Golden Age, July 18, 1923
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Contents of the Golden Age
Political—Domestic and Foreign
Bits of Recent News.............
Unions, Chasing Colleges Duty of
Wages, nnd Religion the Profiteers . . and Schools . . , the Press . . . .
Mr. Mott is Alarmed.....
Notes on Crime .......
Wonders of the World.....
Americanization as an Ideal . . .
Reports from Fobeion Cokiiespondents
From Norway........
From Canada........
Money the Great Need.....
AGBICUI.TIHiE AND HUSBANDRY
Appleolooy . . .
Fhks jis Babometkrs
][«iie and Health
Sugab Refinery Questions........
Mona anent Sugar...........
Travel and Miscellany
A Junk Vacation in Keene Valley ......
Fording the Stream...........
Quaint Chapel Visited ..........
Religion and Philosophy
According to Our Lord's Cheat Pbopiikcy . . .
Religious Changes in Kurope........
Heabd in the Office (No. 8)........
(Tabloid Wisdom.............
Satan and the Alphabet.........
Order nnd Disorder...........
The Soul of Prayer...........
How is the Fabtii to be Subdued? ......
Dominion Restored to Man........
Universe Is Electronic..........
Deluded Men..............
Studies in "The Harp of God”........
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Entered as secondclass matter at Brooklyn, N. Y,, under the Act of March 3, 1879
ake Golden Age
Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, July 18, 1923
Bits of Recent News
FT1HE National Women’s Trade League, con-J- sisting of twenty-seven organizations, met in Washington May 15 and 16 to consider the condition confronting wage-earning women in view of the Supreme Court’s decision invalidating the minimum wage law of the District of Columbia. As was to be expected, a series of wage cuts of women workers in the District of Columbia followed almost immediately upon the heels of the Supreme Court decision. Before the decision the minimum wage rate was $16.50 per week; now the wages of maids and waitresses in the large hotels are down to the pre-war levels of $6 to $9 per week, mercantile establishments have made a like cut, and three large stores have laid off one hundred women each, admitting that they intend to put other employes on at much lower rates.
In a dignified and serious discussion of the dangers which confront women as a result of the Supreme Court’s looking through property spectacles instead of through human spectacles these women pointed out that this one decision deprived nearly 20,000 workers of direct protection, called into question the minimum wage laws of twelve states and the wage standards of 1,500,000 women in those states, and potentially depressed the wages of all the 9,000,000 women workers in the United States.
These women expect to have another conference in November, at which there will be a discussion of what methods can be adopted to restrict the power of the U. S. Supreme Court, much of which power is believed by thoughtful persons to be usurped power. At that time they will consider the phrasing of amendments to the Constitution expressly insuring the protection of social and labor legislation and giving states and Congress the power to enact minimum wage legislation. We wish these courageous women success in their battle. It is an inspiration to read the report of their conference and to see instance after instance where these women, now leaders of their kind, have arisen from starvation wages and long hours to good pay and a forty-four-hour week because they have organized and have used their brains.
The Court was split on this decision; and for the credit of Chief Justice Taft attention should be called to the fact that he was on the right side of this question, dissenting from the majority opinion, and holding with other justices that Congress has a clear right to. limit hours of labor and to regulate or abridge the right of private contracts. These five-to-four decisions of the Supreme Court are gradually making the United States a country ruled by one man, and not always the wisest man at that.
Low wages make' cheap standards in employers and employes; they promote friction snd discontent, and there is an unusually large, tu mover of help. A poorly paid person ia bound) to change his occupation and seek a more progressive and capable employer at the first convenient opportunity. A cut in wages is the first thought of an incompetent employer, and the last one of a competent employer. The decision is a setback to human progress. One of the suggestions for limiting the power of the Court
to make such decisions hereafter is the enactment of a law or an amendment to the Constitution, if necessary, forbidding the Supreme Court to declare any act of Congress or of a state legislature unconstitutional except ujon a vote of at least six or seven members of he nine men composing the Court. !
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Unions, Wages, and Religion
THE liberal wing of the Episcopal Church ia backing up the 150,000 locked-out railroad
shopmen who have been struggling since last J’j summer to secure recognition of their union and their old seniority rights. In some cities f large numbers of railroad shopmen from Gre$A ’’-s Britain, have taken the places of the locked-out men.
Wages in America have been rising in most lines; and are still rising in the building trades, but have fallen in clothing manufacture and in iron and steel. The iron and steel business continues to stand at the head of businesses which are inhumane to their men and are impervious to public opinion. Judge Gary in a recent address before the American Iron and Steel Institute, at which the question was up of changing the twelve-hour day to the eight-honr day, was anxious that the men should continue to work twelve hours per day and that they should have more religion. Probably by religion he means the old-style unbiblical and nonsensical hell-fire pabulum which in bygone years was peddled out to the steel workers whenever they wanted shorter hours or a raise of pay.
The Institute turned down President Harding’s suggestion that they come to an eight-hour day, the same as all the steel works in Britain, France, Germany and other civilized countries, because the request did not come from the workers themselves. It was only a few months ago that the steel trust thugs in Western Pennsylvania were hammering in the heads of strikers because they did make such a request. Mr. Gary’s memory is short.
Then Mr. Gary thought that prices would go up fifteen percent. They might; but suppose they did. The public have been robbed so recently on coal and sugar that they would hardly mind such a modest rise as fifteen percent on steel if thereby hundreds of thousands of workers would be benefited. And then, if some of the brains that are now devoted to squeezing the last drop of vitality out of the workers by scientific management were devoted to improving methods of manufacture and of salesmanship, maybe some of these steel concerns could get into the Henry Ford class, where the people of the country could look up to them instead of down upon them.
Then Mr. Gary thought that he could not get the 60,000 workers that would be needed in order to put in the eight-hour shift. This is a joke. Only a little over a year ago it wTas estimated that there were six million men out of work in the United States. No doubt some of them would be glad to get steady work with the Steel companies. Mr. Gary might try to find
places in his organization for some of the 150^-000 locked-out shopmen. But don’t worry; he -will not do anything like that No doubt he and his friends would like to see the shopmen thor- .1 oughly whipped. -
Chasing the Profiteers *
ON JUNE 1st in the city of Leeds, England, / there was unveiled a war memorial which represents the World War as accomplishing : another chasing of the money-changers out of the temple. Christ is represented, in priestly robes, as chasing a group of gentlemen in silk ■ hats and frock coats. But if that is the way the 1 World War worked out in Leeds it is not the way it worked out in America. Instead of chas- ‘ ing the profiteers out it chased them in. We have thousands of millionaires now where we ‘ had but hundreds before the war. And these : millionaires are getting more and more insolent day by day, demanding and receiving a larger ! and ever larger share in the questions which . * determine how America is to be run. Indeed, most people are of the opinion that the profit- , eers here are really running the country. Court < decisions bend to them this way and that, as ' if they were the lords of creation. The same courts ride roughshod over workingmen who are banded together for legitimate ends.
The designer of the Leeds University War Memorial is already in for some criticism he-cause on his memorial he has quoted a Scripture text which is very unpopular with wealthy men just at this time, namely: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupt- ? ed.”—James 5:1, 2.
Apparently in Canada they really are chasing ‘ the profiteers in earnest; for an Independent • Labor party has come out, advocating every- ‘ thing that the profiteers would not want. Among . these measures are public ownership of all public utilities, nationalization of banking and ' credit, initiative, referendum, recall, equal pay , for equal work, no court to be legally competent to declare acts of Parliament unconstitutional, pensions for mothers, old age pensions, government control of cold storage, national health and unemployment insurance, maternity : benefits, free hospital service, eight-hour work- ‘ day, abolition of the senate, elimination of im- ' port duties on necessities of life, freedom of .
speech, freedom of press, right of lawful assemblage, compulsory education, free text-books, and guarantee of material necessities of life, - medical supervision and unlimited education to minors. What this party is asking for is Christ’s kingdom, as no human government ever could _ or would do all these tilings in the interest of ■ the people. A howl would go up from too many directions. Neither politicians nor profiteers will let go of any of these things until they must.
, How the big fish eat the little ones is ex-< plained by the agreement between the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company’s 7,GOO stores and the - National Biscuit Company, whereby the A&P ; stores get a special discount of fifteen percent
( below the prices other stores must pay for the
same goods and are able to sell two packages h of Uneeda Biscuit at nine cents and make a 1 profit, where a smaller dealer would suffer loss ;■ on the same transaction. The A&P business
with the National Biscuit Company amounts to j ten million dollars per year. But this is only
. half the story. The people of small means trade
(’ with the A&P, where they can get the best prices
and the freshest goods. Thus by shunning the smaller merchants, the poor are helping to make o the poor poorer, while the rich, who sell cheaper to the big merchants, are helping to make the rich richer, and there seems to be no way out
|. Miscellaneous
| It yT ANKIND, having wrecked himself, has
I' nearly wrecked nature. Streams of water
| which forty years ago were clear as crystal and
I smelled sweet and woodsy have been so polluted
by sewage and drainage from factories that
. they now smell the reverse of sweet and are ; covered here and there with patches of greasy i scum. The fish have gone, nobody knows where.
There used to be plenty of them; now they are ■ not to be seen.
■ A striking example of devotion of daughters i to a mother occurred at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, May 24th. A mother of ninety-four k years was alone in the house when an explosion
of gas occurred. Three daughters were in the yard at the time. They all rushed into the house ' to rescue the mother; but not one of the four
escaped death. It was the first day of what was : to have been their summer vacation.
i Every ence in a while we hear of someone .L who has for the moment a little place of
“authority” as chaplain of a public institution, or as librarian, who may receive from the local bishop of the Roman Catholic Church a permit as to what he shall think, and who places The Golden Age on the blacklist. We do not expect to publish all the truth, nOr to reach all the people. But sometimes certain truths will percolate through the craniums of even such chaplains and librarians. Most libraries are under Jesuit influence or control. We imagine the libraries at the Iowa State Reformatory, Anamosa, Iowa, and the Albright Library at Scran* ton, Pa., to be thus controlled. But we are comforted by the fact that some of the greatest libraries and press associations in the world are on our subscription list. The Government has published statistics showing that the mentality of many millions of American people is on a par with that of a boy twelve years old. We would rather have a few on our list that “have their senses exercised to know both good and evil” than many times that number of others who will not use their own brains, and who do what they can to hinder others from using theirs. Things have got to a pretty pass' in this country when we must have sitting on imaginary pedestals a few persons who are prepared to tell other people what they may read, or what they may think about. ,
Gene Stratton-Porter, writing in the New York American, recommends as books for boys and girls over ten years of age the Bible, the works of Dickens, Thackeray, Cooper, Irving and Hawthorne, Robinson Crusoe, The Swiss Family Robinson, Paul and Virginia, Undine, The Vicar of Wakefield, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Halifax Gentleman, Jane Eyre, The Mill on the Floss, Romola, Adam Bede and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It seems like a good list, especially if we add to it The Hasp op God by Judge Rutherford and the Studies in the Soeiptuees by Pastor Russell. ,
A new food has been invented in Vienna, $he joint product of an Englishman, Robert Gjra-ham, and a Hungarian, Dr. Lazio Berczeller. The base of the food is the soy bean, from which a flour has been produced forty percent cheaper than wheat flour, and a milk which costs only one-sixth as much as cow's milk. The food is said to be .delicious, and with green vegetables constitutes a complete food. The soy bean is largely grown in Asia and will grow anywhere.
It is freely predicted that this discovery will virtually put an end to human starvation.
Colleges and Schools
THE University of Chicago has decided that hereafter its president may or may not be a Baptist. It is supposed to be a Baptist institution, built and maintained by Baptist funds, although it is well known that of the $36,000,000 of Baptist money put into its treasury $34,000,000 came from John D. Rockefeller. The reason alleged for changing the rules so that hereafter the head of this Baptist school may be a non-Baptist is that heretofore the Trustees have sometimes found difficulty in getting a Baptist able to fill the position. This seems to us like a pretty thin excuse.
A carefully-planned experiment in a class of fifty students at Northeastern University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has proven that the reports of eye-witnesses of an occurrence which takes place in plain view of the whole class are not to be believed. Three students were trained by the teacher to pretend a tragedy, which was made to the class to seem to be a reality. One pointed a banana at another and shouted in an angry tone, “Take that!’’ At the same instant the third, stationed some distance away in the back of the room, fired a blank cartridge. Forty-nine of the students testified that the man who had the banana in his hand had fired the shot. The supposedly injured man was dragged out by two men who sat beside him. Not a person in the class could give their names, although they were well known by all. Forty-seven who saw the banana said that they saw a revolver instead. Only twenty of the fifty identified the man who fell when the shot was fired. Several saw the flash of the explosion from the mouth of the banana when it was fired, and others saw the smoke. Two students said that a yellow weapon was fired. The descriptions of clothing of the participants were ridiculous, as well as the descriptions of their personal appearance. The banana carrier wore a bow tie, but every student testified he had on a four-in-hand tie. These students were all students of electrical, civil and mechanical engineering, and were as high a type of witnesses as could be found for any occurrence.
Reverend John J. Queally, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, Washing
ton, D. C., has a poor opinion of many of out colleges. In an Easter sermon he said: “Under the pretense of new philosophies and progres- * siveness our colleges and universities are send- “ ing out young men and women—pagan intellee- ■. tuals—who, smarting under restraint of any kind, cannot rest until they have given to the world their immature ideas on how to set the world in order.” ,
The women students of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, have raised and sent to Germany 4 a fund of over $1,000 (over 20,000,000 marks) to help the German women students. This seems N to us like a very noble-minded act, far different ’ from the narrow, partisan spirit which has J caused some communities to fly into a rage when they discovered that goods made in Germany 1 were being sold again in America. What do y such people expect the Germans to do ? Perhaps i they expect them to stop living altogether. .
The United States is getting along with its 4 educational work in the Philippines. lEhas bl established and maintains in the islands 7,641, public schools, employing 24,975 teachers. There | are over a million young Filipinos in these . b schools. Only a few years ago the education of 4 the Filipinos was all in the hands of the papal ;•
hierarchy, and it would have been hard to find »
on earth a more backward people. *’
The National Society of the Sons of the 1 American Revolution has been examining some J of the modern textbooks, and finds itself out of b accord with the English-Speaking Union and i other organizations which have in view the reabsorption of the United States by the British | Empire. It passed resolutions condemning ' David Saville Muzzey’s “History of the United | States,” now used in New York City schools, as ® hopelessly wrong and unfit for school use be- j cause it devoted but seven pages in a 538-page | book to the Revolutionary War and only twelve M pages of allusion to it in all. We feel certain. | that the attempt to get America back into the . : j British Empire will never succeed. |
Thomas A. Edison would have the children in the public schools instructed by movies. 4® There is hardly a thing that cannot be taught by means of them. Educators have been slow '■JI to take up with the idea because it has been fought by the text-book companies. Naturally they prefer to keep a student’s eyes within a JI book, if they can get the profit on the book. 4a
yvLTlg, 1821
v* GOLDEN AGE
Pastor Russell's Photo-Drama of Creation was Shown to twelve million people free, and was greatly enjoyed by millions; but it was impossible to keep the Drama up on account of the expense.
Duty of the Press
THE Press poses before the people as a reliable teacher; and, as a matter of fact, it is about the only teacher the people as a whole ever have. It is to be regretted that the Press makes no greater effort to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Just now the British Press is up for criticism; and justly so. Not only do Americans who have been abroad feel indignant at the beggarly way the newspapers of Britain play up the minutest acts of dukes and lords whose existence benefits humanity not one iota, while they ignore America, the greatest English-speaking country under the sun; but the Britons are noticing the matter themselves. Mr. H. G. Wells, the English writer, in an article in “The American Magazine,” takes note of the fact that American papers are forging ahead and becoming journals of world events, while the British papers are rapidly slipping backward, so that, in his judgment, there are now left in London but two daily newspapers worthy of the name.
The New York Globe, which will be 130 years old on December 9th of this year, and which is the oldest daily newspaper in the United States with an unbroken record of publication, has been sold to Frank A. Munsey, the publisher of the New York Herald, the Sun and the Evening Telegram. Mr. Munsey is the owner of many newspapers in various parts of the country. The 108 shares of stock in the paper, which had had a par value of $100 per share, were worth $6,944 per share at the time Mr. Munsey bought them; but it is claimed that since the paper was started, and down to 1918, its backers have had to contribute $3,754,372 to keep it going. They saw that the time would come when it would be a valuable property.
Mr. Mott is Alarmed
DR. John R. Mott, international leader of the Young Men’s Christian Association, in an address at Fargo, North Dakota, in March, expressed a great desire to see the principles taught by Christ instilled into men between tha ages of eighteen and thirty. He said:
“I have never been so alarmed over the world situation as I am today. The friction points between people) and nations were never more numerous or more aggravated. More men, women and children have died during the last twelve months as a result of conditions directly traceable to the World War in a district stretching from Russia and Finland on the north through the Ukraine^ Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Balkans, than died in, armies on both sides during any twelve months of battle^ even when the sacrifice was greatest.”
At the conclusion of Dr. Mott’s address there was a discussion of the evils confronting the young men of Fargo. One of the evils mentioned was cigarettes. It will be remembered that the Young Men’s Christian Association was one of the organizations which enthusiastically supported the World War; also that it was engaged on a large scale in the selling ofl cigarettes to the soldiers at the front.
We have a suggestion for Dr. Mott and for the Young Men’s Christian Association. Let the Young Men’s Christian Association, if it really wishes to benefit the young men between eighteen and thirty, retire definitely and’ completely and finally from the war business and the cigarette business; and then when Dr. Mott and others tell of their anxiety that the young meu should follow Christ there will be sama who will believe that they are not doing it for business reasons. Christ’s teachings are plain enough: “Resist not evil”; “They that take the sword shall perish with the sword”; “Our weapons are not carnal weapons”; etc. Perhaps Dr. Mott should go into some other business.
The Australian Worker has something interesting to say on this point:
“There has been a most alarming increase of crime in every country that took part in the war. Human nature seems to have grown more cruel, more violent, more brutal in the infliction of pain and death. And that yvaa just what might have been expected. Yet, while the war was on, almost all our clergymen spoke of it'with enthusiasm, with a fervid passion, as something that was going to purify our hearts, lift up our souls, make us ' spiritually beautiful 1 How can we ever trust them after that? Every jingo preacher of the gospel ought to hide his head in shame. Every parson or priest who stood up in his pulpit, and glorified the war as a mighty moral force, should be doing public penance today. But they’w not. Their bells are ringing to call the. people to their churches, just as if nothing had happened. They have the presumption to talk to us in the accents of godly authority, and Archbishop Wright is horrified because the Sydney Agricultural Show is to he open on Good Friday, the day on which Christ died!
“Is 'there anything on earth so sickening as ecclesiastical inconsistency? The war-mad churches have altered the date of the crucifixion to August 4, 1914. And not all their faith-healing stunts can avail to make us forget that they helped to inflict upon humanity the most grievous injury it ever received, and infect it with a disease beyond the curative powers of hysteria manipulators. They extolled as a God-sent means of grace and regeneration a conflict that filled vast cemeteries with murdered dead, carried grief and suffering into millions of homes, and is crowding the jails with criminals. No, we can never forget; nor, while memory lasts, can we ever forgive/’
As a matter of history we list the participators in the World War. On the one side were Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Turkey. On the other side were Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, France, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Montenegro, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Siam, South African Republic, and United States.
The Bible is now published in 770 languages and dialects, and the annual distribution in all languages is thirty million copies. Twenty-five of the dialects of China have the Bible in their own vernacular, as have also sixteen of the dialects of Japan. The Eskimos have never seen sheep, hence do not know what they are. Accordingly, the Eskimo translation of John 1: 29 when rendered back into English reads; “Behold the Baby Seal of God, which taketh away the sins of the world," this being the best the translators could do.
Notes on Crime
THE professor of criminal law in the University of Michigan is of the opinion that the newspapers would render a great service to humanity if they published much more news of the penalties paid for crimes than they now do. As it is, much space is given to the crime itself, while but little is given to the punishment. The Toledo post-office was robbed; the papers made much of it. Most of the loot was recovered; and twenty-one men and women were sent to prison for the job, two of them for life and three others practically for life. This aspect of the affair received but scanty notice.
The interesting fact has been brought to light that women do not show mercy to women. . Women juries convict women murderesses with- ; out hesitation, while men juries acquit them. When the juries are mixed, the women are for conviction, while the men are for acquittal. -Women are inclined to be kind toward men, but ; cruel and vindictive toward women. -
New York has had a bull fight. Spain sent ' over one of its star bull butchers. He chased the bull around a roped enclosure for a few t. minutes when the terrified bull broke through, ? galloped across a slippery floor and wound up, i trembling and terrified, and with a great crowd j at its heels, in one of the adjoining cafes. If these Spanish picadors really want something exciting they should try crossing upper Broad- ■ | way on foot without getting run over by an 1 automobile. j
Statistics compiled by the National Commit- | tee for Mental Hygiene show that in the forty J years from 1880 to 1920 the population of the dl U nited States gained 110.8 percent; while the ‘4 increase in the number of insane, in the asy- 1 lums, was 468.3 percent. More of the insane are 3 in the asylums than was formerly the case and ...3 this affects the figures somewhat. Dr. A. IL :3 Desloges, Director of Asylums, Province of 3 Quebec, mentions some of the many symptoms 3 which show that the world is going insane: Wild enthusiasm in play or work, out of all pro- | portion to the importance of the matter in hand; 3 the desire for publicity; disregard of the deca- |
logue, and the substitution for it of the question |
whether or not it is safe to do the thing desired; | war insanity; communistic insanity; patriotic | insanity; worship of riches; spiritism.
Among the principal causes for this state of | affairs Dr. Desloges places the World War with | its incident tremendous nervous strain; the con- . sequent high cost of living; the inevitable loss ’ of confidence in so-called spiritual leaders and the resultant loss of all faith, due to the ineor-- rect supposition that these religious leaders are * really Christians and believers in the Bible. 'Ab • a matter of fact myriads of them were in the hell business for revenue only, in the evolution business for the same reason, in the trinity business for the same reason, in the war business ? for the same reason, in the cigarette business for the same reason, and in the smug, sanctified, ’ soft-spoken, afternoon-tea, money-begging business for the same reason.
Is
The so-called Marathon dances which have been going on in various places are illustrations of the coming insanity of the race of which Dr. Desloges writes. At North Towanda, Pennsylvania, a young man danced with his partner for eighty-seven hours continuously, and then dropped dead. At Cuthbert, Georgia, a young woman danced 104 hours and forty minutes, and perhaps would be dancing yet had not an angry brother carried her forcibly off the floor.
There is a connection between Marathon dances and spiritism. The medicine man dances in order to get into communication with the demons; the whirling Dervish dances for the same reason. The probable explanation is that the brain becomes overheated, and hence not under normal control of the person; thus it is more easy of access to a demon. Spasms and frothings at the mouth sometimes accompany such dances. After the war there was in Germany a dancing mania which spread to the remotest villages in the country.
In Constantinople the beggars have so increased since the World War that steps have had to be taken to suppress what has become a menace. Pedestrians can hardly make their way through the streets, on account of the demand for alms coming from every direction. At one roundup of beggars recently the police gathered in 2,000 children, of both sexes. Forty of these children were found in one nest. They are homeless, starving sufferers.
A horse-dealer in Moscow, by the name of Komaroff, has just been apprehended after making away with thirty-three men within the past two years, with robbery as the motive for the crimes. About every other week he lured a victim to his stables under pretense of selling him a horse, and killed him for what money he happened to have on his person at the time, the average amount obtained was about eighty cents. The odd thing about it is that the man bore an excellent reputation and was said to have a genial, kindly manner.
Wonders of the World
OF THE seven wonders of the ancient world, the Great Pyramid, the walls of Babylon, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the statue of Zeus at Olympus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus at Bhodes, and the lighthouse of Alexandria, three are mentioned in the Bible, the first three; and the first of these in still in existence.
The Great Pyramid is 486 feet high and oneeighth of a mile long on each of its four sides, making it the largest building in the world. There are stones in it thirty feet in length, weighing 880 tons each, which fit so closely together that one may run a penknife over the surface without discovering the breaks between them. The Great Pyramid is located in the center of the land surface of the whole world. Its sides are exactly north and south, east and west. Its measurements disclose the exact number of days, hours, minutes and seconds in the year; the earth’s distance from the sun; the length of the precessional cycle, and the length of all the important periods of human history as recorded in the Bible and in secular history. Bible students believe that without question God was its architect and that it is the witness to the Lord in the land of Egypt, referred to in Isaiah 19:19,20.
The walls of Babylon were from thirty-two to eighty-five feet thick, and from seventy-five to three hundred feet high. On the summit were two hundred and fifty towers, placed along the outer and inner edges of the wall, towet facing tower. In the walls were a hundred brazen gates. The walls were torn down by Xerxes iii 484 B. C., about fifty-four years after the fall of Babylon at the hand of Cyrus.
The temple of Diana at Ephesus, which figured largely in the experiences of St. Paul, was completed in the days of Alexander the Great, but without his help. It became a vast museum and storehouse of riches, and at one time was the most important outstanding financial and commercial institution in the East. It was also a refuge for fugitives and criminals, who could not be touched while in the temple. When the temple was burned by the Goths in 262 A. D., some of the stone pillars escaped destruction and were used in the construction of the mosque of St. Sophia, Constantinople, where they remain to this day.
The eighth wonder of the world is the Great Wall of China, of which we will have more to say in an early issue. The ninth wonder is the concrete viaduct over the Tunkhannock Creek, at Nicholson, Pa., on the line of the D. L. & W.
Americanization as an Ideal By n. e. Coffey £
AT THE time of the Revolutionary War a common grievance served to unite the various American colonies. This bond of union continued to grow and to instill into the hearts of the founders of our republic an intense spirit of patriotism—love of country. It is upon the unselfish ideas and ideals which these forefathers of the United States embodied in our Constitution that the doctrine of Americanism is based. This doctrine serves also to teach love, honor, and respect for our national emblem. Its further purpose is to stimulate in each citizen thoughtful interest in national affairs and to make every citizen a voting citizen where one has the right of suffrage.
Many of the active promoters of Americanism are sincere, earnest men and women. Their idea is that the present and future welfare and safety of our nation depend upon instilling the doctrine of Americanism into each inhabitant.
Dr. B. K. Baghdigian, an Armenian by birth, ranks among the most noted lecturers and writers on this subject. Recently it was my • privilege to hear him describe his former life— relating how he escaped from Turkish massacres to America while a boy; of his privations and hardships while struggling for an education in this land; of his fall into infidelity and Socialism, and of his later catching the spirit of Americanism and his present intense love for his adopted country.
In the mind of this man and many others, 'Americanism is a grand ideal which they worship with an intense spirit of devotion. It would be well if these ideals could be realized. It would be well indeed if each individual possessed such a noble spirit of self-sacrifice as to he willing to forego certain individual privileges for the common good. But students of past history who are also familiar with Biblical prophecy relative to the future see clearly that the goal of Americanism cannot be realized.
Neither can the cosmopolitan ideal of a worldwide union of nations to abolish war and perpetuate peace reach fruition. All past history has demonstrated that mankind in general are intensely selfish. The desire and concern for personal prosperity and welfare has always ruled in the hearts of the vast majority.
Almost every war of the past has given opportunity for the unpatriotic minority to gain places of greater prominence and more wealth, that they might lord it over their more stupid brethren. The great World War furnished opportunities of this kind, and the records show that there was profiteering on an unpreeedented scale.
At this after-the-war stage of history the favored few are still scheming schemes and dreaming dreams as to how the majority may be kept in subjection. The doctrine of Americanism serves well their purpose. Why? Because Constitutional government by the people, in the full sense of the term, no longer exists.
In the Washingtonian days of long ago when almost everyone told the truth, and when one could know personally all the prominent men of the Republic, it was possible for one to vote intelligently. Those men could be elected who would serve the people rather than betray their trust for the sake of becoming their masters.
Today public thought is largely machine-operated by the public press. This octopus has no conscientious scruples and misrepresents, distorts and colors facts to accomplish whatever its heads may direct. “Americanism” serves excellently in this line to keep the-people in subjection and contented.
Hence Americanism is not the superlative ideal. For the foregoing and many other reasons it is destined to pass away as a cherished treasure from the hearts of men. We should not regret this; for something grander and nobler is to take its place. Soon the great autocracy of Christ Jesus is to have world-wide dominion. The right to live in this dominion will be permanently granted only to those who become, not Americans, not so-called Christians, but real Christians in spirit, in deed and in truth.
A great many of the champions of the Americanism ideal I feel sure possess such nobility of character that will enable them to catch quickly the spirit of Christ’s kingdom. Scriptural prophecy assures that this reign of. righteousness will be the desire of all nations, and this is why I conclude that the Americanism ideal will cease to be, rather than perish as a fond regret. It will be submerged in the higher ideal that is to come.
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Reports From Foreign Correspondents
From Norway
THE population of Norway is two and one-half millions; it still has a king. Its constitution corresponds with that of England, probably a little more free, however. The political leaders do their best; the condition is much better than in many other European countries; but here is also much hypocrisy, deception, and fraud in political, financial, and religious life. On account of big business and its different interests, the people are often used by the profiteers for personal gain. The people are one of the most thrifty and enlightened of the world’s nations, and often put themselves in opposition to various enterprises. The political parties are divided into three main groups: the Kight — conservative; the Left — liberal; the Communist—bolshevik. There are also two minor parties: the Right—Socialist, and the Fanners’ party. The conservative (Right) is at present the strongest party; but as none has the upper hand in “The Storthing” there are often government crises—once "the Right” and once “the Left” has ruled. The Communist (bolshevik) are in the lead at the ballot just now.
In 1920-21 Norway had a railroad strike, a seamen’s strike, and a general strike. These strikes revealed not only the enormous strength of the working classes in the country ; but also the strength of capital. None of the parties, however, dared put the case to the deciding point. Conditions since have been more peaceful, but discontent is still smouldering among the masses, and the fight will be much harder the next time it breaks loose. Norway as a little country is depending mainly on its import and export trade with its neighbors. Unemployment is about 25,000 to 30,000. Norway has had lately several financial difficulties, but not nearly so heavy as some of the neighboring countries. The money value stands today fifty percent under the dollar, but was in 1920 down to 125 percent under the dollar.
Lawlessness is increasing; and the belief in the authorities and respect for them are fading. The prohibition law is openly violated, much on account of the big newspapers’ demoralizing agitation against that law. The authorities see the violation, but lack the power and also the will to enforce the law. Just recently the government has abolished the prohibition law of “the hot wine” on account of pressure from the wine-producing countries against Norway, and also because prohibition is a hindrance to the work of the profiteers. This abolishment of the prohibition law is made notwithstanding the fact that it was passed by a popular vote with a large majority three years ago.
The State religion is Lutheran (Protestant), but all other Christian sects are well represented. The “bundles” are about to be tied together (by alliances, etc.); but as a whole the people have not yet turned their backs to the nominal systems, although the attendance haa been small lately—notwithstanding the people’s religious inclinations. The masses are awakening and are beginning to judge for themselves what constitutes true Christianity, and thus are freeing themselves of the leaders who would dominate and hold them in servility to the creeds of the dark ages. The literature of the International Bible Students is turning the tide.
From Canada
ONE of the first things that strikes the reader of our daily papers during the past few weeks is the activity of our various church organizations. ,
For instance, these two items are somewhat significant: The Vancouver Province states that a movement is on foot to reconvert to paganism the tribesmen of the Six Nations Indians, whose reserve is near Brantford, Ont. Considerable success has attended the efforts of the “foes of Christianity”; for we find the tribe, generally speaking, is more addicted to baseball and other activities of like kind on Sunday than to the church attendance wThich the church authorities would so dearly love to see. The churches do not participate in baseball gate receipts. Pagan ceremonies such as the Feast of the White Dog, which calls for animal sacrifice, are carried out under the tutelage of Des-kehah, the chief of the tribe. This does not say much for the success of the missionary efforts of our various churches, right here in the heart of “Christendom,” amongst a people that are ninety-seven and five-tenths percent Christian, according to the recent church census. Then, again, the Woodstock Sentinel-Review states that a formal demand on the part of the Council of the Six Nations tribe for the return to them of a trust fund amounting to $70(5,000 which was placed in the hands of the British Government for administration for the benefit of the tribe generally, is meeting with opposition on the part of the Department of Indian Affairs, because the Indians refuse any longer to recognize the authority of the Canadian Government, and desire to throw away the blessings of civilization and return to the condition of their ancestors. The Truro (Nova Scotia) News comments on the missionary effort of the Methodist church and states that owing to a lack of funds amounting to between $300,000 and $400,000 there must be a curtailment of activity in the mission fields in China and Japan.
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We might expect a little confusion amongst the ranks, of the ecclesiastics after reading the following from the Toronto Daily Star: “Ue-fused to Accept Old-time Doctrine, Licensing of Three Presbyterian Ministers Held up over an Hour/' says the headline; and we note that the reason was, “Inability to accept certain long-established points of doctrine.” The first objection "was to “accepting the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God.” They also objected to accepting the Westminster Standard as the basis of belief and teaching. We can understand the latter reason easily enough, hut have difficulty in appreciating the former one. What object has a man in becoming the minister of God, if His Word is rejected to start with? Possibly the salary to be obtained for preaching has a little to do with it.
We find in the London Free Press headlines a comment on the modern church as follows: “Labor Class Alienated from Churches through Creeds and Disunion.” They continue that, by actual count, ninety percent of the artisan class stay away from church, and illustrate the situation with a story of a darkey who attempted to become a member of a fashionable church the congregation of which were all white. The minister was much put out and, not knowing what to do, recommended to the darkey that he pray for guidance. Rastus prayed and prayed and prayed. Eventually he called on the minister and sadly announced: “It’s no use, massa; I asked the Lord for guidance; ari He said to me, ‘Stop worrying about that church, Rastus, I have been tryiri to get into that same church myself for thirty years!'” “It is my impres
sion,” goes on the Free Press, "that the general , opinion of the working class about the churches is much the same; they bar, out genuine Christianity and place creeds in its stead.” -J
The Toronto Daily Star takes up the cry -with the presentation of the views of Dr. Lorne _■ A. Pierce, literary adviser to the Methodist Book Steward, the Rev. Dr. S. W. Fallis. “Men j are weary of religion accompanied by jazz gospel songs and troubadour preachments,” is the emphatic and critical comment concerning a modern trend in Christian pulpiteering in Canada, by Dr. Pierce. He severely scores the tendency to make the church a secular as well as sacred institution, turning it into a “rag-picker’s paradise”; and he hits hard at punning and flippancy and even irreverence in the pulpit. He closes with words that find an echo in our hearts:
“The saddest thing in all the world ... is that man . . . who stands in the sacred places . . . bearing the symbol of a power he does not possess. The man whose mind and heart the truth of God has touched will have a Gospel full of immediateness, which he will proclaim with power, with dignity and with reverence befitting an ambassador from so high a court.”
From Moose Jaw, Sask., comes the plaint of the Evening Times commenting on the recent
utterances of Bishop Gailor, of the American Episcopal Church, who has been talking plainly about “pulpit sensationalism.” “The main desire among some of the clergy seems to be to J shock somebody,” says the Bishop. Comment- rig ing on the Bishop’s utterances, the Times says % that he is correct in supposing that the ordi- i nary ministrations of the church seldom get into the public prints, but only the sensational J items. “It is easy to imagine the headlines of the future,” it goes on (after the public are sur- 4 f cited with sensationalism): ‘Noted Divine Dedares Sinners Must Repent.’ ‘Bishop Asserts | that Only Pure in Heart Shall See God.’ ” It I all depends on what the public considers startling. After people have been fed long enough on sensational utterances they may come to | think of commonplace Christian teaching as a | tremendous sensation. /
Money the Great Need
BUT the following puts the finishing touch on the whole matter. The Manitoba Free Press gives to the world the following press despatch from London, Ont.:
"It was announced today that the Financial Board of the Anglican diocese of Huron may proceed against some 2,800 of its communicants who owe the diocese about $45,000. This debt represents arrears of payment to the Anglican Forward Movement of a few years past. It is proposed that these arrears be collected by regular collection agencies or through the courts.”
If memory serves us aright, this Forward Movement was the Canadian section of the "Interchurch World Movement.” The affairs of this gigantic fiasco were wound up some months ago and registered as a failure. Although we do not favor the idea of any man’s repudiating his promises, we think that this matter might be made retroactive. What happened to all the cash that was collected?
While we are on this subject of cash, here is an interesting little item culled from the columns of the Saskatoon Phoenix:
"Friday, March 30th, 1923, was Good Friday, a day when ‘good’ Christians are supposed to devote a considerable portion of their time to contemplation of the great sacrifice made by the Savior on this day for the benefit of the human race. Let us suppose, then, with all reverence that the Savior had come to Saskatoon and had wended His way to the Third Avenue Methodist church. What would He have found in the church? He would speedily have discovered that unless He was able and ready to pay twenty-five cents He would not be able to enter the church at all. Having paid the required Bfim, He would have been able to listen to some excellent orchestral music while a movie machine clicked merrily in the balcony and projected its story upon the back wall of the church, all for twenty-five cents. Wonderful I Has the church of God come to this at last ? Had those responsible for this horrible piece of moneygrabbing no qualms of conscience when there flashed on the screen the picture of our Savior chastising those who were desecrating His Father’s house? ‘My house shall be a house of prayer, but ye have made it into a movie-house.’ By the way, we see that Harry Lauder is making another world tour. We wonder if the Third Avenue Methodist church will book this attraction again.”
No comment is necessary, other than to add a note to the question of the newspaper, that Money, with a capital“M,” seems to be the only worry of the church today.
To close this section of our report we append part of the contents of a letter recently received from the "Orillia Presbyterian Church,” Orillia, Ont.: Heading—“Consolidated Debt Fund,” dated April 2, addressed to Dear Sir or Madam:
“The entire church debt is now down to practically $36,000—organ $14,000 and property $22,000. There are 1,100 members in our congregation, besides a large number of adherents. The Finance Board has been bo impressed with the fact that a small contribution weekly from 1,100 persons would very soon wipe out ths entire church debt, that it has decided to put the matter befdre the congregation. Let us suppose that each brick in the building unpaid for is worth 25 cents, and we aim to pay for 1,100 each week, in addition to contribution through duplex envelopes, how many of these 25-cent bricks will you pay for each Sunday?”
Our query is, When can we expect delivery of the bricks so purchased? Or is it just one of those childish "Let’s pretend” ideas whereby the necessary money is scientifically “eased” out of one’s pocket with the least amount of pain? Come on, folks, line up for your bricks 1 Is not the line about the “in addition to duplex envelopes” just too intriguing for anything? The Government Finance Board is also “impressed” with the idea that a small contribution from a number of people will wipe out debts, but they do not offer to sell bricks out of the Legislature buildings to get the cash. This valuable idea should be internationally patented. Think what Germany could do with it, or Austria, or Russia, just now I
Conditions in the fanning sections show little or no improvement. Reports from the West only serve to enhance the reports made through the columns of The Golden Age recently. The condition of the West, financially, is deplorable. Moose Jaw Evening Times headlines an Ottawa despatch: “Rural Saskatchewan Sunk in Well of Indebtedness,” the report of George F. Edwards, vice-president of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association. Mr. Edwards gives some illuminating figures. One village of 250 farmers had a wheat export last season of 325,000 bushels and an indebtedness of $690,000! (Wheat averaged less than one dollar a bushel.) In one municipality, out of 1,440 quarter sections 274 were put up for tax-sale in 1919, 427 in 1921, in 1922 the list rose to 618! Conditions were described as “exceedingly distressing.” We agree. Mr. Deachman, of Calgary, before the special agricultural committee of the House of Commons, agrees also. He says that in parts of Alberta cows sell for $20, horses are of no value, and cattle are being fed seed grain.
The Farm and Ranch Review waxes sarcastic about the coal situation:
“Fellow fanners and fellow philanthropists,” it says,
"I am overflowing wit! admiration for our class! Do we exhibit the mean little traits of other groups of society? We do not If any other class is robbing us, what of it? No one raises his voice in vulgar protest. Let the culprit live with his uneasy conscience. That shall be his punishment. Our time is claimed by matters of greater importance, such as politics, divorce laws, single tax, remodeling the Banff Bath House, door locks in hotels, recognition of chiropractors and many other weighty and momentous subjects closely related to agriculture. Such a commonplace matter as the price of coal to the prairie settler, for instance, cannot be permitted to intrude on our deliberations. If any settler cannot afford to pay three prices for coal, let him burn his kitchen table, or freeze. Nothing could be simpler. So the farmers throughout the West will be delighted to hear that the annual wage dispute between the coal miners and the operators has recently been satisfactorily adjusted on the usual basis, which is, that the miners get all they ask, and that the operators accommodatingly transfer the load to the consumer.”
Here is our perennial bugbear, the coal situation. Canada with the largest potential coal deposits in the world, with perhaps the sole exception of Siberia, pays more in proportion for her own product than any other country-in the world. Northern Ontario last winter had the pleasure of paying up to $24 per ton for American hard coal, with a country full of native coal untouchable. It is a delightful feeling to sit before the leaping flames and watch $24 coal crumble to ashes—-if you don’t happen to be the one that pays for it!
And if it is not coal, it is something else— wool for instance. The Moose Jaw Times tells us that in 1922 the farmer must sell the wool off fifty sheep to buy a suit of clothes! And we know that he might sell the hides off as many beeves and not have the price of a pair of shoes1 And the war has been ended five years; and this is the great era of prosperity that was promised by the war politicians.
Perhaps the answer lies in the statement of Dr. Desloges, Quebec Director of Asylums. The Regina Leader editorially comments on Dr. Desloges’ statement that in another quarter of a century the whole civilized world will be insane. The doctor goes on to say that in the past year a record has been made in the number of cases of insanity treated in Quebec asylums. He blames our artificial life, excitement, and abnormality of effort in work and play, and suggests that a cure lies in getting back to quiet family life.
Let us be thankful that we have at hand an entire thousand years under the rule of Christ in which to recover normalcy and poise. And now for a little real old-time, unadorned, bareknuckle, Tammany-type graft without any redeeming features.
As is generally known, Canada has just had a shake-up over the nationalization, or more correctly speaking, the pubhc ownership of certain lines of railroad, that were built at public expense and operated for private profit. The old Board of Directors gave place to new, and unluckily for someone there was some loose cash lying around. The Toronto Globe report is interesting reading. One naive confession reads: “The English Board of Directors on February 19th, 1920, voted themselves, as compensation for loss of office, a gratuity of five years’ directors’ fees.” Somebody in the House of Commons got prying around and lifted the lid on as pretty a mess as has come to light in years of railroad grafting. After the smoke cleared, it appears that when the old Board reluctantly moved off the job, it carted along with it in the form of plasters for hurt feelings, and pills for that tired feeling, the tidy sum of $462,280 or more. Not too bad. We suspect that perhaps the amount was limited by the available cash. Had there been more in the Treasury, no doubt so valuable a man as the President of the Canadian National Railway would have spurned so paltry a sum as $35,000 as an honorarium for his invaluable services. And the other parti ci-pants proportionately. Foolish people say that public ownership will not pay; but we rise to remark that by the looks of this record it surely pays some people!
The next report that comes to out' hand is the “Manifesto of the Workers’ Party,” which is frankly and outspokenly Communistic. One of its subheadings is, “Imperialism and Economic Chaos”:
“The first World War drew thousands of Canadian toilers into its maw. Some were forced to go, as an alternative to the starvation of unemployment. Some went under the influence of propaganda. All were told that they were fighting a war against imperialism and autocracy, the victorious outcome of which would be ■ followed by the end of all war, the destruction of imperialism, the beginning of reconstruction, and higher living standards. Years of disillusionment have followed. Only a few months ago, through its agent, Lloyd ' George, British Imperialism had the audacity to try to
embroil the workers of Canada in its imperialistic war game of grabbing the Mosul oil wells. The invasion of the Ruhr is the outward renewal of the war for 'democracy/ now seen clearly to be a war for coke, iron ore, and steel. The lies of reconstruction have been exploded no less that the lies about ending imperialism and war. The European continent is in economic chaos. The speculative boom that America is supposed to be enjoying today is not based upon any fundamental reconstruction of world economics. As soon as stocks are replenished and the warehouses are filled again, out the workers will be thrown on the unemployment market/’
Can one altogether blame workers for forming revolutionary parties in the face of a situation of which the railroad steal mentioned above is only one small highlight? With increasing thankfulness we feok eagerly toward the foregleams of the incoming Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace, the Golden Age of promise.
Appleology
A SMALL boy was once asked to write an essay on "Apples.” And so with characteristic brevity, he began:
“Apples are born on trees and, unlike grapefruit and oranges, have to be eaten from the outside in. But if green, they sometimes make the inside outside. There are different kinds of apples. There’s the Adam’s Apple, the Apple of Discord, Sodom’s Apples, the Apple of My Eye, Applejack, and Appleton’s Cyclopedia.”
But we turn to a more reliable authority for information on this king of the vegetable kingdom.
In the first place the composites of apples generally are albumen, sugar, gum, malic acid, gallic acid, fibre, water, and phosphorus. This combination is commended to offset and neutralize the chalky matter of other foods, and is used in nature to drive out foreign poisons.
Further, history tells us that climate has much to do in producing the great variety known to the horticultural world. Monuments have been erected all over the country to the originators of the various species. These monuments are to he found in the names of the fruits themselves. The "Standard Dictionary” lists 288 varieties of apples and at considerable effort and espouse has collected data as to which are most popular. The varieties marked "Best” are listed in order as follows: Banana, Belmont, Bethlehemitc, Bullock, Cogswell, Cox Orange, Delicious, Early Joe, Esopus, Fall Wine, Garden Royal, Grimes, Jonathan, King David, Lady, Melon, Mother, Pomme Grise, Porter, Primate, Red Canada, Summer Pear-main, Swaar, White Pearmain, Yellow Newtown. Besides these, 136 are reported as "Very Good,” and all the rest are marked "Good” except the Doyle and the Rock Pippin, which seem to have no friends. The apples which
By Joseph Gretg
grow best and are very successful, no matter : where they are planted, are the Early Harvest and Wealthy, which are “Very Good”; and the Maiden Blush, Oldenburg, and Red Astraehan, which are marked “Good.” -
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