Golden Age, April 4, 1928
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Contents of the Golden Age
Travel and Miscellany
Greece—Past, Present, Future
A Traveler in
Germany
Social and Educational
From an Old Soldier
No Need to Get Excited
Good Situations Open . . ........
Canada's “Grand Old Man” . .
Where They Belonged ......
A
Finance—Commerce—Transportation
Bits of the World’s News
Big Business Robs the Sugar Bowl .
Ocean Television a Fact
Impossibility of the Interest System . .
Political—Domestic and Foreign Events in Canada .......»
Agriculture and Husbandry
Farming May Be Possible Everywhere .......... 425
Might Have Given Him Another Cent or Two ........ 425
Home and Health
How to Avoid Lockjaw
Alkalies are Solvents fob Aluminum ,..... . s . . 427
Religion and Philosophy
A Raffle for Souls
Wkat Makes Us a Christian Nation . . . , ....... . 425
The Way of Reconstruction—Part II......... .
What about the Heathen? ....
The Letter or the Spirit, Which?
Too Much Like Work
A Very Wise Boy Who Became a Remarkable Man
Bible Questions and Answers . .
The Children’s Own Radio Stoby . r > .........&
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Entered as second-class matter at Brooklyn, Nt Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879
s Volume IX Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, April 4, 1928 Number 223
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Greece—Past, Present, Future
OR a country only the size and population of the state of Ohio, Greece has created
about as much excitement as could well be desired. It would be a fair statement to make of Greece that it is regularly irregular. This is as true of the people as it is of the land itself, and as true of the climate as it is of land and people.
Greece is a peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean sea, with the Ionian sea on the west and the 2Egean sea on the east, a peninsula with a chain of lofty mountains running down its length and with many spurs to east and west, and a peninsula with such jagged edges that in one place a sea-level canal four miles in length actually cuts the country in half.
This sea-level canal, by the way, is an object of interest in itself. Passing near what was once the great commercial city of Corinth it goes between massive walls of solid rock 260 feet in height. The canal is lighted at night by electricity. Iron rings are provided at intervals to which ships may tie for safety, for protection against the hurricanes which at times blow through the cut. The canal was built in 1893.
There are great extremes of heat and cold in Greece. The sirocco blasts from Africa are hard to bear in summer, and in the winter the blasts from the north are equally disagreeable. In ancient times the country was more thickly populated and better cultivated than now, and the climate was better.
The reason for the deterioration of the climate is known to be the removal of the forests which once covered the land. The arftumn and winter rains are excessive, the streams overflow their channels, stagnant pools and marshes are formed and malarial fevers result.
In the summer irrigation is often necessary to insure crops.
The name “Greece” is a nickname applied to inhabitants of the peninsula by Italians because colonists from that country settled in their own province of Magna Grecia in southern Italy. Aristotle adopted the name and applied it to all his countrymen. The country afterward received the name of Hellas; and w’hen conquered by the Romans they called the southern half, or the Peloponnesus, by the name of Achaia and the region to the north by the name of Macedonia.
A Fine Lot of People
npHE Greeks are a fine lot of people, a splendid mixture of the ■ sterling qualities of the West with the lovable, impetuous, soft-spoken characteristics of the East. In America we know them as fruiterers and the proprietors of nearly all candy stores and restaurants, a well-informed lot of men, great readers. They are a little too romantic for their own good, placing too high a valuation on their past history, but this is not to be wondered at. There is considerable Albanian and Slavic blood in the Greeks of today.
Greece is hard on its heroes. Miltiades, victor of Marathon, died in prison. Themistocles, victor of Salamis, was exiled. Pericles, great statesman, was heavily fined and removed from office. Socrates, the thinker, wTas condemned to death. Alcibiades was banished because his countrymen wearied of hearing so much said in his praise.
Modern Greece illustrates the same tendencies, for Greece has the distinction among all the countries of the modern world of having had eight different administrations of government in eighteen months. The Western world barely gets so it can spell the name of the new 'dictator or president when a new one enters upon the scene*
Yet with all its changes of government the people of Oreece are a singularly industrious and highly moral people* Confronted with finding homes for 1,350,000 Greek refugees driven from Asia Minor in 1922 it is the universal testimony of all relief workers that the material problems created by the inhuman congestion, promiscuity and animal misery, have not been complicated by any moral problem whatever. A remarkable tribute to a remarkably fine people.
The coming of these refugees has been a wonderful blessing in disguise. They have' brought splendid physiques, new blood, new intelligence, new industries, and all Greece is feeling the impulse of their presence, even though, in spite of all the help afforded by the Western world, thousands of them starved before they could adapt themselves to the new conditions.
Crops and Industries
THE 50,000 square miles of Greece contains about six million acres of cultivated land. While some grain is grown, yet Greece is essentially a fruit-growing country, a land of figs, almonds, olives, oranges, citrons, melons, grapes, and especially of currants. Other important items of export are lead, zinc ore, manganese iron ore, tobacco and sponges. The population of the country is estimated at 6,200,000.
Greece at present is in the midst of what might be called a boom, due to the presence of the refugees hitherto mentioned. They have given Greece a great rug industry, and have made Piraeus, the seaport of Athens, next to Marseilles and Genoa, the principal port of the Mediterranean.
Today Athens is a city of nearly a million people. It has inherited most of the commerce of both Smyrna and Constantinople. Roads are being built and rebuilt. Automobiles swarm everywhere. Houses are rising on all sides. New railroads are being built. Waste lands are being tilled. Swamps are being drained. The great city of Saloniki has been rebuilt.
The Greeks are born traders and their intimate knowledge of the East has enabled them to keep their trade with the lands from which they were expatriated. The last industrial census reports 2,213 factories at Piraeus and elsewhere.
The domestic animals are sheep and goats. The ovens of Greek homes are usually in the courtyards of the homes. The fuel consists of twigs brought in by donkeys, almost the only fuel in the country. The pigs, once famous, have deteriorated since the days of Pericles, and new and better stock has been imported from America* Greece will start in the pig business anew.
A Few Bits of History
A BOUT a thousand years B. C. a people of German or Teutonic origin invaded Greece from the North and made the original inhabitants, the Helots, as they were called, their slaves, while they devoted their attention to the noble process of government and fighting among themselves.
Divided into four parties, JEolians, Dorians, Achaeans and lonians, the Greeks never became a nation in the modern sense of the word, but when a city became overpopulated they just swarmed like bees and established a new and independent city. In this way the Greek civilization spread over the isles of the TEgean sea, the shores of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea.
In 338 B. C., Philip, king of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great, began taking over the control of Greece; and his son finished the task of making these little free and independent states into a single province of his vast empire. In 146 B. C. it became a part of the Roman Empire; and when that empire was divided Greece fell into the eastern half.
From the capture of Constantinople, in 1453, the Greeks were under Mohammedan rule. After several unsuccessful attempts they gained their liberty in 1829, following the annihilation of the Turkish fleet off Navarino, October, 1827, by the combined fleets of Britain, France and Russia. The allied powers placed a Bavarian prince on the throne.
When 1914 came around, the then king of Greece, Constantine, admittedly the most popular monarch in Europe, happened to have the ill fortune to have as his wife a sister of Wilhelm II of Germany. This placed him in ill favor with the Allies, although all he sought
for his country was the privilege of living in peace.
The Allies made Venizelos, Prime Minister, dictator of the country. Venizelos distinguished himself by dismissing outright 9,057 public officials and deporting, banishing or imprisoning everybody who disagreed with him, including the king himself. The Allies ordered him to send a division of Greek troops into Russia in the foolish attempt of the French under Denikin to overthrow the strong Soviet government. Only a remnant of these was left. Venizelos, idolized by the Western press, was unpopular at home.
The Allies Betray Greece
WHEN peace was declared the Allies awarded Greece a mandate for a good part of Asia Minor, but everybody understood that this meant the moral, financial and military backing of France and Britain. Fed by false hopes the Greeks rushed into a part of the world where no other army would have undertaken to go, and deserted by their allies they suffered a terrible defeat. French cannon in the hands of the Turks were their undoing.
On their retreat to the 2Egean shore the Greeks made the great mistake of burning Turkish cities and villages as they went and thereby incurred not only the condemnation of all nations but the merciless fury of the Turks, culminating in their exile from lands where their ancestors had lived for more than two thousand years.
In a revolution in Greece subsequent to their ; defeat the leaders of the Greek army in Asia Minor were seized in . a cowardly manner and : put to death, along with five of the Royalist Ministers. Greece is now nominally a republic, but actually a military dictatorship.
Illiteracy in Greece itself is still very high, ? being 30 percent in the army recruits. Military f. service is compulsory and almost universal. Al-■ though almost bankrupt as a state, there has < been a lavish expenditure to carry out a useless program of military, aeronautical and ; naval development. The Devil's organization still has Greece by the. throat. Elections are ; less regular and honest than could be desired.
The Paris of the Levant
THE popular name by which Athens is called is “The Paris of the Levant”. For three thousand years it has been a center of
art and education, and even now has two ■l <
universities with an attendance of ten thousand students. Its sculptors were unsurpassed in their own day or since.
Ancient Athens had a population of about 200,000. In 529 A. D. the Emperor Justinian closed its schools and it ceased to be a center
of intellectual activity. The Parthenon was turned into a church of the Virgin Mary. The Parthenon remained almost entire until the
siege of Athens by the Venetians, in 1687, when it was seriously damaged. The word “Parthenon” means the Temple of Athena Par the nos (the virgin).
The Parthenon was 228 feet long, 101 feet -wide and 66 feet high, and was finished in 438 B. C., under the administration of Pericles. It had columns on all sides, eight at either front apd seventeen at each side, counting the corner columns hvice. The columns were six feet in
diameter at the base and thirty-four feet high. Inside the temple stood the statue of Athena (for whom the city is named), a masterpiece by Phidias, 421£ feet high, the unclothed portions of ivory, the drapery of plates of gold.
American engineers are building a new water supply system for Athens and a new port for Piraeus. The city is being laid out all anew. A’ new house of Parliament, new administrative buildings, wide boulevards lined with trees and many fountains will be features of the new city.
Thirty acres of old Athens have been laid aside as an archeological reservation. Forty American universities will cooperate in the most careful excavation ever given any archeological site. A Temple of Youth is an important feature of the new Athens.
Most Greeks and many other people feel that at this time Britain should return to
Greece the Parthenon sculptures, now in the British Museum, carried thither by Lord Elgin in 1802. It is claimed that Lord Elgin stole these and that an institution of the standing of the great British Museum ought not to har-bor stolen goods.
Corinth, Olympia, Thessaloniea
CORINTH, in the days of the Apostle Paul, was a center of the world's commerce, and the acknowledged center of the world's moral depravity, so much so that the nuns or
priestesses of Aphrodite, the goddess of the city, were known far and wide for their beauty, culture and immorality. In Corinth immorality was a religion, as in many other places before and since. This accounts for some things in Paul's epistles to the Corinthians.
Farther south and west in the Peloponnesus, or Morea, as the part of Greece south of the Corinthian canal is called, was Olympia, not a city at all, but a valley or plain where at one time were as many as three thousand statues of the gods (demons) and of victors in the Olympic games. Thousands of fragments of sculptures, bronzes, coins, terra-cottas, etc., have been recovered from Olympia, principally by German archeologists. The originals remain in Greece, but copies are at Berlin.
Saloniki, northernmost of Grecian cities, is the Thessalonica where Paul preached and to the Christians of which he addressed two of his epistles. The present city rises from the sea in triangular, picturesque form, and the surrounding cypresses, the oriental architecture, the mingling of antiquities and modern ’trade and transportation conveniences add much to the striking birdseye view of the place.
Crete and Other Islands V
CRETE is eighty miles south of Greece and two hundred thirty miles north of Africa.
It is 160 miles long and averages twenty miles across. Its highest peak, Psiloriti, 8,060 feet high, is always snow-capped. The air is mild. Agriculture and trade of all kinds is at a low ebb. Most of the harbors are silted up. Education and the amenities of civilized life are almost entirely absent. The population, 344,000, is about, one-fourth what it was two thousand years ago. Greece has not had Crete long.
The Ionian Islands, Corfu, Ithaca, etc., located off the western and southern shores of Greece, often figure in history. They are ex-extremely mountainous and do not contain enough arable land to maintain the population, except as their fruits are exchanged for grains grown elsewhere. The total area of 1,117 square miles supports a population of about 227,000.
The Cyclades, the principal group of islands in the Grecian archipelago to the east are generally mountainous. They produce the usual southern fruits and large quantities of marble, limestone, slate and other building materials. John the apostle was confined on Patmos, a similiar island on the opposite side of the 2Egean sea, one of the so-called Sporades Isles.
Events in Canada By Our Canadian Correspondent
MATTER of much interest to farmers everywhere is a wonderful variety of wheat that has been developed by the staff of the Department of Agriculture of Canada and known as Reward wheat. The Toronto Mail and Empire speaking thereof editorially says:
It was revealed that the sample of wheat with which the Manitoba Agricultural College won a first prize at the Royal Winter Fair here was of the Reward t-
variety. Now Hon. W. R. Motherwell, the Dominion Minister of Agriculture, has disclosed that the sample of hard spring wheat with which Mr. Herman Trelle, of Wembley, Alberta, won a first prize at the international exhibition in Chicago was of the same variety. Mr. Motherwell has announced that a thousand bushels of the grain has been distributed to some four or five hundred farmers in Saskatchewan and Alberta to be tested on their farms and also, no doubt, to be multiplied so that larger supplies of it may be available as seed next year. The new wheat has been subjected to certain tests already on experimental farms, on the experimental plots of agricultural colleges, and on the farms of certain seed growers. These tests, Mr. Motherwell has asserted at Regina, have shown that Reward has the strongest straw of possibly any known wheat, that it ripens earlier than Marquis wheat, but not quite so early as Garnet, that it is less liable to rust infection than other varieties, and that it yields a flour “without spot or blemish”.
The production of this wheat is an event of considerable importance to the country. It has demonstrated once more the usefulness of scientific research in a branch of agriculture. Such research, carried on by the late Dr. William Saunders and his sons, brought forth the Marquis wheat. That result of patient experimenting contributed much to the expansion of wheat growing in the prairie region and has been of great financial advantage to the farmers of that part
maintains its reputation
of Canada and to the Dominion as a whole. The cerealists have- continued their work, and a year or more ago cave Garnet wheat to the western farmers, o o
This grain does not supersede the Marquis, but, since it matures in a shorter period of time than the Marquis, it can be used to advantage in sections of the country where the growing season is short. It was grown during the present year in large quantities in the Peace River district. The newest variety, the Reward wheat, will be welcomed by the farmers if it for immunity from rust. Introduction of a really rust-proof wheat into Western Canada would render harmless a cause of heavy crop losses in the past, and benefit the Dominion at large.
A Raffle for Souls
UNDER the heading “A Raffle for Souls in
Mexico” the Christian Endeavor World publishes a remarkable notice of a raffle for souls in a Roman Catholic church in Mexico, as furnished by Rev. Francis S. Borton, a missionary in that country. It reminds one of John Tetzel’s public sales of papal indulgences in Germany, in 1517, which aroused Luther to post his famous ninety-five theses, or protests, on the doors of the Castle church at Wittenberg. The notice reads as follows:
Yesterday in a Roman Catholic church in Mexico I read the following notice:
‘‘Raffle for souls. At the last Raffle for Souls the following numbers obtained the prize, and the lucky holders may be assured that their loved ones are for ever released from the pains of Purgatory:
“Ticket 841. The soul of the lawyer James Vasquey is released from Purgatory, and ushered into heavenly -joys.
“Ticket 41. The soul of Madame Calderon is made happy for ever.
“Ticket 762. The soul of the aged widow Pfancesca de Parras is for ever released from the flames of Purgatory.
“Another Raffle for Souls will be held at this same blessed church of the Redeemer on January 1st, at which four bleeding and tortured souls will be released from Purgatory.”
Preparing for Reforestation
THE Globe of Toronto, contains the following news item from New Westminster,
B. C.
In order that land in England, Australia and Eastern Canada, now denuded of large trees, might again be covered with forests, an extensive tree seed extrac-y
tion plant has been established here, believed the biggest of its kind in the world.
Today in Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia there are thriving forests of evergreen trees four feet high from the first year’s seeds sent out of here.
The yield of cones for 1926 was the best since the work started. The seed gatherers brought in 2,686 sacks of Douglas fir cones, 1,545 sacks of spruce, 187 sacks of cedar, 767 sacks of long needle pine and 27 sacks of hemlock cones.
Collecting the cones is largely the summer work of women and children, but men agile enough to climb far out on thin limbs bring in the largest loads. The cones are sacked in the forests and later gathered into piles for hauling out on trucks over the abandoned logging roads. In isolated sections, where cones are abundant, the canoes of. Indians are pressed into service.
At the seed barns the cones are spread out on a drying floor made of finely meshed wire-netting some three feet above the board floor. As the drying proceeds the cones open, scattering the seeds through the screen to the floor below. After completely drying out the seeds are run through a fanning mill to get rid of pulp and the filmy tails used in nature to fiy long distances.
In the forests cone pickers receive $1.50 to $2.00 a sack, which is very good money in seasons when cone bearing is heavy.
The Drift Northward
CANADA is only now awakening to the enormous wealth that has been hidden away in its north lands. Speaking thereof under the caption, “The Drift Northward,” the Vancouver Daily Province has the following to say:
From time to time, during the past year or so, The Province has called attention to the drift northward in Canada. This pushing out into the undeveloped regions is one of the most striking facts connected with the present-day development of the Dominion. Every province which has a virgin north is unrolling its map. In Quebec, new cities are growing up in the Lake St. John region, and there is great activity about Rouyn. In Ontario, the northern frontier is being pushed forward toward James Bay. In British Columbia and Alberta interest has revived in the Peace River country. And in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, there are plans afoot for great development about the Plin Pion mine and along the route of the Hudson Bay Railway,
Mostly, in the North, the development has to do with mining property, pulpwood and water power. In the Peace River country, of course, and in the Ontario clay belt, there are farm lands of great extent and fertility, and there are said to be farm lands also in the vicinity of the Hudson Bay line. These, it is understood, are to be opened for homestead entry,
shortly. Farming in the North will necessarily involve methods different from those in vogue on the southern prairies; and to encourage the new farmers and help them, the Dominion Government is planning to establish one or two experiment stations.
Commenting on this thickening-out of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Farmer says:
“It does not take a very far-seeing prophet to predict that the northland of these two provinces is coming into its own and that these areas, rich in minerals, timber, water power, fish and fur-bearing animals, will, in the next few years, be the scene of an activity similiar to or greater than that which prevailed during the rush to develop the southern areas of these two provinces two or three decades ago.”
The following, from the Ottawa Citizen, is also of interest:
The figures for 1925 have just been issued by the Dominion bureau of statistics, and figures for 1926, for some of the main industries, are available from other reports of the bureau, making the following comparison possible:
Pulp and paper Flour, grist mill Slaughtering, meat packing
Sawmills
Butter and cheese Automobiles
1925 $193,092,937 187,944,731
163,816,810 134,413,845 124,828,754 110,835,380
1926 $215,488,315
167,127,091
133,598,456
of industry near the
Hudson Bav Railway should mean much to the city
of Winnipeg, and to some of the northern towns in
Saskatchewan. It is possible that new towns may arise
before many years, as Rouyn, Kapuskasing and Arvida
are growing up in the East.
“The northern country in Saskatchewan is, in some respects, more attractive than the prairie land farther south. There is a beautiful lake district north of
Prince Albert, which is at present a national park.
“Observers in Eastern Canada
being planned as will watch with
interest the progress of the mining industry in
Manitoba.
Increased prosperity
in the West will help
to contribute to the general prosperity of Canada.”
Canada's Industrial Development
THE enormous industrial development of Canada is reflected in an editorial appearing in the Toronto Daily Star, which reads:
The production of Canadian industries in 1925 was valued at $2,948,545,315. The forty leading industries accounted for $2,365,007,098, or 80 per cent of the total. The six largest of the forty accounted for $914,932,457, or 31 per cent of the total. Or putting it in round figures, the six leading industries of Canada account for nearly $1,000,000,000 out of a $3,000,000,000 production. The detailed figures are those for 1925.. The production of the six largest industries may be right up to $1,000,000,000 when the 1926 compilation is completed.
$914,932,457
These are encouraging figures. Pulp and paper, once a comparatively minor industry, maintains an unchallenged lead. It is not only the largest industry in Canada, but its exports are larger than those of the same industry in any other country. The motorcar manufactories are improving their position in the scale, an industry practically unknown to Canada at the beginning of the present century, but now in fifth place. The figures do not include those of the rubber industry and gas and oil industries, closely allied. The sawmill statistics do not include planing mills and sash and door factories, which account for another $40,000,000. And agriculture, of course is not included as an “industry”.
Some of the industries which Canadians are accustomed to regard as large are down near the bottom of the list of forty: Furniture and upholstering (32), $27,110,462; leather tanneries (33), $26,141,217; agricultural implements (34), $24,770,216; paints and varnishes (37), $22,234,268; hardware and tools (40), $17,882,650. Biscuits, confectionery and chewing gum, $46,745,355, just manage to edge out cigars and cigarets, $41,985,554, for twentieth place; but if smoking and chewing tobacco and snuff, $18,168,225, were combined with cigars and cigarets, the tobacco industry would move up into fourteenth place on Canada’s list, and perhaps in some years as high as eleventh.
With products valued at $3,000,000,000 being produced annually by her industries, Canada and her nine or ten million people can not be described as lagging behind in the procession. Her progress of recent years has been notable and steady.
A Traveler in Germany
TRAVELER in Germany reports that cab drivers, hotel employes and policemen are uniformly courteous and reliable, the entire countryside resembles a well-ordered park, the streets are spotlessly clean, the homes within and without are spotlessly clean and orderly, hotel and dining-room service is perfect, tips are not accepted and there are no slums.
Bits of the World’s News
f Big Business Robs the Sugar Bowl
■ Business, i. e., a certain great Wall
i Street bank, has perfected an elegant f scheme for robbing the American people of a \ hundred million dollars a year through in-Ij.
f creased prices for sugar. Cuba controls the sugar business of the world, and Wall Street controls the sugar business of Cuba. In a few months the practical outworkings of the plan by which Cuba will get a hundred million dollars a year more for her sugar and America will pay that amount in addition to what she now pays will be apparent to everybody. It has taken a few years for the bank that pulled off the sugar steal a few years ago to perfect this plan, but the details have now all been arranged through the Cuban legislature and all the American people will have to do hereafter is to pay the bill, as always.
Cuba Under a Dictator
NOMINALLY free Cuba is actually under the control of a dictator, Gerardo Machado, official representative of the one and one-quarter billion dollars which Wall Street interests have invested in the Cuban sugar business. Machado has made a great name for himself by his ruthlessness in terminating strikes, suppressing unions, exploiting lotteries and buying Cuban members of congress. He is now busily engaged in putting through the Cuban congress a series of measures that will keep him in office for two years beyond the time for which he was elected.
How to Avoid Lockjaw
THE United States Health Service, noting that lockjaw occasionally follows vaccination, thinks that it can be avoided by not shielding or dressing the wound, but leaving it open to the air. This sounds likg common sense. In other words, nature has a much better chance to get rid of the filthy pus if the wound is left open. There is still a better way to avoid lockjaw caused by vaccination and that is to avoid the vaccination itself and give nature a fair chance, when it is not necessary. Moreover, vaccination is proven, by thousands of cases, to be no prevention against the taking of smallpox.
Farming May Be Possible Everywhere
John L. Hodgson, Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers of Great Britain, a man with great experience in the deep mines of South Africa, has written a most interesting article for the New York Times indicating two ways by which, in his judgment, shafts may be sunk to a depth of five to thirty miles beneath the earth’s surface, and a continuous supply of heat obtained which would make farming possible in any lands and at any season of the year. In the five-mile shafts the work of shaft sinking would be done by workers in air-cooled suits, and in the deeper shafts wholly by mechanical means.
Might Have Given Him Another Cent or Two
A N IOWA farmer raised chickens, fed them and cared for them until they produced eggs which he sold by the crate at eighteen cents a dozen. The crate was traced to New York, where a Brooklyn grocer paid sixty cents a dozen for the same eggs. One would almost think, if he dared, that the farmer could have been given another two cents, so that he would have received a third of the wholesale price; but not so, not so.
Two Families Control Japan
T) aul Wright, an American newspaper cor-respondent traveling in Japan, declares that practically the whole of Japan is now in the hands of two families, the Mitsui and Mitsubishi groups. All the great industries of the country, and even the government itself, are under the control of either one or the other of these two families. ■|
What Makes Us a Christian Nation
WHEN the Continental Oil Company of Texas loaned the use of their grounds - for an ice-cream supper the West Amarillo Christian Church Auxiliary wrote to them thanking them for their kindness, all of which was proper enough, and then added, “It is through such kindness and courtesy and help that we are known as a Christian nation.” All will be glad to know this, and how easy it is to be a Christian. Even if one is a Jew and lets some church, no matter what church, have . free use of some of his property for some kind of money-raising scheme, that makes the Jew a regular Christian. Does it? Or if it does not make him a Christian it at least makes all the rest of us Christians and therefore sure of our own individual jewsharp and reserved seat on a cloud throughout all eternity. Some system! Eh! What!
Ocean Television a Fact
T IS declared that television between London and New York has been actually accomplished, and, although the features were indistinct, faces and hands had been seen across the Atlantic Ocean. It is claimed that the experiments were conducted with absolute secrecy, and this is evidently true because the largest concerns in radio know nothing of the experiments.
Impossibility of the Interest System
HE impossibility of the interest system is strikingly shown in a full-page editorial in the New York Sunday American in which it is figured that six cents, found in a child's bank buried in Carthage twenty-five hundred years ago, if placed at compound interest for that time, would have earned a sum equal to a sphere of solid gold with a diameter five million times greater than the distance from the earth to the sun. All should be able to see from this how absolutely ridiculous and impossible the interest system is and how surely any civilization which is based upon it, as is ours, must perish long before twenty-five hundred years have come and gone. The modern crime of interest is only a few hundred years old. The Bible forbids it.
From an Old Soldier
FEW days ago alady called at my address and left a book of some fifty-nine or sixty pages, entitled Freedom for the Peoples.
I write now as an old soldier who has served in more than one war, or what might be more appropriately named, more than one human slaughter. This inhuman work was carried on under the cloak of patriotism to our nation. After reading the little book I no longer consider myself as being a soldier. My proper and most appropriate title would be that of a hired assassin and a legalized murderer, to satisfy the greed for power and prestige of those at the head of the big interests.
And I might state a truth, as it is written in that little book, that the slaves who were shackled by the preachings of those hypocritical preachers were so imbued with the spirit of a so-called patriotism; and those hypocritical preachers that preached them forth were paid for the work that they were doing. Of course the Volstead and the Ontario (Canada) Temperance acts were not in existence at the time of which I now speak. Therefore there was no prohibition as to the amount of the liquids of patriotism one cared to imbibe.
But after reading Judge Rutherford's little book I have arrived at the conclusion that the book should be better known and read by those who have suffered in the hardships of war.
Therefore, the one that was left at my address I have forwarded to an old chum who had served with me in war. I have asked him to make this little book known throughout every corner of the British Isles. And so I am now without one myself. I will appreciate the favor very much if it is possible to forward to me all of Judge Rutherford's works. I am, dear sir, asking this as a favor. Had I the money I would willingly send on the price of such valuable literature, which to my way of thinking is built on the very foundation of truth.
But of course we slaves that have been of the classes are not supposed to be sane, nor have we the right to voice our feelings, seeing that our only duty is to the representatives of the big interests, to look after their (the big interests') welfare; and to see to it that none of the money-grabbing lords of Wall Street, or other big financial interests (which the so-called human leeches represent), shall ever he in want, or that they shall ever be so humiliated as to have to go forth and fight for themselves. But above all, we slaves must make sure that those rattlesnakes in human shape must live in a fine dwelling and have an up-to-date car to drive in.
The reason I send this, in confidence, is that I am a pensioner of the British Army. And I must be very, very careful in what I say or do.
Alkalies Are Solvents For Aluminum By E.
NENT the communication in The Golden Age, No. 220, page 326, by your correspondent on the use of aluminum. I too have been a constant reader of The Golden Age from the first number to the present, and have always noted that it has for its aim justice and truth for all, without fear or favor, whether friend or foe, and have always felt that I could rely absolutely on what I saw printed therein.
Now first of all in my reply to the communication, I want to make it clear that this letter is not coming from a supporter or beneficiary of the aluminum interests; but I do believe in justice to all.
Any chemist will tell you that soap when put into solution with water undergoes a partial hydrolysis which liberates a portion of the alkali used in the production of the soap; and since alkalies are the natural solvents for aluminum,
J. Starwait (Chemist)
I am not at all surprised at the results your correspondent obtained by using an aluminum vessel for making a soap solution. Her experiences with her hair were the same as she would have had, had she put either alum, lime or sugar of lead into the soap solution, because in either case she would get an insoluble soap, known in chemistry and pharmaceutical circles as a plaster of a very gummy or sticky nature* L
The trouble could have been corrected very easily by washing her hair with lemon juice or a weak vinegar water, which would have removed the undesirable soap and have done no injury to her hair.
Moral: Never let a soap solution stand for any period of time in a metal vessel, or especially a vessel made of aluminum, brass or copper.
II 1 ........... ■ I I II l<
h
No Need to Get Excited
N PAGE 43 of the magazine Correct Eating is a nice full-column advertisement of aluminum ware, backed up by a nine-page attack on The Golden Age and on Doctor Betts for daring to publish an article questioning whether aluminum as a plating for one’s insides is all that it ought to be.
Doctor Alsaker, writer of the article, gets quite excited, so much so, in fact, that he uses the personal pronoun “I” a total of eighty-five times in the one article, but there is no need for all this distress of mind. The Golden ’Age has no thought of trying to get any of this advertising aw’ay from Correct Eating. Maybe after a while, we may let Doctor Betts reply to him. We shall see. Meantime it is best to be calm.
One thing is sure, however, and that is that the aluminum people ought to be pretty well pleased with Doctor Alsakeffs efforts, and if they do not come across with several full-page advertisements it will show that they are most ungrateful. Quite a number of other journals have taken up the hue and cry, no doubt with hope of some similar reward. “Verily they have their reward.”
Good Situations Open
4r'
HE Golden Age has been requested by a large manufacturing institution to recommend good men or women for the following positions: traveling salesmen and city salesmen, head bookkeeper, stenographer and assistant bookkeeper, manager advertising department, collector of accounts. Young men and women in the truth who have to make some money for dependents might find these positions desirable. Saturday afternoons and Sundays could be devoted to canvassing with other members of the class. This is merely to assist some one who needs a place. Write us and we will refer your application to the manufacturer. The situations are in Iowa. Only competent persons who are willing to work will be recommended.
The Way of Reconstruction
Part II
[Broadcast from Station WBBR,
New York, by Judge Rutherford.]
HE ruling factors of this world are exceedingly selfish. Doubtless the majority of mankind are moved by selfish desires. But among the people there are without doubt many men and women of good will possessing an honest and sincere desire not only to see their own condition improved but to see the people generally receiving benefits. The evidence is abundant, and many are familiar with it, that for centuries past there have been organizations of men seeking to better their fellow creatures. Philanthropists have suggested a theory; single-taxers a theory; dieticians a theory; and health specialists a theory; and there are numerous religious systems, each holding out some way that claims to benefit the human race*
'After many centuries of effort and experience the people are convinced that no human theory can accomplish the desired end. Those who think soberly inquire, What is the right way? Is there a sure way whereby we may know that man can be improved and ultimately enjoy the blessings of life, liberty and happi-ness? These questions find answers in the Scriptures. Because these answers come from the Lord they are true and they satisfy the desire of man* Upon them he can confidently rely.
From the beginning God has been working out His great plan majestically and orderly and each part He has caused to be performed in His own due time. The evidence is abundant that the time is at hand when He will begin to reveal to the people in general His way that leads to a reconstruction of the world and to the blessing of the people according to the promise which He made to Abraham four thousand years ago.
The Right Way
THROUGH His holy prophet God tells of His provision to teach the people and lead them in the right way. “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." -—Isaiah 35: 8.
“Highway" means a plain way by which to ger to a place or goal. It means a smooth way to travel, with, nothing to interfere or hinder.
Of course this does not mean a literal road to travel; the word highway is used as a figure of speech, meaning that God has provided a plain way for the people to return to Him, so plain that all may know about it, and that all who will mav avail themselves of its benefits* “A way" is specifically mentioned in this text, and it is designated as “The way of holiness". A “highway" is a plain way that leads to the goal, whereas “the way" means the fixed or appointed rules of action which every one will be required to strictly observe in order to pass over the highway to the end. It is called “The way of holiness" because it is right, pure and holy. If a man faithfully observes the rules he will be aided in making progress on the highway. If he refuses to obey the rules, and therefore refuses to walk according to “the way", he will not be permited to go to the end of the highway. The goal of perfection and blessings is at the end of the highway, and the way to reach it is to do the right thing. No unclean person shall be permitted to go to the end thereof. All who enter upon the highway will be unclean at the time they enter, because imperfect. If these, however, observe the way of holiness, and walk according thereto, they will be cleaned up. As progress is made in the way of righteousness and holiness the one continuing to pass along the highway will continue to progress until he ultimately reaches the end thereof.
The way will be so plain and clear that no one will have a just cause or excuse for not knowing it. Why shall there be no reason for any to err therein? Because, as the scripture answers: “No lion shall be there." (Isaiah 35:9) “Lion" is a figure of speech, here used to represent the Devil. (1 Peter 5:8) Neither Satan nor any other devil will be permitted to be on that highway, or to interfere with any one who goes upon it. No “ravenous beast shall go up thereon". That means that there will be no more devil organizations, composed of profiteers, politicians and pulpiteers, to prey upon the people or to mislead and oppress them. Nothing of that kind will be found there. “Ravenous beast" is used here to symbolize the DeviFs organization. God wTill clean out all of these things be-
fore restoration begins, and thus give man a clear uninterrupted opportunity to prove whether or not he wants to be blessed.
May we hope that the people will ever be delivered from this sad state and enter into the joys of peace, prosperity, life, liberty and happiness? Now we shall find an answer to this question.
Blindness Removed
T THE present time these words of the prophet are fulfilled: 'Darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people? (Isaiah 60:2) The mass of mankind is in complete ignorance of God's provisions for the blessing of the people. Satan the enemy is chiefly responsible for this blindness. (2 Corinthians 4: 3,4) Such is the blindness that caused the Jews to be cast away from God.
Then this same prophet continues: "But the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." (Isaiah 60: 2) The apostle declares that their blindness shall be removed when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; which means, when the last member of the kingdom has been selected from the Gentiles and glorified with the Lord. "There shall come out of Sion [God's organization] the Deliverer [Messiah], and shall turn away ungodliness from [the descendants of] Jacob." (Romans 11: 25, 26) At this time there is a vail of darkness over the eyes of the people, which prevents them from seeing God's loving-kindness and provision for their help; but in the kingdom one of the first operations of the Lord will be to remove that vail of blindness, that the people may be able to understand. "And he will destroy in this kingdom the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations."—Isaiah 25: 7.
Jesus declared concerning the Word of God, the Bible: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17) The people must know the truth in order that they might be blessed, and then they must obey the truth before the blessings will be realized. But suppose they do not accept and do not obey the truth, then what will be the result?
The Disobedient
HE Lord will not force any one to accept the truth; but He will compel all to obey
the truth when they hear it, or else suffer the consequences. The only way back to God and happiness will be to travel oyer the highway according to the way of holiness. Those who refuse to hear the instruction of the Lord concerning this way shall suffer punishment, which punishment will consist of everlasting destruction.
Moses wrote concerning Jesus, his antitype, and how all the people would have to obey Him during His reign. "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which wilk not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." (Acts 3:22,23) This punishment is declared to be everlasting destruction. (2 Thessalonians 1:9) It is in harmony with the statement of the prophet: "The Lord pre-serveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy." (Psalm 145: 20) Then every man will die for his own iniquity, and no man shall suffer for another's iniquity. (Jeremiah 31:29,30) Then if a man has started to do right, and turns away from it and does wickedly, he shall die. (Ezekiel 18:26) The Lord will give a fair and full opportunity to every one who shows a desire to do the right thing; but those who wilfully refuse to hear and obey the Lord shall be so completely removed that they will be no more a hindrance to themselves nor to any one else.
Requirements
HE laws of Jehovah are unchangeable. His fixed rules apply to all of His intelligent
creatures. He lays down in His Word the general rules that shall govern those who enter upon the highway. "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8) This means that man will be required to do justly; that is to say, to do that which is right; and he will be taught that which is right, so that he can not mistake which is the right way to pursue. It means that he must love mercy and practise it. If he sees his fellow creature struggling along the highway, he must have a sincere and honest desire to help him, and be kind and considerate with him. This law means also that he? must walk humbly with God; that is to say, he must be willingly obedient to the laws of God. The new covenant hereinbefore mentioned will set out in detail the fundamental laws and the statutes governing mankind during the period of reconstruction. To walk humbly before the Lord means that each one will be required to acquaint himself with these laws and to obey them strictly.
Now many people have difficulty in knowing always what is right, but then there will be no such difficulty whatsoever. Every one who wants to do right and who tries to do right will be aided in doing the right thing.
Blessings for the Obedient
WHEN the great Creator placed man in Eden He gave him life and the right thereto, which right was to continue eternally, upon the condition that man would be completely obedient to the law of God. All the blessings of the creature depended upon having life. The blessings aside from life are, peace, prosperity, health, liberty and happiness.
Because man disobeyed the law of God the great Creator took away from him life and the right thereto, and the blessings incident to life. In the exercise of His loving-kindness God will now open the way for full restoration, that man may gain all these blessings, provided man meets the divine requirements.
Reconstruction then will mean the bringing of the human race up from sin and degradation, and leading the race over the highway. Restoration will mean that at the end of the highway there will be given back to man the blessings that, he originally enjoyed; to wit, life in its fulness, with all the blessings incident thereto. Such is what God has promised. “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” —Acts 3: 20, 21.
All the holy prophets of God foretold the coming day of restoration. The ancient worthies who won God’s approval had great faith concerning that day, and for this reason they willingly endured anything that they might have the blessings of God and see their fellow creatures enjoy such blessings in God’s due time.
Peace
WHEN the people begin to learn of the highway and the way of holiness that leads to life they will say to each other: “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain [symbolic of Messiah’s kingdom] of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he [the Lord] will teach us of his ways [the way of holiness, the right way], and we will walk in his paths,” and learn His law. (Isaiah 2:3) The Prince of Peace is one of the titles of the great Messiah. He shall rule in peace and establish peace for ever. (Isaiah 9:6,7) When His judgments are in the earth the inhabitants will learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9) They will learn peace and have no more war. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2: 4) Then every one shall dwell in peace, and nobody shall make them afraid. (Micah 4:4) They shall have peace for evermore.
Prosperity
TJOVERTY has been one of the curses resuiting from sin. The land and the houses have been held by the few who possess sharper wits than others. The weaker ones have build-ed houses while the stronger and unscrupulous have owned them. The weaker have been crowded into inadequate and even filthy quarters, and have been pinched by cold and hunger because they could not provide things needful for themselves and their loved ones. It will not be so under the Messianic reign. The land belongs to the Lord. (Leviticus 25:23) He will see to it that it is properly apportioned amongst the people, so that all may have some place to live. Then every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and every man shall build his own house and live in it.—Micah 4:4; Isaiah 65: 21, 22.
One part of the curse upon man was that he should earn his bread in the sweat of his brow. From Eden until now man has had to fight amongst the thorns and thistles and weeds and many other hindrances, while trying to produce food for himself and for his family. The Lord in His own good way will teach man how to eliminate the weeds, briars and thistles, that his crops may grow and yield an abundance, and that without laborious effort.
“Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” (Isaiah 55:13) “I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the < I
myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together.” (Isaiah 41:19) “The wilderness, and the solitary place, shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” (Isaiah 35:1,2) “Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.”—Psalm 67: 6.
Then the hovels of poverty, vice, and ignorance will quickly disappear, and plenty will be the portion of the people; and they shall rejoice. “And in this kingdom shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast uf wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” (Isaiah 25:6) Pestilence and blight shall be removed, and the land that once lay desolate shall become a place of joy and a delight. “Thus saith the Lord God, In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.”—Ezekiel 36: 33-35.
Health
WHY are the asylums full of the insane and the hospitals overrun with the sick and the infirm? Because of disease of mind and body, the result of sin. The loving heart of Jesus was moved with compassion when the sick and the afflicted came to Him and He healed many of them. (Matthew 9: 35, 36) Jesus was born under the law (Galatians 4:4) and fulfilled the law. (Matthew 5:17) The things of the law foreshadowed better things to come. (Hebrews 10:1) Therefore the healing of the sick, the opening of the eyes of the blind and the giving of strength to the infirm but foreshadowed the greater work that Jesus Christ will do during the Millennial reign.
The Prophet Job described the miserable and unhappy condition of the sick and afflicted human race. (Job 33:18-22) Then the prophet mentions the Messenger, who is the Messiah. The Messenger is the one who interprets God's Word and makes it plain, so that man may know the way and go over the highway in the way of holiness. When suffering humanity receives knowledge from the great Messenger, he (man) is represented as responding: “I have found inv redeemer.”
The prophet then continues: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness; then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him; and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.”—Job 33:23-26.
The Lord will teach the people how to eat, how to exercise, how to sleep, how to think, and how to learn to obey righteousness; and will heal them and make them well, as it is written; “Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.” (Jeremiah 33:6) “And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.”—Isaiah 33: 24.
Life
LIFE, as here used, means existence, and the right to exist and to enjoy all the blessings incident thereto. Jesus came to earth that the people might have life. (John 10:10) He said: “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3) Jesus Christ, by His death and resurrection, purchased for man the right to life. As the people progress on the highway, going in the way of holiness, the Lord will gradually reconstruct them; that is to say, He will bless them with peace, prosperity, health and strength. There are billions of people who are wicked, because of the wicked influence of Satan the enemy. This wicked work the Lord will undo for all of those who are willing to have it undone. If these wicked ones turn away from their wickedness and go on up the highway, in the way of holiness and righteousness, they will gradually be reconstructed; and continuing to the end thereof, will be granted the right to live for ever. “When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die/’—Ezekiel 18:27,28.
It will be the obedient ones who will be given the* right to eternal life and who will live, as Jesus stated: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” (John 8:51) Then he that lives and believes on (which means to obey) the Lord shall live and not die. (John 11: 26) The reign of Christ will destroy all of man’s enemies, and “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.”—1 Corinthians 15:26, 27.
The faithful shall live for ever and never die, receiving from the Lord the right to live.
A * —J
This blessing is now about to begin, hence it may be properly said that millions now living will never die; because the presumption is that millions, after knowing of the fact of God’s love, will be willing to avail themselves of the opportunity for life.
Destruction of the Devil
URING the entire time of the progress of the human race upon the great highway,
Satan the enemy will be incarcerated in prison so that he can not deceive any one. (Revelation 20:1-3) It is a fixed rule of God’s plan that He will grant eternal life to no one without such an one proving his loyalty and faithfulness under the test. At the end of the highway, which is at the end of the thousand years, Satan is to be turned loose that he may try his hand once more at deceiving the people and turning them away from God. Evidently Jehovah proceeds upon the theory that any one who has received full knowledge of Satan’s
course and the great wickedness and sorrow he has wrought in the earth, and wTho has then also learned of God’s loving-kindness; and who, after all this, deliberately turns away from the truth, does not deserve to live.
The Scriptures show that Satan, at the end of the Millennium, will be allowed to go forth to gather together all whom he can induce to follow him. All who then follow Satan shall be everlastingly destroyed, and the Devil himself shall then be destroyed. The Devil’s system, and all of his works, will be for ever a stench in the nostrils of the righteous people who survive; hence it may be properly said that the Devil and his wickedness will be a torment for ever.—Revelation 20:7-10.
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