Show Correspondents ts Faced Ugly Problems During Sino Sitio Sino Japanese Japanese Dispute te United Press Staff Writer Describes Difficulties Difficulties Difficulties Encountered While Covering Situation in Manchuria l By FREDERICK KU KUH United Press Staff Correspondent BERLIN Jan 16 UP Reporting UP-Reporting Reporting the Sino Japanese dispute dispute dis dis- dis- dis pUtt in Manchuria furnished newspaper correspondents with an ugly problem Conversations with leisurely Chinese generals generals gen gel in when Japanese airplanes were expected to drop a few well aimed bombs sleeping on stone slabs in subzero subzero subzero sub sub- zero weather in a Chinese inn at traveling by rail rai and auto through the Manchurian wilderness with bandit bandi gangs lurking around merely suggest some of the rigorous experiences of the correspondents The rigors of possible airplane attacks attacks at tacks cold sleeping quarters and md bandits were tangible dangers The wiles o of the censorship conducted b bj by officials to whom honesty was a for eign word even in their own Ian Ian- guage was a more elusive adversary OTHER CENSORS I had wrestled with censors in certain certain tain tab European countries where the truth could be tie reported only if i it suited the taste of authorities am amhad and had expected that Chinese authorities would employ the progressive methods of European countries Historians have agreed that delayed dc de de- de censorship usually defeats its own purpose and invariably bly fails to prevent spies from pursuing their vo vocation cation So even ven the Chinese telegraph tele graph authorities sensed the disadvantage disadvantage vantage of a secret censorship They promised to inform me of any my changes made by censors in my press messages before they were sent That Dr promise mise never was kept The Harbin censor censor suc succeeded ceded in accomplishing accomplishing lishing the most stupid and dishonest dishon dishon- est cat censorship in the history of or news suppression MESSAGE CUT CUTA A word ISO mes message ge of mine relatIng relating relating Ing to the falseness of a report that thata a soviet army was concentrating ng on the Manchurian front was cut down downto to 30 words I was informed of the deletions by my home office in New York Another outstanding instance was when I got an interview with General General Gen Gen- eral Tamon Taman the Japanese commander who had just taken He told me that he was sending a Japanese infantry regiment and a cavalry brigade brigade bri brio gade ade back to Mukden at once This was significant It showed a 3 shift in inthe inthe inthe the military forces o of the Japanese The be Harbin censor crossed out that part o of General Tamon's interview and changed it to read so that it sounded as if the Japanese were sending sending send send- ing in fresh troops to By a stroke of good luck this change was detected before the message was dis dis- patched NO DEFENSE The chief censors scarcely attempted attempt ed cd any defense They invited me to luncheon apologized profusely and promised that it would never happen again It did Later I learned that dispatches were being maltreated and distorted even after they left the censors censors censor's censors censor's cen cen- sors sor's hands From then on I transmitted transmitted trans trans- my messages by a more intricate intricate cate but less rapid and direct route But all nfl of a correspondents correspondent's worries in Manchuria were not with censor censor- ship The rumor factory was working working work work- ing overtime It required hours of work with a tooth fine-tooth comb to separate separate separate sepa sepa- rate fact from fiction Manchurian cities particularly Harbin were hotbeds of rumor Russian Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian emigrants Chinese and md Japanese officials all were offering correspondents dents sensational news tips One of the highest Chinese officials in Harbin the day after the Japanese captured related how the Japanese had massacred wounded Chinese soldiers after dragging them from hospital beds The same official a day later admitted that the report was an invention ANOTHER RUMOR RUl Japanese officials in Mukden early carly in December were distributing reports reports re re- re ports of the daily inflow of fresh Chinese troops into Manchuria Expert Expert Expert Ex Ex- Ex- Ex pert neutral observers at found that no Chinese troops had moved in that direction for two I months A report of false tales constantly poured forth from rom the lie He factories in Manchuria during the Sino Japanese struggle would have filled a dozen columns of a daily newspaper had the correspondents believed the rumor rumor ru ru- mor dealers Conscientious correspondents correspondents correspondents corres corres- limited themselves to reporting reporting reporting re re- porting what they saw and what they learned from unimpeachable sources In addition to all of their other troubles and more amusing was the espionage to which newspaper correspondents correspondents correspondents cor cor- respondents were submitted CORRESPONDENTS W WATCHED Japanese and Chinese officials evidently evidently evidently evi evi- dently imagined that correspondents seldom reported news but devoted devotee themselves mainly to dynamiting bridges assassinating generals or betraying betraying be be- military secrets to tb tire the enemy I For some time the espionage of correspondents cor cor- respondents was energetic but after niter a few v weeks was practically abandoned aban aban- Disregarding all of these handicaps the tie correspondents were kept busy trying to shift the truth from the false reports and rumors They employed trains rains autos carts and Mongolian ponies to reach centers of or military ac ac- Then they could report what they saw It was only when correspondents stationed themselves at battle scenes entered cities with advancing troops or had personal interviews with commanders commanders com corn manders that they reported what was being done and said in Manchuria Reporting a war In Manchuria as aswell aswell aswell well as ns fi fighting one in the subzero weather there must be earmarked as one of oC the less alluring of winter sports |