The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-11-01
RUSSIAN CENSORSHIP.


If General Otis intends to keep up his
censorship he ought to learn to do it
consistently, systematically and well.
Perhaps he could not find a better
working model than the system in
vogue in Russia, Trumbull White, the
well known correspondent of the Chi
cago Record, who has just completed
a trip across Siberia and who passed
through here on the DOric gives some
interesting instances of the censor's
work in Russia. Every foreign news
paper coming through the mails into
Russia is thoroughly and carefully read
by the censor and every Objectionable
line and paragraph is totally Oblterated
by being BACKED over. The exact pro-
cess is not publicly known, but it is so
effective that no method has yet been
discovered of reading anything that
has been thus censored.
AS showing how thoroughly the CEN
sor does his work, Mr.. White gives
number of instances. He received
copy of the London Times in which an
entire article had been censored. His
curiosity was piqued to know what it
was about. SO he turned to the index
of the days news thinking he might
at least find out the subject from that
But in the index, the single line relat
ing to it had also been censored. On its
editorial page the London Times pub
fishes a precis of the days news, but
in that the three lines relating to the
censored article had also. been censor
ed. Every word in the paper relating
to that particular article had been OBJ
liberated. Nothing had escaped the CEN
sor
At another time he got copy of the
London Graphic. There was a long il
Illustrated article in it about the death
of the Cars brother The article it.
self was a most appreciative and COM
plimentary sketch of the deceased. But
right in the middle of it a single para
graph had been censored. Some time
afterwards he found out why. 1t was
because this paragraph had said, in
substance, that his death was the more
10 be regretted by the friends of pro-
gress in Russia, because the deceased
had shown more mental capacity than
any other member of the Imperial
family.
The actual work of celebrating the
censored lines, is, as a rule, well done.
Only the censored lines are obliterated.
The articles on either side are not
touched. The work is done with dis
patch, too, and mail matter of this kind
is very little delayed.
OF the censorship of the Russian
press, Mr.. White gives some interesting
instances. One of the St. Petersburg
magazines, at the time of the ukase re-
voking the guarantees of the Finnish
constitution, published in parallel col
umns the extracts from the constitu-
tion giving these guarantees, the earlier
ukase of the present Car confirming
them, and the later ukase abrogating
them. They We're published without
comment or criticism, but the magazine
was instantly suppressed for six
months.
In the earlier part of the famine
which is stll raging in Russia, the gov
eminent sent out inquiries to the pro-
vincial governors asking for reports as
to conditions in their provinces. The
governor of one of the provinces which
was supposed to be suffering severely
returned a report asserting that there
had been no shortage of crops there,
nor was there any famine or suffering
In short that province, according to the
report, was enjoying peculiar blessings
nf n1A
was duly published in the official
gazettes. A short time afterwards, the
principal landed proprietor Of that pro-
vince, a noble high rank, and great