THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 53, 26 November 1941, Page 6

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections

Manners are not idle, but the fruit of loyal nature and of noble mind—Lord Tennyson.

“As the Germans failed to invade Britain a year ago when Britain was weak, there is little likelihood of their making a successful attack now. The chances are that the Germans will strike in the Mediterranean basin. The Germans have enormous resources to fling against us. Italy., which is largely occupied by them, is just next door, and they have the advantage of distance and large numbers. But I think these difficulties will be over-come.”—Field-Marshal Smuts.

“The air raids on London, spread over an immense urban district, its industrial zone and port, and over a period of time, have inured its inhabitants who are already war-hardened; and London’s A.R.P., which has been perfected to the fullest extent, makes it possible to endure the raids without grave results. It cun be said that for some time past the moral effects of bombing London have disappeared. The fact that there is something unconquerable by any material action must not be forgotten. This is the heroic spirit which will sometimes follow a deathless ideal, generally religious or national.’’—General Mareca, Spanish Air Force, in “Revista de Aeronautica.”

“The crew of the German battleship Bismarck mutinied and tried to force their commander to strike his flag in the last hours of the battle in which the British avenged the sinking of the Hood. The actions of the German crew were described to the British Admiralty by virtually all of the 100-odd German officers and. men whose lives were saved after the Bismarck sank with the rest of her complement of 2400 For two hours before the cruiser Dorsetshire closed, with her and dispatched her the Bismarck’s guns were Silent .because the munitions crew refused to stand to gun stations—though Admiral Gunther Lutjens, in his last radio message to Berlin, had declared: ‘We are lighting to the last shell.’ She had shells, but the morale of her men had cracked. The story illuminates the character of Nazi morale —a morale which is unexcelled till the going becomes too rough.”—Mr. John T. Whitaker, in the New York “Rost.” « » »

“The Soviet Union is meeting the German onslaught with a mighty defence in depth, both military and economic. The fall of Moscow, the forfeiture of the Ukraine —to take but two hypothetical example's—would be mere scratches at the impenetrable crust of Russian opposition. The Soviet East (which consists roughly of the Ural area, Kazakstan, Central Asia, Siberia, the Autonomous Republic of Yakutsk, and. the Far Eastern Area, covering one-third of the continent of Asia and. constituting about three-quarters of the entire Union territory), plays a vital-part in this bold conception of integral resistance. Already it is co-operating powerfully in keeping the war machine running at full speed, and) the territory’s Far Eastern area is in constant readiness to stem a possible westward push by Germany’s Axis partner in Asia.”— Dr. E. M. Chossudowsky, in the “Scotsman.”

“The Germans pursued their routine policy and methods of penetration in Afghanistan, just as in Iraq and Iran. -Nazi agents came in largely as members of diplomatic staffs and as technicians. Even before the war Germans made a survey for a sugar-beet factory at Bagland, Afghanistan. They did all the engineering preliminaries, surveyed land and prepared estimates, and then mysteriously recommended the Skoda firm for the job. In fact, they secured the job for the Skoda works. The sugar-beet industry, to be sure, is highly developed in Czechoslovakia, but now it is definitely felt that, with diabolical foresight, the Germans knew they would be controlling ■ Skoda shortlyUpon the annexation of Czechoslovakia the chief engineer, who was a Czech, fled to India, an'd the Nazis took over the job and finished it in 1939. The largest hydro-electrical plant in Afghanistan was also built by Germans. This type of penetration through construction of factories and hydraulic stations has been duplicated In other countries in this part of the world. The Germans had a large job in Teheran, the capital of Iran, and have a job in Tibet. The No. 1 key position in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, is held by Walter Rodenstein, formerly of the Berlin Reichsbank, financial adviser in the industrial department of the National Bank of Afghanistan.” —Mr. Hiram Blauvelt, in the New York “Herald-Tribune.”

“Their shooting of hostages convicts the Germans on still another count of the primitive and sadistic stupidity which underruns the whole of Nazism. It is true that they have so taught the world to expect it of them that one can read the accounts with no great shock of surprise! But that very fact is perhaps the most damning of all indictments against Herr Hitler’s “New Order.’ Civilized peoples learned long ago the futility of murdering hostages as a means of controlling a victi.ni of conquest. The last occasion on which a Western Power took hostages (to say nothing of murdering them) as a liledge for the fulfilment of a peace treaty is said to have occurred in 1748. Writers in the pre-war years noted instances tin colonial wars in which hostages were taken to secure the obedience of the local population or as subjects of reprisal, and the Germans 'did something of the sort in 1870; but even the Germans did not shoot the hostages, and the practice of taking them at all was condemned. Nor do The Hague rules, adopted in 1907, provide that an occupying Power must respect ‘the lives of persons,’ and forbid the imposition of any ‘general penalty' on a population for acts of individuals, but it evidently did not occur to the jurists that there was any necessity, in their enlightened times, to prohibit the murder of innocent .persons as a means of keeping ‘order.’ ” —New York “Herald Tribune.” # * ♦ Wliat Time Is It? The time of day I do not tell, As some do, by the clock, Or by the distant chiming bell Set on some steeple rock. But by the progress that I see In what I have to do. It’s cither Done O’clock to me, Or only Half-past Through. —John Kendrick Bangs.