New-York tribune., 1918-04-17
Creelistics

ent," and, in continuation. gives an ac-
count of "what Mr.. Crecl actually said ac-
cording to his own version"
lhere was steno grapher present and
the sentences attributed to Mr. Creel in
the "New York Times" account Of his
speech were taken from the stenographic
transcript. The stenoeraphic report Of Mr.
.reefs speech. which was used in the Times"
dispatch, was obtained from Rexford l..
Holmes, whose ietterk eads bear the legend
under his name: "Shorthand Reporter;
convention Reporting Speciality" 1t was
SAID at Mr.. Holiness Office. in the South
ern Building this evening. that Mr. Holmes
was the official reporter for the National
convention of American Lecturers. and as
such mad reported Mr.. Crcel's speech.
inc claim made in the syndicate articles
published this afternoon that Mr.. Creels
meaning was not correctly given, to put it
mildly, is not borne out either by the
context of Nh. CrecPs speech as furnished
by Official Reporter Holmes or the portion
containing an expression of pride which
was used as the text of the severe criticism
OF Mr.. Creel in the Senate and the House.
The syndicate article represents and cites
Mr. Creel as authority that Mr. Crecl
merely said he was glad no man could
raise his voice in this country and say with
truth that America started this war. that
had any selfish object in going to war.
And the syndicate article adds: For what
better proof could there be of Americas
dislnclnation to go to war than her own
unpreparedncss for war;"
Mr.. Creel was not criticised in Congress-
and the press for expressions OF that char
acter The part which was regarded as OBJ
Jectionabc, particularly when coming from
an officer Of the government, concerned his
expression of pride that there had been no
preparation for by the United States
mat part was not qualified by ANYTHING
else attributed to Mr. Creel in the steno-
graphic report of his speech made by the
stenographer employed to report the pro-
ceedlngs of the National Conference of
american Lecturers. That part stands alone
1t was quoted in "The New York Times"
account of Mr.. Creel's speech from the
Transcript furnished by the stenographer.
1T Is given again herewith from The same
copy of the stenographic report used in
the preparation of TN Times dispatch:
There 4arc one or tw0 things that want
to take up with some degree of particu-
Iarlty. There was question when we went
to war of preparation. We had not pre-
pared, and shall always be proud to my
dying day that there was no rush of prcpa-
ration IN this country prior to the day the
President went before Congress and said:
We arc driven to accept state of war by
the aggressions of the German government
Applause For to have prepared, to have
held out offers of peace with one hand and
attempted concliation with the other,
and all the while have been preparing for
war would have been to give the lie to
what we said, namely that we would not
engage in war until we had exhausted every
resource at our command"
If Mr.. Creel did not make these state
ments he has good case against Rexford
l.. Holmes, Shorthand Reporter. Convention
Reporting n Speciality Room S22 Southern
Building Washington, d. G.. and Is entitled
TO an apology from Senator Hiram w. john
son. of California;; Senator Boies Penrose,
Of Pennsylvania: Congressman Nicholas
Longworth and other statesmen.
Official Reporter Holmes late tonight
gavc out a statement. in which no said:
"Apropos of the statement contained in
one Of the local evening papers to the effect