The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-11
CENSORSHIP ONE OF
 MOST REMARKABLE
 THINGS ABOUT WAR
Even the King Is Censored. Poor Judgment Shown
 at Bureau

London, September 10.-(SpeciaD-One of the most remarkable features of the war in England has been the completeness of the censorship and the unanimity with which the censors have been assisted by the newspapers themselves in keeping out anything that might be of value to the enemy. Ever the King has been cen- sored About a week ago the court cir cular, the officiai document issued every night by the court newsman giving an account of the Kings movements for the day. contained the information that the King and Queen had visited Alder shot to review the troops there lon their departure for the front" The newspapers printed about the movements of troops and this indiscreet phrase was spotted at once in several offices and the cen sor was warned. What he did has not been disclosed, but half an hour later the court newsman was ringing up ev- cry newspaper office in London and im- ploring them to delete these dangerous words from the court circular
 It is fortunate thing for England that the newspapers have entered so heartily into the censorship for anything more uninteligent than the way in which the censors work is hard to imagine. They are statione dat the general postoffice. through which all telegrams from the continent pass, and all such telegrams are submitted to them Photographic messages from the continent of Europe are type
 written on long strips, like ticker tape, and these are then cut in lengths and pasted on a sheet of paper. The censor's method is to take a pair of scissors and cut out the objectionable word or phrase bodily from the pasted up sheet, the result showing clearly how much has been deleted and the context plainly enough indicating what it was. For in stance, the other night, a telegram was received from Paris saying that the French government was about to issue a daily news bulletin in French and Eng fish flor the French, Belgian and - troops in the field" One word after .'and' had been deleted. When one knows that no mention had been allowed here of the fact that the British troops had ar rived on the continent the missing word Is easily supplied.
 I am told that the idea of coneealing the fact that Britains expeditionary force was at the front was, not to hide 1t from the Germans. who doubtless knew it promptly, but to spare the relatives and friends of the men anxiety It has had the very opposite effect for London and the whole of England has been humming
 with rumors for the last 10 days. It has been asserted positively in London that the Black Watch, the Gordon Highland CTS, the Deyons, the Bluffs and the Irish
 F'usiliers had been cut up by the Ger mans and that hundreds of men had been killed. Circumstantal stories were told of the receipt by relatives of the soldiers of telegrams from the war office stat ing that their relatives had been killed in action. 1 have been unable to find anyone who actually saw any of these telegrams. or who even know anyone who saw them. but practically everyone in London had heard of them at second
 or third hand. On August IA things be-
 came so had that the editors of the lead ling London newspapers made representa- l tions to the war office that something
 must be done to stop the rumors or there | would be panic, and statement was ! issued declaring positively that there was | not the slightest foundation for any of | them, and promising that the public would be informed promptly of all Brit | ish reverses or successes during the war. believe that the explanation of the casualty telegrams may be found in the
 fact that there are bound to be a num- 1 Der of accidents during the mobilization and embarkaton of any large force. and | of course, the relatives of the men in jured in this way were promptly in formed. There were also certain num- Der of men inyalided out of the service
 on the approach of hostilities and theil
 cases were also magnified into war cas-