Evening star., 1937-10-03
HITLER SHOWS DICTATORS
HOW TO CONTROL PRESS
Study by Library Of Congress Staff Mem.
ber Reveals Basic Factor Is State
Definition of Truth.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

T Up TO now efforts to curb the
freedom of the press in the
United States have been
clumsy and amateurish,
judged by foreign standards.
So long as newspapers are upheld
in the right to expose all the highly
entertaining details of dumbness and
skullduggery in high Office the estab-
lishment of an American dictatorship
is we'll nigh impossible.
Some of the Nations best minds
seem to have wrestled in vain with
the problem. But certain more ad-
vanced nations-notably Germany
have made much better progress along
this line. Cedric Larson of the staff
of the Library of Congress has just
published in Princeton University's
Public Opinion Quarterly a detailed
study, based on documents difficult to
obtain elsewhere, of just how Adolph
Hitler went about removing this OBJ
stacle to his dream of an Aryan au-
tocracy. There may be a hint in it
for our future dictator.
Simple Formula.
The basic formula is beautifully
simple and applicable everywhere. 1t
is something like this:
/. Newspapers should print moth
ing but the truth. This is almost uni
versally admitted. 1t is doubtful If
even the sometimes bothersome Con-
stitution guarantees to anybody un-
restricted freedom to lie.
2. Enact laws prohibiting publica-
ton Of falsehoods.
3. Define truth according to your
own ideas.
4. Shoot or throw into Jail anybody
who prints anything that deviates
from truth.
The catch, of course, is in the third
step of this formula
A little fineSse may be required to
get over this hurdle in the United
States, but real future dictator will
not be altogether stupid.
When Hitler came into power in
1888 things from the dictator's point
"a 'AtN WHY AL OH dWl vi lIlCoS. JlC
Kaiser had let the newspapers do
pretty much as they pleased so long
as they showed proper respect for the
royal family and for major generals.
The Weimer republic had been even
more lax.
Hitler's Three Readers.
Success of the Nazi experiment in
totalitarianism required, at the out
set. that the German people believe,
without question, certain fundamen-
tals-for example. that all Jews were
scoundrels. Hitler knew the power
OF the press. He had expressed his
cynical philosophy in his book. Mein
Kampf. Newspaper readers. he said,
were divided into three classes:
First, the overwhelming majority
who believe everything they read in
the papers.
Second, the small minority who be-
lieve nothing they read in the papers
for no better reasons than those for
which their neighbors believe every
thing.
Third, the still smaller minority
who use their own judgment on what
to believe and what not to believe.
For this latter class. presumably
the only ultimate remedy was the
firing squad.
White Is Black Axiom.
The strength of the basic formula
lies in the fact that, accepting the
Hitlerian classification of newspaper
readers, its effects are cumulative.
One lays down as an axiom that
white is black.
Thenceforth, any editor who says
that white is white is printing a
falsehood and can be thrown in Jail.
Hence all editors who don't want
to go to jail say that white is black.
Hence the vast majority who be-
lieve everything they read in the pa
pers become convinced that white is
black in spite of the evidence of their
own eyes.
Before long they will tar and feath-
er any bastard who asserts the OBJ
vious lie that white is white.
Hence very few people will be
caught saying that white is white,
even if they secretly believe it.
Another Formula Devised.
At about the same time, it appears
from Mr.. Larsons study. Der Fuehrer
hit upon another formula almost as
effective and with even more appeal
for intelligent people. 1t might be
summarized as follows:
The public must depend on jour-
nalists for the facts upon which it
makes up its mind on any issue.
Therefore journalists owe duty to
the public of intelligent presentation
of these facts.
Therefore any journalist should be
a man competent to make such an in
telligent presentation.
Therefore, for the sake of the pub
lie. the incompetent and irresponsible
should be barred from the profession
just as they are barred from the pro-
fessions of law and medicine.
Therefore, standards of competency
should be set up by the public-that is,
the State.
Hence anybody can be barred who
doesn't meet these standards to the
satisfaction of the examiners appoint
ed by the State.
Hence anybody can be barred who