The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1940-10-10
THE SERVICE OF AMERICAS UNCENsORED PRESS
" ARTHUR T. ROBB. Editor of EDITOR & PUBLISHER

This is straight talk from Your Newspaper to You.
For good many years have known each other
We have taken each other pretty much for granted
at most times and seasons. You give your pennies TO
the boy day once a week knowing that the
newspaper will keep its daily appointment with You,
regardless of all obstacles. Your Newspaper knows
that You will keep your part of the unwritten con-
tract from force of habit affection curiosity ABOUT
the affairs of your fellow citizens the state the nation
or the world. 1t isn't often that either OF us goes
beyond that in examining our relationship
Its really much less casual much more important,
than that paragraph would indicate Inc last lew
years of this distressed world have brought home to
the makers of newspapers a new sense OF the I'M
portant, sacred duty that they must perform II
you and they are to keep unchanged the blessings
that all hold dear. If we fail in that duty, II You
do not hold US to that duty there IS grave danger
that the freedoms which prize in America will be
lost, as they have been lost IN almost every other
nation of the world that call civilized
The first step in the preparation OF TODAY S reign
of war, tyranny and devastation IN Europe was the
destruction of the free press by the relationships OF
Germany Italy, and Russia The dictators seized the
offices and plants of scores of newspapers, wiped
them out of existence exiled imprisoned. killed
their editors. The press that permitted to live
became weapon of war, bent solely upon advance
ment of the interests of those who had destroyed
popular rule. II was and is, press with mission
not to inform the public truthfuly but to justify the
acts of the tyrants, to foment hate against those
whom the tyrants had marked for destruction within
and without the nations borders.
Extinction of the free press in Russia was not dill
fcult The illiterae peasant, only generation out
of serfdom, had no need of newspapers in
stence only few degrees above barbarsn. In
Germany and Italy. the dictators faced strong re-
sistance for time from newspapermen who real
zed the perils of the regimes. The dictaors
because they welded the brute strength of police
and military groups, made solid by the lure OF selfish
gain at the expense of those they exploited. The
press was divided. Its spokesman continued to ex-
pound widely differing views. There was no unity
of opinion action against the advance OF the Black
Shirts and the Brown Shirts and the dlctators ex-
tinguished the torches of press liberty by
The march to Armageddon began there.
In France and Great Britain, the remaining great
q g
of its traditional duty. Looking back today,
see that the signs were plain that the dictators in
tended to respect Of the rights of their neighbors
when those rights against the relationships pro-
grams. Those signs were not clearly interpreted to
the British and French people. They were clouded
and hidden by responsible members of government.
Iney were Unsecured by press which did not want
to believe them The great and gallant French people
betrayed into sense of false security by the
suppression of facts that they should have known
during the past 10 years and by the substitution
of propaganda that was meant to deceive. The great
British nation aWoke at last when its press still the
freest in the world except own, gave the nation
the dread truth Of what had happened to France two
months ago Today, facing the most desperate crisis
IN British history the British have removed practically
all restrictions newspaper expression except the
censorship of information which might aid the enemy
God grant that the enlightenment does not come
too late
Of all the people in the world in the United
States have had the cleares and the most complete
picture of the tragic events which led Europe to
Gethsemane. Censorship has for time, on many oc
casons blocked the efforts of able and honest Amer
readers the truth-but in every the truth has
, eventually been published by them Their dispatches
to American services and newspapers have been
, cabled back from here to the country where they
originated often bringing to the people of that coun-
try their first information We have lived in bright
light, while most Of Europe for than 10 years
has been under an intellectual blackout Our people
have had the benefit of newspaper counsel and lead
ership, free from the distortion of nationalism and
racial hatreds that have made such counsel valueess
and abroad. We have had the advantage OF
reading the news of the world in 40000000 copies
, daily of newspapers printed without the 0. K Of
military censors political tyrants bureaucratic
policemen
We have had the advantage of press entirely free
from dependence for support on government or on
any political party or group The American press
relies for its income entirely upon YOU its reader
! You pay the newspaper few coins each week for
the privilege OF buying and reading your daily copy
You pay, IN the cost of the goods you buy at our
local stores, few mills in every dollar to the
cost OF bringing them to your attention through adj
vertsing IN newspaper columns You only
source of income You are our only censor We
like II that way. And take it that you do too
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