Evening star., 1918-02-10
Our Affairs Are Shrouded,

1t IS pretty safe bet that there is not
any great secret about American military
affairs which have not found their way
INTO Germany. When all is said and done
the enemy knows a few things about war,
about the job of moving an army from
one place to another. about the rate of
production of guns, ammunition and aero
planes, about the amount of time required
to train green recruits. Berlin is not the
only city interested in American military
affairs; London and Paris have some
reason to be interested in just what their
greatest ally is doing. 1t is all very well
to feed public on stories of billions of
dollars, millions of men and thousands of
aeroplanes. but there comes a time when
they want to know how many miles OF
trenches are being held by their ally. That
time will come this year. 1t is only a
short jump from curiosity to criticism.
A first-class publicity bureau is needed
in this country. 1t should be manned by
persons with imagination. executive abil-
ity and authority. The American Army
officer is busy man; he considers news
papers and reporters among the necessary
evils of war. That proves he has some
thing to learn from the enemy, who has
used the press as a war weapon. Britain
and France tried to run the war much in
the same way that America is now doing.
They changed. We should profit by their
experience. Frenchmen, who are exceed
ingly friendly and equally kind in over
looking the mistakes America Is making
have told me time and again that the lack
OF central propaganda bureau here was
serious shortcoming on our part. Feeble
efforts have been made to organize pub
licity department. but they will remain
feeble until publicity is considered as es-
sential as railway engineers and all the
other soldiers who lay the stage for a
battle. The war may end with a military
decision and then again it may be decided
through negotiation. In either case the
need of publicity is great. And the same
arguments applying to France are equally
good in considering the case OF Britain.
French, British and Americans.
Paris streets, with their heaps OF
garbage, are in direct contrast
with London thoroughfares. The Eng
lishman. who has his morning bath
whenever he awakeS, is sound to the
core. The French motor lorries. muddy
and road-worn, apparently get there as
soon as the clean, orderly looking Brit
ish transports. A lot of the German
thoroughness. the German discipline
and precision may be found in the
Briton and not in the Frenchman. But
both possess the qualities necessary to
make good fighters. The American SOL
der certainly lacks some of the British
assets. though he has them in larger
measure than the French; on the other
hand. he has some of the French fire.
which is foreign to the British make
up. He will be put to the test this
year. il the war goes on, and a whole
lot of people will be watching him.
Anything that will help him to meet
the test should be done in advance. As
suredly America can do a whole lot
more in the way of honest. clean, de-
pendable publicity. A propaganda
handled entirely by military men leaves
something lacking They are just as
necessary to newspapers as copy edi-
tors. but copy editors do not dictate
policies and create plans of campaigns
And military men, so far as publicity is
concerned. are copy editors. The war
has reached the stage where the poll
ticians are just in advance Of the SOL
diers. or certainly in line with them.
American abroad is the exception. We
must catch up quickly.