A

Books by EDWARD L. BERNAYS

CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION (1923)

AN OUTLINE OF CAREERS (1927)(Edited and contributed to)

PROPAGANDA (1928)

SPEAK UP FOR DEMOCRACY (1940)

TAKE YOUR PLACE AT THE PEACE TABLE (1945)

PUBLIC RELATIONS (1952)

THE ENGINEERING OF CONSENT (1955)(Edited and contrib1tted to)

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CRYSTALLIZING

PUBLIC OPINION

byEDWARD L. BERNAYSCounsel on Public Relations

Former Lecturer on Public Relationsand Adjunct Professor Public Relations,New York University.

Former Visiting Professor of PublicRelations, University of Hawaii.

Member, Executive Reserve, U.S.Information Agency.

LIVERIGHT PUBLISHING CORPORATION

NEW YORK

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Copyright © 1961, by Edward L Bernays

Copyright © R 1951, by Edward L. Bernays

Copyright © J923, by Boni & Liveright, Inc,

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in anyform, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by areviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printedin a magazine or newspaper.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 61-12133

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES or AMERICA

To My WIFE

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CONTENTS

PART II-THE GROUP AND HERD

PART III-TECHNIQUE AND METHOD

I THE PUBLIC CAN BE REACHED ONLYTHROUGH ESTABLISHED MEDIUMS OF COM-MUNICATION I25

CHAPTED. PAGE

I THE SCOPE OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONSCOUNSEL II

II THE PUBLIC RELATIONS COUNSEL; THE IN­CREASED AND INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF

THE PROFESSION 34III THE FUNCTION OF A SPECIAL PLEADER 50

I WHAT CONSTITUTES PUBLIC OPINION? 61

II Is PUBLIC OPINION STUBBORN OR MALLE-ABLE? 69

III THE INTERACTION OF PUBLIC OPINION WITHTHE FORCES THAT HELP TO MAKE IT 77

IV THE POWER OF INTERACTING FORCES THATGo TO MAKE UP PUBLIC OPINION 87

V AN UNDERSTANDING OF T,HE_FuNDAMENTALSOF PUBLIC MOTIVATION Is NECESSARY TOTHE WORK OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONSCOUNSEL 98

VI THE GROUP AND HERD ARE THE BASICMECHANISMS OF PUBLIC CRANGE III

VII THE ApPLICATION OF THESE PRINCIPLES rr8

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PART I-SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION

FOREWORD TO ORIGINAL EDITION .'

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II THE INTERLAPPING GROUP FORMATIONS OFSOCIETY, THE CONTI:rUOUS SHIFTING OFGROUPS, CHANGING CONDITIONS AND THEFLEXIBILITY OF HUMAN NATURE ARE ALLAIDS TO THE COUNSEL ON PUBLIC RELA­

TIONS

III AN OUTLINE OF METHODS PRACTICABLE INMODIFYING THE POINT OF VIEW OF A

GROUP

PART IV-ETHICAL RELATIONS

I A CONSIDERATION OF THE PRESS AND OTHERMEDIUMS OF COMMUNICATION IN THEIRRELATION TO THE PUBLIC RELATIONS

COUNSEL. . .

II Hrs OBLIGATIONS TO THE PUBLIC AS A SPE­

CIAL PLEADER •

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

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PREFACE TO NEW EDITION

When Crystallizing Public Opinion was writtenin 1923, it became the first book-length discussionof the scope and function of professional publicrelations and of its practitioner, the counsel onpublic relations. In it I described an activitywhich concerns itself with the relations betweenan enterprise and the publics which it serves, andon which it is dependent. I pointed out that goodpublic relations depend on action which results insocial behavior by business and other activities andthus the establishment of a cooperative relation­ship with the public. The counsel advises on, andto some extent directs and supervises activitieswhich affect the public. He interprets the client tothe public and the public to the client. Simplystated, his function is to bring about adjustmentand understanding between enterprises and thepeople on whom they are dependent. He givesadvice on the formulation of attitudes and actionswhich will win public favor and procedures bywhich they may be brought to public attention,

The profession of public relations establishes acommon meeting ground for an entity (whether a

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business, an individual, a government body or asocial service organization) and society. Properlypracticed, its methods are based on the realizationthat the public and private interest coincide. Byintroducing this new concept, Crystallizing Publicopinio« demonstrated that good public relationsdepended not alone on words, but on action deserv­ing public support, and education of the public toacquaint it with such action.

In its definition the book points out how widelythe profession which it describes differs frompublicity, advertising, propaganda, promotion,exploitation and similar activities. Practices com­monly in use in the modern profession of publicrelations are based on this book.

Now that the book is being reprinted in a newedition, it may be helpful to a clearer understand­ing to review some of the practices which precededthose of modern public relations, and to recordthe history of the profession since 1923.

During the past thirty-eight years the profes­sional public relations concept has penetrated mostimportant activities in the United States, andspread over the free world. Thirty-seven volun­tary associations of professional public relationspractitioners in 24 countries, including the UnitedStates, evidence this diffusion.

The professional practice of public relationsvaries. There .is disagreement and confusion con-

cerning the exact meaning of the term. Hence thepractice remains fluid. This is not strange. Wehave no counterpart to the French Academy inthis country which regulates the meaning ofwords. Nor do federal or state laws decide whomayor may not call himself a public relationscounsel. The acceptance of the general term re­mains, even if meanings vary.

A recent survey of twenty-five public relationsleaders in the United States and other countries,by the Public Relations Bluebook indicates someof these variations. They show how difficult it isto establish a universal definition for a word, andhow far variations may move away from an orig­inal meaning.

Some regard professional public relations as theoverall personality and policy of an organization.Others use the term to mean the dissemination ofmaterial to communications media..

Some define the activity as the ethical professionof communications; a systematic means of inform­ing 'the public. Others stress a relationship ofmutual understanding between an enterprise andits public, a policy and its practical implementationto gain deserved understanding for an enterprise.Others call it the aggregation of contacts betweenan organization and the public; the total impact ofan organization on the public; the act or policy ofshowing a decent respect for the opinions of man-

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kind. Some say it is a management function whichgives attention to the asset of goodwill. One defi­nition has three points: professional public rela­tions are activities aimed at adjusting a programto the environment of society and interpreting thisto society, the state of these activities and the actor profession of developing and organizing them.

Certainly these diverse interpretations of thesame term show the need for a uniform meaning.But the definition put forth in Crystallizing PublicOpinion is still the accepted standard.

A ncient Origins

Despite confusion and disagreements over themeaning of terms, the professional concept ofpublic relations has its roots in primitive times,though relationships between those who led andtheir followers, the public, differed from those oftoday, and the earlier concept was far more limitedthan the contemporary one. The individual hadnot yet developed a sense of personal identity. Hewas not treated as an individual. Leaders ruledby magic, taboos, super-naturalism and force.

Yet in ancient Sumeria, Babylonia, Syria andPersia in the dawn of civilization even the despoticrulers were aware of their publics. Proclaimingthe divinity of kings was a step of the first impor­tance in gaining the worshipful obedience of sub-

jects. Rulers impressed themselves upon the peo­ple through erection of statues and other monu­ments.

In Greece, the individual came to the fore. Thewooing of public opinion played a vital part in theactivities of leaders. When Solon read his elegy"Salamis," the Athenians, inspired by the reading,were fired to win back the island of that namefrom the Megarians. Solon greatly improvedthe relations between the ruling groups of Athensand the people by giving the masses the right tovote in the assembly and to elect the Council ofFour Hundred. The Greek word demos, "thepeople," has given us our word democracy.

Sculpture, painting, oratory, became tools inaffecting attitudes and actions of the public. Theopen market place became a living symbol of thefree discussion of competitive ideas. The ballotbecame important. The literature of the classicalGreeks, of Homer, Hesiod and others praised theirleaders and the glory of Greek history and stimu­lated the loyalty of the people to their rulers.

State coinage, said to have originated in Lydiain the seventh century B.C., enabled governmentsto issue coins whose nominal value exceeded theirvalue as metals. Business transactions now be­came much simpler than they had been whencattle, raw metals, weapons, and a wide varietyof other objects were used as media of exchange.

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A money economy, and the increasing ownershipof slaves, spreading throughout the Mediterra­nean area, enabled enterprising individuals to bet­ter their economic status. This was an influentialfactor in the rise of individualism conducive tounhampered competition between the ideas andactivities of leaders, and the development of pri­vately owned business. With the increase in thestatus and power of the individual came a refusalto accept blindly the untrammelled authority ofnobility and the pronouncements of religion.The struggle against aristocracy, tyranny, andmystical cults was aided by the use of the Greekweapons of publicity and persuasion.

The Greeks were really the first great fore­runners of modern publicity methods, althoughtheir media of appeal differed radically from thoseof modern times. The chief prerequisite of thispublicity was the fact that an urban civilizationwas rrsmg.

The strong tendency towards that religious ra­tionalism which centuries later was called secular­ism, at a very early stage of Greek civilizationproduced a sceptical attitude towards the pro­nouncement of seers.

In the Western part of Greece, a struggle forpolitical independence took place. Villages weresurrounded by protecting walls. City-states arosewhere citizens deliberated together and reached

joint decisions in communal assembly. The Pan­hellenic festivals provided an opportunity forexchanging opinion, bringing together varioustribes and races of Greece.

In the market place, where the assemblies wereusually convened, oratory proved itself as the besttechnique for affecting individuals and public opin­ion. And, through late Greek and Roman times,this continued as the most powerful instrumentof political propaganda and agitation.

Pericles further stimulated this free play ofopinion. He instituted the principle of publicityfor diplomatic procedure in international relationsas well as for internal political relationships of theAthenian city-state. Following his death, rivalparties resorted to this practice for every kind ofpopular appeal and to gain a political followingamong the masses.

The theatre was second only to oratory as aninfluence in developing opinions of the Athenianpublic. The populace was given to conservatism,identifying itself unreservedly with the dramaticevents enacted on the stage. Tragedy carried outthe traditional legendary sentiments. Comedy,less choked by tradition, produced popular playsand satiric portraits of leaders. Public opinionwas swayed by oral impact, a method still potentas shown in the use of television, radio and public

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appearances by candidates for political offices andby the champions of causes.

In Rome, while an illiterate, scattered peasantryexisted, there was little opportunity to influencepublic opinion save by the traditional Greek ora­torical method.

The term "senatus populusque romanus"which means the senate and the people of Rome,was evolved during the time of the Roman Re­public. The Republic, ruled by patricians, wasfar from being a democracy. But this term ap­pearing on buildings and elsewhere made the peo­ple feel that the city and government were theirs.The symbol still appears on public property inRome, suggesting a far greater advance of de­mocracy in the past than existed.

The theatre and spectacle too became importantfactors. Later the Romans introduced new tech­niques of persuasion. By the time of Julius Cae­sar, pamphlet literature began to occupy a placenever held in Greece. Politicians and statesmenrealized to an unprecedented degree that the writ­ing of history provided a means of swaying publicopinion. The importance of news as a tool toshape popular points of view developed in thehighly organized and centralized Roman Empire.The magnificent system of roads and waterwaysfacilitated the li:"athering of information about po-

litical, economic and other happenings and its dis­semination.

By Cicero's time the technique of supplyingnews to interested parties had developed into aspecialized activity. Official publications de­signed to be passed around among small groups ofpublic servants expanded into a daily newspaper,The Acta Diurna, At first this was limited toinformation regarding the daily proceedings in theRoman Senate and Assembly. But in S9 B.C.,Julius Caesar decreed that it should be publishedand made available to the public.

The Senate news was considerably curtailed,but other news was increased under the Empire.This included such matters as Emperor's decreesand addresses, news of the court, information con­cerning marriages, divorces, charitable gifts andphenomena of nature. While all this material hadlittle direct bearing on the character of politicallife, it was a considerable factor in shaping publicopirnon.

The Latin language shows this Roman under­standing of the importance of public opinion.Rumores, vox populi, res publicae, are words thatindicate the importance of the public in the deci­sions made by Roman leaders. The commentariesof Julius Caesar furnish an example of historyas a tool of public relations. Temples, statues and

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paintings reflect attempts to bllild goodwill withthe public.

When the Roman Empire fell, and the centerof civilization shifted northward, the urban cul­ture of classical antiquity which had developedthe publicity methods of the Athenians and theGreeks as a whole, gave way to that of a predom­inantly agricultural society, in which communityenterprise was on a small scale, a money economyalmost unknown, illiteracy and a breaking up ofthe population into small widely separated groupswas common. This eliminated the prerequisitesfor a public opinion capable of being wooed andwon by leaders. These circumstances allowedmuch greater play to the forces of custom andtradition. Ideas were communicated largelythrough the songs and recitations of wanderingminstrels. There was little attempt to play on orarouse sympathies of a scattered population. TheChurch took the lead in setting the patterns ofthought of its followers.

Only when the controversy between the Ger­manic emperors and the Papacy arose do we finda re-awakening and re-use of direct methods ofpersuasion and suggestion through the writtenword.

Pamphlets put out by the Hohenstauffens (Ger­man emperors of the rzth, and 13th, centuries)began to be employed against Rome itself. Anti-

papal verses were composed by Walther von derVogelweide, most noted of the medieval Germanpoets, a loyal adherent of the Emperor FrederickII.

With the decline of the medieval idea of theuniversal Catholic Church. warring factions ofthe Church appreciated the value of the writtenword as a means of turning opinion against theiradversaries.

In the closing centuries of the medieval period,two factors stimulated an increase of pamphlets,sermons and satires. These were the rapid riseof cities, which set in during the closing centuriesof the medieval period, and the invention of print­ing, which opened the way to mass publicity.

When Luther and his adherents brought aboutthe Reformation, the printing of pamphlets andtheir reprinting became an obvious method ofreaching an entire nation, even in its remotestquarters. Luther published over 200 treatisesduring 1522 and 1523 alone, it is said.

A growing realization of the importance ofpublic opinion and the role of propaganda in in­fluencing it was evidenced by books containingsermons, dialogues and letters (sometimes illus­trated with woodcuts and etchings) which werepeddled among the people by traveling booksellers.

Along with the development of a class of mer­chants a system of commercial newsletters evolved

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which reported on transactions at home andabroad, reflecting the need of the early capitalisticenterprises for comprehensive and active news. Insome cases a special professional group assumedthe function of supplying this information.

By the end of the roth Century such manuscriptbulletins became familiar in Germany and Italy.During the early years of the 17th Century theybegan to be printed and made more generallyavailable. The first known newsletter was issuedin 1609 by the Fugger family, originally estab­lished in the 15th Century by Jacob Fugger ofAugsburg. The Fuggers had extensive tradeconnections throughout the civilized world, andpossessed one of the largest fortunes in Europe.They were vigorous opponents of the Reforma­tion, spent vast sums in support of the Church, lentand gave money to the impoverished treasuries ofseveral European governments, and built a num­ber of houses at Augsburg which they let to poortenants at low rents. These latter activities were,to some extent, an anticipation of later methods ofpublic relations.

Others followed the examples of the Fuggersin issuing newsletters, and they spread rapidlythrough the country and laid the basis for abroader newspaper approach that reached a widerpublic.

The first English newspaper was founded in

1622. In France the Gazette was established in1631 under Richelieu's sponsorship. Most ofthese early papers were filled with intelligencefrom abroad. Domestic news, if any, was usuallypassed from hand to hand in news bulletins. Thusjournalism was born, an influential factor in theshaping of public opinion.

In the Renaissance, a new respect for reasonand the right of every human being to investigatenature and society independently, gave individualopinion much greater opportunity for developmentand expression. Public opinion became morepowerful. The Reformation that went with theRenaissance stressed the rights of individual con­science. In turn this bolstered individual opinionand the collective voice of the people, and createdawareness of the importance of good relationswith the public.

Renaissance leaders paid close attention to thepublic point of view. Machiavelli spoke of publicavoce, the equivalent of the vox populi of Rome.The phrase "vox populi, vox Dei" dates from thattime. Shakespeare, a century after Machiavelli,was keenly aware of the power of communitythought, his Henry V talked of that ,iopinion that

.did help me to the crown."By the 17th Century it was widely recognized

not only that opinion is important but also thatsteps may be taken to modify it in desired direc-

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tions. In opposition to the Reformation, theChurch launched the Counter-Reformation. Thiswas accompanied by appeals to opinion which forthe first time were called "propaganda." Thisterm had been introduced when Pope GregoryXIII (1572-85) established the Societas de Propa­ganda Fide (Society for the Propagation of theFaith), to found seminaries and print catechismsand other religious works in foreign countries.Subsequently, Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644)founded the College of Propaganda to educatepriests. In 1650, Pope Clement VII instituted theSacred Congregation for the Propagation of theFaith to spread Catholicism the world over.

The 17th and t Sth Centuries saw the rise ofpolitical reformation and with it better education,greater extension of the suffrage, an increase inliteracy and many social changes that produced acloser relationship between people.

In England, John Milton and John Lockewroteabout the importance of the masses. In France,Blaise Pascal called opinion "the queen of theworld."

Hobbes said the world was governed by opin­ion, Burne that it was on opinion only that govern­ment was founded, both the most despotic andmilitary governments, and those most free andmost popular.

In 17th Century England, publicity and propa-

ganda tools were used in the struggles for politicaland religious liberty. John Lilburne, an earlypioneer in this movement and leader of the Level­lers, used pamphlets as propaganda tools, and in1648-49 founded The Moderate, one of the earliestperiodicals devoted to political agitation and stir­ring up of public opinion.

Until 1695 licenses were required to publishnewspapers in England. With the expiration ofthe Licensing Act in that year, freedom of thepress was inaugurated which gave even a broaderopportunity for the sway of public opinion.

Almost simultaneously, the publication ofbudget proposals by the English Government, be­ginning in 1688, the year of the "Glorious Revolu­tion," emphasized the importance placed by rulingcircles on favorable public opinion. Enactment ofa budget obviously meant placing a tax burden onthe people. Taxes could only be levied by Act ofParliament. Parliamentary approval depended onthe reaction of the more influential citizenry. Inthe next century, leaders of French thought de­manded that their government follow the Englishexample and it was done, beginning in 1789.

The rSth Century Enlightenment saw the birthof the expression "public opinion." Rousseauformulated the term "Volante Generale" by whichhe meant the general will. Turgot and Voltaire

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also spoke for reform in their liber~aria~ ~tte:­

ances. All helped to crystallize public opinion mbehalf of both the French and the American Revo­lution. Jacques Necker, the French Finance Min­ister, saw that public opinion and public creditwere interrelated.

In France, in the pre-revolutionary democraticmovement of the i Sth Century, pamphleteering as­sumed almost unprecedented proportions. When,early in 1789, restrictions on freedom of the presswere removed, newspapers supplemented by thea­trical spectacles and processions, became the mosteffective means of rousing Paris masses. News­papers came to assume a dominant role in legisla­tive deliberations, and strong newspaper connec­tions were essential to political leaders.

The French Revolution brought almost a re­ligious worship of public opinion, which it was feltcould resolve the social and political problemsof the time. This faith led to some disillusion­ment but at the same time helped to further theprocess of democracy in public life, and providethe background for a greater awareness of theuse of communications media as tools to shapeattitudes.

The French Revolution conducted able propa­ganda in books, pamphlets and newspapers, andon the stage. Even hairdos and cockades playedtheir .part in a plar:ned program of shaping opin-

ion. In 1792 the Revolution developed thefirst ministry of propaganda, called Bureaud'Esprit.

Napoleon later utilized propaganda to a greatextent in building and in tearing down the moraleof peoples. Taking his cue from the Revolution hebecame not only a military leader, but a greatpersuader as well. He had his own M oniteurUniversal, and other rigidly censored gazettessought through propaganda to build up theirpublics' awareness of him and increase political ad­herence of the people wherever he came into con­tact with them. This also brought about thecounter-offensive of the man known as the mostvehement of the anti-Napoleonic forces, the Ger­man Joseph von Gorres, and it brought about therise of the Rheinischer Merkur, a newspaperwhich sought to develop a counter-attack on Na­poleon through propaganda methods.

Attempts were made in the regime of Met­ternich in the mid-roth Century to silence pub­lic opinion, but the middle-class revolutions ofthought that flourished at this time were toopowerful to be restrained.

In the roth Century scholars focused attentionon the study of public opinion in France, Englandand Germany. With the forces of progress gain­ing, greater emphasis and reliance were placedon public opinion.

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American Propaganda I6oo-I8oo

In the settlement of America, different interestsused propaganda to attract colonists as well asmoney to the new continent. In the Colonialperiod religious propaganda was instituted by theSociety for the Propagation of the Gospel inForeign Parts, founded by the Anglican Church in170I. There was propaganda of the trading com­panies and that of groups of workers and politicalassociations. However, there was little oppor­tunity for this kind of activity on the new Ameri­can frontier. In early agricultural America theindividual and the family were self-contained.People lived in comparative isolation and werefor the most part, untouched by the forces whichswayed urban society. But in the late rSth Cen­tury propaganda played a powerful role in thefight for independence.

The coming of the Revolution brought with itthe use of many skillful methods to present factsand points of view. Oratory, newspapers, meet­ings, committees, pamphlets and books and cor­respondence wooed the colonists' support forindependence from British rule. Samuel Adamsis called by many the press agent of the Revolu­tion, the father of American press agentry. Hewrote vigorously. He organized committees ofcorrespondence which helped to unite the colonies.

Adams also wrote inflamatory propaganda dis­patches published by New England newspapers.English public opinion was influenced in favor ofthe Colonists by the eloquent speeches of EdmundBurke and the elder Pitt (Earl of Chatham), andthe writings of such men as Richard Price. JohnDickinson, a Pennsylvanian, was another impor­tant factor in building public support for theRevolution. Thomas Paine, in his Common Sense,built morale for carrying on the war. The strug­gle for ratification of the U. S. Constitution pro­duced the Federalist Papers in 1788, which playedan influential part in achieving that goal.

Propaganda During the .Period I8oo-I865

Development of new methods of communica­tion and transportation in the United States inthe first half of the 19th Century, the telegraphin 1832, the railroads from the Thirties on, andthe making of paper from wood for the first timein 1844, had a great effect on opinion-mouldingactivities. The penny newspaper in 1830 extendedthe influence of the press and through this, theparticipation of people in the decisions of Gov­ernment.

A large proportion of the population consistedof farmers, and there was comparatively littletension between groups of the people.

Various social movements engaged in propa-

ganda activities on a broad national scale plannedto enlist the interest of the people.

Agitation for and against the War of 1812

demonstrated that propaganda could play an im­portant role in the new country. In 1812 theFriends of Peace were organized. They formeda third party which nominated presidential andvice presidential candidates and denounced thewar. Pulpits throughout the country supportedthe peace cause. So did some newspapers-one ofwhich, the Baltimore Federal Republican, was putout of business when a mob destroyed its plant.

In 1825 the American Society for the Promo­tion of Temperance initiated activities which laterled to the prohibition movement and, in the zothCentury, to our unhappy experiment in enforcednationwide prohibition.

It was during this period that definite, plannedtechniques in professional public relations prac­tices, and their influence on social, economic andpolitical life, began to be recognized and discussed.

According to Eric Goldman, Professor of His­tory at Princeton University, who reported thefindings of his research in Two liVay Street, theterm was first used in 1827 by a Reverend O. P.Hoyt, who stressed the importance of publicopinion as a safeguard for the soundness of or­ganizations. In 1842, Hugh Smith, Rector of St.Peter's Church in New York City, talked before

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Columbia University Alumni. Goldman reportsthat the Reverend considered efforts to influenceopinion legitimate, provided that they avoid "theemployment of falsehood," appeals to "prejudices"or "passions," and "the proscription of those whowill not fall in with particular opinions and prac­

·tices." He even commented on the "power ofassociation," more likely to be "implied thanexpressed."

The anti-slavery movement, which had becomevoluble in newspapers and pulpits earlier, raisedits voice loudly during the roth Century in variouskinds of propaganda against involuntary servi­tude. The abolitionists formed a national organi­zation of anti-slavery societies, boycotted theproducts of slave labor, obtained thousands ofsignatures to anti-slavery petitions which theyforwarded to Congress, distributed thousands ofanti-slavery pamphlets and tracts, brought pres­sure to bear on Northern legislatures to pass lawsantagonistic to slavery, and organized under­ground railways which helped many slaves toescape. Harriet Beecher Stowe, in Uncle Tom'sCabin, Fanny Kemble, and other writers, news­paper editors, and preachers, helped to developa powerful public opinion which later broughtabout the Emancipation Proclamation and theThirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Commenting on these activities John Quincy

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Adams wrote "The public mind in my own districtand state is convulsed between the slavery andabolition questions."

The newly formed Republican Party backed theabolitionists. "Throughout the North," the En­cyclopaedia Britannica reports, "under such leadersas Seward, Lincoln, Chase, Henry Ward Beecher,and Horace Greeley, all the resources of the press,the platform, the pulpit, and the lyceum or citizensdebating club, were fully enlisted in the propa­ganda."

During the Civil War both the North and theSouth used propaganda with great skill. It wasinherent even in the semantics of the terminology.The North called the conflict the "War of theRebellion," the South, the "War Between theStates." Both Jefferson Davis and PresidentLincoln sent emissaries to European capitals inorder to win support, each for his side. Lincolnexpressed his concept of the vital nature of theseactivities when he said, "In this and like communi­ties public sentiment is everything. With publicsentiment nothing can fail; without it nothing cansucceed. Consequently he who molds public senti­ment goes deeper than he who accepts or makesdecisions."

In this era free puffs were widely used in con­nection with advertising in the newspapers. Pressagents, following P. T. Barnum's philosophy of

fooling the public, disseminated "news" carefullycalculated to build box-office attendance. Therewas the use of "deadhead" privileges, i.e., passeswere extended to editors and reporters by the rail­roads in return for services rendered or to berendered in favorable publicity.

The increase in advertising revenue strength­ened the newspapersUn the later period. But aslate as 1854 Horace Greeley was still protestingthe so-called puff advertising.

The Public Be Damned-I865-1900

The expression of Cornelius Vanderbilt, therailroad man, "The public be damned," describedthe times. Rapid industrial expansion of thecountry under leaders of great individualism whostressed laissez faire, dominated the country'spost-war development. Industrialists sincerelybelieved that private business was nobody else'sbusiness. Exploitation went on without inter­ference by Government. Technology movedfaster than society's ability to cope with it.

N. S. B. Gras, the economic historian, has saidof this period, "American business in the 19thCentury went back to the exclusiveness of themedieval guilds in its attitudes toward the public."

In 1876, Jacques Offenbach, a traveler to theUnited States, found advertising was "playingupon the brain of man like a musician does upon

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a piano." As early as 1880, the Erie and Penn­sylvania Railroads employed press agents to takeadvantage of the newspaper situation. But be­cause of the growth of advertising, newspapersgradually became more independent and came outof their semi-subsidized state.

Collective behavior, for some reason, did notreceive the attention of students until the lateroth Century. LeBon's La Foule reflected thebeginning of social scientists' concern with thepsychology of the crowd. This was followed.by Gabriel Tarde in 1898, who wrote about thepublic and the crowd, trying to distinguish be­tween them. Tarde thought of the public ascomposed of individuals not in immediate co.nt~ct,

and public opinion as the product of the pnntmgpress.

This period developed a reaction against theexcesses of business being carried on by "the rob­ber barons.Y-as :Matthew Josephson describedthem. Religious leaders, farmers, workers, intel­lectuals, reformers carried on the fight. Theyused many techniques, from instigating g~vern­

ment investigations of business malpractice tocrusades such as that of Joseph Pulitzer in 1883for greater publicity about business practices.

Adoption of the Sherman Anti-Tru.st Act ;,asan indication that the counter offensive agamst

the abuses of big business was producing someresults.

In 1879, Woodrow Wilson, later to becomePresident of the United States, in an essay on"Cabinet Government in the United States," madeone of the earliest pleas for publicity for politicalaffairs. He urged that congressmen "should leg­islate as if in the presence of the whole country."And he contended that "only in such an atmos­phere of publicity could representative governmentflourish. "

The founding of the American Federation ofLabor in 1886 and of the National Associationof Manufacturers in 1895, clearly drew the linebetween two areas of sometimes conflicting inter­ests, reflected in the publicity disseminated byindustry and labor to this day.

There was a growing awareness at this timethat publicity could be utilized to bring aboutsccial control by government of industrial activi­ties, as well as for stimulating the interest of thepublic in an individual or organization, and build­ing goodwill.

In both cases, the function was a character­istically modern phenomenon brought into playbecause of the complex activities of modern so­ciety, and given its characteristic stamp by news­papers and other communications media.

In 1899, John Graham Brooks pointed out that

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the publicity given to private as well as publiccorporations in Massachusetts made an! danger­ous type of stock watering extremely difficult.

At the close of the roth Century, publicity hadgreat vogue as a curative for the evils of mon?polyand big business which were then uppermost m thepublic mind as a result of the growth of th~ trusts.

The movement gained momentum dunng thefirst decade of the zoth Century, when the so­cal1ed muckrakers took up the cry.

The Public Be Informed Period-I90o-1917

Meanwhile the question of a terminology toapply to such activities was more frequently dis­cussed. In 1882, Dorman Eaton, a lawyer, gave atalk before the Yale Law School graduating class.He used the term "public relations" meaning "re­lations for the public good."

The term cropped up again in the early 1900' swhen the trade journals of the public utility field,the Electric Railway Journal, the Railway AgeGazette and others reported attacks made on publicutilities by reformers and muckrakers and dis­cussions of these attacks by trade leaders.

It was in the atmosphere of Theodore Roose­velt's Square Deal that writers such as UptonSinclair and Ida M. Tarbel1, and publishers suchas Hearst, fought the trusts vigorously. To co~n­

teract rising antagonism, beleaguered business in-

terests engaged former newspapermen, who inincreasing numbers became known as publicityexperts, publicity advisers, or publicity directors.Their function was to obtain newspaper spacefor the defense of business, including public utili­ties. Their method was to fight words withwords. This process of informing the public wasoften merely the now-familiar whitewash. Butin some cases such dissemination of informationresulted in reform.

This indicated a growing awareness by businessof the part public opinion plays in its life-a farcry from the previous laissez faire period. Butthese men did not consider it a part of their func­tion to recommend to clients policies and prac­tices which would conform to the public interest.They merely conceded that the public was nolonger to be ignored. They were to whitewashtheir clients when unsocial practices existed, orinform the public when the clients were meritori­ous. 'They·were the "shirt stuffers" of their dayand they and their clients were often held up topublic ridicule.

In 19°2, Henry C. Adams, entrusted with set­ting up the system -of railroad accounts for theInterstate Commerce Commission, wrote an article"What Is Publicity?" in the North American Re­view, in which he said, "Secrecy in the administra­tion of a power which in any way touches the

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interests of the community, gives birth to thesuspicion that the power is unwisely ?r. ty;-an­nously administered ...The task of pubhcI~~ IS toallay this suspicion, and the statutory definition ofpublicity in any particular case must be as broa?as the ground of suspicion that makes appeal to Itnecessary ... Indeed for whatever point of viewfrom which the trust problem is considered, pub­licity stands as the first step in its solution."

In a sense Theodore Roosevelt followed, .

this thesis when, as President, he inaugu­rated his program of monopoly control. In aspeech made in 1902 he defined publicity as" ... the making public, both to the governmentauthorities and to the public at large, the essentialfacts in which the public is concerned ..." Headded that "The mere fact of the publicationwould cure some great evils, for the light of dayis a deterrent to wrong-doing."

And in his message to the first session of the57th Congress, Theodore Roosevelt pledged thisdoctrine, with an' exhortation that it be e~actedinto legislation. In 1904, in the second seSSIOn ofthe 58th Congress, he reported the formation inthe Department of Commerce and La?or of. aBureau of Corporations for the first time WIth"authority to secure proper publicity of such pr~­ceedings of these great corporations as the publichas the right to know." And in the same year, in

another message to Congress, he referred to theanti-social working conditions brought to publicattention in the course of the Colorado MiningStrike, stating, "Much can be done by the govern­ment in labor matters merely by giving publicityto certain conditions."

A symbol of this early zoth Century determina­tion that the public be informed was Ivy Lee, whosupported the enlightened point of view when hemet the press and told the story of John D. Rocke­feller, dramatizing an evolving conception of re­lations between industry and the public.

An executive of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroadin 1906 wrote on the public relations problem ofthe railroads. Also about this time institutionaladvertising was begun by the Bell Telephone Sys­tem.

By 1917 the Telephone Company, Swift, Rocke­feller and railroads, streetcar companies and pub­lic utilities were carrying on informative publicityactivities. The movement spread to non-profitorganizations. The YMCA boasted a press secre­tary as early as 1917.

These activities helped to inform the public andlessened antagonism. But they had little effecton the attitudes and actions of business itself.That development was still to come.

In one sense Woodrow Wilson carried out thehope he had expressed in his 1879 essay when, in

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his campaign speeches on The New Free.domwhile running for President in 1912, he proclalmedthat "publicity is one of the purifying elements .ofpolitics. The best thing that you can do withanything that is crooked is to lift it up :",he:epeople can see that it is crooked, and then It ,;111either straighten itself out or disappear. Nothingshakes all the bad practices of politics like public

"exposure.

World War 1-1917-1919

World War I gave emphasis to the developmentof planned techniques in professional public rela­tions. The Committee on Public Information, thewar agency initiated in 1917, focused attentionon the importance of ideas as weapons. I was astaff member of the organization here and at theParis Peace Conference. The activities in whichI participated there heightened and .s~a.rpenedmy growing conviction of the potentlahtJes .forbroad social welfare inherent in public relationsactivities. Our effort to build up morale in thiscountry, to strengthen our allies, to win over theneutrals and to defeat the enemy, made a greatimpact. ' President Wilson with his emphasis o.nmaking the world safe for democracy, and hisstressi~g of the importance of the individual,opened the eyes of many to the importance of

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION xxxiii

winning the individual American to a desiredpoint of view.

The giant scale propaganda on the part of thenations at war resulted in heightened recognitionof the possibility of shaping events and so in­creased the scramble for free publicity after theWar. This was called by many "space grabbing."It evoked repeated protest and discussion fromAmerican newspaper publishers, and was the sub­ject of constant critical attack in leading news­paper trade journals such as Editor & Publisherand the Fourth Estate, and also in Printers' Ink,leading advertising journal then.

1920-1929-Rise of a New Profession

Stimulated by the War, interest in the wholeopinion field broadened. "Propaganda" became acommon term used in household conversations, de­bated in the popular magazines, mulled over in thelearned periodicals.

Though a coinage of the rSth Century, thephrase "public opinion" made its initial appear­ance in Webster's Dictionary in 1920.

In 1919 I had returned from the Peace Con­ference in Paris, bringing back with me the con­viction I had gained there of the potential use­fulness of wartime publicity practices in peacetimeactivities. I opened an office in New York withmy future wife and called my activities "publicity

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direction." Not until 1920 did I adopt the term"public relations counsel."

The name and definition which I gave to thescope and function of public relations in Crystal­lizing Public Opinion in 1923, did not gain im­mediate acceptance. Comments revealed an initialhostility to the term and my conception of itsmeaning. The editor of the Survey, answeringa letter from the publisher asking whether abook on public relations would serve a useful pur­pose, wrote, "I guess there is a big need in mypart of the world for a book on the new professionof public relations counsel-for-hell, I didn'tknow there was any such animal." NunnallyJohnson, in the Brooklyn Eagle, said, "The P.R.e.has now been added to the H.e.L." (high cost ofliving). The Nation said public relations counselwas a new name for the "Higher Hokum." TheNew York Times said, "If, with the change ofname, there is to come a change in the ethics andmanners of the press agent, people will be de­lighted to call him a public relations counselorsweet buttercup or anything he wishes."

Some years later, Stanley Walker, onetime CityEditor of the 'New York Herald Tribune, in hisbook City Editor, said, "Bernays has takenthe sideshow barker and given him a philosophyand a new and awesome language ... He is noprimitive drum-beater ... He is devoid of swank

and does not visit newspaper offices; and yet, themore thoughtful newspaper editors, who havetheir own moments of worry about the mass mindand commercialism, regard Bernays as a possiblemenace, and warn their colleagues of his machina­tions."

In the Twenties the public relations counsel wasbelabored on the basis of two false assumptions:I) he was trying to get pieces in the newspapers,2) public relations counsel was a euphemism forpress agent.

It is true that in this period a few men, despiteprejudice and attack, or perhaps because of them. 'gamed professional stature for themselves and thefield and created for it recognition of an identitydistinct from that of publicity and press agentry.Yet in 1926 Menoken's American Language stilltreated the words "counsel on public relations" asa euphemism. "A press agent," he said, "is nowcalled a publicist, a press representative or a coun­sel on public relations, just as realtor and "morticianare used for real estate man and undertaker." Itwas not until twenty years later, in The AmericanLanguage, Supplement Number I. that Menokendevoted two pages to the term "public relationscounsel," based on my definition.

With the War over in 1920, America entered aperiod of change. This demanded greater adjust­ment of groups and individuals. Political changes

speeded up the processes of democracy. ICduca­tion and literacy spread. The agencies of masscommunication increased in size and number.

Though the first radio message was sent in19°2, radio broadcasting, as we know it, beganonly in 1924. National magazines increased theircirculation. Among newspapers, 55 chains con­trolled 230 dailies. Hordes of publicity agentsserved products and causes. And causes, worthyand unworthy, rushed to take advantage of thenew techniques. Any idea could be built up if dealtwith skillfully.

Mahjongg, crossword puzzles, Valentino, andLindbergh's flight were some of the focal pointsof the era's interest.

Intense attention was given to wooing thepublic and bringing about adjustment betweenpeople and causes. People, tired of war issues,became interested in ballyhoo. Waves of conta­gious excitement spread over the land in. fashionsand public issues.

These factors encouraged interest in public re­lations, accelerated by the publication of Crystal­li,Jing Public Opinion. The concept emphasizedin this book, that every entity should learn tounderstand the public and act constructively toensure its favor, gained some acceptance.

Yet in 1925, Abram Lipsky, in Man the Pup-

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pet-the Art of Controlling Minds, still thoughtof the public relations counsel in the old way,calling him a new pied piper, a press agent indisguise.

It was not until February II, 1926, that TheNew Y ork Herald recognized the new conceptionof the counsel on public relations and his methodsin an editorial in which it commented that "theold press agent has gone."

But acceptance of the term advanced only in azigzag line. The horse and buggy idea that publicrelations was propaganda, appeared side by sidewith the newer concept.

One ofthe publicity highspots of the early 20'S

was the Democratic Senator George Norris's lead­ership in bringing about the adoption of a lawfor public disclosure of income tax payments andrefunds in 1924, a practice which was abandonedafter the year, as a result of the opposition of morepowerful Republican forces.

In 1923, N. Y.Un.iversity demonstrated a ris­ing interest in the new profession by asking meto offer the first course in Public Relations givenat an American university.

The expanding economy of the Twenties pro­vided many opportunities for public relations ac­tivity. Through a small four-page leaflet, 80" xII", called Contact, which my associate, Doris E.Fleischman and I edited, a vigorous campaign was

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carried to American leaders. It accelerated publicunderstanding of public relations.

At the beginning of this period, profit and non­profit organizations had few public relations de­partments. Publicity and related activities wereusually delegated to advertising managers andsometimes to publicity directors. As late as 1928in a study of counsel on public relations, one of aseries made by their Policyholders' Service Bur­eau, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Companylisted only two public relations firms widely knownin New York-Ivy Lee's and that of my wife andmyself. In this period business gave only lipservice to the public interest concept of public rela­tions brought about by World War 1. Towardsthe end of this period many larger corporationswere trying out public relations. But the emphasisseemed to be much more on getting attention forthe organization, the product or the service, thanon adjustment to public demand. Roger Babsonput it correctly when he said, "War taught us thepower of propaganda." We were now tryingit out.

In 1928 the Congress of the United States in­vestigated the propaganda of the National Elec­tric Light Association and showed that since 1922the association had been attempting to createattitudes favorable to the public utilities and inimi­cal to the development of government-owned

power by offering bribes to leaders of public opin­ion and engaging in other antisocial action.Propaganda, in its worst sense, continued to beequated by the public with publicity and public re­lations. The new profession received a bad namefrom which it did not free itself for years. TheDepression which followed this period put busi­ness into the dog house for a long time. Business'reputation suffered severely.

1929-194I-The Public Relations ProfessionComes of Age

The stock market crash and the Depressionthat followed it destroyed the voice of business.These years gave great acceleration to profes­sional public relations activities. Business recog­nized that in addition to selling its products it hadto resell itself to the public. It had to explain its

. contribution to society. Many leaders in and outof business stressed the importance of sound pub­lic relations. They took up the cry uttered in1923 and urged business to modify its attitudesand actions to conform to public demand. Busi­ness was too shellshocked to grapple with the newconditions until 1936. The New Deal was em­phasizing the common man, the importance ofpeople. This put greater emphasis on business'need to take the public into consideration as some-

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thing more than a body of consumers to be ex­ploited by skillful rhetoric. There was a directrelationship between the growth of public relationsand the periods of maladjustment in the society.

The rise of anti-democratic regimes in Russia,Italy and Germany in the 20'S and 30's, empha­sized to democrats throughout the world both theeffectiveness of the spoken and the written word,and the necessity of maintaining the freedom ofthe weapons of publicity which affect men'sminds.

Between 1929 and 1941, increased interest inthe term public relations and the activity it desig­nated became evident in a growing literature onthe subject, more university courses, a wide­spread discussion and examination of public re­lations technique in trade and professional publicrelations, and their adoption by industry andsocial service organizations.

The Social Science Research Council made a .study of propaganda and pressure groups in 1931.Numerous books on propaganda appeared, amongthem The Propaganda Menace by Frederick E.Lumley in 1933 and Doob's Propaganda in 1935.In 1937, the Institute of Propaganda Analysis wasfounded. Propaganda and public relations be­came interchangeable terms in this period.

The encyclopedias started noticing the field in1933: i.e., when The Encyclopaedia of the Social

Sciences discussed public relations in an article"Propaganda" by Harold Lasswell.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, in the firstthree planks in an eight-plank program for con­trol of power companies, carried forward theemphasis on publicity that had first appeared indiscussion in the late roth and early zoth Cen­turies. His fireside chats which always began,"My friends," played an important role in relat­ing the President to the people and gaining theirsupport for his legislative program. He calledfor full publicity on security issues, earnings andinvestment, publicity on stock ownership and as tointer-company contracts and arrangements. Itwas inevitable that the attention given to theseplanks of Roosevelt and to publicity as a socialcontrol should affect the whole climate of opinion.An example of how it affected attitudes and ac­tions was furnished by a statement made bySamuel Untermeyer, in 1933. Unterrneyer ihadbeen counsel of the Pujo Committee which hadsought in 1913 to bring the operations of themoney trust under public scrutiny. He was nowspeaking in his function as counsel for a Senatecommittee investigating Wall Street practices.Speaking of financial favoritism, he said, "Re­lentless publicity of names of purchasers andunderwriters of securities ... would in itself

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largely prevent abuses of power in the distributionof ... gratuitous favors."

Publicity, it will be noted, had been relied uponas an instrument of control by the entire progres­sive movement since the beginning of the Century.It became part of the machinery of regulatorycommissions set up under government such as theInterstate Commerce Commission and the FederalTrade Commission. It was used by State govern­ments in the administration of minimum wagelaws, especially in Massachusetts. It became partof the program of municipal research leagues inprincipal cities, and it furnished the basis of amovement for wide governmental control. Onthe whole, observers of this period feel that re­formers placed their greatest faith in the unaidedcurative powers of publicity. Certainly whatthese early reformers felt about publicity as ameans of social control has not been fulfilled.However, the reformers' faith in publicity didhave the effect of initiating activities which lateron developed into the activities of the counsel onpublic relations.

Naturally after the 1936 Presidential election(whieb Roosevelt won) and the labor troubles ofthat year and 1937, the businessman began tothink of public relations almost as a panacea. Hefelt that this was what he needed to survive, eventhough the term might mean to him anything

Ir

it

from campaigns for heavier breakfasts in orderto sell more bacon, to nationwide celebrations tohonor Thomas Edison in order to build goodwillfor public utilities. But there was a more funda­mental basis for the development of public rela­tions in this period. The Depression had mademillions of Americans more aware of the worldaround them. Leadership in every categoryexerted itself to influence people and win friendsfor the particular activity the leader was interestedin. Trade associations began to stage a comebackin dealing with the many public relations problemscreated by the N.R.A. The U.S. Chamber ofCommerce, the National Association of Manufac­turers and large corporations such as U.S. Steel,American Telephone & Telegraph, General Mo­tors, Pennsylvania Railroad, Standard Oil andothers adopted professional public relations tech­niques in a program to build good will. A numberof companies set up their own public relations de­partments. The U.S. Steel Corporation also in­stituted an institutional advertising campaign in1936; the Standard Oil Co. of N.J. in 1942; theAmerican Cyanamid in 1950. In a sense, Ameri­can business was housed in a goldfish bowl at thistime.

In contra-distinction to business, public rela­tions enlarged its activities in the Depressionyears. The public relations man came into his

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own. In 1937 a dramatic agreement was signedby U.S. Steel and the CIO, initiating new policiesin labor-management relations. The event waspublicized by open-house days, newspaper releasesand newsreels, and to show its interest in the pub­lic the steel company launched a $250,000 motionpicture in technicolor. The motion picture graph­ically depicted the activities of the steel companyfrom the mining of the ore to the manufacturedproduct, in order to give the viewer a comprehen­sive picture of the scope and function of the steelcompany as a constructive American corpora-tion. .

This period also was marked by the increase innumber and importance of public relations depart­ments in large corporations, headed by such menas Paul Garrett of General Motors, Arthur Pageof A.T.&T., and J. Carlisle MacDonald of U.S.Steel. An index of the value placed on their serv­ices by the companies which engaged. them isindicated by their salaries. Paul Garrett earned$26,732 with bonus in 1935 ; Arthur Page $49,500;J. Carlisle MacDonald $25,000. In 1939 PaulGarrett widely circulated his pamphlet on the im­portance of public relations, entitled Industry'sNumber One Job.

During this period additional independent pub­lic relations counseling firms were born. Theseinterpreted public opinion to management, helped

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shape managements' policies and developed in manycases within themselves departments for the crea­tion and placement of news and articles.

The National Association of Manufacturerswooed the public through pamphlets, radio scripts,reprints and releases. The American Bankers As­sociation produced a series of handbooks writtenin simple language. The Association of Ameri­can Railroads spent vast sums on extensivegood will advertising. The American PetroleumInstitute stressed the burden of taxes. The pur­pose was, of course, to show how much of theprice of gasoline was caused by taxes. The MilkIndustry Foundation launched a campaign toprove to the public that the spread between theprice the farmer received for milk and that whichthe consumer paid for it was not as great as itseemed. The industry attempted to show that itmade only a small profit per quart and rendered animportant service to the consumer by bringing apure product from the farm to the consumer'stable. The NELA, now the Edison Electric Insti­tute, after having been attacked for its propa­ganda, limited itself to facts and figures about theindustry to reflect important public acceptance ofelectricity. The Hays Office was going strong. Itwas attempting to defend the motion picture indus­try against attacks that had been made upon it forimmorality after the Fatty Arbuckle episode.

This approach set the pattern for many othertrade and professional organizations in the UnitedStates. The Aluminum Corporation was attempt­ing to prove to the public that it was beneficent andnot a malevolent monopoly. Messrs. Ford andChrysler were individual personalities who usedthemselves as public relations assets to theircompanies. Johns-Manville had appointed a direc­tor to its board to represent the public.

Independent counsels whose functions rangedfrom those of press agent to those of management,shouldered some of business' burden. Generallyspeaking, the independent public relations counselhad certain advantages over inside men, forthey had more objective judgment, direct ac­cess to top executives. and greater prestige, sincemost of the individual public relations employeeswere still rather low on the totem pole.

In this period too, advertising agencies decidedto divert to themselves some of the remunerationflowing to the public relations counsel, by organiz­ing their own public relations departments torender similar services to their clients.

During this decade jthe public opinion poll cameinto being. George Gallup launched his AmericanInstitute of Public Opinion in 1935, thus empha­sizing a scientific approach to questions of whatthe public really thought about an idea or object.Other organizations,' such as professional ed-

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ucational associations, universities, business con­ventions and conferences discussed problemsconnected with the subject. Articles about publicrelations appeared in magazines of general circu­lation, such as The Atlantic Monthly and TheAmerican Mercury and in Business Week, Na­tion's Business and other similar journals.

A profile of Ivy Lee appeared in The AmericanMercury in the late 1920'S. The AtlanticMonthly of May, 1932, and The American Mer­cury of February, 1930, carried profiles of me.Business Week published its first special reporton public relations on January 23, 1937, and an­other on October I, 1939. The Columbia Ency­clopedia, published in 1935, had no article on theprofession, but listed books about it in the bibliog­raphy of the article on propaganda.

Fortune regarded 1938 as the big year for pro­fessional public relations. Scarcely a convention,trade magazine or meeting of a board of directorsfailed to discuss it.

In 1939, Fortune, in an article entitled, "ThePublic Be Not Damned," said public relations isthe label "used to describe, at one and the sametime, techniques and objectives" and "the conductof individual businesses, as organizations of peo­ple banded together in an effort to make a livingfor themselves and a profit for investors." Itadded, "Public relations is the name business gives

many new recruits for the peace-time era thatfollowed. During the War, business, through thecontribution it made to America's war machine,regained its self-confidence and initiated new ac­tivities more closely designed to identify itselfwith the public interest. The wartime contribu­tion of American business to winning the Warwas stressed in this effort.

And just before the War ended, with hopes fora brave new world, many institutions in society,profit and non-profit, looked closely at what theirrelationships to society had been, and consideredmore carefully what they were to be in the future.

Meanwhile the term public relations becamemore widely accepted. In 1943 it was included inthe Dictionary of Sociology. Basing its discus-

. sion largely on the definition in CrystallizingPublic Opinion, the dictionary defined it as "thebody of theory and technique utilized in adjustingthe relationships of a subject with its publics.These theories and techniques represent applica­tions of sociology, social psychology, economicsand political science as well as of the special skillsof journalists, artists, organizational experts, ad­vertising men, etc. to the specific problems in­volved in this field of activity." A second meaninggiven was "the relations of an individual,association, government or corporation with thepublics which it must take into consideration in

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to its recognition of itself as a political entity."The importance and the circulation of these

magazines gave the field widespread publicity andplayed a part in breaking down the tabu of manyeditors against discussing what many of them stillthought of as press agentry.

A climate of opinion surrounded business, thatmade an impact on its point of view. Businessbegan to recognize it was no longer a private buta public affair, and that to survive and develop itmust be based on a coincidence of its own and thepublic interest. Of course this is a generalizationbut broadly it represented the general viewpoint.By 1940 many industries: electrical, food, manu­facturing, banking, petroleum, airplane, auto andradio had initiated a planned program of publicrelations.

Period of World War II-I941- 1945

Now, as during World War I, activities focusedon the war effort. Th.e Office of War Informa­tion in this country and overseas gave nationalrecognition to the importance of good public re­lations. Elmer Davis [headed the Office of WarInformation. That a man of his intelligence, in­tegrity, forthrightness ~nd reputation was selectedfor this job indicated the increased respect beingpaid to public relations. The proliferation of pub­lic relations officers in World War II developed

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION xlix

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carrying on its social functions. These publicscan include voters, customers, employees, potentialemployees, past employees, stockholders, membersof antagonistic pressure groups, neighbors, etc."

In the same work a public relations counsel wasdefined as an expert in "analyzing public relationsmaladjustments; locating probable causes of suchmaladjustments in the social behavior of the client,and in the sentiments and opinions of publics; andadvising the client on suitable social theories andtested techniques in solving many of the problemsof society."

Two years later, in 1945, Webster's Dictionaryincluded the term. But definitions were still notclearly defined. The American Thesaurus ofSlang (Lester V. Berrey and Melvin Van DenBark, editors,) listed as synonyms twenty-eightterms including advertisementor, aide-de-press,and public relations counsel, flesh peddler, public­ity man, space grabber and tooter.

Public Relations Ezpands-I946 to the Present

In the seventh period, 1946 to date, the profes­sion of public relations has expanded simultane­ously with growing acceptance of the concept thatpublic and private interest coincide.

At the request of the editors of the Encyclo­paediaBritannica, I wrote an article on the subjectfor its 1947 edition of Ten Eventful Years.

In November 1947 a motion picture entitled"Public Relations" in the "March of Time" serieswas shown throughout the country, but it por­trayed a figure for the most part much like thatof the old time press agent.

The following year Reginald Clough, in TheEncyclopedia Americana, described public rela­tions as "the art of analyzing, influencing andinterpreting a person, idea, group or business, sothat its behavior will conform to the greatestdegree possible with the public good." This wasa good partial definition, but hardly covered allcircumstances and situations. It was accurateonly as a designation of good public relations.

In 1948, as Adjunct Professor of Public Rela­tions, I again gave a course at New York Uni­versity. At the first session the twenty-fivestudents gave me twenty-five different definitionsof public relations, despite the term having beendefined and redefined for a quarter century.

In May, 1949, an article in Fortune, "BusinessIs StilI In Trouble," said the main reason for lackof good will in business was that about 95% of theinformation disseminated under the name of pub­lic relations was sheer press agentry which calledattention to a company or product but did notnecessarily result in good relations with the public.

Fortune formulated a short definition:-"good. .. public relations is good performance-publicly

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appreciated." This definition brought a simplestatement of the meaning to the attention of aninfluential audience.

In 1950, Nugent Wedding, of the University ofIllinois, found that of 85 business firms carryingon what they called "public relations," only 35.3%accepted the basic definition that it was a "twoway activity-proper policy formation and inter­pretation to the public." The other 64.7% wereless adept in following the course indicated by thebasic definition.

But when the War was over, many captains ofindustry had come to view public relations as oneof the most important forces in the dynamics ofbusiness advance. Such men as Frank W.Abrams of Standard Oil of New Jersey, PaulGarrett of General Motors, Santa Fe's Fred Gur­ley and Monsanto's Edgar Queeny echoed theprinciple stated in Fortune that, "Good businesspublic relations is good performance-publicly ap­preciated." As a result of this type of thinkingbusiness and industry have been continually estab­lishing new public relations departments sincethat time.

In the same way, by War's end, leaders in otherfields saw the profession as a powerful forceoperating to help advance organizations of allkinds. Consequently the present era has seen theinitiation and carrying forward of full-fledged

public relations programs for institutions of allsorts-social agencies, educational institutions,professional and trade associations.

In this post-war period, professional public re­lations techniques have worked toward eliminatingmaladjustments in many phases of our society­international relations, labor, management, etc.They have also assisted social forces such as medi­cine and education to overcome the cultural timelag by making necessary adjustments to meet thechanging needs of the times.

Few phases of modern life are untouched bythe profession and its practitioners. Independentcounseling firms have proliferated during thisperiod, centering in New York, Washington, Chi­cago and Los Angeles. The profession's literaturegrows apace. Two large voluntary associationsof practitioners, drawn from many fields, flourish.Specialized fields such as education, finance, etc.have their own voluntary associations of publicrelations people.

The profession of public relations today has aprominent role in peacetime government. In thefiscal year 1952, the last time such a survey wasmade, there were 2625.9 full-time public relationsemployees on the payroll of the United States, plus1007.5 who were the full-time equivalent of part­time employees. Fractional figures are due to the

liv

,PREFACE TO NEW EDITION

IPREFACE TO NEW EDITION Iv

fact that some did not work a full day. The pay­roll was more than $17 million a year.

This does uot include many individuals on fed­eral payrolls, for in many cases the governmentaldepartments, in order to avoid public accusationthat they are propagandizing, call their publicrelations and public information employees byother names. In certain cases these men andwomen battle for public opinion and appropria­tions. By far the larger number give out infor­mation.

With the growth of the social sciences, researchhas been expanded in the last decade and a half.The counseling phases of public relations havehad more emphasis, and training on a college levelhas increased both in the number of courses andin their depth and understanding.

Today the able practitioner commands remuner­ation comparable to that enjoyed by leaders inother professions such as law and engineering.

Yet many businessmen, and the public as well,still lack real understanding of the nature andfunction of the profession. Much effort andmoney are wasted because too many still put toomuch emphasis on the informational and too littleon the counseling function. Sales promotion, pub­licity and press agentry are still being confusedwith public relations. But despite the lack ofclear-cut definition, the activity grows.

Time will undoubtedly provide clarification, thedevelopment of ethical concepts and the licensingand registration of practitioners as in other pro­fessions.

In I952, I reformulated my I923 definition ina new book, Public Relations. I now defined theterm as "( I) information given to the public,(2) persuasion directed at the public to modifyattitudes and actions, and (3) efforts to integrateattitudes and actions of an institution with itspublics and of publics with those of that institu­tion. "

In I955 I embodied the new approaches to pub­lic relations in The Engineering of Consent whichI edited, and to which my wife and I contributed.It expanded the principles and practices I out­lined in Crystallizing Public Opinion and empha­sized planning and organization.

Now in I<)6I, Your Future in Public Relations,to be published this fall, will present public rela­tions to the thousands of young people seeking acareer in this field of social usefulness. Later myMemoirs, on which I am now working, will, Ihope, be useful to the practitioners of tomorrow inenabling them to profit from my own experiences.

However, as late as I960, Webster's Dictionaryshowed little understanding when it defined publicrelations as "relations with the general publicthrough publicity; those functions of a corpora-

lvi PREFACE TO NEW EDITION

tion, organization, branch of military service, etc.concerned with informing the public of its activi­ties, policies, etc. and attempting to create favor­able public opinion."

In 1960, after four decades of discussion andattempts to establish a specific meaning for theterm, it was still used as a catch-all to designate avariety of activities.

But the confusion which sometimes clouds gen­eral understanding has not prevented the professionof public relations from growing into its maturity,proving its value to society, and constantly gaininggreater respect. New in relation to the olderprofessions, it has harnessed the findings of thesocial sciences and in a world of growing com­plexity and constant change has proven a usefulforce for adjustment.

Today our time is called an era of public rela­tions. Certainly when my wife and I first talkedof Crystallizing Public Opinion in the early 1920'Sour most imaginative hopes could hardly h~lVe en­compassed the status and importance realized bythe field the book first platted.

Edward L. BernaysJune, 1961

I

FOREWORD(TO ORIGINAL EDITION)

In writing this book I have tried to set downthe broad principles that govern the new profes­sion of public relations counsel. These principlesI have on the one hand substantiated by the find­ings of psychologists, sociologists, and newspaper­men-Ray Stannard Baker, W. G. Bleyer, Rich­ard Washburn Child, Elmer Davis, John L.Given, Will Irwin, Francis E. Leupp, WalterLippmann, William MacDougall, Everett DeanMartin, H. L. Menoken, Rollo Ogden, Charles J.Rosebault, William Trotter, Oswald GarrisonVillard, and others to whom lowe a debt ofgratitude for their clear analyses of the public'smind and habits; and on the other hand, I haveillustrated these principles by a number of spe­cific examples which serve to bear them out.' Ihave quoted from the men listed here, becausethe ground covered by them is part of the fieldof activity of the public relations counsel. Theactual cases which I have cited were selected be­cause they explain the application of the theoriesto practice. Most of the illustrative material isdrawn from my personal experience; a few ex­amples from my observation of events. I have

lvii

lviii FOREWORD

preferred to cite facts known to the general pub­lic, in order that I might explain graphically aprofession that has little precedent, and whosefew formulated rules have necessarily a limitlessnumber and variety of applications.

This profession in a few years has developedfrom the status of circus agent stunts to whatis obviously an important position in the conductof the world's affairs.

If I shall, by this survey of the field, stimulatea scientific attitude towards the study of publicrelations, I shaIl feel that this book has fulfilledmy purpose in writing it.

E. L. B.

PART I

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS

CRYSTALLIZING PUBLICOPINION

CHAPTER I

THE SCOPE OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONS COUNSEL

A NEW phrase has come into the language­counsel on public relations. What does it

mean?As a matter of fact, the actual phrase is com­

pletely understood by only a few, and those onlythe people intimately associated with the workitself. But despite this, the activities of the pub­lic relations counsel affect the daily life of theentire population in one form or another.

Because of the recent extraordinary growth ofthe profession of public relations counsel and thelack of available information concerning it, anair of mystery has surrounded its scope and func­tions. To the average person, this profession isstill unexplained, both in its operation and actualaccomplishment. Perhaps the most definite pic­ture is that of a man who somehow or other pro-

II

13SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS

nothing more substantial than vague impres­sions.

Indeed, it is probably true that the very menwho are themselves engaged in the professionare as little ready or able to define their workas is the general public itself. Undoubtedly thisis due, in some measure, to the fact that the pro­fession is a new one. Muchmore important thanthat, however, is the fact that most human ac­tivities are based on experience rather thananalysis.

Judge Cardozo of the Court of Appeals of theState of New York finds the same absence offunctional definition in the judicial mind. "Thework of deciding cases," he says, "goes on everyday in hundreds of courts throughout the land.Any judge, one might suppose, would find it easyto describe the process which he had followeda thousand times and more. Nothing could befarther from the truth... Let someintelligent lay­man ask him to explain. He ~iii not go veryfar before taking refuge in the excuse that thelanguage of craftsmen is unintelligible to thoseuntutored in the craft, Such an excuse may coverwith a semblance of respectability an otherwiseignominious retreat. It will hardly serve to stillthe prick of curiosity and conscience. In mo­ments of introspection, when there is no longera necessity of putting off with a show of wisdom

duces that vaguely defined evil, "propaganda,"which spreads an impression that colors the mindof the public concerning actresses, governments,railroads. And yet, as will be pointed outshortly, there is probably no single professionwhich within the last ten years has extendedits field of usefulness more remarkably andtouched upon intimate and important aspects ofthe everyday life of the world more signifi­cantly than the profession of public relationscounsel.

There is not even anyone name by which thenew profession is characterized by others. Tosome the public relations counsel is known bythe term "propagandist." Others still call himpress agent or publicity man. Writing evenwithin the last few years, John L. Given, theauthor of an excellent textbook on journalism,does not mention the public relations counsel.He limits his reference to the old-time pressagent. Many organizations simply do not botherabout an individual name and assign to an ex­isting officer the duties: of the public relationscounsel. One bank's Vice-president is its rec­ognized public relations counsel. Some dismissthe subject or condemn the entire professiongenerally and all its members individually.

Slight examination irito the grounds for thisdisapproval readily reveals that it is based on

12 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

14- CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

the uninitiated interlocutor, the troublesome prob­lem will recur and press for a solution: Whatis it that I do when I decide a case?" r.

From my own records and from current his­tory still fresh in the public mind, I have selecteda few instances which only in a limited measuregive some idea of the variety of the public re­lations counsel's work and of the type of problemwhich he attempts to solve.

These examples show him in his position asone who directs and supervises the activities ofhis Clients wherever they impinge upon the dailylife of the public. He interprets the Client to thepublic, which he is enabled to do in part becausehe interprets the public to the client. His adviceis given on all occasions on which his client ap­pears before the public, whether it be in con­crete form or as an idea. His advice is givennot only on actions which take place, but also onthe use of mediums which bring these actionsto the public it is desired to reach, no matterwhether these mediums be the printed, the spokenor the visualized word-that is, advertising, lee­tures, the stage, the pulpit, the newspaper, thephotograph, the wireless, the mail or any otherform of thought communication.

A nationally famous New York hotel foundthat its business was falling off at an alarming

1 Cardozo, "The Nature of the Judic~al Process" (page 9).

,SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS IS

rate because of a rumor that it was shortly goingto close and that the site upon which it was locatedwould be occupied by a department store. Fewthings are more mysterious than the origins ofrumors, or the credence which they manage toobtain. Reservations at this hotel for weeks andmonths ahead were being canceled by personswho had heard the rumor and accepted it im­plicitly.

The problem of meeting this rumor (which likemany rumors had no foundation in fact) wasnot only a difficult but a serious one. Mere de­nial, of course, no matter how vigorous or howwidely disseminated, would accomplish little.

The mere statement of the problem made itclear to the public relations counsel who was re­tained by the hotel that the only way to overcomethe rumor was to give the public some positiveevidence of the intention of the hotel to remainin business. It happened that the maitre d' hotelwas about as well known as the hotel itself. Hiscontract was about to expire. The public re­lations counsel suggested a very simple device.

"Renew his' engagement immediately for aterm of years," he said. "Then make public an­nouncement of the fact. Nobody who hears ofthe renewal or the amount of money involvedwill believe for a moment that you intend togo out of business." The maitre d'hotel was

.-.- ._------------------~ ................~~=...'-"... ----

under high pressure, based on work which in­terests and excites. The consultant arranged tohave the thesis of the article made the basis ofan inquiry among business and professional menthroughout the country by another physician as­sociated with a medical journal. Hundreds ofmembers of "the quality public," as they areknown to advertisers, had their attention focusedon the article. and the magazine which the con­sultant was engaged in counseling on its publicrelations.

The answers from these leading men of thecountry were collated, analyzed, and the re­sulting abstract furnished gratuitously to news­papers, magazines and class journals, which pub­lished them widely. Organizations of businessand professional men reprinted the symposiumby the thousands and distributed it free of charge,doing so because the material contained in thesymposium was of great interest. A distin­guished visitor from abroad, Lord Leverhulme,became interested in the question while in thiscountry and made the magazine and the articlethe basis of an address before a large and influ­ential conference in England. Nationally andinternationally the magazine was called to theattention of a public which had, up to that time,considered it perhaps a publication of no serioussocial significance.

17SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS

I16 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

()called in and offered a five-year engagement.His salary was one which many bank presidentsmight envy. Public announcement of his en­gagement was made. The maitre d'hOtel washimself something of a national figure. Thesalary stipulated was not without popular interestfrom both points of view. The story was onewhich immediately interested the newspapers. Anational press service took up the story and sentit out to all its subscribers. The cancellation ofreservations stopped and the rumor disappeared.

A nationally known magazine was ambitiousto increase its prestige among a more influentialgroup of advertisers. It had never made anyeffort to reach this public except through its owndirect circulation. The consultant who was re­tained by the magazine quickly discovered thatmuch valuable editorial material appearing in themagazine was allowed to go to waste. Featuresof interest to thousands of potential readers werenever called to their attention unless they hap­pened accidentally to be readers of the maga­zrne.

The public relations counsel showed how to ex­tend the field of their appeal. He chose for hisfirst work an extremely interesting article by awell-known physician, written about the interest­ing thesis that "the pace that kills" is the slow,deadly, dull routine pace and not the pace of life

I18 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

Still working with the same magazine, the pub­licity consultant advised it how to widen its in­fluence with another public on quite a differentissue. He took as his subject an article bySir Philip Gibbs, "The Madonna of the Hun­gry Child," dealing with the famine situation inEurope and the necessity for its prompt allevia­tion. The article was brought to the attentionof Herbert Hoover. Mr. Hoover was so im­pressed by the article that he sent the magazinea letter of commendation for publishing it. Healso sent a copy of the article to members ofhis relief committees throughout the country.The latter, in turn, used the article to obtain sup­port and contributions for relief work. Thus,while an important humanitarian project wasbeing materially assisted, the magazine in ques-.tion was adding to its own influence and stand­lng.

Now, the interesting thing about this work isthat whereas the public relations counsel addednothing to the contents -of the magazine, whichhad for years been publishing material of this na­ture, he did make its importance felt and appre­ciated.

A large packing house was faced with theproblem of increasing: the sale of its particularbrand of bacon. It already dominated the marketin its field; the problem was therefore one of

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 19

increasing the consumption of bacon generally,for its dominance of the market would naturallycontinue. The public relations counsel, realiz­ing that hearty breakfasts were dieteticallysound, suggested that a physician undertake asurvey to make this medical truth articulate.He realized that the demand for bacon as a break­fast food would naturally be increased. by thewide dissemination of this truth. This is exactlywhat happened.

A hair-net company had to solve the prob­lem created by the increasing vogue of bobbedhair. Bobbed hair was eliminating the use ofthe hair-net. The public relations counsel, afterinvestigation, advised that the opinions of clubwomen as leaders of the women of the countryshould be made articulate on the question. Theirexpressed opinion, he believed, would definitelymodify the bobbed hair vogue. A leading artistwas interested in the subject and undertook asurvey among the club women leaders of thecountry. The resultant responses confirmed thepublic relations counsel's judgment. The opin­ions of these women were given to the publicand helped to arouse what had evidently beena latent opinion on the question. Long hair wasmade socially more acceptable than bobbed hairand the vogue for the latter was thereby par­tially checked.

20 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 21

A real estate corporation on Long Island wasinterested in selling cooperative apartments to ahigh-class clientele. In order to do this, it re­alized that it had to impress upon the public thefact that this community, within easy reach ofManhattan, was socially, economically, artisti­cally and morally desirable. On the advice ofits public relations counsel, instead of merely pro­claiming itself as such a community, it provedits contentions dramatically by making itself anactive center for all kinds of community mani­festations.

When it opened its first post office, for in­stance, it made this local event nationally inter­esting. The opening was a formal one. Na­tional figures became interested in what mighthave been merely a local event.

The reverses which the Italians suffered on thePiave in 1918 were dangerous to Italian and Al­lied morale. One of the results was the awaken­ins- of a distrust among Italians as to the sin-o .cerity of American promises of military, financialand moral support for the Italian cause.

It became imperative vividly to dramatize forItaly the reality of American cooperation. Asone of the means to; this end the Committee onPublic Information decided that the naming ofa recently completed American ship should bemade the occasion fora demonstration of friend-

ship which could be reflected in every possibleway to the Italians.

Prominent Italians in America were invitedby the public relations counsel to participate inthe launching of the Piave. Motion and stillpictures were taken of the event. The news ofthe launching and of its significance to Ameri­cans was telegraphed to Italian newspapers. Atthe same time a message from Italian-Americanswas transmitted to Italy expressing their con­fidence in America's assistance of the Italiancause. Enrico Caruso, Gatti-Casazza, directorof the Metropolitan Opera, and others highlyregarded by their countrymen in Italy, sent in­spiriting telegrams which had a decided effectin raising Italian morale, so far as it dependedupon assurance of American cooperation. Othermeans employed to disseminate information ofthis event had the same effect.

The next incident that I have selected is onewhich conforms more closely than some of theothers to the popular conception of the work ofthe public relations counsel. In the spring andsummer of .1919 the problem of fitting ex­service men into the ordinary life of Americawas serious and difficult. Thousands of men justback from abroad were having a trying timefinding work. After their experience in the warit was not surprising that they should be ex-

22 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

tremely ready to feel bitter against the Govern­ment and against those Americans who for onereason or another had not been in any branch ofthe service during the war.

The War Department under Colonel ArthurWoods, assistant to the Secretary of War, insti­tuted a nation-wide campaign to assist those mento obtain employment, and more than that, tomanifest to them as concretely as it could thatthe Government continued its interest in theirwelfare. The incident to which I refer occurredduring this campaign.

In July of 1919 there was such a shortage oflabor in Kansas that it was feared a large pro­portion of the wheat crop could not possibly beharvested. The activities of the War Depart­ment in the reemployment of ex-service men had·already received wide publicity, and the Cham­ber of Commerce of Kansas City appealed di­rectly to the War Department at Washington,after its own efforts in many other directions hadfailed, for a supply 'of men who would assistin the harvesting of the wheat crop. The publicrelations counsel prepared a statement of this op­portunity for employment in Kansas and dis­tributed it to the public through the newspapersthroughout the country. The Associated Presssent the statement over its wires as a news dis­patch. Within four days the Kansas City Cham-

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 23

ber of Commerce wired to the War Departmentthat enough labor had been secured to harvestthe wheat crop, and asked the War Departmentto announce that fact as publicly as it had firstannounced the need for labor.

By contrast with this last instance, and as anillustration of a type of work less well under­stood by the public, I cite another incident fromthe same campaign for the reestablishment of ex­service men to normal economic and social rela­tions. The problem of reemployment was, ofcourse, the crux of the difficulty. Various meas­ures were adopted to obtain the cooperation ofbusiness men in extending employment oppor­tunities to ex-members of the Army, Navy andMarines. One of these devices appealed to thepersonal and local pride of American businessmen, and stressed their obligation of honor toreemploy their former employees upon releasefrom Government service.

A citation was prepared, signed by the Secre­tary of War, the Secretary of the Navy and theAssi"nt to the Secretary of War for display inthe stores and factories of employers who assuredthe War and Navy Departments that they wouldreemploy their ex-service men. Simultaneousdisplay of these citations was arranged for Bas­tile Day, July 14, 1919, by members of the FifthAvenue Association.

\24 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

The Fifth Avenue Association of New YorkCity, an influential group of business men, wasperhaps the first to cooperate as a body in thisimportant campaign for the reemployment of ex­service men. Concerted action on a subject whichwas as much in the public mind as the reemploy­ment of ex-service men was particularly interest­ing. The story of what these leaders in Ameri­can business had undertaken to do went out tothe country by mail, by word of mouth, bynewspaper comment. Their example was potentin obtaining the cooperation of business menthroughout the land. An appeal based on thisaction and capitalizing it was sent to thousands ofindividual business men and employers through­out the country. It was effective.

An illustration which embodies most of thetechnical and psychological points of interest inthe preceding incidents may be found in Lithu­ania's campaign in this country in 1919, for pop­ular sympathy and official recognition. Lithu­ania was of considerable political importance inthe reorganization of Europe, but it was a coun­try little known or understood by the Americanpublic. An added difficulty was the fact that theindependence of Lithuania would interfere seri­ously with the plans which France had for theestablishment of a: strong Poland. There wereexcellent historical, ethnic and economic reasons

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 25

why, if Lithuania broke off from Russia, it shouldbe allowed to stand on its own feet. On theother hand there were powerful political influ­ences which were against such a result. TheAmerican attitude on the question of Lithuanianindependence, it was felt, would play an impor­tant part. The question was how to arouse pop­ular and official interest in Lithuania's aspira­tions.

A Lithuanian National Council was organized,composed of prominent American-Lithuanians,and a Lithuanian Information Bureau establishedto act as a clearing house for news about Lithu­ania and for special pleading on behalf of Lith­uania's ambitions. The public relations counselwho was retained to direct this work recognizedthat the first problem to be solved was America'sindifference to and ignorance about Lithuaniaand its desires.

He had an exhaustive study made of everyconceivable aspect of the problem of Lithuaniafrom its remote and recent history and ethnicOJ.ns to its present-day marriage customs and. > .its popular recreations. He divided his materialinto its various categories, based primarily onthe pnblic to which it would probably make itsappeal. For the amateur ethnologist he pro­vided interesting and accurate data of the racialorigins of Lithuania. To the student of Ian-

26 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

guages he appealed with authentic and well writ­ten ~tudies of the development of the Lithuanianlanguage from its origins in the Sanskrit. Hetold the "sporting fan" about Lithuanian sportsand told American women about Lithuanianclothes. He told the jeweler about amber andprovided the music lover with concerts of Lith­uanian music.

To the senators, he gave facts about Lithuaniawhich would give them basis for favorable ac­tion. To the members of the House of Repre­sentatives he did likewise. He reflected to thosecommunities whose crystallized opinion would behelpful in guiding other opinions, facts whichgave them basis for conclusions favorable toLithuania.

A series of events which would carry with.them the desired implications were planned andexecuted. Mass meetings were held in differentcities; petitions were drawn, signed and pre­sented; pilgrims made calls upon Senate andHouse of Representatives Committees. All theavenues of approach to the public were utilizedto capitalize the public interest and bring publicaction. The mails carried statements of Lithu­ania's position to individuals who might be in­terested. The lecture platform resounded toLithuania's appeal. Newspaper advertising wasbought and paid for. The radio carried the rnes-

ISCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 27

sage of speakers to the public. Motion picturesreached the patrons of moving picture houses.

Little by little and phase by phase, the public,the press and Government officials acquired aknowledge of the customs, the character and theproblems of Lithuania, the small Baltic nationthat was seeking freedom.

When the Lithuanian Information Bureauwent before the press associations to correct in­accurate' or misleading Polish news about theLithuanian situation, it came there as representa­tive of a group which had figured largely in theAmerican news for a number of weeks, as a re­sult of the advice and activities of its public re­lations counsel. In the same way, when dele­gations of Americans, interested in the Lithuanianproblem, appeared before members of Congress.or officials of the State Department, they camethere as spokesmen for a country which was nolonger .unknown. They represented a groupwhich could no longer be entirely ignored. Some­body described this campaign, once it hadachieved recognition for the Baltic republic, asth.campaign of "advertising a nation to free­do!!."

What happened with Roumania is another in­stance. Roumania wanted to plead its case be­fore the American people. It wanted to tellAmericans that it was an ancient and established

\28 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

country. The original technique was the issu­ance of treatises, historically correct and eth­nologically accurate. Their facts were for thelarge part ignored. The public relations counsel,called in on the case of Roumania, advised themto make these studies into interesting storiesof news value. The public read these storieswith avidity and Roumania became part ofAmerica's popular knowledge with consequentvaluable results for Roumania.

The hotels of New York City discovered thatthere was a falling off of business and profits.Fewer visitors caine to New York. Fewer trav­elers passed through New York on their way toEurope. The public relations counsel who wasconsulted and asked to remedy the situation, madean extensive analysis. He talked to visitors. Hequeried men and women who represented groups,sections and opinions. of main cities and townsthroughout the country. He examined Americanliterature-books, magazines, newspapers, andclassified attacks made on New York and NewYork citizens. He found that the chief causefor lack of interest in New York was the beliefthat New York was "cold and inhospitable."

He found animosity and bitterness againstNew York's apparent indifference to strangerswas keeping away a growing number of travelers.To counteract this damaging wave of resentment,

ISCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 29

he ~alled together the leading groups, industrial,social and civic, of New York, and formed theWel~ome St~anger Committee. The friendly andhospitable alms of this committee, broadcastedto the nation, helped to reestablish New York'sgood repute. Congratulatory editorials wereprinted in the rural and city journals of thecountry.

Again, in analyzing the restaurant service ofa prominent hotel, he discovers that its menuis built on the desires of the average eater andthat a large group of people with children de­sire special foods for them. He may then advisehis client to institute a children's diet service.

This was done specifically with the Waldorf­Astoria Hotel, which instituted special menusfor children. This move, which excited widecomment, was economically and dietetically sound.. In its campaign to educate the public on theImportance of early radium treatments for in­cipient cancer, the United States Radium Cor-'poration founded the First National RadiumBank, in order to create and crystallize the im­pression tha-'+idium is and should be availableto all physicians who treat cancer sufferers.

An inter-city radio company planned to opena wireless service between the three cities of NewY?rk, Detroit and Cleveland. This companymight merely have opened its service and waited

CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

ISCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 3 I

the world. It was evident to all who saw thepictures or read the story that this king had reallystirred the affectionate interest of the nationalelements that make up America.

An interesting illustration of the broad field?f work ?f the public relations counsel to-dayIS noted III the efforts which were exerted tosecur~ wide commendation and support amongAmericans for the League of Nations. Obvi­ously a smaIl group of persons, banded togetherfor the sole purpose of furthering the appealof the League, would have no powerful effect.In order to secure a certain homogeneity amongthe members of groups who individuaIly hadwidely varied interests and affiliations it was,decided to form a non-partisan committee forthe League of Nations.

The public relations consultant, having assistedin the formation of this committee, called a meet­ing of women representing Democratic, Repub­lican, radical, reactionary, club, society, profes­sional and industrial groups, and suggested thatthey make a united appeal for national support ofthe League of Nati' This meeting accuratelyand dramaticaIly reflected disinterested and uni­fied support of the League. The public relationscounsel made articulate what would otherwisehave remained a strong passive sentiment. The

,30

for the public to send its messages, but thepresident of the organization realized astutelythat to succeed in any measure at all he musthave immediate public support. He called in apublic relations counsel, who advised an elabo­rate inauguration ceremony, in which th~ mayorsof the three cities thus for the first time con­nected, would officiate. The mayor of each cityofficially received and sent the first messagesissued on commercial inter-city radio waves.These openings excited wide interest, not onlyin the three cities directly concerned, but through­out the entire country.

Shortly after the World War, the King andOueen of the Belgians visited America. One ofthe many desired results of this visit was thatit should be made apparent that America, withall the foreign elements represented in its body,was unified in its support of King Albert andhis country. To present a graphic picture of theaffection which the national elements here hadfor the Belgian monarch, a performance wasstaged at the Metropolitan Opera House in NewYork City, at which the many nationalist groupswere represented and gave voice to their ap­proval. The story of the Metropolitan OperaHouse performance was spread in the news col­umns and by photografhs in the press throughout

32 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

still insistent demand for the League of Nationsis undoubtedly due in part to efforts of this na­ture.

Cases as diverse as the following are the dailywork of the public relations counsel. One clientis advised to give up a Rolls-Royce car and tobuy a Ford, because the public has definite con­cepts of what ownership of each represents­another man may be given the contrary advice.One client is advised to withdraw the hat-checkprivilege because it causes unfavorable publicto ,

comment. Another is advised to change thefacade of his building to conform to a certainpublic taste. .

One client is advised to announce changes ofprice policy to the public by telegraph, anotherby circular, another by advertising. One clientis advised to publish a Bible, another a book ofFrench Renaissance tales.

One department store is advised to use pricesin its advertising, another store not to mentionthem.

A client is advised to make his labor policy,the hygienic aspect 'of his factory, his own per­sonality, part of his sales campaign.

Another client is advised to exhibit his waresin a museum and school.

Still another is urged to found a scholarshipin his subject at a leading university.

ISCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 33

Further incidents could be given here, illus­trating different aspects of the ordinary dailyfunctions of the public relations counsel-how,for example, the production of "Damaged Goods"in America became the basis of the first notablysuccessful move in this country for overcomingthe prudish refusal to appreciate and face theplace of sex in human life; or how, more recently,the desire of some great corporations to increasetheir business was, through the advice of Ivy Lee,their public relations counsel, made the basis ofpopular education on the importance of brassand copper to civilization. Enough has beencited, however, to show how little the averagemember of the public knows of the real work ofthe public relations counsel, and how that workimpinges upon the daily life of the public in analmost infinite number of ways.

Popular misunderstanding of the work of thepublic relations counsel is easily comprehensiblebecause of the short period of his develop­ment. Nevertheless, the fact remains that hehas become in recent years too important a fig­ure in American _, for this ignorance to besafely or profitably continued.

<I'I,1cJ

;1

ji

1

'I·1J

,CHAPTER II

THE PUBLIC RELATIONS COUNSEL; THE INCREASED

AND INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF THE

PROFESSION

T H E rise of the modern public relations coun­sel is based on the need for and the value

of his services. Perhaps the most significantsocial, political and industrial fact ~bout ~he

present century is the increased attention whichis paid to public opinion, not only by individuals,groups or movements that are dependent on pub­lic support for their. success, but also by menand organizations which until very recently stoodaloof from the general public and were able tosay, "The public be damned."

The public to-day demands information andexpects also to be accepted as judge and juryin matters that have a wide public import. Thepublic, whether it invests its money in subwayor railroad tickets, in hotel rooms or restaurantfare, in silk or soap, is a highly sophisticatedbody. It asks questions, and if the answer inword or action is not forthcoming or satisfactory,it turns to other sources for information or relief.

The willingness to spend thousands of dollars34

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 35

in obtaining professional advice on how best topresent one's views or products to a public isbased on this fact.

On every side of American life, whether polit­ical, industrial, social, religious or scientific, theincreasing pressure of public judgment has madeitself felt. Generally speaking, the relationshipand interaction of the public and any movementis rather obvious. The charitable society whichdepends upon voluntary contributions for its sup­port has a clear and direct interest in being favor­ably represented before the public. In the sameway, the great corporation which is in dangerof having its profits taxed away or its sales falloff or its freedom impeded by legislative actionmust have recourse to the public to combat suc­cessfully these menaces. Behind these obviousphenomena, however, lie three recent tendenciesof fundamental importance; first, the tendencyof small organizations to aggregate into groupsof such size and importance that the publictends to regard them as semi-public services;second, the increased readiness of the public,due to the spread of literacy and democraticforms of government, to feel that it is entitledto its voice in the cond~ of these large aggre­gations, political, capital'm:'or labor, or whateverthey may be; third, the keen competition for pub­lic favor due to modern methods of "selling."

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS36 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

An example of the first tendency-that is, thetendency toward an increased public interest inindustrial activity, because of the increasing so­cial importance of industrial aggregations-maybe found in an article on "The Critic and theLaw" by Richard Washburn Child, published inthe Atlantic Monthly for May, 1906.

Mr. Child discusses in that article the rightof the critic to say uncomplimentary things aboutmatters of public interest. He points out the legalbasis for the right to criticize plays and novels.Then he adds, "A vastly more important andinteresting theory, and one which must arise fromthe present state and tendency of industrial con­ditions, is whether the acts of men in commer­cial activity may ever become so prominent andso far reaching in their effect that they compela universal public interest and that public com­ment is impliedly invited by reason of their con­spicuous and semi-public nature. It may be saidthat at no time have private industries becomeof such startling interest to the community atlarge as at present in the United States." Howfar present-day tendencies have borne out Mr.Child's expectation of a growing and acceptedpublic interest in important industrial enterprises,the reader can judge for himself.

With regard to the second tendency-the in­creased readiness of the public to expect infor-

37

mation about and to be heard on matters of polit­ical and social interest-Ray Stannard Baker'sdescription of the American journalist at thePeace Conference of Versailles gives an excel­lent picture. Mr. Baker tells what a shock Amer­ican newspaper men gave Old World diplomatsbecause at the Paris conference they "had come,not begging, but demanding. They sat at everydoorway," says Mr. Baker. "They looked overevery shoulder. They wanted every resolutionand report and wanted it immediately. I shallnever forget the delegation of American news­paper men, led by John Nevin, I saw come strid­ing through that Holy of Holies, the French For­eign Office, demanding that they be admitted tothe first general session of the Peace Conference.They horrified the upholders of the old methods,they desperately offended the ancient conven­tions; they were as rough and direct as democ­racy itself."

And I shall never forget the same feelingbrought home to me, when Herbert BayardSwope of the New York World, in the press roomat the Crillon Hotel in Paris, led the discussionof the newspaper representatives who forced theconference to regard public opinion and admitnewspaper men, and give out communiques daily.

That the pressure of the public for admittanceto the mysteries of foreign affairs is being felt

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS38 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

by the nations of the world may be seen fromthe following dispatch published in the New YorkHerald under the date line of the New YarkHerald Bureau, Paris, January 17, 1922: "Thesuccess of Lord Riddell in getting publicity forBritish opinion during the Washington confer­ence, while the French viewpoint was not stressed,may result in the appointment by the PoincareGovernment of a real propaganda agent to meetthe foreign newspaper men. The Eclair to-daycalls on the new premier to 'find his own LordRiddell in the French diplomatic and parlia­mentary world, who can give the world theFrench interpretation.''' Walter Lippmann ofthe New Y ark World in his volume "PublicOpinion" declares that "the significant revolutionof modern times is not industrial or economic 01'political, but the revolution which is taking placein the art of creating consent among the gov­erned." He goes on: "Within the life of the newgeneration now in control of affairs, persuasionhas become a self-conscious art and a regular or­gan of popular government. None of us beginsto understand the consequences, but it is no dar­ing prophecy to say that the knowledge of howto create consent will alter every political premise.Under the impact of propaganda, not necessarilyin the sinister meaning of the word alone, theonly constants of our thinking have become vari-

39ables, It is no longer possible, for example, tobelieve in the cardinal dogma of democracy, thatthe knowledge needed for the management ofhuman affairs comes up spontaneously from thehuman heart. Where we act on that theory weexpose ourselves to self-deception and to formsof persuasion that we cannot verify. It has beendemonstrated that we cannot rely upon intuition. ,conscience, or the accidents of casual opinion ifwe are to deal with the world beyond our reach." ,

~~ domestic affairs the importance of public0p111l0n not only in political decisions but in thedaily industrial life of the nation may be seenfrom numerous incidents. In the New YarkTimes of Friday, May 20, 1922, I find almost acolumn article with the heading "Hoover Pre­scribes Publicity for Coal." Among the improve­ments in the coal industry generally, which Mr.Hoover,. according to the dispatch, anticipatesf.r~m WIdespread, accurate and informative pub­Iicityaboui the industry itself, are the stimulationof ind~s.trial consumers to more regular demands,the ability to forecast more reliably the volumeof demand, the ability of the consumer to "formsome judgment as to the prices he should payfor coal," and the tendency to hold down over­expansion in the industry by publication of theratio of production to capacity. Mr. Hoover

1 Walter Lippmann, "Public Opinion" (page Z48).

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS

J40 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

concludes that really informative publicity "wouldprotect the great majority of operators from thecriticism that can only be properly leveled at theminority." Not so many years ago neither themajority nor the minority in the coal industrywould have concerned itself about public criti­cism of the industry.

From coal to jewelry seems rather a long step,and yet in The Jeweler's Circular, a trade maga­zine, I find much comment upon the NationalJewelers' Publicity Association. This associationbegan with the simple commercial ambition ofacquainting the public with "the value of jewelrymerchandise for gift purposes" ; now it finds itselfengaged in eliminating from the public mind ingeneral, and from the minds of legislators in par­ticular, the impression that "the jewelry businessis absolutely useless and that any money spentin a jewelry store is thrown away."

Not so long ago it would scarcely have oc­curred to anyone in the jewelry industry thatthere was any importance to be attached to theopinion of the public on the essential or non-essen­tial character of the jewelry industry. To-day,on the other hand, jewelers find it a profitable in­vestment to bring before the people the fact thattable silver is an essential in modern life, andthat without watches "the business and industriesof the nations would be a sad chaos." With all

!t

41

the other competing interests in the world to-day,the question as to whether the public considersthe business of manufacturing and selling jew­elry essential or non-essential is a matter of the

. first importance to the industry.The best examples, of course, of the increasing

importance of public opinion to industries whichuntil recently scarcely concerned themselves withthe existence or non-existence of a public opinionabout them, are those industries which arecharged with a public interest.

In a long article about the attitude of the pub­lic towards the railroads, the Railway Agereaches the conclusion that the most importantproblem which American railroads must solve is"the problem of selling themselves to the public."Some public utilities maintain public relations de­partments, whose function it is to interpret the or­ganizations to the public, as much as to interpretthe public to them. The significant thing, how­ever, is not the accepted importance of publicopinion in this or the other individual industry,but the fact that public opinion is becoming cumu­latively more and more articulate and thereforemore important to industrial life as a whole.

The New York Central Railroad, for example,maintains a Public Relations Department underPitt Hand, whose function it is to make it clearto the public that the railroad is functioning

42 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

efficiently to serve the public in every P?ssible

way. This department studies th,e publ.,c andtries to discover where the railroad s service canbe mended or improved, or when wrong or harm­ful impressions upon the public mind may be cor­

rected.This Public Relations Department finds it

profitable not only to bring to t?e atte.ntio~ of .thepublic the salient facts ab0.ut Its ~r~~ns, Its timetables, and its actual travelmg facIlities, but alsoto build up a broadly cooperative spirit that isindirectly of great value to itself and b~nefit tothe public. It cooperates, for example, with suchmovements as the Welcome Stranger Committeeof New York City in distributing literature totravelers to assist them when they reach the city.It cooperates with conventions, to the ext:nt ofarranging special travel facilities. Such aids asit affords to the directors of children's camps atthe Grand Central Station are especially conspic­uous for their" dramatic effect on the general

public. ! .

Even a service which is in a large measurenon-competitive must continually "sell" itself tothe public as evidenced by the strenuous effortsof the N:w York subways and elevated lines ~okeep themselves constantly before the people Inthe most favorable possible aspect. The subwaysstrive in this regard to create a feeling of sub-,

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 43

missiveness toward inconveniences which aremore or less unavoidable, and they strive likewiseto fulfill such constructive programs as that ofextending traffic on less frequented lines.

Let us analyze, for example, the activitiesof the health departments of such large citiesas New York. Of recent years, Health Com­missioner Royal S. Copeland and his state­ments have formed a fairly regular part of theday's news. Publicity is, in fact, one of themajor functions of the Health Department, in­asmuch as its constructive work depends to aconsiderable extent upon the public education itprovides in combating evils and in building up aspirit of individual and group cooperation in allhealth matters. When the Health Departmentrecognizes that such diseases as cancer, tuber­culosis and those following malnutrition are duegenerally to ignorance or neglect and that ameli­oration or prevention will be the result of knowl­edge, it is the next logical step "for this depart­ment to devote strenuous efforts to its publicrelations campaign. The department accordinglydoes exactly this.

Even governments to-day act upon the princi­ple that it is not sufficient to govern their owncitizens well and to assure the people that they areacting whole-heartedly in their behalf. Theyunderstand that the public opinion of the entire

44 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

world is important to their welfare. Thus Lith­uania, already noted, while it had the unboundedlove and support of its own people, was neverthe­less in danger of extinction because it w~s un­known outside of the immediate boundanes ofthose nations which had a personal interest in it.Lithuania was wanted by Poland; it was wantedby Russia. It was ignored by oth~r nati?ns.Therefore, through the aid of a public relationsexpert, Lithuania issued pamp~lets, .it paraded,it figured in pictures and motion pIctures anddeveloped a favorable sentime~t thro.ug~out theworld that in the end gave Llthua11la Its free-

dom. .In industry and business, of cour~e, there 1S

another consideration of first-rate 1mportanc~,

besides the danger of interference by the.pu~hcin the conduct of the industry-the increas1l1g in­

tensity of competition. Business and sales are nolonger to be had, if ever they were to be hadfor the asking. It must be clear to any ~n.e w~ohas looked through the mass of advertising 111

street cars, subways, newspapers and magaz1I1<;s,and the other avenues of approach to the pubhc,that products and services press hard upon oneanother in the effort to focus public attention ontheir offerings and to induce favorable action.

The keen competition in the selling of productsfor public favor makes it imperative that the

I,

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 45

seller consider other things than merely his prod­uct in trying to build up a favorable public re­action. He must either himself appraise thepublic mind and his relation to it or he mustengage the services of an expert who can aidhim to do this. He may to-day consider, forinstance, in his sales campaign, not only thequality of his soap but the working conditions,the hours of labor, even the living conditions ofthe men who make it.

The public relations counsel must advise himon these factors as well as on their presentationto the public most interested in them.

In this state of affairs it is not at all surpris­ing that industrial leaders should give the closestattention to public relations in both the broadestand the most practical concept of the term.

Large industrial groups, in their associations,have assigned a definite place to public relationsbureaus,

The Trade Association Executives in NewYork, an association of individual executives ofstate, territorial or national trade associations,such as the Allied Wall Paper Industry, theAmerican Hardware Manufacturers' Associa­tion, the American Protective Tariff League, theAtlantic Coast Shipbuilders' Association, theNational Association of Credit Men, the SilkAssociation of America and some seventy-four

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS46 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

others, includes among its associations' functionssuch activities as the following: cooperative ad­vertising; adjustments and collections; cost ac­counting; a credit bureau; distribution and newmarkets; educational, standardization and re­search work; exhibits; a foreign trade bureau;house organs; general publicity; an industrialbureau; legislative work; legal aid; market re­ports; statistics; a traffic department; Washing­ton representation; arbitration. It is noteworthythat forty of these associations have incorporatedpublic relations with general publicity as a defi­nite part of their program in furthering the in­terests of their organizations.

The American Telephone and Telegraph Com­pany devotes effort to studying its public rela­tions problems, not only to increase its volume ofbusiness, but also to create a cooperative spiritbetween itself and the public. The work of thetelephone company's operators, statistics, calls,lineage, installations are given to the public invarious forms. During the war and for a periodafterwards its main problem was that of satisfy­ing the public that its service was necessarilybelow' standard because of the peculiar nationalconditions. The public, in response to the effortsof the company, which were analogous to a gra­cious personal apology, accepted more or less irk­some conditions as a matter of course. Had the

I47

company not cared about the public, the publicwould undoubtedly have been unpleasantly insist­ent upon a maintenance of the pre-war standardsof service.

Americans were once wont to jest about thedependence of France and Switzerland upon thetounst trade. To-day we see American citiescompeting, as part of their public relations pro­grams, for conventions, fairs and conferences.The New York Times printed some time ago anaddress by the governor of Nebraska, in whichhe told a group of advertising men that pub­licity had made Nebraska prosper.

The New York Herald carried an editorialrecently, entitled, "It pays a state to advertise". ,centermg about the campaign of the state ofVermont to present itself favorably to publicattention. According to the editorial, the statepublishes a magazine, The Vermonter, an attrac­tive publication filled with interesting illustra­tions and well-written text. It is devoted exclu­sively to revealing in detail the industrial andagricultural resources of the state' and to pre­senting Vermont's strikingly beautiful scenicattractions for the summer visitor. Similar in.stances of elaborate efforts, taking the form ofaction or the printed word, either to obtain publicattention or to obtain a favorable attitude fromthe public for individual industries and groups

,48 Cln'STALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

of indu st ries, will come re adily to the reader'sIl1 inrl.

'W ithout attempting to take too seriously anamus ing story printed in a recent issue of a NewYork newspaper, lead ers in movements and in­du stries of modern life will be inclined to agreewith the protagonist of publicity spoken of. Ac­cording to the story, a man set out to prove toanother that it was not so much what a mandid as the way it was heralded which insureshis place in history. He cited Barbara Frietchie,Evangeline, John Smith and a half dozen othersas instances to prove that they are rememberednot for what they did, but because they had ex­cellent counsel on th eir public relations.

" 'Very good,' agreed the fri end. 'But showme a case where a per son who ha s really done abig thing has been overlooked.'

"'You know P aul Revere, of course,' hesaid. 'But tell me the names of the two otherfell ows who rode that night to rous e the country­sid e wi th the news that the British were com­ing.'

" 'Never heard of th em,' was the answer.t

" 'T here were 'three waiting to see the signalhung in the tower of t he Old North Church.' hesaid. 'Every one of th em was mounted andspur red. just as Mr. Long-fell ow described PaulRevere, They all got th e signal. They all rode

JSCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 49

and waked the farmers, spreading the warning.Afterward one of them was an offi cer in Wash­ir:gton's army, another became governor of oneat the States. N ot one in twenty thousand Am er­icans ever heard the names of th e oth er tw o andthere is hardly a person in America who does notknow all ab out Revere. '

,. 'D id Revere make history or did Lonafel-low?' " ~

J

CHAPTER III

THE FUNCTION OF A SPECIAL PLEADER

PU BLIC opinion has entered life at manypoints as a decisive factor. Men and move­

ments whose interests will be affected by theatti tude of the public are taking pains to havethemselves represented in the court of publicopinion by the most skillful counselors they canobtain. The business of the public relationscounsel is somewhat like the business of theattorney-to advise his client and to litigate hiscauses for him.

While the special pleader in law, the lawyerfor the defense, has always been accorded aformal hearing by judge and jury, this has notbeen the case before the court of public opinion.Here mob psychology, the intolerance of humansociety for a dissenting point of view, have madeit difficult and often dangerous for a man to pleadfor a new or unpopular cause.

The Fourth Estate, a newspaper for themakers of newspapers, says: " 'Counsel on publicrelations' and 'director of public relations' aretwo terms that are being encountered more often

so

ISCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 51

every day. There is a familiar tinge to them,in a way, but in justice to the men who bear thesetitles and to the concerns which employ them, itshould be said that they are-or can be-disso­ciated from the old idea of 'publicity man.' Thevery fact that many of the largest corporationsin the country are recognizing the need of main­taining right relationships with the public is aloneimportant enough to assure a fair and even favor­able hearing for their public relations depart­ments.

"Whether a man is really entitled to the appel­lation 'counsel on public relations' or whether heshould merely be called 'publicity man' rests en­tirely with the individual and the firm that em­ploys him. As we see it, a man who is reallycounsel or director of public relations has oneof the most important jobs on the roster of anyconcern; but a man who merely represents theold idea of getting something for nothing frompublishers is about passe. . . .

"So there is made plain the difference betweentwo terms, the old and the new, both of whichhave occasioned much natural curiosity amongnewspaper men. When Napoleon said, 'Circum­stance? I make circumstance,' he expressed verynearly the spirit of the public relations counsel'swork. So long as this new professional branchlive up to the possibilities that their title sug-

CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

J52

gests, they are bound to accomplish general con­structive good. Maybe they, at last, will makeus forget that ingratiating though insidious in­dividual, the publicity man."

As indicative perhaps of the growing impor­tance of the profession, an article by Mary SwainRoutzahn, in charge of the Department of Sur­veys and Exhibits of the Rnssell Sage Founda­tion on "Woman's Chance as Publicity Special-,ist" published in the New Yark Globe of Augustznd, 1921, discusses the profession as one of re­cent development, but of such importance as todeserve the serious consideration of women whoare interested in making a professional career forthemselves.

The public relations counsel is first of all astudent. His field of study is the public mind.His text books for this study are the facts oflife; the articles printed in newspapers and mag­azines, the advertisements that are inserted inpublications, the billboards that line the streets,the railroads and the highways, the speeches thatare delivered in legislative chambers, the sermonsissuing from pulpits, anecdotes related in smok­ing rooms, the gossip of Wall Street, the patterof the theater and the conversation of other menwho, like him, are interpreters and must listenfor the clear or obscure enunciations of thepublic.

1

,SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 53

He brings the talent of his intuitive under­standing to the aid of his practical and psycho­logical tests and surveys. But he is not only astudent. He is a practitioner with a wide rangeof instruments and a definite technique for theiruse.

First of all, there are the circumstances andevents he helps to create. After that there arethe instruments by which he broadcasts facts andideas to the public; advertising, motion pictures,circular letters, booklets, handbills, speeches,meetings, parades, news articles, magazine ar­ticles and whatever other mediums there arethrough which public attention is reached andinfluenced.

Now sensitiveness to the state of mind of thepublic is a difficult thing to achieve or maintain.Any man can tell you with more or less accuracyand clearness his own reactions on any particularissue. But few men have the time or the interestor the training to develop a sense of what otherpersons think or feel about the same issue. Inhis own profession the skilled practitioner is sen­sitive and understanding. The lawyer can tellwhat argument will appeal to court or jury. Thesalesman can tell what points to stress to hisprospective buyers. The politician can tell whatto emphasize to his audience, but the ability toestimate group reactions on a large scale over

I5+ CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

a wide geographic and psychological area is aspecialized ability which must be developed withthe same painstaking self-criticism and with thesame dependence on experience that are requiredfor the development of the clinical sense in thedoctor or surgeon.

Of course, the public relations counsel employsall those practical means of gauging the publicmind which modern advertising has developedand uses. He employs the research campaign,the symposium, the survey of a particular groupor of a particular state of mind as a further aid,and confirmation or modification of his own ap­praisals and judgments.

Charles J. Rosebault, the author of an articlein the New York Times recently, headed "MenWho Wield the Spotlight," remarks that thecompetent public relations counsel has generallyhad some newspaper training and that the valueof this training "is a keen sense of the likes anddislikes of what we call the public-that is, theaverage of men and women. The needle of thecompass is no more, sensitive to direction, northe mercury in the thermometer to variations ofheat and cold than is this expert to the influenceof publicity upon the mind and emotions of theman in the street."

It is not surprising that the growing interestof the public in men and movements should have

ISCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 55

led to the spontaneous creation of the new pro­fession.

We have presented here, in very broad outline,a picture of the fundamental work of the publicrelations counsel and of the fundamental con­ditions which have produced him. On the onehand, a complex environment of which only small,disconnected portions are available to differentpersons; on the other hand, the great and increas­ing importance either of making one's case acces­sible to the public mind or of determining whetherthat case will impinge favorably or unfavorablyupon the public mind-these two conditions, takentogether, have resulted inevitably in the publicrelations counsel. Mr. Lippmann finds in thesefacts the underlying reason for the existence ofwhat he calls the "press agent." "The enormousdiscretion," he says, "as to what facts and whatimpressions shall be reported is steadily convinc­ing every' organized group of people that; whetherit wishes to secure publicity or to avoid it: theexercise of discretion cannot be left to thereporter. It is safer to hire a press agentwho stands between the group and the news­papers." 1

It is clear that the popular impression of the

1 "Public Opinion" (page 342). Mr. Lippmann goes on to saythat "having hired him, the temptation to exploit his strategicposition is very great." As to that aspect of the situation, seelater chapters.

thought communication that make up publicopinion.

So long as the press remains the greatest singlemedium for reaching the public mind, the workof the public relations counsel will necessarilyhave close contacts with the work of the journal­ist. He transmits his ideas, however, throughall those mediums which help to build publicopinion-the radio, the lecture platform, adver­tising, the stage, the motion picture, the mails.On the other hand, he is becoming to-day as muchof an adviser on actions as he is the communi­cator of these actions to the public.

The public relations consultant is ideally a con­structive force in the community. The resultsof his work are often accelerated interest in mat­ters of value and importance to the social, eco­nomic or political life of the community.

The public relations counsel is the pleader tothe public of a point of.view. He acts in thiscapacity as a consultant both in interpreting thepublic to his client and in helping to interpret hisclient to the public. He helps to mould the actionof his client as well as to mould public opinion.

His profession is in a state of evolution. Hisfuture must depend as much upon the growingrealization by the public of the responsibility tothe public of individuals, institutions and organi­zations as upon the public relations counsel's ownrealization of the importance of his work.

56 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

scope and functions of the counsel on public re­lations must be radically revised if any accuratepicture of the profession is to be looked for. Thepublic relations counsel is the lineal descendant,to be sure, of the circus advance-man and ofthe semi-journalist promoter of small-part ac­tresses. The economic conditions which haveproduced him, however, and made his professionthe important one it is to-day, have in themselvesmaterially changed the character of his work.

His primary function now is not to bring hisclients by chance to the public's attention, nor toextricate them from difficulties into which theyhave already drifted, but to advise his clientshow positive results can be accomplished in thefield of public relations and to keep them fromdrifting inadvertently into unfortunate or harm­ful situations. The public relations counsel willfind that the conditions under which his clientoperates, be it a government, a manufacturer offood products or a railroad system, are constantlychanging and that he must advise modificationsin policy in accordance with such changes in thepublic point of view. As such, the public rela­tions counsel must be alive to the events of theday-not only the events that are printed butthe events which are forming hour by hour, asreported in the words that are spoken on thestreet, in the smoking cars, in the school room,or expressed in any of the other forms of

ISCOPE AND FUNCTIONS 57

PART II

THE GROUP AND HERD

\

CHAPTER I

WHAT CONSTITUTES PUBLIC OPINION?

T H E character and origins of public opinion,the factors that make up the individual

mind and the group mind must be understood ifthe profession of public relations counsel is tobe intelligently practiced and its functions andpossibilities accurately estimated. Society mustunderstand the fundamental character of thework he is doing, if for no other reason than itsown welfare.

The public relations counsel works with thatvague, little-understood, indefinite material calledpublic opinion.

Public opinion is a term describing an ill-de­fined, mercurial and changeable group of indi­vidual judgments. Public opinion is the aggre­gate result of individual opinions-now uniform,now conflicting-of 'the men and women whomake up society or any group of society. Inorder to understand public opinion, one must goback to the individual who makes up the group.

The mental equipment of the average individ­ual consists of a mass of judgments on most of

61

62 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

the subjects which touch his daily physical ormental life. These judgments are the tools ofhis daily being and yet they are his judgments,not on a basis of research and logical deduction,but for the most part dogmatic expressions ac­cepted on the authority of his parents, his teach­ers, his church, and of his social, his economicand other leaders.

The public relations counsel must understandthe social implications of an individual's thoughtsand actions. Is it, for example, purely an acci­dent that a man belongs to one church rather thananother or to any church at all? Is it an acci­dent that makes Boston women prefer browneggs and New York women white eggs? Whatare the factors that work in favor of conver­sion of a man from one political party to anotheror from one type of food to another?

Why do certain communities resist the pro­hibition law-why do others abide by it? Why'is it difficult to start a new party movement­or to fight cancer? Why is it difficult to fightfor sex educatiort? Why does the free traderdenounce protectionism, and vice versa?

If we had to form our own judgments on everymatter, we should all have to find out many thingsfor ourselves which we now take for granted.We should not cook our food or live in houses-in fact, we should revert to primitive living.

I1

THE GROUP AND HERD

The public relations counsel must deal with thefact that persons who have little knowledge ofa subject almost invariably form definite andpositive judgments upon that subject.

"If we examine the mental furniture of theaverage man," says William Trotter, the authorof a comprehensive study of the social psychologyof the individual,' "we shall find it made up ofa vast number of judgments of a very precisekind upon subjects of very great variety, com­plexity, and difficulty. He will have fairly settledviews upon the origin and nature of the universe,and upon what he will probably call its meaning;he will have conclusions as to what is to happento him at death and after, as to what is and whatshould be the basis of conduct. He will knowhow the country should be governed, and whyit is going to the dogs, why this piece of legisla­tion is good and that bad. He will have strongviews upon military and naval strategy, the prin­ciples of taxation, the use of alcohol and vacci­nation, the treatment of influenza, the preventionof hydrophobia, upon municipal trading, theteaching of Greek, upon what is permissible inart, satisfactory in literature, and hopeful in sci­ence.

"The bulk of such opinions must necessarily

1 William Trotter, "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War"(page 36).

64 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

be without rational basis, since many of themare concerned with problems admitted by the ex­pert to be still unsolved, while as to the rest itis clear that the training and experience of noaverage man can qualify him to have any opinionupon them at all. The rational method ade­quately used would have told him that on thegreat majority of these questions there could befor him but one attitude-that of suspendedjudgment."

The reader will recall from his own experiencean almost infinite number of instances in whichthe amateur has been fully prepared to deliverexpert advice and to give final judgment in mat­ters upon which his ignorance is patent to everyone except himself.

In the Middle Ages, society was convinced thatthere were witches. People were so positive thatthey burned people whom they suspected of witch­craft: .To-day there is an equal number of peo­ple who believe just as firmly, one way or theother, about spiritualism and spirits, They donot burn mediums. But people who have madeno research of the subject pass strong denuncia­tory judgments. Others, no better informed, con­sider mediums divinely inspired. Not so longago every intelligent man knew that the wo~ld

was flat. To-day the average man has a beliefjust as firm and unknowing in the mysterious

THE GROUP AND HERD 65

force which he has heard called atomic energy.It is axiomatic that men who know little are

often intolerant of a po;I;,"t-or'vie;'that is con­trary to their own. The bitterness that has beenbrought about by arguments on public questionsis proverbial. Lovers have been parted by bitterquarrels on theories of pacificism or militarism;and when an argument upon an abstract questionengages opponents they often desert the main lineof argument in order to abuse each other.

How often this is true can be seen from thecongressional records of' controversies in whichthe personal attack supersedes logic. In a re­cent fight against the proposed tariff measures, aprotagonist of protection published long vindic­tive statements, in which he tried to confoundthe character and the disinterestedness of hisopponents. Logically his discussion should havebeen based only upon the sound economic, socialand political value of the bill as. presented.

Ahundred leading Ainerican'barikers~ businessmen, professional men and economists united inpublic disapproval of this plan. They stated theiropinion that the "American" Valuation Plan, asit was called, would endanger the prosperity ofthe country, that it would be inimical to ourforeign relations and that it would injure thewelfare of every country with. whom our com­mercial and industrial ties were at all close.

66 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

This group was a broadly representative groupof men and women, yet the chairman of theWays and Means Committee accused all thesepeople of acting upon motives of personal gainand lack of patriotism. Prejudice supersededlogic.

Intolerance is almost inevitably accompaniedby a natural and true inability to comprehend ormake allowance for opposite points of view. Theskilled scientist who may be receptive to anypromising suggestion in his own field may out­side of his own field be found quite unwillingto make any attempt at understanding a pointof view contrary to his own. In politics, forexample, his understanding of the problem maybe fragmentary, yet he will enter excitedly intodiscussions on bonus and ship subsidy, of whichhe has made no study. We find here with sig­nificant uniformity what one psychologist hascalled "logic-proof compartments."

The logic-proof compartment has always beenwith us. Scientists have lost their lives throughrefusing to see flaws in their theories. Intelli­gent mothers give food to their babies that theywould manifestly forbid other mothers to givetheir children. Especially significant is the tend­ency of races to maintain religious beliefs andcustoms long after these have lost their meaning.Dietary laws, hygienic laws, even laws based

'.

!1

THE GROUP AND HERD

upon geographical conditions that have beenchanged for more than a thousand years are stillmaintained in the logic-proof compartment ofdogmatic adherence. There is a story that cer­tain missionaries give money to heathen at thetime of conversion and that the heathen, havinggot their money, bathe away their conversion insacred streams.

The characteristic of the human mind to ad­here to its beliefs is excellently summarized inthe volume by Mr. Trotter to which reference hasbeen made before. "It is clear," says Mr. Trot­ter,' "at the outset that these beliefs are invaria­bly regarded as rational and defended as such.while the position of one who holds contraryviews is held to be obviously unreasonable.

"The religious man accuses the atheist of be­ing shallow and irrational, and is met by a sim­ilar reply. To the Conservative the amazingthing about the Liberal is his incapacity to seereason and accept the only possible solution ofpublic problems. Examination reveals the factthat the differences are not due to the commissionof the mere mechanical fallacies of logic, sincethese are easily avoided, even by the politician,and since there is no reason to believe that oneparty in such controversies is less logical than

1 "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War," William Trotter(pages 36-37).

68 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

the other. The difference is due rather to thefundamental assumptions of the antagonists be­ing hostile, and these assumptions are derivedfrom herd-suggestions; to the Liberal certainbasal conceptions have acquired the quality of in­stinctive truth, have become a priori syntheses,because of the accumulated suggestions to whichhe has been exposed; and a similar explanationapplies to the atheist, the Christian, and the Con­servative. Each, it is important to rememher,finds in consequence the rationality of his posi­tion flawless and is quite incapable of detectingin it the fallacies which are obvious to his oppo­nent, to whom that particular series of assump­tions has not been rendered acceptable by herd

. "suggesuon,Thus the public relations counsel has to con­

sider the a priori judgment of any public he dealswith before counseling any step that would mod­ify those things in which the public has an es­tablished belief.

It is seldom effective to call names or to at­tempt to discredit the beliefs themselves, Thecounsel on public relations, after examination ofthe sources of established beliefs, must either dis­credit the old authorities or create new authori­ties by making articulate a mass opinion againstthe old belief or in favor of the new.

CHAPTER II

IS PUBLIC OPINION STUBBORN OR MALLEABLE?

T H E RE is a divergence of opinion as towhether the public mind is malleable or

stubborn-whether it is a passive or an activeelement. On the one hand is the profound be­lief that "you can't change human nature." Onthe other hand is the equally firm assurance thatcertain well-defined institutions modify and alterpublic opinion.

There is a uniformity of opinion in this coun­try upon many issues. When this uniformityaccords with our own beliefs we call it an ex­pression of the public conscience. When, how­ever, it runs contrary to our beliefs we call itthe regimentation of the public mind and are in­clined to ascribe it to insidious propaganda.

Uniformity is, in fact, largely natural and onlypartly artificial. Public opinion may be as muchthe producer of "insidious propaganda" as itsproduct. Naturally enough, where broad ideasare involved, criticisms of the state of the public'smind and of its origin come most frequently fromgroups that are out of sympathy with the ac-

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70 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

cepted point of view. They find the public un­receptive to their point of view, and justly orunjustly they attribute this to the influence of an­tagonistic interests upon the public mind.

These groups see the press, the lecture plat­form, the schools, the advertisements, thechurches, the radio, the motion picture screen,the magazines daily reaching millions. They seethat the preponderant point of view in most, ifnot all, these institutions cotiforms to the prepon­derant state of mind of the public.

They argue from the one to the other. andreach their conclusions without much difficulty.They do not stop to think that agreement in pointof view between the public and these institutionsmay often be the result of the control exercisedby the public mind over these institutions.

Many outside forces, however, do go to influ­ence public opinion. The most obvious of theseforces are parental influence, the schoolroom,the -press, motion pictures, advertising, . maga­zines, lectures, the church, the radio.

To answer the question as to the stubbornnessor malleability of the public, let us analyze thepress in its relation to public opinion, since thepress stands preeminent among the various in­stitutions which are commonly designated asleaders or moulders of the public mind. Bythe press, in this instance, I mean the daily

(ITHE GROUP AND HERD 71

press. Americans are a newspaper-reading pub­lic.· They ha ve become accustomed to look totheir morning and evening papers for the newsof the world and for the opinions of their leaders.And while the individual newspaper reader doesnot give a very considerable portion of his dayto this occupation, many persons find time to readmore than one newspaper every day.

It is not surprising that the man who is out­side the current of prevailing public opinionshould regard the daily press as a coercive force.

Discussions of the public's reaction to the pressare two-sided, just as are discussions of the in­fluence of the pulpit or other forces. Someauthorities hold that the public mind is stubbornin regard to the press and that the press has littleinfluence upon it. There are graphic instances ofthe stubbornness of the public point of view. Amost interesting example is the reelection ofMayor Hylan of New York by an overwhelmingmajor-ity in the face of the opposition of all buttwo of the metropolitan dailies. It is also note­worthy that in 1909, Gaynor was elected Mayorof New York with every paper except one oppos­ing his candidacy. Likewise, Mayor Mitchel ofNew York was defeated for reelection in 1917,although all the New York papers except two.Hearst papers and the New Yark Call supportedhim. In Boston, in a recent election, a man was

72 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

elected as mayor who had been convicted of apenal offense, and elected in the face of the prac­tically united opposition of all the newspapers ofthat city. How would such authors as EverettDean Martin, Walter Lippmann and Upton Sin­clair explain these incidents? How, on the the­ory of the regimentation of the public mind bythe daily press, can such thinkers explain thesharpness with which the public sometimes rejectsthe advocacies of a united press? These in­stances are not frequent; but they show thatother influences beside the press enter into themaking of a public opinion and that these forcesmust never be disregarded in the estimate of thequality and stability of a prevalent public opin­ion.

Francis E. Leupp, writing in the AtlanticMonthly for February, I9IO, on "The WaningPower of the Press," remarks that Mayor Gay·nor's comments shortly after his election in 1909"led up to the conclusion that in our common sensegeneration nobody cares what the newspaperssay." Mr. Leupp continues: "Unflattering assuch a verdict may be, probably the majority ofa community if polled as a jury would concurin it. The airy dismissal of some propositionas 'mere newspaper talk' is heard at every socialgathering until one who is brought up to regardthe press as a mighty factor in modern civiliza-

THE GROUP AND HERD 73

tion is tempted to wonder whether it has actuallylost the power it used to wield among us."

And H. L. Menoken, writing in the samemagazine for March, .1914, declares that "oneof the principal marks of an educated man, in­deed, is the fact that he does not take his opinionsfrom newspapers-not, at any rate, from the mil­itant, crusading newspapers. On the contrary,his attitude toward them is almost always one offrank cynicism, with indifference as its mildestform and contempt as its commonest. He knowsthat they are constantly falling into false reason­ing about the things within his personal knowl­edge,-that is, within the narrow circle of hisspecial education,-and so he assumes that theymake the same, or even worse, errors about otherthings, whether intellectual or moral. This as­sumption, it may be said at once, is quite justifiedby the facts."

The second point of view holds that the dailypress and the other leading forces merely accept,reflect and intensify established public opinionand are, therefore, responsible for the uniformityof public reaction. A vivid statement of the pointof view of the man who typifies this group isfound in Everett Dean Martin's volume on"The Behavior of Crowds." He says: 1 "Themodern man has in the printing press a wonder-

1 Page 45.

74 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

fully effective means for perpetuating crowd­movements and keeping great masses of peopleconstantly under the sway of certain cr~wd­ideas. Every crowd-group has its magazl1l.es,press agents, and special 'literature' with WhlC?it continually harangues its members and POS~l­ble converts. Many books, and especially certal1lworks of fiction of the 'best seller' type, areclearly reading mob phenomena."

There is a third group which perhaps co;nesnearer the truth, which holds that the pre.ss, ~ustas other mediums of education or disse;nl1latlO~,

brings about a very definite change 11l publicopinion. A most graphic illustrati~n. of whatsuch mediums can do to change op11l1OnS uponfundamental and important matters is the w~mansuffrage question and its victory over estabhshedpoints of view. The press, the pulpit, the lectureplatform, the motion pictures. and the other me­diums for reaching the pubhc brought about acomplete popular conversion.· Other examples ~fthe change that may be brought ~bout 1~ public

. . n in this wav by such [nstitutions ofOP11l1O . , d bi hauthority, is the; present attitude ~owar s irtcontrol and towards health educatlOn: . .

Naturally the press, like other 11lstJt~tlOnShich present facts or opinions, is restrIcted,

w . . I boften unconsciously, sometimes COnSCl?US y, Yvarious controlling conditions. Certain people

lI,

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Ir

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III

\1

THE GROUP AND HERD 75

talk of the censorship enacted by the prejudicesand predispositions of the public itself. Some,such as Upton Sinclair, ascribe to the advertisersa conscious and powerful control of publications.Others, like Walter Lippmann, find that an effec­tive barrier between the public and the event ex­ists in the powerful influence which, he says, isexerted in certain cases on the press by the so­called quality public which the newspapers' ad­vertisers wish to reach and among whom thenewspapers must circulate if the advertising isto be successful. Mr. Lippmann observes thatalthough such a restriction may exist, much ofwhat may be attributed to censorship in the news­paper, often is actually inadequate presentationof the events it seeks to describe.

On this point he says: 1 "It follows that inthe reporting of strikes, the easiest way is to letthe news be uncovered by the overt act, and todescribe the event as the story of interferencewith the reader's life. This is where his attentionis first aroused and his interest most easily en­listed. A great deal, I think myself, of the crucialpart of what looks to the worker and the reformeras deliberate misrepresentation on the part ofnewspapers, is the direct outcome of a practicaldifficulty in uncovering the news, and the emo­tional difficulty of making distinct facts interest-

1 "Public Opinion" (page 350).

I76 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

, .,ing unless, as Emerson says, we can perceive(them) and can 'set about translating (them)at once into parallel facts.' "

In view then of the possibility of a malleablepublic opinion the counsel on public re~ations, de­sirinz to obtain a hearing for any gIVen cause,

'" b .simply utilizes existent channels to 0 tam expres-sion for the point of view he represents. Howthis is done will be considered later.

Because of the importance of channels ofthouzht communication, it is vital for the publicrelations counsel to study carefully the relation­ship between public opinion and the organs thatmaintain it or that influence it to change. Weshall look into this interaction and its effect inthe next chapter.

,

CHAPTER III

THE INTERACTION OF PUBLIC OPINION WITH THE

FORCES THAT HELP TO MAKE IT

T H E public and the press, or for that matter,the public and any force that modifies pub­

lic opinion, interact. Action and interaction arecontinually going on between the forces pro­jected out to the public and the public itself.The public relations couusel must understand thisfact in its broadest and most detailed implications.He must understand not only what these variousforces are, but he must be able to evaluate theirrelative powers with fair accuracy. Let us con­sider again the case of a newspaper, as represent­ative of other mediums of communication.

"We print," says the New York Times, "all thenews that's fit to print." Immediately the ques­tion arises (as Elmer Davis, the historian of theTimes tells us that it did when the motto wasfirst adopted) what news is fit to print? By whatstandard is the editorial decision reached whichincludes one kind of news and excludes anotherkind? The Times itself has not been, in its long

77

78 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

and conspicuously successful career, entirely freefrom difficulties on this point.

Thus in "The History of The New YarkTime'S," Mr. Davis feels the need for justifyingthe extent to which that paper featured Theo­dore Tilton's action against the Rev. HenryWard Beecher for alienation of Mrs. Tilton'saffections and his conduct with her. Mr. Davissays (pages 124-125): "No doubt a good manyreaders of the Times thought that the paperwas giving an undue amount of space to thischronicle of sin and suffering. Those complaintscome in often enough even in these days fromreaders who appreciate the paper's general re­luctance to display news of this sort, and wonderwhy a good general rule should occasionally beviolated. But there was a reason in the Beechercase, as there has usually been a reason in similaraffairs since. Dr. Beecher was one of the mostprominent clergymen in the country; there was anatural curiosity as to whether he was practicingwhat he preached. One of the counsel at thetrial declared that 'all Christendom was hangingon its outcome.', Full reporting of its course wasnot a mere pandering to vulgar curiosity, but arecognition of the value of the case as news."

The simple fact that such a slogan can existand be accepted is for our purpose an importantpoint. Somewhere there must be a standard to

«ITHE GROUP AND HERD 79

which the editors of the Times can conform, aswell as a large clientele of constant readers towhom that standard is satisfactory. "Fit" mustbe defined by the editors of the Times in a waywhich meets with the approval of enough personst? enable the paper to maintain its reading pub­lie, As soon, however, as the definition is at­tempted, difficulties arise.

Professor W. G. Bleyer, in an article in hisbook on journalism, first stresses the importanceof completeness in the news columns of a paper,t.he~ g:oes on to say that "the only importantlimitations to completeness are those imposed by~he commonly accepted ideas of decency embodiedIII the words, 'All the news that's fit to print'and by the rights of privacy. Carefully edited~ewsp.apers discriminate between what the publicIS entitled to know and what an individual hasa right to keep private."

On the other hand, when Professor Bleyerattempts to define what news isfitto print andwhat the public is entitled to know, he discusses~ener~lizations capable of wide and frequentlyIllcon~lste~t interpretation. "News," says he, "isanythlll~ tlmel! which is significant to newspaperreaders III their relations to the community, thestate and the nation."

W~o is to determine what is significant andwhat IS not? Who is to decide which of the in-

\80 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

dividual's relations to the community are safe­guarded by his right of privacy and which arenot? Such a definition tells us nothing moredefinite than does the slogan which it attemptsto define. We must look further for a standardby which these definitions are applied. Theremust be a consensus of public opinion on whichthe newspaper falls back for its standards.

The truth is that while it appears to be form­ing the public opinion on fundamental matters,the press is often conforming to it.

It is the office of the public relations counselto determine the interaction between the public,and the press and the other mediums affectingpublic opinion. It is as important to conformto the standards of" the organ which projectsideas as it is to present to this organ such ideasas will conform to the fundamental understand­ing and appreciation of the public to which theyare ultimately to appeal. There is as much truthin the proposition that the public leads institu­tions as in the contrary proposition that the in­stitutions lead the public.

As an illustration of the manner in whichnewspapers are inclined to accept the judgmentsof their readers in presenting material to them,we have this anecdote which Rollo Ogden tellsin the Atlantic Monthly for July, 1906, about a

THE GROUP AND HERD 81

letter which Wendell Phillips wished to have pub­lished in a Boston paper.

"The editor read it over, and said, 'Mr. Phil­lips, that is a very good and interesting letter,and I shall be glad to publish it; but I wish youwould consent to strike out the last paragraph.'

"'Why,' said Phillips, 'that paragraph is theprecise thing for which I wrote the whole letter.Without that it would be pointless.'

" 'Oh, I see that,' replied the editor; 'and whatyou say is perfectly true! I fully agree with itall myself. Yet it is one of those things whichit will not do to say publicly. However, if youinsist upon it, I will publish it as it stands.'

"It was published the next morninz and alono,,, ewith it a short editorial reference to it, sayingthat a letter from Mr. Phillips would be foundin another column, and that it was extraordinarythat so keen a mind as his should have fallen intothe palpable absurdity contained in the last para-graph." .

Recognition of this fact comes from a numberof different sources. H. L. Mencken recognizesthat the public runs the press as much as the pressruns the public.

"The primary aim of all of them," saysMr. Mencken;' "not less when they play the secu­

2 Atlantic Monthly} March, 1914_

82 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

lar Iokanaan than when they play the mere news­monger, was to please the crowd, and to give agood show; and the way they set about givingthat good show was by first selecting a deservingvictim, and then putting him magnificently to thetorture.

"This was their method when they were per­forming for their own profit only, when theirone motive was to make the public read theirpaper; but it was still their motive when theywere battling bravely and unselfishly for the pub­lic good, and so discharging the highest duty oftheir profession."

There are interesting, if somewhat obscure,examples of the complementary working of vari­ous forces. In the field of the motion pictures,for example, the producers, the actors and thepress, in their support, have continually wageda battle against censorship. Undoubtedly censor­ship of the motion pictures is in its practical work­ings an economic ana artistic handicap. Censor­ship, however, will continue in spite of the pro­ducers as long as there is a willingness on thepart of the public .to accept this censorship. Thepublic, on the whole, has refused to join the fightagainst censorship, because there is a more or lessarticulate belief that children. if not women,should be protected from seeing shocking sights,such as murders visibly enacted, the taking of

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drugs, immoralities and other acts which mightoffend or suggest harmful imitation.

"Damaged Goods," before its presentation toAmerica in 1913, was analyzed by the public re-

. lations counsel, who helped to produce the play.He recognized that unless that part of the publicsentiment which believed in education and truthcould be lifted from that part of public opinionwhich condemned the mentioning of sex matters,"Damaged Goods" would fail. The producers,therefore, did not try to educate the public bypresenting this playas such, but allowed groupleaders and groups interested in education tocome to the support of Brieux's drama and, in asense, to sponsor the production.

Proof that the public and the institutions thatmake public opinion interact is shown in instancesin which books were stifled because of populardisapproval at one time and then brought forwardby popular demand at a later time when publicopinion had' altered.T'Religious and very earlyscientific works are among such books.

A more recent instance is the announcementmade by Judge, a weekly magazine, that it wouldsupport the fight for light wine andbeer. Judgetook this stand because it believed in the prin­ciple of personal freedom and also because itdeemed that public sentiment was in favor oflight wine and beer as a substitute for absolute

,84 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

prohibition. Judge believed its stand would pleaseits readers.

Presumably writing of newspaper morality,Mr. Mencken, in his article just quoted, finds atthe end of it that he has "written of popularmorality very copiously, and of newspaper moral­ity very little.

"But," says Mr. Mencken, "as I have said be­fore, the one is the other. The newspaper mustadapt its pleading to its clients' moral limitationjust as the trial lawyer also must adapt his plead­ing to the jury's limitations. Neither may likethe job, but both must face it to gain the largerend."

Writing on the other hand from the pointof view of the man who feels that the public tasterequires no justification, Ralph Pulitzer nev­ertheless agrees with Mr. Mencken that the opin­ion of the press is set by the public; and he jus­tifies"muckraking'" by finding it neither "ex­traordinary nor culpable that people and pressshould be more interested in the polemical thanin the platitudinous; in blame than in paintingthe lily; in attack than in sending laudatory coalsto Newcastle."

Even Mr. Leupp' concludes that "whatever

1 Atlantic Monthly. June, 1914.2 Francis E. Leupp, "The Waning Power of the Press," Atlan­

tic Monthly, July, 1910.

THE GROUP AND HERD 85

we may say of the modern press on its less com­mendable side, we are bound to admit that news­papers, like governments, fairly reflect the peoplethey serve. Charles Dudley Warner once wentso far as to say that no matter how objection­able the character of a paper may be, it is alwaysa trifle better than the patrons on whom it reliesfor its support."

Similarly, from an unusually wide experienceon a paper as highly considered, perhaps, as anyin America, Rollo Ogden claims this give andtake between the public and the press is vital to ajust conception of American journalism.

"The editor does not nonchalantly project histhoughts into the void. He listens for the echoof his words. His relation to his supporters isnot unlike Gladstone's definition of the intimateconnection between the orator and his audience.As the speaker gets from his hearers in mist whathe gives back 'in shower, so the newspaper re­ceives from the public as well as gives to it. Toooften it gets as dust what it gives back as mud;but that does not alter the relation. Action andreaction are all the while going on between thepress and its patrons. Hence it follows that theresponsibility for the more crying evils of jour­nalism must be divided." 1

1 Rollo Ogden, "Some Aspects of Journalism," AtlanticMonth/y, July. 1906.

\86 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

The same interaction goes on in connectionwith all the other forces that mould public opin­ion. The preacher upholds the ideals of society.He leads his flock whither they indicate a willing­ness to be led. Ibsen creates a revolution whensociety is ripe for it. The public responds tofiner music and better motion pictures and de­mands improvements. "Give the people whatthey want" is only half sound. What they wantand what they get are fused by some mysteriousalchemy. The press, the lecturer, the screen andthe public lead and are led by each other,

CHAPTER IV

THE POWER OF INTERACTING FORCES THAT GO TO

MAKE UP PUBLIC OPINION

T H E influence of any force which attemptsto modify public opinion depends upon the

success with which it is able to enlist establishedpoints of view. A middle ground exists betweenthe hypothesis that the public is stubborn andthe hypothesis that it is malleable. To a largedegree the press, the schools, the churches, mo­tion pictures, advertising, the lecture platformand radio all conform to the demands of the pub­lic. But to an equally large degree the publicresponds to the influence of these very samemediums of communication.

Some analysts believe that the public has noopinions except those which various institutionsprovide ready made for it. From Mr. Menckenand others it would almost seem to follow thatnewspapers and other mediums have no standardsexcept those which the public provides, and thattherefore they are substantially without influenceupon the public mind. The truth of the matter,

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88 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

as I have pointed out, lies somewhere betweenthese two extreme positions.

In other words, the public relations counselwho thinks clearly on the problem of public opin­ion and public relations will credit the two fac­tors of public opinion respectively with their in­fluence and effectiveness in mutual interaction.

Ray Stannard Baker says' that "while therewas a gesture of Unconcern, of don't care whatthey say, on the part of the leaders (of the Ver­sailles conference), no aspect of the conferencein reality worried them more than the news,opinions, guesses that went out by scores of thou­sands of words every night, and the reactionswhich came back so promptly from them. Theproblem of publicity consumed an astonishingamount of time, anxiety and discussion amongthe leaders of the conference. It influenced theentire procedure, it was partly instrumental indriving the four heads of States finally intosmall secret conferences. The full achievementof publicity on one occasion-Wilson's Italian

.note-nearly broke up the conference and over­turned a government. The bare threat of it,upon other occasions, changed the course of thediscussion. Nothing concerned the conferencemore than what democracy was going to do withd· I "ip omacy.

1 "Publicity at Paris," New York Times, April 2, 1922.

THE GROUP AND HERD

For like causes we find great industries­motion pictures being one and organized baseballanother-appointing as directors of their activi­ties men prominent in public life, doing this toassure the public of the honest and social-mindedconduct of their members. The Franklin Roose­velts are in this class, the Will Hayses and theLandises.

A striking example of this interaction is illus­trated in what occurred at the Hague Conferencea few years ago. The effect of the Hague Con­ference's conduct upon the public was such thatofficials were forced to open the Conference doorsto the representatives of newspapers. On Juneroth, 1922, a note came from The Hague bythe Associated Press that Foreign Minister VanKarnebeek of Holland capitulated to the world'sDesire to be informed of what was going onby admitting correspondents. Early announce­ment that "the press cannot be admitted" was,according to the report,'followed by anxiousemissaries begging the journalists to have pa­tience. Editorials printed in Holland pointed outthat the best way to insure public cooperationwas to take the public into its confidence. Min­ister van Karnebeek, who had been at Washing­ton, was thoroughly awake to the invaluable serv­ice the press of the world rendered there. Oneeditorial here pointed out that public statements

90 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

"were used by the diplomats themselves as ahappy means of testing popular opinion upon thevarious projects offered in council. How many'trial balloons' were sent up in this fashion, no­body can recall. Nevertheless each delegationmaintained clipping bureaus, which were broughtup to date every morning and which gave thedelegates accurate information as to the state ofmind at home. Thus it came about that worldopinion was ready and anxious to receive thefinished work of the conference and that it wasprompt to bring individual recalcitrant groupsinto line."

Let me quote from the New Y O1'k EveningPost of July, 1922, as to the important interac­tion of these forces: "The importance of the pressin guiding public opinion and the cooperation be­tween the members of the press and the men whoexpress public opinion in action, which has grownup since the Peace Conference at Paris, werestressed by Lionel Curtis, who arrived on theAdriatic yesterday to attend the Institute of Pol­itics, which opens on July 27 at Williamstown.'Perhaps for the first time in history,' he said,'the men whose business it is to make publicopinion were collected for some months underthe same roof with the officials whose task in lifeis the actual conduct of foreign affairs. In thelong run, foreign policy is determined by public

ITHE GROUP AND HERD 91

opinion. It was impossible in Paris not to beimpressed by the immense advantage of bringinginto close contact the writers who, through thepress, are making public opinion and the menwho have to express their opinion in actualpolicy.' "

Harvard University, likewise, appreciating thepower of public opinion over its own activities,has recently appointed a counsel on public rela­tions to make its aims clear to the public.

The institutions which make public opinionconform to the demands of the public. Thepublic responds to an equally large degree tothese institutions. Such fights as that made byCollier's Weekly for pure food control show this.

The Safety First movement, by its use of everyform of appeal, from poster to circular, fromlecture to law enforcement, from motion pic­tures to "safety weeks," is bringing about agradual change in the attitude ofa s<j.fety­deserving public towards the taking of unnec­essary risks.

The Rockefeller Foundation, confronted withthe serious problem of the hookworm in the Southand in other localities, has brought about achange in the habits of large sections of ruralpopulations by analysis, investigation, appliedmedical principles, and public education.

The moulder of public opinion must enlist the

1. H. L. Mencken on Journalism, The Nation, April 261 I922.

CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

\92

established point of view. This is true of thepress as well as of other forces. Mr. Menckenmixes cynicism and truth when he declares thatthe chief difficulty confronting a newspaper whichtries to carry out independent and thoughtfulpolicies "does not lie in the direction of the boardof directors, but in the direction of the publicwhich buys the paper." ,

The New York Tribune, as an example of edi­torial bravery, points out in an advertisement pub­lished May 23. 1922, that though "news knowsno order in the making" and though "a news­paper must carry the news, both pleasant andunpleasant," nevertheless, it is the duty of anynewspaper to realize that there is a possibilityof selective action, and that "in times of stressand bleak despair a newspaper has a hard andfast duty to perform in keeping up the moraleof the community."

Indeed, the instances are frequent and a.ccessi­ble to the r~colle~tion of any reader- in whichnewspapers have consciously maintained a pointof view toward which the public is either hostileor cold.

Occasionally, of course, even the establishedpoint of view is alterable. The two BaltimoreSuns do brave their public and have been braving

ITHE GROUP AND HERD 93

their public for some time, not entirely withoutsuccess. As severe a critic as Oswald GarrisonVillard points out that though modern Baltimoreis a difficult city to serve, yet the two Suns havecourageously and consistently stood for the poli­cies of their editors and have refused to yieldto pressure from any source. To the public re­lations counsel this is a striking illustration ofthe give and take between the public and theinstitutions which attempt to mould public opin­ion. The two interact upon each other, so thatit is sometimes difficult to tell which is one andwhich is the other.

The World and the Evening World of NewYork, pride themselves upon the following cam­paigns which are listed in The World Almanacof 1922. They illustrate this interaction.

"Conference .on Limitation ofArmamentGrew from 'World's' Plea

"Bearing in mind in 1921 the injunction ofits founder, Joseph Pulitzer, to fight always forprogress and reform, and having led the cam­paign for disarmament in advance of any otherdemand therefor, the World covered the Wash­ington Conference on Limitation of Armamentin a comprehensive way....

"'Evening World's' Achievements

"The Evening World continued its campaignagainst the coal monopoly and the high coal pricescharged in New York City-a state of affairs thathas been constantly and vigorously exposed inEvening World columns. After consultationwith leading Senators at Washington, several

It was their desire to share in this service, andthe World is proud that they asked only assur­ance of its traditional accuracy and fairness be­fore they saw their way clear to cooperation.

"The World is proud that the completed recordshows no evidence either that it was terrified bythreats or was goaded by abuse into departuresfrom its object of presenting the facts honestlyand without exaggeration.

9STHE GROUP AND HERD

,

"Changes in Motor Vehicle Laws

"As a result of a crusade to lessen automobilefatalities in New York City and State, the Worldwon a victory when changes in the motor vehicle.laws were made. The paper printed exclusivestories giving the motor and license numbers ofcars stolen daily in this city, and started a cam­paign against outlaw taxicabs and financiallyirresponsible drivers and owners.

I94 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

"Measures Advocated by 'World' Made Law

"During the 1921 session of the New YorkLegislature many measures advocated by theWorld were enacted. One of this paper's chiefachievements was the passage of a resolutionbroadening the power of the Lockwood HousingCommittee, enabling it to inquire into high financeas related to the building trades situation.

"The World was instrumental in obtainingthe Anti-Theater Ticket Speculator Law. It alsobrought about a change in bills to abolish theDaylight-Saving Law so that municipalities mightenact their own daylight-saving ordinances. Itwas successful in its campaign against the search­and-seizure and other drastic features of theState Prohibition Enforcement Law.

"The 'World' Told Facts About Ku Klux Klan

"The World on September 6 commenced thepublication of a series of articles telling the truthabout the Ku Klux Klan. Twenty-six news­papers, in widely separated sections of the UnitedStates, joined the World in the publication; somehad been invited to participate, others requestedthe World to let them use the articles. All thesenewspapers realized that the only motive backof the World's publication was public service.

determine how readily individuals or groups willaccept modifications of viewpoints or policies,which they have already imposed upon their re­spective mediums.

No idea or opinion is an isolated factor. Itis surrounded and influenced by precedent,authority, habit and all the other human motiva­tions.

For a lucid conception of the functions, powerand social utility of the public relations counselit is vitally important to have a clear grasp ofthe fundamentals with which he must work.

\96 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

bills were introduced in Congress to alleviate theconditions."

I am letting the World speak for itself merelyas an example of what many splendid newspapershave accomplished as leaders in public move­ments. The New York Evening Post is anotherexample, it having long led popular demand forvocational guidance and control,

The public relations counsel cannot base hiswork merely upon the acceptance of the principlethat the public and its authorities interact. Hemust go deeper than that and discover why it isthat a public opinion exists independently ofchurch, school, press, lecture platform and mo­tion picture screen-how far this public opinionaffects these institutions and how far these in­stitutions affect public opinion. He must dis­cover what the stimuli are to which public opin­ion responds most readily.

Study of the mirrors of the public mind-thepress, the motion pictures, the lecture platformand the others-reveal to him what their stand­ards are and those of the groups they reach.This is not enough, however. To his understand­ing of what he actually can measure he must adda thorough knowledge of the principles whichgovern individual and group action. A funda­mental study of group and individual psychologyis required before the public relations counsel can

ITHE GROUP AND HERD 97

,,.

I

CHAPTER V

AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF

PUBLIC MOTIVATION IS NECESSARY TO THE

WORK OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONS

COUNSEL

BEFORE defining the fundamental motiva­tions of society, let me mention those out­

ward signs on which psychologists base theirstudy of conditions.

Psychological habits, or as Mr. Lippmann callsthem, "stereotypes," are shorthand by whichhuman effort is minimized. They are so clearlyand commonly understood that everyone willimmediately respond to the mention of a stereo­type within his personal experience. The words"capitalist" or "boy scout" bring out definite im­ages to the hearer. These images are more com­prehensible than detailed descriptions. Chorusgirl, woman lawyer, politician, detective, finan­cier are clean-cut concepts and capable of defi­nition. We all have stereotypes which minimizenot only our thinking habits but also the ordinaryroutine of life.

Mr. Lippmann finds that the stereotypes at the98

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THE GROUP AND HERD 99

center of the code by which various sections ofthe public live "largely determine what group offacts we shall see and in what light we shall seethem." That is why, he says, "with the best willin the world, the news policy of a journal tendsto support its editorial policy, why a capitalistsees one set of facts and certain aspects of humannature--literally sees them; his socialist opponentanother set and other aspects, and why each re­gards the other as unreasonable or perverse, whenthe real difference between them is a differenceof perception. That difference is imposed by thedifference between the capitalist and socialist pat­tern of stereotypes. 'There are no classes inAmerica,' writes an American editor. 'The his­tory of all hitherto existing society is the historyof class struggles,' says the Communist Mani­festo. If you have the editor's pattern in yourmind, you will see vividly the facts that confirmit, vaguely and ineffectively those that contradict.If you have the communist pattern, you will notonly look for different things, but you will seewith a totally different emphasis what you andthe editor happen to see in common."

The stereotype is the basis of a large part ofthe work of the public relations counsel. Letus try to inquire where the stereotype originates-why it is so influential and why from a prac­tical standpoint it is so tremendously difficult to

I100 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

affect or change stereotypes or to attempt to sub­stitute one set of stereotypes for another.

Mr. Martin attempts to answer questions suchas these in his volume on "The Behavior ofCrowds." By "crowds" Mr. Martin does notmean merely a physical aggregation of a numberof persons. To Mr. Martin the crowd is rathera state of mind, "the peculiar mental conditionwhich sometimes occurs when people think andact together, either immediately where the mem­bers of the group are present and in close con­tact, or remotely, as when they affect one anotherin a certain way through the medium of an or­ganization, a party or sect, the press, etc."

Motives of social behavior are based on indi­vidual instincts. Individual instincts, on theother hand, must yield to group needs. Mr.Martin pictures society as an aggregation ofpeople who have sacrificed individual freedom inorder to remain within the group. This sacrificeof freedom on the part of individuals in thegroups leads its members to resist all efforts atfundamental changes in the group code. Becauseall have made certain sacrifices, reasons are de­veloped why such sacrifices must be insisted uponat all times. The "logic-proof" compartment isthe result of this unwillingness to accept changes.

"What has been so painstakingly built up isnot to be lightly destroyed. Each group, there-

Ir

,THE GROUP AND HERD 101

fore, within itself, considers its own standardsultimate and indisputable, and tends to dismissall contrary or different standards as indefensi­ble.

"Even an honest, critical understanding of thedemands of the opposing crowd is discouraged,possibly because it is rightly felt that the criticalhabit of mind is as destructive of one crowd­complex as the other, and the old crowd prefersto remain intact and die in the last ditch ratherthan risk dissolution, even with the promise ofaverting a revolution. Hence the Romans werewilling to believe that the Christians worshipedthe head of an ass. The medieval Catholics, evenat Leo's court, failed to grasp the meaning ofthe outbreak in North Germany. Thousandssaw in the reformation only the alleged fact thatthe monk Luther wanted to marry a wife...." 1

The main satisfaction, Mr. Martin thinks,which the individual derives from his group asso­ciation is the satisfaction of his vanity throughthe creation of an enlarged self-importance.

The Freudian theories upon which Mr. Mar­tin relies very largely for his argument lead tothe conclusion that what Mr. Henry Wattersonhas said of the suppression of news appliesequally to the suppression of individual desire.Neither will suppress. With the normal person,

1 "The Behavior of Crowds" (page 193).

I

"

,

.1

I:,

11I,

I

I102 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

thc result of this social suppression is to producean individual who conforms with sufficient close­ness to the standards of his group to enable himto remaiu comfortably within it.

The tendency, however, of the instincts anddesires which are thus ruled out of conduct issomehow or other, when the conditions are favor­able, to seek some avenue of release and satis­faction. To the individual most of these avenues?f release are closed. He cannot, for example,mdulge his instinct of pugnacity without runningfoul of the law. The only release which the in­dividual can have is one which commands, how­ever briefly, the approval of his fellows. Thatis why Mr. Martin calls crowd psychology andcrowd activity "the result of forces hidden in apersonal and unconscious psyche of the membersof the crowd, forces which are merely releasedby social gatherings of a certain sort." Thecrowd enables the individual to express himselfaccording to his desire and without restraint.

He says further, "Every crowd 'boosts for'itself, gives itself airs, speaks with oracular"finality, regards itself as morally superior, andwill, so fa: as it has the power, lord it over everyone. Nonce how each group and section in so­ciety, so far as it permits itself to think as crowdclaims to be 'the people.' " ,

As an illustration of the boosting principle Mr.

,THE GROUP AND HERD 103

Martin points out the readiness of most groupsto enter upon conflict of one kind or another withopposing groups. "Nothing so easily catches"general attention and grips a crowd as a contestof any kind," he says. "The crowd unconsciouslyidentifies its members with one or the other com­petitor; Success enables the winning crowd to'crow over' the losers. Such an action becomessymbolical, and is utilized by the ego to enhanceits feeling of importance. In society this egoismtends to take the form of the desire for domi­nance." According to Mr. Martin, that is why"... whenever any attempt is being made tosecure recruits for a movement or a point of viewthe leaders intuitively assume and reiterate thecertainty of ultimate victory."

Two points which Mr. Martin makes seem tome most important. In the first place, Mr. Mar­tin points out with absolute justice that thecrowd-mind is by no means limited to the igno­rant. "Any class," he says, "may behave andthink as a crowd-in fact, it usually does so inso far as its class interests are concerned."Neither is the crowd mind to be found only whenthere is a physical agglomeration of people.This fact is important to an understanding ofthe problems of the public relations counsel, be­

"cause he must bear in mind always that the read­ers of advertisements, the recipients of letters,

THE GROUP AND HERD

I104 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

the solitary listener at a radio speech, the readerof the morning newspapers are mysteriously partof the crowd-mind.

When Bergson came to America about a dec­ade ago, men and women flocked to his classes,both the French and the English sessions. Itwas obvious to the observer that numbers of dis­ciples who conscientiously attended the fullcourse of lectures understood almost nothing ofwhat was being said. Their behavior was aninstance of the crowd-mind.

Everybody read "Main Street." Each readerin his own study tried to react as a crowd-mind.They felt as they thought they ought to.

Initiation scandals, where the crowd-mind hascreated a brutality not possible to individuals,take place not only in brotherhoods amongwhat Mr. Martin calls "the lower classes," butalso among well-bred college youths and the fra­ternal orders of successful business and profes­sionalmen. Amore specific instance is the foot­ball game, with its manifestations of the crowd­mind among a selected group of individuals.The Ku Klux Klan has numbered among its vio­lent supporters some of the "best" families ofthe affected localities.

The crowd is a state of mind which permeatessociety and its individuals at almost all times.What becomes articulate in times of stress under

,105

great excitement is present in the mind of the in­dividual at most times and explains in part whypopular opinion is so positive and so intolerantof contrary points of view. The college profes­sor in his study on a peaceful summer day isjust as likely to be reacting as a unit of a crowd­mind, as any member of a lynching party inTexas or Georgia.

Mr. Trotter in his book, "Instincts of the Herdin Peace and War," 1 gives us further materialfor study. He discusses the underlying causesand results of "herd" tendencies, stressing theherd's cohesiveness.

The tendency the group has to standardize thehabits of individuals and to assign logical reasonsfor them is an important factor in the work of thepublic relations counsel. The predominant pointof view, according to Mr. Trotter, which trans­lates a rationalized point of view into an axio­matic truth, arises and derives its strength fromthe fact that it enlists herd support for the pointof view of the individual. This explains why it isso easy to popularize many ideas.

"The cardinal quality of the herd is homo­geneity." The biological significance of homo­

1 W. Trotter, "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War."2 It should be explained at the very outset that Mr. Trotter

does not use the. term "herd" in any derogatory sense. He ap­preaches the entire subject from the point of view of the biolo­gtst and. compares the gregarious instinct in man to the samemstmct In lower forms of life.

106 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

gcneity lies in its survival value. The wolf packis many times as strong as the combined strengthof each of its individual members. These re­sults of homogeneity have created the "herd"point of view.

One of the psychological results of homogeneityis the fact that physical loneliness is a real terrorto the gregarious animal, and that associationwith the herd causes a feeling of security. Inman this fear of loneliness creates a desire foridentification with the herd in matters of opinion.It is here, says Mr. Trotter,' that we find "theineradicable impulse mankind has always dis­played towards segregation into classes. Eachone of us in his opinions and his conduct, in mat­ters of amusement, religion, and politics, is com­pelled to obtain the support of a class, of a herdwithin the herd."

Says Mr. Trotter:' "The effect of it willclearly be to make acceptable those suggestionswhich come from the herd, and those only. It isof especial importance to note that this suggesti­bility is not general, and it is only herd sugges­tions which are rendered acceptable by the actionof instinct, and man is, for example, notoriouslyinsensitive to the suggestions of experience. Thehistory of what is rather grandiosely called hu-

1 "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War" (page 32).2 Ibid.

THE GROUP AND HERD 107

man progress everywhere illustrates this. If welook back upon the developments of some suchthing as the steam engine, we cannot fail to be

.struck by the extreme obviousness of each ad-vance, and how obstinately it was refused assim­ilation until the machine almost invented itself."

The workings of the gregarious instinct inman result frequently in conduct of the mostremarkable complexity, but it is characterized byall of the qualities of instinctive action. Suchconduct is usually rationalized, but this does notconceal its real character.

We may sincerely think that we vote the Re­publican ticket because we have thought out theissues of the political campaign and reached ourdecision in the cold-blooded exercise of judgment.The fact remains that it is just as likely that wevoted the Republican ticket because we did sothe year before or because the Republican plat­form contains a declaration of principle, no mat­ter how vague, which awakens profound emo­tional response in us, or because our neighborwhom we do not like happens to be a Democrat.

Mr. Lippmann remarks: ' "For the most partwe do not first see and then define, we define firstand then see. In the great booming, buzzing con­fusion of the outer world we pick out of theclutter what is already defined for us, and we

1; "Public Opinion" (page 81).

108 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

tend to perceive that which we have picked outin the form stereotyped for us by our culture."

Mr. Trotter cites as a few of the examples ofrationalization the mechanism which "enables theEuropean lady who wears rings in her eats tosmile at the barbarism of the colored lady whowears her rings in her nose'" and the processwhich enables the Englishman "who is amusedby the African chieftain's regar~ for the top hatas an essential piece of the furniture o~ state toignore the identity of his own behavior whenhe goes to church beneath the same tremendous

. "ensIgn. .The gregarious tendency in man, ~cc?rdmg. to

Mr. Trotter, results in five characteristics whlc~

he displays in common with all gregarious am-~s. .

I "He is intolerant and fearful of solitude,phy~ical or mental:" The same urge. whichdrives the buffalo into the herd and man into thecity requires on the part of the latter a sense ~f

spiritual identification with the herd. Man ISnever so much at home as when on the bandwagon. .

2. "He is more sensitive to the uoice of theherd than to any other influence." Mr. Trot~er

illustrates this characteristic in a paragraph which

1 "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War" (page 38).2 Ibid. (page 112 et-seq.), Italics mine.

iIIJ:1~ L ~ ",",L-

THE GROUP AND HERD 109

is worth quoting in its entirety. He says: "It(the voice of the herd) can inhibit or stimulatehis thought and conduct. It is the source of hismoral codes, of the sanctions of his ethics andphilosophy. It can endow him with energy, cour­age, and endurance, and can as easily take theseaway. It can make him acquiesce in his own pun­ishment and embrace his executioner, submit topoverty, bow to tyranny, and sink without com­plaint under starvation. Not merely can it makehim accept hardship and suffering unresistingly,but it can make him accept as truth the explana­tion that his perfectly preventable afflictions aresublimely just and gentle. It is this acme of thepower of herd suggestion that is perhaps themost absolutely incontestable proof of the pro­foundly gregarious nature of man."

3· "He is subject to the passions of the packin his mob violence and the passions of the herdin his panics."

4· "He is remarkably susceptible to leader­ship." Mr. Trotter points out that the need forleadership is often satisfied by leadership of aquality which cannot stand analysis, and whichmust therefore satisfy some impulse rather thanthe demands of reason.

5· "His relations with his fellows are de­pendent upon the recognition of him as a memberof the herd."

I'IIO CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

The gregarious tendency, Mr. Trotter believes,is biologically fundamental. He finds thereforethat the herd reaction is not confined to outbreakssuch as panics and mob violence, but that it is aconstant factor in all human thinking and feeling.Discussing the results of the sensitiveness of theindividual to the herd point of view, Mr. Trottersays in part, "To believe must be an ineradicablenatural bias of man, or in other words, an affirma­tion, positive or negative, is more readily acceptedthan rejected, unless its source is definitely dis­associated from the herd. Man is not, therefore,suggestible by fits and starts, not merely in panicsand mobs, under hypnosis, and so forth, but al­ways, everywhere, and under any circumstances."

The suggestibility of people to ideas which arepart of the standards of their groups could notbe more succinctly expressed than in the old com­mand, "When in Rome do as the Romans."

Psychologists have defined for the public re­lations counsel the fundamental equipment ofthe individual mind and its relation to group re­actions. We have seen the motivations of theindividual mind-s-the motivations of the groupmind. We have seen the characteristics inthought and action of the individual and thegroup. All these things we have touched on,though briefly, since they form the ground-workof knowledge for the public relations counsel.Their application will be discussed later.

CHAPTER VI

THE GROUP AND HERD ARE THE BASIC MECHA-

NISMS OF PUBLIC CHANGE

THE institutio~s that make public opinion. carryon against a background which is inItself a controlling factor. The real character ofthis controlling background we shall take uplater. .Let u~ first consider some examples thatprove ItS eXIstence-then we can look into itsorigin and its standards.. Powe~ful standards control the very institu­~lOns whl~h are supposed to help form public opin­IOn. It .IS necessary to understand the origin,the workmg and the strength of these institutionsin order to understand the institutions themselvesand their effect upon the public.

I~ tracing the interaction of institution uponp.ubhc and public upon institution, one finds aCIrcle of obedience and leadership. The press, theschool and other leaders of thought are them­selves working in a background which they can­not entirely control.

Let us turn to the press again for a text.That the press is so frequently unable to

III

THE GROUP AND HERD

\112 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

achieve a result on which its combined membersare unanimously set makes it evident that thepress itself is working in a medium which itcannot entirely control. The New York Timesmotto, "All the news that's fit to print," drivesthis point home. The standards of fitness createdin the minds of the publishers express the pointof view of a mass of readers, and this enables thenewspapers to achieve and maintain circulationand financial success.

The very fact that newspapers must sell tothe public is an evidence that they must pleasethe public and in a measure obey it. In the pressthere is a very human tendency to compromisebetween giving the public what it wants and giv­ing the public what it should want. This isequally true in music, where artists like McCor­mack or Rachmaninoff popularize their programs.It is true in the drama, where managers, pro­ducers and authors combine to adjust plots, situ­ations and endings to what the public will bewilling to pay to see. It is true in art, in archi­tecture, in motion pictures. It is true of the lec­ture platform and of the pulpit.

So-called radical preachers, for example, usu­ally succeed in broadcasting their radical ideasonly when their following is prepared to accepttheir views. The Rev. Percy Stickney Grant wasa ,,-reat problem to! the upholders of the accepted

I13

ord~r, .only because there was so large a body ofparishioners eager to hear and accept his dicta.The Rev. Billy Sunday, evangelist, derived hisfollowing from among people who were awaitinga faith-stirring appeal.

Another evidence of the fact that a powerfuloutside influence helps make the forces that mouldpublic opinion is shown by the newspapers inthe actual selection of news. The public actuallydemands that certain types of facts be omitted.The standing problem of every newspaper office-the winnowing of the day's news from the massof material that reaches the editorial desks-illus­trates pointedly the need there is to examine thereasons which prompt the editors in selection.

In an exceedingly interesting advertisementpublished by the N ew York Tribune, on April19, 1922, the Tribune's editors state the problemmost graphically. The advertisement is headed,"What Else Happened That Day?" and it readsas follows:

"Madame Caillaux was on trial in Paris forkilling Gaston Calmette.

"I~ Long Island a woman was mysteriouslyshot m a doctor's office while on a night visit.

"Forty-five stage coaches were held up in Yel­lowstone Park by two masked bandits who tookall the cash of 165 tourists.

"Romantic crime, mystery crime, adventurous

114 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

crime, a public eagerly interested-and they su~­den!y dropped from the newspapers. The publicforgot them. As news, these event\ became asif they had never happened. Somethmg else hadhappened.

"The day of Madame Caillaux's acquittal Aus­tria declared war on Serbia. Russia mobilizedfourteen army corps on the German border andthe price of wheat in this country soared.

"AIl the news that a newspaper prints is af­fected by what else happened that day. If anearthquake occurs the day you announce yourdaughter's engagement her picture may be leftout of the newspaper.

"The man who made a golf hole in one theday of the Dempsey-Carpentier fight was out ofluck so far as an item on the sporting page wasconcerned.

"When real news breaks, semi-news must go.When real news is scarce, semi-news returns tothe front page. A very great man picked outSunday night to dine at a Bowery mission. Mon­day is usually a dull day for news, although somebig events, notably the sinking of the Titanic,came over the wires Sunday night.

"AIl papers feature big news. When there isno big news, real editing is needed to select thereal news from the semi-news.

"What you read' on duIl news days is what fixesyour opinions of your country and of your com­patriots. It is from the non-sensational newsthat you see the world and assess, rightly orwrongly, the true value of persons arid events.

THE GROUP AND HERD 115

"The relative importance your newspaper givesto an occurrence affects your thought, your char­acter, and your children's thought and character.For few daily habits are as firmly established asthe habit of reading the newspaper."

Now each of the items mentioned in theTribune's advertisement was news. Comparisonof the newspapers of that day will undoubtedlyshow a wide divergence in the manner in whichthese items were treated and in the relative im­portance assigned to each. The basis of the selec­tion was clearly the general standard of theclientele of each individual paper.

And this selection of ideas for presentationgoes on in every medium of thought communica­tion.

This basis of selection has long been recog­nized. Thus in an article in the AtlanticMonthly for February, 19II, Professor Bargar,formerly head of the Department of Journalismat the University of Kansas, draws attention toit in regard to newspapers, and points out that"the province of the city paper is one of newsselection.' Out of the vast skein of the day's hap­penings what shall it select? More 'copy' isthrown away than is used. The New York Sunis written as definitely for a given constituency

1 Bleyer, "The Profession of Journalism" (page 26g).

II6 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

as is a technical journal. Out of the day's newsit gives prominence to that which fits into itsscheme of treatment, and there is so much newsthat it can fill its columns with interesting ma­terials, yet leave untouched a myriad of events.The New Y ork Evening Post appeals to anotherconstituency, and is made accordingly. TheWorld and the]ournal have a far different plan,and 'play up' stories that are mentioned briefly,or ignored, by some of their contemporaries. Sothe writer on the metropolitan paper is trainedto sift news, to choose from his wealth of ma­terial that which the paper's traditions demandshall receive attention ; and so abundant is thesupply that he can easily set a feast without ex­hausting the market's offering. Unconsciouslyhe becomes an epicure, and knows no day willdawn without bringing him his opportunity."

Mr. Lippmann makes the same observation.He says: 1 "Every newspaper when it reachesthe reader is the result of a whole series ofselections as to what items shall be printed, inwhat position they' shall be printed, how muchspace each shall occupy, what emphasis each shallhave. There are no objective standards here.There are conventions. Take two newspaperspublished in the same city on the same morning.The headline of ode reads: 'Britain. pledges aid

1 "Public Opinion" (page 354).

THE GROUP AND HERD 117

to Berlin against French Aggression. FranceOpenly Backs Poles.' The headline of the secondis: 'Mrs. Stillman's Other Love.' Which youprefer is a matter of taste, but not entirely amatter of the editor's taste. It is a matter ofhis judgment as to what will absorb the halfhour's attention a certain set of readers will giveto his newspaper."

The American stage continually bows to publicdemand and consciously ascribes to the publicthe changes it undergoes. The character of ad­vertising has definitely yielded to public demandand fake advertising has been to a great extenteliminated. Motion pictures have responded, too,to public taste and public pressure, both as to thekind of picture presented and, in isolated in­stances, to the type of action permitted toappear.

It is therefore apparent that these and theother institutions which modify public opinioncarryon against a background which is also initself a controlling factor. What the real char­acter of this controlling background is we shallnow consider.

\

CHAPTER VII

THE APPLICATION OF THESE PRINCIPLES

BOT H Trotter, Martin and the other writerswe have quoted confirm what the actual

experience of the public relations counsel shows-that the cause he represents must have somegroup reaction and tradition in common with thepublic he is trying to reach. This must existbefore they can react sympathetically upon oneanother. Given these common fundamentals,much can be done to capitalize or destroy them.It is as untrue to contend that public opinion ismanufactured as it is to contend that publicopinion governs the agencies which mould it.

The public relations counsel must continuallyrealize that there are always these limitations tohis effectiveness.

The very "leaders," men who have beenselected from the mass to "lead the nation," livewith their ears to the ground for every slightrumbling of public sentiment. Preachers, ac­knowledged to be. the ethical leaders of theirflocks, express obedience to public opinion:

The critics who' hold these extreme points ofu8

ITHE GROUP AND HERD 119

view about public opinion have too easily con­fused cause and effect. The sympathy betweenthe orator and his audience is not one which theorator can create. He can intensify it, or bytactless speaking he can dissipate it, but he can­not manufacture it from thin air.

Margaret Sanger, a leader in the fight foreducation on birth control, will evoke enthusiasmwhen she addresses an audience that approvesof her sentiments. When, however, she injectsher point of view into groups that have a precon- .ceived aversion to them, she is in danger of abuse,if not of actual physical violence. Likewise, aman who would talk of prison reform at a timewhen the public is aroused by an unwonted crimewave will find little response. On the other hand,when Madam Curie, co-discoverer of radium,came to America, she found a country that wasprepared to meet her because of intensive efforton the part of a large radium corporation anda committee of women formed by Marie B.Meloney, to apprise the public of the importanceof her visit. Had she come two years sooner.she might have been ignored save by a fewscientists.

A historic incident illustrative of the interac­tion between a leader and a public is that of thesudden turn in the affairs of Rear AdmiralDewey. The idol of the Spanish American War,

was headed, that is, towards democracy andequality, he was its successful leader and itsidol, says Van Loon. When in the latter part ofhis career he turned back to a goal which thepublic had discarded and was eager to forget,that is, Bourbonism, Napoleon met with irre­sistible defeat.

"Damaged Goods" was able to make the Amer­ican public accept the word "syphilis" because thecounsel on public relations projected the doctrineof sex hygiene through those groups and sec­tions of the public which were prepared to workwith him.

Public opinion is the resultant of the inter­action between two forces.

This may help us to see with greater claritythe position the public relations counsel holds inrelation to the world at large, and what the fac­tors are with which he is concerned and by whichhe accomplishes his work.

We have gone somewhat elaborately into thefundamental equipment of the individual mindand its relation to the group mind because thepublic relations counsel in his work in these fieldsmust constantly call upon his knowledge of in­dividual and group psychology. The public re­lations counsel can come forward, first, as therepresentative of established things when theirsecurity is shaken, or when they desire greater

\120 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

he nevertheless alienated popular affection bygi ving to his wife a house which had been pre­sented to him by an admiring public. For somereason the public failed to sympathize withAdmiral Dewey's own undoubtedly sound andworthy reasons.

To say, therefore, as some persons have saidat great length and with considerable vehemence,that the public relations counsel is responsiblefor public opinion, is not true. The public re­lations counsel is not needed to persuade peopleto standardize their points of view or to persistin their established beliefs. The established pointof view becomes established by satisfying somereal or assumed human need.

In common with the scenario writer, thepreacher, the statesman, the dramatist, the publicrelations counsel, has his share in making up themind of the public. The public quite as trulymakes up the mind of .the journalist, the pam­phleteer, the scenario writer, the preacher and thestatesman. The main direction of the publicmind is often irrevocably set for its leaders.

Hendrik Van Loon, in his "Story of Man­kind," paints a picture of the action and inter­action between Napoleon the Great and his pub­lic in a way that might well have been madeto illustrate our point. ! When Napoleon led thepublic truly in the direction towards which it

THE GROUP AND HERD 121

,122 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

power; and second, as the representative of thegroup which is struggling to establish itself.

Mr. Lippmann says propaganda is dependentupon censorship. From my point of view theprecise reverse is more nearly true. Propagandais a purposeful, directed effort to overcome cen­sorship-i-the censorship of the group mind andthe herd reaction.

The average citizen is the world's most effi­cient censor. His own mind is the greatest bar­rier between him and the facts. His own "logic­proof compartments," his own absolutism are theobstacles which prevent him from seeing in termsof experience and thought rather than in termsof group reaction.

The training of the public relations counselpermits him to step out of his own group to lookat a particular problem with the eyes of an im­partial observer and to utilize his knowledge ofthe individual and the group mind to project hisclients' point of view.

I

PART III

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD

, I

CHAPTER I

THE PUBLIC CAN BE REACHED ONLY THROUGH

ESTABLISHED MEDIUMS OF COMMUNICATION

W H E N the United States was made up ofsmall social units with common traditions

and a small geographic and social area, it wascomparatively simple for the proponent of a pointof view to address his public directly. If herepresented a social or a political idea, he could,at no very great expense and with no very greatdifficulty in the early Eighteenth Century, coverNew England with his pamphlets. He couldarouse the thirteen colonies with his journals andbrochures. That was because the heritage ofthese groups made them sensitive to the samestimuli. One man, remarks Mr. Lippmann, thenwas able single-handed to crystallize the commonwill of his country in his day and generation.To-day the greatest superman as yet developedby humanity could not accomplish the same resultwith the United States.

Populations have increased. In this countrygeographical areas have increased. Heteroge­

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ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD 127

neity has also increased. A group living in anygiven area is now extremely likely to have no com­mon ancestry, no common tradition, as such, andno cohesive intelligence. All these elements makeit necessary to-day for the proponent of a pointof view to engage an expert to represent himbefore society, an expert who must know how toreach groups totally dissimilar as to ideals, cus­toms and even language. It is this necessitywhich has resulted in the development of thecounsel on public relations.

Now it must be understood that the proponentof a point of view, whether acting alone or underthe guidance of a public relations counsel, mustutilize existing avenues of approach. Modernconditions are such that it is not feasible to buildup independent organs. Innovators and innova­tions cannot create their own channels of com­munication. They must for a great part workthrough the existing daily press, the existingmagazine, the existing lecture circuit, existing ad­vertising mediums, the existing motion picturechannels and other means for the communica­tion of ideas. The public relations counsel, onbehalf of the groups he represents, must reachmajorities and minorities through their respec­tive approaches. ,

If the public relations counsel can succeed inpresenting ideas and facts to the public in spite

of the heterogeneity of society, in spite of thevast psychological and geographic problems, inspite of the difficulties, monetary and otherwise,of reaching and influencing populations number­ing millions-if he can succeed in overcomingthese difficulties by a skillful understanding ofthe situation, his profession is socially valuable.

Absolute homogeneity, resulting in a dead levelof uniformity in public and individual reaction,is undesirable. On the other hand, agreement onbroad social purposes is essential to progress.Agreement on broad industrial purposes may beequally desirable. Without such agreement, with­out unified purposes, there can be no progress andthe unit must fall. The men who were mosteffective in stimulating national morale duringthe war never lost sight of these underlyingneeds, whether they stimulated a whole nationto ration itself voluntarily and give up the eatingof sugar, or whether they stimulated knitting andRed Cross activities and voluntary contributionsto funds.

Three ways are cited by Mr. Lippmann toobtain cohesive force among the special and localinterests which make up national and social units.The public relations counsel avails himself onlyof the third. The first method which is describedis that of "patronage and pork." This is verylargely the method relied upon by certain legis-

which the material for a common consciousnessexists determines how far cooperation will de­pend upon force, or upon the milder alternativeto force, which is patronage and privilege. Thesecret of great state builders, like AlexanderHamilton, is that they know how to calculatethese principles."

The method of education by information,which was to a great extent relied upon by theUnited States, for example, was evidenced inthe formation during the war of such agenciesas the Committee on Public Information. Thepublic relations counsel, through the mediumschosen by him, presented to the public the infor­mation necessary to aid in understanding Amer­ica's war aims and ideals. George Creel and hisorganization reached vast groups, representingevery phase of our national elements, in everymodern method of thought communication. Buteven in the United States the other two methodswere used to obtain cohesive force.

In fact the method least relied upon in anyof the belligerent countries was that of "gov­ernment based on such a highly developed sys­tem of information, analysis and self-conscious­ness that 'the knowledge of national circum­stances and reasons of state' is evident to allmen."

This breakdown did not occur among small,

,128 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

lative bodies to-day to maintain cohesive force.As an instance of this, the investigations of themethods used in connection with the bills tosecure the building of local post offices or thedredging of harbors or rivers seem to pointout that a representative from one communitywill promise reciprocal support to the memberfrom another community, if he in turn will actfavorably on another item. This method in­tensifies the feeling that all are working together,even though they may not be working for thehighest interests of the country. Similarly thechief executive of a city may institute certainmeasures to placate school teachers. He willexpect the school teachers to support him on someother project at some other period.

The second method named by Mr. Lippmann 1

is "government by terror and obedience."The third method is "government based on such

a highly developed system of information, anal­ysis and self-consciousness that 'the knowledgeof national circumstances and reasons of state'is evident to all men. The autocratic system isin decay. The voluntary system is in its veryearliest development and so, in calculating theprospects of associations among large groups ofpeople, a league of nations, industrial govern­ment, or a federal union of states, the degree to

1 "Public Opinion":(page 292).

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 129

\130 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

inefficiently organised groups. It occurred amongthe representatives of the highest developmentin social organization.

If this was the fate of the most highly or­ganized social groups, consider then the problemwhich confronts the social, economic, educationalor political groups in peace time, when they at­tempt to obtain a public hearing for new ideas.Innumerable instances have shown the difficultythat any group faces in gaining an acceptance forits ideas.

The development of the United States to itspresent size and diversification has intensified thedifficulty of creating a common will on any sub­ject because it has heightened the natural tend­ency of men to separate into crowds opposed toone another in point of view. This difficulty isfurther emphasized by the fact that often thesecrowds live in different traditional, moral andspiritual worlds. i The physical difficulties ofcommunication make group separation greater.

Mr. Trotter's conclusions from a study of thegregarious instinct are singularly apt on thispoint. He says that' "the enormous power ofvaried reaction possessed by man must rendernecessary for his attainment of the full advan­tages of the gregarious habit a power of inter­communication of absolutely unprecedented fine-

~"Instincts of the Herd in Peace and Warll (page 62).

ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD 131

ness. It is clear that scarcely a hint of suchpower has yet appeared, and it is equally obviousthat it is this defect which gives to society thecharacteristics which are the contempt of the manof science and the disgust of the humanitarian."

When the worker was of the same ancestry ashis employer, labor difficulties, for example. couldbe discussed in terms which were comprehensibleto both parties. To-day the United States SteelCorporation must exert tremendous effort to pre­sent its view to its thousands of employees whoare South Europeans, North Europeans, Ameri­cans.

Czechoslovakia, during the Peace Conference,wanted to appeal to its countrymen in America,but this group was vague and scattered in apopulation that lived in many cities throughoutthe country. The public relations counsel whowas engaged to reach this scattered populationhad, therefore, to translate his appeals so thatthey might be understood logically and emotion­ally by the educated and the uneducated, the ur­ban, the rural, the laboring and the professionalman.

The same problem in a quite different guisepresented itself to the public relations counselwho wanted to insure a public response to theappeal of the Diaghileff Russian Ballet, of whichthe public knew nothing. He had, therefore, to

Domination to-day is not a product of armiesor navies or wealth or policies. It is a domina­tion based on the one hand upon accomplishedunity, and on the other hand upon the fact thatopposition is generally characterized by a highdegree of disunity. The institution of electingrepresentatives to Congress is so firmly estab­lished that no existent force to-day can overthrowit. More specifically, why is it that the two par­ties, Republican and Democrat, have maintainedthemselves as the dominant force for so manyyears? Only the leadership of Theodore Roose­velt seemed for a time to supersede them; andevents since then have shown that it was Roose­velt and not his party who succeeded. TheFarmer-Labor Party, the Socialist Party despiteyears of campaigning have failed to become evenstrongly recognizable opponents to the establishedgroups. The disunity of forces which seek tooverthrow dominant groups is illustrated everyday in every phase of our lives-political, moraland economic. A new point of view, althoughfaced by the difficulty of unifying a group toconcerted will or action, can seldom establish newmediums by which to approach those people towhom it wishes to appeal.

It is possible for advertising and pamphletizingto blanket the country at a cost. To establisha new lecture service in order to reach the pub-

132 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

surmount the difficulties of dissimilar geographicand artistic heritage and taste, of unwillingnessto accept novelty and of interests already firmlyattached to other forms of amusement.

Dominant groups to-day are more secure intheir position than was the most successful auto­crat of several hundred years ago, because to­day the inertia which must be overcome in orderto displace these groups is so much greater. Somany persons with so many different points ofview must be reached and unified before anv­thing effective can be done. Unity can be securedonly by finding the greatest common factor ordivisor of all the groups; and it is difficult to findone common factor which will appeal to a largeand unhomogeneous group.

A very simple and broadly appealing campaignfor reaching the public was undertaken recentlyby the railroads in combination. They utilizedthe poster in graphic, fundamental appeal toawaken an instinct of carefulness in regard tocrossing railroad tracks. When the governmentsought to reestablish ex-service men, the publicrelations counsel had to appeal vividly andquickly to employers and returned soldiers outof the vast complexity of their interests. Heselected the most fundamental appeals of loyalty,fairness and patriotism in order to be understoodactively.

ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD 133

nition of news itself, one admitted constant is thatit must be fresh.

The cost of establishing a paper with a wideappeal, which will have the facilities of gatheringnews, of printing and distributing it, is suchthat groups can no longer depend upon their ownorgans of expression. The Christian Sciencechurch does not depend upon its admirable pub­lication, the Christian Science Monitor in orderto reach its own and new publics. Even wherethe issue demands a partisan or class origin ofa newspaper, as in the case of a political party,the results achieved by so expensive and laboriousa step seldom justify it.

Mr. Given in his book "Making a Newspaper,"points out the great expense that is attached tothe publication of a large metropolitan daily. Inproportion to their field of appeal and potentialincome, the smaller dailies undoubtedly face thesame economic problems. Mr. Given says: 1

"Few persons not having intimate knowledge ofa newspaper have any idea of the great amountof money required to start one, or to keep onerunning which is already established. The me­chanical equipment and delivery service alonemay demand an investment of several hundredthousand dollars-there is one New York paper

1 Given, "Making a Newspaper" (pages 306-307).

134 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

lie would be expensive, and effective only to alimited extent. To establish an independentradio station to broadcast an idea would be diffi­cult and probably disproportionately expensive.To create a new motion picture and a distrib­uting agency would be slow, and very difficultand costly, if possible at all.

The difficulty of establishing and building newchannels of approach to the public is shown bestby an examination of the principal mediumswhich are available to the public relations counselwho desires to direct public thought to the prob­lems of the group he represents.

It is only necessary to picture the newspaperand magazine situation in the United States to­day to realize the difficulty of establishing a newmedium for the representation of a point of view.Americans are accustomed to first-rate servicefrom their press. They demand a high standardnot only in the physical appearance of their news,papers but in the news service as well. Theirdaily paper must provide them with items of local,state and international interest and importance.In the complex activities of modern life, thenewspaper must find and select the subjectswhich interest its readers. It must also give toits readers the news fresh from the making.Whatever vagueness there may be about the defi-

,h.

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 135

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD136 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

whose mechanical equipment cost $1,000,000-­

supplies are in constant demand, and the salarylist is a long and heavy one. For a new paperthe salary list of the editorial department is espe­cially formidable, as editors and reporters whohave employment with well-established publica­tions are always reluctant to change to a venturethat at best is in for a rough voyage, and can beattracted only by high pay.

"A good many of the newspapers that arestarted soon become memories, and fewer thanare generally supposed are paying their own way.The sum of $3,000,000 would hardly suffice atthe present time to equip a first-class newspaperestablishment in New York City, issue a morningand an evening edition paper, build up a circula­tion of 75,000 for each, and place the establish­ment on a money-making basis. Run on the linesof those already established and possessing noextraordinary features to recommend them to thepublic, the two papers might continue to losemoney for twenty years. When one learns thatthere are in New York business managers whoare compelled to reckon with an average weeklyexpense account of nearly $50,000, he can under­stand the possibility of heavy losses. And itmight be added) in contrast, that there are inNew York newspapers which could not be boughtfor $10,000,000."

I137

Discussing substantially the same point, Mr.Oswald Garrison Villard observes the narrow­ing down of the number of newspapers in ourlarge cities and points out the imminent dangerof a news monopoly in the United States. He

'''I'hdsays: t IS t e anger that newspaper condi-tions, because of the enormously increased costsand this tendency to monopoly, may prevent peo­ple who are actuated by passion and sentimentfrom founding newspapers, which is causingmany students of the situation much concern.What is to be the hope for the advocates of new­born and unpopular reforms if they cannot havea press of their own, as the Abolitionists and thefounders of the Republican party set up theirsin a remarkably short time, usually with poverty­stricken bank accounts?"

. ~he public relations counsel must always sub­divide the appeal of his subject and present itthrough the widest possible variety of avenuesto the public. That these avenues must be ex­isting avenues is both a limitation and an op­portunity.

People accept the facts which come to themthrough existing channels. They like to hearnew things in accustomed ways. They haveneither the time nor the inclination to search for

1 "Press Tendencies and Dangers," Atlantic Monthly January1918. J ,

\138 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

facts that arc not readily available to them. Theexpert, therefore, must advise first upon the formof action desirable for his client and secondlymust utilize the established mediums of communi­cation, in order to present to the public a pointof view. This is true whether it is that of amajority or minority, old or new personality, in­stitution or group which desires to change bymodification or intensification the store of knowl­edge and the opinion of the public.

,CHAPTER II

THE INTERLAPPING GROUP FORMATIONS OF so­CIETY, THE CONTINUOUS SHIFTING OF GROUPS,

CHANGING CONDITIONS AND THE FLEXI­

BILITY OF HUMAN NATURE ARE ALL

AIDS TO THE COUNSEL ON PUBLIC

RELATIONS

T H E public relations counsel works with pub­lic opinion. Public opinion is the product

of individual minds. Individual minds make upthe group mind. And the established order ofthings is maintained by the inertia of the group.Three factors make it possible for the publicrelations couusel to overcome even this inertia.These are, first, the interlapping group forma­tion of society; second, the continuous shiftingof groups; third, the changed physical conditionsto which groups respond. All of these arebrought about by the natural inherent flexibilityof individual human nature.

Society is not divided into two groups, althoughit seems so to many. Some see modern societydivided into capital and labor. The feminist seesthe world divided into men and women. The

139

140 CRYSTALLIZING\BLIC OPINION

hungry man sees the rich and the poor. Themissionary sees the heathen and the faithful. Ifsociety were divided into two groups, and nomore, then change could come about only throughviolent upheaval.

Let us assume, for example, a society dividedinto capital and labor. It is apparent on slightinspection that capital is not a homogeneousgroup. There is a difference in point of viewand in interests between Elbert H. Gary or JohnD. Rockefeller, Jr., on the one hand, and thesmall shopkeeper on the other.

Occasions arise, too, upon which even in onegroup sharp differences and competitive align­ments take place.

In the capital group, on the tariff question, forexample, the retailer with a net income of tenthousand dollars a year is apt to take a radicallydifferent position from the manufacturer with asimilar income. In some respects the capitalistis a consumer. ,In other respects he is a worker.Many persons are at the same time workers andcapitalists. The highly paid worker who alsodraws income from Liberty Bonds or from sharesof stock in industrial corporations is an exampleof this.

On the other hand, the so-called workers donot consist of a homogeneous group with com­plete identity of interests. There may be no dif-

i

ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD 141

ference in economic situation between manuallabor and mental labor; yet there is a traditionaldifference in point of view which keeps these twogroups far apart. Again, the narrower field ofmanual labor, the group represented by the Amer­ican Federation of Labor, is frequently opposedin sympathies and interests to the group of In­dustrial Workers of the World. Even in theAmerican Federation of Labor there are compo­nent units. The locomotive engineer, who be­longs to one of the great brotherhoods, has dif­ferent interests from the miner, who belongs tothe United Mine Workers of America.

The farmer is in a class by himself. Yet hein turn may be a tenant farmer or the ownerof an estate or of a small patch of tillablesoil.

That group so vagnely called "the public" con­sists of all sorts and conditions of men, the par­ticular kind or condition depending upon the pointof view of the individual who is making the ob­servation or classification. This is true likewiseof great and small subdivisions of the public.

The public relations counsel must take into ac­count that many groups exist, and that there isa very definite interlapping of groups. Becauseof this he is enabled to utilize many types ofappeal in reaching anyone group, which he sub­divides for his purposes.

\142 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

The Federation for the Support of JewishCharities recently instituted a campaign to raisemillions of dollars for what it called its UnitedBuilding Fund. The directors of that campaignmight have subdivided society for their purposeinto two groups, the Jewish and the non-Jewishgroup, or they might have decided that there wererich people who could give and poor people whocould not give. But they realized the interlappingnature of the groups they wanted to reach. Theyanalyzed these component groups closely and di­vided them into groups which had common busi­ness interests. For instance, they organized agroup of dentists, a group of bankers, a groupof real estate operators, a group of cloak-and­suit-house operators, a group of motion pictureand theatrical owners and others.

Through an approach to each group on thestrongest appeal to which the members of thegroup as a group would respond, the charity re­ceived the support of the individuals who madeit up. The social aspirations of the group, theambitions for leadership of the group, the com­petitive desires and philanthropic tendencies ofthe individuals who made up these groups werecapitalized.

The interlapping nature of these groups madeit possible, too, for the public relations counsel toreach all the individuals by appeals that were

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TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 143

directed not merely to the individual as a memberof the business group with which he was aligned,but also as a member of a different group. Forinstance, as a humanitarian, as a public-spiritedcitizen, or as a devoted Jew. Because of thisinterlapping characteristic of groups, the organi­zation was able to accomplish its purpose moresuccessfully.

Society is made up of an almost infinite num­ber of groups, whose various interests and desiresoverlap and interweave inextricably. The sameman may be at the same time the member of aminority religious sect, supporter of the dominantpolitical party, a worker in the sense that heearns his living primarily by his labor, and a cap­italist in the sense that he has rents from realestate investments or interest from financial in­vestments. In an issue which involves his re­ligious sect he will align himself with one group.In an issue which involves the choice of a Presi­dent of the United States he aligns himself withanother group. In an industrial issue betweencapital and labor it might be very nearly impos­sible to estimate in advance how he would alignhimself. It is from the constant interplay ofthese groups and of their conflicting interestsupon each other that progress results, and it isthis fact that the public relations counsel takesinto account in pleading his cause. A movement

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD

,14+ CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

called "The Go-Getters," instituted by a maga­zine, as much to keep itself before the public eyeas to stimulate commercial activity, found rapidacceptance throughout the country because it ap­pealed to trades of every description, becauseeach group had among its members men who be­longed also to a large group, the group of sales­men.

Let us examine for a moment the personnelof the Horseshoe at the Metropolitan OperaHouse. It is composed of people who are rich,but this economic classification is only one, forthe men and women who assemble there are pre­sumably music lovers. But we may again breakup this classification of music lovers and discoverthat this group contains art lovers as well. Itcontains sportsmen. It contains merchants andbankers. There rare philosophers in it. Thereare motorists and amateur farmers. When theRussian Ballet dame to America the essential. ,

parts of this group attended the performances,but in going after his public, the public relationscounsel based his actions upon the interlapping ofgroups. and appealed to his entire possible audi­ence through their various interlapping group in­terests. The art lover had been stimulated byhearing of the Ballet through his art group orthe art publications and by seeing pictures of thecostumes and the settings. The music lover,

I145

who might have had his interest stimulatedthrough seeing a photograph, also had his inter­est stimulated by reading about the music.

Every individual heard of the Russian Balletin terms of one or more different appeals and re­sponded to the Ballet because of these appeals.It is naturally difficult to say which one of themhad its strongest effect upon the individual's mind.There was no doubt, however, that the interlap­ping group formation of society made it possiblefor more to be reached and to be moved thanwould have been the case if the Ballet had beenprojected on the world at large only as a well­balanced artistic performance.

The utilization of this characteristic of societywas shown recently in the activities of a silk firmwhich desired to intensify the interest of thepublic in silks. It realized that fundamentallywomen were its potential buying public, but itunderstood, too, that the women who made upthis public were members of other groups as well.Thus, to the members of women's clubs, silk wasprojected as the embodiment of fashion. Tothose women who visited museums, silk was dis­played there as art. To the schools in the sametown, perhaps, silk became a lesson in the naturalhistory of the silkworm. To art clubs, silk be­came color and design. To newspapers, the

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD

\146 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

events that transpired in the silk mills becamenews matters of importance.

Each group of women was appealed to on thebasis of its greatest interest. The school teacherwas appealed to in the schoolroom as an edu­cator, and after school hours as a member ofa women's club. She read the advertisementsabout silk as a woman reader of the newspapers,and as a member of the women's group whichvisited the museums, saw the silk there. Thewoman who stayed at home was brought intocontact with the silk through her child. All thesegroups made up the potential market for silk,reached in this way in terms of many appealsto each individual. These are the implicationspresent for the public relations counsel, who musttake into account the interchange and interplayof groups in pleading his cause.

For society, the interesting outcome of this sit­uation is that progress seldom occurs through theabrupt expulsion by a group of its old ideas infavor of new ideas, but rather through the re­arrangement of the thought of the individualsin these groups with respect to each other andwith respect to the entire membership of society.

It is precisely this interlapping of groups-thevariety, the inconsistency of the average man'smental, social and psychological commitmentswhich makes possible the gradual change from

il'47

one state of affairs or from one state of mind toanother. Few people are life members of onegro~p and of one group only. The ordinary per­son IS a very temporary member of a great num­ber of groups. This is one of the most powerfulforces making for progress in society because itmakes for receptivity and open-mindedness. Themo~ifi~a~ion which results from the inconstancyof individual commitments may be acceleratedan~ directed by conscious effort. These changeswhich come about so stealthily that they remainunobserved in society until long after they havetaken place, can be made to yield results in chosendirections.

Changed external conditions must be taken intoaccount by the public relations counsel in hiswork.

Such changes carry with them modificationsin the interests and points of view of those theyaffec~. :r~ey make it possible to modify groupand mdlvldual reaction. The public relationscounsel, too, can modify the results of thechanged external condition by calling attentionto it or interpreting it in terms of the interestof those affected.

The radio might be taken as an example. Inconsidering the radio from the standpoint of hiswork, the public relations counsel has a newmedium which can readily reach huge sections of

_______:::;;;;;;;;;;;..b... .... ~ ..~~_ ..__

\148 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

the public with his message. The public relatio.nscounsel must be ready to estimate, too, what dif­fercnce in viewpoint the radio will produce or. h~sproduced in any given section of the public Itreaches. He will have to consider, for instance,that due to it the average farmer is much moreclosely in contact with the world's events thanformerly.

In the case of the radio, too, if his clients be.for instance, large manufacturers of radio sup­plies and demand acceleration of this c~lange.d

external condition in order to increase their ?U.SI­ness, he may enlarge the radio's field, actlvlt!,and effectiveness. Or, he may stress to the publicthe importance of this new instrument andstrengthen its prestige, so that it rna!,.better ful­fill its mission as a modifier of conditions.

Changed conditions can make possible modifi­cations in the public point of view, as can beinstanced by a campaign carrie~ on by.savingsbanks to encourage ithri f t. This campaign wassuccessful at that time because inflation made iteasy for the public to see the wisdom of the doc-trines preached and ito act upon t.hem.. .

Another example of this modification m thepublic point of viewi due to a changed .conditionwas the demand made by the Executive Corr:­mittee of the Central Trades and Labor Councilof New York for the government to take over

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ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD 149

the railways of the country. Public ownershiphad been a pet subject for school debate for morethan two decades, but it had seldom passed intothe field of serious consideration by the generafpublic. Yet the conditions of hardship createdby the last strike of the railroad shopmen causeda much greater receptivity in the public mind tothis idea.

The airplane slowly emerges as an importantfactor in the daily life of the people. What itwill mean in the psychology of the nation whencommuters can settle within a radius of a hun­dred or more miles of cities is only to be guessedat. Cities may cease to exist except as industrialcenters. There will be greater groups andbroader interests. There will be fewer geo­graphic divisions.

When the automobile was first used motoringwas a dangerous and thrilling sport. To-day it isfound that the automobile has altered the funda­mental conception of daily life held by thousandsof people, both in the urban and the rural popu­lation. The automobile has removed much of theisolation of country districts. It has increasedthe possibility of education in them. It hascaused millions of miles of excel1ent roads tobe laid.

Changed conditions can be national or local intheir import and significance. They can be as

\'ISO CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

national in scope as the revolutionary introduc­tion over night of a national prohibition law oras local as a police captain's edict in Coney Islandagainst stockingless feminine bathers. But theymust be taken into consideration by the public re­lations counsel in his work if they concern in theslightest degree his particular public.

The basic elements of human nature are fixedas to desires and instincts and innate tendencies.The directions, however, in which these basic ele­ments may be turned by skillful handling are in­finite. Human nature is readily subject to modi­fication. Many psychologists have attempted todefine the component parts of human nature, andwhile their terminology is not the same, they dofollow more or less the same general outlines.

Among the universal instincts are-self-pres­ervation, which includes the desire for shelter,sex hunger and food hunger. It is only neces­sary to look through the pages of any magazineto see the way in 1which modern business availsitself of these three fundamentals to exert a co­ercive force upon the public it is trying to reach.The American Radiator advertisement with itscozy home, the family gathered around the radia­tor, the storm raging outside, definitely makes itsappeal to the universal desire for shelter.

The Gulden Mustard advertisements with theirgraphic delineation of cold cuts and an inviting

,TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 151

glass of what is presumably near-beer definitelyappeal to our gustatory sense.

As for the sex appeal, the soap advertisementsrun a veritable race with these ends in view.Woodbury's "the skin you love to touch" is agraphic illustration.

The instinct of self-preservation, one of themost basic of human instincts, is most flexible.The dispensers of raisins, upon the advice of anexpert on public opinion, adopted a slogan to ap­peal to this instinct: "Have you had your ironto-day?"-iron presumably strengthening a manand increasing his powers of resistance. Thesame man appealed to here will respond to thesales talk which persuades him that insurancemay save him at a time of need.

An important hair-net manufacturer wantedto increase the sales of his product. The publicrelations counsel, therefore, appealed to the in­stinct of self-preservation of large groups of thepublic. He talked of self-preservation with re­spect to hygiene for food dispensers. He talkedof self-preservation with respect to safety forwomen who work near exposed machinery.

The same instinct of preservation which maycause a worker to give up necessary food so thathe may save a little money will cause him tocontribute money to a common fund if he canbe shown that this too is a safety measure.

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD

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\152 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

The public relations counsel extracts from hisclients' causes ideas which will capitalize certainFundamental instincts in the people he is tryingto reach, and then sets about to project theseideas to his public.

William MacDougall, the psychologist, classi­fies seven primary instincts with their attendantemotions. They are flight-fear, repulsion-dis­gust, curiosity-wonder, pugnacity-anger, self­display-elation, self-abasement-subjection, paren­tal-love-tenderness. These instincts are utilizedby the public relations counsel in developing ideasand emotions which will modify the opinions andactions of his public.

The action of public health officials in stressingthe possibility of a plague or epidemic is effectivebecause it appeals to the emotion of fear, andpresents the possibility of preventing the spreadof the epidemic or plague. Of course, the ele­ment of flight in this particular situation is notone of movement, but of a desire to get awayfrom the danger.

The instinct of repulsion with its attendantemotion of disgust is not often called upon bythe public relations counsel in his work.

On the other hand, curiosity and wonder arecontinually employed. In Governmental work,particularly, the statesman who has an announce­ment to make is continually exhausting every

I

I153

effort to arouse public interest in advance of theactual announcement. Feelers are often sent outto the public to help create curiosity.

It is interesting to note, too, that even bookpublishers rely upon the element of wondertermed suspense in drama, to increase their publicand their sales. Our now famous "What iswrong with this picture?" advertisements, andthose used for the O. Henry books illustrate thispoint.

. Pugnacity with its attendant emotion of angerIS a human constant. The public relations counseluses this continually in constructing all kinds ofevents that will call it into play. Because of it,too, he is often forced to enact combats and cre­ate issues. He stages battles against evils inwhich the antagonist is personified for the public.New York City, when it wants to reduce the death:-ate from tuberculosis, aligns its citizens yearlyrn a fight against the disease and continues theidea of combat by announcing the number ofvictims from year to year. It uses the terminol­ogy of warfare in these bulletins. Such phrasesin this or other health campaigns as "kill thegerms," "swat the fly," illustrate this point.The public responds to a battle in a way thatit might not respond to a plea to take care ofitself or to do its civic duty.

Under pugnacity would come that technique

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD

,h

'5+ CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

of the public relations counsel which is con,tinuaJly devising tests and contests. Mr. Mar­tin, in his experience as director of the CooperUnion Forum, noticed that the sort of interestwhich wiJl most easily bring an assemblage ofpeople together is most commonly an issue ofsome kind.

On the one hand, says Mr. Martin: 1 "I haveseen efforts made in New York to hold massmeetings to discuss affairs of the very greatestimportance, and I have noted the fact that suchefforts usually fail to get out marc than a hand­ful of speciaJly interested persons, no matter howwell advertised, if the subject to be consideredhappens not to be of a controversial nature. Onthe other hand, if the matter to be consideredis one about which there is keen partisan feelingand popular resentment-if it lends itself to thespectacular personal achievement of one whosename is known, especially in the face of opposi­tion or difficulties-or if the occasion permits ofresolutions of protest, of the airing of wrongs,of denouncing a business of some kind, or of cast­ing statements of external principles in the teethof 'enemies of humanity," then, however trivialthe occasion, we may count on it that our meet­ing wiJl be weU attended.

"It is this element of conflict, directly or indi­1 "The Behavior of Crowds" (pages 23-24).

I'SS

rectly, which plays an overwhelming part in thepsychology of every crowd. It is the element ofcontest which makes basebaJl so popular. A de­bate will draw a larger crowd than a lecture.One of the secrets of the large attendance ofthe forum is the fact that discussion-'talkingback'-is permitted and encouraged. The Evan­gelist Sunday undoubtedly owes the great attend­ance at his meetings in no smaJl degree to thefact that he is regularly expected to abuse someone.

"Nothing so easily catches general attentionand creates a crowd as a contest of any kind.The crowd unconsciously identities its memberswith one or the other competitor. Success en­ables the winning crowd to 'crow' over the losers.Such an occasion becomes symbolic and is utilizedby the ego to enhance its feeling of importance."

The public relations counsel finds in the instinctof pugnacity a powerful weapon for enlisting pub­lic support for or public opposition to a point ofview in which he is interested. On this principle,he will, whenever possible, state his case in theform of an issue and enlist, in support of hisside, such forces as are available.

The dangers of the method must be recognizedand borne in mind. Pugnacity can be enlistedon the side of decency and progress. He wholooks at it from that point of view will agree

exercised by sheer joy in activity or by subtlerivalry or invention. But for those to whom thewhole problem is external and distant, these otherfaculties do not easily come into play. In orderthat the faint image of the affair shall meansomething to them, they must be allowed to ex­ercise the love of struggle, suspense, and vic­tory." 1

We have to take sides. We have to be able totake sides. In the recesses of our being we muststep out of the audience onto the stage andwrestle as the hero for the victory of good overevil. We must breathe into the allegory thebreath of our life.

Recently a philanthropic group was advised tohold a prize fight for charity. This recogni­tion of the importance of the principle of pug­nacity was correct. It is a question whether theapplication was not somewhat ill advised andin bad taste. The Consumer's Committee ofWomen opposed to American Valuation wasavowedly aligned to fight against a section of thetariff presented by Chairman Fordney. TheLucy Stone League, a group who wish to makeit easy for married women to maintain theirmaiden names, dramatized the fight that theyare making against tradition by staging a debateat their annual banquet.

1 Walter Lippmann, "Public Opinion."

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156 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

with Mr. Pulitzer, the great publisher, that itseems neither extraordinary nor culpable that"people and press should be more interested in thepolemical than in the platitudinous; in blame thanin painting the lily; in attack than in sending laud­atory coals to Newcastle." On the other hand,the instinct of pugnacity can be utilized to sup­press and to oppress. From the point of viewof the public relations counsel, who is interestedfrom day to day in accomplishing definite resultson specific issues, the dangers of the method areonly the ordinary dangers of every weapon, physi­calor psychological, which has been devised.

It is interesting in this connection to note thata newspaper uses the same methods to encourageinterest in itself as do others. The New YorkTimes promoted public interest in heavier-than­air-machines by creating sporting issues of con­tests between aviators on altitude records, con­tinuous stays in the air, distance flying and soforth.

Mr. Lippmann comments on this same charac­teristic:

"But where pugnacity is not enlisted, those ofus who are not directly involved find it hard tokeep up our interest. For those who are involved

,

the absorption may be real enough to hold themeven when no issue is involved. They may be

ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD 157

individualism, acquisi­We have already dealt

ISS CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

Very oftcn the public relations counsel utilizesthc self-display-elation motive and draws publicattention to particular people in groups, in orderto give them a greater interest in the work theyare espousing. It is often found to be true thatwhen a man's adherence or allegiance to a move­ment is lukewarm and he is publicly praised forhis adherence to it, he will become a forcefulfactor in it. That is why the intelligent hos­pital boards name rooms or beds after theirdonors. It is one of the reasons for the elab­orate letterheads so many of our philanthropicorganizations have.

Self-abasement and subjection, its attendantemotion, are seldom called upon. On the otherhand, parental love and tenderness are continu­ally employed, viz., the effort of the baby-kissingcandidate for public office or the attempt to pop­ularize a brand' of silk by having a child presenta silk flag to a war veteran at a public ceremony.The whole flood of post-war charity-drives waskeyed to this pitch. The starving Belgian orphanpersonified in 'every picture, the starving Ar­menian, and then the hungry Austrian and Ger­man orphans appeared, and the campaigns allsucceeded on this issue. Even issues where thechild was not the predominant factor used thisappeal. i

Four other instincts are listed in this classifi-

ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD IS9

cation-gregariousness,tion and construction.with the first at length.

The gregarious instinct in man gives the publicrelations counsel the opportunity for his mostpotent work. The group and herd show every­where the leader, who because of certain quali­fications, certain points that are judged by theherd to be important to its life, stands out andis followed more or less implicitly by it.

A group leader gains such power with hisgroup or herd that even on matters which havehad nothing to do with the establishment or gain­ing of that leadership he is considered a leaderand is followed by his group.

It is this attribute of men and women thatagain gives the public relations counsel free play.

A group leader of any given cause will bringto a new cause all those who have looked to hisleadership. For instance, if the adherence ofa prominent Republican is secured for the Leagueof Nations, his adherence will probably bringto the League of Nations many other prominentRepublicans.

The group leadership with which the publicrelations counsel may work is limited only by thecharacter of the groups he desires to reach.After an analysis of his problem the subdivisionsmust be made. His action depends upon his selec-

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160 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

tive capacity, and the possibility of approach tothe leaders. These leaders may represent there­fore a wide variety of interests-society leadersor leaders of political groups, leaders of womenor leaders of sportsmen, leaders of divisions bygeography, or divisions by age, divisions by lan­guage or by education. These sUbdivisio~s a:eso numerous that there are large companies 111

the United States whose business it is to supplylists of groups and group leaders in differentfields.

This same mechanism is carried out in manyother cases. In looking for group leaders, thepublic relations counsel must realize that someleaders have more varied and more intensifiedauthority than others. One leader may repre­sent the ideals and ideas of several or numerousgroups. His cooperation on one basis may bringinto alignment and may carry with it the othergroups who are interested in him primarily forother reasons. .

The public relations counsel, let us say, enliststhe support of a man, president of two associa­tions; (a) an economic association, (b) a welfareassociation. The issue is an economic one, purely.But because of his leadership, the membershipof association (b), that is, the welfare group,joins him in the movement as interestedly as

,TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 161

association (a) does, which has the more logical,direct reason for entering the field.

I have given this in general terms rather thanas a specific instance. The principle which gov­erns the interlapping and continually shiftinggroup formation of society also governs the gre­gariousness.

Individualism, another instinct, is a concomi­tant of gregariousness, and naturally follows it.The desire for individual expression is alwaysa trait of the individuals who go to make up thegroup. The appeal to individualism goes closelyin hand with other instincts, such as self-display.

The instincts of acquisition and constructionare minor instincts as far as the ordinary workof the public relations counsel is concerned. Ex­amples of this type of appeal come readily tomind in the "Own your own home" and "Buildyour own home" campaigns.

The innate tendencies arc susceptibility to sug­gestion, imitation, habit and play. Susceptibilityto suggestion and imitation might well be classi­fied under gregariousness, which we have alreadydiscussed.

Under habit would come one very importanthuman trait of which the public relations coun­sel avails himself continually. The mechanismwhich habit produces and which makes it possi-

162 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

ble for the public relations counsel to use habitis the stereotype we have already touched upon.

Mental habits create stereotypes just as physi­cal habits create certain definite reflex actions.These stereotypes or reflex images are a great aidto the public relations counsel in his work.

These short-cuts to reactions make it possiblefor the average mind to possess a much largernumber of impressions than would be possiblewithout them. At the same time these stereo­types or cliches are not necessarily truthful pic­tures of what they are supposed to portray.They are determined by the outward stimuli towhich the individual has been subject as well asby the content of his mind.

To most of us, for example, the stereotypeof the general is a stern, upright gentleman inuniform and with gold braid, preferably on ahorse. The stereotype of a farmer is a slouch­ing, overall-clad man with straw sticking out ofhis mouth and a straw hat on his head. He issupposed to be very shrewd when it comes tomatters of his own farm and very ignorant whenit comes to matters of culture. He despises "cityfellers." All this iis the connotation brought upby the one word "farmer."

The public relations counsel sometimes uses thecurrent stereotypes, sometimes combats them andsometimes creates! new ones. In using them he

, .

,TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 163

very often brings to the public he is reaching astereotype they already know, to which he addshis new ideas, thus he fortifies his own and givesa greater carrying power. For instance, the pub­lic relations counsel might well advise Austria,which in the public mind might still representa belligerent country, to bring forward otherAustrian stereotypes, namely the Danube waltzstereotype and the Danube blue stereotype. Anappeal for help would then come from the coun­try of the well-liked Danube waltz and Danubeblue-the country of gayety and charm. Thenew idea would be carried to those who acceptedthe stereotypes they were familiar with.

The combating of the stereotype is seen in thebattle waged against the American ValuationPlan by the public relations counsel. The formu­lators of the plan dubbed it "American Valua­tion" in order to capitalize on the stereotype of"American." In fighting the plan, its opponentsput the word "American" in qnotation markswhenever reference was made to the subject inorder to question the authenticity of the use ofthis stereotype. Thus patriotism was definitelyremoved from what was evidently an economicaland political issue.

The public relations counsel creates new stere­otypes. Roosevelt, his own best adviser, was anapt creator of such stereotypes-"square deal,

164 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

dc-lighted, molly-coddle, big stick," created newconcepts for general acceptance.

Stereotypes sometimes become shop-worn andlose their power with the public that has pre­viously accepted them. "Hundred per centAmerican" died from over use.

Visible objects as stereotypes are often usedby the public relations counsel with great effec­tiveness to produce the desired impression. Anational flag on the orator's platform is a mostcommon device. A scientist must of necessitybe in juxtaposition with his instruments. Achemist is not a chemist to the public unless testtubes and retorts are near him. A doctor musthave his kit, or, formerly, a Van Dyke beard,In photographs of food factory buildings whiteis a good stereotype for cleanliness and purity.In fact, all emblems and trade-marks are stereo-types. i

There is one danger in the use of stereotypesby the public relations counsel. That is, by thesubstitution of words for acts, demagogues inevery field of sotial relationship can take advan­tage of the public.

Playas an innate tendency is utilized by thepublic relations counsel whenever conditionsmerit such an appeal. When a charity committeeis advised to institute a street fair to gather I

,TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 165

money, the committee is recognizing this tend­ency. When a city government arranges fire­works for its citizens, when a metropolitan news­daily stages marble contests or horseshoe pitch­ing events, the play tendency of human societyfinds an outlet and the initiators of the event findfriends.

*

\

CHAPTER III

AN OUTLINE OF METHODS PRACTICABLE IN MODI­

FYING THE POINT OF VIEW OF A GROUP

ON the question of specific devices upon whichthe public relations counsel relies to accom­

plish his ends, volumes could probably be writtenwithout exhausting the subject. The detailedpresentation is potentially endless. Pages couldbe filled with instances of the stimuli to whichmen and women respond, the circumstances un­del' which they will respond favorably or un­favorably, and the particular application of eachof these stimuli to concrete conditions. Such anoutline, however, would have less value than anoutline of fundamentals, since circumstances arenever the same. i

These principles, by and large, consist of fun­damentals already defined, to which the public re­lations counsel has recourse in common with thestatesman, the journalist, the preacher, the lec­turer and all others engaged in attempting tomodify public opinion or public conduct.

How does the public relations counsel approachany particular problem? First he must analyze

.66

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II

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD 167

his client's problem and his client's objective.Then he must analyze the public he is trying toreach. He must devise a plan of action for theclient to follow and determine the methods andthe organs of distribution available for reachinghis public. Finally he must try to estimate theinteraction between the public he seeks to reachand his client. How will his client's case strikethe public mind? And by public mind here ismeant that section or those sections of the publicwhich must be reached.

Let us take the example of a public relationscounsel who is confronted with the specific prob­lem of modifying or influencing the attitude ofthe public toward a given tariff bill. A tariff bill,of course, is primarily the application of theoret­ical economics to a concrete industrial situation.The public relations counsel in analyzing must seehimself simultaneously as a member of a largenumber of publics. He must visualize himselfas a manufacturer, a retailer, an importer, anemployer, a worker, a financier, a politician.

Within these groups he must see himself againas a member of the various subdivisions of eachof these groups. He must see himself, for ex­ample, as a member of a group of manufacturerswho obtain the bulk of their raw material withinthe United States, and at the same time as amember of a group of manufacturers who obtain

\168 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

large portions of their raw material from abroadand whose importations of raw material may beadversely affected by the pending tariff bill. Hemust see himself not only as a farm laborer butalso as a mechanic in a large industrial' center.He must see himself as the owner of the depart­ment store and as a member of the buying pub­lic.f!$...!!IJ;!sl.-be.J\~e.-!o_g~g~~,3.sJa!.-~possible, from u;:'p;e points of view in order toftrIke;~!he appeaGr--i"o~:?{;PpealswhicI::..will be influential with as many sections of society/-- - --- - ----_.--"-~ R9s~bk.'

Let us assume that our problem is the intensi­fication in the public mind of the prestige of ahotel. The problem for the public relations coun­sel is to create in the public mind the close rela­tionship between the hotel and a number of ideasthat represent the things the hotel desires tostand for in the public mind.

1 Mr. Given's definition of the qualifications of a good re­porter applies very largely to the qualifications of a good publicrelations counsel. "There is undoubtedly a good deal of truth,"says Mr. Given, "in the saying that good reporters are born andnot made. A man may; learn how to gather some kinds of news,and he may learn howlto write it correctly, but if he cannot seethe picturesque or vital point of all incident and express whathe sees so that others will see as through his eyes, his pro­ductions, even if no particular fault can be found w~th.them,will not bear the mark of true excellence; and there 15, if onestops to think, a great! difference between something that is de­void of faults and s0n;tething that is full of good. pomts. .~hequality which makes a good newspaper man must, In the oprmonof many editors, exist in the beginning. But when it does exist,it can usually be developed, no matter how many obstacles arein the way." '

,TECHNIQUE AND METHOD r69

The counsel therefore advises the hotel to makea celebration of its thirtieth anniversary whichhappens to fall at this particular time and sug­gests to the president the organization of ananniversary committee of a body of business menwh~ represent the cream of the city's merchants.ThIS committee is to include men who representa number. of ~tereotypes that will help to pro­duce the inevitable result in the public mind.There are to be also a leading banker, a soci­ety woman, a prominent lawyer, an influentialpreacher, and so forth until a cross section ofthe city's most telling activities is mirrored inthe committee. The stereotype has its effect, andwhat may have been an indefinite impression be­forehand has been reenforced and concretized.The hotel remains preeminent in the public mind.The stereotypes have proved its preeminence.The cause has been strongly presented to thepublic by identification with different group stere­otypes.

, I:Iere is anoth~r example. A packing companydesires to establish in the public mind the factthat the name of its product is synonymous withbacon. Its public relations counsel advises a con­test on "Bring home the Beech-Nut," the contestto be open to salesmen and to be based on thebest sale made by salesmen throughout the coun­try dUring the month of August. But here again

170 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

it is necessary to use a stereotype to help thepossible contestant identify the cause. A com­mittee of nationally known sales-managers ischosen to act as judges for the contest and im­mediately success is assured. Thousands ofsalesmen compete for the prize. The stereotypehas bespoken the value of the contest.

The public relations counsel can try to bringabout this identification by utilizing the appealsto desires and instincts discussed in the precedingchapter, and by making use of the characteristicsof the group formation of society. His utiliza­tion of these basic principles will be a continualand efficient aid to him.

He must make it easy for the public to pickhis issue out of the great mass of material. Hemust be able to overcome what has been called"the tendency on the part of public attention to'flicker' and 'relax.' j, He must do for the pub­lic mind what the newspaper, with its headlines,accomplishes for its readers.

Abstract discussions and heavy facts are thegroundwork of his involved theory, or analysis,but they cannot be given to the public until theyare simplified and dramatized. The refinementsof reason and the shadings of emotion cannotreach a considerable public.

When an appeal to the instincts can be made

TECHNIQUE AND METHOD

so powerful as to secure acceptance in the me­dium of dissemination in spite of competitive in­terests, it can be aptly termed news.

The public relations counsel, therefore, is acreator of news for whatever medium he choosesto transmit his ideas. It is his duty to createnews no matter what the medium which broad­casts this news. It is news interest which giveshim an opportunity to make his idea travel andget the favorable reaction from the instinctsto which he happens to appeal. News in itselfwe shall define later on when we discuss "rela­tions with the press." But the word news is suf­ficiently understood for me to talk of it here.

In order to appeal to the instincts and funda­mental emotions of the public, discussed in pre­vious chapters, the public relations counsel mustcreate news around his ideas. News will, by itssuperior inherent interest, receive attention in thecompetitive markets for news, which are them­selves continually trying to claim the public at­tention. The public relations counsel must liftstartling facts from his whole subject and presentthem as news. He must isolate ideas and developthem into events so that they can be more readilyunderstood and so that they may claim attentionas news.

The headline and the cartoon bear the same

172 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

relation to the newspaper that the public rela­tions counsel's analysis of a problem bears to the

problem itself. .. . . '.The headline is a eompact, vivid simplification

of complicated issues. The cartoon provides avisual image which takes the place of ~bstract

thought. So, too, the analyses the public rela­tions counsel makes, lift out the important, theinteresting, and the easily understandable pointsin order to create interest.

"Yet human qualities are themselves," saysMr. Lippmann,' "vague and fluctuating. Theyare best remembered by a physical sign. A.ndtherefore the human qualities we tend to ascribeto the names of our impressions, themselves tendto be visualized in physical metaphors. The peo­ple of England, the history of England, condenseinto England, and England becomes John Bull,who is jovial and fat, not too cleve~, bu: wellable to take care of himself. The migration ofa people may appear to some as a meandering ofa river and to' others like a devastating flood.The co~rage people display may be objectified asa rock, their purpose as a road, their doubts asforks of the road, their difficulties as ruts androcks, their progress as a fertile val1ey. If theymobilize their 'dreadnaughts they unsheath asword. If their army surrenders they are thrown

1 "Public Opinion" i(page 160).!

<ITECHNIQUE AND METHOD 173

to earth. If they are oppressed they are on therack or under the harrow."

Perhaps the chief contribution of the publierelations counsel to the public and to his clientis his ability to understand and analyze obscuretendencies of the public mind. It is true that hefirst analyzes his client's problem-he then ana­lyzes the public mind; he utilizes the mediums ofcommunication between the two, but before hedoes this he must use his personal experience andknowledge to bring two factors into alignment.It is his capacity for crystal1izing the obscuretendencies of the public mind before they havereached definite expression, which makes him sovaluable.

His ability to create those symbols to whichthe public is ready to respond; his ability to knowand to analyze those reactions which the publicis ready to give; his ability to find those stereo­types, individual and community, which will bringfavorable responses; his ability to speak in thelanguage of his audience and to receive from ita favorable reception are his contributions.

The appeal to the instincts and the universaldesires is the basic method through which heproduces his results.

<I

PART IV

ETHICAL RELATIONS

II_________.1 --1 _

I

,

CHAPTER rA CONSIDERATION OF THE PRESS AND OTHER ME­

DIUMS OF COMMUNICATION IN THEIR

RELATION TO THE PUBLIC RE-

LATIONS COUNSEL

WH E N the question of preparing and pub­lishing this volume was first considered,

the publishers wrote letters to several hundredprominent men asking their opinions, individu­ally, as to the probable public interest in a workdealing with public relations. Newspaper edi­tors and publishers, heads of large industries andpublic service corporations, philanthropists, uni­versity presidents and heads of schools of jour­nalism, as well as other prominent men made upthe number. Their replies are exceedingly in­teresting in as much as they show, almost uni­formly, the increasing emphasis placed upon pub­lic relations by leaders in every important phaseof American life. These replies show also agrowing understanding of the need for spe­cialized service in this field of specialized prob­lems.

Particularly interesting were the comments of177

ETHICAL RELATIONS

\178 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

newspaper publishers and editors in response toMr. Liveright's inquiry, for nothing could bet­ter indicate the light in which the public relationscounsel is held by those very individuals whoare supposed popularly to disparage his value inthe social and economic scheme of things.

What are the relations of the public relationscounsel to the various mediums he can employto carry his message to the public? There is,of course, first and perhaps most important, thepress. There is the moving picture; the lectureplatform; there is advertising; there is the direct­by-mail effort; there is the stage-drama andmusic; there is word of mouth; there is the pul­pit, the schoolroom, the legislative chamber-toall of these the public relations counsel has dis­tinct relationship. :

The journalist df to-day, while still watchingthe machinations Of the so-called "press agent"with one half-amu~ed eye, appreciates the valueof the service the public relations counsel is ableto give him.

To the newspaper the public relations counselserves as a purveyor of news.

As disseminator of news the newspaper holdsan important positIon in American life. This hasnot always been the case, for the emphasis upon

I

the news side is a, development of recent years.Originally, the name newspaper was scarcely an

I

I

179accurate or appropriate designation for the unitsof th~ American. press. So-called newspapers:nere, 111 fa?t, ve~lc1es for the expression of opin­ion of their editors. They contained little orno news, as that word is understood to-day­largely because difficulties of communication madeit impossible to obtain any but the most localitems of interest. The public was accustomed tolook to its press for the opinion of its favoriteeditor upon subjects of current interest ratherthan for the recital of mere facts.

:ro-~ay, ?n. the other hand, the expression ofeditorial 0p11110n is only secondarily the functionof a newspaper; and thousands of persons readnew.spapers. with whose editorial policy they donot 111 the slightest agree. Such a situation wouldhave been nearly impossible in the days of Hor­ace Greeley.

The need which the American press is to-dayengaged in satisfying is the need for news. "Apaper," says Mr. Given,' "may succeed withoutprinting editorials worth reading and withouthavi~g any aim other than the making of money,but It cannot possibly thrive unless it gets thenews and prints it in a pleasing and attractiveform."

~riting f.rom a long experience with the pro­fession of Journalism, Will Irwin reaches the

1 Given, "Making a Newspaper."

180 CHYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

IETHICAL RELATIONS 181

conclusion that' "news is the main thing, thevital consideration of the American newspaper;it is both an intellectual craving and a commercialneed to the modern world. In popular psychologyit has come to be a crying primal want of themind, like hunger of the body. Tramp wind­jammers, taking on the pilot after a long cruise,ask for the papers before they ask, as formerly,for fresh fruit and vegetables. Whenever, in ourlater Western advance, we Americans set up anew mining camp, an editor, his type slung onburro-back, comes in with the missionaries, evan­gel himself of civilization. Most dramatically theSan Francisco disaster illuminated this point.On the morning of April 20, 1906, the city's pop­ulation huddled in parks and squares, their housesgone, death of famine or thirst a rumor and apossibility. Thy editors of the three morningnewspapers, expressing the true soldier spiritwhich inspires this most devoted profession, hadmoved their staffs to the suburb of Oakland, andthere, on the presses of the Tribune, they hadissued a combined Call-Chronicle-Examiner.When, at dawn.ithe paper was printed, an editorand a reporter loaded the edition into an auto­mobile and drove it through the parks of the dis­ordered city, giving copies away. They were

:t "What Is News by Will Irwin, Cottier's, March 18, 1911(page 16).

fairly mobbed, they had to drive at top speed,casting out the sheets as they went, to make anyprogress at all. No bread wagon, no supply ofblankets, caused half so much stir as did thearrival of the news.

"We need it, we crave it; this nerve of themodern world transmits thought and impulsefrom the brain of humanity to its muscles; the

. complex organism of modern society could nomore move without it than a man could movewithout filaments and ganglia. On the commer­cial and practical side, the man of even smallaffairs must read news in the newspapers everyday to keep informed on the thousand and oneactivities in the social structure which affect hisbusiness. On the intellectual and spiritual side,it is-save for the Church alone-our principaloutlook on the higher intelligence. The thoughtof legislature, university, study, and pulpit comesto the common man first-and usually last-inthe form of news. The tedious business of teach­ing reading in public schools has become chieflya training to consume newspapers. We must gofar up in the scale of culture before we find anintellectual equipment more a debtor to the formaleducation of school and college than to the hap­hazard education of news."

The extent to which the editorial aspect ofthe newspaper has given way to an increased im-

182 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

portance of the news colnmns is vividly illnstratedin the anecdote abont the Philadelphia NorthAmerican, which Mr. Irwin relates. "The NorthAmerican." says Mr. Irwin, "had declared forlocal option. A committee of brewers waited onthe editor; they represented one of the biggestgroups in their business. 'This is an ultimatum,'they said. 'You must change your policy or loseour advertising. We'll be easy on you. We don'task you to alter your editorial policy, but you muststop printing news of local-option victories.' 1 Sothe deepest and shrewdest enemies of the bodypolitic give practical testimony to the 'power ofthe press' in its modern form."

In the case of the brewers of Philadelphia itis my own opinion that if they had been welladvised, instead of attempting to interfere withthe policy of the North American, they wouldhave made it a point to bring to the attentionof the North American every instance of the de­feat of local option.' The newspaper would un­doubtedly have published both sides of the story,as far as both sides consisted of news.

It is because he acts as the purveyor of truth­ful, accurate and verifiable news to the pressthat the conscientious and successful counsel onpublic relations is looked upon with favor bythe journalist. And!, in the Code of Ethics re-

1 Italics mine.

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cently adopted in Washington by a national ed­itors' conference, his function is given acknowl­edgment. Just as in the case of the other me­diums for the dissemination of information,mediums which range from the lecture platformto the radio, the press, too, looks to the publicrelations counsel for information about the causeshe represents.

Since news is the newspaper's backbone, it isobvious that an understanding of what news ac­tually is must be an integral part of the equipmentof the public relations counsel. For the publicrelations counsel must not only supply news-hemust create news. This function as the creatorof news is even more important than his others.

It has always been interesting to me that a con­cise, comprehensive definition of news has neverbeen written. What news is, every newspaperman instinctively knows, particularly as it con­cerns the needs of his own paper. But it is almostas difficult to define news as it is to describe acircular staircase without making corkscrew ges­tures with one's hand, or as to define some of theabstruse concepts of the metaphysician, like spaceor time or reality.

What is news for one newspaper may have nointerest whatever, or very little interest, for an­other newspaper. There are almost as many defi­nitions of news as there are journalists who take

. L

bulk obeys its ideals of that order only imper­fectly. When something brings to our attentionan exceptional adhesion to religion, virtue, andtruth, that becomes in itself a departure fromregularity, and therefore news. The knowledgethat most servants do their work conscientiouslyand many stay long in the same employ is notnews. But when a committee of housewives pre­sents a medal to a servant who has worked faith­fully in one employ for fifty years, that becomesnews, because it calls our attention to a case ofexceptional fidelity to the ideals of establishedorder. The fact that mankind will consume anundue amount of news about crime and disorderis only a proof that the average human being isoptimistic, that he believes the world to be true,sound and working upward. Crimes and scandalsinterest him most because they most disturb hispicture of the established order.

"That, then, is the basis of news. The mys­terious news sense which is necessary to all goodreporters rests on no other foundation than ac­quired or instinctive perception of this principle,together with a feeling for what the greatestnumber of people will regard as a departure fromthe established order. In Jesse Lynch William'snewspaper play, 'The Stolen Story,' occurs thispassage:

\184 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

the trouble to define it. Certain of the charac­teristics of news, of course, can be readily seizedupon; and definitions of news generally consistof particular emphasis upon one or another ofthese characteristics. Mr. Given remarks that'"news was once defined as 'Fresh information ofsomething that has lately taken place.' ..."The author of this definition puts the chief em­phasis upon the element of timeliness. Undoubt­edly in most news that element must be present.It would not be true, however, to say that it mustalways be present, nor would it be true to say thateverything which is timely is news. Obviously,the well-nigh infinite number of occurrenceswhich take place in daily life throughout theworld are timely enough, so far as each of themin its respective environment is concerned; butfew of them ever become news.

Mr. Irwin defines news as "a departure fromthe established order." Thus, according to Mr.Irwin, a criminal act is news because it is a de­parture from the established order, and at thesame time, an exceptional display of fidelity,courage or honesty is also news for the samereason.

"With our education in established order, weget the knowledge," he says,' "that mankind in

1 "Making a Newspaper" (page 168).2 "What is News?" Will Irwin, Collier's, March 18, 19II (page

16).

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186 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

"( Enter Very Young Reporter; comes downto city desk with air of escitement.v

"VERY YOUNG REPORTER (considerably im­pressed) : 'Big story. Three dagoes killed by thatboiler explosion!'

"THE CITY EDITOR (reading copy. Doesn'tlook up): 'Ten lines.' (Continues reading copy.)

"VERY YOUNG REPORTER (looks surprised andhurt. Crosses over to reporter's table. Thent-urns back to city desk. Casual conversationaltone); 'By the way. Funny thing. There wasa baby carriage within fifty feet of the explosion,but it wasn't upset.'

"THE CITY EDITOR (looks up with professionalinterest): 'That's worth a dozen dead dagoes.Write a half column.'

"( Very Young Reporter looks still more sur­prised, perplexed. Suddenly the idea dawns uponhim. He crosses over to table, sits down, writes.)

"Both saw news; but the editor went furtherthan the reporter, For cases of Italians killedby a boiler explosion are so common as to ap­proach the commonplace; but a freak of explo­sive chemistry which annihilates a strong manand does not disturb a baby departs from itwidely."

Here again it is clear that Mr. Irwin has

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merely emphasized one of the features generallyto be found in what we call news, without, how­ever, offering us a complete or exclusive defini­tion of news.

Analyzing further within his general rule thatnews is a departure from the established order,Mr. Irwin goes on to point out certain outstand­ing factors which enhance or create news value.I cite them here because all of them are unques­tionably sound. On the other hand, analysisshows that some of them are directly contradic­tory to his main principle that only the departurefrom the established order is news. In Mr. Ir­win's opinion, the four oustanding factors mak­ing for the creation or enhancement of news valueare the following: 1

1. "We prefer to read about the things zoelike." The result, he says, has been the rule;"Power for the men, affections for the women."

2. "Our interest in news increases in directratio to our familiarity with its subject, its set­ting, and its dramatis persona:'

3. "Our interest in news is in direct ratio toits effect on our personal concerns."

4. "Our interest in news increases in direct

I "What is News?" by Will Irwin, Collier's March 18 I9II(pages 17-18). Italics mine. "

188 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

ratio to the general importance of the persons oractivities which it affects." This is so obviousthat it scarcely needs comment.

Some notion of the diversity of news arisingin a city may be obtained if one studies the pointswhich are watched as news sources, either con­tinuously or closely by metropolitan dailies. Mr.Given' lists the places in New York which arewatched constantly:

"Police Headquarters.Police Courts.Coroner's Office.Supreme Courts, New York County.New York Stock Exchange.City Hall, including the Mayor's Office, Alder­

manic Chamber, City Clerk's Office, and Office ofthe President of Manhattan Borough.

County Clerk's office."

Those places, says Mr. Given, which the news­papers watch carefully, but not continually, are:

"City Courts (Minor civil cases).Court of General Sessions (Criminal cases).Court of Special Sessions (Minor criminal

cases. )District Attorney's Office.

1 "Making a Newspaper," by Given (pages 59-62).

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Doors of Grand Jury rooms when the GrandJury is in session (For indictments and present­ments).

Federal Courts.Post Office.United States Commissioner's Offices and

Offices of the United States Secret Service offi­cers.

United States Marshal's Office.United States District Attorney's Office.Ship News, where incoming and outgoing ves­

sels are reported.Barge Office, where immigrants land.Surrogate's Office, where wills are filed and

testimony concerning wills in litigation is heard.Political Headquarters during campaigns."

Finally, "the following are visited by the re­porters several times, or only once a day:

"Police Stations.Municipal Courts.Board of Health Headquarters.Fire Department Headquarters.Park Department Headquarters.Building Department Headquarters.Tombs Prison.County Jail.United States Sub-treasury.

190 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

Office of Collector of the Port.United States Appraiser's Office.Public Hospitals.Leading Hotels.The Morgue.County Sheriff's Office.City Comptroller's Office.City Treasurer's Office.Offices of the Tax Collector and Tax Asses­

sors."

Mr. Given's example of the broker, JohnSmith, illustrates aptly the point I am making."For ten years," said Mr. Given,' "he pursuesthe even tenor of his way and except for his cus­tomers and his friends no one gives him a thought.To the newspapers he is as if he were not. Butin the eleventh year he suffers heavy losses and,at last, his resources all gone, summons his lawyerand arranges for the making of art assignment.The lawyer posts off to the County Clerk's office,and a clerk there makes the necessary entries inthe office docket. Here in step the newspapers.While the clerk is writing Smith's business obitu­ary, a reporter glances over his shoulder, and afew minutes later the newspapers know Smith'stroubles and are as well informed concerning hisbusiness status as they would be had they kept

1 Given, "Making a Newspaper" (page 57).

•ETHICAL RELATIONS 191

a reporter at his door every day for over tenyears. Had Smith dropped dead instead ofmerely making an assignment his name wouldhave reached the newspapers by way of the Cor­oner's office instead of the County Clerk's office,and in fact, while Smith did not know it, thenewspapers were prepared and ready for him nomatter what he did. They even had representa­tives waiting for him at the Morgue. He wassafe only when he walked the straight and narrowpath and kept quiet."

An overt act is often necessary before an eventcan be regarded as news.

Commenting on this aspect of the situation,Mr. Lippmann discusses this very example of thebroker, John Smith, and his hypothetical bank­ruptcy. "That overt act," says Mr. Lippmann,'" 'uncovers' the news about Smith. Whether thenews will be followed up or not is another mat­ter. The point is that before a series of eventsbecome news they have usually to make them­selves noticeable in some more or less overt act.Generally, too, in a crudely overt act. Smith'sfriends may have known for years that he wastaking risks, rumors may even have reached thefinancial editor if Smith's friends were talkative.But apart from the fact that none of this couldbe published because it would be libel, there is

1 "Public Opinion" (pages 339-340).

192 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

in these rumors nothing definite on which topeg a story. Something definite must occurthat has unmistakable form. It may be the actof going into bankruptcy, it may be a fire,. acoIlision, an assault, a riot, an arrest, a denuncia­tion, the introduction of a bill, a speech, a vote,a meeting, the expressed opinion of a weIl-knowncitizen an editorial in a newspaper, a sale, a,wage-schedule, a price change, the proposal tobuild a bridge. . . . There must be a manifesta­tion. The course of events must assume a cer-

. tain definable shape, and until it is in a phasewhere some aspect is an accomplished fact, newsdoes not separate itself from the ocean of possibletruth."

From the point of view of the practical journal­ist, Mr. Irwin has applied this observation tothe making of the news of the day. He says: 1

" I state a platitude when I say that governmentby. the people is the essence of democracy. Intheory, the people watch and know; when, in theprocess of social and industrial evolution, theysee a new evil becoming important, they foundinstitutions to regulate it or laws to repress it.They cannot watch without light, know withoutteachers. The newspaper, or some force like it,must daily inform them of things which are

1 "All the News That's Fit to Print," Collier's, May 6. 19II(page 18).

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shocking and unpleasant in order that democracy,in its slow, wobbling motion upward, may per­ceive and correct. It is good for us to know thatJohn Smith, made crazy by drink, came home andkiIIed his wife. Startled and shocked, but inter­ested, we may foIlow the case of John Smith, seethat justice in his case is not delayed by his puIlwith Tammany. Perhaps, when there are enoughcases of John Smith, we shaIl look into the firstcauses and restrain the groggeries that made himmomentarily mad or the industrial oppressionthat made him permanently an undernourished,overnerved defective. It is good to know thatJohn Jones, a clerk, forged a check and went tojail. For not only shaIl we watch justice in hiscase, but some day we shaIl watch also the fraud­ulent race-track gambling that tempted him totheft. If every day we read of those crimeswhich grow from the misery of New York's EastSide and Chicago's Levee, some day democracymay get at the ultimate causes for overwork, un­derfeeding, tenement crowding.

"N0 other method is so forcible with the pub­lic as driving home the instance which points themoral. General description of bad conditionsfails, somehow, to impress the average mind.One might have shouted to Shreveport day afterday that low dives make dangerous negroes, andcreated no sentiment against saloons. But when

194 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

a negro, drunk on bad gin which he got at sucha dive assaulted and killed Margaret Lear, a

, al "schoolgirl, Shreveport voted out the soon..For the great mass of activities there IS no

machinery of record whatever. How these areto be recorded when they are important is thereal problem for the press.

In this field the public relations counsel playsa considerable part. His is the business of call­ing to the public attention, through. the press a~dthrough every other available. medIUm: the pointof view, the movement or the Issue which he :e~­resents. Mr. Lippmann has observed tha~, It ISfor this reason that what he calls the pressagent" has become an important factor in modern

life. . . dMr. Lippmann's observation on this point e-

serves comment. He says: ' "This is the under­lying reason for the existence of the press agent.The enormous discretion as to what facts a~dwhat impressions shall be reported is steadilyconvincing every organized group of people th~twhether it wishes to secure publicity or to aVOIdit the exercise of discretion cannot be left to ther~porter. It is safer to hire a press-agent wh~stands between the group and the newspap.ers.

The really important function of the pubhc re­lations counsel, in relation to the press as well

1 "Public Opinion" (page 344).

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as to his client, lies even beyond these consider­ations. He is not merely the purveyor of news;he is more logically the creator of news.

An amateur can bring a good story to the aver­age newspaper office and receive consideration,although the amateur is only too likely to missprecisely those features of his story which giveit news value, and to overlook precisely thatelement of the story which will make it interest­ing to the particular newspaper he is ap­proaching.

The New York hotel proprietors were enforc­ing the prohibition law in relation to their ownestablishments, but saw that certain restaurantswere violating the law with impunity. Realizingthe injustice to them of this situation, they builta definite news event by going over the heads ofthe local law enforcement offices and wired anappeal direct to President Harding, asking forenforcement. This naturally became news of thefirst order.

The opening of a shop by prominent women inwhich were shown graphic examples of the effectof the tariff on women's wear was an event cre­ated to intensify interest in this subject.

The launching of battleships with ceremony;the laying of corner stones; the presentation ofmemorials; demonstration meetings, parties andbanquets are all events created with a view to

ETHICAL RELATIONS196 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

their carrying capacity in the various mediumsthat reach the public.

The departments of a modern newspaper willshow the great variety of possible approaches onany subject from the standpoint of the press.When this is correlated to the possible approacheson any subject from the standpoint of humanpsychology, we see the diversification of methodsto which the public relations counsel can haverecourse to construct events.

In the metropolitan press, for instance, thereare the news departments, the editorial depart­ments, the letter-to-the-editordepartment, thewomen's department, the society department, thecurrent events department, the sport department,the real estate department, the business depart­ment, the financial department, the shipping de­partment, the investment department, the educa­tional department, the photographic departmentand the other special feature writers and sections,different in different journals.

In a valuable study on the "Newspaper Read­ing Habits of Business Executives and Profes­sional Men in New York" compiled by ProfessorGeorge Burton Hotchkiss, Head ?f the Dep~rt­

ment of Advertising and Marketing, and RIch­ard B. Franken, Lecturer in Advertising atNew York University, there are several tablessetting forth the features of morning and eve-

197ning newspapers preferred as a whole by thegroup to whom the questionnaires were sent andby various smaller groups within the main group,

The counsel on public relations not only knowswhat news value is, but knowing it, he is in aposition to make news happen. He is a creatorof events.

An organization held a banquet for a buildingfund to which the invitations were despatchedon large bricks. The news element in this storywas the fact that bricks were despatched.

In this capacity, as purveyor and creator ofnews for the press as well as for all other me­diums of idea dissemination, it must be clearimmediately that the public relations counselcould not possibly succeed unless he complied withthe highest moral and technical requirements ofthose with whom he is working.

Writing on the profession of the public rela­tions counsel, the author of an article in the NewYark Times' says "newspaper editors are themost suspicious and cynical of mortals, but theyare as quick. to discern the truth as to detectt~e falseho~d." He goes on to discuss the par­ticular public relations counsel whom he has inmind and whom he designates by the fictitiousname Swift, and remarks that: "Irrespective of

1 Times Book Review and Magazine January I 1922 "MenWho Wield the Spotlight," by Charles']. Rosebauit. .

ETHICAL RELATIONS198 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

their position on ethics, Swift & Co. won't dealin spurious goods. They know that one sucherror would be fatal. The public might forget,but the editor never. Besides, they don't have

to." .Truthful and accurate must be the material

which the public relations counsel fu:~ishe~ to thepress and other mediums. In add!tlOn, It m~st

have the elements of timeliness and interest whichare required of all news-and it m~st not onl!have these elements in general, but It must suitthe particular needs of each particular newspaperand, even more than that, it must suit the nee~sof the particular editor in whose department Itis hoped that it will be published. .

Finally, the literary quality of the materialmust be up to the best standards of the profes­sion of journalism. The writing must be good,in the particular sense in which each newspaperconsiders a story well written. . .,

In brief, thematerial must come to the edlton~l

desk as carefully prepared and as accurately veri­fied as if the editor himself had assigned a spe­cial reporter to secure and write the facts.. Onlyby presenting his news in such form and in sucha manner can the counsel on public relations hopeto retain in the case of the newspaper, the mostvaluable'thing he possesses-the editor:s f~ithand trust. But it must be clearly borne in mmd

199that only in certain cases is the public relationscounsel the intermediary between the news andthe press. The event he has counseled upon, theaction he has created finds its own level of ex­pression in mediums which reach the public.

The radio stations offer an avenue of approachto the public. They are controlled by private or­ganizations, large electrical supply companies, de­partment stores, newspapers, telegraph companiesand in some cases by the government. Their pro­grams broadcast information and entertainmentto those within their radius. These programsvary in different localities.

To the public relations counsel there is a wideopportunity to utilize the means of distributionthe radio program. affords. In partisan matters,the controllers of the radio insist upon the pres­entation of all points of view in order to havethe onus of propaganda removed from theirshoulders. The pu.blic relations counsel is there­fore in a position to suggest to the broadcasting:nanag.ers a symposium treatment of the subjectin which he happens to be interested. Or int?e case of information, which has not this par­tisan character, he is in a position to assure treat­ment of his subject by embodying his thesis inthe form of a speech delivered by some indi­vidual' of standing and reputation.

In the case of events which the public rela-

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rea us, which act as agents in booking lecturersto different kinds of group audiences throughoutthe country. The public relations counsel can,for instance, suggest to his client to secure aprominent person, who because of interest ina cause will be glad to undertake a lecture tour.Then a bureau may manage the tour. The toursof important proponents on such issues as theLeague of Nations fall in this class as well as .thetours of prominent authors, arranged by publish­ers in their behalf.

Then there is the lecture tour managed by theclient himself and arranged through the bookingof engagements with such local groups as mightbe interested in assuming sponsorship for whatis said. A soap company might engage a lectureron cleanliness to speak in the schools of leadingcommunities. Or a woolen firm arrange for ahome economics authority to lecture to women'sclubs on dress. These speeches of course, locally,gain a wider- audience than the speaker wo~ldwho addressed a single meeting because they gIveopportunity for treatment in newspapers, adver­tising, circularizing, and other mediums.

The lecture field offers another means of com­munication in as much as it gives the public rela­tions counsel a range of group leaders to whomhe can furnish the facts and ideas he is trying topropagate. The lecturers of Boards of Educa-

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tion in cities throughout the country, the lecturersbefore schools and other institutions of learning,the lecturers of one sort or another who addressvaried audiences can be reached directly and canbecome the carriers of the information the publicrelations counsel desires to give forth.

The meeting or public demonstration, at whichprominent speakers voice their views upon theparticular problem or problems at issue, wouldfall quite naturally under this same classifica­tion. Its main purpose, of course, is not so muchto reach the audience being addressed as to makea focal point of interest for those thousands andmillions who do not attend, but who get thereverberations of the speaker's voice throughother mediums than their own auditory sensa­tion.

Advertising is a medium open to the public re­lations counsel. In the sense in which the wordis used here, the term applies to every form ofpaid space available for the carrying of a mes­sage. From the newspaper advertisement to thebillboard, its forms are so varied that it hasdeveloped its own literature and its own principlesand practice. In considering his objectives andthe mediums through which his potential publiccan be reached the public relations counsel alwaysconsiders advertising space as among his most im­portant adjuncts. The wise public relations coun-

2 0 4 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

sel calls into conference on the particular kinds ofadvertising to be used in a given problem theadvertising agent who has made this study hislifework. The public relations counsel and thead vertising agent then work out the problem intheir respective fields.

Advertising up to the present time has laidits greatest stress upon the creation of demandsand markets for specific goods. It is also appliedwith effectiveness to the propagation of ideas aswell. It is peculiarly effective when used in com­bination with other methods of appeal.

Advertising controls the amount of physicalspace it occupies before the public eye. Adver­tising's dimensional qualities give it a facile flex­ibility that can be extended or limited at will.In a sense, too, this quality gives the specialleader the opportunity to select his audience andto give them his message directly.

The field of cooperative advertising by com­binations of advertisers in the same business orprofession, by governments or their subdivisions,for one reason or another, is open to future pos­

sibilities.The stage offers an avenue of approach to the

public which must be regarded both fr0111 th.estandpoint of the numbers of individuals ~treaches as well as from the circles of influence Itcreates by word of mouth and otherwise. To

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the public relations counsel therefore it offers awide field.

Through cooperation with playwrights or man­agers, ideas can be given currency on the stage.When they can be translated to the action thattakes place upon a stage, they are given empha­sis by the visual and auditory presentation.

The motion picture falls into two fields for thepurposes of the public relations counsel. Thereis the field of the feature film. Here any directutilization of the public relations counsel's ideasmust come indirectly and be taken by the producerof the film from some of the other organs ofthought communication. The producer mayadopt for the subject of a film some idea whichthe public relations counsel has agitated. Thefilm, for instance, dealing with the drug trafficcame very definitely as a result of the work car­ried on to help relieve the drug evil.

The second field is one the public. relationscounsel can employ "more directly. Educationalfilms are made to order to-day to illustrate spe­cific points for public consumption, from showinghow a product is made to showing the necessityfor subway relief in a big city. These films areusually shown before a special group audiencearranged for by the public relations counselorbefore some other group interested in the ideathe particular film stands for. Thus a Chamber

206 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

of Commerce can further a film having to dowith the need for better port facilities.

One phase of this kind of film is the news reelwhich, controlled by a private organization, filmsevents and occasions which may have been cre­ated by the public relations counsel, but whichcarries because of its value in the competitivemarket of events.

Word of mouth is an important medium to beconsidered. Ideas and facts can be given cur­rency by word of mouth. Here group leadersare strong factors in giving currency to ideas.The public relations counsel often communicatesthe ideas he wishes to promulgate to group lead­ers whose espousal of the idea he wishes to obtain.

The direct-by-mail campaign and the printedword afford the public relations counsel channelsof approach to such individuals as he may desireto reach. Large companies have available forsuch purposes lists of individuals arranged ac­cording to innumerablecriteria. There are geo­graphical divisions, professional divisions, busi­ness divisions, and divisions of religion. Thereare classifications by economic position, classifi­cations by all manner of preferences. This clas­sification of his public into the right groups forthe proper appeals is one of the most importantfunctions of the public relations counsel, as wehave pointed out. The direct-by-mail method of

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approach offers wide opportunities for capital­izing his training and experience along theselines. Telegraphic and wireless communicationswould of course come under this heading.

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CHAPTER II

HIS OBLIGATIONS TO THE PUBLIC AS A SPECIAL

PLEADER

I T has been the history of new professions­and every profession has been at some time a

new profession-that they are accepted by thepublic and become firmly established only aftertwo significant handicaps are overcome. Thefi rst of these, oddly enough, lies in public opinionitself; it consists of the public's reluctance toacknowledge a dependence, however slight, uponthe ministrations of anyone group of persons.Medicine, even to-day, is still fighting this reluc­tance. The law is fighting it. Yet these are es­tablished professions.

The second handicap is that any new professionmust become established, not through the effortsand activities of others, who might be consideredimpartial, but through its own energy.

These handicaps are particularly potent in aprofession of advocacy, because it is engaged inthe partisan representation of one point of view.The legal profession is perhaps the most familiarexample of this fact, and in this light at least atrenchant comparison may be drawn between the

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bar and the new profession of the public relationscounsel.

Both these professions offer to the public sub­stantially the same services-expert training, ahighly sensitized understanding of the back­ground from which results must be obtained, akeenly developed capacity for the analysis ofproblems into their constituent elements. Bothprofessions are in constant danger of arousingcrowd antagonism, because they often stand infrank and open opposition to the fixed point ofview of one or another of the many groups whichcompose society. Indeed it is this aspect of thework of the public relations counsel which is un­doubtedly the foundation of a good deal of pop­ular disapproval of his profession.

Even Mr. Martin, who on several occasions inhis volume talks with severe condemnation ofwhat he calls propaganda, sees and admits thefundamental psychological factors which makethe adherents to one point of view impute -de­graded or immoral motives to believers in otherpoints of view. He says: 1

"The crowd-man can, when his fiction ischallenged, save himself from spiritual bank­ruptcy, preserve his defenses, keep his crowdfrom going to pieces, only by a demur. Anyonewho challenges the crowd's fictions must be ruled

1 "The Behavior of Crowds" (pages 128-129).

210 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION•

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out of court. He must not be permitted to speak.As a witness to contrary values, his testimonymust be discounted. The worth of his evidencemust be discredited by belittling the disturbingwitness. 'He is a bad man; the crowd must notlisten to him.' His motives must be evil; he is'bought up' ; he is an immoral character; he tellslies' he is insincere or he 'has not the courage,to take a stand' or 'there is nothing new in whathe says.'

"Ibsen's 'Enemy of the People,' illustrates thispoint very well. The crowd votes that DoctorStockman may not speak about the baths, thereal point at issue. Indeed, the mayor takesthe floor and officially announces that the doctor'sstatement that the water is bad is 'unreliable andexaggerated.' Then the president of the House­holders' Association makes an address accusingthe doctor of isecretly 'aiming at revolution.'When finally Doctor Stockman speaks and tellshis fellow citizens the real meaning of their con­duct, and utters a few plain truths about 'thecompact majority,' the crowd saves its face, notby proving the 'doctor false, but by howling himdown, voting him an 'enemy of the people,' andthrowing stones through the window."

If we analyze a specific example of the publicrelations counsel's work, we see the workings ofthe crowd mind, which have made it so difficult

for his profession to gain popular approval. Letus take, for example, the tariff situation again.It is manifestly impossible for either side in thedispute to obtain a totally unbiased point of viewas to the other side. The importer calls the man­ufacturer unreasonable; he imputes selfish mo­tives to him. For his own part he identifies theestablishment of the conditions upon which heinsists with such things as social welfare na­tional safety, Americanism, lower prices t~ theconsumer, and whatever other fundamentals he~an seize upon. Every newspaper report carry­mg the flavor of adverse suggestion, whether onaccount of its facts or on account of the mannerof its writing, is immediately branded as untrue,unfortunate, ill-advised. It must, the importerconcludes, it must have been inspired by insidiousmachinations from the manufacturers' interests.

But is the manufacturer any more reasonable?If the newspapers publish stories unfavorable tohis interests, then the newspapers havelbeen"bo It" ". fl d" hug 1 up, m uence ; t ey are "partisan"and many other unreasonable things. The manu­facturer, just like the importer, identifies his sideof the struggle with such fundamental standardsas. he can seize upon-a living wage, reducedpnces to the consumer, the American standardof employment, fair play, justice. To each thecontentions of the other are untenable.

212 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION ETHICAL RELATIONS 21 3Now, carry this situation one step further to

the point at which the public relations counsel isretained, on behalf of one side or the other. Ob­serve how sincerely each side and its adherentscaIl even the verifiable facts and figures of theother by that dread name "propaganda." Shouldthe importers submit figures showing that wagescould be raised and the price to the consumer re­duced, their adherents would be gratified thatsuch important educational work should be doneamong the public and that the newspapers shouldbe so fair-minded as to publish it. The manu­facturers, on the other hand, will caIl such ma­teria� "propaganda" and blame either the news­paper which publishes those figures or the econo­mist who compiled them, or the public relationscounsel who advised coIlating the material.

The only difference between "propaganda" and"education," reaIly, is in the point of view.The advocacy of what we believe in is education,Theradvocacy of what we don't believe in ispropaganda. Each of these nouns carries with itsocial and moral implications. Education is val­uable, commendable, enlightening, instructive,Propaganda is insidious, dishonest, underhand,misleading. It is only to-day that the viewpointon this question is undergoing a slight change,as the foIlowing editorial would indicate:

"The relativity of truth," 1 says Mr. ElmerDavis, "is a commonplace to any newspaper man,even to one who has never studied epistemology;and, if the phrase is permissible, truth is rathermore relative in Washington than anywhere else,Now and then it is possible to make a downrightstatement; such and such a biIl has passed in oneof the houses of Congress, or failed to pass; theadministration has issued this or that statement;the President has approved, or vetoed, a certainbill. But most' of the news that comes out ofWashington is necessarily rather vague, for itdepends on the assertions of statesmen who arereluctant to be quoted by name, or even by de­scription. This more than anything else is re­sponsible for the sort of fog, the haze of mias­matic exhalations, which hangs over news witha Washington date line. News coming out ofWashington is apt to represent not what is sobut what might be so under certain contingencies,what mayturn out to be so, what some eminentpersonage says is so, or even what he wants thepublic to believe is so when it is not."

Most subjects on which there is a so-caIled defi­nite public opinion are much more vague and in­definite, much more complex in their facts andin their ramifications than the news from Wash-

1 "History of the New York Times" (pages 379-380).

214 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

ington which the historian of the N ezv YarkTimes describes. Consider, for example, whatcomplicated issues are casually disposed of by theaverage citizen. An uninformed lay public maycondemn a new medical theory on slight consid­eration. Its judgment is hit or miss, as medicalhistory proves.

Political, economic and moral judgments, as wehave seen, are more often expressions of crowdpsychology and herd reaction than the result ofthe calm exercise of judgment. It is difficult tobelieve that this is not inevitable. Public opinionin a society consisting of millions of persons, allof whom must somehow or other reach a work­ing basis with most of the others, is bound tofind a level of uniformity founded on the intelli­gence of the average member of society as a wholeor of the particular group to which one may be­long. There is a different set of facts on everysubject for each man. Society cannot wait to findabsolute truth. It cannot weigh every issue care­fully before making a judgment. The result isthat the so-called truths by which society lives areborn of compromise among conflicting desiresand of interpretation by many minds. They areaccepted and intolerantly maintained once theyhave been determined. In the struggle amongideas, the only test is the one which Justice

• ETHICAL RELATIONS 215

Holmes of the Supreme Court pointed out-thepower of thought to get itself accepted in theopen competition of the market.

The only way for new ideas to gain currencyis through the acceptance of them by groups.Merely individual advocacy will leave the truthoutside the general fund of knowledge and be­liefs. The urge toward suppression of minorityor dissentient points of view is counteracted inpart by the work of the public relations counsel.

The standards of the public relations counselare his own standards and he will not accept aclient whose standards do not come up to them.While he is not called upon to judge the meritsof his case any more than a lawyer is called uponto judge his client's case, nevertheless he mustjudge the results which his work would accom­plish from an ethical point of view.

In law, the judge and jury hold the decidingbalance of power. In public opinion, the publicrelations counsel is judge ana jury becausethrough his pleading of a case the public is likelyto accede to his opinion and judgment. There­fore, the public relations counsel must maintainan intense scrutiny of his actions, avoiding thepropagation of unsocial or otherwise harmfulmovements or ideas.

Every public relations counsel has been con-

216 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

fronted with the necessity of refusing to acceptclients whose cases in a law court would be valid,but whose cases in the higher court of publicopinion are questionable.

The social value of the public relations counsellies in the fact that he brings to the public factsand ideas of social utility which would not soreadily gain acceptance otherwise. While he, ofcourse, may represent men and indiv!duals whohave already gained great acceptance In the pub­lic mind, he may represent new ideas of valuewhich have not yet reached their point of largestacceptance or greatest saturation. That in itselfrenders him important.

As for the relations between the public rela­tions counsel and his client, little can be saidwhich would not be merely a repetition of thatcode of decency by which men and women makemoral judgments and live reputable lives. Thepublic relations counsel owes his client conscie~­

tious effective service, of course..He owes to his" .client all the duties which the professions as-

sume in relation to those they serve. Much moreimportant than any positive duty, howe."er, .whic.hthe public relations counsel owes to his chent IS

the negative duty-that he must never a,:cept aretainer or assume a position which puts his dutyto the groups he represents above his duty to his

•ETHICAL RELATIONS 217

own standards of integrity-to the larger societywithin which he lives and works.

Europe has given us the most recent importantstudy of public opinion and its social and his­torical effects. It is interesting because it indi­cates the sweep of the development of an inter­national realization of what a momentous factorin the world's life public opinion is becoming.I feel that this paragraph from a recent workof Professor Von Ferdinand Tonnies is of par­ticular significance to all who would feel that theconscious moulding of public opinion is a task em­bodying high ideals.

"The future of public opinion," says ProfessorTonnies, "is the future of civilization. It is cer­tain that the power of public opinion is constantlyincreasing and will keep on increasing. It isequally certain that it is more and more being in­fluenced, changed, stirred by impulses from be­low. The danger which this development con­tains' for a progressive' ennobling of human so­ciety and a progressive heightening of humanculture is apparent. The duty of the higherstrata of society-the cultivated, the learned, theexpert, the intellectual-is therefore clear. Theymust inject moral and spiritual motives into pub­lic opinion. Public opinion must become publicconscience."

218 CRYSTALLIZING PUBLIC OPINION

It is in the creation of a public conscience thatthe counsel on public relations is destined, I beelieve, to fulfill his highest usefulness to the societyin which he lives.

THE END

•NOTE

Edward L. Bernays has been continuously engaged since1919 in the practice of counsel on public relations, a pro­fession he founded and named. In partnership, he and hiswife have advised many of America's leading organizationsand individuals, profit and non-profit.

Edward L. Bernays has become a legend in his own life­time, since his return from the Peace Conference afterWorld War 1. The Atlantic Monthly and the AmericanMercury published full length profiles of him in the earlynineteen thirties, when he was still a young man. Hundredsof volumes on sociology, history, biography, public opinionand- even fiction contain comments on and interpretationof his activities.

In World War I, he served with the U. S. Committee onPublic Informatiori. In World War II, the U. S. Army,Navy and Treasury Department all called on Mr. Bemaysfor advice. He was co-Chairman of the Victory Book Cam­paign and Chairman of the U. S. Treasury's National Pub­licity Advisory Committee for the Third War Loan. He hasserved as consultant to the U. S. Air Force and othergovernmental departments.

Mr. Bernays gave the first course on public relationsat New York University in 1923; has served as AdjunctProfessor of Public Relations at that University, VisitingProfessor of the University of Hawaii, and has lecturedat Harvard, Yale, Columbia and other institutions. He isthe author of the forthcoming Your Future in PublicRelations, scheduled for November 196' publication, andis currently working on his Memoirs.

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