Evening star., 1942-12-12
A Necessary Evil

It is highly dangerous to confuse
the mistakes of censorship with the
necessities of censorship itself. For
mistakes are inevitable. Censorship
Is. a new business in this country, as
new to the censors as it is to those
who are affected by censorship. Mis-
takes of judgment, mistakes of policy,
mistakes by some OF the thousands
Of employees doing the censoring-au
these things are to be expected. 1t
Is natural to resent them. But it
would be hazardous indeed to at
tempt to correct them by impairing
the functioning of censorship. There
seems to be some danger, now, that
this might happen.
Governor Ernest H. Gruening of
Alaska, and doubtless many others,
have been complaining about the
censorship of communications be-
tween the United States and Alaska.
There evidently is no specific statu-
tory authority for such censorship.
It is possible that the authority was
inadvertently omitted from the First
War Powers Act, which Congress
approved within two weeks after the
attack on Pearl Harbor. For at that
time rigid censorship already was
In effect between the continent and
Hawaii, territory. The War Powers
Act was copied from a similar statute
in effect in the last war, and that
act only authorized censorship be-
tween the United States and foreign
countries.
The complaint about censorship
between the United States and
Alaska seems based on two grounds.
One includes the usual alleged stu
pidities of censorship, which it's very
nature makes unavoidable and some
of which are difficult to explain with
out revealing things which cannot be
publicly discussed. The other is
based on the assumption OF unwar-
ranted powers by the Office of Gen.
sorship in interfering with communi-
cations between the United States
and Alaska, which is territory and
not a foreign country.
The first complaint can be dealt
with on a factual basis and the
Senators, in a closed committee
room, should be able to decide what
justification there is for it and per-
haps recommend disciplinary action
In the case of incompetent or stupid
censors. In the second case, it Is
hard to see how there can be argu-
ment over the fact that as Alaska
and Hawaii are both theaters of
military operations, censorship in
the past was amply justified as
necessary military precaution. A
military secret in Alaska is just as
important as a military secret any
where else.
An amendment to the War Powers
Act, specifically authorizing censor
ship of matter between the United
States and it's possessions, had
passed both houses of Congress with
out dissent and was about to become
law when Governor Gruening's COM
plants led to it's recall by Senator
Danaher, who sponsored it in the
Senate. It is feared now that the
amendment might be killed, and
censorship of communications to
Alaska banned, as a result Of the
complaints by those who have been
annoyed by the censors. But that
would be a dangerous thing to do.
For, while Senator Danaher and his
colleagues have been wise to examine
the Alaskan complaints, it is difficult
to believe that they would risk the
injury to the Nation, in the face of
warnings from the military authori-
ties and the FBI, that would lie in
interfering with a censorship that is
always going to be just as annoying
as it is vital in the conduct of the
war.