The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-06-28

must have notice of that question.
 If am incapable of deciding my self whether anything I propose to write is against the interests of my country, then I am an incapable journalist and ought to change my profession-and get appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. or War Sec retary-or something else where no previous experience is required.
 I, do not hesitate to say that had the newspapers not been warned to say nothing about the. trouble with the Engineers the recent strike would never have occurred. Editors were Forbidden" to publish mems griev- ances whilst being left free to issue day after day shoal of silly tele- grams about strikes in Germany! Can you wonder that this kind of thing fomented trouble.
 Then take the case of various Bri- tish regiments who, whilst bearing the brunt of the fighting, are never allowed to be mentioned, whilst our Australian and Canadian troops are overwhelmed with publicity and praise. Heaven knows, they deserve it, but so do our own boys from home.
 The Irish rebellion, too, came as a complete surprise to the British pulp lic-although every newspaperman knew it was coming and could have warned the nation and probably have greatly modified the position; and the same remark applies to the Russian revolution. The Continental papers were full of warnings of it's immin- ence, but the British press was order ed to be dumb. I say, let the press which, when all is said and done, really governs the nauon-asserts it's power. 70
 I remember a certain Minister of the Crown saying two years ago that he would not allow the government to be criticized because it might have a tendency to depress the nation" Think what that means. However grossly incompetent minister might prove himself to be, he was to be above criticism, free from fear of comment! Not only would we still be without many of the advantages the press has already secured, but it Ewou1d be impossible today, had this preposterous claim prevailed. for me to have asked every week, as I did, | What about those traitor princes?' should be forbidden to agitate for just and generous treatment of the sailor and soldier and their depend u piOIOSI IAlO way III which submarine menace and the air service have been muddled. In other wards, we should all have had to
 ''shut our eyes and open our mouths and see what the Westminster Man
 darins would send us. Where they would send. Us there could be no doubt
 Even as I write, see that the fact is being made public that Japanese war vessels have for sometime past been in the Mediterranean-wh seEne of us, and all the, Germans, were already aware of. But it was con- sidered unwise to tell the British pub- lie that their Eastern Ally was ren- dering this help so near home! And Sir Edward Carson regards it as legitimate after-dinner jest to mention that his son, submarine commander, recently just escaped dis aster at the hands of one of our own destroyers! If an editor had said that and could tell many stranger story (these things will happen in war) he would have found himself at Bow street.
 We'll, say the press, should pro- test By way of a change, the edi- tors should strike.
 I am always ready to distinguish between liberty and license, and I re- cognize that in times of war there must necessarily be measure of re- striction even upon the franchises of