Evening star., 1936-03-05
CAMPAIGN SPEEDS
RUMOR FACTORIES.
Borah Death Report Laid
to Propaganda Reaching
New ViruIence.
BY LEMUEL F. PARTON.


(copyrisht. 1885. by the North American
Newspaper Alhanceo
The current widely circulated ru-
nlors of Senator Borah's death ride
mounting tide of whispers and in
nuendo involving prominent men
not only Government officials, but
business men. It is an expected phe-
nomenon Of a campaign year, poi
sonous assault from which Presidents
and leaders of both parties have suf-
fered in the past, but this year 1t
sttains new virulence, subtlety and
apparently much greater organization
and efficiency.
A close friend of Senator Borah ex-
pressed to this writer his opinion.
based on definite evidence, that the
rumor Of the Senator's death was de-
liberately and elaborately maintained
by a certain organization engaged In
the business of spreading verbal prop
aganda." Miss Cora M. Rubin, secre-
tary to Senator Borah, has been as
sailed during the last week by tele-
phone calls. some of them at O'CLOCK
in the morning, the caller demanding
an admission that Senator Borah was
dead Some Of these calls were from
newspapers, with the word that re-
ports Of the Senator's death were
coming in from everywhere.
Four Rumor Factories.
There are four established rumor
factories in the United States, two OF
them in Washington. The above in
formant said there was some evidence
that one of the Washington firms had
spread in printed form the designa-
ton of Miss Rubin as "a Jewish alien
Communist" but that the origin OF
the death rumor had not been posi-
lively traced. However" he added,
I'VE think we know where it came
from" incidentally, this reporter
learned to his satisfaction that Miss
Rubin who wrongly listed in each OF
the above designations.
The '36 crop of rumors is whispered,
to a degree never known before. and
also printed and widely circulated.
The coup de main of the lot Is an
infiamnatory sheet tanning up anti
semitlsm and pegging with hebraic
star the names of supposed Jewish
aliens in list of hundreds of Gov
ernment officials.
This writer saw one such list, fea-
turing Secretary of Labor Frances
Perkins as Ella Kominsky. the daugh-
ter of a Jewish immigrant, adopted IN
her infancy by family named Per-
kins. The sheet gives specific details
of her marriage. under the above
{x, 40 n
Wilson. This writer happens to know
that Miss Perkins was married under
her own name in Grace Church, New
York, with Bishop Satterlee officiat-
ing, and that her family line goes
back pretty nearly to the Mayfower
7 asked Miss Perkins about it. She
said that If she were Jewish she
would make no efforts to conceal it,
but, if the matter seems important to
anyone, he may consult the records
of Grace Church, at Ninth street and
Broadway, New York. She is an
Espisopalian.
Raw Material of Rumors.
Anti-semitism and physical inca
pacity are the principal raw materials
Of the r1lmors. At Gov. Talmadge's
"Grass Roots" Convention in Georgia,
anti-semitic literature was circulated,
and the aftermath of the convention
showed that the "alien Jew lists had
been widely circulated in Ku KluX
regions of the South.
It was in 1888 that President Roose-
velt, vacationing day or two, ate
some cherries and suffered q mild ILL
ness. This went whooping around the
country, with one account revealing
that the President had only few
days to live and that a double" was
functioning in the White House. Last
year, an acknowledged whispering cam
paign that the President had been
mentally aflicted was disclosed during
the congressional utility hearings.
The two most successful and profit
able rumor mills as distinguished
from the two Washington plants, have
branches in large Eastern cities, with
headquarters in New York. Business
men have suffered more, perhaps, from
the recently organized whisper-mon-
gering than have public officials 1t
has become an illicit but sometimes
highly profitable trade practice. The
whisper that certain brand Of cigar
cites came from factory where lep-
rosy had been found was traced to one
Of these outfits. The same techniques
also have been widely used in strike
breaking.
Touters Paid 81 Day.
But calunny Is not the orlly device,
Large cities swarm with run-of-the-
mill citizens whose job it is to travel
around on trains and cars and tout
this or that product, in loud voice,
for 81 day. The Borah rumors and
the like are regarded here as merely
the lucrative political field Of this
widely organized business.
In the past, no particular party or
interest could be assessed equally with
responsibility for this cancerous busi-
ness. Presidents Harding and Wilson
suffered equally from these canards.
At the height Of the war fever, the
vehement, insistent, documented low
down was that Joseph Tumulty, Sec
retary to President Wilson, had been
taken out behind the White House
and shot for treason. So rampant
did this story become that Mr.. Tu-
multy found it necessary to make a
public appearance to put it down.
Within the last two weeks this writer
has heard shocking stories about four
members Of the Presidents cabinet.
It would perhaps be unwise to repeat
them, as 1t does not seem safe to put
ideas into anybody's head this year
A roundup Of these yarns would
make pretty fair anthology of Mum
chausen tales. But there Is specific
evidence that they are factory-made
goods. The significant thing for the
moment is that the mounting pas
Eions Of the campaign year not only
are inciting casual and amateur liars,