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Zurich Herald, 1943-04-15, Page 7DUDE FROM LONDON ,eddie Lee, R.A.F. cadet from London it•ow training in Arizona, climbs aboard a pinto pony with assistance of fancy rider Polly Mills at Phoenix rodeo. THE WAR - WEEK -- Commentary on Curren! Events Britain Poured Millions Of Cash Dollars Into American Industry By Lord Halifax In The American Magazine Tufo years before the United States was plunged into the war, the British Government was pour- ing millions of cash dollars into American industry—to the makers of aircraft engines and propellers, ordnance, ammunition, machine tools motor vehicles, and ships. The total thus spent since Sep- tember, 1939, ita.s been $3,200,- 000,000. Most of this considerable sum went for purchases, but fully $200,- 000,00.0 was spent outright to ex- pand" factories and build new ones —the very factories which today are Ieading producers of America's arsenal of democracy. The airplane industry may be . taken as an example. . . . While American capacity' for construct- ing airplane frames was fairly adequate to meet the increased needs, there was hardly any air- plane engine and propeller Indus- try at all. It had to.,be built from the ground up. , . The British began furnishing the money for plant expansion and construction, and a total of $89,- 000,000 has gone into capital as- sistance — which means land, buildings, and, most important, machine tools. Six famous Ameri- can corporations received the bulk of this assistance, American Advantage But this is only a` drop , in the bucket. Altogether British expendi- tures with the American aircrafk industry total some $1,750,000,000. While this may not seem a stag. goring sum in the light of subse- quent Congressional appropria- tlons, it means that America had . an airplane industry built up and operating When she realized her peril—an industry that would have taken a much longer time to Reveals Secrets Of Self -Defence "C,hin Jab" Effective When Delivered By a Tiny Woman Major W. H. F-airleuru, the Brit- ish Commando who for many years instructed the Shanghai Municipal Police in the arts of mayhem, re• veals some extraordinarily force- ful secrets of self-defence -for women in his new book "Hands Off!" says "Your Life" Magazine. For instance, there is the "chin jab." This is a blow delivered with the base or heel of the hand, quite capable of knocking a man uncon- scious even when delivered by a tiny woman. The right arts is bent at the elbow, palm open 'orward, much as if you were taking the oath in court, Then the palm is bent backward as far as possible, 'fingers and thumbs open, some- thing like claws. Now you're ready to sock him—aim to crack him un- der the chin with the heel of your 'palm, delivering a rock -crushing blow with follow-through from the shoulder, Amazing, the e force a mite of a woman can deliver with this blow! And if it happens to miss the chin, those open clawing fingers wilt gouge the enemy's eyes should the situation become that •-drastiic. Suppose somebody seizes you by the throat with two hands, forcing you back against a wall. Roll up the whites- of your eyes (that will put him off ;'card), then suddenly shoot tt v both your hands inside • his arms in a double chin jab, and call the ambulance. Another use- ful weapon when someone seizes you around the waist in an unwel- come bear hug le the human head. Skulls notoriously vary in •solidity, hat the dainty head of a woman is. entirely capable of. redistributing an assailant's features when bang- ed anged into his face, rse your head - as a battering ram, Over 27 tons of rabbi,, skins were sold in Dunedin, New Zea- land, in a recent week, build up had it not been for Bri- tain's earlier assistance, . • Or let us consider tanks. The United Nations today have the finest tank in the world—the 28 - ton General Sherman, It is the custom in both armies to .think of this General Sherman as an American product, and so in one sense it is, but in another it Is a joint Anglo-American enterprise, The forerunner of the General. Sherman was a tank the Ameri- cans called the General Lee, It was slightly lighter. We in Brit- ain ritain had the Mark '11, which we believed to be a match for any likely opponent until it went against the Germans in the Battle of France and was decisively beat- en. We stopped making the Mark VI at once and sent our experienc- ed veterans to the United States to buy quantities of the General Lee. Perhaps you can imagine our dismay in those dark weeks after Dunkirk to discover that the Gen- eral Lee had all the faults and weaknesses of the Mark VI. There was no time to build an entirely new tank. British and American engineers sat down to- gether with our men who had been in France and trade changes in the General Lee. Even while Ilhey were making preliminary sketches British money was being spent to rebuild American fac- tories and equip them with new tools. Out of this surge of effort Dame the first General .Grant, which proved adequate to Bold the Germans in North Africa in 1940. But still it was not good enough. Pulling Together In the ensuing weeks national- ities were forgotten; Americans, Englishmen, Canadians, Scotsmen Worked side by side designing, t a s t g, discarding. American money and British money went over the same counters. And out of this came the new General Sherman, which, as every one knows, was a potent factor in the British 8th Army's brilliant vic- tory over Rommel's vaunted Afri- ca Korps. . , I have mentioned machine tools. . . . The normal volume of the American machine -tool industry is $250,000,000 a year: Long.before the United States began its arma- ment program, Great Britain launched a program of "float or ders" in the American factories the effect of which was to form a pool of standard machine tools from which both British and American firms could draw. By mid -1940 this pool was an accom- plished reality—anal the volume of the industry had been raised to $350,000,000. By the time of Pearl harbor the annual volume had risen to $750,- 000,000, three times its pre-war size. But far more important was the fact that indispensable nese chine tools were on hand to make possible the overnight conversion of many factories to wartime ends. ( have been. told that the output of machine tools in America le expected to a 'each $1,500,000,000 next year --a growths which could hardly have been achieved with- out initial British impetus, Concerning Ships Before 'we leave the industrial phase of Britain's co-operative wan effort, let us examine the Matter of ships. Some people would be surprised to learn that the Lib- et,ty ship being tuirned out in the United States today is basically of British design, and that two of the shipyards now achieving p7'odne- tion miracles were built with Brit - telt money. The story begins in September, 1940, when the British Merchant Shipbuilding Mission came to the United States to place orders for 60 cargo vessels, After surveying the field, they could find no ship- yard or group of shipyards capa- ble of building them rapidly. They decided, therefore, to build the yards. Sites were selected and purchas- ed at Richmond, Cal., and Port- land, Ore. Two brand-new Anted - can companies were formed to build theyards and the ships. One of these, the Todd -California Ship- buildding corporation, at Richmond, had for its president Mr., Henry Kaiser, who unt' thaut m,crnent had never built a ship. It is hardly necessary to Speak .of Mr. Kaiser's exploits. He built the shipyard and 30 ships in. ap- proximately 18 months. Less well known, but hardly less, spectaicular, was the achievement of the new 'shipbuilding company at Portland, which accomplished a simile': feat in 22 months. The entire project cost the British $125,000,000.. The most recent figures I am cable to find show that Great Brit- ain's war production per head of population is still . greater than that of any other nation on earth. That doesn't sound =like business as usual. . . , Populations Compared Britain has a population of 33,- 000,000 between the ages of 14 and 65. Of these, 22,000,000 are work- ing orking full time in either industry, the armed forces, or civilian de- fense. This is equivalent to the mobilization of about a 60,000,000 people in the United States. Women between the ages of 20 and 30 are liable to conscription in the armed services, and while all women between 19 and 45 have been registered for employment, those between 18 and 30 may only be engaged through the offices of the employinent exchanges. . . , Nor can it be said with any truth that Britain is building Upe stock- - piles of surplus materials of wer while coutinuiug to take what she can from the United States. Tn 1941 we exported four, times as many aircraft as we received from other countries, and sent out 15 times as many tanks as we took in.... And thus we arrive at the moot question of lease -lend. What some Americans often for- get is that lease -lend is reciprocal. It works both ways. Supplies fur- nished to the American troops prior to and during the invasion of North Africa may be cited as an example. During the last six months of 1942 these supplies rep- resented approximately 1,125,000 ships' tons, of a value which can- not be estimated. They ranged from airplanes and assault boats to candy and beehives. An Important Gift Typical of the spirit of lease. lend, I think, is au incident which occurred in the last few days be- fore the invasion, when American fliers discovered they needed radio equipment of a new type. They had no such equipment among their supplies. but the R.A.F. had some. Without an instant's argu- ment, 11.,A.F, fliers stripped their own planes and helped Install their apparatus in the American machines. Beside this it seems al- most ridiculous to mention that British lease -lend supplied Ameri- can troops with 2,000,000 blankets, 2,000,000 sets of underwear, and 4,000,000 pairs of wool socks. , But perhaps the story eau be summed to most comprehensively in the language of dollars and cents. In the last war the United States War Department alone spent more than $2,000,000,000 for supplies in Great Britain and France. This time, up to Decent ber, 1942, all United Slates forees together spent only about $1,000,- 000. Londoners 'Mail' os To Adolf Savings Stamps Bought and Plastered on 500 -Pounders Thousands of Londoners, and Canadian awl. American soldiers, too, from a crowd of about 1,000,- 000 pushing through 'Trafalgar Square, bought savings stamps and plastered them on two 500 -pound 'bombs in the square "for delivery tom The biggest London crowds since the Coronation packed the square in a great rally to buy savings stamps and certificates in the second day of the capital's "Wings For Victory" week. The Govern- ment hopes to raise £150,000,000 in the week. At one time au estimated 100,- 000 jammed into the square in which a big Lancaster bomber, veteran of many raids on Ger- many, had been set urp. The, lions at the root of Nelson's column dis- appeared under the swarm of humanity. 'With Love To Hitler" Speakers urged the crowds to buy snore certificates and stamps, and to spend less upon themselves. Londoners lined up to buy stamps, and then stood in line again to stick them on the bombs sat be- neath the Lancaster. Soon the bombs were covered with stamps, six thick in places. They ta.nged in value from six- tence to five shillings and the purchasers cancelled them with such messages as "with love to Hitler." The Government prom - LIFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher "Are you sure I'm getting the best grade of gasl' I'm not having much success with my cooking: ised that the stamps would be de- livered along :with the bombs to Gemauy. The Government's "take" in Trafalgar Square and other Lon- don centres during the dray was believed to have been a record, 230,000,000 worth of stamps and certificates were sold during the first of the campaign. ■rr/•NJ frrrrrtr aims MP ■rrrl011srr IIMOI10.." Mt ��if■A O. ��/)� �lgi1 .. 5.11' ..�11'�l -- lt.r r1111111111111111 1 •. ler;—•1 .- ' ,711 if► .iC :