The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-06-01
PRESS CENSORSHIP
IN ENGLAND CAME
IN ABRUPT MANNER
TRAGIC AND COMICAL THINGS
TOOK PLACE DURING DAYS
or GREATEST WAX

London. n.-(Correspondence OF the AS
sociated Presshk on the evrning pt
the sunday before the declaration oi
war British soldiers walked into all the
London newspaper off oes where there
were telegraph wires connected with
the cable stations and quietly cut OH
the telegraph Instruments ana look
them away Editors and correspondents
who hurried To- the cable oiiF"s 10 lh'
aure what had happened found an Tue
offices guarded 10y sentrios with IlN'"
bayoncts Outsiders were lorbldu'h
TO enter, and the men N khaki Were
forbidden to talk Thus unexpectedly
came the beginning Of the British press
censorship.
The mobilization of the naval reserves
had started that afternoon AT ll'
streets and railways We're filled win
sailors hurryiug for their stations ar
rayed In blue uniforms fresh from the
shelves. and carrying their canvas XII
bags. This was the first act of war
that I.undunors witnessed. and the news /
of IL was the last uncensorci news oil |
war preparations which the cables .
transmitted abroad.
Now. almost as unexpectedly comes
the happy bulletin that on the last day
of April the Press Bureau puts up It's
shutters and goes out of business. ana
no more cheering announcement could
greet the newspaper world, unless pos
sihly thu> OF drop IN the price OF
print paper The experience of an
official mu2zlc and inqui&uon upon
the press has been novel one lor
the British papers and public and no
other people except those of the United
States could have suffered ii more un'
Willingly Most other European coun-
tries have known IScss ceusorsh.ps
in times of war and peace, ANA some
had secret consurshIps which the pub
lie knew nothing of.
The general verdict of the newspapers ]
reviewing the past five years in a {
spirit of forgiveness ana peace on
earth. is that al Things considered the /
censorship was not much more unrcas- &
enable 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 cXtenuating [
cirNaImstancts were that the govern J
ment had TO organize a very high and l
complicated machine practically over d
night to do q work that had never been v
done before in this country, and that q
was bound to be irritating in an atmos I
phere where freedom Of speech had S
been held not lower than the ten com /
mandments. u
Too Many Cooks il
The press bureau was complicated Do-
caufc four different cOoi,s-the war of G
flee the admiralty. foreign office and "
the home office-each had a spoon in 1
the broth Their work fel iunder three t.
heads. the censorng of domestic news p
and special war art cles for the British e
papers, of the kilograms which came b
from abroad for these and Of immense 1
mass of matter written in different n
languages by correspondents for the Fl
allied and neutral countries. I
The mammal head of the censorship a
was the home secretary, but Lord Kit 81
chener was its founder and for a long r
time an autocrat whose prohibitions a
were law. without any appeal save to p
the British cabinet. For months the II
cabinet was far too busy with other W
matters to consider the working of 81
y
minor department. Time altered that :
point of view "A
Before the end of the war the press &
departments of all governments became
'ery important and militant enterprises Il
so that even in England the newspapers Il
aXpresS misgvings whether they VIII d
lot have a struggle to return to the fC
Did conditions of entire freedom from n
official piiotage Kitchener like Sher h
nan and Woseley, regarded uewspap- ii
srs rs dangerous. The old guard Of al
British war correspondents whom Kip W
ing photographed in "rhc Light That ol
Called suffered a slight at his hands 81
vhch their dignity never forgave when II
<itchiner officially recommended a "
soldier for a medal for saving the "
lfe Of a camp followcr''-thc camp fol 81
over being one of the most important h
# the corps of professional war writ "
rs
Eve home secretaries passed across y
he stage of the press bureau They pr
we're Sir +. L. Smith, the prcseE. Lord al
chancellor whose new title is Lord OF
Sir Stanley Buckmlster, fe
Who also served Il brief term on the by
voolsack of the Lords: Sir John 81. T.
non who opposes Sir Edward Carson an
n nearly all the most important cases bl
n the English courts, Sir George Cave: ca,
nd, lastly, Sir Edward Short, a lib. ha
th