The sun., 1917-07-31
ARMY PROTESTS
AGAINST CREEL
New Censor Rules Issued
Baker Asks Press to Be
Charitable.

Charitable.
WAsHINoToN, July 3o.-Two contrary
rulings by the Creel bureau and the
War Department again emphasized to-
day the general muddled condition Of
the censorship and the lack OF a strong
directing hand.
Mainly as a result OF the present con-
fusion and lack OF cooperation and CO.
ordination between the Creel publicity
bureau and the military authorities. the
Army War College forwarded a state
ment to-day to Secretary Baker point
ing out that the vital military interests
of the nation had been placed In
jeopardy on nine occasions within the
last few weeks Specific instances are
cited to show that the present form OF
censorship has not served as protection
to'the nation.
The instances in which the most Sc
rious charges of violation have been
made, however. have not resulted from
misunderstanding of the Creel bureaus
rules but from following them implicitly.
b L
ton of dispatches passed by the Eu-
ropean censors announcing the arrival
OF American military units in Europe.
On this subject the bureaus only stand
ing rule, contained In the general list
promulgated May 2s and never replaced
nor revoked, was as follows:
"All messages received from abroad
by cable or wireless are censored at the
point OF despatch or receipt and are free
for publication unless some especial cir
cumstances arouses the suspicion Of the
editor"
Substitute Ruling.
The new rules, instead OF restating
this principle. substitute for it a prohibi-
tion on publication of:
Information Of the arrival at any
European port of American war vessels
transports or any portion OF an expedi-
tionary force. combatant or non-com-
| batant, until announcement Is authorized
! by the Secretary Of War or the Secre-
tary of tho Navy"
It is the general opinion among Of
| ficers at the War College that the mill
tary censorship must be put in COM
| petent expert military hands and that
| the censorship organization must be alb
/ solutely divorced from Government pub
licity work to command the respect and
! cooperation OF the press associations and
| newspapers. The refusal of the Asso-
| ciated Press to accept the ruling OF the
| Creel bureau has only confirmed the
view held by many General Staff officers
| that the present system is bound to COL
| lapse. The confidence and cooperation
now lacking in the censorship. II is held,
| would be restored II this whole problem
was once placed In competent military
| hands.
Secretary Baker is understood to real
ize that the recommendations OF his mil
itary advisers sooner or later will have
| to be followed. In the meantime Mr..
Baker still seems to be disposed to re-
tain the present system and to try out a
new set OF rules which Mr.. Creel made
! public to-day after consultation with the
! War and Navy departments.
Secretary Bakers Plea.
! Secretary Baker asked the newspa pers
| to be charitable while these new rules
were being tried. Mr.. Baker seemed to
| think that these rules had been made
sufficiently plain by this time to preclude
the possibility OF mistakes being made
either by the newspapers themselves or
between the Creel bureau and the War
| Department
In reply to a question as TO whether
he subscribed to the language in the
paragraph of the new rules discussing
alleged violations, Mr.. Baker said he
had approved the whole statement al.
though he had not written it. Mr. Cree
said that Secretary Daniels who could
not be reached tonight, also had ap'
proved the statement before vt was is
sued.
The mlxup to-day arose over the cor
lision in New York harbor. The Wal
Department ruled that the name Of the
ship and the place must not be pub
lished. The Creel bureau ruled that the
name Of the chip and the place could be
published. The Associated Press, ap
parently ignoring the Creel bureau, ap
pl!ed directly to the War Department
and received its ruling and was guided
accordingly. Even when the Creel bu
reau Informed the Associated Press o.
its ruling in the matter the Associated
Press indicated Its determination to b'
governed in such matters not by th'
Creel bureau but by the War Depart
ment. When told of the Creel bureaus
ruling Mr. Baker seemed to be utterly
nor plussed. He fatty stated that th'
War Department ruling was right, bu
he seemed to think that the new rule,
might stralghten out matters In the fu
ture.
Creel Bureau Statement.
The Creel bureaus statement follows
"The desires of the Government will
respect to the concealment from the en-
emy Of military policies, plans and move
ments are set forth in the following spe
cIfic requests. They go TO the press o
the United States directly from the Sec
retary Of War and the Secretary of tn
: Navy and represent the thought and ad
vice of their technical advisers.
For the protection of our miltar!
and naval forces and OF merchant ship
ping II Is requested that secrecy be OBJ
served in all matters of
"l-Information In regard to the trail
or boat movements OF troops. Such in
, formation is at all times and under al
/ circumstances dangerous and should b
scrupulously avoided.
"2-Information tending directly or in
directly to disclose the number or iden
- ~, AypAdltIOps