RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 74, 20 December 1939, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events

(By

Kickshaws.)

The war influence is stated to be making itself felt in the toy shops. Echelons of tin soldiers may be observed ready for any contingent.

The scuttling of the Graf Spee is one thing, but the torpedoing of the German propaganda naval victory in Berlin is another.

A man in a taxi-cab smash with a girl in Chicago is said to have married her. He will soon be realizing that buses art the more economical proposition.

“I notice that the author, J. B. Priestley, advocates the formation of the United States of Europe. What is the U.S.E.?” asks “F.G.0.”

[This idea has been suggested many times, but for lack of backers has always flopped. France suggested the idea after the Great War, but Europe refused to become united. There is no doubt that if the diverse outlooks of this troublesome continent could be co-ordinated into some form of unity the world would be a far better place. It is always the Old World which gives all the trouble. The Newer Worlds have evolved better methods, including the British Empire. Problems of language and traditional hatreds appear to prevent anything being done.]

It is claimed that “plastics” have revolutionized the manufacture of war materials. More than 120 different artieles are now made from this material for war purposes. Yet it is not so long ago that a eat was reported to have overset a bottle of formaldehyde on to some cheese. When the chemist entered the laboratory and saw toe curious new substance which had been produced as a result of the accident, he is said to have done some hard thinking. Ever since there has been hard thinking, because the world bad been presented with a new material not known to Nature. It was found moreover, that not only cheese, but coal and wood provided huge stores of material from which to make many materials previously using weed oi metal. Indeed, it is claimed that hundreds of thousands of tons of metal have been displaced and replaced by plastic materials. Gears and pinions are now made from plastics. Under certain conditions they give better results than any known metal. In areas where white ants abound railway authorities are even using plastic keys for the rails because the stuff is not touched by these pests.

Mention of the fact that it was cheese which gave the chemists the first hint of a new material is a reminder that cheese comes from the cow. This animal, in fact, has proved an invaluable source of material for aviation. Pigs may fly now, but without the cow they might never have done so. Aviation owes more to the cow than even the dairy-farmer appro ciates. Casein, a product of milk, is used for wing ribs and for many other purposes about the aeroplane, including panels in the cabin. The hooves of the cow provide a hot glue for sealing the fabric, the hide of the cow provides seat coverings in aeroplanes. Her entrails, one might add, provide gold beater's skin for dirigibles and balloons. We have now reached a stage where many of these items are replaced by synthetic products. Nevertheless, without the cow aviation would have languished at a time when quick development was to be encouraged. Maybe readers can think of some more uses to which the cow has been put in the cause of aviation, but the list given is enough to make ‘Snowball” swell with pride in her bail so that she gets stuck.

News that Germany has decided to use aluminium money in place of nickel would appear merely to create an aluminium shortage as well as a nickel shortage. Aluminium admittedly may be created from clay, whereas nickel has to be mined. Nevertheless, the aeroplane age which the war has accentuated is destined to strain the production resources of aluminium manufacturers. Indeed, it is by no moans impossible that this war will end the steel age. Aluminium alloys have now been created which are lighter and stronger than steel. One by one the special merits of steel are being filched by aluminium alloys. The time may come when steel will be used only rarely. It seems strange, therefore, to find aluminium being used in a coinage system when there are other cheaper and more suitable mediums. These coins, in fact, are little more than token money, of which there have been examples galore in the early days of New Zealand and Australia.

Germany’s aluminium currency is but a reminder of the hardships of war as applied to that country. Many wars have produced novel currency expedients. Towards the end of the Spanish Civil War cardboard money circulated in Barcelona. The usual nickel coins were withdrawn for war purpose. The cardboard money consisted of discs the size of half-crowns worth one-sixth of a penny. These tokens were no more than a promise to pay, as were the Assignats issued in France during the Revolution. These Assignats indeed were eventually repudiated, causing a serious economic problem. It will be recalled that when Habibullah Khan usurped the throne of Afghanistan he found the money situation pretty desperate. In an effort to restore the balance he issued leather coins. Yet the idea was by no means new; leather coins were in circulation in some countries 300 yearspreviously. Recent developments in China had, moreover, the curious effect of causing postage stamps to assume tlie role of money. During the Great War, of course, postal notes circulated as money in Britain.

It is not only war that causes money to assume curious shapes. The hard times which struck the United States of America some few years ago overwhelmed the little township of Tenino. In desperation the citizens issued their own money from the only available material—Douglas Pine. When ordinary coinage reappeared these wooden dollars sold at a premium and the township made a profit of £7OO on the transaction. Many people, in fact, refused to redeem this curious type of money. Another little town named Astoria made good use of timber money to finance its regatta. The committee “minted” wooden "nickels.” The people agreed to take them at face value during tile regatta. , The coins created a brisk trade, because nobody wanted to be left with any on their hands when the regatta ended. All this seems very modern, but in reality all manner of materials had been used for money hundreds of years before our times. In addition to paper ana various kinds of metals, animal skins have been used as money, as well as glass, rubber, porcelain, clay, satin and