Golden Age, June 29, 1927
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VOICES
MAN’S UNSEEN ENEMY
SHOULD CHRISTIANS
ENDORSE ZIONISM?
OLD ’WORLD DYING
UNDERGROUND
RAILWAYS
SIDELIGHTS ON CHAIN BROADCASTING
Vol. VIII Bi-Weekly No. 203
June 29, 1927
. 11 _ Y . >■ i-Ni AsAS .-
50 a copy — $ 100 a Year
Canada and foreign Countries $ 150
T5LU PH
NEV
WORLO BEGINNING
Contents of the Golden Age
----—-aw-=-
Labor and Economics
IIfi® and There About the World . • 611
The Eight-Hour Law for Women 611
Slaking the Babies HuWe ............... 611
Increased Wages lor Expit m Workers .......... 612
Finance—Commerce—Transportation
The World Getting Smaller .............. 611
Pen Mightier than the Sword ............. 611
The -Ford Retail Store Tangle ............. 612
The Individual Manufacturer Done For ... ..... 612
A Rapid Rise to Wealth ................ 612
New York’s Underground Railways ........... 614
London’s Underground Railways ............. 616
Political—Domestic and Foreign
A Powerful Cartoon ................. 611
“The Decline of Europe” ............... 614
The Trish Opinion of Britain .............. 614
The Sovereignty of China ............... 611
Science and Invention
Some Side-Lights on Chain Br.0Ai>cAvrixu ......... 617
Travel and Miscellany
Voices and their Inpluence .............. 019
Religion and Philosophy
Business Men Give Away Testaments .......... 613
In a Strange Business 613
“Lost Books of the Bible” Not T.o^t ........... 613
The Door of Hope Not Closed ............. 613
God not “Doing the Best He Can” ............ 613
M in’s Unseen Enemy ................. 625
Should Christians Endorse Zionism? ........... 631
Bible Questions and Answers .............. 637
Two Good Boys and Another Boy ............ 638
Little Studies for Little People ............. 639
Published every other Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., TJ. S. A,, by WOODWORTH, HEDGINGS & MARTIN
Copartners and Proprietors Address: lit Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y, U.S.A CLAYTON J. WOODWORTH . . . Editor ROBERT J. MARTIN . Business Manager WM. F. HUDG1NGS . . Sec’y and Treas.
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Entered as second-class matter at Brooklyn. N. Y.. under the Act of March 3. 1879
Golden Age
Volume VIH Brooklyn;, Yej Wednesday, June 29, 1927 Number 2©3
Here and There About the World
[Radiocast from Station WBBR on a wave length of 416 4 meters by the Editor.]
The World Getting Smaller
WITH Captain Lindbergh's 3600-raile nonstop hop from New York to Paris in thirty-three hours and twenty-nine minutes, which is about one-fourth the time required for the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic, and Chamberlain’s non-stop flight to Germany, the size of the world has again been materially reduced. A few weeks before that, the British air minister and his wife made the journey from England to India, a distance of 6300 miles, in 63 hours actual flying time. Of course they made many stops, and actually spent twelve days enroute ; but their flying speed of 100 miles an hour, and Lindbergh’s average of over 107 miles an hour, presages the time when such a journey can be made in less than three days, and when New Yorkers may run to Europe for the week end, and vice versa. Lindbergh and Chamberlain each made their trips in single-engine monoplanes, while the British minister traveled in the new British biplane Hercules.
dends, but repoi ted ‘"no net income'5 to the Internal Revenue Bureau: and certain metal firms, in the same period, also paid more than $23,000,000 in cash dividends and $3,900,000 in stock dividends, yet they, too, showed “no profit”, ft is all very simple. A clever corporation lawyer told the bookkeeper how to make his marks on paper, and the rest was easy. The mod*”' i holdup is by the pen.
The Eight-Hour Law for Women
TVTMASSACHUSETTS has adopted an oight-1VA hour law for women, and a strenuous attempt has been made to show that the textile crises in New England were due to this fact. Now come two women, connected with the United States Department of Labor, and testify that they went to Massachusetts, interviewed 800 working women and found only one who lost her job on account of the eight-hour law, and moreover, after a little, even she got her job back.
A Powerful Cartoon
THE Tampa ’Moining Tiibune contains a stirring cartoon by Morris. It is entitled, “The first move toward work! peace—get rid of mili-taiy conscription5'. It represents a strong, detei nined and desperate man grabbing an armed giant by the ankles and hurling him headlong into oblivion. The giant’s title is “Military Con-scrip1 ’on". The man who is pitching the giant overboard is entitled “The People”. Hurrah for the people 1
Pen Mightier than the Stvgrd
Senator Frazier of North Dakota is reported as disturbed because in 1924 certain textile firms paid more than $40,000.0°') in divi-
Making the Babies Hustle
HTUIE Freeport (Ohio) Fics’s cpoit> that in
Texas “a child five years old has picked more than two thousand pounds of cotton during the present season, his highest day’s record being about eighty pounds. Another child of five picked seventy-five pounds of cotton in a single day. This amount would be a good day’s work for an adult and the child v orked approximately sixteen hours in picking this quantity.” Texas should pass a law compelling all babies over six mouths of age to wash and dress themselves, help with the housework and do chores around the place. Then by getting them out ’ into the cotton field when they are a year old this will give the /we-year-old tikes a little chance to play.
Thinks New Torfe is Over-Built
T) resident S. 5V. Straus, of the banking firm hearing his name, has advised against the starting of any more hotels, apartment houses, apartment hotels or office buildings in the city of New York for a period of six months, on the ground that there is clanger of the city becoming over-built with this class of structure, of which about $1,000,000,000 worrh have boon built in New York every year foi the past live years.
Increased Wages for Express Workers
J^MPLOYES of the American Railway Ex-pros (’ompauy have received a \ age increase of $4,500,000 per year, to he divided among the 60,000 employes. There weie two remarkable things about the granting of the increase: (1) Jt was the result of arbitration: (2) the arbitrators came to a unanimous decision. There was no lawyer on the board.
Leaped 142 Feet into a Job
A N ITALIAN youth eighteen years of age, but over six feet high and weighing 180 pounds, became discouraged and leaped off ^lanhattan Bridge because he could get no work. He was dragged out of the water with a boathook, taken to a hospital to recuperate from the effects of his 142 foot leap, and then was given a job as orderly in the hospital where he went for repairs. The moral of this is that it pays to advertise.
The Ford Retail Store Tangle
IT WAS all right for .Henry Ford to produce his famous tin cans on wheels and undersell everybody in the automobile business; but when he began selling shoes to his employes at retail for less money Than the shoe merchants of Detroit could buy them at wholesale, he surely started something. Finally it was not limited to shoes, nor to his employes. Henry began selling everything to everybody. The merchants of Detroit became scared and then furious, and tried to get merchants elsewhere to boycott Henry. But Henry says Detroit merchants overcharged his employes in the past and he is only making sure they don’t do it again. Henry says, however, that he will try to inaugurate a system whereby his sales of commodities will be limited to his 80,000 employes and their families.
The Individual Manufacturer Done For
Merle Thorpe, editor of the Nation’s Business, in an address to the business men of Washington is reported as having said:
The individual manufacturer or business man is no longer'the fighting unit in industry. He cannot stand up under the competitive onslaughts launched by whole industries. The new older has cau«ed some old houses of business, established for a hundred rears or more, to disappear over night, while new ones spring into prominence in an equally short time. Electricity is grappling v ith ice for the control o+ the refrigeuffing industry; lumber is fighting cement, brick, stone and twenty-five other sub-muF*; oil is fighting coal for control of heating and power; silk w struggling with cotton, linen, wool and even wood: the automobile has vanquished the farm wagon and left the field ol battle strewn with the shattetod remnants of the buggy, whip. harness and other indiutiies, wbo*-e hopes went glimmering with, the displacement of the horw. The automobile industry learned a lesson from agricultural implement manufacturers and combined to build the greatest triangle in American industry today, namely, mass production, mass selling and mass credit.
Jazz and Life Insurance
Congressman Martin L. Davey, addressing a group of life insurance men, said recently:
The enormous amounts of life insurance carried by the American people, and the increasing amounts that are bought eieiy day, constitute one of the most powerful answers to the alarmi.-to who claim that America is jazz crazy. What is jazz? It is a refusal to assume responsibilities. It is a defiance of proper restraints. It is an abandonment to moial laxity and against moral obligation. Life inuuance is the antithesis of all these. It shows a willingness to accept responsibilities. It is an evidence of thrift, of self-respect. It shows restraint and self-contioL It manifests a positive recognition of moral obligations and responsibilities.
A Rapid Rise to Wealth
IT IS not so long back to 1902, when Samuel
Rubel began his humble work of peddling coal and ice in Brooklyn, and it is still less back to 1910, when he bought his first car of coal. Today Samuel is the head of a $25,000,000 corporation, operating fifty coal and ice stations, forty ice manufactories and thirty-five coal pockets. America is surely the land of opportunity, and it looks as if there were some opportunities left even in New York City.
A Bible Worth $305,000
IT IS announced that a copy of the Guttenberg
Bible has been purchased for $305,000. It is said that there were but twenty copies of this Bible printed, only eleven of which are now in existence. Nine of the eleven copies are said to be in America. The one just purchased will remain in Germany, the property of its German collector.
Business Slen Give Away Testaments
THE Business Alen’s Council of the Pocket
Testament League, Inc., has opened offices in Philadelphia. Its objective is the giving away of free copies of the New Testament. In its list of officers, consisting of a president, six vice presidents and an executive council of twenty-six members, it includes some of the most prominent business men of the city. Moreover, there is a cooperative committee of five prominent clergymen. The Council invites contributions. It explains that it can purchase 1,000 Testament for $110, and that it can give them away for $390 more. The figures are eloquent. They speak volumes. There are seven field workers engaged in the work of giving away, at 39^ per give, these books which actually cost 11^ each. If you have $500 to spare you can send it to the Council and they will undertake to purchase and give away 1,000 New Testaments for you. Anyway, we are glad to see the Testaments go out, and only hope the people for whom they are intended will road them and understand them.
In a Strange Business
TOE Hartford 'Tinies contains a two column '*• article explaining how a certain “Reverend'’ of New York City visited the great Methodist institution at Middletown, Conn., and delivered an address, the purport of which is that the idea of God should be discarded, that it is useless, and that in his church there are no jjrayers but certain things which he calls aspirations, which he composes and reads for the benefit of those whom he describes as “my people”. The man is in the wrong business. Furthermore, the title “Reverend” which he uses occurs only once in the Bible and then is applied only to God ’Almighty, the great Creator of all things, whom he repudiates.
“Lost Books of the Bible” Not Lost
THE so-called “"Lost Books of the Bible’’ w°re
never a part of the Bible and therefore weie never lost from it, despite their wide advertisement by certain publishers at this time. These apocryphal books have been known for ages. One of these books, called “The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ”, represents the child Jesus as destroying a playmate, causing him to wither away, because the lad lia-l wbuked him for making a clay fisl.pool on ike Sabbath—ami similar imaginations.
The Door of Hope Not Closed
IN ONE of his answers to Jus radio listemrs’ inquiries, Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, president of the Federal Council of Chinches of Christ in America, said in part:
So far as the future is concerned, the men who iw acquired a settled habit of mind agturnt all icl’gio'i'. faith and expenenie, makes changes for the boiler in-crea-'ingly difficult and le«s probable. Abt far be it from me to say that the doer of hope is closed upon him iu life beiund the giaie.
So far, good; but we go the Doctor one better and declare with all our might the eternal truth of God’s Word, not only that the door of hope is not closed in life beyond the grave but that it is wide open; and we give Scripture for it. The apostle says, “We have hope toward God, that there shall be a resurrection [raising up again to perfect life], both of the just and unjust.” lie also says, “God will have all mon to be saved [out of the grave] and brought to a knowledge [epignosis—accurate knowledge] of the truth; for there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who g.tvc himself a ransom [corresponding price] for all, to bi' testified in due time.”
Not Doing the Best He Can
A LUTHERAN tract has been handed us, which tells us in one breath that the death (and fate) of little children is a “mystery”, and in the next that God has been putting forth an “inexhaustible effort” to do good unto men throughout all the history of the human race. We should think that the writer would see that the two statements are in violent conflict. God has been simply waiting until man learned his lesson, and that is what is the matter with the _ world. Relief is ahead. r ’ t
’ Trade of the World
N THE basis of pre-war prices there has been an actual increase of about five percent in volume of world trade since before the "World War. The United Kingdom and the United States have between them thirty percent of the world’s trade, almost equally divided. Germany and France together have as much world trade as either Britain or the United States, with Germany slightly in the lead. India, Canada, Japan, Italy, Argentina, Belgium, Australia, and China are next in order, each having from two to four percent of the ’world's trade.
“The Decline of Europe5”
TN A powerful article under this title The Na-tiou says very truthfully:
Europe is not a dead or even a dying continent, but its great day is passing. Probably never again vill it hold such a position in the world’s affairs as it did just before it set about cutting its own throat in 1914. A new world is coming into being.
The Irish Opinion of Britain
EFERRING to Mr. AY. R. Hearst's proposal for a union of English-speaking nations,
The [ii.-~.li Beyublic delivers itself of some expressions about England which will awaken a responsive echo in many Irish hearts. It says: She gypped us into the World War. She tried to gyp us into the League of Nations and then into the camouflaged World Court. She is making us pay her debts by her export duty on rubber. She has rewritten our history with a poisoned pen. She has worked and twisted our government to li<r will, by methods that do not dare be shown in the light of day. She has destroyed liberty wherever she could. She is a thundering old harlot. She is unfit to associate with. She is the, world’s greatest hypocrite. She is as sinful and mean as the Devil ever could be. She is unfit and contaminating, and until such time as sho has Leon reborn into the atmosphere of Justice and Liberty no decent nation should recognize her, much less associate with her.
The Sovereignty of China
TN FEBRUARY, 1922, the United .States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Holland and Portugal, entered into a solemn agreement “(1) to respect the sovereignty, the independence, and the tcrriiojial and administrative integrity of China; (2) to piovide the fullest and rno-t unembarrassed opportunity to China to develop and maintain for herself an effective and stable government: (3) io use their influence for the purpose of effectually establishing and maintaining the principle of equality of opportunity for the commerce and tnchisuy of all nations throughout the territory of China; and finally, (4) to refrain f'om taking advantage of conditions in China in order to seek special rights or privileges which would abridge the rights of aubjects or citizens of friendly states, and from countenancing action inimical to the security of such state®.
It seems as though this is a good time to call these solemn promises to mind. Most of the great powers above named are at this very time making the most flagrant violations of both the letter and the spirit of all these promises.
New York’s Underground Railways
WE PRESENT herewith a map of the underground railways of New York City. New
York lias two subway systems, the Interborough and the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company, also an elevated system, owned by the same companies. AVe give some of the more pertinent fads regarding the Interborough Rapid Transit System, New York’s oldest, largest and best known subway system. The figures arc authentic.
The subway system operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company comprises, roughly, two north and south four-track trunk lines, with several branches serving parts of four out of five boroughs in the greater city. There are approximately 78 miles of road, with approximately 257 single Hack miles.
The longest ride on this system in one direction is from New Lots Avenue, in Brooklyn, by way of the Lexington-4th Avenue subway line and its connections, to 241st Street and AVhite Plains Road, a distance of 26.13 miles. The uniform fare on the Tnterborough Subway System is five cents, regardless of the distance traveled.
The Interborough Subway operates approximately 3500 trains per day, making a car mileage of nearly 400,000 per day. During the rush hours, its express trains, each carrying ten steel cars, are scheduled at intervals of one minute
and forty-eight seconds. The motors on these trains develop from 2800 to 4000 horsepower. The rate of acceleration is 1.7 miles per hour per second, and the rate of deceleration at stations two miles per hour per second.
The Interborough Subway System for the year ending June 30, 1926, carried 784,000,000 passengers. During the same period, the Elevated lines, operated by the same company, carried 346,200,000 passengers, or a total of 1,130,000,000 passengers— more than all of the steam railroads of the country put together.
New York City’s
Transit Problem
MAP OF
GREATER NEW YORK
(Surface lines, B. M. T. and Hudson Tubes not shown on this map)
showing
Interborough
Subway and Elevated Systems
Heavy lines indicate Subways Light lines indicate Elevated
«MH?S iJUMS
n o$«
on ftaMepg
IS ADO
NEW YORK is engaged in a desperate struggle to keep from falling into the hands of some one body of financiers that will control her transit facilities. Despite the fact that there are now two great competing subway systems in the city, and +hat each of these has considerable unused capacity in certain sections, and that a unification instead of a further splitting up would make for the convenience of travelers and the economy of operation, the city is now building a third subway system, the whole length of Manhattan. The evi-’dent object of this new subway is to make sure, if that is possible, that a few financiers shall not get the whole city under their control.
Aw
Loadon’s Undergrowad Railways
BY THE courtesy of the London manager of the International Bible Students Association we are favored with a beautifully gotten up hook descriptive of London's Underground Railwars. London has eight such lines. A map of the combined systems is shown herewith. The London office of the I. B. S. A,, is at Lancaster Gate, in the center of the subway system, but well to the west of the business district.
London claims for its subways an even temperature of 60° Fahrenheit, clear air, good light, a unnfoUable seat and a minimum of noise, so tnar conveisation on trains is easy and agreeable. Tiains operate at one minute intervals. Acceleration io one and one-half miles per hour per second.
lz w clauiiod that the ride from Edgware to Morden. 21% miles, is ‘“the longest tube ride in the woild”, this on the authority of the London Dally Ilci aid. The last section of this line was opened in September, 1926. The fare for the 22-mile journey is 9d, or about 18$; and from the center to either end is 6d, or 12$. The tunnel section of the Edgware-Morden tube is 14 miles; and the London companies claim it to be the longest railway tunnel in the world. There are thirty-six escalators on the system.
London is “built upon the sand”; hence in excavating the tubes it was possible to use rotary shields, which mechanically throw hack the eaith the} cut. Eighteen shafts were sunk, aw* as many sb’Ads y,ere v c’king snnultaneous-ly. In the construction cf stations the effort has been to keCi passengers mov .ig in a straight line, v honeyer possible.
The London tubes have a business connection with an omnibus company vhich operates fleets of vehicles to their exterior termini, an excellent way of building up the suburbs and paving the way for future extensions.
Some Side-Lights on Chain Broadcasting By Edgar T. Darlington
THE practice of linking a network of radio stations together, for simultaneous broadcasting from one studio, lias come very much to the fore within the last couple of years; and its growth is continuing, as gradually station after station is added, or the manufacturer or retailer of some commodity subscribes to more “space” on the air; not to mention the new chain “tie-ups’’ being announced almost weekly. All this is not now to most of you, but of how it is aecomplish-d less is known.
To the listener•oin v-ho. without even revolving then- dials, find themselves suddenly transported irom city to city, as one feature ends and another succeeds it, all in a fraction of a second, a brief non-teehnical outline concerning what goes on behind the scenes to make one of these programs possible should be of interest. Few music lovers or broadcast devotees, comfortably seated in their favorite chairs and ready for another of those enjoyable radio evenings, realize the enormity of the work and planning involved whenever two or more widely separated stations are to be linked.
Almost everyone is familiar with the programs originating in New York; as practically every night some ten to fifteen stations throughout the country are putting splendid programs on the air, in conjunction until WEAF. (It is vnth this latter mentioned network that the writer has been most closely identified, and of which he speaks.) On even the most ordinary of these out-of town programs, two and sometimes three hours are required to prepare the long distance telephone circuits and insure that they will faithfully transmit the program just as produced in the studio.
On programs of greater importance, or of national significance, from several days to several weeks are sometimes consumed in advance of the event, before the engineers are satisfied ivith the circuits’ behavior. For certain programs, which require that a second person “talk hack” to Nevr York from some other city, the engineering problems to be surmounted are doubly complicated. •
In some respects the rvire circuits are similar to the familiar, every-day “Long Distance” connection. For programs consisting principally of speeches or an address the requirements are not so exacting; as the existing facilities were originally designed for the satisfactory trans-missim of intelligible speech. ’
However, when music, particularly if of a symphonic character, is to play a prominent part in the program, superior transmission is necessary in order to cover the much wider scale of fiecpencbs and volume involved. As is well k, own, on important part of the emotional effect e~r high grade music comes from wfide volume variations.
While most of our nation's telephone traffic, e.5p., < tally A tw« on the lai^n' c-m-er.-. of population, is routed over No. 19 gauge cable circuits, jet except for such programs as where speeches ov th« desciiption of some sports event are the main feature (-he musm being but incidental), these ^mall-gauge cable circuits would be inadi quote; the chief drawback being their inherent inability to conduct frequencies much above 2,200 cycles without severe attenuation.
For this reason, No. 10 or No. 12 gauge openwire lines, as found on the fast disappearing t( lephone poles having several cross-arms, are the preferred broadcasting circuits; although it is expected that cable circuits having special "loading’’ characteristics will soon be employed.
If the telephone wires wTere to be taken directly from their normal conversational duties and made to serve as a connecting medium for blanketing the country with a high class musical program it would he found that notes above a certain pitch (or frequency of vibration), also those below some definite pitch, would be retarded more than others, and some rvould be choked or cut off entirely. Thus the radio listener would never know of their existence, while many of the notes that did reach him would have suffered great distortion.
Preparing the “Chain”
IN ORDER to forestall any such action as above mentioned, and to be assured that the circuits are up to proper standards, the transmission engineers, prior to every program and by means of an adjustable oscillator, send out a current, or “tone”, as it is familiarly called, of say a hundred cycle frequency, over the network of circuits. This is measured at each of the radio stations that are to broadcast the program, also at intermediate points, by means of an instrament known as the Volume Indicator, and the
“lever at which it is received is reported by telegraph to the New York Control Room.
This process is repeated, at intervals of a hundred cycles, on up fo over 5,000 cycles. This covers pretty well the vocal or instrumental register anticipated. These “tones” must reach each individual station at some predetermined level, and all frequencies between 100 and 5,000 cycles should be received with almost equal strength.
If undue loss or gain is experienced at any particular frequencies, this can be corrected by means of an “attenuation equalizer” (consisting of variable resistance, capacity and inductance units), either at the radio station or somewhere along the line.
It is sometimes necessary, additionally, to alter the characteristic of these amplifiers, in order to obtain the desired equalization. That is, to materially aid in the “overall” or end-to-end equalization, certain of the various intermediate telephone amplifiers are either specially built or “doctored” to give a frequency curve with a rising characteristic, i. e., amplifying to a greater degree as the frequency scale is ascended. This is done in order to counteract the inverse characteristic of the line wires.
With the circuits properly equalized, the final “curve” at all frequencies is almost flat. Under these conditions the circuit is ready to transmit with extreme fidelity the many shades of tone produced by the artists; and thus is accounted for the fact that many imagine themselves to be present in the studio or auditorium with the artist, so true and natural is the reproduction. Various refinements are constantly being developed, and before so very long frequencies of from 50 to 10,000 cycles will be transmitted with the same ease with which voice frequencies are handled today.
The foregoing equalizing or “lining-up” procedure serves also to detect the presence of any “composite filters” or other D. C. apparatus left inadvertently in the circuit; and which would prove extremely disastrous to the ensuing program if not removed. This includes all Morse telegraph and “phantom'’ talking circuit apparatus ordinarily used in long distance circuits.
Amplification
THE audio frequency amplifiers referred to are spaced at about every fifty miles along the route of the circuits, and serve to eompen-sat© for the loss in strength encountered by the delicate electrical impulses while traveling over the wires. These amplifiers are highly perfected models of engineering skill, consisting usually of two stages of transformer—or impedance-coupled amplification.
These amplifiers are practically distortionless ; that is to say, they amplify to an equal degree at all frequencies, from approximately 75 to 8,000 cycles. Were it not for these amplifiers, or “repeaters” as they are termed, telephony over any considerable territory would not be possible; by their use, distance is annihilated. The “gain”, or amplification given, is adjustable, and must be carefully measured and regulated. Too high a gain would cause overloading of the vacuum tubes during sudden hursts of volume, and create distortion. A safe margin must be observed.
While programs from distant studios are in progress, men are stationed at various points along the lines to observe the quality of the material being transmitted; and in case of an emergency they are on hand to quickly localize the disturbance and make any temporary repairs required. These men, as well as the telephone men sent to each radio station, are all interconnected by a specially assigned Morse wire which runs into the New’ York Control Boom and Studio, in order to keep those responsible for the success of the program advised of conditions.
All telephone linemen along the pole routes, ■who might ordinarily be engaged in resetting poles or making transposition changes, are ordered to cease all such hazardous work during the period of broadcasting. Likewise, work of a relatively unimportant nature on the distributing frames of the telephone offices through which the circuits pass is suspended.
When the American Telephone and Telegraph activities were taken over by the newly formed National Broadcasting Company, it was announced that the presence of a telephone company representative at the radio station would be dispensed with; the operator of the station’s broadcast transmitter taking care of the reporting of measurements, etc., direct to New York.
It may also be of interest to know that for the more important programs, such as the Presidential election returns or inauguration, Defense Day demonstration, or the World Series baseball games, duplicate circuits are main-tamed to all radio stations, each taking a widely 'different routing, perhaps through adjacent states, and the program is sent over each line simultaneously.
Thus, any storm or other unforeseen circumstance which might badly cripple all lines in one territory, would still leave the other circuit intact, and the radio audience would not be deprived of their due. Thus it is seen that, in addition to the more widely heralded responsibilities of those in charge of the studio and control room, a host of busily occupied telephone engineers and techmeal men share the burden, and contribute to the making or the marring of a successful chain broadcast program.
Origin and Purpose of “Stand By"
HE phrase, “Please stand by,” so familiar to those who listen to a network program, has aroused much curiosity, as well as some criticism; it being a hold-over from the days when spark wireless telegraphy was the only form of radio used. Those who listened to our chain programs previous to 1926 will recall that the New York announcers, every hour or halfhour, repeated a list consisting of the call letters and the owners of each radio station participating in that particular “hour”.
Nowadays, however, in order to avoid the frequent (and tiresome for the listener-in) repetition of ten or twenty station call letters, as well as to give each station more individuality, the New York announcer will interrupt a program with “Please stand by for your station announcement". This is a prearranged cue or notice to all stations that the program in the originating studio will lie suspended while each station makes its ovn brief announcement, fifteen seconds is alloted for this purpose: after which, each transmitter is again at the disposal of the Xerv York announcer. It is obvious that with this method the listener's hour will contain from, five to ten more minutes of entertainment than -was previously had. minus the annoyance of prolonged interruptions.
Voices and Their Influence By H. E, rismock
IWAS congratulating myself on the prospect of a few quiet hours on the train with a favorite study book. Ensconced in the comfort of a seat in the middle of the coach I began to plunge into that blissful trance of the confirmed bookworm. But I had not descended very far before I was abruptly bumped to the surface by the shrill chatter of two middle-aged ladies who took possession of the seat across the aisle.
Smiling at their loud, excited chatter, I ■waited for it to abate vith the starting of the train so that I could be settled again. But it didn’t. By an effort of will I tried to concentrate upon my book, to shut out their voices or at least to relegate them to the plane of noises of travel —the squeak, rattle, thump and monotonous grinding of wheels, which we get accustomed to and do not notice particularly. But in vain; these strident feminine voices rang above the rest of the racket and I was compelled to be an unwilling eavesdropper.
Thrilling? No, it was quite puerile: “She was thirty-two when she came to live hero, and that was when they rvere putting in the railroad eighteen years ago; she can’t be less than fifty. And he’s only about thirty-one! Yes, they’re going to get married. She’s a widow and worth $50,000," etc., etc., ad infinitmn.
After several minutes of this small talk had incessantly boomed into my aching ears 1 began to be somewhat peeved. Neither party vas deaf; for the more intimate details of the affairs of the couple under dissection were discussed in a whisper, for which I was truly thankful. There was no other seat to move to where I might be quiet to rea|d, so I tried to compose myself and accept the discomfort philosophically.
In England, I reflected, people travel twelve in a compartment, the seats being crosswise of the coach with six seats facing the others; yet there are frequently three or four conversations carried on by immediate partners in a full compartment, with little difficulty of “getting the vires crossed”. The quiet tones and soft burr of the British, especially of the Londoners—approximated in the mellow7 speech of the people of some of our Southern states—do not jar the ears or disturb those for whom they are not intended.
Possibly, I reflected, this custom of travel in Britain is one of the reasons why Englishmen are generally accused by their more loquacious 'American near-cousins of “mumbling” in conversation. The undemonstrative conversational tone of an ancient people accustomed to doing things quietly does not register with sufficient force on the auditory tympan of the “species Americanus”. And English ears, on the other hand, are naturally pained by the boisterous chatter of a people who are more vivacious, more youthful, and who therefore possess all the noisy exuberance of youth.
I remembered some club rooms I had visited in Chicago, where almost everyone seemed to be talking loudly and no one listening particularly, but each one waiting for his chance to shout. Then I reflected, Why be peeved at the chatter which these earnest housewives are peddling? Yet I wondered wffiy their neighbors’ affairs should be so thrilling to them; why women should talk so much anyway. Not until I tried to put myself into their household shoes, so to speak, could I understand it; and then I knew.
I pictured myself over a washtub, alone for a couple of hours at a time in a dingy basement; or sewing on many buttons for the family wardrobe, darning socks and carving out a pair of pants for Johnny as an afternoon's occupation -—alone—with the four walls as the limits of my world for most of the day; and every day about the same.
Yes, I reflected, I think I would let off a little steam too, and on almost any subject under the sun, when I got c <e of those rare opportunities for a holiday and for conversation with a kindred spirit. And why not converse about human beings? Humanity is certainly the most fascinating study on earth, especially if one can do it charitably and shut the other eye once in a while.
Having finally entered into the spirit of the two housewives engaged in the (to them) absorbing and relatively harmless diversion of gossiping, I found myself entirely over my “peeve”; and, quite unconsciously, I actually favored than with a benignant smile, which Beemed to mystify one of them who happened to see it. Thereafter their chatter disturbed me much less.
Impressions
AND sitting there I began to philosophize on other voices that had been impressed upon my memory, voices in general—those in happiness, in grief, in love, in anger; some singing, some weeping; some greeting life, some bidding farewell; voices, too, of multitudes, in exultation, in fear or in anger; voices, countless voices, no two alike; and the impression I had received of them, obtained over the varying range of lime, circumstances and conditions, the most striking ones readily yielding up to a contrasting one, but each having a lesson full of human interest. 1 .et me tell you about some of them:
Recent I]', 1 was at the home of some Bible Students—“truth” people—where I had enjoyed a day’s hospitality on my lecture route. The voices of the children in the home still ring in my ears. I thought of the confident little note in the voice of one little miss who smilingly told me that she “knew the truth” and was “a restitution girl”.
I remember hundreds of other little voices that have expressed the same sentiments at homes where I have been entertained—the children of Bible Students. One little girl in Pennsylvania said she was going to “ride on the back of a lion in the Millennium’’. And I remember her happy laughter as she spoke confidently and intelligently of the great blessings in store for mankind.
Another youthful voice contrasts sharply— that of a young man who pressed numerous religious papers upon me when he saw me reading a Scriptural Study book. In a strained hard voice lie inquired, “Are you saved?” Smilingly I told him that by the grace of God I believe on Jesus and therefore have passed from death unto life, and that I am rejoicing in the prospect of being a member of the “bride” who with Jesus shall give all humanity the opportunity of gaining life everlasting.
He looked at the title of my book, and then in a rasping cry exclaimed, “You are a ‘Russellite’, and are on the sure road to an eternity of torture in the flames of hell!” The brief conversation that followed was almost a monologue, because of his constant and vehement denunciation of the doctrine of restoration. (Acts 3:1924) I tried in vain to point out the Bible texts that show Jehovah to be a God of love, with a plan of redemption from death for all humanity willing to accept it in the ^Millennium. The religious hysteria of my contradictor saddened me.
Vmees Which Lead Astray
WHAT a terrible responsiblity rests upon those who, as religious teachers, had so poisoned the mind of this poor boy with the “doctrine of devils”? How many sober-minded people of good-will, I wonder, have been turned away from entering into Bible study, through believing that the fanaticism of the “hell fire ^ereoehers” represents the spirit of the Book! How many atheists, infidels and agnostics have been made such by the rank nonsense that is ladled out as mental and spiritual food by the false prophets of Christendom !
How could one have the voice of a true prophet if the true spirit of God is lacking? The majority of the prophets of “Babylon the Great” have prostituted their profession as ministers of the truth, in linking up with the mighty men of this evil order. Irrevocably joined in harlotry with the “kings” of the earth, their voices are not raised to warn of impending Armageddon, nor to “comfort those that mourn” by pointing to the dawning of the golden age; but are raised in support of the last scheme of the Devil to perpetuate the old order of things that has brought the terrible nightmare of 1914 onwards —the League of Nations. This last Tower of Babel erected to mock God shall suffer the same fate as its predecessor, and its arrogant Babylonish spokesmen shall be confounded.
I recall the voices of some of these preachers whom I have met at their own doorstep. As 1 told them of the incoming kingdom for the deliverance of mankind I have seen the frozen expression that came over their ecclesiastical visages and heard the angry tones of professional jealousy in their reply—the cast-iron vulcanized mind rejecting a patent truth that threatens their long-hallowed errors.
I remember well the voice of one clergyman in a New Jersey town who was a better actor than minister. 1 recall his harrowing yarns about “death-bed repentance” and “visions” which he spun with alacrity to try to persuade me to forsake the truths that I had dearly won regarding God’s benevolent plan, which dissuasion, however, only filled my heart and mind with a greater desire to give, to allwho willhear, the good news of the incoming kingdom. No wonder “religion” has become odious to many intelligent people who have the interest of their fellows at heart—with such prophets as these to ‘‘muddy the waters” of truth. The memory of these “ecclesiastical” voices is like the lingering perfume of the dreaded pole-cat.
Z-eul Without Knowledge
A ND then another voice I vividly recall—that of a young socialist spellbinder on a street corner in London, whom I would listen to occasionally a few years ago as I sought knowledge of the solution to world problems, the ivmedy for world distress. Fearlessly, passionately, and with 'voice ringing with a realization of the injustice to his fellow men, he thundered his de-nunciatioiwf the rulers who had stampeded the masses into w ar.
The previous evening a war munitions factory had exploded in the East End of London, spreading a sea of flame over a square mile of humble homes. His voice mounted to a shriek as he spoke of this “cannon-fodder”. It was after he had dwelt at some length on the general sufferings of the common people in the execution of the schemes of the imperialists that he referred to this catastrophe of the previous night. Then, like one driven frantic with rage, he shouted defiantly and dramatically, “They don’t build powder magazines near Buckingham Palace!”
Earnest and sincere 1 Of course! I often think of that speaker who, with a zeal not according to knowledge, was giving his life for the cause of the underdog. How such voices will be raised in thanksgiving and praise when they see God’s approaching deliverance manifest for the human race, deliverance from war and oppression, deliverance from all evil that has been suffered by God Himself that man might have a practical object lesson on the necessity for righteousness! It makes us long for the establishment of that new civilization world-wide, which will more than fulfil the most idealistic dreams of the socialists; when not alone shall an ideal form of human society obtain, but a great progressive movement of restoration shall lead the race, including the resurrected billions, back to Adamic perfection and fellowship with God.
Hfar Wkooys—Armistice Joy—Disillusion
THE voice of a multitude in a shout of triumph over the destruction of their enemies is not easily forgotten. Several times in London during the World War I saw attacking zeppelins falling in tremendous sheets of flame, the doomed crews incinerated in a few seconds. And the crowds in the streets then yelled themselves hoarse at the destruction of their ‘•enemies'’. Poor blinded people! Soon they will learn (by the millions they are learning it even now) that their greatest enemy is not a people of foreign tongue, but Satan, who has been “the god of this world”, blinding the minds of the people and using his dupes to control them with false standards, philosophies and religions.—2 Corinthians 4:4.
And v ho does not remember the voice of the multitude on Armistice day! Relief that the nightmare had ended, and hope for a future of blessed peace, compelled spontaneous shouts of joy on all sides—for had they not been promised a new and better world for their bloody sweat and sacrifice? The leaders had promised reconstruction, with militarism for ever abolished, freedom from armament, taxation and the evils that had brought about the war.
It was less than two years later that I listened to the angry cries from the ranks of an army of union workers, scores of thousands strong, who marched in impressive discipline through the streets of London to a “Red” rally in Hyde Park on May Day. “Where are the fruits of our bloody sacrifice?” they demanded. “The Versailles peace treaty simply means another war soon!” Then they held up ragged little tots to view™-war orphans—and cried in savage earnestness, “Have the fathers of these poor kids died in vain?” These v ere rumblings of a mighty storm yet. to break.
A young boy who had lifted his voice in religious fervor in ‘ ,e singing of the “Red Flag” one day in Trafalgar Square, London, in unison with, thousands of radicals, later came to a knowledge of the divine plan for rescuing man from Iris extremity, the abolition of all systems of oppression, the dethronement of the swashbuckling war lords and the establishment of a righteous government of “princes in all the earth”—ptinces, real princes; not the bloatedeyed “princes” of “royal” blood whom we now know, who live dissolute, useless lives, like parasites on human society; but true “he-men” of the ripe of Abraham, Moses, David and Daniel; the “ancient worthies” who the Psalmist says shall rule as the visible representatives of the Messiah.
The millions now living who pass through this transition period into the Millennium and who seek meekness and righteousness, will live to'be thrilled by the voices of these faithful men of old who shall speak with authority in the real reconstruction, as spokesmen for the great Prince of Peace. Then the earth shall be full of praise to God from the throats of all mankind.
True Music is from the Heart
ONE can always recall with a happy emotion the memory of the singing of multitudes of true Christians in convention. The unity of mind, the simple fervor with which are sung such old hymns as “Abide with Me”; “Lead, Kindly Light"; “Onward, Christian Soldiers"; “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”; etc., etc., impress the .memory and inspire one to press forward in the cause of truth, much as does the appeal of a great religious oration.
But not all religious singing makes this appeal. I remember hearing a large congregation singing in a great cathedral. The voices rang crystal clear and filled the great vaulted dome with their melody........voices superb, fault
less in musical technique—and yet the rendering was lacking in that warmth and inspiration which come only from the heart of the true worshiper of God.
Then I have attended other religious meetings —some which have been held in the “backwoods”, where the men are horny-handed and have faces weather-stained, where the women are care-worn with life’s struggles, and where none can read music nor are they accustomed to even hearing faultless singing. Yet vlien they join their hearts in a simple hymn of praise, notwithstanding their rough and unblending voices, I am stirred in my own heart and am reminded of the unlearned fishermen back therj who sang a song with Him before they “went out” from the upper room, which must, have comforted the Master in His final hours.
There is a certain building in Brooklyn, N. Y., that is very dear to all Christians who are interested in the sending forth of the message of comfort for the people—Bethel, where the voices of nearly two hundred Christians are raised in singing sacred hymns every morning before going to labor in the production of I. B. S. A. literature, including The Golden Age. People passing outside pause to listen. One morning a conversation had with the Irish policeman (nearly all New York policemen are Hibernians) who has his beat in that neighborhood disclosed that he makes it a point always to he around outside of Bethel when the singing begins. That morning he became the proud possessor of a Bible study hook with an Irish green binding, Erin's symbol, and a Harp on 1 he cover, which we hope he will some day learn to play.
Patriotism
WE ARE all familiar with the voice of the “patriotic” orator, with his high-sounding adjectives and his sonorous, pariot-fike, timeworn political phrases. The overplay on national pride, the gallery appeal, the challenge to all comers to tear the superiority of the brawn and guns of “this glorious nation”, etc., are the .same in every land.
The repeated extolTugs of the superiority of “our institutions”, and of the ideals of "our country” and its "standard to the world” eon-f-tilute the politicians' stock in trade. I could well conceive of an Eskimo or a Bashi Bazouk declaiming in flowery language on the "glorious history” of their race and their duty to continue to lead, with the sword if necessary, in the vanguard of human progress; but in the face of recent degrading history made by "civilization” it seems somewhat out of place for the war-wrecked nations of “Christendom” to do such boasting.
Of course in times that call for the voice of strong- mon. men that cannot he bought, there arise men who can look Hie Devil in the eye and blast him with the courage of a lion : men who in trumpet tones rally the masses to the defense of what little liberty they have had the courage to gain. The orations of the leaders of the peoplein the cause of right in such times as the Reformation, the American Revolutionary War rod the Slavery Abolition War are notable examples of this. A sense of great injustice invariably produces orators adequate to the public necessity. Ireland, suffering under centuries of oppression, has produced some of the most fearless voices in history.
But m reading over the names and histories of the orators in the halls of fame of the various countries, one realizes how that marrow national pride, “patriotism” so-called, definitely limited rather than enlarged their sphere of usefulness to humanity in general. How much more some might have done to help their fellow -men had their voices been raised not for the cause of one country hut for the cause of all mankind! The true orator should not be bound by the thongs of “national superiority”, hut his spirit should be free and at the service of the entire race.
An unflinching condemnation of war, armament and oppression, and an interest in foreign people, will surely make one an outcast and a “uro-erminy” in the hysterical days of war time; yet the true orator should be ready to starve or be shot at dawn rather than sandbag his conscience to gain “nonular” approval.
A Voice of Courage and Hope
THE task of endeavoring’ to inspire the “apathetic throng” is often a thankless one. But one who trusts not in human wisdom or structures, and who in this time of national change and confusion faithfully delivers the message of the Bible to this generation, such a one has the most thrilling anti inspiring subject that any man who really has the interest of his fellow creatures at heart could wish for—the Lord's incoming kingdom!
I was privileged to sit behind such a one on the platform at the Royal Albert Hall in London last year, when the lecture “Why World Powers are Tottering—the Remedy” was delivered by Judge Rutherford. In plain language, as reported in The Gowen Age, the speaker showed from the Scriptures and from the well-known physical facts that the world powers have rejected Christ’s kingdom and therefore are approaching destruction in the impending Armageddon. In thunderous tones the speaker gave the proofs of this. They will bear re-printing:
Jews taught that He v ould return and set up the Kingdom of Jehovah. For nineteen centuries His faithful followers have anxiously vsited for that time to come. Before Jesus departed from the earth the question vas propounded to Him by His faithful disciples: “When shall these things come to pass, and what shall the proof of thy presence be. and of the end of the world t ’ (Matthew- 21:4) The Lord Jesus, as the mouthpiece of Jehovah God, speaking prophetically'and with authority, answered that the time would be marked by the fact that the nations and kingdoms of the earih would become angry, and that then there would be a gieat world war. followed shortly by famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and revolutions; and that these things v. ould be the beginning of sorrows upon the nations and kingdoms of the earth.—Matthew 24: 7-18; Revelation 11: 17,18.-
In 1914, exactly the due time as foretold by the prophet of God. this great trouble began upon the nations and kingdoms of Christendom. The Lord God there furnished. to the governing powers of the earth particularly, the evidence that the world had ended, and that the time for the beginning of His kingdom of righteousness had. arrived. The ecclesiastical dement of the world powers uere dutv-hound to take notice of this evidence, and to call it to the attention of their allies, the commercial and pol,local elements. . . .
All of the-e v.mid po"CT- are indict’d by Jehovah in His Word, and each one of them i< designated by the Lord (Jed under the symbol of “bea-t”. (Daniel 7: 3) The evident rea-on for this is that all of the-e world powers have been harsh, ferocious and oppressive. The eomim Trial clement is cold, taleu'al ing. military and harsh. The political element is suave, diplomatic and faithless. The rdigiou- element is and always has been sanctimonious, hypocritical, fraudulent and seductive. All of thes.> reflect the disposition of their invisible ruler, Satan the Devil. In keeping with divine prophecy, these world powers have even designated themselves under the symbol of ‘‘beast”. The British Empire has adopted the lion as its symbol.
I held my breath and glanced over the thousands packing the great auditorium. Would the ecclesiastical element let that pass unchallenged ? A few moments later the voice of the speaker boomed out again with a declaration that made many besides myself gasp for breath:
Because Britain is the greatest of all world powers, because she together with her allies claims to be “Christendom” and to be ruling by divine right and authority, there re.-ts upon the British Empire a grave mspon-sibilifv which cannot be evaded. Became the British world powei is the ry center and bulwark of the world’s civilization, nhuh the Lord symbolizes as a “beast’’, and because London is its seat of government, and these governing factors claim to rule by divine right, here then is the very “seat of the beast”.
Wliov, ’ How would the Britishers take that? I knew the temper of British audiences, knew that with a "fair play instinct” they would rather have the slam of a friend than the praise of an enemy. But this—! And in the tense moments that followed I remembered the opening remarks of the speaker, that the rulers, particularly the religious element, were estopped from denying the Book they claim as their authority, when it shows their guilt.
If any clergyman present had felt scared into challenging such a bold declaration he must have been scared still more into silence by the thunderous applause that greeted these statements. There wasn’t a “peep” from anyone in opposition. The speakemthen spoke of the divine government for all mankind and the blessings it will bring:
No more shall the people be afflicted with war, nor be burdened will'. taxation for the preparation for war, nor Juill they even have fear of such. . . . Under the present v>orkl pov. its a few people have an abundance, many inust skimp in order to cat and be clothed, while, many olhe.. ice object- of charily. Such will not be the cond’Hons under God’s anoint’d King, whom He has now placed upon His throne. In this kingdom “shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things”. (I-aiah 23:6) Every man then will enjoy the fruits of has labor and dwell .iu happiness with those whom he loves. . . .
With a righteous government functioning for man’s good; with lasting peace on earth and good will toward men; with all the people enjoying health, and with no fear of sickness and death; with all families being united together and dwelling in peace, the human, race will enjoy eternal happiness.
Let the kings and rulers of the earth now give their allegiance, and devotion to the Lord. Let them acknowledge Jehovah as God, and Christ Jesus as His anointed King; and thus doing they will render a real service to the people and put themselves in line for the eternal blessings of Jehovah.
Thank God for a voice like that in these times 1 One can sit for hours entranced with the beautiful voice of a singer, or be thrilled again and again with the noble sentiments of a true orator, but the most beautiful of all these is but the promise of what all the voices of perfect humanity will lie like at the close of the Millennium. With restoration to all will come the gifts that are now enjoyed by a few—the arts of beautiful painting, sculpture, dancing; and the two that best express the immediate fervor of the soul—singing and oratory. Does the reader remember the closing paragraph of Judge Rutherford’s book, Deliverance?
It is a perfect day, and everything of creation bears the mark of perfection. Wafted over the valley come the strong, clear, sweet notes of a silver trumpet. At its call the great multitude kneel in silent thanksgiving to God. Another sound of the silver trumpet and there are heard the perfect voices of multitudes, and now in complete harmony they are singing: “DELIVERANCE IS COMPLETE; PRAISE GOD!”
Man’s Unseen Enemy
I Radiocast from Station WBBR on a wave length of 416.4 meters by Judge Rutherford.]
THE Bible discloses that man has been on earth for upwards of sixty centuries. The road that he has traveled has been a rough one. He has suffered from wars, famines, pestilence, sickness, affliction, and many other evils. One class of men have gone into a n?w land and there builded themselves homes and reared families and for a lime dwelt in peace, only to have another band of mon come and destroy their homes and carry av. ay into captivity the surviving, ones. Countless efforts to establish a righteous government have met with failure.
From time to tinw a few good men have launched reforms with the earnest desire to better the condition of the people in general. For some time their efforts met with a measure of success, hut ere long the reformation died and conditions became even worse. Every man v.ho has tried to do good has been misrepresented and persecuted by someone else and has usually met an untimely death. Fraud, deception, theft, arson, robbery and murder have been freely resorted to in opposition to efforts of good.
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