--- title: The Work in South America url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/35-the-work-in-south-america/ description: The Work in South America, 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/) # The Work in South America 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/) [← The Work in the Orient](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/34-the-work-in-the-orient/) [The Russian Campaign →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/36-the-russian-campaign/) **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) SOUTH AMERICA and Central America, like Mexico and Spain, were parade-grounds for the agents of Germany. Colombia and Venezuela were bitterly hostile, and in every other country there was a distinct distrust of our sincerity and a very lively fear of our strength. In every city and in every town Germans were prominent in business, and the constant stream of money from Berlin subsidized newspapers and individuals to make a daily and direct attack upon the United States. Lieut. F. E. Ackerman, a newspaper man of wide experience, was borrowed from the navy and sent on a tour of South America to study methods of news distribution and to organize offices for the Committee. He visited Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Lima, Valparaiso, Buenos Aires, and numerous other South American cities, and with the hearty co-operation of American diplomatic and consular officials soon had an intensive publicity campaign on throughout South America. The commissioner selected for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay was H. H. Sevier, a newspaper man of Austin, Texas, and from his headquarters in Buenos Aires he planned and perfected a publicity organization that swept through the cities and reached down to the very villages. There is not space for the whole report of Mr. Sevier, but organization and results may be gathered from the following excerpts: The value and importance of such a service may be more fully appreciated if it is understood that before the advent of your Committee the amount of news of any character concerning the United States carried by South American publications was practically negligible. The European news agencies occupied the field without opposition of consequence. The French and English associations naturally devoted their services to the interests of their own countries. The affairs of the United States, even our war activities, were treated lightly. Under subsidies of the German government and German capitalists three daily newspapers were published in Buenos Aires. One, WTitten in the Spanish language, was a positive force, because of the skill with which it distorted the facts and the cleverness of its editorial misrepresentation of the cause of the Allies. The other two, printed in German, gave aid and comfort to the Teutonic element. The percentage of literacy in Argentina and Uruguay, particularly, is remarkably high, and every newspaper of any importance at all in those countries has a considerable following. The good will and co-operation of the leading journals were secured at the beginning, and within a reasonable length of time 90 per cent, of the publications, of all classes in the countries named, were receiving and using our service. The newspapers of the cities and towns carried daily a specially prepared cable service covering official announcements from Washington, the development of our war preparations, and the extent of our participation in the actual fighting; the progress of our shipbuilding, munitions manufacture, and the financial, moral, and other aid extended to our allies. These news stories were frequently played up with illustrations of our air and sea craft, our camps, cantonments, and trenches, our factories, and our guns; and with photographs of our statesmen, soldiers, and citizen workers in every branch of war activity. Weekly and class publications were regularly supplied with special articles and illustrations, carefully prepared to meet their particular requirements and style. The triweekly, semiweekly, and weekly press of the provinces was furnished with condensed news stories assembled from the more important developments of the period between publication. It should be mentioned that all news stories and special articles were translated by experts in our offices, and always in the language of the publication receiving our service. During the periods of important military operations and through the exciting times preceding the armistice a day and night service was maintained, with our offices in constant touch with the great newspapers of the three countries. In submitting our matter we invariably stipulated that it was offered for reproduction either in total or in part, at the discretion of the editor, and that no credit to the Committee was necessary. In many instances, however, our credit line was carried, and in no instance, to our knowledge, was our matter garbled or falsely construed. An important feature of the work of your Buenos Aires office was the preparation, printing, and distribution of pamphlets, posters, circulars, etc. A list of all American business concerns was secured. A card index indicated how much matter each could effectively distribute. The packing-houses, banks, shippers, merchants, and selling agencies cheerfully agreed to inclose our literature in their daily correspondence. Many patriotic institutions and individuals took from us copies of the speeches of President Wilson and other leaders by the thousands, forwarding them to their representatives and customers in all sections of the country. The ever-increasing demand from these sources indicated the interest with which America's message was being received. The photograpns sent from Washington were captioned and catalogued on their arrival. They were used in profusion in newspapers and magazines both with and without explanatory articles. In addition, and perhaps most effective, were the exhibitions of the pictures in public places. For such displays some one hundred or more light, attractive frames were designed, each frame carrying twelve photographs. These were placed in the show windows of the largest business houses, the lobbies of the leading hotels, and the reading-rooms of various social, commercial, and working-men's clubs. In every city or town of any importance one or more of these frames was conspicuously located. By a carefully worked-out system we were able to change these displays once a week. In the offices of the Committee files of such American newspapers, magazines, trade journals, etc., as were sent us or could be purchased were kept. These, together with our government reports, the Official Bulletin, authoritative articles on banking, industrial, manufacturing, agricultural, and other subjects by American experts, were at the disposition of the general public. From them data were obtained by educators, journalists, and students. We wrote articles on given subjects and assembled facts and figures for addresses delivered to various organizations and societies. Editors of Argentine, Spanish, French, Italian, and British publications were constantly supplied with material which was desired in order to answer statements of enemy writers. Personal association with leaders of South American thought was not overlooked or neglected. Your commissioner was frequently extended the privilege of addressing the universities and schools in response to requests from the student bodies for information concerning "North America." A sincere desire on the part of many students to attend universities in the United States, in order that they might perfect themselves in the English or "North American" language and study our life, our laws, and our business methods, was developed, and at the suggestion and with the assistance of Dr. Ernesto Nelson of Buenos Aires and Doctor Galves of the University of Chile a plan for an exchange of North American for South American students was worked out and about to be placed in operation when the activities of the Committee were suspended. Your commissioner is under obligations to Mr. Frederico Crocker of Montevideo, who acted as local representative in Paraguay; to William Dawson, Esq., American consul at Montevideo, and to the American colony of Uruguay in general. The assistance of Hon. Daniel Mooney, American Minister, and the American residents of Ascension, was of much value in our efforts in Paraguay. For the work in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia the Committee was fortunate in securing the services of C. V. Griffis, a resident of Lima for six years, and the head of an established publicity organization in the form of The West Coast Leader, an Anglo-American newspaper. Aside from Mr. Griffis's own ability and expert knowledge, he placed the services of the Leader organization — its agents, correspondents, and friends — entirely at the disposition of the Committee, obtaining for its material a comprehensive circulation in territory which would otherwise have been difficult and expensive to cover. Thus in addition to telegraph and mail service reaching the important centers, such as Lima and Arequipa in Peru, La Paz and Oruro in Bolivia, and Guayaquil and Quito in Ecuador, the pamphlet and pictorial publications were sent broadcast through the more remote provinces of the three republics —to the isolated mining-camps, the scattered estates — to points as widely separated and as difficult to reach as Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Trinidad in Bolivia, Moyobamba and the Chanchamayo Valley in Peru, Esmeraldas and Cuenca in Ecuador. To quote from the report of Mr. Griffis: It is not my desire in any way to overestimate the importance of the results obtained by the work conducted in this territory. Accurate analysis of these results is, of course, impossible. Yet it cannot be denied that, as a result of the few months' intensive work undertaken by the Committee in this field, the mass of people in all sections of the country have acquired a far more graphic and comprehensive idea of the power and position of the United States, as well as the policies and ideals of the American people, than they ever had before. These conceptions could not possibly have been obtained through ordinary channels, and it is safe to say that the Peruvians and their neighbors have a much clearer idea of the war efforts and achievements of the States than they have of the efforts and achievements of any of our European allies, though the latter were engaged in the war for a much longer period. This clearer conception is due almost wholly to Compub activities, for other agencies of intercommunication made no radical departure in their established policies to meet the radically altered conditions. What I regard as concrete evidence of some of the statements made in the above paragraph is supplied by the magnificent response of Lima, a city of less than 200,000 inhabitants, to the Fourth Liberty Loan, with a total of $700,000. Lima is far from being a wealthy city, and this subscription was $400,000 more than the maximum set by the committee in charge of the sale of bonds. But the investing public here had become thoroughly convinced of the boundless resources and impregnable economic strength of the States. They could not evade absorbing that impression. The Committee photographs setting forth American industrial resources were constantly surrounded by interesting crowds, while the morning and afternoon paperr invariably carried their columns of supplementary data. As a first-hand observer of Latin-American opinion during the past few years I would say that the old conception of the United States held in 1913, an admixture of Mexican and Colombian suspicions and general distrust, has given entirely way in 1919 to a wholly new conception and realization of the full magnitude of American power and policy. The most important and perhaps the most influential feature of the Compub service from the point of view of this particular field was the daily cable service. Owing to arrangements effected by cable, railway telegraph, and wireless communication two trunk systems were thrown out from the central office in Lima, covering a wide stretch of territory at a very low cost. The first system was south from Lima, wireless messages being filed at the San Christobal (Lima) radiographic station, which were picked up by the Cachendo wireless station, located near Arequipa on the Southern Railway of Peru. Through arrangement with Mr. L. S. Blaisdell, manager of the Southern, an experienced telegraph operator received the messages from the state wireless service and sent them out over the railway telegraph line to Mollendo, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno, and La Paz, and intermediate points. At all of these points the messages were given full publicity. Arrangements were being made for a farther extension of this southern trunk line by sending out the messages from La Paz over all of the Bolivian railway telegraph lines, but, owing to the signing of the armistice shortly after this office was opened and the falling off of cable service, no regular service was ever established on the Bolivian railways, though many of the more important messages were given publicity throughout Bolivia in this manner. The second line was north from Lima, by Central & South American Cable Company, to Payta, Peru, and Guayaquil, Ecuador. At the latter point the messages were filed free of charge on the Guayaquil & Quito Railway telegraph line to Quito, Ecuador, and intermediate points. The sub-agents co-operating with this office on the southern line wire service were L. S. Blaisdell, manager of the Southern Railway, at Arequipa, and Mr. Victor Tyree, of Denniston & Company, at La Paz. Those co-operating with this office on the northern wire service were C. W. Copeland, of the American consulate, Guayaquil, and Prof. E. S. Brown, of the Allied committee at Quito. Expenditure in connection with this service is duly set forth in the accounts of the Lima office, which have been submitted. By means of the foregoing service the daily cables of the Committee were distributed and published in all of the more important newspapers of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. In addition to the newspapers, there were many small communities, particularly mining-camps, along the line of the Central Railway of Peru, where no newspapers existed, but where this telegraphic news was received and placed on bulletin-boards. The same condition applied to the Southern Railway system in southern Peru and the Guayaquil & Quito Railway in Ecuador, over which Compub telegrams were transmitted. As stated in the previous report of the pamphlets received by this office for distribution, some 40 per cent, were retained in Peru, 30 per cent, shipped to Ecuador, and 30 per cent, shipped to Bolivia. Of the amount retained in Peru practically all were sent into the smaller towns and provinces. This was owing to the fact that in the metropolitan centers the daily press and other abundant reading material nullified to a considerable degree the propaganda value of the pamphlet; whereas in the provinces reading matter is exceedingly scarce and difficult to secure and even patent-medicine almanacs are read religiously through. My experience has been that even the most attractive pamphlets, though they may be carefully conserved by their recipients, are rarely if ever read through in the metropolitan centers. Vast sums of money were spent by British propaganda on costly lithographed pamphlets, but it is now generally admitted that this money was inadvisably spent and that more effective results could have been secured by other means. Were it not for the provincial outlet, I personally would have advised the suspension of pamphlet distribution. It might have reached the mark in a few individual cases, but in Lima wide-spread pamphlet distribution would have done more harm than good. For four years pamphlets, British, French, Belgian, and German, had been raining from the heavens, the public were surfeited with them, and pamphlets were actually creating prejudice against their distributors. The Photographic Service was, beyond question, one of the most effective divisions of Compub activities. The appeal of the picture service was instantaneous, not so much to the press as to the general public. It has been my experience that average newspaper illustrations do not hold a reader's attention very long, while high-quality engravings or preferably original photographs catch and hold the eye of people in every walk of society. Certainly the 12 bulletin-boards which we placed throughout Lima, each carrying 40 to 50 photographs, were never lacking an audience. This system of photographic distribution was highly satisfactory in its results. After rotating on the 12 Lima boards, sets of photographs were sent up the line of the Central Railway to be shown at the various stations and camps, and were also sent out into the provinces and were kept track of until lost or worn out. In this manner each photograph passed before several thousand pairs of eyes, while out of the abundant supply the newspapers were provided with all they could use. The wastage in photographic publicity material was therefore practically nil. The poster reproduction of photographs with Spanish captions were also exceedingly popular and permitted us to reach certain provincial districts where the use of photographs would have been prohibitive from the viewpoint of cost. All of the photographic enlargements were suitably framed, and after being exhibited for several weeks in shop-windows were distributed among various leading clubs and other institutions. The activities of the Committee in other South American countries followed the same lines as those described by Mr. Sevier and Mr. Griffis. In Brazil Ambassador Edwin V. Morgan maintained constant supervision over the work and his success was entirely due to his force and vision. Mr. A. A. Preciado was in charge in Chile, and in Venezuela the American Minister, Mr. Preston McGoodwin, was the directing mind. Mr. S. P. Verner, in the government service in the Panama Canal, gave executive supervision as far as the whole of Central America was concerned. Mr. John Collins, borrowed from the Panama Canal Board, was in charge of the distribution of the Compub service, taking it out of the air at Darien and translating and relaying it to many cities in Central America where no other news was received from any source. Fortunately, there are now two American news associations— the Associated Press and the United Press — operating successfully in South America with a rapidly increasing clientele. They are furnishing an excellent and comprehensive service and will undoubtedly prove indispensable in carrying on the campaign for the permanent establishment of mutual knowledge, understanding, and friendship which the Committee conceived and placed in operation. [← The Work in the Orient](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/34-the-work-in-the-orient/) [The Russian Campaign →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/36-the-russian-campaign/) 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/).