The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1918-05-03
NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES
HAVE GIVEN OVER s25o,0oo.-
900 TO THE GOVERNMENT

The newspapers and magazines of
this country have given the govern
ment more than s250.0OO,000 worth
of advertising space to promote the
bond and stamp sales, not to mention
over million columns of reading mat
ter to push along and promote a
thousand different kinds of govern
ment activity, such as food and fuel
propaganda, Red Cross collections and
schemes to raise money for the Red
Cross, and with all this the news
papers have found it impossible to
reprint more than very small part
of the enormous quantity of stuff that
is sent to the newspapers and maya
zines every day. Probably thousand
car loads of mail leaves Washington,
D. C. and the forty-eight state head
quarters and the twenty-three thou
sand county headquarters every morn
ing. Every newspaper and maya
zine in this country receives from %
to 200 letters every day, each with
{, om three to ten closely type written
Iages. The author of each and very
enc urges the publisher to print all
if possible, if not all as much as pos
sible, of his communication for the
welfare of the country and the pro-
motion of the war or the Red Cross.
Of course this is impossible for the
same reason that it is impossible to
put two gallons of water in a noe gal
lon jug. Sometimes we think the car
shortage would be relieved if fewer
cars were used to transporte mail
whichit is impossible to find time
to read and even more impossible
to print. The cost of paper could be
reduced if about five hundred car
loads less were used every day to
typewrite letters that few people can
find the time to read, that help block
transportation and increase the car
shortage. 1t requires ten million
hours of time every day to read all
the publicity matter that is sent out,
much of it redundant and still more
of it simply duplication. If all this
time were employed in knitting socks
and sweaters for the boys in the
trenches how much more sensible and
practical it would be.
The newspapers give their space
gladly to further the interest of the
government, but they can not help
but note that there is altogether too
much of this publicity business to the
great detriment of things more i'm
portant. If the government would
employ all this energy in making the
airoplanes we promised, and have fail
ed to send across, does it not strike
the average man that more would be
accomplished on the battle front?
There is a fair sized army, at least
a half million ablebodied men, en-
ployed in writing, debating and in
diting publicity matter that the news
papers can not print for lack of space,
and much of which can never be read
because life is too short. Sound judg-
ment would dictate that about $50, 900
of these men be put to work in the
ship yards, where men are sorely
needed.
Last week this office received
thirty-five circular letters, 1877 pages
of typewriter stuff, all about food.
All that was said in the 1877 pages
could have been said in one-fourth
the space. And remember, all this
stuff, is paid for with government
money and transported free of cost,
is source of expense rather than
revenue to the postal department.
-Ooo-