PROPAGANDA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 102, 2 May 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

PROPAGANDA.

"fAPER BULLETS" IN WAR. CONTEST IN UNITED STATES. {By E.V.D.) One of the most fateful conflicts of the Great War was waged between the British and the Germans in the United States from August, 1914, until April, 1917, when President Wilson made up Jus mind. Fateful it was, because had the Germans succeeded in inducing America to remain neutral, the final victory of the Allies would have been Jong-delayed, if not impossible. The pfcory* of the great "propaganda war" in the United States has been told by p, German-American who was a leading pombatant in it. It is a remarkable gtory from several points of view. It reveals into great clarity the extraordinary difficulties that beset President JVilson because of the conflicting elements in the American population; it exposes as pure inventions some of the tales commonly accepted as true in wartime; and it contains a glowing tribute to the ingenuity, resourcefulness and efficiency of the British Secret Service.

Mr. Viereck explains that he entered the conflict because, "taking their cue from Kipling, the pro-Allies in the United States "began to speak of the Germans: as 'Huns.' Many GermanAmericans whose ties with Germany or German culture were almost completely severed were forced into the pro-German camp by defamations of this sort." This is understandable to us now, and testimony to the author's good faith may be seen in his statement that he left the German camp when the German plot to embroil Mexico and. Japan in an jltfcack on the United States was repealed. He was pro-German but not anti-American. He may be reminded, however, that long before the ; war the •Kaiser himself publicly advised his troops in the Boxer Rebellion to act Jike "Huns." British Efficiency. The German propaganda was directed $o many groups. Besides the formidable group of Germans there were "the oldfashioned American with Revolutionary traditions, the cotton grower of the South, almost bankrupted by the British blockade, the Irish with a grudge against England, the Jew with a grudge against Russia, the Isolationists whose world ends with the Rocky Mountains," and the pacifists and the radicals. These were the advantages on the German side. On the British side was the very great advantage of a common language, an influential pro-British element, and, not least, a superior propaganda organisation. Few things are more striking in thß. book than its author's reiteration of his View that the British secret service and propaganda work was wonderfully efficient. In truth, his admiration verges on the ecstatic. At first the propaganda was directed by Sir Gilbert Parker, the novelist. He was succeeded in 1915 by Sir William Wisemanj who had With him Colonel Thwaites, Sir Geoffrey Butler and Captain (now Sir) Guy Gaunt. "It was Sir William Wiseman," says Mr. Viereck, "who made America safe for the Allies." He worked always in the background, eo much, so that even when America entered the war very few people knew of his importance. He was content that the dashingi Naval■ Attache, Guy Gaunt,fihoiild he regarded as the chief- Vierepk tells the delightful 1 story of an eminent New* York ■ hostess telling Sir • William in a whisper, "You are going to meet the head of your Secret Service." And she introduced Wiseman to Gaunt and poured into Wiseman's ears the tale of the marvellous exploits "of Gaunt. There are many, tales of Wiseman's subtlety. He discouraged the spreading of atrocity stories. , When British; war heroes arrived for lecture tours he told them, "Never besmirch ;the enemy. Admit their gallantry. This is the best sort of propaganda. The atrocity-mongers are overshooting the mark." And when numerous persons claimed to be connected with his secret service he did not disclaim them. "He even did them the favour of putting their names on the list which he sold to the Germans." ,The British, too, according to Viereck, always covered their tracks. "If a compromising document were of such importance that it could not be destroyed, they marked it 'Confidential, for the information of the U.S. Secret Service only.* If the papers were seized by the American Government they could then say, with virtuous indignation, 'It vas, our intention to let you into the secret. 3 " Viereck laments that the Germans were less resourceful. The chief German propagandist even left a portfolio packed with secret papers in an elevated railway car, and it was promptly seized and handed to the Americans.

J.i "Atrocity Stories." '£■ considerable part of the book is dented to an account of the origin of the many "atrocity stories." The one that Viereck terms "The Master Hoax <M the World War," the "German Corpse Factory," was devised, he says, by General Charteris for the benefit of the yauiese, upon whom it wag calculated to have a powerful influence owing to their reverence for the dead. Viereck fays . that Charteris himself never imagined it would be taken seriously anywhere outside Asia. Viereck denies that a medal was struck by the German Government to celebrate the sinking of *oe Lusitania. He insists that the Crucified Canadian" (the subject after the war ot a piece of sculpture against which the German Government protested) never existed, nor the Belgian baby with Severed hands, and reprints a statement hy Admiral Sims, that "there exists no authentic report of cruelties ever having been committed by the commander or crew of a German submarine. The Press reports about cruelties were only meant ior propaganda purposes." It depends What you mean by cruelties. What about the official reference to ships being sunk without trace?" -Mr. Viereck Is very seriously concerned about the effects of propaganda, in war and peace, upon people's minds, and he points out that every Government "overdid it." The German stories of the "destruction of London" reacted against the Government when the German people learned the truth; the demand of the American people for "unconditional surrender" embarrassed the well-intentioned Woodrow Wilson; and Lloyd George was called upon to "hang the Kaiser." He discusses possible remedies against propaganda in all its forms, but can suggest nothing except that we should "inoculate ourselves with the serum of horse sense and of humour." •"Spreading Germs of Hate." By G. B. yiereck (Duckworth).