Evening star., 1939-09-24

A. P. Photos.
Herr Goebbels emerged from seeming
obscurity to give an interview to the
press.
Until that appearance Goebbels' name
had not been mentioned nor his voice
heard on the radio since the outbreak of
hostilities.
But the Germans are doing a propa-
ganda job far superior to that Of the
allies. AS Britishers have themselves
admitted, the Germans have thus far
won the propaganda war. The Nazis
have been far more candid, or at any rate
they have supplied more news" and
news photographs than the other side.
When there were reports that German
bombers had destroyed Polish shrine,
the Germans took an American ccrre-
spondent to the scene and photographed
him praying at the unchanged shrine.
All this is not surprising since the Ger
mans have had six years in which to try
out their propaganda and censorship.
DR.. Robert Ley is neither on the de-
tense council nor in the cabinet but he
has an important place if only because
ne controls the huge fund accumulated
by the Labor Front. A personal friend
OF Hitler. he was named head of the
vast organization that includes labor and
employers. Ley administers the fund
collected from all workers and all en-
ployers without any responsibility to
any one. This fund is said to run into
billions of marks. According to whis-
pered rumors in Germany the possession
OF so much money has encouraged Dr.
Ley in expensive tastes, notably in cham
pagne and pretty girls
Besides the major figures there are
minor personages who wait on the edges
for better opportunity One of these is
Franz Won Papen, who has succeeded in
waiting out at least three German
regimes. And each time this suave diplo-
mat finds safe and comfortable berth.
He had narrow squeak during the blood
purge OF 1884, when so many of his
friends and associates were shot, But
after a brief interval he was sent as
Minister to Vienna, where he helped to
betray the unfortunate Schuschning,
More recently he has been courting the
Turks.
Hitler the Unpredictable.
Finally, there is Hitler himself, about
as measurable and predictable force as
a Pacific typhoon. He is symbol deified
before his death. He is a complete IA
natic with single objective-the power
and aggrandizement of the German peo-
pie. But he is also an enormously re-
sourceful politician who is quite unham-
pered by any of the conventional
scruples.
In the past his close associates have
sometimes found it extremely difficult to
deal with him. He raved at them almost
incoherently. He wept. He abandoned
himself to hlackest gloom and despair.
More important, many, particularly in
the army, mistrusted him. They said he
was too impetuous, too daring. The
army Is said to have been opposed to
the entrance into the Rhine, the con-
quest Of Austria and even the Nazi stand
year ago on Czecho-Slovakia
But each time Hitler's daring has won.
And each time he has inspired new con-
fidence. Doubters have been rebuked
He is the leader Of his people in prim-
tive, tribal sense and there is no indica-
ton that he has any intention of sur
rendering his leadership. A Hitler, a
Napoleon, can never stand still. He must
lead on to bigger and better triumphs
No nation can endure a perpetual ad-
vance, which is the reason why ruler Of
the Hitler type must inevitably give away
to another who accepts the status quo.
For the time being, however, in crisis, in
war, Hitler is the supreme master Of the
German people.