GERMAN “OPINION.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1665, 23 January 1917, Page 2

GERMAN “OPINION.”

THE means by which public opinion is fashioned in Germany were described in a lecture in London by Mr D. Thomas Curtin. The German, he said, believed in Government ownership of canals, railways, gas, electricity, and other undertakings, but the German Government believed also in Government ownership of public opinion. The school-teacher was the first to get at the youth and hammer the idea into his head. Many persons continued the work, and the professor afterwards took it up with redoubled energy. German professors, if he excepted those engaged in scientific research, hoped to get ahead, and chose the method which would best serve their purpose. That method was to do something to please the Government, which always watched the professors very closely. That was why professorial lectures preaching hatred of England were so frequent. Another method of influencing public opinion was the use of moving pictures. Then came the press. The German papers were very carefully composed in wartime. He really believed that most of the papers contained truthful information. But on many topics they did not contain all the truth, and some topics were omitted altogether. Headlines were carefully selected. When the British made an important gain it was admitted, but the hews was tucked away in an unimportant place, and the headlines called attention to terrible Russian losses. At the beginning of the war there was almost complete unity among the German people, and there was complete faith in the Government. Now there was a change, and people were beginning to feel that the Government after all w r as not a howling success.