"I suppose the censorship is largely responsible for this state of affairs," Frank remarked.
"You are quite right," the Doctor replied; "if the censorship did not exist there is no doubt that the papers would be much more enterprising than they are. They must not offend the Government, or they are liable to suppression. Editorials are generally submitted to the censor before going into type, and if approved they may be printed. If printed without approval, the publishers run the risk of censure. For a first offence they are 'cautioned;' for a second they are cautioned and fined; and for a third offence the publication is suspended for a month, three months, or perhaps entirely. Consequently the papers cannot discuss public matters with any freedom, and they are entirely prohibited from publishing personal scandals, which form such an important part of the 'news' of several American papers I could name. In addition to cautions and fines, the editors are liable to imprisonment; and, taking all things into consideration, the way of the journalist is hard in Russia."
Fred asked the Doctor what were the principal papers of the capital.
[Illustration: PRESS-ROOM OF A DAILY NEWSPAPER.]
"They change so often," was the reply, "that an answer made this year will hardly answer for next. Each member of the ministry has his organ; that of the foreign ministry, as before stated, is _Le Journal de St. Petersbourg_; while that of the War Department is the _Russki Invalid_; known to the outer world as the _Invalide Russe_. The organ of the Naval Bureau is published at Cronstadt, the great naval port of the Empire, and not at the capital; but as Cronstadt is only a few miles away, the locality is of little consequence. The _Golos_ is generally understood to be the organ of the Ministry of the Interior; and as this department has the supervision of the press, this paper is said to have more freedom than its rivals. But even the _Golos_ does not escape the hand of the censor, and its freedom of speech has several times brought it into trouble.
"What would be called a small circulation in America is a large one in Russia. There is not a daily paper in the Empire that averages a circulation of twenty-five thousand copies, and the leading papers of the two great cities have to content themselves with ten or fifteen thousand. I have been told that the daily papers of St. Petersburg do not circulate altogether more than eighty thousand copies daily outside the capital, and about fifty thousand in it. Remember, the mass of the population does not know how to read and write as in America, and consequently the circulation of the newspapers is confined to a small portion of the community.