New-York tribune., 1900-03-11
TURKISH CENSORSHIP.
ITS RIDICULOUS APPLICATICN To 4
FRENCH PLAY-SOME CONNER
CIAL INCONVENIENCES
INCONVENIENCES.

The COnstantinOple cores pondeut Of the "Be,
liner Tageblatt" writing on the censorship =
practised in the Sutau's capital. gives so-,
amusing instances of its application When y
French tragedian, MOunet-SUIy, was plaT,,
there last autumn. he gave among other th-z
Huso's "Ruy Bias" The faithless Ministers
this piece are represented as dividing Their ha
Of the Government treasury among themseIa
All this passage had 10 be stricken 0ut-w01:
not the public make its own application Of L.
story to existing affairs? In the scene whsz
Ruy Bias surprises the Ministers hurls ths-
his scornful Bon appetit. messieurs." and tn;
chases them out the situation had u ts
changed so that the stage manager should cen.
out and thus address the public: Ladies q.
gentlemen: The Ministry has sent in its ress.
nation" Ministers must not be chased out /,
sight Of the people. What would become Of n
existing order? The spectators We're at GE
bewildered by this turn of affairs, but they 81
saw the point, and the theatre echoed with IL;
uproarious laughter and cries of Bon app,
messieurs!"
A special study is needed to be able to b--
out a newspaper without the censor's dispz-
ure. There are hundreds of words and phr-z
that must not be used at all, however harms
their application may be. For instance, the W.
meaning stupid and corresponding words
foreign languages must not appear. Somebc-
might feel insuIted. 1t is forbidden to spess
the Bulgarian or Greek frontier; it mus,
the line of demarcation-" You do not W..
that the state of trade is unfavorable. but Il
an Improvement in the conditions IS expecl7--
don't write pessimistically, whatever YOU G
Do not speak of the prinCipality of Bulga-l
but Of the East Rumelian Vilayet For the ca
sor no such thing exists as a concession fOr Z.
building of a Bagdad railway; every ment-
of the undertaking is ruthlessIy stricken c.
As for the Transvaal war. any criticism is I,
bidden-only news kilograms and reports
actual facts are permitted TO appear. 2
friendly feeling for the Beers which nOtE-c
standing reports TO the contrary. is continlll
growing may annoy the British Embassy
Even the censorship Of kilograms has reacz
limit hitherto unimagined \ merchant
Gently sent a telegram TO Holland that r.
thus: Steel not accepted; quotation in the 81
liner Tageblatt' correct" 1t related to a sa}
ment of steel that had not been accepted
cause the price had fallen in the mean time
was indicated by the published quotar-s
After an hours delay the telegram was reJur-a
ton of it in French or German. Iie sent e-
the sarcastic reply that he was Uo- a transA
and finally sent II by mail 10 BuI-lra and p
il telegraphed from there. Coin 20 the Z"
graph Office, h. got tis money l.ek and u-
handed TO the official a transla-i Of his ~
sage, fer the satisfaction of th- censor
official read the message and said. Why
could have sent that Vithou, ans trouble
"Of course-what did the ho-.-able esl
think was hidden in it,
The official shook his head. .ked his
toner over solemnIy. and finally said:
We thought your telegram r-IaJet "
recent reports in the 'Berliner TlEeblau =
the Dutch Ambassador Van der Stael ha-
been received by the sultan st which me-
is allowed TO be telegraphed
The result of this sort of stupidity IS tn
press kilograms and a large Qlr- Of bur
messages are sent by mail 90 the BUS
frontier TO be teIegraphed from there. 81
thousands Of pounds annually are lost
Turkish Government. The Government
aware Of 1t. but cannot take courage 20 d