The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-15
PRAISES NOTORIOUS GAZETTE

In occupied France and IN the pris-
oners of war camps the Gazette des
Ardennes did splendid work, winning
the respect even of our enemies through
| its fairness and reliability. The same
may be said of the Russische Bote,
which was written in German and pub
lished under the direction of the minis
try of war.
various French contributors to the
notorious propaganda sheet, the Gaz-
cite des Ardennes, have been tried for
treason. several have been sentenced to
death and others to imprisonment)
The war correspondent of the great
German dailies were grouped in press
headquarters in the east and west.
and so far as the military situation
allowed, were informed as quickly and
completely as possible OF every new
evert, being given complete individual
freedom. Within the necessary limits,
they took part in the life of the troops
and of the staffs.
There were further renowned mill
tary writers who described the war
from position of authority.
1t was the duty of the war press
bureau to secure uniformity of military
views in the press at home, and obedl-
ence to the censorship regulations laid
down by G. II. @. 1t kept in touch with
the same object with the press con-
trolls in the occupied districts, ana
from time to time took similar steps
in cooperation with the military press
censorships of our allies.
The censorship arrangements OF
|G. H. @. extended to everything when
might hinder the effective prosecution
of the war but it limited itself to THIS.
At the same time. the head censorship
office communicated to the military au-
thorities at home the general princi-
pies laid down by the Imperial au-
thorities
HOME CHIEFS WENT TOO Fac
This led to serious misunderstood
ings and to the adoption of untenable
points of view. 1t happened mole than
once that the home military chiefs de-
scribed as instructions from g. III. Q.
censorship instructions which werc
merely passed to them in this way by
the head censorship office, thds natu-r-
ally created feeling against us.
The control of the press was no part
of the duty of the head censorship Of
flee. The office gave advice to the su-
preme military authority (the minister
for war; when asked to do so. ana kept
him informed of any events that in Its
opinion required his attention.
G. II. @. was thus not in position to
take direct action against any news
paper, but could merely draw the at
tention of the government, and in par
ticular of the war ministry, or in
urgent cases of the acting general staff
if it thought that the attitude Of this
or that paper was Injurious TO the pro-
secution of the war.
There was, legally speaking. no
political censorship. This was a mis-
take, and the cause of much mischief
The government itself often approach
ed the head censorship office with the
request that it would issue instruc-
lions in one sense or another. When
/ saw more clearly into this method of
operation, I protested against such an
employment of the military censorship
and put q stop to it.
DEFINES GOOD PROPAGANDA
Good propaganda must keep well
ahead of actual political events. 1t
must act as pacemaker to policy, and
form public opinion without the con-
seriousness of the holders. Before poll
teal aims can be realized the world
has to be convinced of their necessity
and moral justification. What one de-
sires to achieve must be presented as
simply logical conclusion from events.
We made no use of propaganda
abroad, indeed, we hardly knew of it,
although at home sNillful work was
done against certain persons. Our
political aims and decisions, offered to
the world as sudden surprises, seemed
spur of the moment. This could have
been skillfully avoi1ed by broad and
far sighted propaganda.
While we had not been ready for
propaganda work in time of peace. we
were also lacking in the necessary
equipment therefor. We had no world
telegraph service. with its chain of
cable and wireless stations. Efforts to
remedy this had not yet been carried
to fruition. We lacked leading jour
nal on a strong national basis, posses
ing influence abroad and weight at
home. like the Times in England, he
Temps in France and the \
Vremya in Russia.
All these three papers were indie
pendent, and stood on strong national
platforms The journals from which
foreigners received direct information
from Germany were all oeyotees of in
ternationalism, fundamentally opposed
to our form of government, and gave
false and one-sided picture of cur life
and thought and of the conditions in
Germany.
HAD TO DEFEND THE U-BOATS
In the matter of propaganda, we lad
much to catch up; we had ID under
take the fight against the enemy at
home, and to work with all our strength
for the extension of the submarine
warfare which was then just decided
on. We could not renounce the use
of weapons of decisive effect.
learned from discussions which l
had with leading men that there was
still. even during the war. consider
able ignorance as to the real necessity
of a propaganda possessed of living