Imperial Valley press., 1937-05-27
News Behind the News
A FOretaste of Propaganda The
Spanish En,abssy's Word Mn =. No
Embargo on TrUmped Up Dope
Thank you please.

WASHINGTON-Aforeta of the propagan-
da attack TO which Washington and the coun-
try will be subjected in the event of another
general European is being provided by the
Spanish Embassy here.
Although there IS a neutrality law of
problematical effectiveness, nowhere therein is
contained any sort of a ban any type of pro-
paganda. A foreign embassy is permitted to en-
gage in any type of educational work it de-
sires assuming it doesn't stick its nose into
domestic affairs.
The Spanish Embassy has become freely
flowing source Of pamphlets. statements of docu-
ments and other items of formal propaganda, in
addition to whatever more intimate and conf
dental methods it may be adopting.
Occasionally the ambassador. Don Fernando
de los Rios, has press conferences These con-
ferences are effective from a propaganda stand
point because the ambassador is a brilliant intel
lectual with mild, friendly personality which
has attracted many sympathizers to his govern
ment's cause. One conference was held to make
public the Spanish governments amnesty offer
to deserters from the rebel ranks. The ambas-
sador also has made speeches to meetings Of
American sympathizers in the East. The embassy
ballroom has been turned over to an exhibit
of Spanish war posters and works of art illus
trating the conflict from the loyalist slant.
Rebel propaganda has been comparatively
inconspcuous here lately. Its only recent offer
ing has been a small collection of photographs,
labeled: Civilized people of the world, how
the hordes Of Caballeros kill the men, outrage
the women, wreck works of art and violate every
sense of decency." The pictures purport to SHOW
victims of mass executions, a dead mitiaman
chained to his gun. destruction at ToledoS Alca-
zar. an exhumed nun and other horrors.
rising tide of American sympathy for the
loyalists has been noted here lately, not only
bv the embassy staff but at the State Depart
ment This seems to have much less relation
to the official propaganda than to authentcat-
ed reports of rebel bombardment, burnings and
massacres at Guernica and other Basque
towns attributed by the Basque
government to Germans and Italians and OBJ
lection by General Franco to evacuation of Wom-
en- and children from Bilbao. Protests of Basque
priests and the fact that in Spain the BaSques
are commonly said to be more Catholic than
the Pope" is also believed to have contributed
to a revulsion in American feeling,
At various times the embassy has issued an
official Basque government and burning of Guer-
nica-With emphasis on the burning by incen-
diary bombs of churches and hospitals used as
churches.
Pamphlets and reprints distributed by the
embassy include scores of alleged instances OF
rebel atrocities including all the possible cruel
ties 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,
declarations by Catholics and scores of Spanish
iutelectuals: reports Of American and British
correspondents; articles giving the background
of the revolt and tales of deserters.