IT PAYS

Grey River Argus, 5 February 1941, Page 2

IT PAYS

Not to Advertise LONDON, J'anuary 30. The departure of Lord Halifax from England did not go unwitnessed by people in this country. Over and above the officials who were in the secret, there were photographers, railwaymen, dockhands, and others who saw what was happening, but who—in the interests of security—held their tongues. So dark did they keep the secret that the Nazi information services were all adrift. At a moment when H.M.S. “King George V” was already half way across the Atlantic, a German broadcast (January 21) indulged in the ill-timed comment that “Lord Halifax is spending a prolonged holiday at his Yorkshire estate instead of going to Washington.” Justifiably those in the know laughed up their sleeve. Keeping it Dark. The silence that many ordinary people make it their business to maintain on such occasions has accounted for the success of more than one adventure in this war. The s.s. “Queen Elizabeth,” for instance, reached New York unmolested in March, 1940, thanks in part to the discretion of hundreds of Scots who watched with bated breath while tugs and pilots shepherded her round the awkward bend in the Clyde. Another well-kept secret rebounds to the credit of the Middle East. Surprise is master of the battlefield and the secrecy which shrouded General Wavell’s plans before his victorious offensive burst on the astonished Italians, is no small factor in the success of the North Africaii campaign. Once again the secret was guarded by many, for on the eve of the attack General Wavell summoned the war correspondents and, taking them into his confidence told them his plans. His trust was fully rewarded. No ill-timed hint leaked into the newspapers, and until the whole story could be told openly and without risk of forewarning, the enemy was convinced that the British would never attack. Poker Face. To maintain secrecy about your movements and about the success or failure of your enemy’s allies is one of the elemental rules of war. Because we respect that rule and keep our counsel, we have brought off more than one notable achievement.

We are fighting an adversary who is prepared to claim “successes” on the slenderest evidence and it is not for us to tell him next day whether or not his bomber has found its mark or his submarine has sunk the ship whose fate it could not possibly have waited to see. Though the enemy radio may be crowing, it pays us to keep an irksome silence until the news can with safety be released. If England were a front-line trench we should not welcome the gasbag who during a bombardment sprang to the parapet to yell: “Poor shooting; live hundred yards short,” or: “Confound you, that last one hit G.H.Q.” “....FULL OF SOUND AND FURY, SIGNIFYING NOTHING.” Rose coloured futures for all but the Poles and Britain have for years been the stock-in-trade of Dr. Goebbels's propaganda. He flung consistency to the winds long ago and with his Fuehrer has promised independence to the Czechs and Czechoslovakia to the Germans, prosperity to the Dutch and Dutch’ businesses to the Nazis, a square deal to the French Empire and French colonial spoils to the Italians, until Europe

has sickened of the clattey of his doubt tongue. Force of Habit: Just as the opium habit drives an addict to excesses, so this Nazi habit of reckless promising is driving Goebbels into meaningless outpourings. Contradictions which escaped attention when they were addressed to different audiences are now being showered on a’ single public. Even the German home listener —trained though he is to be credulous—must find it hard to pick the truth from among the following assurances:—• Al) Tastes Catered For. For instance on the standard 01. living that the New Europe will enjoy, Goebbels has one story for the gullible public and another for the economic expert. First propagandist: “The rapid and far-reaching rise in the standard of living in Europe, which is Germany’s aim under the New Order, will not in any way be achieved at the expense of other highly developed nations.” Second propagandist: “Norway will be adjusted to the Continental price level, wages will be reduced and Norway will no longer be allowed a higher standard of living than -the Continental countries.” The New Order so-called is fruitful in contradictions. Take its basic principle—that Germany shall run it:— First propagandist: “Germany’s aim is to create order but not to conque." or rule by tyranny, to put an end to disunity but not to destroy liberty.” Second propagandist: “The responsibility for Europe now assumed by the Reich makes it necessary to keep our military striking power permanently in action. This will require the maintenance not only of a good but also of a strong army wherever the Reich is faced with tasks of leadership.” The economics of this German Europe are likewise cooked to suit all palates: First propagandist: “Neither the European continent nor Germany desire to continue their self-sufficiency of war-time as the ideal of postwar economic relations.” Second propagandist: “Germany wants the other nations to live, but not on Germany. Europe must cut herself off from her international connections and aim at an exclusively European economy.” Shall Germany or shall she not till her soil with Foreign labour? The townsman is told “Yes,” the peasant “No”:— First propagandist: “Germany’s agricultural labour problems are only temporarily solved by the employment of foreign ‘free’ -workers. After the war the soil will have to be cultivated exclusively by German-blood-ed labour.” Second propagasdist: “After the war when we shall have to use foreign labour to an even greater extent than we have hitherto, it is obvious that in more responsible and difficult but also better paid technical and skilled work preference ought to be given to the German worker.” Last but not least comes the in- • dividual worker—egged on by word of mouth with promises that are revealed as groundless in the papers he no longer bothers to buy:— Hitler: “We have great plans which all'have one common aim—to create and build a German people’s State. We shall remove all obstacles and abolish all harriers which prevent the individual from taking the place that is due to his ability.” Seldte: “After the war a wave of industrial nationalisation will sweep , over Germany and Europe and will naturally favour large concerns. Romantic notions of business will have to disappear. Insofar as the small man is not a specialised supplier, one cannot, guarantee him a. safe future.”

The crowning cynicism of this, im-

moral series is this week's -assurance (Zcesen radio 22/1/41) that—“lf the Fuehrer promises a new and more just world there is every reason to believe that he will not fail to transform his assurance into reality.” But which assurance? You can take your choice. GOSSIP. Whispering Points from Paris .... What is the difference between an

Anglophile and an Anglophobe? The one says, “I hope those British will win”; the other, “I hope those damned British will win.” And from a prison camp east of Suez: When the Fascists marched into Addis Ababa on May 9th. 1936, they boasted to the many Indian merchants in the town that they would be in India in live years. And so they are. But not in the manner expected.