bombs it might have: sold."
_,.. A different way of viewing the "essence" of this bargaincounter deal in bombs was expressed: by Robert Escarpit, the sometimes acid-tongued columnist of Le Monde. In the April 19 issue of . the Paris daily, under the title, "Nitrogen Cycle," he made the following observations: vat!
_, "The story about the American bombs sold at auction, then repurchased at a high price can appear both ridiculous and atrocious. But not surprising. The German company that acquired them was figuring, it seems, on extracting the nitrate in the expiosives in order to make fertilizer. What were the Americans going to do with it but that? Ense et aratro [with sword and plow] -- the ambivalence of the plowshare and the sword is not new. It is nornal to find their modern equivalents. -
"Things cannot’ ‘be . kept from their ultimate destination. Whatever the path taken by nitrogen to complete its cycle -- sacks of fertilizer or cannon fodder, fertilizer spray or: pure and impure blood to’ soak the furrows -- the earth finally receives the benefit."
Sydney
Three thousand people demonstrated in the center of the city April .15 against..the -Holt,.government's policies of conseripting twenty-year<olds | and ‘supporting the Vietnamese war. ; cial. center, PES ‘demonstrators marched. i through the city' s rush- hour crowds to the naval dockyard at Garden Island where they held | a protest meeting.
. - The police,. varying their tactics, ‘showed no desire to stinulate and prolong the demonstration by. starting mass arrests ‘as tas. been their previous practice. They went to the extent of releasing without arrest the secretary of the Vietnam Action Committee, Bob © Gould, after -.they.had dragged him off the roof of one of the dockyard, ‘bulidings from, which, he had :been addressing the. crowd.
Mes “Basically. at. is. ‘the conscription. issue which is causing all the political ferment. in @ustralia. Se Opposition to. the, ‘sending of. ‘eongevipts to Vietnam comes from a great variety of sources. These-include large. sections of thetrade-union movement, the Australian Labor party; the various peace organizations, two bishops of the Church of England, many of the clergy of protestant churches, and the Melbourne Catholic papers, The Advocate:and The Catholic Worker. —
A Gallup poll taken last. December showed 37%. in favor of the government's policy. By February, according to.another poll, this had fallen to 32% in favor, 11% undecided and 57% against.
=. On the basis of this. 59% and: the historic ‘opposition of the masses in two world wars to conscription, the federal leader of the Labor party, Arthur Calwell, has come out against conscription and has declared that he will fight this year's election on the issue.
If the Australian ‘Labor. ‘party. wins. ‘and withdraws the conscripts, it. will effectively put an end, to Australia's intervention in Vietnam,.as the: regular forces do not have nearly enough replacements. and - the casualty rate is- high. -
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