Golden Age, April 14, 1920

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Volume 1 WEDNESDAY. APRIL 14.1»» Number 1*

CONTENTS o/ the GOLDEN AGE

• LABOR tad ECONOMICS

Capttnl Vahio Why Man Organic ,,, .463

and Standarda.. .......... 451 Something About a»f * ***

SOCIAL and EDUCATIONAL

Gifldran'o Part-Time Wort 453 Important New. Suppressed 435

CMld Training ...... . ..—454 Clerical Oppreaoora. ,,,.,455

FINANCE* COMMENCE. TRANSPORTATION

British EspendltoreA—-.457 British Financial

The British Debt__408 Remedies -_____'-

_ POLITICAL, DOMESTIC tan FOREIGN

British Empire Troubles—409 Rebirth of T-t-rta

Ragland ana America----400 What German

England and Ireland----401 Militarism

AGRICULTURE and HUSBANDRY

Country Ufa in Fann Bureaus

tfiaUmr Ago..... —488 aaa

. SCIENCE aad INVENTION

Arw There Dead Stare f_4 65 Curious AeddcntSL^—.tan

Trsaspareet yiaah., , ........485 Errata for Number 14-ZZ468

HOUSEWIFERY and HYGIENE .

Fumarole, of Xatiaal

■ KowoSwaa the TMK..467 Peruvian Ralntreea.

TRAVEL aad MISCELLANY

Xealtil of ChDdrea__469 Do Moviu Hut

pbSeeophF«Chiroprnctie 469 the

RELIGION sad PHILOSOPHY

The New Eden Juvenile Bible 8tudyMM_M.478

Fbrwlxadowed.—_____472 As Others Bae n«

. MANUFACTURING aad MIXING

SK£T9!®ffi2zZ2479 steady work ttr MlaenL_4T»

PebNsM «wr etber Wateoday st n Myrtle Aveng*. (Boro at Brooklyn) N« w fork, >4. Y., W WOODWORK®. BUDGING6 MARTIN CLAYTON J. WOODWOftTN ...... EdMw

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Cffie Golden Age

^*tau I N«w York, Wednesday, April 14, 1924 - Number LB

CAPITAL VALUE AND STANDARDS

By tt. B. BratieB

IT HAS been amply and forcefully demonstrated to world intelligence that a prime cause Of the high cost of living, social unrest and financial chaos everywhere existing is due to instability of prices in making domestic and foreign exchange of products; in other words, inability to define correctly the character and volume of value in units of commerce.

The only way possible of eliminating an effect is to remove its cause, in this case ignorance of values. When producer and consumer can correctly define the value of products they will demand just equivalents in making commercial exchanges, and an honest public sentiment will enforce their demands without confusion or without controversy.

Known and generally recognized facts will not admit of argument When world democracy and stable government have become automatic and self-adjusting, social unrest, militarism and financial chaos will disappear, and every child of man will have full opportunity to develop morally, physically and mentally to the limit of its natural ability.

Capital includes all units employed by society in social development and human uplift. Value is correctly defined and measured by stating the volume and character of social service rendered. Standards are natural agents by whose means we may correctly define the character and volume of all social units and thus remove them from the realms of controversy. Any part of a thing, large or small, is a unit of that thing and that unit never varies in character, composition and function. This is axiomatic.

•Though unrecognized and unnamed when Abel kept his flocks, units of time, electricity, heat, distance, etc., hours, watts, degrees, rods, etc., existed and functioned exactly as they do today, and will so continue through perpetual ages. The laws of nature never sleep.

Dollar is a term by which we define a unit of gravity containing twenty-five and eight-tenths grains weight (of gold). That unit of gravity always existed, always will exist and will never vary in function, will always define twenty-five and eight-tenths grains' weight and nothing else. We cannot define value in terms of weight.

A bushel of No. 1 wheat in the twelfth century, when it sold for about two cents, contained exactly the same number of gravity units, cubic units and nutritive units that it contains today, and always has and always will render exactly the same value or volume of social service—will never vary, but ever remain the same in composition, character, function and value.

Standards are natural products over which men and nations have no jurisdiction, no option in their selection and establishment. Nature established gravity, duration, space, altitude, longimetry, etc., as standards of weight, time, capacity, height, length, etc. Man had no choice in the matter whatever. A standard is identical in character with the nnits defined, with the units that compose its structure.

The law of standards defines a standard as the greatest possible or culminating unit of its kind and includes all units of its own character. Gravity includes all weight units, space all capacity units, duration all time units, etc. There is no exception to the law or rule. Hence the standard of values must include all units of value or all factors of commerce. An understanding of that law makes the location of a standard a simple matter. Name its greatest unit, and you have named the standard.

' . Space includes the universe and is the stand-■ ‘ ard of capacity and the greatest unit of capacK ity. Duration includes all units of time from seconds to eternity, and is the only possible standard of time. Gravity embraces all weight * units, altitude all height units, etc. Obedient to that law all social factors, all units of commerce from toothpicks, minerals, power-sites, etc., to the world’s greatest transportation systems are parts or units of the Standard of Value.

Labor is the world’s greatest unit of value and includes all other units of value combined. It is the greatest unit of' commerce and is the only possible standard, of value. As space is the architect of all capacity units, so is labor the. originator of all commercial units. The first intelligent step in any enterprise is to n determine correctly its labor cost or require-monts, and that cost or value is determined by the volume and character of labor required. There is no other way of determining values; and this fact is recognized and employed by all ** contractors of public and private enterprises.

Without space there can be no capacity; without duration there can be no time; without gr&v-ity there con be no height; without altitude there ean be no height; without dominating or unlimited units there can be no standards.

Without labor there can be no woodpulp, no ‘ musical composition, no books, no tools, no mat. chinery, no enterprise, no transportation, no E commerce, no business and no civilization,

p Labor, bought and sold, is the one unit of value

that comprehends and defines all units of value.

The value of any product is correctly defined by the volume and character of the labor employed in its creation.

As we define and measure heat, steam, light and electrical energies by their results, products or. units so can we define and measure labor energy by its results, products or units. A table of actual values and a national currency defining actual values in different denominations of units of value will eliminate social and financial stress forever from the affairs of men.

JFAg Mere Organize " By a. Poiccrman MR. Editor: I have been reading your articles regarding railroad wages and espe-• cially the communications in your number dated February 4. The most of what one reads about railroad wages in papers and magazines refers to the big brotherhoods. I wish to give you an idea of the condition that confronts other men in railway sendee. For thirty years I have been employed as clerk for a large railroad system and have finally worked up to the position of power-man; This position does not come under the head of any of the organizations, but before the government took over the roads was on the same par as train dispatchers and yardmasters. We were all getting $140 per month. When the organizations started their machinery for more pay, the yardmasters’ organization demanded $250 per month and got $225, but are expecting any time now that it will be made $250. We were not organized in any way, and were reduced to clerks, with an increase of $12.50 per month, instead of $85 to $110 per month increase. The point I am trying to make is, Can you blame men for organizing f We made a protest, but did not even receive an answer, and are poorer than ever. -

Something About Sugar By l. d. Barnes

HE following announcement is just off the press under current date in a letter to candy-makers:

“That our customers may receive the benefit of low wholesale prices and the privilege of buying sugar during the shortage of that product, we offer: '

Sugar__________________$9.65 per 100 lbs.

Pecans__________________$1 per lb. shelled.

These prices are subject to change without notice and to prior sale (pecans are expected to drop to 90 cents or lower at any time, and your order will be filled at the prevailing market price).—Service Department, Southern Candy Company, Confectionery Specialists, New Orleans, U. S. A."

It goes to show that something is crooked indeed when working people can hardly get sugar for table use at any price, and when available at all it comes in pound lots at double the wholesale price. This condition develops while the “wise men” quarrel for a year about how to run the rest of the world.

We long for the fulfillment of the promise that the worthies of the past—the prophets and wise ones of Israel—be made princes in all the earth. (Psalm 45:16) Nothing short of divine power can cope with the selfish elements of earth. Moses, Noah, Daniel, Job, Joseph and such like characters may be depended upon under divine direction to remove all dissatisfaction and bring in the desire of all nations. Thy kingdom come!

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL ‘I •

I —----•------------------------—.....- , ■ .... _________________

Children's Part-Time Work

WHILE they are still at school, in the morning, at noon and at night, on Saturdays and holidays and vacations, there are many little men and women that help to bear the expenses of the family by services rendered to others for pay, or by little businesses of their own which they run at a profit.

A kind pf business frequently undertaken by boys is the selling of papers. But these poor lads usually become victims of vice as a. result of their street experiences, and as the work requires their time in the early morning and late at night they , not infrequently become so fatigued that they cannot keep up with their school studies and become dwarfed in mind and body. It has been found by careful inquiry that during the summer months boys who have large paper businesses, requiring much time morning and night, can make more money in the same time if spent in gardening for profit.

Many children do odd laboring jobs for fees, and some even do heavy manual labor, including working on the road, teaming, ditching, cut-, ting wood, mowing lawns, washing automobiles, .sweeping, dusting and scrubbing offices, beating rugs, caring for furnaces, working around public buildings, barber shops, hairdressing, shoeshining, carrying grips, bellboy, waiter, caddy, delivery and messenger service. There is nothing in these occupations to commend them to schopl children, and they, are liable to start the children permanently in the wrong direction. Work as an office boy or office girl also provides few opportunities to observe business methods or to sectfre useful training in any way. The exceptions are few.

Other children accept positions in department stores at wrapping parcels, running errands and doing odd jobs; and when the offer of a permanent position comes, the opportunity to earn money and to get some of the things that money will buy, proves irresistible and they leave school. This work is not heavy, but the hours are long, the children are on their feet most of the time, and many girls experience serious foot trouble as a result of such work. The surroundings are not objectionable, however; and children so employed have many opportunities « to learn much about business affairs.

In cases where schoolgirls engage to assist in home duties, a large proportion of them are engaged in the care of younger children, an occupation very suitable to girls, and one in which most girls take pleasure. These girls usually have an abundant opportunity for recreation in the open air, and their activities offer good training facilities.

In cases where boys hire out to farmers, the hours of labor are sometimes long; but as a rule children are not overworked on the farm. Some of the work, such as hoeing and weeding, is fatiguing if persisted in many hours at a time; $

but much of the work is in the form of errands,

picking fruit, etc. The work is done in the fresh

air, the food is wholesome and in good supply,

the environment is good, and at the conclusion of the vacation season the child returns to the ; city much stronger for his experience. More-

over, the varied opportunities that are provided on a farm for an all-round development of the senses make a season on a farm a very desirable * part of every boy’s education.

For work undertaken on their own account, there is nothing so healthful and profitable for children during the summer months as a well- r kept garden. It is surprising how much money can be made in a season by a boy or a girl who is willing to work as hard at this work as would be necessary at other money-making occupations. Producers of food in the United States will be rendering a great service to humanity this coming season, provided economic conditions permit the foods produced to be properly distributed. The' census of 1910 showed that from 1900 to 1910 the agricultural products of the United States increased only 10% as compared with the preceding decade, while the population increased 21%.

If the Yangco’twins, now living in a children’s home in Brooklyn, ever take to gardening they will have to be careful of the plants. These poor children, natives of the Philippines, are joined together; one of them walks backward while the other walks forward. They were formerly on exhibition at Coney Island, but utre

ordered by a Manila court to be placed in custody where they could be better cared for. One of them recently had the influenza; the other was not ill but had to remain in bed until his brother recovered from the attack.

There will come a time, in the Golden Age, . when the Lord will separate these brothers. Will it not seem like heaven to them when they are able to run about like others! Miracleswill be common then. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as ; an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.”— Isaiah 35:5, 6; 65:17 - 25.

Child Training

t training should begin about fifty

j years before birth and continue until the

'child has reached seventy years of age, by which j , time he will have learned the fundamentals of . how to live, unless he has been brought up in 1 . the atmosphere of certain ecclesiastical institu

tions and has remained in it, in which instance 1 the case may become hopeless.

I A mother who does not use her intelligence can make large progress toward ruining a child » within a very few weeks after its birth; she can do this by maidrig it perfectly clear to the child that he can get anything he wants by crying for it Later she can teach the child to lie by making promises which she does not keep and does ’ not intend to keep. Fathers can assist in this.

. They can also teach their children to swear, to be unclean in mind and body, to be evasive, 1 tricky, unprincipled and brutal. It is entirely natural for children to do what they see done by their fathers.

, Love for right principles and love for God as 1 the Author of all that is pure and lovely in creation is never inculcated in children by parents who do not love and practice those principles. < No child was ever beaten into godliness or a love of truth. The child should be appealed to through the power of reason and example; and the greatest of these is example.

The physical ability of a six-foot man to beat a boy of tender years does not imply that the man is fit to be a father. An ourang-outang ‘ might be able to give the father an even worse punishment than the father would dare give the boy, though sometimes these punishments , are. bad enough, and far worse than a decent anthropoid ape would think of using. A man who knows how to use only physical strength in disciplining his children is not much of a father. His children are to be pitied.

A New York justice sentenced, to not less than six months and not more than three years in the penitentiary, a father who beat a frail little- underfed boy .of nine years old with a leather trace because he did not hold the baby as ordered. One hundred and eleven cuts were found on this child's body. In the central part of New York state a clergyman beat a four-year-old child to death for refusing to say his prayers. What kind of God would one be that would wish a parent to beat a child to death for refusing to pray to Him! He would be worse than the parent himself. He would be like Moloch, the old-time eternal-torment deity.

Runaways from pleasant homes seldom occur. Most of the runaways occur from homes where the parents follow1 an old-established and evil custom of some priest-ridden European countries, of working children like slaves and insisting upon their handing over their pay envelopes unopened. When a child begins to earn money he begins to have certain rights to a portion of it that were not his before. Parents should respect these rights.

Following another ancient European custom, more than half of the states of,the union still give the fathers exclusive rights over their cliil-dren, control of education, religion and medical care, earnings, and the right to all property in case of death. Three states, Delaware, Florida and Tennessee, to their shame, even permit the father at his death to transfer his children from the mother’s care to that of other guardians. A_ more just and merciful arrangement, in effect in many states, is equal guardianship of the children as long as the parents live together, entire control to the surviving parent in case of the death of one of the parents, and in the case of separation or divorce the judge decides which parent is better fitted to have the children.

On account of the high cost of living fewer children of seven to twelve years of age are being adopted from the asylums than heretofore. A child of this age requires as great an outlay as an adult; and as he is unable to render aid to the family adopting him, he does not find as great a welcome in a new home as when prices were not so high. The demand for girls for adoption is far greater than the demand for boys. Pretty rough on the boys I

Important News Suppressed bv g. o. dhscoli MR. Editor: In a recent contribution for the columns of your paper, which you published under the caption “Russellism Will Not Down ’, in your issue of March 17th, I stated that Russellian! had thrived on persecution; and the following comments on the Rutherford Hippodrome meeting are for the purpose of giving you something further to think about.

The Russellites, now r> , n

under the leadership ^millions now living will never die of Judge Rutherford, . > .

their nresident Bp CTO n httfreafoctwa b tbeHIppa&aaNiMstSQBdayatarnAMftwillbacoachwniy prora ’ t by m&fly BibBcal propfeaaa which haua bwn MfiBad duinff tha pact fo* jw,

A WOrld campaign , aad from oMayatbarortiflbcouaaaaffuifilnMDL that biBdrab of thovaaadaaaw

New York Manifesto Unparalleled Religious Fervor

Approximately twelve to fifteen thousand people clamored for admittance to the Keto York Hippodrome Sunday afternoon, March 21st, to hear Judge Rutherford of the ATew York City Bar in hie world proclamation, “Millions Now Living Will Never Dtf*. The people were for him and the clergy against Mm.

Judge Rutherford

N«rt Soaduy, March ZlaL at ? o'clock h tha york HIPPODROME

Rutherford,

TALKING WITH THE MAD

with a new proclamation: “Millions Now Living Will Never Die”. In advertising * this meeting, full page announcements similar to the facsimile herewith submitted were used in many New York papers throughout the week preceding the lecture. These announcements contained the points to be proven, namely: That there are actually millions of people now living who will never die, but will re-main.and enjoy life as human beings upon earth forever; and that they will not see death. Further, that the foregoing would be proved by prophecies that were fulfilled during and since the world war; and that the proclamation should in no way be considered as a prophecy or as the opinion of an individual, but that it was and is the unanimous verdict of thousands of non-sectarian Bible students scattered throughout many countries, who base their conclusion upon fulfilled prophecy.

Judge Rutherford stated that the Hippodrome meeting was only an example of similar meetings which would be held in every large city of every country of the world for the purpose of making this a world-wide proclamation. He further made it plain that the clergy of all denominations, Protestant and Catholic, would bring their full influence to bear through every possible channel and by either fair or foul means keep the members of their congregations in ignorance upon these subjects and that their continued opposition should be expected by all

truth-seekers..

The Hippodrome was filled to its capacity of 5,500; and people, many of whom had come fromdistant cities, actually wept in front of the auditorium, crying in vain for admittance long after the doors were closed. The floral display on the stage, arranged by Mr. Pier-spn, president of the Cromwell Gardena of Cromwell, Conn., was a most beautiful symbol of incoming kingdom' conditions as pictured by the speaker when referring to world conditions at the close of the present great reconstruction epoch.

The speaker was very generously applauded as he stepped on 'the stage to . address his audience; and as he launched forth in the presentation of a mass of evidence proving the authenticity of his proclamation, “Millions now living will never die”, it was evident that he had caught the cordial spirit of his audience, and the following two hours witnessed the delivery of a remarkable proclamation equaled only by the profound and thoughtful manner in which it was received.

Judge Rutherford made it plain from the prophecies that the time would surely come when millions upon the earth would enter into a new epoch and would never need to die, and that the only question seemed to be as to whether that time is a dozen years distant or a hundred years distant or whether we are now living in the transition period. All his evidence was to prove that we are now living in that time.

The several tables for newspaper reporters were well tilled by representatives of New York papers busily reporting the address, and every facility was afforded them for reporting fully for the benefit of their readers, most of whom depend wholly upon the public press for information. Such reports were looked for, not only by those hearing the lecture and those unable to obtain admittance, but by hundreds of thousands of others who had seen the announcements and who were greatly surprised when on the following morning they found not even one line upon the subject in any of the metropolitan papers.

Strange as this may seem to the unsophisticated, it was nevertheless easy to all familiar with the persistent opposition of the clergy, to read between the lines that orders had gone forth from high ecclesiastical or interchurch authorities to •‘keep silence”. Pastor Russell predicted just such efforts to suppress the truth By ignoring it, more than thirty years ago, in his Third Volume of Scripture Studies, from which I quote:

“Many of the rejected will realize the troubles coming, yet will still be blind to their real cause. They will say, Let- us unite ourselves and entrench ourselves in the strong cities (governments), and keep silence. They somehow realize that neither reason nor Scripture supports their, false doctrines, and that the wisest method is to keep silent, in the shadow of old superstitions and under the protection of so-called Christian governments. They orc represented aa saying very truly: ‘The Lord hath put ua to silence, and given us bitter poison-water to drink’. The only refreshment they may have is the cup which they have mixed (the poison of bitter error, the ‘doctrines of devils', mingled with the pure water of life, the truth of God's Word). Shall not such u are of Babylon, and who love her, and are therefore unready to obey the command, ‘Come out of her/ be forced to drink the cup of their'own mixing? Shall not such be forced to admit the falsity of their doctrines? They surely shall; and they will all be thoroughly nauseated, by it It seems that the prophet knew what he was saying when he said: ‘The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected.the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?'—Jeremiah 8:14, 9.

It is not for me to say, nor should it be necessary for me to do more now than to. simpjy by this letter call attention to the news-editors* treatment of the Rutherford meeting to prove this to be an additional evidence of ecclesiastical pressure and persecution; but, as previously stated, “Russellism has thrived on persecution” and will continue to do so. Yours in the interest of truth and a free press. .

Just God!—and these are they

Who minister at Thine altar, God of Right!

i Men who their hands with prayer and blessing lay On Israel’s Ark of light!

What! preach, and kidnap men?

Give thanks—and rob Thy own afflicted poor?

Talk of Thy glorious liberty, and then Bolt hard the captive’s door?

' What! servants of Thy own Merciful Son, who came to seek ’ The homeless and the outcast—fc The tasked and plundered slu

’ Pilate and Herod, friends!’

Chief priests and rulers, as of old, combine!

Just God and holy! that church, which lends Strength to the spoiler, Thine?

Paid hypocrites, who turn

Judgment aside, and rob the Holy Bock

Of those high words «f truth which search and burn In warning and rebuke;

Feed tat. ye locusts, feed !

, A.nd. in your tallied pulpits, thank the'Lord That. from the toiling workman’s* utter need, . Yc pile x^nr own full b'/ard.

Written in 1$3G. • Ward modiced.

CLERICAL OPPRESSORS

How long, O Lord ! how Ion;, ■ . Shall such a priesthood barter truth away, And, Id Thy name, for robbery and wrong

AC Thy own altars pray ?

Ts not Thy hand stretched forth Visibly In the henvens, to awe and smite? Shall aot the living God of all the earth,

And heavens above, do right ?

. Woe. then, to all who grind

and sure Their brethren of a common Father down!

tterlng down To all who plunder from the Immortal mind

ve! Its bright and glorious crown 1

Woe to the priesthood: woe

To those whose hire is with the price of blood—

Perverting, darkening, changing as they go,

The searching truths of God I

Their glory and their might

Shall perish; and their very names >hull be

Vile before all the people, in the light

Of a world’s liberty.

Oh • ppeed the moment on

When Wrong shall cease—and Liberty and Loro,

And Truth.’aod Right, throughout the earth be known As in their homes above.

JoM Creeel-jfi/ IFMtticr

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_____________________TTie Golden Age for April 14, 1920 457

I FINANCE-COMMERCE-TRANSPORTATION!

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British Expenditures

COLNTRY in which the whole man power and almost the whole woman power is em* J • ployed in war pursuits cannot instantly change ; from a war basis to a peace basis, but con* sidering all the difficulties it was done with reasonable dispatch in England. There were many critics of the government for delay in this work; there was even sharp criticism that in some directions the expenditures looking toward war were greater than during the war itself.

These critics pointed out that ten months after the armistice the government was still spending $24,000,000 per day, eight times the pre-war expenditure, or an amount double its income from all'sources; that one year after the armistice the government still had to borrow $55,000,000 every week in order to keep running; that $1,000,000,000 were paid out in * unemployment doles of $6 per week, to cover the j time between the soldier’s discharge and his return to work, which put a premium upon idleness and resulted in no benefits to anybody; that the expenditures every three months equaled the total pre-war national debt; that the deficit for the year, was double the amount fixed in the budget; that an eriormousnavy was still burning up the coal needed to keep the people warm; that an enormous army was still eating up taxes; that a huge army of clerks was still keeping army and navy records of no value to a country on a peace basis; that the cost of the government home spy system (secret service) was four times its cost in 1914; and that although, at the time the war ended, there were riot more than 1700 active airmen, yet a year i' after the war there were more than 14,000 officers in the Royal Air Force. Added to these criticisms is the fact not open to criticism that the annual cost for pensions is $500,000,000 and will he not less than that amount for many years to come.

In England they still believe in the principle enunciated by Thomas Jefferson, the founder of American democracy, when he said: “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable upon certain occasions that I hope it may always be kept alive. It may often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.” Hence it was possible for the papers there to give expression to these criticisms, and the government gave close attention.

The government explained that it had done what it could to pay its bills as it went along; that £1,000,000,000 of foreign securities had been sold during the war to pay for war material; that one-fourth of Britain's total debt represented loans to allies and colonies and could be carried easily as the borrowers were maintaining interest payments; that great reductions in the sizes of army and navy were being made and that by the end of 1919 the army would consist of but 300,000 British troops and 100,000 Indian troops, and that it was believed no new taxation would be required in 1920 to balance revenues and expenditures. It pointed out that there were still held in England £3,000,-000,000 of the £4,000,000,000 that were held there before the war.

In the discussions it was brought out that the financial situation is very critical; that the great land owners have been compelled to sell off their estates because they are on the edge of bankruptcy ; that it had been necessary to defer the payment of interest on the $4,000,000,000 loaned to Britain by America; that men of incomes approximating $2000 per year are now paying income taxes of approximately $500 per year, and that, as Lloyd George expressed it, “Britain is borrowing herself to death”. The prospect of bankruptcy was freely discussed in the press, and in the House of Lords a noteworthy address contained the startling declaration that “behind bankruptcy, revolution treads with swift, impatient feet”—surely trouble enough.

British financiers protest that American financiers, while doing lip service to assist Europe, have been doing nothing but pile up profits, forgetting the principles of brotherhood so lavishly expressed while hostilities were in progress. They declare that the whole capitalist system is shaken, that capital is now international and that American capital itself is ‘•'already too heavily committed abroad to withstand a catastrophe with which the Russian debacle would he no more comparable than the Balkan wars with the great war’’.

The British Debt British Financial Remedies

BEFORE the war the British debt was , A . £645,000,000, or about $500 for each family

in the kingdom. This was bad enough, but see ‘ 5 what the war did.

L_1 , The war is estimated by the Carnegie Founda-

»,>,■•■•• tion to have cost the world $337,000,000,000. Railways were formerly constructed and sold at a good profit in America for $25,000 per mile. Reduced to railway mileage, the world ■ war cost as much as the construction of 13,-480,000 miles of these steel highways. The total area of the earth, water and land, is 196,940,000 square miles, or a plot 14,033 miles square. Such B'i a railway would cross that plot 960 times, in lines fourteen and one-half miles apart.

■ In other words, for the cost of the world war, i X ■ a railway could have been built around the earth in parallel lines so that no point on the earth’s surface would be more than seven and one--y •• fourth miles distant from a railway. But this assumes that the earth is all land surface. As C7 a matter of fact the land surface is only 52,000,-000 square miles, or a plot 7211 miles square. A railway 13,480,000 miles long would cross that plot 1870 times in lines 3.85 miles apart, so '/■ ' that no point on the land surface of the earth would be more than two miles from the railway. .. . It is not to be wondered at that the load which • has been created by this expenditure of the ac-■>’ ' cumulated wealth of mortals is staggering beyond the power of the mind to comprehend. By the end of March, 1919, the English debt was £7,430,000,000, and ran to larger figures during the balance of the year. This debt of now approximately £8,000,000,000 is at present equivalent to $4000 for each family in the kingdom. It is estimated at 44% of the national wealth.

Before the war the interest on the British debt was so great as to make a very considerable burden. Now the national debt is twelve times greater than it was, and the interest payable annually is a sum equal to one-half the total of the pre-war debt The debt is so great that some believe that it can neither be wiped out nor diminished through ordinary taxation. Not only did the war cost England 44% of its real wealth, , but it cost a tenth of its men, the principal source from which the wealth can be recreated. A financial writer says of the situation: “How , fascinating the whole scene would be to Gibbon were he alive in these most critical days of the British Empire F

FIVE interesting remedies have been suggested to help put England upon her feet:

(1) A member of the Parliament came forward with a proposition to take advantage of the gambling instinct lurking in almost every human being and organize on a grand scale a state lottery similar to that once maintained in Louisiana, and still maintained in Spain, and recently proposed for France. This would be a blow at British honor.

(2) Lord Rothermere suggested that Great Britain sell to the United States the Bermudas, the Bahamas, British Guiana and British Honduras in part payment of the loan advanced by the United States. This would be a blow at British pride, but defensible in an emergency.

(3) A writer in the London Journal of Finance and Trade urged that the vast holdings of the Church of England, supported by the whole population, but no longer believed in by the whole people, should be disestablished and every item of its property, even including Westminster Abbey, sold at auction and converted into cash for the relief of the debt-stricken country. This would be a blow at ecclesiasticism. It would not be a blow at Christianity, for “God dwelleth not in temples made with hands”.

(4) It has been proposed to levy such a tax on capital and war profits as to bring every man’s fortune down to the amount that he possessed at the beginning of the war. This subject is now receiving great attention. There are some who fear that these taxes would tend to frighten capital away from England and thus do irreparable mischief to trade and industry: and there are a good many British statesmen who have shared in these profits and would-not like to part with them. But it is estimated that such a tax would yield more than a billion pounds, and it is likely to be levied in due time. This would be a blow at selfishness.

(5) An exodus of several million of the population has been proposed, and under the spur of impending difficulties at home large numbers emigrated to Mexico in the latter part of 1919. This would be most regrettable, for England is one of the world’s bulwarks of liberty and progress. Nevertheless, such a migration might be to the ultimate benefit of civilization, much as we reason that the scattering of the early Christians by persecutions spread the tenets of the Christian faith more widely over the earth.

POLITICAL- DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

British Empire Troubles

GENERAL SMUTS, president of the South African Union, one of the most active supporters of the Allied cause during the world r war, says that the British Empire is dead, hav-

' ing ceased to exist in August, 1914. This is

too strong a statement, although it cannot be denied that the authority of the empire over many of its component parts, Canada, South Africa and Australia, is much less than for-• merly, and that the situation in India is far from what the great colonizer of the world could desire it to be.

One of the prime policies of British statesmen is to keep the southern part of Asia, all the way from Siam to Palestine, from falling into the disorder which has so marked the northern portions of the great continent during the past year; and as India is at the center of this line, and fabulous in wealth and population, there is particular concern over outbreaks which have occurred and others which are threatened as a result of the spread of Soviet government throughout Central Asia right up to India’s back door in the northwest. ■

Among the troubles of the past year in India, out of which Britain emerged with more loss than gain, is that at Amritsar, in April, 1919. . According to statements made before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it appears that 6,000,000 natives of India died of starvation during the last three months of 1918, as a result of the great withdrawal of resources due to the European situation. It is estimated that during 1918 and 1919 the loss of life on this ground was 32,000,000 and that 150,000,000 ' more went hungry most of the time, endeavoring to maintain life by eating roots, leaves and kernels of old nuts, 15% of their gross earnings of $10 per year being required for the maintenance of the government.

This condition of things led to much unrest in various places; and among these was Amritsar, where two men named Satyapal and Kit-chiew were involved as leaders. These men were arrested and taken away from the city, whereat the populace retaliated by capturing the telegraph office, burning the town hall and a mission station, attacking a hospital and looting a bank. In quelling these disorders eleven natives were killed, and orders were issued forbidding within the city the assembly of more than four persons. During the uprising a doctor, Mise Sherwood, was attacked on a street.

Four days later the commanding general learned that in violation of his order a vast concourse of people was gathered in a sunken garden in a suburb listening to a lecture. The audience has been variously estimated at from 5,000 to several times that number. General Dyer proceeded to the place with a small company of British and native troops, stationed the soldiers in commanding positions and, without ordering the crowd to disperse, fired into it 1,650 rounds of ammunition, killing between 400 and 500 unarmed natives, and wounding many others. Machine guns would have been used, so the general explained, but the door to the gardens was too narrow to admit of entrance.

The general explained before the parliamentary investigating committee that he thought he had done quite the right thing under the circumstances, though he admitted that martial law had not been extended to the suburb in question and that he had done nothing for the relief of the wounded after the shooting. It was brought out in the questioning that his superior officer, Michael O’Dwyer, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, had afterward approved his course and promoted him to another command. Before leaving the stand General Dyer defended his policy of flogging the natives-also his order that any Indian passing through the street in which Miss Sherwood was attacked must crawl through on all fours. He admitted in his testimony that the crowd was unarmed, that it might have dispersed peaceably if he had ordered it to do so, but that he felt sure it would have laughed at him and returned later had he not acted as he did. It is not believed that the British Empire, as an empire, was helped in India by this occurrence or in England by its publication. The news filtered through to the United States in about nine months.

England and America

VERY once in a while somebody says something that would better be unthbught hud unsaid, and the result is many other people be* come irritated. On his recent visit to this country the Prince of Wales said at Winnipeg, "The ocean is of no good tb us if we do not rule it”. I That sounds all right to many people, but sounds

; very bad to a great many of the 106,819,000 that ' Eve in the United States and that wonder why । . the waters that-lave American shores and pos

sessions should be ruled by anybody. This idea * of wanting to boss everything and everybody is foreign to the true American spirit

f The Prince probably did not realize how his I statement would look to Americans when it appeared in their papers the next day. But I Janericans are ready to forgive a great deal from Englishmen; and when the Prince subse-

• quently visited New York he was cheered to the । echo by the 1,500 members of the New York . Chamber of Commerce when he gave expression to the mutual wishes of the good men of both nations that they might live amicably together. ’ It was the conception of millions of Ameri-4 cans that one great object of the world war Was

to rid the earth of military and naval terrorism, f and multitudes of thinking men are unable to j - see any reason now why either the British Empire or the United States should desire a very large navy when the only possible foe of either navy is the other. Great hostile navies are all ’ things of the past; German, Austrian and Russian naval power has been obliterated.

1 An Englishman who has been thinking on this 1 matter has suggested that the sensible thing for Great Britain and America to do is to combine their fleets, as it is hardly conceivable that the two countries would ever again war with one another. Such a combination would be able to dictate to the rest of the world limitations of naval armament, and would save billions of ’ dollars per year now thrown away on naval expenditures without helping the people.

It seems an opportune time to consider this , matter; for naval men are now balking of a . new and inconceivably expensive fighting ma-.chine which will combine in one machine the submarine, dreadnought and tank: will be able to fight either under the sea, on the surface or on the land, and be able ro crawl at will from one element to the other. The men who still have fl i eke rings of common sense had better dq something quickly to show it or the world will soon bb a plaefe where a child unsheathed in armor plate at the timfe of its birth will be likely to have its head blown off by a shell from, some Christian’s cannon before it has had time to take its first meal.

The Overseas Club and Patriotic League, soliciting membership among Britishers in America, announces in its printed matter that one of the objects it has in view is “to maintain our Empire’s supremacy upon the seas and in the air”. Probably few would go so far as to suggest what this implies, i. e., an effort to gain as full control over the air and-over air travel as British battleships have gained over ocean waves and over ocean commerce; but this implication does not have the right ring. It does not seem reasonable for a country of less than one-third of America’s population to spend ten times as much on air fleets as America spends, and to build those fleets with money borrowed from America, and then circulate in America literature implying a determination to control the earth’s atmosphere, as well as its seas.

It is only a little while ago that the InterAllied Maritime Council designated to America the use of the immense merchant ships Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, Mobile, Cape Finisterre, Pretoria, Zeppelin and Graf Waldersee, seized in German harbors after the armistice. Immediately after these ships had completed their work of bringing American soldiers back from Europe Britain demanded them; and although they were retained in New York for three months in the belief that they legitimately belonged to America, yet on the— order of the President of the United States they were finally surrendered to Britain’s demand. The surrender of these ships was greatly resented in France, which claims to have lost 295,000 tons from the French mercantile marine during the war, and which thought that if America was going to give up the ships to anybody France should have been the recipient.

The seven vessels foregoing were finally turned over to Britain to effect the release of twelve Standard Oil tankers also captured in German ports, and held by the British until the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria and companion boats were surrendered to the British crews in New York. The ships when obtained wore used to

bring back from India the Territorials, a body of troops too old for the trenches in France, who had been seht io India to take the plsee of the regulars there. These Territorials, many of them professional men, had been in India five years, instead of the year or two years they had expected to be there; and naturally they wanted to come home.

America makes the motion pictures for the world. The religious features of these films are under the control of Pope Benedict XV, and this in itself is objectionable to Britons. But during the war, to help out on the propaganda work, America was flooded with films showing Uncle Sam as Europe’s deliverer. These films are no longer salable here; and as Europe is the dumping ground for America’s unsalable films, they were sent abroad. One of these films, depicting an English Duke as the chief villain, was shown in London, whereat the audienco hissed both the American characters in the play and the American flag as well. We Anglo-Saxons are a curious family. We love one another, but we love the good old family fight best of all. How these Christians love one another I

On the other hand some American traders are offended at what they think has been an overly clever trick played upon them by British capitalists. With the quieting down of campaigns against Soviet Russia they discovered that British traders had for months been assembling goods at advantageous points about the Baltic, the Black Sea, and other points contiguous to the Russian border, prepared to skim the cream off the Russian market as soon as trade actually began. But Britain is of necessity a nation of traders, and it is hardly to be expected that what they have learned in centuries they will forget in an instant. British traders have always pushed to the farthest limits of civilization, and the country could not exist if this were not so.

England and Ireland

WE SHOULD say ‘‘England, Ireland and

America"; for the Irish question is largely staged in America.

-\t this writing Hr. Eamonn de Valera is proceeding from city to city of the United States like a conquering hero, being freely offered the keys of the city everywhere. The statesmen of the United States know perfectly well that Mr. Valera and his friends are engaged at the agelong occupation of organizing another Irish revolution. In all the leading papers and in the street cars and elsewhere appear advertisements of the Irish bonds. So poor England has another trouble on hand in a year when troubles are thick enough for any one.

Those who ought to know say that there are more Irishmen in Ireland who do not want an Irish Republic, but who prefer British rule, than there are who do. They claim that the North of Ireland is a land of thriving industry, beautiful homes and contented, well-dressed people, while the South of Ireland is the reverse of all this. They claim that Ireland is not oppressed. They point out that England, Scotland and Wales have longed for years, and longed in vain, for land and housing measures such as have brought-great relief to the Irish people, and which were devised by Britain years ago in a futile effort to satisfy a group of ecclesiastical politicians who are never satisfied with anything short of full control of heaven and earth. It is said that Scotland with equal population pays five times aa much taxes into the British treasury as does Ireland.

As a result of the very special legislation enacted on their behalf the Irish tillers of the soil have been helped to buy 93% of all the lands they cultivate. This is a greater proportion than in any other country. Even in Germany, where special attention was given to the agrarian question, only 86% of the cultivated land was owned by the men who worked it. In most other countries it is much less. Only 12% of the small agriculturists in Great Britain own their lands.

Rebirth of Latvia By x. inbcry

WE ARE now witnessing the rebirth of many small nationalities that have been swallowed up, so to speak, for centuries, nevertheless preserving their peculiar identity of language, manners, and dress. The world is learning more about itself and discerning long-neglected members of the- great family of nations who are awakening from slumber, shaking off the shackles of kingcraft and priestcraft, ignorance and superstition. Among these is the nation of Latvia.

Until within the last few years who ever heard about such nationalities as Lithuania, Ukrainia. Esthonia and Latvia! Truly in their rise the valleys, the lowly and meek of society, are being

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-exalted; and at the same time the mountains and hills, the mighty warring nations of Germany, Austria and Russia, that surrounded them have been brought low.

Of the Lettish nation the great people o£ America know but little. If one presents himself as Lettish, the reply comes, "So you are a Russian T* This makes one smile. The difference between the two is as great as between the English and the German. Although the British and German people are both from Saxon stock, yet they differ widely; and although the Letts and Russians are both from Slavic stock, yet the lines of distinction are clearly drawn.

Washed by the gentle waves- of the Baltic from' the west and southwest, Latvia is surrounded by Esthonia on the north, Russia on the east and Lithuania on the south. Its area comprises the two former Russian provinces of Lavonia and Courland, and its population before th* war numbered about two million. Many colonies of sons and daughters are scattered in various parts of the world.

The geographical situation of Latvia made her a bone of contention for centuries in the wan between Sweden, Russia and Poland, until Peter the Great conquered all the Baltic coast and thus opened a window toward the west for Russia. The subjection to the Czars continued until November 11, 1918, when the Lettish council at Riga declared independence, and has maintained it ever since.

The country is especially favorable for agriculture and cattle raising, although rich deposits of minerals are found.

The Letts are industrious and intelligent people and have contributed their share to the art, science and literature of mankind, though long oppressed by the Czars and German barons, who have retained fully three-fourths of the land under their controL They have enjoyed measurable religious freedom, all the known sects of the other European countries being tolerated, which was not the case in Russia itself. This may account for the greater enlightenment of the people.

The Bible, the torch of civilization, liberty and progress, was brought in by German traders of the Lutheran faith in the early part of the seventeenth century.

The Letts are ardent lovers of their native soil, or, as they call it, "Izimteni”. They are a peace-loving, hospitable, hard-working, plainliving people and consequently live long; ages reaching up to one hundred years and over are not rare. The heavier the whips of the barons have lashed their helpless backs, driving them to work from sunrise to sunset, the greater has been the confidence of the Letts that a better day would some time dawn.

Unknowingly, they have been waiting for the dawning of the morning of joy, the morning of the Golden Age (Psalm 30:5), waiting for the long-promised "poor man’s chance”, waiting until the larger and more warlike nations that surround Latvia should cease to use her soil-; for a battleground and cease to transform her beautiful orchards and smiling wheat-fields into a desert of waste and want.

Now the rays of the long-expected Golden Age, dreamed by poets, and prophesied by wise men of old, have broken through the dismal gloom of night; and the poor war-stricken Latvia is struggling to lift herself from her knees, inspired with the hope that the day of reckoning has come, the day when God is pleased to help the poor and needy and to set the captives free.

Happy day for Latvia and many another long-stricken people! How we rejoice to see her free and happy, in the throng of other free nations, walking up the highway of holiness, up, up to perfection and everlasting life, Liberty and happiness, and to long enjoy every good and every perfect thing, above , all to know their God, by whose favor alone all their blessings have come, and in the smile of whose countexiance the obedient will find joys and pleasures for evermore.—Psalm 16: IL

What German Militarism Cost

OR the estimated cost of the world war the best of wagon roads could be built to every desired point on the land surface of the earth.

It is said that for an average expenditure of $30 per acre almost any desired reclamation project can be carried to completion. On this basis, the expenditure for the world war would reclaim 11,233,333,333 acres, or 17,552,083 square miles, which is more than one-third the total land area of the world. In other words, the sum wasted would have turned the earth into a paradise. Three cheers for war, humane, uplifting, ''spiritual’', glorious war, with all its opportunities to do good to all men I

AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY 7 :*

Country Life in the Long Ago bv if. l. Pcite MANY, many years ago there lived in the little town of Bethlehem a man named Elimelech. His wife’s name was Naomi, and they had two sons, the older named Mahlon end the younger, Chilion. At this particular time, there was a famine in the land of Israel, and Elimelech decided to move with his family to Moab, where conditions were more prosperous.

Shortly after the change of residence, Elimelech died. Later the two sons married. The older son’s wife’s name was Orpah, and the younger son’s wife was named Ruth. They lived contentedly together for about ten years, when the grim reaper again entered the family household, taking away the two young husbands.

Hearing that conditions were prosperous again in the land of Israel, Naomi decided to return there. She made known her determination to her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, both of whom decided to go with her.

The three started afoot on their long journey; for in those days there were no such things as railway trains, autos, or even a Ford. As they journeyed along, Naomi considered in her mind how much these two young women were giving up. She feared that, later on, they would regret having taken this course, when they would come into a land of strange people. Finally she presented the matter to them. ‘"Turn again, my daughters, go back to your people and your father’s house. It is too much for you to give up all hope of future prosperity in the land of Moab, just for my sake. I pray you, return."

Naomi loved Orpah and Ruth very dearly, and the two daughters-in-law loved her. But here is where the real test came: True love is willing to sacrifice. Orpah considered Naomi’s suggestion and came to the conclusion that it would be better to return. She loved Naomi, but she loved her father’s house and kindred more. And so the three lifted up their voices and wept; and Orpah, after kissing her motherin-law and Ruth, turned back to Moab.

Ruth, 011 the contrary, had true, tested love. She loved Naomi so much that she would not be separated from her at any cost. Listen to her words of devotion, some of the most beautiful in literature:

"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my,people, and thy God, my God; where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”—Ruth 1:11-18.

Finally the two reached Bethlehem; and the people of the little town inquired, “Is this not Naomi!” (For she had been gone over ten years.) Naomi replied, “Call me no more Naomi [meaning pleasant] but call me Mara [or Mary, which means bitter], for my experiences have been bitter indeed”.

Not long after, about harvest time, Ruth went out to earn a living for herself and her motherin-law. She went to the Held of Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi. Now Boaz was a iach man and very generous-hearted. As he passed through his fields each day, he would say to his reapers: “The Lord be with you”, and they would reply, “The Lord bless thee". How different from present-day conditions! Boaz noticed Ruth working in the field; and after learning who she was, and of her love for Naomi, he requested her to glean with the other maidens in his field.

As time went on Boaz was more and more attracted by her gracious character and her strong personality. Finally the two were married: and to them was born a son whose name was Obed. He was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. So Ruth became the great-grandmother of David, the man after God's own heart.

We believe that some of the conditionsthe land of Palestine in the days of Ruth and Boaz were like those that will obtain in the Golden Age, now dawning. Naomi and Ruth could journey all the way from Moab to Bethlehem, without fear of harm. So will it be in the Golden Age. “Nothing shall hurt nor destroy." Likewise Ruth could glean in the fields of Boaz, and have no fear of being harmed. There were no police in those days. . They were not needed. So likewise policemen will be unnecessary in the Golden Age. Nor will there be need of a standing army. “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”.—Isaiah 2:4. • ''

Boaz was quite a remarkable man. He had ' no labor troubles. His workers did not demand i an eight-hour day. There were no strikes; lock-p outs were unknown; nor was there overtime - work demanded; nor did Boaz belong to a trust. K: Wall Street was unknown then. And likewise, p in the Golden Age, people will be contented. There will be no strikes, no lockouts, no labor troubles then. “Every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree." (Micah 4:4) “They shall not labor in vain.” (Isaiah 65:21-23) The reason that people were all so contented then was because they worshiped the God of love. There were no'creeds, sects, or isms in-those days. And likewise in the Golden Aga men will worship the true God of love without creed-beclouded minds. “They shall serve him (God] with one consent”—Zephaniah 3 r 9; Isaiah 65:24; Micah 4:1-4.

Fam Bureaus Federation

GREAT federation of farmers all over the country is under way, the attempt being to

*' merge all farmers' organizations into one great . federation, as we comprehend the matter. The ' movement toward federation is alleged to have had its great stimulus in the inconsistent state-I meats issued by a great packing-house in Chi-, cago: first the statement, early in 1919, that t millions more of hogs would be needed; and sec-ij‘ ond the statement, six months later, that prices I' for hogs would be slashed to a point where there I could be no profit in raising them. It takes

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