New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-07
Censor Gables and
Mails, Not Press,
Aduice of NorthcliRe

Washington, July h.-LoIu '"'1"
elffe. head OF the British missions IN
this country, to-day authorized publ
cation of parts Of a confidential
speech on spies and censorship made 10
the National Press Club on July .; ne
described che work OF spies tn tnS
I'D and the food Of fatal information
+bst nours over the cables through neu-
trsl countries 10 Germany ana spohT
NJ the dangers of any except technlca'
military and naval censorship Oh the
Lord NorthcliFe summed M ms
views regarding censorship IN the
United States thus: 60
AS 10 the censorship in general II
instructions are given TO newspaper
people they themselves form the pest
censors. Trained news CATERERS ana
presenters Of news are much more IN
telligent than the kind OF man VINO
usually drifts into censors' oihces'
Neither military nor naval men care tor
the task Of censorship. They want 10
be at the front or at sea.
Should Trust Journalists
"Judging by my own colleagues in
England. / believe that American news
paper men should be very largely trust
cd TO do the censoring themselves, pro
yided. of course. that General Pershlng
has a system such as has been adopted
hv Sir Douglas Hang, who, while allow
ing the utmost freedom 70 correspond
ents, sees that the dispatches are read
and examined by competent members
of his staff. The dangers Of misuse Of
the power Of censorship are well known
TO those who know what we suffered
from the hiding of the truth about the
war for the first two years
Only on two occasions IN the last
month, Lord NorthcliiYe said, had he
seen anything published In American
newspapers that might have been Of
value TO the enemy. The address fol-
lows:
What does not yet seem to be un-
derstood here, and what we did not
understand at the beginning Of the
war. is that the really deadly high eX-
plosive news is not newspaper news
but the news sent out by spies in code
10 neutral countries for transmission
10 Germany.
Task Big, hut Brains Are Here"
Admitted that the task Of examin-
ing hundreds of thousands of cables a
day is difficult and costly. Admitted
that keen brains are required In large
numbers for the task. The brains are
here In abundance, and the outgoing
cables can easily be coordinated so tina,
all cables addressed 20 the same names
abroad and even 20 the same towns
abroad come under the eyes Of tho
same censors week after week. IL Is
BY means Of checking back cables adj
dressed from England 60 neutral coun-
trles that we have caught many of ouI
spies.
at is not difficult for spies TO get
news. Their task is the delivery OF
the goods. and on that task they con-
centrate.
snow that ocean travel has become
20 difficult, now that the British mai
censor has perfected his methods, the
enemy SPY working IN your midst is
thrown back entirely on the cable and
one or two steamer routes.
al do not know WI ether you have &
mail censorship on letters TO Spain, but
] venture % think that If you have not
and start opening letters 20 that coun-
try you will get as rich q haul OF in
formation as our Secret Service De-
pArtment did out Of the censor.ng OF
American letters 10 Europe.
The cable censor must be rcmorse-
less II he finds constant domestic tele
grams going 20 one particular place
At the risk of disturbing happy homes
he must hold up or destroy the cables
a world Of meaning can be concealed