The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-07-06
LA PRESSE CLANDESTINE

A famous writer of fairy tales once
upon a time told a story which h,
named, "a Trap to Catch a Sun
BEAM" and though the secret press Of
Belgium, which has fickered across
the national horizon, since the out.
break of the war, is somewhat vitri.
olic for a sunbeam, it seems on the
whole to have escaped the trap set
for it by General Won Kissing and his
police officers, with all the agility of
sunbeam. Truly they have present
ed a wonderful phenomenon, these
1ournauX clandestines, and some of
them have been fortunate and some
have not. There was Motus, for in
stance, itself something of a journal
pour rire. Motus which only sur
vived three issues, but which literally
scintillated with irritating puns, dur
ing its brief career. Then there was
La Verite, which hit upon the idea of
recording all the fines and exactions
levied by the army of occupation,
against day of post bellum reckon
ing. And then, amongst half dozen
others, was there not va Libre Bel
gique, which might truly repeat
Eneas' saying,
"Quaeque ipse miserrima vidi,
Ell quorum pars magma full"
Most unhappy were the scenes l
saw,
And in them l was myself one of the
chief actors"
If the Germans had been content
to permit the English and French
newspapers to circulate in Belgium it
is possible that la presse clandestine
would never have been heard of. But
when the entrance of the regular
journals into Belgium was prohibit
ed substitute was sure to be in
vented. For a time there grew up
a new smuggling trade, and the profits
were so large, five francs for The
Times, and three francs for lie Ma
tin or lie Petit Parisien, that it was
lucrative and prosperous. Gradually,
however, the German police found a
way of suppressing the smugglers,
with the result that, when as much as
two hundred francs had been paid for
a single copy Of a paper, it was felt
that the time had come for a new de-
vice, and there appeared upon the
scene the presse clandestine.
The most famous example of this,
as it has been stated, is La Libre Bel
gique-Free Belgium--a paper which
for couple of years has defied ev-
cry effort of the secret police to dis
cover its presses or to stop it's circu-
lation. Where it comes from no man
knows. The editorial office, it gravely
announces on its front page, not be-
ing in any sense place of repose, a
cellar upon wheels has been found
more convenient. 1t is in vain that
every effort has been made to trace
this cellar upon wheels. Again and
again the German police has re-
ceived definite information on the sub
ject, only, after miles of excursions
through the alleys of Brussels, to find
at their journeys end a lavatory or
a dust bin. AS for the editor, he has
been denounced and betrayed times
without number, but when on the eve
of arrest he has generally proved to
have been German official or per-
haps member of the secret police.
And so the elusive publication goes
on, gravely printing at it's head, as a
Geographic address the Kommandan-
tur, or German Military Bureau, in
Brussels.
It's subscription list is as remark
able as everything else about it, for
the one person never escaping his free
copy is the dictator, General Won Bis
sing himself, who finds every issue
placed upon his desk with most dis
regularity. Won Kissing in
deed is the great mark at which the