HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1941-12-25, Page 6VOICE
0E THE
PRESS
DREADFUL ORUMFIRE
Behind the roar of the flaming
Bell that is the Russian grout, be-
hind the clangor of the clash is
1C,bya, behind the steady boom oaf
bombs flattening a acare of liar
ope's cities, thereis a dreadfall.
obliga.to of agleam, It is the Geri.
Man executions in conquered Panda.
As many as ' 100,000 men and
women have died before these
Nasi firing-s•qua<is, the Inter Allied
Intormation Committee In. Loudon
estimates. Whether that is an ate
'curate figure we do not know. No
cue knows, not even the Nazis.
in Poland alone 32,000 people
have been executed during two
years of occupation, this committee
estimates. Every conquered coun-
try has contributed its toll of those
who were led out to die unarmed,
anieonvicted of any offense.
In no modern war has anything
like this, or anything approaching
such a scale, been permitted to
happen. It is the measure of a Nazi
future. —Guelph Mercury.
—v—
NOT LOUSY IN ENGLAND
The Canadian soidiers overseas
are not bothered by lice. That is
- something for which they must be
grateful. No matter haw clean
the troops tried to keep them-
selves in the last war, when they
were in the front line areas, they
were troubled with body lice.
Splendid sanitary arrangements
have been made. Hot baths are
provided and the quarters are kept
scrupulously clean at all times.
The men are. provided with clean
underwear and steam units go
Brom camp to camp to give dirty
olothesa thorough cleansing.
And, in case there is any man
in a company who just does not
Wyant to take a bath, the men.
of his section see to it that he
does no go bathless.
Windsor Star.
"THEM WERE THE DAYS"
A placard on the wall of a Cala
dornia hotel in the goldrush day;
.ef '49 stated: --"Board must be
paid in advance. With beans, $36;
without beans, $12. Salt pork free`
potatoes for Sunday dinner, wok -
sting prohibited. Extra charge foe
seats around the bar room stove.
Lodgers must find their own
straw. Beds on bar -room floor re-
served for regular customers. Lodg-
srs must rise by ?r a.m. in the barn
by 6 a,m. No fighting at tables.
Auyone. violating the above rules
—Believllle" fntel2igencei
REALISM AND SACRIFICE
Many men and women in Brig
tain's war plants work sixty and
seventy hours a week, with no day
of rest either. 'They do it heartily,
not because they particularly like
long toil, but because they know
int is the only way that victory can
be won. On. this side of the Atlan-
tic, how far we are from realism—
and sacrifice!
—Hamilton. Spectator.
—v --
FINE YOUNG CANADIANS
In. this country but three years,
and unable to speak English when
they arrived here, two Czecho-
slovakian children win the annual
speaking coutest in the public
schools of Wentworth County.
Theirs is a remarkable achieve-
ment and in them the Dominion
e has two fine young Canadians.
—Hamilton Spectator.
WHY. BOTHER?
Vocal choruses are not suitable
for broadcasting through factories
to relieve the strain of close work,
because the workers grow tense
trying to catch the words. After
hearing the words of some of the
popular gems, we wonder why
they bother.
—Stratford Beacon -herald.
SOLILOQUY
The change that has come over
America can be appreciated when
you recall that not so long ago to
•oonvoy or not to convoy was the
soliloquy in every bamnbt.
—Windsor Star.
UNUSUAL. EGGS
From Pembroke comes news of
an egg with ten C's on its shell.
That's almost as many as some
eggs have on their car windows,
—Ottawa Citizen.
—v --
REALLY BETTER OFF
'When a fellow is turned down
'en a girl because he isn't well off,
he really is.
•-I;,itcitener Record.
That Word 'Panzer"
Two requests about panzer
Oeach me from different quarters.
ne is to say what it means; the
ether is to get the term dropped
to favor of good plain English.
Well, panzer means armor and
since the German armored divis
lona have been more conspicuous
than any other down tothe in-
vasion of Russia, we have adopt-
ad the German name for them,
nuhh as we habitually speak of
e German Luftwaffe instead of
fie; German air force or 11 -boats
(untersceboote) instead of Ger-
roan submarines.
.{
HONG KONG SQUEEZED IN JAP TRAP
Mees e :gcte seen.c�`1 2.aaw '' s
Claiming that they were already in possession of Kowloon,, the mainland -ssection
paa the British
sh
crown colony of Hong Kong, seen above in the background, Japanese saki tIBitish governor reportedly
on Victoria Island, foreground—the location of the city of Hong Kong.
refused Jap demand that colony surrender.
Tell Whitest Lie
.Says First Lady
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt says
she believes in telling the whitest
Ile of them all, the fib about
Santa Claus.
In her question - and - answer
page- in the December Ladies'
Home journal,. the First Lady
says she subscribes to the telling
of fairy tales as well as children's
stories based en scientific fact.
"I certainly do believe in tell-
ing children to believe in Santa
Claus," she wrote. "They Learn
soon enough that Santa Claus is
another or father, or some other
kind persor., Why not let thein
have the joy of believing that
Santa Claus does come to all
children and that he is such a
jolly old. saint?"
Dog -drawn Taxis
Appear In Paris
Dog -drawn taxicabs have ap-
peared en tem streets of Paris, be-
Uneezee thenTed a o'rente`eshas forced •
the withdrawal of motor vehicles
and most harness -horses have been
sent to the sl,oughterhouse.
A 1925 law prohibiting the use
of dogs for traction power has
been cancelled and a new police
ordinance permits "canimobile"
taxis, provided they be drawn by
huskies fitted with painless har-
nesses.
The use of terriers or smaller,
dogs for traction is still forbid-
den.
Fewer Gadgets On
New Car Models
Demand. for materials in the
armament program. may require.
the U. S, automobile industry to
produce only two and fourdoor
sedans without brightwork, wool.
upholstery, rubber - floor mats, and
other, gadgets and finery. Station
w a go n s, limousines, roadsters,
coupes, oonvertible` ''models may
disappear.
Automobile °facials said the
"Victory" model automobile would.
,have no double`bar bumpers and'
bumper bans, clock% cigar light -
tors, radios, dual tail lights and
extra parts. It will come in fewer
colors, with fewer coats of en-
amel.
Jap Empire
Exclusive of •conquered pa_ is of
China, which varies constantly,
Japan controls a Far Eastern Em-
pire tliat totals almost . 900,000
square mil reeeeltbo'tigh 'the are
of Japan pr. is less than
000 square miles, says Pathfinder.'
Japanese territories include; Kbr-'
ea, the southern half of the island
of Sakhalin, Formosa, and a group
of more than 1,400 islands in
Oceania that formerly belonged
to Germany. 1VIanchoukup, al-
though not formally a partsof the
Japanese empire, he's been occu-
pied by Japan for tell years. In
addition, Japan occupies parts of
French Indo-China and Inner
Mongolia.
cs
LIFE'S LIKE THAT
By Fred ;Neper
DRESSES
CLEANED
59(P
w,eseenesee
"Ob, those nye are where
re-4W9--�{� n ,
we marked the spote."
Some Opinions
About Generals
After the latest reshuffling of
her generals, Russia seems, tem-
porarily et least, to have found
a winning" combination. Perhaps
Stalin has begun to chime in with
several'. of his distinguished pre-
decessors on the subject of gen-
erals.
Lincoln had,; a sour view of
,;thein. On one occasion, when it
was reported to him that the Con-
federates had. captured a briga-
diergeneral and 12 mules, he
said: "Toon bad. Those mules cost
as •'$200 apiecee"
•'�4iargoe j Asquith once said to
Gen. Pershing, after the firstsx,
World W`"The only reason we
won the war was because there
were generals. on the other side."
And e *President Paul Kruger,
giving instructions to his Boer
-
soldiers in their war against the
British.•• -in South Africa., said:
'liege.sag" mauy,officer`s.as possible,
;biit•'fore God's sake spare the gen-
eraIsr
_aviing Ontario's
Natural , Resources
CANADA'S FUR TRADE
No. 69
Tee value of the furs sold in this
eouiitr-y at the present time. is
(luno 1a'x1ge, probably' about the
same .;its •it; was a hundred years
ago 'liu•t the emphasis is away from
they b'eaygr, martin and fisher to
tate niiiati e, skunk and red fox.
T1te,,nohniser of people engaged in
rile industry is probably much
Sweater, than was the ease a cen-
tury' `ago but, as I said, the ag-
;rebate' value of the fur is about
the+ohne. .
fiskrat and skunk sold'for a
few tents in the early 1300's and
'reanine and raccoon seldom went
over a dollar. Nowadays, these are
the mainstay of the trade but they
sell, 'individually, for much more,
Too; the fur ranches have come
into the picture and a great deal
of our fur is ranch raised. This
fur ,, is probably better quality
for it is taken when the animal
is at -its best and on the better
ranches it has been produced un.
der almost ideal conditions.
About 25 important fur bearers
occur in North America and a
number of others' may be taken
at times. The weasel family are
the most hunted and contribute
the. major share of the pelts. Musk
lead all others in total num-
s.
bens taken. " Beaver were almost
extinct ou the market a few years
ago but are now coming back,
'Skunk, red fox and miuk are of
considerable value to the trapper.
Altogether tate fur trade of Can-
ad�a is an important'. asset. How-
ever, as 1 stressed in a previous
article it must be handled' Intel-
ligently' or it will be lost, The ani -
male must be protected when they
are; scarce and they must have
glades to live. I will write mere
about this in another article.
THE WAR - WEEK —. Commentary on Current Events
Bitter Cold and Russian Power
!,-Halt German Drive on Moscow
Two dramatis) items show the
deadly parallel of the Russian
Campaign. The first, a description
of the French campaign in Russia
in November 1812, reads:
"The road was even more thick-
ly covered with dead horses than
on preceding marches. There were
many human corpses, too; and at
every bivouac one saw large num-
bers that had died of suffocation
froiin the fumes of fires; because
they had dragged themselves too
close when already frostbitten and
half frozen. Others stil moaned but
could not drag themselves away."
The other item is from a Nazi
radio broadcaster's description of
the German campaign in Russia.
in November, 1941:
"Grey is the country, grey the
sky, everything grey and empty.
With its aspect of forlornuess,
the whole country is frightening.
The road to Moscow resembles
one vast soaked sponge along
whieh men, horses and lorries slog
painfully and streuuously. Slowly
they move, dragging themselves
step by step. Time after time they
are bogged down. This is Russia,"
Everywhere from the Arctic' to
the Sea of Azov the Germans are
retreating and, in many cases, re-
treating in disorder. The myth of
invinability of the German
the
army is being torn to shreds by
the Russians. What will the people
of the Reich think now of Hitler's
boast made in Berlin two months
ago that Germany's eastern enemy
was crushed and would never rise
again?
Russian Army Reorganized
The' German failures before Mos-
cow and at Rostov were evideuce
that the Russian army had beau
reorganized in the midst of a ter-
rible campaign. Special Guard di-
visions were foamed, vast reserve
armies trained in the valley of the
Volga and important shifts made in
the High Command, ?Stalin is Com-
mander -in -Mei of the Soviet forc-
es and he is said to have person-
ally worked out details of the Rus-
sian counter -offensive. The vast
masses of the people of Russia
were totally mobilized to work
wherever needed, and to work even
beyond their powers of . endurance.
Every civilian in Russia was in the
front line.
The Cossacks Ride Again
Horse -power as of old, was a
definite factor in dispersing the
enemy. The Russians have for
some time been building up a
strong cavalry corps, especially
outfitted for winter :service. These
wild, hard -riding Cossacks were
loosed when Rostov was recaptur-
ed. They were on the Germans be -
fere a defense line could be estab-
lished. 118 German tacks were
among the booty surrendered —
'the horse is certainly still in the
war.
Perhaps the lowly louse will take
a derisive part in the war on the
Eastern front. The Swedish capital
repdrts that lice -borne typhus has
infected some German troops, al-
ready suffering from cold, hunger
and exhaustion. The epidemic,
which can exterminate as many
men as all of Stalin's battling
forces put together, is spreading
eastward from the Ostmark area
of Poland,
Germany Blames the Weather
A spokesman for the Gorman
Army has admitted a halt in the
Nazi drive. He said that Moscow
would not be captured this year,
that during the winter German
troops would have to abandon the
war of movement, that all up and
dawn the 2,000 mile front they
were digging in, "The cold ' is so
terrible that even the oil freezes
in the moberized vehicles," he
said. "Soldiers trying to take cover
simply freeze to the ground. Fight-
lug uncles these conditions is prac-
tically impossible." it is a fact
that when the weather is below
zero, the steel of a rifle barrel
burns like fire and a man firing
from a prone position is apt to
freeze to the snow before he can
gather himself for the next rush.
Moscow's Version
Moscow had a different version
of the righting. It was not cold
alone that caused the Nazi halt '
but fighting Russian soldiers and
au organic defect iu the work of
the German command in planning
the war. Sturdy determined Rus-
sians are advancing ceaselessly
through bitter eold against a be-
wildered and benumbed enemy.
The Germans are fleeing before
bayonets and hand grenades and
bullets of the Russian army while
the artillery follows close behind
pouring shrapnel and high explos-
ives into the hard pressed ranks.
The Gelman High Command
speaks of "local actions" and "or-
derly retirements" but Moscow
claims that the retreat has bee -
come a rout,
A Long Way To Waterloo?
The significance of the Russian
successes does not lie in accounts
of ground recaptured, says the New
York Herald Tribune. For some
time there have been hints t
Berlin quarters that rectification
of the German lines would be
necessary in order to stabilize a
winter front. This would probably
involve withdrawals from the sal -
lents driven north and south of
Moscow and might mean extensive
movements westward along the
Whole of the northern sector.
There is no very clear natural_ de- •
fensive line for the Germans -in
that area, and the abil4ty to take
up strong posts must depend large-
ly on the skill and energy of their
engineers.
But it is clear that the Red
Army is not allowing the Germans
to complete their search for win-
ter quarters in peace, A retreat
is always a difficult operation.
Military observers have been won-
dering,
ondering, since the power of 'the Ger-
man offensive was first displayed..
what would happen when this oom-
piex mechanism went into reverse,
and it is possible that the Rus-
sians, acting under climatic con-
ditions
onditions highly favorable to them-
selves, will n -ow give a spectacular
answer. The Germans are being
pressed hard at very point they
are suffering new losses in addi-
tion to those inflicted daring the
suicidal drives on Moscow and it
may well prove that the Napoleon-
ic experience will be repeated.
Let it not be forgotten, how-
ever, that it was two years from
the time of Napoleon's retreat
from Moscow to the Battle of Wat-
erloo.
aterloo.
The -hook Shelf
SARATOGA TRUNK
By Edna Ferber
Saratoga Trunk is a novel of
the 'eighties, the days of the rail-
road builders, Set against a. back-
ground of the old World city of
New Orleans and the New World
city of •Saratoga, the history of
this period is vividly presented.
Into it is ' woven the romance of
Clint Maroon and Clio Dulalue.
0110 Dulaine, the daughter of a
New Orleans aristocrat and hiss
French mistress, grew up in Paris,
her young mine filled with the un-
just treatmettt of her mother. She
returned to New Orleans and there
met Cliut Maroon whose father
had been ruined by the railroad
builders.
Each had one great purpose in
life—Clio to avenge the injustice
to her mother — Clint to avenge'
the loss of his rather's fortune.
They fall in love and set out to.
gether with a definite plan of re-
venge.
Launched on a romantic and re-
lentless career, they leave the old
cultured city of New Orleans and
go north to test their wits against
the pleasure -loving society of
fashionable Saratoga.
T1iis latest, and perhaps best, of
Edna Ferber's many outstanding
novels paints a dramatic picture
o1 the American way of life, and
makes historical America live
again for• this generation.
Saratoga Trunk . . . by Edna
Ferber ... McClelland & Stewart.
Limited . . . Price $3,00,
Roosevelt Audience
President Roosevelt's radio ad-
dress of Dec. 9 on the basis of an
analysis by the broadcasters,
commanded the largest audience
in history -90,900,000 persons or
virtually every adult in the coun-
tr.y,
REG'LAR FELLERS—Just Supposin'
THESE I2.AI~I1(6
ICE SKATES
MARKED DOWN
FROM 1)9
TH4 IS e
A •BAP4 JNI.
IO«2.t
'o"f•:..,i SALE HAS GOT
ME GOING, BUT FOUR
DOLLARS IS WI -TOLE
LOT OF MONEY
'M IN A N WRR- FIX!
I CAIl'T MAKE UP
MY MIND:
sees
naseerse-
By GENE BYRNES
MOM; WOULD :` JU "','Ot. ic,a
ME TO BUY A MIR OF
RACING SKATES IF SOMEBODY
Si•,OULD GIVE; ME
FOUR DOLS?
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