NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 
717 
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS FROM GERMANY 
By Paul Brockett 
At the request of the Chairman of the National Research Council, Dr. 
George E. Hale, I have prepared the following statement regarding the scien- 
tific publications obtained abroad. 
Since 1914 the shipments received in this country from Germany have been 
few and far between, as the number of publications seized by the British 
Government increased up to the time of the entrance of the United States 
into the war. This situation has been relieved somewhat by the release of 
German publications, through the efforts of the Librarian of Congress on 
behalf of the libraries and educational institutions of the country. 
The Librarian of Congress, Dr. Herbert Putnam, has taken a keen interest 
in the situation and is ready to render aid wherever he can. The first of 
this year he sent Mr. Theodore W. Koch, Chief of the Order Division of the 
Library of Congress, to London in the interest of the Library of Congress 
and the libraries of the United States. Mr. Koch listed the packages held 
in London, giving the address to which they were consigned, and sent this 
to the Librarian of Congress, who in turn notified the librarians concerned. 
Some of the books intended for scientific use were addressed to members 
of the staffs of the institutions to which they belonged. In such cases no 
notification was sent by the Library of Congress. 
The following extract from the report of Mr. Koch to the Librarian of 
Congress will give a better understanding of the object of the censorship: 
Two important memoranda were issued in May, 1915 as Parliamentary Papers — one on 
the Censorship, the other on the Press Bureau. Together they provide the official justifica- 
tion of the Censorship as it affects both the individual and the Press. 
This new branch of the government — the Censorship — is described in the memorandum 
as one of several institutions designed with a threefold object: To prevent information of 
military value from reaching the enemy, to acquire similar information for the British gov- 
ernment, and to check the dissemination of information useful to the enemy or prejudicial 
to the Allies. When the transmission of correspondence and the publication of news are 
consistent with the attainment of these objects there is little or no interference. Every 
endeavor is made to safeguard the legitimate interests, private and commercial of British 
subjects and neutrals. 
In the course of the present war it has become apparent that in the Censorship there lies 
ready to hand a weapon, the full value of which was perhaps not anticipated prior to the 
war. It can be used to restrict commercial and financial transactions intended for the bene- 
fit of enemy governments or persons residing in enemy countries. 
The Memorandum discusses the Censorship as it affects (1) private and commercial com- 
munications; and (2) the Press. It states that the censorship of private and commercial 
communications is under the direction of a general officer who is responsible to the Army 
Council. The Censorship is organized in two sections: (1) the Cable Censorship under the 
