German anti-Imperial sources, it was suggested that the advantage of circulating, for example, speeches of Socialists, might be counterbalanced by the disadvantage that it would make such speakers less inclined to talk. Some Socialists had appealed to the French Government not to use their speeches for propaganda, because this weakened their efforts. It was agreed that incitements to German soldiers to desert were legitimate and might be useful. The sending into Germany of photographs of prisoners of war taken immediately after their capture, when they were usually in a deplorable condition, and after two months of captivity, when their physical condition was good, was recommended.
With regard to Austria-Hungary, the Committee discussed whether it was illegitimate to exploit the land hunger among the Magyar peasants and the discontent among the German proletariat. It was agreed that it would do no harm to support the agrarian agitators in Hungary, but, as regards Bolshevik propaganda among the Austro-German working classes, that the Allies ought only to circulate their own literature. It was suggested that the United States, in mobilising its Slav elements, might spare members
