The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-12-03

presses, the book-starved people eager | ly consumed it all.
 The freedom of press lasted till the dissolution of the first Duma; then it, like all other rights granted by the manifesto, began to be interpreted" and now it has practically been inter preted" away. Writers are still at lib- erty to write anything they please, and publishers to publish. But as soon as a book or pamphlet comes from the press it must be submitted to the cen sorship committee that exists in each chief city; and If the committee dis approves of the book, it is confscated, and trouble is very likely made for author and publisher. So the differ ence between the old way and the new is that under the old method an un- desirable book was stopped before it freedom of the press" it is stopped after the publisher has been to the expense of having it printed.
 Even the czar's own speeches have fallen under the censor's ban. How ever, the edition that stirred the cen sors wrath was not one printed under imperial auspices to be read and ap- plauded by the nobility, but fiimlsy
 pamphlet of 80 pages sold to the mass
 es at Is kopeks Some revolutionist
 conceived the idea that nothing could
 more strikingly prove the incompe-
 tence of Nicholas than the words of
 his own mouth, so the ozar's every
 public utterance since his accession in
 1894-170 speeches in all, the longest
 one page, the shortest two words-was
 copied from the official records and i made into a book. The effect was as
 foreseen; people read and laughed or
 grew bitter. Nicholas was guilty of
 lese majeste against himself. The
 police got after the book, sought it ev-
 erywhere; and Nicholas speeches
 were added to the most illegal of ille-
 gal literature that imperiled the safety
 of Nicholas throne.
 The censorship in its bitter struggle
 to keep this flood of freedom-stirring
 literature from the people, does not
 end it's care with the publisher; it
 places rigid restrictions upon the book
 seller. A Moscow dealer, perhaps the
 best known in his business in Russia
 gave me copy of the regulations un-
 der which he was ordered to conduct his affairs. He was forbidden, in intri-
 cate, all-embracing legal terms, to
 have in his store CD any printed mat
 ter that had been ordered seized by the
 authorities; CD editions lacking the
 name of the publisher, for the ab-
 sence of this data always proves the
 underground nature of the said edi-
 ton, and the intention of the publish CT to escape investigation by the au-
 thorities and formal trial" (3) "pho-
 tographs and printed pictures of poli- : tical criminals already sentenced or
 under judicial investigations" (4)
 printed articles containing offensive
 cartoons, which ridicule the acts oi government officials and institutions The regulations provide that the pen.
 alty for having any of this matter 1T ! the store will be the closing the place 2 of business by the authorities; and tha : circumstances which add to the offenst ! will result in the confiscation of tht property.
 These hard conditions for publish CTS and booksellers are made ever
 harder by the fact that military lav f generally prevails, and each provinc, t is a separate autocracy What passe : the chief censorship bureau at St. Pet t ersburg may be seized in the provinces ! But publishers and book dealers ar o not. in business. alone for gain--a larg : part of them at least feel 1t their mis }, sion to spread truth to the people; ant !; at time when the greater part of in n tellectual Russia is risliing persona e liberty, and life even, in the effort flo k national freedom, it is not to be sup ' posed that men of spirit would b : stopped from printing and selling b < rules and the fear of punishment f Printing and selling go right on; s den publications. And of course pub e fisher and seller suffer penalties. Tn = very dealer who gave me the regula d tions above summarized was to hay r lunched with me a few days after m
 visit upon him; he did not come, an if the reason was that he was in priso h for having on sale forbidden books. e This struggle to spread, to stifle, tn e book has no pause. Publishing house n and book-shops are constantly watch a ed and frequently they are raided n the pollce-suddenly perhaps in tn r. middle of the night, as 8 gambling de le is raided in America. The publisher If for their part, match their wits again' 70 the police's wits, match thicker again' l. regulations and raids.
 k, A practice common with publisher d is to print say, S0,000 copies of boo ,e and distribute immediately and secre ih ly 29,000 copies among bookseller ,n keeping 1000 in stock and enterir es only 1000 on their records. One coI to is then sent to the censor, as required
 if the book passes him, all Is we'll m not, the police seize the i 1000 copie e. thinking it the entire edition; and u ,d incident is closed and the publisher # well content
 !. Often the trick is born of the eme .s gency. A publisher told me that oi o. midnight, at time when his plant WI is running night and day, the police su, of denly entered and began to examil CT his stock, ordering this book conflsca he ed and that, At legnth they came to l. great stack of books wrapped in buI re dies Undiscovered one wall from f1o ifs to ceiling. The officer in command to CT open the wrappers of three bundles ,i- that the titles of the books were r x- vealed "Huml All the same-abo nd politics" he said. "This stack is co tb fiscated.
 - The nublisher found onnortunity A- whisper an order to one of his a