Golden Age, November 12, 1919
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A-JOURNAL-OF - FACT HOPE-AN D-CON VICllON ft
November 12,1919, VoLi, Nk4 .
Published every other tcbek at It66 Broadness, Ney>York.N.Y.,UjA.
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Vocvxa 1 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER. 13. 1919 NrrMBSB «
TA« GOLDEN AGE Contents
LABOB sad ECONOMICS
Tka Coal Strike____M Labor Conferee* Tallura IM
Foreign Coal 81tuatloii.._100 nonine the Sea
SOCIAL end EDUCATIONAL
Evolutionist Guessing...... 10S How AutomobU* Tako Brotb*ly Love in PrGon 104 the People Ot-----...404
MANUFACTURING end MININO ■on* Wet* Treatment---------
FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION Bocetttful Welfare Work 107 Groot Shortage Coming—110 ggggV-JgHgJjgar lSS Decimal Pricing Wantad-UO Now York Track r^Sy tin Commiaslons on Bonda__110
POLITICAL—DOMESTIC and FOREIGN Arm anil tad tbt Torts.__________ , 111
AGRICULTURE sU HUSBANDRY
CMMn* tbt ct^two ns to Increase Wheat Yldd-118 Cora and Wheat Crepe—114 Trait Growiar VietorteaYlS To Boy Land or to Sell—114 Year Bushel or Peanuts—US
SCIENCE end INVENTION Hao** aS a Scientist___117 Trans-Atlantic Telephony 118
Wireion Fire Ignition 117 Blgnslling to Man (D...A18
Sixty Mil* a Gallon......-117 viable and Hon* Minds 118
HOUSEWIFERY and HYGIENE
Safety Zan* for Babies—119 Cake a Pudding Bodpeo-120
TRAVEL sad MISCELLANY
■la Cora* of China._______131 Rewarding the ChleftalW 122-
All Aboard for Europa...l21 Growth of the U. 8. Fleet 123 Tm Greatest Travel*......122 Automobile Vucationlets.-123
RELIGION sad PHILOSOPHY
World'Has Ended—You May Nev* Die-----
' SWEET OLD POEMS
Walt Then on God______127 Clear the Way.
Ring Out __________127 Lay Down Your Raila 137
CALENDAR G aides Age CWend*, Navetab* 12 to 23
- Published every otb* Wednesday at 1286 Broadway. New York. N. Y-. by Waouwoarn. Huttotaoa and Mayrin. Ciarrow J. Woonwoanr_______Editor
Rpscnr J. Maariv._____-Basins* Mgr.
Wu. F. Hcna»os....S*'y and Trees. Copartners and proprietors. Address of such. 12M B*way. New York. N. Y. To Czars a con—31.30 a Teas. Make renittanew to The Golden Aga.
Golden Age
VoL I New York, Wednesday. Norember IX 1919 No, 4
LABOR and ECONOMICS
THE COAL STRIKE
WEEKS ago, the representatives of the miners of the hour day and five day week, by which it was hoped Central Competitive District met in contention at that a greater continuity of employment would be ob-
Cleveland. This District covers Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana and mines one-half of the bituminous coal produced in the United States, The total bituminous coal output of the United States is approximately 600.000,000 tons.
During the past year the men have been averaging .onlv two nr three davs work per week. In the early part 1 of . the year coal was a drug on the market and when there was a good market for the coal, cars could not be had in sufficient quantity to handle it promptly,
miners claim that in the ten weeks ending with August the car shortages cut production to the extent of 12,000,000 tons.
Thus it happens that although the men are working at what appear to be good wages, their actual earnings during the past year have averaged but $75 per month, and in 1918, when they had more work than at any other time in recent years, their average earnings were only $80 per month. They have averaged during the past year to work only about three days per week. The 7 daily output is 9 or 10 tons per man.
During the war the men received two increases in pay, the last contract dating from April 1st, 1918. That contract provided that the men should continue at the same rate of wages during the war, but not beyond April 1st., 1920. At the convention the men claimed that the war is over and that the contract no longer holds. They said that they had worked at the old wages since the date of the armistice, November 11, 1918, merely by common consent.
Additionally they called attention to the fact that although their wages have risen 47% since 1914 yet the average increase in the cost of living during that time was 85% and the net result is that their social condition is worse now than it wu five years ago.
The remedies agreed upon in the convention were a tained, and owing to the dim light and gas-laden atmosphere in which the work is done the men felt that these hours are proper enough to ask for the mining industry. They also asked for a 60% increase in wages, with time and a half for overtime and double time on Sunday3 and holidays. They claimed that on $75 per month, at present prices of foodstuffs, they do not get’enough to eat and can not properly feed their children. '
Early in September the miners’ delegates met the
The < operators at Buffalo. The miners came armed with fixed instructions from the Cleveland convention that the foregoing demands must be met by the operators or they would go on strike November 1st.
The reply of the operators was that the public is a party to the agreement made oiu April 1st., 1918', and that the agreement must remain in force until the President issues his proclamation of peace. They therefore declined to grant the miners’ demands. They also complained that the demand for a new wage agreement was sprung upon them in the fall, when they are least able to meet it, because then is the time for the great rush of coal orders, whereas, heretofore, the spring has been the time for coal parleys.
The conference was adjourned to Philadelphia early in October and again neither side seemed able to make any concessions satisfactory to the other. The meeting broke up and Mr. Lewis, the District President of the miners, returned to Indianapolis and issued an order that all work should cease at midnight October 31st,, except such work in the care of properties as is permitted under the rules in force at such time. This order was sent out October 15th., with the declaration that "the United Mine Workers of America are now embarking in the greatest enterprise in the history of the trade union movement.” The strike order was sent to all states.
Immediately after the strike order was issued the Government took a hand and Secretary Wilson of the Department of Labor, summoned the operators and representatives of the miners to meet him in Washington. The greatest determination to make no concessions was manifested on both sides.
Estimates as to the number of miners that would be affected by the strike ranged all the way from 225,000 to 800,000 men,, the assumption in latter case correctly judging that a strike in the Central District would inevitably be carried into other Districts. It is not thought that the Anthracite District will be affected, as supplemental agreements have been made carrying current agreements over to April 1st., 1920.
The miners stated they believe that all of their demands can be readily granted without any increase in the price of coaL On the other hand Senator Frelinghuysen has stated that the demands, if granted, will cost consumers over a billion dollars per year. In any event there is said to be less than a month's coal stock on hand and a protracted strike at this time would cause a complete stoppage of all traffic and industry. The stock of coal held by the railroads at this time is very limited. So great is the importance of the bituminous coal output to the industries of the country that the amount produced has doubled within the past ten years.
There are doubtless great profits in the coal business at this time and presumably the miners know this and wish to enjoy a share of them. They claim that they are not Bolshevists but are seeking to effect some kind of arrangement by which they can be guaranteed permanent employment as long as they are able to work and thereafter a reasonable living for themselves and those dependent upon them. These are not unreasonable aims. The miners are probably sympathetic with the steel strikers and trying to help them to win.
The operators are said to be considering the usual plan of having the public pay for the strike, and pay a good round interest on it, if the strike is successful. They think that if less coal is produced it will be bid for at prices which will cover all possible differences in cost of production. If the strike is protracted, pneumonia and influenza are likely to follow the scarcity in fuel and distress and hunger will affect all classes.
UndGr the Lever Act a war measure to prohibit interference with production and distribution of coal in war time, the miners were enjoined from striking under penalty for conspiracy. However, the strike was inaugurated on November 1st, the miners made leaderless by the injunction which paralized any possible direction of the coal workers.
Some Bible students have thought that the text, "there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before if* (Isaiah 47:14) teaches that the great time of trouble spoken of by our Lord, as the "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world” would be ushered in by a great coal strike. "
Examining the passage cited we do not see it that way. The prophet seems to be describing the fire referred' to by President Wilson when he said “the world is on fire”, and conveys the thought that the fire in question is not literal fire, “not a coal to warm at”, not that kind of a fire, but a symbolical fire, “the fire of God's jealousy.” (Zephaniah 3:8) How careless we were not to notice that the literal "earth abideth forever.”-Eccksiastes 1:4.
FOFEKW COAL SITUATION
HE BITUMINOUS coal situation in this country cannot be fully understood without a consideration of the situation abroad. There is little or no coal in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Italy, 'Switzerland and the Balkans. Hitherto these countries have been supplied by England, Germany and Belgium. Large quantities have also been required by France, Spain and Austria, which consume more than they can produce.
Due to labor troubles, Britain’s annual production has shrunk from 287,412,000 tons to 214,000,000. This means that instead of having 75,000,000 tons to export she can export only 15,000,000 tons. The whole of Europe is expecting that the United States will make up this deficiency of 60,000,000 tons and a further shortage of 21,000,000 tons due to smaller outputs of Belgium and Germany. It would require *60,000 men digging coal at top speed for a year to produce the shortage of coal that will be experienced in Europe this year and this coal can come from the United States only. To carry this coal would require 1,620,000 cars of 50 tons each. Paris is destitute of coal as we write. .
Many factors complicate the situation. The ship owners of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland instead of carrying coal to Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, have preferred to have their ships carry coal to South America or other places from which return cargoes and greater profits could be obtained. They have preferred that the less profitable business should be carried in Uncle Sam’s new merchant marine while they reap the profits of the more desirable cargoes and destinations* Shipments from England have been impeded, vessels sometimes lying at anchor three to four weeks before they can get a load. The price obtained for the coal ranges from $30 and $32 per ton at Baltic ports to $33 per ton in Italy*
LABOR CONFERENCE FAILURE B9
HE RISE of Labor Unionism in England and the United States dates from' 1830. In the United States Charles A. Dana, Wendell Phillips, Wm. Lloyd
Garrison, Robert Owen and Albert Brisbane were some of* its advocates. Horace Greeley opened the Nev York Tribune to its discussion. .
The rapid development of machinery is fast obliterating the line between skilled and unskilled trades and a large share of the funds of the unions are devoted to the organizing of the lower forms of unskilled labor as in the case of the unskilled laborers of the Steel Trust recently. To defeat the aims of the unions the Steel Trust has admitted its skilled operatives to a small share in its earnings and a few stocks have* been allotted to them and a pension system introduced.
Cooperative industries in some of the individual necessities and in food distribution is a feature of English trade unionism and the capital invested in them approximates $100,000,000.
There is a decidedly political aspect to Trade-Unionism, although in America that feature has been disastrous to its promoters, as capital and employers here retain corps of skilled politicians that are able to outwit any that the labor unions can employ, besides the vast sums of money that the former have always at their command.
In England however, class prejudice is so strong that those who suffer from the rigid caste and low wages are easier welded together into a cohesive force, although the basis of the franchise is much narrower and more favorable to the property holder than here; the Labor party which was organized in 1906 elects more than 50 members of Parliament out of 670. ’
The practical equality of the Union and the Liberal parties in the House of Commons has enabled the Labor party, with the aid of some smaller factions of independent labor members, by skilled tactics, to hold the balance of power and some times shape legislation.
The goal of Trade Unionism is to bring under its banner practically all of the workers, but its battle line in the United States is now collective bargaining; the recognized right to adjust wages and other conditions of labor in all industries, through an agent of the union, not in the service of that particular employer with whom the bargain is made. In England the main point battled for now, besides the raising of wages and shortening of hours, is the nationalizing of the coal mines. In America, in North Dakota, an organization of the workers, including the farmers, has captured the state government, and this movement spreading to other states may next year be formidable.
Collective bargaining is the rock on which the recent Industrial Conference in Washington split and went to pieces. This Conference, and the reduction of prices of ' food and other necessities were depended upon to avert the threatened coal strike and railroad strike and if the passage of an act of Congress, now pending, can not stop them, the serious results to follow any one can see.
Capital and Labor stand now much in the relative position that the Central Powers and the Allies did in July 1914. Each aimed to dominate the other and consequently the World—Autocracy against theoretic Democracy. All far-seeing men concluded that in a fight to the finish between them the result would be about what it has been; practically half of the world was destroyed and now, in 1919, Capital and Labor stand facing each other in the same way and far-seeing men conclude that if the threatened fight to a finish takes place the remaining half of the world will be destroyed.
A gigantic blow by Labor is threatened; the Illinois Federation of I/ibor has voted for one big Union of all workers in Canada and the United States, and organized labor plans to join forces with the farmers.
Capital says if the fight must come it might as well come now, and labor says the same. Is there not a better way? Vice-President Marshall points it out in the following, according to the Boston American*
"Just as Ions as capital and labor stand and glare at ench other, we may expect everlasting turmoil and a nation*wide cataclysm.
•The Congress of the United States is a kind of doctor that treats symptoms and doesn’t treat disease. ,
"No legislative remedy that 1 know of can be found to produce peace and quietude and good order—unless the manufacturers see something more in business than dividends and look upon the employes as brothers In the Republic, and not as cogs In the machine or as numbers on a payroll.
_ "And unless the laboring men have some higher incentive to do their work than the mere wage which comes from Lhe doing of it; if they put In their time finding how little they can do and how much more they can get for the doing of it. It is hopeless from their standpoint.
... "It Is no part of government to boost one man and to boot another.
“It is hopeless if the mad passions of men are to hammer at legislative halls for their final and Just settlements. A government of discretion dies.
“The only government In business life that can hope to live is a government of lore and compassion.
“What the economic life of America needs is not a lawgiver but an evangelist.
••The country needs a rebaptism of peace patriotism such as it had of war patriotism.
••There never will be perfect justice in the world until the Hon and the lamb Ue down together, and not, as they do now, with the lamb Inside of the lion.
*Just nrw we need a body of citizens who are content to do a day's work for a day’s wa<e; who are willing to pay a day's wage for a day’s work: who believe wore in. the cmawea good than in the larger good.
“Since the world began, bnstneas and wealth have had no • seek eppur (.unity tor the Angel of the Lord to write their names down beside that of Abou Ben Adhem as they hare Just now.
‘The trumpet can of conscience Is not only to the meek ■ nd lowly, but to the high and mighty, and when dividend and wages are measurably forgotten In the love of service for our Christian country, if there ia any hope at all, pee. slon, personal preferment and personal success meet all be . put ia the background and the capitalist and the laborer must realise that the consumer is also entitled to admission . into the brotherhood, and business must be primarily for the leva of promoting a contented and happy people.
“Dividends and wages must be secondary. This to a * problem for solution by men who believe in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
Tt calls on every man of every creed to solve it; not for one person; not for one class; but la the Interests of the whole people. 1
“It is not to be hoped that soon again the Nazareno shall walk through held and factory, through palace and hovel, ■ tearing behind Him everywhere the only solation for every great problem, the healing influence of His golden rule.
T am in favor of any alleviating measure for the time that would adjust these troubles, but I have no confidence in the proposed settlement of these difficulties. This offers no new solution, and 1 only say it In the hope that men of •very creed may realize how futile but been our theology, when we have Imagined that w<e could go to church on Sunday and love God whom we have not seen, without the rest of the week loving our fellowmen whom we bare seen.*
FLOGGING THE SEA
AGES AGO, when the king business was more flour-ishrng than at present, one Persian monarch so far forgot himself as to have the sea flogged when it overlooked the social amenities of his realm and showed more • deference to the moon than it did to the king’s-wishes.
The tide rose and wet the royal feet. The royal anger rose faster than the tide, and the poor sea was punished aa a consequence. Who was there that dared to question the ethics of the king’s commands; who dared even think that his conduct was puerile, childish, infantile? No . doubt there was much dutiful effort at looking approval.
For was not the king the king? Was he not the vested - interests of the country; was he not the established institutions of the land ? Besides, there may have been some Bolshevik aea serpent or I. W. W. eel hidden in those audacious waves; and would not that possibility justify, yes, render glorious and patriotic what otherwise might look like futility and foolishness?
The world has not changed much since then. The restless, turbulent masses of humanity are still being flogged by the kings of today. The State Constabulary of Pennsylvania furnishes one instance of this kind of work. A corporal of the United States forces in Siberia was recently beaten by Cossacks of the czarist troops of Russia—abetted, if not aided, by the Japanese. Considerable hubbub has been raised, and properly, over that affair. It was an outrage. But mounted Cossacks of Western Pennsylvania, together with "thugs, gangsters^ and detectives,” have brutally beaten up and dispersed peaceable groups of steel strikers within the last few weeks. The public press is almost silent on the subject, except to say that it was "necessary* to "prevent” possible disorderly manifestations. No official has any authority to command anyone to act contrary to law.
Furthermore, from the standpoint of history, violent treatment of defenseless masses is both foolish and futile. It displays as great an ignorance of the real value of things as the poor old king who thought he was master of the sea. Instead of demonstrating his power, it demonstrated his weakness, for that which he chose to look upon as an affront was merely the outworking of certain really powerful and natural influences which the king would have done well to investigate and understand.
We suspect that fear plays a large part in these aberrations of justice. The merits of the steel workers’ strike, have absolutely nothing to do with the matter. The Constabulary are afraid something might happen to start rioting and they might get hurt. The higher officials are afraid they might lose some of their prestige with the great and influential, unless thjsy make a show of force. And so it goes all along the line.
Those who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of public office in these days have no easy task; that must be remembered? But they often do the very thing which makes their position most difficult. For men to parade around or assemble in meetings could do no harm. On the contrary it would give outlet to their restivenesa; and after a few hours the men would go home tired and peaceful. This plan was followed in New York several years ago when I. W. W.’s paraded on Fifth Avenue. They were not interfered with, and not the slightest trouble resulted. Before the parade the police commissioner was besieged with demands from whitefaced enthusiasts and professional patrioteers to interfere with the proceedings. The commissioner’s course of declining to interfere with the tide proved to be the wise one; for in a few hours the.tide receded of itself, leaving no jetsam of broken heads or bloody uniforms.
How happy the time when neither animals nor men "shall hurt or destroy* and when "none shall make them afraid”.—Isaiah 11:9; 17:2.
“Inst now we need a body of dtiiens who are content to do a day’s wort for a day's wap; who are wuilnc to pay a day’s wafe for a day’s work; who believe wore In the mama good than in the larger good.
“Since the world began, bnstneas and wealth hare had no sveh opportunity for the Angel of the Lord to write their names down beside that of Abou Ben Adhem as they hare Just new.
‘•The trumpet can of conscience is not only to the meek and toady, bet to the high and mighty, and when dlviden* and wages are measnraMy forgotten la the love of service for ear Christian country, if there ia any hope at all, passion, personal preferment and personal success most all be put in the background and the capitalist and the laborer must realise that the consumer la also entitled to admission into the brotherhood, and bnsiness most be primarily for the tors of promoting a contented and happy people.
“Dividends and wages must be secondary. This is a problem for solution by men who believe Ln the fatherhood ef God and the brotherhood of man.
“It calls pa every man of every creed to solve it; not for one person; not for one class; but tn the Interests of the whole people. *
“It Is not to be hoped that soon again the Nazarene shall walk through field and factory, through palace and hovel, leaving behind Him everywhere the only solution for every great problem, the healing influence of His golden rule.
“I am In favor of any alleviating measure for the time that would adjust these troubles, but I have no confidence in the proposed settlement of these difficulties. This offers no new solution, and I only say it In the hope that men of every trued may realise how futile has been our theology, when we have Imagined that we could go to church on Sunday and love God whom we bare not seen, without the rest of the week loving our fellowmen whom we hare seen.”
FLOGGING THE SEA
AGES AGO, when the king business was more flour-iahing than at present, one Persian monarch so far forgot himself as to hare the sea flogged when it overlooked the social amenities of his realm and showed more deference to the moon than it did to the king’s wishes. The tide rose and wet the royal feet. The royal anger rose faster than the tide, and the poor sea was punished as a consequence. Who was there that dared to question the ethics of the king’s commands; who dared even think that his. conduct was pnerile, childish, infantile? No doubt there was much dutiful effort at looking approval. For vu not the king the king? Was he not the vested interests of the country; was he not the established institutions ef the land ? Besides, there may have been some Bolshevik* sea serpent or I. W. W. eel hidden in those audacious waves; and would not that possibility justify, yes, render glorious and patriotic what otherwise might look like futility and foolishness?
The world has not changed much since then. The restless, turbulent masses of humanity are still being flogged by the kings of today. The State Constabulary of Pennsylvania furnishes one instance of this kind of work. A corporal of the United States forces in Siberia was recently beaten by Cossacks of the czarist troops of Bussia—abetted, if not aided, by the Japanese. Considerable hubbub has been raised, and properly, over that affair. It was an outrage. But mounted Cossacks of Western Pennsylvania, together with “thugs, gangsters, and detectives,” have brutally beaten up and dispersed peaceable groups of steel strikers within the last few weeks. The public press is almost silent on the subject, except to say that it was “necessary” to “prevent" possible disorderly manifestations. No official has any authority to command anyone to act contrary to law.
Furthermore, from the standpoint of history, violent treatment of defenseless masses is both foolish and futile. It displays as great an ignorance of the real value of things as the poor old king who thought he was master of the sea. Instead of demonstrating his power, it demonstrated his weakness, for that which he chose to look upon as an affront was merely the outworking of certain really powerful and natural influences which the king would have done well to investigate and understand.
We suspect that fear plays a large part in these aberrations of justice. The merits of the steel workers’ strike have absolutely nothing to do with the matter. The Constabulary are afraid something might happen to start rioting and they might get hurt. The higher officials are afraid they might lose some of their prestige with the great and influential, unless thgy make a show of force. And so it goes all along the line.
Those who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of public office in these days have no easy task; that must be remembered! But they often do the very thing which makes their position most difficult. For men to parade around or assemble in meetings could do no harm. On the contrary it would give outlet to their restiveness; and after a few hours the men would go home tired and peaceful. This plan was followed in New York several years ago when I. W. W.’s paraded on Fifth Avenue. They were not interfered with, and not the slightest trouble resulted. Before the parade the police commissioner was besieged with demands from whitefaced enthusiasts and professional patrioteers to interfere with the proceedings. The commissioner’s course of declining to interfere with the tide proved to be the wise one; for in a few hours the-tide receded of itself, leaving no jetsam of broken heads or bloody uniforms.
How happy the time when neither animals nor men “shall hurt or destroy” and when “none shall make them afraid".—Isaiah 11:9; 17:2.
SOCIAL and EDUCATIONAL
EVOLUTIONIST GUESSING
AND NOW comes into court a learned scientist of a famous institution of learning and tells us all about it, and what he can not remember and tell of his own personal knowledge he tells anyway, as is the custom with modern "scientists.”
Dr. Evolution tells us, and I prithee, 0 reader, do not laugh at what he telleth thee, that his ancestor some 18,000,000 years ago was a fish by the name of Oaieolopis. He tells us how he knows this, because he saith, "No brain here, just an animal controlled by a nervous system.”
Then it eeems that the family - tree shows that 3,000,000 years later the Doctor's ancestors had become primitive reptiles, and the family name had changed to Seym&uria. The Doctor explains about this second ancestor that he was “also brainless” and a little more boneheaded than the poor fish that started all the trouble. Then comes another little jump of only 12,000,000 years in the genealogy record, with everything running true to form, until forth came Dr. "Opossum” who betrayed the best teaching of his ancestors by manifesting the "first spasm of true brain.” No explanation of this.
There is a little break in the record here. Our modern Doctor is not just sure whether his ancestor appeared 2,000,000 years ago or 2,750,000, but it was one or the other and the difference is slight There is no doubt that he appeared, for the Doctor says that “There arose in Wyoming one of the first of the ancestral primates, or apes” and that he “had only a small thimbleful of brains”, which all seems perfectly regular.
The Doctor cuts things pretty fine when he gets down to our own times. He admits that “Our record of human history covers only 6,000 years” and tells us that "the average human skull was not complete” until about 34,000 years prior to that time.
Reader, would you know the true explanation of how the Doctor knows that we all started from a poor and howit nme about that some of those fish, managing to live part of the time out of the sea, made it possible for us nowadays to glide to and from our work hanging on to trolley straps instead of wiggling and twisting and finning ourselves through the water?
Would you know how the Doctor learned all these grand facta that happened 18,000,000, 15,000,000, 3,000,000, 2,000,000 (“or maybe, 2,750,000”) and 34,000 years ago? Reader, we are astonished at your ignorance, but we will tell you. The Doctor had his own private date stamped on every one of those creatures when they were born. You must remember that he is a “scientist” and scientists do not do things by guesswork. He had to know these things or he could not write about them, and there is no other possible way to knbw.
It seems too bad to have men using their God-given mental faculties in this enlightened Twentieth Century to try to establish the thoroughly discredited evolution theory. The evolution theory has gone into the discard as a result of the discovery of the now well-established Mendelian law of heredity, which always works, and the observation that the supposed law of Evolution does not work and can not be made to work.
All about us wc see that the various creatures are of fixed natures which do not evolve to higher natures; and though those who hold to the evolution theory have made repeated endeavors, they have never succeeded in blending different species or in producing a new fixed variety. No instance is known where one kind ha.’ changed to another kind. Though there are fish that can use their fins for a moment os wings, and fiy out of the water, and frogs that can sing, they have never been known to change into birds; and though there are among brutes some which bear a slight resemblance to men, the evidence is wholly lacking that man was evolved from such creatures. If the theory were correct Evolution would be a fact today, and we would see about us fish becoming birds, and monkeys besoming men.
One theory regarding the eruption (excepting man) by a process of evolution, to which we see no serious objection, we briefly qtate as follows: It assumes that the various species of the present are fixed and unchangeable as far as nature or kind is concerned, and though present natures may be developed to a much higher standard, even to perfection, these species or natures will forever be the same. This theory furtner assumes that none of these fixed species were originally ceptible of change into, nor can they be produced from, other families or kinds. Though each of these may attain to the perfection of its own fixed nature, the Creator's design as to nature having been attained further change in this respect is impossible.
fish,' created so, but that in the remote past they were developed from the earth, and by gradual processes of evolution from one form to another. These evolutions, under divinely established laws, in which changes of food and climate played an important part, may have continued until the fixed species, as at present seen, were established, beyond which change is impossible, the ultimate purpose of the Creator in this respect, to all appearances, having been reached. Though each of the various families of plants and animals is capable of improvement or of degradation, none of them is sus-
It is claimed that the original plants and animals, from which present fixed varieties came, became extinct before the creation of man. Skeletons and fossils of animals and plants which do not now exist, found deep below the earth's surface, favor this theory. This view neither ignores nor rejects the Bible teaching that man was a direct and perfect creation, made in the mental and moral image of his Maker. The account in the Scriptures is explicit:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepcth upon the earth. So God created num in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."—Gen. 1:20, 27.
BROTHERLY LOVE IN PRISON
THE REAL NATURE of men shines out when they axe in prison. All are on a common level; the rules are severe and life is hard, but it is surprising under these unfavorable conditions to see how much of brotherly interest is manifested toward those who are most unfortunate. There is no place where a sick man, a blind man or a cripple is treated more considerately by , his fellows than in prison, and this speaks well for human kind. One of the first discoveries a prisoner makes is that the majority of the men in prison are like the majority out of it, and that there is no great difference. Bad men are just naughty boys who got caught; but it sometimes happens that men are imprisoned who are not bad at all.
The governor of New York State has just released a prisoner, a former lawyer, who blinded himself in an attempt to commit suicide. While he was in prison his attendants and fellow-prisoners taught him the touch system of typewriting, and he now goes forth in .the brave hope of picking up again the threads of life which he once hdped to snap completely asunder.
While there is generally goodheartedness among prisoners they also have a very definite code of honor. The reward for trespassing upon the rights of another prisoner is usually a sudden black eye from an onlooking inmate and abrief period of unconsciousness on a stone floor. The one who bestows, the reward, however, geta ten or fifteen days in the dungeon or “bull pen”, and has an equal period added to the time which he must serve.
The reward for "snitching” (tattling to a guard) or “stool-pigeoning” (helping to lay a trap for a fellowprisoner) is to get cut with a safety razor blade from the opening of the ear to the corner of the mouth. Such a man is marked for life, and there are many such in prison. Betrayal of a fellow-prisoner "hath no forgiveness”. ' .
In a sense all men, since the fall of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, are convicts, outcasts, waiting for the time when the curse shall be no more. Thank God that time is coining. Then there win be no prisons, nor need for any. “God himself will be with them [with men here upon earth, in the new order of things], and be their God. And there shall be no more curse. There shall be no night there.”—Revelation 21:3; 22:3, 5.
HOW AUTOMOBILES TAKE THE PEOPLE OFF
BENEFITS of $7,500 were paid after' a salesman had stopped at a garage to inflate one of the tires of his car. He evidently got too much pressure; the rim blew off the wheel, struck him in the head and fractured his skulL The heirs of a New Jersey clerk received $4,500 because he tried to help his wife drive; the car went oven an embankment into a lake, and three were drowned. A Deputy Sheriff of Atlanta left an insurance estate of $2,625 when the front wheel collapsed and the car turned turtle. The survivors of a 63-year old lumber broker of ^cattle received $7,500 after he had been Out driving, with his wife; while crossing a narrow bridge over a deep ravine, the machine swerved, broke the ran and dropped to the bottom of the gorge. '
Another amount of $7,500 went.to the wife of a man driving home; at a street crossing he noticed his daughter on one side and started to cross over at a speed of only fifteen miles, to give her a ride home, but failed to notice, that the car was headed for a water trough in the middle of the road; he tried to steer away but the right side of his car struck the water-tank and the force of the blow threw his head forward against the steering wheel and fractured his skull., In New York a tire and rim burst from an automobile and pieces of the rim seriously injured two men about the head and neck and crashed through a drug store window near the soda fountain causing several women to faint.
Accidents are so common nowadays that it is difficult to imagine conditions soon to prevail in the Golden Age when all accidents will be foreseen and prevented; for it is divinely predicted that “they shall not hurt [anyone] nor destroy [cause death] in all my [God's] holy mountain [kingdom].”— Isaiah 11:9. .
MANUFACTURING and MINING
BOILER WATER TREATMENT
IF YOU COVER a steam pipe with asbestos, magnesia, or other heat-insulating material, you keep the heat in the steam; if you line or coat a boiler tube with scale ' or other heat-insulating material, you keep the heat out of the boiler water, and send it to the stack. By lagging your pipes you save fuel easily. By lining your tubes with scale you waste it continuously and needlessly.
All natural waters contain more or less of this heatinsulating material, partly as suspended matter such as clay, fine sand, insoluble forms of iron, aluminum, etc., which generally may be removed by Alteration, and partly as dissolved matter, such as compounds of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and other mineral soHs.
In the case of a boiler tube covered with a dense scale the only way to maintain a constant flow of heat from the furnace to the boiler water is to increase the “heat pressure,” so to speak; that is, to bum more fuel. With a deposit of 1-9 inch of scale, 16 cents of every dollar paid for coal is lost. The loss is easily prevented and the advantages of soft water abundantly justify all expenditure necessary to secure it.
. Facts collected by the Government show that a crucible steel company, by substituting soft for hard water, effected a saving of $22,000 per annum in its coal bill. Another steel company reported a saving of $30,000 from the softening of its boiler water. A marble company reported a saving of 21 per cent of its fuel by softening its boiler water. Other companies reported profits resulting directly from the substitution of soft for hard water varying from 32 per cent to 71 per cent. The Chicago and Northwestern 'Railroad Company, comparing its operating expenses in 1902-1903, before and after softening its water supply, reported a saving of $75,000 per annum. At present prices of coal this saving- would be twice that amount. It is estimated that the hse of hard water in the locomotive boilers of the country involves the annual consumption of 15,000,000 tons of coal more than would be needed were soft water exclusively used.
The methods employed in softening water are divided into two classes, those in which the scale-forming property is removed before the water enters the boiler, and those in which the softening is effected within the boiler itself by means of boiler compounds.
It can not be too strongly emphasized that this sludge and of the boiler compound itself.
question of water treatment is one in which the employment of chemical and engineering knowledge is both absolutely necessary and highly profitable, and it would be far wiser to omit all forms of water treatment .(involving the use of chemicals) rather than to undertake such without knowing accurately the composition of the water and of the material used to soften it. It is most important to remember that the quality of the water, even when secured from the same source, varies widely from time to time. A condition of excessive concentration of water after a protracted drought may be changed within an hour to a corresponding excessive dilution by a summer storm. The result would be. to decrease enormously the percentage of dissolved matter and to increase, probably to a much greater degree, the amount of suspended matter.
As a consequence, a prescribed treatment of the water based on its analysis at any particular time might not lead to satisfactory results if applied at another time.
• As an instance of the serious danger of an unintelligent “dosing” of boiler waters may be cited the results of a long series of investigations which have, apparently, shown that carbonate of soda in solution produces brittleness in boiler steel. Carbonate of soda (soda ash) is used in most water-treating processes and its unintelligent use may readily lead to a very dangerous condition in a boiler.
Boiler compounds afford a very ifteful means of boilerwater treatment in plants whose size or value of output would not justify the use-of a more expensive method. This would be true of a large percentage of the plants of the country.
In spite of a great variety of trade names a very large percentage of all boiler compounds consist most largely of carbonate of soda, to which caustic soda is sometimes added, and occasionally phosphate of soda. Starchy materials, and those containing tannin are frequent ingredients. The supposed effect of these last two materials is to coat the particles of precipitated incrusting material and prevent its cohesion into compact scale. The chief disadvantage, assuming that they are used intelligently, is the necessity of frequently blowing down the boiler to prevent the accumulation of “sludge” and of alkaline (sodium) salts in the water, both of which cause foaming. Furthermore, this blowing down must be supplemented by washing out, and occasionally closing down the boiler to complete the removal of the sludge and of the boiler compound itself.
Whenever competent supervision of boiler-water treatment is available within the plant organization, it ia preferable to soften the water before it enters the boiler, and this mrnt be done when the percentage of scaleforming ingredients is high.
The removal of scale-forming components from water by chemical means, whether before or after entering the boiler, ia accomplished by converting the calcium and magnesium compounds into practically insoluble forms, causing them to separate from the water and allowing the material to be removed by blowing down, filtering or sometimes by settling.
There are in current use in power plants practically only one lime-soda process, of which there are two varieties differing chiefly in the temperature of the water when treated. The treatment consists of adding to the “raw" water softening agents in carefully controlled amount, according to the composition of the water, mixing these thoroughly with the water, and permitting sufficient time to elapse for the separation of the “sludge" before the water is fed to the boiler. In the case of the “hot-continuous” process this separation is effected more rapidly, though it admits of less storage capacity than in the case of the “cold-continuous”. Another advantage of the hot process is that it expels the air from the water and so reduces the corrosion.
The zeolite process is entirely unlike the processes described above and, unlike them, gives a water of zero hardness. The softening agent ia an artificial material composed largely of sodium compounds, which are exchanged for the scale forming material of the water; that is, the water dissolves sodium compounds from the softener and replaces it by the calcium and magnesium which had caused the hardness of the water. The hard water simply flows over the permutit packed in a cylinder or is forced up through it and flows from it with all scale-forming material removed. After a time the softener must be regenerated by allowing a solution of salt to flow over it, restoring its original composition and activity. .
The construction and operation of this softening equipment is extremely simple. On the other hand, in the case., of water of a high degree of temporary or carbonate hardness there is a correspondingly large amount of sodium salts introduced into the water so that foaming ia liable to occur (as is liable to occur when softening water of a similar composition by means of boiler Compounds). In such cases the following modified foftn of zeolite process is used:
In this an intermittent or continuous tank equipment, as described already under the lime-soda process, is connected through a filter to a zeolite softener. Only lime is used in the tank, the soda compound being secured from the zeolite. The filter is placed between the tank and the zeolite softener to avoid any sludge coating the permutit particles and so impair its efficiency.
No process of water softening is satisfactory unless the amount of suspended matter is reduced to a minimum. In the case of very finely divided matter thes may be done by adding so-called coagulants—alum, for example—but these should be used with extreme caution and always under expert direction. Ordinarily, though, such suspended matter is removed by filters, of which the sand filter with a down flow of the water is the most satisfactory type. They are not expensive either in original or maintenance costs.
The purpose of the methods described above is to prevent the formation of scale. There is another class of water-treating material used largely to remove scale. Graphite and kerosene are most often used for these purposes. Their action seems entirely mechanical.
Opinions as to the desirability of their use vary from enthusiastic commendation to absolute condemnation, though their use seems generally approved by practical men. Neither should be used, however, in boilers in which there is already a heavy deposit of scale, as the loosening of this and its accumulation in the bottom of the boiler is apt to lead to blistering and bagged boiler metal. Both graphite and kerosene should be used very cautiously. Kerosene, if used in excessive quantity, is apt to distil over and attack gaskets.
The healing of bitter waters by putting something into them to remove their injurious effects happened at least thrice in Bible times. One instance of this we have when the Isaelites in the wilderness “could not drink of the waters of Marah because they were bitter" and Moses “cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet" (Exodus 15:23, 25) Another instance is where Elisha healed the waters of Jericho by casting salt into the spring (2 Kings 2:19:22) and a third instance is where he healed the poison pottage.— 2 Kings 4:38-41.
The tree cast into the waters of Marah represents the cross of Christ, able now to make all our bitter experiences sweet, and able in the dawning age to give the poor world a new hope of life. The salt cast into the spring represents the Lord’s true people during this gospel age. “Ye are the salt of the earth.” (Matt. 5:13) The Lord will use them to heal at their source the waters of truth made brackish with creedal errors during the Dark Ages.
T
FINANCE, COMMERCE and TRANSPORTATION
SUCCESSFUL WELFARE WORK
FEW CORPORATIONS can be accused of doing kind things from a purely kindly purpose, but many go to great lengths in doing good to their employes because it pays. Welfare work is profitable because it gains some good-will from employes, attracts and holds the better class of workers, affords suitable training for the new or ambitious, and makes a fractional increase in efficiency. ,
So when one of the large concerns of the metropolis, the New York Edison Company, does welfare work on quite a large scale, it must not be suspected of millennial motives, nor of much else than adding to or conserving the return on the investment.
The work is carried on through the Association of Employes, now in its fifteenth year. The social activities center about the Club House, which is liberally patronised for social affairs, smokers, library, entertainments, lectures and departmental gatherings. Two annual events gladden the hearts of the workers—the winter amateur theatrical entertainment, followed by a ball, and the summer Association outing. The Company has many lady employes; and ladies’ nights, appropriately enough, are not infrequent
Most of the male workers for any electrical operating concern get plenty of exercise in their work, but the boys and younger men find vent for their extra steam in athletics—indoor games and bowling in winter and outdoor games and sports for the warm season. The smaller boys are organized as Boy Scouts, and have the use of a summer camp on Long Island Sound and a fall and winter shack with kitchen, open fireplace and the other things dear to the boy heart, in the great Interstate Park between New York and New Jersey.
The Association furnishes various kinds of service, and has several classes of membership, active members who may vote and hold office, honorary features, including employes working on an hourly basis, who may share in the benefits of the side fund. The insurance feature provides $250 without medical examination, which may with examination be increased to $1,000 on whole life, 20-payment, endowment or other plana. The beneficiary of a deceased member receives $100 additional from the Company. Sick benefits covering up to 26 weeks are obtainable by the weekly payment of two cents for each $1.44 a week payable in case of sickness. That the various features are attractive, or else that the Company has carried on an active propaganda or used compulsion for its members, appears in the growth of the Association from 50 in 1906, 1,137 in 1910, 5,265 in 1915, to 5,823 in 1919.
The educational features are interesting. A fully equipped laboratory for educational purposes is maintained where practice and experiments in technical subjects are afforded. There is a Technical school, a Commercial school and an Accounting school. The educational work from October to April in technical courses is carried on by lectures, platform experiments, laboratory experiments, and class work. The five technical courses cover sueh principles of electricity as a worker should know, and the principles of direct and alternating currents and the corresponding types of machines. The knowledge imparted is designed to fit the workers for their work, and the commercial courses comprise elementary branches, telephony, stenography, health factors, and such specialized data as appear in courses for information clerks, junior clerks, office boys and junior inspectors. The way of promotion in tbs Company’s accounting rooms is made plain by courses in bookkeeping, principles of accounting and accounting problems. A summer school is conducted for the junior inspectors and agents of the lighting inspection and special service bureaus. *
It may surprise some to see how practical is the instruction worked up in this corporation school system. None of the old-fashioned, stilted, pedagogical books for the modernly educated young man who is to learn practical English!, What he studies would benefit anyone; choosing a theme, developing an original thought, framing an address, the parts of an address, variety, divisions of oratory, effective speaking and appEcations of business English. In another course designed to develop general efficiency the worker studies about appearance, manners, courtesy, right thinking and specialized knowledge as success factors, teats of efficiency, the purpose of education and citizenship. In another course for developing general business efficiency the subjects are: what is psychology ? what is eonacious-ness, attention and interest, instinct,. habit and the nervous system, sensation and perception, imagination, memory, reason, the will, principles of appeal and response in business, and psychology of American efficiency ? With a substratum of such practical ideas in his mind, what wonder that an Edison worker should automatically develop in efficiency!
In order that injured employes may suffer ho pecan-iary loss they are paid full wages during disability and are given the necessary medical attendance. It is surprising that only 8 per cent of the accidents are purely electrical, the other causes being falls 14 per cent, struck by material 30 per cent, material in eye 12 per cent, burns 6 per cent, cuts 8 per cent, sprains 6 per cent, tools 7 per cent, infected wounds 4 per cent, handling ashes 3 per cent, and machinery and frost bite 1 per cent each. Only 20 per cent are out over a week. Medical cabinets and pulmotors are conveniently stationed to render prompt service in sudden emergencies.
Permanency in employment is rewarded by a service annuity for employes over 50, who have served continuously for 25 years; it consists of not over 60 per cent of - the annual wages earned, at the rate of 2 per cent for each year of service up to 30 years. To encourage thrift in a practical way there is a savings and loan association, conducted at the Company’s expense and affording a safe investment at 6 per cent, with satisfactory arrangements for loans, mortgages and withdrawal of funds.
Arrangements of all kinds are beneficial to both employer and employe, if administered in the right spirit, and especially if the employer deals with the employe on a just and liberal basis as to wages and promotion. The suspicion is always liable to arise among employes of a concern doing extensive welfare work, that-the welfare is in lieu of an adequate wage, and may operate to quench aspirations for higher pay. It is interesting to note tliat the junior engineers, chemists and other technical men of New York City have recently organized a trades union in order, by collective bargaining, to obtain a satisfactory income.
Welfare work arises primarily from the kind instincts of human employers, and secondarily on a more extensive scale from the fact that it pays. The motive is a selfseeking one. That it has not yet touched the mainspring of love is plain because the executives’ attitude is one of condescension and patronage rather- than the broad brotherly love that will characterize the Golden Age and will ultimately knit executives and employes of an industry into one big family.
BANKRUPT TROLLEY LINES
O ONE FAMILIAR with the methods by which American electric railways were financed it is
nothing surprising to see the executive heads of some thirty roads in solemn conclave and unanimous in the conviction t^at “something must be done.”
Without some new scheme for working the long-suffering public for more money the managers express the fear that the electric railway systems of New York State at least cannot long survive. Massachusetts has blazed a dishonorable way for bankrupt electric railways, with its showing of scores of miles of track abandoned to weeds and washouts, and New York fears a like fate. From the giant Interborough Rapid Transit of New York City down to the smallest and shortest lines the Macedonian cry goes forth.
Trolley lines which were subjected to the promotion methods of two or three decades ago are reaping the. harvest that comes from bad sowing. Private enterprise built the roads, in return for bond issues of two or three times the value of the materials and labor in the construction, and sweetened the bonds with huge issues of common stock. Both bonds and stocks were painted up for a "killing” and were rapidly passed into the hands of “innocent” investors seeking something for nothing, and who by paying exorbitant prices acquired the kind of vested interest that demands interest and dividends on the liquid element of the financing. The payment of these periodic sums “skinned” the roads and kept them from being adequately kept up out of what was left of innOTne. finally the WOT finished the min.
Thirty years ago the only way to interest the men that knew how to build the roads was to let them get a big promoter’s profit. Without this incentive the electric railways never would have been built. The state could not build them and the common people had not the venturesome spirit to combine their little savings into the great sums required for big enterprises. . The methods necessarily were those of a period of rather risky promotions, and it is fair to judge the performance of the past by the conservative standards of the present The-people needed the roads, and need them now, and the businesslike thing is to keep the roads going for the public benefit Under no circumstances ought the false lead of Massachusetts to be followed, for no prejudice and no precedent should be allowed to stand in the way of the continuation of this valuable public service.
It is acknowledged that the. credit of the companies has been destroyed and that funds cannot be raised for extensions, betterments and improvements. Investors fear to buy bonds and notes of companies whose profits are eaten up by high operating costs, whose avenues for relief are blocked by public service commissions, and whose very future is imperiled by an unprecedented world crisis. No practical arrangement is known for the state to oversee the operation of the transportation lines. The fixing of the price of transportation has been taken out of the hands of the executives and been divided between state and municipal authorities into an inextricable confusion. Some executives want only state commissions and others want both state and municipal There is a similar disagreement over the financial,
operating, regulation and public ownership plana ad-t' vanced to bring relief.
i- The financial arrangements are as much a part of the
machinery for conducting an electric railway as the ± rolling stock and road bed. The present outlook is that the financial leg of the stool is cracked through and is giving way. If the executives cannot solve the problem < it may be necessary to look to the state for the permanent financing of this public necessity.
ft '' It is suggested that while the state has broad shoulders it inay not be able to bear all the proposed burdens that a variety of business failures would impose upon it.
-• 1 The situation is indeed so perplexing that it is beyond
'z permanent repair by human means; it is part of the
- unavoidable breakdown of the present order of things. Fortunately it will be succeeded quickly by a new r*. arrangement that will not merely fix up present failures but under the auspices of the Golden Age will solve all problems perfectly and never come to an end.
IRON INDEX OF PROSPERITY '
AT THE BASIS of all business is iron and steel. There is almost nothing made, built, or worked, in ‘which these metals are not employed. Buildings require i. iron rails, rods and pipes and steel beams; machinery is made largely of iron and steel, and agriculture, mining and lumbering are carried on by their aid. As these and other branches of business become more active they utilize more iron and steel.
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