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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton News Record, 1943-03-18, Page 6PAGE 6 THE TO CANADA AT WAR' Last year, we hauled 150 million tons of materials, foods and munitions ... double the pre-war tragic. We carried Twenty. Million NEW passengers... fighting men and war workers. We, built tanks, guns, shells, ships. Twenty-two thousand of us were with the rimed forces of our country. Now, we are busier than ever pro- viding the mass transportation that only the railways can furnish. The country depends upon us to do this job. We must move the troops. We must handle freight. And, with your cooperation, it will be done. IF POSSIBLE AVOID TRAVEL OVER' WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS OAD'. Ely WAR AND PEACE CLINTON NEWS -RECORD Aid to Russia Full Job of 1,400 S. A. Groups For the last five weeks the 1,400 women's •auxiliaries of the Salvation Army in Canada have devoted their efforts entirely to collecting cloth- ing for the Canadian Aid to Russia Fund. And are they doing a job! The headquarters, at 40 Irwin Av- enue, Toronto, has already delivered 12,000 garments to the central cloth- ing depot of the fund. And a quick glance at the bulky cases in the packing room and the stacks of cloth- ing piled to ; the roof in the sorting room would prove to any one that the. Salvation Army has just started. There are 40,000 women in all parts of Canada who have ransacked their cellars for warm clothes and who have knitted and bought and made new ones to send to the headquarters. They include not only Salvation Army groups, but also church groups of all denominations, institutions, hospitals and groups of business girls. Gay quilts, blankets, shoes, men's clothes, women's coats, and even dolls for Russian children make only a par- tial list of the mountain in the sort- ing room, where 60 volunteer Torun- • to women do a day's work a week. Upstairs there is a clean little room with newly washed dimity curtains and a faint smell of talcum powder. lfere the layettes are packed. Each r one contains 35 new articles. including hand -made baby sweaters, flannel nighties, and pink and blue blankets. • "Of course, this is only part of our regular work," said Mrs. T. J. Mc- I{ay, secretary of the war work div- ision. "Since October, 1939, we have been doing the same work for Bri- 'tish bomb victims. For example we I have: sent 8,00,0 layettes to Britain, 2,000 new quilts a month are made by our members, and we spent $48,000 on • wool last year. So, we were well or- ganized when the Aid -to -Russia ap- peal went oust." , • For the next month or so all do- nations will go to the Aid to Russia Fund. But all the, meeting at head- quarters on Tuesdays and Thursdays for •soldiers' comforts and on Mon- days and Wednesdays for bomb vict- ims are still going full swing. In addition to housing this work the headquarters is the supply depot for all Salvation Army canteens for troops in. Canada and Newfoundland, and for Canadian troops in England The cellars are jammed with consign- ments of radios, stuffed chairs, games —everything 'for a canteen- which are shipped out every, three months. "Why, we send out 3,000,000 sheets of daat:�..e,.:. anattendant proudly. And that ain't CENTRALIA OR EXETER " AIR TRAINING SCHOOL Sometimes . It's One and Sometimes It's the Other It said that something akin to an old-fashioned feud has developed 'tween the residents of Centralia and Exeter—and it's all over No. 9 Ser- vice Flying Training School near Centralia. Originally the station was known as No. 9 S.F.T.S., Centralia. But Exeter citizens a few miles away figured it would be much more appro- priate if the station were named No. 9 S.F.T.S., Exeter, and after cer- tain representations their wish was granted. The good folks of Exeter, however did not reckon on the tenacity and civic pride of the Centralia people, who sformed their M.P. and the R.C. A.F. with complaints. Now the school has again been re -designated No. 9 S.F.T.S., Centralia. Caught in the middle .of the name -changing merry- go -round are the personnel of No. 9, who tactfully referto their school as No. 9 ' S.F.T.S., Exeter," when in Exeter, and "No 9 S.F.T.S., Cen- tralia" when visiting Centralia. — hay! Goderich Signal Star. ROMMEL'S ABORTIVE DRIVE IN EGYPT: ' WRECI{AGE .OF THE GERMAN RETREAT Fighting in the Western Desert died .the wreckage of battle. down after the defeat of General Picture Shows: A' British Bren-car- 1 ommel's drive on the British desert ries crossing the battlefield after the position,, but the area was strewn with enemy had retreated to their lines. Many derelict enemy .vehicles are strewn about the desert.' The Bomber Press in 'Great Britain B11JITISIH INDUSTRIES IN WARtime (By Walter . R. Legge', To report on British Industries was not one . of the main, objects of our trip to Britain, and we did not make the intensive study of them that we did of the fighting forces and ser- vices. However, we were given an op- portunity to visit some plants and to. see' what British workers are doing to help win the war. Probably the most interesting of the plants we visited was an immense underground factory •which was just going into production. These under- ground factories are not dug out espe- cially for the purpose. There arc many large caverns spine natural and others the results of years of mining. wnieh can easily': be converted into good fac- tories., A large elevator took us ninety feet below the surface of the ground to where this factory is located. The fee - tory itself covers a vast area and Drily uses a .senall part of 'the cavern. One of our guides told us that he had gone down into the cavern before any work on it had been started. and he would have been lost if he had not been with a local guide who knew it well. The floor has been cerneted and the walls and pillarspainted a light colour. This underground factory is brilliantly illuminated by'fluoiescent lights. The ventilation is .wonderful. Air is taken in from above ground, cleaned and heated and, distributed byvpiducts under the floor, while the •lrsed. air is carried off at the roof. An eaxmple of modern scientific methods is found in the disposal of sewage. It is pumped to rhe surface and chemically treated to extract gas es which are used to propel the fac- tory service cars. The :factory is •surprisingly clean and bright. It is hard to believe that it is ninety feet under the ground. There is -a large restaurant under- ground as well as another on top of the ground. Each of them is capable of feeding several thousand employ- ees in a scientific and efficient man- ner. One of the problems in connection with the factory was the supply of labour. The number of workers at hand was limited. This has been over- come by bringing workers there in large numbersof buses and by build- ing domitories uilding,domitories and houses. The dorrili- tories are made up of single and dou- ble rooms, compact, but well furnished and comfortable: The buildings are of stone or Erick and appeared to ba fire- proof and substantial. The houses, some of which we were shown through, are small, but bright and comfortable, and planned to make the most of every bit of space. They are certainly a big improvement on the average workmen's home. We also visitedi aircraft factories, aircraft engine factories and other munition factories. One morning we arrived at one of these factories. The entrance was not very impressive. In fact it lookedmore like some residential flats than a fac- tory. Yet we spent most of the day go- ing from building to building to see various, operations in progress. A fine lunch was served to us in the executive offices. The exact number of employ- ees cannot be given but it was in the tens of thousands. A very large proportion of the work- ers are women, many of then doing jobs that it was once thought could only be done by men. Before the war these women were hairdressers, bar- maids, waitresses, school teachers, shop assistants, domestics and work- ers in smaller industrial plants. Oth- ers had never worked before. Some of the machinery in this fac- tory was igade in the United States but much of it bore nameplates of British firms. The general appearance and opera- tion ` of this and other factories is about the same es in similar factories in Canada and the United States. However, icloser study shows that op- erations are probably more 'broken down and scattered than on this side of the Atlantic. There is a good reason for this. In using so many workers with little experience in their particu- lar work, it was easier to teach then one• simple operation than it would have been to teach thein to handle a complicated machine which do sever- al operations at once. The system is also more flexible: If some part is knocked out byenemy ac- tion or c-tion'er otherwise, the entire produc- tion will not be stopped. These factories are unexcelled' for precision of craftmanship, and their production targets are continually be- ing exceeded. This is going to be a big factor in overcoming the Hun. Latest reports are that the Germans are worried over the superiority of the Englishin precision and quantity of production. Most of the employees work fifty - six hours a week. When we had a con- ference with Britain's Minister of La- bour, Mr. Ernest Bevin, he told us that there is no gain in working more than fifty-six hours a week, and that he was trying to get it clown to a fifty-three or fifty-two hours' week 'He added, "We are in the fourth year of the .war Most of the virile people have been taken for the forces. Age groupsin industry are higher. Forty- seven is the average age of the Liver- pool dockworkers, and' in the,' building trades, the average age is, from forty- five to forty-six." We asked two different Cabinet Ministers if England had,reached the saturation point in manpower. One answered that there was no such thing es a saturation point in labour,'and' the other replied, "We are a long way past the saturation point" We came away from these factories deeply impressed' with the fact that the civilian workers are just as hard at work, just as serious in thoir tasks and just as anxious to do their ut- most to hasten victory as the mem- bers of the Navy, .Army and Air Force. v TO SPITE THE FACE How strange it is that in this year of 1943, a group of Canadian work- ers in Ontario should decide to threat- en the powers that .be by announcing that if they cannot .get as much beer as they require, when they require it, they will retaliate by refusing to buy Victory bonds and by selling those which -they have already bought How everybody would laugh at a man who announced that because the city would not run a water main to his house, he was not going tosave any more money, and in .addition, he was going to cancel his fire and life insurance policies. Yet there is little to choose between the attitude of this little group of workers and the man who wanted a water main. The attitude of these angry beer seekers. appears to be developed by a feeling -that when people buy Vic- tory Bonds they are doing the country a favor. What they fail to grasp, is this. Sure, the Canadian men who put themselves up as targets for enemy bullets need all the fighting equip- ment we can supply through the pur- chase of bonds, but they do not get that equipment as a favor. When we buy bonds, we favor only ourselves. We put out savings where they are fully protected from loss, and we' get three per cent interest, which is good profit in these days of reduced inter- est rates. These Ontario men might have.just. as well said, "If you won't let us buy the beer we want, we will punish ourselves further by ceasing to be concerned about our own future, ant' by losing the money we have been making on tt1 a bonds we have al- ready bought." THTJRS., MARCH, S, 'L 71,040, he's well a.ga ,n, and doing a war job. "My HUSBAND'S had a nervous breakdizAyn -- just worry. He left his job in the shipyarAla to ga., into,logging, But his health suffered and the doctor says he's got to; take a complete rest. Ant we haven't. any ready money. How can he rest2f' The bank manager listened to her troubles, sympathetically. He knew the husband, knew the, wife—both sound citizens. The bank advanced the. money on personal security op the good char-. acter of two honest, hard-working people. In a few weeks, Fred was well again, and work-. ing in the shipyard. The loan was paid back in_ full. Because of bank accommodation he is now• getting financially on his feet again—and aiding; Canada's war effort. This true story—only the name is changed--.. illustrates how Canada's Chartered Banks, day n,• and day out, serve the human as well as the finan- cial needs of Canadians. By banking during morning hours you can help the war effort, facilitate your own business, and lighten the wartime burden on the men and women in your branch bank. More than one., third of our experienced -men have gone to war. The CHARTERED BANKS of CANADA C.P.R. FORCES WIN BATTLE OF ELEMENTS Huge snowdrifts lining the Canadian. Pacific Railway's right-of-way from one end of Canada to the other'stood as vic- torious monuments tothe com- pany's courageous maintenance forces, train crews and other ranks, who for the better part of a month battled one of the most sustained and severe blizzards that ever played havoc with Cana- dian transportation: And they kept the lines clear.' The storm attacked the com- pany's transportation facilities with blitz -like fury, piling tons of snow over its vital steel highways, sheathing its telegraph wires with ice to the thickness of a man's wrist, snapping poles, and hurling an icy challenge to Canadian Pacific forces who literally "dared Nafii.a to-do its writ.," .. ne situation wawa nave Peen bad enough under normal traffic conditions. The Canadian Pacific, however, was engaged in handling the heaviest volume of traffic m its history—more than double the amount carried by the railway in 1939. This, coupled with limita- tions on manpoyer, placed an add- ed burden on the company's re- sources. Snow -plows powered by three, sometimes four, powerful locomo- tives made almost continuous as- saults at the mountainous snow- drifts that reached . particularly appalling dimensions in Ontario and Quebec where the above scenes were photographed. Other blizzard -borne "gremlins" attack- ed the railway in the form of ice that sheathed engines, coaches, switches and rails; driving snow that reauced visibility to zero stymied turn -tables, hampered; yard operations and even froze coal in the chutes. Time and again rails 'would be cleared only to have the trach - again blocked by the driving snow. With few exceptions the trains were kept moving. ` Passengers accepted the situation in fine spirit and were full of praise for• the company's tireless personnel', and their efforts to -keep the lines clear. Above scenes show how the railway's powerful. plows buekedi the immense drifts, and how the. snow was loaded' onto cars for• disposal. Engine crews attend loco. motive's ice -sheathed mechanism (lower left) while scene at lower• right shows plow emerging via=. toriously from newly -cleared cut.