The Press Under Post Office Censorship

Although Congress emphatically refused to permit the establishment of a press censorship when the Espionage bill was under discussion, far-reaching powers have been conferred upon the Postmaster General by a clause in the Trading with the Enemy act. The section in question reads:

Any print, newspaper, or publication in any foreign language which does not conform to the provisions of this section is hereby declared to be non-mailable, and it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association to transport, carry, or otherwise publish or distribute the same, or to transport, carry, or otherwise publish or distribute any matter which is made non-mailable by the provisions of the act relating to espionage, approved June 15, 1917.

Section 3 of the Espionage act, referred to in this clause as defining nonmailable matter, reads:

Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements, with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies; and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both.

The chief opponent of press control by the Postmaster General was Senator Norris of Nebraska, who pointed out that the new provision took away from a publisher his right to fight an order in the courts until after it was useless to fight; that it vested in the Postmaster General-an administrative officer of the Government-the power to adjudge a publisher guilty in advance of trial by any judicial tribunal, and to destroy his business through a mere edict. The Postmaster General had already put out of business thirty-eight or forty publications, under the provisions of the Espionage act, and not one of these publishers had been arrested for violation of

was

that act. Yet, Senator Norris contended, if the Postmaster General was within his right every one of these men guilty of a crime, and should be punished by imprisonment.

Statement by Mr. Burleson Publications need not fear suppression under the new censorship provision, Postmaster General Burleson explained in an interview on Oct. 9, unless they transgress the bounds of legitimate criticism of the President, the Administration, the army, the navy, or the conduct of the war. Mr. Burleson continued:

We shall take great care not to let criticism which is personally or politically offensive to the Administration affect our action. But if newspapers go so far as to impugn the motives of the Government, and thus encourage insubordination, they will be dealt with severely.

For instance, papers may not say that the Government is controlled by Wall Street or munition manufacturers, or any other special interests. Publication of any news calculated to urge the people to violate law would be considered grounds for drastic action. We will not tolerate campaigns against conscription, enlistments, sale of securities, or revenue collections. We will not permit the publication or circulation of anything hampering the war's prosecution or attacking improperly our allies.

Mr. Burleson explained that the policy of the foreign-language newspapers would be judged by their past utterances and not by newly announced intentions. "We have files of these papers, and "whether we license them or not depends

66

on our inspection of the files," he said. German-language newspapers not licensed would be required to publish English translations. No Socialist paper would be barred from the mails, Mr. Burleson said, unless it contained treasonable or seditious matter. "The trou"ble," he added, "is that most Socialist papers do contain this matter."

66

That Socialist newspapers did oppose the war was admitted by Morris Hillquit, when he appeared at the hearing at the Post Office Department in Washington on Oct. 15 on behalf of The New York Call, which had been summoned to show

cause why it should not be deprived of its mail privileges.

President Wilson's Attitude

President Wilson's views are indicated in a letter to Max Eastman, editor of The Masses, a Socialist magazine which has been declared non-mailable. The President wrote:

I think that a time of war must be regarded as wholly exceptional, and that it is legitimate to regard things which would in ordinary circumstances be innocent as very dangerous to the public welfare, but

the line is manifestly exceedingly hard to draw, and I cannot say that I have any confidence that I know how to draw it.

I can only say that a line must be drawn, and that we are trying, it may be clumsily, but genuinely, to draw it without fear or favor or prejudice.

Many Socialist and pacifist publications have already been barred from the mails and some have in consequence ceased to exist, the most important of such defunct papers being The American Socialist, published from the headquarters of the Socialist Party.

Food Administration at Work

The establishment of a new Government department to regulate and control food supplies during the war was recorded in the September number of CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE, (pp. 389-392.) Since then the Food Administration, under Herbert C. Hoover, has taken important steps in the direction of regulating prices and placing distribution upon a more economical basis.

The basic price of the 1917 wheat crop was fixed by President Wilson on Aug. 30 at $2.20 a bushel, as recommended by the Price Fixing Commission, headed by Dr. H. A. Garfield. The price was based on Chicago delivery and was the figure at which the Food Administration decided to buy supplies of what is known as No. 1 Northern Spring wheat for the United States and its allies. It was estimated that under the schedule of prices flour could be produced at about $9 a barrel and that there ought accordingly to be a slight decrease in the price of bread. The $2.20 basis was 20 cents higher than that named for the 1918 crop in the Food Control act. In concluding his statement, President Wilson said:

Mr. Hoover, at his express wish, has taken no part in the deliberations of the committee on whose recommendation I determine the Government's fair price, nor has he in any way intimated an opinion regarding that price.

Government Buying Wheat

The Government, through the $50,000,000 United States Grain Corporation of the Food Administration, made its first

pearance in the wheat market on

Sept. 5, and the principle of Government
control had its first application in regard
to foodstuffs. Government agents at the
central zone offices throughout the
country went into the market at the
opening of the business day and took
possession of the wheat in elevators and
terminals, buying at the basic price of
$2.20 a bushel. From that day onward
every bushel of wheat in the country has
passed and continues to pass through
the Grain Corporation from the elevators
and terminals to the mills. The Govern-
ment is buying only on warehouse re-
ceipts, and no contracts are made for
future delivery. The men who went into
the market for the first time on Sept. 5
found everything ready for their coming,
and, it is said, there was no friction nor
the slipping of a single cog when the
machinery of the Federal control started.
The wheat was sold at an advance of 1
per cent., to cover the cost of handling.
Not a single fraction of a cent goes into
the profit side of the books of the Food
Administration. The control of the Food
Administration over prices begins in the
elevators and ends with the sale of flour
at
a 25-cent-a-barrel profit by the
millers. The food law allows millers to
keep only a thirty-day stock on hand, a
measure to prevent hoarding.

To save the millions of bushels of grain used annually in the manufacture of whisky, the provision of the Food Control act which prohibits the making or importation of distilled liquors was made effective on Sept. 8. Of the 100,000,000 bushels of grain which formerly