Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-07-20

No middleman Is needed when the
owner of small-tcwil grocery store
talks to his enc CLERK But when
highly developed country of 49,
100000 people tries to express itself
on foreign affairs, and when the
State Department tries to repre-
sent these millions and commune
cate back to them, a middleman
staff for the Secretary of State and
the President is essential"
He points out that his Office pre-
sents the peoples viewpoints in the
policy forming councils of the de-
partment, and on the other hand
assists the policy officers in>convey-
ing to the public the facts of inter-
national developments and the ma
ture of American foreign policies.
Middleman's Role
Obviously, there is one fundamen-
tai dif11culty in supplying full in
formation to the public. That comes
in deciding what information must
be kept secret, at least for a time.
There is room for considerable diff
ference of opinion in most cases.
The State Department has the
task of safeguarding United States
interests in relations with other
countries. This involves response
bility for the security of secret in
formation. Department officials
must constantly adjust the policy of
keeping the country currently in
formed with their responsibility for
preserving national interests through
safeguarding secret information.
They must constantly weigh the
effects of disclosure of some bit of
information on developments abroad
as well as at home.
Officials with the responsibility for
delicate negotiations, anxious not to
show Uncle Sans hand in advance
to other governments, often fear the
depar tment may be going too far in
making some policy decision or in
formation public. On the other
hand, many observers believe the
advantage of a fully informed
American public opinion, alert to all
the realities of world affairs, would
far outweigh any disadvantages
feared from q freer information
policy.
The Division 'of Public Liaison, In
answering individual inquiries about
foreign policy, is pretty well limited
to material that already is available
to the press. But since limitations
of space and time make 1t impos,.
sible for newspapers to print all the
information available, and many in
dividuals might fail to put together
for themselves a Consecutive picture
of events from possibly long series
of daily newspaper reports and edi-
torials, it still has plenty to do in
explaining policies.
Pressure Mail Drops
The division handles comment and
inquiry letters on foreign policy sent
to the White House. as well as those
addressed directly to the State De-
partment. The $4,000 personally
written letters received and an
swered during the past IL months
were in addition to more than 10o,-
900 letters and post cards obviously
stimulated by pressure" groups and
following set form. The "pres-
sure" mail was only about third of
what it was the previous II months.
Most of the letters come from
thoughtful citizens. like the Mis-
sissippi lawyer, seeking sound in
formation about Americas role in
the world or presenting their own
well-considered opinions.
A few equally serious ones concern
personal aspirations of a type to
stir a laugh In the sophisticated
State Department, but they get
courteous replies nevertheless.
From a small town In North Da-
kota came this query, written in
pencil on ruled tablet paper: