meetings, when they are addressed by members of the Government as
to what it is wise for them to say and not to say. These meetings
constitute a hint that if the editors are indiscreet, if they, for
example, publish matter "calculated to promote disunity," they may
be subject to the increasingly severe penalties now administered.
If a newspaper shows a tendency to kick over the traces, a
Government emissary waits upon the editor, calls his attention to
any offending article or paragraph, and suggests a correction. If
a newspaper still offends, it is liable to a suspension for a day
or even a week, or it may be suppressed altogether.

But in peace, as well as in war, editors all over Germany were
instructed as to the topic on which to lay accent for a limited
period, and just how to treat that topic. For example, during the
three months preceding the war, Russia was bitterly attacked in the
German Press. From August 1 to August 4, 1914, the German people
had it crammed down their throats that she was the sole cause of
the war. On August 4 the Government marshalled the editors and
professors and ordered them to throw all the responsibility on
Britain, and the hate was switched from one to the other with the
speed and ease of a stage electrician throwing the lever from red
to blue.

How do the editors like being mere clerks for the Government? The
limited numbers of editors of independent thought, such as the
"relentless" Count Reventlow, Maximilian Harden, and Theodor Wolff,
detest such a role, and struggle against it. After sincere and
thorough investigation, however, I am convinced the average German
editor or reporter, like the average professor, prefers to have his
news handed to him to digging it up for himself.