The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-27
LOSS OF AUDAC|OUS
 NOT YET PUBLISHED IN BRITISH PAPERS
But Is We'll Known to Eng fish Public = How One Great Journal Evaded
 the Censorship

London, December 1S.--(Correspondence of the Associated Press.)-The British press censorate has not vet permitted the British newspapers to make any men tion of the loss of the battleship Au- dacious. The facts that the Audacious was put out of commission by mine, or by a German submarine, off the northern coast of Ireland on October 27, and that the White Star steamer Olmypic took or her crew are well known in all English newspaper offices. however, and are a matter of common report among the public.
 The policy of the admiralty in deelin- ing to have any statement made In Eng land is dictated by the view that in the absence of official confirmation the Ger mans may think that the report Is an- other canard which has gained general credence like the widely spread and firm ly believed story of the passage of a Russian army through Great Britain to France. American newspapers containing the story have been sold on the news stands of the London hotels, and offered on Fleet street by the newsboys. This has made the London papers chafe under what some of them consider the unneces- sa ry rigors of their censorship. The Daily News and Leader, one of the strongest party organs of the present government, published a pointed protest recently. A censorship is a wholly new experience for English newspapers They have quickly adjusted themselves to the possibilities of defying it in the spirit while observing it in the letter The Daily News and Leader did not mention the Audacious, but it said, and everyone understood its mean ing:
 "Rumors of an event of very great im- portance to the English public have been circulating for very long time past now in this country. Very full accounts of the event in question have now been published in the Swedish, the Dutch, the American Aand finally the German papers. There Is scarcely an important public in the world. that is to say, which has not now received full report of the alleged occurrence, except that one which Is most directly affected by it.
 "The truth or falsehood of the reports is a matter on which Judgment may, and indeed for the moment must, be suspend ed. 1t Is intelligible that the authorities may have good reason for delaying the publication of news, favorable or other wise. until time when in their judgment its publication will be most effective or least prejudicial to the public interests. The sincere study and understanding of national psychology may be of important assistance in a struggle such that we are now waging But 1t is surely a psy- chological blunder of the first order to conceal from the British public news which good or bad. is the common prop erty of their neighbors.'
 The Times dwells editorially upon the same matter, saying:
 Our office Is filtered with German newspapers containing news we are for bidden to publish. We have also many American newspapers containing the same news, which was further sent broadcast in the German wireless messages. The present position, therefore, Is that the whole world is acquainted with news this country is not permitted to know. and the ridiculous feature of the situation Is that very large numbers of individuals in these islands know 1t quite we'll"