Imperial Valley press., 1914-09-01
WAR CORRESPOND
ENTS HAVE TROUBLE

Paris, Aug. 29.-The Sighting among
Germans. Belgians, French and Eng
Gsb o, the continent has given the war
CORE esnondents the hardest task they
ever encountered. for all of the war
rinq Governments are doing their ut
most to bottle up information and keep
even.ualities from the public. Otfic-
ianv there are no correspondents with
tho French and British armies now,
; and from the outset, the Kaiser order
ed that no correspondents be allowed
with tie German army.
However. the world is getting some
rcws of what is going on, which is
proof that the correspondents are at
work, whether or not the Kaiser, the
King, the Czar and the President of
France recognize them as such.
Regulations against correspondents
are more rigid than in any other war
/ in history. In the recent Balkan wars
I the newspaper and magazine men were
allowed to accompany the armies, the
cnly restriction being that they were
several miles in the rear Of fighting,
so that they were in no danger.
In the recent trouble in Mexico, the
correspondents had the greatest lib
erty. General Francisco Villa allowed
them TO go with his army in every
battle. General Huerta invited them
to accompany the federal armies, and
/ all fighting was seen by newspaper
men. When the United States seized
the port of Vera Cruz, Read Admiral
Badger, commanding the Atlantic
feet, allowed the correspondents to
go ashore with the bluejackets and
marines, and they were in the thick
of all that went on.
Since the days OF Napoleon, war
correspondents, term later enlarged
to include photographers, have been
regarded not merely as 4 burden on
the general staff, which has quite
enough on its hands without them,
hut also as a source of grave danger
to the army. However carefully his
dispatches are censored he is likely to
get in something that betrays the
strategy of his side to the enemy.
In tie Austro-Prussian war of 1866,
the battle of Sadowa was fought and
lost by the Anstrians, because a cor
respondent Of a London newspaper,
with them, sent out the information
that the army was encamped on the
right bank of the River Elbe This
seemed innocent enough even to the
Austrian censor, but it was sufficient
to give the Prussians clue to the
position of the enemy and they acted
On It promptly and successfully.
Shelman's famous march from At.
s lanta TO the sea, which had such dis
asterous results for the Confederacy,
was undertaken after he had read in
Confederate newspapers some remarks
by Jefferson Davis of the things that
his generals had done and were going
to do to Sherman. If the Confeder-
ates had done those things first and
talked afterward or if the newspapers
lad kept silent, history might have
teen written differently. Bu the Con-
federate newspapers were of great
) value 10 the Union throughout the war
, In the same way newspapers in
/; other nations have been of great value
to one or both parties in a conflict
, The history of every great campaign
= in the last century records instances
. of information that has affected the
) issue, being given out by war cor
: respondents. Photographs can betray
military secrets as well as words. AL
; though this has been understood fully
and while most recent wars have bee,
: opened with the assertion that thi,
J time the correspondents would be sup
: pressed ne nation apparently had the
2 courage to carry out such threats unit
! the Japanese showed the world how
! much that was really important coulC
J. be accomplished by little courteou,
delay in furnishing credentials to cor.
: Respondents. But even Japan did not
! venture to keep the news men entirely
out of the field.