Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-05-26
BRITISH CENSOR
CAME SUDDENLY,
DEPARTED UNWEP7
Some of His Mistakes Were
Funny, Others Serious, But
Taken All Around He Was
Pretty Good As CenSorS Go,
lAssociated Prc.s Corrcspondence. }

fAssociated Press COrrCspOndence,)
London. April 23.-On the evening
of the SUNDAY before the declaration
of war British soldiers walked into
all the London newspaper offices
where there were telegraph wires con-
nected with the cable stations and
quietly cut off the telegraph instru-
mcnts and took them away, Editors
and correspondents who hurried to
the cable offices to inquire what had
happened found all the offices guard
ed by sentr.es with fixed -bayonets,
Outsiders were forbidden to enter and
the men in khaki were forbidden TO
talk. Thus unexpectedly came the be-
ginning of the British censorship.
The mobilization of the naval re-
serves started that afternoon. All the
streets and railways We're filled viii
sailors hurrying for their stations. ar
rayed in blue uniforms frosh from the
shelves, and carrying their canvas kit
bags. This was the first act of war
that Londoners witnessed, and the
news of it was the last unCensored
news of war preparations which tie
cables transmitted abroad
Now, almost as Unexpectedly. comes
the happy bulletin that on the last day
of April the press bureau puts uD its
shutters and goes out of business, and
no more cheering announcement
could greet the newspaper world, un-
less possibly that of a drop in the
price of print paper, The experience
of an official muzzle and inquisiton
upon the press has been a novel one
for the British papers and public, and
no other people except those of the
United States could have suffered it
more unwillingly. Most other Euro
pean countries have known press CEN
sorships in times of war and peace,
and some have had secret Censorships
which the public knew nothing of,
The general verdict of the newspa
pers, reviewing the past five years in
spirit of forgiveness and peace o.
earth, is that all things considered the
censorship was not much more unrea-
sonable than must have been expected
in an imperfect world. They say that
the first few months were the worst
and that there has been a progressive
improvement since. The extenuating
circumstances were that the govern
ment had to organize a very big and
complicated machine practically over
night to do a work that had never
been done before in this country. and
that was bound to be irritating in an
atmosphere where freedom of speech
had been held not lower than the ten
commandments.
-Four Cooks.
The press bureau was complicated
because four different CoOks-the war
office, the admiralty, the foreign of
flee and the home offiCe-each had a
spoon in the broth Their work fell
under three heads. the censoring of
domestic news and special war articles
for the British papers, of the tele-
grams which came from abroad for
these, and of an immense mass of
matter written in different languages
by correspondents for the allied and
neutral countries.
The nominal head of the censorship
was the home secretary. but Lord
Kitchener was its founder and for a
long time an autocrat whose prohi-
billions were law withou; any appeal
save to the British cabinet For
months the cabinet was far too busy
with other matters to consider the
working of what was first regarded
as a very minor department. Time
altered that point of view.
! Before the end of the war the press
departments of all governments be-
came very important and militant en-
terprises so that even in England the
newspapers express misgivings wheth.
er they will not have a struggle tC
return to the old conditions of entire
freedom and official plotage.~ Kitch-
ener, like Sherman and Wolseley, re-
garded newspapers as dangerous. The
old guard of British war correspond.
ents whom Kipling photographed in
The Light That Failed" suffered a
slight at his hands which their dig
nifty never forgave when Kitchener
| officially recommended a soldier fol
a medal for saving the life of camr
| follower'-the camp follower being
one of the most important of the
corps of professional war writer's.
Five home secretaries passed across
the stage of the press bureau. They
were Sir f. Il. Smith, the present lore
| chancellor, whose new title is Lore
| Birkenhead; Sir Stanley Buckmaster
who also served a brief term on tho
woolsack of the lords; Sir John Simon
who opposes Sir Edward Carson in
| nearly all the most important cases ii
| the English courts; Sir George Cave
and, lastly. Sir Edward Short. lib.
eral Scotchman who was transferred
| to the home office after brief service
| as chief secretary for Ireland
| Early in its history the administra.
| ton of the bureau was conferred upor
! two directors, each with precisely
equal and similar powers and duties
Each was dug out" which is the
| term for the army of retired officer.
and civilians who put on the harness
| again when the war came, and whicf
does not imply disparagement because
many of them did valuable service
Sir Frank Swettenham's active career
| had been on the civil staff of tn.
| Straits Settlements, and he had re
tired from the post of governor gen
eral with a reputation as an authority
on the Malay language, and a list o.
several books on Malay life to hi
credit Sir Edward Cook had a Ions
record in journalism ending with tn,
! editorship of The Daily News, ant
| afterward devoted several years t
the editorship of Ruskin's works anc
authorship of the biograph of Ruskir
and critical writings on English litera
| ture.
Army Officers Real Ccnsors.
Real control of censorship a
| American correspondents found il
| rested with neither the home secretar,
nor the co-directors of the bureau
| Questions of military and naval new
| were passed upon by military and ma
! val censors, the heads of those de
! partments being Major General Cock
| Grill and Admiral Sir Douglas Brown