Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-11-20

German and published under the di
rection OF the ministry of war
(Various French contributors to tn
notorious propaganda sheet, the Ga
zette des Ardennes, have been triet
for treason, several have been sen
fenced to death and others to i'm
prisonment.)
The war correspondents of tn,
great German dailies were grouped II
press headquarters in the east anC
west and so far as the military situa
ton allowed, were informed as quick
ly and completely as possible of ever!
new event, being given complete in
dividual freedom. Within the neces
sary limits they took part in the lif,
of the troops and of the staffs.
There were further renowned mil
itary writer's who described the wal
from a position of authority.
1t was the duty of the war pres.
bureau to secure uniformity of mill
tary views in the press at home and
obedience to the censorship regula-
tons laid down by GH.Q. 1t kept in
touch with the same object with the
press controls in the occupied districts
and from time to time took similar
steps in cooperation with the mill
tary press censorship of our allies.
The censorship arrangements of G.
Fl. q. extended to everything which
might hinder the effective prosecution
| of the war, but it limited itself to
! this. At the same time the head CEN
sorship office communicated to the
military authorities at home the gen
eral principles laid down by the i'm
perial authorities.
Home Chiefs Went Too Far.
This led to serious misunderstand-
| ings and to the adoption of untenable
points of view. 1t happened more
than once that the home military
chiefs described as instructions from
CHIC. censorship instructions which
were merely passed to them in this
way by the head censorship office,
thus naturally created feeling against
us.
The control of the press was no
part of the duty of the head censor
ship office. The office gave advice
to the supreme military authority
tthe minister for war; when asked to
do so, and kept him informed of any
events that in its opinion required
his attention.
CHIC. 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
ucular of the war ministry or in ur-
gent cases of the acting general staff,
II 1t thought that the attitude of this
or that paper was injurious to the
prosecution of the war.
There was. legally speaking, no po-
litical 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 in
structions in one sense or another.
When l saw more clearly into this
method of operation, / protested
against such an employment of the
military censorship and put q stop
to it.
Defines Good Propaganda.
Good propaganda must keep WE'LL
ahead of actual political events. It'll
must act as pacemaker to policy. and
form public opinion without the con-
seriousness of the holders. Before DO
litical aims can be realized the world
has to be convinced of their necessity
and moral justification. What one
desires to achieve must be presented
10 St'fPiS q ASoiSoA SOASluSlOu ITOUl
events
We made no use of propaganda
indeed, we hardly knew of it. !
at home skillful work was
done against certain persons. Our
political aims and decisions, offered |
to the world as sudden surprises. |
seemed often to be brutal steps taken
on the spur of the moment This
could have been skillfully avoided by
broad and far-sighted propaganda.
While we had not been ready for
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 car
RED to fruition. We lacked a leading
Journal on strong national basis,
possessing influence abroad and
weight at home. like the Times in
England. the Temps in France, and
the Novoe Vremya in Russia.
All these three papers were inde-
pendent. and stood on strong national
platforms. The journals from which
foreigners received direct informa-
-lon from Germany We're all devoteesi
81 internationalism fundamentally or
Eosed 10 our form of government. and
gave a false and one-slded picture Of