ity secretary who is a good writer and, if possible, a good speaker; who either knows something about social work, or is willing to learn it, not merely by observation, but by study of current literature and books. One might not be so optimistic of securing a paragon of all virtues as was one federation which gave these specifications for its prospective publicity secretary:

The person employed should have been previously engaged in a broader field. He should have enjoyed experience in social service case work as an executive and had substantial training in social service publicity, together with newspaper experience or its equivalent. In addition to any other qualifications which may be required, the publicity executive should not only be trained in publicity, but also possess a well-developed social service consciousness. He should be a person who can win the confidence of the director and others of the federation staff as well as of the board members. He should therefore be welcomed and encouraged to attend all meetings and conferences, even though about subjects that are not to be given publicity. He should have free access to all records, etc., and be permitted to attend all committee meetings. Certainly, even if this high standard is not realized, this person should be ambitious, be willing to work hard, and be possessed of the rare gift of sympathetic imagination—qualities all too difficult of attainment, you will say, but still procurable, if only one waits long enough and hunts far enough. Remember, too, that this is a model federation with a proper publicity department; so that of course we shall have a proper publicity secretary. This publicity secretary, possessed of all these virtues or as many as can be acquired, will write newspaper stories of all the kinds that are required; will speak when opportunity offers, supplementing the speaking activities of the executive of the model federation; will both organize opportunities for representatives of the federation and its member organizations to speak before all possible groups in town; will secure speakers to fill these opportunities; and will serve as secretary of the committees which I am about to describe. He will prepare exhibits, write collection letters, and prepare other kinds of advertising copy in the spare moments of his time. By doing these things such a model secretary could well justify the not immodest and very "proper" expenditure for salary which would be required. In addition to the secretary, the internal organization of our model publicity department would require the services of a combined stenographer, record keeper, file clerk, answerer of the telephone, and general compendium of office virtues to take care of all the detail work of records of publicity and of public speaking and carry on other routine activities. She would be by no means an unimportant part of the staff of two. It may be suggested that if necessary, in the smaller city, both the publicity secretary and the stenographer might work part time on publicity and give part of their time to other activities of the federation; and that in larger cities these activities might be distributed among more than two people.

Having thus organized internally to take care of all publicity needs, we may proceed to the external organization. The first feature of the external organization would be a committee made up of representatives of the various agencies which are included in the federation, one person from each agency, and the best

person for publicity and interpretation of the work of that agency who is available perhaps the executive of the agency, perhaps a paid worker, perhaps a board member, and by all means one who knows the agency and has a realization of the importance of interpretation. This committee would meet monthly to discuss the best publicity methods, to have a report on the best stories secured by the member agencies during the preceding months, to criticize constructively all publicity matter of the previous month prepared by the federation or the member agencies. The members of this committee would, moreover, produce publicity material which they would present to the newspapers either directly or through the federation publicity secretary. It is worth while to have the agencies place all the publicity they can, for the sake of variety in approach to the newspapers; but important stories should be "cleared" with the federation office to prevent one good story from "killing" another. Pains should be taken to see that whenever possible the federation is mentioned in publicity about member agencies which is sent to the newspapers, was to tie up the several "brands" of service with one "trademark." Nor would the committee activities be restricted to the newspapers. Prizes might be given for the agencies which produce the best newspaper stories. In St. Louis, for example, the chairman of the committee, who had recently returned with a collection of curios from an African trip, was persuaded to give a genuine Moroccan pouf-pouf as a prize for the month's best story. (A pouf-pouf is a leather pillow-cover.) Members of this committee would be useful also for preparing exhibits on the work of their organizations which might be used during campaign times, for arranging musical and other numbers which could be used for radio broadcasting, and for producing speakers about the work of their agencies. The committee members might also secure opportunities for publicity such as the placing of posters in institutions and arranging openings for speakers before groups of which they are a member.

Members of this committee and the presidents of the member agencies should receive monthly from the federation publicity secretary a bulletin showing the amount of space and the number of stories given by the newspapers to each agency in the past month, as a stimulus to more stories and better ones. This suggestion is made with the full realization that it may entail the publicity secretary in serious difficulties with agencies which do not think they have had enough credit (they never complain if they get too much credit). You must remember that this plan is being proposed for a model federation, where no such difficulties will occur.

To supplement this committee of people who produce publicity from the member agencies, this model federation will hold at least an annual meeting of users of publicity, such as the editors of city papers, the editors of neighborhood papers, the editors of house organs, and others, to get their advice as to how they would like the federation's publicity served up to them, and what kind of publicity, if any, they would like to have. Through such reciprocal relations a feder

ation publicity committee could be made a tremendously important factor in effective interpretation of the federation and its agency members.

As a supplement to this publicity committee, our model federation would have an advisory committee appointed by the advertising club of the city. This committee's task would be, through monthly meetings of its highly qualified advertising experts, to advise on the technique employed by the federation and the member agencies in all of their printed matter. On this committee the publicity secretary of the federation might try his ideas in order to eliminate the foolish ideas and expand the good ones. This committee, with its technical skill, would greatly improve the quantity and quality of federation publicity.

In our model federation the spoken word would be held as one of the most important factors in publicity. Therefore in the proper plan of organization speakers would not be neglected. All persons who are listed to speak regarding the federation or its member organizations would be invited to quarterly luncheon meetings (for which they themselves would pay). At these meetings the speakers would report the experiences they had had in the previous three months, and would advise as to ways in which the service of the federation in handling speakers might be improved. To these speakers would be sent monthly mimeographed bulletins telling who had spoken, on what subject he had spoken, and before what group he had spoken. These bulletins would include suggestions as to ways in which speaking might be improved, and would contain whatever encouragement might be found in the shape of approving letters from those groups which had had these speakers. Furthermore, a clinic for those speakers who might be interested in improving their speaking ability could be held at weekly dinner meetings, at which the speakers would give sample speeches and be criticized by their fellow-speakers and by a qualified teacher of public speaking. Such organization of speakers would be bound to improve the quality of spoken publicity.

The users of speakers should not be neglected, either. They might well be invited (as guests of the federation) to an annual meeting of their own, at which they would say what kinds of speakers they would like to have and what kinds of programs they would like to have offered in order to make the use of speakers more general. When one contemplates the collection of representatives of optimist clubs, Knights of Pythias, women's clubs, home missionary societies, parent-teacher organizations, labor unions, radio broadcasting stations, and others who might come to such a meeting, one might well hesitate, having in mind the story of the Irishman who, when told by the priest, in response to his inquiry, that at the day of judgment the Orangemen and the wearers of the green, those from the north of Ireland and those from the south, the Irish and the English, the Protestants and the Catholics, would all come together, said, “Faith, and there will be little judging on the first day." Still, when the tumult and the shouting had died away, this meeting might be of much benefit to the federation and to the groups which use these speakers.

In conclusion, we have thus created an imaginary publicity organization for a fictitious model federation. It is strong internally, with a competent staff and with careful and effective assignment of duties. It is well-knit externally, with meetings for those who are concerned in agency interpretation and for speakers; with consultation provided by those who can advise technically with those who use written or spoken publicity, meeting for advice and counsel at suitable intervals; and with all of these groups which may be in need of such information kept informed by periodical mimeographed bulletins. That such a plan may have its value is indicated by statements regarding the operation of this plan, in part, made by persons who represent member organizations on the publicity committee of the Community Fund of St. Louis. Said one: The Community Fund Publicity Committee makes the representatives feel they are parts of one big body, the Community Fund. The committee impresses representatives with the importance of tying up their publicity with the Community Fund's for mutual benefit. I get ideas for publicity at every meeting. The plan keeps the importance of publicity in the minds of agency representatives." Another one said: "I am enthusiastic about the helpfulness of the department, and realize how it stimulates me to do more and better work." A Negro member feels that the committee has been invaluable in that it has given important contact with people like the manager of the big morning paper and the representative of the Associated Press, and it has given ever so many new ideas of publicity. He feels that he has been given a clear understanding of the importance of publicity, and thinks that when all the agencies are sold to the idea and become active in the committee we will have a powerful weapon with which to kill ignorance and apathy. The Red Cross secretary feels that the committee is gradually teaching organizations a publicity sense, that we are having far more and better stories than formerly, and that the public reads them and looks for them.

Actual measurement of the results attained by this plan in St. Louis is significant. Careful search of the files of the daily papers in January and March of 1922, the year before the Community Fund was formed, revealed 529 inches of space and sixty-eight stories in January, and 778 inches in seventy-two stories in March, concerning eighteen agencies which are now members of the Community Fund. In January, 1926, St. Louis papers printed 2,685 inches for 348 stories; and in March, 2,141 inches, or 297 stories, about the Community Fund and thirty-seven out of fifty member agencies, including the same eighteen who had stories in 1922. These months of 1926 were normal months for publicity, with no campaign stories whatever, for the Community Fund campaign was held in November. On the other hand, most of the publicity in these two months of 1922 was about annual meetings and financial campaigns of the organizations. In other words, organized publicity effort secured at least three to five times as much space, and stories about twice as many agencies as did disorganized activity. The proof of the proper publicity pudding is in the eating, and the

eating is very good, especially for a federation which hungers for understanding and thirsts for popular support.

Such a plan of internal and external organization for interpretation might well be likened to an automobile. The internal organization might be regarded as a gasoline engine, which, when fed the proper fuel of publicity, produces power. This power, in turn, is transmitted through a clutch, which might be likened to the publicity committee; through a universal joint, which corresponds to the advisory publicity committee; through a drive shaft, to which one might compare the speakers' committee; through the wheels, to which might be likened the users of written and spoken publicity; so that the whole vehicle of the federation, in which are carried the lives and well-being of tens of thousands of needy citizens, may be carried rapidly and swiftly over the road which is paved with thorough understanding and complete sympathy to the city of highest wellbeing for all. Such, my friends, is the proper goal for a federation; and such also is a proper form of organization for the publicity of such a federation.

E

HOUSE ORGANS FOR YEAR-ROUND PUBLICITY

William Feather, President, William Feather Company, Cleveland

House organs, or publications issued at regular intervals, have been used by many federations for logical reasons. The federations expect to be in existence for a long time. They depend for their existence upon the good will and confidence of a large number of people who are not in daily, or even weekly, contact with the work. The purpose of a publication is to inform these people of what is being done and what should be done. I know of no way in which this can be accomplished so effectively as through a house organ.

The cost of publication, including printing, postage, addressing, cuts, and all items except editing, ranges from about 3 to 15 cents a copy. The larger the edition, the smaller the unit cost of printing. The postage unit remains the same, 1 cents a copy. Only one federation, to my knowledge, has obtained the second-class privilege from the postoffice, under which the rate is 1 cents a pound. I assume that this rate is obtained by including in the pledge card of each contributor a line which reads, "Twenty-five cents of this subscription is to pay for one year's subscription to the Bulletin. This plan is used by many city clubs and Y.M.C.A.'s in order to get a cheap postage rate. I do not care to get into a discussion of this question. It occurs to me that many subscribers, seeing this line on their subscription card, might say, "There's a waste." Subscribers are always criticizing philanthropic agencies for spending money for printed matter. Such criticisms must be considered, but they should not be taken too seriously. Printing is the most economical method of spreading information,