The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1919-05-02
BY CYRIL BROWN.
lin New York World.)

T, BY CYRIL BROWN.
= (In New York World)
" That occupation isn't all play and
living in Rhine castles, but involves
& plenty OF hard work, Is typically indi-
clted by some statistics OF our mill
tary censorship, which In turn is only
one OF the numerous activities Of CO
,s sssdon Of the Third army, functioning
unostentatiously but effectively under
the direction. Of Col. r. H. Williams,
chief Of military intelligence of the
army of occupation. This interesting
department alone employs the services
Of 81 officers, Is field clerks and 25S
clerks, while Colonel Williams expects
that Mt least 200 men more will be
needed in order to achieve the ideal of
p thoroughness.
# The work Of our military censorship
In keeping prudent watch on the
mail, telegraph and telephone when
! 0sed by the German population has
reached mammoth proportions only
! because of our broad-minded, liberal
policy toward the Germans. Not mo-
( dvated by altruism, but by common
sense economic reasoning. the Ameri-
can military policy has from the very
start been, and continues to be, to
grant the natives the utmost limit of
gHberty of communication consistent
rsth our naturally supreme military
3hrests.
Allowed Notable Freedom.
The basic idea Of our military
1ormulators of policy has been that
/ the less the Germans are hampered
G ln the free use of the mails, telegraph
Z and telephone and, in consequence, the
less they are economically shackled.
the better will be the economic life of
the American occupied area and the
greater will be the chance for every
German 1T to earn an honest living
s. It is not in our best military inter
est to have the economic life of this
American oasis In Germany throttled,
!, nor to wake up some fine morning
with pauper population ON our
U hands. The healthier the economic
ffe of the, area, the more smoothly
will our occupation function.
Z The practical result of this general
policy is that the Germans in our
r aera Of occupation enjoy a freedom in
the use of the mails, telegraph and
telephone to degree not enjoyed by
their fellow Teutons in either the
/ French, British or Belgian areas.
Germans In our area may send let
te2g, including registered mail and
: .s1ecial delivery letters, also parcels
post matter, to unoccupied Germany
as, well MS to the French, British and
Belgian occupied areas, Similarly
Germans in our AREA may receive mail
matter from unoccupied Germany and
the other occupied areas
They may send kilograms to unoc-
cupied Germany and the other occr-
pied areas, and may likewise receive
kilograms from unoccupied Germany
. and the other unoccupied areas.
Most liberal Of all, Germans In the
American area may communicate by
telephone with unoccupied Germany
and the other unoccupied areas.
The simple common-sense general
rule of our military censorship merely
bans everything detrimental to our
! interests or those of our allies. If they
mind their own business and don't at
tempt to violate this simple. reason
able rule, Germans in the American
area may 60 as far as they like in the
use Of the mails, telegraph and tele-
phone.
Gar military censorship is on the
Sob twenty-four hours Of the twenty
four, and military Intelligence" un-
der the direction Of Colonel Williams,
watches like an unemOtional hawk to
sec that no Teuton gets away with
anything against the interests Of
America and the allies; but beyond
this the square deal spirit of justice
and tolerance which animates the
American brand of occupation crops
out in the military censorship in a
very human way-paradoxically, too.
since cenSOrs are not generally
credited with being human. Our COM
petent military authorities are proud
not only of the fact that the censor
ship is effective in safeguarding our
legitimate interests. but that it does so
with the irreducible minimum of delay
and hardship to the Germans If they
don't attempt to abuse our square-deaI
policy.
Long Distance Phone.
Most interesting, perhaps. Is the
long distance telephone proposition.
Germans in Coblenz today can talk
with Berlin--if the bolsheviki will let
them. If the operator here can't get
Berlin or Munich or Dresden it won't
be the fault Of the American army Of
occupation.
our army first occupied Cob
1enz all long distance trunk telephone
, lines out of Coblenz, sixteen Of them.
were Immediately cut as a self-under-
stood military measure. Colonel Viii
linms then let it be known that. sub.
sect to our censorship. a certain mum
ber of long distance telephone trunk
linr, wonld be permitted 70 resume