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world an accurate picture of what Britain is achieving in the pro-
gress of rearmament, without abandoning her social programme or
relinquishing the individual liberties of her people. There will be
no tampering with the facts or with the truth in any way. The
Foreign Office Publicity Department will confine itself to the
dispassionate statement of essential facts.
In case of war a inistry of Information would become an
essential part of the organisation for war, but in the opinion of
the British Government such a Ministry should never exist in peace-
time. Sir Samuel Hoare, the Home Secretary, recently stated in the
House of Commons that a inistry of Information in peace-time would
savour too much of "the dope factories one sees in other countries.'
In a free country, the press, the films, the radio, and other organs
of opinion can be trusted to give the public full information on
all subjects of public interest.
In time of war circumstances are vastly different, and such a
Iinistry becomes a necessity. For example, in war-time some
measure of censorship is necessary, and so the function of the
Ministry would be partly negative to decide not what the British
-
people should know, but what must not be revealed to the enemy-
but its function would not be wholly negative. It would give to the
whole world, at home and abroad, a true picture of events as they
occurred, and a statement of the ideals for which the British
nation would fight; but the greatest hope of the British people is
that the need for the establishment of such a Ministry will never
arise.