Evening star., 1942-06-18


MAJ Elist. vital weapons of
war. The armed services have their
intelligence stats, whose duty 1t Is
to collect information Of the enemy.
his strength, moves, activities and
prospects. On the inter-Allied plane.
this information is exchanged, COM
pared and evaluated by the British
and ourselves. through the medium
Of the intelligence branch of the
Anglo-American combined chiefs Of
staff.
There are also certain media, not
wholly satisfactory, for exchange Of
information with the Russians. But
these are purely military functions.
There are many other uses of and
needs for information in war.
First and most important, the
civilian populations of democratic
states must be kept informed on
the progress Of the war. They must
be told the truth, in order that
they may bear their part like men,
face evil tidings bravely, be in
spired by good tidings.
The only limitation-as the Pres
ident has said-is the holding back
OF information which might be OF
military value to the enemy, espe-
cially informatio as to the loca-
ton and strength Of our own forces,
their movement and intentions.
There has been no one in au-
thority to ask, as to every item
withheld, the single question:
"Why?" There has been no one to
say-"Tell me why the people can
not be told this? Make a case for
Withholding it,
Davis Task to Ask why"
As long as the armed services can
oppose a simple No" and not have
it questioned, the temptation to do
so in border-hne cases is well-nigh
irresistible, and the practice may ex-
tend to cases we'll beyond the border
line. 1t is not, for example, the
province of the services to suppress
an item OF news because. in the
opinion of some stan ofdcer, its
publication would tend to depress
the American people, or unduly
excite them, or cause them to draw
erroneous conclusions.
1t will now be Mr.. Davis task to
ask "Why?"-and the terms OF the
executive order appointing him en-
title him to receive an answer.
Then there is the vitality impor-
tant task of external propaganda.
We have based our propaganda on
the use of truth, on our conviction
that truth is bound to conquer the
lie.
The enemy bases his whole propa-
ganda technique on the use of the
lie; quite shamelessy, he broad
casts diametrically opposed state
ments on the same day. at almost
the same hour, to two different
countries in two different languages.
This may be a clever system for q
short time, but in the end he out
smarts himself.
Obviously in making truth the
mainstay of our psychological war
fare abroad, We must maintain the
closest connection between the
stories we put on the air for foreign
consumption and the contents of
our own news releases in the United
States. We must never allow wide
differences to appear. This Mr..
Davis Is now in position to do.
Psychological War Necessary.
But psychological warfare is
necessary part Of modern total war.
1t includes many activities besides
radio propaganda. and these activi-
ties must be co-ordinated with our
war effort in other directions.
Through the medium Of the War
Information Board, Mr.. Davis will be
enabled to keep the work of his own
department aligned with those of
the armed services, and with the
joint Psychological Warfare Board
which was mentioned in the execu.
tive order.
There are things which can prop
erly be told, and there are things
which cannot. 1t is well that the en-
emy should know that we have 4
board OF psychological warfare-but
he knows it already. he is feeling the
effects Of its work. We have learned
a great deal since this war began,
and not the least Of our lessons has
been how to fight the war Of nerves.
1t Is . good thing to know that
We are perfecting our machinery for
waging 1t, and at the same time, for
maintaining our own morale, our
own defenses against the enemy's
attacks. To all these activities the
new once of War Information can
make vast contribution, and to those
who know him the appointment OF
Elmer Davis is the best guaranty
that the work will be well done.
Copyright. 1912. by New York Tribune. Inc.