Imperial Valley press., 1943-04-26
A GLARiNG CASE OF
PERVERTED CENSORSHIP


trial and punishment of those Ameri
Continued endeavor was made TO obtain
confirmation of those reports from Tokyo. Ii
was not until March H. 194S, that the Ameri
can government received the communication that
these Americans had in fact been tried and that
the death penalty had been pronounced against
them II further stated that the death pen
atty was commuted for some, but that the sem
tence of death had been applied to others.
President Roosevelt's statement
of April 81, 1943.
The long delay in announcement OF
the plight of the Doolittle filters who were
downed in Japan, is glaring example of
how censorship is being used to withhold
news from the public until it can be used
for propaganda purposes by government
heads.
This is a strong statement but the
facts appear to sustain it.
The President says that word Of the
plight of our filters was received on Octo-
Der 19, 1912. That was more than half
year ago.
He says that it was confirmed on
March II, this year. That was six weeks
ago.
Why was the October 18th information
not announced? What possible reason
could be given for Withholding it from
the people of America, who are entitled
to have all facts not of value to the enc
my? Could our knowing these things
have helped Japan? Obviously not! OBJ
and we should have been kept advised
of efforts made to confirm the facts.
If the confirmation occurred six weeks
ago, why was it withheld? Would it have
helped the enemy to be made known to
Americans? OF course not. There Is no
other standard of judgment whereby sup
preston of information would be justi-
fled . and yet the big heads kept it
secret
No satisfactory explanation of the de-
lay has been made and we doubt whether
any alibi can really eXonerate those re-
sponsible.
1t has every earmark of being with
h e for prop agan d purposes,
as fuel to stimulate bond sales, or intansi-
fly our fighting spirit when the President
is locking horns with the initiation prob
lem. All this is surmise of course, but
in the absence Of public explanation, we
must all wonder as to motives and pur-
poses.
That such suspicious grow and grow
and grow is evidence in itself of the ser
ious reactions in this country against
tampering with public information, sup
pressing facts, telling half-truths and
keeping secret information which really
wouldn't hurt the war effort.
This very case proves what many have
claimed, namely that censorship has run
riot 1t spotlights the danger that we
will never get back the freedom Of infor
nation which made this the most en-
lightened nation in the world.
Such news suppression sustains the
contention that to give the administra-
tion an inch is for the administration to
take a mile
1t is rank infringement of the guar
anteed freedoms of this country.
1t is the most harmful thing govern
ment can do because it undermines pub
blic confidence and creates a feeling in
the people that 1--WE don't know what's
going on"
1t is an insult to American intelligence,
an implication that, 1--WE leaders will hide
whatever information we want to hide
until such time as we want to tell youse
guys and what are you going to do
about it"
In the history of the world, suppress
sion of truth has never served any good
end. 1t won't serve a good end today.
1t is our solemn duty both to our fight
ing men and to the patriots on the home
front, to direct ourselves toward a solu-