--- title: Work in Spain url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/35-work-in-spain/ description: Work in Spain, from Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information by George Creel, Chairman, Committee on Public Information. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg) [Library](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/) · Report · [Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/) # Work in Spain This text - **Work:** [Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/) - **Author:** George Creel, Chairman, Committee on Public Information - **Published:** 1920 Full details - **Rights:** A work of the United States government, printed by the Government Printing Office in 1920, so not protected by copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. 105) and in the public domain by age as well. The Library of Congress states that it is unaware of any copyright restrictions on the item. Chapters 1. [Letter of Transmittal and General Survey](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/01-letter-of-transmittal-and-general-survey/) 2. Part I: The Domestic Section 3. [Work of the Domestic Section](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/02-work-of-the-domestic-section/) 4. [The Voluntary Censorship](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/03-the-voluntary-censorship/) 5. [Division of News](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/04-division-of-news/) 6. [Division of Civic and Educational Cooperation](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/05-division-of-civic-and-educational-cooperation/) 7. [Division of Production and Distribution](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/06-division-of-production-and-distribution/) 8. [Four Minute Men](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/07-four-minute-men/) 9. [The Speaking Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/08-the-speaking-division/) 10. [The Division of Advertising](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/09-the-division-of-advertising/) 11. [Film Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/10-film-division/) 12. [Bureau of Distribution of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/11-bureau-of-distribution-of-the-division-of-films/) 13. [Educational Department of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/12-educational-department-of-the-division-of-films/) 14. [Scenario Department of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/13-scenario-department-of-the-division-of-films/) 15. [Bureau of War Expositions of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/14-bureau-of-war-expositions-of-the-division-of-fil/) 16. [Bureau of War Photographs of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/15-bureau-of-war-photographs-of-the-division-of-fil/) 17. [Official U. S. Bulletin](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/16-official-u-s-bulletin/) 18. [The Service Bureau](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/17-the-service-bureau/) 19. [Division of Exhibit at State Fairs](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/18-division-of-exhibit-at-state-fairs/) 20. [Division of Syndicate Features](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/19-division-of-syndicate-features/) 21. [Division of Women’s War Work](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/20-division-of-women-s-war-work/) 22. [The Bureau of Cartoons](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/21-the-bureau-of-cartoons/) 23. [Division of Business Management](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/22-division-of-business-management/) 24. [Division of Work with the Foreign Born](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/23-division-of-work-with-the-foreign-born/) 25. [Showing America to the Foreign Press](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/24-showing-america-to-the-foreign-press/) 26. Part II: The Foreign Section 27. [Work of the Foreign Section](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/25-work-of-the-foreign-section/) 28. [Wireless and Cable Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/26-wireless-and-cable-service/) 29. [Foreign Press Bureau](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/27-foreign-press-bureau/) 30. [Foreign Film Activities](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/28-foreign-film-activities/) 31. [Foreign Picture Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/29-foreign-picture-service/) 32. Reports from Foreign Commissioners 33. [Report on the Work in Mexico](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/30-report-on-the-work-in-mexico/) 34. [The Work in France](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/31-the-work-in-france/) 35. [The Work in Holland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/32-the-work-in-holland/) 36. [Work in Switzerland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/33-work-in-switzerland/) 37. [Work in Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/34-work-in-italy/) 38. [Work in Spain](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/35-work-in-spain/) 39. [Work in Denmark](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/36-work-in-denmark/) 40. [Work in Russia: General Introduction](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/37-work-in-russia-general-introduction/) 41. [Work in Russia: The Installation](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/38-work-in-russia-the-installation/) 42. [Work in Russia: Siberian Activities](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/39-work-in-russia-siberian-activities/) 43. [Work in Russia: Archangel](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/40-work-in-russia-archangel/) 44. [The Work in China](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/41-the-work-in-china/) 45. [Work in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/42-work-in-argentina-uruguay-and-paraguay/) 46. [Work in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/43-work-in-peru-ecuador-and-bolivia/) 47. [Other Work in South America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/44-other-work-in-south-america/) 48. [Work in Sweden and Norway](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/45-work-in-sweden-and-norway/) [← Work in Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/34-work-in-italy/) [Work in Denmark →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/36-work-in-denmark/) **Content note:** Quotes wartime anti-German language, including "Hun", and period terms for racial and national groups. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) (By Frank J. Maeion, Commissioner.) I left Washington for Spain via Habana on November 17, having with me the following letter of confirmation and instructions from the President: 14 November, 1917. My Dear Me. Marion : Mr. Creel informs me that you are leavingfor Spain and Italy at once for tlie purpose of making arrangementsfor such disti-ibution of motion pictures as will acquaint these coun- / tries with the life of America, our aims and our ideals. It is a distinct service that you are privileged to render to your country and the whole democratic movement, aud I know that tliis will serve at once as reward and inspiration. Please bear in mind always that we want nothing for ourselves, and that this very unselfishness carries with it an obligation of open dealing. Guard against any effect of officious intrusion, and try to express a disinterested friendship that is our sole impulse. Cordially and sincerely, (Signed) WooDKOw Wilson. It will be noted that originally the scope of my work was limited to the distribution of motion pictures. Under instructions, and with the utmost leeway allowed to my own judgment, it expanded to embrace many other educational methods. In the beginning, the Madrid office of the committee was established in that of the American naval attache.^ Capt. (now Rear Admiral) Burton C. Decker, who, from the first cooperated with me most cordially, and who gave great assistance and unstinted support. As I had brought with me a considerable stock of moving-picture films, showing the industrial and agricultural resources of the United States, together Avith views of the early work of training our new Army, I VN^as prepared to start as quickly as the films could be titled in Spanish. I attended several conferences with representatives of the English, French, and Italian Embassies who were engaged in a similar work and quickly found that their efforts had the appearance of being handicapped by its " official " character. Spain, being a neutral country, and most jealous of its neutrality, was naturally unwilling to countenance anything to which the German Embassy might object, and at the time of my arrival the German Embassy was by far the most active and aggressive in Spain, with 70,000 German citizens well organized in the territory and with apparently unlimited funds at its disposal. The only moving pictures which our Allies had available were of a military character— scenes at the front, etc.— and as they were not permitted to be shown in public by the Spanish censorship, they were limited to private exhibition, hence to a very small audience, composed presumably of persons already predisposed to the allied cause. I therefore determined to get the American fihns into the reguhxr moving-picture theaters, and because of the " unofficious " character of my mission I was able to get the entire stock passed by the Spanish censors and shown throughout Spain in tlie regular programs of the distributing house of Ledesma & Villeseca, the immediate work of supervision being handled by Jose M. Gay, an American attorney of Filipino parentage, whom I had engaged as secretary and who gave me the most faithful and efficient service during the committee's operations in Spain. From the theaters we expanded to the schools and colleges and j&nally to open-air shows when the weather permitted. In the latter we showed to as high as 9,000 people in one audience and the Spanish press was unanimous and enthusiastic in its praise. Particular success was made by a series of pictures furnished for the purpose without charge by the Ford Automobile Co., of Detroit. One of the most gratifying features of the work with moving pictures in Spain was that there was no expense to the distribution, except the titling in Spanish. Many of the prints were originally donated by patriotic American manufacturers, and the expense of circulation was covered by a small fee charged for the exhibition. From time to time new subjects were added to the stock. At the close of the work in February, 1919, I was fortunate in being able to sell the entire stock of films used in Spain, and those of the Italian office as well, to the Foyers de Soldats, of France, for a price which almost covered the cost of stock and printing. Early in February, 1918, I proceeded to Italy to inaugurate the work there. Upon the arrival of Capt. Merriam, appointed commissioner for Italy, I received instructions to return to Madrid to act as commissioner for Spain, with full authority to launch a complete campaign. Back in Madrid I opened separate offices at Zurbano 14, engaged a small staff of translators and office assistants, and decided to supplement our films with a press service. At first this task seemed fated to failure. Most of the leading papers in Spain were under regular subsidy from the German Embassy, and I was told by my French colleagues that space could not be secured in the Spanish press without paying for it at a price per line. A very large sum was suggested as necessary to carry out the plan. However, I was convinced that truthful news items from America would be welcomed by all the progressive papers and that the system then in vogue of sending out " official " communiques from the various embassies could only naturally result m the material being treated as advertising. I arranged with the Fabra press service to handle a daily service of American news, and it was soon apparent that my surmise was correct. Within a short time the pape'rs of Madrid, including all those subsidized by the enemy, were carrying our service and not a cent of subsidy was paid to any Spanish paper by the committee during my tenure of office. However, the Fabra Agency was not furnishing the service to the smaller papers of the Provinces which could not afford to pay the telegraph tolls, because of the high cost of , print paper and the scarcity of advertising. ^ Accordingly, with the aid of the naval attache, who placed his various secret agents throughout Spain at my disposal, I organized my own distributing system and within a short time had the satisfaction of seeing the entire press of Spain printing more news from America than from the allied countries combined. Following the establishment of the Foreign Press Bureau of the committee in New York my office commenced to receive regular weekly installments of special articles, photographs, posters, window display cards, etc. This material necessitated further expansion. The special articles, prepared with rare good judgment by Mr. Ernest Poole and his associates, were placed in the hands of leading literary men of Spain, and reappeared over the Spanish names in the best daily and weekly publications. My chief translator, Senor Jose Armas, for many years correspondent of the New York Herald, and Senorita Raquel Alonzo, formerly of the Gulick School for Girls, performed prodigies of labor and could always be relied upon to give not only accurate translations,, but translations of a high literary style. Miss Irene Wright was for a time typist and office manager, but resigned m July, 1918, and was succeeded by Mr. Seward B. Collins, who, being physically unfitted for military duty, joined my staff as a volunteer without pay. In the summer of 1918 the work was expanded to full force. A lecture course on American ideals was inaugurated with Prof. M. Romera-Navarro, of the University of Pennsylvania, in charge. Although interrupted for a long time by the influenza epidemic, Prof. Romera-Navarro delivered lectures before universities and lyceums in most of the principal cities of Spain and was everywhere well received. An exhibit of an edition de luxe of the war drawings of Joseph Pennell was started in San Sebastian in July, 1918, under the patronage of SoroUa, the great Spanish painter, and from San Sebastian went to most of the leading cities of northern Spain. In our window display work we had the invaluable assistance of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., whose manager for Spain, Mr. Adcock, placed at the disposal of the committee the windows of 200 branch stores in Spain and without charge to us undertook the distribution and exhibition of a great mass of window display material.__ The windows of the Eastman Kodak Co. and the Aeolian Co. in Madrid, and the entire store of the Ajnerican Machinery Corporation in Barcelona were in constant use for the display of educational material. Photographs mounted in handsome -frames were extensively used and deemed very effective. In July, 1918, we started the publication of a weekly bulletin in English, the American News, which was distributed free of charge to all Americans whose names we could secure in Spain and Portugal. The purpose of this bulletin, in the form of a small eight-page newspaper, was to put the facts of our war preparations and achievements into the hands of Americans to be disseminated by them in their contact with the Spanish people. The editor of this paper was Seward B. Collins. The value of this publication may perhaps be attested by the following quotation from a letter to your representative from Hon. Thomas H. Birch, Ameri< can minister to Portugal : We receive regularly the copies of the American News and put them to good use, many thanks for your kindness to this legation, anything worth while we will wire promptly. I think it is a fine idea the publishing of the American News, some items we do not get by wireless, so I change the date and use them here as well. While attending the propaganda conference in Paris I became convinced that the strongest arguments in behalf of the allied cause were embodied in the various official utterances of President Wilson, and in following that conviction, the Madrid office of your committee used every effort to give the widest possible publicity to all of the "President's speeches. Not only were they published immediately in the Spanish press, but they were printed in pamphlet form as well and sent under letter postage to upward of 10,000 prominent Spaniards. It was a matter of great gratification to us that so accurate and elegant in its diction was our translation by Prof. Komera-Navarro of the President's famous "Fourteen Points" speech that it was adopted as a literary textbook by one of the leading schools for boys in Madrid. In the distribution of this and other material we were greatly assisted by Senor Amato, of the Fabra Press ' Agency. As a general proposition, pamphleteering had been overdone in Spain by both the Allies and the enemy em- ■ bassies and we did not deem it advisable to enter to any great extent into this branch of work. Furthermore it was the experience of the Madrid office that Spanish translations made in America were almost worthless because of mistakes in idiom. The enemy propaganda which we had to combat during the early period of our work in Spain consisted largely of slurs and ridicule directed against our preparations and the probability of our taking any efficient part in the war. These were printed in the subsidized press, but were .so worded that anyone who read could hardly fail to realize immediately that the material originated in Prince Eathbor's embassy. Although the greatest pressure was put upon me from various sources to answer these absurd misstatements, I was convinced that no good would come from con- • troversial arguments with the enemy. My policy was therefore to either ignore them or to answer in some indirect way. For example, when the enemy put out the charge that our Army was irreligious, controlled by the Masonic order and that Eoman Catholic chaplains were not allowed to wear their vestments, my answer was to secure a large photograph of a Eoman Catholic mass in the open air in one oTour camps and to publish it in some of the leading illustrated weeklies, as well as to include it in our window displays. Finally, I may say that one of the most effective methods of conducting such an educational campaign is by word of mouth. In this work, all Americans in Spain loyally assisted, but particular service was rendered by the gentlemen of the American Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, headed by Messrs. Brewer, Van Tress, and Preston M. Smith, all of whom could be relied upon to do any work that seemed necessary in their territory. And above all, the most effective argument was the work of our Army and Navy. As our campaign progressed and a delegation of Spanish newspaper men, under the leadership of the Marquis Vallegiesias, of La Epoca, returned from our front in France with the word that we had hardly told the story of our strength and efficiency, the pro-German tendency of Spain began to perceptibly fade, and when Spain sent its peremptory note to Germany regarding the sinking olf Spanish merchant ships we felt 'that the climax of our efforts had been reached. Two quotations may be given as evidence of the value of the committee's work in Spain. On October 23, 1918, the Madrid correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor says : A development of the popular attitude that has been most marked in recent months, and has become a significant feature of Spanish inclination, has been a sincere, anxious, and deep interest that Spain has begun to take in all that concerns the United States and especially on her productive and industrial side. * * * Demonstrations by cinema pictures and in other ways of how things are dee in America have been greatly appreciated. So have the object lessons of what the Americans have been doing in the way of metamorphosis in France in various directions. An indication of the new state of interest that Spain feels in regard to American institutions, systems, and so forth, is furnished by the long articles that continually appear about them in some of the daily newspapers, especially in the newer journals. Lectures on similiar subjects are increasingly popular, and multitudinous papers have been read before the members of literary and scientific institutions concerning different aspects of American development. In this connection it is of special interest to point out that at the present time Senor Miguel-Navarro, professor of Spanish language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania, is in the country and has been delivering some pointed discourses which have received close attention and have been reported in detail in the newspapers. At Vigo, addressing a large gathering in the Escuela de Artes y Officios, the professor has just made a notable statement on the manner in which Spain was regarded abroad, and the intellectual and sentimental relations between her and the United States. He said that in his journeys in other foreign countries he had observed great hostility toward Spain, because foreign peoples iiad interpreted her history incorrectly and spoken badly of her because they did not know her. But in North America and especially in the Southern States, he had found quite a romantic feeling of attachment for Spain, due probably to the deep tracks that the Spanish work of civilization long ago had made in that part of the country, and where the work of their writers and savante and artists who had been there had served to intensify that affection. And on December 11, 1918, the Monitor said : What may be called the Wilson cult is truly making astonishing progress in Spain, as shall be shown. Three months ago the President of the United States was known but little to the general community. To-day there is hardly a city of any consequence in Spain whose newspapers are not devoting innumerable columns to articles upon his career, his views in general, and his present actions, with occasional personal details. I take the liberty of attaching a summarizing report in the form of a letter from Capt. (now Rear Admiral) Burton C. Decker. Finally, may I be permitted to add that in recognition of the work of the committee in Spain your representative was honored by being elected to membership in the Royal Academy of Arts and Science of Spain, of the Columbian Society of Spain, and to the Centro Cultural Hispano- Americana, of which he was named the American delegate. Frank J. Marion, C om/missionneT for S'pain. [← Work in Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/34-work-in-italy/) [Work in Denmark →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/36-work-in-denmark/) Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, George Creel, Chairman, Committee on Public Information. A work of the United States government, printed by the Government Printing Office in 1920, so not protected by copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. 105) and in the public domain by age as well. The Library of Congress states that it is unaware of any copyright restrictions on the item. [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/).