Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-11
GERMANS INCREASE
PROPAGANDA WORK
Spend Millions in Effort to Create
Favorable Opinion in Ncu-
trail Countries.
CLUMSY AND INEFFECTIVE
Comparatively Small Sum Is Re-
CURED by Allies to Counter
act Harmful Stories.
u. Associated PROF..


no time since the war began has Ger
man propaganda been more aggressive
~ active in Switzerland than at pres
cnt.
Those who arc following the German
campaign declare that uncountcd mil
hons arc being spent. and that the en-
pcnditurcs have Increased since the
day. not SO very many months ago.
when counter efforts were begun
counter efforts that with a compare
lively insignificant; AMOUNT OF money.
have accomplished wonders by their
tact and clcvcrncss
The German propaganda is operated
In score Of ways. but the chief
method is the presentation of the Ger
man viewpoint and German news in the
papers. but because ii is clumsy it Is
vastly less effective than tn. outlay
should warrant In brief. Germany has
tried and is trying TO influence Swiss
public opinion AS II the Swiss people
could clearly understand the German
way OF thinking
AS the basis Of its propaganda work
here. Germany acquired :: number Of
newspapers in SwitZcrla in
the German language and one pub
lishcd In French tho latter now under
suspension. Similarly. the Swiss" pa
pers in the German language are quite
as obv ioualy German AK the Berlin Lo-
Kali AnzciGcr or the Cologne Gazette
except that they are immeasurably less
able
Then tho Germans acquired or
ch Ia.
through which u distribute their news.
Soon. however, these agencies add ed
another and vastly more important
function, that OF collecting and trans
hitting news from countries at war
with Gcrmany--news. however. care
fully colorcd If not actually distorted.
II was in this direction that tho Ger
man propaganda began to hc danger
ously effective.
While German new Spapcr men them
selves could only roost along the Ita!-
ian border OF Luguno and tho French
ut Geneva, and transmit colorcd news
from Italian and French newspapers TO
Germany. the neutral Swiss CORES
pondents OF III" so.c:l,cd Swiss ascn-
cics had free access TO Italy and
France. They carefully choa. all the
misleading. even though technically
accurate. news they could squeeze by
the censor. II - sensational anI unin-
fucntial deputy in the French or Ita!-
ian chamber makes AN attack on the
government i, is faithfully flashed 10
Switzerland: ii "a score Of women in
Rome threw stones during a protest
meeting. Switzerland heard of the
"rioting" that il gravcly mcnacinE tho
established order in Italy.
DIsTORT AMERICAN WAX
NEWS IN SWITZERLAND
With Americas entry into the wa-
the agencies went Il step farther and
rendered another important service TO
Germany, for some OF them began to
send. both TO switzerland and to Ger
many, distorted news from the United
States. Again and again The reliable.
the genuinely swiss journals. issued
dcnia!s or published the correct news.
The first effect WAS not TO he corrected
by later stories.
The general trend Of this American
news concerns tho embargo and
Americas Intentions toward SwitZcr-
land. Every story in :, list that would
fill a scrapbook tended to show that
the United States had the Intention Of
starving its little sister republic Not
even an announcement by Switlcrland's
president that from authentic reports
he knew food was under way or soon
to start could offset the effect of the
first stories. And they had meantime
gone to Germany and were followed
by sympathetic editorials in German
papers popular here. commiserating
with switzerland in its struggle against
Yankee oppression.
a third propaganda method which
began early TO operate. and still -four
ishcs, is that Of literature" that is
distributed by the ton. Switzerland is
Hooded with ii. and the protests that
have been raised have gone in sur
prising number of cases from Ger
many to Switzerland. The procedure is
"echt dcutsch." 1t is one that has hcen
followed in Holland. in Scandinavia. in
all the neutral countries since the be-
ginning of the war.
Vastly more effective and clever has
been the Austrian propaganda in Swift
zerland. Shortly after the opening of
the war two influential and clever
newspapermen-onc an Austrian from
vienna, the other Hungarian from
Budapest-both Of whom operated
news bureaus IN thclr respective cities,
were commissioned by the Austro- Hum
garian government to establish a SEEM
nEly neutral bureau in Zurich that
should have connections in other neu-
trail as well as enemy countries They
were careful never to send il the urdin-
ary German brand of "propa ganda"
news.
The bureau was successful and Is to-
day. 1t established connections in Hol-
land, in Rome and elsewhere. and Is
able to place Il comparatively large
quantity Of news. which Is the more CT
fcctive because 1t is not too obviously
Austrian in character II encourages
the rather lively sympathy that exists
for Austria and will always carry n
story tending to show that Austro-
Hungary is not really an autocratfc
monarchy. but rather a collection OF
CONTINUED on Fifth Page.)