politician and that I was a diplomat, and we were 
capable of saying, each one of us, that what took
place within Germany was a matter for Germany and 
what took place within America was a matter for 
Americans.  Indeed, I should be teh first to contest
that what took place within America concerned other 
people.  Nevertheless it could not be expected that
such objectivity would be felt by the mass of our
population or by the writers.
 
 Here Goebbels broke in and said that he had been 
a writer himself and he knew that every writer must 
show himself a better general than the commander-in-chief,
a better painter than an artist, a better musician than
an orchestra director, and, above all, a better 
politician than the chief of any country.  This weak-
ness on the part of the wriiters was understandable and
natural.
 
 I replied that I had talked at considerable length 
with the American representatives here and that I felt 
that by and large they were a serious group of men
trying to tell the truth as they saw it, but that
after all the Minister must not forget that they
were seeing it trough American eyes and they were
judging it from an American background.
 
 Dr. Goebbels agreed with my estimate of the
American correspondents and said that in respect to them 
he would never take stringent action against
an American correspondent without talking over first
with me what he intended to do and getting my views
on the subject.  I thanked him for this declaration