The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-07-05
A BRAND NEW INSTITUTION, A
PRESS BUREAU, HAS BEEN Es-
TA5LISHED THERE AND SOME
REMARKABLE STORIES ARE BE-
ING SENT OUT FROM WASHING
TON.

couple OF weeks. II II is true tnat
Theodore Roosevelt was always in the
limelight of the daily press 1t was
because Teddy was doing things which
the public was actually interested in,
and which 1t wanted to know about.
But If William H. Taft is getting
an unusual amount of publicity these
days, 1t is wholly due to a brand new
institution which has been established
in the White House, in short, a press
bureau.
When Charles D. Hilles succeeded
Charles D. Norton as secretary to the
president q couple of months ago 1t
was pretty well understood here, that
he was going to run Mr.. Taft politi-
cally. Nobody had any objection to
that for 1t is we'll known that the
president is not much of a politician
himself, and a little help now and then
could do no harm. But neither the
seasoned politicians nor the correspon-
dents III the cap were prepared for
what Eiiles actually has DONE and
many are the criticisms of his I'M
precedented action in running a theat-
rtcal press agenting campaign from
the executive office Of the chief mag
istrate Of the United Sattes. Sooner or
later, 1t Is felt, serious trouble will re-
suit. Maybe it has already resulted.
This article proposes to relate how
some Of the rumors which have been
circulating throughout the country
have heen deliberately manufacturing
in the White House and given out to
the reporters with the plain intent to
have them written up and thus de-
ceive the public.
Whopper No. 1. Not long ago presi-
dent Taft went to Baltimore in order
to attend & great Catholic celebration
in honor Of Cardinal Gibbons. Col
Roosevelt was also invited to attend.
Now about a week before the meet
ing of the president and the expires
ident Mr.. Hilles caused the reporters
at the White House to send to their
papers stories which said that secre
tary of the Navy Meyer had gone to
Oyster Bay to arrange for the con-
ference" which the president and Mr.
Roosevelt were to hold. Thus the i'm
preston vas made on those of us who
read the daily papers and believe what
we read, that there was a wonderful
political heart-to-heart talk and that
everybody was forthwith going to sing
that familiar hymn entitled Harmony
harmony in the dear old G. o. Pa
What were the facts? Mr.. Meyer did
not go to Oyster Bay at all it was all
a fake!
Whopper number two followed short
ly after. At this celebration in honor
of Cardinal Gibbons, Roosevelt and
Taft did meet, smiled, shook hands
and talked together in public during
intervals of the celebration. That was
ALL
Some one connected with the White
House press bureau took aside the re-
porter who represented the greatest
number Of newspapers in the United
States, and whose association has
come to be regarded as usually telling
the truth, the Associated Press, that is
to say. Exactly what was told this
man is not known, but it can be guess
ed from the Associated Press story
which appeared the following morning
It made seasoned Washington poll
ticians gasp at its sheer boldness and
audacity. It said, in short, that Roose-
welt had promised Taft his support
for denomination in 1912; that the re-
lations between the two men were
what they had always been; and that
this heavenly harmony which we
spoke of a few moments ago was all
that could be desired between the sage
Of Oyster Bay and Taft.
What were the facts? Why, Taft
had met, and that was all. Absolute
ly no promise of any sort was made
by T. r. Score two against the ad-
ministration press bureau.
Roosevelt Was Hot.
AS soon as Roosevelt read the ar
ticle he blazed out with indignation
and dictated a statement absolutely
denying that there was any truth in
the article. But such is the influence
of the White House with the daily
press that this denial was about half
suppressed. The little papers, many
of them, did not get it at all, and the
big ones either killed 1t or stuck 1t
away in a corner where 1t wouldn'
be noticed. The fact will ever remain
to the eternal memory of c. D. Hilles
that he had sent out a piece which
was as false as any advance agents
roseate picture of a second-rate stock
company star.
Now for whopper number three.
Some one in Washington wrote up a
tale that the insurgent senators were
against LaFollette and for Taft for
president in 1912. This story was
widely circulated. AS far IS your cor
respondent can find out ii is not a
product of the White House press bu-
reau, but that institution Immediately
took it up and added many beautiful
frills to it. There is no use repeat
ing what Hilles put out to the gullible
and dishonest reporters. They knew
1t wasn't so and he knew 1t too. 1t
placed the insurgents in a bad light
II made them look as If there was a
split in their ranks. The articles were
widely circulated and the general i'm
preston is that Taft is much stronger
than he was a week ago.
What are the facts? Absolutely the
contrary. A newspaper man who just
wanted to know for his own informa-
ton went around and interviewed
Senators Borah, Bristow, Cummins and
Clapp, as being the gentlemen most
concerned in having the truth known
about themselves. Each one Of them
gave this reporter a statement which
he published in three or four papers to
the emphatic effect that they had not
stated that they were going to support
Taft. Thus a bird fairy tale from the
White House was nipped in the bud.
Whoever this dispatch had fooled it
did not fool a bunch of half a dozen
Washington newspaper men who sat
talking it over the night it was print
ed.
IT see," said one of them, that our