"SEEN THE WORST"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 9, 11 January 1941, Page 9

"SEEN THE WORST"

FFFI INC IN BRITAIN

MESSAGE TO LATIN AMERICA

CHEERFUL NOTE

(British Official Wireless.)

(Received January 11, 11 a.m.)

RUGBY, January 10.

A message broadcast to Latin America by the Minister of Information today was one of good wishes for 1941 to all the British communities living there and to the countries whose hospitality they enjoyed. Mr. Duff Cooper's message was also one of good hope. "We now feel," he said, "that we have seen the worst, been tested and not found wanting, and that there is nothing further that man can do against us which we shall not be able to support with fortitude and survive with triumph." People living away from Britain, the Minister went on, might have formed too gloomy a picture of Britain in wartime, and he emphasised the fact that the normal life of ordinary men and women continues with all its old accompaniments of work and relaxation, and he assured his listeners that the theatres, cinemas, and restaurants continued to be full of happy people. TRADE DIFFICULTIES. Turning to post-war plans, Mr. Duff Cooper stressed the importance of the Willingdon Mission to Latin America, and added that although Britain, owing to stress of war, was unable to spend as much as she would like in the markets there, it was of the first importance that the difficulties should be explained to the peoples of Latin America "in order that they may be assured that they arise through no lack of good will on the part of the people of Britain." It was impossible to overestimate the vast debt which humanity owed to the Latin races, but the condition of these races in Europe today was pitiable, and a greater responsibility rested upon the Latin republics of the New World to carry high the torch of Latin culture and reaffirm the devotion of Latin people to the cause of freedom. "It may well be," the Minister declared, "that the New World, including the Latin American continent, will be called upon to play a far greater part in the development of civilisation and the control of human destiny." Mr. Duff Cooper closed by thanking the senders of many gifts, large and small. "These," he said, "are not only valuable in themselves, but remind us constantly of the hosts of friends who are daily watching and working for our victory-"