The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1908-11-30
UNCLE SAM HIRES
AN ARMY OF PRESS
AGENTS
THEY THRIVE IN WASHINGTON
IN GREATER NUMBERS AND
GREATER DIGNITY THAN ANY
PLACE ELSE IN THE WORLD.

WASHINGTON. Nov. 2S.-Aside
from legislation. adjudication and ad-
ministration. this big colony of gov
eminent officials and appurtenances
thereto is mainly engaged In publicity
promotion.
Washington the beautiful may truly
be said to be the home OF the press
agent. He thrives here In greater
number and more estimable dignity
than on any other spot on the face or
the earth. Press agents here have
their trade reduced to q scientific bas-
Is. Their glorious example for emu
lation Is none other than the United
States Of America, one OF the frmest
believers in printers ink engaged In
modern development.
To be without press agent In
Washington is almost as bad as being
without q two-gallon top hat. A man
can get along without top hat by
borrowing one from his neighbor In
the next hall room. but press agents
are fixtures that cannot be borrowed.
What press agent could be relied upon
to tout another mans game? None.
The government goes In for the
press agent strong. II hires him in
the highways and In the byways, and
when he once gets on the pay roll he
remains there for life. Congress raves
aud caves about the press agent. but
he IL Just AZ hard to eradicate as the
boil weevil or the tick In cattle. He
Is not as obnoxious parasite, but
every congressman, and by the way
they all have nice young men. prefer
ably those with newspaper training,
as secretaries, Is against the govern
ment press agent.
This sentiment got so strong not
80 long ago that one Mr.. Joseph Buck
lin Bishop, Panama canal publicity
promoter, got fired" by law. Mr..
Bishop was hired for $4,000 a year 10
keep the newspapers informed on the
progress OF work on the Panama can
al Now, no newspaper man would
have believed those figures II they
were not OF public record. The figures
were too high. Mr. Bishop came In
for a fine line OF personal publicity
in the senate, and when he was fired"
and made secretary Of the Panama
canal commission, notice was served
on all Of the departments to cut out
their press agents. Did they do 1t?
Well. rather not.
The appropriation for the mainten-
ance and operation OF the government
printing ONCE this year was IS 1000, 900.
with an additional $4,000 for officials
who draw salaries, not wages. The
government printing office turns out
thousands of tons Of literature. Some
Of II Is OF doubtful value, and as a
whole II cannot be compared with the
nf a
reau Of engraving and printing, where
authors are confined to 81, 81, 30. $lO.
$50. 500, $500. $1,000, $4,000 and $l0.-
900 bills, with acres and acres or Unit
ed States. Philippine and Panama
bonds and postage stamps as q side
line.
This great mass OF literature pro-
duced by the government printing Of
Ace is circulated. Some congressman
get as high as 10000 copies OF such
publications as farm bulletins, dairy
reports and garden dissertations.
Bourke Cochran, Herbert Parsons,
Nick Longworth and a few other con-
gressional lights who live In cities get
exactly the same quota. They are not
very useful to their constituencies, but
they do come In handy In persuading
a country congressman that ne ought
to be for certain bill In committee.
particularly II he needs about 10000
copies OF a treatise on the clinch bug.
To produce this big crop OF litera'
ture the government pay roll IL
weighted down with few hundred
rapid and ready writer's. The writer's
for the most part are newspaper men
who prefer 8 o'clock rising to follow
ing the patrol wagons and meeting the
trains In search Of items for the local
papers.
One Of the most indefatigable OF
this class Of regenerated newspaper
men is Mai John NJ. Carson, chief or
the bureau OF manufactures. Maj.
Carson's bureau gets out the consular
bulletins. Information on every sub
ject under the sun Is sent out by the
ream all ready for use In the paper
To encourage those writer's who are
not as adept with the typewriter as
with the scissors and paste pot, the
major puts out a newspaper edition.
printed on only one side, which can
be clipped and sent out without much
of a struggle. Maj Carson's willing ad-
junct is E. J. Gibson. Philadelphia
newspaper man. who devotes much OF
his time advertising the possibilities
for American trade In Patagonia and
Hndoostan.
Mai. Carson efforts are paled into