Evening star., 1939-08-20
Censorship Is
Described by
War Restrictions
On Press Told
In Booklet
By Cedric Larson.

Although there is freedom of
speech and press at all times In
America during peace, that happy
condition Is, Of course, not true
IN periods of armed conflict, such
as the late World War, according
to a 78-page booklet issued by the
Archives, the work Of DR.. Frank
H. Allen.
For 20 years the correspondence
and records of the Creel Commit
tee, which regulated publications
during the World War, have been
stored and largely forgotten in the
basement Of one of the wings of
the Munitions Building. Upon COM
pletlon OF the National Archives
Building, however, these records, l30
cubic feet in extent, were sent to
their permanent resting place there.
examined, classified and the booklet
written.
Reporters who make Washington
their headquarters and who also
served here during the World War
wildly recall the machinery used
to make newspapers toe the line
at that time. This was done by
an official organization, called the
Committee on Public Information,
established by President Woodrow
Wilson exactly one week after the
American entry into the struggle on
April 6, 1917.
George Creel, at present head Of
the San Francisco Exposition and
a well-known writer, was named by
Wilson to head the C. P. I. The
three other members were cabinet
Secretaries of State, War and Navy.
OF these three Secretaries only
Josephus Daniels today survives.
The c. P. l.. as finally developed,
was divided into a domestic and
foreign section, covering every phase
Of publicity work-the printed page,
the cable, the movie, the lecture
and minute speakers at the
aters. 1t had the best talent in the
country and by the autumn of 1918
1t was geared to such a point Of
efficiency that it could be said at
the signing of the armistice that
the c. P. I. in the field of publicity
had met criteria of excellence previ-
ously unsatisfled. No allied country
or Central European power had any
comparable organization.
In 1920 Mr.. Creel published his
book, How We Advertised Amer
lea" the story of the c. P. l., which
was certainly an excellent book, but
since it was written right after the
heat Of war, 1t may rightly be re-
garded as sympathetic cartoon OF
the titanic task he directed rather
than a scientific exposition OF the
process of news regulation in Amer
lea and dissemination of American
war aims abroad. Obviously, many
of their secrets could only be re-
vealed with the passage of decades.
The year 1889 finds the whole con-
dition changed, however. More
than 20 years have come and gone
since the World War ended. Many
active participators in the great
drama OF 19l7-l9l8 have passed from
the scene and the historian can
tackle this problem effectively.
The Archives first preliminary
study of the Creel Committee, based
upon careful perusal Of these docu.
ments, appeared in the January,
1889, number of the Public Opinion
Quarterly of Princeton University,
the work of the writer in collabora.
ton with DR.. James r. Mock of the
National Archives.
Some of the documents cited, or
depicted in illustrations, show how
outgoing cable news was censored,
how the naval censor checked all
news with a foreign date line against
incoming cables, the banning of
books by the War Department, and
how moving pictures were censored.
The authors expect to bring out a
| book on the subject.