New-York tribune., 1919-01-18

sal News. The dithdrawal of the de-
NAL follows:
"The Committee on Public Infor-
nation forwarded to you to-day q
statement from its Paris bureau
denying on the part Of the President
statement attributed to The New
York Tribune. Investigation estab-
fishes the fact that the sorry was
not carried by The Tribune. There
fore, in justice to The Tribune, the
Committee on Public Information
requests all press association to
whom the dispatch was addressed to
withhold this dispatch from publica
ton. In the mean time an effort is
being made to straightcn things out
by cable"
The next development was yester-
days Associated Press dispatch from
Paris, printed above, in which the cor
quotes Premier Clemenceau
in the matter.
At 1880 a. m. Friday. January II,
The New York Tribune issued a state
ment to The Associated Press denying
that it had ever received from Paris
or had ever printed in its columns a
statement remotely resembling that
which was referred to by Premier
Clemenccau in the Chamber Of Depu-
ties. At 2:20 p. m. there was received
in The Tribune Office what appears to
be the message in question. Owing to
the fact that it has been made the
basis of controversy, The Tribune
prints it just as the correspondent sent
it, without exercising editorial ]udg-
ment upon the text.
The Message in Question
The message follows:
PARIS. Among the many
sensational rumors habitually ahoat
in the Chamber of Deputies there
has been one to the effect that Presi
dent Wilson has threatened to with
draw American troops from Europe
if certain of his ideas are not fol
lowed by the peace conference. How
far these things have gone in the
three conferences already held it is
impossible for me to Say, but that
the Chambers report is pretty near
ly correct there is no doubt.
There are numerous indications OF
tiIlS itttuI dtlIttltt Oll w llooI PNit'
and that he is now tacity but def
nitely, if not actually threatening
other commissioners. He has come
here to make a certain kind of peace
and intends to do so, his supporters
say. And his supporters have frank
ly said that he will refuse to sign
any peace not in accord with what
he considers a fair and equitable in
tcrpretation of the armstice agree
ment which accepted his fourteen
points with reservations only as to
the "freedom of the seas"
Now, his supporters say, some Of
the Allies are unwilling to abide by
the armistice terms and viii seek at
each renewal to go beyond the arm
dstice terms and impose further pen
alties on the Germans, who accepted
the armistice in good faith.
Mr.. Wilson's supporters feel fur
thermore that some of the Allies
not including Great Brtain-de
to prolong the armistice in order to
penallze Germany to the utmost be-
lore concluding peace with her.
Delay Reveals Censorship
There is nothing on the face of the
message to show when it was filed by
The Tribune correspondent in Paris,
but there is evidence to show that it
was not held longer than forty minutes
by the cable company on this side.
Therefore. the delay was in Paris,
which indicates that there is still in
existence an effective press censor
snip. This was known already in every
newspaper office, because correspond
ents had been complaining about it, hut
no one had made point of publishing
the fact
1t will be noticed that The Tribune
correspondent does not make of his
own authority the statement which the
President, according to Premier Gle
menceau, characterized as an "abomi-
nabie talsehood." He merely asserts
that there .Was such a rumor afloat in
the Chamber of Deputies.
apparently this is one of those cir
cumstances under which correspond
ent would feel justified in making a
statement of fact about the existence
of rumor without assuming any re-
sponsibllity for the rumor itself.