Show results justify ap of overseas kropa axis has employed elaborate means to i views across to neutral nations U must use press and radio by news analyst and Comment at or service union trust building washington D C the other da day y elmer dails head of tile the office of war inform information aaion he held id a press conference he opened it with the remark thai tha we were vere witnessing an uncle toms cabin without the simon legree I 1 got get the significance of the remark until davis explained that representative senta tive tabor who charged mr davas dails with using the office of 0 war information to distribute propaganda for a fourth term had bebenin kited to share the conference but had other duties obviously the purpose of the meeting was to show how the money for the publication of propaganda was being spent and a good deal of time inie in ie was t taken aken up on comparative costs of british american and axis propaganda efforts it if the carries out present plans it will be spending at the rate of 45 millions of df dollars by the end of the year britain Brita with its separate ministry 0 of information is spen spending qing much more than we are Germany probably tour four or five times as much chats a rough estimate but the figures interest me so much and ill tell you why I 1 had come to the meeting a little early and had been studying the array of literature arjang arranged ed on two tables the american Americ anand and the axis propaganda material there were handsome publications like the german magazines signal berlin rome tokyo and japans nippon 11 signal costs 75 cents a copy to produce the art work in all of them must make esquire and fortune envious there bete were tiny pamphlets these were american you could slip ito into your hat fiat band the OWIs masterpiece Is victory which was v the target of congressional attack it so bad in corn comparison with the expensive axis magazines but it costa costs only 35 cents to produce three things struck me as af a re I 1 altof ut of the conference first if there man ast 1st an even chance of obtaining the results expected the investment Is not worth quibbling about second since davis admits that material got into the roosevelt sketch which should not have and wont again we either ought to take davis judgment or else fire him thirdly the public had a chance to know what the propaganda is all about arid and the criticism of one phase of it utterly distorts tho the general picture 0 of the function purpose and value of df the effort I 1 F in the first place these publications under consideration are not tor for our troops abroad or our people at home though I 1 believe they ought to be given some circulation hero here simply so that their function Is understood at least when it Is compatible with the confidential nature of some of tile the means of distribution in enemy countries it Is accepted as the duty and unction function for one political party to do all it can to discredit the leaders of the other party according to the rules of tho the game of politics but as davis quoted the baltimore sun you have to exploit your personalities people mean a lot more than mere ideas when you ore are trying to make an impression roosevelt can be played up as a powerful symbol to people abroad without affecting the political situation at home that was done effectively in the case of woodrow wilson in the last war ills his picture was worshiped rill all over europe as the symbol of the leader of a nation coming to liberate them but when he came home he soli sell his program to the american people sew sell allied cause I 1 tried to find out what the objective of the was whether it could show any results purpose one is counterattack counter attack we k know w what german kropa propaganda ganda has ins lone done I 1 first in softening countries about to be invaded second to keep neutrals leaning nazi ward wants to fight fire with fire tile the second pap purpose ose is the same as the first and more of it ihnot not merely to nullify enemy effort but sell the tha prospect the idea that america can win aria and is winning the way wat and that american victory will be a greater selfish advantage to the pro prospect speet than a nazi aou would ld b be e how about results T tn hard to reduce to statI stI concrete statements we ki jops japs have surrendered propaganda leaflets in th mhd we know that leaflets croppe rop 3 bocc occupied countries or pa pam shugg smuggled led in have started people eople talking has reports to this effect they say that this mea means a t that at the idea has been spread that america is in touch with the people within the tha occupied territory tory we know that some of these pamphlets have been photo stated or c copied op in others and given further distribution trib ution it was stated that these copies or excerpts from them bave lave even been circulated in prison camps we know that from four to six clandestine newspapers are made up chiefly from allied propaganda material of course by no means all of the propaganda is spread through publications in fact the radio broadcasts represent the greater greate r part of the expenditure is confident that this radio propaganda is not wasted as has been charged although it is admitted that the listening audience is being cut down as short wave sets are seized or wear out and the depreciation is heavy on the ahe other hand it is known that the radio radi 0 broadcasts are repeated by word of mouth and in clandestine pamphlets and newspapers the chief evidence that propaganda 11 is reaching into germany comes from two sources first the speeches of goebbels and other german leaders who warn against black listening warning not to believe the foreign propaganda and second fhe he records of trials of perso persons bd arrested for this black listening E effective e in in turkey its it is stated that american propaganda h has a s been effective in turkey because turks believe it whereas they have caught the axis in too many lies since publications printed in turkish ar are estill still forbidden to be sent into turkey the printing has to be done there or the material sent in in french or english in spain it is said that in in spite spit e of strong handicaps that is the power of odthe the party wh which 1 ah is openly pro axis american propaganda 1 has curtailed this power has swung many people from a pro axis to ao a pro ally attitude the persecution of the catholic church in germany hasteen has been used effectively effective lyt in spain 1 of course this the waple story of propaganda all is fair in love and war and some pretty precarious tightrope tight ro rope e walking is sometimes done witness tete a tete with darlan which history will probably dis disclose blose was less a desertion of democratic political methods than waiving of the rules of gallant combat we cant expect the allies to chov their hands hand sto to the enemy and th ereis no use disturbing the squeamish by revealing the possible although not entirely immaculate condition which might arise aase from grappling with an especially noisome enemy what davis did not go into at this meeting was the question of enemy propaganda directed toward us that is a very delicate matter and sometimes governments are willing villing to give the enemy credit for the circulation cu lation of certain sentiments expressed by people who are just niad mad at their own public seri servants anti and are exercising the inhere inherent fit right of grousing As 1 said before I 1 am interested in whether the prop propaganda agn a job we tire are doing is effective As to getting in puffs for the party in power that is up to the party out of power to stop but one of the inescapable advantages of being an in in wartime is that you can squelch some opposition iori on oil tile the ground of patriotism on the other hand there was never in an administration yet that thrown out after a war so there is some corn com pens aaion f u r thedmore ther more the party of f the opposition deesh t share the th blame for the mistakes now that governor bricker has announced that he expects the ohio delegation will support him as a favorite son candidate for the presidency politics will be raising its lovely headin he every headline |