small when any of us is directly exposed to information from our
unseen environment.




CHAPTER V

SPEED, WORDS, AND CLEARNESS

1

The unseen environment is reported to us chiefly by words. These words
are transmitted by wire or radio from the reporters to the editors who
fit them into print. Telegraphy is expensive, and the facilities are
often limited. Press service news is, therefore, usually coded. Thus a
dispatch which reads,--

"Washington, D. C. June I.--The United States regards the question of
German shipping seized in this country at the outbreak of hostilities
as a closed incident,"

may pass over the wires in the following form:

"Washn i. The Uni Stas rgds tq of Ger spg seized in ts cou at t outbk
o hox as a clod incident." [Footnote: Phillip's Code.]

A news item saying:

"Berlin, June 1, Chancellor Wirth told the Reichstag to-day in