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Page Four February 1, 1943 Published twice a month for, about and by those employed at the Pickering Works of Defence Industries Limited, Ajax, Ontario TOM GILCHRIST, Editor W. C. NEWLAND Associate Editor MILDRED F. HEYWOOD Assistant Editor Photographs by Robert Holden GATEHOUSE BUILDING TELEPHONE 364 (Column 1) Lay-offs in War Industries The statement issued last month by the Hon. C. D. Howe, Minister of Munitions and Supply, in which he explained the reasons for the lay-offs of war workers in war plants and which is published in full in this edition of THE COMMANDO, is of especial interest to all of us employed at the Pickering Works because of our recent, and first, experience with layoffs here. Reassuring to all of us is that although "such lay-offs have occurred and will inevitably occur in the future . . . labour will not be wasted." Whether we here shall be affected by these inevitable lay-offs, however, is a question no one can answer at the present time. As the Minister pointed out in his statement it will be the experiences gained on the battlefronts which will determine that. In a news story in the January 16 issue of The Financial Post of Toronto, headlined "Battle Lessons Shaping Our War Output," a staff writer of that newspaper discussed the same subject. He quoted Ottawa production officials as saying that although there have been drastic changes insofar as war orders are concerned the Canadian war production goal for 1943 of 3.7 billion dollars of output, agreed on earlier at a Washington conference, would be maintained. He attributed the present conditions in war industries to the fact that we are now out of the "blue print" or "paper" phase of the war and are now engaged in a "shooting" war. Greater changes in production than anything experienced up till now are to be anticipated, he claimed. "Britain," he wrote, quoting an expressed opinion, "has learned this lesson. As her troops get into action in different parts of the world, immediate and revolutionary changes in equipment, ammunition and weapons are demanded." He concluded his dispatch by writing: "Some of the drastic changes now being made in our production programme, which are causing layoffs in many parts of Canada, are due to lessons learned in the present African and Libyan campaigns. Others are due to the physical impossibility of storing in Britain, further amounts of materials and supplies which Canada has been pouring across the Atlantic in tremendous volume in recent months. "Until 'shooting' war begins on the European front, this situation may continue and be even aggravated, although in many cases the entire output of such materials has been diverted to the United States. "In short, the lesson which is going to be increasingly evident in Canadian war production in 1943 is that big production means big changes. Most of these changes, it is contended here, are quite unavoidable they are one of the risks of war risks which Canada has not experienced in any great measure heretofore because much of the equipment and supplies which have been designed and produced here, have been on the basis of a 'paper' rather than a 'shooting' war." One encouraging thought occurs to us as we read Mr. Howe's statement and The Financial Post article one that will be cheering to everyone and that is that the years of "too little and too late" appear, at long last, to be a thing of the past. So far, we have been preparing for the day when the United Nations would assume the initiative; evidently, and happily, that day is here. A Warning There is a tendency on the part of the general public to criticize munitions workers at the least provocation. All of us, at some time or another, have experienced it. However, the criticism, often petty, usually can be refuted easily. That is not possible, however, when an influential newspaper like The Globe and Mail of Toronto devotes space in its editorial columns to censure certain workers. Its criticism is certainly justified in this instance. The editorial, entitled "Deplorable Pilfering," was based on evidence heard at the trial of an employee accused of the theft of cutlery from the Mess Hall. Incidentally, the offender was found guilty and fined. This is what The Globe and Mail had to say in its issue of January 15: "The revelation made in the police court at Whitby that every month about $500 worth of silverware is stolen from restaurants and cafeterias serving the workers in the local plant of Defense Industries is very disquieting, and apparently this unsavoury record can be matched in similar establishments in other places. It proves the existence of a substantial contingent of people who take the deplorable(Column 2) ONE FAMILY'S TOTAL WAR Four Wilsons Serve at Sea, On the Land, In The Air and On The Home Front. This is the story of the Wilson family and what Total War means to it. It's a short story but it speaks volumes for the spirit of patriotism which pervades one small family. There are four only in the family since Mrs. Wilson she is the Housemother down in Residence 722 was widowed in 1927 when her husband died from the wounds he suffered in the last war. There's herself and her three sons: Ronald, twenty-eight years of age and the eldest; Russell Scott, twenty-two years of age, and nineteen year old Ian. Just a small family of four but one which is doing a big job about this war. Ronald's in the Navy. He had to go, he told his mother. "I don't like fighting, I hate war," he said to her just before he left, "but I want to do something about this thing that can leave kids without a father as I was." He was the first to go; now all Mrs. Wilson's sons are in the fighting forces. Russell is in the Air Force and young Ian is in the Army. Three sons, all of whom joined up as soon as they could; one in each of Canada's armed services a pretty good record for any family. But Mrs. Wilson wanted to do something about it, too. That's why she is in Ajax and why she subscribes half-a-month's pay to War Savings and Victory Bonds. She knows her boys as all Canada's boys do need to be backed up 100% on the Home Front (Column 3) with work, yes, but with dollars and cents too. Maybe she can afford to subscribe so much, you say? Not any more than anybody else left a widow with three young sons to raise and educate. That wasn't easy, but she did converting her home into a boarding house, she did it. It has been a bit of a sacrifice for her to buy as much War Savings as she does. But she is convinced that everybody should do their utmost to win the war; if they can't go and fight, they should make their dollars fight for them. It's pretty good advice, too. (Top Centre Picture) Three Wilson's in the service of their country. Mrs. Wilson, Ajax housemother, stands between two of her fighting sons. Russell, who is in the Air Force, is at his mother's right, and Ian, the soldier, is on her left. (Story From This Page Column1 Continued) view that they are entitled to complete the furnishing of their homes at the public expense, and that the theft of Government-owned property is no crime, because as citizens they are part owners of it. "There is some excuse for unemployed people being driven by the stress of stark poverty to resort to theft, but there cannot be the slightest defense for men and women who are being paid good wages indulging in petty pilfering. Such workers in State-owned plants as have a proper sense of citizenship ought to act as vigilant guardians of public property while they are contributing by their labours to the national war effort, and most of them probably do so act. But there is a discreditable minority which thinks it smart to filch some cutlery without detection, and does not realize that, since the stolen articles must be replaced, the thievery adds to the financial cost of the war effort, and thereby harms the cause of freedom. "The conduct of such petty thieves is almost on a par with that of Nazi soldiers who claim a free hand to loot whatever takes their fancy in the occupied countries. The democratic cause will prevail over the totalitarian plague only if its devotees can show that they are animated by higher principles and follow better standards of public morality than the subscribers to the Nazi and Fascist creeds. So we hope that the cheap pilferers who have been letting down our common cause at Whitby and elsewhere will see the error of their ways; but we also hope that the authorities will bestir themselves to make a public example of such offenders as they can detect." The editorial's last sentence is worth a re-reading. If we are not prepared to do something voluntarily about the situation an aroused public may do it for us.(Far Right Column) TO YOUR HEALTH Dr.J.R.CARD MEDICAL DIRECTOR PICKERING PLANT How Gas is Likely to be Used (This is the second of a series of articles about War Gases.) Gas may be used with one or more of the following objects in view: (a) To produce personnel casualties. (b) To contaminate stores and materials. (c) To contaminate large industrial areas, such as, dock-yards and factories. (d) To contaminate food. (e) To harass personnel of fire-fighting, rescue and repair services by compelling them to wear gas masks for long periods of time. (f) To cause widespread discomfort, anxiety, disablement and fear among the civilian population. The chief gases to be expected in Canada are the persistent liquid tear and blister gases. A combination of incendiary and toxic smoke bombs is another possibility. The persistent gases may be discharged both from the ground and from the air. The major weapons are bombs and liquid spray from great heights. The Blister Gas bombs may be expected in highly built-up industrial areas. They can carry large loads of gas because they do not have to withstand the shock of gunfire. These bombs may also contain high explosives. This, along with the blister gas would increase the task -of fire-fighting, repair, rescue work and cleaning of debris. The type of bomb used will also depend upon whether the object is to heavily contaminate a small area or to produce numerous light contamination over large areas. A 30-pound bomb falling from a height of 10,000 feet will heavily contaminate an area of about 60 square yards. Blister gas sprays are essentially anti-personnel weapons. A gas spray attack may be launched from such a distance that the attacker can be neither seen nor heard and the firs* intimation of the attack may be the arrival of liquid spray or the development of blisters on the skin. It is the ideal weapon to produce large numbers of casualties among the civilian population. A single plane flying at a height of about 4000 feet can effectively spray an area of about one mile square. In the case of planes flying at a height of about 10,000 feet dangerous drops of blister gas may fall to the ground as far as three miles or more down-wind of the path of the aircraft. The drops might not be sufficiently large to penetrate clothing and to cause blisters, but if such a drop falls in the eye it might produce complete and permanent blindness. The poisonous smokes are not as dangerous as the blister gases, but they have a very powerful harassing effect, and are ideal gases to create fear and panic and to lower the morale of civilian populations. They might, therefore, be used in combination with incendiary bombs because of their effectiveness in very minute amounts. Under favourable wind conditions they may produce their effect over a distance of miles. There are no war gases which are so harmless insofar as causing death is concerned, and yet so capable of creating panic among unprotected and undisciplined personnel. Keep Hitler away, buy War Savings Stamps every day. War Savings Certificates are a good investment, too. Are you buying your share ?