Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-08-05
Mr.. CreeI's Bureau.


pulp in the amazingly useless mass
Of publicity" matter sent out from
the federal departments. IN these
times when newspapers are restrict
e more and more in their fields Of
public service. We have also re-
ferred TO the George CreePs Bureau
Of Pubic Information at cost Of a
million g. two a year and ranking
privileg ericar ali the Democratic
POLITICAL sfohteering embodied there
in.
But now Mr.. Creel has branched
out in a new line. He demands that
dl historical and magazine articles,
AID all books dealing with the war
or any phase Of it, be submitted to
his political bureau for "examina-
ton" before publicat ton. The Min
pcapolis Tribune says Of the propo-
sitlon:
This work would call for IN army
Of readers as large as the American
Amy now in France and would ne
cessitate a largely Increased appro-
yriation. What good purpose it
would serve is not clear Mr..
Creers bureau is already costing
about $4,000 900 a year, most Of the
printed matter going into the coun-
try's waste baskets"
United States Senator Lawrence
y. Sherman OF Illinois, chairman of
the committee on public information,
paid his respects to Mr.. Creel in an
acd:tss to the Senate. He said in
part:
"Creel now appears as the great
lum:rs-y TO scatter the darkness he
and !iz kind have created The
,sLorlelnal freebooters Of debased
ION ralisrn are rebuking the spirits
they called from the Vastly deep at
Isl $4,000 annually. They remind me
Of The thrifty genius who kept a
kennel Of wolves in the brush and
bred them 50 he could collect the
ounty paid by the county on their
soaps. The bane and antidote are
discovered on the same pay roll pre-
siGed ever by saffron swash-
lbuckler of former days.
Once a short time ago he made
speech in New York church. Elk
element, or the novelty of being
within a sacred edifice, or relapse
into his natural temperaTcntal ex-
laggeration made him refer to Con-
gress as slum scenery, His July 4,
No. n
amazing warn; it was psychological
extravaganza. 1t is so explained IN
cold type We marvel at his self
restraint. Was there not an oppor-
tunity to blow up the kaisers whole
feet of marine pests. He re-
strained himself to one submarine
and strewing the sea with wreckage
and oil so one could have something
for his Imagination to work on.
What a high horse power express
sion is worth is shown by details
generated in his Iuperheated fancy.
Aboard a warship accompanying the
feet was a prosaic Associated Press
CORRESPONDENT who was unable to
3 see or hear any of the engagement.
He persisted in wiring that the
whole story was a myth. 1t was, 70
be euphonious about it, an artistic
elaboration, is the way it was ex-
planned in the hearings.
THE apocryphal tale that the
\ Government could have put rifle in
the hands of every soldier as he en-
tered camp emanated from the same
wcllspring OF veracity who would
= have charge of the distribution of all
n human information If this joint
f.; resolution were passed in its present
form. This careful regard of the
government caused the men to be
g drilled with broomsticks as safety
J; first caution. They were then I'M
accustomed to firearms.
Then a fier on aeroplane news
. absorbed his next effort. He it was
who inserted in the thrilling serial
= dubbed the "Oficial Bulletin and
, edited by the official bullhead,
, language which led the unsophistii-
Gated citizen to believe that hun
dl eds OF aircraft had gone to France
and that thousands more would be
t ready in few days: that the whole
d European sky was to be blackened
q with them in little while. He was
told by the Senior Senator from New
York (Mr. Wadsworth) and other
: members Of the Committee on Mill
e tary Affairs Of the gap between fact
e and fiction before it was published
, ard yet it appeared. and Mr.. Creel
=, laid it on an individual named
= Strunsky; l find that thoughtful pre-
J. caution in the hearings, as I go
rack TO that time and peruse it.
One thing it has netted us, at least
/. has enriched our vocabulary with
d new word Munchasen is stale
and vapid. Strunsky tunes things
up with a refreshing variety that
e tails upon the ear with indescrbable
/. euphony. Creel admitted before
e the committee that one airplane had
actually been shipped"
Do the people Of this free country
wish their news reports and their
war histories edited by this man and
his bureau of National Democratic
comittee experts?
S "Peo~ Mans Breakfast Table"