" OCCUPATION UNALTERED "
Snt,—We read with some surprise the remarks by Janus in A Spectator's notebook on the leaflet, Occupation Unaltered, which was sent to you and distributed here and abroad It must surely strike one as anomalous, coming as it does immediately after a statement that the Press Commission has vindicated the claim of the Press to accurate reporting, that your reporter confines himself to some innuendoes of a personal nature (to which we do not feel called upon to reply), and a general description of the leaflet as " a document reeking of Nazism in every line." The consequences of such behaviour are patent enough. It establishes a prejudice against the content of the leaflet before the public has had an opportunity of getting to know for themselves what it is about.
In the interests of fair and responsible reporting, therefore, we request you to publish the leaflet commented on in full Its content is the opposite of what Janus's remarks would lead your readers to believe. In it the attempt is made simply to analyse the infringements of the democratic rights of the German people by military governments, from the point of view of those rights as understood in this country—for instance, freedom of speech, opinion, &c. In which connection it is interesting to notice that you recommend that our freedoms here should be hampered when you write that " it might be well to consider officially how far " its distribution by us in Germany " would be beneficial." In the event of your being unable to print the leaflet, would you publish this letter, and we undertake to supply the document in question to anybody who writes to us for it.—Yours faithfully,
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