Creel and the Critics
MAN WHO STEERED PUBLIC OUINION DURING THE WAR
SCORES FOES OF WORLD COMPACT—DEFENDS SHAN
TUNG VALLEY DEAL AS ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION OF
DIFFICULT PROBLEM—WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE TO
A LEAGUE OF NATIONS?
(By Charles Lepworth, in the Sen
Francisco Bulletin.)
George Creel, because of the high
position he held during the war, is
conceded to be a master of informa
tion. It was because of his knowl
edge, and his skill in pursuit of
knowledge, that he was appointed
by President Wilson as secretary of
the Bureau of Public Information.
The people of the United States had
elected Wilson to the highest office
in the land because, supposedly, “he
kept us out of war." The chiei
task of informing them why they
ought not to keep out of the war
was entrusted to Mr. Creel.
To educate a whole nation at a
time of great mental excitement,
when so many other agencies were
actively at work to keep the people
too proud to fight, was no light re
sponsibility. But Mr. Creel had
been one of the first to observe that
with the Germans successful war
was about 90 per cent “massen
psychologie" and 10 per cent T. X.
T. He had studied their methods of
penetration by propaganda, and was
able to offer improvements. He
drafted into the service of his bu
reau some of the best brains in the
country, and what that organiza
tion accomplished not only in in
forming America, but in penetrat
ing the enemy countries with facts
that aided President Wilson to de
stroy their morale, is one of the
achievements of the war.
Formed Public Opinion.
Mr. Creel had his trained investi
gators everywhere, so that, besides
acting as chief censor—a task made
light, he acknowledges, by the cor
dial voluntary co-operation of the
newspapers—he was, by means of
film, photograph and news articles,
able to contribute largely to the
forming of the public opinion es
sential for the winning of the war.
It cannot be said, however, that
Mr. Creel exactly shines as a tact
ful diplomat. Like his leader, he
is apt roughly to disregard the
niceties of precedent and the frills
of the etiquette of controversy, and
go right after the facts. On one
occasion he was very rude to Con
gress. Indeed, like a British states
man who became famous because he
shocked parliament by shouting
“Damn the consequences,” it is pos
sible that the head of the Bureau of
Public Information will go down 'n
history as “Damn Congress Creel.”
Tremendous was the pressure ex
erted to pry him loose from his
office, but, like Mr. Britling, he was
; determined to see it through, and
did so.
Mr. Creel came to California to
recuperate, and he is a resident in
San Francisco for a time. It is
■ exactly five years since last I met
him and discussed the Cosmos, view
ed from the cellar window of a
Washington Square cafe, and either
he could not have been very poor
in his health when he came here,
or the air of San Francisco had
worked wonders in his health, which
he alleges, for he looks more youth
ful than ever. I imagine that part
of the resentment he aroused in
Washington among the stolid stand
patters was because of his apparent
youth.
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The Bulletin wanted the facts
about the League of Nations. And
as Mr. Creel is fresh from France,
and from close association with
President Wilson and the American
peace delegates, I asked him if lie
would be good enough to traverse
some of the arguments that are
advanced by the critics of the league
and give the readers of The Bul
letin some idea of what is likely to
happen if the league is not ratified
by the senate. The time is fast ap
proaching when, with the best of
intentions, it will be difficult to get
at the truth of things because of
the heat and. exaggeration of a po
litical campaign, and anyone who
can contribute real knowledge upon
the momentous questions that have
to be decided is rendering a public
service. •
The impatience he exhibited with
the critics was characteristic of Mr.
Creel. His expression, not to speak
of his expletives, showed that his
Western ways remained absolutely
unspoiled by the ways of Washing
ton or the punctilios of the palace at
Versailles. Evidently he does not
believe that a higher crop average
can be procured by calling a spade
an - agricultural implement.
Offer Only Attacks.
“The most significant thing about
this whole discussion of the league,'1
he said, “is that the opposition is
based entirely on attack. One
searches in vain through the speech
es of Knox, Borah, and Lodge, as
well as through the editorials, for
one single constructive suggestion,
finding only the malignancies of
criticism. After four years of war,
the world turns revolted against
the old way, that is now seen to
be an evil way, and is resolved to
find some new and better way. As
people look into the sightless eyes
of blinded thousands; as they watch
the pitiful progress of men maimed
out of all resemblance to humanity;
as they look upon the ravaged land
scapes and nations brought to ruin
and wretchedness, the realization of
what war means has been driven
home to every heart, and there is a
universal demand that an attempt
be made to lift mankind above the
level of the jungle beast, and find
some other way of settling inter
national disputes than by the sub
marine, the bombing plane, poison
gas and liquid fame.
“They are making a great deal of
the fact that at the dinner at the
White House Wilson admitted the
League of Nations would not pre
vent war. Why, of course, he made
the admission. The league is not
a 100 percent guarantee by ar.v
means. All that is claimed for it
is that it is an honest attempt to
reduce the danger of war to a mini
mum. But these people of the op
position claim that unless there can
be a guarantee that throughout all
the future there will never be an
other war again, then there is no
use in even making a single effort
to do away with this evil.
“Their whole doctrine is one of
despair and helplessness. All of
them profess to be for a league,
and all of them are for the princi
ple, but not one single man or news
paper among them dares to tell us
what kind of a league they are for,
or how they will put this principle
into effect. They talk as if this
League of Nations were some sud
den surprise, some jack-in-the-box
trick that was produced by Wilson
in Paris. As a matter of fact, it
was accepted by America and by
the world a year ago, at the time
when Wilson proposed it.
Was Greatest Appeal.
“What was the appeal that went
straightest to the heart of Ameri
ca? It wras the declaration of Wood
row Wilson that we were fighting a
‘war against war,’ that our purpose
was less the redress of wrongs than
the solemn and fixed determination
to lift the black shadow of militar
ism from the face of the world.
Statesmen did not appear to grasp
it because their trade had led them
away from straight thinking. To
the average American, however,
there was nothing ‘visionary-’ about
it. At every turn in our national
life the principle of the League of
Nations is seen at work. The thir
teen colonies first conceived it when '
they agreed to confederate, and the j
sovereign states endorsed the propo-j
sition, and gave it permanence, when J
they ratified the Constitution of the j
United States.
“History furnishes a great deal
of bitter amusement in this connec
tion, for every attack made upon
the League of Nations today had its
parallel in the attacks made upon
the Constitution when it was adopt
ed. When we read the politicians
of that day it is as if we were
listening to Lodge and Borah and
Sherman. This proposed constitu- j
tion was ‘too vague,’ it destroyed J
the ‘sovereignty of the individual
states’; ‘ruin and disaster” was
prophesied if the evil document be
came the law of the land.”
“Do you suggest, • Mr. Creel, that
the well-known Americans you men
tion are motivated only by party
prejudices and are not discussing
the League of Nations on its mer
its?” I asked.
“I reply to that,” he said, “by
calling your attention to the fact
that before the ink of the signa
tures to the league 'was dry, thirty
seven senators signed a resolution,
drawn by Henry Cabot Lodge, de
claring that ‘the constitution of the
League of Nations in the form now
proposed, should not be accepted by
the United States.’
“And not then, nor since, did any
of them suggest a change or sub
mit an amendment. Senator Bran
degee screamed that President Wil
son was preparing to inflict ‘shame
and disgrace’ upon the United States;
but not one senator, not one news
paper opposed to the league, has
put forward a single constructive
suggestion. They have all confined
themselves to a blanket denunciation
of President Wilson, his policies and
,his methods.
No Vision of Future.
“Mr. Taft and Mr. Root both
contributed amendments that were
given instant heed; but while crush
ed peoples are searching for firm
ground on which to rebuild their
lives, and stricken humanity begs
for some protection against the hor
rors of war, the majority of the
senate of the United States can
think only in terms of 1920, and
can see in the League of Nations
only the credit that will accrue to a
Democratic president in the event
of its adoption. If that is not
downright party prejudice, I don’t
know what is.’’
(To Be Continued.)
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