tangible even if false. It can be denied. Its falsity can be proven. It is not nearly so dangerous as a false rumor.
The atmosphere created by common knowledge that news is being suppressed is an ideal "culture "for the propaganda of the bacteria of enemy rumors. This state of mind was the thing which most impressed Americans visiting belligerent countries. Insane and dangerous rumors, some of obvious enemy origin, were readily believed, and they spread with amazing rapidity. This is a greater danger than printing scare stories. No one knows who starts a rumor, but there is a responsible editor behind every printed word. But the greatest objection to censoring of the news against the home population is that it has always tended to create the abuse of shielding from public criticism the dishonesty or incompetency of high officials. While it certainly has never been the policy of any of the European press bureaus to accomplish this result, the internal censorship has generally worked out this way. And there are several wellestablished instances where the immense power of the censor has fallen into the control of intriguing cliques. Nominally striving to protect the public from pernicious ideas, they have used the censorship to protect themselves from legitimate criticism.
A proof of the statement was sent to every member of the press gallery, and after sufficient time for proper study a meeting was called at which Mr. Arthur Bullard, Mr. Edgar G. Sisson, and I presented ourselves for questioning and full examination. We explained that as the agreement was to be both public and voluntary, their assent must not be qualified by any doubt, and that we stood ready to make any proper changes, either in phraseology or principle. The temper of the gathering, hostile at first, grew more friendly as understandings were reached, and when we left it seemed a certainty that the plan would be approved. Unfortunately, however, the papers of the following morning contained a letter from the President in which he entered denial of the report that he had withdrawn his support from the proposed censorship law. This was the position of the military authorities, and as the
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