---
title: Other Divisions
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/21-other-divisions/
description: Other Divisions, from How We Advertised America by George Creel.
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-how-we-advertised-america-1920/) · Book · [How We Advertised America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/)

# Other Divisions

This text

- **Work:** [How We Advertised America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/)
- **Author:** George Creel
- **Published:** 1920

Full details

- **Rights:** Published in the United States in 1920, more than 95 years ago, so in the public domain in the United States; the Internet Archive lists the scan as not in copyright. Creel died in 1953, so the text is also in the public domain in countries that count the author's life plus 70 years.

Chapters

1. [Dedicatory](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/01-dedicatory/)
2. [Foreword](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/02-foreword/)
3. Part I: The Domestic Section
4. [The “Second Lines”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/03-the-second-lines/)
5. [The “Censorship” Bugbear](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/04-the-censorship-bugbear/)
6. [The “Fourth of July Fake”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/05-the-fourth-of-july-fake/)
7. [The Committee’s “Aircraft Lies”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/06-the-committee-s-aircraft-lies/)
8. [Relations with Congress](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/07-relations-with-congress/)
9. [The Division of News](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/08-the-division-of-news/)
10. [The Four Minute Men](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/09-the-four-minute-men/)
11. [The Fight for the Mind of Mankind](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/10-the-fight-for-the-mind-of-mankind/)
12. [The Battle of the Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/11-the-battle-of-the-films/)
13. [The “Battle of the Fences”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/12-the-battle-of-the-fences/)
14. [The War Expositions](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/13-the-war-expositions/)
15. [The Speaking Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/14-the-speaking-division/)
16. [The Advertising Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/15-the-advertising-division/)
17. [The “Americanizers”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/16-the-americanizers/)
18. [Work among the Foreign-Born](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/17-work-among-the-foreign-born/)
19. [A Wonderful Fourth of July](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/18-a-wonderful-fourth-of-july/)
20. [The “Official Bulletin”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/19-the-official-bulletin/)
21. [Division of Women’s War-Work](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/20-division-of-women-s-war-work/)
22. [Other Divisions](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/21-other-divisions/)
23. [Showing America to the Foreign Press](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/22-showing-america-to-the-foreign-press/)
24. Part II: The Foreign Section
25. [The Fight in Foreign Countries](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/23-the-fight-in-foreign-countries/)
26. [America’s World News Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/24-america-s-world-news-service/)
27. [The Foreign Mail Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/25-the-foreign-mail-service/)
28. [Fighting with Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/26-fighting-with-films/)
29. [Breaking through the Enemy Censorship](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/27-breaking-through-the-enemy-censorship/)
30. [France, England, and Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/28-france-england-and-italy/)
31. [The Work in Mexico](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/29-the-work-in-mexico/)
32. [The Work in Switzerland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/30-the-work-in-switzerland/)
33. [The Work in Holland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/31-the-work-in-holland/)
34. [The Work in Spain](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/32-the-work-in-spain/)
35. [The Work in Scandinavia](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/33-the-work-in-scandinavia/)
36. [The Work in the Orient](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/34-the-work-in-the-orient/)
37. [The Work in South America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/35-the-work-in-south-america/)
38. [The Russian Campaign](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/36-the-russian-campaign/)
39. Part III: Demobilization
40. [After the Armistice](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/37-after-the-armistice/)
41. [“Americanizing” Mittel Europa](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/38-americanizing-mittel-europa/)
42. [Confusion and Neglect](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/39-confusion-and-neglect/)
43. Appendix
44. [The American Newspaper Publishers’ Association](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/40-the-american-newspaper-publishers-association/)
45. [“Savagery” vs. Sanity](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/41-savagery-vs-sanity/)
46. [Publications of the Committee on Public Information in the United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/42-publications-of-the-committee-on-public-informat/)

[← Division of Women’s War-Work](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/20-division-of-women-s-war-work/) [Showing America to the Foreign Press →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/22-showing-america-to-the-foreign-press/)

**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)

THE Service Bureau was another of the many activities that were forced upon the Committee by proved necessities and a general demand. During the first six months of war the one great cry that rang through Washington was, "For Heaven's sake, don't send me to somebody else." It came from civilians eager to offer their services, business men with propositions to make, and even from officials themselves, all worn out with tramping from place to place, in every office receiving the answer, "I'm not the man. You'd better see- It is to be remembered that America's war machine came into being almost overnight, and not only was there a tremendous expansion in every department, but new boards and commissions were created daily. Housing was a bitter problem, and lack of quarters compelled a scattering that made it difficult for even executive heads to keep track of their bureaus. As a matter of course, there were delay and confusion in the transaction of the public business as a result of this lack of knowledge of the organization of the executive departments, of the distribution of the duties of each among its bureaus and divisions, of the personnel in charge, of the location of the many offices in which they were established, and of ready means of intercommunication.

To meet the situation, information bureaus were installed by the permanent departments like War and Navy, and elaborate organizations were also being planned by Food, Fuel, War Industry, War Trade, and other similar bodies. This was not a solution, however, and at a joint meeting it was decided that the Committee should establish one central service bureau to act for the entire war-machine. As a result of the decision the President issued the following executive order under date of March 19,1918:

I hereby create under the direction of the Committee on Public Information, created by Executive order of April 14, 1917, a Service Bureau, for the purpose of establishing a central office in the city of Washington, where complete information records may be available as to the function, location, and personnel of all government agencies.

I hereby ask the several departments of government, when so requested by the chairman of the Committee on Public Information, to detail such person or persons as may be necessary in gathering the information needed and carrying on the work of the bureau so far as it relates to such departments; to give opportunity to the director of the bureau, or such person as he may designate, to secure information from time to time for the purpose of keeping the records up to date; to supply the director of the bureau, on form cards furnished by him, with information as to personnel, function, and location.

WOODROW WILSON.

Prof. Frederick W. McReynolds was borrowed from Dartmouth College and quarters were taken in the very heart of Washington's business district. Every fact relating to the business of government in each of its several departments was gathered and indexed so that the Service Bureau stood ready to give instant and accurate information as to officials, councils, commissions, functions. Every detail of the war-machinery was at hand for inquiry and answer. When it is borne in mind that each day saw new bodies brought into being, and that the daily changes of personnel in established departments sometimes ran as high as five hundred, the magnitude of the task can be appreciated.

During the six months of its existence the Service Bureau answered over eighty-six thousand inquiries, made in person, by telephone, and by letter, and from the day of its creation there was a lessening of irritation and confusion. Hundreds of people took the trouble to return to compliment the bureau upon its efficiency, and even members of Congress were compelled to admit the value of the bureau. No one will ever be able to estimate the money saved by lifting the Bureau of Inquiries and Answers from the hard-driven departments of the government.

Professor McReynolds, after carrying the work to success, resigned to become a special agent of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Martin A. Morrison, who succeeded him, was subsequently appointed a Civil Service Commissioner by the President. Miss Marie Shick, office manager from the beginning, was then promoted to be director and at the time of the work's discontinuance was receiving offers from various other departments of government, which, while constituting an interference with the work, nevertheless stood as proof of the competent manner in which the bureau was administered.

A special word of commendation is due to Mr. F. E. Hackett and Mr. Arthur Klein, who made the initial survey of all the departments, and to Miss Emily A. Spilman, assistant librarian of the Department of Justice, who supervised the compiling of the directory.

Through the Division of Syndicate Features we enlisted the services of the leading novelists, essayists, and shortstory writers of the United States, a picked group of men and women constituting a virtual staff that worked faithfully week after week in the preparation of brilliant articles that were sent by mail to the press of the country for release on given dates. Among those who gave so freely of their time and abilities were Samuel Hopkins Adams, Ellis Parker Butler, Booth Tarkington, Meredith Nicholson, Harvey O'Higgins, Herbert Quick, John Spargo, William English Walling, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Wallace Irwin, Richard Washburn Child, Samuel Merwin, Roland G. Usher, Ralph D. Paine, Martha Bensey Bruere, Edward Mott Wooley, John Reed Scott, Prof. John Erskine, Prof. Eugene Davenport, Crittenden Marriott, James H. Collins, Rex Beach, Virginia Frazer Boyle, and many others.

At first a good many personal pronouncements were used to make clear why we were at war, to explain the ideals for which we were fighting. Opinions of prominent people were in demand, though stories of our war activities were also used. But the character of the matter sent out changed as the war progressed. Our object was, in the newspaper phrase, to "sell the war," and we tried to furnish, dressed in acceptable newspaper style, the story of the war-machine in its thousands of phases, the story of our boys over there and over here, and the spirit that was back of the whole great adventure.

Mary Roberts Rinehart contributed timely articles based upon her own observations while visiting the various battle-fronts, and her story of an interview with the King of Belgium was a free feature that the papers advertised for days in advance. Samuel Hopkins Adams came to Washington at his own expense, and as a result of his skilful analysis of the papers taken from Von Igel by the Department of Justice, a page story went out that showed German intrigue down to the last sordid detail. James H. Collins wrote a wonderful series that made clear the work of new and little-understood departments; Herbert Quick fought regularly for the conquest of the agricultural mind; Ellis Parker Butler gave us a brilliant series which we syndicated in one hundred papers, and Harvey J. O'Higgins was such a success in answering the "German whisper" that we drafted him outright, and brought him to Washington to serve as associate chairman. The division did not confine itself wholly to fact stories and human interest stuff about army and navy workers. It dealt also with the larger aspects that were behind the immediate facts. It covered the racial, the social, the moral, and the financial aspects of the war written by specialists in these lines.

L. Ames Brown, transferred from the News Division for the purpose of inaugurating the plan of syndicate features, handled it brilliantly and well until he entered the army, and then, under the direction of William MacLeod Raine and Arthur MacFarlane, the stories were used from Florida to Alaska, from New York to California, reaching a circulation of about twelve million a month.

Then there was the Bureau of Cartoons to mobilize and direct the scattered cartoon power of the country for constructive war-work. I was never very enthusiastic over the idea and gave it a very grudging assent as well as a meager appropriation. But under Mr. George J. Hecht, capably assisted by Mr. Alfred M. Saperston and Miss Gretchen Leicht, a remarkable success was won. The principal activity of the bureau was the weekly publication of the Bulletin for Cartoonists. Every week the bureau obtained from all the chief departments of the government the announcements which they particularly wanted to transmit to the public, wrote them up in the bulletin, and sent them out to over seven hundred and fifty cartoonists. As general suggestions and advance-news "tips" were published rather than specific subjects for cartoons, there was no danger of cartoonists losing their individuality or originality. Cartoonists all over the nation followed out these suggestions. This made for timeliness and unity of cartoon power which developed into a stimulating and actively constructive force for shaping public opinion and winning the war.

[← Division of Women’s War-Work](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/20-division-of-women-s-war-work/) [Showing America to the Foreign Press →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/22-showing-america-to-the-foreign-press/)

How We Advertised America, George Creel. Published in the United States in 1920, more than 95 years ago, so in the public domain in the United States; the Internet Archive lists the scan as not in copyright. Creel died in 1953, so the text is also in the public domain in countries that count the author's life plus 70 years. [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/).