The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 36

36 Saturday, April 8, 1 972 QENERAL GEORGE PATTON visHed Lord Gort when be was Governor or wiaiut, and dinner asked him: "Do you know why I ave come to Matte?" "No," replied have come, Patton said, "because I wanted "'to see the bravest main in the British "iimy." Most readers who have some acquaintance with the history of the two world wars wiB identify Gort as the commander of the British Expeditionary Force which, outflanked land cut off from the French armies in May of 1940, had to be evacuated from Dunkirk, losing! aH its guns and equipment, but miraculously saving all its officers and men (and many French too), to build up the armies eventually victorious in 1945. Gort earned the respect of Patton and all who knew him by reputation by magnificent tetdersbip of his battalion in the 1917 and 1918 battles, winning the VC and two bars to his; Distinguished Service Order. It is a curious point that before being given command of the 4th Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, in April, 1917, he had had no regimental duty in the war, but had spent it first as Aide-de-Camp, and then as a staff officer. But Gort was not merely a man of surpassing physical bravery. He had great moral courage as well, which he displayed at the critical juncture when he decided to disregard fragmentary instructions from the War Office that would have had him launch an offensive against the German forces which had penetrated between the allied formations in Belgium and the bulk of the French armies, and which had cut his line of communications.

Seeing that with the condition of his command such an attempt' would be sure to fail, instead he concentrated on holding off the German threat to surround the BEF and force a surrender. at Britain's gravest hour it fell to-Gort, deprived of all instructions from higher authority, outnumbered and outgunned but not outwitted, to take a prompt -and solitary decision which tKwartwTvon Bock and saved the whole British Expeditionary Force from death or captivity." The Ottawa Journal LITERATURE AND LIFE By E.LM. BURNS The bravest Brit The general of a defeated army can ex pect little honor and seldom a chance to re- itifflw naifa a piece of professional wisdom, which that it is inadvsabte to get an appointment wxn the first expedition in a war, which usually is disastrous, but is much better to go with the second, which will probably end up victorious. It should not be thought that Gort was 'merely an extremely brave man, whose record as a battalion commander carried him up to responsibilities beyond his mental capacity. Front his earliest days the service he had been on avid student of military affairs, which was unusual in a young Guards officer of title.

He became an struotor at Camberiey Staff College, and later its commandant; he had extensive correspondence and discussions with Lidded Hart, the distinguished military historian and critic. When he was appointed Chief of General Staff by Hore-Belisha in December, 1937, he was considered an innovator who would freshen the stale air of the War Office. By no means the least important part of this biography is the of political and military confusion and indecision in the years which led up to the outbreak of the Second World War, and which also saw Gort's rapid rise to the top British military post The author, J. R. Coivile, is well qualified to draw such a picture.

was one of the private secretaries to Chamberlain and then Churchill, until he escaped to become a pilot in the RAF. He was thus excellently situated to observe the comings and goings in the corridors of power. This review having begun by a quoted opinion of one distinguished American general, another may close it. General Eisenhower wrote the following to a relative of Gort's, some years after the wan "My own contacts were of a personal nature He struck me as a thinker, completely free of thirst for personal aggrandizement or notoriety and well acquainted with the factors which were to have a great bearing upon the conduct of the war. He seemed a thoughtful, down-to-earth soldier who was thoroughly versed in his profession and whose soledea was to perform his duty efficiently and self-lessly in the' war." The great whitewash By DILLON O'LEARY THE HINDENBURO.

By Michael Mooney. 171 pages. DmM, Mud. Jl-5. GLEAMING silver whale that was the zep-pelin Hindenburg, longer than two football fields (803 feet), floated lazily down to the landing mast of LakeJiurst, New Jersey, in the early evening of May 6, 1937.

Suddenly a mightly explosion scared thousands of spectators, a great orange flame shot skyward from its interior, and in 34 seconds amid the screams of its occupants the airship sank into a twisted mass of redhot metal on the ground. Miraculously, most of the 97 aboard survived. Thirteen of the 36 passengers and 22 of ihe crew were killed. That so many came out alive was due to the desperate heroism of some crew members, who rescued others from the holocaust. Ths history of transportation has known grater disasters, but never such a spectaculai public performance.

The blast that cremated the Hindenburg ended, then and there, the hopes of that era for luxury trans-ocean air passenger service via airships. In those days, airplane crossing of the Atlantic was a stunt, not a feasibility. How did it happen? A U.S. investigative commission reported that it was an accident, not sabotage; that the explosion was likely due to a discharge of static electricity from the ground, in the vicinity of a hydrogen leak from the Hindenburg. Experts of the Zeppelin Airship Corporation and the German Air Force, who assisted the commission, agreed.

Yet it was sabotage: a time bomb placed in the zeppelin's interior had ignited its hydro gen; once fire burned away the shells of the gas cells, the explosive combination of burning hydrogen and air triggered the inferno. Michael M. Mooney, author of "The Hindenburg," Came to that conclusion after long investigation the U.S. National Archives, poring through its accumulated documents on the Hindenburg, that stand 21 feet high; and in interviews with survivors, passengers and crew, in the U.S. and Europe.

Others have suspected what Mooney affirms. After all, the Hindenburg's passenger fatalities were the first in the history of commercial airship operation. True, the British, Americans, French and Italians had mainly disasters to show for the test flights of their airships. But Germany's safety record was impeccable. The Graf Zeppelin, launched in 1928, had flown 144 ocean crossings, travelling more than a million miles with 13,110 passengers and 235,000 pounds of mail and freight.

The Hindenburg, in 1936, flew 10 round trips between Frankfurt and Lake-hurst. Mooney has uncovered the letter of Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper to the investigative commission, demanding a non-iiabotage verdict "a finding of sabotage might be the cause for an international incident, especially on these shores." The German, for their own reasons, concurred. But Mooney also discovered the off-the-record notes of the commission's secret night meetings: at which everyone agreed on sabotage; and at which Detective George McCartney of the New York Police Department's bomb squad analyzed the remnants of the fateful bomb. Yet, after all his digging through documents, and interviews with survivors, Mooney has squandered his findings.

His book is often fascinating, but not satisfying. After an interesting history of airships, he chooses to present the story of the Hindenburg's last flight as a non-fiction novel, the technique devised by Truman Capote in writing "In Cold Blood." Thus, using Joycean interior monologue, and shifting montages of time, he narrates the stories concerning various passengers and crewmen, prior to and during the voyage. He uses the freedom of. this form to blame the sabotage on crew member Otto Spent, who was killed in the disaster apparently the bomb's faulty timer exploded it too soon. Mooney's evidence for this accusation is nil, little more than vague suspicions.

Lastly, he neglects any meaningful analysis of the documents pointing to sabotage; or of the tense international situation of the time, which might have influenced the nc-sabotage verdict. It's a bad oversight. Canadian mosaic By PATRICIA MORLEY THS OTHER CANADIANS. Prattles Six Minorities. By Morrti Davfc and Joseph F.

Kravter. Methutn. 131 peae. U.X paper. )ID you know that there were Negro (and some Indian) slaves on Canadian soil as early as 1628, and that slavery did not end here until 18337 Did you know that segregated instruction was legalized in the Province of Canada in 1849, by a statute that authorized municipal councils to establish separate schools for Negroes? And lasted, in Ontario, until 1965? Legal slavery ended here only when the British parliament passed the Emancipation -Act 33.

Ontario's separate black began to close gradually after 1910, but some continued into the 1960s. Legally segregated Negro education ended in Nova' Scotia in 1963. The Other Canadians' Is not simply a book about discrimination, although it does contain enough on this subject to give a pretty severe Jolt to complacent feelings of moral superiority. It examines the. social conditions and political problems of six Canadian groups -(Indians; Eskimos, Negroes, Chinese and Japanese, Doukhobors, and Hutterites), six ethnic groups of Canadians other than the dominant Anglo-Saxon and -French blocs.

Numerically small (only the Indians approximate even one per cent of Canada's overall population, while the other fivegroupi together comprise an even smaller segment), r. these group? have felt themselves to be minorities, groups singled out for differential and unequal treatment and denied full participation in the life of the society. The treatment of minorities in Canada has included denial of the vote, discrimination in employment, restrictions on land purchase, and inferior housing and education. At present, only the Hutterite farming communities, whose goals are strictly preservational, and the Chinese and Japanese, whose development within Canadian society is rapidly evolving, are self-sufficient The other four minorities all require substantial aid from the larger society if they are to break out of the trap of deprivation. Ihia is a book written for the laymafTVef" well documented, based on the work of pro.

fessionals from many disciplines. Numerous notes back up the statements in each chapter and direct further research. The last chapter, Retrospect and Prospect, indicates Canada's growing recognition of; responsibility towards minorities. Hopeful signs are. the increase In public education for minorities, and the development of provincial legislation, guaranteeing various minority rights.

Unlike the U.S., where minorities have been expected to assimilate or 'melt Into the majority, Canada's social structures have encouraged minorities to retain more of their distinctive cultural characteristics. We should all be the richer for this cultural diversity-provided Canadians are sufficiently generous and mature to cope with the social problems, it involves. Writer notebook: The book now threatened by microfiche? By WILFRID EGGLESTON. yRE books becoming obso- -i lets? Marshal McLuhao said so, arguing that the age of print would be succeeded by an electronic age of radio, television, Hm, cassettes and higb-fi stereo gadgets. The evidence so far is not convincing.

More people are reading more books today than ever before in history. But perhaps the book is about to be challenged on a new front. Perhaps the book is soon to be replaced by a 'something for 'which the speech of England has no to Wis, the micrctfiche. So I learn from the Feb. 24 issue of "The New Scientist." With the Englishman's flair for bad puns, the carjtion-writer headed the item: A New Kettle of Fiche.

More of Fiche as a word later. "THE New Scientist" says the book-lover may be outflanked by the tendency to display computer 'print-out' on a screen instead of typewritten letters on paper, or produced directly as microfilm. Microfilm is itself being superseded by microfiche, "where an entire magazine can be put on one. 4-inch by 6-inch twee of filin and an entire library can be stored on one book-shelf." Microfiche has been around for some time in archives and libraries without seeming like much of a threat to the bcok-lover. But, "The New Scientist" tells us that, economics favors the new con- -densed eminent is now offering, for 95 cents, a microfiche of a technical report which costs $3'mpaper.

It is currently seeing 20 million of such cards a year. In January, for the first time, a magazine began including a microfiche copy in a pocket inside the back cover of the paper version, without charge. The subscriber can then clip any articles he wants from the paper version and keep the microfiche in his library for possible future reference. "The New for PURELY by accident I've been reading simultaneously this week John Her-sey's new novel, "The Conspiracy," and a March 25 New Yorker article by Richard Harris on the American "new right." The conjunction of the two is chilling. John Hersey has often revealed a strong didactic governance his writing.

Witness "Hiroshima" or "The War Lover" or "The Child Buyer." In "The Conspiracy" he has recreated the Roman world of Emperor Nero. He has told his imaginative version of the historical conspiracy to assassinate Nero entirely from the point of view of two senior right-wing military and police officers. He depicts them as contriving the plot so as to remove the philosopher-artist-scholar elite who like the great Seneca had once been the young Nero's tutors and political advisers, men whom they affect to despise as decadent scribblers at the same time that they bend all their resources to entrap them. "Your conspiracy," cries the youthful poet Lucan to the chief of the secret police as he slowly bleeds to death In an obligatory suicide. "The one you imagined.

There hasn't been any conspiracy, you know, except the ohe, you people invented. Now you're destroying us to justify yourselves." Richard Harris in his non-fiction study of the present right wing forces in the States which in bis judgment are eating away civil liberties in the name of fighting the present rise in crime writes: i i Wilfrid Eggleston that matter, is preparing to announce that its own issues, beginning in January of this year, will be available in microfiche as well as in- the regular paper issue. "pHE economic catch, so -far, is that the 'reading device' for displaying microfilm cards for the reader is still expensive The cheapest i r-reader, says this source, is still over one hundred pounds sterling (say $260). But a big work, like an encyclopedia, might already be cheaper on microfiche, plus printer-reader, for less than the present cost of the encyclopedia on paper. So the article suggests.

"Microfiche has two other "advantages, which may tip the scale in its favor in the long run," the New Scientist goes on. "It has an ecolog'cal advantage in reducing the trees cut down for paper, and it is very light, which means that it can be sent through the post at much lower costs "The difference in postage alone may be enough to permit some magazines to charge less for microfiche editions, and a few will surely do so as soon as enough homes have microfiche readers. Next perhaps the post office will provide telephone directories free only if we take fiche, but A. A Novel of the Week Dorothy Bishop his whole book as a series of these arc orders and reports passing be-t Tigellinus, Co-Commander of Nero's Praetorian Guard, and Paenus, Tribune of Secret Police. The reports Paenus sends to his superior often reproduce whole letters copied by servant-spies as they pass between the retired.

Seneca and his nephew Lucan. Often Ti-g 1 1 i commits police schemes of provocation to the self-condemnation of paper. One is bound to wonder why the written 'word can be untouchable the one way when it so clearly.is not the other. The letter device has always been as tricky to use as it is tempting. But grant John Hersey his technique.

The letters have suspense and a good deal of recreative power: Psy- Radicals of the right and chologically they are pene-licals of" the left usually fratlng especially of the right "radicals of the left usually view life In such a remorselessly committed and narrow fashion that they are bound to view all opposition to them as fundamentally evil and probably a conspiracy. They continually imagine plots against them that do not exist and concoct plots of their" own that cannot succeed." pfE Hersey novel is a remarkable piece of work though certainly far from "pure historical fiction, if such a thing can exist. He has gained Immediacy though not always bellevablllty by doing wing mind (whether of the Roman right-wing mind or -not). There Is particular ironic tension for the reader be-' tween the Intellectual self-questioning Seneca and Lucan reveal and the perversion of their thoughts Tigellinus reads into them. The letters become increasingly dramatic in' the' big scenes In reporting the literary banquet Plso (the supposed new aspirer to Imperial Power) holds.

In the lakeside orgy Nero designs to lead the "conspirators" to themselves, the' Circus races where he will seem to expose some point, we might actually see evervone on the tube read ing his paper with a pocket microfiche reader." yrONDERS will never cease! "The New Scientist" suspects that microfiche will develop its own style and that economics will win out in the long run But if the age of the book is succeeded by the age of the fiche there will be many a book-lover, I suspect, who will look wistfully back to the days of 'the real A book lover like myself tends in time to take over the whole house with his expanding library; and in the trend toward the compact apartment I can see the advantages of a library on microfilm which can be limited to a single shelf. And perhaps the printer-reader or other viewing device will be perfected so that read'ng, even browsing and checking and consulting, will be just as convenient as, at present gUT surety if such a revolution is to occur, we can find some English word for the new variant of Fiche, I find (pronounced 'feesh') has a number of meanings in French: "peg, pin (for a hinge, counter (at cards); small card, slip; (Whist) booby prize; (colloq.) slip of paper.memo; (fig.) bit of consolation, sop." (So my Cassell's informs). Think of what "fiche" will do to the famous phrases and quotations. A ficheman is bad enough, but a fiche-worm is intolerable. One shudders at the thought of bringing out the Holy Fiche to read a passage of scripture.

And what it does to Milton's great lines: "Unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a Man as kill a good Microfiche Many a man lives a burden to the Earth; but a good Microfiche is the precious life-blood of a masterspirit. No, that sounds too much like blasphemy to any book lover like myself. If it is to come, let us find a new word. Reviewed for The Journal by Dorothy Bishop himself (but surrounded by armed women), the capture and "confessions" of the conspirators, and finally the dignity of the Seneca and Lucan death scenes.) I HISTORIANS of the period will or will not approve of Hersey's recloaking of these tense events of classic history. Hersey himself speaks in an "Afterword" of his using Tacitus and Suetonius with the freedom of one seeking to write an entertainment rather than history.

For the general reader the dramatic cloak he throws about those violent events lying between the half-burning of Rome in 64 AD and Nero's own suicide in 68 AD (three years after the "conspiracy" in favor of Piso) will offer much vigorous detail scarcely remembered from the history texts of one's school days. More strikingly he will be made aware not so much of a long ago past as of an imminent present. "What fools these mortals be," Barrlett credits Seneca with being one of the first writers to say. And never so foolish as when we assume that civil liberty comes in non-returnable bottles. THE CONSPIRACY.

By John Het-wy. 274 paeat. Random Houta of Cenoda Umltad. M.1S. Hospitality MARK TWAIN hated to leave the comfort of his bed, where he did much of his reading and writing.

One morning, when he was reclining there, as usual, his wife into the and toil him that a reporter was waiting downstairs to interview him. "Send him up," said the humorist you think, you ought to get out of 'bed?" she suggested. "What for?" how wiB it look for you to be stretched out like that: while be sits up In a straight-backed chair?" Twain thought this over for a moment. "You're right," he agreed. "That would be Inhospitable.

Have the maldymake up another bed." An Attic Salt Shaker By E. yfHJLE in Europe in 1927, Harry Warner was impressed by a young director named Michael Curtiz. "Sign a contract with me," ureed the head of Warner BrotsK famous." "I'm well-known now," countered Curtiz. "I mean really famous," promised Warner. 'Til put on a campaign that will make your name a household word." Curtiz did not swallow this, but he signed nevertheless.

A few months later, on a sunny July day, his boat docked in New York. He was met by reporters and photographers and then whisked away by a studio representative in a chauffeured limousine. The car turned into Fifth Avenue on the way to the hc-tei. From every building a flag was flying and thousands of spectators packed the sidewalks. The limousine fell in at the rear of a giant parade.

Bands were playing, soldiers were marching. Curtiz was overwhelmed. "Does Warner put on this kind of welcome for every director he brings to America?" he gasped. "No," explained the man from the studio, "only for those who arrive on the Fourth of July." 3 ANDREW CARNEGIE retired from business in 1901 to devote full time to his philanthropies, as he was determined to give away all his money. He found this to be a near-impossible task.

After ten years, during which time he gave away millions, he still had S1S0 million left. Desperate, he consulted his attorney. "I'm 76 years old," he said. -Ihaven't much longe live. You've got to help me dispose of the remainder of my fortune before I- die." "Why the urgency?" inquired the lawyer.

"Your wife is still young. She will be able to continue your work." "That's precisely what I want to spare her," explained Carnegie. "She's too fine a woman to spend the rest of her life struggling to give away money." i GILBERT ROBINSON was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers one year when the team couldn't scare up a base hit. In the clubhouse before one game, Robbie received word that the third base coach was home sick. He told a relief pitcher to take the man's place.

"You can't do that," protested the first base coach. "He doesn't know anything about the job. It takes months to get the hang of it" "So?" shrugged Robinson. "He'll learn before we get a man to third." a REHEARSAL one day in Carnegie. Hall, it suddenly struck Arturo Toscanini that there was an incorrect note in the score that lay in front of him.

Although the note had appeared thus for many a year, he felt sure that the composer must have written something else. He asked an assistant to check with the music director" of the Library of Congress, where the original score was kept. The music director, in New York at the time, phoned Washington and had the passage hummed to him. He then iphoned Toscanini's assistant and hummed the passage to the The assistant dashed out on stage, disrupting the rehearsal, and hummed for the maestro. The note had indeed been Incorrect.

Toscanini, clapping his hands in delight, turned to the orchestra and solemnly hummed the corrected version. LADY friends of John Bar-rymore decided one night to tell the actor that their romantic interlude was over she was going to marry someone else. As she broke the news to 1 UAaV VJLW him, Barrymore polished off one drink after another. Observing this, she said gently: "If I had known you were going to drown your sorrows in drink, I might not have told you." i 1 1 wouldn't have mat- Bafrymo: her, as he raised another drown my joys in the same way." i )URING most of the years that he represented his country in the United States, Norwegian' diplomat Wilhelm de Munthe Morgenstierne held the rank of minister. during the Second.

World War, he was elevated to ambassador. "As an ambassador," he was asked, "are you treated differently?" "Yes indeed," declared the diplomat, "especially when I am. a dinner guest. Now I am allowed to eat my meal in peace. When I was the minister, I was usually asked to say grace' CHESS By D.

M. LeDAIN Block 10 Pieces it it .1 i i 'A 1 IIs i o- White 10 Pieces wnite to end win. A. Pomer, Spoin, vs. Hortoch, Ho(-Icnd.

Premier, Wiik aon Zee, Hollomt (Solution next week) Key. 1' O-RS. EXERCISE IN FUTILITY? Just when everything seemed to be ironed cut, after many weeks of negotiations. In Ihe worid chempionship match between champion Boris Spassky end chcllengcr, Bofctoy Fischer a stort on Jure 22 it now appears to be oil off. An oversees dispatch states that Fischer has demanded from Ihe crgoniiers that, in addition to the guerorttscd cash prizes, they spf.t cny excess through Hickef sales, between himself end Spase-ky.

Ths private sponsor has refused and cancelled their end of the sponsorship for a June 72 start. There would not be time to po mrouch further frustrating nego-tlons. which might lest for weks. judging by post experience, and stiJI be able to put the show on. However, if fhv rrn npt firm otifsrontees from nil concerned, they may go on with It in the ftH.

Moonwhile, Dr. Max Euwe, president of the Federation Internotioncf des Eches (FIDE), has Issued a statement to the effect that Fischer may be defaulted. No man is bigger thon the game and he is likely to find that world opinion will back the president. If such a regrettable decision has to be mcde. Fischer wes not present cf ths second meeting In Amsterdam, March 1619, In which he was represented by USACF Administrative Director E.

B. Edmondson, his long-time friend counsellor. The tatter has brn dismissed by him from further f'mancici necetfcrtiom. From the Pc4ma, Marioco Inter-ncrtonel, 1971: WING GAME White: Black: B. Larsen L.

Ljubojevic (Denmark) Yuocslcvii) Whtte 1. P-KN3 2. 8-N2 3. P-OB4 4. N-OB3 5.

P-03 P-K4 7. B-K3 8. KN-K2 9. N-OS 10. 0-02 11.

0-0 12. P-B4 13. R-B2 14. OR-KB1 S. OPxP 16.

P-QN3 17. P-OB5 Black White Blr'k IS. BxP R-Kl N-OB3 V. N-Bt P-QN3 P-Q3 B-R3 N-C5 B-K3 21. N-OJ PxP 0-O2 22.

N(3)xKBP KN-K2 N-R3 P-Bi 53. P-B-l'-i P-KS3 24. P-R3 B-N2 25 PxB 0-0 26. PxP R-B2 V. B-N2 OR-KB1 29.

RxN K-Rl 29. N-K3 BPxP 30. BxN N-KN1 31. N-B4 B-N5 32. OxP PxP 33.

RxR 24. 0-05 P.KNt PxN NxKNP No r--R5 PxB RrRP OV? R-KB1 Resigns (c) (a) If 23 BxP; 24. NxNPch. (b) Nat 31. OxP, RxKP.

(c) If Q-Ql, Q-R5 and B-B5 wins epsily. From the ftov'mj-Zcgrcb International, Yugoslavia, 1970: FRENCH DEFENCE WtvM: J. Fischer (U.S.A.) Block: W. Uhlmann (East Germany) White Block White Black I. P-K4 P-K3 1.

P-OS N-Nl J. N-OB3 P-Oi 17. P-R3 N-KB3 3. P-04 B-N5 18. N-K5 N-K5 4.

P-OR3 BxNch 19. 0-04 R-N6(a) 5. PxB PxP 20. N-B7I Q-B5ch 6. Q-N 4 N-B3 21.

K-N! P-B4 (b) 7. OxNP fi-KNl 22. 0-K5! OxO 8. 0-R6 R-N3 23. BxQ QR-KN1 9.

Q-K3 N-B3 24. 6 03(c) RxNP 10. B-N2 Q.Q3 25. BxN PxB M. P-B3 PxP 24.

N-04ch K-B2 II. NxP B-Q2 27, XKPch K-N3 13. 0-O-O O-O-O 28. N-B4 B-R5(d) 14. P-B4 KN-N5 29.

NxR BxPch 15. Q-Q2 P-B4 30. K-Bl N-02 31.CR-KN1! (o) Threot 20 (b) If 21 R-KB1: 22. PxP, BxP; 23. Q-Q8ch.

(C) If 24. BxR, N-Boch. But Wh. has the advantage due to Bl's Inactive ON. (d) flat much choice.

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