"CONTEST IN SAVAGERY"

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 242, 14 October 1942, Page 2

"CONTEST IN SAVAGERY"

CANADIANS AGAINST MANACLING.

P.A. Cable.

NEW YORK, Oct. 13.

Difference of opinion is running strongly in Canada regarding the wisdom of the reprisal fettering of prisoners, says the New York Times's Ottawa correspondent. Some argue that it is a sign of utter weakness not to retaliate, pointing out that the Allies played gently with the Germans at the beginning of the war, with disastrous results. The opposite view is expressed by the Toronto Globe and Mail, which opposes entering a contest in brutality, which the Allies cannot win. It says: "Savagery in cold blood is the most demoralising influence on earth. If we practise it on the excuse of retributive justice, we may have cause to regret." This is the view held in .many quarters. The argument is complicated by the fact that all military prisoners held in Canada are prisoners captured by the British, and the aecision to fetter them was made in London It is a pity that the London decision and policy runs counter to the Canadian, but such seems to be the case. Certain groups even blame the British military authorities and Government for the situation, rather than the Nazis. Thus in creating the possihility of such a conflict of opinion, it is felt that Hitler scored a success.