New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-18
copyright 1871. by George ". smaue,o

spies. and ne desires that they should
be suppressed at once"
The Editor of"The Globe replied with
dignity that IL the Press Bureau had
power 10 suppress the free expression
Of opinion in the English Press on sub
jects wholly unconnected with military
or naval movements he thought these
powers should be publicly stated Mr..
Harold Smith replied that under the
Defence of the Realms Act Nos.
and q the Secretary of State had "the
legal power to make his desire for SUI
pervision effective" THE Globe" re-
piled in print:
ar Government Department under
cover of an Order in Council made ;or
wholly different purpose is to shield
itself from an exposure of its inefh-
cheney. dangerous precedent IS set
up, dangerous alike TO the community
and the Press"
The Globe" added:
THE spy peril is and remains more
serious matter than the feelings OF
MIR. McKenna. and we must reserve to
ourselves the right at all times to give
expression TO views on Ministerial pol
icy and even to dare to criticlse the
actions of the Home Secretary
With this defiance ringing in his
ears Mr. McKenna judiciously retired
from the arena. The whole story is
retold in "The National Review for
October: embellshed with some OF
those puneent comments in which Mr..
Leo MaXSe and his readers rejoice. l
grieve to say that his attitude to Mr..
Nc 0ne amounts TO positive lrreVer-
ence. Yet we hear Of no proceeding
against either "Thc Globe or THE
National Review"
The Cable Censorship.
There is a branch of this question
which. as YOU well know. touches you
and the whole American press very
closely. and that is the censorship OF
cable dispatches TO New York. You eX-
planned lately that you desired to pup
lish war news from German as well as
English sources; and that in order to
give the German news fully you had to
resort TO Amsterdam OF elsewhere IN
order to escape the London censorship.
At the very time you were making TINS
Just complaint the English papers were
daily publishing full extracts from the
German papers and the German war
bulletins wired from Berlin to the Mar
conf Office in London. and by that once
distributed to English newspapers. IL
is not easy to see why such dispatches
should be more mischievous In New
York than in London. or why they
should be thought mischevous III
either
They are. in fact, both in London
and New York, helpful TO the Aliies
cause. The Germans have carried thelr
repression and classification OF facls 10
such point that the wayfarlng man
bOW O1np6 CreQlI
is to be given to official and unofhclal
Berlin statements. | take single IN
stance. II ANYTHING is certain, ~ Is
certain that the Germans have been
defeated in their attempt to invade
Russia. driven back from the Nlemen
With heavy loss. and are now pulling
themselves together as best they may
on the eastern frontier OF Prussia
The Petrograd statements are circum-
stantial and conclusive. ! viii add that
the bulletins Of the Russian General
staff and the news in such papers as
the "Novoe Vremya" and the criticisms
and summaries of Colonel Shensky, ITS
military correspondent, have won de-
served confidence throughout Europe.
Are they also censored on their way
10 Now York? / do not know, but l
know they are published in full IN
London, and that nothing comparable
10 them. except Sir John French's re-
norts. comes from the western seat OF
war.
II is understood that the meagreness
of the reports from the front and Eng
lish Headquarters in France is due to
the decision of General Jotfre. quite
agree that his authority, where ne mas
authority. ought TO be respected, ana
that this wish, where he has no author
ity-that is, at the English head4uar-
+es-ought also to be respected. lie Is
responsible for the chief conduct oil
the war in France. and that is why he
ought 10 be obeyed, since no man can
be asked TO accept responsibility with
ont mower. The same rule apphes 10
English and American correspondents
who are excluded in Difference to the
desire Of the French commander IN
chief. In both cases he is thought by
the best Judges to be wrong, put IN
both cases the best Judges would SUP
mi, for the reason just stated.
But all this leaves only TOO much re-
sponsibility still on the Press Bureau
and the cable CensorS here IN London.
II will not soon be forgotten that the
War Office Censors in the cable oihces
SUPPRESSED the dispatch announcing the
British naval victory al Hehgoland
which the Admiralty itself had pup
liShed in London. VI W -