Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-08-27
Finds Army's
Publicity Has
Weak Spots
But Runyon Detects Signs
Of Few Trained Men
By DAMON RUNYON

pdItIfleHt IN washington mas ltS
bureau Of public relations. mean
ing a press agent staff, and
many OF the camps in various
parts of the country are going
in for organized ballyhoo in the
form Of releases to the news
papers exploiting the army.
We get a batch of this stuff
in every mail along with con-
tributions. from the publicity
promoters of more commercial
enterprises, such as the movies
and night clubs, and some of the
soldier releases show a profess
sional touch. This is not sur
prising, considering the number
OF trained neWspapermen In
uniform.
1t seems that when the army
catches a neWspaperman now
adayS ii likes TO put him in the
intelligence department. which
takes care OF the publicity. Not
every newspaperman fancies this
assignment, some of them pre-
-ferrlng The duty of soldier as
a relief from their civilian life,
but we understand that you have
no more luck trying 10 OUT
argue a superior officer today
than in any other era of Ameri.
can soldering.
Thus in much OF the army
publicity we detect signs Of CITY
room experience, the copy Of
fered displaying n regard for
brevlty, human interest and re-
flectlng a an attractiveneSs in
army life that We suppose is the
purpose OF the publicity. How
ever. not all the material is this
good Some of il is Stodgy and
undressing, probably because
II emanateS from sources that
have not yet corralled news
paperman.
THE best We have 60 far en-
l. countered comes from Fort
lewis, Wash ami Is signed by
Joseph ID. Roberts. first leu
tenant. NJ land public rela--
lions officer OF the camp but
we notice that Lieutenant
Roberts releases usually add the
name of the actual author. in
some cases Pvt. Gordon w.
Kirby and in others Pvt. Harold
+. Farley.
We also find one with the
name OF Miss Vivian Gillespie
appended. this being about a
vaudeville production by the
soldiers. but we viii assume that
Miss Gillespie is not of the en-
listed personnel of Fort Lewis
but is serving in this instance
as an expert.
We recommend Lieutenant
Roberts publicity as a form 10
all army public relations Off
GERS. III is short and Of the
human interest type. 1t tells OF
Sergt. Louis G.. Jones. OF abb
lene. Tex, being retired after 30
years service with the quarter
master corps during which he
personally baked couple OF
millions Of loaveS OF bread and
OF Lieut. Col James r Mock-
bee, Mai Rowland l.. Atcheson
and Capt Milton r. Penfeld
being on duty AZ the station hos
pltal where they served az
enlisted men in the first World
War.
Note" the release adds.
Colonel Mockbee and Major
Atcheson say they extract
teeth-not pull them"
0 COURSE this army pub
" licity is strictly for peace
time purposes. In actual war.
the army requires no tub
humping and the intelligence
department busies itself with
the functions for which il was
devised. which is TO find out
things about the enemy. In the
first World War. while some
newspapermen in the service
were assigned 10 duty with the
censor and in getting out the
soldiers newspaper. The Stars
and Stripes, you found more OF
them in the field with troops
than anywhere else.
Bill Corum. Walter Dav-
export, Bill Meloney. Bill Nc
Geehan, Arthur Robinson. Reg
gle Foster. Bill Cunningham,
Innes Brown. julius Adler and
scores of others. who were ac-
tive newspapermen before and
after the war. served with
troops.
Corum was said to be the
youngest major in the AEF.
Robinson. who was young
sports writer on the New York
American when he entered the
army and who now leads a tran
gull life in trailer out on the
Pacific coast and writes libret-
tos, was badly wounded in both
legs during the Argonne drive.
George Creel was the big pub
licity man of the other war. He
was a newspaperman then. Pres
ident Wilson appointed him
chairman of what was then
called the committee on public
information. but il was a pub
licity thing in spite of the high
sounding title. And Creel did
a great Job. The fundamental
principle of publicity is TO make