Evening star., 1941-12-21

fully obstruct the recruiting or enlist
ment service OF the United States, to the
injury of the service or of the United
not more than $4,000 or imprisonment
for not more than 20 years or both"
On the surface this seemed law from
which newspapers, which seek to print
the truth and the facts, would be wholly
safe. But this was not the case. A
history OF the Creel Committee by James
r. Mock and Cedric Larson, Words
That Won the War'), says of section 8:
This Is what gave teeth to the Com
mittee on Public Information. Without
questioning the loyalty of the great ma
jority of American newspapers, it may
fairly be said that this was the big stick
behind the voluntary censorship of tho
press. In certain cases 1t was actually
used for control of the press, and In
countless others the shadow of its au.
thority fell across the desk Of the coun.
try's editors"
Controls Undecided.
The present day statutory foundation
for censorship is in the broad war powers
bill which Congress hurriedly passed
last week and which the President signed
Thursday. 1t gives an authority in gen.
eral similar to that in section 3 Of the
Espionage Act, which is still on the
books. 1t also states the Government
has the power to censor outgoing mes
sages, whether on wires or through the
mails-a power which the Navy Depart
ment and the Post Office Department al
ready had been exercising.
What direction the censorship actu-
ally will take, what general rules Mr..
Price will lay down and what mechanical
controls he will establish are questions
to which he himself does not vet know
the answer. For several months a spe-
cial cabinet committee has been con-
ferrlng on what sort Of censorship we
in this country should have 1t is un-
derstood that newspapers and radio
officials will be invited to confer with
the committee, now that the censor has
been chosen.
One difference between Mr.. Price and
Mr.. Creel is that Mr.. Creel was both
| high censor and high propagandist. The
foundations for propaganda in this war
have been laid long ago in other quarters
than the censor's Office, principally In
the Office of Facts and Figures, which
is still in the process of organization.
and in the Division of Information of
the Office for Emergency Management.
which sounds the bell for the industrial
side Of the war effort.
Preliminary Restrictions.
News restriction in Washington was
growing before the wars precipitate ar
rival. An outstanding example was the
Navy Departments longtime request
that no news be printed of the arrival
Of British ships for repair in American
harbors. When the New York Daily
News took an air photograph of the
British ship Malaga in New York Har-
Dor, the Civil Aeronautics Authority
grounded the News photograph plane.
This incident took place last March.
The British themselves subsequently
made it public knowledge that their
ships were here by disclosing in a press
ASASooC tiiC PiNSCllCc Ol LIE llluSJIlOUS
in Norfolk
A good example of how withholding
the news may prove more damaging at
home than hurtful to the enemy was
provided by the Hawaii incident that
began the war. The story which Secre-
tary of the Navy Knox brought back to
Washington disclosed widespread harm
to our naval force. But the rumors
which were spreading on every side In
the absence Of an official report said that
the damage was far greater than the
actual facts warranted. Absence of in
formation can injure the civilian morale.
Supporting war without information is
like fighting In the dark.
Releases Regulated.
Besides planning to set up rules about
what may and may not be printed, the
Government has made a start toward
controlling sources of information. Cor
respondents at the War and Navy De-
partments must get information through
the press relations bureaus of those
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