MOST SUBTLE ART.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3442, 23 March 1920, Page 7

MOST SUBTLE ART.

WHERE HUNS NOW BEAT THE BRITON. (By Hugh Muir in tthe London Express.) M Take 3. trip througli Europe and you will realise that " =fhe American who said the British were -the poorest advertisers on -earth spoke truly. As a. nation we are very little loved, but very much respected. This ‘is just as true. to-day as it was before the war. The days of splendid isolation are over; we must advertise ourselves.

Germany’s propaganda in I‘}astel'll and Northern Europe is contrlbuting greatly to raise her to her feet, and she is left entirely free to employ whatever means she may choose ‘to obtain her object. The resuscitation of the Ministry of Information, 01' preferably the creation of a propaganda bureau run on active lines, has become a. necessity.

“HOCH DER KAISER.” -,' In Stockholm, at a theatre where an English dancing troupe was appearing recently a large portion of the audience turned its back on the‘ stage or read newspapers when they‘ came On. Many Scandinavians still sincerely think that the stories of German atrocities during the war were merely fiction. In Helingsfors an impersonator recently created nightly pandemoniuni in a cabaret as the Kziiser, 'Hindenburg, and Ladendorlf. The audience appluaded frantically, and every Finnish oflicer appeared at the salute. Lloyd George. and Clemenceau evoked no enthusiasm. At another cabaret in Helingsfors a pageant of the nations was the climax of a pocket: revue. The show ladies who appeared as Marianne, Britannia, and Miss Columbit, came hn only to the accompaniment of an isolated feeble clap, but the prettiest girl in the company, who entered swathed in the German colours, smiled confidently amid a hurricane of

applause. Even the reception accorded the Finuish flag was lukewarm in comparison. It was unpalatable fare for an Englishman, particularly when Gretchen linked arms with Brtannia in t.he final farandole. It is not surprising, however, that the Finns have a reverence for things German, for they consider that the arrival of the Kaiser’s troops el*ush~ ed the Red revolution and Saved them The fact that they were to be bound hand and foot. commercially and economically as the price of the help does not alter the Finns’ gratitude.

The Germall mission in 1-‘L.-lizlg.=fot's continues to foster this feeling by at constant output of propagandzi brochures. Britain does liothinvg to counter this. The fact that ‘the presence of the British fleet keeps I“inlant]"s shores inviola-“re carries litle tweight for there is no fleet news in the papers, and lots of Finns believe our naval co-operation is limited to a

fow r1(-)S‘n'<)pors wllich, until recently,

Called singly art Helingsfors. each week. Blame for the failure of the White Russian otfensive against pm. I‘og‘l'3.d lS being at Our [[ool-g largely because we made no efim-1‘ go advertise the meas'ul‘ of our support. THEIR CUNNING. Hand-‘inhand rwitih Germamys pm. paganda her political agents——seldom Germans. but foreigners of Cl'{c-1-mgm sympathies and business connections —are busy working for a rapprochement with Britain. This’ is part. of the German‘ postwar propaganda, Englishmen travelling abroad are drawn into a discussion on the war by individuals of indefinite nationality, who ask them whether it would not have been better for Britain it’ sl‘.~o had been allied with Germany. They follow this up with an assurance that the Englishman is still popular in Germany. and that the French are hated. Gei-many’g activities are cunningly organised and subtely carried out. What is more important is that they are meetings with a large measure of success. T-he foil to parry the thrust is advm-tisement. We must banish our national modesty and vote an appropriation for publicitxi.