Golden Age, December 19, 1923
Download: PDF — Golden Age, December 19, 1923
Contents of the Golden Age
Social and Educational
Learning to Write ............
Finance—Commerce—Transportation
How to Acquire Just Titi* to Commodities.....
Robbery of Common Energies..........
Public Pays Compound Interest.........
A Standard of Value.............
Political—Domestic and Foreign
Perplexity or the Nations . . . ........
Debtors Benefited by a Dying World......
Fiat Money Brings Disaster...... . . , .
Ex*Kaiser Going Mad?............
Labor Situation In England..........
Sentiment against War Growing........
Radical Russia Rich in Rubles.........
No Unemployment in France.........
Mark Twain's Reputation Saved........
1S3
Science and Invention
Forms or Insect Life...........
How to Kill Files............
Sixty Kinds of Mosquitoes........
Ways to Kill Mosquitoes and Other Intruders .
Ants, Spiders, Locusts, Beetles.......
The Boll Weevil and Other Pests......
ii
Agriculture and Husbandry
A Voice from the Farm...........
Prenatal Diet
Home and Health
1S2
Religion and Phil sophy
Spiritualism Antagonistic to Scripture Teaching . . The Rivals ................
Christmas Bells (Poem)...........
Exploitation or Christmas...........
The Song or the Angels...........
Studies in "The Harp of God”.........
1S6
Published every other Wednesday at 18 Concord Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A., by WOODWORTH, HUDGINGS A MARTIN
CepartACrr oad Proprtetorr Address.* 18 Concord Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A. CLAYTON J. WOODWORTH . . . Editor ROBERT J. MARTIN . Busintts Managw
a E. STEWART .... Assistant Editor WIL F. HUDGINGS . . Bec’yand Trees.
Five Czvts a Copt—11.00 a Ykab Maks Rsmittances to TEE GOLDEN age Fobiion OmCBS; RHMsh.....84 Craven Terrace, Lancaster Gate, London W. 2
Canadian .........£8-40 Irwin Avenue, Toronto, Ontario
AMtrolostai....... 405 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia
South Africa* ...... 8 Lelle Street, Cape Town, South Africa
Butsred as —confl r matter at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1S7»
otic Golden Age
Volnme V Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednmday, December 19, 1923 Nn»bwlU
Forms of Insect Life
A LEARNED professor, a good multiplier, has figured it out that if nothing happened to any of the children or grandchildren even unto the nth generation one female fly could, in one season, count her posterity to the number of 4,472,286,103,628,713,559,320; and that the rest of us would have to move off the planet in order to make room for them. Fortunately most of her children die; and flies live hut a few weeks.
Some people regard the common house-fly as comparatively harmless; but in point of fact it is one of the greatest disease carriers known. One hundred and sixteen kinds of germs have been found in the track of a single fly. The worse the carrion the more this fly enjoys it. Its specialties are the distribution of germs of typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, summer complaint, and eye infection.
It would be bad enough if there were only one kind of fly; but the entomologists tell us that there are 50,000 varieties, and profess to believe that the total may be six or eight times more than that great number. The greenbottle fly has been identified as a carrier of the germs of paralysis.
It is said that in the Spanish-American war there were more soldiers killed by diseases carried by the fly than were killed by bullets. The presence of flics indicates uncleanliness.
Wherever a fly walks he leaves a sticky fluid full of germs. This fluid exudes from the ends of hollow hairs fringing the cushions of his feet, and enables him to walk upside down on the smoothest surface.
In some places flies are thick to a degree that we know nothing about in America. At one place in France, in the summer of 1922, flies held up a fast train crossing a bridge. There were so many of the little creatures on the rails that their bodies formed a jelly under the wheels.
How to Kill Flieo
HERE are several ways of getting rid of flies besides the traditional and effective fly-paper and swatter. One way is to burn pyrethrum powder in the house in the morning. The flies become stupefied, and may be swept up and burned. Of course the house should be aired subsequently. .
Another way is to close the windows and boil vigorously for five minutes a pint of water to which has been added ten drops of carbolic acid. At the end of that time the flies that are not dead will escape from the room if the windows are opened. This amount suffices for an ordinary-sized kitchen. For a larger room or for a whole house a larger quantity should be used. If desired, twenty drops of the carbolic acid may be dropped on a hot shovel, and quicker results can be thus obtained.
Another way is first to remove carefully all other liquids from the room, and then place formalin, diluted with about forty parts of water, in saucers about the room. After several hours the flies, unable to get other liquids, will drink of the formalin and die.
One thing which tends to prove that the fly was originally created by the devil is that it loves every evil thing and hates every good thing. The odors that are most pleasant to man, such as mignonette, white clover, geranium, heliotrope, lavender, and honeysuckle, are all displeasing to the fly. Flies will not stay in rooms in which these plants are growing; nor will they stay in a room which has a considerable quantity of blue in it.
The breeding of flies on manure piles can be prevented by scattering borax over the pile, and then sprinkling with water. This does not injure the manure.
A bob-white or a cliff-swallow will eat a thousand flies or other insects in a day. Good far bob! More strength to his appetite I It ia said that boh also disposes of about six million weed seeds per year. This would indicate that he is a citizen of which any community might feel proud.
ia
Sixty Kinds of Mosquitoes
New Yobk State boasts that it raises sixty kinds of mosquitoes, although there are only two varieties that are at all plentiful. The right way to raise mosquitoes is to have around the premises a few tin cans half filled with rain water. Or they may be raised in gutters, roofhollows, water tanks, catch basins, or wet cellars. These receptacles must have stagnant water in them; otherwise there will not be a good crop of mosquitoes.
Most of the mosquitoes which are found in New York city are grown on the premises. They are the fresh-water varieties; and the inhabitants cannot blame the New Jersey or the Long Island salt marshes for their production, but must blame themselves. Park lagoons are good places in which to raise mosquitoes.
The word "mosquito” means little fly. Like the house-fly the mosquito subjects the multiplication table to a great strain. The mother mosquito lays as many as four hundred eggs at one time, and may become the ancestor of 10,000,000,000 able-bodied singers and jabbers in just thirty days by the clock. And yet we consider a hen faithful and industrious if she produces one egg a day!
Unlike some physicians, the mosquito presents its bill before it injects the poison into your system; and, also unlike some physicians, the presentation of the bill is not the painful part of the performance. The insect injects a drop of poisonous saliva before it leaves. This looks like an act of what may be described as •pure cussedness,” and convinces us that the mosquito is one of the devil's own inventions.
Mosquito a Bad Citizen
THE mosquito has a bad record. He it is that carries the germs of malaria, yellow fever, dengue or break-bone fever, and filiariasis, which is the infestation of the body with long, Blender threadworms. If you have a disease of any of the above varieties, the mosquito loves to come and bite you and poison you, and make you think unkind things about him. Then he goes off and bites some other luckless chap and injects the germs of your disease into him. And if that does not show the disposition of the devil, will you not please point out something that does ? Moreover, a mosquito will bite you when you are asleep, and make you awake peeved and resentful.
Mosquitoes are great travelers. They are sometimes blown forty miles from their breeding places during the eight days between birth and maturity. They are found all over the world. High up in the Canadian Rockies they so infest the trails that passage is had only at the expense of great discomfort. In the Himalayas they are found 13,000 feet above the sea.
Modern medicine claims that the weakening of the Greek and Roman races by malarial infection caused by mosquitoes was the reason why they gave way before the barbarians. In the Summer of 1922, the Baltic seacoast was so infested with unusually savage mosquitoes that many were made ill. In Chicago, during the same season, there was one occasion when they were flying in such swarms that they were mistaken for smoke, and caused two false firealarms to be sent in. It is believed that the Panama Canal could hardly have been built if some means of fighting and conquering this pest had not been discovered. Dogs and cats are immune to mosquito bites.
Mosquitoes have their tastes in colors. Careful experiments extending over a number of years have proven that they remain away from anything yellow, but are partial to reds. The mosquito's preference in colors is found to run in the following order, with his least preferred color first: Yellow, orange, white, light blue, olive green, slate gray, black, scarlet, browns dark red.
Ways to Kill Mosquitoes
THERE are three ways of getting rid of mosquitoes: By not giving them a chance to be born, by giving their natural enemies a chance to get at them while they are still wrigglers, and by suffocating them while they hre in the wriggler stage of growth.
Mosquitoes swim for a week before they fly; and at this stage stagnant water is essential for them. If the pool in which the eggs were laid is drained, that is the end of the family. If fishes get into the pool, that also is the end of the family. If the pool is covered with oil, the little sinners will suffocate; but the oil has to be renewed every ten days, as it is only a temporary expedient.
There are microbes that destroy mosquitoes; but it takes sixty kinds of microbes to kill the sixty kinds of mosquitoes, each kind having its own special diet. And when a man has a mosquito drilling for blood, it is beyond human nature to expect him to look around for the identical kind of microbe needed to slay the animal. He just slaps his enemy hard, and lets the microbe feed on the remains. More than this a well-trained microbe could not expect.
Mosquitoes flee from smoke; for they do not like it. The water-dog is a natural enemy of the mosquito, as is also the duck. In tropical countries the larvse are destroyed by tiny fishes called “millions,” raised for the purpose, also by a variety of beetle which has a fondness for them. Poison gas, such as was used against humans in the World War, has been used in poisoning mosquito waters in New Jersey.
In addition to the foregoing there is a water fern, with leaves too small to be seen by the naked eye, which is said to have been used successfully in Panama to prevent the propagation of mosquitoes.
Cockroaches and Bedbugs
ERE is a nice pair, cockroaches to get into your food and bedbugs to get into your
bed. There are said to be about a thousand species of cockroaches. We should imagine that one would be plenty. Roaches will not travel through a house that guards carefully against the admission of food to any place except where it must necessarily be kept.
Id places where the roaches have become a nuisance, the food materials should be confined in insect-proof containers or in ice boxes, and great cleanliness would have to be maintained. A liberal dusting with sodium fluorid furnishes an efficient means for getting rid of them. Various poisons are also sold for the purpose.
There is another way to kill cockroaches, and that is to keep a centipede around the house; but most folks would consider the cure worse than the disease. A centipede is as fond of cockroaches as the average boy is of ice-cream cones. The centipede will also eat moths, mosquitoes and flies, but will not bite humans unless frightened or molested. The centipede has fifteen pairs of legs. In this climate he grows to be only an inch in length, but in the tropics may grow to be a foot long; and one variety attains a length of eighteen inches. His bite is painful* but the pains may be assuaged by the wounds being dressed with strong ammonia.
As to the bedbug, specimens have been known to survive when kept for a year in a sealed vial, with no food whatever. Bedbugs have also been known to live in unoccupied houses for long periods. An application of paint composed of equal parts of shellac, turpentine, and corrosive sublimate is a good way to get rid of them— shellac to tangle their feet, turpentine to strangle them, and corrosive sublimate to burn them up.
A remedy suggested by the government is to place in the center of the room a dish containing about four ounces of brimstone, within a larger vessel, so that the possible overflowing of the burning mass may not injure the carpet or set fire to the floor. After removing from the room all such metallic surfaces as might be affected by the fumes, close every aperture, even the keyholes; and set fire to the brimstone. When four or five hours have elapsed, the room may be entered and the windows opened for a thorough airing.
Brimstone is the most deadly fumigant known. If the Lord wanted to make sure that a soul when it died would be stone dead, burning it in brimstone would surely do the trick. As a means of torment it would be of no value; for death would ensue too promptly. All the arguments of common sense, as well as all the arguments of the Bible, are completely opposed to the theory of eternal torture.
The Industrious Ant
THE telegraph poles of the Panama Railway are of iron; the reason for this is that the army ants of that region destroy a cedar pole over night. Talk about army ants! Before a marching column of these invaders the wild animals flee in terror; if they wait, the bleached bones of the biggest and strongest of them litter the ground in a few hours.
The ants in America are mostly subterranean* although in Wisconsin there is one variety that builds a mound about twenty inches high. In Europe ant mounds are often as much as three feet in height. In Africa the termite, or white ant* raises its hills to a height of fifteen feet and constructs them so strongly that a heavy beast like a buffalo can stand upon them without breaking them down. These buildings are six hundred times the height of their tiny builders.
There is an ant in the Argentine which bites its way through the tympanum in the ears of sleeping infants until it reaches the brain and kills its victims. It is one of the most serious pests in the world. This ant will eat anything we eat, and can probably thrive in any climate short of the Arctics. Its spread to other lands would be a great calamity.
The Useful Spider
THE spider is one of the most useful of the insect friends of man. Man's enemies are the natural food of the spider. Day and night he goes after the flies, mosquitoes, and other insects which man has come to recognize as pests. Spiders injure no plant food nor other product of human industry. Contrary to the general belief they are, as a rule, neither noxious nor injurious in any way.
The web that the spider makes is genuine silk, and the finest silk known. A thread long enough to reach around the earth would weigh but one pound. These threads are so small in size that a million of them can lie side by side within a space not so wide as the length of a yardstick. On account of its fineness the thread of the spider is used for the cross-lines of telescopes.
A spider is said to have saved the life of Robert Bruce by spinning with marvelous rapidity a web across the mouth of a cave within which he was concealed. His pursuers passed the entrance of the cave, convinced that the web across its mouth proved that no one was within. A web may be made in forty minutes.
There is a spider that builds airships. This spider anchors itself with its feet, and then sends a number of strands of fine silk out through its spinnerets. When enough silk has been spun, the spider lets go its grip on the ground, the wind catches the silk, and away goes the spider, sometimes for hundreds of miles.
The tarantula, the giant spider of the Southwest, has a vicious bite; but it will not bite unless it is molested. A Pasadena dealer sells B,000 mounted tarantulas a year, employing an army of boys to collect specimens. There is some doubt as to the degree of poison properly attributable to a tarantula- bite. Professor W. J. Berg, of the University of Arkansas, haa made experiments which lead him to question their poisonous qualities altogether.
Another insect-destroyer is the wasp, of which 1,500 varieties are known. Wasps and spiders are not good friends; they are too much interested in the same raw material The wasp is the oldest paper-maker known; its nest is a marvel in its absolute perfection for the purpose for which designed. An industrious wasp can teach a boy to dance in a very brief time.
The Locust Plague
AMERICA knows little about locust plagues, but they are common enough in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. The best-known variety in the United States is somewhat under two inches long; and although it is quite common, it does not seem to flourish in this climate as locusts do elsewhere.
In the East, especially in ancient times, there have been locust plagues which have stripped the country for miles around as completely as would a fire. Pasturage, vegetables, fruit, crops of all kinds, and even the bark of trees disappear as if by magic.
The prophet Joel described a locust invasion elaborately. This description is believed by Bible Students today to foreshadow the overrunning of Christendom by the hordes of communists that are being made every day by the folly of present rulers:
"A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame bumeth; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness. They shall ran like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall ran to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens rfiall tremble ? the sun end the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining?'—Joel 8: 3-10.
Sometimes locust plagues have lasted for two or three years. They swept from one region to another in swarms many square miles in area, and so dense as to darken the sun, as the last verse of the foregoing prophecy points out
The locusts come out of the ground in the Spring, split their outer skin and hop away, all in the same direction. Although they destroy the crops, they are themselves edible; and the natives kill them by the ton. They make good food, either dried and ground into meal, or fried in butter, or smoked. They are also used as fuel.
Beetle* Galore
THE number of known varieties of beetles is now said to J>e over 100,000, of which not less than 10,000 are native to the United States. Additionally, there are about 1,000 fossil species known.
The Japanese beetle is said to be, at this time, our country's worst crop pest. This form of beetle hatches out underground, where it attacks the roots of growing trees. It is persistent to an uncanny degree. Other pests die out or move on; but the Japanese beetle stays on the job until every green tree is killed, including the roots.
The beetle itself, when it emerges from the ground, is about a half inch long and seems immune to almost every form of poison except arsenate of lead, which is also poisonous to humans, and cannot be used on fruits and vegetables without danger to human life. Unless some way can be found to stop the spread of this beetle, it is predicted that it will sweep from coast to coast, destroying every leaf-bearing tree. Perhaps the devil made this one, too; it looks like his work.
Another kind of beetle that we could get along without is the wood-boring beetle, which has become common in California. This beetle not only bores wood but is able to go through alloys harder than lead. It has put hundreds of telephones in California out of commission by boring holes in the cables that carry the wires.
Another beetle that makes a nuisance of itself Is the pine beetle, which seeks the destruction of the yellow-pine forests of the Northwest. The loss from this pest is now set at $300,000 per year; but a way has been found to conquer it, and where the treatment has been applied the loss has been reduced by one-half.
The mordella beetle should have been called the moreyes beetle; for it possesses more eyes than ten thousand of us humans put together. It has been estimated that the mordella has twenty-five thousand eyes, including many in the back of its head. Under a microscope these little eyes are very beautiful The dragon fiy is said to have not less than twenty thousand eyes, and the horsefly also has eyes by the thousand.
The Boll Weevil
THE boll weevil came to the United States from Mexico twenty-one years ago, and has already destroyed enough cotton to make 500 shirts for every male in the country. The loss is calculated at over $2,000,000,000. A single pair of weevils can produce 12,775,000 weevils in one season. The cotton fields of the South are being ruined by this pest, and are being used for other crops. Mild winters and moist summers favor the growth of the weevil
The boll weevil is small, rather less than onefourth inch in length, with a snout half the length of its body. When squares or forms begin to appear on the cotton, the weevils punch holes in them, laying one to three eggs in each. The weevil is light yellow when young and black when fully matured.
Beans, peas, and cowpeas are often damaged seriously in storage and in the field by weevils; but they never attack corn or wheat. The crop should be harvested as soon as possible after maturity and subjected to fumigation, heat, or cold, in order to destroy the weevils in it Guinea fowls destroy weevils.
Crude sulphur is used as a weevil fumigant. Take a common tin can, and cut a one-half-inch hole a third of the way from the bottom. On the opposite side make two holes with a ten-penny nail; on the top lid make a three-quarter inch hole; into the can put one-fourth pound of sulphur; apply match and close lid down; the crude sulphur applied in this manner will continue to burn for six hours.
After the second chopping of the cotfon, before the cotton begins to bloom, the over-wintered weevils should be picked from the young cotton plants. At first sign of weevil damage to the squares, the field should be gone over care-
Fully once each week; all squares on the ground should be picked up, and all yellow squares on the stalks which show signs of weevil puncture should be pulled off and burned. The picking of the cotton should be completed as early as possible; for it cuts off the food supply, starves millions before hibernating time, and prevents the development of the young weevils.
The Muscular Caterpillar
SINGLE caterpillar has 4,000 different muscles, and is able to drag twenty-five times its own weight A caterpillar has an appetite, too. The American silkworm at the end of its life as a caterpillar has eaten not less than 120 oak leaves. This food, three-fourths of a pound in weight, and consumed in fifty-six days, equals in weight eighty-six thousand times the primitive weight of the worm.
The Summer of 1923 witnessed caterpillar pests in Oregon and in Bohemia. In Oregon a man was driven from his house by them, crops were destroyed, telephone lines were pulled down, and at least one train was held up. In Bohemia the peasants walking through the forests had to carry big cotton umbrellas to prevent being smothered by the caterpillars which fell from the trees in quantities.
The tent caterpillar is a ravenous insect which weaves a web around a duster of leaves for the protection of its young. This tent is water-proof and insecticide proof; hence spraying must be done before the webs are formed. After the webs are formed, they can be destroyed by burning with rags saturated with kerosene fastened to the ends of long poles.
Caterpillars hatched out from eggs laid by small brown and black moths have attacked fields of alfalfa in some places, infesting the fields to such an extent as to make these appear ragged. They strip away the foliage, leaving the bare stalks. Prompt cutting is the only remedy. The yellow and black-billed cuckoos eat the caterpillars in great numbers. We appreciate the service they render, even though we do not admire their taste.
Some Other Peets
THE Hessian fly, introduced from Europe in Revolutionary days, causes an average annual loss to the wheat crop of $50,000,000. Some yean the loss is double this amount. The fly is very small, only about one-tenth of an inch long, with a form much like that of a small mosquito. The government recommends the following program as to the best method for controlling this pest: Sow the best of seed in thoroughly prepared, fertile soil, after the major portion of the fall brood of flies has made its appearance and passed out of existence. If possible, sow on ground not devoted to wheat the preceding year. In the Spring-wheat section, the earlier it is sown in the Spring the less it will suffer from the pest.
The European corn borer has already been introduced. It tunnels through all parts of the corn plant and also attacks celery, swiss chard, beans, beets, spinach, oats, potatoes, tomatoes, turnips, dahlias, chrysanthemums, gladiolus, geraniums, and timothy. The Department of Agriculture pronounces it the most injurious plant pest we have yet imported. The best way of suppressing it is to gather and bum all remnants of crops and wild grasses within the infested area such as would be liable to harbor the borers during the Winter.
In the southwestern part of the United States there is an ear-tick, a blood-sucking parasite which infests the ears of cattle, horses, sheep, dogs, and other animals. This pest seems to prefer the semi-arid climate of that section, where it causes heavy losses among live stock.
Some insects are much stronger in proportion than is man. A grasshopper can jump two hundred times its own length. If a man could do that, he could jump almost a quarter of a mile.
A blow-fly has been harnessed, and found able to drag more than two hundred and fifty times its own weight
In an experiment made with a small hornbeetle, weighing two grams, this insect was proved capable of alternately raising and lowering a piece 6f stick weighing two hundred times as much as itself. In order to rival such a feat a man would have to lift a motor truck laden with eight tons of coaL
Evidently the subjugation of the 750,000 varieties of insects is going to be a big job; but the One that win supervise the work is fully equal to the task. Probably the Lord made some of the useful insects. No doubt the devil made some of the others. The Lord is the better architect, and victory is sure to crown His banners in the end. — " r
Learning to Write By e. e. Coffey
WRITING is within itself an art, and one commonly practised by almost everyone. Hence helpful information along this line should be of general interest Before dearly explaining how anyone who writes poorly may easily and with little effort greatly improve his penmanship, I shall explain briefly concerning the origin of writing as practised today.
Man seems to have learned to write through slow, progressive steps, just as he has learned to do many other useful things. No doubt it was quite early in the history of mankind’s existence on the earth that certain individuals began to think or ponder on some means of communication other than that of the human voice. Thought along this line was doubtlessly fostered by necessity, which, as has been well said, "is the mother of invention”; t. e., the human race had increased to such an extent that they could not keep in touch with one another by oral conversations.
Man’s first efforts toward overcoming this obstacle seem to have been in the way of picture writing. Crudely drawn or carved pictures were used to represent words. Later, symbols seem to have been substituted for pictures. Some people, as the Chinese, who have a different symbol to represent each word, never progressed beyond this stage. However, other peoples, as the Babylonians and Egyptians, went further and evolved a system of phonetic or syllabic writing allowing syllables of words to be represented by different characters.
But the Phoenicians, it seems, deserve to have credit for producing the first real alphabet. As they were great traders and navigators, they were at least the first to bring the alphabetic system of writing to the attention of the world at large.
The foregoing indicates that mankind were a long time in learning to communicate easily by the method of writing. Yet this does not show, as some have erroneously supposed, that man has been evolving upward. It merely demonstrates to the mental vision that when excluded from Eden man was left to shift for himself.
Since discovering the alphabetical system of writing, man has experimented through many centuries in an endeavor to find suitable material and tools with which to carry on this helpful art. Through successive ages, stone, sun* dried brick, parchment, papyrus paper, etc., each has been used as material on which to write. Our grandfathers used foolscap paper, quill pen, and soot ink in carrying on their first correspondence.
For a long time writing, as one of the three B’s, has been listed among the essential branches which every child should learn; and those who attempt to master the art attain to many graduating degrees of skill. Some few may become skilled penmen; a great many may come to write somewhat legibly; and not a small number may continue to write throughout life so poorly as to require much effort on the part of their friends to enable them to decipher the scribbling.
At one time, previous to the invention of the typewriter, the few who did become skilled penmen were in great demand. Business houses required rapid and skillful writers to carry on their correspondence, and paid excellent salaries for such service. While there is no such demand today, yet good writing, like good manners, brings its own reward.
Character, too, is as truly revealed in our handwriting as in our daily conduct. Those who merely scribble are often careless. Those who fail to capitalize words where this is necessary, and who misspell, etc., show lack of education. Hence it is that business men, as a rule, ask for a written application from those seeking employment
For the foregoing and many other reasons everyone should desire to write well. To satisfy this desire does not require special effort or expense, and is in no way injurious, but from every standpoint beneficial.
Attention Necessary to Accomplishment
TO THIS, as with other branches of learning, there is no "royal road” or special short cut. In fact, there is only one practical and beneficial method by which to acquire both speed and beauty in penmanship, and that is by the so-called muscular movement. The essentials of this method of writing are: (o) Correct position of body, feet, hands, and pen; (b) movement, speed, and form.
The position which this system calls for is
the most healthful poise one could assume while writing. Adults as well as children when attempting to write often assume positions which are very detrimental to the health; and they hold their pens or pencils in such a cramped position that it is utterly impossible to write in a clear and legible way.
The muscular system allows the pen to glide smoothly and gracefully along with the least expenditure of effort and at the correct angle. Hence such method of writing is restful and does not cause fatigue. In this brief article I will not go into such detail as to explain how to learn and practise the muscular system of writing.
The reader whose interest is aroused by this may learn fully concerning the system from many of the writing books used in the public schools throughout the various states or may procure at small cost from publishing companies supplying them, teachers’ courses in muscular writing.
One-half hour’s regular and intelligent practice each day will in a few months revolutionize anyone’s penmanship. Such improvement will be admired by all who see it and, like other things of beauty, will bring lasting joy and real satisfaction to the executor.
The foregoing is given with the intent to encourage all who practise this worth while art to attempt it in the correct way. Many letters go to the dead-letter office, and many business transactions are misunderstood, because of illegible writing, all of which could have been avoided if everyone had been required to learn to write in the proper manner.
But in this as in every other worthy endeavor where improvement is sought discouragements will at times come, and there will be periods when no improvement may be seen. Yet where one continues to persevere, improvement will begin again and continue through another period.
In this connection it is quite desirable and helpful to know just what rate of progress one is making. In the past, one attending school might know by having his work graded. However, of late it has been found more satisfactory for students or pupils to grade themselves, especially in writing. Measuring charts and tablets now in general use make what was formerly an irksome task to the teacher a real pleasure to the pupil
In closing, in preference to a summary, itr ' might be more profitable for the reader’s mind ■ to take a retrospective view of writing that the 4 halo and foregleams of the future may become ' more realistic. We see that by this means man has been enabled to accomplish many pleasur- , able and worth while things. <
Great poets and prose writers have been enabled to pen their thoughts and thus transmit them as a heritage to future generations. Parents have been enabled by this means to keep trace of the wanderings, fortunes, and misfortunes of their children. By the same means * lovers for a long time have had the pleasurable satisfaction which comes from conveying by letter one’s affection prompted by heart impulses.
But most important of all, writing has been a ' means by which the words of God to mankind and those of Jesus His Son, the Savior of man, have been first recorded and preserved for fu- f ture generations. Throughout the early Chris- . tian era and the dark ages monks and copyists copied and recopied the words of Holy Writ -that they might be read and preserved to other : peoples. True, some errors crept in; but notwithstanding, Jehovah’s purposes relative to humanity have all along been accomplished, and the "people for his name” have been continually selected. *
Judging the future from what God’s Word holds forth, it is doubtful whether writing will be of much importance in the Golden Age or rather in the ages to come. Doubtless resurrected humanity will desire to practise what * they have been taught, for a time at least, and will desire to write to those of their loved ones whom they cannot see personally.
But with other cheaper, quicker and more satisfactory means of communicating perfected it seems that writing, like many other inventions of the past, will be relegated to the memoirs of the past—to the semi-plastic cycle of sin. '■ One thing is already certain, namely, that much < that has been written in the past, and counted Classic, is now seen to be ol little real worth. .
Of one thing we are assured; and that is, I that in the future age when man is perfected, what he does he will do perfectly. Should he 4 write he will pen graceful, artistic lines which will be a pleasure to the eye; and the thoughts which these depict will likewise be ennobling, elevating and inspiring. ’ ■
How to Acquire Just Title to Commodities
LAND, raw material, and energy or force of all kinds are products of Nature’s handicraft. and are heirs to the bounties and patrimony of that common mother to whom men and all things owe their origin and allegiance.
She grants no preferential rights, and demands that her bounties shall be intelligently conserved and employed solely for the material well-being of all her offspring, without partial discrimination or favor of any class. The only title to land and raw material honored by her mandates is possession for necessary use.
Monopolization of her land and raw material for speculation and profit is a rank violation of her law and of the natural and moral rights of her disinherited heirs, and is the sole cause of the world-wide social unrest and discontent that gender anarchy, revolution, and war.
Commodities and social service or values are evolved from raw material by natural energies intelligently applied. The volume and character of energies employed are correctly defined by the volume and character of the products or units created by them. Energy is merely force, or labor, an inherent property of matter, no matter by what or whom generated.
We determine correctly the volume of labor or digestive energy employed by each of our more than twenty-four million cows in defined units of beef, milk, butterfat, hides, etc. We define the energy or labor capacity of all grades of engines and dynamos by the units created regardless of passing duration. We define the labor or energy of blood, nutrition, light, heat, gravity, etc., by things done, without giving thought to time. Time is not a factor in defining the calories contained in a bushel of wheat.
We define man’s volume of labor or energy applied solely by the products or units created. When we employ a man to cut a cord of wood, grow a bushel of wheat, break an acre of ground, or construct a bridge of given character, the product is the only thing considered.
We find that human capacity for efficiency and creative energy per unit varies as widely in degree and volume as found in any other class of units; hence nature and justice demand that human units be classified and graded in accord with capacity for rendering useful social service. That classification will prove an incentive to efficient service, and will eliminate social discontent and inaugurate the Golden Age.
By H. E. Branch
If I create units of useful social service from Nature’s land and raw materials, she exacts full equivalent, in labor or energies expended, for benefits received. I have no moral right to withhold unneeded land and raw material from the service of my coheirs.
Benefits exacted without equivalents given is confiscation pure and simple. Our rich men and those who control industry are solely responsible for the world's social chaos today existing.
Let us inquire how the confiscators acquire fictitious and preferential rights to land and natural resources without giving the just equivalent demanded by natural law. The tribal chieftain claimed land and natural resources to which he had no moral or natural right, and his fictitious claims were sustained by favored leaders who persuaded the general public that affairs were being administered for the common good.
The retainers, the public, paid tribute to the chieftain and favored leaders for the use of land and natural resources to which all were equal owners and had equal rights and, in event of war, pledged their lives and "sacred honor' in support of the false claims put forth by grafting and exploiting leaders, just as the public does today. .
The Entente gained the support of the general public under the false pretense that its intention in the World War was to destroy militarism, autocracy, despotism, and Kaiserism in the interest of humanity and democracy, with no desire for annexations, indemnities or natural gain.
Now, France asks the German citizens whom they were not fighting, to pay the debts of a government in which they had no voice. She demands their choicest land, richest resources for her leaders and "captains of industry,” while the war brought nothing but loss and sorrow to the masses of France.
Robbery of Common Energies
OF COURSE the French leaders will pretend to administer the confiscated territory and resources in the interest of the French masses. French citizens who accept those false claims at face value should be in a home for the feeble-minded. France, Italy, England, and the United States want their armies of millionaires, created by that war for humanity (1), to administer the mines, oil fields, and other great
Industries of Russia, Turkey, Austria, and Germany in the interests of a common citizenship, just as our power plants, mines, railways, mills, factories, etc., created by the united energies of all citizens, are confiscated and administered by our trusts in the interests of the "captains of industry" to the detriment, loss and robbery of the common energies that made those enterprises possible.
It was reported that Garvan, of the alien property board, sold to his own organization the chemical foundation, himself, copyrights and patents belonging to German citizens, estimated worth $20,000,000 to $50,000,000 for about a half a cent on the dollar. When threatened with investigation, he reported that the government had committed greater crimes for the public good.
Secretary Fall leased the Teapot Dome oil fields to the Sinclair Oil Company, Harry Sinclair, on a royalty basis. The people, the government, supply the resources and the energies to prosecute the enterprise, while Harry Sinclair—for the public good —reaps the harvest, with no risk nor even investment! The people had no voice in the appointment of Fall, yet they are expected to endorse the betrayal without protest or criticism.
Press and officials told us the sugar trust was robbing the public, and threatened reprisal. The sugar trust, like other criminals of great wealth, was found immune to law and order germs; and the public was begged to punish itself— for the common good—by boycotting the trust.
Diaz, the Mexican despot, had his congress vitiate thousands of titles to rich resources and then granted them, on a royalty basis, to Guggenheim, Phelps, Dodge, and others. Our press and officials hailed Diaz as a statesman, a public benefactor who was developing the resources of his country and the interests of its people. When Dias was deposed they frankly confessed to misrepresentation for a quarter of a century; called Dias a despot, and said that there had never been an honest election in Mexico under his regime.
Dias confiscated the resources and energies of the Mexican people for royalties to himself and untold millions of concessionaries. Our officials now demand that the Mexican people— government—shall honor illegal grants made by a despot without consulting the parties or citizens affected. The illustration given makes plain the methods employed for diverting public resources and energies from public service to private gain.
The only honest titles to property acquired are through an equivalent in useful service for the use of Nature’s raw material supplied.
Public Pago Compound Interest
THE great fortunes of today, private or corporate, are the products of confiscation of natural resources that are the common heritage of all mankind. Every great enterprise is the product of public—or national—natural resources created by public energies.
From natural resources the public energy built and equipped our railroads and then was saddled with a debt of $20,000,000,000 at compound interest For eighty years the public, the nation, had been paying compound interest on railroad debts to the few, for products and energies supplied by the public without cost.
In eighty years the interest alone represents products and energies enough to build and equip the railroads of the world five times over. That debt is constantly augmenting with no intention of liquidating. At simple interest alone the public pays $1,200,000,000 annually on that debt; in addition the public pays all operating expenses, for repairs, improvements, extensions, huge salaries and lobby fees to corrupt press, courts and officials.
Other corporations are created and operated by the public for the benefit of confiscators of public energies and resources. Their debts, capitalizations, are a mortgage against natural resources and energies; and their interest, profits, surpluses, dividends and even their taxes are collected from the public at the public expense.
They are the invisible government that owns and controls the press, and supplies the woof and warp of national policy. This invisible government has created thousands of multi-millionaires out of confiscated resources and driven millions of our people into mortgaged and rented homes.
When we contrast war and prewar pledges with postwar facts we fully realize why armed force and penitentiaries are employed to teach a spurious Americanism. With our vast natural resources of raw materials, tools, improved machinery, control of natural energies and in-
telligent labor, two-thirds of cur adult population intelligently employed five days of six hours each per week, in agriculture, power plants, forests, fisheries, packing plants, horticulture, .mills, mines and factories, can create an abundance for all and a surplus against future contingencies, while employing the other third of our adults on public works for the general social uplift.
We can, and should, keep at least 6,000,000 men constantly so employed.
A study of our accomplishments in 1917-18 when it was "work or fight” will prove that I am indulging in no pipe dream.
With 4,000,000 of our ablest men taken from the channels of productive industry and more than half of the remainder employed in creating war supplies, we not only fed, clothed and cared for ourselves, our great majority employed in war pursuits, but we also fed, clothed and cared for the better part of Europe. Now we must either cancel fictitious titles and administer industry and natural resources for the common good or be overwhelmed in a social cataclysm.
Where standards are employed there can be no controversy nor confusion. We have a standard for each and every class of units; we employ standards for every class of units except that of defining units of labor or social service —commodity units created by industry. Each standard is limited to defining the volume and structure of its own units. Duration defines the time value of its own units and‘nothing else. Time employed has no defined relation to service or labor value. Three men shear sheep for ten hours, one shears fort}’, another sixty and the other one hundred. Hence the product and not the time measures the labor or service rendered by each.
A Standard of Value
OR centuries social economists have talked glibly of standards without comprehending
or demonstrating the law, volume and structure of standards. If they knew what they were talking about, they failed to make it clear. My demonstration published in The Golden Age, April 14,1920, was the first made public. I will quote from that article so that any intelligent student can solve and verify the problem of standards for himself!
"Standards are natural products over which men and nations have no jurisdiction, no option in their selection and establishment. Nature established gravity, duration, space, altitude, longimetry, etc., as standards of weight, time, capacity, height, length, etc. Man had no choice in the matter whatever. A standard is identical in character with the units defined, with the units that compose its structure.
"The law of standards defines a standard as the greatest possible or culminating unit of its kind and includes all units of its own character. Gravity includes all weight units, space all capacity units, duration all time units, etc. There is no exception to this Jaw or rule. Hence the standard of values must include all units of value x»r all factors of commerce. An understanding of that law makes the location of a standard a simple matter. Name its greatest unit and you have the standard.
"Space units include the universe and is the standard of capacity and the greatest unit of capacity. Duration includes all time units from seconds to eternity, and is the only possible standard of time. Gravity embraces all weight units; altitude all height units, etc. Obedient to that law all social factors, all units of commerce from toothpicks, minerals, power sites, etc., to the world’s greatest transportation systems are parts or units of the standard of value.
“Labor is the world’s greatest unit of value and includes all other units combined. It is the greatest unit of commerce and is the only possible standard of value.”
When our money becomes a token, symbol or indication of service or labor values in different denominations of units instead of tokens of weight values as at present, we shall have selfadjusting scientific money not subject to inflation nor deflation, and not requiring a legal-tender act. *
Ford for President? By L. D. Barnes
| ORD for President” would look good to would make it uneasy for the heads of the
I A the toiling masses. He is the best em- money-crowned kings. Some one has said that
! ployer of labor extant. He raises wages and Mr. Ford could nm the country single-handed
reduces profits, yet makes more money. He and do a better job than all the opposing poli-would have to run as an independent. Mr. Ford ticians put together.
Perplexity of the Nations By Robert f. QrosseU
AT THIS writing just what the outcome shall be of Germany's unconditional surrender to France is unknown. Having surrendered, * Germany is apt to expect too much leniency on the part of France for “honor's” sake; but France does not intend to satisfy any honor. Both governments have been to an enormous loss in the struggle of the Rhineland, normally the richest industrial center in the world. While the people of .Germany do not want war, but long for peace and prosperity, the settlement is not apt to be thoroughly satisfactory; and sooner or later some disgruntled leaders will cause internal strife to break out. [Already the case.—Ed.]
The thrift of the poorer classes would soon bring order out of chaos were they left to themselves ; for about two and one-half millions are organized into agricultural societies, and nearly four millions of the labor people are cooperatively organized. What the near future holds for Germany and France time alone will tell
Germany has occupied the unique position of a nation profiting by its own debased currency. By borrowing from abroad when the mark was higher, and paying their debts when the mark was lower, the government and the people have made money by the drop in value. By this procedure, by buying all the materials and commodities possible, as the mark has gone down the relative value of their possessions has increased; for the goods purchased suffer little if any shrinkage compared with the shrinkage of the mark. Hugo Stinnes has increased his wealth enormously by thus taking advantage of the falling mark. He bought on credit railroads and manufacturing establishments, mortgaging the one to buy the other. The drop in the value of money made his property valuable. He consequently paid off his debts at something of a fraction of what they were contracted for.
Debtors Benefited by a Dying World
THE creditor is ruined by inflation. That which is owing him will be repaid to him in money that is worth less and less. The debtor is enriched in a converse manner. The money he owes is worth less and less until the debt is negligible. Then he pays and the property is his. It is obvious that to get rich in Germany one has simply to go deeper and deeper into debt—to borrow and buy. ,
Germany financed the war with paper; that is, she printed paper money and bonds instead of taxing the people. This was done on the theory that she was bound to win and that the loser would be made to pay. An elaborate scheme bad been worked out whereby the cost would be garnered back from the Allies- And as Germany had informed herself as to where the convertible wealth of her enemies lay, that wealth was to be seized for payment of the cost of the war. In this light, therefore, the paper money and the bonds served merely as a temporary expedient until the spoils might be collected from the vanquished.
It is not difficult to understand why the German government is worried at the downward plunge of the mark with its erratic fluctuations from day to day. All business transactions are made difficult and precarious by the conditions that exist.
Yet in Germany there is no dearth of skilled bankers and financiers. Notwithstanding this fact, those in authority are proceeding to cope with the enormously inflated currency as if such a condition had never existed before. The corrective measures (if they could be called such) taken are along the old lines—those of the French Revolution. Speculators in foreign exchange are held up as the guilty men, and not the officials who by their course have made the violent fluctuations in exchange possible.
In this pursuit of mistaken remedies there is talk of closing up the brokers' offices and of raiding the banks that do business in foreign currencies. The great numbers of Germans who hasten to get rid of their mass of depreciated marks for whatever these will bring in dollars, francs, and guilders are regarded as little more than traitors to their country.
Fiat Money Brings Disaster
WE CAN learn something from history, and that branch of study teaches us that a fiat currency always invites disaster.
The complex conditions of civilized life today make money absolutely necessary as a medium of exchange and as a measure of value; for none other seems to be known or practicable. In ancient times when life was simple, men resorted to barter, which consisted of the simple exchange of goods. But this method is crude and cumbersome, and inadequate for civilized
needs. Men then looked about for some article which would serve as a unit of value.
In savage communities the unit was shells, cattle, beaver skins, corn, cocoanut, salt or some other article of general use. But this unit was soon found to be unsatisfactory, and a unit of more intrinsic value was sought. The use of metals was then resorted to; and gradually gold became accepted as the most satisfactory unit which could be found. And so in the course of time the gold standard became the basis for the currency systems of most modern governments. This signifies that the underlying unit of value is gold, and that all other forms of currency are ultimately redeemable in gold.
In the past many governments have been led astray in times of financial stringency by false economic theories, and have attempted to issue currency not redeemable in gold, but basing value on the mere word or fiat of the issuing government. This form of currency is known as “fiat money." But the use of fiat money by a government ultimately brings disaster. The effect is to bring into operation an old economic law which is, simply stated, that "bad money drives out good money/'' When bad money is issued, people will hoard their good money; and in due time the bad money will depreciate in value because there is no real intrinsic value back of it. The rule with respect to fiat money is that it may be issued to the extent that it is necessary for the needs of the community as a medium of exchange; and that when that point is reached it will be indicated by the money's going below par, when the issue of it should stop.
With the seizure by the French of the Ruhr district, which constitutes the industrial heart of Germany, the intense activity in the latter country has somewhat slowed down.
The largest German iron and steel plants and the head offices of the large German combines are located in the Ruhr valley. From the Ruhr comes a heavy percentage of Germany’s exported goods, especially iron and steel products; and it is from this region that the German railways and other public utilities derive much of their fuel. Ruhr coal also plays an important part in Belgian, Dutch, and Italian industries.
The Ruhr is the most important industrial region in Germany. It contains the best coal fields, and the most important German industries are located there. The big German Industrials, after the loss of their Lorraine iron and steel plants, concentrated their efforts mainly in this district and established a number of new factories to replace those lost
The French government has been informed that Germany cannot pay unless France releases her hold upon the Ruhr; and in turn France has replied that she cannot exchange her occupation of that territory for promises which she has no means of knowing will be fulfilled.
While Germany has defaulted in her reparation payments with the plea that she is not able to meet them, the improvement of her industrial resources has gone forward at a tremendous pace. After the armistice Germany's mercantile marine was practically nothing. At the end of 1922 it was 2,250,000 tons, with 500,000 tons under construction. New docks, new harbors, new terminals, new railroad yards, new canals, new locks, new mills, new machineiy, new villages for the workers, and new administration offices have been built In the meantime the government was restoring the railroads with new rails, new roek ballast, and new freight equipment. New town halls and new public utilities have been built by municipalities. There has been extensive development of electric light and power projects- Private building has gone on at the same extensive rate. New buildings are exempt from the rent laws which have ruined the <fid landlords in the cities. While the old landlords are scarcely able to keep their old houses in repair, new buildings were cheaper. Profiteers and traders built fine houses. New houses have gone up everywhere.
With the enormous increase in the issue of paper marks, and consequent depreciation, the demand for money has grown greater and greater, until the printing presses are scarcely able to keep up with the demand. On January 6,1923, there were 1,336,501,000,000 Reichsbank notes in circulation; and this amount rapidly increased until on March 7, 1923, the amount in circulation was over twice what it was on January 6, being 3,871,256,000,000 marks.
Ex-Kaiser Going Mad
NDER the caption of "Several Reasons Why the Kaiser should be Reported Mai"
Herbert Kaufman says: -
“Germany at last posts her score. Not counting civilian deaths from grief, shock and penury diseases, her officials announce that the great war killed 1,945,000 assn, made 533,000 widows, orphaned 58,000 children, and left 1,130,000 fatherless. Bernhardi and the other High priests of Weltmacht have nothing to say.
"Humor repeats that the ex-kaiser is fast going mad. If he reads these figures they will doubtless complete the job. Conscience and remorse must be constant companions of the recluse at Doom.
"Memory is a drainlesa poison cup. The once haughtiest head in Europe is now only a haunted house rife with the ghosts of past grandeurs and the mocking wraiths of thwarted ambition. Exile has imposed a harsher sentence upon Herr Hohenzollem than any international tribunal could ever have issued against the Prussian king. Justice does not always sit in a court room. Her verdicts are as often delivered at sleepless bedsides. The Furies do not wait upon man to act; they have a law of their own.”
…