Benedict Crowell to Woodrow Wilson
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With reference to the matter of the proper information which should be published concerning casualties in our forces in France, the policy of the Department is to first place prompt and definite information concerning the death or injury of an officer or enlisted men in the hands of his family before it is given to the press at all. Nothing is permitted to stand in the way of that. The subsequent publication for general information of the public of the names and character of casualty is then based upon what is considered the best interests of the military service. The publication of the names of men followed by the date they were wounded and by the names of their nearest relatives and their emergency address, which has been the practice heretofore and which was made the subject of protest on the part of General Pershing, does not add anything to the information given the persons who are most entitled to have it, namely, the relatives; but it does make free in the public press to the enemy's agents the facts which they are trying to obtain on the front in France by the trench raids now going on.
It has also been found that the publication of the addresses of the families, who have already been notified of their loss by the War Department, has caused them to be approached by great numbers of claim agents who undertake to obtain for them the insurance which is guaranteed to them by law; and in spite of the fact that in each notification to the family of the death of a member they are also informed that no interposition of claim agents is necessary and that the proper machinery of the government will take care of their just dues, many poor people yield to the importunities of these claim agents and are thus deprived of part of the money which it is the intention of the government they should have.
The definite location of the individual which is produced by the publication of the emergency addresses, permits the German propagandist to obtain from that relative the very information which the German Army is attempting to obtain from our forces by trench raids, and which can only be obtained there by the actual capture of troops.
In the consideration of this question, it has been recognized that while at present with the minor raids going on, our lists of casualties are small, in the first serious drive which Germany makes against the positions held by our forces the lists may be expected to contain thousands of names. The first such drive against troops coming from our neighbor, Canada, produced a casualty list of 45,000 men. Looking forward to what is inevitable, the question of publishing in the United States papers all such casualties, with emergency addresses, is believed to be most undesirable from every standpoint. The simple publication of the names even, which as far as is known, is a policy not pursued by any other Nation actively engaged in this war, it is believed will have to be ultimately modified by the adoption of a system by which casualties are given to the public simply by figures, as is done in Great Britain, combined with the present system of direct notification to the relatives of the men concerned. The publication in United States papers that specific men were killed on specific dates and were killed from the effects of gas which recently was permitted is information given directly to the enemy, because everything which is released by the War Department for publication in the papers is also released for cabling abroad again.
It may be stated also that the Department has been in receipt of extremely few letters of protest concerning the new order, but on the contrary has received from relatives of men who are at the front letters commending the order and stating that they protest vigorously against any single bit of information being published which might in any way endanger their sons at the front.
You may have been informed that the system adopted in France is to publish no casualty lists of any kind whatever, neither names nor figures. The Government sends the information to the Mayor of the town in which reside the relatives of the man who is killed or wounded and he is required to inform them by word of mouth. In England the casualty lists are published by simple numbers and at such intervals as make it impossible to connect the number of casualties with any definite engagement.
I am strongly convinced that the policy now adopted by the Department is sound. As stated before, it is: First, to make sure that the relatives know of the death or injury of the member of their family at the front and to try to protect their War Insurance rights from claim agents; and Second, to give out no information that could in any way be of any possible use to the enemy.
Very sincerely yours,Benedict crowell
Acting Secretary of War.
The President,
The White House.
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