Evening star., 1941-10-04


Tommy Manville could ind much
fault with the censorship rules.
There is only one minor flaw In
the whole list OF stIpula ations and
when I point it out to YOU am sure
you'll agree with me that 1t is very
trivial indeed.
The flaw is that the Navy Depart
ment Board Of Censors takes 1t for
granted that all battleships. destroy
ers, airplane carriers, submarines
and other types of Warcraft are
completely invisible and cannot be
seen BY the naked eve, or even the
fully clothed eye.
The Board of Censors is firm in its
belief that 10000 or $4,000 ton bat
tleship can sneak into a harbor IN
broad daylight, tie up at busy
dock. disembark hundreds of its
crew and undergo rlveting repairs
without even the cat on the dock
noticing that thing is going on.
l was in Norfolk when the British
plane carrier Illustrious was IN the
yards suffering from every known
silment that an airplane carrier can
suffer. I saw the Illustrious with
nv own eyes. talked 10 officers who
told me what had happened to her
and was all but run over in the
streets Of Norfolk by Illustrious sail
orS, full of beer and stories of their
adventures. I was no privileged
soul. Every ore in Norfolk knew all
I knew.
But according 10 the Nsvv's GEN.
: sorship code. I couldn't write 4 word
about the Illustrious OF course. I
could have called up on the tele-
phone and told anybody lust what
was happening There is little
doubt in my mind that if the where
abouts and condition Of the illus
trlous was Of any importance 10 the
AXIS powers, their agents kept the
telephone lines and telegraph wires
busy
In all fairness 7 must say that
this refusal to admit that battle
ships can be seen is not strictly an
American trait.
When l was IN Halifax not so long
ago I was placed in the hands of
cenSors who must have been trained
In the ways of their trade by one or
all Of the Mark brothers They in
sisted that l avoid mention OF some
OF the durndest things. The sub
marine net that guards the harbor.
Tor instance. Every one in Halifax
knows the net is there, because two
brightly painted boats are stationed
IN the harbor TO raise and lower
the gate in the center Of it. I
thought that mention of the pres
ence of the net would be wise: the
enemy would be more careful But
the censor said no, polished his lit
tie eyeglasses and looked every other
inch important
But to get back to our own Navy
censorship. On another trip to Nor
folK few in coastal patrol bomb-
er and was told not to use Norfolk
Tor dateline on the Storv-that no
one was supposed to know Norfolk
was navy yard or an air base. The
bomber l was in was one of the
hombers Burgess Meredith described
IN his radio program of how the
heet air arm works. Meredith didn't
mention Norfolk, either. That would
have been all right, only the Norfolk
papers listed the program on their
radio pages as originating in Nor
folk and made quite fuss over the
arrival OF Burgess in the CITY.
1t may be. of course. that the Ger
man agents. if any. in Norfolk, cant
read English and are so stupid they
don't know they are working in a
town that has the largest navy ward
IN the country and one of the largest
air bases.
But as you can see. the flaws IN
the Navy's censorship rules are
minor. They are so beautifully
thought out that only these facts
prevent them from being perfect:
!. The average varcraft is as
big As half dozen houses and
can be seen for miles.
2. The human being has ewes
and ears and enjoys using them.
3, Sailors are human and will
talk.
4. The enemy has q few smart
boys too; smart enough. anyway.
to put nickel in a pay phone
and get number.
Congratulations, Secretary Knox
Great job.
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