The Blyth Standard, 1930-04-10, Page 3The Fliers' Job
In a Great Battle
Zero Hour! __-
Cray columns of smoke "stalked
forward like a row of trees set in mo-
tion by some magic power, The
ground became alive with men."
Clearly the British iIying-ollicer,
Colonel Enderby, who had been sent
Up 011 patrol to relay information,
could see the British as they clamber-
ed out of the assembly trenches, over
the top, Thu dull glitter of their bay -
Miele "showed up plainly through the
murk. On they went, line upon line
of them, one of the most moving and
inspiring sights 11 will ever be my
lot to sem?' So says Colonel Enderby'
in "Letters from a Plying Officer," by
R. Stuart Wortley (Oxford University
Press),
The book is fiction, but into the life
of Colonel Enderby, the hero, the
author has put much of his Own war-
time experience. Tho deeds of the
Colonel may net he literally true, but
they are typical. The volume was ia-
ten(led to interest the youth of 511g -
land In the future of the air.
The flight described by Colonel En-
derby took place in the great Somme
battle, ntarting on July 1, 1916. Writ-
ing of it the next day, ire said:
Yesterday was a ldstodde day; won-
derful and awful,
it was the eulmivating point of
months of steady preparation, hard
thought, hard work, and hard training.
The Fourth BritishArmy flung Its
full strength against the German posl-
tlons on the River Somme, supported
,on the left by divisions of the Third
Army, and on the. right by tiro French,
For' a few days previously the massed
allied artillery had been carrying out
an intensive bombardment of the Ger-
man system of defenses; cutting
through their barbed-wire entangle-
ments, destroying their machine-gun
emplacements, battering in then'
trenches, so preparing the way for the
infantry attack. The zero hon', that
is the schedule time for assault, was
settled for 7.30 a.nr,
There was little sleep for any of us
the night before, we were 11111011 on
edge. Again and again we went over
the details of the operation orders. We
would not fail the infantry for lack of
care and trouble.
At last the summer morning cause,
calm, 0101110g, tranquil. -
The roar of the guns had died down,
Only the echo of as occasional
crump could be heard faintly wafted
from the eastward, Prom the first
gleaming of dawn onwards, the aero-
drome became a scene of bustling ate
tivity, Finishing touches were being
put to 1110 machines, engines tested,
rigging inspected,
This was the day of days.
The scouts had already taken the
air and were early scouring the heav-
ens miles away over the lines in the
endeavor to keep the opposing air-
o'aft from approaching our trenches.
I had beau detailed for contact pa-
trol, trench -plane, whose job it was to
keep in touch with 1110 attacking bat-
talions, to report the progress of
their advance, to watch for their sig-
nals, and to communicate then' needs
to the Commands of Staff.
Tem minutes before the ]hour of
zero I was floating over the front line
at about 1,000 feet. Tho artillery
bombardment had started an hour
since, Guns .,f all calibres had joined
in raining shot and shell on the enemy
front'ltoes and supports. The heavy
howitzers were pluuhiug huge project
tiles onto the German billets, onto
crone -roads, and onto strong poste far
in the roar,
It was a stupendous spectacle!
never, lu the history of mankind
have organs of destruction contrived
by hums agency been so concen-
trated by nation against nation.
The al' was thick with smoke; the
atmosphere suffused with the acrid
shell of powder, Tho whole broad
belt of -dusty brown which marked the
trench 11110 lay under It dirty yellow
pall, stretching from Gomnlocourt In
UM north way down beyond the river
Somme. The ground below Iny quiv-
ering 118 in mortal agony under the
hail of staggering blows as the guns
quickened their rate of thing , , , - it
was "drum fire" now.
Great blocks o1 earth shot sky-
wards; shivered asunder and fell,
breaking into spray like an Atlantic
roller which has burst against c1 rocky
promontory, and flooding the ground
with debris,
Puffs of black smoke flashed up into
sight and slowly dissolved into the
general haze; to be replaced by others
and yet others, Smaller 911110 of white
went claiming In hundreds along the
parapets. The fifteen -pounders wore
working at full pressure.
Behind the curtain of vapor' great
columns of powder and dust spouted
upwards from 001)0(0 the flfteen-inclh
shells had made their mark, spreading
outwards as they rose.
It was as if nature had thrown up
a string of miniature volcanoes,
How 000111 mortal elan survive in
such a terrible inferno?
Then came the zero hour, the erup-
tion of the 10011 from flit trenches,
D`ronm 1110 Vantage -point above Colonel
]Enderby could see them. Ho des-
cribes the charge thus:
On they swept, A few 14110r1 Ill111-
utes and they had gained their first
objectives. Not all along the line.
There were gaps. I could see that al-
ready. In some places the oncoming
waves of khaki had faltered,
Men fell in heaps in the face of the
German machine-gun fire. Our bom-
bardment had evidently failed to ,c11
the herbed -wire absolutely and com-
pletely,
1 could see the men struggling to
get through the tangled 100.00. Nor
had even the heaviest gnus succeeded
in petetuati+g 1110 roofs of the deep
dugouts which the Germans had c01-
strocted. As 001' barrage lifted I could
see their machine -gunners, their steel
gray uniforms and "plckelhaubes"
w000 easily (listinguishable, bringing
up their deadly weapons from the
shelter 20 feet below the ground, In
some cases, Where our men had over-
rm1 the first line of the trenches, the
Huns emerged in roar of them and
shot them in the back.
My time had come: the moment
was at Maud in which I could help,
I carte down to 200 feet, I remem-
hor a pang of uneasiness. It was not
pleasant flying at this altitude right
in the line of the trajectory of our
own 81(8)1s which were still pouring
over into Hnn-land.
But fear Is most readily banished
from the mind when there is much
else to think about,
I sounded my Klaxon horn, and al-
most immediately the flares showed
up. I flew up and down the line, both
my observer and myself badly draw-
ing in the positions newly 00011910d
by our infantry on a trench map, 10
some places they hurl penetrated un-
expocdedly far into and beyond the
German line. They hall taken Fri -
court and had pushed 010 as far as
Cootahnaisou.Over toward the Ancro
the attack had not been so success-
ful, There 000 obviously a terrific
struggle goin on in and aroma Thlep-
val Wood.
We filled It the new line on our map
fairly accurately, I think, and flew
back to the appointed spot where we
dropped the information which we
knew was 00010001y awaited, Theo
we returned to the front lite, and
again announced our presence by a
Mut upon the Klaxon horn,
Ono by one the white letters of the
code of signals were displayed upon
tine ground: "B.B," "H.H,," "The
enemy are retiring," "Lengthen
range," carte up the silent cry of the
units of the 34th Division, Our own
barrage was 1noldltg up the advance,
"Z,Z.," "Held up by wire," said the
division to its left. "P.P.," "P.P.,"
"rho enemy are offering strong resist-
ance, reinforcements wanted."
Wo flew back with these messages.
The long clay wore on, Twice and
three times the pilots returned to the
aerodrome, replenished their petrol
tames and were oft again to the line.
When darkness came there was not
ono of us who was not dead beat. It
had been a day of high hopes, partly
realized, partly disappointed. The
sit(atl01' is still obscure: to -morrow
we shall know better what we have
gained and what the victory has cost.
I fear it has cost the Il.P.C, a few
byes that can ill he spored,
Wife (at 3.30 ami --"Now, don't
pull that old gag about sitting up wltlh
a dead friend,"
Husband--"No—he was a live ono,
all right. IIe trimmed 100 for 75 In a
poker game and the landlord will have
to wait until next month for his."
The Met step to greatness is to ire
honest, --Dr. Johnson.
S'MATTER POP— A Serious Collision.
Few years More and Only Preserved Specimens Will Remain
.,i
ONE BY ONE THESE FOREST GIANTS FALL BEFORE THE WOODMAN
Ilig? 00, yes, fairly sizable. It 10 almost a lifework for these mon 10
knock this British Columbia sapling down, The photograph was taken on
Vancouver Island,—11.N.II. Photo
Smallpox Is
•Child Slayer
Vaccination To -day is Saving
Thousands of Children
This is the twenty-first of a Series
of Weekly 11001111 Articles prepared
by the Canadian Social Hygieu: Couu-
cli,
Smallpox is sometimes called the
children's disease. This is a rather
broad statement, and as a Preuclnnan
said, "all generalizations are false, in-
cluding this one." Smallpox is every-
body's disease, just a$ vaccination le
everybody's protection. It is tete,
however, that smallpox is an especial
(larger to childhood.
1 have some figures before 1110 that
tell a frlghtfnl story of what smallpox
ce a do to children in a country, where
children are cherished above all
things—England.
At the end of the nineteenth centry
a smallpox scourge bit England,
moved front city to city, leaving a ter-
rible trail of death and disfiguration
behind it, The old country's public
men, always on the alert to better
conditions for the people, made an ex-
haustive investigation into the cir-
cumstances surrounding the epidemic.
1 will give you the result of their
search for facts. These figures refer
In each instance to clhildren under ten
years of age.
Prom the year 1.891 to 1900 In Lon-
don, the death rate among vaccinated
children was ill; among unvaccinated
children the death rate was 22,8,
For the year 1895 and the year 1896
in Leicester, the death rate among
vaccinated children was nil; among
unvaccinated children it was 14 per
cent, '1'he total number of smallpox
cases of all ages was 357.
From 1887 to the year 1888 In Shef-
field the death rate among vaccinated
children was 1.7. The total number of
smallpox 01000 of all ages was 4,703,
From 10929 to 18939 1n Oldham, the
death rate among vaccinated 01111(10011
was nil; the death rate among unvac-
cinated children -was 33.3, The total
number of smallpox caress of all age,
wa0 124,
Prom 1892 to 1893 in Leeds, then
death rale among vaccinated children
was nil; the death rate among unvac-
cinated children 11'00 37.1, The total
number of smallpox cases was 200.
There your havo an Idea of England's
experience with just one epidemic.
Five other cities and towns have
about the same story to tell.
It 1s the experience of doctors the
world over, and ollmw9 how Teal is tile
danger from smallpox, low terrible
tit effects of the scourge; 1100 remark-
able the benefits of vaccination and
how largely, imaginary are its hazards.
Diming the period when these ag-
ues 0000 accumulated, smallpox was
as prevalent as measles, and that was
tile decade when it acquired the re-
putation of bein gibe "children' dis-
ease," Time has taught the medical
profession that sm81lp00 resumes he
epidemic proportions of other days
whenever and wherever the system of
vaccination is habitually neglected.
Through Buell neglect there results an
accumulation of people who are sus.
coltish) to the 11180080 and who
promptly spread it among other peo-
ple.
Personal experience is a great
teacher, but it would hardly be fair
to ask the anti-vaccimtioniets to try
an experiment which was undertaken
during a virulent smallpox scourge
which swept hv0uglh Dolton, Mass., by
Dr, Isaac Pfeiffer, a plhyeiciau of that
city who opposed the "germ theory"
and contended that good physique,
exorcise, food, etc., were all the pro-
tection needed against the disease,
IIe challenged the Boston health de-
partment to let him expose himself to
smallpox 1010011010. The challenge
department oftletals and reporters—
was accepted and a group of (health
all
vaccinated --went to Ilalloups Is-
lands, where 111e smallpox cases were
isolated, with Dr. Pfeiffer, who was
the only unvaccinated person in the
party. The, doctor trotted into the
wards with this g'r'oup, thea out again.
Ifo boasted that he "would inhale, the
bread. of 1110 smallpox cases, wipe
their 100es with his handkerchief,
Hien wipe his own face with the same
handkerchief." But 11) did none of
these things. 110 returned to 1110 home,
some forty miles 0111 of 130010n, and
00110 late (Uncovered therm wlih t 110-
veloped,case of smallpox frons whirls'
he nearly died. The n0tvnna:lers at.
the time said ho was "a man very
much to he pitied,"
'l'ltere fuss a parallel case in Toron-
to, during an epidemic, when au alder-
man of the city, a former member of
the city's board of health, and an 09-
po1elt of compulsory vaccination,
found himself in a smallpox hospital,
and unable to continue Ills active 9201
In the agitation against vaccination.
Moetre0l, too, had Its taste of 011ti-
vaccinatlaulets anti soured on the
type. For a dozen years or so, Dr.
Coders) lectured and issued autl-vac-
chtlon literature tlu'oeghont the
French-Camulia1 section of Montreal,
When the ddsca0e was introduced 10
tll)ir midst, it was found that ninety
per cent. of the deaths ware among
children tinder ten years of age who
had not been vaccinated and 0110, 110
doubt, had been influenced by the anti -
vaccination literature of the day.
That, however, was only ono of the
horrible 100911008 of the epidemic. Dr,
Cadevre, lender of the anti -vaccina -
Monists until the 0950101c broke out,
tiled to leave the province and enter
Ontario, The authorities insisted that
he be physically examined so that
there 0011101 be no danger of the
emerge passing into this province,
The examination showed how little
Dr. Coderre himself trusted the
lheo'les be Baas broadcasting among
1. he chiren--hehad Neem vaccinated
himself.
It has been charged that lubercul-
0s10 may be caused by vaccination.
Stere is what 1h'. Edward Baldwin,
director of the 1'rudeau Foundation
for Researcih in Tuberculosis has to
011y 1100111 it: "Personally, said Dr.
Baldwin, "I have never 80011 a case
of aut00111I sled tuberculosis due to
vaccination. Furthermore, I have
seen many cases of tuberculosis who
have undergone vaccination without
harm. In iv'. vaccination in the
course of tuberculosis Inas been the
cause of improvement in some cages,
and over tw01itydlvo years ago vac-
cination was seriously advocated by
French Physicians, as a form of treat-
ment."
reat-
menit."
Does vaccination cause syphilis?
hIero is a question which constantly
raises its head,
New York is the second largest city
in 1110 world and it 1e estimated that
8 to 10 per cent. of the population has
syphilis. As a result Now York af-
fords a wide spportuuity for the study
of the disease. The answer to the
question -- does vaccination cause
syphilis?—which I will read to you,
comes from Dr. John A. Fordyce, the
professor of 0yph1110 In Columbia Uni-
versity, one of the greatest etndents
in the interest of mankind of this dis-
ease, Dr. Fordyce says, "1 have never
in my experience seen a case of syph
ills conveyed in this manner, and do
not believe that such a mode of infec-
tion Is possible."
It is generally considered that if a
child is vaccinated within the first
year of its life and again during the
early stages of the adolescent period
it will be ppotec1ed from the danger of
smallpox for the rest of its life, The
mother who has charge of the 0001111
of herself and the members of her
family should have no difficulty la de-
ciding without a shadow of a doubt in
her mind that vaccination is the safe
precedes() and the only safe procedure
In the avoidance of Smallpox.
A Conjuration
The hllntlhlg storm, the hungry dts-
arraY
Of lean wet winds—these can I hold
at bay;
Nor do I fear 110098d breakers, black
as load,
Which match the frantic darkness
overhead:
But, 0! 38 windy gods; avert front 110
Calms which can make a prlsen of the
sea!
—'Margaret Sackville It Lhe Glasgow
Herald,
"De Arise is nething u.oveI cane
ign, isn't 103"
"Yee, he's passlug out good cigars."
"It 10 the primitative things that
appeal to the sophisticated world as
romantic." --Bernard 14ldershaw,
Novelties Bring
Sophistry
Materials Bring Symmetry of,
Line and Harmony
Feminine imagination will receive
pleasant stimulus in the fabric sur-
prises of the spring 0ea0011. Many
and delightful are the novelties in new
materials mai the manner of their use.
When the last word has been said,
the true value of any fabric rests up-
on Its ability to mitten() 1001111111e
charm, 1Yeaves and color combin•
anions (hie spring offer the couturier
wide range. Since sartorial enchant;
moats depend upon symmetry of line,
harmony of color, and the use of mate-
rials appropriate to the cut of gowns,
the more diversified styling of mate.
rials Is an incentive to greater orlgiu-'
ality in design,
1"ahrics this spring combine body
and suppleu000. Satins of consider-
able weight and great elegance, 001110
of diem richly brocaded, 80100 of soft,
luscious crepe satin, proclaim the now
era of formality. Plat crepes grow
richly soft. and take on new dignity,
oiilfons have more body, and laces
of real worth, such as Alencon and
Chantilly, supplant the sheerer and
less impressive ones. Tulle, nets,
and even horsehair braid add their
originality to materials for evening
and the brocaded chiffons and lames
are sunlpttmes in their fueling and
beautiful to design and color.
Imported Sophistication
An import from Leloag illustrates
smartly the utilization of horsehair
braid for evening gowns. It is an
ultra -sophisticated gown, entirely of
the boreehalr braid, and 111e gleaming
sheer blackness of its material gives
It tremendous chic,
The entire gown is formed of lun'0e•
hair braid of varying widths Am -
fencing with narrow braid which
fashions the smart bolero that flares
slightly over the molded body-llnes
of the gown. Spiraling around the
body to a line well below the hips,
111e braid 18 molded to tho figure, giv-
ing the chic tubular line, Prom be
low the hips, wider braid makes a
full skirt 10111011 billows like an Ir-
regular umbrella, swooping to the
floor in 111e back,
The very character of the fabric
110ur0s its 8111101111 flare and furnishes
Its own trimming. The black le 11000-
lieved by any color and the gown re-
presents one of the smartest crea-
1 tions from Paris for spring,
Lace Has Chic Role
1 For ultra -femininity, Alencon lace
has no superior for an effective and
extremely serviceable evening gown,
For the lace gown finds itself perfect-
ly at home on the most formal 00-
Icaslons and on those where less for-
! 180111y holds reign.
Air Mail to India
Bombay 'flies of India: Truth, that
very shy lady, compels us to admit
that 1110 Air mail 18 an interesting es-
perimeat and a modest convenience;
but little more.... 'There is a news•
paper aphorism that nothing is news
0111011 does 1101 come by the quickest
route. The quickest route between
Great Britain and India is not the
aeroplane, nor eve; will be; nor the
01101tip, when it costes; but Ether,
harnessed by the genius of Marconi,
We invite the Associated Chambers
of Commerce in all seriousness to con-
sider which would be of the greater
value to the community—an Air Mat,
arriving a day or two before the Sea
Post, 00 uu000101u that every import,
ant message should bo duplicated, of
wirelss Messages at a penny a word.
None can doubt (011at the answer
should be.
ONE DAY AT A TIME
All along our earthly life we are
shut in with God, as it were, in little
spaces. We must live a day at a
time. The n001010g0 aro little hilltops
from which we can look down into the
valley of one 111110 day. What lies
over the next hill we cannot toll, Per-
haps, 1011011 we come to it, it may re-
veal to us a lovely garden through
which our path shall go. Or it may
81100 110 a vale of shadows, or a path
amid hiders. No matter; we have but
the ono little valley of the day now in
sight, Evening is our 11001000. Here
in this Cale little day's enclosure we
can root, as though in a refuge, To-
mor1'OW's st01'1110 811(1 cafes cannot
touch tis.—J. It. 7,liilo', D.D.
Legislation pending, in New York
state would control radio medical
{ publicity.
By C. M. PAYNE
v
Mo&I rNEcuu.NR,
Y 4-\A'.
aCEzawl!
t_Et M e,