Evening star., 1923-04-13
EDITORIAL DIGEST

press agent they would be ignored or
resented. The best thing for Presi-
dent Harding Is a speaking campaign
which will bring him into personal
touch with people in every part of the
country. His kindly and sympathetic
personality gets over to people WHO
see and hear him as it does not from
his written words. or from the words
Of men who write about him. OF
the latter an official press agent would
be the most useless" The Reading
Tribune insists that President Har&-
ing fails to recognize the value Of
publicity as Theodore Roosevelt did,"
but it sees as the reason for this fact
in the opposite way" having. as an .
editor, Learned to chronicle the
events of others without regard for
himself" And the Albany News, sug-
"one is like the horn Of an automo-
bile. The other is like the smooth
running motor. But, since facts are
facts, and people are people. you do
have to advertise the qualities of the
motor"
Good wine needs no bush" recalls
the Newark News in suggesting how
T. r. would have laughed" at the
press agent thought. "It is enough to
make angels weep" it continues, re-
who think the President doesn't ad-
vertise, but it is 50 penalty one pays
for occupying position so incon-
spicuous as that of President of the
United States. Still there have been
some Presidents not altogether OBJ
scure-more than a score Of them. in
fact" The country would resent any
such plan, says the Hartford Times.
and 1t feels that, while "the President
Is an easy-going man and doesn't like
to offend anybody, he will save him
self a great deal of trouble IL he
stands out against this suggestion"
Recalling the ship subsidy propagan-
da with which the country recently
was deluged," the Wichita Eagle as
serts that .'Mr. Lasker is a clever
man. IL anybody can put Mr.. Harding
over for another term, Mr.. Lasker
should be able to do it" To which
Observer replies instead of Mr.. Las
ker's proposing an absurd publicity,
department in order to sell Mr..
Harding, he could immensely help the
President by resigning his Office and
persuading the Daugherties and Har..
The Springfield (Ohio) News COM
mends the presidential position and
insists "the country would refuse to
indorse such a movement, while the
Milwaukee Sentinel believes 'if the
President can find 1t in his heart to
muzzle his embarrassing friends it
will be a measure of safety and an act
of self-defense"
an unmarked grave" the Savannah
Press says, "at the same time it is felt
that the administration has suffered
because Of a lack of q more aggres-
sive publicity policy" Propaganda
has outworn Its welcome to the
American public,agf the Detroit
News and. .'in the government the
press agentis an especially undesir-
able component. All that is necessary
is frankness. Once government on
cials understand that fact, their pub
licity problem will be settled. OFF,
cialdom is always suspicious that
frankness might afford opportunitv
for the discovery of things to criticise.
AS matter of fact, the publicity
would rebound to the benefit of thet
departments discussed, while the
frankness would dull the edge of crit
icism which secrecy always sharpens.
The Presidents friends can press.
agent him best by hiring. No press
agent" -. = - 80. !. = : : = 4