The Wilmington morning star., 1944-04-28
By WEsTBROOK PEGLER

NEW YORK.-This being, in a manner of
speaking, newspaper week in New York, with
many editors present. the subject of freedom
of the press is getting such going-over as
it was never experienced before in my time.
The editors are agitated the move because
Henry Luce, the dough-heavy publisher of the
Time-Life-Fortune group which includes no
newspapers has subsidized an investigation
by group of professors.
I am afraid that most of us will feel a
little self conscious because we are involved
in the question and cannot be entirely de-
tached and impersonal. I would gladly say
go to it, if I could be sure that the findings
of the inquiry would be honest and not prop
uganda against the American free press. How
ever, I am confident that the standard, daily
commercial press would come through with
a much better reputation than the so-called
liberal press, including the union publications,
all of which violent and abusive bigots,
utterly intolerant of dissent and, without ex-
ception, untruthful in that the least dishonest
of them habitually ignore and suppress facts
and arguments embarrassing to their propa-
ganda. 1 think we could stand inspection all
right, but it is my hope that this inspection
Will not overlook our general resistance to
the partisan propaganda of the Roosevelt gov
eminent
AS witness to that propaganda I shall
now call or Col Frank Knox, secretary of
the Navy and proprietor of the Chicago Daily
News.
In 1888, hoping to win some Republican
seats IN the congressional election Mr. Knox
wrote book called, We Planned It That Way.
which was published by Longmans, Green
Co., of New York
In this book, Mr.. Knox charged that the
Roosevelt government had built up a great
paganda machine at the expense of the
taxpayers to tell the people that: "1.-Mr.
Roosevelt is a great president; and, q the
new deal is great idealistic program
He recounted that the campaign against the
privately-owned public utilities in the IVA
controversy was a propaganda job which he
described as murder at the crossroads Radio
commentators. he said, sped the sinister word,
that preliminary inquiry indicates rottenness
within private management of public utilities y
But, Mr.. Knox wrote, when one utility exec
utve requested a public hearing so that he
could prove that he was not a thief, his re-
quest was denied and the administration, long
afterward, released minor item admitting
that the charges were false.
1.-THE damage was done,' Mr.. Knox wrote.
The original story was illustrative Of the
effectiveness of the new deals propaganda
machine This is a political propaganda ma
chine the like of which the country has never
before SEEM 1t had been developed since
Congress in March, 1888 gave Mr.. Roosevelt
powers to handle the entire problem of pub.
lie expenditures
There are" ne wrote, administration
propag anda agencies in every one Of the 4e
states. The purpose of these sub-agencies is
to spread the gospel of the new deal move
ment and it's leader. Let person Of promi-
nence speak up in criticism of the new deal
and one of three things, or all three, is likely
to happen to him.
| The citizen would find himself before a leg
islative committee, he would be publicly cas-
| tigated by an obedient offce-holder, or he
would receive a call from the Internal Rev
enue.
Every conceivable form of propaganda is
used" Mr.. Knox wrote in 1888. Books ano
| booklets hillboards magazines and newspa
pers, motion pictures and radio programs
personal contact by thousands of field rep.
resentatives, constantly circulating
Then he stated that such propaganda was
in the technique of the communists, nazis
and fascists, that the new deal machine was
the equal. if not the superior of those ma.
chimes, and that the new deal propaganda
functioned along lines similar to the organiza.
tons of Stain, Hitler and Mussolini
Therefore, may it be hoped that the inquiry
into freedom of the press will not neglect the
field of paid and motivated propa ganda, in
Guiding the operations of that machine which
Mr.. Knox, himself publisher of considerable
authority, compared to the clarifying agen-
cies of the Duce, the Fuehrer and our gal.
liant ally. Josef Stain
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