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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1919)
TIIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAXD, JULY 27, . 1919. PITILESS PUBLICITY UriPRAGTICED THEORY Censorship and Propaganda ' Pull Wool Over Eyes. AMERICAN SYMBOL GOAT United States Headed Straight for t More -Thau 5 7 Varieties of Over eas Difficulties, Says Ir. Ellis. " BY WIL-LIAM T. ELLIS. IfCoprrlght. 1919, by the New Torlc Herald company. All rights reserved.) XCopyrlght, Canada, by the New York Her ald company.) CAIRO. More than on resident American the simon-pure article, who licks nobody's boots, and has no local Social aspirations or political ambi tions has been heard to lament that America is not getting a. square deal in the news from Europe and the near east. He wonders why the home papers never talk as candidly as do folk out here about the various nations and projects that hold the center of the world stage. "If people only knew " is a twin phrase to "Wait till the people back home find out!" This blunt and undiplomatic type of American holds fast to an old and ap parently outgrown notion that the first concern of Americans is- America; and that in our country, which is a democ racy, everybody is entitled to know all the facts in any situation that commits the nation. He is for that unpracticed theory called "pitiless publicity. Theoretically, we have no permanent official class, in whose swelling bosoms repose secrets and policies too bJgh and dangerous for the common crowd to handle. Our old-fashioned Yankee abroad would, if he had his way. blurt out the truth about even the toost important international situations. He has watched, rather cynically, the felmoBt hysterical interest of his coun try in the cults of France, of Belgium, of England, of Italy, of Serbia, of Ar menia, of Roumania, of Greece. Now he thinks it time for an equally en thusiastic cult to be developed in be ta If of the United States of America, i ' American Symbol the Goat, Everybody knows that America has for five years past been the inter national easy mark. We have been everybody's spending money. Some of us have seen American war charities abroad fairly quarrel with one another over which first saw a certain rat hole into -hich it could pour coin bearing the stamp of the American eagle. Speaking of eagles. I wonder that long ere this, some truth-loving patriot has not proposed that the American national emblem be changed from the eagke to the goat. For we are the world's goat. The eagle has keen vision; the goat cannot see the difference be tween a tin can and a bed of lettuce; the eagle soars to his own clear heights, the goat Is kept browsing on the back lots. And the goat bears all blame and all unpleasant responsibility. It does not even have to be stroked and petted. Ask any returned soldier what be thinks about the goat as an Ameri- tan emblem. Facts Are Kept Back.. America is headed straight for more than 57 varieties of overseas difficul ties. And it is all because the folks back home cannot get the facts facts folly, freely and fearlessly stated. Every correspondent abroad well under stands that international amity is far more important than information for Americans. If we were to t-ell all that we know, some dear ally's feelings might be ruffled and that, of course, is a far more serious catastrophe than for America to fall into even the deep est of international pits. Alien sensi bilities are more precious than- Ameri can ritrhts; everybody knows that. Besides, correspondents are not per mitted to write frankly. The censor won't let them. As one who has'seen the blue pencil of that anomaly "an officer and a gentleman,' who is also a concealer and a corrupter of the truth the censor, British, French, Italian and Greek, compel me to state less than the full facts upon grave in ternational matters wherein my coun try has a stake, I can write feelingly upon this point. Censorship is not merly an annoy ance to the press; that would be rela tively unimportant. The really sinister and menacing aspect of censorship is That it strikes directly at the heart of the basic principle of democracy, which is that public action shall be de termined by the unimpeded will of an enligrhtencd citizenship. Political cen sorship and free democracy are simply incompatible; the world cannot have both at the same time. To the extent that it permits censorship, society abdicates democracy. As for a league of nations, it can only be a farce so long as any considerable part of the world is hidden behind the black veil f censorship. Censorship First Aid to Bolnhevlnm. Military censorship is necessary, al though usually pushed to absurd lonprths. Political censorship, which un dertakes to determine how much of the truth shall be told concerning public affairs, is both unnecessary and vicious. 3t poisons the very springs of public fiction and enslaves the free citizens of the world, for "Ye shall know the truth, end the truth shall make you free." In the- long run censorship defeats t eelt and fosters the growth of public disbelief in official integrity, to the pre;it encouragement of bolshevism. IvTobody would expect any set of persons as dense as the obscurantists respon sible for consrship to perceive this se rious implication of the efforts of the old order of autocracy and secret diplo macy. They are political ostriches, with heads deep in the sand. Nevertheless, every enlightened person knows that there is an uneasy suspicion abroad among the general public, even in America, that the whole truth has not lejn permitted to come out about many things, including Russia. Bolsheviki themselves are fostering that idea to the. full extent of their powers of prop Rwanda. They point to censorship as final evidence of the reactionary char acter of governments. In this particular instance, despite whatever suppression tt facts there may have been, the full truth of the case would only serve to etiifen the conviction of real democracy as opposed to that ghastly perversion of self-government which has affected R.u;isia like the rabies. Censorship is really a lirst aid to bolshevism. Commission ! Disillusioned. Allied to censorship as an evil pol luting the wells of public information is propaganda, such as is maintained by nations and peoples. America has bfen since the war began the principal object of the propagandist. Everv party to t he conflict wanted something or other of America. Some of the propa ganda was on a wholesale scale, achiev ing marvels of nation-wide publicity. AH Americans now know this, and a rather wholesome reaction of skepti cism has taken possession of the coun try. We escaped disaster at the hands of enemy propaganda, and now we need to pray to be delivered from our friends. One of the amusing and rather pa thetic incidents that have appeared lately on the near eastern horizon has been the visit of a -score of Sunday school workers from the TTnlted States. They came out to see for themselves the awful conditions of the peoples for whose relief America has given many millions of dollars. ' They expected to find the starving lying- by the wayside, with corpses unburied; and hundreds of thousands of orphaned, homeless chil dren lifting up emaciated hands for succor. Up to date they have seen nothing of the sort, or anything re sembling it. Certain forms of well established relief mostly run by the British government, they have met; and what the disillusioned officials have told them about the character and conduct and deserts of most of these charges has been a douche of cold water to the propaganda-heated expectancy of the Sunday school men. Now they are wondering what they are to say when they get back home if they are to retain their reputation for truth and veracity. Washington a Back Number. These unsophisticated Sunday school folk, like everybody else through this part St the world, are being made wise in the ways of international poli ticians and propagandists. They have learned how out of date is the code of the father of his country, who "could not tell a He." It will be hard for some of these good,men to square their Sun day school writings with things as they are, unless they arraign the code of the famous statesmen whose names are in every day's paper. Out here the antipathies between na tions allied nations appear in all their red rawness. Anybody can see the old game of intrigue being played 24 hours a day. Nation is busy trying to outmaneuver nation in the race for self-aggrandizement and individual ad vantage, and all are making ducks and drakes of the fine ideals of the league of nations. Imperialism of the most shameless sort is dominant as the greater and lesser powers seek to ex ploit the weaker peoples. In the face of this and imagine the shock to the sensibilities of pious gen tlemen who are accustomed to the cloistered life of Sunday school editors and secretaries! we read in the dis patches ardent official professions of mutual admiration, good will and eter nal friendship between these contend ing rivals.- There is nothing in the news to reveal the tooth-and-claw jungle strife that is actually going on wher ever the interests of these "allies" im pinge. . Why specify further? News from Egypt, news from India, news from Smyrna, news from Constantinople, news from Athens and Salonica too often bears the pencil marks of the censor and of the propagandist. Facts are subordinate to expediency. Nation al, projects take precedence of uncol ored information. The right of the average man back home to know the truth, that he may form fair judg ments -and so determine political ac tion, is one of the considerations that seem to have dropped out of sight in this sadly mussed-up world. The best service the newspapers of America could render the country at the present time would be to send out to Europe and Asia and Africa 50 or 100 representative news gatherers, men who have cut their eye teeth, who sign their writings and are known to the public, with a. commission to tell the uttermost facts, howsoever indiscreet, about the American implications of the world's present social and political ten dencies. America is setting sail upon new and dangerous and difficult seas; she is at least entitled to a foil 'set of true charts; otherwise, all the facts of the case. BRAZIL GIVES U. S. ADVICE Vital Weakness in Foreign Trade Development Pointed Out. RIO DB JANEIRO, Brazil. June 14. (Correspondence of the Associated Don't You Know a Good Thing When You See It? Most men do, and if you receive just what value you get in one of our suits made by Hart Schaffner &Marx you'll come here for it. We're show ing new arrivals every day. Models entirely different in every respect from the ordinary run of clothes. Come in and we'll show you these new double and single-breasted waist-seam and belt-line suits. Big values at $40, $45 and $50 some more some less. You'll find our up-to-the-minute furnishing goods department with all that's new in wearing apparel. Sam'l Rosenblatt & Co. -' -M It i Copyright 1919 Ban fxhiflnrr U Marx The Men's Store for Quality and Service Gasco Building Fifth and Alder Press.) North American ship owners are placing themselves and North Amer ican business concerns at a disadvan tage with their European competitors here because their agents in this city are not actually representatives of United States concerns, according to the American chamber of commerce for Brazil. This body recently appointed a com mittee under the chairmanship of Act ing Consul-General Hasskarl to Inves tigate the- shipping situation as It af fects North American business. The committee reported that by leaving to the discretion of ship captains the se lection of agents North American own ers have been heavily overcharged for repairs and other necessities in this port and that eventually this expen diture falls on the shipper. It is declared by the chamber this condition is a "vital weak the foreign trade development of the United States. As a remedy the rec ommendation is made that North Amer ican vessel owners either establish their own agencies or authorize the United States consul-general to recom mend agents not only In Brazil, but in all South American countries. ber tbal tness in ' IDAHO PUBLIC LAND SOLD $600,000 Realized on Property I toon ght Above Appraised Value. BOISE, Idaho. July 26. More thin S600.000 was received by the state of Idaho at the public land sale at Rex burg, the largest amount ever received at a sale of this kind in the history of Idaho. . All of the 17.000 acres offered for sale went in keen competition except two 40s, for which there was no de mand. Some of the land sold as high as 175 an acre, far beyond the ap praised value. Council Gives fltlmatom. PARIS. July 16. (By the Associated Press.) The supreme council have de cided to grant the Poles and Czechs 10 days more in which to reach an agree ment on their differences concerning the Teschen region. If at the end of this tim, no agree ment has been arrived at tho counc'l will settle the difficulty. .fv S'i?- FASCINATING SMALL GRAND PIANOS Beautiful in their architecture, in their appearance, and especially so in tone, are the small Grand-Pianos which we are now showing-. To meet the present-day demand for a Grand Piano which must be of suitable size for the small apart ment, which must cost no more than a good upright and yet satisfy the critical musician, presents a.real problem. Yet in THE MILTON TINY GRAND Is a most happy solution. . It graces the small apart ment, taking little more room than the upright; it adds that air of distinction which all desire, beauti fies the home, satisfies in its musical qualities, and, better yet, it costs no more than a good upright, and may be had on easy terms. We invite you to'see and hear it. PIANOS! fjPLAYERSH (MUSICV nHgrBlIen $ MASON AND HAMLIN PIANOS VICTORS it EDI SONS!, RECORDS'! MORRISON ST. AT BROADWAY Other Stores. San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles. ' Mexico Sends Minister to Denmark. MEXICO CTTY. Jn'T i Jo" M de la Garza, a former president of the municipality of Mexico City, has been named hv President rsmflrn. minister to Ptnmark, his duties nn extend to Norway and Sweden. Senor tj will reside In Copenhagen. z: i Kin i m immwn THIS WEEK in HIGH GEAR at TOP SPEED-thru BEAR VALLEY if 1 uu JiNJ Hi "Off with them clothes!" Tis the voice of Nugget Nell, with "nothing' to wear,' tenderfoot to' win, and the meanest trigger finger in Rattlesnake Gulch. See Nellie capture that ward robe. See her rout a band of bloody bandits, save her Romeo from his just deserts, and prove herself the greatest she-hero that ever graced the plains! A roaring burlesque travesty on the Wild and Movie West, with the screen's funniest co medienne. Don't miss them! NEWS PICTORIAL SCENIC "-"irta! 1 1 i TT It P. S, VS V KA. f i t i :V;;v:;-4'. 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