George Edward Creel to Woodrow Wilson

(Enc)

The letter from the Acting Secretary of War is convincing chiefly because he is not limited by any knowledge of the facts.

He states for instance that "simple publication of the names even as far as known, is a policy not pursued by any other nation actually engaged in this war." England gives the name and unit, and Canada not only gives the name, address, and unit, but also issues photographs to the press.

This paragraph also appears in his letter:
"The publication in the 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."
Each of these statements is without the slightest base in fact. It was never permitted to print that men were killed by gas, and was never done until the War Department issued its own first list. As for the assertion that all matter released by the War Department is cabled abroad, the slightest inquiry of me would have informed him that this is not done, and never has been done. Fully seventy-five per cent of the matter released by the War Department in the United States is not permitted to go abroad, and we allow nothing of military value to the enemy, no matter how trivial, to pass the cable censorship.

Again this paragraph appears:
"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."
As I said before, I flatly dispute this amazing theory of a spy army large enough to cover the entire country and make house to house campaigns. In the second place, I challenge the War Department or any of its agents, to prove a single avenue of communication with the enemy by the cable or wireless. The last contention of Military Intelligence that this could be done through Mexico, South America and Spain, is mere farrago. The wireless at Chapultepec does not connect with South America, and our own censors control the wireless station at Pernambuco.

I do not urge that either dates or units be given, and I am perfectly willing to agree that as our casualty list increases, it will be necessary to adopt some new system entirely. What I say now, is that if names are to be given, the Post Office address should be given also. Only in this way can the distress of a lamentable confusion be avoided. Better no names at all than names without identification.

I enclose you a clipping from the New York Herald, which shows that when the War Department list gave the names of Edward J. Kelly and Charles Johnson among the killed, wide spread anxiety was the result since five Brooklyn soldiers bear the name of Edward J. Kelly, and four have the name of Charles Johnson.

As for the theory that the publication of address permits the families to be approached by claim agents, this proceeds from an ignorance of the newspaper business. Every parent now calls up the newspaper to tell of death or injury, and the newspaper not only prints the address but gives the unit and all other information that has hitherto been concealed. I attach sample advertisements to prove this.

None of this discussion is new. It was gone over for months before General March and Mr. Crowell took charge, and Secretary Baker upheld my contentions at every point, and the matter was supposed to have been settled. I say again that the printing of names without addresses is bound to cause endless anxiety and confusion; that the present system results in more publicity than the old; that there is not a single avenue by which this information can be conveyed to the enemy.

The one result of the ruling is to stir up old irritations, to make for a new cause of bitterness against the War Department, and to increase the difficulties of my own task. I have given a year to the study of these matters, and there is not a man in the War Department who can meet me face to face in maintenance of this absurd ruling.

Respectfully,
George Creel

Chairman.