The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-04-29

blue trousers. The interview lasted
iabout an hour. ia
I represented to his majesty the e4-
listing conditions and told him OF the
difficulties which we encountered, and
| the desire on the part Of his Ambassa-
dor at Washington that Americans
should see Russia with their own eyes,
and that news should not take. on an
English color by reason3of our receiy-
| ing it from London. said that We
| felt a large sense Of responsibility.
Every dispatch of the, Associated Press
was read by one-halfi the population
Of the United States. added that Rus
STA and the United States were either
to grow closeror they were Stos Grow
apart, and we#s we've xiouss ato DO
whatever we properly might to cement
the cordial relations that had existed
for a hundred years. isss
His majesty replied: II, too, feel my
responsibility. Russia and the United
States are young, devsl looping countries,
and there is not point at which they
should be at issue. ! am most anxious
that the cordial relations shall not on
W continue, but grow.
When assured, in response to an in
quiry, that the Emperor desired me to
speak frankly, said: I'VE come here
as friends. and it is my desire that our
Representatives here shall treat Rus
STA as a friend; but 1T is the very es-
sence Of the proposed plan that we be
free to tell the truth. We cannot be the
lmouthpiece of Russia we cannot plead
her cause, except in SO far as telling
the truth in a friendly spirit will do
it,
"That is all we desire, his majesty
replied, "and all we could ask of you. 4
He requested me tolrecount the specific
thinks I had in mind
1 told the Emperofpthat the question
of rate and speed of ftransnission had
fortunately been settled by his minis-'
ters, and that the two questions de-
sired to present vtoJ him were those of
an open door in all the departments,
that we might secure the news. and
the removal of the censorship. 1t
seems to me, your ata5esty' said,
that the censorship Is not only value-
less from your own point lof. view. but
works a positive harm. A wall has
been built up around the country, and
the fact that no correspondent for
foreign paper can live and work here
has resulted in a tra5He in falsess RUS
sian news that is most hurtful. a.
To-day there are ewspaper men in
Vienna, Berlin and London who make
d living by peddling out the news Of.
Russia and 1t is usually false. II we
were free to tell the truth in Russia,
as we are in other countries, no self
respecting newspaper in the world
would print dispatch from Vienna re-
specting the internal affairs Of Russia,
because the editor would know that, II
the thing were true it would come from
Russia direct All you do now is to
drive a correspondent to send his dis
patches across the German border. I
am able to write anything I choose in
Russia, and send 1t by messenger to
Wirballen; across the German border,
and it will go from there without
change. You are powerless to- prevent
my sending these dispatches, and all
YOU do is to anger the correspondent
and make him an enemy, and delay
his dispatches, robbing the Russian
telegraph 2lipes Of "a revenue they
should receive. 50 It occurs to me that
the censorship is inefficient; that it Is
censorship which does not censor,
but annoys." s#
/ went over the common experiences
of all newspaper men who had been in
Russia, and the Emperor agreed that
the existing plan was not only value
less, but hurtful. He said that If I
could stay in st. Petersburg a week he
would undertake to do all that I de-
sired. @ta r.