POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 120, 23 May 1941, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

Then there was the dear old lady who sought out all her friends to tell them of a lovely story called "Gone in the Wind." * * * General Kabisch, of the German army, recently declared that the only way of winning the war is by "bringing troops into England!" * « * Hitler once said that "he who eats Democracy will die of it." You, too, Adolf: how many democracies have you gobbled (or Goebbel'd)? « * * Britain's Minister of Food: "If we look after the stomach of workers the output will look after itself." It's up to you to fill the plates, brother. « * * Marx Brothers have dissolved part- ! nership. Harpo is giving up silence. . Probably he'll keep harping on it now, ; comments Ira. «■ * » ■ MISUNDERSTOOD. ; Dear P.F.,—lt's unfortunate that the : little quip in last Thursday's "Post" only raised a grouch instead of a grin from one who apparently grins but not grouches. He seems to have missed ; entirely the point of the joke. Does . he consider that any of his work (on which he made a loss) did not come up j to the value of the expenses incurred? Of course the price received is an- - other matter. [ BUILDER. , te * # INFORMATION DEPT. In reply to "Tummas," who bet a friend that Irak is part of the ancient land of one of the Troys (there were ' nine of them): ■ Irak is the ancient name of Mesopotamia. It embraces such Biblical ' sites as the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel, Babylon, Ur of the Chaldees, [ and Nineveh. Irak was created as a British mandate from territory taken r from the old Turkish empire. Feisal , I, the first king, was elected by the . people and enthroned in 1921 with the ', blessing of Winston Churchill, then ' British Colonial Secretary. Feisal was t the old Arab ally of T. E. Lawrence t (Lawrence of Arabia). * * « I REQUISITIONING. { Here is the news: A month ago 5 reliable information in Vichy anI nounced that fifty-three ships of 1 nearly 240,000 tons had been requisitioned from France in recent months. ' The cable did not say so. but the Germans it was who requisitioned the *ships. obviously to transport Axis troops and supplies to Africa. The transatlantic French liner De Grasse, 18,453 tons, heads the list. This is the first figure on requisitioned means of [ transportation since it was learned that by last February 140,000 out of 1 450,000 French freight cars had been : requisitioned and that 240,000 of the remainder had been concentrated in ; occupied France—by German authori- ' ties. "Le Temps," the influential newspaper, called immediately for Governmental "firmness" to "set limits to the requisitioning." And today? * * * BABEL OF TONGUES. "Die Zeitung," the Free German London daily, which laid a heavy hand on Hess some time ago, is edited for German refugees and army ranks by ;J. H. Lothar. Lothar is himself a • refugee of long standing and was ■ formerly joint managing director of ! the "Frankfurter Zeitung." He has lived ;in London for some years, and has ■ been associated there with the publi- ■ cation of works of Thomas Mann, a '■ world-famous German novelist who ■ loathes Nazism. "Die Zeitung" is the latest on the impressive list of 'Continental newspapers published in London. Other foreign newspapers, few of them of more than six months' growth, are already thriving. Particular praise is paid in newspaper circles to the three vigorous Polish journals, and likewise to the Czechoslovak daily. Alone in the company . of Polish. Dutch. Belgian, Norwegian, and Czech papers, the French daily has fallen short of the high standards reached by the others. This is redeemed to a great extent by "La France Libre," a monthly review with articles by both French and British writers with the object of achieving greater understanding between the two countries. With the same aim, but substituting for France the Continent, is "Free Europe," edited by a Pole. * * * __ "DER TAG." . Now then 'little Nazis, Line up in a row, Winston's here to tell you Wh«; you all should know. Goering with his medals, Goebbels with al-lies, Hitler with his "Mem Kampf," Musso. with surprise. God knows your aims were peaceful W Then you o'er-ran Greece, Thinking that your larder You would thus increase. Should the pangs of hunger B? .ish thoughts of peace, Do not rush .for Turkey Lest you trip on Greece. Tho' to you the Luftwaffe's Still your joy and pride, Dropping bombs on Egypt's Merely Suez-side. In the great Atlantic Battle for your life, When victory's won remember Who began this strife. POLLY FLINDERS. * * * INTIMATION. Fireside.—Your "Hesspecial Edition" not quite up to the mark. H.M.B.—Thanks for that poem, but it has already appeared in Col 8. j Blackout (Spotlight).—lf the police I could not. find us round about "The Post" then we were not there. J.M.W.—We were interested in that song. "New Zealand." Old-timers would remember it. "Alloha" ("To the Airman of My Dreams"). —There is a touch of pathos in your P.S.: Well, dear lad in Air Force Blue, my name is "Patty" And I saw you in a little village called Otaki. S.l.T.E.—Nobody this side of the Line could possibly know where all that war gear out of Libya went. "St. George for England" (a tribute to Winston Churchill).—The opening four lines — Proud man of England, scorner 'of foul threat Flung by an evil State against our land; Unmoved by menace, not with meanness touched. He leads the Kingdom with resolving hand. R.E.L.—Somewhat late. J.G.J.—Someone headed you off to the judge with that "Scotland afore Ye" note. "Fishy."—Neither doggerel nor drivel, but just a trifle short of publication. T. (Nelson).—A shade short of the target. W.L.H.—Never-let it be said, brother —or you may be a sister.