Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-09-01


have been adopted by the Left Re-
publicans, Syndicalist and Socialist
newspapers now that the reactionary
Catholic agrarians are in power. White
columns, where articles have been
removed, are again common and some
Of the opposition newspapers persist
in publishing at the top of their pages
the fact that This edition has been
censored" In Barcelona the Ell Cor
REQ Catalan reSorted TO the acrostic
gag in publishing a poem 'praising"
its opponent. The first letters, read
downwards, said: 81 tell only lies"
1t was suspended six days and fined
5000 psetas for its joke. Spain,
however, under the Socialist republic,
went to extremes. 1t permitted pub
LEGATION of anything and everything
and the inevitable reaction was that
liberty became license. The conserva-
tive Catholics had little difficulty In
capitalizing upon the revulsion Of
public feeling and now are cleaning
up. Naturally. In eliminating the
bad, some Of the good suffer.
The old pre-war custom Of owning,
controlling or buying influence in for
eign newspapers also has been resur-
rected in European journalism these
days. The Italians are said to own
the once-famous Neues Wiener Jour-
nal of Vienna, which Is the Fascist
Heimwehr of1lcial spokesman. From
Bucharest King Carol gave an tex
elusive" interview to the Petit Partisan,
but forbade republication Of the arti-
Gle inside of Rumania; the Petite En-
tente supports, but does not control
editorially, the international Journal
de Geneve: Moscow subsidies half the
Communist newspapers published in
foreign countries and the Nazis have
been generous with German Language
newspapers friendly to Hitler.
Freedom In Paris, London.
Except for periodic relapses, France,
the most individualistic nation in
Europe. and Britain, the bulwark Of
Old World democracy against the
rising tide of nationalism, reaction
and relationships, remain devoted TO
freedom Of speech, conscience and
the press. But even Paris has given
foreign correspondents headache the
past few months.
For some inexplicable reason-char-
acterized by Premier Pierre Leval and
others as official stupidity-a censor
ship was slapped down upon the
American correspondents last Autumn.
Dispatches. filed for cabling to the
United States, were subjected to a
most irritating censorship. The three
press associations, the big New York
newspapers and other periodicals
which maintained special writers in
France found their dispatches held
up hours, or even days; deleted, killed
entirely at times. No explanations
were forthcoming. Even when cor
respondents attempted to cable official
announcements which had been print
ed in Paris newspapers they found
their stories censored. The result
was that many telephoned their dis
patches to their London Offices for
forwarding TO the United States. Con-
fronted by a mass revolt led by the
Anglo-American Press Association,
Laval, then foreign minister, asked
for a truce. He was shown where
the ministry of posts and telegraphs,
the home Office and other govern
ment departments were violating the
Press Convention which France had
signed at Barcelona. He was also
Informed that the American cor
respondents were prepared to throw
the spotlight upon the situation II
relief were not forthcoming. After
battling his own bureaucrats, Laval
was able to give guarantees that here
after no news dispatch would be CEN
sored or delayed, but that the French
government reserved the right to expel
any correspondent who proved a
menace to the state" or was otherwise
undesirable.
The relapse in France perhaps was
largely due to the jittery feeling re-
sulting from delicate Franco-Ger-
man political situation. Some cor
respondents believed commercial fac
tors were responsible.
In view of the muddled European
situation one must read dispatches
these days with full understanding
of the various political. economic and
social factors involved. One must
take into consideration the Sins Of
omission as well as the sins of COM
mission" tainted sources of news.
as well as intentional miSrepresenta-
ton and nationalistic propaganda. To
sift the whole truth from the chaff is
almost impossible, even for seasoned
observers and hard-boiled correspond