n form who are
suffocated but unhurt by a shell which kills and maims others all
about them. That had been our experience. He had, moreover, been
over much of the ground covered by me behind the front.

"I am instructed to get four kinds of pictures," he explained.
"(1) Pictures which show German patriotism and unity. (2) Pictures
which show German organisation and efficiency. (3) Pictures which
show evidence of humanity in the German Army. (4) Pictures which
show destruction by the enemy. Some of my pictures are kept by the
_Kriegsministerium_ for purposes of studying the war. The greater
part, however, are used for propaganda both at home and abroad.
Furthermore, I must be careful to keep an accurate record of what
each picture is. The pictures are then arranged and given suitable
titles in Berlin,"

I thought of all this in the London display-room when the familiar
picture of the ruined church flashed before my eyes with the title
_Beautiful Church at Allenburg Destroyed by the Russians_--a
deliberate lie on the film.

I have nothing to say against the Germans for knocking their own
town to pieces or against the British and French for knocking
French towns to pieces. That is one of the misfortunes of war.

The point is, that the propaganda department of the Wilhelmstrasse
fully understands that people who do not see the war, especially
neutrals, are shocked at the destruction of churches. The Germans
have been taught an unpleasant lesson in this in the case of
Rheims. Therefore they answer by falsifying a film when it suits
their purpose with just as little compunction as they repudiate
promises.

"A little thing!" you might say.

That adds to its importance, for it is attention to detail which
characterises modern Germany. It is the subtle things which are
difficult to detect. The Government neglects nothing which will
aid in the ownership of public opinion at home and the influencing
of neutrals throughout the world.

CHAPTER VII

THE IDEA FACTORY

A group of diplomats and newspaper correspondents were gathered at
lunch in a German city early in the war, when one of the latter, an
American, asked how a certain proposition which was being discussed
would suit public opinion. "Will public opinion favour such a
move?" he questioned.

"Public opinion! Public opinion!" a member of the German Foreign
Office repeated in a tone which showed that he was honestly
perplexed. "Why, we c