New-York tribune., 1901-07-25
MILITARY CENSORSHIP.
prvoI.T OF THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS
TRUTH ABOUT CONCENTRATION
cAMPs-A PRACTICAL MEAS
IRE OF REFORM
London, JULY II.

re
.,rted in a belated revolt against the military
,sorship. Mr.. Bennett Burleigh, a veteran of
,rsnv campaigns. describes the censorship as "a
Su,ele and a biunder." and declares that the
.ooner the whole matter of unofficial CORE
o,dence is put upon definite basis conform
r,s 70 free institutions the better 1t will for
ervbody Mr.. Edgar Wallace asserts that
,,.re Is nothing so far the military position is
concerned to justify the maintenance of censor
shin and that il lis creating a bad precedent,
since the only service which it can render is a
,olltical one. savoring somewhat of Russia:
nav Il Is Kriigerian." Mr.. Howell Glynne,
ubo has remained in the field continuously since
the outbreak of the war. holds his peace. but
eince some of Reuters dispatches have been un-
necessarily and capricously contradicted from
oHcial sources it is evident that his synlpathies
sre with his colleagues. There is a fourth spe-
cIal correspondent in South Africa who is ham
pered whenever he attempts to send dispatches
10 Fleet Street, and forced TO submit TO unrea-
sonable restrictions Otherwise the unofficial
news of the war comes from local agents of gen
eral press associations who under the thumb
Of the censor In addition to the general restric-
lions based on military reasons, established at
the opening Of the war. the following regulation
enables any censor to reject or condense every
dispatch submitted TO him: I'm future the length
of correspondents wires will be in proportion to
the Importance of the contained therein"
The correspondents consequently disabled
and unable TO justify by cable work the expenses
of their service. The country, which is heavily
taxed for costly war. does not know what is
going on and is forced to be content with casu-
atty lists and Lord Kitchener's inventories of
Beers killed, wounded and surrendered and of
stock rifles and ammunition captured.
1t must be stated. in justice TO the War Office
that the London journals warned in ad
vance that their correspondents would not be
left at liberty write and TO go as they pleased
and were asked to adopt practical measures for
reducing the number of men IN service and for
relieving the wires from the pressure of news
paper work. These consultations at the out
break OF the war frutless, and scores of
correspondents were sent to South Africa with
out any attempt on the part of the newspapers
20 regulate the business Of reporting campaign
news. With long lines Of communication and
with the wires clogged with routine messages
required for the movement Of troops and the
provisioning Of great army the press dis
patches were neglected. held back, condensed
and mutilated. When the war supposed to
be at an end last August all the correspondents,
with the exception Of MI Glynne, returned to
England to write books. to deliver lectures or to
service: some were buried in South Africa, and
others were MANNED for life and enfeebed by
disease, end few had made regulations COM
mensurate with their hardshps and sacrifices.
The military authorities had considered it more
important to use the wires for the daily require-
ments Of the maintenance and provisioning Of
the army than for the enlightenment Of news
paper readers az home. With rigorous censor
ship the business Of reporting the minor Incl
dents and chief battles of the campaign had
been done most unsatsfa ctorily. The long suffer-
ing British public speedily fell into the habit of
reading the official bulletins and of scanning the
casualty lists, and dispensed with the neagre
information contained In contradictory and
mutilated press dispatches. II has been cam
paign without vivid and picturesque literature
from the field.
When three correspondents OF the first rank
IeJoined that sturdy Welshman Mr. Glynne
last December. the military conditions and ne
cessities had been relaxed. DeIagoa Bay was
no longer centre of information for the Boer
generals and important information could not
be telegraphed back from London. Brussels or
Amsterdam for their guidance. Moreover the
bulk Of the press work had been enormously
reduced that telegraph operators could
handle the dispatches for London without risk
of interrupting the routine business of the vast
military force holding the lines of communica-
ton The four special correspondents were not
making unreasonable demands upon the time
of the operators, and there was no apparent
necessity for making the censorship more ngor-
Gus than IL had ever been. Mr.. Edgar Wallace
sums up the with much force when he as
serts that the censorship is conducted for po-
litical reasons, and adds "It is right that Eng
land should know at the time what is happen
ing and what is felt. There is much that Lord
cable TO Downing Street that I think is suf-
fciently interesting TO send TO Carmelite House.
1t is not fair that because Lord Kitchener is
a poor correspondent his unofficial rivals are to
be prevented from competing with him" Ger
tainly IL is most unjust 10 the army, which is
enduring without complaint the burdens Of an
exhausting campaign, that many of its brave
and heroic deeds should pass unrecorded, save
In the cold and businesslike inventories Of the
commanding officer. II is also most unfair to
the country. which is making great sacrifices
and carrying a tremendous load of increased
taxation that IT should be left in ignorance re-
spectng the trend of events in Darkest Af-
RIGA
IT is not easy TO understand what are the po-
ltical motives for the suppression Of news from
the seat Of war. The government has a we'll
drilled. obedient majority in the Commons. and
is supported by the great of opinion in the
country. There is no revolt against IL either
on the ministerial side or in the constituencies
where bye-elections are held. The opposition is
faction rent and demoraized. and quite incap-
able OF offering strenuous resistance TO govern
ment policies; and the pro-Boer agitators have
made no impression upon public opinion. There
is no alternate government possible while the
campaign remains in progress, and ministers
nave no conceivable reason for dreading posi-
Die revelations from the seat of war. Some Of