The Detroit times., 1917-06-01
Is the United States,
Like Germany, to Keep
Her Subjects in Darkness?

NIIiLtQ ottLtos
This is not to be denied.
The country is still to be aroused to
sense Of its position and 20 realization
Of the pressing needs of the hour.
One reason for the indifference is lack
Of Neutrality-suspicious. of the censored
accounts that are permitted to get past
Washington.
The country at large knows little Of
what is actually going on, and what little
1t is told ii takes with salt.
Officialdom clouds itself in mystery.
The news from Europe is chopped, col
ored, doctored.
Home government news that is real
news has become we'll nigh non-existent.
Senator Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey,
has suggested remedy. He says:
pitiless publicity il what IS needed. To fight
th;s war successfully we have got 20 have the
help OF every man and woman IN the United
states To get this help. they must know what
A going on. This IL not oneman war II IL
not the presidents war. II As not the war de-
parfment's war. IL s the war Of the American
people and they have the right to know what
- going on.
There is great weight in what the sena-
tor says.
In Germany, the war is the Kaisers
war and the censorship is clamped down.
The people there are outrageously lied
70 both about internal and external al
fairs, and they are kept in ignorance as
far as possible, lest they rebel.
-4-T. Every time the truth about situation
J sees the light, trouble begins for the Ber-
lin government.
In the United States the war is our war,
(. and we are fighting against everything
Prussianism stands for
We are fighting against the institution
which is keeping its subjects in darkness
q and driving them TO death under false
\ 0retenses.
50 here, more than any other place on
* earth, the news should be given out freely
and accurately, and publicity should be
\ pitileSs in all instances where secrecy is
not absolutely indispensable to military
Effectiveness.
AT the outset of the war, silly censor.
s rh}p almost ruined the effectiveness OF
& Great Britain.
4 It dampened the national spirit; 1t ham,
pered enlistments; it caused indifference
and apathy.
Nevertheless, the American executive
1lopartrnent is striving every way possible
4 ~ net thru a law that win muzzle the
s. citizenship and silence the press, and In
NATION it is giving out.
Plenty of propaganda utterances come
ffon washington. but few facts.
II there were more facts less propagan-
AZ would be needed.
The firing squad win kindly lower the
runs for moment.
If this be treason, and they must shoot,
they win have to shoot the Free Press,
because we have simply clipped all above
IKE dash, bodily, from that newspaper
its protest against the WAR plans of the
GOVERNMENT for strict press censor
ship.
In another editorial, in the same issue,
appearing directly below the editorial we
have reprinted, the Free Press deals with
those citizens of Kansas City who went
% court to question the constitution
atty Of the selective CONSUMPTION law. OF
these the Free Press says:
The agitators thruout the country who are
b ouheavoring to persuade men TO disregard the
f4xfstrafion act and remain away from the polls
may be guilty OF reasonable practices and near
oedifion They are preaching defiance OF the
advocate lawbreaking. But II Is always the right
d anyone within the jurisdiction or the United
8fafes TO test the constitutionality Of the laws
of the United States in the courts. This Is the
proper and recognized way OF protesting against
legislation.
Isn't it really the duty Of newspapers
which do not take kindly to being die
3 tated 10 in the matter of what they shall
! print as news and shall not print, to
wait in the same spirit of accomplishing
submission they have contended real pa
4 triotism calls for, and if a censorship law
y Is passed against them, go quietly into
court and get legal decision on the
matter?
We know Of no better place than right
here to call attention to the policy of the
government as announced in special
news dispatch to the Free Press toward
n9itators against the CONSUMPTION law.
\. Under Washington date of May 80,
The following appears:
Federal agents tomorrow will begin a general
round-up OF all anti-draft registration conspira-
tors turnout the country.
Hundreds Of arrests are expected within the
( nrxt two days, II was indicated at the depart.
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