Arizona republican., 1904-09-21
PHoENx, ARIZONA, SEPT. 21. 1904.
Japan ReIaxes the Censorship.

Japan RelaXes the Censorship.
 The Japanese government has found that it made a serious mistake in es- tablishing such a rigorous censorship on all news sent out from Japan itself and from the battlefields. Fiel1 Mar shal Yamagata. chief of the general staff. has telegraphed to Field Marshal Oyama. commander in chief of the Jap anese armies in the field:
 "The imperial declaration of war Ds proclaimed to the people is universally recognized as being based on the brnnd principles of justice. It makes no dis tinction Of race. religion or national manners of customs. The sole chiect of the war is to insure tho safety Of this empire. guarantee the peace of the orient. spread the blessings nf ctviliza- tion and promote the general interest of all nations. It Is therefore hoped that these principles will also find ex- pression in the treatment of foreign of- ficers and correspondents attached to our armies. and that so long as the rule of military secrecy Is not hiring ed a frank and candid consideration be extended to them. so that the spirit of sincerity which animates this sm- pire be fully demonstrated to the whole world"
 The Japanese leaders have shown themselves so practical in nearly all other matters that their treatment of foreign press correspondents and mill tary attaches has caused universal sur prise. Nearly all the high salaried special correspondents sent to the far east by American newspaper have re- turned home in disgust. Those that re- mained in Tokio. waiting for months for permission to go to the front, re- port that they were treated with uni form courtesy. but one excuse after an other for detaining them in Japan was offered. until their patience was at last exhausted. The correspondents who were permitted to accompany the armies to the field have had no oppor- tunity to see anything but outpost fighting. Under pretense of looking after their personal safety. the Jap anese kept them miles in the rear all the time. The little news that the field censor did permit them to send was often held up by other censors at the cable stations. Nor, apparently, has a great deal of courtesy been vast ed on these field correspondents. They have been gruffly told that their move ments must he under direction of off, cers specially detailed to look after them. And the military attaches sent by foreign governments have been treated in the same way. They have had no chance to see any real fighting. The consequence has been that the cor respondents. smarting under this treat ment, have been finding fault with many things they otherwise would have overlooked. The boys that have regained their native shores have been pouring out their souls in wrath
 Japan is beginning to fear that the dearly valued friendship of the United States and Great Britain is cooling of, and the shrewder statesmen attribute the change to the influence of the press correspondents. Hence Yamagata's or ders to relax the censorship and to give the field correspondents better treat ment generally.
 That the Japanese have exercised the censorship unwisely in many cases can not be doubted. Nor is 1t difficult to understand why mistakes have been made. The newspaper profession in Japan is on a far lower plane than in this country or in England. The Japan ese could not appreciate that an Amer ican newspaper man of repute is treat ed as an equal by presidents, cabi4 net ministers and senators; that the weightiest secrets are confided 10 him, and that there Is never a fear that this confidence will be betrayed, and that one of the results is that corres- pondents are enabled to treat with in- telligence all public questions as they arise. "The fourth estate is unknown in Japan. Journalists are a timid and unimpOrtant class. When scores of American and English correspondents invaded Japan at the beginning of the war, the Japanese statesmen did not realize the fact that they were dealing with unofficial ambassadors the representatives of a tremendous power in the world.
 All sensible correspondents have rec ognized that it was imperatively neces- sary for Japan to conceal her military plans. The mistake in the censorship was in making little distinction be- tween the past and the future. The true function of war correspondent is to describe what has happened-and as quickly after the event as possible