ALL HANDS PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR Tn an emergency every man aboard a fighting ship must know his station. The above photo shows the crew of a Canadian destroyer during "abandon ship" drill. A leading-seaman checks with the Cficer in charge of this particular station and ma kes sure every man is on hand. VOICE OF THE PRESS A REPORTER JOINS UP When an R.C.A.F. mobile re- unit stopped off at Kirk- Lake, Ont, a while back, * editor of the Northern News seat Stew Bridges, his star re- awter, to cover the event. In M <fae eourse Stew Bridges re- lm*d to the office wearing a siMMd expression. "Where's the teryT" his editor demanded. "0*, the story?" mumbled Stew "Sorry, I forgot all the story. We got talking a*4 the first thing I knew I had th* R.C.A.F. Maclean's Magazine. EACH OF US Te thought of the week eomes from Brooke Claxton, Montreal M.P., who said in a speech at Cleveland: "The Government can erder, control, tax and ration, but the axtra effort which measures tae difference between democracy and dictatorship, between victory and defeat, can only be given frely by each of us." London Free Press. INEFFICIENCY The. nicest indictment of med- iaeval inefficiency we've seen for some time is that of a transport authority who points out that the 19 stone piers of Old London Bridge were "constructed without engineering experience adequate for the enterprise" so the bridge fonotioned only 600 years. London News-Chronicle. JUST REVENGE Porcupines don't know there is a war on. Otherwise they might have spared the tires of a Plum- ner, Idaho, man's car. Instead, one animal stuck in a couple of quills and put two tires out of business. Its action was in re- venge, of course, for being run over. Lethbridge Herald. o MORE THAN SANG FOR SUPPER Caating bread crumbs on the lawn is almost as self-rewarding a* casting your bread on the wa- ters. A robin in Kentucky drops s dollar bill on the back porch of a man who fed the birds, thereby doing more than sing for Its supper. Hamilton Spectator. o HARD-BOILED TEA All this advice about how to brew a good cup of "the bever- age that cheers" from a minimum of tea - going to be wasted, we fear, on Jim Cur an of the Soo Star, who says tea isn't worth a hoot unless it's been boiled twen- ty minutei!. St. Thomas Times-Journal. o IT'S AWFUL Now it's the men who are be- ing hit. The number of fur felt hat ahades is to be reduced from 42 to 18 and wool felt shades from II to 10. Boys, it's awful! Owen Sound Sun-Times. o THE FUNNY SEX funny sex: They paint their Isgs to look as if they wore stock- ings or they wear stockings that make their legs look bare. Brandon Sun. Ceylon, which was an ancient centre of civilization, has been held in turn by the Portugese, Dutch and British, Swiss Maintain True Democracy elf-Government Has Work- ed For 081 Yea re, 8ys The Cleveland Plain Dealer More Chan 4,260,000 people have Juit paid homage to a successful Mea the Idea that men do not have to speak the same language to dwell In harmony as a nation; feat tree men are capable of de- fending themflelvet and that dem- oorK-y If the best form of gov- These people knew what they wesw doing, for the idea has work- ed for (61 years. It works today altfaoutfi their land is surrounded o all sides by an enemy who stands for the antithesis of every- thine they cherWh. Yet this small nation has much to teach the great powera of the world, for wttserland hac stood as a beacon llflfct through Europe's stormy Istory. Perpetual Pact Formed It was on Aug. 1, 1291, that the men of the mountain regions of Url, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed a perpetual pact to defend themselvee agalntt the tyranny of tlie then dominant House of Haps- burg. Other men Joined them un- til the Swiss confederation was formed. Today Its people speak four languages, 2,900,000 Uerraane, 110,000 French, 240,000 Italian and 44,000 Romansch. Yet few nations hi the world are as unified a Is Switzerland. The secret may bs the ii!(fii degree of self-govern- ment which the Swiss enjoy. The Swlse still hold their open- air Parliaments in their cantons. But this earliest form of demoo- racy Is no barrier to swift tctioa when It comes to protecting th* country. Hitler and the detractor* of democracy are completely re- futed by the example of the eon- federatlon In defence. Every flwtae serves in the army. Completely Mobilized When war came In 1939 Switser- land mobilized completely. Since June, 1940, the number of men in active service has been reduced to 200,000. The coet of this Is heavy on a small country, particularly one which depended so much on tourists and the luxury trade M did Switzerland. Yet the peopU bear the cost cheerfully, for they know that nothing could repay them for the loss of that liberty which they have maintained and defended tlnce 1291. Butting Sheep Wine Bout With Bear Probably it never happened be- fore and never will occur again, but it is reported from Sussex, N. B., that a sheep did knock out a bear. Bruin, spying the tethered sheep in a field owned by Adam Hughes, charged. The sheep also charged, butting bruin between the eyes. Down went the bear. He lay dazed for a few moments, then struggled to hit feet and ambled away in search of an easier meal. LIFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher 'Never mind how long I've been here. . . . Got me down! !" THE WAR WEEK Commentary on Current Events At Global War Enters Fourth Year? Are Allies Turning Tide Of Battle Ttore* years ago loot w*>uk the Nail legion* poured across the tronttwrs of Poland to loose upon Ui world the second peat con- fltot in a generation, lays th New Tank Times. A European war at Ant, it became a world war after Japan's Pearl Harbor attack last December. Last week as the war's third /ear wa ending, British bombers wr* taking off to pound German port* and industrial centres with a view to relieving pressure on uaia, In Egypt there was om- inous quit aa the armies waited tor the zero hour that might de- termine the fate of the Middle Bast. In China, the Japanese were in retreat, possibly with drawing forces for attacks elsewhere, and la the South Pacific they were bard-pressed as the first Ameri- can offensive threatened their position in the Solomons. India was tense for the blow that may eome in November when the raine end. On the other side of the world Brazil, by entering the war, had supplied new and strategic base* for fighting the Battle of the South Atlantic. The War Spreads This was the world war picture last week as the third year of the war drew near ite end. The fires the Qermans had lit when they marched into Poland in the early aoure of Sept. 1, 1939 Jiad spread round the globe. On that first morning there were >ust two na- tions at war, Germany and Po- land The number of nations In- Tolrad hag risen from two to forty- two, thirty-one of them on the side of the United Nations, eleven on the side of the Axis. It is a war that has spread In waves. Poland was engulfed in the ftmt wave, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the second, Yugoslavia and Oreece in the third. Minor wars Finland and Russia, Italy and Qreece sprang u and were in- corporated into the big war. It beat against the defenses of Eng- land In the west, turned east onto the steppes of Russia. Battles were toocht In North Africa and West- ern Asia and sea fighting brought ta* war to South America. Ger- many's partner, Japan, carried it oo to the other aide of the world, linked it with the war In China, made it, save for the fragile peace existing between Russia and Ja- pan, all one. A Fourth Year Begins The prize for victory, then, be- came the world. But for Adolf Hitler, with three years of many victories behind him, that goal still seemed far from realization. Before him, still In being despite herculean efforts to destroy it, was the Red Army, and behind aim a growing Anglo-American strength. In the Far East the Jap- anese, after five years of war with Ohlna and almost eight mouths of war with the Western democ- racies, faced American power on one side and on the other a Chin- ese Army that would not stay beaten. These were the problems the Axis nations must try to solve in the fourth year of the war. From their very nature they raised anx- ious questions in the United Na- tion.-. Can the Russian armies continue to hold out against the Wehrmacht and launch new blows of Its own? Has the growing strength of the United Nations reached the point where an invas- ion of the European Continent becomes possible? Can the British hold the Italian-German forces in Egypt away from Suez? Where will the Japanese launch their Fall offensive and will there be forces euough there to torn it back? The fourth year will pro- vide answers. Stalingrad Stands Out of the fighting that rages over the long Russian front one solid fact stands out. The Russians till hold Stalingrad. The Volga city controlling the vital artery of water communication in Cen- tral Russia is this year's main German objective. The German High Command announced that it would fall last week. Afire and in ruins, it still resists the invader. Hitler must have Stalingrad to pen the Russian armies behind the Volga und exploit his gains in the I'ailcaeus. It will not suffice I* pass by such a stronghold and Mfce directly at Astrakhan and fch Caspiai^Sea. This explains the massive assault and the tremend- M sacrifices the Germane are making. A week ago, when Nazi tanks swarmed across the Don Mow, Stalingrad seemed doomed. But in the Interval the Russians summoned fresh reserves. Now they may nave a chance to repeat the Indomitable defense of Lenin- and Moscow. Reich Hit From Air from Royal Air Force head- rters la Britain last week came a trim estimate of the damage that had been inMiated on Ger- many since the beginning of the year. Five square miles spread about In nine of Germany's large itles had been wiped out. More than 1,000,000 persons had been made homeless. More than 500 war factoriee had been destroyed. Reich Marshal Goering made a boast at the beginning of the war, that no enemy planes would be allowed to penetrate the German anti-aircraft defenses. The Reich was now being hit trom the air from two sides. R. A. F. bomibers were striking with increasing force from England In the west; from the east, planes of the Red Army were carrying out raids from East Prussia to as far as Berlin, attacking the new centres of production which have been astabllshed since the R. A. F. be- gan hitting the Ruhr and Rhine districts. American bombs on Tokyo last April awakeffed Japanese leadens to the danger of future raids from Chinese bases within easy strik- ing distance of flimsy Nipponese itles. Two such bases were at Chuhslen and Lishui, amid the tea plantations and terraced moun- tains of Southeast China. The Jap- anese war machine was set in motion against the airfields; 100,- 000 troops pressed toward them in a pincers move along a 250-mile tretch on the Chekiang-Kiangsi Mlbroad still held by the Chinese. By mid-July the whole rail line bad been occupied and the Mik- ado's legions were In possession of both bases. Tokyo declared that the air-raid danger had been el- iminated, spoke of using the cap- tured rail line as a link in an all- land route to Singapore. Laet week it appeared that the Japanese boasts had been pre- mature. Once more China had turned the tables on her enemy. Japan was in rapid retreat. In six weeks Chiang Kai-shek's men had recaptured fifteen cities, among them Chuheien and Lishui, had re- taken 200 miles of the Chekiang- Kiangsi railroad; claimed 40,000 Japanese casualties. The sudden ohange of military fortune puzzled observers In China. In part it was attributed to the bombing of Jap- anese airfields by American planes, in part to the fighting qualities of the Chinese soldier. Bat these factors, it was held, oould not wholly account for such major withdrawals. Chinese military experts were Inclined to attribute the Japanese retreat primarily to a change of pullcv by the Mikado's war lords. In their opinion Tokyo has decid- ed to strike elsewhere. Is giving vf a conquest in order to shift troops to the new ecene of action. Military experts pointed to four possibilities : (1) That Japan, her hand forced by the approach of Winter In Siberia, was making ready a long-delayed stroke against Russia; (2) that the gen- eral staff, alarmed over American invasion of the Solomons, was albout to reinforce Nipponese de- fenses in the Southwest Pacific; (8) that Japan planned to take advantage of Indian disorders and strike at the subcontinent; (4) that a new offensive in North China, aimed at cutting the road to Russia, was to begin. Meanwhile American aviation continued to aid. Last week Am- erican bombers blasted the Nip- ponese air base at Lashio, Bur- mese terminus of the now use- less Burma Road. And in Chung- king the arrival of the first group of Chinese fliers trained In Am- erica was a further symbol of Chinese-American collaboration. The Importance of Brazil's en- trance into the war should not be minimized. For one. thing, it will now be possible for the Ua ited States to collaborate in the. construction of great bases, boot sea and air. In Brazil, and they will be adequately protected. Again, the psychological effect of Brazil's action will be fe throughout Latin-America and all the Latin sections of Europe., Why did Hitler decide to gos4 Brazil toto active warfare? There seems to be only one reasonable- explanation, namely, his convic- tion that this would force a fur- ther diversion of American supply and necessitate transfer to Brazil of essential equipment that would otherwise have gone to the Euro- pean and other fronts. Undoubt- edly, there will be a marked stejp- ping-up of shipments to Brazil (and from Brazil) but, on bal- ance, the development is decided- ly favorable to the Allies. Getting Rid Of Bats In House THe first step in getting rid of bats in an open attic must be to close all openings by which the bats can get in. Small bats can get through holes hardly one-half inch across. The best material for the job is oakum, which is tarred-felt fiber. Bats dislike th odor and will keep away from it. During the day all but two or three of the principal opening's should be closed. These should be left open for a night or two until the bats have learned to use them, and should then be closed several hours after dark when all the bats have gone out. When bats collect within walls or under floors, the* can be driven out by the liberal use of moth flakes, which will be effective even in the daytime. Openings should not be plugged when there is a chance that bats are remaining within the house. SCOUTING . . . A birthday coincidence, pro- bably unique in the world, is con- nected with the life of Lord Baden-Powell, Founder of the Boy Scout Movement. Lord Baden- Powell's birthday was February 22nd, and that of his wife, the Chief Girl Guide, the same date. Their son Peter Baden-Powell was born on the same date and married a young lady also born on February 22nd. To make the sequence even more upique their first child, a boy, was also born on the same date as his parents and grand parents. * * * When a Boy Scout Headquart- ers in much bombed Malta was destroyed recently a framed pic- ture of the Scout Founder, Lord Baden-Powell, came through un- scathed. A newspaper photo- graph received recently from Mal- ta shows Rev. Bernard Hersey of the Grey Friars rescuing the pic- ture of the late Chief from the rubble. Assisting him in salvag- ing effects of the building are a Boy Scout and a Sea Scout. * "When I see a Scout Troop at work I think to myself, 'By Jove, here's another group of Comman- dos almost ready to take their place in the fighting line' wrote a British Scoutmaster, now a member of a Commando unit. "I am very thankful to Scouting. Each man in a Commando has to go through the training a Boy Scout goes through from the Ten- derfoot stage, with a few ad- ditions." * * The Cornwell Decoration, which perpetuates the memory of Jack Cornwell, who won the V.C. In the First Great War when he lost his life in the Battle of Jutland, has been awarded to Scout Jim- my Cluff of the 30th Stepney Troop, London. Jimmy lost a leg and suffered other injuries while on duty in a Nazi air raid and displayed the same heroism as that exhibited by his Scout hero, Jack Cornwell. * * * The world's first Boy Scout Troop was organized at a camp on Brownsea Island, Dorset, on July 25th, 1907, by Lt.-Gen. R. Baden-Powell, for the world's first Boy Scout camp. The sole surviving member of the camp staff, "P. W. Everett," now Sir Percy Everett, and still active in Scouting as Deputy Chief Scout, paid a visit to Can- ada shortly before the war. REG'LAR FELLERS Question No. 5,726 By GENE BYRNES / TELt. ME, POP, WHX IS IT THAT UNCLE 0$OR6E IS MX UNCLE? BECAUSE HE'S MX BROTHER? AN/BODy WHO HAPPENED TO BE MX BROTHER. WOULD BE XOUR UNCLE.' ,X IT WOULDN'T MATTER / IF HE WAS THE BARBER.THE BAKER? OR THE CHIMNEX SWEEP, HE'D I STILL BE XOLIR UNCLE AS LONG, V, AS HEVWS MX BROTHER.' WELL, SUPPOSIN I WAS 1L >OUR BROTHER THEN WOULD A BE MY OWN UNCLE? /