Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-11-02
letters FURNISH
news TO BRT0NS
Populace Growing Tired of
Censorship, Declared to h
Senseless by Many.
(By T. p.

NSt OOOunOT.
London. Nov. 2.-Owing to the AZ.
IRENE severity OF the censorship and
UP expulsion OF the war correspond
emu from the front the British pub-
nc remains %curtously ignorant with re.
FARO TO the events Of the war. Prac-
tlcaiiy 1t has no news, except such as
~ gwen IN the scrupulously reserved
ONCE. The English press bureau il
slngularly silent al a rule.
a Kitchener. the war secretary,
~ not a great admirer apparently Of
n war correspondent; indeed, he
seems to keep every civilian away
.lonl the armies. A photographer took
, most valuable and interesting pic
lures or some OF the war scenes to be
transferred to the cinematograph.
however. when the films were brought
under the notice Of the war office. not
only was their production forbidden at
the moment. but they were DESTROYED,
ihus a record that might have beer
OF great historic interest for the fu.
ture was lost.
Stupidity of Censors.
I1er Is a great deal of impatience
among the public. especially when II
was learned that the censors were
ca0!e correspondents permission to
send to America the speeches of Pre-
mier Asquith and Foreign Secretary
Grey III defense Of the wear. on the
ground that this would. be giving in.
formation to the enemy. - "
This was too much even for Lord
hltcnener. and the censor who was
ed. But the censorship remains, new
ertheless, strict. and the hunger of the
public for ews still remains unap-
peased. :. '
Soldiers Letters in Demand.
n has led to the curious result
that there are no human documents
which today excite greater interest
reader market, than the soldiers let.
ters. There Is no paper in the country
which does not come out with a cot.
umn or two Of these letters every dan
and they are read with great eager.
I have just started a wal paper in
combination with the Daily Telegraph
battle of the Mons. the first great bat
tie in which the British troops were
engaged. the only information I could
get so as to have an orderly and co.
herent story was from soldiers let.
ters. BY pfecing together a bit Of in.
formation in n and in another,
through hundreds Of them, it was pos.
~ Hc llIlSS OIL lNG
hiTtoric dispatch which General
French sent Of the. famous retreat OF
his troops and to make some approach
to a consecutive narrative.
Reads Thousands of Letters.
1t has thus been my duty to read
hundreds may say even thousands
of these soldiers letters, and it has
been n Of the most interesting ex.
periences l have ever had. l could no,
help plying Emile lola as l thought
how he had to search around for ma,
terial when he sat down to write OF
his story Of the F'ranco-German wal
of 1870. -
AS everybody familiar with the lif,
of NJ lola Knows, he never had tn.
uniform Of a soldier on his back
throughout his life; he was exempted
ron CONSUMPTION because he vas the
only support of a widowed mother
Besides, soldiers were not so commun.
icative then.
Today the first thing that strikes me
about these soldiers letters is their
extraordinarily good diction. It is one
OF the many signs of the improvement
OF education among the British PEG.
pie. who. I may remind American
readers. had compulsory and genera
education for the first time as recent.
ly as the year. 1870. The languages