neighborhood battle

neighborhood conflict

RAYMOND ARTHUR DAVIES

YOU are attempting to look on the photograph of all in Canada that comes under the heading of "struggle effort," but the reportorial eye has difficulty with its focus. The panorama that stretches from Atlantic to Pacific is just too crammed with the maze of detail of ten thousand humming cities and cities, villages and hamlets and crossroad settlements. You see only the bold brush strokes which can be billion-greenback victory loans, hundred million dollar contracts, and big armament flora and nationwide recruiting drives, and tens of lots of soldiers and sailors and airmen in working towards and on lively carrier. in case you seem to be long satisfactory at greater constrained scenes—at individual enormous cities, at Toronto or Montreal, Vancouver or Winnipeg, the graphic becomes clearer, however the figures are nevertheless massed, the motion nonetheless too massive and blurred, and you cannot, even by way of squinting, find John Doe and his spouse Mary and their son, youn g Steve, amongst all those bustling individuals.

so that you stick a pin into the map of Canada and the pin element covers another pin aspect labelled "Georgetown." consequently it's that to Georgetown, Ont., you go, all surprising, looking for the story of Canada's battle effort. ,

From the C.N.R. station, after a thirty-5-mile journey westward from Toronto, Georgetown is a neat patch of eco-friendly, during which penetrate the gables of huge ancient properties, church steeples, and a little incongruously, factory chimneys. For Georgetown is an industrial city in addition to a farming centre. Its ten factories employ a thousand working individuals. In appearance it differs little from the other small cities. Its main street consists of two or three blocks of historical brick structures whose historic old is determined off towards the novelty of 1 of both banks. along a facet street, as if modestly refusing to flaunt its modernistic front, stands a new structure, unusually big for thus small a city, the classification B post-workplace, presided over by means of the töwn's military expert, Colonel Cousens. The winding streets are bordered on either aspect with the aid of shady timber, and lawns wander over hill and dale.

The larger factories are on the outskirts, the smaller ones close the centre.

Georgetown is an ancient agreement, one of the most oldest in Ontario. lifestyles right here become peaceable and quiet certainly —earlier than war came.

On this evening lots of the "main residents" are tough to locate. You are seeking for them at their workplaces or at their buildings, and get the equal reply everywhere: "He's over at lawyer Dale's."

attorney Le Roy Dale's workplace, just off main highway, is crowded with men, some sitting, some standing against the partitions. As you enter quietly a person is speakme:

". . . honor and the privilegéio let you know that we've oversubscribed our Victory personal loan quota by way of 162 per cent. as a substitute of. $1$0,000 we raised $227,000. We additionally acquired a further $95,000 via canvassing special names." JL

For a second there is a stunned silence because the individuals of the Georgetown and district Victory loan Committee agree with the figures. Then there are cheers, hand clasping, back slapping. "We've finished it !" considered one of themenintheroomexclaims. "Let's go after more !" an additional enthusiast proposes. there's ordinary elation. Georgetown has completed the trick.

No small success had been this raising of $322,000 in Georgetown and region, you learn after the assembly in the event you go into data and figures. the town's population is barely 2,482 via the newest count number, and the encompassing district has some 1,600 more. The locality is not wealthy. it is general. it is standard of a thousand different Canadian small cities whose composite endeavor ultimately determines the success or failure of Canada's struggle

effort. however in some issues Georgetown excels. The personal loan is but one instance. The commonplace subscription become $600; the per capita subscription greater than $80. Had all of Canada finished as smartly, $880,000,000 would were raised in the Victory personal loan.

Few Recruits Left

FOR SOME purpose in Georgetown you feel, extra at once the contact of Canada with the remote places. right here the conflict is actually a neighborhood warfare. all and sundry seems to be doing some thing about it. during this common small town which you could get near the people who're profitable the warfare at home; which you could cut back Canada's conflict effort to its essentials, to its leastcommon denominator. The struggle effort is humanized. it's translatable into the phrases of people. you can get to understand what Hunter, Maw, Gibbons, McMurchy do. in the giant metropolis all here is imprecise. it is a pity, most likely.

when it comes to other fund raising for the struggle other than the Victory loan, Georgetown has also completed well. The sale of struggle reductions Stamps and Certificates demonstrates this. about $2,000 a month are being offered by using the native post-workplace through arrangement with employers and personnel. About $3,000 have been bought at once and in addition, $1,500 price of discounts certificates. The greater than 300 students of the public faculty purchased $1,000 price of stamps for the reason that they have been first issued.

however Georgetown really shines when it comes to recruiting. sarcastically the city is a headache for the officials in cost of the four month compulsory practicing camps. When young men had been last known as up for examination handiest six had been discovered who could be part of. This become no case of ill fitness, or pacifism, or even sabotage. far from it. It changed into just that essentially everybody of the correct age had already joined some department of the defense force. as much as the beginning of July greater than 250 younger guys had enlisted. here is greater than six per cent of the full population, and if the share for the total of Canada have been the identical our military could be composed of 660,000 guys. Of the 250, seventy-four are on active carrier with the local regiment, the Lome Scots. Fifty, unwilling to wait except the Lome Scots had been mobilized, joined different regiments and are actually foreign places. yet another fifty-5 are nonetheless in Canad a. Thirty joined the Royal Canadian Air force. Fifteen are participants of the Veterans look after. Three are in the Navy and one Georgetown girl is an army nurse. in addition, eighty-three belong to company C of the 2nd Battalion of the Lome Scots. every day one or two new recruits enlist.

Most of Georgetown's military guys are privates. There are some corporals and a scattering of sergeants. There are also a number of officers—two lieutenants, one captain, an important and a colonel. the vast majority of the recruits are farmers and working individuals, but amongst them are the sons of a manufacturer, the superintendent of one of the bigger mills, a real-property broking service, a stock-change man, the proprietor of the main restaurant and bus station. Then there are the 4 Gillevets, father and three sons, the three Rayners and three Emersons, in each case father and two sons. four Georgetown barbers, whose ancestors helped found the group, uncle and three nephews, are officers within the Lome Scots and 4 cousins of the Tost family unit are in uniform. the previous Georgetown United Church organist and choir chief is an R.A.F. pilot officer in Egypt.

Letters from town's sons in the militia and from loved ones and chums abroad hold the americans keenly interested in the struggle, and assist in persisted on page 37

wreck down Canada's conflict effort and also you locate it be executed on a community foundation. for example, take Georgetown — 2,500 americans difficult at it

persisted on web page 37

persisted from page 19

conserving regular contact with the remote places. every letter is read and re-study. Many are published in the native weekly paper. The individuals of Georgetown appear to understand more, because of this correspondence, about circumstances in London, the bombing of Lancashire, routine within the Clydeside, than the inhabitants of our big cities, the place such letters are dispersed and misplaced among the many mass.

Most of Georgetown's population is of British stock. There are few families of foreign beginning: 5

Jewish, two Italian, one Norwegian, two Polish, three chinese, one Belgian. These take as keen an interest in warfare work as do the others. The wife of the Belgian heads the troopers' Comforts Committee. Two Jewish lads are within the military. A Jewish company leads salvage work undertaken by way of the Lions membership. A foreign-born jeweller donates watches and runs attracts for the advantage of the British war victim's Fund. The Norwegian occupies a leading position in a plant engaged in war work. there's little difference during this intensely patriotic city. "We're all in it," is the accepted expression.

wives Knit, guys Salvage

LIKE SO many other cities I Georgetown has a really energetic pink move Society which efficaciously engages the total group in doing some thing for the warfare. The society has been tremendously praised by using the critical workplace as being certainly one of Ontario's superior. it's presided over with the aid of the attorney whose workplace we now have already visited, the genial, universally-appreciated and revered and plenty overworked Le Roy Dale, okay.C., who is without doubt one of the primary "fixtures" of the town. relocating spirit among the many ladies is Annie Ryan, ex-foremost of the public faculty and worker unbelievable on behalf of the soldier and the refugee.

more than 250 women in Georgetown and district take part continually within the work of the crimson pass. through their efforts more than nine thousand bucks has been raised thus far, two thirds of it being spent in buying wool and different resources which can be grew to become into finished goods by the nimble fingers of the women-

people. The stability changed into sent to the red cross in Toronto. How active these ladies are can be seen any afternoon or evening. When sitting on their front porches they can also be followed knitting away, making sweaters, socks, mitts and scarfs. Shipments to the purple move warehouse in Toronto observe one one other with swift regularity.

cash saved the government through this work which is, of path, given gratis, runs into the heaps of greenbacks. One shipment alone, as an example, that was despatched all through the week of July 9, protected forty-one units of articles for the service provider marine and 133 sets for the Air drive. The quota for seamen's goods on my own, for the slack summer season season, includes 160 sets of sweaters, socks, gloves and helmets.

different crimson pass actions embody many greater than the 250 contributors of the branch society. Carnivals, dances, parties go on all through the yr. The huge affair of this summer's season changed into the garden celebration held on the grounds of the appealing Nixon property, probably the most pretentious hereabouts. each person attended and greater than $500 became raised. There changed into scarcely a soul in town who by some means or different became no longer concerned. Eighty fairly ladies canvassed town and district for days promoting tickets in nearly every residence. native merchants donated items for the raffles. food become prepared by using the housewives. The producers paid for the entertainment. "We didn't have to spend a cent of purple go money," Mr. Dale spoke of afterward. "every little thing became net profit."

Quaint became the slogan under which the complete affair appears to had been carried out. In a first-rate road store window, the place articles to be raffled had been exhibited, stood an indication containing this slogan:

Will you support us Who assist them Who help those that assist us?

What this rhetorical question lacked in readability, it greater than made up in sincere homespun sentiment.

also composed of girls is Georgetown's "conflict baby," the St. John

Ambulance Corps, which changed into organized ultimate spring. Its membership is just twenty however courses are being opened to educate new applicants within the rudimentary arts of clinical ambulance work. The chief is Mrs. Tom Grieve, an historical hand during this class of exercise. She was an army nurse during the previous warfare and a member of the crimson move Society seeing that 1909. "They used to snicker at us within the olden days," she says. "They called us Saturday-afternoon nurses. but we showed them. We've received to be able this time. i'm simply loss of life to move over, but I guess they won't take me because of my age." Mrs. Grieve is active too, in the establishment of the ARP organization which, it is hoped, will get beneath method this autumn.

The busy ladies of Georgetown also find time for the soldiers' Comforts Committee of which Mrs. Roger Guyot, spouse of a familiar Belgian-born interpreter and translator, is secretary. To April of this yr 26,000 cigarettes were sent foreign places on three different events to from seventeen to forty men. In June and November present parcels had been forwarded. Then once more on June 17, 300 cigarettes have been mailed to each and every of forty-9 local boys serving in England. nowadays the listing has grown to over a hundred names and to elevate more funds tag days should be held, and different funds raising schemes put into effect. so far the committee has collected and spent $178. This may also now not be "large money" in a town, but for Georgetown's girls it intended many weeks of challenging work. The boys are deeply grateful for the cigarettes and presents. "Their letters indicate that they are flattered to be remembered by fellow townsmen," Mrs. Guyot says. "It does something to their spirit, makes them suppose greater essential, convinces them that the city is with them, that they signify the town at the entrance."

The menfolk try now not to lag behind the women. one day no longer so long in the past the town was treated to an atypical spectacle. the city's leading businessmen, individuals of the Lions club, had been accompanied whooping it alongside in vans. They had been overlaying the whole district door to door seeking salvage to be grew to become in as their part of the nationwide salvage pressure. The moderate Mr. Brill, proprietor of the town's greatest dry-goods shop and proprietor of the Brill Hosiery Mills (employment 20) led the committee. On the truck, too, was the young and vigorous Walter C. Biehn, editor and writer of the Georgetown Herald (circulation 1,a hundred twenty five) without which it might be difficult indeed to rally the community for concrete work. The consequences had been most encouraging. impressive initiative was proven with the aid of the committee—to acquaint the residents with the goals of the campaign, cards had been printed to healthy the necks of mi lk bottles recommending measures to accumulate salvage and prevent waste.

Their lifestyles Has changed

TN a very small approach Georgetown is having a struggle increase. however this is no longer on the size of "boom cities" like Parry Sound, Ont., or Sorel, P.Q., the place newly-built plant life supply ; employment to thousands of em| ployees gathered from far corners ■

of the Dominion. here enterprise situations have improved, however no longer too radically. Employment has risen from ten to twenty per cent. The extra money in circulation has helped the businessmen; actual-estate transactions have accelerated; one of the vital returned taxes have been paid up. Three vegetation are engaged on war orders. The Brill Hosiery makes socks for the army. The Harley-Kay Knitting laptop Co. is engaged on some thing the townspeople, for desire of guidance, consult with as a "highlysecret machine." It employs twenty hards. however the largest plant turning out products for the branch of country wide defense is the city's wonder child, Smith and Stone Electrical Manufacturing Co. Ltd., which grew from a small workshop into a large up to date enterprise in below twenty years.

Smith and Stone manufacture electrical porcelains, plastic molding, wiring instruments and specialties. just now fifty per cent of production is dedicated to Air drive orders. more than 300 worker's, many of them girls, are employed. income can be extended indefinitely according to the plant office manager, W. B. Ford, however new machinery can't be obtained. Small adjustments wall enable the business to boost creation through an additional fifteen per cent within the near future. however here's the absolute limit.

The manufacturing unit will pay its personnel a ten per cent charge of residing bonus. different plants within the district have also begun doing the identical. This became not because of geared up-labor drive. There is no labor organization of any kind in existence within the whole district. Ninety-nine per cent of Smith and Stone personnel have pledged to commit 5 per cent of their income to the purchase of battle savings Stamps, of which as a result excess of $5,000 price were bought in the course of the medium of the plant. the employees also subscribed $6,four hundred for the Victory mortgage. Mr. Ford says that nearly a fifth of the body of workers has joined the armed services and that there's beginning to be felt a keen lack of professional labor. it is hoped that exemptions might be granted to new

classes so as not to disrupt creation.

The story of Georgetown's warfare effort would be incomplete with out a point out of its significant and energetic Canadian Legion department one hundred twenty, which in many ways is the fountain head of conflict-effort enthusiasm. In its hall, which is only up the street from lawyer Dale's office, the warriors of the past get together. The Legion is within the forefront of all war work and its individuals furnish for this a form of "stickum" which ties everybody collectively in a typical effort. It's too dangerous that battles can't be gained or misplaced in the Legion hall. basically each Legion member is definite—at least to hear them within the night when the boys acquire—that he knows a way to win this conflict and defeat Hitler.

Nor could justice be refrained from bringing within the Georgetown Herald. one of the crucial lots of of its type of local newspapers all over Canada, the Herald via publicity, announcements and advertising continues the community aware of what is being executed. The metropolitan press is read for information. There is not a great deal outdoor news within the local paper. however for what's up at home, the Herald is the element to study. And in any case it's at home that conflict work needs to be executed. The Herald's British warfare Victims' Fund—the cash is shipped to the fund of the Toronto Telegram—has raised greater than $1,500. once a month the names and correct addresses of all the boys within the armed capabilities are posted. And infrequent is the issue which does not reproduce one or more letters from the lads foreign places, or from some relatives of local residents in London, Birmingham or somewhere else within the historic nation.

warfare has now not introduced awesome prosperity to Georgetown. as far as is known it has now not made any first rate fortunes for any of the residents. nonetheless it does have an effect on the normal standard life of the americans.

The unemployed issue has disappeared absolutely and unlamentedly. right through the week of July 9 here paragraph was covered in the Herald document of the complaints of the city council. "It was

deemed really useful to discontinue services of aid officer, Mr. F. Kersey, as at July 31." The reason? relief fees for June were $12.90. In may additionally they were $39.00, in April $fifty seven.00, in March $35.00. it is an conclusion of an era.

The individuals of Georgetown are certain of victory. There is no doubt anywhere that Hitler will be defeated. It is correct, as Col. Cousens elements out, that many don't understand why this victory will come. They have faith in God, the King, the management of the Empire. They be aware of that we need to win. and they do, faithfully and neatly, all and greater than they can to convey that victory about.

That, then, is the story of Georgetown. but you watched, having studied it, that the story would had been little different no rely the place that pinpoint had fallen in all the size and breadth of this land.