The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-04-24

From this it will be seen that each story, with
its fund of human interest and useful information
combined, reaches a different circulation, the
distribution being governed entirely by the range
Of applicability of the information it contains
1t is the desire of the Office of Information to
prepare these stories so that they may be printed
without editing or revision. 1t is in this that lies
one of the strengths of the agricultural depart
ment information service, for it means that scien-
tihc terms and phraseology are eliminated wher-
ever possible, that the significance to the people
of the bulletin on which the story is based is
emphasized, and that specific, but easy. %instruc-
lions are given to enable the people to do that
which the bulletin recommends. The stories,
therefore, can be called Constructive news"
They tell the people what they can do and how to
do it.
The department of agriculture takes great care
to make its stories accurate. Everything that is
put out by the office of information is submitted
for approval, first, to the author; second, to the
chief of the office or bureau which has charge
of the subjects with which the story Is con-
cerned; third, to a second chief of bureau in
order that he may check up any undue en-
phasis on one particular aspect of a given prob
lem, and, fourth. to the secretary or assistant
secretary of agriculture for final approval.
1t would seem that with these safeguards moth
ing can be sent out which will be misleading to
the people. 1t can be said that since the office
OF information was created it has been a rigid
rule to avoid any appearance of personal pub
ANANg' III Inc IlO dllO SlOTlGS WHICH are sent
out neither the names of individuals nor even
the names of the different Offices and bureaus
in the department are printed unless they are
absolutely essential to the story. Every state
ment that Is made is given upon the authority Of
the department and not upon that of a part Of It.
No stories are sent out from the office of infor-
nation about what the department of agriculture
intends to do or hopes to do. Neither is anything
said in praise Of the departments work. Plain
statements are given of what has been done and
recommended. This is all. 1t can be said that
seemingly this policy has brought about a very
appreciable change in the way in which the
newspapers regard agricultural news. Once the
daily press was inclined to consider that the
only interesting stories were those which were
personal in character, were sensational or what
might be called freakish. Now it is believed that
the newspapers are much more disposed to meas
ure the value of a story as news by the value
OF the information it conveys.
The Office of information does not measure the
worth of newspaper circulation by numerical
standards, but rather by the appropriateness Of
each story that 1t sends out to the necessities
of the readers. So 1t can be said that. the farm
papers are regarded as a much more valuable
medium than the daily press for purely agricul.
tural stories, and the papers circulating in rural
districts as much more valuable for the same
kind Of reading matter.
No absolutely accurate information can be had
as to the extent of the circulation given to infor.
nation stories by the agricultural department
service 1t is said that clippings are received