Evening star., 1924-04-25
BAN POLITICAL BUNK,
REED URGES PRESS
Pennsylvania Senator, Addressing
Publishers. Denounces Quack
Politicians.
BRITISH ENVOY SPEAKER
Sir Esme Howard Reads Message
From Macdonald.
BRITISH ENVOY SPEAKER
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. April 25.-Ramsay
Macdonald, British premier. told
members of the American Newspaper
Publishers Association in Il message
read at their annual dinner last night
hat the American press was an i'm
portant instrument in the forwarding
ef Anglo American good will, and
United States Senator David A. Reed
OF Pennsylvania delivered a warning
to the newspaper men against
publicity seeking politicians.
Mr.. MacDonald's message was in
corporated in the address of Great
Britain's ambassador. Sir Esme
Howard. Through him, he said he
felt, in salutng the American press
he was greeting powerful colleague
In the work of maintaining and
strengthening a real understanding
between the British and American
peoples. Senator Reeds talk created
something of a sensation
Among us politicians" he began.
the quack and trickster still flourish
and the printed word is their most
powerful weapon. Close your columns
TO the claptrap and buncombe of the
politicians. Scorn our words when
YOU know that We are uttering false
hoods just as you scorn the dishonest
advertiser" Such statements. he
added. were given prominence in
newspapers because they Were made
to appear to have a news value" and
while governmental fundamentals of
sanity, thrift and economy" received
no attention because they lacked the
sensational element.
Says Fair Play Losing.
He said fair play was losing in the
struggle, adding: Should | prove.
by the direct evidence of righteous
men, that some prominent citizen is
an honest. faithful patriot, no print
ing press is so mean as to condeScend
TO print it. But should ! call train
robber to testify to hearsay that robs
a dead man of his honor, old Guten-
berg Immediately hands me his larS
est, blackest headline type.
Should we preach that we cannot
eat our cake and have ii too. no man
listens and no type repeats. But
should we pretend to want tax re-
duction and at the same time advo-
cate the bonus, the increase of pen
Sions, the German relief approprl-
alton, the rise of government salaries
and the hundred million grant to the
wheat farmer, the printed word takes
up the refrain at once and the I'M
possible seems possible because it is
printed"
Lauds Advertisers Code.
1t was because of the high per-
centage of literacy in the United
States that I'VE advertisers can put
out each day a food of information
and misinformation." 10 100,000,000
readers. Senator Reed continued.
Commercial advertisers, he said. had
a code of business ethics which had
grown better it grew older.
You frown upon the quacks and
tricksters," he went on, "and strive to
tell the truth. Yet we politicians who
advertise to get the support of our
policies or to get votes for parties or
ourselves have not yet developed such
a CODE
He made but passing reference to
the current congressional investiga
tions, declaring that much of the tes-
timony cant be called anything but
undertaking" His audience laughed
when he said government officials had