Snt,—Will you allow me to support Mr. George Edinger's admirable
letter on the subject of propaganda in your last issue?
It is earnestly to be hoped that the appointment of Sir John Reith as Minister of Information means that propaganda (or publicity, if that word is preferred) has at last been recog- nised as one of the vital weapons in this war ; for, in spite of the leaflet raids, the broadcasts in German and other foreign languages, and the original formation of the Ministry, no one who has watched the tremendous part this weapon has played in the successive Nazi triumphs in Europe can consider that our use of it hitherto has been anything but hopelessly inadequate.
As Mr. Edinger says, a vigorous use of propaganda, both for defence and for counter-attack, might powerfully assist in bringing us victory without the appalling loss of life that must be incurred before Germany can be defeated in the field.
Ever since the war began, the Press has been full of instances of the way in which we allow our case to go by default in neutral countries ; but the following personal experience is just one illustration from within the Empire itself. just before Christmas my wife received a letter from a Canadian, an old school friend, who spent much of her girlhood in London, and one of the loyalest subjects of the King one could hope to find anywhere in the Empire. .This lady hoped her letter would arrive safely, but supposed that it would soon be impossible to carry on correspondence as she gathered that practically no ships were getting to England now! Perhaps the safe arrival of the Canadian troops since then has done something to correct that impression, but the mere fact that such an idea was able to gain currency in Montreal suggests that our publicity is lamentable.
Propaganda is all part of the " war of nerves," which the Nazis are still waging as relentlessly as ever ; and it is vital that we should both defend ourselves against this psychological war, and carry it into the enemy's camp on a scale that would outdo even Dr. Goebbels.—Yours faithfully,
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