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

Sir have read with much pleas
ure in The Times Of this morning the
leading article headed The Judgment
Of America" I 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 num-
Der of important newspapers through
the United States, Canada, the West
indies and South America.
Naturally | should have liked to
Fave 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 b" an
eXtraurdinary. even incredible, state
| f things. but il is the truth.
The press and the people Of this
! cow try haV" shown in no doubtful
manner their appreciation cf the sym
pHthv and support Of American Opin-
| ion in this great crisis. 1t is surely
strange. them. that the representatives
in I.cnlrn Ct the chief American news
papers and news agencies. to whom at
least some share in the formation Of
tbut American opinion must be attrib-
uIrd, should hp treated by the British
war Offic" az if they were working for
an ayOWedIy hostile press and people.
All Of us rpcOgniZp the necessity
and des:rahility Of a press censorship
at such time Net 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
ar" guests. Nevertheless. it is impOs-
sfble longer to disguise from ourselves
the fact that we are treated as "sus-
poCt
We have asked for but received no
information Of what is to he COnsid-
cred 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
mcnts of the press bureau. are neCes-
sarily available for publication in Am
erica, beth 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- I
ton from cur American headquarters. !
All the ordinary relations between
client and mechant have been stopped
as between ourselves and the various
cable companies. We cannot find cut
from the companies whether our mes
sages have been sent or not At an
hour in the morning when it is Obvi-
Cusly tCO late for matter that is not
already on the wire to be in time for
publication. We cannot find cut wheth-
or any Of cur messages are still in
hand so that We may cancel or abbre- !
Viate them. Any request for informal
tion meets with the reply: "Our Of
fee is in the hands Of the censor: we
are not allowed to answer any CUES
tions or give any information"
One finds no more satisfaction in
applying to the censorship itself Ny
own experience is as follows: The
dav after the censorship had been es-
tablished called at the war office and
sent my card with an inquiry form
duly filled M to the chief censor
With very little delay | was conduct
ed to his office My card was taken
in. and a gentleman came out who
told me that the chief censor was en-
eagcd He talked to me vaguely for
a few minutes in the lobby but was,
respectfully. unable to give me any in
formation with the slightest degree OF
Pre- r.sonoss beyond the fact that mill
tTry movements were not to he re-
ported. More recently | wished to ask
the censor a definite question. and
again called at the war office | was 3,
again conducted to the door Of his Of.
flee without delay. Another gentle.
man came cut 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 I
not made without good reason | would i
like to give a few examples CT our y
experiences. | could fill a column with i
similar happenings. One day thi9
Week received a cable from New
York informing me that nothing at
all Ct the previous nights cable serv-
ice had got through in time for pub !
LEGATION This means that a message
MED here AT $50 p. m. London time
or $50 p. m. New York time had not
been delivered at : a. m. London time Il
the following morning. A few days
previously | received a cable telling |