The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-05-09
LANSING CAUSES
Stir BY BAN ON
news IN CAPITOL
Aides Resent implications
They Revealed
Secrets.

directed that no O1nc1al OF MS oepdfC-
ment other than himself, Frank L.
Polk, Counsellor of the Department,
and head OF a newly created Bureau
Of Foreign Intelligence shall COM
municate to the newspapers or per-
sons information regarding the affa1rs
of his department.
A supplementary order compels
newspaper reporters to provide pho
tographs of themselves to be attach
ed to cards admitting them to the
War, Navy and State Departments.
EvoIxes Much Criticism.
The action of Mr.. Lansing in antici-
pating the passage of Congress of a
bill empowering the President to
promulgate regulations of censorship
over individuals and newspapers Gre
ated great deal of. comment in off,
cfa1 circles, ELECTED protests from
representatives Of newspapers and
was severely criticized in Congress
ional circles.
1t brought from Senatorial sources
the charge that the state secretary
ha established invisible government"
and secret diplomacy for the first
time in the history sof Democratic
administration.
The Cabinet is said to have discuss
ed the matter, but no announcement
was made concerning the judgment of
the President and his advisers as to
the propriety of continuing the policy
adopted by Mr.. Lansing.
In defending the innovation Mr.
Lansing declared that it had been
prompted by "the necessities of war;
He admitted that if it proved unpopu-
10 ,, ,,,iR - ~.
rule as a permanent policy.
Heretofore bureau chiefs have been
permitted to explain the origin, scope
and effect of statements officially
made by the Secretary and his more
immediate aides. There have been
very few instances where subordinate
officials have furnished original in
formation upon which newspaper
publications have been based.
In Other Departments.
In the future the public is to be de-
MED the benefit of the experience of
these sabordinates who possess full
information on specific subjects and
have more time for imparting and
explaining it than Mr.. Lansing and
Mr.. Polk.
The new rules put into effect by
Mr.. Lansing are to be enforced in 9TH
er departments of the government, to
which admission is now restricted in
a manner that has never existed in
the past.
The Secretary of State said that he
had no thought Of interfering with
criticism of himself or of the policies
of his department, but that he did
not propose that subordinate officials
MI 81, ho fr,
indulge in such criticism or to give
out information he had decided to
withhold. He said that any employee
of his department who disregarded the
order would be Immediately dist
missed.
The Secretary intimated that in
formation had leaked from his de-
partment to Berlin, though he said
T that he did not mean to hold the
newspapers responsible for the fact.
Reports of .sGrapevine.''
This is not the first time that there
have been reports that the German
government has a grapevine" con-
nection in the State Department. In
vestigations of the suspected disloy-
atty of employees of the department
have been held, but the results OF
them never disclosed. No charge has
ever been made that information Civ
en- to newspapers has been withheld
from publication and secretly com
municated to a foreign government.
Mr.. Lansing admitted that under a
strict enforcement of his rule the beet
scandal of the Spanish-American War
could not have been exposed, and
that the revelations concerning Mr.
,,c cto fo,, nj 10 IT "a
Austrian Minister, that this govern
ment did not mean what it said in the
Lusitania issue would have been with
held.
He declared that the newspapers
would have to be satisfied with in
formation given out by him OF
| through the Bureau of Foreign Intel
lgenee. The chief of this bureau is
in the diplomatic service and has had
no experience in dealing with the pub
LEGATION Of Information.
/ Legitimate News Gone.
| Mr. Lansing was frank enough to
admit that in some instances the rule
established by him would work hard
ship, but he insisted that it was not
| his purpose to bottle up legitimate
news and information"
| MI LduSlLS WAS dSh0o WAAoS AS
| thought the newspapers would have
done during the Bryan regime If they
| had not been permitted to come to
hin for Information regarding ques-
lions of international law about which
Mr.. Bryan knew nothing. He did not
reply.
The State Secretary appeared to be
wholly satisfied that the order issued
by him was a proper one and that he
should not be criticised for issuing it.
He said that he proposed to have
harmony in his department, though
| his statement was the first informa-
ton to reach the public that there has
existed any discord between himself
and tho other officials of the depart
| ment,
| The nearest approach to anything
resembling the lack of harmony de-
| veloped on April %, when the oficia
to whom Mr.. Lansing intrusted the
editing of a speech delivered By
Marshal Joffre is said to have de1etei
portions of it between the time tina
it left the headquarters OF the French
mission and its delivery to the news
papers. Mr.. Lansing at the time de
MED that he had authorized the led
ting at all,
The Order Resented.
Mr.. 1Ansing's order provoked