The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-15

A1VT 0AAAA eAAO oface for Emergency Management. Also. every army camp, naval sta- ton and air base has its own puh- hcity officer.
 SELLING
 BY SOUND
 The selling job, the idea of get- ting everybody all hipped up on this program, begins ct the top and goes right through every defense agency. There is Q constant demand for sneakers. Cabinet members in caits awayg, assorted adgnirals and gen. erals in or out of gold braid, and dollar.a. .year brass hats In business quits or dinner jackets can always expect e call to say something De- fore national conventions, trade as- soclationS or regular sessions of the 75.cent blue plate special luncheon clubs.
 Among the starred and striped officers of the armed services, these speeches take the line Of telling the citizenry what Q great navy we got and what Q great army we will have. Assurances must be given that soldiers and sailors arc just one big happy family and tho folks back home don't need to worry about their boys.
 The job of cabineteers of late has been to preside at the launch- ing of trial balloons, as'witness the recent speeches of Secretaries Knox and Stimson. Here is where real high pressure salesnaanship is re. quired as tho number of successful balloon salesmen in the country IS extremely limited and the American public has considerable sales re. sistance to merchandise that might get 1t in trouble.
 The real burden of guinSlloe salesmansllip on the defense effort has therefore fallen to the dollar- a-year men in OPM. Big business men themselves, they have had to go out and speak the language of business to convince chambers of commerce and individual nlanufac- turers that this defense effort Is no sideline or by-product, that plant expansion and full speed are ncces. sary, and that normal business pro. dMction would have to be cut If sufficient military supplies were to be supplied in time.
 All these speeches have 10 be carefully prepared and approved 50 there won't be any apologies and explanations to make later. As c result, there hes grown up a sizeabie force of Washington speech writers. The big shots ob. ylously haven't time to prepare all these talks themselves 50 the job Is turned over to experts who write rough drafts that are prayed over by economic advises and passed on. by lawyers before they get to the consumers.
 TO LET
 YOU KNOW
 Taking care of the press, the radio and tho newsreels, the special mag. azine writers, columnists and com. mentators is, however, by fer the biggest part of the selling cam- paign. Perhaps it's incorrect to call this aspect of the work selling. In- formation spreading is more exact, for the public does want to know what's going on and how and why.
 In Washington alone, navy8 press ofIice has more than a dozen officers and army more than score. Army Air Corps has It's own press section, 50 specialized has It's work become. There Is a degree of censorship in the work of these organizations, as military and naval operations secrets must De guarded, and photographs with. held that might reveal informa. ton of value to the enemy-par. don, the potential enemy.
 OfIlce for Emergency Manage. nent, including OPM and i6 d1f- ferent defense agencies, has its division of information with c StaH Of 20 ex.newypaper men turned press agents to ballyhoo the show. It's % big, so complicated and it's growing go fast, 1t keeps this stan going overtime.
 Covering the defense activities in the whole country, with factories shooting up here, sub.contractS all over the place and civilian co.op- eration being sought everywhere, has become such c job that OPM publicity men are now being placed in the i2 federal reserve districts. They'll work independently from the army and navy publicity officers, but the whole effort, coordanated or not, will be to let you know that there's something going on and that 1t has something to do with c war.