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


game these days, they have not only
Mussolini and Hitler to consider. Back
of the two dictators stand nearly
100 900 900 people made irresponsible,
politically, by years Of jingoistic psy-
cl1ology or persecution completes. The
censorship" which started out to
prevent them from knowing certain
embarrassing truths degenerated into
membership" which forced them
to absorb, consciously or unconsciously,
many politically expedient untruths.
For instance-in Russia-the new
generation of Communists sees the
United States as a country where
capitalism at its worst flourishes,
where lynch law is rampant and
where the soldiery shoots down de-
fenseless strikers.
Trouble Over Foreign News.
In the Nazi German press, now 100
per cent dominated by the Hitlerites,
the Harlem riot (where not single
person was killed. furnished scare
headlines for more than week. In
their anger over the boycott of Ger
man goods the NazS picture the
United States as a hodge-podge Of
racial elements dominated by Jews.
So fragrant has the Misrepresentation
of news become that one big Ameri-
can news association which sells its
service to the DeutSche Nachrichten
Buro, the official news agency of the
Nazis, was obliged to threaten to
break its contract unless the dispatches
were published as sent. Ordinarily
it is beyond American prerogatives to
complain against the way news about
the United States is presented in the
German press, but when dispatches
carrying American press association
credit lines is distorted beyond all
reason protests were inevitable ana
quickly forthcoming.
In Fascist Italy the situation has
remained unchanged for almost
decade. The BlackShirtS, early in
their rule took over the entire Italian
press. The great liberal newspapers
of the pre-war period, Corriere Della
SSTd Vi N1lldlls IL OldlilPo oAAA oaSAA
priceless satirical publications as II
Becco Gallo quickly became the
vehicles of Fascist propaganda. Every
Italian newspaper man-whether ed1-
tor, publisher or correspondent-has
to be a member of the Fascist party.
The control over the press, radio and
public forum is as complete as it is In
Germany, perhaps even more so be-
cause the Fascist have had nearly Is
years to regiment it. The only news
paper which is not censored that is
available to Italians is the Observa-
tore Romano, published by the Vat
lean. But even the Vatican's official
organ is discreet and submits itself
to a voluntary censorship. The only
difference between it and its Fascist
contemporaries is that is is not told
what it must print. If it publishes
news which is distasteful to the gov
eminent it cannot circulate outside
Vatican City.
The Fascist government claims that
the entire Italian press is completely
and Fundamentally with the Black
shirt regime. Ex-Foreign Minister
Dino. Grandi once spent a half-hour
trying to convince me that the Italian
newspapers and newspaper men were
100 per cent behind Mussolini.
If that is So" I asked innocently,
then why is it necessary to maintain
the censorship" The question was
~,
a position to do so he probably would
have explained that the press of Italy
is Fascist because it has to be Fas-
cist. The same holds true in Ger
many. In Russia it may be different.
Free Press Necessary.
To Americans and Englishmen,
Frenchmen, Scandinavians and the
peoples Of the few small states which
still believe in free political institu-
tons, the idea of censorship is abb
horrent. The freedom of the press is
keystone of democratic government.
In the British Parliament it has been
characterized as the fourth estate
more powerful and necessary than any
Of the other three. The press Is the
only institution specifically men,
toned as inviolate in the American
Constitution. But If negative CEN
sorship is unsupportable, how much
more malevolent is positive "men-
torship"? That is what more than
one-half of once-free people of Europe
are forced to live under today. Some
independent spirits may struggle
against the insidious poison that is
presented to them day in and day out,
year in and year out, but the younger
generation unconsciously comes to be-
Eeve what Blackshirt and Brownshirt
propaganda ministers dish up to them
While censorship, in the dictionary
sense of the term, exists only in Italy,
Germany, Russia and, to limited ex-
tent, in some smaller countries of
Europe, these days, it is becoming
increasingly difficult for foreign cor
respondents to get at the truth-to
picture to American readers what is
going on behind the political. economic
and social scene. Practically every
source of news is controlled or domi-
mated, except where correspondents
see with their own eyes. And one
cannot always believe what one sees.
The visiting contingents of foreign
newspaper men. who are periodically
invited to be the guests of the Ger
man, Italian or Russian governments,
are permitted to see only one side of
the picture. A short time ago the
Nazis placed at the disposal Of
dozen Yugoslav journalists the super
airliner Hindenburg. They were taken