Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-01
A REAL WAR OF WORDS

| A MBlTIOl'S Powers and more or less
n furtive and powerful private groups
acting with their aid and sanction continue
| to press furiously for control beyond their
| own territories in what might be called the
new parts Of the Old World. The wars Of
| imperialism are being continued deter
mincdly. But the ammunition now is
words. Conquests as great as armies ever
sought are being engineered by the ire
mcndous mechanism Of modrrnized propa-
ganda.
How the campa gnS are managed is pretty
clearly revealed in the report of q survey
recently completed in China and other parts
of the Far East by Il special investigating
commission representing the Press Congress
OF the World, an international organization
of journalists formed solely in the interest
of truth and honestly presented news.
The modern mperialist rcverses the proc
csses of the militarist lie first attempts to
capture and control the mind Of Il people.
That accomplished the capture Of terri
tory is relatively easy. II it is necessary to
poison or paralyZe or utterly devitaliZe the
mind of the country attacked the job is done.
And. what is more, tho commanding officers
care little about the incidental damage they
may do to neutrals. The game of propa-
ganda is played without rules. That is why
the general subject ought to b" Of interest
TO the United States which. often enough.
is caught in rhe line Of attacks now directed
from half n dozen places in Europe mt the
heart and mind of the Orient.
The survey of the propaganda system Of
the Far East showgl that twelve highly or
ganizcd news services. most of them directly
or indirectly subsidized by European Powers
or By Japan. issue daily news to the Chinese
native press. In many instances the serv-
ice is rendered without cost. And in such
cases the news is color2d 10 suit the par
tcular purposes Of one or another foreign
diplomatic policy or the ends of the Power
whose nationals own control the dis.
tributing system. Thus suspicion. hate and
false beliefs can be made to order in very
large areas Of China. The Chinese can be
made TO believe that their friends are their
enemies and that their enemies are their
friends
Thus, during the Conference for Disarma-
ment in Washington. a large section of the
Chinese newspaper press was led to make it
appear that the interests of China were
being deliberately betrayed by the United
states Government under the direction of
President Harding. II is as hard to over
take Il lie in china as ii is anywhere else
The truth swaS told in the Associated Press
dispatches to large Chinese newspapers and
by cables from representatives Of other large
news organizations like the PUBLIC LEDGER
Service. But the impressions created By the
propagandis,s assigned. apparently. TO
lessen the force of American influence in
China could not be changed by direct state
mcnts of the truth in Il relatively small
number of important newspapers. Til" ma
tive press in China is usually too poor to
pay for real news when the imitation NAV
be had for nothing. At This moment
Britain. Japan. FrHnrc. Germany and
Soviet Russia hav" large news agencies
working with cables and wireless. telegraph
and mail in China.
Ih" United states was flooded by propa-
ganda during the war. but AT least nine
trnhs Of it was recognized and shut out OF
tn" better newspapers. The information
obtained in the Far East survey is OF ex-
tra"rdnary interest. since it is Indicative
OF the great and growing need of honest news
and OF the nature Of the work which all good
newspapers in this country are doing.
Faults thcr" arc in the system Of news
gathering, l!ur il is impossible to find in
the nit"d states any daily paper Of stand.
ing that deliberately serves any vroup or
any secret purposes as dangerous groups and
secret purposes are served by heavily subSi-
dlZed newspapers almost everywhere in
Europ" and Asia. The simple truth about
any public matter is something which mod
"rn countries must have If they are 10 be
safe.