Evening star., 1933-09-17
u. S. JOURNALISTS ABROAD
ARE HELDLOYAL TO TRUTH
Edgar Ansel Mowrer, Expelled by Nazis,
Lauded for Courageous Efforts
to Write Facts.

clSlmS. Moreover, he was so recognized
by the leaders of the Republican Ger
many. which has now perished.
But Mowrer was also a far-seeing
observer and far in advance of the
collapse he saw coming A year ago,
when the Hitler menace seemed at
least halted he set forth in book form
study, still the best Of its kind, which
he called Germany Sets the Clock
Back 1t was the truth simply told,
put With devastating eXactness 1t was
at once prophetic and clinical 1t was
news in the best sense put between
book covers instead of on the front
page.
When the Nazis triumphed, of course,
1t was case of no quarter for MoWrer.
as 1t was for dozen other American
correspondents who with equal fidelity
had told the truth and continued faith
full to their habit And there were
British journalists who shared in the
Nazl hatred. For certain time the
American Government covered these
men with its authority. The NaZis
Shrank from actual violence, but their
persecution was constant.
1t is a tribute alike to the high place
he held in their respect and their own
courage that in the face of this official
ban the foreign correspondents deliber-
ately elected MoNrer president of their
association. 1t was a challenge which
amounted to a defiance and it was
bound to be taken up and could have
but one ending. A few weeks before he
was finally to leave Berlin MoWrer
traded in his Office to the Nazis in re-
turn for the release Of a Jewish jour-
nallst imprisoned by the Hitler regime.
On the day fixed for his departure
his newspaper. the Chicago Daily News,
had transferred him to Tokio-his asso-
ciates had planned to give him BAN
Quet. Well in advance the German
government notified him and Washing
ton they could no longer be responsible
for his safety or-and that was what
counted mcst-that of his family. And
so. on the advice of his own Govern
ment he left at once but with all the
honors of war already acquired.
High Order of Heroism.
Only those who know contemporary
Germany can realize what courage,
what constancy were disclosed in Now
rer,s long fight and his fight was only
the best known of the many which were
Waged by his American and certain of
his British associates. 1t was fight
which deserves to be remembered and
honored not merely by his associates
and newspaper comrades but by all of
his countrymen. because it was a high
order of heroism displayed in noble
cause.-The cause Of liberty as well as
of truth.
But beyond the personal is the pro-
fessional aspect of the case. Beyond
the individual is the group of American
journalists representing in Europe not
merely great newspapers and press as
hr1f ~ ,%nlrv
significant, the right of the American
people to have the truth about the
world in which they live. to get the
facts upon which the American democ
racy must ultimately base its policy,
foreign as well as domestic.
One might. to be sure. argue that 4
was of relatively small importance for
the American people to know the de-
tails of NaZi violence and persecution.
But actually if the American people are
to resist all incitation and temptation to
sweep or drift into relationships, to sur
render to passions or give political i'm
portance to prejudice. whether racial or
religious. nothing can be of SO great use
as the example of Germany faithfully
reported. Journalists like Mowrer are
serving the cause of liberty and democ-
racy in their own country by setting
forth plainly what are the consequences
of tyranny and dictatorship abroad.
Associated With Mowrer.
This task. too. is being performed at
the risk of life as well as personal lib
erty under a strain which cannot be
exaggerated with conditions which are
at times severe and seldom attractive.
1t is a job in which the day is "a hours
long and the remuneration rarely
princely. But it is performed by men
and there are women in the ranks as
well-Who to all other accomplishments
add sense of public duty and personal
devotion unsurpassed even by the soldier
on his own front.
No single achievement of American
journalism in the past generation has
been more notable or more useful than
the creation of this considerable body
of highly trained and generally able
correspondents in foreign capitals, who
have an esprit de corps as fine as any
guard regiment and who are equally
fearless of prime ministers abroad and
managing editors at home.
Mowers case is concededly a high
point but it is also in very real sense
typical What he has done in Rome
tinue to do in Toxic. Meanwhile one
can count upon his colleagues and sue
cessors in Berlin to keep the flag fly
ing. What is perhaps equally impor-
tant is that the regime which has
driven him out of Germany should have
unmistakable evidence of the conse-
quences of such course in America.
Hitler and his associates should above
all else know that every American
newspaper man worth his salt associates
himself with Mowrer in the fight he has
made and regards that fight as his
own also