The Huron Expositor, 1941-08-08, Page 5I V
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'1SS
AUGUS
8,'1941,
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Jan Christian Smuts--
Art Amazing Personality
(By Herbert A. hlowat In Saturday Night)
The British Commonwealth of Na-
tions possesses many citizens of Bri-
tish, descent—English, Scottish, Irish
,
or Welsh—who have served with dis-
tinction in the armed forces of the
Empire. It has remained for the Un-
ion of South Africa to produce the
first Field -Marshal from the ranks of
its soldiers horn and trained outside
the British Isles -I. Jan Christian
Smuts, Prime Minister,of South, Afri-
ea and Commander -in -Chief of its
armed forces. By the act of Smuts'
elevation to the highest military rank
His Majesty has brought afresh into
the limelight 'one of the niost dyna-
mic, most profound and most illus-
trious personalities of this half -cen-
tury.
he Royal Gallery of the House
of ords is as select a place as any
in the world for a banquet. To re-
ceive an invitation to oae of it
functions is accounted an honor. To
be present as the guest of honor on
such an occasion is sufficient to place
a man in the Imperial and interna-
tional spotlight_ In 1917, at a abate
dinner in this famous Itoyal Gallery,
Lord French presided and the guest
Of honor was the Prime Minister of
the Union of South Africa, the Right
Honorable Jan Christian Smuts.
Away in South Africa the back -
veldt Boer was mystified when he
read the accounts of this dinner in
his Capetown and Pretoria news-
-papers. What was meant by the
great War Minister Lloyd George
when he •affirmed—"of his practical
contributions to our counsels I can-
not speak too highly"? A great
English statesman had declared that
day "He has done more than any
man to recall this country to its great
tradition." Was Jannie Smuts play-
ing the English game better than the
English themselves? Was he out-
Britishing the British?.
The back -veldt Boer reasoned fur-
ther cin Sunday tisound the portals of
the Dutch Reformed rural churches
after divine service: after all, Jannie
Smuts is our cleverest man, out here
he is the best of a million, white men.
and then best in a millioh ma Y well
be the best 'of fifty million! And thus,
in 1917 a crusty pride in this prodigy
of the veldt was formed in the hearts
of these hard-bitten South African
Dutch.
Rang Around World
Eireinaling Smuts said rang around
the world in those days—the magic of
Dordinion Status and the new name
he gave to the mother country and
her self-governing dominions, The
British '''Commonwealth of Nations,
whiCh 'he Clatnied lie 'Wore" in' keep-
ing with its principles of freedom and
equity on which the British com-
munity was founded. Almost every-
body who counted thought so too;
today it is the term used to describe
-this association of countries by His
'Majesty the' King—another tribute to
the dynamic ideas of Smuts. 'The -ut-
terances of Smuts still in this year
of grace ring round the world and
their spirit is one more contribution
to Hitler's titillate headache:'
For 'Smuts today' is the Prime
Minister of a country that boasts the
world's mot rugged indiVidualists.
In one Of •bis bOoks. Major-General
J. F. C. Fuller discusses the problem
-of Army discipline in connection with
which' he refers to the system, that
prevailed' in the Boer commandos
during the South African War. The
commanding officer of • commando
—act -natty a mounted regiment—
never .knew. from day to day how
many men the roll -call would muster
because there was literally' no formal
method of'going on leave. When a
man wanted' leave he mounted his
horse' and rode off. ,
Once General Botha sent to, an-
other Boer general junior to himself
an order to be present on a certain
day for an attack on a strongly held
s e
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We Son ,the 4000011°
British position. The general in qu4s1
tion sent back word that, on the day
suggested for the attack, he and his
men would be attending a cattle, sale
at Harrisburg and would therefore be
unable to assist him! Deneys Reitz,
in his, book "Commando," mentions
only one case of a group being disci-
plined—it was when a grenp of young
Boers went off to attend a•Bible class,
skipped the Bible class and turned up
somewhere else. They were in hot
water over this episode, and were
almost (but not quite) fired from the,
commando!
An, Army, operating under this type
of discipline, needed certain powerful
compensating factors to make it ef-
fective in the field. That the Boers
Possessed these factors generously is
proven by the fact of the terrific
struggle they sustained with com-
paratively few men in the teeth of
overwhelming odds. The Boer was
an individual thinker and fighter; the
Briton was trained to believe that the
Army's golden rule was obedience
and that the cardinal sin was to
think. According to Fuller, the Army
had removed the pipe -clay from its
equipment but not from its brains!
To understand this military indi-
vidualism is to understand the politi-
cal history of South Africa. By
election and instinct the Boer is .fur-
ther away from Nazi regimentatiou
than any national group. The turbu-
lence of national life incidental to
such a high potential of individualism
has required a superman at the helm
of the ship of state. Th d Union- of
South Africa'has been fortunate in
having a superman at the helm or
alose to it for thirty-five years. His
name is Jan Christian Smuts.
His earliest knowledge of the
British he -describes with that whim-
sical humor that is ab characteristic
of him. When he was giving his
rectorial address in The University of
St. Andrews in Scotland he referred
to ,his boyhood days on the veldt,
before he had ever been to school,
when his information about the world
came from rough white men and
Hottentots.
"My mind goes back 'to the first
occasion I heard mention of the Scots.
My people were 'farming folk in the
aid Cape Colony, and wben was a
very small boy. I sometimes fre-
quented the company of an old
Hottentot shepherd 401 my father. He
used to delight us with stories from
Ills native folklore. He had been to
several Kaffir wars and could tell
of his own wonderful feats of arms
in these border campaigns.'I listened
enthralled. -At" the time the first
Boer War—the one that ended at
Majuba--was going on, and I remem-
beron,
asking him who he thought would
win. From his great military know-
ledge he had no doubt. the English
would win. I asked him whether he
thought the • English were the great-
est nation in the world and he replied
'No'; there *as one nation still
greater who lived in the/farthest land
in the world; they were the greatest
of all nations and even the English
were very much afraid ,of them.
They were called 'the Scots.' That
was my first introduction to the Scots
and such was my introduner. Now
fifty-four years after...these 'historic
conversations I find m,yself the
Rector of a famous University of
'this land af romanee' as the Princi-
pal calls it of. 'the greatest of peo-
ples' as old Adam the Hottentot call-
ed it:'
From such meagre beginnings did
Smuts' knowledge of Britain grow.
Few men now alive have suffered
violence at the hands of the British
as he has. At the famous dinner in
the Royal Gallery • of the House of
Lords he turned to Lord French and
recalled that .when the cavalry col-
umns of General French were hunt-
ing thirn in Cape Coloney, he, Smuts,
made a reconnaissance with a num-
ber of "his followers in a mountain
pass called Murderer's Gap., The
scouts of General French ambushed
the .Boer party and Smuts was, the
only person to return alive to. Head-
quarters.
Trotiblesome Boer
f
No 'hoer caused the British Army.
so much trouble. His guerilla tactics
in Cape Colony at the head of fifteen
hundred men. riept fifty thousand
British troops employed for fifteen
months in an endeavor to run him
to earth. So elusive was Smuts that
when word reached him to attend the
armistice. parleyaahe „was in the act
of laying stege, to, a British coastal
town in Cape. Colony and was calling
on the inhabitanto to. surrender.,
That Smuts and the .British should
become reconciled and work together
for human freedom is enough to
make us believe that not,only the un
expected but the' impossible can
happen. How' did Such a miracle
occur? The British soon after the
conquest conferred political freedom
on South Africa; this act reopened
for Smuts' a 'reconsideration of the
British which was momentous. The
British had a high regard bar people
who fought intrepidly for freedom
Smtita rocas irresistibly drawn to a
conquering people who could be so
generous to a beaten enem3".
One amazing f eature of the Smuts
pertorlaitY is the power of., his Intel
lent.Ile seen:18'10 be able to clasSify.
mentally and 'retain rot' instant refer
etice vinery Significant fact that has
ever engaged lapl attention. One et
tWO.donanitstrittibnis this or Will
Atiffite•, •
builagali • first "Ittnthellig
versity o( StellershOSChbe disleerered
that Greek wail a leeefiliarY'anbleet
in his course, especially in the light
of what he Weariedtodo later at
Cambridge. At this time he was
seventeen years of age; it is interest-
ing to treeall that at the age of twelve
he was unlettered, having never been
to school. When She' Easter vacation
came he bought a Greek grammar
and went off to a farm on the veldt
for a week's holiday. During six
days of furious reading—how else can
it be described? — he mastered the
whole book, declensions, conjugations,
irregular verbs, vocabulary — every-
thing! What he did in six .daye is
conceded to be a more difficult feat
than the sane performance with a.
Latin grammar, a gauge, with which
Canadian students can measure his
mental feat. During the final term
that followed this tholiday he read the
•Greek authors set for the examines
tion—Xeeophon, Herodotus, Honier—
a job on which the GreelCcluss had
been working throughout the whole
academic year. To the astonishment'
of Professor Murray he presented
himself for the final examination in
Greek. But the learned Professor
had a bigger surprise coming. Smuts'
name topped the list when the ex-
amination reiults were published!
Miracles,,of Mentality •
When Smuttook the Law Tripos at
at the University of Cambridge he
achieved an academic distinction that
surpassed anything that had been
chalked up in the Law Tripos in the
long history of this ancient univer-
sity. Today the degree of Snluts still
stands as the finest degree in Law
ever granted by the University. It is
not in the record that he made any
intimate friends at Cambridgea It is
probable he did nat. He absorbed
too much from books to have time
for friendships. He read philosophy
as a marginal mental activity clu-Fing
TiPs for
On Gasoline
Economy
otorists
. .
For the Capadian motorist who sin-
cerely desires to save gasoline and
oil In the operatiou .of hie car or
truck, thus co-operating in the Do-
minion Government fuel economy
campaign, Certain simple rules are
available.
The following list of driving tips
has been compiled by C. E. McTavish
of General Motors Products of Canada
Limited. These hints are, offered by
Mr. McTavish to the Canadian motor-
ing public,/ with Mr. McTavirfir's com-
ment that a maximum of economy is.
built into the modern automobile but
that these are certain things that the
motorist himself must do to elimin-
ate avoidable waste of gasoline and
oil. Here is Mr. MeTavish's
1. Accelerate gently. A fast get-
aways may be spectacular, but it
wakes gasoline. ' "
2. Do not 'Stay in 'second gear be-
yond 20 m.p.h. Roaring second gear
speeds devour' large quantities of fuel,
3. Start to decelerate a sufficient
distance from your stopping point to
allow the momentum of the car to
carry you along with a minimum use
of gasoline.
4. Drive at moderate speeds. Re-
member the best economy is obtain-
ed at speeds 25 to 35' m.p.h. The
ter you drive above this speed
greater the requirements
oil per mile.
5. Keep your engine tuned up for
the best efficiency. Dirty spark plugs
can waste one gallon of gas for every
ten used. Tightly adjusted valyes not
only cause burned valves, but result
in poor fuel economy. Ignition points
properly adjusted, and ignition pro-
fas-
the
of fuel and
'40
the time of his law course, starting perly timed, will give you the best
with Plato and including everything Iperformance and greater fuel dcon-
in the field of philosophy 'down tip; omYs
what was then • being published y 6. Keep your car well lubricated.
the pre -Bergson philosophers of e Keep the tires inflated to the proper
late nineteenth century. He found pressure. Make sure the parking
Lone of it satisfying and it is char- brake is in the completely released
acteristic of his independence 0!positton., In other words, let your car
a
thought. that he made nots onroll freely.
-
philosophy of his own that he be- ' 7. Don't let your engine idle more
lit -vett to. be more satisfying. He than is necessary. Even an idling
named it Holism. Years later he engine consumes gasoline.' '-
reviewed these notes and wrote a 8. Do not postpone a necessary en -
book on the subject. Every standard gine overhanl. Worn rings drastical-
encyclopaedia gives a serious digest ly reduce engine power, and result in
of Holism and Smuts' text -book on more oil and gasoline being consurn-
the subject is a work of reference ed -
and study in many philosophy de-
9. Watch the choke, especially if
pairtments of the world's it
great is manually operated. Don't forget
universities.
to push it to the "off" position as
This prodigious intellectual dyna- quickly as possible after starting a
min' in the personality of Smuts is his cold engine.
most startling characteristic. The 10. Avoid pumping the accelerator
world possesses many distinguished up and down. This pumps a slug of
men or action but none with the gasoline out of the carburetor every
superb intellectual drive and capacity time you make a downward motion. '
of Smuts. To Rosita Forbes he gave In conclusion, Mr. ,11:1,cTavish drawS
a most astounding demonstration of attention to another. fuel waster.
his mental powers which she relates Don't overfill the gasoline tank. The
in her book "Men I Have Known," gas station attendant naturally wants
She ;discovered that his old Cape to put all the gasoline'he possibly
Colony farmhouse,' where he loves can in your tank, but quite often the
best to be, is cra,mmed [with books— will spill some (for which you pay)
walls of all the -rooms lined witit in trying to get that last quart in.
them and passageways likewise— And remember that gasoline expands
ever Y one of which he has mastered with heat, and if you park your car
and is familiar with, . in, the sun with the tank full, that
At the General's • invitation she expanding gasoline bas got to go
tested his mastery of his books. His aomewhere and that will be out of
challenge was that sOae, read him.a the gas tank vent.
paragraph from any of the htousands
m
of •books the house; picking the
out at random, and he' would recall
from memory the substance of • the
succeeding paragraph. ,She read ten
paragraphs from ten boOks, the
authors ofnwhich included Winston
Churchill, Engelman, Ludwig,. Dos-
toievsky. In five instances Smuts
was able to repeat word for word the
,pauagraph following, the one she
read, and in the case of the other five
he related with precision the sub-
stance of each subsequent paragraph.
Physical Energy Too .
It is not surprising that a man of
such mental equipment is a past
'president of the British Association
.the Advancement of Science. But
it is surprising that a man with an
erudition and scholarship so charac-
teristic of the lecture hall and the
study shOuld be 'he most celebrated
botanist on the continent of Africa.
It is nothing less than miraculous
that his life should have been of suffi-
cient compass in the wild open spaces
of Africa for. him, to have achieved a
world
-wide reputatiot, as an authority
ori t.13' flora and, its natural history.
This fact is a tribute not only to his
colossal mental capacity but to his
boundless physical energy as well. It
is one more commentary .on the say-
ing in CapetOwn to the effect that
"the General" hardly ever looks at
the summit of four -thousand -foot
Table Mountain but what he is mov-
ed to climb it!'
The contribution of the ,military
genius of Smuts to the cause of free-
dom in this was is an open book
today', but a record not read as it
should be read by the Canadian pub-
lic. In his capacity as Commander -
in -Chief of the South African forces
operating from Kenya nors
thward
through Ethiopia and other recently -
Italian Aftrican territory Smuts has
been it the field with his men. From
this very centre of Africa last
January ha\ broadcast a message
which stirred the hearts of freedom -
loving people throughout the wOrld,
privileged once more to heat the
voice of one for whom the risking of
everything in the cause of freedom
is becconing anitabit From 1914 to
1917, at the head' of his on troops
Smits drove the, last Germans front
the soil of Africa. That his initial
Moves against .their Axis partner in
this war have been successful is -
closed by the result of the Ethiopian
:caMpaign. Vitt ahinatbing .reeOrd
God- never made his work for Man'
to mend.—Longfellow.
Good company and good, conyersa-
don are the very sinews of virtue.
The object of the supealoa man is
truth.—Confucius.
bill#0y1 t,tolitoveAlont ca tokibel.
•
• • • • • „ „. .
va0e\
In U.S.A.
The United Stataga 1014411/0 OAR*
ade's lead, She le going salvage con-
scious, She is Planning to- increaSe
the army of people, numbering 190,-
000 who have in the past Ittade a.
trade of fliligently ferreting out waste,
collecting it, preparing it, and chats.
noting It back into the Maw sof- In-
dustry.
The first of the United States sai-
ls being directed at alum -
lite for collecting it is
vage eff
Inman '
now unde
Every ho
kettles,
se fe is contributing old
mg pans, pots, picture
frames, parts of disused vacuum
cleaners and washing machines. As
H. I. Philips writes in. his "Once.
O•ver" column in the Washington Post
Mary had a frying pan,
A kettle and a pot;
But very seldom used 'em.
For she ate outside a lot.
She gave them for the land's defence—
Now when a bomber wings
Its way o'enhead she clasps her hands
And cries, "There go my things!"
American men are also being asked
to contribute aluminum articles for
the drive. Ash trays, golf clubs, desk
implements„shoe trees, automobile
accessories, may be contributed. Mr.
Phillips has an idea here, ton—
had a cocktail shaker
For which I had much use,
And ob, the deadly wallop
That .shaker could produce!
But now it's joined the army -
It's= - in the Flying Corps;
If ever it hits Adolph
He'll know that war is war. s
The war is the reason for- the U.S.
salvage drive. It has disrupted indus-
try at home and shipping abroad.
There is a threatened Shortage of
Certain types of raw materials, part-
ly due to decreased imports, and part-
ly due to a switching of industrial ef-
fort. Canada is helping her neighborr
start hesalvage worka
"The United States Office of Pro-
duction Management has been in.
touch with us several times," report
Canadian Salvage officials. "It is.
watching how we go about the col-
lecting of secondary materials and
how we assure their return to indus-
try, on a nation-wide scale."
Of course, salvage is not a I new
thing in the United States. The an-
nual salvage figures there are huge.
Not less than twenty million tens of
scrap iron .and steel are turned back
to - industry each year. Reclamation
of more than two million tons' of
waste paper is • part of the annual sal-
vage chore. Brass and copper -stand
high on the list with reclamation' of
anquatter of a million tons' of those
nietals. The same amount of scrap
rubber goes on the market each year.
But "rePorts reaching Canada indi-
cate that these figures have to be
greatly increased if serious shortag-
es are not to slow up United States
war production.
Canada's own Salvage work goes
Forward apace. The latest develop-
ment is a special effort to round up
aluminum. This aspect of the sal-
vage drive is -being handled by the
Red Cross.. It will centre on the large
cities and on the rural areas tribu-
tary to them. While the work gets
under way, Canadians should memor-
ize another of Air. Phillips' whimsical
parodies—
Old Maher Hubbarde,
Went to the, cupboard •
.To eheck on her pots and pans;
The .aluminurn ones,
She knew were like guns
In helping defensive plans.
lished further by intea'esting parti-
culars from the Italian Commander -
in -Chief, The Duke of Aosta. Ons
military leadership in- Africa cannot
lack for genius in the. High Command
with Smuts and Wavell working
to shoulder.
Ten years ago Jan Christian Smuts
was interviewed in Toronto during
the sessions at the University of the
British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science. The newspaperman
who obtained the interview stated
later that never would be have .set
the South African down as a soldier
--as a general. He had the presence
and the bearing of a great Church
dignitary. Call him 00 archbishop.?
--yes, but a gemaral-anever! Such
an opinion is suggestive of the com-
plexity of • this most unusual per-
sonality. But for today let us forget
ihe rest of Smuts and stick to the
soldier --to them
' Field Marshal. In hi
we have one of the sharpest anti -
Axis blades in the whole world of
•
freedom -loving men. .
Aluminum is an, essential war ma-
terial. It has a big role to play when
4,000 pounds go into a fighter plane
and morethan 28,000 pounds go into
a bomber. Well may Canadian house-
wives contribute their old and worn
out aluminum kitchen ware. Well
may they sign:
• Frying pan, frying pan, .
Where have you been?
I've been to London
• And back again:
I'm part of a bomber
That flies O'er the sea ...
Who'd ever thought that
Could happen to me!
0
, ST. COLUMBAN
1, Miss Mary Atkinson, daughter of
I Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Atkinson, of Hiln
1 bei -t, was injured in a motor accident
I as. she was returning to Toronto ou
1 Monday evening with her brother and
some friends.
Go Thursday afternoon fire broke
out on the farm of Joseph Ryan, 1i/4
miles south of Dublin and a mile
west. The fire started, at the barn
from some unknown cause and the
names spread rapidly to the house.
Both were completely destroyedaand
a heavy loss will be sustained. '
Instructions in Event
Of Airplane Mishap
The Commanding Officers of No. 31
Air Navigation School, Port Albert,'
Ont., and, No. 12 E.V.T.S., Goderich,
Ont., recpiest the co-Operationof resi-
dents of the Townships of Colborne,
Ashfield, Wawlanesh, Morris, Hullett
and Goderich in supplying 'immediate,
accurate and detailed information
concerning mishaps to aircraft in the
area. of these townships.
Detailed inforthation is essential so
that the Service ambulance, the medi-
cal and reecue'squags may reach the
scene of (a. mishap in the shortest
time possible. Vague, iiittecirrate' in-
fornration may se delay" rescue opera -
tibias that the life Of alt *Man might
be the penalty.,
IMMeditttply y1011 Witileas, a firing
ace1ettittYtotemigiboilimsd. oi have
inforinatien torMatil4tIC,:14414i1s haO,
„„.
pening, kindly be guided by the fol-
lowing instructions in sequence:
1. Telephone (reversing charges)
Goderich 782, and ask for the aero-
drome control officer if the aircraft
is a twin engine type; OR Goderich
760 and ask for the Chief Flying Ina,
-structor if the aircraft is a single
engine type.
2. Give him the following infarma-
tion distinctly and as accurately as
possible:
(a) If the accident is in the im-
mediate vicinity of a town or village,
give the name of such town or vil-
lage--
(b) If en a farm, give the .lot mkt
ber, north or south half as the case
play be, ;Concession number and
14t5vmshin.
Having ?phoned in the above inf'01%,
MatiOns their take action to goat
• 1, , ,
i•
Regular 95c .
Boys'WashSuits
All colors. Sizes 2 to 6 years.
Regular $7.50
Men's Slack Suits
All colors and sizes.
Men's \and Boys' "
Swim Suits.
Wool or Satin Lastex
To Clear 20%
OFF
Men's Summer
Outing Pants 20%
To Clear
Sizes 30 to 44 waist. - OFF
Regular 50c
MenisAnkle Sox To
All colors ---,Wool or Silk.
Clear
39c
Regular 50c
Summei Ties
Hundreds to choose from.
•1:1•1111180Mbir
To Clear
39c
Regular to $4.75
Summer Dresses
To Cleair
28
.9 •
Regular to $7.95
Summer Dresses
To Clear
4.98
Women's High Grade
Summer Dresses
To Clear 25 /0
OFF
Very Special
Summer Millinery HALF
Women's and Children's
Ankle Hose
To Clear
Sizes 5 to 101/) ;all summer shades.
13c
2 for 25c
Children's
Sumter Dresses
2 to 14 years. All shades.
VERY SPECIAL
44.
Towelling
To Clear 20/0
OFF
To Clear
YARD
17" Wide Part Linen
,Assorted color borders. Heavy quality.
25c
STEWMT BROS.
some one on the road nearest to the
scene of the accident to guide the
ambulance when it comes along.
When an accident occurs you will
be rendering a moat valuable servile
by taking the action, as above intend-
ed. and yottr co-operation will be Most
sincerely appreciated.
(It is suggested that rea:lors cLIi
and preserve these inStriketions),.
Dead ,and libled Animals
ItEgovEri ogo
PHONE COLLECT: SEAPOIR EXE1ER
A kliT
D'AULING
AND -M 10.
•
A