Golden Age, August 24, 1927

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THE EARTH

; IN TRAVAIL

DOCTORS AND

LAWYERS ON

VACCINATION

THE SOLECTRIC

THEORY

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VoLVm Bi-Weekly No. SW August 24,1927

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DYING

a Journal of fael( hope and courage8'

'ARROGANCE

against god

— $ 100 aOear

|||Bll|l|ind Breign Countries $ 15G

Contents of the Golden Age

.....- v.:=: .

Social and Educational

On* In Twelve Robbed of Childhood 743

Appreciation of Little Folks .............. 746

Political—Domestic and Foreign

News Items ..................... 717

The White Man’s Burden in Samoa ........... 749

Agriculture and Husbandry

Mt scie Shows and the Importance of Cheap Nitrates . . . 748

Science and Invention

The Ewth tn Travaii..... 739

Causes of Earthquakes ................ 739

Earthquake Prediction ................ 741

Earthquake Precautions ................ 741

Earthquakes in the Ocean ............... 742

Miscellaneous Earthquake Items ............ 743

The Solectric Theory ................. 743

A Possible Cause of Earthquakes ............ 745

Foretelling Earthquakes ............... 745

Home and Health

What Doctors and Lawyers Think of Vaccination ...... 749

Travel and Miscellany

A Leaf irom a Sailor’s Diary .............. 750

Religion and Philosophy

President Calles’ Statement .............. 752

Akboqancb Against God ................ 753

Modestly Admits Hrs Greatness ............. 748

Why is the World Still Uncoki ebted and* Who is to Bia mb . . 759

The Clergy Need Conversion .............. 760

Bible Questions and Answers .............. 765

The First Earthquake on Record ............ 766

Little Studies for Little People ............. 767

Published every other Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N, Y., U. S. A., by ■ WOODWORTH, HUDGINGS & MARTIN

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Q7i<? Golden Age

Volume VIII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, August 24, 1927 Numlw 207

The Earth in Travail

T E list of recorded earthquakes now includes about 7,000. The average loss of life in the fifty largest ones has been 25,000; and it is estimated that not less than 15,000,000 human beings have been slain by catastrophes of this nature.

The number slain depends upon, the density of population of the affected territory. Japan and Sicily have been the greatest sufferers in this respect. Tokio has been the scene of the two greatest earthquakes ever known, though 200,000 were slain in the Sicilian earthquake of 1908. Naples and Lisbon have each been the scene of two major earthquages. China, Persia, Peru, Bolivia and Asia Minor are great sufferers from this cause.

Some of the earthquakes which figure largely in the public mind were small catastrophes in point of loss of life. The San Francisco earthquake and fire demolished eight square miles of a great city; but the total loss of life was only 452, so that the loss may be said to be very small.

With the exception of a belt stretching across the world opposite to and including the Mediterranean Sea, practically all the earthquakes of the world occur around the shores of the Pacific Ocean, beginning at Java and going up the coast to Japan and Alaska and all the way down to Chile. The lands most free from earthquake disturbances are Africa, Australia, Russia, Siberia, Scandinavia and Canada, all relatively free from great mountain chains.

Some geologists think that present day earthquakes are mere child’s play in comparison with the stupendous one which they think tore North acd South America from Europe and Africa, and split Africa from Europe. If the earth ever gets another one like that it will be good bye for most of us. It will be noted that South America does look as though it had at one time been joined to Africa; and its western edge, all the way up to Alaska, makes America look as if. it had been pushed to the "west and folded upon itself. The great mountain chain is along the western edge.

About twenty earthquakes occur every day in some part of the world. Most of these are under water and their presence is known only to scientists, and only a small proportion of the land earthquakes is serious. The following is the Rossi-Forel scale for measuring earthquake intensities:

1. Felt only by experienced observer; very faint.

2. Felt by a few persons at rest; faint.

3. Direction or duration appreciable; weak.

4. Felt by persons walking. Doors, etc., moved.

5. Felt by nearly every one. Furniture moved.

6. Bells rung; pendulum clocks stopt. Alarm.

7. Fall of plaster; slight damage. Scare.

8. Fall of chimneys; walls cracked. Fright. i

9. Some houses partly or wholly wrecked. Terror.

10. Buildings ruined; ground cracked. Panic.

Cmses of Earthquakes

EISMOLOGY, the science of earthquakes, as a science is still in its infancy. At present theories on the subject are as plentiful as the flowers in May, and it is hard for a mere layman to tell which are the true and which are the false; so we give them all and then state our own ideas. We also publish in this issue a very interesting contribution to the subject, from the pen of T. A. H. Clark.

Among the causes which we have been able to find assigned by various writers are sixteen: Decomposition of parts of the earth’s crust, due to radioactivity; removal of oil, gas and miner-als; volcanoes; excessive internal steam pressure; collapse of caverns; faults; fall of cliffs; sinking of ocean beds; flowing rocks; earth waves; mountain shifts; interior strains; shrink-age of earth due to cooling; rainfall; sun spots; lunar attraction and attraction of other planets. No doubt all of these have their influence, and there may be others.

Scientists know that the crust of the earth is but a few miles thick, and below that crust the heat must necessarily be so great that all materials are in fluid or semi-fluid condition. Anything that would weaken the crust might in time cause an earthquake; and if there are sufficient radioactive materials in a given part of the crust it might be that in long lapses of time caverns might be formed by radioactive dispersal of materials, or the crust might become so honeycombed that it would not support the superincumbent load of earth. This does nc+ look very plausible to us, as there are so few materials that are measurably radioactive.

A.s to the removal of oil, gas and other minerals, there is no doubt whatever that the removal of these does create caverns in the earth; and as many of these things are removed under pressure it stands to reason that the loads which they once supported have to be shifted elsewhere, and strains are thereby set up which might cause earth-cracks. But this does not seem to be the real cause of earthquakes, because many of the oldest mining regions in the world are singularly free from such disturbances ; and it does not seem likely that man can get down far enough with his mining operations to seriously weaken a crust estimated to be at least ten miles thick.

The volcanic theory is not so unlikely, and it used to be the accepted explanation. Volcanoes are probably caused by waters seeping into superheated caverns, where they get hotter and hotter and the steam gets higher and higher until it blows the cover off. With the expulsion of great quantities of lava and steam the original caverns are enlarged, only to be refilled by fresh accessions of water, or by the settling of the earth surface into the void or, in other words, by an earthquake.

The steam pressure theory would not make a volcanic outlet necessary. The wafers get inside. A tremendous steam pressure is created, lava is forced right and left, north and south, east and west, and even downward. This lava pressure under a land area becomes too great for the surface to bear; and there is a crack, a fault.

The collapse of a cavern would be a natural enough explanation for an earthquake, as would the slippage of a fault or the fall of an ocean cliff; but what is wanted is something that will explain the existence of the caverns and faults. Anybody can see that once a split occurs in the earth's crust it is natural to expect that fresh sections of the rocks that have been dislocated should fall back into place from time to time. The slippage may be either vertical or horizontal or both, at the surface.

The Sinking of the Pacific

PROFILE of the Pacific Ocean depths between Panama and Japan reveals an almost steady slope downward from east to west, except in the middle, where the Hawaiian and Midway Islands are pushed above the surface. The deepest part of the Pacific, the Tuscarora Deep, is just off the coast of Japan. This fact seems to account for J span’s earthquake troubles. As the bed of the ocean has sunk, the Japanese Islands have been forced up; and the forcing process has been and is accompanied by terrible earth tremors.

'Scientists have noted with a great deal of interest that on May 23, 1925, the day on which Japan was visited by the most violent and dis-astrons earthquake since the severe one of 1923, the Bay of Biscay, on the opposite side of the world, was subjected to a tremendous submarine earthquake which forced the bottom up in some places over two miles nearer the surface of the water than it had previously been. This would make it look as if there really were something akin to waves of lava beneath the earth’s crust constantly trying to bend upward the weaker spots in the crust, or to push back parts which, have projected downward too far into the interior semi-fluid molten mass.

There can be no reasonable doubt that the shrinking of the earth due largely to cooling has been responsible for many earthquakes in the past, and is perhaps responsible for some of the later ones. Until the crust has settled down into its permanent location this must necessarily go on. Surveyors have discovered that the mountains of northern California are slowly moving southward, while those of southern California are moving a little more rapidly northward. This certainly looks like shrinkage of the earth in California, anyway.

As to the rain theory, this seems to rest on a sound basis. Former Prof. Omori, head of the Japanese Imperial Earthquake Investigation Committee, seems to have found, as a result of careful study of the rainfall in the northern part of Japan, that heavy rains there are always followed by a period of earthquakes. No doubt seepages from these storms find their way into volcanic cavities, and trouble follows.

But finally, and reasonably we think, the theory is advanced that the moon, which exercises such a terrific pull on the waters of the earth as to cause its tides, pulls on the land surface as well; and when it docs, and conditions are just rip lit beneath, the crust is lifted enough to allow lava to flow beneath and set up strains in the unfinished earth which may later lead to another spasm. The sunspot theory ret ts on a similar base. In other words, the sun, moon and stars are gradually pulling the earth into its final and perfect form. It is well proven trial the greater pull of gravity on the earth's surface at new and full moons renders eaith-quakes more frequent at these periods.

Earthquake Prediction

OAITNG events cast their shadows before.

This is as true of earthquakes as it is of cyclones; and as surely as men have become ,^pite proficient in opinions as to what the weather is likely to be in a given area at a given time, so surely is it hoped that earthquake prediction may some time emerge from the realm of desirability into that of fact.

It has often been noticed that birds and other animals manifest uneasiness and even alarm before an impending earthquake. It is believed that their keener senses enable them to detect premonitory tremors of earth and air which are insensible to man.

However, man can do things for himself that no bird can do. A Japanese professor has invented an apparatus by means of which the slightest earth tremors are converted into sounds that issue from a loudspeaker and an audible warning is given, in time to enable people to escape from their homes.

A San Bernardino attorney and scientist has planned the construction of a ribbon of cement a thousand feet long, the cracking of which he believes will provide him with advance information of a coming quake.

As before stated, the mountains of California are slowly changing with reference to each oth-— er. These changes, carefully studied, will suggest about when and where the movements indicated will set up strains that will crack the surface.

There are here and there some scientists who claim to expect a tremendous earthquake which, in effect, will be as disastrous to humanity as w’as the Flood. Our Lord and the prophets seem, to hint at something of the kind. Prof. Ben-dandi, noted Italian seismologist, has promised some great earth paroxysms before the end of! 1927. Cheer up! He may bo wrong.

Earthquake Precautions

FTER an earthquake has once started there is nothing that man can do to protect himself from it except jump for the nearest doorway and stand there while he counts off sixty seconds. In that time, it is estimated, the most serious shock will have spent its force.

It has been said that one of the best illustrations of what happens on the surface of the earth when an earthquake occurs is to place a marble on a kitchen table and then hit the table a sharp rap ■with a hammer. The marble will jump many times the height of the vibration set up in the table and do it in a hurry, too.

Whatever precautions man takes concerning earthquakes he must take in the way he builds. The most dangerous type of building is the adobe, then the brick and concrete block. It is said that 200-foot buildings are safer than 100-foot ones, because it seems that the vibrations in a building of 100-foot height are just about the right height to correspond with the earthquake’s period of swing and thus they receive the maximum jerk.

In an earthquake ordinary wire nails pull out ivith ease; but an ordinary American frame house can be made earthquake proof, according to Dr. Bailey Willis, of the University of California, provided the frame is -well put together with mortises and pins, and then, before the lath is put on, is securely bound with galvanized fence wire on both sides of the frame. The wire may be put on diagonally or horizontally, but in any event must be stretched tightly, and close enough together so that the plaster will adhere.

Dr. Willis thinks that in a much troubled zone the safest ivay to build a house would to be have a well-braced frame of heavy beams resting upon a broad ditch packed with cobble stones. This idea is embodied in every instrument for recording earthquakes and has been used successfully in Japan.

TAe Science of Seismology

THE science of seismology is less than fifty years old. The first accurate and complete record of an earthquake was obtained by Prof. James Ewing at the University of Tokio in 1880, by the aid of a new seismograph of his own invention. His studies were carried on afterwards and improvements made in his invention by Prof. Milne of the same university.

A seismograph is an instrument in which a 'delicately suspended pointer marks the oscillations due to any shaking of the earth's surface. In association with the telltale drawing which the shock makes of its own oscillations, the instrument photographs the face of a chronometer, showing the exact time when the shock occurred.

Wh«n a shock occurs a bell is rung, the face of the chronometer is illuminated for the fraction of a second, a sensitive plate is exposed for photographic purposes, and the instant the shock is over the instrument automatically adjusts itself in readiness for the next disturbance. The seismograph is seldom idle for more than a half hour. During 1926 and the early part of this year hundreds of new seismographs were installed, many of a sensitiveness hitherto unapproached.

Japan the Greatest Sufferer

APAN has an average of about four earthquake shocks per day. It was once a part of

Asia, with which it is still connected by the shallow Japan Sea, In fact, Japan was probably at one time under water, and was forced to the surface by the sinking of the land under the great gash in the earth known as the Tuscarora Deep, that “bottomless pit” in the Pacific Ocean just off the shores of Japan, where the waters are five mites deep.

The greatest toll of human life ever taken in an earthquake was in Tokio in 1703, when 190,000 persons lost their lives. This was followed, 220 years later, by the terrible disaster in the same city, September 1, 1923, when 142,807 persons were either killed or missing and 103,733 were wounded, Yokohama was destroyed at the same time.

An American engineer who chanced to be in a high building in Tokio at the time of the shock said that the structure swayed at least two feet. In some places the streets dropped from five to tea feet. A man taking a bath in a second story of a building was deposited in the street unharmed, and still in the bathtub.

Japan has five long “fault” lines, so-called. These lines may be readily traced upon the surface, and the earthquakes follow them. No doubt they will settle down sometime. Japan has made more real study of earthquakes than any other country. The general truth has been discovered that years following great earthquakes are likely to be characterized by a gradually diminishing frequency of small ones, Sfid that years during which there are few minor shocks are frequently the prelude to shocks of great magnitude.

Earthquakes in the Ocean

WE WOULD know more about earthquakes if we could see and examine the bottom of the ocean. The seismograph has shown us that most of the shocks occur there, and it is fortunate that they do. In one month as many as ten pronounced ocean earthquakes have been located. No doubt some ships have been swallowed up by earthquakes, several captains having reported narrow escapes.

Tremendous changes in ocean currents often follow great earthquake disturbances, and thew*' have a vital influence on climatic conditions and other things affecting human affairs. In 1922 Puget Sound waters were suddenly invaded by immense schools of fish closely resembling Norway sardines, hitherto unknown in Puget Sound. In 1897, when an earthquake visited India, myriads of fish were kilted- in the Ganges Stiver as though by the explosion of dynamite.

On the Western Coast

Lis along the western coast of the Americas earthquakes are frequent, despite the fact that among the editors of California there seems to be a sort of gentleman’s agreement to mention them but slightly if at all. Occasionally a shakeup like that of Santa Barbara, in Juho 1925, which wrecked every important building on the main street of the city, lets the eat out of the bag.

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 generally referred to in California papers aa the San Francisco “fire”. It was a fire all right, but the fire was of earthquake origin. Huge structures were shaken to the ground; and whoa the water-mains burst and the fire started, there bwas no way of controlling the flames until they Ihad eaten up eight square miles of buildings.

? An interesting occurrence in connection with fehe Santa Barbara quake is that the shocks Opened up subterranean water-flows, with the Result that in a few years the district will have "Seen repaid for the earthquake many times over tti its increased productiveness.

In 1920, on the occasion of an earthquake in ^Xos Angeles, the disturbances were so serious in Inglewood Cemetery that many memorials and mausoleums were twisted and dismantled. This item is from the Monument and Cemetery Review.

During one of California’s earthquakes a certain deep well located in the San Joaquin valley temporarily became a geyser; and in the water ejected there was found a number of small fish without eyes, similar to fish which inhabit subterranean waters.

In Chile, in December, 1919, a mountain two miles long sank fifty yards; the River Turbio, a stream 300 feet wide, completely disappeared, leaving a dry canyon; and the Franeura River, formerly a swift-flowing stream between high banks, became a sluggish stream between low banks. '

Mfecelfeneon® Earthquake Items

TN THE year 1755 the city of Lisbon, Portu-4- gal, was destroyed in an earthquake which was distinctly felt all over western Europe and northern Africa. An area of five thousand square miles was lowered ten feet. Productive farms were converted into hopeless swamps and had to be abandoned.

In 1908 a terrible earthquake visited southern Italy and the adjoining island of Sicily. A region about seventy-five miles in diameter suddenly fell several feet, destroying almost everyM building in the entire area. Huge tidal waves'6' covered the debris with mud and washed thousands of fugitives into the sea. It is estimated that 200,000 persons lost their lives in this disaster, which is known as the Messina Earthquake.

One reason why no serious earthquakes ar® anticipated as liable to occur in the northeastern part of the United States is that not a single long cliff or visible rift in the rocks is found such as are common in zones of great earthquake frequency. In New York City the great skyscrapers go down to bedrock; nevertheless, after the St. Lawrence earthquake (which was felt as far west as Iowa) the Equitable and Woolworth Buildings were insured against earthquake damage.

The survivor of a Persian earthquake gives the following thrilling account of a disaster which left only two persons alive out of 4,000 that a moment before made up the population of five mountain villages. He says:

I had just found the cows lying in a deep hollow when suddenly the ground rose beneath me, and I fell. I lay terrified while the cow stampeded, bellowing. After some minute I hogan to ran back to the tents to my comrades, when I was again thrown down by a second shock. This shock was accompanied by a terrific noise, like a hundred thunderstorms. I thought it was the end of the world and that the mountains were falling up<m me, and did not dare to move any more. When it grew light I went to the encampment, but it was all buried. • One man alone lay on the edge of the rocks, groaning. ; As the light grew stronger I saw that where our village® ’ had been on the hillsides was now a sheer wall of rocks, ' as if the prince of devils had cut the mountain with hi# knife. Of my father’s house, of all our people, there was no trace; and in the whole valley no sound save the crying of my wounded friend. ’

One in Twelve Robbed of Childhood W A&ee Park

CHILD labor, according to official federal statistics, has been increasing steadily ever T* «in« tte failure in 1922 of the second federal amendment on child labor. Exact figures in 1922 were more than eight percent of all children between ten and fifteen yeans of age engaged in gainful occupations; or one in twelve of all the children of the United States. As the child , census was taken in midwinter, and children under ten not even counted, it is obvious thaj^ these figures are far lower than the number dp children actually working during what shonH ' be their school life.

The Solectric Theory ByT.A. H. Clark

DOUBTLESS many of the readers of The Golden Age No. 180 read with considerable interest and edification the article from the pen of M. I. D. Jones entitled: “Does the Sun Radiate Heat to the Earth ?” which appeared in these columns some months ago. It is anent that article that the following comments are offered respecting a theory which seems, to some extent at least, to run parallel thereto. That contributor, in the closing lines of his article, says:

It might be asked whether the sun’s supply of electricity will not be exhausted in the course of time. As electricity does not deteriorate through use, but is just as strong after it has turned a motor wheel as it was before, probably it goes the rounds of the universe from solar system to solar system and returns.

When our sun and its dependent planets become saturated, they probably give off their surplus electricity to other solar systems; and so it goes, from one to another, until it completes the immeasurable circuit.

This hypothesis receives confirmation from “The Solectric Theory of Tempests, Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions” advanced some years ago by Capt. Alfred J. Cooper, a British navigator, and is set forth in a book published by him in 1910. He defined the term “Solectric Power” as the power or energy exerted by the sun on every member of the solar system; which power, when analyzed or resolved into its component forces, includes light, heat, chemical action, gravity, electricity and vital force, according to circumstances and conditions.

Capt. Cooper states that the solectric force is conceived as a series of planes passing through the sun’s centre, and, though ever circulating, yet losing no power; that the v bieh goes in one direction comes back m UU« > v iitJ T, The sum total is ever the same, but local differences of potential continually take place. This harmonizes with the statement in Mr. Jones’ article already referred to, to the effect that “when an object becomes full to saturation the surplus electricity is attracted to some nearby body which is not so full of electricity”.

The horizontal planes are nearly parallel with the plane of the ecliptic. The vertical planes radiate in every direction, and both the horizontal and the vertical planes stretch out to the confines of the solar system. Neptune is as much under solar control as is Mercury, each planet being carried around the sun by the horizontal planes, at a suitable distance away, so that the density of the planet is balanced by the strength, of potential. The vertical planes are responsible for the diurnal rotations.

When two planets pass each other on the same solectric vertical plane, or the same solectric horizontal plane, it would appear that an intensified flow of solectric force takes place. This force is either at once passed on through the shortest paths of conduction, if a planet is metj with whi.ch is on the same solectric meridian, or the increased potential is stored up until other planets pass at certain definite angles to the other.

In such cases there occurs a discharge of solectric foice and a rebalancing of potential, so that soon a more equalized distribution of solec-trie energy once more reigns. When these redistributions take place every planet is affected, or violently disturbed, according to the number of planets which are acting at the particular time, such disturbances taking place in the form of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, electrical storms, hurricanes, tidal waves, tornadoes, etc.

The earth may be likened to a huge electromagnet afloat in space, being acted upon by currents circulating around it and its insulation. ■>* Its insulation is the most effective known, the atmosphere. During storms and other natural phenomena this atmospheric insulation is penetrated by solectric force.

Solectric bodies have an intensified action when they are 57.5° and also 88° distant from one another. The influence of a solectric body on the earth is conveniently marked off by measuring a radius of 57.5° or 88° from a point on the earth’s surface vertically under the body. If a small are or curve is described, with the distance as the radius of a great circle, this will mark out the district affected.

These arcs or curves are passing over the earth’s surface continually, owing to the diurnal rotation of the earth; but they are of no effect unless they intersect, and then only at the positions in the vicinity of the intersections. A single planet and the sun strongly affect the earth at the intersection, and a single planet and the moon also have that power; but the severity and extent of any disturbance depend upon the number of planets acting on one area. The belt of influence of a planet may be taken as 2° in width, and for the sun or moon a width of 3° is ample allowance.

It will be seen, then, that the simultaneous convergence of a number of solectric bodies upon a given spot on the earth’s surface means an accumulation or overcharge of potential in the district affected, the existence of which condition can frequently be noted by a tense state of the atmosphere, such as is experienced immediately prior to an electrical storm.

2The solectric combinations bringing about the cli^dition described may be referred to as preliminary or charging combinations, while the condition itself may extend over periods varying from one or two days to several weeks, the accumulated potential being frequently supplemented from time to time by other and subsequent solectric combinations.

It is usually the moon which, coming along in its rapid and erratic course, supplies the connection that closes up, as it were, the solectric circuit, thus forming an explosive or detonating combination. When the moon approaches within one or two degrees, the storm (if the solectric redistribution thus manifests itself) has its beginnings, increasing in force in proportion as the circuit becomes more perfect, only to die -*4own as the moon moves off.

A Possible Cause of Earthquakes

IN THE case of mountainous districts the dissipation of accumulated potential is likely to be effected by sudden discharges through the peaks which, reaching high up through the atmospheric insulation, act as conductors, permitting a sudden and rapid discharge of potential which lifts the earth’s surface and causes earthquake shocks.

In flat-lying territory, where the process of redistribution is slower and spread over larger areas, tornadoes are likely to occur. The destructive track of tornadoes probably finds its counterpart in the course taken by the explosive solectric combination in the heavens; the track of waterspouts, also, being a similar counterpart. Each planet seems to produce its own characteristic effects. It seems that not without rqason did the Romans call the giant of our p&netary system Jupiter Pluvius, the “watery planet". Saturn and Uranus are supposed to cause earthquakes.

Additional to the 57.5s and 88° angles, other positions- have to be taken into account. Approaching terrestrial phenomena are not infrequently foreshadowed by the position of the sun or moon when at extreme declinations, or when they are crossing the equator. Others have their beginnings at the time of solar or lunar eclipses; not manifesting themselves, however, necessarily, in the line of obscuration.

Solectric bodies on the meridian of place, or in their nadir positions, are also operative. A number of solectric bodies converging contemporaneously upon a given area at 57.5° produce heat waves, while at the 88° angle cold waves result. This has been repeatedly proven. The hypothesis that earth-shocks are caused by the shifting or slipping of rocks affords no explanation of the tense atmospheric condition which usually precedes severe seismic phenomena, and would seem to be based upon one of the effects rather than upon the cause of the convulsions.

Foretelling Earthquakes

IT WILL be apparent from what has been said that terrestrial and atmospheric phenomena are susceptible of being forecast by the use of calculations based upon this theory. The Chilean Meteorological Office foretold the Valparaiso earthquake of 1906, as did also the originator of the theory himself. He also predicted the San Francisco earthquake of the same year, as well as the .Jamaica earthquake of 1907, in addition to many other major and minor phenomena of varied nature. The writer himself witnessed, in 1912, the fulfilment of a series of forecasts, which took place at the hours, and in one case at the precise minute, precalculated by Capt. Cooper.

The study of the solectric theory is one of absorbing interest, the fringe of which has barely been touched in this article. Not always are predictions realized precisely as made, as the writer had on one occasion reason to be thankful for. Various unknown factors which enter into the matter still remain unexplained. Abundant time and careful calculations are necessary, combined with considerable study of precedents in the judgment of charts, if precise forecasts are to result.

The author of the theory, in spite of his repeated successes in prognostication, has never received from the world of “scientists” the recognition so abundantly merited. He shows the ordered course of an all-pervading and wonderful power, and demonstrates that not a shower falls upon the face of our planet except with the permission of the great Creator,

Appreciation of the Little Folks By David Davidian

THERE is, of course, much that can be said in favor of the "comfort, serenity and quietude of the childless home”. Indeed there is also at times a wonderful rest in the "comfort, serenity and quietude” of the cemetery and of the desert. We all need our vacations. But surely enjoyment of “comfort, serenity and quietude” is not the greatest thing in life.

Even Jesus left the courts of heavenly rest and peace and came to earth, suffered and died, that He might bring blessings to others. Our parents suffer and labor to bring us into the world; and in turn we should be glad to endure some discomfort until other little ones grow up.

Wonderful must have been the patience of our Les rd when crowds followed Him, including mothers and children. “And they that did eat were four thousand men. beside women and children.” (Matthew 15: 38) “And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.”—Mark 10:13,14.

These mothers walked a long way to hear the good news. These mothers and their children, whom the disciples rebuked, were no different than those of today. The Lord Jesus, who is "the same yesterday, today and for ever”, must certainly be displeased with the manner in which gome of His modern disciples rebuke mothers and regard children as nuisances. Verily, these shall also be rebuked unless they are converted from "foolish talking5’.

Half of the human race have gone down into the tomb as children, and they will return as such. Sorrow has pierced the hearts of millions of mothers, but the awakening will turn them into joy. The following are precious words by the jgoet:

"When we see a precious blossom, That we tended with such care, Rudely taken from our bosom,

How our aching hearts despair.

"Round its little grave we linger,

Till the setting sun is low, Reeling all our hopes have perished, 1 .With the Flower we cherished so.

"In the dawning of the morning, When the troublous night is o’er, ALL THESE BUDS in beauty blooming, Well rejoice to see once more."

A glorious prospect for little children, in the kingdom so soon to be established! There will be the “sucking child” and the “weaned child'’ and the “little child” (Isaiah 11:8,6); and there will be “boys and girls playing injure streets”. (Zechariah S: 5) When all have grown up and little ones are no more, the childlike innocency and purity will have fully entered the hearts of mankind; and on that account the satisfaction which now comes from the purity of children will not be missed. Jesus took a child to illustrate the proper spirit which His disciples and all should have.

“Blessed is every one that fcareth the Lord; that walketh in his ■ways. For thou shaft eat the labor of thine hands and happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy children like olive plants around about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion.”—Psalm 128:1-5.

The consecrated children of God have a great privilege now in impressing daily upon the minds of their little children the truth and standard of the coming kingdom. When Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets return to earth and are made “princes [governors] in all the earth” (Psalm 45:16; Isaiah 32:1), then such children who love the Lord and who delight in doing His will shall undoubtedly be used in the service of the great, world-wide kingdom.

Pastor Russell once wrote that those who are guiding and teaching their children in the things of the Lord are already engaged in the work of the Golden Age. Therefore consecrated parents have a wonderful privilege of service, which comes ahead of any other service performed for mankind, outside of the service of telling the message of the kingdom. If our children are grown up and are not inclined to love the truth, we have the throne of grace; and su^h intercession on their behalf will, sooner or later, bring some fruitage.

Job had misgivings about his children. They were having a ‘good time’. He feared that they might have dishonored the Lord. He counted

Ids children, and, according to their number he Thus did Job aU the days" (Job li 4,5) In the offered sacrifices, saying, “It may be that my New Testament we are exhorted to follow Job’s sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts, example.

News Items

Only Eight Days Elapsed

YYNLY eight days elapsed after the Roman

Catholic parade to the Yankee Stadium in New York City, in which 3,000 members of the Police Holy Name Society were included in the procession, when Roman Catholic Police broke up a parade of Protestants in the adjoining borough of Queens. The new proposition is that all religious parades of every sort be discontinued everywhere. It is a good idea. Let all those who wish to parade their religion do it in ordinary dress. Then nobody will know or care.

What the Masons Think

IN The New Age, a Masonic publication, printed in Washington, D. C., Reynold E. Blight, 33rd Degree Mason, says on the work of William Tyndale:

In all ages ecclesiastic! sm made common cause with privilege and the tyrant found in the prelate a ready defender. The pretension of the church and the pretension of the absolute monarch lent each other mutual support. It was to the advantage of both to keep the people in ignorance.

Nathan and Lina Straus Health Center

TIE Nathan and Lina Straus Health Center in Jerusalem has brought together for the first time in the history of Jerusalem a large concourse of Jews, Christians and Moslems, all in friendly relation with one another. Nathan Straus is one of the world’s truest benefactors, one of New York’s foremost citizens, and incidentally very friendly to the message of present truth as broadcast from time to time over WBBR and other I. B. S. A. stations.

Sensitiveness of the Knowles Tube

TIE Knowles tube, used by Elbert H. Gary in starting the Homestead Steel Mills, by the mere passing of his hand several times over a sphere, is so sensitive that for its operation it is said to require approximately one-fortieth of the energy expended by a fly in crawling upward one inch in one second.

New York?® Poor Ventilation

THE Commission on Revision of Tenement

House Laws has brought to light the fact that New York has the poorest ventilated homes of any large city in the world. In London and Paris the rule is that houses may be but two rooms deep, so that one can face a street and the other a court; but in New York the rooms are commonly three deep and often four.

Consolidation of Railroads

THE consolidation of the railroads of the

United States has so far progressed that of the 250,000 lines of main line mileage about twenty-two major systems take in eighty-five percent of the total net operating revenues, and these roads carry more than half the freight of the world and nearly half of the passengers. The consolidation of all the railroads of the country into a limited number of great systems is a settled matter of public policy, and probably the best policy to pursue.

Increase of Prison Population

WHILE it is true that the prison population of the United States has increased twenty-seven percent in the past four years, yet this is not so much the result of a crime wave as some have supposed but is chiefly due to the imposition of longer sentences than formerly. Under the Baumes Law several men are now serving life sentences for what hitherto were considered rather trivial offenses, one of them for borrowing an automobile when he was intoxicated.

Overalls in San Francisco

AN eleven-year-old boy was barred from school in San Francisco, because he came to school dressed in a suit of clean overalls, the best his parents could provide. His father is a World War veteran who was wounded in the effort to make the country safe for democracy. The mother stated that she believed dean overalls were better than dirty corduroys; and she was right.

Why Sikorsky’s Plane Crashed

TT IS all dear now why Sikorsky’s plane sud-* denly fell to earth just as it was starting, horribly burning to death two members of the crew. Only five minutes previously a Catholic priest had blessed the plane, and it could not carry the burden. When Lindbergh flew to Paris, he was a member of no church and Ids plane was not blessed. When he got back to New York the ecclesiastics fell all over one another so as to get into the picture and officially bless him. Poor fellow I It means the beginning of all his bad luck. It was the papal blessing on Cervera’s fleet that sent it to the bottom of the sea. It is an awful handicap to anybody.

Muscle Shoals and the Importance of Cheap Nitrates By Hon. Martin L. Davey

THERE are ten elements that go to make up every plant, whether it be a tree, a stalk of corn or wheat, or a vegetable. One of these elements, carbon, is taken from the carbon dioxide which comes out of the air, and this is absorbed into the plant through the leaves by a breathing process very similar to that in animals. The other nine elements come out of the soil. Six of these nine elements are usually in every soil in ample quantities for an indefinite period. The other three, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, are more quickly exhausted by the constant pumping of these elements out of the soil by the growing plants.

Of the three, nitrogen, which is vital to the growth of every plant, is most quickly exhausted. In spite of the fact that the air is about eighty percent pure nitrogen the plants cannot use it in that form. It must be taken from the soil through the roots in the form of soluble nitrates. Because it is soluble in water it is more or less rapidly washed away, and a new supply must be added from some source. This is done naturally, but v?wy slowly, by soil bacteria. Nature takes care of herself in the native woods by means of decaying vegetation, but under the stress of cultivation the nitrogen must be added artificially in order to preserve the soil fertility.

Nitrogen enters into every part of all plant organisms, and without it no plant can grow. If the supply in the soil is inadequate, there follows a 'weak and stunted growth. If the supply is exhausted, there can be no growth at all.

It is because nitrogen is so extremely vital, and is so easily washed out of the soil, and must be replaced artifically for cultivated areas, that this great plant at Muscle Shoals becomes a matter of supreme importance to the future of lAinerican agriculture. No solution of this question which does not guarantee a large annual production of cheap nitrates for the American farmer can possibly be satisfactory. And Congress will be faithless to its trust unless this paramount consideration is amply guaranteed and safeguarded.

Phosphorus, or soluble phosphates, is next in order in the rapidity with which it is exhausted. While it forms a very small part of any plant, it is so important that the cells of the plant cannot divide if phosphorus is lacking, and therefore growth cannot take place.

An abundance of phosphate hastens the production and maturing of fruit and seeds. The known supply of phosphates is very limited. Most of this is found in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and one or two Western States in sufficient quantities for commercial use. The very fact that the supply is limited should cause the American people to prohibit its exportation.

Potassium, which, is commercially known as potash, is the third element in the order of exhaustion. It must be taken from the soil in the form of soluble potassium compounds. It is directly concerned in the manufacture of sugars and starches in the plant, although it does not form a part of them.

Each plant requires every one of the ten food elements for healthy growth and maturity, the one that comes out of the air and the nine that come out of the soil. If one element is lacking, no plant can thrive. Where the processes of agriculture permit the growing plants to pump these elements out of the soil, the three elements which are more quickly exhausted must be supplied artifically. The other six plant-food elements are usually in the soil in ample quantities, but if one or more of the three easily exhaustible elements are lacking there is no soil fertility.

The White Man’s Burden in Samoa

ASSUMING that the Germans were not fit to ■ govern Western Samoa (and that may very well have been true) the League of Nations gave to the British dominion of New Zealand a mandate to govern the territory, urging it to promote to the utmost the material and moral wellbeing and the social progress of the inhabitants.

We are just in receipt of a printed communication from S. H. Meredith of Samoa giving the Mtails of how this mandate has been carried out, and it is enough to make any decent man's blood boil with indignation.

It should be remembered that the Samoans are a proud, intelligent, dignified race of Polynesians, admittedly the highest type of natives over which Europeans have deigned to extend their “benevolent” svay. In Samoa, for hundreds of years, there has been a carefully guarded system of hereditary traditions and rights as jealously guarded as anywhere on earth.

Under the mandate the Samoans have less rights than they had under the Germans. They are now governed by a legislative council which is, in effect, the creature of the governor him-appointed by New Zealand. The natives have not one thing to say as to the levying or the spending of the revenue raised from them. It was for this very thing that America separated herself from Britain in 1776.

The Samoans, in thirty out of the thirty-three districts, have repudiated the council which the governor has appointed to do their legislating for them. To get back at them he has had an ordinance passed which gives him the right to exile any Samoan from his home town and to place him wherever the governor sees fit, to take from him his native title, or to imprison him.

Under this tyrannical rule hereditary chiefs, held in highest reverence by the Samoan, people, have been deprived of their hereditary titles, taken from their homes, banished to other districts and ordered to change their names so that they could not be identified.

Two assemblies of citizens of highest repute, the first of 250 persons and the second of 656, gathered in an orderly manner, Mr. Meredith and other intelligent Europeans among them, to frame resolutions of protest and to send a delegation to New Zealand to present suggestions for reform. The native chiefs who attended these meetings and who had been elected to servo as members of the delegation were at once arrested and notified that they would not be permitted to go to New Zealand to meet the Minister in New Zealand who is responsible for this condition of affairs. Since then they have been further disciplined, and the iron hand of tyranny and repression is still holding all of Western Samoa in virtual slavery.

Though the oau.se of Evil prosper, Yet ’ti« Truth alone is strong;

Though her portion be the scaffold, And upon the throne be Wrong, Yet that scaffold sways the future, And, behind the dim unknown, Standeth One within the shadow

Keeping watch above His own.

What Doctors and Lawyers Think of Vaccination (Contributed)

Db. J. J. G. Wilkinson, once a pro-vaecinist, was urged to investigate the whole subject, which with reluctance he did, and stated:

Not denying other forms of social wickedness, I, now, after careful study, regard vaccination as one of the greatest and deepest of all forms, abolishing the last of races, the new-born soundness of the human family.

Dr. Milton Ross, a scholarly student, physi-eian and scientist, made this startling declaration:

I should be false to the best interests of humanity did I not record my convictions, based on irrefutable facts that vaccination is an unmitigated curse and the most destructive medical delusion which has ever afflicted the human race.

John Henry Clarke, M. D., an eminent physician in Bolton St., London, England, says:

An epidemic of vaccination [or in other words, a smallpox scare] is a sure forerunner of an outbreak of appendicitis. I have met with a number of cases ia which swelling of the spleen and pain in the ileo-coeeal region have followed, sometimes immediately after and sometimes months after vaccination. In these cases ' remedies which are antidotal to vaccinosis are absriutdy necessary in order to relieve and cure the patients.

Dr. Adolph Vogt, professor of sanitary statistics and hygiene in the University of Berne, giving testimony before the British Royal Commission, stated:

After collecting the particulars of 400,000 eases of Hi.anpox, I ana obliged to confess my belief in vaccination is absolutely destroyed.

Dr. Charles Creighton, a recognized authority on epidemiology, has given irrefutable proofs of the fallacy of vaccination.

Prof. Edgar IL Crookshank, bacteriologist of King's College, in his “History and Pathology of Vaccination” denounces the practice as being “uncertain, unscientific and dangerous”.

Prof, Alfred Russell Wallace says:

The whole practice of vaccination is utterly opposed to the whole teaching of sanitary science.

The eminent Dr. S. Monckton Copeman says:

The most satisfactory material (for vaccination) was found to be vesicle pulp, obtained in post mortem room from cases of discrete smallpox that had died -luring a comparatively early stage of the eruption.

Dr. Carlo Ruata, Professor of Materia Medics at the University of Perugia, Italy, said:

Believe NOT in vaccination; it is a world-wide delusion, an unscientific practice, a fatal superstition whose consequences are measured by thousands of dead and wounded, by tears and sorrow without end.

Dr. Walter R. Hadwen, of London, England, the indefatigable and successful opponent of inoculation and vaccination, has stated that:

England had appropriated 4,000,000 pounds sterling for the cure of soldiers (returned invalided from ths war), and that he had treated many such, cases himself, and attributed their illness to the results of anti-typhoid inoculation I

“Resist the law,” wrote John Stuart “The state has no more right to enforce a suK gical operation than a religious ceremony.”

Dr. Zaehery T. Miller says:

We must defeat the effort of the man who would make sick an entire community of well people in the fear that a small portion of it may get sick.

We must denounce the idea that a healthy person is a menace to anybody.

We must see that our children’s education is not predicated on the point of the poisoned quill.

We must see to it that subcutaneous injection of an absolute poison does not take the place of sanitation and hygiene.

We must dedare against superstition practiced by the State.

We must not surrender the right of personal privilege in the selection of our food, our religion, our politics, or our medicine.

Blackstone’s opinion:

No laws are binding on the human subject which assault, the L?dy or violate the conscience. The compulsory veer inariuji L.s is guilty of both of these.

A "Leaf from a Sailor’s Diary By J. C. (Hnaland)

THE winds are light and progress is slow;

the northeast trade winds are finished; the passage home is long; the shortage of provisions has caused the weekly rations to be restricted; even biscuits, usually distributed on the basis of “full and plenty”, are now doled out. This particular shortage has been caused through one of the air-tight biscuit tanks being sealed by mistake; at least this is the report coming from “aft”. So instead of a fresh supply of crisp biscuits, “the cupboard is bare.”

In reply to the order “Short Rations” the crew has refused to do any other work than that of “working ship”. Shortly after eoimmmieat-jtag our decision, in true nautical style by assem-the break of the poop and our spokesman going into the sacred presence or the captain, even on the holy ground, “the w eather side of the poop,” fate soon changed our plans and stirred all hands into activity. A loud “crack” is heard, revealing a disaster; the fore upper top gallant yard has just broken in two.

The “rest” of this good Sabbath day has been spent in clearing the wreckage. Toward evening everything is again “in shipshape and Bristol fashion”. Then, with time once more on our hands, we can again give expression to our huiK gry feelings. Empty stomachs and empty cupboards seem to quicken the mind and make one feel even more hungry, and by now we feel like chewing the leather of our boots.

Twelve months ago an exceptionally fine spec-

imen of flying fish dropped on deck. A seaman carefully eteanod it, spread it, staffed it with tobacco to preserve it, and finished it off with a good coat of varnish. Here was a tempting morsel. Although having hung for these long months in the ship’s forecastle, tempered by the heat of a tropical sun and the icebergs of the arctics, and with "other things”, it is nevertheless eaten with relish; enjoyed more, perhaps, than ever a smoked haddock served in dainty WC style.

It is Christinas day, and we are near the Western Isles. Not even a biscuit, no flour, no peas, no beans, only a small quantity of "salt horse” [sailors’ name for salt beef] and one sack of grain sweepings, cleared out from the hold eighteen months ago and saved to feed a pig or chicken at soni° future date should some providence supply us v ith such luxuries.

We all sighed today when wo remembered some spoiled plum duff of twelve months ago that was carelessly thrown overboard. We more than sighed when we remembered that West India liner which either ignored or failed to recognize the signal “Short of Provisions, Starving” hoisted by us a few days ago.

The outward bounders of long ago generally had the reputation of using '‘Nelson’s eye” when passing a homeward bounder, winch meant delays in supplying victuals to those vessels commanded In “economical captains” and owned by poor, struggling ship-owners whose only chance of prosperity is the adoption of a close-fisted policy so far as supplies are concerned.

Anyway it is a sailor’s privilege to “growl”; in fact, a sailor that cannot growl is not much good; and growl we have done this good Christmas day. Neveitheless we have regaled ourselves on the “mess of pottage” made from the sweepings, ground in the coffee mill and mixed with a little, a very little, salt horse.

The day is indeed fine, the nip of the north wind is now being felt (and increasing the appetite), and we are sailing easily along, close hauled on the port-tack, sailing with wind on left-hand side looking from aft, forward. Christmas day is now past.

/ The following night. With freshening wind and cloudy sky comes the deep-voiced command "Clew up the Royals!” When carrying out this order we hear a yell from the man at the wheel, “Red light right under the lee!” Horrors! A large sailing vessel close hauled on the starboard lack, heading right for our beam and close, too.

Orders follow in rapid succession: “Hard Down,” "Let Go Head Sheets,” “All Hands on Deck.” Shouts can also- lie heard from the oncoming vessel. This scene can be imagined better than described. Men, dressed only in shirts and underpants, quickly left their beds and obeyed the orders, some cutting life-saving appliances adrift, others throwing off oilskins, preparing to raak^ a fight for life if the vessel sinks. An old colored cook has a few of his treasures burdl°d up m a black silk handkerchief and siring over his arm.

The tvzo ships are now rising and falling in the ocean sw<d]; and at each roll the spars seem to interlock; but fortunately they never touch. Through smart seamanship, together witli skilful handling: and a ready response to orders, both ships hav° brer maneuvered into positions of less dangej ; and th? d:s“ance between the ships’ heads has row widened.

But before tread way ear be gained a large wave lifts the comirer of on? above tire other— a crash! a grinding? Then quietness. The ships have parted. A rapid survey proves no underwater damage, but the storing gear has been rendered useless.

Tonight bo*h vessels, ii accordance with the traditions of the sea, “hove to” for the night, “standing by” tn render aid to each other should it be required.

The morning breaks. All hands are engaged clearing wreckage and getting a jury steering gear rigged up. A boat has been lowered and communication made with the? oilier vessel. This is surely a God-send. We are now able to beg or buy a cask of spit peas, a few bags of biscuits, and other items of less importance. At any rate the quantity being supplied is enough to allow a ration of half a plate of pea soup three times a day for a while; and a little biscuit added to this makes a meal.

The weather is now full winter, in North Atlantic; and everything seems to be against our arrival at a port of call—Queenstown or Falmouth.

Through the misdirections signaled from an outward-bound steamer we have made the Lizards to windward; and during the night we had difficulty in clearing the Scilly Isles on account of the heavy weather.

Today the wind favorable for Queenstown, and we square away. Soon we shall make the Irish land.

The wind has again changed, making it impossible to enter Queenstown; so we are making a fair wind of the change and running toward the Scilly Isles.

Another change, another fair wind, and away once more for “Bog Oak Mary” [the name of an old woman who was formerly engaged in the particular trade of selling bog oak ornaments, shawls, etc., to sailors along the docks at Queenstown J.

Surely v. e are now near our destination, dose under the land at Ballycottin, showing signals for the pilot.

Black clouds rising rapidly over the land. With a roar the wind comes and blows away all our hopes of Old Ireland. Wc now have the feeling of slack belts, empty lockers and a vision of the Flying Dutchman who is for ever condemned to sail the seas around the Capes.

Dawn. The wind is again behind us. Now we are making a quick run to Falmouth.

Port at last. We are now anchoring in this beautiful harbor at midnight, Saturday night.

Another vessel arriving at the same time is causing the silence of the night to be broken, through the exchange of cheers and the rattling of the cables. Even though weather-beaten and hungry, a song is being raised on all sides.

Now a dead calm settles over the harbor. "What a strange feeling after weary days of gale upon gale. Tired out, we now have the relished opportunity of a real night's rest. [“He bringeth them unto their desired haven.”]

The morning breaks. Not a breath of wind; the landscape is clothed with its winter mantle; the air is crisp with frost; the silence is broken only by the bark of a dog, a human voice, then the clanging of the bells. What a morning! The harbor shows early signs of activity. Many boats are making their way alongside the new arrivals—some on business, others looking for some.

…