Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-04-28

maximum of four days each every
month on the average. Since there
are upwards of a hundred or more
regular American and English news
paper correspondents waiting their
turn to say nothing of authors, artists
intermittent and special writers of all
kinds, with a considerable number of
Italian, Spanish, Russian, Swedish
South American, Norwegian and Swiss
correspondents, it is a great school of
/ patience to the ardent Journalist.
The period of waiting is not devoid
/ of heartburnings for the correspon-
dent who was here before the war"
and has held the fort ever since. He
often sees a special" man who ar
rived in the morning going out with a
party to the front the same or the fol-
lowing day. That has frequently hap
pened for reasons that are best known
/ to the French Foreign office, but are
supposed to be chiefly psychological
/ The old war horses have become a
! little worn, the new arrival with a
fresh face comes in with more opti-
mistic view of the situation and he
generally has some new argument to
prove that he is the one man predes-
| tined to be the proper exponent of
/ the situation in France to the Ameri-
can public. He has the further ad-
vantage of never having yet hads oc-
casion to complain that the time is
long between trips.
Conspicuous Representatives
1t requires something like a hun
dred capable men, in a large proper
! ton Paris newspaper men, modified
and detailed by the general staff to do
this work. There are among them
such conspicuous representatives of
the Paris press as Monsieur Robert de
Jouvenel, editor in chief of the Matin
Monsieur ChameiX, one of the men,
bers of the editorial staff of the Jour-
mel des Debats; Monsieur Rene Puaux
war correspondent and a member of
the special staff of the Temps.
There are also a number of men
from the diplomatic service detailed
TO look after the propaganda of the
war to the limited extent that France
has engaged in such work, but chief
ly to take care of the wants of corre-
spondents of foreign newspapers. This
service is under the immediate direc-
| tion of Monsieur Henri Ponsot, a man
| of considerable experience in the con-
sular and diplomatic service abroad
and possessing the energy required in
dealing with the mass of detail con-
nected with the desire of so many
correspondents to be all at the same
time on the firing line. Associated
with Monsieur Ponsot in this work is
Monsieur G. b. d'Anglade, d former con-
sui general at New York
All these services are under the
general direction of Monsieur Gau-
thier, selected by the Government for
general supervision of all the affairs
connected with the press.
Parties of Four or Six
The correspondent who has COM
piled with the regulations adopted at
the beginning of the war, has a medi-
cal certificate, references from his
ambassador as to his honorableness,
and who is fortunate enough to get his
permit to go to the front, joins party
of from four to six. goes by rail to a
point decided upon in advance and is
there met by the officer detailed by the
general staff to show the party over
the itinerary previously arranged.
Few insignificant notifications and no
changes in the itinerary are possible,
and so long as the party is under the
conduct of the officer it is subject to
military regulations.
Arc Greatly Limited
w nat IneN see dl lllt lIOlI lS III
nearly every case a reptation of what
was seen by the previous party, but
that is the fault of the trench warfare
which has introduced into the military
operations a monotony that does not
at all further the interests of the war
correspondent. The trips are generally
so managed that the correspondents
are able to sleep In comfortable bed
at some hotel near enough the front
to be easily accessible in the motor
car. They pay their own hotel bills
and their own railway carfares, but
! the motor cars are requisitioned We
hicles provided by the general staff
When it is all over and the copy is
ready, it must be submitted to the
officer who has guided the party for
his censorship, and to avoid traction
and curb the zeal of any correspon-
dent tempted to get the better of a
rival, an hour is generally fixed by the
officer for the submission of the copy
in common. The revision of it is some-7
times a simple matter-occasionally
quiet serious. The correspondent
must not give names of officers, num-
bers of regiments and names of places;
he must not disclose damage to build
ings from bombardments if he named
the buildings and the town; he is fire.
uuently allowed to mention officers if
he does not name localities, and he
can Under certain circumstances name
localities IL he does not mention Off
GERS or men or specific destruction. In
no case may he talk about the number
of troops or the nature of the troops,
whether active, reserve or territorial,
neither can be say from where they
come because an indication of the
homes of certain soldiers would give
to the German staff the number of the
regiments, and thus help them to ar
rive at an estimate of the total forces
in front of them. In describing bonn
barded towns he must be careful not
to mention any important buildings
that have escaped damage.