Golden Age, August 25, 1926
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■TRUTH
MEXICO EXPELS
BISHOP CARUANA
RUBBER vs. WHEAT
5 s? a copy — • $ 1.00
a Ye ar
FERMENTATION AND
THE GERM THEORY
JUDGE RUTHERFORD
ANSWERS QUERIES
ADVENTISM
INDICTS ITSELF
VoL VII Bi-Weekly No. 181 "
August 25, 1926
OLD WORLD DYING
Goom
U' NEV'
WORLD BEGINNING
Contents of the Golden Age
Labor and Economics
.Wiiat the Would is Doing
Profits of the Pullman Company ...
Age Limit Must Be Raised .............. 739
New York’s Housing Commission .......... .
Mansions in the Skies .............. ,
, Social and Educational
Prison Labor in Tennessee ............ .
Skirts for Men, Too ............... .
The Cake on Unbuly Children
The Abt of Friendship .............. .
The Quest fob Happiness
Radio Pbogbams ....
Finance—Commerce—Transportation Steel —• Oil — Motors —■ Railroads
The Dollar Steamship Company ......
Socialization of Railroads . .
Rubber Versus Wheat ....
Political—Domestic and Foreign
Annual Display of Force Abandoned ■
The Expulsion of Bishop Caruana
Extinction of Casualties in Scotland
Agriculture and Husbandry China Pheasant Culture . .•
Science and Invention Secret Radio Transmission .........
Britain May Lift Her Vail
Home and Health Fermentation and the Germ Theory
Travel and Miscellany Cripple Creek, Colorado ................ 7C4
Religion and Philosophy Where Did Life Comb From? .............. 754 The End of the Thirty-Five Hundred Years ........ 753 Seventh-Day Adventism Indicts Itself .......... 756 Bible Questions and Answers ..... 765
Studies in “The Harp' of God”..... 7^7
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Golden Age
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Volume VII Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday, August 25. 1926 Number 181
What the World is Doing
Profits of the Pullman Company
THE Pullman Company has paid its stockholders $269,000,000 in cash dividends and $64,000,000 in stock dividends. Its net profits last year were $15,771,976. These dividends and profits went .chiefly to people whose principal activity consists in drawing their breath and eating three meals a day. The porters are paid $67.50 per month, and on completion of thirty years of faithful service may receive as high as $90 per month. In other words, the management of this unusual private enterprise lets the public pay in tips the salaries of its employes, while it receives the profits of their labor. .
Steel — Oil —■ Motors —■ Railroads
IN A single year the United States Steel Corporation does nearly a billion and a half of business; the Standard Oil Company is a close second, with considerably over a billion; the General Motors Corporation is third with about three-quarters of a billion dollar business; the Pennsylvania Railroad Corporation is slightly less than the General Motors. The net profits of the Standard Oil Company last year were over $111,000,000.
The Dollar Steamship Company
THAT is not such a bad name, The Dollar Steamship Company, especially when one stops to consider that it has just bought from the United States Shipping Board five of the finest oil-burning steamers afloat for less than one-sixth of what it cost Uncle Sam to build each one of them. The Dollar Steamship Company saved at least twenty-five million dollars right there. Any concern oughf to be able to make a few dollars that can buy superior equipment for one-sixth of what it cost to make it. The ships are being operated on the Pacific and around the world.
Socialization of Railroads
UNCLE SAM has socialized the railroad systems of the country, while leaving them nominally under private management. The Interstate Commerce Commission supervises the issuance of railway securities, car supply and distribution, joint use of terminals, construction of new lines, abandonment of old lines, division of joint rates and fixing of rates. Additionally, after profits of railroads have reached a certain amount, one-half of the excess is placed in a revolving fund maintained to aid the weaker railroads.
Prison Labor in Tennessee
npHE Tennessee State Federation of Labor has declared in favor of a law which will allow a prisoner the average wage of free labor for’work performed, the expense of maintaining the prisoner to be deducted from this wage, and the balance to go to his dependents. At present the state punishes a prisoner’s wife and children more than it does the prisoner himself.
The Convict Mines of Alabama
TN THE convict mines of Alabama it has been J- brought to light that prisoners were forced to mine coal while standing in water until their feet swelled and cracked, and were compelled to continue working even when sick. Instances were cited where the poor unfortunates begged their brutal jailers to put them out of their misery by killing them, and sometimes they did.
Aye Limit Must be Raised
THE age limit of useful employment must be raised. The world cannot go on discriminating against men who are over forty years of age, when the average of life is nearly sixty. There are now in the United States 5,500,000 persons
over 65 years of age, two-thirds of whom are self-supporting; one-sixth are on pension, and the other one-sixth are dependent on relatives and friends.
; Advertising by Radio
THE great broadcasting stations that sell the use of their studios to advertisers charge $100 for a ten minute period and $200 for a half hour. Much of the broadcasting now done is by advertisers, who reap their harvest from the opening and closing announcements. WBBR, WORD, and other stations owned by the International Bible Students Association do not put their studios at the disposal of advertisers. Their object is to bless their fellow men.
Milking and Hoeing by Radio
THIS heading is not exactly honest, but it will do for a heading this time. The New York Times contains the surprising and novel news that in the western part of Pennsylvania it has become quite the custom for farm boys to load a radio set on a wheelbarrow and do their milking and hoeing to the lilting tunes of the latest airs broadcast from New York stations. It seems to us that this is as it should be. Workers at manual tasks should be entertained while at work. In every Cuban cigar shop there is a reader whose duty it is to read to the workers one book after another, with the result that in a few years all the workers in the factory become exceedingly well informed on a great variety of subjects, and meanwhile clo their work better. '
Secret Radio Transmission
A BRITISH inventor, J. D. Chisholm, claims to have perfected a new method of radio transmission by which he can broadcast the spoken ■word anywhere and yet it cannot be picked up except with the special form of receiver which his company expects to make. He claims that he has already been offered a sum running into six figures for the use of the patent.
A Bootlegging Broadcasting Station
SOMEWHERE in Spain, it is alleged, there is an unlicensed and unlocated broadcasting ■ outfit, probably mounted in a motor car, which goes from place to place and fills the air in the evening with donkey brays, ironical remarks about General de Rivera and the government ofi the Dictator. The broadcaster knows that he is being diligently sought but has boasted over the radio that the police will never get him.
Spread of Air Mail Service
TPHE air mail service is spreading rapidly to all parts of the United States. There are now mail services to the Northwest as well as the Southwest; also an air mail in Florida.
Judges Human After All
"JUDGES are human after all. Senator King calls attention to the fact the Congress recently passed a law providing for twenty-four additional federal judges, and that there was a most unseemly scramble for the jobs. Further, he says that in some instances lawyers of the highest ability were sidetracked because they failed to get the support of the political powers that be.
The Way Politicians Do Things
THE wmy politicians do things is well illustrated by two events in the life of President Coolidge. In a speech at Williamsburg College he made a rather astonishing plea for states’ rights, especially in view of the many invasions of those rights in recent years; and then within a week he authorized the placing of state, county and municipal officers on the national payroll for enforcing prohibition, which is the greatest invasion of states’ rights in a generation.
World’s Impending Weather Calamity
THE Magazine of Wall Street contains an interview with Herbert Janvrin Browne, expert in the study of ocean currents, who expresses his conviction, based wholly on scientific studies, that Europe will not have more than a 40% harvest in 1927 and America not better than 60%. Mr. Browne goes on to remark that with abnormal areas of intensification in every ocean of the world, there is also now every solar influence cooperating to promote this intensification. He states that apart from his own studies the astronomers of Europe and the meteorologists, too, are convinced that a time of cumulative effects of sun and moon has arrived which, for millions of people in the world, will, in effect, be the end of the world. Not, he hastens on to say, that this terrestrial globe is to perish, but that weather conditions on it will be so abnormal that multitudes of men may perish and the complex fabric of the world's economic structure may reel under the blow. v
Planting by the Moon
MODERN science has found out that there is something in “planting by the moon” after all. A little while ago we thought it was all superstition. Then somebody noticed that Moses, one of the wisest of men, made use of the expression “the precious things put forth by the moon” (Deuteronomy 33:14); and now along come the scientists and tell us that moonlight is polarized light, and that it is especially helpful in the production of certain forms of vegetable growth.
New York’s Housing Commission
NEW YORK’S Housing Commission has rendered a great service to humanity by proving beyond question that private commercial enterprise cannot build apartments in New York City which will rent for less than $12.50 per room per month, and that the average family among the poor cannot pay more than $7 per room per month. It has put the whole question of housing the poor squarely up to the state, and the state must meet it by taking care of the people that constitute the state. State credit must be used, and regions for state financed homes must be set aside and developed.
A House of 462 Rooms
ONE of the Papal palaces in Rome outside of the Vatican precincts contains no less than 462 rooms. It contains the living quarters of six cardinals and the official quarters of one of the departments of the hierarchy.
’A Half-Million Dollar Playhouse
ON IIIS estate at Pocantico Hills, N. Y., John
D. Rockefeller, Jr., is building a $500,000 private playhouse in which he and his sons will have the benefits of a basketball court, a swimming pool, two bowling alleys, a billiard room, boys’ room, music room, lounge and breakfast room. There will be a fireplace in every room. Outside there will be baseball, tennis and croquet grounds.
Dallas’ Million-Dollar Hailstorm
TA ALLAS, Texas, on the evening of May 8tl of this .year, experienced one of the most remarkable hailstorms in history. After ar ordinary hailstorm there suddenly followed foi about ten minutes what might be called a supei hailstorm in which some of the missiles measured twelve inches in circumference and weighed up to twenty-two ounces. Thousands of automobiles had their tops riddled and windshields and windows broken. A part of the city looked as though it had been subjected to machine-gun fire. It is estimated that a million dollars worth of damage was done in the city.
An Important Scientific Expedition
T) ECAUSE the air in South Africa is clearer -L' than any known elsewhere, the National Geographic Society is sending two American observers to the summit of Mount Brukkaros, Southwest Africa, 5,200 feet above sea level, where they will spend three years, far remote from any other white men, making daily observations of the sun and transmitting their reports daily by wire to Washington. It is expected that in three years it will be quite definitely ascertained in just what way the conditions in the sun affect weather on this planet.
Episcopalians Sliding Rome-wards
TT IS said that out of 24,000 English clergy JL 6,300, one in every four, belong to societies openly working for reunion with Rome, and that in thousands of Episcopalian churches the services performed in them cannot be distinguished from those performed in Boman Catholic places of worship. This includes the whole unscriptural list of candles, incense, pictures, vestments, holy water, Latin prayers, Mary worship, adoration of saints, confession, the eastward position, and the celebration of mass.
“Institutes of Public Ecclesiastical Law”
IN THE year 1901 there were published in
Rome by papal authority and approval two volumes bearing the above title. On page 142 of the second volume it is laid down that the church has the right to inflict the severest penalties, even death; and that when heretics are in the power of Catholic judges the judges must inflict on them the penalty not of death only but of fire. The same book declares that the church has the divine right to confiscate the property of heretics, imprison their persons and condemn them to the flames. This book was not written in the “dark ages”; it was 'published only twenty-five years ago.
Reverend Wheeler Makes A Hit
Reverend Wheeler of Omaha has made a hit by admitting in his church paper that during the World War he made a consummate ass of himself by preaching patriotism instead of Christ Jesus. He goes on to say:
Clergymen cannot be hysterical press agents of the generals in war time, and the day after armistice expect folks to take them seriously as representatives of Jesus of Nazareth. Bishops, clergymen and chaplains broke all commandments of the Lord during the war, and now wonder whv the common folks don’t crowd the churches. / ' "
A Backward Spring Correctly Foretold
THE weather prognosticators who foresaw a cold spring for 1926 guessed correctly. In the eastern part of the United States it was a general complaint that there was almost no seasonable spring weather, while Europe reported the most disastrous spring weather in the memory of any now living. Heavy snowfalls and floods did great damage there, and el sewhere there were intense cold and high winds until late in June.
Annual Display of Force Abandoned
FINDING that militarism is increasingly unpopular among people who have any real regard for the interests of humanity, the War Department has abandoned its plans for an annual show of force. Nobody is interested in guns and poison gas. Talk about man’s evolution from apes and monkeys! 'Where would you find an ape or a monkey that would be so heartless as to shoot his fellow or kill him with poison gas? Such refinement, which is called “civilization”,, is reserved principally for those who go to church. The churches seem to have a monopoly of that kind of civilization and that kind of Christianity.
Safety Pin Diet Not Recommended
A NEW YORK youngster swallowed a safety -t ^-pin, forgetting to close the pin first before he swallowed it. Some doctors were for cutting the.baby open, but a child specialist knew better .and began feeding the youngster a rich heavy diet of cereals and'cream. In forty-nine hours the pin was recovered and had nearly. closed in the meantime. Incidentally, the baby gained a half pound in weight during those anxious hours. But for all that, we do not recommend a safety pin diet for babies, at least not unless the pins are closed before the youngsters swallow them.
Skirts for Men, Too
TIT OMEN are not the only ones who can wear * ’ skirts. There are the priests and judges and the Scottish highlanders, the Hungarian shepherds, the rulers of India, and the chiefs of Ceylon; and in the latter instance they have the leg-of-mutton* sleeves which a generation ago were all the rage among the women of western lands. And then there is the Ku Klux nightshirt besides. The women have had most of the glory ,of skirts in the past, but not all of it; and now large numbers of them are even losing a considerable portion of what they did have in that direction.
Embroidery in China
ON ACCOUNT of the patience of the workers, and the fact that time means nothing in China, the Chinese women do the finest embroidery in.the world. It is said that a dozen women will spend as much as five years on one official robe, and that in making so small a thing as a spectacle case as many as twenty thousand stitches may be made. The ends of all threads are carefully concealed from view.
Important Developments in Africa
THE French and Belgian governments have sent a fleet of five tractors diagonally through Africa, from the northwest to the southeast, right through the heart of that vast continent. The tractors went via Timbuctoo, Lake Tchad, the Mobangi River and Albert Nyanza, to Mozambique Channel and thence by steamer to Madagascar. In one place the Belgian Government cut a road 350 miles long to enable the tractors to get through the jungle. To the south of this epoch-making trail a railway is being built, to connect Lake Tanganyika with the West Coast at Benguela. More and’ more goods are being shipped into Africa, and more and more are coming out of the Dark Continent.
The Expulsion of Bishop Caruana By Arturo M. Elias, Consul General of Mexico
[Bible Students confidently believe that at some time the antitypical Jezebel, the Roman Catholic Church, who for centuries has lied and bluffed and bulldozed and boycotted her way into notoriety and into power by the lowest of political methods, would be repaid in kind by being pitched out of the window by politicians who had once been in league with her. '
, Something like this is happening just now. At the very time when the Roman Church was painting Itself up for its big sideshow at Chicago, doing everything possible to get into the newspapers with stories about its seven specially built Pullman cars, all named after popes and cardinals and fitted with every luxury known to man, out came the Mexican Government with the following intensely interesting letter, which is supported by documentary proof here reproduced. We suggest that an appropriate title to this article would have been, “GIVING JEZEBEL THE AIR.”—Editor.] ,
J PON his return from Mexico, in Laredo, Texas, and other towns, Monsignor Caruana, Papal Delegate and Bishop of Porto Rico and West Indies, made to press representatives the statement that feeling free to speak in the United States he would make in Washington further declarations as to the reasons or lack of reasons which prompted the Mexican Government to expel him from Mexico. In view of the fact that several weeks have elapsed since these statements were made by Monsignor Caruana and no further declaration has been forthcoming from him, and in view of President Calles’ letter to the head of the Catholic church of Mexico, published in the press of this country on June 4, I think it is particularly fitting for me to request from you the courtesy of your columns to place before your readers and therefore before the American public the facts involving the expulsion of Monsignor Caruana from Mexico. This will be of great help in creating a good feeling between the peoples of Mexico and the United States.
The officials entrusted with the task of administrating the Government of Mexico have no desire to keep up the friction caused by the failure of a small group which has always distinguished itself for its rebelliousness in the observance of the laws adopted by the Mexican people for the conduct of its internal affairs. But in pursuance of the Government’s policy of broadcasting to the whole world the exact facts of what happens in Mexico, I ask you, in the interest of truthfulness as well as of the amity which should always exist between our two peoples, for space in which to state the facts concerning Mr. Caruana’s case.
A few weeks ago, as Consul General of Mexico, I issued a statement calling attention to the fact that the Papal Delegate had, in his own statement published in the press of the United States, made certain admissions that in themselves justify the action of the Mexican Government in expelling him from the country.
I am now sending you herewith a photostatic copy of his declarations made before the Mexican immigration authorities at Nuevo Laredot Mexico, on March 4, when entering Mexico:
In addition to confirming his own admission that he, the apostolic delegate of the Pope and the Bishop of Porto Rico and West Indies, told the Mexican authorities he was “a teacher” this declaration shows that he went much farther than he admitted in his statement published throughout the United States. When asked the question, “Do you come as a tourist or on business ?” the declaration shows that the Bishop of
Porto Rico, who has stated since he left Mexico that he went there for the purpose of making an investigation for His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, replied that he was going to Mexico just as a “tourist”.
The declaration also shows that when this prelate of the church in a Spanish-speaking country, such as is Porto Rico, who is. from Italian origin, was asked if he knew any other language than English, he replied, “None.” When it came to the question in the declaration as to his “religious creed”, the prelate of the Catholic church and personal representative of Pope Pius XI, flatly answered “Protestant”.
The facts here set forth speak fordhemselves. In view of the fact that no one has ever been kept out of Mexico because of his or her religious creed, the claim of a Catholic prelate that he was a ‘'Protestant” is something that Monsignor Bishop Caruana will have to explain himself. But we think the answers set forth in the immigration declaration do explain the failure up to the present time of the intention announced by Bishop Caruana at the bordering towns of Texas, upon his return to the United States, to make further declarations regarding his expulsion from Mexico.
In the interest of a healthful understanding between the peoples of my country and the United States, I am submitting this statement to you for publication.
Extinction of Casualties in Scotland By Irene E. Murray (Scotland)
fN DAYS gone by, when men believed in the J- doctrine of the divine right of kings and the divine right of the clergy, all the land of Scotland belonged either to the Crown or to the Church: and so dwarfed and distorted had men's minds become by long oppression that this was considered to be as it ought to be.
As time went on, the various kings granted large tracts of land to the nobles as rewards for loyalty and bravery in battle, and these nobles in turn feued out their lands in smaller portions to the people, who in payment therefor were required to render such services as were demanded of them. This included fighting for the nobles whenever called upon, which was pretty frequently :in those days.
Then came the troublous times of the Reformation, when the Roman Catholic Church was forcibly relieved of its lands; and the lazy fat friars, who had been living well at the expense of the people, were turned out to seek other resting places.
These lands in time were also granted by the king to his favorites of the moment, until eventually the whole of Scotland came to be owned by these nobles, and the people 'were little better than slaves. The nobles were called “superiors” and the people “vassals”.
Gradually, as the call for fighters grew less frequent, payment by service was changed to payment in kind, such as poultry or grain; and this in turn was changed to yearly money payments called feuduties.
Over and above these annual feuduties, certain other payments were demanded by the superiors. These extra payments were called “casualties”’, and became payable on the death of a vassal, before his heir or any other successor could be entered in the lands.
These casualties varied greatly in amount, according to circumstances too technical to here explain ; but payment of them was always resented by the vassals, and they were considered to be, as in reality they were-, unjust burdens.
It is interesting to Bible students to note that the first stop toward ridding the land of these casualties was taken in 1874. That year marked the beginning of the last epoch in the history of the church, namely, the Laodicean period: and Laodicea means “Justice for the People”.
The God who numbers the hairs of our heads and marks the sparrow's fall is not unmindful of the cries of the people; but in His own due time He sets in motion the machinery, which all unimown to man works out His sovereign will.
In that year the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act was.passed, which enabled the people, if they so desired, to redeem all future casualties, either by payment of a lump sum down or by an addition to the annual feuduty. Comparatively few, horvever, seemed to take advantage of this; no doubt the reason being that it meant a visit to a lawyer, which all wise people seek to avoid.
This Act also made it impossible for superiors to stipulate for casualties in future, but that instead, a double feuduty should be paid every twenty years or thereabout, which double feuduty was called a “duplicand”.
These duplicands were a great improvement to the casualties; for in many instances a casualty amounted to the net valued rental of the property built on the land and, if this happened to be a mill, -would probably amount to hundreds of pounds sterling, while the feuduty for the land might amount only to shillings.
Thus things went on until the year 1914, when the Feudal Casualties (Scotland) Act was passed for the compulsory abolition of all future casualties and duplicands, by payment of a sum down or by an addition to the feuduty. And now, after hundreds of years these relics of the dark ages are passing into oblivion. But it entails a tremendous amount of.work, and the Act allows until 1930 to complete it.
Circular letters in the “plainest” of lawyer language are sent to all feuars, explaining the matter of casualties and requesting them to send the titles of their feus for examination, and also, where possible, setting before them the amount required to be paid by them, and the method of calculating such amount.
To the majority of people the circular letter might as well be double dutch; and varied and amusing are the replies thereto. One man, evidently with a large bump of humor, whose wife received such a letter in error, wrote:
Dear Sirs: •
In the old days when we were struggling to get on top of the irregular French verbs, solace was given by the assurance that the English language was the most difficult to acquire; and this was disbelieved by 99.5 percent of the class. Your communication of the 29th inst. proves that the 99.5 percent were wrong.
The only casualties lately affecting my household were minor injuries to my bicycle and the illness of my wife. The former- were repaired at a cost of 3/-; the later at a cost of not less than £3; and therefore I Consider the latter of the more importance. I give these domestic details, as I am under the impression that you desire to make me your confidant; and I wish to reciprocate.
I had a notion that the feudal.system had long since lapsed.
Finally, I should be pleased if you could see youi way to make a statement in plain English, minus legal bombast, advising me for what feu I am liable that necessitates the arithmetical formula to hand. For the required simplicity let me quote the term of invoice from a local wine merchant for an occasional bottle—-in the past:
To one bottle of aqua---------12/6.
In this example the honesty and simplicity are evident, My wife has no separate estate, and I am constantly hunting for one myself. My title up to date has been plain “Mister’/ Yours faithfully.
Vainly the lawyer tries to make the matter plain, but he himself has gotten so mixed up with musty deeds and obsolete language that each attempt adds bewilderment to the feuar, who in despair takes the matter to another lawyer; and we leave him there.
Old land titles dating hundreds of years back are brought from cellars and garrets to the light of day for careful examination; and during this process many complicated points of law arise, on which the lawyers themselves cannot agree. Then the matter is referred to Counsel for his opinion; and so the work goes on of ridding this land of ours of some of its unjust burdens.
To the man of the world the year 1874 is of no moment, and the year 1914 merely marks the beginning of the World War. But to those who are watching for the hand of God in the affairs of the church and the world, the year 1874 marks the second advent of our Lord, and 1914 marks the end of the Gentile times. To such the passing of these Acts in these years is not a' mere coincidence, but onward steps in the plan of God, which bring ever nearer the time when every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree; and though it may seem now that the lawyer has the best of it, he is working himself out of a job, and soon will find a better use to which to put his brains.
The writer, though once happy in a lawyer’s office, is now far happier tramping the hills of Bonny Scotland, carrying the precious message of truth to the lonely shepherds and the hardworking farmers, and rejoices in the happy privilege of telling the good tidings to the meek and of comforting those that mourn.
IN THE London Magazine Lancelot Lawton, L an authority on coal, writes an interesting article showing how Britain may possibly rid herself of the pall of smoke which now hangs over her. Concerning the smoke itself he says:
The truth is that a veil of smoke, which is only occasionally pierced by the beneficent rays of the sun, hangs over Britain.
And what is smoke? Smoke is the suspension of finely-divided soot in the air. And what is soot ? Soot is the deadliest of poisons. It contains, among other things, tar. Tar, if produced at certain high temperatures, is known to be a fruitful cause of cancer; for this statement there is full medical authority, based upon long observation of workers in tar-distilling factories and upon repeated experiments with animals. Soot also contains arsenic, and arsenic is a known cause of cancer.
Not only does this soot remain suspended in the air in the form of fine particles, creating what is called smoke, polluting the atmosphere and shutting out the sunshine; but, in the form of the black, evil-smelling stuff which we find up our chimneys, millions of tons of it descend upon our cities and towns. And it has been ascertained that more soot and smoke emerge from the domestic grate, where the cheerful fires we love so well are burning, than from the chimneys of industry. The most exclusive residential quarter is, therefore, not immune from the ravages of this black plague.
The extent of these ravages is appalling. For soot not only penetrates into all the organs of the human body, stimulating disease of various kinds, but it retards the growth of vegetation, and contains acids so powerful as to eat into stonework and metalwork; iron rails, for instance, lose weight from this cause.
How sad to reflect that Nature should have stored up so much light and heat—so much sunshine—in the form of coal, in the use of which we not only destroy and devitalize ourselves by converting it into poisons, but shut out from our lives the living light and heat, the vitamines of the sun itself, so necessary to healthy, happy existence! Could a greater tragedy of human error than this be imagined ?
The loss involved in this criminal mishandling of coal has been colossal. All the costs and casualties of wars sink into insignificance compared with it? Let us try to enumerate some of the items on this black bill: Death, disease, degeneration, vice; maintenance of hospitals, convalescent homes, prisons; widespread depression caused by the gloomy environment of smoke-begrimed towns; wastage of powers of production; damage to vegetation; repairs to buildings—it has been estimated that half the cost of repairing all public buildings is incurred because of damage done by soot; the importation of fifty million pounds3 worth of oil, all of which could be produced from coal at home; the sacrifice of a large amount of the available heat of coal, in many instances up to as much as thirty percent, and of all the valuable products which if contains; and, finally, the homely but by no means negligible detail of the nation’s washing bill, which—according to calculations carefully ascertained—is many millions more than it need be because of the dirt spread from coal fires. Thus we are guilty of double waste: waste caused by the destructive properties of smoke, and the waste of heat and energy caused by the sacrifice of the valuable products of which smoke consists.
z Is it any wonder that at last all the world is struggling desperately to escape from this ugly, grimy death-trap of civilization which the wrongful use of coal has created?
Mr. Lancelot then writes of the new processes of coal distillation at low temperatures; and while admitting that there is something yet to be learned before this has reached perfection, he sees in it the following wonderful possibilities:
To get really satisfactory results one class of coal has sometimes to be mated (or blended) with another; that is in itself a fine art,. And what are these satisfactory-results ? ?
On an average, for every ton of coal distilled (cs carbonized) 16 cwts. of smokeless fuel, 16 gallons « oil, and a quantity of gas of high calorific value are yielded. The smokeless fuel has a silvery appearance and resembles coke more than coal, but unlike coke it is free-burning and has no unpleasant smell. I have seen it burning in the open fire grate. It. soon ignites, gives a bright blue smokeless flame, and radiates far more heat than does ordinary coal. But its greatest merit is that it creates no smoke, no soot.
Concerning the tar (or oil) produced, little is known except that it is superior to gasworks tar, inasmuch as it is of a petroleum-like character; it is known, moreover, to contain chemical compounds of a valuable order, only some of which have so far been definitely ascertained. And, finally, there is the gas, which is of a richer quality than gas produced in the gasworks.
In a word, this method (or principle) of distillation produces three smokeless fuels from coal—semi-coke, as it is called, oil, and gas. Nothing is wasted; whereas under the present primitive methods of using coal, so one well-known expert' (Robert Hunter) tells us, we are dispersing into the air valuable products, 'motor spirit, illuminating and fuel oils, lubricating oils, and pitch to the value of £154,000,000 annually.
One of the most attractive features of this distillation process is not only that it produces economical fuels, but that it renders possible the use of what is at present the cheapest sort of'- coal. Every year, in the course of normal coal production, sixty million tons of small coal or slack are mined, for which no market can be found. There are millions upon millions of tons of this despised stuff down the mines, causing danger and discomfort to the men in the workings, or lying about in dumps on the surface disfiguring the landscape. It is ideal material for distillation purposes. And even were it not distilled, but ground into fine powder and consumed in its raw state, it would result in an economy of from twenty-five to fifty percent, as compared with lump coal.
One of the most remarkable discoveries of the age is that powdered coal is as convenient and as economical (if not more so) to handle as oil, for not only is it flexible and smokeless, but it dispenses with the need for stokers/ Assuming that Great Britain did not “oilify” her coal, she could pulverize much of it and thus save her mining industry. But the most economical method would be to extract the oil first, and powder the smokeless residue for industrial purposes. This, however, is another story.
Let us return to distillation and its products. The smokeless fuel (or semi-coke) could be used in open grates or consumed in super-power stations to produce electrical energy as cheaply as this is done in other' countries from waterpower. It is perfectly true as is sometimes said, that Great Britain has “a -black Niagara”. But it is wrong to say, as many say, that this is exclusively an age of electrification. It is an age of “gasification” as well as of electrification.
- If low temperature distillation is extensively resorted to, what is to become of all the gas produced ? Where will it find a market ? These are questions which are often raised. The answer is that in the future gas mains will be dispensed as widely as electrical energy ■ in Germany gas mains are already laid and operating over a distance as great as 200 miles. '
And here we may imagine a picture of the future; a future nearer perhaps than most of us dream of. Clean, bright, and smokeless; power and its sources distributed far and wide; gas and electricity on tap everywhere, so to speak; industry decentralized; the comforts of the town brought to the country and the freshness and beauty of the country transferred to the town; labor lightened, production cheapened, fertilization of -the land as a consequence of nitrogen extracted from the. air; electrification of crops to ensure abundant harvests; the application of mechanical power to replace all the human drudgery associated with agricultural work; and a supply of home-produced oil sufficient for all our needs. And all from coal.
China Pheasant Culture By J. A. Bohnet
THE Wallace Evans Game Farm, about three miles out from St. Charles, Illinois, is a wonderful and interesting institution. A party of four of us—not counting the youngster— left town in an automobile a few minutes before sundown to see what could be seen of the place in the gloaming of a beautiful summer day with the lowering fireball directly before our eyes.
Mistaking the road we went considerably more than a mile out of our way and had to turn back at the forks to reach the game farm. This farm covers several hundred acres of land and is entirely enclosed with a seven-foot-high poultry netting. Over this enclosure the birds cannot fly, by reason of having one wing taped close to the body by a certain peculiar fastening.
' As we drove along the roadway, wondering whether we would be allowed to drive in through the entrance gate, we saw in the large fields on both sides of us hundreds, if not thousands, of beautiful China pheasants, some standing still and others running about. It was an imposing sight. Some were in the trees and bushes, but most of them were on-the ground.
A short walk further along brought us to the wild-duck pond, about ten acres in extent, and alive with ducks, and the shores all around the pond lined with them—bunches of them not over sixteen feet from us, and some flying about above the pond. There were many little duckhouses on the opposite shore. Afterwards we learned that from six to eight ducks in each one do the hatching.
Here we met two men, with a wagon containing crated pheasants, one of them following with a Winchester repeating shotgun. We asked, “Why the gun?” The answer came, “Oh, we sometimes shoot each other.”
They were evidently not giving out any information. But we were told that the crated birds were destined to the state of Pennsylvania for liberation, and that birds were being shipped to all parts of the country and Canada.
Across the left field we saw a herd of deer sporting on the green. They scampered away at the sight of us, and were soon lost from view in the foot-high grass. We passed the open gate, tremuluously feasting our eyes on the beautiful sight until we arrived at the end of the farm.
There to our immediate left at the foot of a hill, and two feet inside of the net fence, we discovered one of the birds wing-entangled on a
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743 barbed wire, apparently dead. Good fortune! Here was our chance. We turned our car around and drove back the quarter of a mile and into the farm gate. “One of your birds is entarigled in the fence up yonder,” we reported. The ice Was broken; we were now in good standing. -
To our query, “May we view the . birds'?” we were advised to walk along close by the fence of high net-wire, and see them in the wooded field close by. But to our suggestive inquiry, “There must be thousands of these pheasants here,” we got the curt response: “We wish there were.”
We perceived the game-keepers were not to be pumped for any information; so we proceeded to walk along that fence. Wonderful the sight! There were China pheasants by the hundreds, silver pheasants by the dozen, and golden pheasants interspersed.
We watched the ducks awhile; and upon our return to our car we found a dead" eagle of six and one-half feet wing-stretch the gunman had just shot as it flew over him. This opened the conversation. He told us that the gamekeepers always carry a gun when going about the place, as there are hawks aplenty and some eagles. The eagle would be mounted and sold to some hunting club. It was the real American eagle, and a fine specimen. We now could ask any question, and get ready and satisfactory answers. Only a call to supper saved the man from a systematic “pumping”.
On our way back to town we stopped and inspected the supposedly dead bird in the fence wire and found it alive and helpless, nor could we get at it for its release, though we tried hard to, out of pity for the poor thing. Around went our car a second time to report the fact to the game men. They were very appreciative and assured us that it would be immediately attended to with a flashlight.
As we were passing out of the gate we met the chief game-keeper in an auto. He a'sked, “Was it your car that stopped at the foot of the hill?” Very evidently he had suspected us of trying to get some of the pheasants, and, by a circuitous route had driven around us to head us off. When he found that we had returned to report the entangled bird as still alive, he was apparently well satisfied that we were not after any of those pretty birds. The birds are well guarded by a gang of men; they must be.
The wild ducks are fed oats once a day, and other wild ducks are coaxed into the duck pond in big flocks. "When wanted for market they are carefully driven into a netted pen and caught one by one.
During the winter months the ducks' are put into houses, where they have steam heated water in which to swim. When kindly treated, wild fowl can be made as tame as are domestic fowl. We found it so on this wild game farm.
On this farm there are upwards of 10,000 pheasants. The cockerels have tails about two feet in length and are very pretty. The female bird is less attractive and is considerably smaller.
Mansions in the Skies- By 'Joseph Greig
THE Book-Cadillac Guest Mansion of Detroit, Mich., opens a new’ chapter in hotelling now big with interest. Its total cost is said to be over $14,000,000. Its construction required 17,400,000 pounds of structural steel in it, as well as 4,000,000 bricks, 85 carloads of stone and terra cotta, 11,000,000 pounds of plaster, 2,000,000 pounds of lime, 1,000,000 square feet of gypsum tile, 6,000,000 pounds of sand, and 40,-D00 square feet of glass. This giant building is set in a mighty foundation 120 feet below the curb, and covers eleven acres of ground space which at one time sold for a few cents.
Further, one of the marvels of this modern palace, is the crystal ball-room, where electric devices are said to display artificial splendor on a scale hitherto unapproached, in that formations of sunrises, sunsets and rainbows are producible at will. Indeed, the Detroit Free Press has moved its radio broadcasting machinery thither in order to give the fans world-wide the benefit of a lofty talent.
But after all is said and done in this achiev-ment of human genius, how lame it all will appear in the dazzling brilliancy of the divine paradise soon to be spread out on earth, worldwide ! The subduing of the earth has scarcely begun, as any one can see from a railway or an automobile journey anywhere. Most of the earth is still unfinished, awaiting the Better Day.
Fermentation and the Germ Theory
WEBS TER define s fermentation as the ch ange of organic substances by which, under the influence of warmth, air and moisture, they are decomposed, usually with evolution of gas and heat, and their elements are recombined to form new compounds.
. This definition needs revision. Many inorganic substances undergo similar decomposition. An example is the slacking of coal or slate. Aberhalden mentions bacteria which thrive in sulphur springs, fermenting the hydrogen sulphide ; and others which ferment iron carbonate into iron ore.
We are all acquainted with many forms of fermentation: The souring of milk, the moulding of bread, the putrefaction of meat, the spoiling of fruit, the raising of bread dough by means of yeast, the industrial production of wines, beer, whiskey, vinegar, corn syrup, the rancidity of butter, etc. . '
In some forms of fermentation sugar and stanch evolve carbon dioxide gas; protein (as meat .and eggs) evolves carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, and finally ammonia. ‘
By a common sequence starch ferments in order into dextrin, sugar, lactic acid, alcohol and acetic acids. Fats ferment into butyric and acetic acids. Proteins follow the following order: Proteoses, peptones, amino acids, ptomaines, lactic acid and acetic acid. Acetic acid is itself finally reduced to water and carbon dioxide.
However, in nature fermentation does not always follow the above order. More often it is hindered by natural factors, such as an excess or deficit of water or air. As wood that is burned under difficulties is only partly consumed while the balance is reduced to charcoal, so when fermentation is hindered, a part of the" organic matter is reduced to carbon and hydrocarbons, as the black loam in the soil and the coal and petroleum in the earth. Also, in many forms of fermentation the above sequence is reversed; and lactic acid may be fermented into sugar, starch or fat.
The power to ferment does not appear to be an inherent quality of the substance itself, but there must he present some outside force-or agent. Such agent, if a material substance, is called a ferment. Yeast is a ferment in the raising of bread dough and in the production of
By F. L. Wilson beer, changing some of the starch to alcohol and carbon dioxide.
If exposed to the forces of nature, all organic substances, and most inorganic as well, are constantly undergoing change; they are being built up or torn down. The carbonic acid in the atmosphere today will appear as a beautiful foliage of green leaves in the spring. By another year this foliage will appear as molding humus in the soil. The enormous production of organic matter soon disappears. Nothing that is will ‘*be. The most ingenious works of God and man crumble through the centuries into dust. All this is the work of fermentation. Let us see what are some of the agents which cause these mighty changes.
The Agents of Fermentation
READ will mold and meat will putrefy. If, however, they, are first thoroughly dried and are then kept in a dry place, they will keep sweet for many years. If they are kept frozen, they will keep almost indefinitely. Moisture and warmth are agents of fermentation.
Air is necessary for the molding of bread. It is not necessary for the action of yeast. Air is, in some cases, a necessary agent of fermentation.
If fresh milk is allowed to stand for a few days it becomes sour. Examination with the microscope reveals many minute plants, called lactic acid bacteria, growing in it and rapidly multiplying. These tiny plants got into the milk from the air. They change the sugar in the milk to lactic acid.
If the fresh milk is first treated with formaldehyde, the bacteria cannot live in it and the milk will not thus sour. Bacteria belong to a class of plants called fungi.; to which class yeast, mold and mushrooms also belong. Bacteria are agents of fermentation.
If fresh milk is exposed in a thunder storm, or to concussion from dynamite, it sours almost instantly. Eggs are likewise spoiled by concussion. Concussion is an agent of fermentation.
If clear lemon juice is kept in a glass bottle, in about four days white filaments of mold will be seen floating in it. On testing, it will be found that the citric acid is changing to alcohol. Visible fungi also are agents of fermentation.
If tomatoes are carefully sterilized by heat
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and are sealed in clear glass cans, they will nevertheless spoil in a few weeks if exposed to sunlight. Sunlight is here 'an agent of fermentation, without the aid of bacteria.
If loganberries are carefully sterilized and sealed in tin cans and are then placed on the grocer’s shelves during the warmth of early summer, whichds growing time, a great many of the cans will swell. Examination will reveal that the swelling cans are filled almost to bursting with carbon dioxide gas, and that the berries contain much alcohol. Warmth and ’ spring weather are agents of fermentation, without the aid of light and bacteria.
If an alcoholic mixture, such as hard cider, is allowed to stand, bacteria will oxidize the alcohol to acetic acid. Slow artificial oxidation of alcohol also produces acetic acid without the aid of bacteria. Many substances, both organic and inorganic, if exposed to the air at ordinary temperature undergo slow oxidation, whether bacteria be present or not. Oxygen is an agent of fermentation.
When meat putrefies, bacteria ferment the protein into ptomaines. If a protein solution is distilled with the mineral baryta, the protein is likewise fermented into ptomaines without the aid of bacteria. Starch is fermented into glucose by warming in a solution of dilute hydrochloric acid. Baryta and hydrochloric acids are here inorganic ferments.
If protein is mixed with the pepsin from the stomach, or with the milky juice of the pawpaw, in a few hours the protein will have changed to proteoses and amino, acids, even if all bacteria are excluded. Pepsin and pawpaw are called enzymes. An enzyme is not a living organism like bacteria, but simply an organic compound secreted by the living organism. Bennet curdles milk, ptyalin changes starch to sugar, lipase changes fats to fatty acids; other enzymes in the human body change sugar into glycogen, sugar into lactic acid, amino acids into protein, amino acids into lactic acid, lactic acid into fat, etc. An unknown number of enzymes in both plant and animal bodies act as agents of fermentation, either to tear down or build up.
Bacterial and Enzymotic Fermentation
AVING noted a few of the causes of fermentation, let us now confine our attention chiefly to two great classes which have special interest to us as living oeings: (1) Bacterial fermentation, which nature uses as a means of reducing dead and dying matter back to its earthly forms; and (2) enzymotic fermentation, which directly supports the life of plants and animals; bacteria for the dead, enzymes for the living.
It is said that a goat can live on old tin cans or anything. However this may be, let us not make bacteria a goat. Bacteria are very particular about their environment. For these tiny plants to thrive they must have moisture and warmth, and a suitable soil containing dead or dying organic matter.
Moreover, each kind of bacterium has its own choice of soil. One grows in sugar of milk, another in the protein of milk, another in the butterfat. One will grow in wet bread and another in comparatively dry bread. One grows in fresh cider and another in hard cider. Of the several which grow in meat, each prefers its own kind of protein. Given the particular requirement of soil, this soil must then be sown with bacterium seed.
Tyndall says that if healthy blood, or the juice of a fresh grape, is carefully drawn and exposed only to pure (free from bacteria) air it will not undergo bacterial fermentation. The fluids and tissues of man, or of the grape, normally contain no bacteria. The grape is protected by its skin, and the human body by its surface membranes, which, if intact, are bac-teria-proof. Dead or dying matter, or tissues which contain such, must be exposed to the bacteria of the air before infection can occur.
No doubt bacteria are an important factor in tetanus; yet ninety-nine persons may injure their feet and expose the flesh to tetanus bacteria and escape the disease, because their- tissues did not contain enough filth to support the bacteria. After violence, poisoning, or internal derangements have broken the protective covering, bacteria may become a later incident in disease; being the result, not the cause, of disease.
Infection, in its original sense, means any quality or attribute that is transferred from one body to another. Hysteria, enthusiasm, good spirits, or patriotism is cleanly infectious. If bacteria or germs are transferred to another soil in which they thrive, this is a case of infection.
Germs Follow Disease
THE jffore radical branch of medicine, as illustrated by public health officers, newspaper propaganda, and some less intelligent physicians, is inclined to ascribe all disorders of human fermentation to bacteria. Since the laymen get their information, or misinformation, chiefly from such sources, popular use of the word infection has perverted and restricted its meaning. Infection has been nailed to the germ theory. These wild notions about bacteria are largely discounted with greater intelligence and broader knowledge of the subject.
The 'germ theory thus radically accepted says: All fevers, morbid swellings, pus formations, mucus formations, deranged fermentation, and all disorders that may appear as epidemics, are caused primarily by germs. Why this radical statement is given the honor of a theory is hard to understand. We have all seen epidemics of corns, calluses and bobbed hair, and we know they “are not caused by germs. Goiter and pellagra occur as epidemics, as the result of an inadequate food supply.
An epidemic of frozen noses may. follow a blizzard. An epidemic of cuts, bruises and broken bones follows a railroad wreck. Germs are not the cause of all epidemics. It cannot be proved that they are ever the primary cause of any disease. The diseased condition must exist first, germs becoming a later incident.
Pasteur said: "I will wager that if a fresh grape is plunged into an atmosphere of carbonic acid, it will produce alcohol and carbonic acid by the continued life of its own cells.” He proved this in the absence of bacteria. While Pasteur had belief in bacteria, by this stroke the great experimenter knocked out the modern popular germ theory. _
Living tissues, both of plants and animals, require oxygen for their continued life. If oxygen is withheld, the living cell will ferment its own organic compounds to obtain their oxygen. Thus sugar is fermented into-carbon dioxide and alcohol ; protein into carbon dioxide and ptomaines. Ptomaines are called the toxins of disease.
If, then, the human body is deprived of its full requirement of oxygen because of anemia; because of a deficit of potassium carbonate in the circulation to absorb and eliminate the waste carbon dioxide; or because of impure air; then because of this oxygen deficiency, the organism will ferment its own tissues, producing alcohol and ptomaines. The result is a so-called infectious fever.
It is a well-known physiological fact that thought, emotion and nerve impulses are accompanied by oxidation of the vital fats of brain and nerves. These vital fats contain a compound called choline, C5H15NO2. Oxidation of choline produces muscarine, C°TT13NO2, and water. Muscarine is a ptomaine, or disease toxin, one of the most poisonous.
• Ordinarily the body is able to eliminate this toxin without harm. If, however, the brain or nerves are overworked; if because of shock, fear, anger, worry or other extreme emution, the production of muscarine is excessive; if because of low vitality elimination is hindered, the body will quickly be flooded with this fatigue poison, giving the symptoms of a so-called infectious disease.
It is a legendary saying that fear of a disease wall cause the person to have it. There is more truth than fiction in this saying. Fear of germs is far more, deadly than the germs themselves.
Causes of Fermentation and Disease
IMILAR excessive fermentation of the vital fats may be produced by extreme exposure to heat. A person who habitually works in greatly overheated rooms suffers heat fatigue and exhaustion, often accompanied by swollen glands, acne, boils and carbuncles. A prolonged spell of hot weather makes heat fatigue epidemic. The symptoms include great exhaustion, eruptions, blood poisoning and cholera morbus.
Overeating is another common cause of so-called infectious diseases. What can the body do with the excess of sugar, starch, fat or protein with which many of us gorge ourselves? If balanced by potassium, it may be fermented into soaps which are eliminated with the bile. But most of us take far too little fruits and watery vegetables to supply potassium.
In. some persons the excess is fermented into lactic acid, and then into adipose fat. More commonly, however, the excess, fuel foods must be disposed of by the surface membranes. Because of their excess the fuel foods cannot be properly assimilated, but form a loose combination with the vital cells of skin or mucous membranes that soon sloughs off. In the mucous membranes they are fermented into mucus, and in the skin into pus. Thus we get the Symptoms both of catarrh and of skin eruptions, common to so many diseases. Examination of the fresh pustule or a carbuncle will usually disclose no opening to the outside air by which bacterium seed could enter; but in time the poisonous matter may corrode an opening through the cuticle.
If an animal is first killed and the tissues of the skin are then allowed to undergo bacterial fermentation, no pus is produced, showing that pus is a product of life, of enzymotic fermentation. Disinfectants have proved a dismal failure. If irritating, they make the disorder worse.
Extreme exposure to cold causes the capillaries of the skin to contract, driving an extra volume of blood and nourishment to the inner membranes, where it is fermented into mucus. We say the victim has a cold, influenza or pneumonia.
In systemic skin eruptions, as measles or chickenpox, cold applied to the skin will stop the eruptions, and will drive the disease to the mucous membranes and cause pneumonia. Surety the application of cold did not change the “measles germs” to “pneumonia germs”. Rather, it disturbed the enzymotic fermentation.
Any excessive irritation of the surface membranes will cause the capillaries to expand, allowing an excess of blood and nourishment. If severe enough this may cause swelling. The excess nourishment may be built up into tumors, as corns, callus, wart, cancer, or may be fermented into pus or mucus. Such irritation need not be external. It may be caused by poisonous drugs taken internally, or by other poisons produced in the intestines or manufactured within the tissues.
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