Golden Age, May 15, 1929

Download: PDF — Golden Age, May 15, 1929

Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND. COURAGE

limmnnmmsmmEEEmmiih. imimimmm in this issue

CIVILIZATION IN NIGERIA

. PUBLIC NEEDS REFORMING

MORE ABOUT BUGS

SAD COMPLIMENT TO LAW

■ CHURCHES UNPOPULAR

. SUPREME POWER second of a series of radio lec-■ tures on good government, by

Judge Rutherford

EVERY OTHER WEDNESDAY 5c a copy - $1.00 a year - Canada & Foreign $1.50

Volume X - No. 252 . a May 15, 192 9

Contents

Educational

and Mining

Invention

and

Home

Health

and

Five Cents a Copy—$1.00 A Year

Entered as second-class matter at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March

British .... Canadian . . . Australasian . South African

Science

Bugs, and More About Bugs .

O Hail Happy Bay ..... A Sad Compliment to Law . . Walnut Leaf Tea fob Anemia . Another Domestic Baking Powder

Manufactures

Valley Camp Coal Company . . .

Travel and Miscellany Civilization in Northern and Southern Nigeria Faces .................

Foreign Offices

s ■. 34 Craven Terrace, London, W. 2, England . 40 Irwin Avenue, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada , . . 495 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia .... 6 Lelie Street, Cape Town, South Africa

Published every other Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., U. WOODWORTH, KNORR & MARTIN

Copartners and Proprietors Address: 111 Adams Street, Brooklyn, S', i'

CLAYTON J. WOODWORTH.. Editor ROBERT J. MARTIN.. Buslnest

NATHAN II. KNORR.. Secretary and Treasurer

Social and America’s Frantic Rush for Art Harkness Gift Poorly Appreciated Death of Walter Liddle . . . ‘ No Testimonials Published . . Edward Bellamy and the Radio West Australia Needs the Kingdom

Political—Domestic and Foreign The Public Needs Reforming .........

Heligion and Philosophy

Jonah and the Great Fish ........

Why Abe the Churches Unpopular? .... Supreme Power,

Bible Questions and Answers .......

The Children’s Own Radio Story ......

S. A., by

V. 8. A.

Make Remittances to THE GOLDEN AGE

Notice to Subscribers: We do not, as a rule, send an acknowledgment of a renewal or a new subscription. A renewal blank (carrying notice of expiration) is sent with the journal one month before the subscription expires. Change of address, when requested, may be expected to appear on address label within one month.

i, 1879.

<zhe Golden Age

Volume X Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, May 15, 1929 Number 252

Civilization in Northern and Southern Nigeria

By Claude Brown (West Africa)

THE colony and protectorate of Nigeria is the largest of the British West African possessions, its approximate area being 346,000 square miles, or nearly three times the area of the United Kingdom.

Its population is estimated to be 18,707,921. (including the acquired territory of the German Cameroons), of which about ninety-three percent are illiterates. It is bounded on the west and north by French territory, on the northeast by Lake Chad, on the east by Cameroon, and on the south by the Gulf of Guinea.

Nigeria is divided into four great zones. The first zone is a belt of sw’amps and mangrove forest from ten to fifty miles wide which follows the greater part of the coast line. It includes the delta of the great Niger River, and its various confluent rivers and creeks.

The main physical feature of this vast region is, of course, the Niger River, from which it is named. The river Niger rises in the mountains to the northeast of Sierra Leone, and flows northward to Timbuctoo; the latter is the most important commercial city in the northern portion of the French territory, and is sustained by the vast resources of the Niger River trade with Europe.

The Niger is connected from the northwest with the river Senegal, with outlet at St. Louis, and by railroad from Dakar, forming a junction at Bafulabe and Bamaku. Almost two-thirds of the Niger River flow’s in French territory.

From Timbuctoo the Niger flows to a point 'due north of the Gold Coast, then turns at Bamba in a southeasterly direction, and enters Nigeria from the west, running in a southeasterly direction until it receives the waters of the Benue (its principal tributary) at Lokoja, a point 340 miles from the sea. From here it flows due south in one large stream to a point west of Owerri, about 190 miles from the coast, where it splits into a vast number of interlacing channels and streams, and finally empties its v-aters into the Gulf of Guinea through its numerous mouths.

The Niger Company

In these various creeks and channels a great trade is carried on by the combine knovui as the “Niger Company”, which holds the monopoly of the Niger trade by royal charter since 1886, before which it wns knovm as the “National African Company”.

The charter gave the company the rights to explore the interior of the Niger region and to trade with the natives in European goods, such as cotton goods, salt, gunpowrder, rum, and various other commodities. They in turn export from the country, ivory, palm-oil, palm-kanals, rubber, hides, shea-nut,, and various other tropical products.

The opening of the Niger trade revealed to Europeans the mineral 'wealth of the hinterland of Nigeria. Seeing that the metallic riches of the heights of the Bauchi Plateau were unknown to the natives, who use gold chiefly fox’ adornment, the traders began to try to control the chiefs with large presents of European goods, so as to keep them blind to the objective of the company until forts and stations could be built.

By 1897 the company had organized a large force to resist the encroachments of the French, and to subjugate the more or less stubborn chiefs who, for a time, refused to bow to the English traders’ request for the key of the country. This, however, the traders subsequently acquired through their greed for gold and their desire to control the mineral wealth of the vrnrld. See Morell’s Black Man’s Burden.

The Fastness of the Bauchi Plateau

The second zone is a belt of dense tropical timber forest from fifty to a hundred miles

QOLDEN AGE

wide, intersected by rivers, streams and creeks, which is very rich in oil-palm trees, and constitutes one of the chief sources of the wealth of Nigeria. In this belt there is hardly any open ground, except around the small villages in the forest and in the vegetable farms of the natives.

It is very difficult to determine where . one zone ends and where the other commences, as the change is always gradual. A line running through Abeokuta, Ebadan, Ondo, and Onitsha could roughly serve as a boundary.

The third zone is a belt of more open country which gradually becomes clearer, park-like as it were, being followed by open expanses covered with high grass. This zone is hilly, especially north of Ondo and on the Cameroon frontier.

The fourth zone is a vast plateau with occasional hills of granite and sandstone. The elevation is about two thousand feet above sea-level, except in some parts of the Bauchi and south of Yola, where there are considerable heights.

In these heights the fiercest struggles took place between the native chiefs and the forces of the Niger Company, in the latter’s effort to subjugate the native rulers and to gain control of these rich provinces, invaluable for their mineral wealth and other natural resources. The French were also harassing the people in their endeavors to subjugate these provinces, to usurp control from the native chiefs, and to drive out the British traders.

Then the Niger Company,, seeing its way to control the situation, turned over its rights to the Crown in January, 1900. Shortly afterward this vast territory became known as the protectorate of Nigeria, with Col. Lugard as its first high commissioner.

Spreading Christianity (?) in Africa

From this time forward Col. (afterwards Sir) Frederick Lugard, began to subjugate the mighty kingdoms of the northern provinces of Nigeria by a force of colonial and West African warriors; and with the aid of modern equipments of war they were able to capture some of the strongest fortresses of the kings of the north, whose crude weapons of warfare, mighty only amongst themselves, were no match for the long-range guns of civilization working havoc upon their cities at great distances.

One by one the powerful kingdoms of the northern territories were crushed at the feet of Sir Frederick Lugard, in spite of all efforts an'd confederacies with other northern tribes. British force bade them, “Be still. We are here to stay. We are ‘Zacky’ (Lion); therefore your only wise course is to bow and remain prostrate.”

Between 1900 and 1906 the most powerful kingdoms of northern Nigeria were subjugated and made subjects of the British crown, in spite of many uprisings and desperate endeavors to maintain their liberties as independent kingdoms. They were already between the vises of “civilization” and its underlying principles, selfishness, duplicity and hypocrisy, veneered with education, refinement and cultivated diplomacy, in the name of “Christianity”, which is only in form and not in fact. .

Because of this the name “Christianity” has become an abhorrence to the Mohammedans and all the non-Christian races of the northern provinces. From time to time one hears these heathen people appealing to the so-called Christians, not for favor, but for justice and equity.

The emirates of Kontagora, Yola, Bauchi, Bornu, Kano and Sokoto are the most powerful kingdoms iii Hausaland; but these have been reduced to common subjects, in order that the objectives of the conquerors may be obtained ; for only by complete subjugation of the country will the government be able to control the invaluable mineral wealth of the northern districts.

The natives were brought under such complete control of the Europeans and officers of government that up to very recently it was the practice in Northern Nigeria that when a native met a white man he must at once take off his hat and prostrate himself on the ground as he passed along, as an act of homage. But this act was discountenanced by the administration of Sir Hugh Clifford (successor to Sir Frederick Lugard). It was always resented by the intelligent natives of Hausaland.

Incivility of Europeans in Northern Nigeria

After the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern provinces of Nigeria in 1914, Europeans still enforced an injunction upon all Negroes in the northern territories to take off their hats in the presence of Europeans and officials; or in case a Negro should pass by, his business was to take off his hat until he passed out of sight.

Where this was omitted, the officer would come and lick off the hat from the individuals head with his cane, or where there was an illiterate police near by, he would be commanded to go at once and lick that man’s hat off his head. These police recognized the white man as “Zacky” and at once carried out the order as instructed.

In many cases the poor victim of such indignities was doing Iris work, without any notice that a European officer was present, but he was suddenly made to know this when he felt his hat licked off his head by some one. An attempt to retaliate brought upon him the severest discipline.

When the West Indians were engaged to work for the Nigerian Railroad, between 1913 and 1918, many of them were sent to the Northern territory to perform their duties. This custom of Europeans’ licking off the hats of Negroes was repeatedly practised on the West Indian employes of the government, while in course of performing their duty.

This incivility met with the greatest resentment from the West Indian staff; and drastic measures were threatened, should it be continued. The matter was taken up with the governor, Sir Hugh Clifford, who at once took steps in laying out measures against any European officer who would practise such indignity and disrespect to any subordinate staff of the government. Thus tyranny and despotism in Northern Nigeria began to give way for the “New Era”, the better day, when justice, equity and love shall be the moving factor of earth’s government.

The Wealth of the Bauchi Plateau

It is evident that the conquest and subjugation of Northern Nigeria was not so much out of love for the people, or an ardent desire to extirpate the slave trade and to establish justice, equity and legitimate commerce with the people.

The following statement by A. E. Burns, of the chief secretary’s office, Nigeria, is of interest in this connection. He says:

The mineral wealth of Northern Nigeria is now an acceptable fact; and the tin mining industry has become of great importance. There is evidence that the existence of tin on the Bauchi Plateau had been known to the natives long before the advent of the British, and that they had smelted it on a small scale for many years. As long ago as 1885 this was known to Europeans; but owing to the unsettled condition of the country no attempt at prospecting could be made.

I quote further’ from the same writer:

Mining was started (in the Bauchi district) by the Niger Company, in 1906; and in 1921 there were sixty-two mining companies operating in Northern Nigeria, mostly on the Bauchi Plateau. The companies occupy over 400,000 acres.

The average number of employes in 1921 was 174 Europeans and 14,795 natives; and at that time labor was scarce. The average wage paid to the native worker was 6/- (six shillings) a week, less than $1.50 a week (in American money). What, then, would it be now, when labor is plentiful?

Is this not traffic in human blood and labor? -What nourishment can six shillings a week provide for these poor victims and their families? Is this not civilized slavery? How can we escape the law of retribution for such injustices and inequalities?

Prophecy is history written in advance. The Apostle James, looking forward to the end of the age and the condition of affairs among men, says:

“Come now’, you rich, weep and lament over those miseries of yours which are approaching. Your rich stores have decayed, and your garments have been moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have become rusted; and the rust of them w’ill be for a testimony against you, and consume your bodies like fire. You have laid up treasures for the last days. Behold! the hire which you fraudulently withheld from those laborers who harvested your fields, cries out; and the loud cries of the reapers have entered the ears of the Lord of Armies.”

The market for tin in England, from 1915 to 1922, rose from £97. 0. 0. to £350. 0. 0. a ton. The hire of those laborers, who have produced this mineral from the earth, has been kept back by fraud, and these riches have been heaped up preparatory for the "day of vengeance of God Almighty’, when a just recompense will be meted out to the rich monopolies of our day.

“They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. They shall cast their silver in the streets ... : their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.”

Slave Trade in Nigeria

The history of Nigeria as a whole, prior to the advent of the British,, has not yet been written. There are fragments of accounts from the various tribes which form a connecting link to prove that there existed several powerful kingdoms in the north. Owing to Mohammedan influence these had attained a very remarkable 'degree of civilization, while in the south very few had attained an equal standard.

In the early part of the nineteenth century Lagos had become a great European slave market. This excited the minds of Wilberforce and other well-disposed English men and women, of whom few, if any, are alive today. These, as individuals, labored constantly against great odds in an endeavor to extirpate the slave trade; and finally success crowned their efforts.

In 1838 the slave trade was almost completely abolished on the west coast of Africa, in the West Indies and in South America; and subsequently in North America, through the Civil War in 1861 to 1865. Thanks to the noble souls who labored earnestly for the justice of this cause and for the emancipation of Negro slaves throughout the world!

In the close of the year 1851 action was taken by the British government against King Koso-ko of Lagos, who seems to have been encouraged in the slave traffic by the big presents he received from European traders in rum, tobacco, gunpowder and Manchester cotton goods, for which he exchanged the native sons of Africa and encouraged the same among his subchiefs.

Suppression of Slave Traffic

The following year Kosoko was deposed by the help of the British, and King Akitoye was enthroned. Akitoye saw the difficulty of suppressing the slave trade (which was still carried on by some of his subchiefs and other native rulers).

lie and other loyal chiefs signed a treaty agreeing to abolish the abominable export of slaves from Lagos to the European traders, and to encourage peaceful and legitimate trade.

They agreed also to accept missionaries into the land, the advance-guard of government. The latter came and laid 'down the foundation for exploitation, by blinding the people with religious errors, superstitions, and doctrines of demons.

It is clearly manifest today that true Christianity was never introduced into West Africa; and this is fully attested by the character, life, and manners of the people, especially of those who are supposed to be the very elite of Christianity in the various towns along the coast,

In spite of the endeavors of these heathen chiefs to abolish this heinous traffic in human lives and blood, the European traders still forced this horrible trade upon the people for many years thereafter, seducing them with huge bribes and with valuable presents of cotton, gunpowder and rum. '

Aldtoye’s son, Dosumu, who succeeded his father, was unable to prevent the traffic in slaves, and in 1861 he ceded Lagos and its dependent territories to the British government. These Were after-wards formed into what is known as the colony of Lagos. '

In 1866 the colony became a portion of the West African Settlements under a governor-in-chief resident at Sierra Leone, and in 1874 it was united with the Gold Coast colony. In 1886 Lagos and its hinterland, which was gradually acquired, was separated from the Gold Coast and became the colony and protectorate of Lagos. _ ' _ '

The putting down of one evil introduced another. The coming in of the whites became the cause of many bloody battles among the natives, having for their objective the control and subjugation of Northern Nigeria for the British government. One tribe was used to fight another, so that all together might lose all to the British.

Stubborn Resistance by the Jekries

The Oil Rivers Protectorate, lying eastward of the Lagos territories, was officially recognized after the Berlin Conference of 1885. The Oil Rivers Protectorate was governed first by consuls; in 1891 a commissioner and consulgeneral was appointed, resident at Calabar, with deputy commissioners and vice-consuls on the various rivers.

By 1893 the hinterland was annexed; and the then increased territory was renamed the “Niger Coast Protectorate”, and placed under an imperial commissioner and consul-general.

This caused great resentment on the part of the natives, and severe fighting began with the Jekries, who desperately attempted to maintain control of the territory between the south of Lagos and the Oil rivers section.

In 1894 the Jekries chief, Nana, stopped all trade on the louver parts of the Benin River. He was finally defeated and deported. From this time forward the people, inflamed over the loss of their territory and the deportation of their chief, committed many treacherous acts on peaceful traders.

In 1897 a peaceful mission to Benin was attacked, and all but two were massacred. For this they paid dearly in the consequences which followed. A powerful expedition captured the city, the king surrendered, and shortly afterwards he was deported. The Niger Coast then became the protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and was placed under a high commissioner responsible to the colonial office.

In 1902 a powerful expedition subjugated and disarmed the Aro tribe, which held paramount power over a large territory between the Niger coast and the Cross river. In 1906 Lagos and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated and designated the colony and protectorate of Southern Nigeria.

In 1914 Lagos and the protectorate of Southern Nigeria were amalgamated with the protectorate of Northern Nigeria, and the whole country became the colony and protectorate of Nigeria, under the governor and conqueror Sir Frederick Lugard, who became the first governor of Nigeria, with the personal title of governor-general. He certainly earned his title by conquest, and by an administration of force and injustice that will never be forgotten in Nigeria.

Religion and Language of Nigeria

The African population of Nigeria is divided into a large number of tribes speaking different languages and dialect and possessing different characteristics. The northern part of the country is inhabited chiefly by Negroids and Berber peoples, while the southern fastnesses of the Bauchi Plateau are inhabited by Negro races.

The most important of these are the Hausa-speaking tribes, known as the Hausas, the Yoruba, the Eboes, and the Kanuri, occupying respectively the northwest, southwest, southeast and northeast of Nigeria. The Fulani, one of the most important tribes politically, are scattered throughout the northern provinces. See map of Nigeria, which shows the approximate position of all the important tribes.

The Hansa are of the Negroid type and are mostly Mohammedans. There are several tribes which claim to be the descendants of the original Hausas; but it is impossible today to say to which of them this honor really belongs.

The Hausa language is adopted by many tribes as the mother tongue, and it has become the lingua Franca of the Western Sudan. Moreover, the Hausa language is the only language of tropical Africa that has been reduced to writing by the natives themselves and uses modified Arabic characters.

Not all the educated Hausas are competent in reading the classical Arabic of the East. Nevertheless, many of the superior intelligent Hausas understand and read Arabic in any form, through their intimate relationship with the Arabs of Asia and Northern Africa.

Mohammedanism seems to have been introduced among the Hausas at a very early date, somewhere about the eleventh or twelfth century. For many centuries they possessed a form of civilization and a well-regulated system of government, based upon the Mohammedan rituals, long before the advent of Europeans to the African shores. This has been admitted by Europeans to have exceeded their form of Christianity by far, in morals, integrity and sincerity.

The Fulani

The origin of the Fulani is very obscure, but it is believed that they first came from Upper Egypt, and gradually migrated westward to the Atlantic coast. It is well known that they entered Hausaland somewhere about the twelfth century. -

It is said that a great number of them flocked to the towns, where their superior intelligence soon placed them in prominent positions. They intermarried freely with the native Hausas, and adopted the Mohammedan religion.

But many of them remained a pastoral people, migrating with their flocks in search for pastures, keeping themselves pure, and in most cases retaining their pagan beliefs. These pastoral Fulani are altogether different from the aristocratic Fulani, who formed the ruling’ classes throughout Hausaland.

Early in the nineteenth century Othman Dan Fodio, a Fulani, raised a revolt against the rulers of the Hausa states and overthrew them. He became sultan of Sokoto, one of the central cities of the northwest of Northern Nigeria; and certain of his followers were established rulers of the other states.

A well-regulated system of laws and taxation was retained by the Fulani rulers, who governed the country for a long time with moderation and integrity; but, gradually, as they came in contact with European civilization and despotism, they began to fall away from this high standard.

Educated and Semi-Educated

Almost the entire bulk of the population of Northern Nigeria, literates and illiterates, adopted the Mohammedan religion; the remainder are chiefly pagans and fetish-worshipers. In the colony of Southern Nigeria, more than .three-quarters of the inhabitants are paganfetish-worshipers. So-called Christianity is more widespread among the educated and semieducated of the coast towns.

The educated are the professional class, who always keep aloof as a caste by themselves, separated from the more oi’ less semi-educated. This caste, as well as the semi-educated, retain and support the custom of polygamy as a tradition and national custom, irrespective of their profession of Christianity and church membership.

The semi-educated are those whose intellects are hardly beyond the ability to buy and sell. From among these are appointed those who have styled themselves ministers of religion, teachers, pastors, etc., positions in which they were placed by missionaries.

These merchants of “European religion” have blocked the way to all further intellectual progress, religious or social; dispensers of false doctrines, they have commercialized Christianity; cajoling the poor natives to pay all kinds of dues, in money of many kinds, in order to secure the reward of being sent to heaven when they die, through the church’s funeral; for without the remains’ being brought to the church at death, one is said to have died a deplorable death and consequently can not escape “hellfire”.

Thus these parasites keep the poor people working all their lives, and going destitute, in an endeavor to pay God so as to escape at death this horrible serpent with all the stinging hissing of an imaginary “Hell”.

Shame for so-called Christianity! Can the heathen be converted with such abominable lies, repugnant to reason, contrary to the Scriptures, and an abhorrence to the name and character of our Almighty Creator? It is time for this foul stain to be removed from the name and character of Jehovah in heathen lands.

The class above mentioned are the ones, chiefly, that are opposed to the truth, and to the religious advancement of the people, which in a practical sense means liberty to object to the teachings of these parasites. The time is not far distant- when this will be a fact in West Africa and the captives will be set at liberty.

Superstition Barrier Being Broken

The Yorubas occupy the hinterland of Southern Nigeria and are probably the most advanced tribe of the colony and protectorate of Southern Nigeria. These and other tribes' of the coast- line have been blessed with the witness of the “good news of the Kingdom”, and this message may work radical changes in due time. Already the searchlight of general intelligence begins to dispel the mist of error, darkness and superstition which for many years has blocked the road to all progress, economic, social and religious.

The constant hammering against these barriers by sober-minded and intellectual men of the African race is gradually clearing away the refuse; and the Devil’s organization is giving way on every side, marking time for the “New Era” and the ushering in of the better day, when Messiah’s kingdom will establish equity, justice and peace amongst men, and when wicked profiteering, racial prejudice, and religious frauds shall be for ever stamped out. Thus will be ushered in the long-promised “poor man’s chance”, which will be in fulfilment of the words of the Apostle John:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea [no more restless, discontented masses of mankind, anarchistic and otherwise, here symbolized by the turbulent waves of the sea]. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new A

Valley Camp Coal Company

IT MAKES the blood of any decent man run cold to read a story like the following, which is taken from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of March 26, 1929. It needs no comment. It speaks for itself. The Post-Gazette is one of the most reliable papers in the East.

Dead men still pay their rent to the Valley Camp Coal Company. They pay for the electric bills, doctor bills and for lamps they used in Kinloch mine to dig coal last Thursday, when disaster came.

It was pay day at the ill-fated Kinloch mine yesterday, The widows and orphans of the 46 who went down to mine coal mid came back in burlap shrouds, went to the company offices to get what was due them.

They got what was left after the payroll clerks had deducted what was owed the company. 'The rent of the company houses for the first half of March was taken out by the company. So were the electric bills.

Mrs. Hugh Degman, mother of .David Jamison Dehama, one of the victims, went for her son’s pay. He had $15 due him. And Mrs. Degman needed $20 to pay for the digging of his grave in a New Kensington cemetery. But she did not get the $15.

David Dehama owed $8.50 for house rent. He owed a 75-cent doctor’s bill. The usage on the blackened lamp that came up with his body, was worth 75 cents to the company. So Mrs. Degman went out with only $5. She had to get money elsewhere to dig the grave. She pleaded, so she stated, with Superintendent Oliver L. Taylor to help her get more money. He tried and sent her to some other official. But Mrs. Degman got only $5 from the company.

Her case was just one of many. Her husband, veteran of three serious mine disasters in Pennsylvania, went to the company store to get food to feed his ... family and the visitors who came for the funeral. It was made so difficult for him at the store, he said, that he walked out without the food and went to the Bed Cross.

Although she is not a widow, Mrs. Blanche Hancock is in a dilemma trying to feed her helpless husband and their six children without money. William Hancock had worked only three days in three months when the explosion caught him on the tipple at Kinloch and cooked the flesh about his head.

But one son, Gardner, had $8.25 due him at the company office. Mrs. Hancock went for it. She got just $2.25. The rest went back to the company for a half-month rental of their home.

America’s Frantic Rush for Art By II. B. Porter

WHAT doth it profit either the individual or the nation with incessant care to build up these colossal fortunes of ours in America; to tug, sweat, compete, to gut our natural resources ; to speed up labor; to make the cost of living high; to breed bewilderment, rage, discontent— if by so doing the only purpose achieved is more wealth, more restlessness, more expensive houses, furs, jewels for milady, and by the same token more doctor’s bills, more automobiles, more picture galleries?

What do we want? What is our goal? Simply crass, material, piled-up gold? To loot with all speed our stupenduous natural resources, and then with that loot to hotfoot it to Europe, where life, art, beauty, proceed at a slower and surer pace; to hire experts to buy up treasures, carved doors, frescoes, sculptures, from the tombs of dead kings; and fetch it all back here to install; these man-made masterpieces for which we as a nation are paying a terrible price.

For not only is this frenzied pace costing us our big natural resources of wealth, of beauty, but it is costing us also our national integrity, our peace, our content. It is burning us up alive. High and low have caught the looting infection.

[We add a few words, not by way of chilling the oratory of friend Porter, but to calm the situation somewhat. A large joke has just been perpetrated on the art collectors of the world, its ramifications extending to the ends of the earth, and running into millions of dollars.

It seems that an Italian sculptor, archaeologist, architect and chemist, a really capable man, Alceo Dossena, of Rome, has reduced the making of copies of old art objects to a science.

The effect of erosion was obtained by the sand blast, the effect of cracking of marble was obtained by the use of fire, and stains which went below the surface were obtained by means of some kind of chemical. Old wood was artistically nailed to new.

The result is that Dossena’s copies of rare art works have gone into some of the finest art collections of Europe and America. American collectors and museums alone paid over $1,000,-. 000 for their share of the fakes which came from Dossena’s studio. So the Hooting’ of Europe’s art treasures has not been quite as genuine as the first glance makes it seem.—Ed.]

Bugs, and More About Bugs By Dr. H. G. Temple-

J HAVE read with much interest in The Golden

Age, accounts of various insects, honey-bees, flies, mosquitoes, spiders, ants; and even the doodle-bug of Texas received honorable mention. Some of these creatures were recognized as friends of the human family because their life work is in ministering to man’s needs, either as the honey-bee, in providing him with food, or as the spider and the doodle-bug, in adding to his comfort by waging a destructive warfare upon another class of insects designated as pests. Each species, active in its sphere, evidently accomplishes a purpose for which it was designed.

But I wish here to mention another very important factor in the relationship of some of these little pests with the human family; and that is their ability to carry germs of disease from the sick to the well, and thereby inoculate human beings with contagious and epidemic diseases.

Dr. Joseph McFarland, in his new book entitled Fighting Foes Too Small to See, says: “To get typhus fever one must be bitten by infected Hee; to get yellow fever, by infected mosquitoes; to get African lethargy, by infected tsetse flies,” etc.

The bubonic plague, called “black death”, is usually conveyed to man by the bite of fleas. This is a disease of rodents, especially of rats, from which fleas become infected, and by their bite communicate it to man. Plague is an extremely fatal affection; and even at the present time, in places where sanitary measures can not be enforced, the disease spreads, and people die in great numbers. Thus in India, in 1901, there were 362,000 cases, with 278,000 deaths. In the first six months of the epidemic of 1907 the deaths in India reached, a total of 1,062,908. But wfliere sanitary precautions are possible, as in New York, San Francisco, and other American ports to which the infection was brought, the disease did not spread.

The danger is not from the insect, but from what it carries in it; not from a well insect, but from an ill one. The insects can no more create the micro-organisms of disease than we can. They are the unfortunate ones that have themselves become infected with germs of disease taken in the blood of animals or human beings they have bitten.

The mosquito is probably the greatest criminal pest in this respect; its chief business seems to be to inoculate human beings with the germs of malaria, dengue and yellow fevers. The cause of yellow fever is a tiny spiral microorganism, found in the blood of cases of the disease. It is found to be infective for guineapigs, and can be transmitted to them by the bite of mosquitoes that have bitten human beings suffering from the disease.

The idea that yellow fever is caused by the bite of mosquitoes has long been held, but the final proof of it came in 1900 when a commission of medical officers of the United States army, consisting of Drs. Reed, Carrol, Lazear and Agramonte, was sent to Cuba for the purpose of investigating the disease. The37‘ were successful in establishing the fact that it is transmitted from man to man through the bite of certain mosquitoes; not only did they show this, but they showed that there was no other way of communicating the disease. Through their efforts it became established that only one species of mosquito, Stegomyia calopus, can carry the infection.

The mosquito is peculiarly a town and house post. It breeds in cisterns, rain-barrels, gutters, and pools of fresh water. Stegomyia mosquitoes are found only in hot countries, and are quickly killed by frost. In summer-time these mosquitoes may be carried by ships or by trains to points out of their normal geographical distribution, where they may live so long as conditions are favorable.

If while thus present at a northern port, another ship should bring in a case of yellow fever, there would be no essential difference between this city and the native home of both the yellow fever and the mosquitoes, and the disease could and probably would spread. It was, no doubt, just such a circumstance that made possible the great epidemic of yellow fever in Philadelphia, in 1793, in which about one-tenth of the population of the city died of the disease.

It is important to every city to which yellow fever may come, to see that there are no mosquitoes to transmit it when it does come. That this is possible it is only necessary to note what has been done at Panama, in Cuba, and in New Orleans. In all these places yellow fever was in the past common and fatal, but through energetic mosquito extermination each has been made reasonably safe both for its own inhabitants and for visitors. Mosquitoes and all other biting insects should be carefully excluded from every home. The same precaution, that will exclude the house-fly will exclude the mosquito.

Speaking of the common house-fly, Dr. McFarland says: “It is difficult to understand howq in times when the newspapers have had so much to say about the filthy but festive house-fly, any one can any longer tolerate its presence in his house. It is true that it is not known to be a regular vector of any disease, but its filthy habits make it the possible vector of many. The chief danger from the fly is in its disgusting habit of first frequenting the privy, and then at the ringing of the dinner hell, coming to the table without taking the trouble to wipe its feet.’’

Typhus fever is transmitted from the sick to healthy persons by lice. All lice feed upon the blood of their host, and with it take into their bodies any parasites it contains. If feeding upon the blood of a person afflicted with typhus fever, it becomes a carrier of the micro-organisms of that disease, and thus may inoculate with the disease any person whom it may be privileged to bite.

The prevention of typhus fever, therefore, resolves itself into the very simple circumstance of getting rid of lice—delousing. Typhus fever is most prone to occur in jails, ships, armies, and among the poor and untidy. It is often spoken of as a disease of filth, because filthiness and the crowding of persons together are conditions under which lice are most likely to be present.

A peculiar form of disease, called African lethargy or sleeping distemper, afflicts the people of Central Africa. The disease is very prevalent and in all cases fatal. The cause of this peculiar affection and the means by which it is transmitted to human beings wTas discovered in 1903. This is a disease of animals, especially of cattle, and is transmitted to human beings by the tsetse flies in very much the same manner as mosquitoes cause yellow fever.

These pests have, no doubt, afflicted the human family throughout all past ages. But now, as we enter the golden age and the light of truth grows brighter and brighter, scientific investigation is revealing facts, unknown in the past but now due to be understood, that will enable man by removing the causes to overcome the ravages of disease and perpetuate human life. “Millions now living will never die.”

Harkness Gift Poorly Appreciated

TpDWAim S. Harkness recently gave $11,392,000

1 to Harvard. University to be used in unifying the several institutions which go to make up the great university on -what is called the inner college plan. No doubt the accumulation of all that money caused a great deal of effort to somebody, but the Harvard students seem not overly enthusiastic.

The Harvard Lampoon speaks of the “intrusive interest of Dr. Harkness” and his “$13,000,000 shot of cocaine”, and then, criticizing his at

tempt to change Harvard’s traditional plan of organization, it says: .

After John Harvard has had 293 years of varying success, six weeks of applesauce bid fair to leave him with nothing but a pair of pants and a coat of copper nitrate. And now that tradition has been blackjacked and thrown into the corner, these innovators are licensed to peddle their synthetic culture to the universities, colleges and preparatory schools throughout the country. Dr. Harkness has made a noise like Santa Claus, but all the university serfs got out of him was a new set of workshops.

Faces By II. E. Pinnock

I AM not a psychologist nor a student of physiognomy; and the following thoughts merely express the impression left on my mind by the faces of some people whom I have met or have seen.

No two faces are alike, even in twins; and I suppose that students of physiognomy would classify types by the dozen, according to the characteristics shown, like a fruit-sorting machine dropping apples into their respective bins. Among the thousands of faces we meet, a few stand out vividly in memory, and each has a lesson or an impression connected there-W'ith.

These impressions I record are not those made by the faces of great rulers and famous men, but of the people you meet anywhere in life.

. I have just finished a two-hour trip from an island to the mainland in the state of Washington. On the crowded steamer I was thrown in contact with a party of sixty young boys, averaging fourteen years of age, who were just returning from a few weeks’ sojourn in camp.

Boys they were, after the manner of their kind, lanky or short, slim or stout, fair or swarthy, all pulsating with the restless energy of youth. Laughing, singing, squealing, wrestling, heavy -hoofed young animals they Avere, full of wit and unstudied repartee; life one great joke, brimming with the wholesome, healthy joy of just living.

And their faces! Tanned with sea wind and water, with ruddy cheeks and laughing, open eyes, many of the faces were sprinkled vvitli freckles like brown confetti, and all were faces of those who have not felt the responsibilities of life, all innocent of the tremendous issues confronting humanity. Happy faces they were, that made you smile to look upon, and to smile again as you remembered them.

A few days before, I had spent a little while with a crippled girl. She had sat for many years in one chair; and now, after’ many operations, she could go slowly about on crutches.

And her face? That of one standing by the way and watching life go by, but never acquiescing in the position. The face of a woman, but lacking the philosophical armor with which a crushed woman can sometimes protect herself. She had always hoped that some day she would walk; and this day she watched a party of us diving and swimming in a pool—her greatest

treat in years. When I reminded her that the Lord would soon bring restitution to all willing, and that she too would run and play and swim, the wistful light that came to her saddened features brought a lump to my throat, and I understood a little better how much the Millennium will mean to mankind. Groaning in pain until now, they are still waiting “for the manifestation of the sons of God”, who will deliver them from the Devil and from all he has brought upon humanity—sickness, disease and death, and all that which has robbed them of life in its fulness and happiness.

A little later, witnessing to the glorious incoming kingdom in a “churchy” residential section of a city, I met many church members. I was not soliciting funds nor selling expensive Bible references; but the literature I carried was to be had at practically production cost, and it told of God’s remedy for world distress, that Ave are entering the golden age, Avhen the non-Christian billions in the tombs Avill have an opportunity to hear of the only name under heaven by AA’hich they may get life, and Avhen peace on earth and good Avill shall be realized. And as I told these glad tidings I Avould watcli their faces.

The AA’orldly people Avould listen intently, and often Avould remark that they hoped the message was true, for they longed for- deliverance from oppression. Especially Avas this true in the humbler homes. Some of those Avhom I met Avere Christians, many of them Avith a mistaken sense of loyalty to some local church and preacher that made them hesitate to purchase. Just a little AA-hile, I Avould think, and they will find the courage to take a stand for the kingdom and come out of their prison-houses.

Noav and then I would come across some of “the principal of the flock”; and as I Avatched their proud, self-righteous faces take on a frosty expression, I knew that they were “good church members”, even before they proudly told me that they had their “church and preacher and Bible, and had no time to spare anyway”. Seemingly their heart was as deaf as their ears. After striking a territory where this class predominated, I asked my companion canvasser to take me over to the Chinatown section, where I Avould find better interest in things pertaining to the incoming kingdom of Christ.

Yesterday I was taken by a garage man in an

QOLDEN AGE

auto-stage to a country town where I had an appointment. His face was like thousands of others you meet in industry. It was the face of a worker, sharp, businesslike; the face of one in “the mill” and keen to keep up with the game and get the “necessities” of our twentieth-century civilization. He inquired as to my “line”; and I told him of the kingdom, while he listened intently. . ■

His face flushed when he spoke awkwardly of God and of Christ and of religion in his questions. Almost apologetically, and certainly wistfully, he said: “A fellow’s not used to thinking about those things; don’t have time, having to scratch so fast for a living.” Then, in self-defense, he added: “I can’t stand the preachers, with their ‘miserable sinners’ and hell-fire screeching, anyway.”

I explained to him how reasonable and satisfying to heart and head the truth of the Bible is. He inquired about the means of carrying on the kingdom message, and expressed his respect for those who devote their lives to this wmrk. At the end of the journey he refused the tendered fare, wished me success, and was pleased to receive a Lord’s Return booklet which I gave him.

How readily the people’s faces will reveal that which is within 1 I remember looking at the patrons of the diner on a crack transcontinental train, and noting the variety that presented itself. Some were just “plain folks”; some were of the American aristocracy, second cousins to the English dukes and duchesses; and some were of the newly rich.

Faces! What a study that crowd afforded! As I looked at those of the pampered wives of prosperous barons, self-interested, overindulged, the delicate dishes in front of them pawed over a little and then sent away, the “kink” in my make-up for contrast brought to mind another picture, one from my boyhood.

A boy whom I have come to know fairly well had given his school luncheon to a tramp. The tramp had stood shivering in the cold wind, with his hands thrust through a fence toward some crusts that were just beyond his reach. His face was that of a homeless mongrel that has been kicked and cuffed away from every one. The misery of despair was stamped upon his weather-beaten face.

The boy touched his hat, and said, “Sir,” and then gave the tramp his own modest new’spaper-wrapped sandwich. The man looked up as one hearing and recalling a long-forgotten tongue; and the tears came to his eyes. The sight of his homely, weather-stained old face alight with fresh hope has repaid the boy a thousandfold.

Then the faces of that party of girls on board a liner crossing the Atlantic! Pretty, radiant with excitement and expectation; flashing eyes and teeth well kept; sheltered flowers; full of pretty airs and graces; avowedly out for a good time (with the pseudo-sophistication of college training); impatient of old-time conventions, justly so of many; high spirits sparkling in their faces as they faced a world, their world of freedom, with all its possibilities. As I watched the play of their faces, I thought of the Victorian generation that condemned them for their bold bid for freedom, the generation that from 1914 to 1918 had brought about the greatest crime against God and humanity, that even now seek to perpetuate an old world that is petering out with its own corruptions; and I could understand why the youth of the world detest the old shrouds of secrecy, diplomacy, intrigue and hypocrisy that the older generation had wrapped around all the affairs of life. No wonder that in exasperation the youth of today.fly to the other extreme of blatant frankness! Youth going to the dogs? No! They are going into the new world, the kingdom of God on earth.

In London a week later I sat in an infirmary for old ladies, visiting a relative. On cots all around me lay very old, old women, some hanging onto life by a mere thread, others just “rusting out”. And their faces? A few had the ruddy cheeks of old country women, but most of them were very white, with the transparent skin of old age when the blood is very thin. With hair white and scant, skin vcrinldecl, toothless and shrunken, they seem to be in a backwater wmiting, waiting the end, while the pageant of laughing, well-dressed, well-fed life went past in the street outside. Some lay in a coma; and I could but marvel at the power of life that seemingly would not depart so long as there was the will to live. Wizened and haggard now, all had once had the bloom of youth of that party of pretty, laughing girls I had seen the week before; and now they waited and waited for the dust of the earth. I thought of restitution and what it would mean to these old, old women who clung to life so tenaciously. Then I thanked the good Lord for the sure promises to all humanity, promises of restoration blessings, even to Adamic perfection.

The face of a German music professor traveling to the United States of America, for a tour, springs to my mind next. Bullet-headed, closecropped, with immense spectacles making his eyes grotesque, homely; yet he had the face of a boy. His music was flawless in technique, but lacked the depth and expression which one less schooled will unconsciously put into execution. Later, I saw him stand throughout a Catholic service on board, mumbling from a prayer-book while the others carried out the pantomime of the Chaldean mysteries. Eye-service, you say? Yet his face showed the simple fervor of one who knows nothing of “the mystery of iniquity”, one W’ho follows blindly the formulas indoctrinated from childhood.

I thought of another man whom I had heard praise God during a religious discourse. A few years ago I held a meeting in the bedroom of a paralyzed man, bedridden for years. His face was shining with joy. He praised God that he knew the truth of the divine plan for the salvation of humanity, and by faith had accepted the precious promises, that he might have a part in bringing these great blessings, through faithful devotion to the truth in this present time. Unable to lift a hand, with nothing but his prayers to offer to God, he was an inspiration to all who met him.

And I, with my six feet of brawn and pep that I had thrown so lustily into the service of the truth message for years, felt like a child in the presence of this frail man who was so mighty in faith and in devotion to God. I had come to preach a lesson; but before I had opened my lips I learned one a little deeper: that God wants our heartfelt devotion and loyalty first, whatever our natural ability to serve might be. The heart intention is the factor by which we are judged. His was a face to be remembered and one by which to be encouraged.

Recently I watched the owners of prize cats and puppies as they tended their pets at a large fair-ground exhibition. Many of the pets had silken cushions in jeweled baskets, and were fed various dainties by the owners, who treated them with more lavish affection than an orphan gets in a lifetime. I wondered how many of the owners had children of their own. Theirs were not the faces of mothers.

And now today I meet a woman who is the mother of twelve children, only three of them self-supporting. A year ago the husband, after much adversity, deserted her and vanished. She has the face of a woman who has suffered, but who is brave and hopeful; one whose faith has sustained her to keep a grip on life if only for her children’s sake. How one hates the Devil, the one responsible for the sorrows of mankind! Thank God that soon Satan is to be bound and finally destroyed!

And now this mother can smile; the future is more secure. She is offered the position of housekeeper, with a large house for her family, by a big-hearted Christian gentleman. There are thousands of such men who are quietly taking up the burdens of others. Many of the farsighted ones, who have the true Biblical focus upon present events and the problems confronting* humanity, are shouldering the burden and the expense of lifting up a standard of comfort and hope to the whole world; and how their faith and optimism are reflected in their faces ’

The “happy people”! One can pick them out from the crowds attending the public lectures of thel.B.S.A. When Iarrive at the various towns in my travels in the interests of the kingdom message, I know in an instant who among the crowd at the station is the one that is to meet me. By a badge or a mark? Ao; by the expression of the face.

No matter what the make-up of the features or the prechristian life, when one is consecrated to God and when the service of his fellow men dominates his thoughts, the spirit of love, illuminates the face; and there is a quality there which does not depend upon form or color or feature.

I recall the face of a man who was addressing a Christian audience. Before he began to speak I thought hhn the homeliest man I had ever seen. But as I listened to his loving words and saw’ the beauty of his soul, I thought how God must love him ; and I cherish the memory of his face as one of the most beautiful I have known.

A really beautiful face is not based upon evenness of features o?r on quality of texture or coloring. These are desirable, and often their possessors will have nobility of birth and breeding. But real beauty is that which expresses the inward man, the godlikeness of kindness, unselfishness, humility, charitableness, patience, and love of God’s truth.

What glorious countenances restored humanity will have’ In the likeness of their Maker!

As we study the words and work of Jesus of Nazareth, and ponder the manner of man He was, we begin to realize how truly He must have shown “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” in His countenance.

In conclusion, I recall to your mind the words of that God-fearing gentleman, Pastor Russell, in describing the faces of perfect humanity when restored to fellowship with God, at the end of the Millennium:

“'Think ' of all the pictures of comparative health and beauty of human form and feature that you have ever seen, and know that perfect humanity will be of still surpassing loveliness. The inward purity and mental and moral perfection will stamp and glorify every radiant countenance. Such will earth’s society be.”— Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 1, page 192.

The words of Judge Rutherford take their place with this classic. In speaking of the close of the Millennium he says: “There comes the sound of tramping multitudes. From every point of the compass great streams of humanity pour into the valley. They are marching in perfect order, but there is a complete absence of the military air. They are bearing neither gun nor sword nor any other instrument of defence or offense. . . . Mark with what buoyancy of stop the people walk. There are among them no lame, no halt, no blind, no deformed ones. No; there is not even an old man among them. Where are the old folks? These have been restored to the days of their youth, and their flesh has become as fresh as a babe’s.

“There are no poor there, no beggars among them, nor by the wayside. No, not now, because all have plenty. There are no sick nor afflicted there; no, because all enjoy health and strength. Thore are no vicious nor cold, hard faces amongst them; no, not these, because they have all come over the highway and have reached the end thereof and have been fully restored. See, their faces are all wreathed in smiles. On come host upon host. They are bearing numerous banners, and upon each one are inscribed the words: ‘Holiness unto the Lord.’ (Zech, 14: 20) Both men and women are grace and beauty personified. Yes; they are now all of the royal house, because they are children of the King.

“It is a perfect day, and. everything of creation bears the mark of perfection. Wafted over the valley come the strong, clear, sweet notes of a silver trumpet. At its call the great multitude kneels in silent thanksgiving to God. Another sound of the silver trumpet and there are heard the perfect voices of multitudes, and now in complete harmony they are singing: ‘DELIVERANCE IS COMPLETE; PRAISE GOD.’” ■—Deliverance, page 343.

Death of Walter Liddle

A T BUFFALO, N. Walter Liddle, carpen-.Z~A ter an<i contractor, a Bible Student, the father of seven children, attempted the rescue of a small boy from drowning in Cazenovia Lake Park. The boy was rescued, but the man lost his life. The Buffalo Evening News said:

Without counting the probable cost to himself, without taking account of the responsibilities resting upon him as head of a large household, Liddle answered the call of humanity as voiced by the boy in distress. lie gave his life for the boy. The facts are so clear that justice calls for substantial recognition of the sacrifice so nobly made. “Greater love hath'no man than this. ”

A Bible Student of the city writes that a purse of $2,000 has been raised for the bereaved family: not much, under the circumstances, but something. One gave $100.

No Testimonials Published

THERE is no rule about it, but to save space we adopted the plan years ago of not publishing testimonials; and hundreds of qur subscribers who have sent us splendid letters know how well we have lived up to the plan. We were nearly thrown off center the other day, however, when a pastor in Buffalo wrote to us and said, “More power to you! I consider your little magazine the most effective, stirring, mental alarm clock in this age of slumbering brains and hearts. I would like to see it in every home.” It was with difficulty that we stuck to our program.

Edward Bellamy and the Radio

THE WATCHTOWER FAN-

NO DOUBT many of our readers have read the book by Edward Bellamy, entitled

Looking Backward, a book which in its pen pictures of the Millennium is most remarkable. An editorial writer in the Virginian Pilot reminds us that Bellamy even foresaw the radio. He writes on the subject as follows:

How docs this book of forty years ago suggest the radio as we know’ it? One day not long after his entrance into the home of “Dr. Leete,” the “hero,” whose name was Julian West, was asked by Miss Leete if he liked music. Replying' that he was fond of it, he was asked into the music-room, and his hostess crossed the room and “merely touched one or two screws, and at once the room was filled with the music of a grand organ anthem. Such music (he says), so perfectly rendered, I had never expected to hear.” Other selections of a lighter character followed, and the mysterious origin of it was explained thus: ‘ ‘ There are a number of music-rooms in the city, perfectly adapted acoustically to the different sorts of music. These halls are connected by telephone with all the houses of the city whose people care to pay the small fee, and there are none, you may be sure, who do not. The corps of musicians attached to each hall is so large that, although no individual performer, or group of performers, has more than a brief part, each day’s program lasts through the twenty-four hours.”

…