Sept. 7.
The difference between the latest speeches of Mr, Winston Churchill and Hitler has never been more striking. Hitler's was indicative of fear, arising from the knowledge that his plans have gone awry, and of the danger of ultimate defeat. Mr. Churchill's was filled with a quiet sturdy confidence even though he adhered to the British cus~ tom of under- rather than overstatement. When a man of his calibre says "We are going to be a good deal stronger next year than now, although we are quite strong enough for the immediate work in hand," his words cannot be anything but encouraging. Recent ministerial utterances dealing with the commencement of the second year of war were very much to the same effect. The losses of material on the Continent are rapidly being made up, the acceleration in the domestic production of aeroplanes, and the increased supplies of those machines from the United States, promise that the day when Britain will be ready to pass from the purely defensive to the offensive will ultimately come.
The Prime Minister went out of his way to answer Hitler in part. It was not really necessary, but it was a complete answer. "If there is to be, as suggested in his (Hitler's recent oration, a contest of nerves, will power and endurance in which the whole British and German peoples are to engage, be it short oF be it long, we shall not shrink from it, We believe the spirit and temperament bred under the institution of freedom will prove more enduring and more resolute than anything that can be got out of the most efficiently enforced mechanical discipline." The attitude of the British people under the bombing of German aeroplanes clearly justifies the Prime Minister's belief. They are taking their punishment with courage and determination to stick it out. The only thing which matters to them is victory, and to obtain that no sacrifice will be considered to be too big. There will be no shrinking. There has not been since the German mass air-raids commenced, as the newspapers. from Home clearly show, and there will be. none now.
The reason for that is not -hard to find. Millions of British people are under. fire. They sce for themselves the damage which is being inflicted upon the enemy raiders, see wave after wave of attackers driven back from their objectives, and realizing as they do that some machines must get through, see that it is only a small proportion of those sent against them. Added to that there is the knowledge that besides defending the British Isles, the RAF. is carrying the war into Germany, to Berlin, and according to est message even further east than that city. They are informed of the huge damage which is being done in industrial Germany, and especially in the Ruhr, to which extra foodstuffs from Holland are being sent to bolster the nerves of the sorely tried inhabit ants, And they know that every day that passes means further inroads into the re~ serves of war material which Hitler gathered against his final attack on the liberties of Europe.
Tt is easy to understand why Hiller so greatly hates and fears Mr. Churchill. Psychologically the Prime Minister is worth very many divisions to Great Britain because of the reality of his outlook and his full understanding of the hysterical Hitler. Not only that Mr. Churchill knows his own people well. He was not afraid in the dark days to siond up in the House of Commons and tell unpalatable truths. Under his guidance the British people were able to stare severe reverses in the face, and take courage from immediate defeat. Now in these days when he is able to give a better account of the situation he is just as much to be believed as he was then. He knows. that Britons can take the truth, just as much as Hitler apparently realizes that his people cannot. So when Mr. Churchill reports, 2°
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.