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Canadian National Has Record Year By R. C. Vaughan, PraskUnt, Can. Nat. Railway* During to* yHr 1941 tht man- agement of the Canadian National ha* had ( it* primary the continual improve- of railway services to moot law needs of tho Tor Increasing industrial output which hai ra- taltod from tho turning over of Canada's wholo productive con- omjr from a peacetime to a war- tan* buu. Tho upward trond of railway traffic which bocanio manifest immediately upon the outbreak of war has continued and resulted in 1941 in a physical volumo of traf- fic higher than any previously transported by the system. Al- ready in this war period demanda saade upon railway transportation fe Canada have oxceeded those of MM last war by atixty porcont. Tho dominant role which railways play fe the essential transportation Mods of this country has been thoroughly established. To meot the increase of traffic kandled by the National Railways, which since the outbreak of war has risen ninety-five percent, has oalled for careful planning to take the beit ue of railway qurpnitr.i and facilities. It has Wen necessary to improve and ampand railway facilities in a amber of districts. It has also Wen necessary to obtain addi- tional equipment and this expan- sion has required special efforts oa the part of all employees throughout the system. War Effort First It has been the policy of the Management in all cues to place to Interests of the war effort first and to maintain the capacity at? the railway to meet these ei- aantial demands. War transport- ation needa consist not only in the movement of hundreds of thous- ands of military personnel and of Tast quantities of munitions and applies, but also in the carriage at* raw material and of seml-fin- iahed products which are moved fa all parts of the country. This war traffic had of necessity to be added to the volume of normal holiness traffic. The measures which have been taken to enable tho Canadian National Railways ta deal with this constantly in- creasing volume of traffic have hoen effective. Traffic offered haa been moved to destination ex- foditiously and tho quality of service haa been constantly main- tained. Financial Rnulti The effect of tho increased vol- me of traffic Is reflected in the financial results of the system. While tho audited revenue and operating expense figures for the saonth of December are not yet available, estimated resulta for that month added to the known fig.irts for the first eleven snonths of the year indicate that 194 1 operating revenues will total $803,000,000. The net revenue for 1941, estimated at $ 66,000,- 000, after meeting: all expenses Including equipment depreciation will be the largest in the system's Malory. Taxes and fixed charges Including interest amount to $62,- 00,000 for 1941, therefore, it It expected that operating revenues will yield a surplus over and above all operating expenses, taxes and interest. We are, how- aver, facing in 1942 many mil- Mo ns of uncontrollable increased expenditure for wages and mater- ials, and there has been no cor. rooponding increase In the price of our services for transporting passengers and goods. The capital improvement!) made daring the year nearly all arose from the necessity of Improving facilities on various lines of the railway which have now become strategic routes for the handling of actual and prospective war traffic. This work consisted of improving jards, terminals, shops, engiiirhouM -:, the construction of additional passing tracks and sid- fatrs and the installation of slg- als. Undelivered Order* Orders had been placed for various types of equipment, in- cluding locomotives and freight cars, but condition/) imposed by war priorities presented difficul- ties for the builders who thus were unable to complete these or- ders. However, during the year we received 10 locomotives and 1,136 cars. There are on order undelivered 70 locomotives and 1,389 cars. In addition to funiisliiu^ tin im- portation service, the railway has assistrd in Canada's war effort by Making available to (be d'owrn- ssent the services of special de- partments of the railway, nnd by furnishing trained personnel to special (iovt'rnmcnt (tranches. Tho management is proud to report that nearly 4,000 employ- ees, lia\e liern granted leave of absence to enlist for active ser- \ice in the nnvy, Uu> army nnd the M ir force. Production of Munitions It is ;il .1 miller of piidi' to that th*u Cnimdian National FRENCH SEA QUEEN CHANGES HER NAME The luxury liner Norinandie is losing her good name for an even better one. Workmen remove lettering from side of French ressel taken over by the U. 8. Navy and renamed Lafayette. Railways has directly participated la the mobilization of Canadian industry for war purposes. We have constructed, under a finan- cial arrangement with the Gov- ernment, a building measuring 111 feet by 616 feet with an area of over 263,600 square feet for the National Railways Munitions Limited and this plant has been in operation for some time. At that plant and elsewhere in car and locomotive shops part of the company's working force, num- bering more than a thousand -men, has been actively engaged in the manufacture of several types of munitions, including gun car- riages, naval guns and gun mount- ings. At its drydock and ship- building yard the company has been and is yet constructing mine sweepers and these same facili- ties are also being used in build- ing large cargo vessels for War- thne Merchant Shipping Limited. Steamship Companies The steamship companies which form a part of the Canadian Na- tional organization have also played their part in the Battle of the Atlantic and elsewhere. An additional wartime responsibility gladly accepted by the company was the management of the Can- adian Government Merchant Mar- ine which had been re-established and la operating Danish, French, Finnish, German and Italian ves- sels seized by the Canadian Gov- ernment. Canadian National Steamships craft have been trad- ing in distant waters as well as to ports closer to Canadian shores, so that In addition to our em- ployees who have enlisted in the fighting forces, a large number of our men arc actively engaged in war work. Labor Relations A feature of the company's labour relations during the year was the stabilization of wages and aalaries in accordance with the Order-in-Council issued by the Government. The majority of the organised labour groups repre- sented on the Canadian National Railways entered into agreements stabilizing wages at the pre-war basis with provision for a cost of living bonus adjusted to the index of the cost of living. Subsequent- ly the voluntary basis agreed to In the transportation industry be- came a compulsory one applicable, generally speaking, to all Cana- dian industry. It is noteworthy that the railway industry pion- eered this development, which is one of the essential elements in a plan for preventing the evil ef- fects of inflation. Other Services Of other sen-ices operated by the Company the group of hotels records a satisfactory year. These hotels well serve the communities la which they are situated. All of them have been busy; indeed, at times, some of the hotel* have been hard pressed to furnish ac- commodation for the number of guests offering. This would in- dicate that the hotels have been properly established to provide service for the travelling public. The Canadian National Tele- graphs have had an exceptionally busy year, handling an appreci- able increase in the number of messages despatched, especially for industrial and commercial purposes. The Telegraphs pro- vide an essential service of com- munications within Canada and through their connections provide important and extensive services In the United States and overseas. Largest in North America During 1941 the Canadian Na- tional Railways maintained 28,- 660 road miles, operating between the two oceans practically two transcontinental lines. The com- pany serves all provinces of the Dominion, some of the neighbor- ing states, and, so far as mileage is concerned, forms the largest railway on the North American continent and in the British Em- pire. The staff of employees now approaches 100,000 In number. Sales Of Wine Dip 5 Per Cent Profits Will Be Down Due to Heavier Costs VOICE O F T H E PRESS Constructive progress was made in 1941 by the Ontario wine In- dustry, according to E. A. Thomas, president of the Wine Producers' Association. "Formation of the Wine Pro- ducers' Association," he states, "to which all companies licensed to make wine in Ontario belong, was a forward step for the twen- ty-three wineries in operation throughout the year. A number of the wineries made important improvements in plant and equip- ment. About four million gallons of wine was processed. There was a falling off in sales during 1941 due entirely to the increase in price necessitated by increased taxation, which amount- ed to 27 cents per gallon. The total tonnage of wines sold was less by approximately 6 per cent. The profits, before income tax was deducted, were generally maintained at close to the 1940 levels. The net Income will, of course, be lower due to increased taxation. 4 The increased cost of the in- ventories added during 1941, re- sulting from increttseg cost of ma- terials, has not yet materially af- fected profits. However, these in- creased costs will show up in lower operating profits in future years. The 1941 grape crop was of unusually fine quality, the sugar content being up by approximat- ely 20 per cent over the previous year. Grape growers of the Niagara Peninsula enjoyed an excellent market both in demand and price. There were about Hi, 000 acres of vineyards. The minimum price paid by the wineries was $50 per ton, an increase of $10 per ton over 1940. Total commercial re- turns to the grape growers was approximately $1,000,000, about $250,000 more than 1940. Imports of foreign wines are almost entirely shut off due to the war. IT'S ALL HYPOTHETICAL In Rome, the Colonial Agency is holding civil service examina- tions for jobs in the administra- tion of Italian Africa. Of course those jobs will have to wait for Hitler to win Italy's victory and restore the empire, which doesn't exist today. That's dandy. Now the hypothetical jobholders can pile into hypothe- tical Volksautos (the people's oar which Hitler collected for but never manufactured) and go rambling merrily off (hypotheti- cally) into a purely hypothetical future. How'll they trade the whole thing, we wondei, for a good plate of real spaghetti? Kitchener Record. CROW RICE IN THE U.S. The war in the , Pacific and shipping difficulties there do not mean that this continent Is cut off from supplies of rice. It Is not generally known that rice if grown extensively in the United States. This year's production indeed, included 21,074,000 bush- els in Louisiana, 15,520,000 bush- els in Texas, 11,128,000 bushels in Arkansas and 9,660,000 bush- el* ! n California. Brockville Recorder and Timei. UP TO DATE One of the month's best sam- ples of war humor was given last week b> the Cobalt reporter for the Northern News. He tells of a Cobalt friend of his who saw on the bill of fare in a Chinese restaurant in Toronto recently this patriotic item: "Free French-Fried Potatoes." Timmins Advance. THOSE WELSH AGAIN Marshal Simyon Timoshenko, according to an English school teacher, is of Welsh extraction. That will explain many things to the Germans. They will recall all the trouble a Welshman caused them in the last war. Windsor Star. HINT TO JAPANESE The neatest crack of the week on the Japanese attack came from the barbed tongue of Ellen Wil- kinson, British Labor M.P. and Home Office official: "People who live in wooden houses shouldn's throw bombs." Stratford Beacon-Herald. PERHAPS A BUGGY RIDE If the automobile la eventually banned for pleasure in this war, many people will be no worse off than they were during the First Great War when they didn't own one. St. Thomas Times-Journal. NEWS FOR THE DOCTOR The average family pays $76 a year for doctor bills, says a government report. This prob- ably will be news to most doc- tors. Elma Chronicle. Summary Reveals Ceiling Effective Bank of Montreal business sum- mary for the year 1941 reports that the new Dominion price ceil- ing system "so far has been work- ing with as much efficiency as could be expected in its initial staRes." The summary says that "the advance in commodity prices has been checked and the trend has been slightly downward." Discussing Canada's war pro- duction the summitry states that it is mounting stca-lily and in- creasing in variety. Here has also boon a much heavier demand for Canadian Nickel, United States consumption having risen to more than two-thirds of the total output as against a normal consumption of about one-third. Plans ar under way for increas- ing the output l>y .some fifty mil- lion pounds annually. The glass snnke - which is not a snake Imt a lizard - snaps it- self to pieces .vhi'ii touched. A Wetldy Column About This and That in The Canadian Am* Hero are acme more Army nicknames since last week's few remarks on that subject, "Daisy" Bell and "Grog" Anderson. If you ki.ow any more drop me a line. Have you any idea of the size of your Canadian Army! Tha best way to get the picture is to make a comparison in terms with which we are all familiar. The Army employs nearly eight times the entire staff of the Can- adia i Pacific Railway. The Army's requirements in gasoline-propelled vehicles, compared with the Do- minion Bureau of Statistics' most recent report on civilian trucks owned in Canada showa that as a "fleet owner" your Army not only outranks, many times over, the biggest individual commercial "fleet" but that according to re- cent figures for every eight com- mercial vehicles in Canada there if one for the Army. It may seem unusual to use industrial figures to illustrate the size of an army. Perhaps It is unusual, but the analogy is a food one. Let's carry it further. The Individual Citizen's Army la a big business run in a busi- ness-like way. The set-up is that of a huge industrial empire with a chairman of the board and di- rectors of a holding company which operates a group of affili- ated companies, each with its president, vice - presidents in charge of various operations, gen- eral managers, branch managers, purchasing and store-keeping or- ganizations, junior executives, foremen and skilled tradesmen. "Skilled Tradesmen." That has two meanings. Strictly applied in Army phraseology it refers to a long list of experts either al- ready trained in civil life or given an intensive course in Army Trade Schools but actually it ap- plies to every soldier. The "P.B.I." don't ask me to ela- borate on the "B" as the poor shall we say "blinking" in- fantryman was called last tune is no longer just a rifle-toter on whom you hang "everything but the kitchen stove." This time every one in the Army, from Lieut.-Gen. A. G. L. McNaughton down to the last- joined vounteer, is or will be a specialist. By the time the new private soldier has completed his train- ing he is far more than just a "foot-slogger." He is a trained soldier who has passed tests in First Aid, Rifle, Anti-Tank Rifle, Light Machine Gun, Pistol, Bay- onet Fighting, Anti-aircraft De- fence, Field-craft, May K*ilie*r, Mortar, Hand and Rifle Grenade, "Tommy" gun and Field Engin- eering and he can march 20 inlUi a day. Now that's a "cry brief des- cription of the accomplishments as the disposal of an infantryman, not what the Canadian Army calls a "Specialist." The infantryman of 25 years ago ould have felt like a full Colonel with a <out half of that knowledge thig one would, anyhow! >k Just by way of a digression, have you any idea how much -ad- ded leisure today't volunteer hai compared with the private soJdiar of my generation? Here are two reasons. Before the dfcjs of "Battl- RomperB," as many of you re- member, we had brass buttons, metal cap badges, and shoulder badges, all of wi.'.ch had to be kept bright. In addition the web equipment had to be cleaned with a preparation named "Blanco" and its innumerabj? brass tabs had to be polished. All of which took up a lot of Itisure time. So the young voluntftr can chuckle at the old soldie.- there'* no brass on battle-dress 1 Today's infantryman, not to mention other pecialisb% has plehty'to study ;r. hig spare Uine. And he doe* stu.iy. Why not? Every soldier too ay has a oliftnce to gain his commission as an offi- cer. How does he do lhat? He dos It the way Major-General 0. H. Pearkes, V.C., D.S.O., M.C, and Major-General C. B, Price, D.8.O., D.C.M., did in xh* Great War, 1914-19, step by ip Frival* to Lance-Corporal, and on j>. By the way, car. any old soldier tell me why a I.; co-Corporal is sometimes nick-. . o<l "Lance- Jack?" Strike At Hearts Of German People Even now we do -n-t realize f.he full importance ' propaganda. We fought our v.v. into Aliyaa- inia with printing :>reeses as well as machine guns. Fr.'nphlets drop- ped on enemy portions brought thousands of nativ. and Italian* over to us. But there art ^cei target* than Iran and Italy. The Russian* have shown us tht: -...y to strike at the hearts of th German peo- ple. They tell sorrowing women how their husbands t>nd sons (tied. That is the way <o break mor- ale. But propnp.-.-.de can ulao make rhornle. LIFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neber ''in content to sit back and wait but my partner is a ijo-getteri" REG'LAR FELLERS Efficiency Expert By GENE BYRNES ,1 $UE SS THAT WONT DO EITHER / MOVE It OVER. HERE - NO, WAIT JUST A MINUTE WHILE I THINK / YOU CANT LEAVE YOUR DESK MERE, PINHEAD / MOVE IT OVER THERE / I REALLY CANT MAKE MY MIND HOW LET SEE WHEN MOM'S IN A MOOD LIKE THIS. 1'U- SAVE A LOT OF TIME BY BORROWING THESE WHEELS OFF MY x-i V * I'.. >-t; -. Ill ri|. ru-.vril *