Golden Age, October 25, 1922
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Oct 25,1922, Vol. IV, Na. 81
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Wou 4 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1022 NO. 81
CONTENTS of the GOLDEN AGE
LABOR AND ECONOMICS Frequent Idleness Inevitable ....................................-—....—..39
“Kerrie England” in 1922 ...........................—.........—
SOCIAL ANU EDUCATIONAL The March of Civilization ________
Why Enter a Pen? ...............-;....................—
MANUFACTURING AND MINING ffhe Modern Printing-Press .....................—......~
The Housing l*roblem .....................—.....................
FINANCE—-COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION She European Situation . ..
POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
Tax Levying by the Exec- The Force of Youth in utive ................... 45 Ireland .................
Let the Department of Ijikt, Spasms of a Dying Justice Investigate Ito Patient
Chief ...........................-.....47 A Freak Bill
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
Religions Hall of Fame ....54 The Philosophy of Resti
tution (Part II)
The Fall and the Penalty 57
Adamic SlDj Suffering and
Death .................. .......58
The Original Divine Purpose ,....
Has God‘s Plan been Frustrated? .........-
k Logical Conclusion
“The Earth Abidelh Forever”
The Ransom ...
The New Covenant ....
The Resurrection of the
Dead
Millions Now living Will
Never Die .,........_
“Now” (poem)
Studies in the “Harp of
God” ____________—..—....03
v ’lit
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by WOODWORTH, HEDGINGS and MARTIN CLAYTON J. WOODWORTH.......Editor
ROBERT J. MARTIN .... Business Man&|er WM. F, HUDGINGS......8ec'y and Traaa
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Volume IV
Golden Age
Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1922
Number 81
The March of Civilization By D. H. Copeland
IT WAS a dream. It was in the year of our Lord one thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two ; I was lying almost asleep in my room, looking none too clearly, it must be admitted, at the opposite wall, whim the prospect changed. I seemed to be standing by the side of a wide road—a road which stretched endlessly in either direction. It was worn by the feet of countless people, and in the immediate vicinity was deserted. When I looked behind me the prospect seemed vague and distorted. It was as though a mist swayed and danced, through ‘ which shadowy figures showed clearly for a moment, then became part of a confused kalei-- doscope that fdled the road from side to side as far as the eye could see.
f Apparently I could see much farther than Ordinarily would be the case. There seemed to be immense breaks in the view, as though whole sections of a picture had been removed, leaving One with a confused idea of the whole, but with no information about vital parts of it. There - was vast disproportion in many of the things that went to make up the picture, if picture it was. Many things that were really of little importance in emphasizing the pattern, or theme or “motif” of the picture, were relatively tremendous in comparison with other things vast-
A”xly more in need of emphasis. I turned from E contemplation of that part of the road with a feeling of uneasiness, as of something vast and terrifying hidden in the disquieting haze.
I looked in the other direction, and saw the road obscured by a mist of much greater den-i.t sity. Nebulous shapes writhed in the gloom; L, and close to where I stood hovered a dense black cloud, from which came a low hoarse rum-L bling and muttering. Behind the cloud the sun was shining; and occasionally a brilliant shaft t of light pierced the gloom, showing up for a py moment scenes so sharply defined that they L gave the impression of being painted on the cloud. These scenes were all of violence and disorder, yet there was nothing of definiteness to them. As ice disintegrates and dissolves under the warm sun, so these scenes changed form and shape.
Gradually there stole into my consciousness the fact of movement close at hand. Shadowy forms pressed close around me, marching in ranks down the road before me. They came from the direction of the dark cloud, passed the point where I stood, and went on into the haze beyond. A dim figure stood beside me. It was that of a tall man, hooded and cloaked, with his face hidden in a fold of his mantle. Somehow his presence felt comforting. I felt that here was one that perhaps could help me understand the peculiarities of the scene before me. As I looked he grew more distinct. Slowly he raised his head until I could see his face— calm, strong, with clear-cut features and piercing eyes. 1 looked into his eyes and felt strengthened and comforted. The sensation of fear subsided; I felt refreshed and confident. I asked the man who he was, and what was the place in which I stood. He answered in a voice low, clear and distinct:
“I am Truth* said he, “and we stand beside the road of life. Before us lies the future; behind us the past. The point where we stand is the present.”
“But what is this sound as of companies of people marching down the road?” I asked.
“That is the march of civilization,” he replied, “and the reason for your presence here is that yo i may learn something of the progress of man. As I stand beside you here, you will quickly pick up the true concept and meaning of what goes on around you. Look first into the past.”
I looked again into the hazy distances which had first greeted my eyes. This time my visioa seemed much clearer. A peculiar quality of refraction that had made many things disproportionate cleared away, and the relationships between the various parts of the picture grew harmonious. The gaps filled in; and the entire theme became less chaotic, more understandable.
Truth explained to me that what I saw were the events of history assuming their proper value with regard to man’s progress; and I was amazed to see how many great names, which before seemed to shine luminously in the great ensemble, became dull and tarnished, while some vanished completely, to be replaced by the names of humble ones of whom I knew not. Many events, also, that had apparently been epoch-making in their day became quite insignificant when compared with minor happenings which at the time had received no notice from those who record the history of earth’s great ones. I marveled much at this. Far in the distance appeared a small rounded hill, which seamed to lie to one side of the great road which wound around its base. Beyond the hill I did not seem to care to look; for something which was happening there arrested my attention.
Up its side wound a narrow path, rocky and besetwiththorns. Along the path toiled a figure that sent a thrill of pity through my heart. It was the figure of a Man, a Man bowed with grief, a Man crowned with thorns, a Man carrying a huge cross of wood upon His shoulder. Slowly He reached the crest of the hill. Shadowy forms darted upon Him. I heard the sound of hammers beating upon the heads of great spikes. The cross was erected, and the Man hung upon it. I heard the voice of the mob execrating the Man. The sound,passed me like the stir of wind over a cornfield, leaving a sense of utter desolation and loneliness.
The voice of Truth murmured in my ear: “The Man of Sorrows,” and I knew it was a picture of the Great Tragedy, the senseless people murdering the Just One who had come to save them.
My eyes traveled to and fro along the great road, and I saw that it was crowded with people. Fast they hurried along, swinging in endless procession past the place where I stood. I noticed, too, that near where I stood, a huge gate spanned the road, and in its brazen archway was carved the one word, “Death”!
Out of the past, through the present, into the portals of death—that was the March of Civili-
zation! And I thought of the later words o9 that pathetic figure hanging upon the cross,' *1 am he that liveth and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore.” He had passed through the portal of death, but had conquered death it- 'vl-self; and because He had overcome fhcre was ,’A' hope for the thousands that every year passed from the present into the past, through that dread gateway. .
“Turn your eyes now unto the present,” said . Truth; “for it is here you shall learn life’s greatest lesson, and see the victory of civiliza-tion. For thousands of years men have set their hearts on reaching ultimate perfection, be- ‘ lieving that man—-the greatest of the animals, ' ? endowed with a knowledge which increases eve-ry day, endowed with a wisdom and under- •_* standing today greater than that of any previ- ~ j ous age—is just about to solve the final mys- ‘ 'i teries of life and, supreme amongst all created • things, rise triumphant over destiny and fate. Come, look at the triumph of man!” '
I looked at the great wide road before me as it is today Before me passed the tremen-dous panorama of human progress. Countless thousands seemed to be rushing by, heedless of -• everything in their anxiety to reach that grim , portal of Death. And yet, as they approach it, f'B their faces assumed expressions of terror. They struggled madly against the phalanx that " ” inexorably pressed them on, into, and through the gate. Madly they screamed for help; they held out appealing hands to each other, emp-tied their pockets of gold and jewels in an „ endeavor to find some way of avoiding the dread gate; but to no avail. One by one they.were swept through, and their places instantly taken by others in the mad rush.
In the past the throng seemed to move slowly, but now they rushed with ever accelerating speed into the maw of Death.
As my vision cleared I noticed that there .J was some semblance of order in the movement. It seemed to be divided into groups or regi-merits, one might say, each regiment with its ij.
officers urging and goading the rank and file j
along the road. Even as I looked there stag- | i gered past me a ghastly throng with staring eyes and terror-haunted faces. Many bore gaping wounds, or had countenances twisted and wracked with pain. At their head a grim figure marched, carrying a banner on which
Ik
Was inscribed, “The Suicides of 1922,”; and I turned sick with horror as the awful ranks swept by. Thousand of suicides, and numbered amongst them, hundreds of children! Think of it—that our search for happiness and ultimate perfection should reap, as one small part of its dreadful harvest, a crop such as this!
Behind came a huge army numbering millions, the “Army of Drug Addicts.” Capering, gesticulating, laughing madly, many with the fixed grin of insanity, some wildly joyous, some rushing ahead to join the ranks of the suicides, they swept by in numbers that made my head reel. There seemed no end to their multitude; and when I thought that the end had surely been reached, thousands more of new recruits "were swept into their ranks by a swarm of hangers-on and petty officers that hung around the flanks of the marching host. I noticed that there seemed to be thousands of these creatures continually goading and exciting them along the way. Many bore the appearance of respectable physicians; many were apparently of the higher strata of society, whilst vast numbers were of the commoner sort; but all were actuated by the same insane desire to add more and more to their army. What a travesty on civilization that one of its products should be such a horrible array!
Next, in my dream I saw the shattered “Army of Accidents.” Maimed, blinded, with twisted, broken limbs, rushed onward this “Army of Accidents of 1922.” I saw them plainly and the manner of their deaths. Thousands had been killed by railroad trains, thousands more by automobiles. Mines, quarries, factories—all had taken their toll. This army numbered hundreds of thousands, hurled unexpectedly into the grave by the mad onrush of
■A civilization.
R Next came the “Army of Tortured Children”
I' —the maimed, dwarfed and stunted forms of
those of tender years forced to work long hours under unsanitary conditions in the factories of the rich; the poor, wasted bodies of the little
B ones who lack proper food and pleasant sur-p roundings, fresh air and sunshine; the thou-
l' Bands born into the world mentally ruined and
physically unsound as a result of the beastly lust and degrading practices of their progen-j itors; afflicted before birth with unmentionable in diseases which our civilization condones and
L xb tolerates! What a valuable acquisition to the so-called human race is a civilization that permits such things to continue!
Again the scene changed. There came an army of women, the fallen women of our streets, the victims of the lusts and unclean desires of a rotten manhood. By thousands they swept by, to the accompaniment of blasts of discordant jazz music, shrieks of simulated merriment, and the groans of tortured spirits. Many broke from the ranks and rushed rapidly ahead to join the army of drug addicts or the thousands of suicides, so as to be thus much the sooner through the great gateway. And who can blame them for seeking such surcease from so damnable an existence? '
Around the flanks of this vast multitude hung groups of men with lustful eyes; men with sensual mouths. Many clutched cowering girls of tender years whom they dragged and pushed into the ranks by thousands as they passed. Surely God takes particular notice of a civilization which encourages such crimes and outrages; and be assured that He has adequate vengeance planned to recompense the evil of it!
Again a huge band of men pressed down the road; hard-faced men; men with shifty eyes; men who cursed God, and reviled the Savior who had died for them; men who planned craftily and schemed how to defraud their neighbor or how by violence to acquire his goods or his prestige.
The gunman, the yeggman, the confidence man, the crooked lawyer, the dishonest judge, the ward politician—all were there. “Birds of a feather flock together.” By thousands they slouched along, watching each other with wary glances, distrusting the intentions of their nearest neighbor; for in the “Army of Crooks of 1922” honor is a thing of the past!
There came a pause, and I heard the measured tread of another huge host. First came the blare of trumpets and the stirring music of military bands. Behind, with solemn mien and sanctimonious countenance, came the ranks of the “Super-Holy,” the bogus representatives of the Prince of Peace. I noticed that as they marched one hand was held before the eyes so that they would not be disturbed in their pious meditations by the sight of the millions in hopeless misery who preceded them down the road. The other arm was held out from the side, with the cupped hand palm up. They carried a motto, “Give, Give.”
Truly it was an array charming to the eye, clad in glittering vestments resplendent wuth gold and jewels, which flashed in the light of thousands of candles carried in their ranks. At the head of their group was borne conspicuously a large Book, called the Bible. It was heavily barred, locked, sealed, and swathed in gay wrappings. Upon the Bible was seated a life-size figure of an ape, cast in solid gold and richly jewelled. At intervals the group chanted words which were unintelligible to me, but which Truth explained were in honor of the great ape which sat on the Bible, before which they continually made obeisance. I asked him why the ape was so venerated; and Truth replied that it was their common ancestor, or so they believed, and that they had placed it on the Bible so as to give it an air of sanctity. The idea seemingly was to cover up a system of ape worship with the cloak of Christianity, so as not to offend the more delicate consciences of some of the people by being too openly heathen.
At the end of this section of the procession marched a group of three people, called Potentates. One, who by his vestments was high in authority in the ranks of the super-holy, carried a number of masks, or false faces, which he put on at intervals as they talked together, so that it was very difficult actually to know what he really did look like. The second was gaily bedizened in a uniform of rich colors; and across his bosom stretched a string of medals, while at his side hung a great sword. The third wore black clothes of a sober cut, and was of a very hypocritical cast of countenance while in his right hand he carried a small cage containing a figure which Truth told me represented the common people.
Occasionally the one carrying the cage would gaze earnestly into it, talking sweetly the while, and dropping small bird-seeds to the figure inside. Quite often, however, he would insert his thumb and forefinger between the bars and seizing the figure, would violently squeeze it, despite its pitiful cries and groans. After each of these pinchings the poor creature would dash madly around inside the cage until, the cage being set down on the ground and the procession halted, the three potentates would gather around and in turn address the manikin.
First he who squeezed it would mouth many phrases replete with promises of wonderful
things that were about to come to pass. If this did not have the desired quieting effect, the super-holy potentate would gaze into the cage, after first donning a mask suitable to the occasion, and would mutter incantations, at the same time throwing dust into the eyes of the- -h imprisoned creature. Should this not prove effective, the third figure would draw the great j|^j| sword and utter terrible threats, while the other two searched diligently through certain documents that they carried for this purpose— " 111 the one through the book of the law, and the other through the Word of God (which seenp " ingly was invoked only on such occasions), for statements written by men of old to support and justify the threats of the swordbearer; and , anything which was not found to be justifiable -’'■JS by those two books was speedily made so by writing into the books statements which could be so interpreted.
I was greatly interested by these things* because this was what Truth told me was the crowning glory of civilization; and truly it was a wondrous spectacle!
Behind this group of three came the multitude whose measured tramping I had heard. Regiment by regiment they passed before me* the “Trained Killers of Men”. Million upon million they strode along, each man with slaughter weapons in his hand and, swinging at his belt, a large bottle. I observed that every little while the men took a drink from the bottle, and that after the drink looks of doubt and suspicion would clear from their faces, and they would step out at a much livelier pace than before.
I asked Truth what the bottle contained; and he told me that it was a mixture of false religion which acted as a conscience opiate, a concoction of degenerate public sentiment which aroused evil passions, and a misconceived par triotism which made homicide justifiable. It seemed to be days before this vast army had passed on its way to the gate of Death; but I noticed something rather peculiar in the demeanor of the last ranks that passed me. Scores of them seemed to be pouring the contents o£ their bottles upon the ground and casting away their weapons. The ranks were broken, and the men did not keep in line so well. Many sat down by the roadside in groups and talked passionately amongst themselves, pointing angrily first to the bottles, and then to the three
’■M
The Golden Age
OCMHMB 23, 1923
fe'-. • ' .
L’ potentates marching unconsciously at the head of the army.
JgL It was from these groups that the mutterings and growlings had emanated which had seemed to come from the dark cloud. I pondered what B ' might be the meaning thereof. Even as I wondered, Truth took me by the arm and pointed
If
right into the blackest part of the cloud. A ray of brilliant light shot through it from the effulgence behind; and in blazing letters of fire ? the words appeared, “Behold, I come quickly.” And my heart quickly responded: “Even so, ! come, Lord Jesus.”
' Again the scene faded, the sounds of March-'■ ing feet grew fainter and fainter. The groans and sighs of tortured souls, products of our wonderful civilization, died away; and a great peace fell upon my spirit, whilst through my ' _ mind rang the clarion notes of God’s Word: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; - and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the
» former things are passed away.”
“When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads: for your redemption draweth nigh.”
1 I turned my eyes again to the hill in the
1 distances of the past. Again I saw the cross ' of sacrifice, and its pitiful burden. Even as I • looked, a shaft' of light struck full upon it; it
1 quivered and dissolved, and in its place stood
J a gleaming fifrnro with outstretched arms, gazing earnestly down the road of life to where I stood. The glorious figure moved swiftly along toward me, passed me, and on into the dark cloud of the future; and as He passed I heard the sound of heavenly music. The words of the song were sweet and comforting; for they told of the victory of the Lamb who had overcome the world, and who would soon bring peace to a weary earth. “For nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all my holy kingdom, saith the Lord.”
I turned to my guide; and he, too, pointed toward the future. Swiftly he moved toward it; and as he left me he spoke for the last time: “Soon I shall return. Out of these dark clouds shall come Truth, and with him will come the conquering Lamb, and this great road shall be purged of its sorrowing bands; its gate of Death shall be torn down; and joy and happiness shall be found thereon, for ever and ever.” • • •
Perhaps it was all a dream; it may have been nothing but imagination. I think, however, that if we honestly face the facts of the case as we know them, we shall see that our modern civilization is at best a rotten thing, and that this poor sad world needs reconstruction very badly. Thank God that it is “even at the door,” and that soon He will replace this colossal failure with something which will bring true peace and prosperity to everyone who is prepared to cooperate with His righteous law. May it indeed be soon!
f Frequent Idleness Inevitable By j. a. Edmonds
IT HAS been repeatedly proven that if all the working people and all present-day machinery worked three hours a day for three hundred days in a year they would produce fill the necessary goods for the comfort of the hti-man family; and that live hours a day would produce all their requirements, including the ^- luxuries, which latter appear to be fast approaching one-half of the whole outfit.
This being a fact, what are the working peo-pie to do during the remainder of the time? There is but one answer and that is: They must be in idleness, enforced idleness. Now it is very evident that as long as big business continues to appropriate all the advantages derived from invention and labor-saving machinery, and as long as a large majority of the working people spend all their earnings as they go when they do earn good wages, things will never be any better.
The writer has never been a spendthrift, but a victim of what the world calls hard luck, including much enforced idleness due to the above cause; and he ventures to say that any man in his line of employment who undertakes to live a strictly honest and honorable life, devotedly striving to serve the Lord and to observe the Golden Rule in the full and complete sense of the word will find himself up against difficulties at every turn.
“Merrie England” in 1922
IN FEW parts of the world are there as many public welfare plans in operation to help relieve the suffering of the poor as in England. Through the determined efforts of the British Labor Party for decades past, pensions were arranged for the old, cheap insurance for the injured, and doles for the out-of-works. If the management of things were in the hands of working people, these schemes for human betterment would make for the good of all concerned; but the British Government, being no exception to the rule, is run by the rich for their own benefit, and aims to do just enough for the poor as will keep them from open revolt.
The doles, or weekly allowances paid to the unemployed, are handed out under the supervision of wealthy magnates or their representatives ; but on one of the London Poor Boards is a man of the people, George Lansbury. Every British institution or department of any importance must of necessity be headed by some person of title, to give it the proper distinction; and at the head of the system of doles is a member of the “nobility.” Mr. Lansbury has seen at first-hand the operation of the doles, and he writes about it in the London Daily Herald:
“Sir Alfred Mond and his band of well-paid officials are getting on very nicely with the task of driving the working class deeper and deeper into the pit of destitution.
“The unemployed, the widows and orphans, the aged, the sick, and the infirm are going to have hell during the next few years if this Minister has his way. In an almost imperceptible manner his department is slowly but surely breaking down all the good work which Labor has done during the past thirty years.
“It is no longer a question of a humane administration of the Poor Laws. In scores of places what small vestiges of humanity existed have been swept away. In others, the Minister of Health is using all his powers to smother and completely destroy any small privileges the poor enjoyed.
“In Newcastle, after persistent badgering, the Guardians have decided that twenty shillings ($4.48) a week is enough for a man, wife, and family to starve on; and this iniquitous scale will soon operate wherever outdoor relief is being given, unless organized Labor wakes up and says it shall not be done.
“In the most barefaced, brazen manner Mond and his officials have repudiated all the talk about looking after heroes. He now declares that the nation, which provides fortunes for millionaires who can spend money like water on all kinds of ostentatious pomp and show, cannot afford to maintain the men who fought and bled for it. It is pitiable to read letters which come
40 to me as Guardian of the Poor and editor of this pajMBr^S* Some are from men struggling with poverty, one or tw4 of whom have been in prison because of petty erinM*^ committed under the stress of hunger and privation.
“He may say he is acting on the advice of his expert advisers. Perhaps he is; but that is no excuse. Be knows, as I know, that neither of us could exist'for 4 week on the miserable pittance upon which he is doom* ing many thousands of as good men and better than himself to exist. As for women and children, neither Lady Mond nor any of his family could live a day ’ X' under the conditions that he is prescribing for other! of the same flesh and blood as himself.
“If Mond succeeds in his policy, the working clasi will suffer in the mass as they have not suffered sinoe - ’ 1834. It is a piteous kind of outlook, and one I cannot think of without the most direful foreboding.
“I dare say it is true that few will die of starvation, but thousands will die from the effects of starvation, , Babies will die more readily and in larger numbers be- •• cause Sir A. Mond has cut down the provision of milk and other necessities of life for babies and nursing _ mothers. All the schemes for assisting these victim! of modern society have been cut down to the vanishing point. . '
“Many of those who survive will do so only to become the C3 [subnormal, inefficient, unemployables, morons] population of the future, not C3 merely as regards physical health, but C3 in the mental sense also. AU the, rubbish talked about unfit children is beside the mark. Children born and bred under decent healthy conditions and surroundings do not usual!}' grow up unfit. I am ' ’ no believer in the doctrine that it is the poor who ere- > ate poverty because of the superabundance of their chil- .5 dren, or that the poor are responsible for the mentally 5 deficients to be found in their midst. All these evils ■■■■3 are the price which society pays for the lack of individual and social consciousness of our duty toward each other.
“In future times those who come after us will wonder what sort of people we were who could allow conditions a to continue which must, as sure as night follows day, 1 result in the social evils which we all so much deplore. f They will wonder most of all that in this year of peaces si
1922, nearly four years after the end of a great war, )
we allowed such a person as Sir Alfred Mond to be at the head of a Department of State said to be devotecl -to the preservation of health and life; for history will ' record the fact that his administration of affairs made for death, not life, for the spread of sickness and dieease, and not for the spread of good health. .
“Therefore let us each see to it that, so far from 9
allowing Mond to have his way, we will join together f
in a determined struggle to get rid of the Government of which he is a part, and in the meantime, use every , bit of local power and authority we possess to find peo-pie the assistance they need in time of trouble. But s i ■
first, last, and best of all, let each man and woman resolve that, come what may, they will not rest until poverty and all the crimes which poverty makes possible, are a thing of the past. Life will be sweeter and happier for us all. once we know that our happiness in this world is not accompanied by the misery and degradation of any one of our fellow men or women.”
Editor Lansbury is a brave man, as proved by his voluntarily enduring some wretched prison life for the good of the poor in his district of London. That he is one of earth’s nobility none can doubt who read such words as these. And that the things he seeks for the benefit of all are about to be realized no careful student ol Biblical prophecy can fail to see. And that such men as he will soon find the widest scopfl for their beneficent aims in a better order ol things in England, no reader of The Golden Age can but believe. For the kingdom of God, after a brief period of trouble, the culmination of conditions since 1914, is about to come in answer to the prayer which Mr. Lansbury himself doubtless has often repeated, “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”
Why Enter a Pen ?
Mb. Editor:
I love to dream and retrospect, When there’s nothing else to do, And—
but since you probably prefer prose, I will state my business promptly, which is that I am writing for myself as well possibly as for hundreds of your readers who are young fellows like myself. I have
never attended a college, But have tried to learn something each day, Knowledge thusly acquired does not make me get tired,
And I think it’s the most modern way. For the world’s moving forward so swiftly, That things yesteryear which seemed true, Are brightened in lustre so quickly, The light fairly dazzles my view.
Excuse me again; I will just drift into rhyme,
And I’m sure it’s high time, To say what I want, But it seems that I want—
But, laying good English aside, in true American style I must say I surely do get my money’s worth from reading your Fact, Hope and Conviction Journal. For these nice words about your publication, though true, can you spend some of your valuable time to answer something for the benefit of many fellows? These are good reg’lar fellows, who are being invited, coaxed, enticed and cajoled into “joining” at least one of the various modern social clubs masquerading as churches or sects for religious instruction, which to my observation j simply means, “Sign on the dotted line your ' donation for This, That, and Thus, Far, Near,
By Leslie Wright
Co, and O Missions; and we will then declare you a 'regular’ member [whatever that means]; you can believe what you please, need not bother to study your Bible, and when you come to die we will give you a passport to heaven.”
Do you think—with all seriousness—that St. Peter, or whoever guards the pearly gates, will honor the O. K. of these Reverends? Anyway, I don’t think that I would like to go to heaven if it is to be filled with ministers (and of course I reckon they will all be there, since they assume a monoply on the place); for I might get to walking backwards from seeing their collars that way. I don’t think I would like to go to hell either, if it as hot as the D. D.’s say it is; and they must know, or they would hardly tell of the horrible place and scare some people so.
These United States seem pretty good to me; and if the hypocrites, profiteers, unhappy and unhealthy people, jails, asylums, fertilizer factories and crowded subways were changed to their opposites, and if men could work for work’s sake and for their ideals, not as slaves but free, it would be fine to live here for ever.
I can experience the joy of being a man today, with blessings not known of in bygone days; I am the age considered “legal” from the standard of the only nation to date that God ever called His “peculiar treasure.”
I can experience the joy of possessing a phys-cal make-up that knows little pain, due to favorable traits of heredity and proper training in childhood.
I can experience the joy of commercial activity, being engaged as an office clerk and viewing the intricacies of one of the greatest business propositions in the world. I know the reward of patience when difficult tasks present themselves. I know the satisfaction of doing the proper thing at the opportune time. I know the inner happiness of standing for the rmht when right fails, temporarily, to carry the point at issue.
I can experience the joy of recording human speech as fast as it is spoken; which brings varied subjects to my attention in the best of phrase.
I can experience the joy of placing words on paper with my nimble fingers by a typewriter at a speed of over a word a second. I can experience the joy of producing music, creating such a combination of vibrations upon my violin that will cause the index of my hearers’ sentient beings or souls, viz., the countenance, to register at my will bravado, fear, mirth or sadness, or other emotions.
I can look with some degree of familiarity upon the starry heavens at night and recognize by name the various suns as in their accurate procession they exhibit their radiance to this and other planets and mark time for us so minutely.
I can experience the joys of philanthropy and helpfulness, it not being necessary to use all my money or strength to care for my own self.
I arise by music of a victrola instead of an alarm clock; 1 can go to sleep likewise, or listening to an opera, produced miles away, by means of my radio set.
I try to practise1 the Golden Rule throughout^ tin* day. This endeavor begets many smiles and kind deeds, of which I get a goodly share in return, lint 1 do not do any favor for return; therefore I never suffer disappointment.
1 am not at all ostracised by the Fair Sex.
In view of the above, which only partially covers the joys of living a clean life at the present time, pray, why under the sun should I join a “church ?” And if your advice is “Yes,” which shall it be — “heathen” or “Christian”? The “heathen” start a celebration and might eat each other; but the “Christians” start a war and murder each other!
The Modern Printing-Press By w. w. Kessler
EVER since his creation, man has sought to make records of his activities for the benefit of succeeding generations; first upon stone, and later upon skins and parchments. Contrast the laborious efforts of scribes to reproduce a volume with the manner in which books are produced today. Contrast the process employed by Gutenberg with the first printingpress, which resembled a wine-press, with that of today.
Improvement in the printing-press was very slow from its invention in the fifteenth century until about 1825, when Frederick Koenig, a German machinist residing in London, invented a workable cylinder machine. This was a great step forward from the wine-press method, but much improvement could still be made. The feeder in placing a sheet of paper for printing had no guides, but must judge the correct position with his eye. A helper was required to pull the sheet from the type form below. Later, by means of grippers which held the sheet to the cylinder until the impression was taken, more speed was attained. Still later, some one conceived the idea that stripper fingers close to the cylinder would deliver the printed sheet after the impression was made. Thus, step by step, came what is known today as a two-revolution-cylinder press; the first revolution being the impression revolution, the second the delivery revolution. During the delivery revolution the type form and ink table return to the fountain for ink, while the cylinder delivers the printed sheet. This type of press is used in book work where good, clear printing is required on fine paper.
Agility is required on the part of the feeder to keep the sheets coming down at regular intervals. Recently a machine has been perfected to relieve the feeder of this tedious task. It is known as the “automatic suction feeder.” The paper lias only to be placed at the front of the machine in a straight pile. The machine lifts tin1 pile as it feeds the paper in. The sheets are combed taut at the two rear corners by means of marble like stones encased in a bearing container. At the same time that the i combing is being done, air is forced between I
the sheets from the sides of the pile to separate them. This operation continues until the suction mouth is caused to come down on the sheet and lifts one sheet, holding it about two inches above the pile. Instantly another air-pipe, but this time a blower, is moved forward and down, finding its place directly under the raised sheet on top of the pile. It is so timed that immediately it finds its place where it holds the sheet on the top of the pile at the same time sending a stream of air under the raised sheet, forming thus a cushion of air. The sheet thus held is not given time to settle down again and feel at home on that pile, but is ready for its journey through the press. Three forwarding suction mouths now gently pick up the front of the sheet and advance it to the tapes which move it downward to the cylinder.
It may be interesting to know that, apparently, this wonderful machine has “brains.” Should two sheets start forward the machine finds it out by means of calipers located along the forwarding tapes. By means of cam and rods the air and power are shut off, automatically stopping the press. If no sheet is delivered, the same result obtains. Again, a sheet failing to come straight will produce the same effect. The perfect sheet travels down until it strikes the drop-guides above the cylinder. To insure the proper position sidewise for printing, a roller device draws it over against the side-guide. The grippers then carry the sheet over the cylinder down to the type for the impression. The impression completed, the cylinder brings the sheet around; the grippers release it, while tiny shoo-fly fingers raise it up on the stripper fingers, which strip it from the cylinder and guide it forward to the tapes. The tapes in turn carry it to the end of the machine, where it is piled and jogged straight. As the sheets continue to be delivered, the pile thus formed is lowered automatically on a platform to the floor. As the sheets are being delivered they pass over a gas flame which removes the static electricity, allowing the sheets to pile evenly. The same process is repeated when the sheet is printed on the reverse side. They are now ready for the folding machine and the book bindery.
Sir Rowland Hill, as early as 1835, had suggested the possibilities of a press which should print both sides at once from a roll of paper. In England, the idea had long been made practical use of in the printing of cotton cloth from engraved cylinders. It remained for Richard M. Hoe, of New York, in 1846 to carry out the idea by perfecting his invention for holding type on a revolving cylinder. This laid the foundation for modern newspaper and magazine rotary web presses. Invention added to invention has given us the web perfecting rotary press. From large rolls of paper, this machine prints both sides of the sheet as it passes through, gathering, folding, and stitching the magazine.
The double octuple is the largest press, composed of two separate and complete machines, each fed with four, four-page-wide rolls of paper, the gathering and folding apparatus being located in the center of the machine. Each half of the double octuple has nine pairs of cylinders, arranged with their axles parallel, in four tiers of two pairs each, with an additional pair in the lower tier. It prints both sides of four webs of paper at once. The full capacity of a double octuple, when printing all black, is three hundred thousand four-page, six-page and eightpage newspapers, or one hundred fifty thousand ten-page to sixteen-page papers per hour. Eighteen-page and twenty-page papers are turned out at the rate of 112,500 per hour; twenty-page to thirty-two-page papers at the rate of 75,000 per hour. The double octuple under discussion is forty-eight feet long and nineteen and a half feet high, and is composed of 65,000 parts. The weight is 350,000 pounds. It uses eighteen tons of paper per hour, while its cylinders at normal speed make 300 revolutions per minute.
A large New York newspaper recently added to their plant the invention of a Chicago man which makes possible a continuous run of the presses without the necessity of stopping to paste the end of one roll of paper to the next one. The speed is slackened only when the flying splice is being made.
PYw realize the importance of the printing industry. In the United States at present, printing ranks sixth among the important industries with an invested capital of $1,191, 505, 247 and affording employment to over 287,278 persons, to whom is paid annually in wages the sum of $331, 519,423. The number of printing and publishing establishments is 32,476. The cost of materials used is $571,510,277. The value of the finished products is $1,699,789,229.
■ •
The value added by manufacture is $1,128,278, 952.
An infidel a short time ago asked why, if God is in charge of affairs, did He allow the devil to use the printing-press to propagate his lies? Why allow the great interests who control everything to control also the press and use it to lull an unsuspecting public to sleep by keeping from them the facts? My brother, every-
thing thus far has been used for evil; but the ? y evidence is clear that the Lord is using these same inventions to enlighten the people as never before. >
The Golden Age, thank God! is helping to
enlighten many people. Others still will join! 1 Soon every secret thing will be uncovered!
The printing press is only one of the evidences
that we are in the day of preparation for the
Golden Age.
The Housing Problem zty John BuclJey
THAT part of the American public that are making the conditions in the country today are optimists; and to them, prosperity is in sight. They decry anarchy and bolshevism; yet they are actively engaged in creating conditions that can produce nothing else.
From a statement in a daily paper of twenty years ago, we learned that there were 40,000 vacant tenements in the city of Berlin, which in part accounts for the fact that German labor at the time was worth but fifty cents a day. In the large cities of America today, there are scarcely a dozen vacant houses. The real estate agencies get none of the renting business now, and it is no use to go to them for tenements or houses to hire. There are no rental cards in the windows, as formerly; and if you want a place, you must trust to friends or look in the daily papers.
Everybody is boosting rents; and when you read of a place to rent, you will know that the rent has been raised to a point that a tenant cannot pay, and that he has been ordered to move. In my neighborhood, a house has just been completed which before the war would have cost $7,000, but which cost $16,000 to build. For the two lower flats, the owner is asking $65 each; and for four attic rooms $45 each. A nearby tenement formerly rented for $18. They are now asking $45 for it. Another place has a rental of $40; the roof leaks, some of the ceilings are down, and there is water in the cellar.
Everybody is grabbing while the grabbing is good, and their own welfare comes before any thought of others. The cost of shelter more than offsets the reduced cost of living, and even that is again advancing.
In Boston Harbor recently two ShippingBoard vessels were burned to get the old metal which the hulls contained. The vessels contain- -ed hundreds of cords of wood; and while thousands who are out of work would have been glad for a chance to separate the wood and the iron, if they were given the w’ood, they were • not given a chance. Many will suffer for lack ' of heat, and some will die for the lack, before *
spring; yet nobody cares very much as long as :
the suffering is not in their own families; and -the general public will be guilty for their • deaths, by a criminal carelessness. ■'
Winter is coming, with a coal shortage, housing shortage, unemployment, and a general -reign of profiteering. The money looks good; and nobody will let go until the bubble bursts. J But when red ruin sweeps away the accumulation of years, these people will wonder why 5
God afflicts them so, and will lay the blame on
an unthinking rabble. Insurance does not cover
loss by riot or warfare; and in their blind
avarice they are planting a mine for their own
destruction.
The class of houses that are in building is by 1 far too costly for workingmen’s homes; and no 1 workingman can afford either to rent or to buy 1 them. Everybody realizes that the price must come down; and in a few years it will do so.
But when a man buys a house today, he must J pay sufficient in hard cash to cover any possible shrinkage. If prices decline, he will be the only loser. The banker takes no chances.
“A little while, the ills that now o’erwhelm men Shall to the memories of the past belong;
A little while, the love that once redeemed them Shall change their weeping into grateful song.
°A little while! ’Tie ever drawing nearer— The brighter dawning of that glorious day.
Praise God, the light is hourly growing dearer. Shining more and more unto the perfect day.*
Tax Levying by the Executive
AMONG the powers of Congress stipulated by the Constitution is the following: “The Congress shall have power: 1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises....” Nowhere does the venerable basic law suggest that the laying of duties, imposts and excises shall be done by the executive branch of the government.
Yet the Sixty-seventh Congress has reposed in the hands of the President the power to raise and lower duties; in other words, to make such changes in taxation as he pleases. It is much the same power as might be arranged for by allowing the President to change at will the income tax, or any other of the federal schemes, such as the tax on soda water, automobiles, cigars, perfumes, mo vie tickets and bank checks, for screwing enough money out of the people to help pay the cost of the recent Wall-Street war.
When something unconstitutional is to be put over, a good excuse (alias, a reason) is placed in the foreground for the common people to look at, while the politicians do the real business behind the shrubbery. In this case a “flexible tariff” was “urged as an essential means of meeting fluctuating world trade conditions.” Other suitable “reasons” were advanced, as popular attention might wander from the foreground and try to peer into the things forbidden.
The President, of course, was pleased with any small addition to the executive power and wrote to Senator McCumber:
“How deeply I am interested in the provision for flexibility in the tariff bill. ... It has seemed to me that the varying conditions in the world and the unusual conditions following the World War make it extremely essential that we have this means of adapting our tariffs to meet the new conditions. . . . Congress in providing for flexibility must bestow some exceptional powers upon the President. . .
It is well known to the informed that a tariff law is not a public-spirited method for securing proper protection for home industries, as the people are made to believe; but that it is a scheme used by big business to obtain exceptionally favorable conditions for certain industries and worse ones for others. The businesses for which a protective tariff is made by the subservient politicians are those in which big business has much money invested. The goods disfavored with a low tariff are, wherever possi< ble, those made by parties whom big businesj wishes to put out of business. Politicians nevei say what they intend to do, nor tell what they are really up to, but always something else that will appear well to the common people—thfl voters. Then while the populace is gazing mentally at the seemingly good work being done, they have their pockets picked by the political tools of Wall Street.
This is the regular tariff scheme; and when in the formative stage, as when the tariff law was being framed, it produced unwonted activity in the lobbies at Washington, which represent big business and tell the politicians what to do. Never was there such a good chance —except during the war—for laying the legal foundation for an immense theft from the common people, as when the recent tariff bill was being worked over into a law.
An ordinary tariff, with its provisions favorable to the favored, is an exceptionally good money-getting means, but it is nothing beside the new kind of tariff. Under a flexible tariff, when the tack industry, for example, needs more money and is unable to get it through the usual trade methods, the lobbyists representing tacks can explain to the executive branch of the government the danger of ruinar tion to the tack industry from foreign competition. The President thereupon exercises some of the “exceptional powers” and proclaims a raise in the duties on imported tacks. Or if there is a new company in the pin business with a non-Wall-Street personnel, the pin lobby proves to the President that the pin industry abroad is operating at such high cost as to warrant a much lower duty on pins. Some more “exceptional power” is drawn on; the tariff on pins is lowered; and the disfavored crowd are forced to the wall, so that they have to go out of business or sell out to the pin trust. Then foreign competition in pins becomes acute, and up goes the duty on pins — this time permanently. The possibilities for profit in a flexible tariff are not only endless, but the best yet— for big business. Now, nothing is certain for the business man not in some “well-recognized” trust.
The President was appreciative of his new powers, but the men in Congress that actually cared a little for the common people were not 45
bo well pleased, said:
Senator Walsh from Montana
“The pending proposition would be an abandonment of the functions of Congress into the hands of the Executive. . . . Perhaps Congress had better take the advice given, delegate the taxing powers to the President, and go home. . . . Within fifty percent limitation the President under this proposition will be vested with the power to change the tax laws of the country. . . . Outside of the shameful confession made by Congress in surrendering its power, this is very dangerous to the American people to put in the hands of. the Executive this great power of taxation. . . . When you confer on the President the power to levy taxes in secrecy and behind closed doors, as you do in this instance, you put in his hand a tremendous power that may be used for the political advantage of himself or his party, or both. This power not only can be used to make, but it can be used to destroy. Are you going to organize a machine that will wrest the control of elections from the people until it becomes so great that a revolution will be necessary to tear it down?”
Senator Reed, a friend of the people, said:
“For hundreds of years, under our Anglo-Saxon form of government, the power to levy taxes and to create revenues has been the great lever employed by the friends of free government to preserve the rights of the people. The action of this body is the reversal of all the traditions and of all the principles of the British and American Governments with reference to the raising of revenues. It is an invasion of the greatest right reserved to the people for their protection. We are breaking down the greatest safeguard there is in our Government. We are traitorously assassinating the
great principle which has been ingrained in Anglo-Saxon government and liberty. I say traitorously doing :• it; for the man or the body that, by subterfuge and a technicality, will defeat or undermine a great principle of government is guilty of a traitorous-and-Wfaiaed mous act. . ,
“The most dangerous man in public life is not he who ■ . boldly defies the Constitution; he is not the man who ■ i on a soapbox inveighs against human government or • harangues the mob under the red flag. But when men . sit in a great legislative body and professing friendship , r for the Constitution, yet devise a means by which they can technically avoid it if possible, and can accomplish the overthrow of its principle by a sttibtcrfugc, those are the enemies to be feared. That kind of statesman is a , real enemy to his country.”
If a politician is chosen by the rich and associates with the wealthy, it would be unreasonable to expect him not to favor that class. However estimable he may be in character, however blameless in record, he cannot, but unconsciously side with his friends. It is common report throughout the state of Ohio that five months before the Republican Presidential nominating Convention the officials of a certain great oil group met in an Ohio city and decided that the man to be actually nominated for the Presidency should be the one who was after-wro'd elected President.
The European Situation (Ify a high official in one of New York’s largest banks)
I HAVE received the following from one of my personal correspondents in England, which I send to you for your general information:
“You ask me about political and economic conditions in Europe. It seems to me that the economic question has overshadowed the political considerations, as most of the European Continental Governments are pretty near bankruptcy’ and are struggling against the inevitable necessity of wiping out the greater part of their bad debts, as well as confessing frankly their inability to pay what they owe.
“In business circles any ray of light in the prevailing darkness is welcomed as a sign that we have reached the bottom. I am afraid, however, that the bottom has fallen out of Europe altogether.
“The European workman and agriculturist has from inherited tradition been a hard-working and saving individual. and has slowly created the capital that has been instrumental in developing the New World to what it is today. This fountain of capital is now completely dried up. In five years of madness the savings: of a century have disappeared in smoke; and when the European workman finds that owing to the absence of a stable currency it is useless to economize and save; the very foundations of social peace will be destroyed.
“This is the reason for the general feeling of insecurity and depression that hangs like a leaden cloud over the people of Europe. It is gaining weight in France and Italy; and here in England the condition of labor and commerce is such that they cannot possibly go on paying the enormous taxes much longer. Over £<■>0 millions of taxes were in arrears on last year’s taxes, and more still will be unpaid this year. The picture is not a pleasant one to paint, but I believe you have already seen it the same as I do.”
It may be that my correspondent takes too pessimistic a view of the situation. At any rate, it is the expression of an intelligent man who is on the spot and in a position to get a good view of conditions.
Let the Department of Justice Investigate its Chief
By John A. Van Valzah, Ph. D.
THE Dispatch-Herald of this city has sent me a letter begging for French orphans. I, as has every other sympathetic American, have been begged deaf, dumb and blind. For whom? The following answer in a measure explains. I think it of sufficient interest to publish, but know of no other paper than yours that dares to tell the truth.
The begging sheet is headed: National Good Will Elections, conducted by American Committee for Devastated France, etc., 16 E. 39th St., New York. My reply was as follows:
Good-Will Committee:
Good friends and fellow citizens: Has it ever occurred to you that America is being robbed by the most consummate set of ‘Highbinders’ that ever put anything across an en-> lightened, civilized nation, and that nation with a heart as big as the largest planet?
Has it ever occurred to you that today the press is subsidized by the same interests that put the world into the recent holocaust, bond-enslaved its inhabitants for interminable centuries to come, passed the most iniquitous law (espionage) ever tolerated by a free people, conceal the truth from the public today, distort news, defeat and withhold facts, but allow lies to remain?
The Congressional Record of May 26, 1921, page 1818, reads as follows:
“In March, 1915, the J. P. Morgan interests, the steel, ship-building and powder interests, and other subsidiary organizations got together twelve men high up in the newspaper world, and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and a sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press of the United States.”
Who Got America into the War ?
FROM the same Record, page 1819, we quote . the following:
“M. Gabriel Hanoteaux, formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of France in his ‘Histoire de la Guerre,’ 1914, book No. 107, page 54, states in effect that France was ready to make peace in the latter part of the year 1914, but was dissuaded from doing so by three Americans: namely, Robert Bacon, of the financial house of J. P. Morgan & Co., fiscal agents for the British Government; Myron T. Herrick; and William G. Sharp; and that these men represented to French officials that if France would continue the war these three men would organize a propaganda to put the United States into the war on the side of the Allies, and M. Hanoteaux further stated that the sum of money which was provided to goad the United States into the war was too large even for American comprehension.”
Where, let me ask, is your sense of humor? What is your estimation of the intelligence of America when, after reading the above, you write: “The fatherless children and the widowed mothers of France are still in a pitiable condition”? Then the audacious, grotesque, incongruous act of placing as president one Myron T. Herrick, one of the three Americans responsible for the horrible condition of these poor people, to be president of the committee for their relief! Why does not this monstrosity who caused the troubles of these poor people get them out?
Why should you continue to beg for the French, who repudiate their great debt owed this country, who repeatedly in their papers hold America and Americans up to scorn ? Why should these ingrates, the French, be taken care of, and our own soldiers who saved their lives be permitted to continue to walk our streets, clothesless, penniless, foodless, homeless, jobless, and despised, and prevented from obtaining a bonus by the very ones who forced them into the war, or into prison cells; by the very ones who now refuse to permit our President to grant general amnesty to these political prisoners, causing their families, their innocent wives and little children to suffer unfold agony, poverty and disgrace—and what for? Just because, as M. Hanoteaux’s history shows, the interests and the international bankers threw the world into the recent war for the express purpose of bond-enslaving the world; and they got what they w’ent after!
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