Evening star., 1925-01-18
PRESIDENT WARNS
EDITORS TO AVOID
PROPAGANDA EVIL
PresCribes Divorce of News
and Business Depart
ments for Success.
URGES CONTINUED APPEAL
TO HIGH u. S. IDEALISM
Minimizes Danger of Capitalistic
Press in Address at So
ciety Dinner.

The pathway to success in Ameri-
can journalism lies in the avoidance
of propaganda, the separation OF
news policies from business motives
and continued appeal to the idealism
of the American people, President
Coolidge declared last night in speak
ing to the American Society of News
paper Editors.
Avoiding for the most part refer
ence to governmental problems, Mr..
Coolidge talked shop with the
editors, speaking from the viewpoint
Of one not in the newspaper ousI-
ness, as was his predecessor, but as
one who has watched the growth and
development of the American press.
This growth, he declared, had given
the United States the best news
papers in the world"
Mr.. Coolidge made II plain that he
entertains no fears as to the in
fuences of what is sometimes called
a "capitalistic press
Says Fear Unfounded.
Some people feel concerned about
| the comm ercialism of the press he
said. They note that great news
papers are great business enterprises
| earning large profits and controlled
| by men of wealth. So they fear that
| in such control the press may tend
! to support the private interests OF
| those who own the papers rather
than the general interest of the
whole people. 1t seems to me. how
| ever, that the real test is not whett-
| er the newspapers are controlled by
men of wealth, but whether they are
! sincerely trying to serve the pubic
| interests. There will be little oc-
| casion to worry about who owns a
! newspaper so long its attitudes on
| public questions are such as to pro
mote the general welfare. A press
| which is actuated by the purpose OF
genuine usefulness to the public in
! terest can never be too strong fnan-
| cially so long as its strength IS used
! for the support of popular govern
ment."
Text of Address.
President Coolidge's speech in fun
follows:
THE relationship between govern
ments and the press has always been
/. recognized as a matter OF large
| Importance Wherever despotism
abounds, the sources of public in
f; formation are the first to be brought
! under its control Wherever the
| cause OF nDeGIN Is Ild hiiiEs It's NSNS
one of its highest accomplishments is
| the guarantee OF the freedom OF the
press 1t has always been realized,
Isometives instinctively, oftentimes eX-
! presslv that truth and freedom are
/ inseparable An absolutism couId
! never rest upon anything save a per-
| yerted and distorted view of human
reIa tionships and upon false stand
| ards set up and maintained by force.
! 1t has always found it necessary to
attempt to dominate the entire field
of education and instruction. 1t has
thrived on ignorance. While II has
sought TO train the mind OF a few, II
has been largely with the purpose of
| attempting to give them superior
facility for misleading the many.
Men have been educated under abso-
lutism. not that they might bear wit
ness to the truth, but that they might
be the more ingenius advocates ana
defenders of false standards and hol-
low pretenses. This has always been
! the method of privilege, the method
! of class and caste, the method of
master and slave.
| When a community has sufficiently
advanced so that its government be
gins to take on that of the nature OF
! a republic the processes of education
become even more important, but the
! method is necessarily reversed. 1t is
! all the more necessary under sys-
| tenn of free government that the peo-
ple should be enlightened, that they
! should be correctly informed, than II
is under an absolute government that
! they should be ignorant. Under
| republic the institutions of learning,
! while bound by the constitution ana
laws. are in no way subservient to
the government. The principles which
| they enunciate do not depend for
their authority upon whether they
! square with the wish of the ruling
dynasty, but whether they square
with the everlasting truth. Under
these conditions the press, which had
before been made an instrument tor
concealing or perverting the facts
must be made an instrument for their
true representation and their SOUND
and logical interpretation From the
position of a mere organ, constantly
hound to servitude, public prints rise
to a dignity, not only of independ-
ence. but of a great educational and
enlightening factor. They attain new
powers which il is almost impossible
to measure. and become charged with
commensurate responsibilities.
Saws Propaganda Dangerous.
"The public press under an autoc-
racy is necessarily true agency Of
propa ganda. Under a free govern
ment it must be the very reverse
! Propaganda seeks to present part
, of the facts, TO distort their relations,
and TO force conclusions which could
not be drawn from a complete and
! candid survey of all the facts. 1t has
been observed that propa ganda seeks
TO close the mind, while education
seeks to open 1t. This has become
one Of the dangers of the present
day.
"'The great difficulty in combating
unfair propa ganda, or even in reeog-
nizine 1t, arises from the fact that
at the present time we confront so
many new and technical problems
that it is an enormous task to keep
u ourselves accurately Informed con-
cerning them. In this respect you
gentlemen of the press face the same
perpleXities that are encountered by
legislators and government admins
| traitors Whoever deals with current
public questions is compelled to rely
greatly upon the information and
judgments of experts and specialists.
Unfortunately, not all experts are to
be trusted as entirely disinterested.
- - Dn4~ rnI.xram