Golden Age, May 30, 1928
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AN OUTSIDER
PROSPERITY SURE
PENSIONS AND OLD AGE INSURANCE
Vol. IX Bi-Weekly Na 227
May 30, 1928
a
TBUTH
WORLD
DYING
NEWFOUNDLAND
AS SEEN BY
<-3^
POPULAR FALLACIES
5«P a copy
Canada..,and Weigit Countries $ 1.3b
z NEV WCRLD BEGINNING
Contents of the Golden Age
Labor and Economics “Some New Thing” ................. 552
Department of Public Welfare ............. 552
Pennsylvania’s Reign of Terror ............. 554
Menand Monkeys (Poem) ............... 55'7
Social and Educational
A Brief Statement ok B'acts .............. 564
Doubling Eveby Four Hundred Years ........... 564
One Out o» These .................. 565
Finance—Commerce—Transportation
Pensions and Old Age Insurance ............ 547
As to Service Charges ................. 564
Political—Domestic and Foreign
Russia Persecuting Zionists .............. 552
Egyptian Situation May Start Holy War ......... 552
Achievements in Haiti ................ 555
Germany’s Film Scandal ............... 555
The Corridor Across Arabia .............. 556
Teapot Dome Still Boils ............... 563
What's in a Nams! ................... 564
Science and Invention The Radio Station I W’ant ............... 562
Home and Health
Amputating and Amputation .............. 564, The Hobuobs of Vivisection ............... 565
. Travel and Miscellany
Newfoundland as Seen by an Outsider .......... 549
Whales in New York Harbor ............ . 553
Where Darwin Got His Idea ............... 569
Religion and Philosophy
Bible Questions and Answers .............. 559
Church and State Not Separated ............ 559
Chinese Christians Like Western Ones ......... 564 Prosperity Sure (Part Three) .............. 566 Popular Fallacies Concerning the Bible ......... 570 The Children’s Own Radio Story ............ 575
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Golden Age
Volume iX Brooklyn, N. Y-, Wednesday, May 30, 192B Number 227
Pensions and. Old Age Insurance
BETTER far a system of civilization that automatically operates so that those willing to work need never call for aid or feel the necessity of asking for pensions (charity) from anybody. But since there is so much of selfishness, oppression and injustice on the part of the strong it is not to bo wondered at that pensions occupy an ever larger place in ilie public mind. Pensions are for the weak and oppressed.
Insurance for old age (any system by which the individual pays part of the cost of taking care of him in his old age) is quite a different matter. It is not a matter of charity. It is a business proposition, and should be so considered. Nevertheless the two subjects are woven together so closely that they can not well be treated separately.
The current idea of the British "'dole'’, as it is improperly called, is grossly unjust to the self-respecting Britishers that years ago contributed a percentage of their wages to .build up the funds now being drawn upon for their needs. It is true that they are sometimes forced to overdraw their “dole” accounts, but they are expected to repay these sums, and do repay them. The “dole” is not charity; it is business.
Britain’s stupendous losses in the World War Lave given her a great pension bnrdmi to carry. So closely are pensions figured that the amount of pension given for an amputated limb is graduated on the actual length, measured in inches, of the remaining stump. One person in every twenty-six in Great Britain is on the World War pension roll. The total of 1,665,000 such pensioners includes 489,500 men, 1,100 ■nurses and 482,000 widows and parents of men who died from war disabilities.
Besides the foregoing, .1,250,000 aged in Britain receive Old Age Contributory Pensions, paid regularly, through the post office, at the rate of $2.50 per week, regardless of any income they may receive from other sources.
In all, fifteen million Britishers, men, women and children, one-third of the total population, are insured against the worst effects of ill health, unemployment, accident, old age and loss of their natural protectors. When first proposed the various laws which have brought this arrangement into existence were strongly denounced as socialistic, but they are now generally accepted as wise and needful under present conditions.
In Canada, Australia, New Zealand
IN CANADA, Australia and New Zealand, disabled soldiers and their dependents are being well taken care of. In British Columbia there is a maximum old age pension of $240 a year, reduced wdiere the applicant’s present assured income totals $125 a year and up. The Canadian Government pays half of this insurance, and British Columbia half. Beneficiaries must be British subjects who have resided in Canada twenty years, and in British Columbia live years. Other Canadian provinces are expected to follow7 British Columbia’s example soon.
In Australia, pensions are paid to invalids; They are paid to persons over sixteen years of age who are permanently incapacitated for work and became so incapacitated while in Australia. The rate is fixed at $260 per annum or less, as decided by the pension commissioner or his deputy. Old age pensions are granted upon application to persons sixty-five years of age who have lived in Australia twenty years.
In New7 Zealand, old age pensions up to $215 a year are payable to all persons, except Asiatics, reaching sixty-five years of age, who have resided in New Zealand for twenty years and 'during the last five years of that time have lived a sober and reputable life.
S47
In France and Germany, old age insurance is in effect. The pensioner is required to contribute during his productive years, the .government and the employer each contributing also to the pension fund.
Military Pensions in United States
THE War of the Revolution ended in 1784.
The last pensioner of that war, a daughter of Jonathan Wooley, died in 1911, one hundred twenty-six years afterward.
The War of 1812 was settled one hundred fifteen years ago, yet there are twenty widows of that war still on the pension roll.
Less than two years ago there were still living nine soldiers of the Mexican War of 1848, and about a thousand widow's of Mexican War soldiers are receiving pensions.
Seven billion dollars in pensions has been paid on. account of the Civil War, which ended fifty-three years ago; and there are still over 100,000 pensioned soldiers surviving, and over 220,000 widows.
In addition to the foregoing, the United States Government is paying pensions to soldiers, widows, children, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters on account of Indian wars, the Spanish. War, the World War and the various private wars and bankers’ wars, until the total pension roll now numbers more than half a million. The average pension is about $500 a year.
As to Old Age Pensions '
ONCE he is retired it is well-nigh impossible for an old man to obtain work of any kind; yet there are hosts of employers today that will not hire any man over forty-five years of age, so that more and more capable men. are being pressed into the ranks of those for whom some provision must be made.
Henry Ford believes in giving old men a chance. In one factory he has at work ninety-one men aged from seventy to eighty-eight years. A writer in The Dearborn Independent says that the greatest dread of these men is not death, but the inability to continue their daily work. In this connection tW same writer says:
Every active, normal individual knows that the surest proof against minor ailments, mental and physical, is Work. It matters not in what field a person’s interest lies, be it the erection of skyscrapers, or the painting of china, let him rise at his- wonted hour of the morning, proceed to his place of business, and engage in his task; the neuralgia or indigestion which threatened on his arising will then either disappear or become endurable. In the same maimer, but to a vastly greater degree, this panacea, work, operates to delay the encroachment of old age. Remove it from a young man and he becomes prematurely old; remove it from an old man. and he becomes senile.
As a first point it would seem that, before we begin talking about old age pensions and charity we had better begin talking about justice. Not all men and women are prudent, to be sure; but given some better system than, the accursed interest system, there would be less need for any kind of charity. The poor-house is a poor substitute for justice.
Insurance actuaries predict the expectancy of .100 men. at age 25 to be as follows after forty years: 1 rich, 3 well to do, 8 comfortable, 32 dead (also comfortable) and 56 wholly or partly dependent upon others for support. Many aged people deprive themselves of heat and every possible comfort rather than betray their needs to others. -
Private or employer’s pensions are inadequate and impractical. Only four percent of male workers remain with the same employer twenty years or more, so that industrial pensions do not, as a rule, reach any considerable proportion of the population that must be cared for. Moreover, the courts have ruled that a corporation is not responsible for the payment of old age pensions when its pension fund is exhausted, regardless of any promises it may have made.
Some Old Age Pension Legislation
IN THE United States, federal judges who have served ten years or more may retire at the age of seventy, and continue to draw full pay. Eight states have similar pension arrangements for their retired judges. But judges constitute but a small :prpppitioiKpf4he>-two-- millions< dependent aged thaU'biib.....tb-: be ■ OrecT fbri ........
Six states have some other old age pension arrangements. In Montana and Nevada, persons over seventy years whose income does not exceed $300 a year are entitled to $25 a month. In Pennsylvania, a constitutional amendment that ’would permit old age pension legislation was defeated by the republican political mav chine, the State Manufacturers’ Association and the State Chamber of Commerce.
The national government has an old age pension system, or rather an old age insurance system. Employes contribute 3|% of their-wages or salaries and may receive retirement pensions up to $1,000 a year. Before the adoption of this system it was not uncommon in Washington for employes of eighty to be driven to work, lifted out of their carriages and taken to their offices in wheel-chairs.
As a general thing American business men think little of any plan of doing anything for the aged, preferring the well known and heartless American plan indicated by the motto, “Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.'’ Not a pretty motto, but a. pretty good likeness of American opinion on this subject.
Some Private Old Age Pensions
MINISTERS of various denominations are paid varying sums as old age pensions, on .t'iie principle that their parishioners did not give them enough to live on during their productive years and to save anything for the future. More and more ministers are seeing that the apostolic example of hustling for one's daily bread during the week makes the best basis for good sermons. A man who does not live as other men must, does not know how to advise other men how they should live. That is perfectly obvious.
Mr. Carnegie has taken care of the retiring college professors. Indeed, the fund which he set aside for their maintenance has actually increased, so that there is now more to do with than there was in the first place.
The Paris Municipal Council has unanimously adopted a proposal to create ten pensions a year for aged artists and writers who have done their work in .Paris. This is on the ground that, as a rule, life is hard for this highly valued class of workers. That is to say, they are highly valued by their fellows for what they have contributed to human happiness, but the valuation does not take the form of dollars and cents.
Under our present civilization the highest rewards are often for those whose only service is to prey upon the weak and helpless, and to use political, financial and other great powers, especially ecclesiastical, for their own ends. “A better day is coining, a morning promised long.”
Newfoundland as Seen By an Outsider By IL L. Stewart
npijERE have appeared in The Golden Age from lime to time articles descriptive of other lands, so I thought it might be of interest to your readers to hoar some news from this somewhat remote eastern, island of the sea.
This rugged country, with a population of two hundred fifty-seven, thousand people, is unique in many ways. Being almost triangular in shape, and with its six thousand miles of coast-line, indented with hays reaching far inland, it lias often been called “The Fishermen's Paradise’’.
The irregularities of the coast are known as coves, arms, bights, tickles and harbors. The interior of the country is practically uninhabited, with the exception of a small portion of land adjacent to the railway lines. St. John’s is the chief and only city, having a population of some thirty-five thousand people. There are a few towns throughout the island each with several thousand residents. Outside of these the towns arc small and very scattered, generally extending over two or three miles along the water front.
Transportation facilities are limited. One cross-country railway line extends from St. John’s to Port-Aux-Basque, a distance of five hundred forty-seven miles. One never gets dizzy because of the high rate of speed on this line. They make it in thirty hours, which is an average of eighteen miles per hour, including stops.
Five other branch lines are operated and connect with the main line. The branch lines do not attain such a dangerous rate of speed. All the railway lines are of the narrow-guage type and a person feels cramped at times, especially when he thinks of some of the great fliers of Canada and the United States.
The railway service is augmented by five coastal steamers which ply weekly or bi-weekly supplying the needs of the outports. There is every accommodation on these boats. They are well adapted to the service in which they are engaged.
The only street ear service on the island of Newfoundland is in St. John’s, and for a nickel these cars give one a ride with transfer privileges. However, there is another means of travel, which is of outstanding interest to the stranger here; that is, the dog teams. From two to twelve dogs are used in a team, according to the load. The dog teams have the right of way over all other traffic in the street, being similar in this respect to our fire brigades in America. These teams travel along at a high speed, the 'drivers shouting “Ganyway”, which means that pedestrians must give them the road or take the consequences, as the dogs see nothing but a square meal when their journey is ended.
Contrary to the general belief, the Newfoundland dogs are quiet and good-natured. In this respect they are very different from the dogs referred to by the Prophet Isaiah, of which canine stock we have a plentiful supply on hand and these are inclined to be vicious at times, especially if inroads are being made on the pastures which they guard.
While speaking of transportation we have on several occasions seen goats hauling loads of wood or water. It might not be amiss to mention that those goats are of the barnyard variety, and hence are of an amiable and obliging disposition.
■ There are very few auto roads in the country, St. John’s and district being practically the only part of the island where autos can be used to advantage. There are fewer than two thousand cars licensed. The appearance of the motor boat has materially lessened the burden of the fishermen. Formerly they, as it were, “paddled their own canoe.”
The scenery in places is magnificent. Little lakes nestled in the hills and mountains present a qu|et and restful scene. The hills are invariably covered with evergreens. The country abounds with lakes and rivers, many of which could be harnessed to give unlimited power.
The climate is rather changeable and very unpleasant. The spring and fall seasons are long and drawn out, while the winter and summer are short. There is usually a great fall of snow in the winter, sometimes reaching a depth of ten feet. The temperature rarely drops lower than fifteen below’ zero, and there is much damp, foggy weather for days at a time, also heavy rainfalls.
The chief industry of the country is cod fishing. The waters abound with cod. Herring, salmon and lobsttws are also obtained. The chief markets for their fish are Spain and England. The fishermen endure much hardship in the prosecution of their vocation. There are two whaling stations on the island and these provide interesting work for a number of the men.
The seal fishing is carried on with much enthusiasm during the open season, commencing March 13 and extending on into April. Usually six or seven large ships leave St. John’s for the ice where the seals are found. They return in about a month’s time loaded down with seal skins and fat. The departure of the sealing fleet from St. John’s is always hailed as a “red letter day”. Each ship usually obtains from ten to t-wenty thousand hides.
There are two pulp and paper mills operating day and night at the towns of Grand Falls and Corner Brook. These two mills give employment to some eight, thousand men. The paper for the printing of the London Times is supplied by these mills. As to other resources there are minerals of great quality and quantity but they have not yet been developed to any great extent.
Our Canadian and American friends could well benefit by the thrift of the people here. Each family has its own sheep, does its own spinning and knitting, and makes practically all its own clothing and shoes. The women are especially noted for the making of beautiful mats, which find ready sale among the tourists. The women are sticklers for headship and always recognize the “skipper” as the head of the house.
The people in general are very honest and. trustworthy; hence the policemen find very little to do in the way of preserving order. The country is liberally supplied with wild fruit, chief of which are blueberry, marshberry, partridgeberry and bakeapple. The larger fruits, oranges, apples, bananas, etc., have to be imported, but the prices are so exorbitant as to put these fruits quite out of reach of the common people.
The country is rough and rugged and has very little agricultural land; hence very few cattle are kept: the cows are chiefly of the tin can type. This causes a lack of the nourishing foods of butter and milk and, together -with the small quantity of fruits obtainable, results in a great deal of tuberculosis. The continual exposure of the folks to wet and cold in their open boats hastens them on to this dread disease. The death rate is high, as figures show.
■ One creditable feature in comieCtion therewith is the system whereby the sick are cared for. .A. doctor is stationed in a certain district and each family pays a stipulated sum (usually eight dollars per year) and is then entitled to free service, paying only for their drugs or medicine. One failing, however, we might mention with propriety, is the neglect of proper ventilation and sanitation about the homes.
Following upon this subject of health and hygiene I might mention the fact that it does not cost as much here to die and be disposed of as it does in America. Very few outport residents require the services of an undertaker. Some of the neighbors usually make a casket for the deceased and have it neatly finished with the necessary material. The total cost of burial rarely exceeds twenty dollars, and often a very decent funeral is held at an expense of ten dollars. Inasmuch as “the dead know not anything”, no doubt they sleep just as well in a ten-dollar casket as in one which costs several hundred dollars.
Education is provided by the leading religious organizations, each church controlling its own school instead of such schools being operated by the government. As a result the masses are kept in ignorance, which by no means results to the welfare of the country. Tn many districts the schools are closed during the winter months.
As newspapers are scarce, only two dailies being printed in St. John's and about five other locals elsewhere, each post office provides a public news service which gives the outstanding news each day as received by wire from St. John's. This is recorded in a book which is open to the public in general. 'Telegrams of ton words can be sent anywhere in Newfoundland for twenty-five cents.
Radio is yet in its infancy, with only one station now in operation, but others are .in sight. There are very few receiving sets outside of St. John’s, and not many there.
Newfoundland is the smallest self-governing dominion of the British Empire. The affairs of the island are managed by a parliament of thirty-six members. If governed at the same ratio, Canada would have thirteen hundred members and the United States fifteen thousand.
Harbour Grace, a town of some six thousand people, has come into prominence recently, it being the stopping-off place for trans-.Atlan.ti® flights.
The people here are inclined to be serious and spiritually-minded, which condition no doubt is induced by their hazartlous and dangerous calling. (We have just heard today that more Newfoundlanders are lying in the sea than in the land cemeteries.) This .religious inclination has made them an easy prey to the various church systems.
The people are beginning to recognize the oppression under which they are laboring and in many cases welcome the message of deliverance and freedom, fllhis makes it difficult for the various systems to carry on, and the churches are resorting to all sorts of methods to raise money. The latest that has come to our attention is that the ladies make aprons to be sold at the church fair. In the pocket is found this verse:
“Measure the waist line inch by inch
And make sure the tape line does not pinch.*
You are supposed to give one cent .for each inch of the waist line. How embarrassing to the stout ladies! Then, again, another method calls for one cent for each year of your life. How this shocks the modesty of our “old maids"! One of the leading churches charges five cents a glass for the wine used at the communion table. Teas, bazaars, socials and other money-raising schemes are the order of the day. Of course this equally applies to all other countries.
Hell fire is still smouldering here in places, but in the past year some thousands of fire-extinguishers {What Say the Scriptures About JI ell?) have been effectually used and have had a decidedly dampening effect on that teaching. The various churches control the cemeteries, as well as the schools, another wily method of keeping the people in subjection.
The .Newfoundlanders in general appreciate the message of the kingdom which is being put forth by the International Bible Students. This work is not accomplished without strong opposition from the religious leaders; nevertheless the message goes forth. In the past year over ten thousand printed sermons about the kingdom have been placed in the homes of the people. Also lectures have been given in most of the towns. At these meetings in almost every instance we had capacity houses.
. Iii concluding let me say that our hearts rejoice in the prospect of that grand and glorious kingdom soon to be established — a kingdom ’ which shall he a boon not only to Newfoundland but to the whole world. The people of this country (with very few exceptions) have shown us much kindness and hospitality and will, without doubt, receive a rich recompense from Him who says, ‘'Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward.’
“Some New Thing” (Acts 17;21)
Russia Persecuting Zionists
RUSSIA continues persecuting Zionists. Of one hundred recently arrested in the
Ukraine only six were allowed to emigrate Palestine. The rest were exiled to Siberia.
Married One Hundred Years
to
A LONDON dispatch reports the death at Lisko, Poland, of a Jew named Leib Field, 125 years old. Mr. Field had been happily married for over a century. His wife, now 119 years old, still survives, as do six children, the youngest of whom is now eighty years old.
Effect of Rest Periods
AN ENGLISH company with an average output per worker of sixteen pieces of tinplate per hour installed rest periods of two minutes after’ • each ten-minute period of labor, with, the result that the average output per worker was increased to twenty-five pieces per hour.
Department of Public Welfare
THE Department of Public 'Welfare of New
York city sets aside $65,000 as appropriations for Protestant charitable institutions, $1,305,000 for Jewish institutions and $4,112,000 for Roman Catholic institutions. The Roman Catholics are estimated to have 25% of the population of the city and receive just 75% of the allowances for charity. The disposition of these funds is not open to inspection or examination.
Irreverence in Peru . '
A PROTESTANT missionary working in
Lima, Peru, reports shocking irreverence for all things religious. A saloon in the city is called the Jesus of Nazareth saloon, and a brand of cigarettes is advertised by pictures of Christ himself smoking a cigarette. Peru has been a supposedly Christian country for four hundred years.
England’s Hornet Plane
TpNG-LAND has a new hornet type of airplane, AH huilt to carry one slender man, and to rise live miles in ten minutes. If England is attacked the drivers of these planes will seek their enemies, and, if no other means succeeds, will be expected to drive their machines full tilt into their opponents, the aviators leaping in their parachutes immediately before the impact of the two machines. Nice job for somebody. Applicants please apply at once.
French Hatters Disturbed
TpRENCH hatters are reported as disturbed because the masculine habit of going without hats, started in America about ten years ago, has reached Paris. The hatters argue that the men must necessarily wear hats, so that they can tip them to the ladies, but it will take bettor arguments than that to hold them in place. When the present generation, of bald heads has passed out there will probably be no more, for men will cease wearing the things that have caused the baldness. Hats wall be a thing of the past.
Egyptian Situation May Start Holy War
TpGYPT lias ref used to sign any treaty with AJ Britain which does not grant her absolute independence, and she rejects England”s right to control Egyptian police or maintain British troops in Egypt. On the other hand, Britain has firmly stated her intention to keep her troops there, on account of the Suez canal, and to take a hand in the control of the police. Observers think it possible that a holy war may start from this impasse. Students confuse the Americans, with the British and have attacked two American universities. When Britain promised to evacuate Egypt she never intended to carry out her promise.
Honesty of Mexicans
IN TESTIMONY before the House Committee
on Immigration, A. C. Hardison, prominent fruit grower of California, made the statement that in the building and loan association of ■ which he is a director it has been the experience that Mexican borrowers are more considerate and attentive to the repayment of their loans than are the Americans. _
Canadian Trains Radio Equipped
ALTHOUGH a few trains in the United
States are radio equipped, and have been so for some years, yet Canada leads in this, and on the government-owned roads of the Dominion there are now seventy-six cars provided with receiving apparatus and operators to provide entertainment for the passengers enroute. The service is uniformly good.
Better Way to Jack up a Car
A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD boy in Montclair has invented a better way to jack up a car. The jack can be put anywhere under a rod nineteen inches long, which is quickly slipped into position in a clip placed over the spring. It is reported that several automobile concerns will make use of the new device, wdiich is astonishing in its simplicity.
Private Lands in National Parks
HPHE public in general is only now learning that in several of the national parks there are private lands, the owners of which may do with them as they please. Thus in the heart of Yosemite National Park there are 11,000 acres of such lands, which, unless something is done to prevent it, will be robbed of their giant trees and made an eyesore to visitors.
Political Parties in Poland
AN ODD situation exists in Poland, where, at ■ the recent election, thirty-four parties were in the field for the 454 seats in the national parliament. It should not be thought, however, that these are all the parties there are in Poland, because, at a recent municipal election in Warsaw, there were sixty-eight tickets in the field. "
Kemal’s Picture on Turkish Money
THE Mohammedan religion forbids the mak
ing of portraits but now the Turkish people are compelled to carry about with them a currency which is decorated with the picture of Kemal Pasha. Today every school, club and public office in Turkey, and almost every home, has its picture of Kemal, all glorious in his silk hat.
Get Your Parachute Ready
rPHREE young German scientists have swung •*- a cable between twTo mountain tops in Switzerland and announce that some time this summer, when a raging thunderstorm is under way, they expect to draw five or six million volts of lightning out of the sky at one time and then see what happens. They expect that the power will split the atom and might possibly release " a force which, if it got beyond their control, would blow the earth to smithereens. So get
your parachute ready. You may need it. this, it is said.
Revolt of Husbands in Tibet
TN TIBET every woman is supposed to have -®- four husbands, one of whom is a priest, and when a husband does not suit he is kicked out into the cold and has no where to go. Five hundred of these male victims of woman’s tyranny have now7 joined in a declaration that one husband ought to be enough for any woman and that the men should be given more liberty. -
Chicago’s Day of Prayer
CHICAGO has had a day of. prayer to end graft. The prayers have been printed in the papers, and if God reads the papers- they may have reached Him; but hardly otherwise, we think. The suggestion is made that if these prayers produce results in Chicago they might be used beneficially in Washington to clean up this Teapot Dome Business; but nobody expects any such happy effect.
Whales in New York Harbor
NEW YORK harbor had a cyclone and- a waterspout not so long ago; and now a -baby whale, weighing only four thousand pounds and only eighteen feet in length, has been captured in its waters. The baby, which put up a stiff fight, and died in the battle, is supposed to have become separated from its mother and to have lost its way. Baby whales frequently do
QOLDEN AGE
Bkcoklyk, Sf.
Seven Hundred Chinese Restaurants
TT FS claimed that there are now in operation A in New York and Brooklyn seven hundred Chinese restaurants, catering daily to 250,000 diners. The Chinese show a smirked ability at serving good food at reasonable prices and are making a huge success in many important loca-tiohsiwhere<.Ameriean-"Owners;'failed' ■ to:'" make
'■.'good/.'..''..
Moderate Temperature Changes Benefit
./CAREFUL studies of statistics disclose, that moderate changes in .temperature are markedly beneficial to the health. There are fewer deaths when the temperature changes moderately from day to. day.than when it. remains fairly constant for a period of ten days. Drops in the temperature always produce a drop in the death rate, unless they are unduly prolonged.
Power Trust Goes to England
THE power trust, believing that it now has the United States pretty: well sewed up, is planning new worlds to conquer and is now busily engaged in buying up British and South American electrical companies. The General Electric Company is reported to have secured control of the two greatest British electrical companies, Viekers and Thomson-Houston.
Reduced Telephone Rates to Europe ■
THE telephone rates between New York and Paris have been reduced to $60 for a three-minute conversation, $15 less than the New York to London rate. Telephone conversation from shore to ship, and from ship to ship, is now possible but believed to be unprofitable at the present time. The New York Fire Department now keeps in touch wkh its fire boats by radio.
Ato Bread Line in Russia
Theodore Dbeiseb, back from a visit to Bus-sia, and no more an admirer of the Soviet system than we are, nevertheless points to the significant fact that while, in prosperous United States, the bread lines were never longer, yet in Russia there is no bread line at all; and that is something. When the same newspaper reports great prosperity in the stock markets and great numbers of honest men in the bread lines something is surely 'rotten in Denmark’. jT^HILDS restaurants, 108 of them, in which fifty million meals were eaten during tfe nasi year, have been put on a vegetable basis.: The only meats.'remaining in these restaurants .\ar0.?chiefcen. .and corned beef,., and. these will probably he taken off the menu .shortly. The result. .of putting this vs st .chain., of popular restaurants on a vegetable basis.:..has been.to increase the trade 19% in one year.
Unsafe to Tell the Truth
T> EFERRING to the assassination of editors and linotype operators in Georgia and elsewhere the editor :of the Waycross Georgian has stirred his state, with the remark that "a man can no more publish the truth as he sees it today and live than a man could speak the truth and live in the. time of Christ”. Rather a sad confession to have to make in 1928. Do you not think so ?
Thrilling Experience on an Ice Floe
TWO Canadian airmen, with an Eskimo^ servant,: were -blown sixty miles to sea and landed on an ice-floe. In eight days they rafted from floe to floe, reached the shore and traveled fifty miles over rough mountainous country, finally regaining their headquarters. The Eskimo showed the greatest heroism and with his masters had one of the most miraculous escapes from death ever recorded in history.
Pennsylvania’s Reign of Terror
THE Senatorial investigating committee was shocked to discover that the 500 to 600 coal and iron police employed by the corporations in western Pennsylvania each weigh 200 to 250 pounds, are all heavily armed and carry clubs, and never have the least hesitation to use them mercilessly and without any regard to law. The report says: “Everywhere your committee visited they found victims of the coal and iron police who had been beaten up and were still carrying scars on their faces and heads from the rough treatment they had received.” The report even makes this astounding statement: “In fact, the committe found generally that no effort was being made to.invoke law and order or to maintain police protection except through the coal and iron police, and they were found to be the outstanding ones who showed little regard for law and order or for the improvement of morals.”
Changes in Dietary Habits ' \ \ i
-i'-WMiSMCANS1 hii- hiding"'far - dll^n/they
■“■ used to. Meat consumption betweeh'1967 and 1926 fell off more than 30% per capita; wheat flour consumptions between 1899 and 1923 fell off more than 20%, and in the same time corn meal fell off more than 75%. "Ham and eggs" now means a small piece of ham and only one egg unless two are ordered. These dietary changes are laid to the great increase in machinery, forcing more and more people into lighter work where they can.not handle, iind do not no»‘d, much food.
fHE:?Staaforial-: investigating: committee reports that every member was shocked that the president, of the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company;:who had stateddhat he had been very proteinent in social work in Pittsburgh, made po.::.a.p:olo:gy forthe: dirty; filthy, vermin-infested ..Conditions.: which;the committee .found .in the ..bunkhouses occupied? by the miners working in his mines.. Social work in Pittsburgh!.. It is to laugh! Why not try it at the mines?
Fomenting Strife in Pennsylvania
WHE Senatorial investigating committee
J- ited many mines once worked by white labor which are now’ being, worked largely by colored labor. Concerning the barracks in which the coal companies house1 these colored workers the report says: ■'•'They were poorly- ventilated, filthy, unsanitary, and some of them, your committee learned, were infected with vermin and hardly fit. to house beasts, much less human beings who. are employed in the mines all day where the sun’s rays never penetrate and where at best the air they breathers never very pure.”
Items in the Unemployment Situation
IN NEW YORK city the; bread lines are longer than they have been in fourteen years, and they' are composed of all classes, young, old, weak, strong, total abstainers, drunkards, educated, uneducated, honest and dishonest, and half of them under forty years of age. In Chicago unemployment is the highest in six years; in Massachusetts only 77 % of the people are employed. Detroit distributed $1,000,000 more for relief in 1927 than in 1925. It is estimated that one out of ten.workers in the United States is unemployed.
Mussolini May Visit America
. .ID EPORT has it that Mussolini may risk •*•*’ America. If he does, and when he does, the average American will do what he always does, lose his head and make an idol of him. But a few of them will remember ■that, this is the man who- imprisoned the bravest and Lost
:. men of - Italy in the Lipari Islands in cells which are under .water at high tide, and where the prisoners are obliged to bail water out: of them for three hours through ; an upper window to ■keep < themselves from : drowning. Mussolini is great in the eyes of the world, tat very small in the eyes of a real man.
Achievements in Haiti
WHILE there are many Haitians who would much: prefer that the United States marines be withdrawn from the island, yet the beneficial effects of a strong government instead of the anarchy which formerly: prevailed there are to be witnessed on every, hand. Among these achievements are the building of : seven hundred miles of good automobile roads, the building of a network of telephone, and .telegraph. lines, and the cutting of the public debt in half. Waterworks, bridges, paving, lighthouses, sanitation, public health and protection against outside interference, all mark the presence, of intelligent, well-applied force and order.
Germany’s Film Scandal
k LL countries of the world seem determined to show how rotten their governments are. Germany is the latest. The Phoebus. Film Company has been receiving governmental assistance. At. first the Government flatly denied that there had been any irregular dealings. Then it admitted losses of one million marks; in a. little while it admitted that the losses were ten million marks; since then it. has been discovered that the discrepancies, were twenty million marks, and it is generally believed that they are in the neighborhood of thirty million marks. Christ’s kingdom is the only solution for all these evils. The idea that these vicious governments are parts of that kingdom is the most ghastly joke beneath the sun. They are part and parcel of.. Satan’s empire, just as Satan claimed them to be in the time of our Lord, and just as Christ by His silence and His refusal to obey the devil tacitly admitted to be the case.
Tung Oil in Florida
TUNG oil, the foundation of all high-grade waterproof paints and varnishes, will soon be produced in Florida in great quantities. Over 600,000 trees have been planted. The nuts ' which contain the oil are not attacked by insects, and the tree has no known enemies. One tree will produce ten pounds of oil, or about $2.00 worth. The trees are grown sixty to the acre. It is believed that here is a field of industry that will be profitable for many years to come. The Florida climate is better suited to the production of the tung trees than that of any other district in the United States.
ne Corridor Across Arabia
AS A political and economic move the British Government has made all arrangements for
-TA- Government has made all arrangements for slightest tendency toward cure.” There you a corridor across Arabia, through the heart of . have it! There is science! Torturing twenty
what is called the Syrian Desert. In as nearly a straight line as possible, it is proposed to build a railway and a pipe line direct from Bagdad to Haifa, '
The building of this railway and pipe line, it is predicted, will make a success out of the Hedjaz Railway to Mecca, which thus far has proven an expensive luxury. It will give the British a wall across Arabia, which is something they are well pleased to have, and it will -make an outlet for Mosul oil without asking any favors or paying any fees to France or Turkey. If the railway and pipe line are built it will be a triumph of British oil interests over the Standard Oil crowd, but Standard usually comes out ahead. .
Pennsylvania Coal and Iron Police
THE United States Senate investigating com
mittee found in western Pennsylvania a form of government not recognized in the Constitution of the United States nor in that of the State of Pennsylvania.. In effect it is a government by corporation. The coal companies that wish to establish such a form of government present a list of names to the governor of the state. The coal and iron police thus authorized are paid $150 to $200 a month and expenses and know no law except to do what the company orders them to do. The report shows that they do not hesitate to hinder regular officers of the law from discharging the duties of their positions, but even prevent them from investigating murder. These coal and iron police are paid entirely by the coal companies. Their brutality shocked every member of the investigating committee.
German Medical Association Tests
Dr. Vollmer, one of the most prominent members of the German Medical Association, has horrified the world by the following paragraph, taken from one of his reports to the association : “We made our tests with material consisting of one hundred rats and twenty children. The children were kept under unfavorable diet and light conditions. Tests proved that if children suffering from rickets were placed in closed, unsuitable places the phachitic process (inflammation of the crystalline lens) will continue even in summer without showing the poor children on poor food and in closed, unsuitable places all summer to see whether they could possibly recover their health under such infamous treatment. It is perfectly apparent that anybody but a helpless idiot would know better. Food,- air and light are the best doctors in the world, and these helpless children were deprived of all three. Dr. Vollmer is the chief physician of the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria House.
What They Got for Singing
two boys in the family, eighteen and twenty-one years old, sing in the choir of the village church. The father and mother are not members of the church, but go occasionally to hear the boys sing, and incidentally they pay something for the privilege.
Their occasional presence is noticed.- They are entered as due to pay so much a month. Then they get a notice that this amount must be boosted to $13 a year each, meaning thereby that it would cost the family $52 a year for the privilege of letting the boys sing in the choir.
Then they made a mistake. They sent a notice to the lady of the house that she was in arrears $5, and that was too much. In fact it was $5 too much. The lady was offended, displeased, disgusted and mad. She threw the notice into the stove, and she and her husband now get their religion free, by radio. The boys are still singing in the choir. They like to sing, and it costs them only $26 a year? so why worry? .
Men and Monkeys By H. D. McIntyre and H. Anthony [Reprinted from The GMen Age, Number 95, by request]
A TRIBE of monkeys met one day To settle some disputes
That they had had among themselves Concerning men and brutes.
And as I chanced to pass that way,
I felt an inclination
To hear what they might have to say; And had an invitation
“I’ve seen men swear and drink and fight And tear their brother's eyes;
I’ve heard them tell as solemn truth
The most blasphemous lies.
“I’ve heard them say a thousand things Too foolish to bo- told;
But yet they claim to be as wise As Solomon of old.
To take a seat among the rest, And make myself at home
Among my own relations—apes That in the forest roam.
Said I to one: “There’s some mistake;
Explain it, if you can.
Do you me for a monkey take,
Or call yourself a man!”
Said he: "My friend, there’s no mistake, So far as we’re concerned.
This question rose among you men, And men that you called learned.
"And this is why we’ve met today
To air this weighty matter;
So hear what we will have to say, And listen to our chatter.”
It seems these monkeys all have heard Of Darwin’s famous plan,
That from their ancient sires had sprung The present race of man.
They sent a delegation out
To learn more of this race;
They found a slight resemblance, But only in the face.
One monkey rose and told the rest What he had learned of man;
'And if my .friends all think it best, I’ll tell it o’er again.
Said he: “I’ve traveled far and wide;
I’ve seen wise men and fools;
I’ve seen them in the churches pray;
I’ve seen them in the schools.
"A king, though he be born a fool
Or stupid as an ass.
Will find his most obedient tool Among the working class.
“The working man will pass resolves
To put oppression down,
Yet crawl and cringe before a king Because he wears a crown.
“They work and sweat from morn ’til night, Until they fill their graves,
To feed a pack of titled thrones Who use them as their slaves.”
Another monkey took the lloor. And thus addressed the crowd:
"If Darwin’s story be correct, You need not feel so proud
"To learn that men were monkeys once,
And act like willing asses.
To carry burdens all their lives, As do the working classes.
"Disgusted with the rule of kings,
And with their cringing tool,
I came to free America, Where boasted freemen rule;
"Where Yankee Doodles fought and bled,
To free themselves from kings,
But there I found that weakling sons Were ruled by thieves and rings.
"When kings and knaves get up a war To settle their disputes,
The working men will rush pelhnellj,-And play the human brutes.
' “The knaves will then divide the gold, The fools divide the lead;
'And then they shoot each other down, ’Til half the fools are dead.
“The other half will then go home;
And work like willing slaves,
And help to pay the war debt off, And then fill pauper graves.
“When working men were in the field.
And fighting brave and bold,
The Wall-Street thieves, like fiends of hell, Were reveling in gold.
“Men boast of their religion. Men boast of their free schools;
But if wo monkeys acted so, They’d say that we were fools.
“And I would say the same myself, • In fact, I’d hide my face;
If rvc should ever act like man, I’d cease to own my race.
“I feel ashamed to tell you how The common people act,
I scarcely would believe myself, Until I proved the fact.
“They spin and weave and make fine things For lazy drones to wear.
They plow and sow and reap and mow, And get Hie smallest share.
“And when they fill the land with wealth, With scarcely room for more,
The drones will take and pile it up, And keep.it all in store.
“The workmen stand around and gasp, And raise the silly cry,
"'Because we have produced so much, We have to starve and died
“But those who never toil and spin Have plenty, and to spare.
They seem to claim a lawful right To other people’s share.
“"Where'er I went, the working men Ne’er stood compact together,
But, ruled by knaves and party droves, Made faces at each other.
“When Providence is kind to apes
And gives abundant fruits,
AVe don't go ’round and cry ‘Hard Times’, As do the human brutes.
“We go to work as monkeys should,
And gather in our store,
And each one gets just what he’s earned, And does not ask for more.
“But man has quite reversed our plan:' They plunder one another;
Each one is stealing all he can, And brother robbing brother.
“And then they go to church and pray
For God to give them grace;
If not, our Lord can give us gold, We’ll take it in its place.’ ”
& # # $
I found that I was out of place In such a crowd as that.
But, knowing that they told the truth, Felt quite a little flat.
And now, my friends, the story ends. This moral fits Hie ease:
Let working men unite with Christ And free the human race.
Cooperation leads the way,
The only way to Freedom,
The way to rid the world of thrones—-The world no longer needs them.
Shake off the chain that binds you down, And stand erect like men;
And if you stumble by the way, You'll soon get up again.
And if we all cooperate
.For labor’s own salvation,
The joyful sound will then resound, “The free and happy nation!”
And what is best may stand the test
Of God’s own operations—
To bring to pass the Golden Age
Through Christ, the King of Nations!
Bible Questions and Answers
UESTION: The priests and ministers preach of a lake of fire. If it be so, how can the Bible say that death will be cast into it! Please explain.
Answer: “The lake of fire” in the Bible is a symbol of destruction; and it is a fit picture of the second death, from which there will be no recovery. The Bible specifically states, in Revelation 21:4, that a time is coming when there will be no more death. The Bible word “hell” means the condition of the dead, the condition of oblivion. What then does Revelation 20:14 mean ? It states, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” It means that a time is coming when death and the grave will be blotted out. To be “cast into the lake of fire” means to be destroyed. And in accordance with this thought the Revelator states that this is the second death.
Relative to the priests and clergymen who teach eternal torment we can say this: They don’t know’ what they are talking about.
Question: What does the Bible mean by the first resurrection I Is there another resurrection?
Answer: Yes; there is another resurrection. The Bible clearly holds that the first ones to be awakened from the tomb by Christ Jesus at His second advent are His faithful followers who have died. After the total number of Christ’s faithful followers, 144,000, who will constitute the true church, have been resurrected, then the general awakening of the world of mankind will take place. It must be remembered that Christ Jesus and His faithful followers will constitute the reigning element of the kingdom; they will have a spiritual resurrection. The world of mankind in general will come forth in a fleshly awakening. This wall include all of the heathen who have not as yet been on trial. In Acts 24:15 we read, “'There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” The heathen individual coming forth from the tomb will be' enlightened with the truth of the Lord. If he is obedient, he will be granted everlasting life on earth. The words found in Ezekiel 18: 21 will apply in the kingdom. We read, “But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” '
Question: Was the bread which Jesus broke and the wine which He told His disciples to drink, a part of His body or blood, or did they represent His body and blood?
Answer: The correct answer may be arrived at by the answer to this question: Was the body of Jesus, which was a part of Jesus, divided betwmen the plate and Himself? Was the blood of Jesus on that occasion divided between His own vessels and the cup? You will answer, ‘No, of course not.’ You are right, and any other conclusion would be unreasonable and ridiculous. The proper answer to the question, therefore, is that the bread and wine represented the body and blood of Jesus in symbol. Such expressions were frequently made by the Master. In Matthew 5:13 Jesus said concerning His disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth.” This did not mean that His disciples were literal salt. The Bible also refers to the followers of Jesus who are faithful, as wheat. This does not mean that His disciples are literal wheat that grow’s in the field. Every rational mind will agree that men can not be literal salt and literal wheat; neither can the body of Jesus be literal bread in the platter or literal wine in the cup. The bread and wine were fit representations of His body and blood, respectively.
Chwrcli and State Not Separated
HOW effectively, at Washington, D. C., . church and state are united, not separated, is interestingly told in the October Fo rum by Washington Pezet. Mr., Pezet puts the Meth- i odists first, and quotes President Grant as hav-■ ing said: “In the United States there are three political parties, the Republican, the Democrat-
ie, and the Methodist Episcopal Church.”
Direcfly across the street from the Capitol the Methodists have a building which cost them $750,000, in which they undertake to look after ' the “public morals” of the people of the United : States. The Big Preachers are represented on its board by one bishop and five D. D.’s. Big
Chinese Christians Like Western Ones
Current—■
Business is represented by four senators and four congressmen. Besides these, there are one major-general of the United States Army, a judge, and several lawyers. The board serves as a private government, a go-between or mediator between the people and the government.
Its duties consist in communicating regularly with 20,000 Methodist ministers, and filling them with propaganda to suit its ends. These ministers, in turn, keep the board supplied with “’public opinion”, which has been locally manufactured to back up this propaganda. Armed with its “public opinion”, thus deviously secured, the board demands legislation to suit. A nicer combination of church and state could hardly be devised.
Northeast of the Capitol, in the Bliss Building, is the Washington home of the Anti-Saloon League, concerning which Judge Lamar wrote: “'Wayne B. Wheeler, General Counsel of the Anti-Saloon League, exercises today a greater power over the destinies of this nation than any Catholic cardinal assigned to a royal European court.”
Besides these, two quasi-religious organizations, the Lord’s Day Alliance and the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, are also sticking their probosces deeply into public affairs, busily engaged in minding businesses which nobody asked them to mind, and zealously occupied in tearing down the structure of religious liberty and separation of church and state upon which the government of this country was founded.
IT IS a familiar sight in the West to see Christians turn against the simple precepts of Christ, and either resort to arms or break forth in paeans of praise of those who do. And now the Chinese Christians are following the example of their Western brothers.
Many Chinese have turned from ancestor worship and other pagan religions in response to the urgings of the missionaries that Christ was a rebel of His own times, that He stood for progress, and that it is because He was progressive that the Western nations have become foremost.
Now the time has come when the whole of China is in revolt. The Chinese say, so far as they have knowledge of Christ, that if He lived in China He would be on the side of the Chinese in their aspirations for national liberty and freedom from the yoke of the Westerners.
Acting upon this simple reasoning the Chinese Christian Association of Wuchang, Hankow and Hanyang has met and adopted resolutions unqualifiedly siding w i t h Chinese nationalism, and have urged such missionaries as love their own lands more than they love Christ to leave the country.
Students of the situation, who are on the ground, say that the native Christians are in an even more difficult situation than the missionaries, because the latter can leave for home, while the native convert, unless he turns nationalist, is almost sure to be driven from what borne he may have.
Gradually the duplicity of “organized Christianity” is coming to bight. It is easy to see that commercial or political expediency is really its first principle of action.
As to Service Charges
a fine scheme.
Now conies the bank and
A LITTLE while ago the gas company conceived the brilliant idea of making a monthly service charge of 75c to every customer, with a graduated series of charges thereafter, depending upon the amount of gas used. Thus the little user, the poor man, pays for his own gas and a part of the gas used by the rich man, - demands that the poor man maintain a balance of $200, else it will be compelled to make a service charge of $1 a month. The reasons are the same: namely, that the small account does not pay, and therefore it must be made to pay.
It was not long afterward (we speak prophetically) before the poor man had to pay a service charge of $1 monthly in order to get any milk, and, of course, had to pay higher prices for the milk itself, because of the superior and therefore unprofitable sendee.
Then it got fairly well started, and before long he was paying service charges for his morning newspaper, service charges to his grocer, service charges to his butcher and service charges to the man that sold him
overalls. (Overalls were all s”— he could afford to buy, by
this time.)
There were service charges to the water company, service charges to the electric light company, service charges to the ice company, service charges to the coal company and to the street car company. All were ’willing to serve, and lauded their excellent service, but they insisted on a flat service charge of $1 a month in addition to the cost of what was purchased or they would not sell a thing.
The railroad demanded another service Q charge, so did the express company and the " post office. The laundry took a whack at him, and so did the druggist, and he could not get a pint of gasoline ivitbout the usual monthly service charge of $1 straing him in the face. In the midst of the excitement the landlord soaked him for another $1.
The poor man became discouraged and went to the priest to confess, but the holy father had added on another $1. because always ready to serve. Then word was passed down the line that hereafter the bishop would not “bish” without a service charge, nor the archbishop “arch”, nor the cardinal “card”, nor the pope “'Peter”, whereupon the poor man took sick.
The doctor came and looked at him and said, ‘Nothing doing unless you put up the usual preliminary service charge of $1, in addition to the regular fees.’ But by this time the poor man had run out of dollars, so he died of fright as to what would become of him. The undertaker came and looked at him and told the bereaved family that he could not start work without their putting up $1 as service charge.
They took the man to the cemetery, but they refused to let him in without a service charge. After some delay he wound up in front of the pearly gates, but “St. Peter’ confronted him with a yellow sign which at first he thought was a quarantine advertisement but soon found was the old familiar service charge.
…