A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
IHAVE often said that if ever a Ministry of Information were created in this country Commander Stephen King- Hall ought to be given a prominent position in it. In the light of events I am inclined to revise that opinion, for Commander King-Hall, through his own personal letters to German readers, seems likely to achieve in his private capacity (for it is genuinely a private capacity) more than he could ever accomplish as an official. There could be no more convincing testimony to the success of his efforts in the field of enlightenment and propaganda than the fury it has aroused in the breast of the German Minister of En- lightenment and Propaganda. Having read the last of the three letters so far sent I am not surprised. It is precisely the right mixture of geniality, badinage and sober argument to attract attention, and if not to convert at any rate to impress. The letter touches lightly but firmly on Germany's financial difficulties, admits freely that we shall have to face the same difficulties, too, but observes that Germany must crash before we do, if only because we entered the arma- ments race later and can therefore last longer. It dwells on the interest the Nazis have in prolonging the crisis, for " Is not Nazism a crisis-product? " What will happen to the Nazi chiefs when the crisis ends? Dr. Goebbels is the most unpopular man in all Germany ; he will jump into an aero- plane and make straight for England. He has a profession already planned. What is it? Theatrical management, of course ; if he behaves decently he ought to make a success of it. No wonder Dr. Goebbels boils visibly at every arrival of a batch of letters arriving through channels selected so ingeniously that the Gestapo can never stop, though it may staunch, the flow.
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