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Show CENSOR THE SENATORS. Because the editor of the Washington Washing-ton Herald criticised the government in an editorial on the defective shells supplied to our armed merchantmen he was sharply called to account by George Creel, the government censor. It has been understood all along that even if a strict censorship law were passed criticism would not be barred and it is difficult to imagine why the Washington Wash-ington editor should have been condemned. con-demned. : The whole country knew about the defective shells, that one of them had boomeranged and killed two nurses on the steamship Mongolia and that others had' ruined the rifling of the guns on the liner St. Louis. But whether the editor deserved censure cen-sure or not it is fairly clear that some of our senators are giving aid and comfort com-fort to the enemy. One senator, for example, discusses the defective shells and while advocating publicity in such a ease takes occasion to tell the enemy just how many merchant ships have been armed and just how many men of our navy are manning the guns on these ships. Of what avail will it be to gag the newspapers unless the simpletons of the senate are gagged? If senators are permitted to take advantage of a debate to betray army and navy secrets it will be useless to establish censorship of the press. Enemy spies can sit in the senate gallery and jot-down jot-down important information and then transmit it to Germany by the secret agencies which were employed to warn German submarines that Admiral fcfims and his destroyer squadron were making mak-ing for Queenstown harbor. |