Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1914-11-08

I lie ycnturcd over into France In tho
very week that the British had sue
cccdcd in rounding up the last scven
war correspondents still at large.
These men had all been put under a
pledge not 10 write any more wal
news until the war office gave IT'S
assent, on pain Of being held prison.
ers until the end OF the war,
Wen have no pictures Of this he'll
going TO our folks at home said an
officer what effect. do you think,
they would have ON recruiting
So Hare came back and started for
/ belgium. The very day he started the
newspaper offices and corresponds
ents hero got this word
Nothing is TO he printed Of the
arrival of British troops in Belgium
or the bombardment Of Antwerp"
The first part of that order must
/ be taken as quite legitimate cNer-
/ else Of the consor's functions Per-
I haps the Germans may not have
/ known that the English were going
into Belgium one is permitted to
doubt this, but no criticism may be
Of tho order. The second part was
obviously designed TO conceal from
the world the fact that Antwerp was
bolcaguered. English military au-
thorities have always assumed In print
that Antwerp IS impregnable. In pri-
vate they have always doubted lt,
This order was a part of the plan to
keep truth from the people,
OF course the hombardment was so
huge a story that the military author
tiles could not suppress 1t long. The
net result Of the suppression plus
revelation was to render the thinking
portion of the public that buys news
papers most uneasy. For three
weeks, as Major Redway said I'm the
/ Globe, the public has been per
suaded that we are engaged I'm
battle in the territory of the Aisne.
/ The day that AutWorps bombard-
mcnt began a note appeared in the
paper that General Won Kluck's army
is being pushed north"
Maybe he was marching north 40
one knows. But he certainly could
not be pushed north. Ie he moved
north it was in the effort to outflauk
the French army opposing him So
persistently has the British public
been fed on military half-truths and
nO-truths that it is beginning to dread
the unknown
The London newspapers patient as
they have been under this military
despotism, are being to rebel in
mild tea-and-milk sort Of way But
their criticism does not extend to
what may be considered the lcgiti-
mate operations of the censorship
They are genuinely proud of the fact
that the cXpeditionary force of 15O.-
600 was landed in France before a
word had appeared in tho papers
Every editor kncw-hut not one broke
faith.
The 10000 Indian troops were
landed at Marseillcs four days before
the fact was printed That was quite
all right too. But It happened that
the day the Indians were landed
Prime Minister Asquith delivered
speech at Dublin He told his audi
ence that the Indians had been
landed that day. The news came to
London in the report of his speech,
1t was printed in ireland. Here it
was submitted to the censors.
THAT must not be printed" " said
the censors.
And SO it wasn't There is Ger
tain quality of mirth in the thought
that the utteranCes of Prime Minister
by some retired colonel
Nothing will be printed that has
not the approval of the war office
The editors know perfectly well what
would happen to them If they Of
Tended. Being citizen of more or
less free land | have been inCrcdu-
lous. SO | have asked editors
KITCHENER would suppress a paper
that defied him and put the editors in
Jail they say.
Lately the gossip of Fleet street is
that Lord Kitchener is seriously dis
pleased with the manner in which
some Of the London papers have been
conducted. II is not that they are
not fully patriotic. il is not that they
have printed anything which is not
perfectly well known to the enemy.
But they have permitted certain
doubts to find their way into the tone,
rather than into the words, Of edi-
torlals They have not dreamed
any more than | haVe-that the allies
will not be successful in the end. But
1t would seem they are not quite
satisfied that the success OF the allies
has been absolutely overwhelming in
the first sixty days of the war.
Dispatches Jugglcd.
Some Of the censors seem to have
felt from time to time that America
was not being properly informed as
to the conduct Of the war. So they
have not merely struck words out of
dispatches, but have stuck words in.
This isn't your stuff" the editor
of a great American daily wrote to its
correspondent. Il know your style.
Some one has been tampering with
your message"
The correspondent referred TO his
file and found that some one in the
Censors' office had inserted words
and sentences in his copy" which
had completely changed the tenor Of
the dispatch. As it appeared in the
home office 1t was OF character
highly pleasing to the war office. AS
It left the correspondents hands 1t
had been a dispassionate review of
the situation and a forecast which
since has been shown to have been
singularly accurate.
surely you are wrong" said a