Omaha daily bee., 1919-02-16
Vlews and RevjeUs
CarSOrg Comment on Timely
Personal Tones.

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Personal Topics.
Well General Crowders reappointmens for
another four years as judge advocate general
went in on the eve of the expiration Of his ex-
| piring term despite the manifest desire on the
part of certain War department functionaries
to shelve him. His achievement as provost
marshal general in carrying out the seleetve
! draft law without hitch was too brilliant, in
addition to his previous exceptional military
record, TO permit Of army politics, and the en-
dorsement is gratifying to his friends out here,
as it must be to General Crowder himself, Be-
fore the four years are up, he will be eligible
to retrement7-unless by that time he is drafted
for some still more important public service for
which his talents and experience fits him. II
may be of interest to note what General Crow
der told me the last time l talked with him,
that both he and Pershng were named for
West Point cadetships from the same Missouri
district Pershing diately succeeding him,
both of them winning the place in open COM
petitive examination at which all the boys in
the district who wanted to try for it were en-
tered. We may be sure therefore that in each
case both of those illustrious soldiers have gone
from the bottom to the top by their own eff
forts and demonstrated merit
My attempt to elucidate the distinction be-
tween news and publicity or propaganda seems
Ito have hit the target in few instances at least
Judging by remarks that have come to me. An
incidental question was propounded this week
in letter from THE Editor and Publisher" in
vting an opinion as to the policy Of newspapers
accepting what is known as propaganda adj
vertising," which is paid publicity for the pur-
pose of shaping public sentiment, and may
often be in diametric opposition to the papers
policy as reflected in its editorial and news
columns. Is there a menace in propaganda
advertsing5 Or is there safe line that can be
drawn somewhere? To the symposium which
is being made up in reply to these questions /
have given this answer:
i believe the safe plan is to pass on each
case on its own merits Intrnsically, there is
no argument against selling space TO advertisers
for the purpose of removing public prejudice
or currying public favor, provided they do so
within the limits of decency and the require
ments of the law. Most papers conduct public
discussion columns to let their readers get va
rious angles on current topics. The newspaper
has the ear of the>Ereat court of public opinion
and | see no reason why those with cases be-
fore that court should not employ the columns
of the newspaper to present their side without
deception or disguise in the same way that they
would present their case in any other court,
especially when we remember that they have
the alternative of using other media of adver-
Using, letter writing and circularizing, the
stump the platform and the movie, which they
may freely employ, although by no means so
effectively or so economically"
There is almost always "a find in old news
papers unearthed in going over forgotten ac-
foundations. A copy of The Bee of nearly rs
years ago, to be more exact of November IA,
1895, turned up in the Union Pacific headquar-
tiers and sent to me, indicates that some imes
we can look forward better by first looking back
ward. At that particular time, the war cloud
was lowering over Europe, threatening con-
Migration in the area disputed by Turkey and |
Russia. and this is the forecast made edtorially
by The Bee of the possibilities:
A European war; if il comes will in its first /
effect be beneficial to the United States. It
would make a demand for our breadstuffs
and provisions at higher prices, and if it
should promise to be prolonged war a great
deal of European capital would Immediately
be sent here for investment in American Sc
curities and enterprises. There would prob +
ably also be demand for a considerable /
quantity of munitions of war, though this
would not be for some time as all the powers
are now well provided Once the fires of war
are lighted in Europe no man is wise enough /
to say how long Nthey would burn or how
great would be the destruction, but it is in
evitable that this country would derive benefit
in the way indicated. Americans, as peace
loving people, hope that a European war will
be averted, but if it must come they will not
reject whatever advantages it may bring them
Another editorial item on the same page,
which probably accounts Tor the preservation
of the paper the comments on the time required
for eross-continent travel and especially the
slowness of the fast western trains as COM
pared with the eastern passenger service as
follows:
The new Overland fast mail service will be
marked Improvement on the service the peo-
pie along that route have had recently, but it
is by no means the best that could be had on
the short line between Chicago and San Fran
cisco. The distance from Chicago to New
York about 1000 miles, has been covered by
trains in from 10 to rs hours. The distance h
from Chicago to Omaha is 500 miles and the
time by the proposed fast mail train will be
IA hours, while from Omaha to San Francisco,
a distance of 17s0 miles, the time will be 81
hours, making in all 65 hours for a distance
of $3.50 miles. At the speed prevailing on
ordinary trains between New York and Chi
cago the trip could be made in So hours. AT
limited express speed or so miles an hour, it
could be made in As hours While the speed
may not be practicable now'it is bound to be-
come common at no distant day.
The no distant day" unfortunately has not
yet arrived, because we have not yet speeded
up to the 50-mile-an-hour pace all the way for
the jump from New York to San Francisco. 1t N
will be coming SOON however, not so soon by y
rail as by airplane, which was not even dreamed
Of then except in Jules Verne imaginations.
az H ,m