Evening star., 1938-09-18
London Has Own Press Battle
AS Britain Suffers War Jitters
Papers Facing Both Ways to World Crisis and
Calling One Another Menace 'Pangloss'
or Government Pawn
By Walter NJ. Harrison.
Correspondent of the Associated Press.

le Associated Press.
Then the heavy artillery came into the
action through the editorial columns.
This from the Evening Standard, Beaver
brooks afternoon tabloid:
God give us rest from the prophets Of
woe and evil! For too long have their
voices been uplifted in the land.
Among the most dangerous Of these
false phophets Is the News Chronicle -.
This time 1t is the tale of the war fears Of
the German people reflected in the new
slump on the German Bourse Again and
again this organ has trumpeted out warn
ings to the public which a moments re-
Election would have shown to be unfounded.
Another story that should now be re-
fected and cast aside by us is the tale put
around particularly by the Daily Mail For
many month and through the long years
that newspaper has been frightening us
with tales Of the unconquerable, insuper-
able and preponderating military strength
OF Germany. 1t has been telling us stories
Of the potential power Of our enemies and
Of the weakness Of ourselves and Of our
Empire.
''The reports Of Germany's armed
strength as well as the accounts Of the
weakness Of the Empire have been gravely
and grossly exaggerated The public has
been alarmed by them to an unnecessary
degree sss
Moreover, the sentiment Of public
opinion makes it clear day by day that
Great Britain will not fight unless she is
attacked. So the conclusion is that there
will be no war, that we should forthwith
devote ourselves to our domestic concerns,
throwing overheard our immediate fears
and conjectures. and that We should turn
our backs on those organs Of public opinion
which concern themselves with agitating
us In one way or another"
Guardian Issues q Rebuke.
The liberal Manchester Guardian, con-
sistently anti-government and always well
informed. wheeled in with q rebuke to
Beaverbrook turning to Voltaire's candide
to resurrect the rosy philosopher Pangloss
and drape that character In the mantle of
the waspish. restless, undersized wizard of
Fleet street.
The Guardian said London is taking a
more realistic attitude about Europe, that
there are fewer ostriches about. despite
Lord Pangloss and his press"
The Guardian continued:
Lord Pangloss and his press have been
engaged for some time in a great essay
in wishful thinking about the international
situation, and fallible mortals have been
only too ready to believe his lordship is
right and that peace will indubitably be
preserved. Lord Pangloss may still be
right, and no one but hopes just as ardently
as his lordship that he is, but Germany's
military activities during the last few
days were bound to raise even in the popu-
lar mind some presumptions against the
complete Panglossian view"
Beaverbrook, SO years old, at the height
OF his editorial power with the largest
circulation in England, thrives on fight
He hit back forthwith:
Why does the Manchester Guardian
attack us? Why do so many other news
papers attack us?
Look at their policies. They preach
gloom and despair. They say that war
is inevitable. They alarm the people with
their warnings. They try to communicate
their own state Of panic to the rest Of US.
THE Daily Express, for three years now,
has said that peace will prevail. 1t has
dispelled the gloom. For three years they
have been wrong, and we have been right.
So they attack us like resentful children"
Then the Evening Standard finished OF
as follows:
whenever world affairs have . critical
look. the fat boys legitimate descendants
grow active, determined to make our dest
creep.
There are three classes of purveyors Of
panic.
First. there are the newspapers whose
tendency is to paint every political devel-
opment abroad in its darkest colors.
Consistent pessimists who learn nothing
from past prophecies belied. they appear
to imagine that only bad news sells.
False Alarms.
Then there are the political groups whose
self-constituted task is the application of
ginger" to stimulate the government into
still more strenuous rearmament efforts.
Finally, there are ministers Of the crown
whose judgment and sense of responsibility
do not march well even with the Junior
ofnces they hold. Idle talk in drawing
rooms Of wars inevitability Is repeated and
magnined. until people in the know ore
shaking their heads and saying that the
government takes a grave view
LET us not be distracted from our busi-
ness by false alarms or idle runor, and let
us not be misled into the grave mistake Of
exaggerating the strength of the adversary,
II one ever confronts us"
England is preparing for war, talking
peace and hoping for the best 1t is all
very confusing to the little fellow whose
taxes and cost Of living are mounting as the
$4,000, 900 900 armament program rolls
along.
Sometimes he feels like Lord Runciman
did when Premier Chamberlain sent him
to Pragus-"alone IN the middle Of the
Atlantic In Q YowboAt"