LAVAL AND SLAVE LABOUR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 23 October 1942, Page 5

LAVAL AND SLAVE LABOUR

SCATHING TRESS COMMENT London, Oct. 21. Comment in London on Laval's latest speech is scathing. * “Whining” and "crawling” are typical adjectives. The “Evening Standard.” commenting on the statement that French wives who are willing to go to Germany may work near their imprisoned menfolk, says: “The incident is without parallel in the history of great nations. It belongs to the record of the dope pedlar and the promoter of the white slave traffic.” Pointing out that Germany’s principal import at present is not food or arms but human beings, the “Financial News” asks, “Can Germany solve the problem of making slave labour pay? No other nation in history has ever been able to solve it, but no other slave-owning State has combined so high a degree of ruthlessness with extreme effipiency. “The results of this gigantic experiment will determine to a large degree the result of the race which is now going on between the Allies and the Axis for the production of machines to secure a lead in arms output. Thus it will have a vitally important influence on the war.” The paper adds that the fact that the demands on Vichy and Denmark hav*e received much publicity while little or nothing has been heard of similar demands on other Continental countries does not mean that none have been made. —P.A. Special Correspondent. *