Evening star., 1942-04-19
.Cree|, II Censorship
Head, Warns Against
Censorship Law
Declares Legislation
Would Destroy Unity
OF Public in War
By the Associated Press.

BN the Associated Press.
PRINCETON, N. J., April 18.-
George Creel, director of the Com
mittee on Public Information in the
World War, warned today that any
attempt to enact press censorship
legislation would be absolutely
disastrous to national unity"
Writing in the Public Opinion
Quarterly published by the Prince
ton University School of Public and
International Affairs, Mr. Creel as
serted that even If a censorship bill
we're passed by Congress, and even
If the press could then be won to
acquiesence. no preconceived plan
of operation and no amount Of
trained personnel could make it
work"
Legislated censorship, Mr.. Creel
added, works inevitably to protect
blunderers, incompetents and graf
ters" by forestalling criticism.
The morale of a free people. he
continued, depends in the last
analysis upon the feelings of the
citizen that he is being given the
truth. the whole truth and nothing
but the truth. Anything short Of
that is bound TO result in disaster,
for no matter how much the truth
may be suppressed, sooner or later
1t is going to come out.
Skaters Morale.
And when it does come out, the
reaction blinds the people to the
accomplishment and skaters morale
by inducing the conviction that
everything told them has been a lie. -
Internal censorship. Mr.. Creel
contended, would continue the
ghastly ineff1ciency that marked the
whole preparedness effort from May
28, 1s4O right up to December 7,
1941. Had there been real criticism
of the welter of alphabet agencies
that squandered billions in building
the great Arsenal Of Democracy,
we should not have had a Pearl
Harbor, a Wake Island, a Guam, or
the tragedy of the Philippines"
Mr.. Creel took issue with rule
laid down by Byron Price, director
of the United States Office of Cen
sorship. which forbids specific in
formation about war contracts,
such as the exact type of produc-
ton, production schedules, dates OF
delivery or progress of production.
estimated supplies of strategic and
critical materials available
Hardly a day passes, Mr.. Creel
declared, that some row between
officials does not reveal every fact
about our stock piles of rubber.
aluminium, steel. copper and other
strategic materials
Congress Also Assailed.
And what about Congress? When
was there every anything more eX-
plicit with respect of production
than the Truman report? Or the
savage attacks of Senator Byrd, par
ticularly the one in which he
charged that out of an expenditure
of ten billions we had received less
than $425,000,000 worth Of vital
equipment?
Unless criticism is permitted,
unless incompetentS are Scourged
from office by the lash of public
opinion. the situation is apt to grow
little better"
The only answer TO the censor
ship problem, Mr. Creel added is
"a censorship of the cables and the
radio-a censorship limited to mill
tary information and not touching
public opinion in any degree That
done, let us have full information,
with free speech and a free press
contributing TO the unhampered
public discussion that is a democ-
racys one safeguard against inef-
ficiency, bureaucratic stupidity,
clique control. and actual dishon-
esty in the expenditure Of public
funds"