Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-01


cording to statmenIs made to the cor
respondent before his departure from
| Berlin with former Ambassador Ger
| ard by public men in Germany, the
| German government did not wake un-
| til long after the beginning of the war
to the desirability of making favor
| able impression on public opinion in
neutral countries, or at least of having
| its side of the case given hearing
| in the neutral press.
An outlay of untold hundreds of
thousands of marks has since been
made, with the employment of not
inconsiderable staffs of officers and
systems, in the effort to achieve the
desired ends.
Correspondents from neutral coun-
tries have experienced constant diff
Guilty since the beginning of the war
in attempting>to report facts in an un-
biased manner. In the thirtieth month
of the war Germany applied the same
newspaper methods to American,
Dutch, Scandinavian and Spanish
newSpapermen as in the first months.
The censorship has been the main
source of trouble, largely because 1t
has been working at cross purposes,
with the very officials who have had
it in their power to adjust the difficult
ties. These afficials usually have rec
ognized faults which have been point
ed out and have made the most earn
est efforts to facilitate the gathering
of news, but never save
terially the censorship system which
set at naught all they and the corre-
spondents did, effectually damming
up the streams of news which had
been opened.
Shortly after the outbreak of the
war the foreign Office modified con-
suls who supposedly were familiar
with foreign languages and installed
them as censors. In reality, few or
them are we'll versed in any language
except German. None of them has
any conception of newspaper work or
any military or political knowledge
which gives especial qualification for
the task. The correspondents speedily
came into conflict with these censors
and the government, discovering
something was amiss. attempted to
remedy the trouble. However, its ef-
forts consisted of opening up addi-
tional channels of news which the CEN
sors stopped.
Foreign News Service
The foreign office created the So
called central bureau for foreign serv-
ice, which flooded neutral countries
with photographs and with literature
written from the German standpoint,
mererly translated into Dutch, Swed-
ish or Rumanian. This literature dam
cause, in Holland, for instance. 1t was
amended when Dutch correspondents
told the foreign office that Holland
desired real news.
The constantly increasing number
of correspondents in Germany, all
seeking an opportunity to see some
thing of the war and to obtain news
led to the establishment of what was
known as the Neutral Press Breau
Theoretically, the bureau was headed
| by Major Deutelmoser, a man we'll
qualified for the position, but he was
so occupied with other things that he
relegated this work to subordinate
This bureau existed from October,
1915, until last summer. Under its
auspices correspondents Travelled to
various fronts, submitting all dispatch
es for censorship. 1t became apparent
quickly that the bureau was at odds
with the foreign office. 1t sought to
extend its jurisdiction so as to censor
everything written, and while its CEN
sors clashed with those in the foreign
Office the correspondents got the worst
of things.
AS the weeks passed, the newspa-
permen found it almost impossible to
write of the interesting things they
saw. Furthermore, the tendency of
the bureau was to send them to points
on the front where they saw little of
Importance. Everything they did write
was censored, in each instance accord
ing to the individual ideas of the man
to whom the dispatch was referred
Correspondents of whatever national
ity were not disposed to protest at
suppression of military information,
but they did insist that some degree
of fairness be applied to their dis
patches.
Bureau Not a Success
The government eventually discov-
cred that the bureau was not success
under Major Deutelmoser's subordi-
nate, and also that it's own press bu-
reau for German newspapers was not
operating as it should. In consequence
there followed a reorganization of the
entire press system.
The men from the foreign office
were displaced, although the old CEN
sors were retained. The Neutral Press
Bureau was shelved, except for the
old censors. There was created/a So
called military department at the for
eigh Office, under Colonel Won Haer-
ten, keen, wide-awake man, and Bar
on Plettenberg, both of whom have
an understanding of foreign view
points. They were ruled by the con-
viction that neutral correspondents
themselves were the best judges of
what they desired
Colonel Won Haerten provided facili-