JOURNALISM UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 January 1917, Page 2

JOURNALISM UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

PATRIOTIC EDITORS OF BRUSSELS, j A recent cable from Amsterdam stated that the Germans had captured one of the editors of Libre Bclgitjue (of Brussels), and sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment. The continued appearand of patriotic newspapers at Brussels and throughout Belgium, in defiance of the German censorship and despite all the effqrts of the German military police (says an English newspaper) is one of the mysteries of the German occupation of Belgium. There is a price of 50 000 marks on the head of the editor of the Free Belgium, but it keeps on appearing just the same. Several of tlu supposed editors are said to have b»en shot. One man was hentencetl to Ji years' hard labor, others to three and eleven years, and Madame Scheupens ■to five years. But each time that a supposed editor is imprisoned and the German authorities feel the trouble is ended, the paper appears the following day mors lusty than ever, with a cartoon making fun of the prosecution.

Free Belgium (Libre Belfiqne)', \vhieh lias given ll>;> most trouble, prints the following notices under it 3 ltile:— "A bulletin of patriotism submitting to no censorship whateva."

"Price per copy elastic, from zero to infinity." "Business office: Not being handy tc have, an established address, we.are ii>stalled in a movable automobile cellar" Advertisements: Busiiifw being nil under German occupation, we have suppressed our advertising page, and counsel our patrons to keep their money till times get better " '•Telegraphic Address: Cart of German Commander at Brunei.-."

CARTOON BY RAEMAKER. A recent issue of Free Belgium a cartoon by Raemaker, adapted from Gustave Dore r > "Scenes in Hell," showing women rr.d children in agony as they are trampled down by x soldier in German helmet, the face of the soldier being evidently meant for that of the Kaiser. Another cartoon, entitled "Love's Chagrin," 'shows General von Brussels, trying to find the editor 01 Bissinjj, the Military Commander of Free Belgium in cellars and attics, while the editorial rooms, business office, etc., are depicted 011 wheels. A big sun, labelled "Free Belgium," smiles down derisively at von Bissing s vain efforts to capture the editors. La Patrie is another of those secret newspapers. H announces under its title j tliat it is a non-censored journal, appearing how, where, and when it. pleases." Another line states that it is in the second year of its publication The bitterness'of this paper :s shown in a standing line carried at the head of its editorials referring to the. Germans as "ba'rbarians and liars always.-" A recent number showed the Germans ''en route for Calais." by way of the Yser River, with the bodies of -German soldiers slaughtered by the Belgian,, floating in the river. L'Eeho, another of the fecret journals, announces that it prints "what censored journals dare rot and ea'inot. say." A recent number gave the speech of Premier Asijuith in the House of Commons, declaring there would he no peace until Belgium was free. The editorial was headed 'Teuton Pirates and vandals."

SECRET PRESS BUREAU. Other secret newspaper.': are La Veritn and the Flemish Lion. There is also a Weekly Review of the French Press, giving articles which hau been prohibited from being publisind ii< Belgium. Illustrated' books also continue to appear, with handsome engravings and colored ;.iaps. giving the Belgian story as against the German. Even a scc.-et Press bureau has been set: up at Brussels, which issues typewritten sheets conu>ai\::g favorably with those from the otUc;al I'riss Bureau in Paris and Loudon. The editing is well done, showing that there must be capable men to gather the material and put it into shape. The sheets, mechanically are even better than these issued at Paris and London, showing there must, be a large and first-class duplicating process beyond the powe,' of the Germans to discover. The Belgian officials themselves do not know how this work is done, and it is simply incomprehensible how all this editing, publishing, printing, circulating, getting the rc jtnsite white paper and ink, drawing cartoons, ci'.giaving and lithographing, and all the innumerable details of getting out newspapers, -weeklies, books, and a Press service, can bo accomplished in secret with the German police straining every nerve and offering prices on the heads of editors. It takes courage and ingenuity to be an editor in Belgium under these conditions.