Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, June 7, 1912, Page 5

e Qi st st s B i | i i i i { H i FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1912, THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER PUBLICITY “iN BAI” Department Press Agents Are Under Investigation. RIGHT KIND OF MUCH VALUE How Bureaus of Education and Mines and State Department Dissemi- nate News of Great Import- ance and Interest to the People. By GEORGE CLINTON. Washington.—Members of the house rules committee recently have been investigating “the use of press agents by the departments of govern- ment.” In many of the departments men are employed to put out informa- tion concerning the work which the government intends to do along ocer- tain lines. Much of this material is gent to Washington correspondents and a good deal of it is useful, for it contains facts which are of service in writing articles concerning the activ- ttles of the government. The charge has been made that some of the publicity agents of the departments have gone beyond the bounds of propriety and have put out matter intended not only to defend officials from attack, but to bring dis- credit upon people who have criti- cised the workings of the depart- ments. The direct charge made con- cerning “the perniclous publicity actlvity” considered by the house rules committee had to do with mate- rial furnished by the department of agriculture which, it is sald, was sent out in franked envelopes and which was Intended, so it is asserted, to hamper the investigation which was being made Into meat inspection af- fairs. Publicity That Has Value. The government has benefitted vast- ly by its attempts to employ proper publicity agents, and if any of the writers on behalf of the government service have overstepped the bounds of propriety they have unquestionably dealt a blow to publicity of the right kind. Take the bureau of education, for instance. It furnishes and has been furnishing for some time interesting matter concerning educational affairs all over the country, and the trend of education in other countries. In the main it i{s wholesome stuff and fre- quently it has not only real educa- tional value, but real news value, The etopping up of this source of educa- tional publicity probably would not only be an injury to the government, but a distinct loss to educators all over the country who take a deep in- terest In their profession and all that pertains to it. Of course the publicity matter referred to does not include the regular publipations of the de- partments. There has been no hint of an intention to Interfere with their {ssue. Not long ago there was established by congress what was called a bureau of mines. The officers of this bureau are engaged In the work of showing mining corporations and their em- ployes how to prevent accldents and how to save life and property. Some of the materfal furnished by the pub- lleity agent of this bureau has been read by hundreds of thousands of peo- ple the country through. Frequently these articles have been accompanied by {llustrations made from photo- graphs of actual accident and life-sav- ing scenes. The state department also has a publicity agent, and now much mate- rial is given out of a kind which be- fore this was held secret simply be- cause the holding of everything secret wag the department’s custom. White House Press Agents. Presidents have press agents In & way. Today one newspaper man gets certaln things from the White House which are considered of general in- terest and gives them to correspond- ents for dissemination if they see fit. Of course this does not apply to the greater things, for President Taft oc- easionally calls In the newspaper men personally and gives them informa- tlon about certaln lines of adminfs- tration endeavor. Originally Mr. Taft _set aslde one afteroon a week to see newspaper men in a body, seeing them at other times only by appoint- ment. The campaigning trips of the president have interfered with this srrangement, but after awhile mat- ters will settle back agalin into the old routine. - It is perfectly well known to cor respondents in Washington that men a8 high in office as presidents of the United States, when they are particu- larly interested in the way the publie is going to take some suggestion, watch to see if the matter, after it 1s given out In a tentative way, gets a vosition on the front page of the pa- pers of the country. So it is that lay- men of high places have learned what “position” means in a newspaper. Bcores of newspapers come to the ‘White House every day. The presi- dent does not read them all. He reads his favorite journals and then he goes through clippings from many others, clippings that are made for ‘him by subordinates who are sup- posed to know the things which will {nterest their chief. Adding Ingult to Injury, » “Why am I gloomy?” demanded the |undesirable suitor whom she had heartlessly ignored. “Isn’t it enough {to make a man gloomy to be cut by fthe one he loves best?”’ “The ideal” exclaimed the heartless @irl; “I didn’t even know that you haved yourself.”—Catholic Standard and Times. Laziness. Persons may share the common complaint of laziness without any ap- preciation of how far it is responsible for the saddest cases of mental and moral disintegration. Laziness is real ly the key to a large share of what passes for lack of balance and perhaps for insanity. It takes hold in the schoolroom where pupils slight the work they most need because they like it least. Having shirked the studies which would have done most to balance their mentalities, they pro- ceed to emphasize this lopsidedness by refraining from every line of en: deavor which is not to their liking They find a hundred excuses for do ing so, but nearly always their excuses are not reasons. They do only what they like until finally they do not like doing that. Then they drift and re. gret that the ravens of today are not as active in thelr charities as in the days of Elijah. Died Cheering the Kaiser. The bravery displayed by the mu siclans on the Titanic and the similar exhibition on the English ship Birken: head recalls also the patriotic conduct of the band on board the German gun boat Iltls, which went to the bottom of the Chinese sea on August 25, 1896. The scene was at that time described by one of the few survivors of the disaster, which claimed 118 aof the litls’ crew. - Ho said that the men stood at parade, the band played “Hell Dir im Siegerkranz” with all the precision and force of which they were capable and swinging their caps, the officers and men went down cheer ing the kaiser. Women Fought With Pitchforks. A duel with pitchforks took place at Dijon, near Paris, France, the other day, between two women. They both worked in a biscult factory, and were continually quarreling. The women in their workroom, tired of the perpetual bickerings, advised them to settle their differences in a fight. The two women armed themselves with pitchforks and fought in a lonely field. News of the duel soon spread, and the police hurried to the field, where they found one of the women lying unconscious with a wound in her head. Cows Tried for Murder. Old documents of the middle ages tell us of numerous cases where ami- mals were put on trial for serious of- fenses charged against them. For ex- ample, in 1370 three cows were tried for having killed a boy; the whole herd were arrested as accomplices. All were discharged but the guilty three, these being condemned to be executed. The senteace was pro- nounced by the duke of Burgundy.— Our Dumb Animals. Queer Sign Posts. In the neighborhood of Warmbrunn, in the Silesian monntains, there are to be found some very curious signposts, One seen by a writer in the Wide World Magazine represents a farm la- borer sharpening his scythe, on which is inscribed, in the old Silesian dialect, “To Giers Village, One Hour.” The signpost is well carved and painted in natural colors, so that it appears very life-like. Another signpost in the same district represents a schoolboy carry- ing a slate bearing the name of the nearest village, toward which the boy i8 pointing. A Plato! By His Logle. . “What will the woman of tomorrow ‘be?" sighed the pensive person. “Oh, a year. or two younger than she is to day,” replied, the one who had rea 'soned such things out. Another Definitiop. “Pa, what is an optimist?” “An optimist, my boy, is a woman wha thinks that everything is for the best, and that she is the best.”—Judge. Why Wood Is Seasoned. The eftect of seasoning wood s ta bring into the same space 10 per cent, more of the fibers than when the wood was green. SCHROEDER’S DAIRY HERD. This herd, during the past seventeen months, produced 269,016 pounds of milk in which were 15,417 pounds of butter fat. Total amount of but- ter produced in the same time 19,269 pounds. At twenty cents a gallon, the value of the milk produced was $9,225.40. The cost of keeping the herd for period was $5,440. The herd consists of fifty cows of which from twenty-three to forty-one are fresh at the same time. Mr. Schroed- er says he believes no other herd of grade cows in Minnesota can make such a reeord. : VB CLOTHlG ST0RE Is In Full Swing Everybody who wants to save money should take advantage of this closing out sale. Suits, Furnishings & Shoes at Actual Cost We have sold a lot of goods, but we still have a fine assortment to select from. Come and convince yourself. A dollar saved is a dollar earned. VB CLOTRING STORE "™ P