Evening star., 1942-08-02

In the war DepaI IHlentS HE oI super
secrets rests the American plan for
psychological warfare. which exists be-
cause total war includes war on the
fears and thoughts OF the enemy.
Spasmodic psychological warfare is al
most as old as combat. Medieval bowmen
used to attach messages to their arrows
and shoot them into the besieged bastions
of their enemies who were told that they
had no chance of victory. At the Battle
of Bunker Hill the American forces
worked against English military morale
by inviting the Red Coats to desert for
the better pay of the American soldiers
In the Civil War rumor-mongering
Pinkerton detectives ambled in disguise
through the South, spreading stories
calculated to fill the Confederate soldiers
and civilians with despair.
Today the master minds of psychological
war have weapon which was unavail-
able in previous conflicts-the radio. The
radio reaches into the very heart OF
enemy territory. A message shot over
the ether waves from the United States
is heard a moment later In Germany,
Japan or Italy, and in the captive
very core of the requirements for the
unfolding of the psychological warfare
plan. But because the use of the radio
as an instrument Of war is still matter
for experimentation in this country, the
psychological warfare plan languishes IN
its filing case.
The Big Berthas OF the United States
short wave war are IL transmitters scat
tered about the country, beamed for all
the continents overseas. They are owned
by private broadcasting companies, each
of which broadcasts its own conception
of proper propaganda. Twenty -four hours
a day the short wave ether is carrying
an American message for some distant
outpost or other, for North Africa or
Java, Germany or China, Australia or
Poland, Malaga or Greece. Individually
the various private companies have
scored some notable direct hits, but each
of them goes its own way. In time of
war, this is much as though each pilot Of
fighter plane attacked according to his
own scheme.
Failed of Purpose.
A year ago this month the United
States Government entered the short
wave propaganda fight through the
establishment OF the Foreign Information
Service within the late Once Of the
Co-ordinAtor, Of Information, which was
headed by Col. William J. Donovan. Its
purpose was to guide the short wave war
Of the individual companies by CO.
ordinating AL their hroadcasts and hy
sctually assuming contrd Of the shdst
wave companies facilities.
Instead of accomplishing It's purpose
the Foreign Information Service touched
OH little war that still RACES. The pri-
vate broadcasters, with the exception OF
one short-wave station-WLWO in Gin
csnnati-have steadfastly refused to
accept even the guidance much less the
domination, of the Governments agency
Two reasons chiefly inspire their re-
sistance.
/. The Foreign Information Service
asks the private broadcasters to short
wave its propaganda copy without at
tributing the propaganda to the Amer
ican Government.
2. The private broadcasters consider
the of1lcial propaganda so amateurish
that they are unwilling to make them
selves responsible for it. The FIS has
been cursed through its existence by a
lack of intimate understanding Of the
psychology and lives Of its various over
seas listeners. In record of Norwegian
songs to be broadcast to cheer up the
Norsemen, for instance, the F1S in
cluded funeral dirge without knowing
1t was funeral dirge.
The FIS expenditures. include the cost
not only Of the short-wave operation but
also of maintaining representatives
abroad and preparing and cabling a
daily news report on American affairs
for papers in Australia and India. The
private short-wavers, especially Columbia
Broadcasting System, the National Broad
casting Co., General Electric and the
Worldwide Radio Foundation, spend in