Evening star., 1918-02-28
Nails Are Very Slow.


We tried vaguely to defend the cen
sorship. 1t was not that we believed
a word we said We knew perfectly
well that it is absurd to believe that
the Germans do not know of the de-
parture of every ship, but We wanted
TO cheer up Private Archibald Jones
We told him that his mother only had
to worry a few weeks over her boys
sasety-only a few weeks for
his reassuring letter. Private Jones
curled his lip:
"You haven't heard about our mail
arrangements over here? asked Pri-
vate Jones.
We had, of course. My own letters
usually take about month between
New York and Paris. Sometimes they
come through in two weeks in the
French post. After letters reach France
and get into the molasses clutch OF the
Army postal service they may take
any time between the declaration OF
war and the second day of judgment
I wrote headquarters recently ana got
an answer in two weeks. most OF the
time being spent in transit. A mail
bag reached one company this week
from q post sixteen miles distant. II
had been fourteen days on the way.
1.-The publication OF names Is FORBID
den because information Of value migf.e
thereby be conveyed to the enemy" Is
the tenor of the censorial regulation.
Extreme Of Humor.
That is the extreme of humor in q
war that has sadly lacked humor, at
least so far as the American partic!pa-
ton is concerned. In every headquar-
ters that has a right to 1t there is to-
day a map, brought up to date each
morning, In which the number and 10.
re- Set
forth. AS for the German knowledge
Of American movements, let me tell a
little story. One American unit Is des-
isnated by picturesque name. some
it then occupied. The men Of the unit
did not know where they were going
but it was common gossip that:
We are going somewhere SOUTH
That unit moved on snowy morn
ing. At 3 o'clock that afternoon Ger
man plane dropped letters on the town
in France where the American CORE
spondents are marooned for their sins.
which bore this simple statement:
"This morning at o'clock your IA
NOUS unit left such and such a
place and started south"
Some Rules Of the Censor.
It is true that the censor does permit
the publication Of the names of Gen.
Pershing and certain staff officers. But
when the correspondents were given
this permission some time ago they re-
fused to avail themselves of it on two
grounds:
First, that the line officers and not the
staff officers were entitled to whatever
glory might be found in France.
Second, that until the rule forbidding
criticism was abrogated the permission
simply amounted to the privilege OF
praising various excellent soldiers tenn
porariiy riding swivel chairs. Since
then it has been stated that criticism
is permitted, SO this latter clause loses
its validity.
The permission to criticize is of no
value to me at the moment. however.
for l am dealing with Private Jones
state of mind.
The important thing is that need
less anonymity Is making Private
Jones sour. His spirit is magnificent.
He only wants a chance to fight. He
is willing to put UP with discomfort
and privation and even actu3l suffer-
ing, because he believes that they are
a part of war. But he wants the folks
back home to know what he is doing.
When he goes over the top he does not
want to figure In one of the sawdust
connmuniques that all headquarters SO
revel in:
A part of the American forces were in
action yesterday.
That Glorious Communique.
Still less does he appreciate the SUI