Blasting President Roosevelt with all the vituperative power at his command, David Lawrence, noted Washington correspondent, has charged the Administration with trying to censor his column. When a G. O. P. authority mentioned Lawrence's name among a list of prominent syndicated writers, Charlie Michelson, Democratic hero of the 1932 "smear Hoover" campaign, immediately dubbed him a Republican hireling, and hence unworthy to interpret the news. Resenting Administrative hostility and scenting a plot to strangle independent newsmen, Lawrence has raised a long and justifiable howl.

As the facts stand, Michelson does not appear to have put on any dangerous dictatorial powers or attempted to club the press into abolishing Lawrence and his column. But the incident gains significance as an example of the fear in which the men who oppose the Administration walk. Lawrence's outburst sounds like the premature cry of a threatened child, but in a genuinely democratic country governmental officials should stand in danger of losing their jobs when they take so uncompromising and menacing an attitude as Michelson has adopted toward his critics.

Up to the present time the President's genial press conferences have kept him in favor with the rank and file of reporters, leaving such incorrigibles as Mark Sullivan and Frank Kent standing out like sailing ships at sea. But the spirit of fair play is lacking when particular people are singled out for official venom. If the Democrats get a vote of confidence next fall, they will continue in office with the deep distrust of the large body of people that have fallen victim to the blackjack blows of press-agent Michelson and his White House scribes.