Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-10-08

Il6 Vi L
Sir:-I have read with much pleas
ure in The Times CT this morning the
leading article headed The Judgment
of America" have the honor to rep
resent in London a famous New York
newspaper which publishes morning
and afternoon, and the news service
Of which appears in very large mum
Der Of important newspapers through
the United States, Canada, the West
Indies and South America.
\ Naturally ! should have liked to
have cabled to my paper this morning
extensive quotations from the article
referred to- / did not do so. as, in
spite CT the advantage of five hours
in time that we have in cabling from
London to New York the experience
of the last FIVE weeks has shown that
| it was impossible to hope for the mes
sage to get through in time for pub
LEGATION. This may seem to be an
extraordinary, even incredible, state
Of things, but it is the truth.
The press and the people Of this
country have shown in no doubtful
manner their appreciation of the SYM
patty and support of American opin-
ion in this great crisis. 1t is surely
strange. then. that the representatives
| in London OF the chief American news
papers and news agencies. to whom al
least some share in the formation Of
that American opinion must be attrib-
uted, should be treated by the British
war office as IL they were working for
an ayowedly hostile press and people.
All Of US recognize the necessity
and desirability of a press censorship
at such time. Not one Of us would
Willingly send any information the
publication of which could be in the
slightest degree detrimental to the
interests OF the country in which we
are guests Nevertheless, it is impos-
sible longer to disguise from ourselves
the fact that we are treated as "sus-
pect" l..~ t..'..-.. a. r.. ....-7
We have asked for but received no
information of what is to be consid-
erred as matter that may not be cabled
to America We have discovered by
the costly process of experiment that
neither matter which appears in the
London newspapers after passing the
censor nor even the official announce
ments of the press bureau. are neces-
sarily available for publication in Am
erica, both being frequently stopped
altogether or mutilated out of all
sense and meaning. This we can only
discover when the newspapers come
over from America and from informa-
tion from our American headquarters.
All the ordinary. relations between
client and mechant have been stopped
as between ourselves and the various
cable companies. We cannot find out
from the companies whether our mes.
sages have been sent or not At an
hour in the morning when it is obvi-
ously too late for matter that Is not
already on the wire to be in time for
publication, we cannot find out wheth-
er any OF our messages are still in
hand so that we may cancel or abbre-
viate them. Any request for informa-
ton meets with the reply: "Our Of
fee is In the hands of the censor: we
are not allowed to answer any ques-
tons or give any information.
One finds no more satisfaction in
applying to the censorship itself. My
own experience Is as follows: The
day after the censorship had been es-
tablished called at the war office and
sent my card with an inquiry form
duly filed up to the chief censor.
With very little delay was conduct
ed to his office My card was taken
in, and gentleman came out who
told me that the chief censor was en-
gagged He talked to me vaguely for
a few minutes in the lobby, but was,
regretfully. unable to give me any In i
formation with the slightest degree Of
preciseness beyond the fact that mill. J,
tary movements were not to be re-
ported. More recently wished to ask |
the censor definite question, and |
again called at the war office. I was /
again conducted to the door of his Of. |
fee without delay. Another gentle. |
man came out and talked with me for |
a few minutes in the lobby. The |
chief censor was out; he thought he |
would be back in about an hour, but |
he himself could not deal with the |
question / asked-a very simple one. |
To show that our complaints are !
not made without good reason would !
like to give few examples CT our /,
experiences. l could fill a column with |
similar happenings. One day this |
week l received cable from New |
York informing me that nothing at |
all Of the previous nights cable sery.
ice had get through in time for pub
LEGATION. This means that a message |
filed here at $3.50 p. m London time, |
or 8: 80 p. m. New York time, had not |
been delivered at a. m. London time |
the following morning. A few days
l received a cable telling |
me that of some 5000 words fled here
between 9 p. m. and a. N. consider
ably less than one-fourth had got |
through in time for publication. A |
message filed by one of my confreres |