The Washington times., 1937-06-15
BUSINESS BLOC
SDEFENDS u. 5.
! PUBLICITY
BY EARL GOODWIN

Senator Harry Byrd Of Virginia,
looked on by many as the No. 2
publicity man Of the Government
(No. being at the other OF Penn
sylvania Avenue) runs up against
a. solid block of opposition among
many business institutions when
he suggests much of cut in the
existing information services Of
government.
Senator Byrd is largely response
bic for the Brookings institutions
analysis of the Governments
propaganda setup, although the
report made public at the Senate
yesterday carefully explains in its
title that it is an analysis Of the
Government activities Of library,
information, and statistical ser
vices"
Scores of representatives of bust
ness associations here are under
stood to be very friendly to existing
publicity" organizations in vari-
Gus Government bureaus and de.
partments, defending them with
the general statement that these
publicity bureaus get information
of all sorts for the average tax
paying clientele in five minutes, |
whereas it would take an outsider
as many hours if he had to start |
from scratch and work his way
through the average Government |
Institution in search Of informa'
ton.
:: "r'erS heP'S
The Brookings Institution re-
port and Senator Byrd'S attitude
and the general attitude of other
Senators who have criticized what |
they call government propaganda |
is answered today by several vet
eran newspaper correspondents
sWho make use of government in
formation service, with these
words:
"When the government puts
out factual information we are
glad to get it; when the gov.
eminent puts out propaganda
fif the Washington correspond
ent or the editor back home
doesn't recognize it and kill it,
then he has NO business on his
job"
Government information, the
use Of So-called publicity experts,
ETC., for the gathering, writing,
editing, issuing Of government
publications, is by no means new,
but the system has increased
largely. This administration has
expanded the system under gen.
eral plan of handling informa-
ton, which starts with the Presi-
dents wholesale and practically
uniform treatment Of the press,
and works all the way through
the various emergency organiza-
tons and through the established
regular government departments.
The presence of trained news
papermen on government jobs is
cooked on as a practical help in
fhe answering of queries and in
the Strengthening out of rumors.
hs well as in the preparation Of
gactual reports.
Too Much TugwelI
1t is not generally known, how
ever, but this administration
found it necessary to break up one
active publicity organization, be-
cause 1t tended to be nothing more
pr less than a personal aggran-
dizement bureau for the chief.
That happened in the days Of the
late Resettlement Administrator,
DR.. Tugwell.
I Another active publicity organi-
cation, under one of the Cabinet
officers, was found to be devoting
much Of its effort to a personal
~buildup" of the boSS-and its ef-
forts were pointed from that time
On to matters Of fact connected
with the department.
It Is entirely true that one or
two Government agencies have at
times issued scarcely anything else
but propaganda for its own self
perpetuation; there was almost
endless propaganda from MIRA,
particularly in its earlier days.
Congress Leads
:. Possibly the best publicized
agency Of Government is the
United States Congress, and that
branch Of Government makes it
easier for newspapers to get in
formation than any other Federal
branch in Washington. The press
galleries of Senate and House are
better equipped for newspaper
work than any other press ROOM"
and Congress appropriates about
$4,000 annually for the upkeep
Of these galleries, stating them
with employees who are as active
IN getting material to newspapers
and correspondents as if they were
employees of the publications.
This has been a helpful and
constructive feature of Washing
ton newspaperdom for so years.
Facilities at the Capitol end of
THE Avenue" are much better
than at the White House, where
Presidents always have felt chary
about calling attention to the fact
that they were making it easy to
publicize them-by mechanical or