Evening star., 1928-10-07

~ down in history as one OF the
most memorable of all time.
It Is a grim. awe-inSpiring spectacle.
this battle of the handouts.
Peaceful Farragut Square trembles
with the reverberations of each sue
cessive broadside from the Republican
national committee headquarters, and
each wind from the North brings echoes
Of the wordy barrage turned loose with
relentless fury from the stronghold OF
the Democrats.
Caught in the withering cross-f1re OF
| this duel between campaign press
agents, the newspaper editors already
/ have begun to show signs of grogginess
| and the battle is yet to reach
! climax. A few more weeks of this sort
/ of thing and they will be throwing
| things at the copy boys and gnawing
| holes in the desks.
| The propaganda which forms the am
munition in the big release drive OF the
present campaign is of the most dan
/ gerous sort. too. The old-tin1e political
| press agent was more politician than
! newspaper man, and the publicity he
sent to the newspapers and expected
! them to publish was, to use an approved
| campaign term. just so much "boloney.
1t belonged in the waste basket and
| there it found final resting place. with
| the profane blessings Of an exasperated
editorial staff
Times Have Changed!
How times have changed!
The political press agent OF TODAY
once was an editor or newspaper
writer himself. He knows the differ
cnce between "boloney'' and news. and,
with the cool and calculated cunning
+; peculiar to the type, he fires at the
helpless editors mixed avalanche ii
| political propaganda so carefully as
puised as news that even the mos
discerning of editors is forced 10 mop
his brow and capitulate.
That's the insidious thing about TINS
whole campaign publicity business. Sc
much of the matter being issued from
onposing political camps is honest-to-
goodness news, or so cleverly camou-
fiaged as such, that editors and cor
respondents have to read 1t over TWO OF
three times to decide whether to uss
il or not. They are afraid that they
might be taken in on some propa.
ganda scheme on the one hand. ano
that they may muir real story, or
the other.
In other words. the campaign press
agents have met the inexorable de-
mand of the editor that its got 10 os
| news" and now the editors haven't
leg To stand on. Where formerly the
editor conscientiously could conslgn tc
the newsroom floor a long blurb telling
of this candidates boyhoOd or that can
| didate's exemplary family life, he finds
! confronting him now breezy inter-
view with Senator Somebody -othel
or a newSv statement by. some otnel
perscnage whose very name commands
resuect from the press. If nobody In
particular had said the same thing, the
release well might have gone the way
of the thousand and one other hand
outs which come over an editors desk,
but statements. however Synthetlc. bS
g~eat statesmen. industrial leaders OF
other dignitaries cannot wholly o.
ignored.
There YOU have the secret of the new
cr,ier of political press agentry: II yot
'..,a a bit OF propaganda or even
u slice of the old "boloney" that you
to get over" hang it on some ont
Importance and 1t generally WI
seze by without whole lot OF din
lily.
Consider what comes to an editor
desk at this crucial stage of the cam
paign. There Is the daily multigrapheC
News Bulletin" issued by the Repub
llcan national. committees three o.
four. page summary of all events o.
news interest occurring each day at TIT
committee headquarters and at Hoover'
personal Offices on Massachusetts, ave
nue.. This blue-tinted document II
really a valuable guide book for the
weary correspondent. 1t lists all visl'
tors OF importance to Chairman Work.
or Hoover's offices, summarizes reports
on the political outlook in various
States, tells of organization activities
here and elsewhere and gives other in
teresting data on the daily progress o.
the Republican drive.
From the Democratic side comes
more detailed weekly bulletin contain
ing, the caption states, information fol
newspapers interested in Gov Alfred E
Smith," The bulletin goes. however, tC
newspapers of both parties, and OF
neither party. 1t is sort of clip
sheet" review of Democratic news oi
the week, ready to be scissored and
pasted up or rewritten or thrown away
From both parties come, at any time
and at all times, mineographed copies
of special statements. speeches, COM
ments, charges. recriminations, predic-
tions and whatnot.
They come in never-ending streams