Great efforts are being made by those who are running this war to keep everything secret; the jibe has, in fact, been made that special ministries, miscalled cruelly so as to deceive the public, nave been created for the purpose. The fault, if it is a fault, lies not only with the Allies. On the German side the misinformation ministries have no legal existence, but they operate with more than devil-may-care clan. No sooner does the Admiralty in London announce the sinking of a British or neutral vessel by mine or submarine, than the super-efücient department operating under the supervision of Dr. Goebbels announces it, too. Without the assistance of the British Admiralty they would have known nothing at all about it. It is usually considered an obligation in the propagation of news to acknow-sedge the source from which it comes. And therefore Dr. Goebbels is guilty of another breach of etiquette when he declares that so-and-so has-been sunk in the North Sea and does /|not credit the Admiralty with the information. But this, except that it happens to be a fact, is not likely to worry the Wilhelmstrasse. The so-called brains of that district ist be too busy trumping. up good stories for home consumption to have time to pay attention to things which are actually happening. For a small man, Dr. Goebbels deserves, in the words of the dramatic critic, "special mention" for his tall stories. It might be interesting to see what a man with his talent for misrepresentation could do in the Far East. Such a development might prove a pleasant change to those whose daily duty it is to plough through a pile of "wishful thinking" and sift out of it that which is partially credible, But this is by way of being an aside." When the principal actors appear upon the screen and, in connection with the war in Europe, it is possible to report with truth that the "old squire's daughter" has again been "foully murdered in the wood," it is probable that the tempo of publicity or propaganda will change. Until that happens, mum's the word. It is essential that every man keeps everything he knows or thinks he knows under his hat. And so far as the Nazis are concerned the advice might also be applied to their heads, A German Gaffe Whatever Germany intends to do regarding the spread of the war in Europe, there is not the slightest doubt that the Nazis intend to expand their propaganda war, for they have n fact already done so by the publication of a White Paper purporting to reproduce reports 3f conversations alleged to have been held beween Polish and United States' diplomats during. the last few years. In effect the whole scheme is to endeavour to lay some blame for he war upon American diplomats, on the old principle that it does not matter who is blamed 3o long as it is not Germany. The move will all. Some six months have elapsed since Warsaw and the archives of the Polish Foreign Office fell into the hands of the Germans, and o suggest that it took all that time merely to collate documents already in existence for he purposes of publication is to suggest some-hing which will most definitely not be believed. Rather will opinion turn to the idea that so long a period might easily have been necessary cather for their fabrication, than for their edit-ug. An authorized source in Berlin is quoted as saying the publication of this White Paper, revealing President Roosevelt's sympathy for he Democracies, "is probably a great joke on Roosevelt." That may be the view held by he Nazis, though doubtless the greater portion 3f public opinion throughout the world will ægard it as a typical piece of simian. mischief. The idea that the whole thing was designed solely for domestic consumption cannot, of course, be wholly disregarded, though if that is accepted it demonstrates the clumsiness of the German propaganda machine which has thus gone out of its way to show the unenlightened Sermon masses that their Government is condemned by the United States and that that ation stands before them as a potential enemy. If that is done for the purpose of proving to he German people the desperation of their position, and thus stir them to accept even greater sacrifices than are even now demanded 3f them, it may have some value, though signi-dently enough it also lays a basis for explain-ug away eventual defeat. The manner in which publication of the White Paper was received n the United States is significant of the con-empt in which German propaganda is held in that country. The New York "Herald Tribune" describes the manœuvre as a clumsy error calculated to cause resentment at the Reich's impertinence in seeking to intervene in American domestic affairs. That puts the whole matter in a nutshell. If by the publication of this document it was sought to sow division amongst the Americans, and thus prejudice President Roose-volts chances of re-election should he choose to run for a third term of office, it is unlikely to succeed, for if the people of the United States are quick to resent anything it is any attempted interference in their own domestic matters. Much aas already been written in the United States of the failure of the German propaganda
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.