would not have dared to undertake
the gigantic operations which are now in
progress Almost every day; for instance,
we receive here dispatches from Sampson
or Shafter-like these hold in my hand
asking that various things be sent to them.
This does not indicate any lack of foresight
on their part, for things they want are
such as no one could have foreseen the
need of when the fleets and armies left
this country. They are none the less i'm
portant. Sometimes these messages are
sent to Washington that the authorities
there may act upon them. But more
frequently they may be more conveniently
attended to right here.
"A short time ago. for instance, re-
ceived in my house uptown about IL o'clock
in the evening, a dispatch stating that a
certain vessel was to leave West Indian
port as soon as she could coal, and asking
that collier be sent to her. l knew of a
collier that was available, at once com
municated the fact to the authorities in
to the collier. The various messages in.
v0lved in this transaction were telephoned.
telegrapheG and cabled. passing through
distant West Indian ports. New York and
Washington. Within an hour after the
sending of the message the collier was on
her way to the war ship.
There are various duties like this, of
semi-executive character, which devolve
upon the signal service Then 1t is my
business to keep the President informed
of any important news that comes to this
city When any press dispatch containing
news that. think the President ought to
know has been read. / say to the represent
alive of the newspaper for which the dis
patch is intended wait a moment until I
have this copied to send to the President
1t is to be inferred, although Mr. SQuires
did not say so. that the authorities at Wash
ington get the benefit or many a press dis
patch which the editor for whom It was in
tended never sees. zF
All this, as you can understand. keeps
one pretty busy. / have been working sew
enteen hours a day in fact for over three
weeks: Why the government selected me
for this position donitaknow, unless II is
that have the reputation of having very
stiff backbone, and OF knowing how TO say
no, Saying no Is one o. the chief duties
Of CENSOR