The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-15

Required Beyond Means of Vern6u- ular Newspapers Officials in Orisnt
 Force of New Power.
 PeAing, May z15.@The oldest nervls- paper in the world is protesting fve-
 hemently against the newest of ma t1Onal regulations for the oress ana
 mas called meeting of the PeAinc
 Press Association to talSel action. It l is said that if the Goverurnent sner not repeal the Press act 1t is possible l that all newspapers will strike a5t ceasing publication! Needless to sar the Pektng Gazette, is no longer er- clusivedy Government organ. as it was Tor hundreds of years. and until the overthrow of the Mancl1Il sliyr a ssfa5 Under the new Press law. pronTll- gated to-day, the existing censorshin 1 IS eliminated, but, nevertheless. the act promises effectua1ly to muzzIe the press.
 Newspapers are divided into fine fsi- lowing classes: daily papers, ioapsrs appearing irreguiarIy, weekly papers. papers published every ten days.
 monthly papers and annual papera1
 The publisher must submit fuIl par ticuiars of the nature of the paber and the names. ages, bfrthplaces. ra5t records and addresses of himself. che kpEinter, and the editor, who must ne over thirty years of age, suffer from no nervous disease, been undeprfysd oI clvM rights, belong neither to tno naval nor the military professioun and be neither. sa administrative lor judicial official nor a student. f- ter the police have approved tho ptib~ lication the publisher must deposit a security, ranging from $35O for daily pers published in Picking and other capital cities or commercial poEtr must deposit double the amount Pa pers exclusively devoted to Iearnfnr. arts, statistics, official documents, and market lists are exempt
 Police to Watch Papers
 A copy of every issue of a pa.p4p must be sent to Sthe police station or the day of publication. Newspapers must not publish particulars Of ill6i4 ciaI proceedings held in camera. din lomatfc, military or naval affairs. plIbz Hcation Of winch has been forbidden. false charges aganSt the cSovernrneIf eIft or attacks on the form of governmenf under penalty of fine The zaIe, ,rf foreign papers containing sfrnilar items is prohibited.
 Most of the papers do not seem to care about the rule requiring that ed- itors and publishers must not be sir- der thirty years of age. They sooi1t. out that in case Of the rnaristraf fss,l examination. though the are require- x1ent was thirty-fives a good many acf the applicants were we'll under fI1f7fvss One of them humorousIy puts 1t thaf the rule must have been made bv some one who has an unpracfica4 minds and the best way to treat such rule is to leay if to rot. It is in- teresting to see How they look at the guarantee deposit rule, says the Pc king Gazette. They say the rule is evidently in anticipation of the press stubboTnnessf in exposing on1ciA1 cor ruptions. and this is a preventive step. As to the fixed amounts, they point out that there is not a single paper which is not published in either the capital cities or commercial ports ana so every paper will be required to pay $70O.
 Humor of the Situation.
 The same husncrdst says that in view Of the difficulty of the, Ministry of Interior5tos pay Is oGlcials. a sum of twenty 9or5 thirty thousand doilaro will be some help towards paying the men who so carefully made the rules Others hold that the reason of fixing the figuresa $35o and indirectly rais- ing 1t to an actual $70O is a denberate scheme to cheat the Pregident aa he would certain7x ob5ect1Go such a hiwIi figure if 1t were p4t down plainly at $700. Then there is the case of Pol Hua-Pao, a daily published in simple language for the benefit or the poorer class. This paper, it is believed, will also be required to pay the regular $700. Such an act on the part of the Ministry of Interior or the police is to stif1e public education.
 The plain truth of the matter is that the power of the press, although a new phenomenon in the Orient. has been 8 matter of deep concern to the politicians. especially in China and Japan. Baron Shibusawa, in an nouncing the formation of the Jap anese Kokaais or international Press News Agency, told the newspaper na,n of Tokio that while the new organ ization was permanent national in- stftutfon, 1t was independent and bound in honor to maintain a news service of the highest standard. He denied that the Kokaai had the slight est official connection, although 1t had the support of leading business men: and he, denied that it was sought to create a monopoly. Then he said. "The organization will be protective and careful Of international under standings and reputation
 While many newspapers printed here in the vernacular will be unable to comply with the new Press law, for $7O0, or even $36O, is a large sum for private enterprise in China those able to comply will be under srricter Gov ernment control than ever It is true that the existing censorship had been abolished, but Chuang Yuen- -ESvvanr. former Civil Governor or KianRsf. has just been appointed ~Censor-Gen- eral of the Administrative Court" and it is assumed that he will direct the police supervision already indicated.