Zurich Herald, 1942-04-23, Page 2VOICE
OF THE
PRESS .
WORK WITH FEAR OF DEVU.
It would be an excellent thing
if every Canadian were to cut
out and place in a prominent po-
sition in his home or office Mr.
Gordon's declaration that total
wax will remain for most of us
an empty platitude "until we are
seized with the sense of terrible
urgency, until we all go to work
with the' fear of the devil him-
self driving us forward; until we
are ready to sacrifice in the
flame of a true understanding
patriotism all the selfish advant-
ages of class, position and prop-
erty. Until that time, until we
and the other democracies who
are still in the fight do that, we
shall neither deserve nor achieve
the victory that we so confidently
assume must be ours."
—Montreal Star
BRITONS AT WORK
Almost half of Great Britain's
45,000,000 people are either in
the armed forces or working on
munitions; her war production
now equals that of Germany; her
construction of new naval ton-
nage is four times' that of pre-
war days; she is building mer-
chant ships at the rate of 1,100,-
000 tons a year, and the Royal
Air Force now exceeds Germany's
both in size and quality. John
Bull is sweating, but he is far
from exhausted.
—Hamilton Spectator
LAMENT
"A spirit of defeatism has
swept over part of the country
since razor blade rationing bob-
bed up among the restrictions that
now are being applied or pro-
jected. Men who since the start
of the war have been fancying
themselves as the backbone of
the nation are succumbing to a
wave of mental depression, and
already are mumbling some brave
nothings through their anticipated
whiskers."
—Windsor Star
ONE RAY OF HOPE
An aviation expert says that
neither side in this conflict can
build warships as fast as avia-
tion can destroy them • from the
skies, Looks as if the day of the
great navies is gone. The en-
couraging part of it is that no
country in the world can build
planes as fast as the United States
when it gets going.
—Chatham News
LAUNDRY LANGUAGE
"They say Chinese laundrymen
on the West coast, north and
south, have adopted a scorched
shirt policy towards their Jap-
anese customers."
—Woodstock Sentinel -Review
COMPLICATIONS
Any incursion of Japs in India
would merely complicate the caste
system, as a place would have to
ba found below the untouchables
for the unspeakables.
—Stratford Beacon -Herald
SPRING TIPS
Labeling the garden helps you
to remember what it is that isn't
eoming up.
—Ottawa Citizen
In The Garden
By GORDON L. SMITH
Big Vegetable Garden
.A. good big vegetable garden is
both patriotic and commonsense
in wartime. Provided he is will-
ing to devote all his spare time
to it, one person can handle a
quarter acre of vegetable garden
and grow more than enough veg-
etables to keep a family the year
round. But a quarter of an
acre is a big garden.
.As a matter of fact, all ex-
perienced gardeners advocate a
small, well cultivated plot in pref-
erence to one larger and receiv-
ing Iess care. If the original dig-
ging is followed promptly and
regularly with from two to four
thorough cultivations, about a
week to ten days apart, the weeds
will get discouraged.
Leave Wet Soil Alone
Nothing is to be gained from
working soil before it ready.
11n fact with heavy ground, ac-
cording to garden authorities, too
early digging is about the worst
possible thing one can do. Not
(only is it a messy job, in the
first place, but the sticky clay
is quite likely to bake later into
hard lumps, suitable perhaps for
temporary building material, but
not for growing flowers and veg-
etables.
One should curb the natural
impulse to be out digging in. early
Spring and wait until the surface
water has completely disappeared
and one can walk and work in the
garden without getting the shoes
muddy. When the soil reaches this
stage it is fit to work, and not
before, Good garden soil in the
right working condition crumbles
and breaks into fine, tiny pieces;
it does not pack into lumnps,
•
WHO SAID WE WOODEN HAVE BIKES?
Two Los Angeles youngsters demonstrate a bicycle built of
wood to meet the shortage of bikes. Three metal bolts hold the
vehicle together and it runs on tires of reclaimed rubber.
NDiViDU4
MAUURdICE
A Weekly Column About This and That in The Canadian Army
Well, when Col. Ralston got
back to Ottawa recently and an-
nounced the formation of groups
of "Rangers" on the Pacific Coast
he rather changed the complexion
of this column. Cr, perhaps it
would be more truthful to say
that he set this columnist's think -
box working in a new and less
circumscribed. channel.
The Individual Citizen's Arany
today isn't all uniformed in khaki.
It consists of—or should consist
of—all of us.
A year ago last Christmas His
Majesty, Icing George, said, "We
are alil in the front line." At
that time, I'm afraid, most of us
thought of that statement as be-
ing applied to the citizens of
Great Britain. Somewhat com-
placently, too, we laid the flatter-
ing unction to our souls that the
King also included our little pur-
chase of War Savings Certificates
and Victory Bonds as our front
line contribution.
Today there are many branches
of the Individual Citizen's Army
in which all of us may serve in
one way or another: men, women
and children; old soldiers, young
soldiers, men who are exempt
from military service.
I don't like that term, "exempt
from military service." Not one
of us is, or can be, exempt. So,
for the purpose of this column
let's translate the phrase to mean,
"exempt from legal compulsion to
serve."
To follow the biblical injunc-
tion that, "the last shall be first,"
let's look at the opportunities for
service offering themselves to old
soldiers, young soldiers and the
legally exempt. For them the Re-
serve Army offers the ideal op-
portunity to serve in two 'ways—
as a soldier preparing himself for
home defence if that should be-
come necessary, and, you heard
what Prime Minister King said
on the radio,—as a producing
citizen continuing his ordinary
tasks.
No need to go into detail about
this—it has all been in the daily
papers recently—but there is no
doubt that once the new set-up
gets well under way the men who
jump at the opportunity of spend-
ing 45 evenings, 10 week -ends
and 16 days (in camp) learning
the ways of a modern army will
have an interesting and useful
spare time occupation that will
stand them in good stead if it has
to become a full time job.
"Sam" Browne, usually known
in print as Major-General 13. W.
Browne, D.S.O., M.C., has been
named commander of the Reserve
Army and he has had a long ac-
quaintance 'with the problems of
a part time militia. In peace
time that is a heart -breaking job
—it will be simpler now that
authority has been given to equip
the Reserve Army with modern
guns, weapons, equipment and
training facilities.
You know the classes who are
eligible? Let's repeat them, Men
between 35 and 50, men between
17 and 19 who will thus be able
to fit themselves for active ser-
vice before they reach service age
and men who are not subject to
conscription by reason of their
occupations or for other legiti-
mate reasons.
Before this column gets tora,.
long let's look briefly at the ix.
pension of the Individual Citizen's
Army. • This is an army now in
which abstention from buying an-
other pair of shoes if half -soles
will do is the equivalent of a clip
of machine-gun bullets. It is an
army we all belong to and in
which we can all fight.
It is an army that trains us all
to do all we can for the defence
of our country or for attack on
the Axis.
It is an army in which the
physical training necessitated by
doffing ,an elastic girdle will re-
sult in a stronger race of women
who will be ready for any tasks
war may impose as well as the
conservation of rubber for war
purposes.
Not very romantic? War hasn't
been romantic since the days of
knights° in armour — and if we
knew the truth it probably wasn't
very romantic then.
Solves Gas Problems.
Bill Pinch, Hardgravel Moun-
tain farrier, has a solution to
gasoline rationing. It's his four-
year-old steer, "Bossy," which he
hitches to an old -tine buggy for
the five -mile trip to town.
When someone commented on
the slowness of the rig, Bill re-
plied, "'Bossy' just acts sedate in
town. You should see him on the
way home. He does a good five
miles an hour."
Nazis To Conscript
Greeks For Service
All males in Greece between
the ages of 16 and 60 are liable
to compulsory military or other
service for the German author-
ities, an Exchange Telegraph said
in a dispatch from the British
island of Cyprus in the Eastern
Mediterranean.
DESTROYER
RATING
by Wm, Howard Pugsley
Our destroyer carries a proud
ship's company.
They have a right to be proud.
A year ago a torpedo ripped into
the forward part of the ship's
hull, blowing away the bow, but
her crew kept the ship afloat
and brought her safely into port
where the damage could be re-
paired.
Then she went back to her
convoy job.
Recently, this same destroyer
ran into a hurricane while home-
ward bound. Battered and leak-
ing, her boats smashed and her
life -rafts gone, short of provis-
ions and fuel, and her crew ex-
hausted, she still came through
and steamed smartly into her base
port.
Not a man had been lost over-
board in the storm, nor even any-
one seriously injured.
How many of our O.D.'s (ord-
inary seamen) newly come to the
ship and for whom this had been
their first introduction to the real
meaning of life at sea, how many
of them longed for a draft on
shore after this experience? Not
one.
The complement of a destroyer
is about three times that of a
corvette or minesweeper. We
carried eight officers and one
hundred and sixty-six ratings.
Most of the 0.D.'s were new
in our ship. During the shore
refit, many of the old crew, now
rated A.B.'s (able-bodied seamen)
had been drafted off, some to
leaven with their experience the •
crews of new ships just com-
missioning, others to take courses
to qualify for higher specialist
ratings.
As replacements, a flock of
"jeeps", ordinary seamen who
had just finished their shore
trimming, had been drafted
aboard.
All of these lads were young,
keen, willing, enthusiastic, hard-
working and ready for anything.
Never, even under the most try-
ing circumstances — of which
there were many—were they any-
thing but cheerful.
The "fore lower" is where you
begin your life at sea in a des-
troyer. As it is so far for'd and
so far down in .the hull, the mo-
tion of the ship is very pronoun-
ced.
Because this location is so un -
"de luxe", it is reserved for the
least important of all ratings,
the O.D.'s. When you've done
your nine months, (including the
four months seatime), and can
pass professionally in the things
a seaman must know, you too
will be rated "A.B.", and gradu-
ate to the more spacious upper
mess deck.
When I first went on board,
1, too, was asigned to the "fore
lower", being an ordinary sea-
man.
The first ten days after I join-
ed the ship were spent in harbor.
During this period we worked
about the ship in the morning
and afternoons, and were allow-
ed ashore two or three nights
out of four, depending on how
the watches were being run. We
turned out.each morning at 6.30,
lashed and stowed hammocks, sat
down to breakfast at seven, and
fell in for work at eight.
All the seamen ratings, that is
those who worked principally on
the upper deck, then mustered
in the waist of the ship, along
the port and starboard sides.
The "Buffer"—a petty officer_
whose official status was that of
Bos'n's Mate—mounted the walk-
way over the .torpedo tubes, cal-
led us to attention and reported
us all present to the First Lieu-
tenant, who then gave the Buf-
fer any special instructions he
might have regarding work he
wanted done.
Make no mistake, they could
always find something for you
to do, and when you had done
it you were supposed to come
back and ask for more. Other-
wise you were liable to be "run
in" on 'a charge of "skulking",
that is, not working.
Other ships, then on convoy
assignments, freguently did a
month or more at sea, broken
only by a day on one side re-
fuelling and at most three to
four days in port at the other
ALL -BRAN'S "BETTER
WAY" NAS BEEN OUR
ti WAY FOR A LONG TQM
Says Mr. Charles Belair, Arvida,
Quebec: "KELLOGG'S ALL -BRAN
has long been a favorite in our home.
Mother used to serve it to us when
we were young ... and since my
wife started making ALL -BRAN
muffins three or four times a week
and serving ALL -BRAN as a break-
fast cereal, we have had no more use
for pills or powders. ALL -BRAN
keeps us regular .. , naturally."
Why don't you try ALL -BRAN'S
"Better Way" to correct the cause
if you are troubled by ,constipation
due to lack of the right kind of
'bulk' in your diet? But remembers
ALL -BRAN doesn't work like harsh
cathartics. It takes time. Eat it
regularly and drink plenty of water.
Get ALL -BRAN at your grocer's, in
two convenient size packages) or
ask for the individual serving
package at restaurants. Made by
KeIlogg's in London, Canada.
THE WAR - WEEK -- Commentary on Current Events
British Mission To India Fails
Nazi Demands Reinstate Laval
Indian leaders rejected Great
Britain's plan for self-rule and co-
operation in the war effort. The
plan brought from. England by Sir
Stafford Cripps met its defeat on
the question of India's defence.
Great Britain contended that this
responsibility should rest in ex-
perienced British hands: the all -
Indian Congress leaders held that
the responsibility was India's,
United Against Invaders
It is considered that, although
Sir Stafford Cripps' mission. to In-
dia has failed in its main objective,
its work has not been wasted. The
disoussions which were held drew
together the various units of In-
dia, and their leaders expressed
determination to resist "to the
death" the invasion that appeared
imminent. Volunteers rushed to
join the armed services and work
in Indian munition plants and
ohipbuilding yards was speeded
up.
Even Mohandas Gandhi, arch -
Pacifist, pledged himself to com-
plete passive resistance against
the Japanese and said: "I and
my followers will refuse any help,
even water, for the Japanese even
if it should cost us our lives."
Importance of India
Great Britain may make a new
declaration of Indian policy soon
in. the hope of getting India fully
aroused to the danger of the Jap-
anese menace. For the United
Nations the loss of India would
mean the collapse of their defens-
es throughout the Far East; for
Japan a land road would be open-
ed to a possible juncture with
Germany in the Middle East.
India is vital to the United Na-
tions: (1) as a barrier to the
westward march of the Japanese,
and (2) as a growing source of
war supplies and vast manpower.
Without India the war may well
be prolonged for years.
Epic of Bataan
The whole world of free men
will join in paying tribute to the
magnificent stand made by Am-
erican and Filipino troops in the
Philippine Islands. They have
written a chapter of stubborn
heroism that will never be for-
gotten.
The delaying action in the
Philippines has been of the ut-
most importance to the Allies and
may have altered the whole course
of the Pacific War. It has kept
a largo force of Japanese assault
troops tied up which might have
been used for striking at Austra-
lia before the defenses there were
ready.
But the fall of Bataan means
that now the enemy will be able
to divert a large body of troops
to the Battle of Burma and to the
projected attack on India. The
Japanese position is thus mater-
ially improved and is further
strengthened by the British loss
0f two battle cruisers and an air-
craft carrier off India's East
Coast.
Laval Reinstates(
The sudden dramatic shift that
brings Pierri Laval hack intoesiow-
er as "chief of the Government
of France", can only mean, accord-
ing to the New York Times, that
Hitler is through with halfway
measures and ready to take per-
sonal command. Petain remains
as "Chief of State", but there can-
not be much doubt that he' now
becomes a figurehead. Laval is a
traitor to France and is Hitler's
creature and his accession to pow-
er is the opening signal for Hit-
ler's Spring offensive.
Hitler is about to make a su-
preme effort to win the war in
an all-out drive for victory, and
for that drive he must have all
the power he can muster among
the conquered nations of Europe.
He evidently expects to get from
Laval that aicl which Petain had
refused to give.
Game With France Ended
Hitler's long and cruel game of
cat -and -mouse with France is end-
ed. For nearly two years—with
intrigue, bribery, cajolery, displays
of German military power—Hitler
has sought to win over the people
of France, In that effort the has
failed and failed so utterly -that
in order to achieve his will
France he has put into power a
renegade Frenchman who is hated
and despised by his own country-
men, The proof is clear that
France has rejected Hitler.
U. S. Attitude'
it will become necessary now
for the government of the United
States to consider whether it will
still attempt to maintain relations
with Petain's successor or whether
it will break off those relations.
Much is at stake. Not only is the
status of the French fleet and
French bases uncertain, but there
would be deep concern if France
should turn over Madagascar to
the Japanese and permit the use
of her colonial bases by Axis sub-
marines.
French Control Gone
With Hitler's new agent in
power it becomes impossible to
believe that any part of continen-
tal France will remain under the
effective control of French author-
ities.. No one can be better aware
of this than the great masses of
the French people, the Times says.
Through two long years of bit-
ter misery and immense clanger
they have rejected Hitler's ad-
vances, only to have Hitler's crea-
ture forced upon therm in the end,
That they hope passionately for
Hitler's destruction we may be
sure. That we shall fight until we
have achieved his destruction
they may be certain.
side while waiting for another
convoy. Sometimes they didn't
get more than a day at either
end of the trip—and only a few
hours shore leave.
If you were unlucky enough
to be duty that night, you just
didn't get ashore at all—some-
body had to stay and each must
take his turn.
Canada To Issue
War Time Stamps
Canada will soon have an en-
tirely new set of postage stamps
illustrating her part in the war.
"These stamps are in necessary
replacement of those at present
current throughout Canada and
will depict Canada's war effort
and the contribution being made
by this country to the cause of
the United Nations," Hon. W. P.
Mulock, Postmaster -General, said.
The new stamps are expected
to be available sometime in July
but Post Office officials mean-
time ask that philatelists refrain
from sending in requests for
them.
Details of the designs will be
announced shortly, officials said.
Some of the stamps, it is un-
derstood, will bear new portraits
of King George, in uniform. On
others will be pictures illustrative
of carious phases of Canada's pari
in the war. M1
REG'LAR FELLERS—A Bad Break
By GENE BYRNES
x•
'i'HEgE'S A MAN UP
THE 'STREET WITH
A MOTORCYCLE Abe
HE WANTS TO KNOW
IF YOU CAN FIK NUS
,i BRAKES RIGHT AWAY?
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