Show Trust Americans With the Truth censorship and government control contro o or of the NEWS NEW'S JN avenues of information now hOW that tho the war is over promise no good to this nation or tho the world orld The American people have passed tire the st stage ge where where they will let George Creel and atul other little journalists do their thinking for them The They are aro fully capable of of formulating formulating formulating formu formu- lating their own conclusions conclusion and will not readily submit sub submit sub sub- ideas whether they have the tire full in information in- in mit to ready-made ready format formation on or not Ill Ill-I In Iii tho early days of tire tIle war our people pitied and condemned tho German Germau people for bowing howing to a censorship censorship censorship cen- cen which deprived them of unbiased information on current events In our minds the tire Prussian censorship censorship censorship censor censor- ship constituted a most flagrant suppression of personal personal per per- liberty and free thinking With that spirit behind behind behind be be- hind them the tho American people cannot easily caSily bow bo boto to censorship as us practiced by br the tire Creel delegation in Paris and the tho Burleson combination at home Oar Our people arc aro essentially seekers of tho tire truth and andare andare are not gh given en to blind submission to the roseate assurances assurances assur assur- ances anees of their servants They want Want the facts fact without tb the camouflage of f a n censor or a press agent gent or what what- ever official capacity is heM held by Mr l Creel Under the guise of war ar necessity the thc government go took control of the cable after tho the armistice was signed and the need of military secrecy had bad passed In this we have havo tho the beginning of the violation of the commandment or ar r. r promise t open t open covenants eo open open- ly Jy arrived ed at a most unfortunate incident for the success of f the peace conference The public had been led to believe thero would be no secret n negotiations ons but butas butas as as a a. matter of fact there were no public negotiations Tho evil en of it is not that tho the public was prevented from finding finding out ont something something for for this is no longer pos- pos but sible gible but that that tbt trusted officials could not trust the American people The administration attitude e seems to tobe tobe tobe be that so long as Colonel House and a few fe others arc arcon arcon arcon on tho the ground nobody else need bo be concerned 9 The entire program is out of harmony with the tIle spirit and ambitions of the American people It savors or oo too much of tho the old European system to bo ho Welcomed in n the United States The rhe liberties liberti s extended c tire tho American Amer Anier- ican correspondents in Paris Pads are arc indicative of this thi in ina inasmuch in- in a much as they were ere limited to the tho matter published by b French rench and British newspapers un Under er this system ss s's tem America cannot assert a free voice either cither in n Paris Pans s or r at home bome and the situation not only handicaps us fl in the peace conference but hut it entails increasing 0 suspicions sus- sus pic ions and difficulties at home Militarism has been crushed and there i is no longer any my need for this censorship which one ono modern modern writer writer characterizes as t militarism t of the tue mind We Ve V e have ha measured our progress 1 by open and fair dealing between between between be be- tween the government and the people If we e must abandon this this principle to convince con European powers of or tho the integrity of our purpose we cannot hope to assert a commanding voice voice in any Kny world association of f the future fixture The rhe American people aro reasonable and not o and may well be trusted with the truth from Europe wHether it tickles or nettles their vanity fl fa pa fa |