Golden Age, July 15, 1925

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Vol. VI Bi-Weekly No. 152

July 15, 1925

OLD WORLD ' DYING

PROTECTING

THE SKUNKS

SILVER-BLACK

FOX FARMING

THE KINGDOM ' ' OF HEAVEN ' r IS AT HAND

a Journal of fact Iwpe andL courage*

NEV

WORLD BEGINNING

Contents of the Golden Age

—......-.......-....... :::■;■/■ la)

Social and Educational^

Bits of World News .................. 647

>• The Problem of Child Management

Tom Paine of New Rochelle ................ 647

A Unique Use of German Mails ............. 649

Hebrew Dictionary Completed

A Cry fob Lunacy Reform

Ocean Currents are Changing .............. 650

In Defense of Monkeys ................ 655

Labor and Economics

Protecting the Skunks ................ 643

What Child Labor Really Is . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . 644

Child Labor ..................... 646

A World-Wide Cry; “Wanted—Men ' ........... 656

; Finance—Commerce—Transportation

Losses on Merchant Marine .............. 647

Guggenheimers Have to Dig Up .............. 649

Silver-Black. Fox Farming ................. 651

Political—Domestic and Foreign Quiet Reigns in Mexico ................ 648 Morocco Refuses to Stay Carved ............. 649 Progress in Mexico .................. 650 What a Well-Known Man Said ............. 661

Science and Invention

Criticisms are Acceptable ............... 657

Fishes Will Stand Freezing .............. 65S

An Unscientific (?) Scientist ............. 659

Religion and Philosophy

The Poor Savage ...

Scientists Belittled for Honoring God

“The Sign of Fibe” .................. 660

The Rewards fob Observing Holy Year

The World’s Prayer to Its Idol .............. 662

The Kingdom of Heaven is At Hand ...

The End of the World ................ 665

On Faith ......

The Anglo-Catholic High Chubch Hell .......... 670

Studies in “The Harp of God”

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Golden Age

Volume VI

Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday, July 15, 1925

Number 152

Protecting the Skunks

VERY forcefully the Knoxville Plain Dealer says: “Do you know that most states have laws for the protection of fish, calves, lambs, colts, deer, rabbits, quail, ducks, mud hens, musk rats, skunks and buzzards; and that all these laws are constitutional1? The only law for the protection of animals that wTas ever declared unconsitutional is the child labor law. Oh, baby dear, don’t you wish you were a cute little skunk ?”

Another writer bitterly calls attention to the horrors of human sacrifice as practised in parts of India. He well says that we enlightened Westerners would not be willing to let our children be sacrificed to any false god, but only to the almighty dollar. Profits are not false gods in the eyes of many so-called Americans.

Still another writer points out that the Government can and does seize and destroy live stock to prevent the spread of disease; but when the stunting of its future citizens is at stake it suddenly finds itself helpless. If there is anything more strictly national than a citizen of the United States, will somebody point out what it is?

The history of national child labor legislation in the United States is very sad. In September, 1916, Congress passed a bill prohibiting interstate commerce in the products of child labor. Twenty-one months later the Supreme Court declared the bill unconstitutional.

In February, 1919, Congress passed a bill imposing a tax of ten percent on the products of child labor. After the lapse of thirty-nine months the Supreme Court ruled that this act also is unconstitutional. It then became evident that the Constitution would have to be amended.

A year ago Congress adopted an amendment calling for national power to limit, regulate and prohibit the labor of persons under eighteen years of age; but powerful propaganda began to immediately make its appearance against the amendment. The very forces that had previously sought to have the acts of Congress voided now sought to prevent the adoption of the amendment.

Who Was Back of the Propaganda?

EFORE an amendment can be made to the Constitution three-fourths of the states must signify their assent. As soon as the state legislatures began to consider the subject, the Farmers’ State Rights League, Inc., of Troy, N. C., began to flood the papers with half-page advertisements denouncing the amendment. An investigation disclosed that the Farmers’ States Rights League, Inc., is in reality a league of southern cotton-mill owners masquerading under a deceptive name. But the scheme worked, and the amendment was defeated.

In the Catholic State of Massachusetts Cardinal O’Connell vehemently denounced the amendment; and by his order his denunciation was read before the altar in every Catholic church in Massachusetts at three services on each of three consecutive Sundays before the vote. The Roman Catholic church does not want any official inspection of the laundry system run under the name of Houses of the Good Shepherd, where the conditions are well known to be virtual penal servitude and slavery, twelve to fourteen hours per day.

Big business got on the job, too, declaring the proposed amendment to the constitution to be Bolshevism, Socialism. The press was used to scare farmers into thinking that, if Congress had its way, neither boys nor girls would be allowed to work in their own homes or on their fathers’ farms. Of course these statements were all lies, but the scheme worked, and the amendment was defeated. The skunks are protected; the children are not.

To the everlasting credit of President Coolidge be it said that he was not on the skunk

Side of this question. By speeches in public on three different occasions he stated his endorsement of the amendment. He knew, what all may know if they will, that child labor does not mean selling newspapers after school nor working a few hours on holidays, but an unremitting grind, day after day, without school, with- ■■ out play, with mind and body stunted, and morals too, while the men and women that should do the work cannot get it, because the wages are not enough to support them.

What Child Labor Really Is

INCE the Supreme Court in 1922 declared the last child labor law unconstitutional the thirst for profits has led to a great increase in the number of little folks that are compelled to slave throughout the day at tasks set for them by their greedy or needy parents or .caretakers.

A writer in “Colliers” reporting on an investigation which he made in the year 1923 said in part:

“Among the families investigated in this effort were found a great many eases of pneumonia and influenza,, mumps, typhoid fever, measles, whooping cough, bronchitis, tonsilitis, diptheria, eczema, coughs, tuberculosis and syphilis, all of which had been declared communicable and dangerous to public health by the State Health Board. . . .We know that these children made spectators at court weep when they were brought in to testify. . ., . There is one family, for instance, the children of which were told not to come to school until they were cleaned up of filth and vermin and disease. They did not go back. They stayed at home to work on milk tags and clothing.”

A reporter in the New York 'American testified on January 11, 1924: “In one crowded tenement room I found a baby, not more than eighteen or nineteen months old, sitting on its grandmother’s lap, and stringing tags.” The New York Times in. December of the same year unconsciously pictures the great financiers of New York as approving matters of this kind when it says: “By an overwhelming vote the Chamber of Commerce bf the State of New York, at its monthly meeting yesterday, went on record as opposing the child labor amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”

Perhaps we do not get the right slant on this; but as we see it, the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York is deadly opposed to taking away from any eighteen-months-old infant its constitutional right to work say

BnooKLYN, N. Y.

twelve hours a day seven days in a week. Later the child might learn to play golf , if it survived; and golf would be unconstitutional for such children. Lets stick to the Constitution, no matter what happens to the kids! But golf is constitutional for members of the Chamber ofi Commerce.

Conditions in Philadelphia '

HILADELPHIA is particular about keeping the children in school. An investigation carried on by the Child Labor Association of Pennsylvania and the school authorities, in the spring of 1923, brought to light 217 children in two public schools in that city who do sweatshop work at home from seven to eight-thirty in the morning, at noon, and from four to ten at night, many of them getting in a full eighthour day besides going to school. On Saturdays and Sundays they work twelve to fourteen hours a day.

We have not heard of the official attitude of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce on these conditions; but we presume the theory is that by working the kids eight hours a day when not in school they are kept out of mischief and away from the golf fields; and by letting them go to school they become patriotic so that they will want these conditions continued indefinitely.

Incidently, the child workers frequently go to sleep in school, which is nature’s way of trying to make up for man’s inhumanity to man without violating the Constitution. Also, many of the little girls who work at night, stringing beads for the gowns worn by ladies whose husbands play golf, have permanently injured their eyesight.

Some of the items which come from Philadelphia, Providence, and other industrial centers are that little girls under eight embroider night dresses at twelve cents per dozen, with a deduction of two cents for loss. For putting hooks and eyes on rods they receive thirty cents for each 100 rods. For June roses they get twenty cents a gross. In Rhode Island they do 100 different kinds of work, all Constitutional.

In California and Michigan

SURVEY made by the state boards of health and education of California, one of the richest states of the Union, reveals the fact that there are 15,000 children under work-

ing age who leave school early in the Spring and work until late Fall, gathering fruits and other crops in that state. These little folks, some of them mere babies, follow their parents all over the state, winding up the season in the hot “sunkist” cotton fields of Imperial Valley. Last November in Imperial Valley a score of cotton growers were arrested for employing child labor, some of the tots only six years of age. California is strong for the Constitution.

It ■ is now nearly two years since the beet sugar exposures; but conditions are as bad as ever. At that time it was disclosed that the cultivation of sugar beets lends itself peculiarly to the exploitation of child labor. The little folks are in the fields at six in the morning, and work until as late as eight at night, with the shortest possible resting time in between. Up and down the rows they crawl, weeding and thinning out the plants, their wrists swollen and lame, their hands and knees sore and cracked, their necks sore and stiff. In harvest time the constant stooping to pull the five-pound to twenty-pound beets out of the ground is almost back-breaking.

The beet sugar workers occupy only the roughest kind of temporary shelters; such as abandoned farm houses, tar-papered shacks, portable cottages, tents and caravan wagons. Overcrowding to the limit is the rule. All the family works. A mother beet-worker testified that her baby had worked ever since he could lift a beet. This is Constitutional, exceedingly so.

Schools in the beet districts have a custom of granting ‘beet vacation’ in the Fall, to augment the supply of available child labor. Senator Reed Smoot is said to have declared that the use of child labor in the beet fields of Colorado is a Godsend to the children, as it gives them something to do instead of running the streets.

In Other States

11IBTEEN states have laws which are on a par with the child labor laws, which were declared unconstitutional. Twenty-three states allow children under fourteen years of age to work. Thirty-seven states allow children to go to work without a common school education.

One out of twelve American children, and in some states one out of four, is a child laborer. Mississippi sanctions work for boys of twelve. ■Georgia’s law permits girls of fourteen to work all night. In North Carolina the hours of labor of convicts in the state prisons are limited to nine, but boys and girls may and do work in the mills for ten and eleven hours.

A report from Texas, in 1923, told of a five-year-old who picked a bale of cotton during the season, and of another five-year-old who picked seventy-two pounds of cotton between sunrise and sunset on October 27th, and had very ‘sorry’ cotton to pick in.

One of the worst of all places for child workers is in the canning factories, where the canning of many articles of food injures the hands. In the shrimp canning business the little workers cannot work steadily longer than a week at a time. Their hands become raw, and they have to wait and give them a chance to heal.

To a gentleman who glanced into a shrimp canning factory the boss said: “Them kids ain’t old enough to work, and they think you’re an inspector. I taught them to run away when anybody that was strange came into the factory. But we haven’t got anything to be afraid of, though; because the Government hasn’t any more authority to make kids stop working. I’m glad they knocked out those federal child labor laws. They sure caused us canners a heap of bother while they were in force.”

Among international workers in the cause of child labor, the United States is classed with Oriental countries. This may not be very gratifying to American pride; but it must suit those New York Chamber of Commerce defenders of the Constitution or they would not fight so hard against the poor kids.

In Other Lands

NDER the Mexican Constitution the maximum day’s work for children between twelve and sixteen years of age is six hours. The Government is opening both night and day schools for the development of child workers formerly driven to prolonged labor.

G reat Britain passed the first child labor law -in 1802. It forbade the employment of children in the woolen and cotton mills more than twelve hours a day. Prior to that it was not an uncommon practice for parents to sell their offspring as apprentices; and in the early years of the nineteenth century gangs of helpless little ones from six or seven years and upwards, were auc-tinned off, thousands at a time, to great factories where their lives were a ghastly slavery.

They received no wages; they were clothed in rags; their food was insufficient and of the coarsest kind; often they had to eat while standing at their work; they were driven to work twelve to sixteen hours; they had no holidays; their few hours for sleep were spent in filthy beds from which some other relay of little workers had just been roused; they had no schooling and no recreation, and lived amid the most shocking and brutal immorality. When one batch of such labor was used up, another was always ready. For these data we are indebted to the “Standard Reference Encyclopedia”.

Even as late as the World War the condition of labor in the British Isles was so inferior that it was difficult to recruit fair-sized men for the army. Some years ago the children used as chimney sweeps were deliberately starved in order that they might be small enough to go up and down the narrow flues. All that has been stopped. Labor conditions in China are now about as they were in England a hundred and twenty-five years ago.

In France the age limit is thirteen years as against fourteen in England. The time limit is ten hours, eight underground. Females may not work underground. Children may not labor between 9 p. m. and 5 a. m,

In Belgium the age limit is twelve years. The time limit is twelve hours, ten underground. Females under twenty-one may not work underground. Children may not labor between 9 p. in. and 5 a. m.

Norway, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania and New Zealand fix the age limit at fourteen years.

In Germany the age limit is thirteen years. The time limit is six hours. Night work is forbidden. Parents may work their own children in their own factories or shops not to exceed three hours per day or during vacations four hours. In the coal districts boys fourteen years old may work underground seven hours.

In Austria the age limit is twelve years. The time limit is eight hours. Night work between 8 p. m. and 5 a. m. is forbidden to women and children.

In Switzerland the .age limit is fourteen years, and the time limit is eleven hours for all persons. Persons under sixteen years of age may not work in dangerous places or at dangerous occupations. Women and children may not work after 8 p. m. or on Sundays.

In Italy the age limit is twelve years, and the time limit eleven hours. No female may work underground. The Minister of Agriculture may issue permits to children to work twelve hours in the planting and in harvest seasons.

. Child Labor

HILD labor does not mean selling newspapers after school, nor working a few hours on holidays. It means toiling long hours at machines in factories, slaving in fields, excessive tasks at low wages. It means , also no time for school, play, or healthy growth.

Every state now has full power to make its own laws regarding child labor. There are good laws and bad ones, and five states with no restrictions at all. All children need protection; but the children of those five states need it most of all.

The 1920 census said that 1, 060,958 children are working. But this counts only those from ten to fifteen years old. Thousands of children less than ten years old are at work. Children less than six years old, working all day long,

By Alice Parle

are discovered from time to time by investigators of the National Child Labor Committee.

At the same time, while more than a million children are working, far more than a million men and women are unemployed. Setting the children free would be good for the children, and it would also give jobs to men and women who are now idle. ,

Even the people who live in states which have good laws against child labor, and which enforce the laws they have, use goods produced in all the states. So all people in all the states are using articles produced in part by child labor.

All honor to the states which have set' a high standard in protecting their children from child labor. It is time now for the nation to act and to protect all the children.

Bits of World News

[Radiocast, with other items, from Watchtower WBBR ona wave length of 2T2.6 meters, by the Editor]

ff:

America’s Future Menaced

Justice Stone of the Supreme Court of the

United States, in an address before the American Law Institute, made the statement that “The United States is the least law-abiding nation of the civilized world” and that “The country’s disrespect for law menaces its future.” At the same session Attorney General Sargent deplored the marked disrespect for law among the wealthy. How unwise are such. In a general breakup of law and order the wealthy would be the chief losers. They should be the bulwarks of impartial law enforcement.

The Problem of Child Management

Miss Sara Coggin, fifty years a teacher in Brooklyn’s public school No. 12, reports that an alarming change in the men tai and moral attitude of the children has come about in recent years. Fifty years ago they were uniformly re-• spectful to teachers and parents and their elders generally; now they have respect for no one. She advocates a return to the use of the switch.

Mrs. Sloan’s Large Family

Mbs. Realty Sloan of Ethyl, West Va., is 104 years of age. Her daughter Mrs. Parlee Hicks is 84, her granddaughter Mrs. Realty Phalin is 55; her great granddaughter, Mrs. . Mellie Irwin is 39; her great-great granddaughter, Mrs. Pearl Irwin, is 19 and her greatgreat-great grandson, Teddy Irwin, is two years of age. These six recently had their pictures taken together; 394 other descendants, however, were crowded out. Mrs. Sloan looks as robust as any of the party and may be one of the millions now living who will never die. They all look like nice sensible people well worth knowing.

Losses on Merchant Marine

THE losses on the United States merchant marine during the last fiscal year were $36,739,000. The Shipping Board made an effort to maintain and operate 387 ships, which represents about one-third of the tonnage under its control. The total tonnage of the world is one-third greater than in 1914, while world trade is only about the same amount. Two-thirds of the idle, tonnage of the world is under the United States flag. . .

Twentieth Century Beaten by Motor Boat

THE famous crack train of the New York

Central Railroad, the Twentieth Century Limited, was beaten by thirty-eight minutes by a motor boat, in its run from Albany to New York. Moreover, the motor boat crew operated under the disadvantage of two shifts, caused by a breakdown. The journey was finished in the boat in which it was begun, but for three-quarters of an hour a different and speedier boat was used. It is believed that the speedier boat could have made the trip, if it had not sustained an accident, in thirty minutes less time.

Chicago’s New Terminal Completed

IT WILL be good newrs to millions of American travelers to learn that Chicago’s new union station is completed. This terminal, construction of which was begun in 1914, has cost $75,000,000.

Day ton-Cincinnati Airplane Service

REGULAR airplane service has been opened between Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio. These cities, which are 59 miles apart by rail, will be 'within 45 minutes of each other by air. Five trips each way will be made daily. Th® charge for the round trip is $25.

The Fire Insurance Business

THE outstanding fire insurance in the United

States is estimated at close to one hundred billion dollars. The number of persons employed in the general and local insurance offices is about 750,000. The fire losses average about a half billion dollars a year, running somewhat over that amount for the first half of 1925. The annual loss of human life in fires is set at over 15,000.

' Tom Paine of New Rochelle

THE New York American points out that Tom Paine, whose memory is now being honored j by New Rochelle, was the first to definitely pro- pose actual independence for the United States, > the first to propose the Federal Union of States, f besides which he first advocated the abolition of [ slavery, granting of old age pensions, international copyright and other great reforms.

64T

Overholt Distillery Sold

TpOR a sum said to be more than $15,000,000 the Park and Tilford Company, dealers in candy and other good things to eat, have bought the Overholt Distillery at Pittsburgh, formerly owned by H. ’C. Frick, Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, and another party. The 1,800,000 gallons of whiskey involved are to be sold to the sick; at least that is the plan.

Courageous Law Enforcement in Dallas

T? AGING a mob of five thousand persons bent -*• on lynching two negro prisoners indicted for criminal assualt and murder, seventy-five brave officers of the law succeeded completely in their task of defending the Dallas County Jail, and the law may now take its course. Five citizens were wounded and one hundred jailed before the riot was quelled.

Have You Had Your Cold Yet

TN THE Medical convention at Atlantic City the doctors set forth that Americans have 100,000,000 colds a year, one for each of us. It is surprising to know that the number is so small. But it can be reduced to almost nothing by keeping the windows open day and night and by avoiding the use of white bread. Cut out white bread, breathe' fresh air, and use plenty of fruits and vegetables, and colds will cease.

Belter Care of Children

TWENTY years ago one child out of seven died before becoming one year of age; now, so greatly have conditions improved, that only one child in twelve dies before reaching one year of age. Improved sanitation, better knowledge of foods, more attention to ventilation and-cleanliness; all these are producing results^ with still better things ahead. ■

Uncle Sam’s Paid Hunters

THE United States maintains, in connection with its biological bureau, a force of skilled hunters who make it their business to find and destroy by rifle or poison, animals such as wolves, mountain lions, bears, bobcats, lynxes and coyotes which prey upon domestic and other useful animals. There are 412 men in the force. In the nine years in which they have been employed in this work they are estimated to have saved $72,000,000 worth of crops.

Eleven Year Old Boy Kills Rhinoceros .

Ernest King, Jr., eleven years old, of Winona,

Minn., is just back with his parents from a hunting trip to the wilds of Africa. The Kings, all of them experts with the rifle, brought back four hundred cases of big game specimens, the largest of which, a rhinoceros, was brought down by the youngest of the party. Various museums will get the specimens.

The Safest Places to Live

HP HE safest places in the United States are apparently Concord, N. H., Lawrence, Newton and Malden, Mass. No murders occurred last year in any of these cities. The most dangerous cities were St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, in the order named.

America’s Trade with the Orient,

ONE-THIRD of America’s trade with the Orient is with Japan; the trade with China is less than half that amount; the trade with India, the Philippines and Australia is, in each instance, about one-fourth the trade with Japan. The total trade of America with the Orient is about two billion dollars a year.

Quiet Reigns in Mexico

NOT for fifteen years have there been such favorable conditions in Mexico as now prevail there. The present Mexican Government is strong. It has the confidence of the people. They know that it is fearlessly working for their interests. The present Government dominates and overpowers the clerical situation completely. The political influence of the Roman Catholic church in the United States is now being used powerfully against Mexico.

Des Moines Greets the King

A DES MOINES glove manufacturer, being -U*- on a trip around the world with his nineteen year old son, and chancing to learn that the King of England was at the great Wembley exposition the same day as himself, pushed his way past all barriers, thrust out his hand and said, “How do, king, shake hands with America.” The king showed that he was human by laughing heartily and grasping the profferred hand. Incidentally he shook hands with the son. The attendants and flunkeys are slowly convalescing from the shock, but the British press is still angry. 3

Conservative Britain and Her Child

OF ALL the civilized countries in the world Great Britain and the United States are the only ones that have not legally adopted the metric system for general use. In the United States the metric* system is in official use, the meter of 39 37 inches being our official standard of length, but the general public clings to the old illogical measures. '

When America’s Kings Visit Europe

BC. Forbes, in the New York American, says • that ‘‘When our money kings visit Europe the doors of royal palaces swing wide open for them. Crowned kings do obeisance to the most powerful of these money monarchs. American ambassadors are at their beck and call. European Prime Ministers metaphorically fall at their feet and offer them adulation.”

Jazz Baggage Makes a Hit

AMERICANS visiting Europe this season are making a hit with what is now commonly known as jazz baggage, i. e., baggage which is painted with stripes or spots, and in all the colors of the rainbow. The claim is that the freak painting helps to identify the baggage. Probably it helps to sell it, too. Jazz dresses are also making their appearance.

No Immigrants Wanted in Europe

A ROCHESTER, N. Y., girl conceived the apparently sensible idea of visiting Europe and working as a stenographer for various American firms while there, so as to pay her way. But as soon as the British immigration officials at Southampton learned her intentions they refused her permission to land; and when she got to Hamburg and told the same story the officials locked her in her cabin. She had $100 in cash. She has returned to this country a sadder and wiser girl. All that she saw of Europe was through the porthole of her cabin.

A Unique Use of the German Mails

THE Postoffice Department of Germany will undertake the experiment of accepting unaddressed mail. That is to say, a firm may send out advertising matter simply addressed “For Lawyers” and it will be delivered only to lawyers; “for housewives” and it will go to the housewives.

Morocco Refuses to Stay Carved

IT WAS more or less difficult for the diplomats of Britain, Spain and France to decide just how they would divide the rich country of Morocco between them, but satisfactory plans for the division of the plunder were finally agreed upon. The only drawback is that the Moroccan people are unwilling to agree to the government of their lands by outsiders. Having chased the Spanish almost into the Mediterranean the Moors are now making it interesting for the French, who have already lost several thousand troops.

Russian Jewels Still Intact

rpjIE New York Times reports that the Russian crown jewels are still intact. They consist of the crowns of rulers for many generations, scepters, necklaces, headdresses, and even a miniature railroad train, all made of the most expensive jewels, and with extraordinary skill. The collection, worth $50,000,000, is being preserved by the Soviet as a sample of extrav-agence practised in the days of the Czars.

Hebrew Dictionary Completed

T) en-Yehuda’s dictionary of the Hebrew language, work on which was begun by Ben-Yehuda and his wife in 1877, is now virtually completed. Seven volumes of the work have been published; three more will be published in 1926. Ben-Yehuda died within an hour and a half from the time he had finished the manuscript. His widow, who colabored with him on the work throughout the whole 45 years, still survives, and was a passenger on the Zionist liner, President Arthur, on its second trip to the Holy Land. The great work completed is the acknowledged standard dictionary of the Hebrew tongue.

Guggenheimer’s Have To Dig Up

A FT ER twenty years litigation, in which a poor miner, George Campbell Carson, tried to get his due, the United States circuit court of appeals has decided that the American Smelting and Refining Company must pay him the sum of $20,000,000, profits which they have made out of Mr. Carson’s invention of treating copper ores, and for which they refused to compensate him. ..... .

Progress In Mexico By c. e. Belmont

RECENTLY I had a letter from my daughter who lives in old Mexico, and has lived there the last four years. She gave me some news items that you may think worth while. As she is in the government service I will withhold her name and address. She writes:

“There are several news items from Mexico that will be of interest to you. One is the land question, and the other is the weakening and breaking of the Catholic church.

“The agrarians are constantly and persistently taking over the land of the big estates, those belonging to Americans as well as to Spaniards or Mexicans. Of course it causes a great deal of friction, and the common people are often unreasonable in their demands.

“The Americans, of course, appeal to the Consulate, and the Consul writes to the local Mexican authorities and to the Department of State, and they bring the matter before the Mexican Federal authorities.

“In one instance the Mexican Government authorities ordered the local troops to go and put the trespassers off the land, but the troops refused to go.

“Lately there has arisen what they call ‘Sismatices’ (in English, a split) among the priesthood of the Catholic church. Some of the priests decided that they would quit sending money to Rome, while others remain loyal to the Pope. There is quite a bit of disturbance among the priests throughout Mexico over this question.

“In Mexico City the two factions were contending for the control of one of the largest churches of the city. So they finally appealed the case to President Calles; and he said he would settle it all right.: That both factions could Just get out, and the building should be used for a school. (I say three cheers for President Calles.)

“You know how the Catholic church has always maintained that only those marriages performed by the priest are legal and valid, claiming that the children of other people not married by the church were illegitimate. Well, now, the Government has turned the tables on them, declaring that only civil marriage is legal and valid. The children born of parents married only by Catholic priests or bishops must bear their mother's name, and are called Tiijos natural’ that is illegitimate, and the wife’s legal status is ‘soltera’ which in English means ‘single’.”

Now I say “hurrah” for the Mexican Government. Let us give them a good big pat on the back. They are certainly making great strides there towards a good' government, as well as towards religious liberty and common sense.

A Cry for Lunacy Reform

Dr. Montague Lomax, former physician of the

Prestwick, England, asylum for the insane, has recently been giving testimony before the Koval Commission on Lunacy, in which he denounces present asylum methods. He declares that British insane asylums seem to be run on the basis of keeping expenses down rather than efficiency up; that some of the medical superintendents are over eighty years of age and have been forty-five years in office; that patients are kept as workers after they have ceased to be certifiably insaneand that, worst of all, in the absence of the physician the attendants are frequently and unnecessarily cruel, and that if a patient reports the cruelty the offense is sure to be repeated against him personally and in a magnified form. Dr. Lomax said in part:

“What converted me into a lunacy reformer was this: The volume of complaints from all sources, their consistency, compelled me to believe in the existence of cruelty. It took me two years to convince myself.

“If you ask patients you will hardly find a case of a patient who has been in an asylum for any length of time who has not numberless cases of cruelty to relate.

“I have patients here now who will tell you of the most ghastly things that they have seen or that they have had done to themselves These things do exist. They exist beneath the surface, and until the public expresses its opinion in a note of horror and indignation they will go on existing. It is publicity alone that will stop all this sort of thing.”

Ocean Currents are Changing

TO THE oft repeated statement that the Gulf

Stream has changed and is throwing its heated waters more directly at the Arctic ice wall, comes now additional items that the Hum

boldt current off the northwest coast of South America is undergoing a change and that the Japan current is also affected. Manifestly the earth is preparing for the millennium.

G50

Silver-Black Fox. Farming By J. a. B'oimet

IL VER fox farming is a new and profitable ■ industry, although, its inception dates back to the year 1887, when Messrs. Dalton and Oul-ton began operations on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

’ Shortly afterwards .three sisters engaged in the business, and cleared $25,000 a year out of their venture. One fox pup brought $9,000; and twenty-five pelts sent to London were sold for $34,175. Some of the pelts were sold for from $2,500 to $2,700 each.

A real boom started. Michigan fell into line with Muskegon as the center of the fox-farming industry; there being no less than thirty-three silver fox farms in its immediate vicinity, and many more to northward along the Lake Michigan shore.

Not many really good fox skins are as yet placed in the markets, for the reason that the live foxes are worth much more for breeding purposes. A pair of good foxes will bring from $1,000 to $2,500, sometimes even more if they are prize winners; whereas a pelt brings $150 to $750.

Only the cull fox pelts are as yet put into the markets, or the pelts of undesirable foxes, such as a non-breeder or one that is somewhat offcolor or quality. ,

There are altogether eight grades of pelts in the color scheme of these foxes. Of these we might mention the red, pale silver, silver, dark silver, extra dark silver and jet black, all of which have a white tip brush (tail). The pelt of the black fox is less in demand because of its liability to imitation by dyeing. .

It is impossible to imitate the silver-black fox pelts; its guard hairs overlapping its fur have black ends with a silver ring next thereat, and that followed by black next to the skin, and interspersed with guard hairs that are jet black and from three to four inches in length. This, gives the pelt that beautiful and very desirable glossy silk sheen and high valuation. The underlying thick matted fur is very soft and fleecy, and is about an inch and a half in length and of a darker gray tinge.

In the early history of silver fox raising, breeding stock sold as high as $34,000 a pair, and individual pelts at $2,700. In 1922 there were upwards of 500 silver fox ranches with 15,000 foxes in captivity, representing an $8,000,000 investment.

The United States Department of Agriculture issued a Bulletin-—No. 1151—of sixty pages, exclusively devoted to fox farming, and taking up in considerable detail every phase of the industry. It is profusely illustrated.

Facts About Silver Foxes

THE first silver foxes sold for breeding pur-*- poses was in 1905; and until 1909 this industry was a monopoly. Since then millions of dollars have, been paid in fox dividends. Mr. Dalton retired a millionaire in 1912.

The fox can be tamed, but this is not desirable in fox farming. Foxes eat anything that a dog or a cat will eat. Meat, fish, bread, cereals, horsemeat, chickens, rabbits, eggs and milk are the chief foods; but mostly horsemeat in winter.

It costs about $12 a year to feed a fox for commercial purposes. They usually breed in February and March, and have but one litter a year of from one to ten pups, the average number being about four. The breeding period is from one to ten years, and the total annual increase is about one hundred percent.

The fox ranches can be built in groves, orchards, on hillsides or in the open, and must have plenty of sunlight. The prize foxes are inbred or line-bred. The best pelts are now worth from $300 to $750 each. Ninety percent of silver fox pelts going on the market today are ranch raised.

Up to date all silver fox pelts have been readily marketed, without any artificial demand being created through advertising. Perhaps not one person in a thousand has ever seen a genuine silver fox or even the' fur of one.

It is estimated that all the pelts of all the silver foxes in captivity in the United States, if placed on the New York market, would be absorbed within six months’ time.

The chief of the Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture, states that during the past ten years the meagre supply of fox fur has decreased only fifty percent.

In future all foxes registered must be inspected, scored, passed favorably upon and ear-tattood by an official of the National Fox-Breeders Association, and no fox scoring less than 80 points will be registered in the Herd Book of the Association; neither can its progeny be registered. This is intended to put the industry on a higher plane. Not over ten percent of cap-

five foxes will score over eighty-five points; so says Mr. J. E. Smith, Association secretary.

The combined silver fox industry in the United States and Canada is valued at over $20,000,000. Silver foxes are insurable up to three-fourths of their actual market value as breeders, C

Visiting a Silver .Fox Farm

HE writer had occasion to visit several fox farms, among them the large Silver-Black

Fox Farm, one and one-half miles north of Hart in western Michigan, and to study it and its environments.

The manager, Mr. Hancock, showed us all through the place, explaining in detail the characteristics of these beautiful little animals; and for oui’ close inspection he trapped a couple of them in a specially constructed wooden box trap. While he held them by the hind legs, they viciously bit at the cut-off trap slide. He parted the fur, and showed us the difference in quality.

All the woodwork of the pens, kennels and buildings is painted white. The pens are 15 x 45 x 7 feet size, covered with fox wire two-inch mesh, and have a carpet of wire fifteen inches underground to prevent the foxes from digging out.

The kennels are all staged sixteen inches above ground, allowing for snow depths, and are double boarded with tar building-paper between the walls and flooring. They are 2 x 2^ x 5 feet size,

A sloping roof on hinges makes it convenient to open for inspection and for airing and cleaning out. The nest boxes are set into this and can easily be removed. These nest boxes contain about two inches of sifted gravel to absorb the moisture at breeding time.

A wire cage 2i/2 x 2% x 5 feet with top and bottom solid is attached to the outer end of the chute and three feet from the kennel. The foxes pass through the door of the cage and through this chute, in going to and from the kennel. This cage serves several purposes: (1) Separating the foxes; (2) sunning the puppies; (3) closing up an excitable mother fox lest she carry the puppies out and bury them; and (4) giving them separate feeds, etc.

A tower thirty-five feet high is located in the center of the pen’s colony. During the breeding season this tower is occupied from 6 a. m. to 9 a. in. and from 3 p. m. to 6 p. m. by the keeper or his assistant without being seen by the ani- ‘ mals.

It is very necessary to watch and study carefully the actions of the foxes to be mated, and ' to note their habit and nature. If aware of be- ' ing observed, the foxes do not act naturally. ’’ A record is kept by this Mr. Lookout respecting the breeding time. This must be positively known and heeded.

The gestation period is fifty-one or fifty-two days, and the young are usually born in April and May. No one is allowed to go near the kennel in which are puppies. It excites the mother fox, and may mean the death of her litter.

The pens are thoroughly cleaned out daily. The animals are fed in soup bowls that are hung eighteen inches high on the wall netting; and these bowls are daily cleaned and sterilized just as thoroughly as the housewife cleans her table dishes.

The fox ranch of which we are particularly speaking contains one hundred silver-black foxes, many of which were prize winners at the Montreal Fox Exhibit. Among them the Lady Hilda, Island Queen, Canuck Rose, Jack Canuck, . and others of prize-winning note.

In feeding, some hide with the hair on must be given the foxes at intervals to remove internal worms, or the fox will chew off the tip of his tail, which is pure white two to four inches.

Round about the entire colony of fox pens and forty feet away from them, there is a ten-foot-high fox wire fence let one foot under ground, and overhanging two feet inwards to prevent foxes from escaping should one succeed in getting out of the pen, and to keep visitors far from the foxes at certain seasons of the year, especially during the breeding and whelping seasons, when visitors are not allowed to go near the fox pens, as it excites the females.

Only the keeper or caretaker is permitted to enter the pens; and even he must not go near the kennels in which there are puppies. The excitable mother will carry them out with a view to hiding them, and thus subject them to a cold; or she would smother them by burial in the earth of the pen.

This Corwin Fox Farm has several hundred acres of land and deals in thoroughbred Jersey cattle as well as in silver fox raising. Its management has contracted with the management of a Manistee fox ranch for the sale of seventy-

five percent of its pups of the years 1924, 1925 and 1926, which means a deal of $100,000 or $150,000; probably the largest fox deal of the state up to date. This ranch has very fine large well-kept buildings, and is situated on the Dixie Highway. The twenty-five percent reserve is for the keeping of its own stock of silver foxes. ! The English and French markets have taken most of the supply of fox pelts. The industry will continue to flourish after prices have been cut to a pelt basis.

The horsemeat food for the foxes is as carefully prepared as though a steer was being prepared for human consumption.

Foxes will climb up the wire netting in an endeavor to escape. The top of the pen, therefore, must be covered over either in part along the side walls, or wholly, to keep them from getting out and away. Foxes sometimes injure themselves by falling from these high climbs. Sometimes a fox will manage to dig out, despite all watchfulness. . ■

A few years ago a keeper notified the ranch owner that one of the foxes had escaped, and was surprised at the apparent non-coneern of the owner. The ranch owner advised the keeper to guard well the other foxes, and stated that the escaped fox would not be gone long; and he was right. The next morning the lonesome fox returned, tired and hungry, and was re-admitted to the stock pen. But this does not always happen.

A pair of self-locking tongs is used to slip around the neck of the fox when he needs to be removed from a crate for the purpose of handling or examination. This instrument. cannot injure nor hurt the animal; it is scientifically constructed. -

Of all the grades the black fox is decidedly the handsomest, but is not worth the- most money, and for reasons already herein set forth. The taking of pelts requires expert knowledge. Only three or four weeks of each winter is the fox pelt “prime”. At other times it is less valuable, and should not be taken. This is because that in the “prime” season the guard hairs give out a better, or a less dark sheen over the silver base color; the jet black guard hairs lie down over the silver coat that hugs close to the animal’s skin.

There is a vast difference between the so-called “A-l" silver fox and the first-class one. The latter is the prize winner, and is not easily purchased. There are some unscrupulous men in the fox-raising business, as there are in every other hue, and these will gull the people in every way they can; and defraud as well.

For instance, you buy from one of these men a pair of fine foxes; and he assures you the vixen is well bred, and you leave the pair with him until after whelping. You get a letter from this cheat, telling you that your female has brought forth two puppies, when in reality she perhaps gave birth to eight, six of which he stows away for himself. No one is permitted to view the litter before the pups are about a month old. See how easily the man has defrauded you, stolen your puppies and taken away your profit.

The proper way is to remove the pair, and take no chances. Look after your own breeding, at your home. It is said that much crooked work goes on at some of the fox ranches. There are of course many very reliable and trustworthy fox ranchers.

Foxes are naturally active at night. During the day they are more quiet and remain much of the time curled up in their kennels (or dens), or on the top of them. Their natural inquisitiveness leads them to want to see everything that is going on around them. Moving. objects especially incite their keen interest. As a rule foxes live peacefully together; but they are quick to take advantage of a mate or of a neighbor if opportunity affords. They are easily excited; and as a rule they arc suspicious of strangers, and run to cover or sneak along the pen wall with the body held close to the ground upon the approach of a strange person.

Foxes differ in temperament the same as do dogs and cats. Withal they are cunning, and not to be trusted. A linger poked through the fence mesh, at an apparently tame animal, is apt to be severely bitten; the hand gotten hold of is hung on to and wrenched at desperately.

Foxes prefer no bedding material, although in some instances the fox will take to straw, The male fox is taken from the pen after breeding has taken place. He may do injury to the vixen or her puppies. He is sometimes fond of carrying the little ones about, and may have a fight with the mother.

The business of fox raising is based on pelt value, which up to date is mostly cull product; that is, the old foxes, non-producers, or injured ones.

■ The greatest obstacle ranches have to overcome in the fox industry is losses through diseases. Sanitation is most essential to success. .Were it not for the fecundity of foxes, their profitable production in the face of present heavy losses from disease and parasites would be out of the question. Distemper and other like diseases are highly fatal. Hookworm, tapeworm, and mange-mite are among the chief parasites that affect foxes in captivity. Young foxes are especially susceptible to disease, and must be given careful attention and have clean surroundings to insure immunity which maturity affords.

In Defense of Monkeys

I SEE in the papers that you human folks have up a hot argument on evolution, and I want you all to understand that we monkeys are interested in that. When it comes to. bringing such awful charges against the noble monkey race, as some of your scientists have done, it is time for us to speak up and defend ourselves.

A man by the name of Darwin made the statement that you can trace your ancestry back to us monkeys and, according to the latest information I can get, all your scholars of the present day accept the Darwinian theory, and claim that the truth of it is too strong to be denied.

Being an educated monkey, I have studied Darwin and his followers pretty carefully myself and I admit they put up some very plausible arguments. Some of their statements are no doubt very convincing to the limited mentality of a mere human, but to the strong intellect of a monkey they are as flimsy as cobwebs.

And now, Mr. Editor, with your kind permission, I will proceed to give your readers a few monkey reasons why the- Darwinian theory cannot be true..

In the first place, monkeys are peaceable folks. We never invented gunpowder, submarines, poison gas and TNT.

We have never had a great world war among ourselves and butchered up and starved 20,000,000 monkeys just to humor the whims of half

By Chimpan Z. Monkey

a dozen monkey kings and kaisers. We have more sense than that.

We hardly ever get sick if we are let alone. It is only when taken captive and kept in your human society that we pine away and die prematurely. Therefore we have no use for doctors and drug stores, hospitals and hot water bottles. We have never had a lawsuit over a line fence, and we don’t need a great army of monkey lawyers to protect our personal interests from other monkeys.

We don’t drink corn ‘Tikker” or smoke cigars, chew tobacco or dip snuff. We have more selfrespect than to touch these nasty things.

We monkeys don’t have to malm money in order to live. We don’t have to sweat in dirty factories, nor sit humped up all day counting column after column of foolish figures on paper. We know how to get along and live our lives in peace without so much bother, and I’ll bet five bushels of cocoanuts, against your store teeth that we get more enjoyment out of life than you do. • '

If you men had half as much sense as monkeys, you surely could see that there is no blood relation between us. Our way of living is simple and satisfactory, while yours is very complicated and uncomfortable. The differences are far greater than the resemblances, and therefore any attempt to prove a common origin is bound to end in failure.

The Reasons Why

I detest my enemies: Their stubbornness Their ostentatious charity Their inordinate ambitions Their detestable hypocrisy Their rashness

Their partiality to friends Their ability

1 like my friends: Their determination

Their lavish generosity Their high ambitions

Their charming politeness

Their impulsiveness

Their partiality to friends Their ability

A World-Wide Cry: ‘‘Wanted Men”

WHO will stand for me [Jehovah] against the evildoers?

/Who will stand forward for me against the workers of iniquity?’-—See Psalm 94:16.

Mankind is passing, at this period of the world’s history, through the greatest troubles experienced during its existence. We are living in a time when wise counsel is needed and must he heeded in order to be safe. As wise pilots are used on vessels in order to steer the ships clear from the rocks so that no wrecks need to be feared, and to guide them safely to the harbors, so we are in great need of men who have the wisdom and ability to lead us through the present difficulties to safety, lasting peace and prosperity.

We are in a time when large-hearted, broadminded men are needed who can and will give the right kind of advice; men who think and men who act; men who will look into the perplexing problems of their fellows from all viewpoints; men who will show no partiality and who will say and do what is right irrespective of persons, and of results to themselves or others; men who will say just what they mean and mean what they say; men, who, after knowing what is right and good counsel, and the proper course and method to take, will accept it, use it. and push it to a final conclusion; men of character, courageous men, men who are not afraid to reject and say "no” to wrong schemes, methods and results; men who are taught of God and guided by His counsel, who will fight for the right, not with carnal weapons, but with the truth, by word of mouth, by the pen, by the printed page, and by the- power of a godly life, until it is secured, established, made permanent, and safeguarded against all future attacks. Such men are needed. Will you be one of them?

Many men who have lived during this "'day of evil” have seen the corruptions of themselves and others in public and private life, and have been led to pen such words as the following, which have back of them a peculiar and special force and power which denote the strong convictions and longings entertained by those who penned them. The quotations follow:

"The world is always asking for men who are not for Bale; men who are honest, sound from center to circumference, true to the heart’s core; men who will condemn wrong in friend or foe, in themselves as well as others; men whose consciences are as steady as the needle

By Paid Lincoln Dondor&

to the pole; men who will stand for the right; men who can tell the truth, and look the world and the devil right in the eye; men who neither brag nor run; men who neither flag or flinch; men who can have courage without shouting or boasting of it; men in whom the courage of a manly character runs still, deep, and strong; men who do not cry nor cause their voices to be heard on the streets, who ‘will not fail nor be discouraged till judgment be set in the earth’; men who know their message and tell it; men who know their places and fill them; men who know and mind their own business; men who will not lie; men who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor; men who aro willing to eat what they have earned, and wear what they have paid for.”—T. L. Haines and L. W. Yaggy.

"God give us men! A time like this demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands!

Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor, men who cannot lie;

* * * * •

For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds, Their large professions, and their little deeds, Mingle in selfish strife, lo ! Freedom weeps, -

Wrong rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps!” J. G. Holland.

"Help wanted, at once! men and women of all ages with good eyes and strong hearts, able to forget themselves and obey orders, who will go to the limit in reconstruction work for heart-sick and sin-diseased and mindnumbed and body-starved humanity. Must be able to love the unlovely and to be kind to the evil and unthankful, and to forego their own rights; hard workers at serving anywhere, and able to teach others the law of Christ. Only those who can hold on and keep going when the prospect is poorest need apply. Wages at the discretion of the Master. Apply right where you are.”

■—Author unknown. •

"One great want of the times is a commanding ministry—ministers of a piety at once sober and earnest, and of mightiest moral power. Give us these men, who are full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, who will proclaim old and new truths with new energy. Give us these men! Men of sound speech, who will preach the truth as it is in Jesus. Men who will preach the true gospel of God as Jesus and the apostles did, that is, first of all, at once a principle enshrined in the heart and a motive mighty in the life—the source of all morals, the inspiration of all charity, the sanctifier of every relationship, and the sweetener of every toil. Give us these men! Men of zeal untiring, whose hearts of constancy

quail not, although dull men sneer, and proud men scorn and timid men blush, and cautions men deprecate, and wicked men revile.”—W. M. Punshon.

•■'Wanted, today, men and women, young and old, who will obey their convictions of truth and duty even if it must be at the cost of fortune and friends and life itself.”—Author unknown.

The Bible, God’s Word, teaches clearly the triumph of Jehovah, His Son Jesus Christ, the followers of Jesus, the truth, and right over every foe. Pastor Charles T. Russell was a Christian Minister who was specially used of God to clarify His glorious plan of redemption and to vindicate His majestic character. It has pleased God nearly always to use human agencies for the carrying forward of His work. Some have been used more than others. It is our blessed privilege and duty to find out ffis purposes and to work in harmony with them, so that they may become a grand success in His own time and way.

Not always will the words be true:

. “Right forever on the scaffold;

Wrong forever on the throne.”

Those who stand for the principles of truth and righteousness are blessed even in this life; and if faithful, they will be rewarded with endless life in the future. That the Scriptures foretell the glorious victory of God and his people read: Psalm 2; Revelation 19; 1 Corinthians 15:24-28.

Criticisms Are Acceptable

WE HAVE received two criticisms on portions of the article, “Everlasting Life on Earth,” which appeared in The Golden Age, No. 138. This was the third time that article was republished, such was the demand for it by Our readers. One reader says:

“Saturn is shown in diagrams from two different views—one showing his rings thin and the other thick. The ring is also stated to be 2,000 miles thick outside the planet. The diagram showing the ring thick is wrong because Saturn presents such an appearance from no view whatever.”

It should be noticed that the diagrams are not photographs, but illustrations designed to aid the mind in comprehending the article. An encyclopedia is quoted which says that the rings of Saturn are “probably” not more than one hundred miles in thickness. But we do not see the necessity of changing the author’s figures.

Good authorities differ on the dimensions of these rings. There are two rings, one outer ring which is quite thin, and an inner ring which is much thicker; thick enough, in fact, to cast a dark shadow over the surface of Saturn. When Saturn is in the constellations Sagittarius and Gemini, his rings are presented more nearly sidewise; and when in the constellations Virgo and Pisces, the rings appear to be a bar of light when seen through a large telescope. As Saturn is more than 483,000,000 miles from the sun, it would seem that if the shadow produced by the rings can be seen from the earth they should be more than one hundred miles in thickness, especially since the rings are vaporous and not solid.

…