The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-09-06
The Devil And The Press

Out of the umuous welter of Pearl Harbor we of the newspaper business grasp at gratifying and to say the in the very words of the Army report which in it's indic ment of Admiral Kimme and MaorGenera Short states "A recitation of the headlines of the newspapers be tween Nov, % and Dec 194) would to have been
 sufficient to have warned these and their subordnates of the critical international situation The three prnc pal major generals who commanders under Gen. Short have testified they received substantially nothing by way of information as to the situation except what they read in the newspapers The fact that these newspapers begeren and urgent in tone discounted by them because they not receiving any confirmatory nfor nation from the department through (Gen) Short"
 We of the newspaper business that generally speak ing the majority of do not like to dance the tomb stones of our felowmens misery In this particular stance with justification however separate the cha from the wheat and expose the kernel of truth exist
 ing there The press has been ed by sections of the pub lie numerous occasions sensational and Scary Such
 ification for the most part has become popular paSte for anyusualy the ignorant that those ignorant of the strange passions comprising mankind and the stimuli and catalySts which tend to set in boil the witches brew which is to be found in all mankind; and makes of multsoul creature combining all the best and worst ea lures of the angel and the devil and whatever may be be- tween those two immortal spheres Those of us in the paper business come to know mankind such in many Instances, and like passionate lover alternately clasp 1t to us with open ardor and reject 1t with Sen anger.
 in general foresaw the best and worst in mankind, stewing in it's juices. We not claiming that the newspapers then held some supernatural preScence which anticipated the Pearl Harbor attack in all detail Actually what happened that the majority of the press did Ognize the SulphurouS taint waiting the Pacific WHICH they SenSeQ dS or SddnC
 eS of mankind in the form of the laps They had smeled that odor before when their fellowmen inclined as many statesmen of the early period to offset its heavy presence by the highly perumed scent of ration azng and snug compacency Perhaps most editors have in the of their been obliged to sit down in some form of poker game with the Devil or his satellites; and for that they knew him well when they smelled him in the fresh winds of the Pa cifc
 As stated the Army report indirect vindcation of the American press It is proof that the nations has as its fundamental purpose the welfare of the nations Wa offn Nfh
 e to from the top of the shoulders of the military men indicted by the report We are not judging their nno cence guilt; we leave that to their peers.
 Let it be summed up in the quiet judgment that the press is capable of recognizing full blown devil when it meets one and doesn't have to resort to witchhunng or secret herbs to produce scay apparon just for the sake of selling newspapers.
 The newspapers of this nation avdy seek the trust and confidence of the people They covetous also of the freedoms of this country This they proved by their open warning and reasoning the mmnence of the dangers
 just prior Pearl Harbor This in subsantiated by the Army report on Pearl Harbor.