Evening star., 1944-12-22


long delayed Mr.. Kent.
stories of his stay in Georgia and
that he suggested several minor
changes"
So far as the first is concerned, 1t
justifles repeating that security
reasons" do not seem to exist when
the President is after votes. These
were completely disregarded last
October when Mr.. Roosevelt made
his political appeals in New York,
Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Then the time of this departure,
the time of his arrival, the route
over which he would ride in open
automobiles, the time of the ride
and the time of his appearance at
ball parks, stadia and other places
were given out for publication In
advance. And all the newspaper
men who could crowd on his train
were welcomed.
Contrast Outraged Friends.
When this was contrasted with
the two years of rigid no publicity
enforced for security reasons" !"
some Of his friends were greatly
outraged. They cried that an ef-
fort was being made to keep Mr..
Roosevelt from taking his case
to the people" which was as silly
a statement as was made in the
campaign. The matter is recalled
now only to point out that we are
again back on the security reasons"
basis as regards the many absences
Of the President-and they are many
from the White House In other
words, the muzzle is taken off for
political purposes; it has been put
on again for security reasons"
While no one wants to imperil
the safety of the President now or
at any other time, there seems to
be a slight degree of hocus-pocus
about security reasons" which are
subject to such fluctuations.
AS to the request" that the press
representatives submit their stories
to him, that deserves real attention
Under such circumstances re
quest" from the President is equiv
alent to command. There is lit
tie choice but to comply. To have
refused would have been to incur
the resentment of Mr.. Roosevelt,
who has been known to go to
extraordinary lengths to vent his
wrath against newspapermen of
whom he did not approve. Refusal
would have made the man who re-
fused persona non grata around the
White House. He would have had
to be taken off the assignment of
covering the President.
Took Unfair Advantage.
1t might have impaired his useful
ness to his press association. 1t is
pretty difficult for one newspaper
man to stand up against the Presi-
dent of the United States. In asking
to edit the stories of these men, Mr.
Roosevelt took an unfair advantage
of his position. He had no business
making such a request" and the
newspapermen would have been
justified in refusing.
No decent newspaperman any,
where wants to submit his story to
any one save his boss in his own
office and he is not supposed to,
either. Particularly, no newspaper
man wants to submit his story to
politician, whether he is in the White
House or not. If you have to do
that, then the newspaper business is
not one decent men want to stay in.
The men who cover the President
for the press association are men of
discretion, judgment. experience and
character. If they we're not, they
would not be on that job. To ask
them to submit their stories for
editing by the President is just some
thing that ought not to be done.
Mr.. Roosevelt does not have to
edit the news stories written about
him by these men to insure against
distortion of facts. Even if the men
covering him had any desire to
dlstort, 1t is very clearly to their own
self-interest not to do so. For one
thing, any such distortion would
damage them in their profession and
probably cost them their positions.
For another, the Presidents denun-
citation of story as untrue is some
thing against which it is hard to
stand up-even when the story is
not untrue.
Request Was Offensive.
Mr.. Roosevelt did not want to see
what was written by these men to
insure that only the facts were
presented but to insure that the
facts were presented in the way he
wanted-and that is what makes
his request" unwarranted and
offensive. Recently, some of our
leading journalists have been talk
Ing a lot about a free press. They
want the press to be free all over
the world as well as here. And it
Is important that 1t should be, too.
The Associated Press dispatch,
after stating that the stories were
presented for review" by request"
after the Presidents train had left
Camp Lejeune, said, This has been
the custom on several off-the-
record trips by the Chief Execu-
tive" Well, it is very bad custom
for either of or on the record trips.
No Chief Executive ought to be