 The Cavalcade of America, presented by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Here's of the American continent who built its great nations and to the millions of men and women who together cherish and preserve a way of life in a new world of freedom. We proudly dedicate this performance of the Cavalcade of America. One of the most inspiring chapters in the history of the Western Hemisphere is the long piece that has existed between the United States and Canada for over 125 years. To tell this story the Cavalcade of America asked the distinguished American writer and poet Stephen Vincent Benet to prepare a symbolical play celebrating this long piece. Mr. Benet has written a poetic play based on historical fact called the Undefended Border. In it the Cavalcade of America presents the internationally celebrated star Raymond Massie known to millions for his performances on the American stage, the screen and in radio. Our Cavalcade Orchestra and the original musical score are under the direction of Don Vouris. As a special program this performance of the Cavalcade of America is to be short-waved to South America. DuPont maker of better things for better living through chemistry presents Raymond Massie in the Undefended Border by Stephen Vincent Benet on the Cavalcade of America. Time of war they are ravaged land no man's land and in time of peace the guns still look at each other. Between the wars the grass grows back again but sometimes it doesn't grow for long. There are always soldiers but from New Brunswick to Puget Sound there runs a border between two great nations of proud people individual people people with their own customs and beliefs and ways and that border has not one fort, not one ship of battle not one hidden or usable gun. There is a lone cannon and they pointed out to tourists as a memory of the past the cannon is rusted now and covered with moss the little boys on both sides of the border climb over it and are not afraid and there are the voices of people talking across the border. Voices like Bill Carter he was born in Chicago. Yeah I lived in the States until 1916 and I enlisted over the border. Told the recruiting sergeant I was from Montreal but I guess he knew where I came from they used to call me the Yankees. I was wounded in gas but my girl married me just the same now we're living in Vancouver and I got a nice little business there people people all through the years millions of people both sides of the border take Sally Forbes. Sally came from North Dakota they married young out there in the 70s and Sally was like the others she was only 16 when she married Randall Forbes Randall Forbes always said a snatch to him baldheaded but you know how a man talks. Well we homesteaded near Calgary the years went by so fast. Randall Jr is a doctor in Baltimore Harry teaches at McGill. I've got one grandchild Lucy was born in Hawaii. Yes the children are scattered now if you're asking about the border well I know it's there but you can't build a fence between a woman and her children just the voices of people talking across the border the voices of people who have known how to share a continent together in peace and goodwill through the sun and the rain and the years voices of men and women with the same sort of beliefs the same sort of courage even 70 years ago voices like our own. My name's Hugh McCacken there were four McCackens of my name before me in Canada yet I fought four years in the Army of the Potomac there were 50,000 like me first and last in the Union armies all they gave me bounty money but that wasn't why I went I felt it was a fight for freedom. It was done I came home I worked my land I gave my life and strength to Canada but all my life I remembered the man I'd fought beside they came to my house they were welcome when I went to their house I was welcome may it ever be so between the two houses and yet it wasn't always so there had been a war in 1812 a war between two people who spoke the same tongue and like all wars it left scars. Let's stand on the Canadian side of a great water it is summer in the year 1817 there's a small boy launching a toy boat his name is Jock McKinstry. Do you like my new boat father? Hey, you did a good job on her son she's a fine little sloop of war. Billy Ross and I are going to have a big battle and sink all the Yankees. Son, look across the water there. Yes father. Do you mind the boy Jimmy Hunter you played with in the old days? He lives over there and now maybe he's building a boat too a fine little sloop of war on his side of the lake Jimmy's father was my friend, two sons and here on both sides of the border we have a free great land to dwell in so what would you do? Now war's over I'd send him a peace belt the way the Indians do. Now that's a suggestion but would he take it do you think? Oh of course he would. You have to take a peace belt. But here you're a fine big sloop of war son and it's not boys that build them. It's grown men both sides of the border. It isn't boys but grown men both sides of the border. Here the hammers shipwrights hammers, carpenter's hammers, caulking hammers hammers on fresh smelling wood and bright iron hammers by the ports and shores of Ontario and Erie and Champlain. The pleasant harbors the pine smelling beaches, hammers building the ships of war lakes these are not lakes but oceans. They must be defended. Let Phil's follow Yankees. They'll soon have enough with great land with round shot will give them hot stuff. British Admiralty Lake Ontario, Ship of the Line St. Lawrence 110 guns the Psyche 50 guns the Princess Charlotte 40 Sailmakers, powder monkeys, carpenter's 74 gun frigates 74 gun frigates, prepare, prepare, prepare As it was on one shore so it was on the other And have you heard of Perry or Oliver Haddon? United States Navy Department, Lake Ontario the superior 44 guns the Mohawk 32 guns, the General Pike 24 guns Get ready, prepare, militia, the Niagara, the Jefferson, 18 guns frigates, cannon. And that's the way it starts that's the way we know it starts. The border must be kept with ports, ships and cannons. Come and see how Americans felt about it on their side of the lake in 1817 This dumb canoe on the lake? No, but he's struts anew. Oh, she's about the same. Oh, no baby. A good year for beaver. Mm-hmm. Fighting the war? Sure I fight. I fight like six men at Chateau Gays. You fought at Lundy's Lane, myself. Say, you know, you know what I do at Chateau Gays? No, I capture my own cousin. Sure, he's lying on the ground with a bullet in his leg. He's Baptiste Jean-Henry Louis-David-Lingrayer like me, same name. Afterward, he go home to man. He write me a letter. One big fool. I got letter for you, Jim Hunter. I forget. Letter? Yeah. Here, look. Well, feel sizable. Who give it to you? Jacques McInstery. You open up now, Jim. I take answer back. Boy, it's a Wampum belt. White one. That's old, that is. That's your onward. The white belt. She mean peace. Already they're building ships of war again on the lake. I wish the people in London and Washington would know how we people on the border feel. Someone ought to tell them. You're right there, my friend. Well, there's only one way to do that. Tell them. Folks like us can't go across the ocean to London. A man could get to Washington if he deem to. I wonder where Washington is. It's a long way away. It was a long way to Washington. But there was the pole star to go by in the old Indian trails. That was the forest when Jim Hunter left the banks of the Great Lake. Beyond South and East Lake, rolling green valleys not yet claimed from the wilderness. And Jim Hunter slept under the stars, head pillowed on his pack. Through the wilderness, through the Onondaga section, he strode. And the hunting good on the Finger Lakes. And the twigs circling underfoot when Jim Hunter sighted a clump of cabins through the trees. Hello! What's the name of this place, stranger? I've got a name. What's the nearest town? Eh, quite a walk. How far? Quite a piece. Got any meal? I might have. That'd be a three prime squirrel for some. I come quite a ways and I'm tired of eating squirrels. It's a trade. Come in a light. A long way to Washington. The moccasins wearing thin. But there were friends in the wilderness. Countrymen. And all the rich, sweet valley of the Susquehanna lay ahead. Through Sunbury, not stopping the night. The next night rain dripping through the boughs. Jim Hunter went on. Gray morning until late dusky evening. Days had become weeks. Then Harrisburg. A settlement still sleeping in the curve of the Blue River. The mountains misty beyond. And at York a signpost pointing to Baltimore. A city. The first city Jim Hunter had ever seen. Just 40 miles from Washington. Washington. And now in the muddy and straggling Washington of 1817 two other men meet to talk of a distant border. They aren't remarkable men. You don't read much about Richard Rush in the history books. Richard Rush. Acting Secretary of State. Not Secretary, you know, just acting. And Sir Charles Baggett. British envoy extraordinary to the United States. For a while with no great name in history. English. American. Two honest men of good will. And now Sir Charles. To his Highness. The Prince Regent. To the President of the United States. And now Sir Charles. Shall we proceed to our business? With pleasure. Now correct me sir if I'm in error. But the question between our country seems to resolve itself to this. What armed forces if any are respective governments intend to keep on the border between United States and Canada? Between Canada and the United States. I accept the correction. Now Mr. Adams feels that these armaments should be greatly reduced. Lord Castlery unofficially has long been of the same opinion. At the same time Sir Charles we have laid down the keels of certain ships. His Majesty's Navy has not been wholly idle. British Admiralty. The St. Lawrence. 110 guns. Prepare. Sailmakers. Powder Monkeys. Sir Charles. I don't control the military policy of my government. But as a citizen I can say we are profoundly disturbed by the recent developments in American waters. The Niagara. Badly damaged. Refit. Prepare. Our citizens along the main border are greatly disturbed by what seems to them American aggression. Get ready. The psyche. 50 guns. Frigates. Maine is defending a just claim Sir Charles. Superior. 44 guns. The Bohawk. 32 guns. A just claims to Canada's fisheries Mr. Rush. Prepare. Cannon. Cannon. The fisheries question has nothing to do with it Sir Charles. The recent and most unwarranted attack on an American citizen. I confess I was growing heated. Your pardon Sir. Another glass of your excellent Madeira. With pleasure. All comes to Charles. Let's drop diplomatic formalities for the moment. That borderline between us is not just a set of marks on a map. Let me show you something I received from that border today. Here. Do you know its significance? Hmm. It was brought me this morning by an American trapper. May I ask you to hear his story. Why of course. You show Mr. Hunter in. Yes Mr. Rush. Will you come in sir? Sir Charles. This is James Hunter one of our frontiersmen. Mr. Hunter Sir Charles Baggett his majesty's envoy extraordinary. Your obedient servant Mr. Hunter. Mr. Rush has just shown me this very interesting belt. Yes sir. Engine work means peace. And how if I may ask you is the feeling between the citizens on the border. Hmm. It depends. We ain't tame on the border. Neither side but we don't like to. Well we want to be shot at fighting. That's why I brought the belt. You want to be shot at fighting. May I ask you why. Why Mr. it's like this. You see here's me one side of the lake. And here's York McKinsey the other side. He's got his ideas and I got mine. He's loyal to King and Crown. I'm loyal to the United States. But we get along fine. Well. York McKinsey sent me the belt. He's Scotch and he don't talk much but he meant what he said. He meant peace. Well I know you couldn't get to London. That's cost the water so I figured I'd better come here. If I may ask Mr. Hunter how long did the journey take you. One pair of markers. Call it moon and a half. One pair of perhaps 40 days Sir Charles on foot. 40 days. Mr. Hunter tell me you may speak quite freely. What force do you think would be sufficient to maintain peace and order on the lake. Well that's for you folks to say but we want to know what you think you and jock McKinsey. Well because me and jock I'd say just one boat each side. What about forts and soldiers. Well forts and soldiers you see there are for enemies. We've fought but we ain't enemies we'll differ we'll always differ but we want to be friends. I believe you Mr. Hunter may I keep the white belt. I should like to send it to London and thank you. And finally the rush baggage agreement was signed in April 1817 James Monroe was president then James Monroe of the Monroe Doctrine because of the sense and good will of two people the hammers stopped on the Great Lakes and the board clerk read in the Senate of the United States naval forces to be maintained upon the American lakes by His Majesty's government and the government of the United States shall be confined on Lake Ontario to one vessel not exceeding 100 tons burden and armed with 118 pound cannon. The lone cannon and back and forth back and forth across the border the tide of human beings as ebbed and flowed trapper trader farmer merchant woman and man it's they who have kept the peace and the freedom the borders men and women I am the voice of the border I was born under the maple leaf I was born under the stars and stripes I am people who are used to space and wide skies to an old and dear tradition and the wind that blows over a new word the Douglas fir and the redwood the trillium and the number one hard wheat all these are in the veins of my people the gray stones of Quebec are part of them and the old French beach the rolling Dakota plains and the warm wheat growing summers the springs of the Mississippi and the shining Bay of Vancouver and the rocky shield of the Laurentian the necklace around the north pole where there is space and freedom love of law and love of justice you will find my people we live next to each other and we used to each other's way we swing the same kind of axe and we drive in the same kind of cars we marry back and forth and the children don't quarrel we've had a lot of history together and our wide earth from members it we've had William Lyon Mackenzie and John Brown we've had Sir Wilfred Laurier and Teddy Roosevelt and John A. McDonald and Abe Lincoln we've had folks who tried to sow dissension too but they never raised a crop and they never will for when we say freedom we mean it and we have faith in the people Dominion Republic we have faith in the people and together we'll keep that faith for the years and the children still to be and free it shall remain we built it out of northern fine and mad at overgrave we built it with our arts and life from fugitive sound to lane we built it with the best we had for the loyal and believe see and the capricade players for their performance of Steven Vincent Bernay's original radio play The Undefended Border and now the DuPont Company brings you its story from the wonder world of chemistry over the trade routes that bind the countries of the western hemisphere flows a never-ending stream of goods rubber machinery hides spices tires shoes automobiles copper and stuff textiles all the good things of living one of the most important of these textiles is rayon and our story tonight is about this product of chemistry rayon is made of cellulose from cotton or from wood most people know that not so many know that one of the most important ingredients in rayon yarn and the most carefully measured is time time the fourth dimension what do we mean the rayon has time spun into it well in the viscose process of making rayon the sheets of cellulose which come to the rayon plant looking like great squares of blotting paper are soaked in a solution of sodium hydroxide for a definite length of time thus time enters into it at the very beginning after soaking the cellulose is shredded for three to four hours by machines that look like gigantic lawn mowers it tumbles from these machines into storage bins in the form of coarse snow or crumbs the crumbs are stored away for two days time again entering the process it is stored away oddly enough to rest and not merely to rest but to rest for a certain specified length of time left alone in the dark for two days the molecules of cellulose group toward one another and clasp hands like youngsters playing a game the white snow in the next step turns to the bright color of a pumpkin curiously it smells like a pumpkin then the orange crumbs become a brownish orange syrup and the syrup again must be stored away in vast white tanks in a cold room more time is necessary it is almost as if someone said tomorrow you're going to be spun into silvery glistening yarn so please sit here a while and get used to the thought at last the spinning solution is pumped out through tiny spinaret holes to form into thread from cotton or wood cellulose to thread the process takes five days and the glass wheel that draws the thread from the spinarets must whirl it exactly so many thousand revolutions a minute just as exactly timed as the whirling bucket into which the yarn falls from the wheel again time time the chemist knows time must be steeped into rayon soaked into it spun into it he knows exactly how much time two days here 94 minutes there because he wants to make the best rayon he gives it exactly the time it needs time is a very precious ingredient that the chemist includes along with other materials the woman who buys a dress woven of rayon yarn may think she is merely buying a dress but it's every bit is true to say she is buying a garment cut to the mysterious cloth we call time time handled as an element essential and with sure knowledge by the workers of DuPont is an important ingredient of all the products bearing the DuPont oval house mark products that are better things for better living through chemistry and I'll tell joy of the Cavalcade player to tell you about next week's program ladies and gentlemen next week as a Christmas time message to our listeners we bring you an American classic on the Cavalcade of America a play who's very humor and gentle fantasy have endeared it to the hearts of a nation the Green Pastures by Mark Connolly for the first performance of this play on the air Cavalcade has assembled before its microphones a great and talented cast including the world-famed Hall Johnson choir and many of the original Broadway cast next week DuPont brings you the Green Pastures by Mark Connolly thank you on the Cavalcade of America your announcer is Clayton Collier sending best wishes from DuPont this is the national broadcasting company