The Washington times., 1936-08-27
Shabby Propaganda

Governor Landon Gives Raw Deal Publicity
Projects Their Right Name
an these days of widespread propaganda it is
iperatiUe that our teachers be kept free and that
our educational institutions our newspapers and
the radio be kept independent, either from control
of autOcratic government or from the influence
of any selfish interest.
"There must not be censorship of lUhat is spoken
or written and, equally important, there must be
no control of the source of nelUs
"AnOther danger from propaganda is nOU pres
ent 1t concerns widespread use of the machinery
of the Federal Government to maintain the pres
ent Administration in pOIUer, and to bring into
question the faith of the people in their Uay of life
and in their form of government.
"When money is fOrcibLy taken by government
from citizens and used to tear dOLUn those things
most precious to our people We see propaganda in
its most shabby FORM.
(From Governor Alfred NJ LandonS speech at Chuu.
tGuquG, N. " August "a, 1885,
Attempts of the Roosevelt administration to exert con-
troll the press and to blanket the country with
propaganda favorable to itself at taxpayers expense
met stern and DESERVED rebuke from Governor
Landon at Chautauqua.
Outstanding among those attempts obscure
provision of the National Recovery Act whereby the
newspapers of the nation would have been placed quietly
under the thumb of the Raw Deal and forced to conform
to its edicts-f the Raw Deal had had its way.
VI
the newspapers themselves, combining without re-
gard to politics to safeguard the fundamental right
of the freedom of the PRESS If the newspapers had
not fought their OUn bGttEe-Gnd WON 1.-THE press
of this country UOuId by this time haze been able
to express its UielUs ONLY BY LICENSE OF THE
ADMINISTRATION.
What price freedom then-not only of the press but
of the people?
Perhaps Governor Landon had this historic incident
in mind when he rightly scored governmental efforts to
interfere with the free expression of opinion.
Certainly there enough examples of this policy
abroad-in Germany in Italy, in Russia-to give any
American pause he contemplates attempts to intro
duce that policy in country
And Governor Landon is also right, COMPLETELY
right in characterizng Raw Deal propaganda with tax
payers money as propaganda in its most shabby
FORM"
There are now in defiance Of law, hundreds of pro-
fessonal propagandsts on the payrolls of various
partments and agencies in Washington.
These devote the major part of their time to hymnng
the praises of the Administration.
They are disguised as 'secretaries," or 'research
assistants what have you. But their function is to
sell the Raw Deal and the minor fact that their employ
ment for that purpose is illegal has not deferred the
Administration from using them.
Take too the Federal Theater Proect-an unds-
guised propaganda activity. Or the Works Progress
Administration films all designed to put that wastefu
boondoggng agency in the most favorable light before
the public.
Or other propaganda activities, too to men
ton here-each designed keep the Administration in
power and each paid for with money wrung from the
taxpayer borrowed against his credit and that of fu
ture generations.
Governor LandOn does IUeU to express righteous
indignation at this shameless perUersiOn of public
funds for political purposes.
1t is misuse of the peoples money 1UFich is
familiar to the dctatOr-ridden countries of Europe,
but UUhich Americans thought 1UOuld neUer be seen
here-and neUer lUas until the present AdnainistrG-
ton took a leaf out of EurOpe's book.
BeaverbrOOk's Platform
Lord Beaverbrook publisher London Daily Express