The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-12-19
Capital
Comment
hilifsry Strategy
And Censorship
a Very Present HELD
In Tine OF Wsr
Saves Money. Lives
And Property
justification Found
For Alesks Case
BY PETER EDISON

Nnen you get an insight into som,
Of the plots and consplrac,e,
against the United states-dis
covered through censorship q
mail to and from remote point,
under the American flas-tha,
fun necessity for drastic wartime
inspection Of communications car
be appreciated.
Details Of these counter-espion-
age cases cannot be disclosed now
for to do 80 would give away the
methods Of censorship and destroy
their effectiveness. And even az
Ter the war many cases win never
be revealed, for to do 90 might
be considered a violation Of the
privacy of the mails.
But in general it can be told
now that millions Of dollars have
already been saved the United
States government through clews
detected by censors. Huge stock
piles of boarded raw materials.
strategic minerals needed for war
production, have been detected.
One Of these seizures alone was
Of greater monetary value than
The entire cost of operating the
Office Of Censorship for q year.
In spite OF this there is a def
mite effort now being made TO limit
censorship. Specifically. some peo-
pie In Alaska and Puerto Rico be-
lieve that communications with
those territories should not be GEN.
sored. Gov. Ernest Gruening of
Alaska is particularly bitter
against this censorship and IL is
largely as a result of his protests
that the Senate Judiciary Com
mittee investigate this whole sub
1ect.
For the past year-ever since
the Office Of Censorship was set
up-all mail, cables, radio and
overseas telephone eommunica-
tons to and from the u. s. terri
tories and possessions have been
subject to censorship. This CEN
sorship has been exercised under
authority granted to the Office
of Censorship by an executive
order. The President, in turn, re-
oeived his authority to issue this
order from the First War Powers
act passed by congress In 1e41,
which delegates certain extra
wartime powers to the chief ex-
scutive as commander in chief Of
the army and navy.
You run now into a very fine
legal argument. No one questions
the right of the Office of Censor
snip to supervise communications
between the United States and
Canada or Mexico. They are
foreign countries. yet they actually
touch the United States over
thousands of miles Of border.
On the other hand. Alaska,
Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the Vir-
gin Islands are U. S. territories
and under the constitutional Bill
of Rights, citizens of those terri
tories are guaranteed the same
liberties enjoyed by people living
IN the continental United States.
There is no censorship of COM
munications between New York
and California, and therefore 1t
might be argued that to censor
mail going to OF coming from any
u. S. citizen in the outlying terri
tory might be considered placing
these territorial residents in the
same class as foreigners.
Office Of Censorship has been
operating on the theory that It's
powers under the presidential or
der were ample to censor all COM
to American flag ter
ritories, possessions and military
bases in Bermuda, Ulster, New
New Zealand OF wher-
ever. But to make this authority
beyond question a bill was intro
duced in Congress 10 amend the
First War Powers act and make
specific provision for censoring OF
communications between CONT
mental U. S. and territories. The
bill passed the house. went to the
senate, was slightly amended and
passed by the senate. then re-
turned TO the house for approval
Of the senate amendments.
At this point the senate. stirred
up by Governor Gruening's charges
that the Office Of Censorship had
been Illegally eensoring mail be-
tween the United States and
Alaska, asked that the bin be re-
turned TO the senate and recon-
sidered.
AZ the matter stands II Is an