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Zurich Herald, 1942-10-08, Page 7Silver Serves In Scientific War Costly Metal Replaces Copper, Zinc; Beaks Babbitt for Bearings sessegeMeei • Solder—of silver. It will join metal pieces so strongly that the joint often Is stronger than the original metal. Suggestion to historians look- ing for a distinctive name for World War II: How about the Silver -Plated War? That's the kind of war we're fighting, and ao kidding. The metal that puts the 10 cents bto a dime and the hallmarks on jewelry and tableware is today :replacing such lowly metals as toner, nickel and zinc — and doing their jobs better than they do. (Millions of ounces of silver, with its alloys are helping build— and to make more efficient and deadly — battleships, tanks, air- planes; trucks, torpedoes, bombs, guns and shells. Expensive? Yes, but worth it. Strength Is Silver's Great Asset Take airplanes, this war's most deadly weapon. Engine bearings which are lined with silver can withstand the tremendous pres- sures of high-speed motors better than the baibbitt metal bearings formerly used. Translated into performance, this means that American planes oan fly farther, diaster and carry greater bomb loads with silver-plated bearings than they could with babbitt metal. Silver's greatest asset is its tre- mendous strength. Its resistance under shock makes it invaluable in the recoil mechanism of high- powered guns, adding length to their range. The moat dramatic uses of ail- eer in this Silver -Plated War, however, are to be found in sol- der. Unlike lead. silver solder joins metal so strongly that the joint is often stronger than the original metal. Thus if a tank, for example, breaks down on the field, it often can be repaired with solder right on the spot. Use of Silver Frees Other Metals Miles of pipes in fighting ships and transports are now joined with silver solder, giving them added ability to withstand shock and strain. In the production of many kinds of bombs, silver sol- der Is used to seal the joints. Being an exceptionally efficient conductor of electricity, silver al- ready is being used for wire of various sizes, and it has been pro- posed as a material for heavy cable and the massive, high-volt- age bus bars in industrial plants. Since there would be no deter- ioration, It could be replaced after the war by the copper now need- ed elsewhere. Silver also is making a major contribution to this Silver -Plated War by releasing quantities of precious other metals, like copper, nickel or zinc, for uses their spe- cial properties best fit them. You can get an idea of how sil- ver is helping to keep the war production ball rolling from com- parative consumption figures. In 1941; 80,000,000 more ounces of sil- ver were fabricated than in 1940, an increase of 95 per cent. The firm of Handy & Harman, the na- tion's oldest and largest bullion dealers, which was recently awarded the joint Army-Navy "E," reports increased production in some silver lines as much as 400 per cent within the past year. VOICE OF THE PRESS JUST ANYONE Most any man can be an editor. All an editor has to do is to sit at a desk six days a week, four weeks to a month and twelve months a year and edit such stuff as this: "Mrs. Jones, of Cactus Creek, let a can -opener slip last week and cut her in the pantry; John Doe climbed on the roof of his house last week, looking for a leak, and fell, landing on his back porch; While Harold Green was escorting Miss Violet Wise from the church social last Sun- day night a savage dog attacked them and bit Mr. Green on the public square; Jinn Frank, while harnessing a broncho last Satur- day, was kicked just south of his corncrib." —Port Perry Star. —0— CHANCE FOR THE SHEEP An increase of close to 10 per sent. in the number of sheep be- ing kept in Wellington County. is :Indicated in a recent survey. Once upon a time, before cars became connnon on our highways, sheep :roamed unchecked along the road- sides and, judging by the - preva- lenee of weeds this year, not only in fields but along the roadsides, it might be a good idea if they Were alrewed to do so again: Cer- tainly we have not spare labor to keep the weeds properly cut and if they continue to spread crops are bound to suffer. Some sheep and schoolboy shepherds /night do a fine clean-up job. ---Elora Express. AGAIN DENIED The Red Cross has again been obliged by rumor-monges'to deny !, that funds were ever used to pur- chase beer for Nazi prisoners in Canada, The,'pityis .•that satire. denials should ever have to be necessary. --Hamilton Spectator. • `BRAZIL'S SIZE Brazil, our noweet Ally, is the+,t, fourth 'largest, ;•country in the world in area;' being topped by, Russia, China and Canada. Con- tinental United ;States Li* hli htly a+rnali.er.-Stratford Beacon -Herald. ITALIAN INVASION Thirteen Italians forming a commando landed on the North African coast, mined a railway line with explosives which failed to explode, and then got them- selves arrested by British military police. How very Italian! —Windsor Star. —o— "BLIMEY, IT'S WINNIE!" It was as "Mr. Bullfinch" that, Prime Minister Churchill started out to review the battlefields in Egypt incognito. But the troops soon recognized him. "Blimey, it's Winnie," one of them cried. "Winnie's cone out into the bloonlin' desert." - —Sault Ste. Marie Star. —o— A HATEFUL WORD This new law making every able-bodied man work is going to be hard on some leisured, lazy men we know around town. They are like the man in an old Eng- lish comedy who said: "I eats well, I sleeps well, but when I 'ears the word work I goes all of a tremble." —St. Thomas Times -Journal. Women Workers \Vomen workers will take their places beside the men at Natoli, Nova Scotia, shipyards, starting September .8, it was announced recently. Only a fee' have been engaged so Lars but more will be ' taken on later. NDIYIDUAL THE WAR , WEER -- Commentary on Current Events General, Wavell Gives Optimistic Review Of War On Ail Fronts A Weekly Column About This and That in Our Canadian Army A few weeks ago the question" of age entered into this column. Age, to the aging, is an absorbing topic and one that must be'thor- oughly explored in time of war. At a recent meeting of lawyers in Cleveland, Col, J. L. Ralston, Minister of National Defence (or do you prefer "Offence"), told his audience that he looks for R long war. A day or so before that address Rt. Hon. W.L. Mae- Kenzie King told us of the coun- try's plans for the proper use of every man and women in the pro- secution of the war. These, let us hope, are more than "straws in the wind." They are definite indications that we are coming to the realization that the suggestions made at the very start of the war by the Canadian Legion and other ex -service men are bearing fruit. Evidence that they are is to be found in the recent recruiting campaign for the Veteran's Guard of Canada. Work has been found for the old soldiers to do. That there is yet more work for old soldiers — in uniform and out — is indisputable, and it now looks as if the day is at hand when the great army of middle- aged Canadians will find. itself considered qualified for something more than membership in the House of Commons. Last night a battalion of the Reserve Army was undergoing training in a park in an Eastern Canadian city. The men were learning formation for different ldnds of patrols. Some of the time they gathered round their instructor to watch demonstra- tions, Some of the time they practised the formations — a slow It was a cool night and the men wore their cotton summer uniforms. Some of them, includ- ing the instructors, were chilly. The Lieutenant-Colonel com- manding the unit — he wears the D.S.O. and M.C., — passed from group to group observing the training. He observed more than that. He observed that his men were cold. He passed the word to the instructors to interrupt the training and give some warming - up exercises. Now that is a little thing in it- self. But it is a big thing when . you look right into it. Any one of those instructors had the auth- ority to break off from his work and lead in warming up exercises. Or, if he dict not want to act on his own initiative, could have ob- tained permission. Yet It took the old soldier, the seasoned veteran who Is consider- ed too old for active command, to th'nk of his men's comfort. The younger instructors are all for efficiency — for "hardening" their amen. That's all very well. So is the old soldier, but he know' there is no gain in efficiency if time is lost from the next train- ing night by men who contracted colds through lack of care. As I have written earlier in The Individual Citizen's Army there are many jobs that can be filled in Canaf.'a, in England, at the bases and on the line of com- munication by veterans of the last war, by men who were too young last time and are called too old this time and by wren whose cate- gories are lower than the "A' that is required of the fighting soldier. To such jobs as organization, administration and supply such men take the more balanced think- ing that goes with maturer years. Youth can, will and, in the final essence, must plan and execute attack but youth is less apt to worry about such important work A9 consolidation and — where the plan calls for it — evacuation. The same thing applies to the work available for those who are not available for the armed forces, After years of telling married wo- men who have raised families and are freed from domestic ties that they are too old, authorities in various lines of endeavour are now getting round to the realization that there are many spheres of useful activity in which older women will not merely "do" but for which they are much better fitted than young ones. I have seen no announcement yet about the nursing service of the Royal Canadian Army Medi- cal Corps so must assume that the age limit bars most veteran Nurs- ing Sisters of the 1914-1919 war from serving again. Most mothers of young men serving in the Army will agree with nie that a Nursing Sister who, in addition to her training, has the advantage of being a mother who has raised children of her own, would be the ideal type for hospitals in this country to which wounded who face a long convalescence will undoubtedly be sent. Yet — and here is a situation worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan — the only ex -Nursing Sisters who san qualify for such appointment are those who lied about their ages and were officially too young in the last war! No matter how you try to figure it 1914 sub- tracted from 1939 still leaves 26 and any nurse who is less than 45 today must have been less than 20 In "1914. She had to be 21 to enter a training "school, three years were required for the course, leaving the minimum age on enlistment as 24. Twenty- four and 25 always add up to 49 — and 45 is the upper age a limit! That's by the way — what we are concerned with is the desire of older people to do something to help the fight along. Not only their desire — their undoubted capacity for service. The time will come — it must — when all of us who are cap- able of helping will be drafted. Until the time conies let's do our share by helping to sae merchant commodities that come by sea, by carrying parcels fora the store, by doing our own little bet to keep prices down and the wolf of inflation from the door. Self Heating Tins British troops serving in cold climates are to be provided with seleheating tins of soup. All they will have to do to pre- pare It is to punch two holes in the top of the tin and light a chemical heater running through the middle of it. In two minutes they will have a pint of hot soup—even in tem- peratures as low as 30 below zero. This is only one of the new features of balanced feeding which War Office scientists have devel- oped. There is the 'Mountain (Arctic)' iron ration. This contains enough food to keep a man going for 24 hours in a freezing temperature and includes pemmican, the stand- by of Arctic explorers. \v \: ': \�� Ow �\�• \:• �'' `'0' �•' ���' \\� LISTEN TO ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM ONTARIO WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS • EACH SUNDAY AT 2 PM-. .:FEB - 860 On Your Dial aEG'LAR FELLERS—On the Spot NOW, YOU WAIT RIGHT HERE ON 'THIS CORNER AND FOR GOODNESS SPxKE KEEP THAT WHITE SUIT cl-EAN! c. Fresh from a long series of Al- lied conferences, Gen. Sir Archi- bald P. Wavell drew a broad and confident picture of the war's out- ,-some with the assurance that the United States, Britain, Russia and China "are going to fight It out." Russia "The Russians are going to hold and we'll do our best to help them. "Russia is the heart of the prob- lem. The German dbjective doubt- less was to do what they did in 1918—put the Russians out of busi- ness so there would be no ques- tion of fighting on two fronts. "But the Russian Army still is intact and its .Air Force is going strong—and it is getting toward the, end of the campaigning season although there will be another five weeks before weather stops the campaign." The Atlantic "One of the biggest fights is going on in the Atlantic. Our loss- es are serious, not serious enough to prevent us winning the war but enough to hamper our strate- gy and delay our winning of it. I do not see the shipping situation getting worse, but better." Wavell said successes were be- ing scored against the submarine but added "what collapsed in the last war was not submarines but the supply of crews that will stick it out." R.A.F. Over Germany "The air offensive is causing Germany a great deal of damage both material and morale. We know of material damage from photographs. How much morale damage is a more difficult prob- lem. "But the attacks affect submar- ine and tank output and we are chucking more stuff at him (Hit- ler)' than he ever chucked at Eng- land. He must think of propping up morale next winter." The Middle East "We've got Rommel held, but he, is much too close to the delta of the Nile. The hope is that we push him a good way back again. - . . I'm sure Rommel won't get any farther." Hitler wanted to knock out the Russian Army, Wavell said, in or- der to have his army in Egypt free to hit through into the Middle East and with another through the Caucasus or Turkey. "But he is a long way off from the position he'd like to be in by the end of 1942.... He's behind his program. "There maybe some fighting up in the caucasus this winter but it wil not be easy for him to get through." Pacific Theatre "As to the Japanese, he's got his hands full. He's like a boa constrictor which has swallowed a big goat. He needs time to digest it in a corner. "Japan is not likely to take on a job like an invasion of Australia or India. "We don't know how his navy was hit in the Solornons, but we believe hard. He is not flush with shipping, nor with a navy to meet both the American Navy and the British Eastern Fleet. "Ile is not strong in his air force. . . . I always believed it his weak point.... ,"The Jap has two big tasks. He must take into account the Rus- sian menace if he is to be able to digest what he already has. And sooner or later he must settle the Chinese business. It is beginning to look lately as if the Japs were too late for attacking Siberia." The Indian Front Turning to his own Indian front, Wavell asserted that "since the loss of Hurma and before, I have• been planning the reoccupation of• it. not merely because it is a part of. the British Empire but strate- gically because it means re-ost;tb- Balling cbnlnitfnioation8 n* i t h China." ,. ., Wavell dF.,dined to discuss the Indian political situation beyond commenting that despite ,internal troubles he still iei.s getting, 70,- 000 recruits a month. Second Front '' • "Nobody is more anxious` to start a sechnd front than we are. It Is quite certain that as soon as ever possible both American troops and;., lurselres will start a second fr on1 , but I can't tell, you when or where, 1 KNOW THE 'PAYOFF' HCR! MOM WILL TAKE TWO HOURS FOR SHOPPIN OH, HECK! ITv STARTED% TO RAIN AN' I'M StIPPOSe1 C TO KEEP CLEAN! "We've fought on six fronts al• ready, at least. It's a biggish prob. lem starting on the continent. We'll have some casualties—very considerable both. American and ours—before we get back into the continent. But we'll get hack," Mr. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty, reminded a British. audience the other day that in the matter of a "second front" the de- cision must be taken by those in authority who have access to all the facts, that it would not help Russia "to take action which might lead to disaster of our own forces." That needed to be said, Many of those who go all-out for im- mediate invasion of Western Eur- ope by a British --American army base their demands on the need for "helping Russia." Precipitate action, in fact, might do Russia infinite harm. The invasion of German Europe, when it comes, will be a measure to help not only Russia, but Britain, the United States, China, and every country fighting. the Axis or overrun by the Axis. Russia, it is fair to point out, did not come into the war through an alliance with Britain or at Brit- ain's request, but because she was attacked by Germany. Hitler, having brought Russia in on our side we then had a common cause, and Britain has met the natural obligation to a hard-pressed ally by diverting to the Soviet Union military eupplies which would have brought the second front appreci- ably nearer if they could have been kept in the United Kingdom. Britain and France went to war with Germany because they had given their word to fight if Poland were attacked. Every other coun- try in the group of United Nations went to war because it was itself attacked by Germany, Italy or Japan. Plain Speaking The frank insistence now being made in Moscow that a second front be opened at whatever cost is viewed seriously by The New York Times. The Russian de- mands o-mands call for plain speaking, We are not in this war to save Rus- sia. Russia is not in this war to save us. She did not try to save Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands or France in 1940. She did not lift a finger when the Invasion of Britain seemed immi- nent, Let it be admitted that she was no more selfish then than Britain and France were when they abandoned Czechoslovakia to the wolves, or than we were when, still clinging to an obsolete iso- Iatio.nism, we connived to that be- trayal. Now let us consider our actual relationship to Russia and her ac- tual relationship to us. Self-pre- servation is her first law, and it is also ours. Self-preservation dic- tates to her that she shall not rislc losing more than she gains by per- mitting us to use her Siberian bases against Japan, though by doing so we might save many thousands of American lives and many billions of American dollars. Self-preservation dictates to 'us and to Britain that we shall not vainly sacrifice half a million :nen just because we admire profound- ly the gallant defenders of E'alin- grad. Decision For Specialists We have no choice but to lease to the specialists in such mat,ers the decision as to when strike on the European Contig:• •nt. It may be that a blow struck this fall, at groat risk and with grtat losses, will contribute 111,x, • to final victory than a heavier Mow struck next spring. It may 1,.! that we have more chants' for it •'_:'ss if WO wait. Hut. 1 11 19 iv not 11 qa-s- tion to be settled by acclaxii 'son public Ilieetims, or in the pages in p . - of newspapers an lu:l ;r ins r, 1111 the floors of ('onar =,'. It i- folly to atioropt to settle: it in that way. • Jap Deviltry 'lilt opium. Si ptir1,ssi,,u 1 011.;118 81011 reoottly- broadcast un official' charge that 1.3,000,0Q0 of :30,06-,1100 Chin(80 iu 7t11hale be- coriie opium addii•ts as a .-,suit of the deliber::to Japanese policy Of poisoning the minds and. ht?. itis of inhabitants of „c•onpicd torie s. : GENE BYRES o' ^.e9. .31. 13:1), Ohla. 5 111, rt :=rd t3'. (1