The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1918-11-07
CONTROL
OF NEWSPAPERS
wills ON'S ADMINISTRATION
USING ARBITRARY POWERS
TO CONTROL THE PRESS

Writing for the North American
Review, Richard Barry makes the
challenging allegation that there
exists In the United States today a
control of the press and suppression
of vital news and public discussion
which it is difficult. to parallel in
English-speaking countries unless one
goes back to the time of King James"
Mr.. Barry declares that under the
broad and necessary cloak of sup
pressing disloyalty and withholding
military information from the enemy
the government has devised effective
means of throttling legitimate criti-
cism of the acts of it's officials and
of advancing its own partizan for
tunes.
The North American Review cites
the case of the senate committees re-
port on the aircraft investigation.
New York Times suffered the sup
preston of it's foreign edition with
out notification.
The Christian Science Monitor was
denied circulation for three days as
punishment for it's publication of
and comment on the aviation report.
The Detroit News, for the same rea-
son, was barred from circulation in
Canada, where it usually sends 3d.
900 copies, an absurd restriction in
view of the fact that the Montreal
Star, the direct rival of the News
for it's Canadian circulation published
the report almost in full and, of
course, with impunity.
Commenting on this restriction,
Senator Lodge said on the floor of
contents Of the report, our allies
know the contents of it and the only
people who do not know about it are
the people of the United States"
Other throttling influences, as Mr..
Barry sees it, are the order of the
war industries board cutting down
the amount of reading matter a pub
Usher may print, another order cut
ting off exchanges, and still another,
that during the war no new paper
shall be established"
Yet another restriction is seen in
the order of Postmaster General Bur-
Lesson taking control of "news wires"
so that (as he disingenuously an
press the most efficient wire facilities
under government control"
The writer of the North American
Review article quotes Senator Poin-
dexter as follows:
Editors should know their
rights. If more of them would
insist on these rights there would
be less talk of the use by various
governmental agents Of authority
which they do not possess under
the law. AS matter of fact, any
newspaper which will courage
ously take a stand and which sim
cerely has no desire to be dis
loyal, can publish exactly the
same material today that it pub
ished before the war. l believe
that many of these unusual pow
ers assumed by departmental
heads would be broken if SO many
editors did not invite their use.
In this field, as in many others, the
American people have generously re-
linquished long-standing rights and
liberties in the commendable belief
that thereby they were contributing
to the winning of the war. But all
history warns US that autocratic
powers once yielded in good motive
are reluctantly returned by men who
have felt the intoxication of extra
ordinary authority.
One large problem of post-bellum
reconstruction will be the restoration
to the people of their peace time lib
critics and prerogatives.. Spokesman
Review.