The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-06-07

matter intended not only to defend
officials from attack, but to bring dis
credit upon people who have criti-
cised the workings Of the depart
ments. The direct charge made con-
corning 'the pernlcious publicity
activity" considered by the house
rules committee had to do with mate
rial furnished by the department Of
agriculture which, it is said, was sent
out in franked envelopes and which
was intended, so 1t is asserted, to
hamper the investigation which was
being made into meat inspection af-
fairs.
Publicity That Has Value.
The government has benefited vast
ay by its attempts to employ proper
publicity agents, and If any Of tho
writer's on behalf of the government
service have overstepped the bounds
Of propriety they have unquestionably
dealt blow to publicity of the right
kind. Take the bureau of education,
for instance. It furnishes and has been
furnishing for some time interesting
matter concerning educational affairs
all over the country, and the trend of
education In other countries. In the
main 1t is wholesome stuff and fro
quently 1t has not only real educa-
tional value, but real news value. The
stopping up Of this source Of educa-
t1onal publicity probably would not
only be an injury to the government,
but distinct loss to educators all
over the country who take deep In
terest in their profession and all that
pertains to 1t. OF course the publicity
matter referred to does not include
the regular publications Of the de-
partments. There has been no hint
of an intention to Interfere with their
ISSUE
Not long ago there was established
by congress what was called bureau
Of mines. The officers Of this bureau
are engaged in the work of showing
mining corporations and their en-
ployes how to prevent accidents and
how to save life and property Some
of the material furnished by the pub
licity agent Of this bureau has been
read by hundreds of thousands of peo-
pie the country through. Frequently
these articles have been accompanied
by illustrations made from photo
graphs of actual accident and life-sav-
ing scenes.
The state department also has q
publicity agent, and now much mate
rial is given out Of kind which be-
fore this was held secret simply be-
cause the holding of everything secret
Was tho 1onartm ent's custom
White House Press Agents.
Presidents have press agents In 4
way Today one newspaper man gets
certain things from the White House
which are considered of general in
terest and gives them to correspond
ents for dissemination If they see flt
OF course this does not apply to tho
greater things, for President Taft &C.
casionally calls in the newspaper men
personally and gives them informa-
ton about certain lines Of admins
tratIon endeavor. Originally Mr. Taft
set aside one afteroon a week to see
newspaper men in body, seeing
them at other times only by appoint
ment. The campaigning trips of tho
president have interfered with this
arrangement, but after awhile mat
tiers will settle back again into the old
routine.
It Is perfectly we'll known to cor
respondents in Washington that men
rs high in office as presidents of tho
United States, when they are particu.
1arly Interested in the way the public
is going to take some suggestion,
watch to see If the matter, after it Is
given out in a tentative way, gets q
position on the front page Of the pa
pers OF the country. So it is that lay.
men Of high places have learned what
position" means in newspaper.
Scores Of newspapers come to the
White House every day. The presi-
dent does not read them all. He reads
his favorite journals and then he
goes through clippings from many
others, clippings that are made for
him by subordinates who are SUD.
posed to know the things which will
interest their chief.