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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1943-12-30, Page 6FIMPIIP; `S•SSAX.,711,•"ss'.."-1 01.1.7.00,01....0140.1.010.111100.411.014,44.040.14.10,1 ss`s4stss..; CANADIAN SOLDIER ON GUARD • A hole blasted in a hill -top wall in Italy gives this Canadian soldier a vantage point from which to observe any enemy movements while men of his unit move into a new position. THE WAR • WEEK, — Commentary on Current Events Four War Criminals Pay Price Of Crimes Against Russian People On the morning of December 19, under a gray winter sky, the sentence of a military tribunal was executed on three German war criminals and a Russian traitor. The gallows at Kharkov, where 'these four men have been hanged after conviction of war crimes against the Russian people, throws a dark shadow across any hopes Nazi war criminals may have. entertained as to their future, says the Christian Science Monitor. The mills of the gods are grinding as fine as ever, but not so slowly. For war criminals who had. counted on a repetition of history to save them from justice, Khar- kov is a grim spectacle indeed. It alters the usual concept of war - guilt trials which envisaged these as an exclusively postwar func- tion. To Avoid Post -War Conditions Trials and executions like this at Kharkov lessen the possibility of war criminals' escaping because of a general postwar 'reaction among the peoples: a let -down from war tensions, a willingness to .let bygones be bygones, an eagerness to forget the war, or apathy in the face of so great and protracted an agony as the trial and executions of thousands of human *beings. The dispatch with which the .Russians have punished persons convicted of atrocities is inspired In part- by determination to avoid some of the' postwar conditions 'which might militate against re- tribution. The Russians can re- member as well as anyone the Allied promises to punish the criminals of World War One, the strange aftermath in which the German authorities and peoples joined in declaring that program of punishment to be merely a frenzy of hatred° against Germany and the sequel in which only the merest handiful were convicted. Moreover, the Russians seem Intent upon establishing a direct .connection between the crimes committed on the field and the policies of the Nazi regime. This would help to explain the other- wise curiously detailed and dra- matic confessions obtained from those convicted, reminiscent in tome respects of confessions which appeared in the mass trials some years ago. Precedents .Set These statements show the eon- victecl as immediate agents of atrocities approved and even dir- ectly ordered from above. The iiliarkov• executions thus seem intended to set precedents for dealing with war criminals: their trials need not await the end of the war, and the execution of thos6 directly involved will not absolve others whose responsibility may seem less direct but whose policies dictated brutal methods of war- fare against innocent populations. Whether they restrain further brutalities or not, the hangings at Kharkov will be grimly noted not only among Nazi officers on the fighting front S but by their • superiors in Berlin. • "F 'rat Real izat ion" The MonoNews declared that the Kharkov war criminals' trial was "the first realization" of the • statement by President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Myra. hill and Premier Joseph Stalin on vvar criminals, and added that its "Is significant in that It IS the initial act in the judgement that Will be held in the countries of liberated Europe." The "long arm of. the freedeuis loving peoples will pursue those guilty to the ends of the earth," it continued, and "will deliver them to be places where they com- mitted their crimes; they will be tried according to the laws of the countries whose citizens fell vic- tim to the Hitlerite terror." "Irrefutable documents leave no doubt that all these crimes were and are being committed by the Hitlerites at direct instructions of the German Government and the High Command of the German Army," the Moscow News editorial declared. SCOUTING ... His Excellency the Governor- General, Chief Scout for Canada has approved of the week of Feb- ruary 20-28 as Boy Scout Week in Canada. * * * Boy Scout leaders in Windsor,. Ontario, have prepared a brief suggesting means of overcoming the increase in juvenile delin- quency in Ontario. • * * Sik hundred and fifty Boy Scout leaders in Toronto have enlisted since the outbreak of war. Thirty of these have been killed, a num- ber have been decorated, and 12 per cent have earned cdmmissions. • * It has been revealed that the first British pilot to drop an 8,000 lb. bomb on enemy territory was Rover Scout Peter Merrell, D.F. M., who was posthumously award- ed the D.F.C. * * * For more than 20 years of ser- vice to the Boy Scout Movement, Louis L. Lang of Kitchener, Ont., President of the Mutual Life As- surance Co., a former President of .the Canadian. Manufacturers' Assn., and a director of the Can- adian Pacific Railway has• been awarded the Silver Wolf by the Governor-General. * Gilt Crosses for Gallantry have been awarded by the Governor- General to Scout Herbert Held- man of the 1st Oakville, Ont. Troop for the rescue of a boy who had fallen from the pier at Oak- ville, and to Patrol Leader Al- bert John Lee, 15, of the 79th Toronto Troopfor rescuing a boy who had fallen into the Grenadier Pond. Let's back Canada by livinr; like Canadians. Canadians are honest, unselfish, neighborly, clean, free and united. Are we? All of the time? OTTAWA REPORT • That Canadian Ministers T • United States, RUSSia, China Brazil Have Been Elevated To The Rank of Ambassadors Ia , the elevation of Canadi Ministers to the United Stat Russia, China and Brazit to t rank of Ambassadors Canada. taking„ steps designed to gua her interests in a post war wor where even the most widely s arated nations will be "neighbor at a distance of a mere couple days air travel, The gtuirdhlg of Canada's 1 terests means much, more tli the mere protection of her •eco oinic concerns or the presery tion of her rights to this or th Item of commercial value, means also the creation of undo standing, so far as possible, the Canadian people, their pos tion in the British Commonwealt of Nations, their manner of 11 Mg, their liking for fair play, an their peace -loving nature all we as their wartime accompliehrhen in the commercial sphere. 0 course it means as •well the di semination of ,knowledge of wha Canada, can produce from her so and from her factonies, and ,ottl she is. prepared to trade with dh world on a fair -basis and integrity and justice. 111 If one wa 0 , o consider'lh advisability • o 4Canada takin steps to present her viewpoin with full dignity abroad one 'ha only to ponder on the extent t which international lack of under standing of other peoples•poin of view has been responsible to friction and strife and stalemat among the peoples of the world in the past. International goodwil is almost inevitably paved with understanding and appreciation. It was perfectly natural that Canada's first embassy should b created in the capital of her sniw- erful and peaceloving neighbor, the United States of America. It is apparent that the importance of Anglo Saxon understanding rests to no small degree upon the continuance for all time of the goodwill which has marked Can- adian -American relations. That embassies should follow quickly in Russia and China is also no surprise, and the eleva- tion of our Brazilian legation to the rank of an Embassy only un- derlines the amazing speed with 'which Canadian friendship with the Latin Americas is being ce- mented. Canada's friendly interest in the Latin Americas has Increas- ed enormously since the outbreak of war and links of understand- ing are being forged which are important to the future. 0 an es, he is rd ' Id ep- 0- an xi- a-, at It r - of 1- h v - d 11 ts f s- 11 ia h e g t 0 t r 1 One of the most striking fea- tures of the year at Ottawa has been the constant stream of Lat- in Americau visitors •coming to gain at first hand a better knowl- edge of the people of this Domin- ion. The Wartime Information Board Department, dealing with Latin American relations, reports • that no fewer than seventy Chil- eans alone have officially visited Ottawa in various capacities dur- ing the past year. Onegroup came to study our Royal Canadian Mounted Police System; others ,to note our war effort; others came in important capacities to ex- change goodwill and promote nat- tual understanding. The extension of Canadian rep- resentation throughout the na- tions of•the world means, not that Canada is lessening or weakening her ties with the great Common- wealth of which she is a part. Canada already has assumed a leading role in the settlement of postwar problems, notably food ' relief, and has to "grow up" ae- cordingly. Ten -Week Town • In ten weeks a small group of officers of the Royal Engineers have transformed 200 acres of cornfields, pastures, trees and hedges into a vast supply depot for the American Army in 13r1- tain. "Ten -week town" is now. a vast conglomeration of tower- ing tarred sheds set in a network of concrete roads. There are 14 miles of railways and seven miles of roads. In peacetime this work would have taken upwards of a year to complete. • () I C E F 1 H E P RESS —0_. LOSING ITS FRANCHISE Over rnost of Europe there are neither elections nor voting. The people have no say as to who gov- ern them, or how. It is their lot to obey orders from higher -up -- or else, But, given the opportun- ity which is ours,' to vot,P freely and by secret ballot, would 60 per cent, of them si,ay at home? We think nOt. Like good health, the franchise is never so highly regarded as when it is lost. —Fort Erie Times -Review, • AN OLD •GERMAN CUSTOM Nazi troops displayed a white flag, then shot down a Canadian platoon that came to take the enemy prisoner. It was not Hitler who did that, it was German soldiers. They were repeating an old German• * custom. Ihey were proving the axiom that the German people cannot be trusted. —Windsor Star. OLSO BABY HUMANS A scientist informs us that baby goldfishes are so unlike their par- • ents that they a.re often mistaken for another species. Baby humans, too, professor, and fortunately. —Ottawa Citizen. X FOR EXIT We -are amused to hear a bunch of British kids making new use Of the • R.A.F. ' designation • for bombers, They greet each other thusly: "Here conies old B for • and shouts of "Hi, there, P for Percy." We would have stayed around to hear more, but "M for Mabel" passed by.—Stars and Stripes. SHORTENING LIFE • Man is that foolish creature who shortens his life by working hard to acquire things that fur- ther' shorten his life. —Kitchener Record. The Book Shelf Our Old Home Town • By F. H. Dobbin Many of these reminiscences will be familiar to old timers, and many more will want to see old Ontario through the eyes of- our hardy forbears. What did the well- dressed woman of a hundred years ago wear in Peterborough? How did they fight fires in those days? • What about the small city or- chestra? The reader will find, in this col- lection of Mr. Dobbin's articles, not only the full flavour -of an age, that has passed away, but also a witty commentary on the foibles and fashions of early On- tario folk. He will read in this fascinating book how the early elections were held in Peterbor- ough, how whiskey sold at a shill- ing a gallon, and was guaranteed free from headaches, the story of Red Fife wheat, descriptions of Municipal housekeeping a century ago, of these and of many inat- tars. A foreword is T. H. Theobald, borough Examiner Our Old Home F. H. Dobbin . . . Sons . .. Price $ written by Mr. of The Peter - Town . . By J. M. Dent and 3,00. A Million -Dollar Cape Of Feathers The most expensive garment in all the world is a cape made of feathers, which was worn by King Kamehameha the Great, of Hawaii,' writes Juliette Lane in "Our Dumb Animals." The gar- ment is valued at, and insured for $1,000,000, This remarkable cape is price- less beyond merely monetary .value because it is made of tiny, golden feathers no larger than a child's fingernail, gathered over a long period of time from the wings of the Hawaiian Mamo, a 1b8ir7d0.whiCh has been extinct since As only two of these tiny feathers . were taken from the REG'LAR FELLERS—Over the Top I HERE'S WHERE I PUT ONE I f OVER ON PUD WITH THIS NEW SEANSHOOTER it • • to. • • i Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New • Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let hint go; Ring out the false, ring in the true, • Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; • Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. • Ring out a slowly dying cause, • And ancient forms of party strife Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. • Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness 'of the tirnes; Ring out, ring out my • mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in. Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; • Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring' out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old„ • Rhig in the thousand years of peace. king in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of thr; land, • Ring..in the Christ that is to be. • —Lord Tennyson. . . • • • :'. • :•• wings of each bird, it was neces- sary to obtain feathers from countless thousands of the birds in order to assemblethis single garment. Moreover, we are in- formed that -over 100 years of labor were required and that the completed feather ' cape repre- sents the highest devlopmenb. in native Hawaiian art. The plumage of the Mamo was at one time . equivalent to gold currency in the Hawaiian Islands and it represented the country's greatest treasure. The garment is preserved at theBernice P. Bishop Museum • in Honolulu. Diphtheria -Free It was ,13 years ago on Nov. 18 • that Brantford recorded its Jest case of diphtheria. This re- • markable record,swhich is actually without parallel in Canada, or, anywhere else, as far as is known, with - regard to communities of this size, has been made possible by toxoid. • Brantford was among the first cities in Canada to institute a thoroughgoing diphtheria -preven- tion policy, a fact for which its medical officer of health and suc- cessive health boards and coun- cils deserve grateful credit. Big Growth Seen For Dried Foods The preservation and conden- sation of food will have a tre- mendous postwar growth; en- hanced by the food needs of cur- rently Axis -occupied • countries, said W. Smallwood of the Cana- dian General Elctrie Company in a recent address in Toronto be- fore the Electric Club. Zuthori- ties estimate that the food emer- gency will continue for 10 years after the war, and dehydration will play an important part, he declared. • Dehydrated vegetables in 1942 increased in volume four times over 1941, aaid the speaker, add- , ing that in 1943 a 16 -fold in- erease is scheduled over 19,42. He explained that in North America this will mean nearly 2,000,000,- 000 pounds. Refrigeration solved the prob- lem of feeding the Allied troops in invasion of North Africa and Italy in advance on this side of the Atlantic, Mr. Smallwood pointed out when small cold stor- age rooms were individually constructed, filled with frozen , food, and then put bodily aboard ship, the mechanism in each unit kept the food in that condition THE SPORTING THING1 RV 14N6 4112MSTRONO , • , • $tfil "1 figured.I'd learn to use one first!" THAT'S FUNNY: NOT A SOUL. AROUND!! COULD ;6+ SWORN • PINHEAD WAS somtwwme MIXED UP N 1-1-115! ..9.39111,3.311RtaM11.11101L1=01039.020•Mil=1.1•600. By GENE BINES 11111 1.1171:7 -1 -(Li c.; s. OJ ,