Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-22
War News
Chief Fitted
For His Job
Elmer Davis Has Good
Newspaper Background
BY DAMON RUNYON


THE appointment of Elmer
u Davis to the position of d.
rector of a new Office of War
Information makes good sense
to me.
Although his greatest fame Is
as a radio news commentator
and author, Davis is a sound
newspaperman by training and
that is the kind that should be
in charge of dissemination Of Of
fetal news and propaganda
within the United States and
abroad, which is the function of
his office.
This is no time for expert
menting with amateurs or the
orists along that line, however
earnest and well meaning they
may be, yet the policy so far
pursued in Washington has APP
parently been pretty much ex-
RECOMMENDATION. Naturally, the
result has been considerable
confusion.
TT is not as much the fault OF
l. the individuals carrying on
the work as ii is the scheme OF
organization. The information
and propaganda setup OF the
government has been In the
hands of several different agen-
cies which have frequently been
found working at cross purposes.
1t was a cock-eyed arrangement
from the start. II has been one
of the most severely criticized
policies of the administration.
Davis, who is no crackpot but
a shrewd analyst of news with
an intelligent comprehension OF
the problems of newspapers as
well as radio, becomes the court
of last resort on what shall be
made public. .
He will be subject to orders
only from President Roosevelt
himself. His job corresponds TO
some extent TO that of the Brit
ish minister of information.
Three federal information
| services and a part of a fourth
are telescoped into Davis new
bureau. They are the Office OF
Facts and Figures headed by
Archibald MacLeish. the Office
of Government Reports under
Lowell Mellett, and the division
of information in the Office OF
Emergency Management which
controlled the press relations OF
various important agencies.
1T IS said that these weirdly
Il titled branches have upwards
Of 10000 so-called publicistS
working for them, and as Davis
Is given authority to reduce or
expand the public relations divi-
sion of all government depart
ments he probably will get rid
OF boat load OF amateurs at
once and settle for a few expert
enced craftsmen.
He can be of enormous service
TO the newspapers and the al
ready overworked post office en-
ployes by cutting down on the
tons of junk that is being sent
out of Washington and else
where under the guise OF pub
licity. The janitors of the news
paper Offices will be greatly
obliged TO him as il will Tighten
their task of Juggling out the
wastepaper baskets now usually
loaded 10 the gun'rs with dis
carded pulp OF this nature.
1t is announced that Davis
does not have power over censor
ship, but he is supposed 10 CO.
operate closely with Byron Price,
director of the Office of Censor
ship. Since il is stated that IL
is Davis who will say what shall
be released. l cannot see how
much difference between this
cooperation and actual power
of censorship, and only hope
that this is not another of those
mixed authority things that has
caused the confusion of the past.
Davis is a good man. Price is
a corker. If they work together,
everything will be fine. l think
the one-man control of censor
ship and news and propaganda
that George Creel had in the
first World War would be a
better deal and that either Davis
or Price could handle the job,
but since that is not the arrange
ment, the next best thing is 10
have two sensible men who see
eye-to-eye.
Copyright. 1912. by King Features
Distributed by International News Service
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