Golden Age, April 9, 1924
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Contents of the Golden Age
Labob and Economics Pcisomse tbs Fountain*
Political—Domestic and Foreign TBB MAINSTAYS or Chblslbndom
Free Socks for Thirty-five Cents
Th* Dilemma of Heaven
The “Christianity” at the Church
Travel and Miscellany ▲ Gumms at Austbalasxa
Australia's Railway Problem . 421
Australia's Industrial Condition*
Population and Immigration .
; Australian Government
1 Australia and Japan
I Australia and Britain.......,
1 Australian Militant Labor................ 423
1 Other Australian Labor Notes
Tasmania and New Zealand
The People of New Zealand
The Island of New Guinea............
Bions or Sden............
Facts about Muaclb Whxat
Pastor Russell Had No Wheat
The Field from One Pound ...
Wheat Testimony In Court
Miracle Wheat of Superior Quality
Tahiti tbb Bbautxtul
Religion amd Philosophy Tn Cxxation or Man
Bible Account of Creation
Man a Soul
Who Is Immortal?
Luma's Ninrr-nva Taxes*
Luther's Protestation against the Sale of Indulgences
Studix* nr “The Hast or God”
published every ether Wednesday at 18 Concord Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., U. 8. A^ By WOODWORTH. HTOGINOS A MARTIN
CtaertnrT end Proprietors Address; IB Coneord Street, Broofclp*, N. F., U. S. A. rr.iVTnN J. WOODWORTH . . . Editor ROBERT J. MARTIN . Business Manager C g- STEWART .... Assistant Editor WM. F. HUDGING8 . . Sec'y and Trona. Fm Cxmti a corr—81.00 a Yaaa Mass Rbmxttamcbs to TB3 Golden Age routes Orrtcu: Britto* ..... M Craven Terrace, Laacaeter Gate, London W. 2
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Matarad a* Meond-cias* mattes at Brooklyn, M. T, «*dar the Act of March A 1879
ofc Golden Age
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Br—Hya, N.Y.. WW—•day, April 9. 1924
Ntmtar 119
A Glimpse at Australasia
fitful word Australasia means South Asia, and refers to that considerable section of the world which has the continent of Australia as its center, aad includes the island of Tasmania on the south, the islands of New Zealand on the east, and the island of Papua or New Guinea on the north. These islands include an area of 3,740,000 English square miles, and have a population of 6,406,000.
The word Australia is a Latin word meaning Southern. If the map- of Australia were superimposed upon the map of the United States, with Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, placed upon Jacksonville, Florida, then Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, 500 miles to the northeast, would rest upon Norfolk, Virginia; Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, 900 miles to the northeast, would rest upon New York city; Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, 400 miles to the west, would rest upon New Orleans; Perth, the capital of Western Australia, 1,750 miles to the west, would rest upon Phoenix, Arizona; and Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, would rest upon a point four hundred miles north of Winnipeg. The Northwest Cape, 2,300 miles distant, would rest upon San Francisco. Cape Sandy would rest upon Boston.
The area of Australia, 2,972,573 square miles, is only slightly less than that of the United States; the population in 1921 was a little less than that of Nov ” n k city. A coral reef, the Great Barrier, follows the northeastern coast for 1,000 miles, leaving a channel ten to thirty miles wide.
. Australia stretches over such a vast area that one may not speak of its climate too definitely; yet, as a whole, it may be said that the climate is generally hot and dry, but very healthful. The summer is hot, excessively so, as it comes at the time when the earth is nearest the sun. In mid, winter, June, July and August, snow storms
are common in the mountainous and more temperate parts.
Queensland and Northern Australia touch, in their northern parts, a latitude of but ten degrees from the equator. White men, in order to live and rear properly strong families in such a climate, need to pay close attention to their mode of living.
The rainfall is irregular, some districts having as much as forty-two inches one year, with only an eighth of an inch the next year. This makes an agricultural problem that is difficult of solution. A full half of Australia has no rivers at all. Most of this area is covered with sand ridges, where little permanent fodder grows. As in America, improved methods of dry fanning, and the use of subsurface water, are gradually extending the crop areas and pushing back the borders of the desert.
The pride of all Australians is their beautiful Sydney Harbor. Upon entering the port of Sydney one is struck with the beauty of this natural anchorage, in which the largest ships can find safe shelter. The harbor is skirted by a series of inlets, or fiords, some of which extend many miles inland, and all of which are banked with natural rock formations interspersed with wooded glens. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful as well as useful gift from nature than is found in Sydney Harbor.
Australia has animals that are peculiar to itself. It has a crocodile thirty feet long, and lizards up to eight feet in length. There are forty varieties of frogs, one of which has blue legs and a golden back. There are 110 varieties of pouched animals, ranging from the 200-pound kangaroo down to flying fruit-eaters, smaller than a mouse. With the exception of the opossum, an American apimal, pouched animals are unknown elsewhere.
Among the birds are the black swan, the related to the ostrich, and the lyre bird, with its 418 - - '
tail feathers spread in the shape of a lyre. Domestic animab, ineluding rabbits, have been imported from England and do welL The rabbits, indeed, have become a pest New South Wales has built 17,000 miles of rabbit-proof fence in an endeavor to exclude these from the farming districts.
The continent of Australia was first discovered by the Dutch, about fifty yean after the discovery of America. But the Dutch had their hands full elsewhere; and it was more than a century later, or in 1664, that they even gave the continent a name, when they called it New Holland. Prior to that time, however, a considerable portion of the coast line had been charted by Dutch navigators.
In the year 1770 Cook carefully surveyed the east coast, named a number of the localities, and took possession of the country for Great Britain. Seventeen years later, in 1787, a fleet of eleven sailing vessels, under command of Governor Phillip, sailed from England with 1,044 young prisoners from the agricultural districts who, for some reason or other, had displeased the nobility.
After an eight-months journey the party landed safely at Sydney, fourteen having died enroute. During the next sixty years 140,000 men and women were exiled from Great Britain to this far distant land, and to the island of Tasmania, which lies to the south of it The last convict ship to West Australia arrived there in 1868.
It is generally admitted that these exiles, guilty of being republicans, dissenters and social* reformers, brought to Australia some of the best blood, brains and character of Britain. It might have been better for Britain if the nobility had been sent to Australia, but it would have been worse for Australia. As it was, these men and women were just the kind of people best calculated to be pioneers in a new world. America had much the same kind of start
The climate of Australia has made its development much more slowly than has that of America, although both countries have had a vast desert area to conquer. The first railway line to traverse the American desert from east £o west was the Union Pacific Railway, in 1867; the Australian desert was first traversed by a railway line from east to west some time since 1912. x
As late as 1860 the government offered a bonus of $50,000 to any one who would force his way from the south coast to the north coast, and return again with authentic information about the interior. John M'Douall Stuart succeeded in accomplishing this in 18621 A telegraph line over the same route was built a few years later. Many explorers have lost their lives in the effort to lay bare the secrets of the Australian continent
Australia has many curiosities in the way of vegetation. There are upwards of 150 varieties of gum trees, many of which are of great value. Specimens of the peppermint measure as much as 500 feet in height Certain native lilies, tulips, honeysuckles, ferns, and grasses grow to be trees. The forests produce fine sandalwood, cedar, pine, and hard wooda. The agricultural products are as varied as they are in the United States. There is a hard, coarse, spiny plant called porcupine grass which coven large areas in the arid regions and which renders traveling difficult, wounds the feet of horses, and whicK has no uses yet discovered. Nearly all the trees of Australia hold their leaves the year around; some of them grow with their roots in the air.
On account of the irregularity of the rainfall the rivers of Australia present some strange phenomena. The principal river, the Murray, rising in New South Wales, and forming the boundary between that State and Victoria, is usually a great stream, but in a dry year is sometimes merely a series of pools. When ths rains are heavy the stream overflows its banks, and upon this overflow the fertility of the adja* cent region depends. This overflow at times reaches for twenty miles on either side of ths bed of the stream.
Engineers are figuring on a way of steadying the flow of the Murray, and have devised twenty-six locks and weirs in the Murray itself, and nine in one of its tributaries, besides two great reservoirs, holding respectively a million and a half million cubic feet of water. These works will cost about $50,000,000, and will render about 2^00 square miles available for irrigation.
Another great river, the Bareoo, rises within a few miles of the seaport of Adelaide, and flows toward the interior five hundred miles, where it empties into Lake Eyre, which has no outlet. Most rivers elsewhere rise in the interior and flow the other way. In some of the
Australian streams there are fishes which have feathers and are able to fly.
The interior of Australia presents great possibilities for sheep raising. Three hundred mil* lion pounds of wool is the normal annual shipment to England. Australia has been making a desperate effort to use this wool at home, and has only recently resumed wool shipments to the mother country.
Wheat, grape juice, hides, horns, bone-dust, frozen, preserved and salted meats, tallow, oysters, turtles and pearls are among Australia's . valuable products, besides all the agricultural products which are common to Europe and America.
The Australian Peopls
THEBE is not much to be said about the aborigines of Australia. They are of Negro stock, and as black as the Negroes of Africa; the hair is curly, not woolly; the nose is like that of Europeans. They are inoffensive and are rapidly dying out, largely due to astonishing efficiency in the practice of birth control It is estimated that there are not more than 60,000 survivors on the entire continent.
Ninety percent of the whites of Australia are of British stock, making it the only continent peopled by one race. The men are unusually tall, well educated and polite.
Constant effort is made by both the men and the women to prevent the country from falling into the hands of the banking fraternity. A recent example was the act of the women of Victoria in forming the Housewives Association. This Association collects a fee of twenty-four cents per year per member and works on a volunteer basis, without profit, between producer and consumer. The membership is 100,000. As a result of their work, they have forced the price of milk down from sixteen cents to ten cents, with proportionate reductions in cream and sugar.
The men are as independent and aggressive as the women. A recent illustration was the situation which developed at Darwin, the capital and outlet of Australia’s hardest problem, the Northern territory. This great district is tropical, yields little, is remote, partly unexplored, and is cursed with white ants and other insect pests. Darwin itself is the port of Australia which is nearest to the mainland of Asia. It is hot, dirty, always in a ferment, and is an abiding place of the most mixed population imaginable—Hindus, Malays, South Sea Islanders, Chinese, Japanese, Greeks, Italians, and government officials.
It happened that on a certain occasion the administrator of the territory was told that he must resign. Upon his removal the Government decided to govern the territory by an Advisory Council The Darwinians demanded representation on the Council The Government sent three men to confer with them about the matter. They held a town meeting, under direction of the mayor, and notified the three men to leave town on the next boat, whereupon the Government was obliged to send a cruiser to the town in order to obtain a respectful hearing.
Australia’s Railway Problem
THE thing that has done more than any other
to retard Australia’s development is the unfortunate fact that every state on the continent has its own separate gauge railway, which necessitates the constant rehandling of freight and the transfer of passengers.
In Canada, one may board a train at Montreal on the Canadian Pacific and enjoy without interruption every possible comfort from 10:15 Sunday night until 9:30 the following Friday evening when he alights at Seattle, Washington, 3,050 miles distant, on the Pacific Coast.
In the United States, one may board a train at Washington, on the Southern Baihray, and also enjoy without interruption every comfort from 9:50 Sunday night until 1:00 p. zm, the following Friday, when he alights at San Francisco, 3,622 miles distant; and with but one change of cars, i. e., the one at Chicago, which may frequently be made in the same station, one may go from almost any point on the North American continent to any other.
In Australia, in going from Brisbane on the east coast, to Perth, on the west coast, the gauges vary, and one must change cars at Wal-langarra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wallaroo, Port Augusta, and Kalgoorlie in making the journey of 3,000 miles. The trains do not connect with one another, and one must remain over night at transfer points. Freight is subjected to the same transfers and even greater delays.
Australia has 25,729 miles of railroads, of which 23,150 are owned by the Commonwealth. A royal commission has estimated that to change all these railways to a standard gauge, as in America and Canada, will cost in the neighborhood of $300,000,000. As soon as financial conditions permit, Australia wishes to go ahead with the change.
Another unfortunate thing is that instead of building railways in every direction, north, south, east and west, as was done in America, and letting the railways develop the country, in Australia the attempt has been made to develop the country first and bring in the railways afterward, after their financial success was assured. Both the people and the railways have been disadvantaged by this course.
Australia is now quite awake to her railway problem. Plans are under consideration for linking up Northern and Southern Australia by two routes, either one of which would open immense areas of pastoral, fanning and mining land. There is even some consideration of the London to Australia railway originally proposed in The Golosh Aot No. 9. There is no reason why it could not be done. Train ferries would at first be necessary for part of the way through the East Indian islands.
The city of Sydney, population 1,100,000, the New York of Australia, is planning to build a municipal railway, partly underground and partly overhead, which will cost approximately $40,000,000. The custom prevails in Australia as in Britain of selling platform tickets for a small sum to those who wish to see their friends off by train.
Australian Industrial Conditions
THE chief occupations of Australians are stock raising, fanning and mining, although there is a considerable population employed in manufactures. Australia is the greatest woolproducing country in the world; and as wool is scarce, and in great demand, it is commanding very high prices. The production of gold, once very important, has considerably decreased. Over $2,000,000,000 in gold have been taken out of Australia since its discovery there in 185L
The chief of Australia’s cattle men is Sidney Kidman, who owns or controls 48,000 square miles, an area almost equal to that of the state of New York. This man is said to be a rough but unassuming man, who probably owns more of the earth than any other one man.
Australia’s need is the need of every country and of every enterprise under the sun—markets.
Conditions have been favorable in recent yean for great crops and hence for great exports, but the bottom has fallen out of the overseas man* kets. The real situation in Europe is that the people are so busy paying interest on the war bonds that they can barely buy the thipgs they need to eat and to wear.
Under a protective tariff, adopted in 1921, Australia has been much benefited in the development of manufacturing industries. This haa helped to solve the problem of unemployment, though it has made England's problem difficult. With the protective tariff, as in America, have come large profits to some of the manufacturing companies, with consequent stock watering tn order to conceal the profits from the publis.
Population and Immigration
THE continent of Australia has but a small population, only 5,500,000; but it haa a most efficient and interesting method of taking the census. Several days before a given Sunday the postmen deliver to each resident a sufficient number of census blanks to cover those at his home. On the stated Sunday night the census is taken for every home, every hotel and every train in the Commonwealth. On Monday morning the postmen collect the papers, as filled out The same method is used for registration of voters and distribution of ballots.
Since the World War Australia is feeling keenly the need of more people to help carry the load of debt, $4,210,000,000, which she is compelled to bear. The country is large enough, fertile enough, and has, in the aggregate, water enough to sustain a population many times greater. Yet its irrigation schemes are undeveloped, and the transportation system is inadequate, and both these matters need to be rectified before any great numbers come.
Lying as it does off the coast of Asia, Au^ tralia is a natural depot for Asiatic immigrants, and it would seem as though only a vigorous European immigration policy would prevent the continent from being overrun with Asiatics. The Australians see this, and desire immigrants, and yet dread to see them come, for fear they will not readily find employment, and will add to Australia's own already heavy burdens.
Several thousand British immigrants reach Australia every month. Some of them report that they are made none too welcome on their arrival unless they have plenty of money. In every land there are real-estate agents who are very much pleased to form the acquaintance of anybody who has money, no matter where he hails from. One of these sums the matter up in a letter to the London Daily Herald:
“To have even a chance in Australia a man needs to be young, and to have not leu than a thousand pounds sterling when he lands. No other place I know has so little sympathy with the emigrant; nowhere does he meet with such a cool reception, unless he has money to burn; then the land-agents suck him dry, and he has no remedy. Fully ninety percent are out of regular employment. What I say to all workers in England is, Don't be lured by those highly colored posters setting out Australia as the promised land; it is a land of heartbreak. To be sure there are certain ways of getting on here, the ways of influence and cliqueism; but if you are of no clique and have no influence, your case is well-nigh hopeless."
There is an agreement between the Director of Migration of Australia, Mr. Hunter, and the British government whereby selected migrants are sent from Britain at the rate of 100,000 a year, the transportation of the selected migrants to be paid by the two governments. There is also an agreement between the Italian and British governments, sanctioned by the Australian government, providing for the extensive migration of Italian labor to Australia. This is an abandonment of the one-time policy of Australia to limit new arrivals to Anglo-Saxon stock, but it is not an abandonment of the policy to exclude Asiatics. The Llano Colonist seems to think that the reasons why some of the immigrants selected in Britain are sent to Australia at governmental expense do not reflect very much credit upon either government when it says:
“The South Australian government is introducing boy immigrants into that state for labor on farms. These boys are being ruthlessly exploited because of the conditions allowed by the Government. They are paid a of $2.50 a week, for which they have to work from daylight to dark, learning the art of farming. Of this amount only one dollar is paid weekly to the boys, the other $1.50 being retained by the Government and handed to the boys in a lump sum at the end of the engagements. Out of this sum, so retained, however, all expenses incurred in bringing the boys from England are deducted. The dollar a week which the boy receives amounts to fifty-two dollars a year, out of which he must provide himself with clothes, one suit and a pair of boots, which would run away with the lot, leaving nothing for recreation or a holiday. Labor members in the South Australian Legislature oppose the schema on the ground that it is dishonesty victimization of the wont kind, and a form of cheap white slavery."
TJbe Australian Government -
ON JANUARY 1, 1901, one year after the opening of the twentieth century, the Commonwealth of Australia was organized out of what had once been the Australian colonies qf New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, West Australia, and the island of Tasmania. ’ The temporary capital is Melbourne.
Each of the six states wairing up the Commonwealth has six senators chosen for six years; these make up the national senate. There is a national house of representatives composed of seventy-two members, elected on the basis of population. The House continues in office three years unless sooner dismissed.
Unlike the American Constitution, and much superior to it in this respect, the Australian Constitution defines the power of its Supreme Court; and while the Court provides a check upon the legislature, yet the legislature may remove any individual judge from the bench without stating any reason whatever. In practice this works splendidly, and should be adopted in America.
Besides the national government, each of the six original states has its own local senate and house of representatives. The members of the New South Wales and Queensland senates are appointed for life by the British crown. The proposition is afoot to abolish all the state senates, as being useless expense.
In a governmental sense Australia is believed by critics to be overmanned. The Commonwealth employs 43,043 persons, drawing annual salaries amounting to $31,742,045, while the state governments have in addition 193,049 employes, drawing salaries of $133,620,010. All this is used for the government of 5,500,000 persons. In other words, one person in every twenty-four is a government employ In the United States it is said to be one in forty, which is bad enough in all conscience. Women are eligible to most Australian offices, but in Victoria they may not sit in either house. The American national House of Representatives, 441 members, is found too large for efficient
Servian; the Australian House, seventy-two members, is found to be just about the right rise.
Australia mi JSspoa
AUSTRALIA has a population of less than six millions on a continent of nearly three million square miles, or two persons to each square mile. Japan has a population of 57,000,000 and an area of 261,000 square miles, or considerably more than 200 persons to each square mile. Japan has more people than she knows ■frhat to do with; Australia has room for many millions, and is, indeed, the largest empty area in the world. This makes a bad combination for Australia.
Australia, is determined to remain a white man's country: First, because she wants only one race and one general class of society; second, because she does not want an influx of Asiatics to bring down the wage level; third, because whites and Asiatics do not intermarry, or if they do the unions do not work out well; and fourth, because she was there first, and proposes to profit by it
If Japan should ever go on the war-path against Britain it might go hard with Australia. But Britain always has Australia in mind, knowing that the British navy is her natural defense, and is careful not to alienate the friendship of Japan. When the World War loot was divided Britain took for herself everything south of the equator and let the islands north of the equator go to Japan. Uncle Sam got nothing, not even Tap, for which alone he asked. But he got a nice little debt of $30,000,-000,000—his share. Lord Kitchener claimed that 80,000 men can defend Australia against invasion. If that statement is true it affords room for thought for those 100% American morons who swallowed the bait that the German nation could invade a land that is able promptly to put 4,000,000 soldiers in the field. Their mutual Asiatic exclusion policy makes Australia and America natural friends. But there are many other ties binding them together.
Australia and Britain
AUSTRALIA covets and enjoys all the liberties that go with the word Commonwealth, wlsich she selected as more appropriate than either Dominion or Colony. But she does not seek a separation from the British Empire, and, except for a minority of not more than twenty-five percent, would not consent to it.
This minority believes that Australia is able to go it alone, and even declares that the government of India by its own people would be entirely satisfactory to them and, in their judgment, would not affect Australia's interests in the least. But the majority think otherwise.
Australians do not want to be dragged into another war; and yet they realize that as long as they are a part of the British Empire they must do their part when the Empire is in danger. Australia especially feels this, realizing that she has a 12,000-mile coast-line and that British naval forces alone could keep them clear. Moreover, all of Australia's large cities are on the coast.
Australia is too loyal to Britain, and realizes her dependence upon the British fleet too keen» ly, to consider having a separate foreign fiolicy, and for that reason does not have an indepei> dent minister at Washington. In Australia it is claimed that the four British nationalities, Eng^ lish, Scotch, Welsh and Irish, are well Handed into one homogeneous people. There is some antagonism to the Irish, but not more than ia America. John McCormack, the great singer, was virtually chased out of Australia on the ground that he was a Sinn Feiner.
The Daily Herald, London, commenting <in the present unwillingness of labor in Australia, as everywhere, to fight and die in wars that have been arranged by financiers, politicians and clerics, cites* an instance of how Australia serves as a more or less helpful cheek upon the war-makers: '
“When Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Winston Churchill and Lord Birkenhead wanted to embark on a ‘one day's war* with the Turks, cables were sent to each Dominion askh ing for support The result of that was happily dia» couraging to the war-mongers, and discouraging generally to all who hoped that it would be easy for British Ministers to rush the Dominions into war whenever they liked. The Dominions have had some! They are going to be less sentimental in the future; they are going ts look before they leap. We are very glad of it We ars glad to see Australian Labour declining to be committed to the disastrous results ‘of carefully prepared policies and secret treaties which work with a fiendish certainty towards definite objectives'.”
Australian labor men who voted for conscription during the war were expelled from the labor unions, which have declared, by formal resolutions, that any individuals who hereafter plunge the organized workers into a capitalistic war will be held personally responsible for the death or mutilation < f any of their members. We do not know just what this means, but it is what the resolutions said.
Australian Militant Labar
IXETY percent of the workers of Australia are in the labor unions. This great body
of well organized men, 700,000 in number, controls wages, as a matter of course; controls the political situation in some of the provinces, and for several years controlled the federal government itself. The Labor Prime Minister, Hughes, was unhorsed a year ago when the Country party, with fourteen members in the National House of Representatives, and the Nationalist party, with twenty-six members, formed a coalition against the thirty-two members of the Labor party. If the Labor party had been able to muster five more votes it would have remained in power; but the party was weakened through disaffection with Mr. Hughes on account of his war enthusiasm. Mr. Bruce is now Prime Min? ister and Minister of External Affairs.
It is claimed for Australia that the condition of the workers there is better than in any other place in the world. The Government builds homes for them, at cost, and gives them twenty-five years in which to pay for the same. It pays a bonus of $25 for each child born, and has paid out $30,000,000 on this account since the law went into operation.
The Labor Government in 1913 established the Commonwealth Bank, which is now one of the largest banking institutions in the world. Although the bank is only ten years old its profits are larger than those of any other bank in Australia, yet it has conferred untold benefits upon the workers. This shows what the capitalistic banks could do if they would.
There is an Arbitration Court, with power to enforce a minimum wage and prevent sweating. Sports and amusements are organized on a public basis. The national woolen mills, also established by the Labor Government, made and sold to the people at $1.50 per yard the same grade of woolen cloth as is sold at $5 per yard by independent makers.
The coalition against the Labor Government was largely financed by the independent woolen cloth-makers. As a natural consequence the anti-Labor Government had not been in power a month before it closed the woolen mills, although the government had made $15,000,000 in profits since the mills were opened.. Now these profits, besides the nice little margin of $3.50 per yard difference in price, may go to the “regular” financiers instead of to the people.
This shows why “business men” are in terror everywhere lest the common people should have the running of things, and why there is such a hue and cry constantly in all the papers against Socialism; for, be it known, the running of those cloth mills at cost, by the people and for the people, was Socialism pure and simple.
Other Australian Labar Nates
RACTICALLY all the workers of Queensland, New South Wales, and New Zealand are now working a forty-four-hour week; and in Queensland at least, there is an act to provide workers against unemployment. But with all these favorable conditions it must not be supposed that the ideal has been reached. This is shown by the unequal distribution of wealth, which in 1922 was returned as follows:
359,724 persons possessed nothing 925,461 persons averaged $ 150
314,514 persons averaged SOO 374,108 persons averaged 2,500 203,125 persons averaged 13,035 13,718 persons averaged 92,465 997 persons averaged 338,575 466 persons averaged 988,465
From this it will be seen that four percent of the people possess sixty percent of the wealth, and ninety-six percent possess the remaining forty percent, while fifteen percent have nothing at all but the wages they earn from week to week.
Emulating Boston’s example of four years ago, Melbourne has had a police strike, not at all a nice thing for any city; and yet, after all, police must live, and if not properly paid or propery treated are not immune from acting the same as other human beings. The strike, as in Boston, was made the occasion for hoodlums to run wild. A correspondent in Australia writes us regarding the affair:
‘^Melbourne has just gone through the most serious time in its history. In a police strike, seventy of the
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AM
Issiiing shops van looted by mob*. All the plste-glsss vindnwi were snashsd to stoma, the goods ven thrown into ths street, and the crowds carried them off. Men pot an twe ar three auita and marched out <rf the shop* with them an. The city waa aa if it had been bombarded with bomba. Tha Government waa powerieaa until it eould get aaaiatanea from the military and from thou-aanda of citisnu impreaaed into aervica aa special con-stoNaa Several peraana ware killed and about 100 taken to tha hospitaL”
Queensland has had eleven successive years of Labor government, and appears to like it The Premier, Theodore, insists that in Queensland there is a fairer distribution of prosperity and happiness among men and women than elsewhere on earth. State enterprises in various directions have cheapened the cost of living, and shifted the burdens of taxation to the shoulders of those best able to bear them.
Queensland Laborites have their own newspapers, not being able at all to trust the others, which never hesitate to hold the Labor party up to contempt, no matter how much good it accomplishes. In 1922 two representatives of the “regular” press offered a bribe of $17,500 to one man whom they mistakenly thought they could “reach.” If this man, Frank Brennan, had heeded, it so happened that at that time his vote would have thrown the Labor Party out of power. This is more proof that the “regular” business men find it advantageous to have a hand in running things. The Queensland Labor Party is making an effort to abolish its senate, which, according to custom, is appointed for life by the British crown. It has already passed a bill to this end as the first step.
Queensland, the immense district on the northeastern sector of Australia, contains vast areas which are suited to stock raising, and this despite the tropical climate, which is not so generally well suited to stock-growing purposes. . •
Tasmania and Naw Zealand fPASMANIA, the Switzerland of the South, J- is the size of Scotland, and lies 140 miles south of Australia. Being in a colder climate than Australia, it serves as an excellent Australian resort during hot weather, and is visited by about 100,000 Australians each sn-mmer. The Island is noted for the grandest of scenery— mountain lakes, forests, waterfalls, peaks, glens, and plateaus, all combining to make an excel
lent playground. The roads are superb, and automobiling is popular. The native Tasmanians are extinct Tasmania has a permanent population of 180,000, largely engaged in mining. It is one of the six original states of the . Australian Commonwealth. ,
In many respects New Zealand resembles Italy, yet there are differences. Italy is 600 miles long; New Zealand is 1,000 miles long. ' Italy is seventy miles across at the ankle; New Zealand has a strait at that point The toe of Italy points southwest and the heel southeast; the toe of New Zealand points northwest and the heel northeast Italy is from 37° to 47° north latitude; New Zealand is from 34° to 47° south latitude. Italy has 110,660 square miles (about the size of New York and Pennsylvania combined); New Zealand has 104,751 square miles. Italy has 35,000,000 population; New Zealand has in excess of 1,000,000.
Stretching in south latitude from that which corresponds to Savannah, Georgia, to northern Maine, the climate of New Zealand is varied, but is generally very healthful. Sudden shifting of the winds cause rapid changes which are somewhat trying to new arrivals. The winters are so mild that barns are not needed for the shelter of cattle. Bains are frequent and well distributed; drouths are of rare occurrence. New Zealand lies 1,200 miles to the southeast of Australia, and is a veritable wonderland of volcanoes and geysers.
The Fox, Tasman, and Frans Josef glaciers are more imposing than any in Europe. The peaks of these mountains, 12,000 feet high, are only five miles from the sea; and the glaciers . come down to within 600 feet of sea level At the foot of these glaciers, literally between the sea and the ice, there are natural hot springs. As late as 1886 there was a violent eruption of Mount Tarawera, in the Hot Lake district, during which the celebrated Pink and White Terraces, of world-wide fame as natural wonders, disappeared.
New Zealand is a country which, when discovered, had almost no animals. There was the moa (a sort of fox-dog, now extinct), a rat and two species of bats; and that was alL However, , it is a natural paradise for animals; and since' the whites have invaded the land their pigs, cats and rabbits have run wild, the latter so much so that they have become a pest. The coast waters teem with fish, and seals are still
numerous. There are no snakes in New Zealand, there are but few lizards, and only one kind of frog. There are four species of wingless birds. While Australia is thirty times greater in area than New Zealand, it carries only four times the number of cattle and less than four times the number of sheep.
The soil and climate of New Zealand produce in perfection every American and European grain* grass, fruit and vegetable, and many others besides. Ferns grow thirty feet high, and are remarkable for the elegance of their forms. Flowers and natural fruits are scarce. A number of forest trees furnish valuable timber. Flax is widely grown.
New Zealand is rich in mineral deposits. Gold was discovered in 1853; during the next fifty years the output was over $289,000,000. Wool, frozen meat, grain, and gold form the staple exports. New Zealand properly keeps a sharp eye on the meat and grain markets of the world, and will not sell its products to everybody. It wants to know in advance where and how they will be used; it has found from experience that this inquiry pays.
The People of New Zealand
THE natives of New Zealand, called Maoris, are believed to be Caucasians, and are admitted to be the most superior native people of any lands occupied subsequently by whites. They still own considerable of their land, and have their own representatives in both legislative chambers. When first known they tattooed their faces and bodies in striking manner. There are still about 40,000 of them; they adapt themselves to European ways readily. They are kind, self-respecting and respectable people.
Tasman, the Dutch navigator who discovered Tasmania, was also the discoverer of New Zealand. in 1642; but little was known of the country until it was visited by Captain Cook, in 1769. In 1840 British statesmen got the native chiefs to sign away their rights; and since the war of 1860-1866 they have quietly submitted to the inevitable filling up of their country with the victorious whites.
Even the New York Times, that mosaic of the moneybags, admits that the Government of New Zealand is the most progressive in the world. The king of England appoints the governor; he also appoints for life the forty-eight members of the senate. The house of repre-, sentatives, elected by the people, consists of seventy-four members and serves for three years. New Zealand had the opportunity to enter the Australian Commonwealth, but was unwilling to do so, preferring to be a separate principality.
The rate of infant mortality in New Zealand is less than anywhere else in the world. New Zealand Joses in the first year but 48 babies out of each 1,000 born; France loses 78, England 83, United States 87. New Zealand is a land of bachelors; only two-thirds of the men of the marriageable age have entered the bonds of wedlock. One-third of the marriages are childless, owing to the general practice of birth control.
The people of New Zealand have a widespread reputation for being moral, intelligent, industrious and enterprising people, possessing vigorous minds and healthy bodies. They are* extremely devoted to the mother country. This led to cruelty to conscientious objectors during the World War, and to some fine examples of moral courage on the part of those who are willing to undergo any possible experiences rather than slay their fellow men, of which we will have more to say at another time.
The Island of New Guinea 1
NEW GUINEA, as its name implies, is the shape of an immense guinea fowl, with its head to the west and its body stretching out along the equator fifteen hundred miles to the east, one-sixteenth of the way around the globe. New Guinea, next to Australia, is the largest island in the world; and it may safely be said that there is no other tract on the earth’s sui> face of equal size of which there is so little known, if we except the polar regions.
New Guinea, or Papua, has an area of over 300,000 square miles, and is 430 miles wide at the widest part. There are enormous mountain ranges rising to a reputed height of 20,000 feet, with torrential rivers broken by hundreds of rapids and waterfalls. The total population is reckoned at only about half a million.
New Guinea was discovered by the Portuguese, annexed by the Spanish, and subsequently partitioned among the Dutch, who took the western half, the Germans, who took the northeastern quarter, and the British, who took the southeastern quarter and subsequently surrendered it to Australian control. After the World War the British seized all the German possessions, including the land of the settlers. When these settlers asked for compensation for their lands they were calmly told that their possessions were being seized as a set-off against the German indemnity. The settlers themselves were deported to Germany.
Australia has handled New Guinea better than it was handled by England in the crown colony days; but the land is still the Dark Island, untameable and unknown. There is doubtless gold to be found; and for that metal the white will do anything, even risk the fevers of New Guinea. There are great forests which have not been penetrated and which cannot be penetrated by any animal except mam The New York Times says of this land:
"Year by year the Australian Government has been pushing back savagery, wiping out cannibalism, bringing wild tribe after wild tribe under contrdL Thirty years ago you had a very fair chance of being knocked on the head and eaten, anywhere a little behind the coast Twenty yean ago the greater part of the country was unsafe. Ten yean ago much of the western coast and the deltas of the great riven were places where you could in one afternoon leap from comparative civilisation to utter savagery. Today, if you want to meet the untamed cannibal in his home, you must fit out a small expedition to reach him,” .
Signs of Eden
WITH the glories of Eden pictured to our minds, and knowing the desolation of the wilderness condition which has prevailed since the flood of Noah's day, when we read the promises of God to restore the world to Edenie conditions, it is natural for us to seek to catch the faintest foregleams of the coming "times of restitution.'’
The gradual change to warmer weather in the north is noted from time to time in The Golden>-eh Agb. This last Fall and up to New Year's day, it was exceptionally warm; and this unsea-sonal weather extended far into the north. But old Boreas got busy with wintry blast and snow, mairing twenty to thirty-five degrees below zero weather common in some of the northern states, pushing Jack Frost well into the Southland.
Dandelions Selected During a Year
Mr. James A. Snedeker of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has sent us the accompanying cut, a reproduction of a photograph of twelve dandelions arrayed in various degrees of glorious splendor, each one being gathered in the state of Indiana in a different month of the year. The picture, therefore, represents the perpetual summertime of the Hoosier state.
Mr. Snedeker writes:
"As a foretaste of the Golden Age, so soon to begin, the golden dandelions are blooming on our lawns all the year. In Isaiah 35:1,2 we read: ‘And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shill blossom abundantly? *
The location and date of picking is as follows:
December 1st, 1922, Converse; January 31st, 1923, Greenfield; February 12th, 1923, Greenwood; March 29th, 1923, North I Anderson; April 6th, 1923, Anderson; May 1st, 1923, Alexander; June 1st, 1923, Gas City; July 5th, 1923, Elkhart; August 2nd, 1923, Kendallville; September 5th, 1923, Milford; October 5th, 1923, Rochester; November 2nd, 1923, Montpelier.
If the above should appear as though Mr. Snedeker was scouring the state for dandelions, it is explained that he is a traveling salesman, and therefore had ample opportunity to select his specimens from various places.
"Upon a showery night and still, Without a sound of warning, A trooper band surprised the hill, And held it in the morning.
"We were not waked by bugle notes, No cheer our dreams invaded, And yet at dawn their yellow coat On the green slopes paraded.*
Facts about Miracle Wheat
MUCH has been said and written about Miracle Wheat and its superiority over the more common strains of wheat; and people in general were thought to be quite well informed on the subject
It seems, however, that some ministers are not informed and are given to misleading utterances to their congregations instead of adhering to the delivery of the gospel message. And not only are they neglecting to preach the gospel, but they are engaging in evil speaking.
Editorial Note
THE preachers of the various denominational churches have vilified and slandered the character of Pastor Russell for over thirty years. Judge Rutherford's lectures so irritate the preachers that they continue to pour forth their spleen of hatred at Pastor Russell, because Mr. Rutherford happens to be successor to Mr. Russell as president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
Besides many other Ues these preachers roll under their tongues is the “Miracle Wheat” He. The weakness of the preachers’ position la seen In resorting to such ungentlemanly means to befoul men’s characters whose arguments they cannot meet with logic and reason. For hypocritical subterfuge, for false piety, and for deceiving the people who put confidence in them, the preachers are in a class by themselves. When the people get sufficiently awake to the enormity of the robbery to which they have been subjected by the clergy, both of money and of the true doctrines of Christianity; and when they get acquainted with the facts enabling them to discern between “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and the true ministers of the Word, the preacher business will become a very poor vocation.
The “add” test, of course, Is his theology; but the test which anybody can apply to his own satisfaction Is whether the minister preaches for hire. Preaching for money Is not prompted by the truth-producing motive. Anybody may apply that test; and If be finds himself assisting in the support of a system which takes up collections and begs for money, let him know that he Is an abettor of a system founded upon Ues, kept alive by lies, with a band of liars carrying the torches at the heed of the procession.
We are reminded here of the words of St. Jude • (14-16) ; “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upbn all; and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches [harsh (untruthful) words, Diaglott] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (See Matthew 23:40,451 These are murmurers, complalnen, walking after their own lusts: and their mouth speaketh great swelling [untruthful] words, having men’s persons [opinions] In admiration because of advantage.”
It has come to our notice that some of the preachers could not meet the forceful and logical presentations of Judge Rutherford concerning the “Battle of Armageddon” and “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” and therefore they have undertaken to throw dust into the eyes of their hearers by attempting to belittle the character and work of the departed Pastor Russell. One of these preachers accused Pastor Russell of selling Miracle Wheat at $20.00 a bushel and buying it back at $4.00 per bushel, a most absurd statement on its very face.
In view of this I think well to present some of the Miracle Wheat facts as I know them to be.
Pastor Russell Had No Wheat
IN THE first place, Pastor Russell never sold a pound of Miracle Wheat, and never even had a pound of it to sell Here are the exact facts: Pastor Russell learned that Mr. Stoner of Fincastle, Virginia, had some Miracle Wheat,
By J. A. Bohnet that the original stool had 214 stalks, and that Mr. Stoner was raising this strain of wheat with a view to Selling it for $1.00 per pound.
Pastor Russell therefore made mention of the matter in his journal, The Watch Tower, When some time later the agent of Mr. Stoner out of courtesy for the Watch Tower article, called upon Pastor Bussell and showed him a sample of the wheat, two grains of the wheat fell upon the carpet of Pastor Russell’s study. These grains were picked up by him and on request were handed to the writer.
I planted the two grains in my garden, and raised from them 1,312 grains of wheat. These I planted in turn, and raised five and one-third pounds. I in turn planted the same and raised eight and one-half bushels. Then I wrote to Pastor Russell, telling him that I want-ed interested Watch Tower readers to have each a pound of this wheat for their planting, and suggested that $1.00 per pound should be charged for it, and that every Watch Tower reader who had ground space would gladly pay this price to get a start. ‘Tor,” said I, “they will send in a dollar or more, anyhow, for the spread of the gospel; and thus the wheat will be broadcast fairly well; and whatever money may be received for these eight and one-half bushels of wheat I want placed in the general fund of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society for the spread of the truth.”
To this Pastor Bussell readily agreed, and placed in his journal a notice of Miracle Wheat securable at $1.00 per pound. The wheat was mine; I, J. A. Bohnet, set the price at $1.00 per pound; Pastor Bussell had nothing to do with the price-making nor with the sale of the wheat, except at my suggestion to make mention of it in hu journal.
I then purchased a peck of this wheat myself and planted it for other sales which I made; and I paid $1.00 per pound. So I was not charging others any more than I myself was willing to pay.
Tfce Tkld from One Pound
THE lowest yield from one pound sown that was reported to me was eighty pounds, and the highest reported was two hundred and twenty pounds from one pound sown. Therefore the wheat was miracle sure enough.
Wheat Tatbwrq/ in Court
WHEN nine of the thirty Miracle Wheat growers at the court trial had given testimony in favor of this wheat, the presiding judge stated in substance that the superiority of Miracle Wheat over all other strains of wheat had been so thoroughly demonstrated that any further testimony in favor of Miracle Wheat would be superfluous. The other twenty-one Miracle Wheat growers were therefore not called upon to give testimony.
People do not like the name "Miracle.* Therefore in various parts of the country this same wheat goes by the name of the man who introduced it there; as for instance, in Tennessee it is called "Hobbs wheat”; in Maryland, "Weber wheat”; and in some places "Stoner wheat” Nobody has called it “Russell wheat” that I know of; nor has it been called "Bohnet wheat” But the preachers delight in slapping at Pastor Russell about Miracle Wheat, when in reality he had no connection whatever therewith.
The preachers cannot meet Pastor Bussell's arguments on Biblical exegesis, even as 1,900 years ago the preachers could not meet the arguments of the meek and lowly Man of Galilee. History repeats itself. The Pastor was too much for the preachers of a nominal Christianity. They gnash on him with their teeth—like dogs.
Pastor ftosseH Preached the Goepel
Pastor Russell preached persistently on the
Bible, and took up no collections. Those who had confidence in him, and who knew him so well as one of the highest character and aa one who loved the Lord, freely sent money to him, wholly unsolicited, to aid him in Kis ministerial work. Pastor Russell believed that the shepherd should feed the sheep, and not the sheep feed the shepherd. Hence he made no charge, and took no pay for preaching the gospel All that he had was used in the spread of the truth as he found it set forth in God's Holy Word. And for his labor of love and Godly devotion he has been shamefully traduced by many of the clergy, even as was Jesus l/MJO years ago.
Why do ministers assail Pastor Bussell, who has years agp gone to his reward! Why do they not attack his teachings! The answer to the latter question is simple: They cannot He had the Bible to prove his every assertion.
The Clergy Do Not Preach the Goepel
THE clergy of today have generally left the
Bible, and have gone into thunderings on science, astronomy, music, art, history, lives of men, noted generals, literature, temperance, moral reform, suffrage, war, conscription, Bed Cross, Liberty Bonds—anything and everything save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, of which latter thing they seem to be woefully and wilfully ignorant. Their floundering in the pulpit is truly pitiful. But they do not forget the "Offertory." God says to them: "Freely ye have received, freely give!"
Miracle Wheat of Superior Quality
WHEREVER Miracle Wheat has been shown in competition with other strains of wheat at the state and county fairs, it has always taken first prize and the sweepstake prize. The Webers of Maryland hold the silver cup of three successive years of prize winnings with this wheat over all other wheats.
The chief difficulty with Miracle Wheat growing is that the farmer sows it too thick. In this case it will not stooL The wheat must be sown very sparsely. When rightly sown, it stools out wonderfully. I have frequently found thirty straws from one grain sown. I have found often fifty straws, all of good heading, from a single grain. I have seen aa many as ninety stalks from one grain, and the same six feet tall
Mr. McKnight, the wheat expert, who traversed every wheat district in Europe, testified under oath that in all his life he had never seen as many as four stalks from one sown grain of wheat, excepting Miracle Wheat This testi-money the writer personally heard in the court room.
Miracle Wheat is all that Pastor Russell proclaimed it to be. If anyone is at fault for charging $1.00 per pound for the Miracle Wheat, it is the writer. Those who paid a dollar for one pound never made a “kick”; they paid it gladly.
Then why should the ministers do any “kicking”! Buying seed wheat at $1.00 a pound did not lessen the contributions of the clergy; for the purchasers of Miracle Wheat would not put one penny into the contribution plate of the nominal ministry. They know better. In what part of the Bible do we find a charge that the sheep shall feed the shepherd!
Take away the contribution plate, and how many preachers would stay on the job!
Poisoning the Fountains
WE HAVE before us a letter signed by Earl Constantine, Assistant to the President of the National Association of Manufac-I turers, 50 Church Street, New York With his letter Mr. Constantine enclosed another letter from J. C. Edgerton, President of the Association, remarking that “the enclosed letter has aroused more than the usual interest and brought us such favorable expression of opinion from the majority of our more than five thousand members that I believe you will welcome the opportunity of reviewing the material therein presented.”
To be sure, neither Mr. Constantine nor Mr. Edgerton ever expected that either of these letters would come into our hands, much less that we would review them publicly. But we are in favor of shouting from the housetops every hookup of big business with the clergy; for we think that the people have a right to know who are their friends and who are their enemies. We cannot quote the whole of Mr. Edgerton's letter to the members of his Association, but we will give extracts from it:
“The National Association of Manufacturers specifically declared for the Open Shop in 1903, and has consistently advocated it ever since that time. In the summer of 1920 President Mason appointed an Open Shop Committee and in October of that year the Open Shop Department was organized.
“Our efforts may be broadly defined as ‘educational? They have been chiefly centered upon two branches of the general public—the schools and clergy. This has, of course, involved speeches, researches, newspaper publicCatholic clergy”
“Many periodicals and open shop asaoaations hm reprinted matter issued by the Department. Over 1^00 debaters have been given assistance by mail in advocating the open shop. Ai leasi tastoe antosmtas now distribute our open shop literature throughout their states in Tackage Loan Libraries? Practically all of the ool-lege and university teachers of sociology, gorwroiscwt and economics receive our publicstiena”
"The Department upheld the coal operators at West Virginia in their refusal to deal with the United Mino Workers. Our position in this matter brought entinly unsolicited letters of appreciation from every operators' association in West Virginia and from many of the larger operators ”
"Among the activities of the Department between February 14, 1923, and September 80, 1923, the following may be noted:
"(1) Personal help to debaters of New York University. [Boman Catholic.—Ed.]
"(2) Addresses before
Central New York Foundrymen's Association, Union Theological Seminary classes. [Protestant.
—Ed.]
University of Pennsylvania classes.
Lynbrook (New York) High School
“(3) Special articles for
American Industries.
Denver Labor Bulletin ‘Open Forum' edition.
Literary Digest.
New York Herald.
‘Constructor* (organ of Associated General Contractors).
*Manufacturers News' (Chicago).
Pennsylvania Manufacturers Journal.
" (4) Securing removal of union label from several puln licationa.”
"(8) Special leitm on ike Open Shop to Metitodisf and ity, pamphlets, etc.”
W(1O) Pabliattyr
For the quarter April-June fnchxrive the ictiv-fties of the National Association of Manufactur-en (including the convention) received 1,413 mItthitib in neva stories and 321 in the editorial Golumna. The open shop accounted for 209 column* and 30 column* respectively. This was 14% of the combined total of all publicity.*
' wOw vori wttb ft* chrgy bos been distinctly w/u-able. We are glad to report some modification of its pro-closed shop attitude by the Federal Council of Churches^ with which we have kept in contact for nearly three years. For example, the 1923 Labor Sunday mesaage of the Federal Council contained the following:
" Tossessed of the right peaceably to persuade worknun to affiliate with the labor movement, may not the representative* of organized labor abandon aggressive attempts where they are now practiced, to enforce union membership through the instrument of the dosed shop ? QHm labor movement aims fundamentally to give the worker greater security of status, freedom of expression, and a juster share in the product of his labor. It can hardly be maintained that this ideal is consistent with the use of compulsion, either upon a fellow-worker or upon an employer, in the matter of membership in a labor union."*
"Among the matters upon which we have within the last few weeks answered such inquiries are the fallowing:
…