Golden Age, November 7, 1923
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Contents of the Golden Age
Social and Educational
Familt ov Six Generations . . .
Political—Domestic and Foreign
Items op Current Interest
Japan's Culminating Horror
American Relief in Russia
Germany’s Impending Crisis
Progress of Fascism.................
Spanish Military Coup
Out of the Leucue. Yet In ... .
Peerage and People ....
Babylon Still Drunk
Bow Will You Die?
Armageddon Due to Selfishness
Ten Days to New Zealand
Turks. Egyptians, and Asiatics
Philippine Perplexities
Sacrificing the Farmers ;
Automatic Safety for Trains ......
Evidences of the Millennium ...
Prize-Fighting and Civilization
Back from Death Sleep
Science and Invention
Causes op Climatic Changes . .
Climatic Changes In Palestine .....
Home and Health
Lccssteb against Vaccination
Religion and Philosophy
Judo* RtyrrmroBD at Madison Squabs Gaxuen .
"Restoration op Israel”
Pastor Russell’s First Book (Part I)
Has God a Plan?
The Bride iind the Bridegroom
Not a Second Chance
Studies in Tat Hasp op God"
PubUnbad every ether Wednesday at 18 Concord Srr*et. Brooklyn, N. Tw U. B. A_ by WOODWORTH. HLPdlNGS A MARTIN
Ooyertnera eed propneton A<Mr?«t. ti Coacurd Atrcrt. Brooklyn. N. y„ 0.8. A. CLAYTON J. WOODWORTH . . . Editor ROBERT J. MARTIN Bu*id«b Manaatf C. E. STEWART .... Axstacant Editor WM e HUDGTNGS Sec'y and Treaa. Fits Ckxt* * Copt—SI.00 a Year Mark Icsmittanccs to TBS GOLDEN AGE gOBBlGS OW1CI1: SrirwA.....34 Craven Terrace. LaDcaater Gate. London W 3
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Entered as eerond *‘~tt matter at Brooklyn, N. aaocr the Act of March 3, xa79
The Golden Age
Volume V Brooklyn, N. T.. Wednesday, November 7, 1923 N—bet MS
Items of Current Interest
IT IS our opinion, several times expressed in these columns, that merely to try to keep in touch with the day's news, floating with it as it , rises and falls, is a poor way to read the signs of the times. The reason for tins lies in the impossibility of determining with any fair degree of accuracy what is news and what is propaganda. All the big business interests use the news associations for propaganda purposes, and it is only after the lapse of some little time that the reasons for things come to light. However, as many of our readers seem to prefer current items we continue to furnish them.
Japan’* Culminating Horror
THE Japanese earthquake is believed to be the most stupendous earthquake horror that ever visited the earth, a presage to the impending social convulsion, the rumblings of which are even now alarming all the nations of the world. It is significant, in the minds of some, that it should follow so closely upon the heels of the announcement that Hirohito, Prince Regent, on his recent visit to the Vatican, received baptism at the hands of the Pope himself- Was the earthquake a hint of divine displeasure at this act?
That Japan is flirting with the Vatican, for some reason, is apparent from the fact that the government is again planning to send an em-■ bassy thither, and this despite the fact that the Japanese lower house of parliament only last year overwhelmingly defeated a similar movement. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" How much better it would be for all the statesmen of earth if, instead of trying to hold the people longer in subjection by old methods of intrigue and superstitious reverence for absurdities, they would . turn to the Lord, in whom alone are wisdom and strength to guide in this evil hour.
The known dead in the earthquake number
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ill T59OT with as many more missing, some slain by falling buildings, some drowned in the tidal wave, some incinerated in the great conflagration which followed, and some swallowed up in the great fissures which opened in the ground. Five hundred girls were killed in the crash of a single factory; seven hundred perished in the University Hospital; the former Premier and twenty statesmen were killed at a council; the Prince Regent barely escaped with his life.
Japan is in an earthquake zone, having 1.500 shocks a year. In Tokio a shock is felt about once a week; a serious one occurs somewhere in Japan on an average of once in thirty months. In the present disaster all railway trains speeding to or from the capital were wrecked en route; the water mains burst; gas tanks and oil tanks split their seams, and poured their liquid fuel over the doomed cities; the clocks all stopped; telephone and telegraph lines were wrecked; for several hours the only communication with the outside world was through a radio station 144 miles north of Tokio where, by some strange freak, the towers 660 feet high remained standing.
In the narrow streets, usually but eighteen feet wide, the mass of wretched humanity was subjected to 216 distinct shocks on the day of greatest fatalities, Saturday, September 1st, with 57 shocks on the day following. In Tokio, with an estimated population of 2,400,000, and in Yokohama, with a population of 450,000, only six buildings remained standing, although some of them were large modern buildings of steel construction, supposed to be quake-proof.
An Unprecedented Calamity
LL the bridges of Tokio, densely crowded with refugees from the fire, collapsed, hurl
ing thousands into death in the waters beneath. A tidal wave of extraordinary height wm
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followed by a typhoon which deluged everything with a torrent of wind and rain. The river Sumida, equalling the Hudson in size, changed its course; new islands appeared in the ocean; old islands disappeared.
Part of the Japanese fleet was destroyed; all the government buildings were destroyed; all the banks were destroyed; the fire which raged for two days was visible for two hundred miles, and was so intense that a temperature of 150 degrees was registered in many places. After ten days the steel vaults were still so hot that they could not be touched.
The principal prison opened its doors, and 1,500 prisoners were freed. The wild animals confined in the zoos escaped, and added to the horrors of the street scenes. Before aid could reach the stricken cities, food riots had broken out; and military punishment was visited upon the transgressors.
In the most severe of the shocks the ground rose and dropped four inches. Imagine an entire building, and everything in it, dropped four inches vertically, and this operation repeated many times; and it will be understood why almost no human structure was left standing in the stricken area.
Thirty thousand bales of silk, one-tenth of Japan’s output for an entire year, were destroy, ed, resulting in the closing down of many American factories.
’ The whole earth trembled with the shocks. By the seismograph, which is an instrument so * delicate that it will record the earth tremors caused by starting a street-car three miles away, the shocks were detected in San Francisco, London, Brussels, and Florence, Italy.
The ocean waves caused by the earthquake traversed the six thousand miles from Japan to California in forty hours, or at the rate of one hundred fifty miles an hour. When they reached the California shores, they still retained a height of twenty feet near Los Angeles, the swells breaking completely over a fifteen-foot breakwater and carrying away lumber piled along the shore.
Four days before the earthquake, a shock in Hawaii opened a crack ten feet wide and seven hundred feet long, in the famous volcano of Kilauea. Through this crack molten lava is rushing with a roar that can be heard a mile away.
American Relief to Japan
WITHIN two days of the catastrophe Ameri>' chn vessels loaded with 1,000,000 pounds of rice, 500,000 pounds of beans, 500,000 soldier rations for one day, medical supplies for 50,000 troops for three months, 400 large tents, and cots and blankets for 20,000 men were rushing ~ to the scene. This was but a handful, however, to what was needed; and funds were swiftly raised all over America, in response to presidential appeal, so that immense quantities of all kinds of supplies could be dispatched from ' Pacific Coast, Philippine, and Chinese ports — with the least possible delay. The relief fund at this writing has reached $9,527,700.
In New York city many physicians and nurses volunteered to go to Japan to give their ~ services free. The promptness, generosity, and effectiveness with which America responded has sealed American and Japanese friendship in a way which nothing else could have done. Seemingly this removes completely all friction between the two peoples.
Moreover, it is claimed that this disaster is so great, destroying, as it did, all the buildings in Japan’s capital and greatest city, that it has become virtually impossible for Japan to think of engaging in hostilities for twenty-five years to come; and by that time no nation on eartlfwill be interested in such madness. \
American Relief in Russia
COL. Wttjjam N. Haskell presents a most astonishing account of the work done by the American Belief Administration in Russia during the past two years. With the full consent and cooperation of the Soviet government, the United States Government stepped in, to the tune of $24,000,000, and the American people stepped in, with $36,000,000 more of their own savings; and the things that CoL Haskell accomplished with that money are almost beyond belief. His work ended with the month of. August, this year.
Two hundred and fifty shiploads of food, seed, clothing, and medical supplies were sent from America to the famine-stricken land. During the worst period, relief stations were opened in 35,000 localities, and 11,000,000 persons were fed daily. Fifteen thousand hospitals were put in operation, water systems were purified, publie baths were opened, and roads were repaired.
Let other nations boast of their military successes and their commercial conquests, bat here is a real triumph in which all that is best in 'American character, courage, and energy finds expression. Ninety percent of all that was done for Russia was done by this movement The report says:
“To the minds of the Russian common people the American Relief Administration was a miracle of good, which came to them in their darkest hour under the Stars and Stripes. It turned the comer for civilization in Russia. It lifted the Russian people from despair to hope. Communism is dead and abandoned and Russia is on the road to recovery. The realization by the Russian people that the strong American system was able aud contained die spint to save these millions of strangers from the death that had engulfed them, must have furnished food for thought.’*
But although the American Relief Administration accomplished much, let no one imagine that conditions in Russia are ideal. Several reports which are before ns show that Russia still has great numbers of homeless children. These wander about the cities or from town to town, “grubbing for an existence like wild goats in a desert.”
It is said that there are upwards of a million and a quarter of these in the Ukraine alone, many of whom are sure to perish during the coining winter because the relief funds have become exhausted. Moreover, the Russian crops are not so good as wa$ expected.
Communism in Practice
THE Soviet law allows each private citizen ten square yards of living space. This works out as follows: A modern home, two stories high, containing the usual three rooms down stairs and three rooms and bath upstairs, occupies about eighty square yards per floor.
According to Soviet law such a home must shelter sixteen persons. This would mean that four persons must sleep in the living room and in each bed-room of the house. If less than tfee above number of persons is sheltered the authorities can billet strangers on the home. There is no liberty in Russia.
The Soviet government leaders do not seem to be making any effort to extend their movement into Germany. They are said t8 believe that unemployment, food shortage, and cold are needed to make revolution in Germany feasible, but that these conditions are in sight, and that when they are sufficiently pronounced Communism is sure to follow.
A newspaper correspondent reports to the New York Times that in five days' inquiry in Berlin among foreign observers, diplomats, and other well-informed persons, he was unable to find anybody who doubted that it would be long before Germany would be in the hands of either a Fascist! or a Communistic dictatorship.
Germany's Impending Crisis
THE German mark used to be worth about twenty-four cents of American money. That was before the Kaiser started on his campaign to give Germany a place in the sun. On September 18th. 2.900.000 marks could be obtained for one cent, all of which proves briefly that militarism does not pay.
Some of the recent values which con be obtained by Americans with their own money, when they are fortunate or unfortunate enough to be in Germany, have recently appeared in the press. One hundred street-car rides can be had for one cent; 300 newspapers can be had for one cent; 600 dozen carnations can be had for one cent; rooms can be rented for 17 cents a day; but butter costs 25 cents per pound, and bread 10 cents a loaf, the latter being nearly the American price.
A Financial Madhouse
WITH money so constantly changing in value in Germany, the prices of many things remain fixed where they were before the war. But when a person comes to pay the bill every item is multiplied by a given amount, the proper multiplicator f.,r that day, or for that hour.
A cable to the Wall Street Journal in August declares:
“Germarij is e financial madhouse, *here tittering Reichshauk directors in* They are sitting in
long conferences, uncertain whether to feed me nysterical public further stimulants in paper mark notes or to introduce gold credits and gold deposits and admit that their own paper notes are worthless. Either path will lead to a crash.” '
It is a common thing in Germany now for
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poor women to wander about the streets, with tears streaming down their cheecks, holding out handfuls of worthless money which will not buy the simplest article. Farmers are declining to sell* Iheir products; hoarding is widespread; food supplies require and receive special guards: workers are asking and receiving pay in goods. In the city of Cologne one-third of the shops are closed altogether, because the stocks of goods are sold out or are being hoarded, while the remainder are open about four hours per day.
The British Holiday Fellowships are associations of hirii-minded and good-hearted British citizens who spend their vacations in foreign lends, mingling with the natives, and who thus endeavor to bring about a better feeling and a better understanding of how to deal with problems affecting such countries. During the past vacation season these gentlemen leased a number of old German castles, and thus inaugurated a new industry in Germany, where great need is felt for every aid that can be obtained.
Thus far the French occupation of the Ruhr has been an expensive failure for the French. Before the occupation France was getting p-ghty-three percent of all the coal coining to L r under the Versailles treaty. This coal was irjied and paid for by Germany. Now the French, unable properly to handle the German intricate mining system, are receiving only onetenth as much coal; and the coal is mined and paid for by France.
Can Germany Pay?
POLITICAL economists are having a hard time trying to figure out what Germany can pay in the way of furthering reparations. Some of them hold that the mind of man is unable to figure out any way by which the German nation can ever make good more than a small part of the damage done by German forces in France and Belgium.
Others contend that though the common people of Germany have been taxed all they can bear, larger levies can be made upon the wealthy; and that the cash payment of reparation amounts to creditor nations would automatically increase German markets so that more could be paid. There is probably some truth in this latter proposition. But much would depend upon tariff walls. They might be so constructed as to shut out quite effectively. German goods altogether.
Some American statesmen and economists . see a deliberate plot in Germany to avoid payment of reparations and to wipe out the German debt. Indeed, the German debt is practically wiped out now; for it was mostly represented in paper money and bonds which have lost their value and will surely be repudiated.
The losers in this transaction have been the German workmen, who have been paid in this paper money, and whose savings were invested in these paper securities; also the friends of Germany abroad, who have invested something like $8,000,000,000 in this worthless paper money and paid for it in gold.
The gainers in the transaction have not actually gained yet. Who the gainers are or will be, if able to carry their point, is explained by Senator Duncan Fletcher of Florida in the Manufacturers Record. He notes that as a result of the war England, France, Belgium and Italy are bent double with burdens and bound with obligations, but says of Germany:
“The German middle-class investors and endites have been virtually ruined, but the great industrial and -speculative lords have acquired most of t’^e substantial wealth of the nation. Now, if reparations are paid they will have to pay them. They own the German gold or properties abroad, and they own all the means of manufacturing production at homo. The people have the marks, and they have the goods. To save their massed wealth, dominate Germany and perhaps the world, these plutocrats must defeat the payment of reparations If they accomplish this feat, they will be more advantageously placed than any other industrial group in the world. When the occupying troops entered the Buhr, General DeGouttc remarked that the last battle of the war of 1924-18 was beginning. TVho wins it/ he said, ‘wins the war? He spoke the truth."
Progress of Fascism
THE Roman Catholic Fascists movement, i. e., — the plan for seizure of liberal governments by anarchists of the Mussolini type, proceeds apace. At Nuremberg, Germany, early in September, Field Marshall Ludendorff gathered 200,000 (some despatches say 500,000) of the German members of this movement, urging the seizure of Germany by monarchist forces, and hailing the seventeen-year old Prince Ferdinand, eldest son of the Kaiser's new wife, u Germany's future Kaiser.
One of the principal speakers at the meeting was a Catholic priest who, with fiery oratory, put the Fascist! oath to a vote, resulting in 150,000 (some despatches say 400,000) persons making the sign agreed upon in advance, the raising of two fingers of the right hand
Premier Mussolini, Italy's castor-oil anarchist, has issued a decree which, among other ' things, provides fines and six months' imprisonment for the printing of anything reflecting unfavorably upon the Pope, state religious institutions, or those in charge of the state affairs, thereby meaning himself. Mussolini has shown how easy it is for a Boman Catholic, who has the support of Boman Catholic soldiers, to seize and destroy the liberties of a country. The movement is spreading rapidly in all Catholic lands.
An idea of the ruthless way in which Mussolini is handling things may be seen in the fact that he has arbitrarily suppressed thirteen benevolent institutions in Naples, and diverted their funds "to assist other institutions of a worthy character.”
Fascist! and Biff Business
IT IS quite probable that big business is getting ready to give the word when the general European Fascist! coup is to come off. Berlin despatches in August, published in the Chattanooga News, report that the Morgan interests have secured control of the greatest gun-works in France, the Schneider-Creuzot works, and large British interests, the Busso-Asiatic Limited, in conference with Mr. Morgan, angling for control of Krupps, the great German gun works.
What object could Mr. Morgan have in wanting to get control of the two greatest gun-plants in Europe, unless he hoped to have use for them, or wanted to make sure others would not use them to defeat his plans f
One thing is sure: Mussolini could not have overrun Italy without the connivance of big business and the church, which are now having things all their own way in that country. And the Fascist! movement cannot spread over the whole world without similar connivance.
In line with the foregoing thought is the news that Hugo Stinnes, the German industrialist, is •spinning threads for an alliance with French industries.” A Paris despatch in the New York Times, dated September 3, declares:
"For some time there have been conferences between members of the French government and members of French industry for the purpose of working toward the economic accord desired alike by German and French big business interests.”
This is preceded by the acknowledgment that Hugo Stinnes has been seeking such an arrangement persistently for eight months but says:
"The Premier [Poincare] has ah agreement with the French industrials that they will undertake no big business agreements with the Germans before the Paris Government signifies that the right time has arrived.”
Spanish Military Coup
IN A recent issue we published a report from a correspondent in Spain regarding Spanish losses in Morocco. Under the able leadership of Abd-el-Krim, civil and chemical engineer, linguist, and graduate of at least one European, university, and equipped with airplanes, and all the latest devilish appliances for "civilized” war* fare, the Moors have visited upon the Spaniards one defeat after another.
The Spanish-Moroccan war has now been in progress several years, at a cost of upwards of $200,000,000 per year to Spain. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers including British mercenaries, have been sacrificed, all to no purpose; and many are said to have been tortured most atrociously before death put an end to their miseries.
Weary of being sent to Africa to an almost certain death, the soldiery of Spain has at last revolted and seized the government. Martial law has been declared all over Spain; and the control of everything is, like the government of Oklahoma at this writing, absolutely in the hands of the military.
What relation the overthrow of the Spanish government by the soldiery bears to the overthrow of the Italian government by the Mussolini group of ex-soldiers does not appear at this writing. In both instances the king, rather than lose his throne, let the soldiers have their own way. All justices and magistrates have been notified that they are subject to military orders. A humorous item is that King Alfonso sent a telegram to the Barcelona garrison, the one that started the revolt, thanking them for
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their loyalty to him and to the country. What a crazy world I ' -
Italian papers seem to think that the Spanish coup is another Fascist! triumph. The Messa-gero remarks that the Spanish nationalist military party naturally grew more powerful st Barcelona, the center of Spain's labor and socialist movements, just as in Italy the Fascisti started in Milan, Italy's labor eenter. The Cor-riere d’Italiano comments similarly, declaring that Barcelona was chosen in advance as the scene of the uprising, for that very reason.
Out of the League, Yet In
THE United States participates unofficially A in the League of Nations. That is to say, it cooperates with the League in the Commis-. sions on Health, Opium Traffic and Traffic in Women and Children, and on Disarmament It does not participate in the six other activities of the League, namely, those on transit, finance, mandates, intellectual cooperation, the Saar and Danzig; but it maintains a wing on the Assembly floor, where it keeps in touch with all that goes on and participates as far as American laws permit
Geneva, where the League meets, is a Protestant town, inhabited by a class of fine, dependable people. Here Cesar and Hannibal crossed the Rhone on the excursions which made them famous. Here Calvin and Knox preached in the dawn of the Reformation.
The League of Nations now has a membership of fifty-four nations, ten more than it had at the outset. Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Luxembourg sent no delegates to the Assembly, which opened in Geneva early in September of this year. A Cuban was elected President of the League for next year. Mexico still holds aloof; Russia and Germany are outcasts ; the United States is in and out.
World Court and League
THE American Bar Association at its annual convention in Minneapolis the last week in August went on record as approving the entry of the United States into the League of Nations via the World Court route. The British Bar Association is arranging the details. Next year the American Bar Association will meet with the British Association in London, probably to
get its-final instructions as to just what to_ do to “put it across." . ■ . ..
Big business does certainly want the United. States in the League, and is willing to go to * any expense to get what it wants—and what the common people of America do not want—participation of America in the League. If all those lawyers together cannot figure out some way to get Uncle Sam into the League whether he wants to go in or not, then it will be the first task undertaken in the interest of big business in which they have failed.
The International Federation of War Veter* ans, which met at Brussels in September, also advocates the World Court, and would have it “provided with the physical power of coercing governments to appear before it or of having its judgments executed when pronounced." Perfectly logical That means a reliance upon the League of Nations to carry out its decrees;
Senator Oscar W. Underwood, aspirant for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1924, made the statement in Chattanooga about the same time that “the World Court cannot be divided from the League of Nations unless ws want to make it a joke."
Next year will probably mark the most deters mined and aggressive effort to get the United States into European affairs, by hook or by crook, that has ever been tried. Working toward this end is the American Peace Award, which announced its Jury of Award about the middle of September. Colonel House, former personal representative of President Wilson, is one of the prominent persons on the jury. He was active in the formation of the League. About every association of prominence in the United States u pledged to aid in the popularization of the award when made.
The “David's Throne" Humbug
BUT if, as Mr. Barnum claimed, “the American people love to be humbugged," the British people love it none the less. In West* minster Abbey British kings and queens are solemnly crowned while seated on a stone which the attendants in the Abbey unblushingly claim is the very stone which Jacob had for a pillow when he saw the ladder reaching into heavem. *
The attendants go on to explain that all the Israelitish kings, including David, were crowned while seated on the same stone; and that Jen-miali and the daughters of Zedekiah fled with it to Ireland, where one of the daughters married a descendant of the tribe of Dan. It is further claimed that Queen Victoria traces her ancestry from that same Irish chieftain, and that that is the reason why James I made the lion of the tribe of Judah the standard of Great Britain.
The next thing you know some flunkey will discover that Rebecca's earrings and bracelet have been in the royal family right along, and that every Prince of Wales throughout the ages has been frequently seen wearing Joseph’s coat of many colors.
Then it will lie wrung from somebody that the furniture in Buckingham Palace is mostly made of material which was used in the construction of the ark, and it will be timidly admitted that the organ used in the Westminster Cathedral was the one that Jubal made.
Indeed, we are looking any time now for the solemn announcement that after every royal marriage the new couple are clad for a time in the original garments that Adam and Eve had when they left the Garden of Eden.
We have been modestly hiding these things from our readers; but as others are putting them forward we feel that we must publish the full list. We feel that somebody must do something to keep the king business alive; trade in this line has slumped dreadfully since 1914.
Peerage and People
fpILERE was a time, not so long ago, when a A British statesman who could obtain a peerage and a seat in the House of Lords felt that he had taken a long stride forward. But since the able and efficient Lord Curzon was passed by as candidate for Prime Minister solely because he is a member of the House of Lords, ~ no able man wishes to be transferred to it, and it is easy to be seen that that august body is on the way to its end.
The Government did not dare place any of the nobility in such an important position. In the event of his administration being unsatisfactory to the people (and it is very hard for any administration to suit the demand 3 of the people in these days) the result might easily be the overthrow of all royalty and the end of the monarchy.
One of the able men now connected with British royalty is Lord Birkenhead. At the eighth annual convention of the Canadian Bar Association, held in Montreal early in September, he made the following statement regarding the body of international law that was in effect at the time of the outbreak of the World War:
“There have been hundreds of years of Christianity and. civilization, and yet today the cruel and poignant troth confronts him who cares to understand the troth that the great war story merely demonstrated the moral bankruptcy of that system which has been laboriously and painfully compiled by the humanitarian and intellectual effort of centuries.1*
Babylon Still Drunk
IT IS a good sign that people are giving mon and more attention to the subject of how to prevent wars. A school teacher in Toronto has come forward with the sensible suggestion that the proper place to preach peace is in the schoolroom; but that it is fruitless to do this when every school history is filled with the glorification of military heroes and largely ignores, or clothes in commonplace fabrics, the achievements of peace. Germany was tuned into a nation of crazy militarists by the simple expedient of filling the minds of the young with military poison.
Mr. David Lawrence, just back from an extended tour of Europe, where he studied conditions and talked with statesmen, financiers, and people in all walks of life, tells the reason why Europe is without peace. In an article in the Washington Post he says:
“Behind the scenes of diplomacy is big business. Stretching eager hands for booty these captains of industry manipulate the parliaments and legislative bodies of Europe as surely as the ventriloquist does ths puppet on his knee. Newspapers right and left an subsidized or controlled. With one or two exceptions the words ‘public opinion* mean the tyranny of certain groups who play upon popular emotion the tan— that stimulate the dance of commercial or financial ambitions. That is why governments are so inconsistent and powerless; and that is why so many Americans, after peering behind the scenes, shake their heads dubiously, pack their luggage and thank God for the Atlantic ocean.
“The commercial game which helped so much tn plunge Europe into battle nine years ago still goes an through manipulated governments, while mothers look anxiously at their growing sons and wonder whether they are raising more cannon fodder for the great cataa* trophe that is coming within another five or ten yean if Europe continues its suicidal pace of today. But can
Europe fight so soon again? Isn't everybody exhausted ? There is no exhaustion of hate or greed. Hungry people grow desperate and fight hardest when their backs are against the wait Central Europe has not yet reached that point; but goaded on, it will soon begin to disregard all governments, and mistakenly geek to accomplish through anarchy what democracy has failed to do.”
Row Will You Die?
WHILE it is known that death-producing gases have been devised and are already in possession of the United States Government, and possibly other governments, and while it is not doubted that these gases would surely be used in the next war by any nation fighting for its existence, and while it has been truthfully said that with these gases the greatest city in the world could be snuffed out in a night, not a living creature remaining within its bor- * ders, yet it is not certain that these gases would * be used at the outset They might be held in reserve as a terrible reprisal weapon.
But we do know that mustard gas was actually used in the last war, and it is known that the effects of its use are so demoralizing that if a city is shelled with it resistance is hopeless; pandemonium results. The claim is made that a complete victory might be thus obtained without the loss of a life.
But would either of the contending forces adopt such a humane course of inhumanity T To us it seems doubtful Each would be so eager for victory, and so sure that the other side would stop at nothing, that they would be liable to make full use, at the earliest possible moment, of the most terrible weapon within reach.
Besides mustard gas, to break down an enemy's morale, it is said that other gases are in contemplation which are designed to so derange bodily functions as to affect the equilibrium or to prevent all movement for a number of hours. Affected by gases of this nature an army or a population would be unable to crawl and would be as helpless as poisoned flies.
Why Remain Dumb!
Abthub Ponsokby, M. P., visions the next war, in which certain zones will be selected for demolition. The first to perish will be the women and children. Pointing out how easy it would be for airmen to accomplish their objec
tive, even without any further advances in avia- / tion, he adds: .
"No city, village, building, or railway will be safe. The rain of explosives, well aimed and highly destructive, will spare nothing above ground, while the gas bombs will cover the whole district with a pall of heavy gas, which will make life above ground impossible for days. Bailway lines will be torn up, so that escape for the inhabitants who are not crushed under the ruins of their houses will be impossible. Driven under ground, if they can find such a refuge, the panic-stricken population will remain cowering in terror, lest on emerging " they may succumb to poison gas or again become the target for another shower of bomba. Within a couple of hour? of the declaration of war this diabolical rain from the sky will begin.
"This is the point which Christian civilization has reached in the twentieth century. These are the plana which are being worked out and perfected in the War Offices of the Powers of the Western world. This is the new method which man in his wisdom has devised with a view to settling international disputes. This is the way in which science is serving mankind. This la what long efforts at education and enlightenment liave brought us to. This is what highly developed, psychologically sensitive man approves of today.
"Or, if he does not, if his conscience molts at such barbarity; if his soul is sickened by the thought of such devilish cruelty, and his mind recoils at such senseless futility, why on earth doesn't he say so? Why does he remain dumb, submissive, acquiescent, while these plans are actually and positively being prepared and perfected under his nose—plans for his own annihilation? Man is planning his own destruction, and that of civilization, without cause, without defense, without protection, and without the smallest hope of any real victory.” *
Armageddon Due to Selfishneu
COMMENTING upon Judge Rutherford's declaration that the Armageddon above described is now sure to come, resulting in a disaster beyond the description of human words, but that afterward the Lord will bring order out of chaos, establish peace and righteousness, with the happy outcome that millions of people now living on the earth will live on forever in peace and happiness here on earth, the Springfield, Ohio, Sun says:
"Such sublime faith ai this merits more attention than the cold respect of a passing glance. If some measure of it could enter the councils of the world's rulers, who are presently unable to determine whether they ought to keep on remaining in the Ruhr or get out of it. to pay their debts or not to pay, to grab other nations' territory or let it aione,. Armageddon's final victory might be won without firing & shot or breaking another human head.
“One trouble with the world’s quarrelsome statesmen is that they are forever disputing over which nation has the right to claim the special benediction of the Almighty for their policies and undertakings, while at the same time with their wars, transgressions, and selfishness contending to see which can make the least use of His nrccepts. This is no way to hasten the advent of Millennium for which they are always praying.”
Gold Hunger in Europe
UE gold hunger of the poverty stricken nations of central Europe is so great that the
Austrian Government is reopening gold mines in Austria, which were originally worked by the Romans, hut which have not been worked for four hundred years. The ores are said to assay one ounce of gold to the ton. If the macliinery which is being installed is up to date, and it probably is, the reopening of the mine will doubtless be a profitable venture.
But the time is near when gold will be at a discount Men will be worth much more. The Lord declares that men shall cast their idols of gold and their idols of silver to the bats and to the moles; and that He will make a man more precious than gold, yea, than the golden wedge of Ophir.—Isaiah 2:20; 13:12. ’
Ten Days to New Zealand
INSPIRED by a praiseworthy desire to get into touch with her great empires at the other end of the world, Britain is arranging for a service of large airships to India. Australia, and New Zealand, and expects to land mail from London in New Zealand in ten days. If this plan goes through, it will be the most extraordinary transportation project in the world.
New Zealand is a coining country. It is claimed that two million additional persons could easily find a livelihood there at once. The scenery is unsurpassed; game is plentiful; the natives are the finest native people on earth.
Some of these Maoris live near the hot springs, for which New Zealand is famous. It is literally possible for them to catch fish in one stream and to cook them in another, only a few yards away; and they often do it. The Maoris enjoy fishing more than they do working: the same may be said of -ome white persons.
Speaking of fish, a Seattle mining man, returning from a trip through British Columbia, reports that at the foot of Salmon Glacier, in a place where the river had swollen and then receded, he saw many salmon from four to six feet, long suspended from the limbs of trees. Has anybody a more interesting fish story than that, or'a more improbable one!
Turks, Egyptians, and Asiatics
R. HIT JAS, an American doctor connected with Red Cross work at Saloniki, has returned to Amp ri ch. with good impressions of the Turks. He declares that Turkish women are really well treated; that there is no commercialized vice, no drunkenness, and but little polygamy; that the Turks are eager to give satisfaction to those with whom they deal; that they expect and ask a much less profit on their goods than either Jews or Greeks, and that they are truthful.
The Greeks themselves gave the mayoralty of Saloniki to a Turk, declared by Dr. Hillas to be as fine a man as he ever met. Under the beneficent rule of the Lord’s kingdom the Turks will be as desirable citizens as any other on the planet.
The annual Summer Institute of Politics at Williamstown, Mass., has been taking note of the fact that a sullen, smoldering hostility to the white races is spreading over all Asia and Africa. In Egypt the cry is being raised louder and louder, "Egypt for tfie Egyptians.”
The colored races are now increasing rapidly. During the past century the population of India has increased from 100,000,000 to more than 300,000,000. The transportation of Asiatics over great distances has now become an easy matter. If the United States had not interfered by legislation, there would most surely be at least 50,000,000 Orientals in America today.
The depression which has characterized business in many parts of the world does not seem to have affected Palestine, according to reports which have reached us. There has been widespread building activity. Many Jews are adopting Biblical Hebrew names, 1,643 certificates for such changes having been issued in 1922.
Philippine Perplexities
EARLY in the Summer the entire Philippine cabinet and council of state resigned, setting forth as their reason that they considered General Wood’s government of the islands too autocratic. They allege that he attempted to force the successfully government owned and operated Manila Railroad Company out of the hands of the government and into the private hands of New York bankers. In a previous issue we have published Governor Wood's reasons for doing this.
No doubt General Wood has the usual faults of a military dictator, yet his administration of Cuba many years ago was noted for its excellence. He accomplished wonders for Cuban sanitation, and prepared the island for the almost unbroken record of liberty and the good record of prosperity which it has since enjoyed.
General Wood thinks privately owned and operated enterprises more apt to succeed than public ones; and that the proper administration of the Philippine National Bank, which has been back of Philippine public utilities, requires that they should be made profitable financially as quickly as possible.
It is just possible that some of General Wood's New York friends, who were ready to pay $1,000,000 or more to make him President, are desirous to get hold of some of these properties. They do not generally let any chances to obtain public utilities escape their sticky fingers.
Uncle Sam9* Investment*
THE United States Government continues to make money, after its usual fashion. It has just sold for the modest sum of $50,000 the naval training station at Newport, for which it paid £7,000.(100. We could have hoped that $70,000 would be obtained so that the people would have received back one cent out of each dollar invested; but perhaps that was expecting too much. The wonder is that some dollar-a-year patriot did not take the property away outright, without paying anything for it, in view of what was done to the Custom House in New York years ago.
And Uncle Sam may not even get one cent on the dollar for the seven destroyers which ran aground oS San Diego. How it happens that sea experts could plan their work so badly in < time of peace that seven expensive vessels could all be destroyed in one maneuver, while three others barely escaped destruction, is a mystery to people that have to work for their money. All that we know is that the vessels were running twenty miles an hour in a fog, paid no heed to correct radio signals sent from shore, and were piled up on the rocks one after another as fast as they got there. A few days later one navy vessel rammed another neafe Boston.
Seventy Year* of Shame
SOME of the worthy people of California, heartily ashamed of the treatment of the California Indians, are bringing again to light the treaty by which, on the part of the Indians, 400 of their chiefs and head men relinquished their right to California in exchange for certain lands, live stock, clothing, machinery, and in* straction. The treaties were not ratified by the United States Senate, but the Indians weraeon> pelled to keep their part of the bargain.
In other words, the Indians were shamelessly robbed; and although the robbery was done seventy years ago, and all the statesmen in the United States know about it, the.injustice still stands. This is like going to a railway station and laying down $10 for a ticket. The ticket agent takes your money, but does not give you a ticket, nor will the conductor let you ride oa the train. You go back for your money, but the agent refuses to give it to you,.because that was your part of the contract. .
Sacrificing the Farmer*
Un 1TED States Senator Shipstead, of Minnesota, in an address before the FarmerLabor Party of Illinois, has brought to liffbfs the reason why the Federal Reserve Boar< so deliberately and so ruthlessly immolated the fanners in the Fall of 192L
As he put the matter, Wall Street, with its usual gambling propensity, had loaned $8,000,000.000 to $10,000,000,000 in Europe in the expectation that Europe would quickly regain its footing after the war; but the expectation was not realized, and in order to recoup quickly their losses they turned upon their friends. As the Senator put it, and we think truthfully*
"The Board used the very power created to prevent panics to create an artificial one and rob the American people of billions.”
Captain Kidd did not hesitate to slay his friends; but one can hardly imagine him seeking out the builder of the ship in which he sailed and swinging him to the yard-arm, as the Wall Street crowd swung the farmers in the Fall of 1920.
Recently published statistics show that in the past year the average American farmer received for his year's work about $20 in cash more than he received for his work the year previous, but the outlook for next year is not so good. He will receive less for his grain, so little in fact that it will not pay for the raising; and his $20 is liable to be all expended before the next presidential campaign is finished.
It will be a generation at least before the farmers will forget or forgive what the Federal Reserve Board did to them in the Fall of 1920. The Federal Reserve Board is now under new management, and its present policy toward the .farmers is said to be quite changed; but this is like locking the stable door after the horse has been stolen.
Another thing: Nobody can tell when the irresponsible group that has controlled the Federal Reserve will choose to work the pumphandle and produce another period of inflation followed by subsequent deflation to suit its purposes. A little real honesty or‘common sense on the part of Ampri^R^ great financiers is always appreciated, however. -
Canada is trying hard to find some solution of the problem of low prices for wheat by organizing wheat pools in each of the provinces, with a view of holding the wheat out of the market temporarily and marketing it throughout the year in an orderly fashion. .
It is hoped by the promoters that this method of marketing may aid the fanners by as much as ten or twenty cents per busheL Farmers west of the Missouri river are reported as also holding back their wheat from market, though this seems to be an individual policy rather than any general pool arrangement.
Coak Bread, and Bricks
WRITER in the New York Times makes the evasive statement regarding Governor
Pinchot that "as to his suspicion of profiteering in anthracite, there would seem to be no more grounds for it than for suspecting that there is profiteering in flour when bread is selling for practically as much today, with wheat at one dollar a bushel, as when wheat was selling for double that price.”
This is no argument at alL If a mau is held up and robbed of part of his money in one block, and then goes on and is robbed of the rest of it in the next block, does that prove anything as to the honesty of the second thief ?
The fact of the business is that when the price of anthracite was suddenly doubled during the war, even the great financiers were afraid that they had overdone the matter; and in their financial papers the hint was given that it might be prudent at an early date to restore to the people a part of what had been taken from them.
But if the coal barons and their railroad partners took from the people several dollars a ton more than was necessary or more than was fair, it may be set down as a certainty that they will give nothing back. Not only that, but they are certain to give prices another boost Indeed, the boost-'of fifty cents to one dollar per ton has already been made.
Within the district that makes brick for New York city the brickmakers have raised the price $9 per thousand bricks during the past year; and the .bricklayers have set their limit at a thousand bricks per day and have asked for and obtained $2 more per day. Rents continue to mount skyward as a result. The situation gets more and more impossible of solution every day.
Preservation of Order
EVERY now and then some of the forces that are antagonistic to the interests of the workers get alarmed for fear that the courts are crowding them too hard. The Philadelphia Public Ledger uses the following language in referring to Judge Wilkerson's order 'in which he made permanent Attorney General Daugherty's injunction against the railway shopmen:
“This injunction was amazing in its sweep. It was more binding than any in our long history of industrial war. It silenced men's tongues,-bound their arms, and tied up union funds so they might not be used on tbs strike. More than 400^000 men and their officers wen placed under duress. This action has the look of an
industrial mistake, a judicial error, and a political blunder. Labor’s arm will be nerved for further blows against the use of injunctions in maintaining order and protecting the public. It will be dragged into the coming national campaign to feed the fires of radicalism.”
A report has been filed with the United States Coal Commission by some independent investigators in which it is brought to light that the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company employs 407 private sheriffs; and that in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in which the great W. J. Rainey Company operates, there are 6,180 deputies, paid by the coal companies, engaged in preserving "order.”
The kind of order these men are supposed to preserve is disclosed further in the report, which presents copies of the leases which the men must sign in order to obtain a home. Only three kinds of visitors may come to these homes without violation of lease; the doctor, the moving-wagon man, and the undertaker. But if they have a phonograph, and wish to play it, these tenants may play, *‘My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty." They may also vote for the perpetuation of these, America's new institutions.
Automatic Safety for Train*
THE Pennsylvania Railroad has installed on its Lewistown Branch an automatic train control system that is said to eliminate collisions and make it impossible for two .trains to come together though they be given orders to do so. It is beyond human regulation, and is controlled by electricity. The apparatus has been under test for over a year. The tracks are electrified, and the engines equipped with the device.
The track is divided into sections of one mile each. If two sections^ are clear, the train may proceed at full speed'; and even at full speed the train cannot proceed beyond the maximum speed set for that section. If only one section is clear, the train is automatically slowed down to the medium speed for that section.
If no section is clear, or a switch is open, or the device itself ceases to work properly, the train is automatically stopped, unless the engineer turns a switch in his cab which will allow him to proceed at slow speed which is regulated by the apparatus.
In the cab are three bulbs over which the engineer has no control, and which indicate to < - £ him at all times the maximum speed at which < he may proceed under any and all drcum-stances. The “A" bulb indicates “high”; the "R* bulb "intermediate”; the "S” bulb "low” or stop.
This seems to be the last word in "safety first” for the running’bf trains, and evidences the fact of the nearness of the Lord's kingdom on earth; for the Prophet declares that in that time "they shall not hurt nor destroy in all iff) [His] holy mountain [kingdom].”—Isaiah 11:9.
266 Mile* per Hour
T EAVING the ground at a speed of seventy J-J miles an hour, and returning to the ground^ at the same rate of speed, the fastest airplane' now travels at the rate of 266 miles per hour. In one hour, at that rate of speed, the airman could go from New York to beyond Boston or Washington. In two hours he could go from New York to Cleveland or from London to Edinburgh. In three hours he could go from New York to Chicago, and in twelve hours from New York to Los Angeles. It would seem as if the limit of airplane speed must surely be near, but airmen predict an ultimate speed of at least . six hundred miles per hour in the upper high-velocity air currents.
Standardisation of Article*
THE work of simplifying civilisation goes on. . The national Chamber of Commerce, at Washington, continues its work of inducing manufacturers to reduce the number of sizes and designs of standard articles in common use. Among the items recently standardized are milk bottles; twelve varieties of quart sizes were reduced to three varieties; ten sizes of caps were reduced to one size. Paint and varnish manufacturers have reduced the varieties of containers, and have eliminated many colors and —-shades of paints, stains, enamels, and varnishes.
Hotel chinaware has been reduced from 700 varieties to 165 varieties. This refers only to design and not to decorations or colors, which ■are left to preference. Asphalt pavers reduced the asphalt grades from 102 to 10. Common brick were standardized at 8x2*£x3%”. Sizes, types, and varieties of wire fence were reduced from 552 to 69.
After hundreds of years of agitation the Greek church has finally adopted the Gregorian calendar. Those who were living under the old calendar did not have in their lives any dates from October first to thirteenth, 1923. Their first October date was the fourteenth. But they did not lose anything out of their lives; they lived those days in September. They did not start to live in September, according to calendar, until we had been enjoying the month for ^thirteen days.
Evidences of the Millennium
THERE is no hint in America of any intent on the part of the buying public to do without the luxuries to which it has become accustomed. Fur purchases, largely for account of American users, in the great wholesale fur market at Montreal are reported as three times as great as in the Fall of 1921, and sixty percent greater than a year ago.
An evidence pointing in the same direction was noted by the writer the other day. An apartment house is going up in the neighborhood. A handsome seven-passenger Studebaker automobile drew up in front of it at 8:30 in the morning, and out climbed six stalwart, well-dressed plasterers.
It is all right, if they can afford it; and who says that they cannot afford it if they can manage to get steady work at the present going rate of $14 per dayt Many of the Wall Street buccaneers have incomes scores of times greater, and have never done an honest day’s work in their lives. ’
Dr. Charles F. Steinmetz, the General Elec-trie Company’s wizard at Schenectady, bids us cheer up. He predicts that in fifty years the cost of electric lights will be but one-fiftieth .what they are now, that the wind and sun will * be tapped for power, that art will be universally recognized and sought, that starch and sugar will be as cheap as sawdust, that agriculture will be a luxury and cities smokeless.
Dr. Steinmetz also says that the people will be healthier, and that no one will be expected to work more than four hours a day. That sounds like the Millennium; and the best of it all is, that it is the Millennium, really and truly; for the Millennium is actually here. The long-promised reign of Christ, earth’s new King, is begun.
Negro Migration
THE Negroes continue to migrate northward, led there by opportunities opening in the steel industries, owing to the abandonment of the twelve-hour day. The South views the departure of these Negroes with mingled feelings. In some sections they view the situation with alarm, as they are already short of help. In others they declare themselves well pleased, because they beHeve that by a greater distribution of Negroes over the North the Negro problem will cease to be a sectional one.
Troubles in the Negro section of Johnstown, Pa., one of the steel centers, led the mayor of the city to order all recent Negro arrivals to leave town. This.was an illegal act on his part; but upwards of two thousand of the Negroes obeyed the order. Three policemen had been killed; the mayor had great provocation.
Prize-Fighting and Civilization
ONLY a few years ago prize-fighting was forbidden in nearly every state in the Union. That was while America maintained a pretense of being a civilized country. In that day, only a little more than ten years ago, it was necessary for the plug uglies to travel all the way to Nevada in order to find a-substitute for civilization sufficiently low to permit them to try to batter each other to pieces.
But the preachers have changed all that The World War gave them their chance. They glorified the murder of one man by another, using their pulpits for recruiting stations. And since the war they cannot very well say anything against prize-fighting. Some of them have actually gone into the ring, particularly the fighting parson of Coffeyville, Kansas.
At the recent Dempsey-Firpo fight in New York 85,000 persons paid a total admission fee of $1,250,000 to see one big brute whip another in three minutes and fifty-seven seconds. Arthur Brisbane, editorial writer of the New York American, attended and gave his impressions at the ringside. He sized up this flower of American civilization in the following language:
"One man cuts the other’s eye open. A ferocious yell of pleasure from the darkness tells you that even mediocre fighting is very pleasant, for those that don't have to do the fighting. In addition to. being brutal, prizefighting is cowardly. Among the tens of thousands here yon could find materftl for a firsfclass grand hurried retreat in any battle. Men that like to see fighting don’t like to share in it It is amazing with what patriotic unanimity our best prize-fighters answered Uncle Sam’s call in the big war, and hurried off to teach boxing to soldiers, here in the training camps.”
Against this close analysis by a great writer, consider the following extract from a “sermon" by the "Reverend” Frederick E. Hopkins, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Michigan City, Indiana, Sept. 16:
"Bill Muldoon, boxing commissioner of New York, has done as much for our country as ex-President Eliot of Harvard. We need both. They educate men who make great poems and great punches.
. "What is the matter with the modern teachers of morals, that they denounce the feats of athletic skill and applaud the dough-faced pacifist?
"The modern moralist will uphold as magnificent examples of physical fitness such Bible characters as Samson. and then wish to throw Dempsey and Firpo into jaiL -
“But there is no distinction in what Samson did with the jaw bone of an ass when he met the thousand or more Philistines, and what Dempsey did to the so-called Tull of the Pampas’ after Dempsey had been introduced to the canvas and did a neat back flip through the ropes to the press pita.”
Multiplication of Defectives
DUCATORS and thinkers are alarmed over the rapidly increasing evidence that defectives are multiplyirg as never before in the history of the race. Insane asylums and homes for imbeciles are filled to overflowing, and the tide is ris’ng. Harry Olsen, Chief Justice of the Municipal Court of Chicago, writing on this fiub.v-c* in the New York Times says:
“'fhere always have been defectives and defective stocks; but until quite recently the environment of Northern peoples was so harsh and rigorous that the defective stocks tended constantly to be uprooted, to be bred out of existence. The defectives had much the higher mortality rate, especially among infants. Now we find the ordinary conditions of a century ago, to go no further back, are reversed. The normal have cut their rate of reproduction, and at the same time invited defectives to multiply freely with a guarantee that their offspring will be coddled and nourished and protected and brought by every artificial means to an age when reproductive instincts will provide another generation.”
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