Saskatoon Technical Collegiate Institute - Techalogue Yearbook (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)

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68 THE TECHALOGUE June,1946 plode so effectively that he was a decided winner over the other two contestants. In a determined effort to bring success to himself and honor to his school John continued and worked hard enough to take top honors by defeating, on February 1, eight contestants representing the three other city collegiates and districts adjacent to Saskatoon. This was the semi-final in the Bryant Oratory Contest. The finals of this contest were held in Knox United Church, Regina, on February 15. For the past 25 years or more this event has been considered as the wind up of the general convention of the Saskatchewan School Trustees' Association convention. In a very creditable manner and before a large audience, John once more demonstrated his ability to handle effectively a subject of current interest. As a result of his provincial prowess, the first in the history of t'Tech, a gold medal and the Bryant Oratory Cup for Public Speaking were presented to him by the President of the Trustees' Association, Professor E. A. Hardy. The Techalogue extends congratulations to all those who felt the need for training in public speaking, and to John Holme we ex- press the very real pride of students and teachers in his unique achievement. -1.-ki..-. THE ATOMIC BOMB The Techalogue owes thanks to John Holme of 4B, winner of the Bryant Oratory Contest for Saskatchewan, who has consented to our reprinting the text of his address: 'iOn July 16, 1945, a new expression burst into our vocabulary, an expression of only two words, of only 10 letters, yet an expression which holds within it more power than has ever before been imagined: 'Atomic bomb', 'atomic bomb'. Such blasts as levelled Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 5 and August 8, 1945, never occurred on the earth before-nor in the sun or the stars, which Lburn' from sources that release their energy much more slowly than does uranium. Historians may regard the bombs that fell on those cities as the immediate cause of Japan's surrender. Others, however, of the creators, say the bomb which really defeated Japan exploded on July 16, 1945, in the 'badlands' of New Mexico. This was the date of the first and only test the atomic bomb ever had. These others I mentioned include such notable scientists as Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, who had been in charge of laboratory workg Sir James Chadwick, Britain's most celebrated nuclear physicist, who won the Nobel prize for proving the neutrons existenceg General Marshall, Secretary of War Stimsong and, as boss of the bomb, Major General Leslie R. Groves. As the man most responsible for the development of this gigantic project, General Groves had a man-sized job. He is a big man with a grey mustache and thick graying hair. At interviews his movements of hand and massive figure seem almost languid. Yet the languor must be deceptive. A languid man couldn't have been on an army football team, a languid man couldn't play tennis the way the general plays, a languid man could surely not undertake a project with a

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June,1946 THE TECHALOGUE 67 be a period of bona-fide expansion, the speaker warned his listeners that, after getting a job, they must still look forward to further train- ing themselves for that particular business. If the school sends the right person to a particular job, the graduates will find most employ- ers alert to the payment of adequate wages. They must bear in mind, Mr. Sanford went on, that, to be a success, every commercial gradu- ate must be a salesman, even to getting a job. Salesmanship he de- fined as the art of dealing diplomatically with people to win their confidence and friendship. Possibly the most serious implication in accepting a job is that the employee becomes part of the firm which will be interpreted through those who work for it. Mr. Sanford laid down several principles and techniques which from his experience he thought should prove helpful to commercial graduates. They must cultivate a friendly and well-modulated voiceg letters badly set up and marred by errors often destroy good-will of the client. The failure of an employee to say thank you, can drive customers awayg tact is always a desirable quality-patrons should never be obliged to say anything that humiliates them. Two basic points, Mr. Sanford concluded, are implicit loyalty and attractive but conservative dress. Miss Loraine Loraas proposed a toast to the school, to which Mr. R. V. Humphries responded. The speaker of the evening was introduced by John L. McKinnon. Misses Doreen Graves and Helen Halina con- tributed a charming piano duet, and Miss Mary Anderson gave a recitation which displayed real talent. A well-balanced quartette of the Misses Josephine Basaraba, Mary Anderson, Lucille Acton and Mabel Vandale was much appreciated. .lvl ORATORY During the current year, oratory was under the supervision and dir- ection of Mr. Mathers. Time allotted for instruction and training was during the last hour on Wednesday afternoons. A fair number of stu- dents joined the club but only three remained to enter the school elim- ination about the middle of January These three were Phyllis Turple, John Holme and Joe Flynn, all members of 4B. Topics selected were contained in the list as sup- plied for the Bryant Oratory Con- test. Phyllis spoke on The Achieve1 ments of Science and Research , John discussed The Atomic Bomb and Joe explained The Co-opera- tive Movement in Canada. John JOHN HOLME caused The Atomic Bomb to ex-

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J1me,1946 THE TECHALOGUE 69 notice as curt as 'Here's two billion dollars, build us an atomic bomb.' He was summoned to the White House and told that he was assigned to the task of organizing the creation of an atomic bomb. He imme- diately set to work, and with his picked head co-workers, plans began to form. From the start, a degree of secrecy never before attempted or maintained for as long as three years with such consummate suc- cess, was enforced. In the end the only thing powerful enough to shatter that secrecy was the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima. The person in charge of secrecy was Lieutenant Colonel Consodine. His was the strangest 'publicity' job in the world. Plans were brought to the manufacturing stage in June, 1942, and in December the United States Government began erection of two plants to manufacture atomic bombs. One was located on 58,000 acres of land, 18 miles west of Knoxville, Tenn. The other was on a Government reservation of 430,000 acres, in an isolated area outside Pasco, Washington, where 17,000 workers and their families were brought in. The Government of Canada, also a partner in the plans, built a plant at Deep River, Ontario, which up till last November was unknown. But, before the bomb could be manufactured, laboratory work was necessary. Doctor Oppenheimer built a special laboratory near Santa Fe manned by 7,000 workers who established a way to put the components of the bomb together. The materials were all important and the most important, a powerful element, uranium U.235, was found in ample supply at Port Hope, Ontario, Great Bear Lake, western Colorado, and eastern Utah. Soon mountains of raw materials began to flow into the huge plants-ore, steel, machinery, by trucks and freight cars-yet nothing seemed to move out. Each worker had his or her own job, dials and switches were turned, great machines operated without the worker knowing precisely what he was doing. Rumors spread of secret rockets, or guns, being made. Yet all remained silent. Great credit must be due to all those whose job it was to guard the secret for doing such a flawless job. Then about the middle of July, July 16, a date I have mentioned before, a story trickled out of New Mexico, of a great roar and a brilliant flash of light during the darkness of the night, that seemed like the sun suddenly rising to high noon and then setting quickly. insignificant attention was paid to the occurrence. No one knew of such a thing, it must have been someone's imagination. Then, President Truman, on August 6, with a smile which some said stretched from ear to ear met in a press conference and gave to the papers a scoop never before heard of, a reporters true dream, the story of the bomb. At the test on the desert the bomb was placed on a 100-foot tower near the Almagorodo air base. The materials were brought in four nights previously. Wires were strung to the control points, great distances away from the tower, the scientists and army men gathered. The setting was well suited for the drama. The sky was overcast. There was occasional thunder, lightning, and rainfall. As the hour approached the radio loudspeaker started broadcasting the time sig- nals, 'minus 15 minutes, minus 10 minutes, minus' came the loud- speaker's voice. The robot mechanism to set off the bomb was turned on. The whole experiment was now beyond human control to stop.