WAR PICTURES.

Evening Star, Issue 22147, 30 September 1935, Page 11

WAR PICTURES.

TO THE EDITOR,

Sir, —Once more, under the guise of truth, we have been getting propaganda against our late enemies and misrepresentation of historical fact. I refer to the war picture which has just concluded a run in this city. "While one, perhaps, should be glad it was no worse, the description of the “ plans ” of Germany, mention of German preparedness —of course, without mention that Germany’s enemies were also feverishly preparing—was anything but a true picture. Depicting what was alleged to be destruction ot civil property and life, especially children, without mention of the much greater crime of starving a whole nation of women and children in, Germany and its continuation for months after the war was over, was giving a very one-sided picture, to say the least. That the Lusitania was carrying munitions of war and was a registered auxiliary cruiser of the British Navy was also conveniently ignored. That the unrestricted submarine warfare could have been avoided if Britain had been humane enough to call off the starving of the aforesaid German women and children is not referred to in this “ true” (?) war picture. Some day it will, some of us hope, be a firstclass crime, meriting the severest punishment, for any agency, acting as an educational medium to the people, to distort, suppress, or misrepresent any historical fact for propaganda purposes. In arty case what is more urgently required than a picture of the horrors of war is a picture of the economic and other causes of war. That we shall, of course, never get. Even shorn of the undesirable feature here mentioned, the horrid side of war is not a hit of use unless the causes of such slaughter and the necessary steps to avoid it are placed before the people. But that would not please the real instigators of massed murder, and so we must he content with propaganda.—l am, etc., A. September 27.