The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-08
USE GREAT CARE IN
 FRENCH CENSORSHIP
Always Reason for Seeming
 Inconsistencies
JOFFRE IS THE CHIEF
Says What May and May Not Be ublished-Amusing Instances of Use of the Censor's
 Blue Pencil

Use of the Censor's
 Blue Pencil
 Paris. July 2o.-(Correspondence of the Associated PressD-The bureau of the
 French censor. or Bureau de Ia Presse'
 as it prefers to be known is familiary
 called "Anastasie" after a dressmaker
 who was the heroine of popular song and who, like the censor, was busy with a sharp pair of shears during the second empire; she has become his patron saint
 The propriety of the name is questioned by every editor whose copy has been
 siashed. The work of Anastasie was
 nethodical, following a rational plan and executed with undoubted taste and dis crimination. while the censor of today is compared by Parisian paragraphers to an | editor with a bilious view of life a su- preme contempt for the feelings of his fellow man and sense of news ap- pl oachlng hysteria nightmare This view grows out of the apparent caprice inconsistency and inconsistency of the cen sor. He cut mercilessly yesterday what 1 he let go through the day before, and what he killed yesterday he approves to- 1 day. He slashes the copy of one editor and allows another to publish the same thing. Parts of the same dispatch are 1 elmina ted from the proofs of one paper, and overlooked in another, and so on
 The fact is, undoubtedly, that the cen | sor is doing the best he can. If his work seems to be ragged to the journalist, 1t is because he is bound by instructions l from many different sources that change and accumulate every day. If it is not l uniform it Is because large staff is re- | quired to do the work and the general result is bound to reflect different per sonal viewpoints.
 Special Rules Daily
 l The general plan of the censorship was defined by the law of August 5, 1914, for- bidding publication of news of move ments of troops, composition of units or
 attachments of the army, details of de- Iensive works, numbers of wounded, killed or prisoners facts concerning ornaments, material or supplies, sanitary
 situation, promotions or changes among general officers and in general any in- | formation likely to be of use to the
 enemy CT act harmfully upon the spirit
 of the army or the population. Following these general rules special recommenda-
 tons are transmitted daily from the gen. eral headquarters
 l The consequence of uncensored refer enoes to bombarded towns was shown in
 the case of a city, certain quarters of
 which, that had been spared, were in- dicated in d newspaper article. The next day the Germans directed their fire upon the blocks of houses indicated in th
 article Another article cited industrial establishments exploited py the French
 army, not far from the lines. Immedi
 ately the Germans bombarded them and
 the French were obliged to abandon
 them.
 A weekly periodical published photo-
 graph of priest saying mass for a
 congregation of soldiers at a village near
 the front. The Germans learned from it
 that French troops were quartered in
 the village and showered shells upon it.
 The censor's apprehensions are fre- quently declared to be exaggerated, most
 of the news that he considers dangerous
 the editor considers absolutely inoffen- siVe. It is not the censor who always decides. The real head of the censor ship is the commander in chief of the French armies. His orders are transmit tedw every day and the bureau of the
 press must rigidly follow them. News, the publication of which Is considered dangerous today. may be no longer dan gerous tomorrow, and it is often in this
 release of news, the publication of which
 Is no longer harmful. that brings upon
 the censor the charge of caprice.
 Viviani Court of Last Resort Instructions regarding naval matters
 come from the minister of marine.
 while the ministry of foreign affairs
 decides what diplomatic news may be
 published. News of a general political
 bearing is referred to the premier
 himself. Monsieur Viviani, who is the
 court of last resort and whose sleep is troubled at hours of the night by tele-
 phone calls from the Bureau de la Eresse."
 Newspapers complained that when the German atrocities were fresh they could not publish them, while later on, after the battle of the Marne. when they had ceased to be news, they were allowed to print them freely. The pub lication of these details was prohib- ited because that was supposed to be what the Germans wanted and because the wider circulation given to them the more would be the chances of in- limitation. After the battle of the Marne, these reasons disappeared The newspapers were also astonished that the censor should order them to cease publishing the state of the ba- rometer It hadn't occurred to them that Knowledge of the weather condi- tions would be of great service to the pilots of German aeroplanes and Zep- pelins.
 People asking in the newspapers the SdlilHg uateS or tfencn 1 liners found them missing one morn 1 ing and few of them had the thought fulness to connect this measure with the presence of subma rines in the Eng fish channel At one time the papers : published freely eXpedients used by French prisoners in Germany to in form their families how they were treated in spite of the German censor ship. This was interesting, but the exposure ofNtheir subterfuges rendered them useless for the future. Pathetic ! recitals of the escape of prisoners from their guardians, how they got back | to the French lines through invaded regions, with names of the villages | through which they passed, sometimes ! even the houses where they were shel- | tered, were extremely dangerous. They ! exposed the families who sheltered the | soldiers to punishment by the German | occupying troops
 Composition of Bureau The officers of the Bureau de la Presse" resemble somewhat the proof | reading room of a great newspaper. The staff Is mixed, part military and part civilian. including many retired officers who have resumed service, | many others who have been wounded | at the front and incapacitated for fur tner active service
 The chief is a well-know lawyer | and he has among his aides a few lit crary men, journalists and dramatic II .,uthorS During every hour of the