FOREWORD[1]
In view of the fact that the works which Mr. Creel has performed are supposed to have been performed under the guidance of, or, at least, in association with, the Committee on Public Information, consisting of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of War, I am afraid that if I were to indulge in extravagant eulogy of the wise and helpful things Mr. Creel has done it might be assumed that I was seeking to reserve for the remainder of the Committee some share of the praise. I feel sure, however, that if the Secretary of State were present he would assent, as the Secretary of the Navy, being present, I know does assent, to a statement of the attitude of the remaining members of that Committee toward Mr. Creel; the feeling is that while our names have been used as members of the Committee on Public Information, its labors have been the labors of Mr. Creel, and, for myself, at least, I can say that the helpfulness has been from him to me rather than in the reverse direction.
I remember a statement of Sir William Hamilton that there is nothing great in the world but man, and nothing great in man but mind. It is obviously too soon to begin to appraise either what this war means to mankind or what forces have correlated in the winning of the war, and yet our minds have been, I think, rather more occupied in observing the correlation of physical forces than
- ↑ Being the informal address of Mr. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, at a dinner given to Mr. Creel in Washington, November 29, 1918.
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