Evening star., 1944-01-22

llC s&p1 se3r'
mental principle David Lawrence.
of American information about tn
war" says the pamphlet, lis tina
we will speak the truth" But thel
comes the qualifying instruction
and limitations which nullify tn
foregoing thus:
4 "A truth need not only be well
rounded, but the utterance of i
should take account of the stresse
and objectives of the moment. Trutl
becomes falsehood unless it has thu
strength OF perspective. The pres
entation of facts is self -justifyinf
only when the facts are developed
In their true proportion"
But who is to determine tha
~perspective' or true proportion
The booklet goes on to authoriz,
international officers to allow theil
own opinions of what's good or bae
for the soldiers to prevail. 1t says
= In the treatment of all mate.
rials pertaining to the state of the
Nation, personnel supplying infor.
mation to the armed forces should
be guided not only by the degree OF
interest of the audience in the sub
1ect presented, but. equally. by the
probable effect of the presentation
upon the audience.
Isn't this the very thing the Nazl
and Communist governments do In
their propaganda, and can such a
practice really be classed under the
heading of truth? What makes
these instructions even more ques-
tionable is that if every informa
tional officer in the Army is to be
the judge Of the probable effect
of the presentation on the audi
ence," can there be any uniformity
And will not the soldier, when he
ultimately gets the whole truth from
the press back home in the form
OF clippings or by reading old copies
OF newspapers and magazines sent
to him. wonder why he has been
told by his own officers partial
truths that can so often be mis-
leading?
The whole subject is pertinent
this year because the soldier vote
may prove to be the balance OF
power in the election. If the news
which is permitted to get to soldiers
through official channels is to be
colored by offlcialdom, can it be
said that We are dealing fairly or
honestly with the 100000 soldiers
estimated recently by Senator
Lodge as the number to be overseas
this year?
The fact that Secretary Stimson
Is a Republican does not alter the
proposition that the election can
be won for the Roosevelt admins
tration by the sending of colored
news on current events, and if Mr..
Stimson sanctions the kind of book
let that is being distributed as Of
flcial instructions to information
al officers" on handling the news
OF current events for the soldiers,
then he is to that extent assisting
In the dissemination of misleading
propaganda to the Army.
Evidently it is feared that the
soldier is not capable of doing his
own thinking. He must be treated
tenderly with respect to home front
news-which, incidentally, has pro-
duced in recent months a distinct
antiadministration feeling among
the soldiers due to the President s
capitulation to Lewis and to the
union groups. But the War De-
partment bureau now wants that
kind of news soft-pedaled, as wit
ness the following excerpt from its
cleverly worded instructions:
mo good purpose is served by
plying the soldier with information
emphasizing the prevalence of high
wages or extraordinary profits or
other data tending to show that he
Is carrying an excessive share of
the burden of the war, or that
civilian forces on the whole are not
cooperating, or that certain eco
nomic or social groups are slipping
into special favor. The harmful
ness Of such generalizations is like
ly to offset whatever truth they
may contain"
1t will be observed that in the
foregoing, the writer's of the
pamphlet evidently thought it was
rendered harmless by insertion of
the word emphasizing" but this
opens up a wide area of discretion
to the international officer" so
that he may suppress news dis
patches according to his own idea
of what is emphasis.
Likewise. there is an adroit ref
erence in the above civilian forces
on the whole Nobody has ever
set up such straw man before.
What has been said often-because
It's true-is that certain economic
or social groups are slipping into
especial favor" But to the Army
officer truth of that
nature is taboo. To mention it, of
course, might do damage to the
political fortunes of the Roosevelt
administration which has been dis
pensing such special favors.
= Most of the soldiers are over 81
years Of age and quite capable of
forming their own judgments if
they can get the news through
customary channels. Yet these
same young men are being asked
to sacrifice their lives in a war to
preserve the -four freedoms" And
one of the four, as named by Presi-
dent Roosevelt. is freedom of in
formation"
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