U. P. Proclamation

There seemed to be a covert stinger in a speech delivered last week before the Chicago Association of Commerce by Karl August Bickel, president of the United Press. Said he:

"The United Press is an American press association, but it is by no means an American propaganda agency any more than it is a French or British propaganda agency. The old-fashioned form of a government subsidized 'official' agency has seen its day.

"American journalism is to be congratulated that at no time in its history has it been burdened by any kind of 'official' press association. Any government that seriously tries to control the natural ebb and flow of news inevitably finds in the end that such a policy leads to disaster. . . .

"The news may be good. The news may be bad. Business may approve it, or business may prefer that the news be suppressed. We have no decision to make as to that. It is our duty to carry the news."

What had moved Mr. Bickel to talk in the same breath about Government, Business and Press Control? He did not say. But observers could draw their own semi-conclusions from the following facts:

The United Press, widely ramified outside of the U. S., takes special pride, and much of its profit, in its South American service.

It is to South America that U. S. Business now looks for its richest opportunities.

It is U. S. Business, as never before, which Government must please.

It was to South America that the new head of the Government set out immediately after his election.

The new head of the Government has sometimes been suspected of wishing to control the color and "angle" of reports on his activities despatched by the newsgatherers assigned to "cover" him. For example, he had a personal, unofficial censor (George Barr Baker) to oversee what was written about him during his South American tour.

With many a South American client to please, the United Press would soon find itself embarrassed if the Government should in any way attempt to oversee the color or angle of any U. S. news involving Government or Business or interactions of the two.