DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Conger Reynolds newspaper clippings, 1916-1919 | Clipping: 3,200 Censors Revise 'Copy' Sent From War; Conger Reynolds Tells of Difficulty Correspondents Experience in Writing New From World Conflict Page 1

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Conger Reynolds newspaper clippings, 1916-1919

Clipping: 3,200 Censors Revise 'Copy' Sent From War; Conger Reynolds Tells of Difficulty Correspondents Experience in Writing New From World Conflict Page 1

3,200 CENSORS REVISE "COPY" SENT FROM WAR

Conger Reynolds Tells of Difficulty Correspondents Experience in Writing News for World Conflict

Development of the censorship of mails in England during the war, greatly interested and impressed Conger Reynolds, head of the school of journalism at the Iowa State university when he was in Europe this summer.  While in Des Moines for a few hours Monday he talked of his observations while abroad.
"We Americans have no conception of the magnitude of the censorship even as it applies to the mails," he said. "Then when we consider how it touches the foreign press, the correspondents and the cables, it becomes still broader and more interesting to study.
"In the censorship offices in London, 3,200 persons, men and women, are employed opening every kind of mail.  Since the war began they have opened 5,000,000 pieces of mail from the United States alone and 9,000,000 including the mail from all countries.  There are many small offices in the building where experts on every known language are at work.  There are numbers of code experts, who spend their time unraveling code messages.
DEFEND THIS SYSTEM
"They admit that in the beginning they made numerous mistakes and were guilty of great stupidity at times, but they say in defense that the entire project was an experiment; it had to be builded from the foundation up. They had no precedent.
The English defend themselves emphatically, and rightly, I believe, against the charge that they are accumulating trade secrets and other information from the American mail for their own use. On the contrary, they maintain that they have intercepted much information of value to the state department and have transmitted it to this country. I know that to be true.
CONTRABAND QUESTION
"There is an interesting museum of contraband articles that have been intercepted in the mails. I saw rolls of newspapers with many rubber bands around them; then more newspapers around that roll with rubber bands about them, and so on. The effort was being made to get rubber in to Germany, you see. Sheet rubber was sent between newspaper also. The crude gum was sent in other ways and in some instances, golf balls were sent in the hopes that what rubber was in them could reach Germany and be utilized.
"They have discovered that Germany has tried to keep up her South American trade thru the mails. Valuable jewelry will be buried in the bottom of a box of worthless imitation jewelry in the hopes that the censor will be deceived and not investigate everything in the box.
"In all the British have picked up $500,000,000 of contraband.
CABLE CENSORSHIP
"The cable as well as the mail censorship has touched the American newspaper man seriously. Why, this country doesn't know but a fraction of what has been going on over there. The newspaper correspondents are getting all sorts of material together which will flood the papers and magazines after the war is over.
"I learned that after the Moewe was sunk, two British cruisers had a fight with two similar German boats. Of this battle nothing was ever made known because the English considered the information would be so valuable to the Germans.
"There have been big battles off the coast of Norway that have never been recorded for the public.
"Another published story I was told dates back to the early days of the war. After the battle of Charleroi, a trainload of men was sent back to a French station. The authorities were suspicious and had Joffre come and inspect them with the result that most of them were shot on suspicion as spies or deserters."
HANDLING NEWSPAPERS
Mr. Reynolds observed with interest the difference between the censorship of the French and English newspapers. In France, he said, full proofs of every newspaper are sent to the censors before the presses are allowed to start printing. In England the responsibility is left with the editors who face heavy penalties if they print damaging news. In London when there is doubt about the harmfulness of news, the editor sends it to the censors for a verdict.
Conger Reynolds, instructor of journalism at the state university, and A.C. Sanborn, Des Moines newspaperman, yesterday applied to Governor Clarke for a letter of introduction to officials in France where they expect to spend the next few months in the war zone.

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3,200 CENSORS REVISE "COPY" SENT FROM WAR Conger Reynolds Tells of Difficulty Correspondents Experience in Writing News for World Conflict Development of the censorship of mails in England during the war, greatly interested and impressed Conger Reynolds, head of the school of journalism at the Iowa State university when he was in Europe this summer. While in Des Moines for a few hours Monday he talked of his observations while abroad. "We Americans have no conception of the magnitude of the censorship even as it applies to the mails," he said. "Then when we consider how it touches the foreign press, the correspondents and the cables, it becomes still broader and more interesting to study. "In the censorship offices in London, 3,200 persons, men and women, are employed opening every kind of mail. Since the war began they have opened 5,000,000 pieces of mail from the United States alone and 9,000,000 including the mail from all countries. There are many small offices in the building where experts on every known language are at work. There are numbers of code experts, who spend their time unraveling code messages. DEFEND THIS SYSTEM "They admit that in the beginning they made numerous mistakes and were guilty of great stupidity at times, but they say in defense that the entire project was an experiment; it had to be builded from the foundation up. They had no precedent. The English defend themselves emphatically, and rightly, I believe, against the charge that they are accumulating trade secrets and other information from the American mail for their own use. On the contrary, they maintain that they have intercepted much information of value to the state department and have transmitted it to this country. I know that to be true. CONTRABAND QUESTION "There is an interesting museum of contraband articles that have been intercepted in the mails. I saw rolls of newspapers with many rubber bands around them; then more newspapers around that roll with rubber bands about them, and so on. The effort was being made to get rubber in to Germany, you see. Sheet rubber was sent between newspaper also. The crude gum was sent in other ways and in some instances, golf balls were sent in the hopes that what rubber was in them could reach Germany and be utilized. "They have discovered that Germany has tried to keep up her South American trade thru the mails. Valuable jewelry will be buried in the bottom of a box of worthless imitation jewelry in the hopes that the censor will be deceived and not investigate everything in the box. "In all the British have picked up $500,000,000 of contraband. CABLE CENSORSHIP "The cable as well as the mail censorship has touched the American newspaper man seriously. Why, this country doesn't know but a fraction of what has been going on over there. The newspaper correspondents are getting all sorts of material together which will flood the papers and magazines after the war is over. "I learned that after the Moewe was sunk, two British cruisers had a fight with two similar German boats. Of this battle nothing was ever made known because the English considered the information would be so valuable to the Germans. "There have been big battles off the coast of Norway that have never been recorded for the public. "Another published story I was told dates back to the early days of the war. After the battle of Charleroi, a trainload of men was sent back to a French station. The authorities were suspicious and had Joffre come and inspect them with the result that most of them were shot on suspicion as spies or deserters." HANDLING NEWSPAPERS Mr. Reynolds observed with interest the difference between the censorship of the French and English newspapers. In France, he said, full proofs of every newspaper are sent to the censors before the presses are allowed to start printing. In England the responsibility is left with the editors who face heavy penalties if they print damaging news. In London when there is doubt about the harmfulness of news, the editor sends it to the censors for a verdict. Conger Reynolds, instructor of journalism at the state university, and A.C. Sanborn, Des Moines newspaperman, yesterday applied to Governor Clarke for a letter of introduction to officials in France where they expect to spend the next few months in the war zone.