The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1942-07-02
THROUGH
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BY HAZEL BRANNON
Mount Royal Hotel

Mount Royal Hotel
MONTREAL, Canada, June 20,
1942.-Over 400 newspaper men and
women representing "a of the forty
eight United States have gathered
here this week Il hold a convention
and make an extended tour Of this
section of our good neighbor, Can
ada. The convention proper will be
held in Quebec City, Canada, be-
ginning Tuesday, June 90 and last
ing until Thursday afternoon.
What is known as good old
southern hospitality is not confined
to the southern part of the United
States. Canada has truly given the
glad hand to editors attending this
convention and nothing has been too
good for us. The writer is privileged
to be among those present. She is.
however, missing very much Clayton
and May Rand, of Gulfport, Missis-
sippi, who last year attended the
Jacksonville, Florida, convention and
introduced her to many Of their
charming friends from various Sec
tions Of the United States. Their
friends attending the convention this
year miss them, too. Mr.. and Mrs.
Lester Williams, of Tylertown, are
the only other Mississippians att end
ing this National Editorial Associa-
ton convention.
Excellent food, good wine ana
wonderful dance music here on the
Normandie Roof Of the Mount Royai
last evening. made a pleasant be-
ginning for what promises t o be an
outstanding week. No speeches is
the order Of these affairs which adds
greatly to their enjoyment, needless
to say.
Being in Montreal is like another
world. Seventy-nine percent Of the
people here are of French descent
and more French is spoken than
English. The buildings and homes
are all along French lines and the
atmosphere entirely foreign to Am
erica. It is amazing to the writer that
she has been able to recall q little
of the French she studied years ago
enough to get along. II the
French doesn't come at the right
moment a smile is sufficient to get
what is wanted. It is nice that a smile
is the same in any language.
French people engaged in service
occupations around the hotels and
cafes are undoubtedly the most eager
people to please of any people in the
world. They do everything possible
TO make the visitors feel welcome
and they are succeeding completely.
Yesterday we went through the
Fairchild Corporation Limited and
saw them manufacturing twin-motor-
ed bombers which the English call
Blenheims and use to good advantage
in bombing the Germans. Every bolt,
nut and screw is put in the planes
here and each finished product comes
out in 10000 mar hours. 1890 peo-
pie are employed here and the plant
operates full blast 24-hours per day.
Ten percent of the people employed
are m The women do not work
at night. Motors used in the ships
are made in England. The ships are
built here. Workers work sixty hours
per week and get paid for &c hours.
We also visited yesterday Dorval
airfield where is located the ferry
command of the Canadian govern
ment. All planes made in the United
States and in Canada are flown
over from here usually by way of
Newfoundland. The place is hum
ming with activity. We examined
bombers of every type which were
all over the place. Most of the planes
were made in the United States. We
also saw a four-motored job have
an accident on the field. 1t was COM
paratively minor but a great deal OF
damage was done to the nose Of
the ship. Something went wrong as
the pilot was taking off and the ship
nosed over. 1t is rumored that he
suffered a broken leg.
Ships manufactured by the Am
erican government and lend-leased
to the British are all called by Bri-
fish names. Our B-24 is called Lib
orator" when they get to the British
These planes have been figuring IN
the late news that comes from AT
RIGA. Needless to say visiting these
important defense centers is an ex'
tremely rare privilege which we ap.
preciate very much. Everything il
heavily guarded.
Today we had the rare pleasure
. of visiting the Shrine Of Saint Jos
eph, and one of the most beautiful
,chapels in the world. Most of the
people here are devout Catholics ant
their religion is very important tt
!, them. It is too bad that We Protes
tants are not as loyal to our re
ligion.
At noon we board the SIS Quebe'
to make a three day trip up the st
Lawrence river to Quebec City. W.
will stop at several well known re