The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-05-21
BEHIND THE SCENESl
 WASHINGTON
ny RODNEY DuTcHER-
Democrat Washington Correspondent

FOretaste of Propaganda
 United States Can Expect
 in Case of Another Great
 War Contained in Volume
 Emanating From Spanish
 Embassy at Washington,
 With Horror Pictures, Ac-
 counts of Devastation,
 AtrOcity Stories and Flood
 of Pamphlets.
 Washington, May 21.-A foretaste of the propaganda attack to which Washington and the country will be subjected in the event of another general European war is being pro- vided by the Spanish embassy here.
 Although there is now neu- trality law of problematical effec- tiveness, nowhere therein is con- tained any sort of ban on any type of propaganda. A foreign embassy is permitted to engage in any type of educational work" it desires, assuming it doesn't stick its nose into domestic af- affairs. It may work as hard as it likes to enlist American sympa- this, and it will be recalled that allied propagandists were extra ordinarily effective in such effort during the World War.
 The Spanish embassy has be- come a freely flowing source of pamphlets, statements, press re- leases, reproductions of documents and other items of formal prOpa- ganda, in addition to whatever
 more intimate and confidential methods it may be adopting. The official explanation is that it has been impossible to answer indi-
 vidually a deluge of requests for
 information - hence distribution of copies of articles in newspa-
 pers, periodicals and of official government statements. The em- bassy's mailing list, of course, is
 its own secret.
 Occasionally the ambassador, Don Fernando de los Rios, has press conferences. These confer ences are effective from propa- ganda standpoint because the am- bassador is a brilliant intellectual with a mild, friendly personality which has attracted many sympa- thizers to his governments cause. One conference was held to make public the Spanish governments amnesty offer to deserters from the rebel ranks. The ambassador also has made speeches to meet ings of American sympathizerS in the east. The embassy ballroom has been turned over to an exhibit of Spanish war posters and works of art illustrat ting the conflict from the loyalist slant.
 Rising Tide of Sympathy Rebel propaganda has been com- paratively inconspicuous here lately. Its only recent offering has been a small collection of photographs, labeled: Civilized people of the world, see how the hordes of Cabal- leros kill the men, outrage the wo- men, wreck works of art and violate every sense of decency." The pie lures purport to show victims of mass executions, dead militiaman chained to his gun, destruction at Toledo'S AlcaZar, an exhumed nun and other horrors.
 A rising tide of American sym pathy for the loyalists has been noted here lately, not only by the embassy staff but at the state de- partment. This seems to have much less relation to the official propaganda than to authenticated reports of rebel bOmbardment, burnings and maSsacres at Guer- mica and other Basque towns-at- tributed by the Basque govern ment to Germans and Italians and objection by General Franco to evacuation of women and chill dren from Bilbao. Protests of Basque priests and the fact that in Spain the Basques are com monly said to be more Catholic than the POpe," is also believed to have contributed to a revulsion in American feeling, which began with bOmbardrlents of Madrid.
 Thus the loyalists have been given a leg up in the running bat tie of atrocity charges and coun- ter-charges which has accom- panied the struggle from the start.
 
 Many Horror Pictures"
 At various times the embassy has issued an official Basque govern ment account of the bombardment and burning of Guernica-with en- phasis on the burning by incendiary bombs of churches and hospitals used as churches. It is a Basque appeal to the world before God and history, which must judge us all," an expansion of charges that the rebel tactics show German Italian intent to gain control of Spanish mineral resources, an invi- tation from the Valencia govern ment to all persons and commits sions wishing to investigate, and charge that the American com mittee for Spanish Relief, founded by persons of high social stand ing" is identified with causes rep resented by the rebels.
 Pamphlets and reprints dis tributed by the embassy include scores of alleged instances of rebel atrocities, including all the pos sible cruelties and massacres of prisoners in patches of thousands; horror photographs including ruins of burned churches and chapels; case histories of numerous murdered Basque and other priests; declara- tions by Catholics and scores of Spanish intellectuals; reports of American and British correspond ents; articles giving the background