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Zurich Herald, 1944-01-27, Page 6Iii the Newsprint World Consolidated Paper Corporation Limited ranks among the world's largest newsprint producers and has had :an Outstanding financial record in recent years. 1; Net current assets increased $13,833,951 in five years ended December 31st, 1942. 2. Corporation statements have shown no bank loans since 1939 compared with $19,403,625 on January let, 1932. 3. Net operating earnings in 1942 were equal to about three times bond interest require. menta. Consolidated Paper Corporation Limited 51/200 First Mortgage Bonds due July 2nd, 1961 Payable is Canada, New York and London, Eng. Denominations: $100, $500 and $1,000 Price: At the market, to yield about 6% Descriptive circular gladly forwarded upon request, 36 King Street West Toronto 14 ood, Gundy & Company Telephone: ELgin 4321 Linnited Au THE WAR - WEEK — Commentary on Current Events Land and Weather Ag. I inst Allied Fiorces gra March Toward Rome Two questions which for mouths have intrigued, or frequently dis- turbed, the mind. of the average American are why the Allies have been so slow in opening a Western front, and why are we making such little progress against the Germans In the march toward Rome, says the Argonaut, San Fransisco. The two famous reputable cor- respondents, Ernie Pyle in Italy, and William Philip Simms in Washington, have given the ans- wers to those questions. Simms says that weather is hold- ing up the invasion of France. "It is a known fact that from now un- til the end of, March the weather in northern France and the Low countries is abominable. When Marshal von. Hindenberg faced the necessity of picking the open- ing date for his final campaign in that region he chose March 21, which was as early as that old gambler dared chance it. It may be, of course, that General Eisen- hower will pick an earlier time to establish a bridgehead on the 'in- vasion coast,' but those who know the terrain best don't believe he will. Both ground and air are too ,full of water." Invasion Time Set Nearly every military strategist agrees with this logic, and Simms further says: "The Yanks and Bri- tish will first have to cross the English Channel. They must carry tanks and guns and all the rest of their equipment with them. They must get ashore in the face of deadly resistance along the world's most powerfully fortified coast, They must climb up on the beaches and hold them as they did at Salerno and Tarawa, but on a vastly larger scale and at far greater cost, And they must keep on advancing, and keep on by sea. To falter might be fatal. To be defeated might cost us the war." That, the Argonaut believes, 1s w hy the Big Four—America, Brit- ain, Russia and China—agreed on' a single program of strategy for the invasion, and selected General Eisenhower to execute it at a de- finite time, under definitely pre - agreed. upon Conditions and cir- cumstances. War In Italy Tough Ernie Pyle, explaining the slow- down in the Allied drive on Rome, bluntly says this: "The war in Italy is tough. The land and the weather are both against us. It rains and it rains. Vehicles bog down and temporary bridges wash out. The country Is shockingly beautiful, but just as shockingly hard to capture from the enemy. The hills rise to high ridges of al- most solid rock. Yon can't go around them . , . so you have to go up and over. A mere platoon of Germans, well dug in on a high- rock-spined hili an hold out for a long time against tremendous onslaught. "Having come from home so re= eeutly, I know you folks back there are disappointed and puzzled by the slow progress in Italy. You wonder why we move forward so Imperceptibly. 'You are impatient for us to get to Rome. Well, I can tell yon this --our troops are just as impatient for Rome as you, They all say such things as 'Ills: 'It was never this bad in Tunisia.' 'We ran into a new brand of Krauts over here.' 'i+.]very day we don't advance is one clay longer before we get home.' "Our troops are living In a way almost inconceivable to you in the States, The fertile black valleys are knee deep in m,ud. Thousands[ of the mon.. have not been dry ,for leeeks. Other thousands lie et night in the high mountains with the temperature below freezing and the thin snow drifting over thein. "They dig into the stones and sleep in little chasms and behind rocks and in half caves. They live like men of prehistoric times, and a club would become them more than a machine gun, How they survive the winter misery at all is beyond us who have the oppor- tunity of drier beds in the warmer valleys, Path Is Tedious "It isnot the fault of our troops, List Your Idle Equipment With Us THE ALISON MACHINERY COMPANY LIMITED 20S Simcoe Street TORONTO 2 B. rbotat5bip Value $750.ut, and cash award; for original musical composi- tions. Canadians of either .sex under 22 years on March 1 1943, the closing date for en tries, Junior Division open to oon• petitora under 16 who do not qualify for major prizes. For entry forms and full In- ormation apply CANADIAN PERFORMING RIGHT SOC- ETY LIMITED, Royal Bank uilding, Toronto. VOICE OF THE P R" HUMAN PASTURAGE Parsley, spruce bark; and lawn grass are Bailed by a chetalet zee valuable sources of Vitamin C. All right, we'll make the effort and eat that stuff •tliey sprinkle on our boiled potatoes, but .we'll be darned if we'll cut the lawn with our teeth or go out in'the woode and gnaw .trees. --Windsor Star. —o-- NO JAP HUMANITI Japanese airmen are not ; pro- vided with parachutes or other means for seeking safety, in the event of disaster in the air, `The Jag is just as ruthless with his own fighters as he is with the enemy, Humanity as wa know it finds no place in the Japanese heart. —Chatham Daily News. _0_ VERBAL MONSTROSITY A news -reader on C.B.C. pro- nounced Christmas as "Xmas." Written out, Xmas has no place in decent society. Pronounced. ,as abridged it is a verbal monstrosity which conies oddly from au ag- ency intended •to promote, among other things, culture and good speech. —Ottawa 'Joizr'nal. — 0— FRANKLIN'S WAY Benjamin Franklin defended "yf" as a natural and perfectly understandable way of spelling "wife" Although Ben was yz in most things, he was yd of the mark on that one. —Fort Erie Timeselleview)• — 0 --- FUTILE EFFORT Why should a man try to hide behind a woman's skirts when a woman herself cannot do it now- adays. nor of their direction, that the northward path is a tedious one, It is the weather and the 'terrain and the weather. "If there were no German,fight- bag troops in Italy, if there were merely German engineers to blow up the bridges in the passes, if never a shot was fired at all, our northward march would still be slow. "No one .who has not seen this mud, these dark skies, these forbidding ridges, and ghost-like clouds that unveil and then quickly hide your kilter, should have the right to be impatient with the pro- gress along the road to Rome' Weather will Break Soon And we clo not believe that aij• one who has not suffered that crud and squalor, ' which held.' up the great Allied drives to victory in World War I, should be too lin- • Patient, either. Within a few weeks the weather wi11' break in Italy, and with clear skies and drying terrain the Allies.will move forward, into Rome ,and on to the Brenner Pass' rQpick Raw, FeSart cvuoHS'-ca :Ds BROWCH' ITIS,. 4ST-HMA Yfki0011140 COUGH-' ARRH41 ASTHMA , �iVllpl,:E,:SO;RE 1`HRcIAT ` DON'T DELAY- UY A BOTTLE TODAY! ,BI EG'.LAB FELLERS—Attaboy GOSH, CM BUSTED BUT4 "- i d,AN'r SEE SHOVE/it( SNOW M1 .9E'ST TO GET A BANK ROLL TOGETHER. SHE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA ANNUAL MEETING Morris W. Wilson, President, says any degree of political freedom impossible under wholly planned economy.. Challenges socialists to show how public would benefit by state inonoply of banking. Sydney G. Dobson, Vice President and General Manager, reports bank business at unprecedented levels'. Assets reach new .peak of over $1,500,000,000. The threat to the personal lib- erty of all Canadians,' inherent iu the plans of the socialists for the, nationalization of Canadian indus- try, was emphasized by Morris W. Wilson, President of The Royal Bank of Canada, at the bank's Annual Meeting. Mr, Wilson reviewed the tre inendous role Canada had played in this mightiest war of all time and the manner in which work- men and enterprisers alike had co- operated in it. "Despite this fact,"" he said, "we are being told by all the publicity methods revolution- ary partisans can devise, that in order to win the peace we must change our entire economic sys- tem and launch out into new and untried paths, under new and in- experienced leaders. The theor- ists and visionaries who preach these, doctrines of an economic revolution niay be thoroughly honest and sincere. But the fact remains that the principles they advocate can only lead, as a final and inevitable result, to a com- pletely regimented economy, and an this point I cannot do better than ciliate the Editor of the Lon- don Economist, a well-known writer of liberal views: . A wholly planned economy "is incompatible with any degree "of political freedom. The possibil- ity of a man's earning his living "in his own way, without let or "hindrance, is the essential condi- "tion of there being any freedom "of discussion, any freedom to op - "pose. If more than a fraction of "the electorate come to depend for "their livelihood upon the tempor- ary masters of the mechanism of "the State --that is, upon the poli- "•ticians—then democracy is at an "end." "I am more convinced than ever that the menace of socialistic teaching is one which closely af- fects everyone in Canada in both his business and private life. "These advocates of a new order have an astounding scheme, which • wilt result in nothing less than complete regimentation of Canada. As you know, one of their principal objectives, and the first plank in their platform, is to nationalize the banks. SOCIALIST MENACE "Naturally, we are interested in preserving our business, in. which so many shareholders have invest - ;ed, and to which so many deposi- tors have entrusted their savings, DM even more as citizens than as Tiny Atlantic Isle Is Strategic Spot A pinpoint of land in the South Atlantic, less than 38 square miles in area, was disclosed by the United States Army as one of the most vital spots in Allied strategy. It has served as a funnel for shipping 5,000 planes to Africa, The War Department lifted the' veil of secrecy from the role played by tiny Acension Island, , a dot on the plane ferry route be- tween South America and' Africa, Ascension is only one stop on one route which the air transport .command uses in its trans-Atlan- tic operations, but the depart- ment declared that probably no base has such strategic signific- ance. Construction of Wideawake field on Ascension was started. March 3(1, 1.943, wher a detach- xnen't of Army engineers moved in and started working day and night on the pile of volcanic rock, cinders, dirt and one oasis of vegetation on the mountainside. The work was completed in three months aiiiid the greatest secrecy. Since. war began, Great Britain has spent $6,660,000,000 in the United States on supplies of all kinds. 11115 IS WHERE l l-AFTA GET THE DUi y BRAINS TO WORK? 140W Li MME sol f businessmen, we deplore the rise of this creed, because we firmly believe that implementation of the socialist plan would ruin this, gen oration and set Canada basic cen- turies. "It is as a citizen as well as a banker that I put before you Some further considerations to which I hope you will give your earnest thought. "The course of the socialist party in Canada has been charted for us in several books which make clear that nothing short of complete socialization of the means of pro- duction and finance will satisfy the party. That means domination of every phase of economic life, including agriculture, labour and capital. Therefore, because we all fall into one or other of the classes, it means domination of every in- dividual. "What would the socialists achieve by nationalization of the banks? Their book ou social plan - sling says that they will form one board of directors for the national bank monopoly instead of the ten boards which now operate the com- petitive chartered banks. "Socialistc literature suggests that access to the books of the back and a consequent rupture of the' confidential relationship that now exists between. bank and de- positor, would be of inestimable value in determining taxation poll - cies. But would this appeal to the depositor? "Furthermore,' as we are organ- ized today, a prospective borrower may go from one bank to another if he fails to convince the first banker of his probity, ability and prospects; under the socialistic system, unless the prospective bor- rower could convince the state bank of the s`o'undness of the project for which he sought to borrow money, and also that the transaction to be financed was in harmony with soc- ialist party objectives, he would be turned down and would have no other bank to look to for a loan. Do you think that such a system would assure the borrower of as fair treatment as he now receives? "I believe the answer to these 'two questions, affecting depositors and borrowers, is a positive `No.' On the contrary, history and ex- perience xperience lead us to expect that such a government monopoly of banking would lead to favouritism 'of party adherents. At .the same time, Wit, should witness a spread of that sterility of ideas and enter- prise which tends to accompany every human activity that finds it- self 1self in a position of unchallenge- able power." PRIVATE BANKING BEST Mr. 'Wilson suggested that it was not simply due to chance that banking the world over had con- tinued in private hands, but that the people and the Governments had considered it advisable from every point of view that banking should be free of political and par- tisan influences. He reminded his audience that Canadian banks were already effectively controlled by the Bank of Canada and that fur- ther iutervention by the Govern- ment in the banking business would, in his belief, be superfluous and would not be welcomed by the majority who deal with the banks. Mr. Wilson again urged business to speak up on its own behalf, "Business will have only itself to blame 1f, through inaction, it va- cates or fails to occupy fields of activity into which it later finds that public opinion has forced the Government to enter," Mr. Wilson saw no reason for approaching the post-war era with any defeatist attitude and declar- ed that the' same energy, initiative and selflessness which had devel- oped in the. war years, could be used for constructive purposes aft- er the peace, In all plans for the rehabilitation of devastated countries the United Status and Canada would be looked to as leaders, he said, POST-WAR. REHABILITATION "1 personally believe that large outrigbt gifts of food, raw mate- rials, finished goods and machinery to backward and clevastatect coun- tries will in the long run, and even from the most selfish point of view, not Duly .contribute most to liutnan , Welfare, but both in the short and long run be in the best interests • of those nations which ea afford to make the gifts, , "If this is too tnu.eh to expect of human beings in their present stage of development, the alterna- tive must be loans on a very large scale on long and easy terms, or probably a• combination of both loans and gifts." GENERAL MANAGER'S . ADDRESS Sydney G. Dobson, Vice Presis dent. and General Manager, in re- Viewing the bank's Balance Sheet said that the volume of business passing through the bank's books had been unprecedented during the past year, Total assets not ex- ceeded $1,500,000,000, an all-time high in the history of the• bank. He reviewed at length the part played by the banks in assisting. . the country's war financing, "There appears to be a. miscon- ception in the minds of some people that the banks purchase a sub- stantial portion of the Government public issues and increase their earnings in this planner. This is not the case. During 1943 two Vic- tory Loans Were issued, realizing $2,692,000,0.00. The 4th Victory Loan floated in May last was pur- chased by 2,669,000 subscribers and the 5th Victory Loau in October, by over 3,000,000, In neither loan did the backs buy bonds for their own account. While there is natur- ally some change in the holdings of the original subscribers, rel- atively only an unimportant amount fotnd its way into the banks. "In connnon with the other banks, we have done everything possible to make these Victory Loans a success. Managers have encouraged` customers to subscribe or to increase their subscriptions. All depositors considered capable of subscribing for an amount of $50 or more have been written to and advertisements have been in- serted in the press urging deposi- tors to subscribe to the full extent of their ability." EARNINGS MODEST Despite the tremendous increase in the business of the bank, earn- ings were modest, said Mr. Dob- son. "I think that any fair-minded person will agree that the $2,100,- 000 2,100;000 paid to shareholders last year was a very modest amount to be paid to the proprietors of the bank, when we Consider the size of the organization and the tre- mendous amount of business it is necessary to handle in order to earn that amount. Any other type of business working with assets of one and a half billion dollars would have been able to mai for shareholders a considerably larger return. If we consider this yield in relation to our two main earn- ing assets, Ioans and investments, we find that the dividend paid to our shareholders was less than 1/5th of one cent ou the dollar on the total • of these two items, a very trifling handling charge, to say the least. I have never heard the claim made that Canadian banks are not efficiently run, therefore the answer must be that the profit in banking is small." Mr. Dobson reported that the progress made by the bank's South American branches had been particularly gratifying and that its foreign branches were in a position to be of practical aid in promoting post-war trade. The General Manager remarked on the efficient manner in which the bank's staff had dealt with tremendously increased business and provided new wartime services despite enlistments, and paid tri- bute to the enthusiasm and ability of the many young women who hax-e joined the bank since the war began. 2,123 ENLISTMENTS "The voluntary response of our staff to our country's pall has been magnificent", said Mr. Dob- son, ''and there are now 2,123 mea in the armed forces. Of this Dum- ber 2,009 were employed in Can- ada, which is equivalent to $9%, of our Canadian staff of military age at the outbreak of war. "To these men the bank pays a portion of the difference be- tween their bank salary and ser- vice pay. They retain their mem- bership in. the Pension Fund Society, and the bank pays their group insurance premiums. We shall welcome them when the time comes for them to return to their duties in the bank. "Unhappily the number of cas- welties has doubled since I last reported to you; 67 of our young men have now given their lives in the cause. Their names, which we hold in honour, appear in the Printed record of this meeting, and we extend our heartfelt sym- pathy to their families," By GENE BYRNES 'd,