AUSTRIA: End of Censorship

For the past eight years, an Austrian living within sight of Switzerland could phone his Swiss neighbor only by routing his call through Vienna, 300 miles off, so that the censors might listen in. A staff of nearly 1,000 censors stuck their collective noses into letters from Vienna and the Russian zone, and into all telegrams, wireless and Teletype messages going abroad. Worse, the Austrians had to pay the $500,000-a-year cost of all this censorious attention.

Last week, at the 200th session of the four-power Allied Council, the Russians gave in, finally agreed to abolition of the four-power censorship bureau in Vienna. They have also abolished censorship in their own zone, the last of the occupation powers to do so. The U.S., Britain and France had ended censorship in their zones six years ago, and 38 times had formally asked the Russians to do the same. Now, with Russia at last saying yes, all Austria was free of censorship.