The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1946-05-02
THE GREAT
GAME OF
POLITICS
BY FRANK r. KENT.
Copyright by The Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by per-
mission.
Secrecy Breeds Distrust

CllC bIlbCi . canning VIZ IL INiibSll4P AOA
and confidence in the Russians, which
is the common desire Of the British
and ourselves. One, of course, is ling
uistic; the other-and more import
ants the thick cloud of secrecy be-
hind which they consistently operate.
So far as the rest is concerned it
will gradually lessen as more Of US
learn to speak Russian and more Rus
slams learn to speak English. AS to
the second, apparently all we can do
Is hope that concealment Of the facts
end a general policy Of secrecy does
them far more harm than good. The
plain truth is that all the enemies Of
Russia together have not been able
70 create as much distrust Of Russian
acts and purposes as Russia herself
has created by the recent rigid CEN
sorship which she has clamped on in
Iran.
IlelG StlIlOullI9 " q Wei lCeADAN IL VA
curtain and, of course, no one is cred
Llous enough to think that the Iran
ian Government acted in this except
under irresistible Soviet pressure. 1t
s strange, indeed, that the Russians
DO not grasp the obvious fact that
suspicion feeds on secrecy and recog-
nize that the inevitable reaction of
the ordinary man and woman outside
Russia to Iranian censorship is that
things inside must be pretty awful
when the Soviet Government goes to
such extremes to cover up. 1t is prac-
tically impossible to make any other
deduction.
We do not think the Russians are
Williams because of their censorship
habits And we are reluctant to at
tribute to them any sinister or wicked
purpose. But we simply cannot under
stand this secrecy business. If it isn't
sinister, then it seems to us completely
stupid. Our view is that publicity is
stunned only by those who are afraid
of the truth, that unless you have
something to hide there is no excuse
for censorship except during a war.
The British, of course, feel the same
way about it. Any number Of Russian
reporters are free to come to this
country or go to England; free to
roam all over the place; free to send
back to Russia anything they want to
say about us in anyway they like.
But no British or American re-
porter can do that kind Of thing in
any part Of the world where the Rus
sian influence is dominant. On the
contrary, in Moscow, as in Iran, every
foreign correspondent is restricted in
many WAYS and all the time. He not
only cannot send freely and fully the
facts he gets but he has great diff
ficulty in getting the facts to send.
Protests over the years against this
have been made, but in vain. In this
business Of complete newspaper in
dependence the Russians understand
cur attitude as little as we understand
theirs. Testimony of those who know
I the Russians best and are most
friendly to them is that they are cap
able of comprehending everything
about the American system and the
American people except our insist
ance upon the "freedom Of the press"
That Just makes no sense to them
/ They regard it as national obses-
sion. They think it silly but do not
believe we are sincere. They contend
/ that our press is not really free and
/ that the whole freedom of the press
argument is pretense. American Of
iicials of the highest level assert
their belief in the sincerity of this
Russian conviction and agree as to
the hopelessness of arguing about it.
/ However, it does seem that eventu-
ally the fact that they are absolutely
alone in their advocacy of censorship
and in their belief that free press
4 is nonsense would sink into the Rus
sian consciousness.
Last week, talking to the Society
of American Editors in Washington
on this subject, Mr. Trygve Lie, the
Norwegian secretary general of the
United Nations, said: "Unless there is
a constantly increasing and free com
muncation between all peoples we
(the United Nations will be
strangled at the outset of our effort. "
And Mr. Byron Price head of our war
/ Censorship Board, told the same
gathering that american newsmen
must be ever on guard to guarantee
the safety Of information from the
alien and very dangerous weed of
censorship" If and when the Russian
leaders abandon their policy of con-
cealing facts (even from their own
people,, the main reason for distrust
will disappear and good will among
men everywhere be increased.