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Show THE AMERICAN PRESS In his recent New York address, President Coolidge spoke of the value and even necessity of a press that is thoroughly American. Ameri-can. With this idea, every real . American, regardless of politics, j will, of course, be in hearty agreement with the president. For-j tunately the bulk of the American press is thoroughly American, j Mistakes in policy which the great majority of our papers may make, if any, are due not to lack of Americanism, but to a misunderstand- j ing on the subject. This is as it should be, for as the president says, "an American press which has all the privileges which it enjoys un- ; der our institutions and which derives its support from the progress and well being of our people ought to be first of all thoroughly American." A thorough understanding of our foreign relations and of world events is not always easy. The reason lies not in any obtuseness on the part of our editors or undue reticence on account of the state department de-partment . Unfortunately most of the great news-gathering facilities, facili-ties, outside our American press associations and our American correspondents cor-respondents abroad, are in the hands of foreign interests. I There are, of course, a few American newspapers which are controlled by international minds, but these are fortunately in the minority, and the public is getting pretty well on to them. Let us, therefore, thank Providence for our real American press. May it multiply and prosper, and let us do everything we can as individuals to support it . o These foreign interests naturally see things through the eyes of their own governments, and the interests of these foreign governments, govern-ments, which control the press associations, are not always parallel to the interests of the United States. Our state may be in touch with the true situation, but it is not always advisable or politic for the state department to make public all it knows. To do so would not tend to promote world peace, but world discord . In other words, is is sometimes inadvisable for the state department to tell what it knows or suspects about its neighbors as is is for an individ-, ual to do the same thing. j As a results of these handicaps, and because of the news-con-1 trol facilities if some of these foreign nations, we are at times sub-! jected to an unsuspected flood of propaganda, on Chinese affairs and other world situations in which our support is sought for some: policy or other. All of this makes it a little difficult for the average I American editor always to arrive at the true situation and that he makes as fine a score in this game as he does speaks highly of his in-. telligence and judgment. The propaganda game is not a new one. j It has been errfployed by various Old World nations for centuries. |