Evening star., 1915-06-24
Publicity Light of the World.

Its value to society has in fact so
impressed itself that today publicity is
the light of the world. 1t may be said
with little element of speculation in
the assertion. that If publicity had
characterized dealings between the ma
tions of Europe during the past fifty
wears, and secret diplomacy had been
eliminated. the present world war.
with Its terrorism and threat to all
civilization, would not now be raging
The power by which hundreds of
thousands of minds, yes, millions of
minds, may be turned to consideration
OF the same thing at the same time Is
a wonderfully useful influence. Whether
that power is employed to make mil
lions think Of the policies Of the gov
ernment or the homely comforts and
economies affecting their daily lives,
the underlying value of this power is:
the same; the advantages to be gained
from Its use are Identical.
1t is often contended that you can
not advertise successfully when busi-
ness is bad. but the extent to which
confidence may be restored and en-
thusiasm reawakened by enterprising
advertisers under adverse conditions
was demonstrated again and in re-
markable ways during the period of
uncertainty which prevailed in our
own country Immediately after the LIST
OF last August. Once more It has been
shown that the public demand for COM
lesser degree. 1t is simply a question
Of brains and ingenuity IN securing re-
sponse under conditions little harder
than usual.
and brings with it new conditions.
Whether we are brought into 1t direct
" or not, aTM surely we all of US pray
that we shall not be. 1t is bound to
country IN the first place, 1t is stimu-
lating us to think nationally as we
never have before. In the second place,
u is setting our thinking processes at
work concerning international ques-
lions and the world as whole. We
are beginning to understand that every
part of this country Is bound up In
the prosperity Of every other part, that
every last citizen in 1t Is interested
and concerned in Justice and happiness
and prosperity for every other citi-
zen, whether of high or low degree.
We are coming to see also that the
world is very small place today. that
America is really a part OF 1t, that we
cannot live by ourselves alone, and that
disaster or disturbance of substantial
magnitude in any sizab1e country
finally touches every other country.
New Progress Inevitable.
Out of this period of serious think
Ing on our part is bound to come new
progress, II we will but think long
enough ana HdEu cHoueh anu loAAo"
that thought with energetic action.
"There is nothing Impractical or fan
tastic in the suggestion that he United
States should be an example to the
world in It's ability to solve Its social
and economic questions. Steps toward
the attainment of that end are being
taken every day. but many Of them
have been painfully halting and slow.
] would emphasize the fact that we
must now move more surely and moro
rapidly, particularly in settling those
very practical business questions which
20 closely affect national prosperity.
Many of these have been with us for
years. We have been extremely ne
giectfui as citizens in permitting them
10 become sharply political in char
acter when they were. in fact. eco
nomic and their solution was not a
question Of party alignment.
For example. how much longer
should we go on making tariffs, from
time to time. by the log-rolling meth
DDS that have obtained in the past,
bringing to tho country periodical un-
certainty and trouble during the pc
riod of discussion and Adjustment Is
IL not time that we took heed of the
best practice IN the world and estab-
lished q non-partisan tariff commits
sion on the basis of whose inyestiga-
tions Just and fair tariffs might be
hxDd? Is the esta blishment of such a
system a matter of partisan politics.
Is II not something which concerns US
all. and fs II not time public opinion