Golden Age, March 19, 1930

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Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE ANDZ COURAGE

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in this issue

LAND OF THE MAGYARS

KALEIDOS COPICS

ANOTHER POISONING BEE

MASSES AT A BARGAIN!

MEANING OF REDEMPTION radio lecture by Judge Rutherford

EVERY OTHER WEDNESDAY 5c a copy $1,00 a year Canada & Foreign $1.50

Volume XI * No. 274 March 19, 193 0

Contents

Labor and Economics

Argentina Drops Gold Standard t. j-.r. . . . . :■ ..396

Distribution of Earnings ................ 397

Five-Day Week for Plumbers

Vulcanite Portland Cement Company

Widespread Russian Socialization . . . . . . . . . . .... 398

Labor-saving Machinery in Britain ............ . .. 398

Social and Educational

KALEIDOSCOPICS r. . . ........... ....

Making Pearls in Brooklyn

The Thirteen-Month Calendar . .

Talkies in the Pulpit

Ruins of Sodom Found ........

Russian Broadcasting'

4'Say We Not Well?”

Boy Scouts and the Budget ;

Finance—Commerce—Transportation

Rome to Have Subway .

Robot Traffic Policemen ................. 397

Political—Domestic and Foreign

Bloomfield’s Municipal Plant

India the Real Issue

Child’s Cart Carries All

Science and Invention

Discoveries in Antarctica

Radio Equipped Cars

The Westinghouse Driverless Car .

Unbreakable Phonograph Records...........

Uses of the Noctovisor ........ . . . .... . 398

Home and Health

Vaccination Optional in England ,

Travel and Miscellany The Land of the Magyars :

Religion and Philosophy

The Baptist Church at East Marion . . . ■. ■. ■:. . :. . 395

Masses at a Bargain!

A Question and Answer..... ;.

Philosophy of Redemption . . . . . . ...

The Children’s Own Radio Story l. . L., •. ;;. 415

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<^e Golden Age

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Volume XI Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, March 19, 1930 Number 274

The Land of the Magyars

HUNGARY, before the World War, had an area of about the combined size of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Now it is slightly smaller than Indiana. In the deal among Messrs. Wilson, Lloyd George and Clemenceau, commonly known as the Treaty of Versailles, Hungary was divided and the pieces thrown to the dogs.

The present Hungary has 46 percent of its former population and 32 percent of its territory. The area of old Hungary was 109,188 square miles, with a population of 18,264,533. The area of the new state is 35,901 square miles, with a population of 8,454,500, of which 90 percent are Magyars.

Austria was drawn or pushed into the World War, but the Magyars wanted a fight, and seemed proud that it was such a big one. When it came to the council table this was remembered against them, and land which was largely Magyar in population and had been under Magyar control for a thousand years was taken away and given right and left.

Before Versailles, Hungary had plenty of timber; now she is dependent upon others. Before Versailles, Hungary had plenty of ore. Now Czechoslovakia has the ore, the richest agricultural lands have gone to Rumania, and other valuable parts have gone to Austria, Yugoslavia and Poland.

Hungary is determined to have these lands and peoples back, and the Little Entente that received them as prizes of Avar are determined to keep them. Who is it that called this mental attitude “self-determination of peoples”? “Nem, Nem, Soha!” (No, No, Never) is the battle-cry every time the subject of revision of boundaries is broached between Hungary and her neighbors.

In dividing the spoils among the victors, the attempt to make Hungary sorry for her bad conduct was successful, too much so. The old forests were well managed: indeed, 66 percent of the forest area was under state control, and water supplies, floods and erosions were readily subject to administration. Such control is now no longer possible, and the result is a neglected watershed.

Like the Mississippi Valley

In a small way the Hungary before the days of Versailles was something like the great valley of the Mississippi between the crests of the Alleghanies and the Rockies. It was a complete watershed and plain, with the great Danube flowing through it from north to south. The Danube, by the way, while it flows mostly from west to east, turns at right angles to that course all the way through Hungary.

Suppose you had lived in the Mississippi valley all your life and some fine morning you learned that everything from North Dakota to Texas had been shifted to the Dominion of Canada and Mexico. It would make you feel rather strange, would it not, especially if everything from Indiana to Alabama had been distributed among still other countries? You would feel like the dog with bobbed ears that had his tail cut off by the railroad train. The forests of the Alleghanies would still be there, but the people who now owned them would not care how many floods came to the Mississippi valley, except in a Red Cross sense. In its 200-mile journey through Hungary the Danube provides several large islands.

Not unlike the Mississippi valley, Hungary also has two fine lakes, the Balaton and the Ferto, the banks flanked by watering places and the surrounding hills covered with rich vineyards. The Hungarian Plain, like the Mississippi valley, is, on the whole, one of extraordinary fertility. Here and there are salt marshes, sand dunes and rows of mounds. The villages are large and populous, but are generally long distances apart. Immense pasture-grounds are filled with cattle, horses, sheep and swine.

Like the Mississippi valley, Hungary has 4,000 miles of levees, to protect some 15,000,000 acres of agricultural land. Before the war 800 rain gauges in the mountains, and 1,700 gauging stations along the streams, all linked together by telephones, were used to control detention basins and spillways. Now all this valuable equipment is useless, floods annually destroy levees and crops, and erosion deposits in the rivers are steadily raising the stream beds. These floods cost many lives and result in much property damage. They can be charged direct to Versailles, and its foolish and villainous revenges in placing Hungary’s forests in the control of its enemies.

A feature of the Hungarian summer is the Fata‘Morgana, -which rises about noon on the warm, tranquil days, and spreads like a shimmering sea over the heated plain. Despite its climatic variability, Hungary is one of the healthiest countries in Europe.

Buda and Pest

Buda was founded by the Romans eighteen hundred years ago. They called it Aquinicum. It is on the side of the Danube nearest Rome. Pest was first heard of about seven hundred years ago. For about 160 years the two towns were in the control of the Turks. The towns were joined in 1873 and became Budapest.

Pest has grown much more rapidly than Buda. The Houses of Parliament, Academy of Science, library, custom house, and other important public buildings are in Pest. Broad quays extend along the riverside some three miles. The towns are joined by suspension and other fine bridges. The span of the latest suspension bridge is 960 feet.

The last census gave Budapest, or Pest-Ofen, as it is sometimes called, a population of 1,217,325. The only other towns over 100,000 are Szeged and Debreczen. It is characteristic of Hungarian cities to be spread over enormous areas and to have small populations.

When Hungary was split up, her Magyar officials were given their walking papers in Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, and forthwith headed for Budapest, accompanied by thousands of other unfortunates who were also victims of the villainies of Versailles. The town is terribly overcrowded.

For years after the World War, and perhaps even yet, thousands of refugees were pushed in upon the populace until in street after street there were ten to fifteen men, women, and children sharing one small room. In 1926, on the city dumps which are located at Buda, sixtyseven families were living in forty-two tiny dilapidated sheds built of boards, bits of wood, odd bricks and gasoline cans. The writer who then visited this dump said:

A few pigs, scraggy fowls and many half-starved children were grubbing in the filth and garbage or huddling together with the older people inside their dingy, leaky, malodorous hovels. All these people live by collecting glass, rags, bones and other spoils from amongst the rubbish. The children are in a terrible state—their faces expressionless, their limbs spidery, their chests flat or sunken.

At Budapest are the largest electrical works in all Europe. In this city was built the first successful underground trolley line. At one time the city claimed to have the best-lighted streets in the world. That claim is not now made, since the coal of Hungary was turned over to Czechoslovakia.

Near Budapest is an underground city where more than 1,000 people live. The soft rock lends itself to the carving of both rooms and furniture. The place is cool in summer and warm in winter. The oddest thing about it is that it is located beneath a cemetery.

Magyars and Magyarization

The original inhabitants of Hungary were Slovaks or Moravians. The Magyars, of Finno-Tartar origin, invaded Hungary about the ninth century. They are high-spirited, warlike, proud, generous, self-conscious, serious and stubborn. The Magyar costume is remarkable for its picturesque elegance. Most of the Hungarian nobles are Magyars.

The Magyar never forgets that he is a conqueror, and, though he be but a. poor peasant, treats with more or less good-natured insolence the Jews, Germans, Swabians, Saxons, Slovaks, Rumanians, Ruthenes, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and gypsies that live alongside him in his own country. As a matter of fact, before Hungary was split up the Magyars were actually in a minority in their own land, but were the largest single factor of population, being nearly half the total.

The effort to make it appear that there are more Magyars in Hungary than of other combined races has for decades led to a ruthless process of Magyarization that has been tyrannical in the extreme. Students claim that census statistics were deliberately falsified for Magyar state reasons. Ever since 1875 coercive measures have been employed to crush out other languages and erase the national sentiments of the majority.

When the World War came it was natural that the oppressed Slovaks turned toward Czechoslovakia, the Croats and Serbs toward Serbia, the Rumanians toward Rumania, etc. The Magyars can properly blame themselves for Hungary’s present predicament.

An amusing incident following the break-up was that the Magyars determined to change all non-Magyar names. Pressburg became Pozsony, Vienna became Becs, etc. Letters from Austria to Hungary and from Hungary to Austria were returned marked “Place not known” because the Magyars would not recognize the German names and the Germans would not recognize the Magyar ones.

The Magyar nobility is the last remaining stronghold of feudalism, and the strongest and proudest. Castles, hunting lodges, thoroughbreds, wilds abounding with game, innumerable servants and retainers, and a landless peasantry that lives in stalls and stables with the horses and cattle and is on the verge of starvation for the greater part of the year, is Mag-yarization at its proudest and foolishest.

It is in the interests of Magyarization that the gypsies have been suppressed. They must now give up their nomadic life, costume and language, settle in fixed abodes, pay taxes, and serve in the army. The beauties of gypsy violin music are famous all over the world. Some gypsy caravans are patriarchal and some matriarchal. In the latter the women tend to be larger and stronger than the men.

A pleasing feature of Hungarian social life is that Magyars are now trying to establish “Let us hope for a better future” in place of “Good morning” as a greeting. The person thus saluted is expected to reply, “May God hear your voice.”

The Karolyi Republic

On October 31, 1918, a revolution broke out in Hungary having as its object the establishment of a republic, the last thing wanted by the Magyar nobility or the Wall Street crowd who subsequently became their backers. Count Karolyi was a noble-minded man, an advocate of democracy, a pacifist', wealthy, Independent, and courageous. He was the embodiment of everything that the Magyar nobility did not want as a ruler, or as president.

The Karolyi estate was famous for its vast size. In the five months during which his administration lasted Count Karolyi divided this land for a nominal fee among the returned soldiers whom the war had deprived of their livelihood. He endeavored thus to stimulate his fellow aristocrats who also possessed vast estates to like deeds of generosity. Nothing could be more odious from a Wall Street point of view.

Who is there that would be mean enough or small enough to condemn a man for giving up his own lands to returned soldiers so that they might have the means whereby to live? ¥et since the Magyar nobility regained control of Hungary they placed Karolyi on trial before a royal tribunal, "found him guilty of high treason’ and ordered his property confiscated. He was alleged to have given aid and comfort to the Allies by ordering Hungary to lay down its arms at a time when the struggle with the Allies, including the United States, was still on.

It is interesting to reflect on the magnanimities and generosities of the Wall Street crowd and the American government since the World War that the wife of this noble man was refused admittance into the United States because she desired to tell some of these facts which reveal the narrowness of soul of some that are highly esteemed among men.

After the Karolyi estates had been seized by the Magyar nobility it became necessary to drive away from them hundreds of families so that Wall Street ethics could be upheld. What matters the suffering of women and children and poor defeated soldiers if only the nobility keep their grip? Count Michael Karolyi was a traitor to his class, and therefore "a traitor to his country’s And the United States government and the Wall Street crowd and its yapping press hastily and lustily applaud. It is enough to make Jefferson turn over in his grave.

The Soviet Administration

The moderate and reasonable and sensible steps taken by Count Karolyi were as unsatisfactory to the radicals as they were to the Magyar nobility and twenty-seven days after he began the difficult work of constructing a better administration for the common people a returned soldier, Bela Kun, who had been captured by the Russians, arrived in Budapest and began to circulate among the desperately poor the doctrines of Communism which he had learned in Russia and which seem so reasonable to t1’"se who have little or nothing of this world’s goods.

The French General Franchet d’Espery was pressing Karolyi on one side for rulings favorable to the continuation of feudalism. On the other side Bela Kun and his followers were pressing him for rulings favorable to Communism. It was impossible to go on, and in March, 19.19, he gave up the fight and the Bolshevists took control.

The Magyar nobility have only themselves to blame for allowing Count Karolyi’s government to fail, because they never lifted a finger to help him when he needed help the most, yet because the Bolshevist administration succeeded his well-meant efforts he was accused of turning the government over to them. Even the New York Times, usually very unfriendly to Liberals, says of Karolyi, “A theorist, he was never the dangerous character which his enemies proclaimed him to be. By excluding him from the country the state department made a martyr out of him.”

The Soviet administration of Hungary was no better than that of Russia, and probably no worse. Bela Kun was a great admirer of Lenin and tried to follow the same tactics of terrorization of the nobility and confiscation of their property that worked in Russia, but conditions were not as favorable, the treasury was nearly empty, industry and commerce were at a standstill, and all the power of the victorious allied armies was hostile.

The thing that finally overthrew the Soviet regime is said to have been as follows: They handed over $1,000,000 to the American relief organization for the purchase of food, expecting that it would be delivered in good faith, but a deal was made with the Magyar nobility and word was sent out that no food would be delivered until the Soviet administration was driven out. An army officer gave the situation away in an article in World’s Work. The picture which he gave of a future president withholding food from women and children in order to overturn a form of government not popular in Wall Street is not a pleasing one. Copies of the article containing the army officer’s boasts of how the thing was done are now hard to obtain, as every effort was made to buy them up and get rid of them. They told too much.

The White Terror

The White Terror, namely the return of the Magyar nobility to full control of Hungary, came with the overthrow of the Soviet administration on August 7, 1919. The deal as it was fixed up with the army officers and others wTho overthrew the Communist regime was that Hungary should be considered a monarchy, with the throne vacant. It seems odd to think of the United States’ being a party to the destruction of a republic and the reestablishment of a tyranny, does it not? But that is what happened. The form of government which Wall Street prefers is a dictatorship. That is why there are so many dictatorships in Europe at this writing.

When the White Terror came back into power one of its first acts was to abolish all the arrangements for social welfare and hygiene that had been begun by Karolyi and continued by the Soviet. Just why nobility should be antagonistic to sanitation is something for the nobility to explain. At any rate, all the young professors and doctors that were working on the sanitation problems of the country were summarily fired and nobody was put in their place.

One of the sad things about Hungary’s White Terror is the assumption that the parliament exists for the government of the people in equity. In Hungary it exists for the purpose of keeping the oppressed under oppression. The country always was and still is a despotism, and the Magyar nobility use the parliament as a screen for the most dreadful acts of tyranny conceivable.

Desperate Poverty of the Poor

Some idea of the desperate poverty of the landless agricultural workers of Hungary can be gained from a study of their wages. During the 40-day harvest season a male laborer may get for a day’s work 14.5 pounds of grain, and this may be all that he earns throughout the year except for rare casual jobs.

If it be desired to express the wages of the poor Hungarian laborer in terms of money, we find that 70c a day is extremely good pay, while if a man gets 35c a day he is yet considered

well off. There are a million landless agricultural workers and half a million more that own plots averaging fifteen acres each. The latter must work much of their time for others in order to keep alive. The 11,000 of the nobility have estates of upwards of 1,000 acres apiece. There are about a quarter of a million who own farms of reasonable size, up to 150 acres each.

There are very few industries in the one sizable city of Budapest. Factory workers receive 6c to 14c an hour, with an eight- or nine-hour day, but work only three or four days a week. A skilled workman in the most prosperous industries may make as high as $18 a month.

Their sufferings have driven multitudes of the people mad. Both young and old, without previous warning, try to dash their heads against walls, lamp posts, or even the stone flags of the sidewalks. At Budapest in two months there were 150 suicides by drowning and would have been ten times as many but for constant watching and patrolling of the river by fast boats under full head of steam.

When a deputation of the poor feel that they have gone the limit and come to one of the ministries for relief, the usual practice is to arrest them and beat them up. Nor are the newspapers allowed to publish the facts. Horseflesh is one of the staple articles of diet. Beggars must pay taxes on their incomes. Their ranks are overcrowded by starving professors, lawyers, and students, who cannot find employment. Many Hungarian, children do not know the taste of fresh milk.

Messrs. Earthy and Bethlen

Admiral Nicholas Horthy, controller of the Danube fleet, was the tool selected to maintain the Magyar nobility in power and to inaugurate and maintain the White Terror, and he has done his work well. It would be hard to imagine a more intelligent, relentless, cruel face than his photographs make him appear to be. To the simple-minded Magyar his admiral’s uniform makes him seem to be something more than a mere politician.

Horthy is clever enough to be satisfied with the power of a dictator without clamoring for the title of a monarch, which he could have at any time for the asking. He lives in the royal palace, a great building seven stories high, containing 300 large apartments and 600 rooms.

It is situated in a park (ff wide area. He is one of the world’s most terrible despots.

From time to time Horthy sends out reports that he wants to retire; but he evidently wants nothing of the kind. These reports are sent out only to make him seem a hero in the eyes of the people whom he oppresses. At times he makes a gesture' toward Liberalism; but wait until you read of his treatment of political prisoners and you will see the real man.

Count Stephen Bethlen, Horthy’s premier, is an aristocrat by birth, breeding and temperament, admirably fitted for carrying out Horthy’s plans. He is a man of energy and ability, short of stature, quiet, serious, a Magyar of Hie Magyars. Saying one thing and doing another is known in Hungary as “Bethlen Politics”. Shelving opponents by creating jobs for them is another common practice. Neither Horthy nor Bethlen is trusted or loved, but both, are feared.

Following Mussolini’s lead, Hungary, under Horthy and Bethlen, has created a department for large families. Gold medals, certificates, and gifts of money are presented to mothers of large families. Lectures on birth control are strictly forbidden.

With the support and guidance of American financiers, notably Jeremiah Smith, of Boston, Hungary has regained her economic balance. The condition of the landed gentry has improved, but the poor people at the bottom are, if anything, in worse condition than ever. The New York Times, in its issue of October 6, 1929, says:

For Hungary good crops and balanced budgets constitute only the one side of the picture. That the economic condition of its fanners, despite the bountiful harvest, is bad and almost catastrophic, is best indicated by the fact that one-third of the inhabitants in many villages are facing winter with no boots to wear and no money to buy them. The State taxes are heavy and this year’s bounteous crop becomes less an unmixed joy in the light of realization of the large proportion of last year’s still in the barns. To farmers preoccupied with the vital problem of providing shoe leather, politics seems a minor matter. Newspaper men who recently sought to ascertain the attitude of rural Hungary toward the forthcoming county elections, which are held for the first time in 18 years, were astonished to find it had no attitude at all. “We do not care about elections. Tell us where we can get boots” was its cry. Such apathy on the part of a people as.eminently political in mentality as the Magyars is hailed as a storm*signal. Even the impartial blame it on Count Bethlen’s system of government by job and favor.

The White Terror in Action

The White Terror under Horthy began its action by interning forty thousand “undesirable” Hungarians and aliens living in Hungary. To be a Jew and a Communist, or either one, back in 1920, was to invite death by torture. To be a Social Democrat rendered one liable to arrest and execution. To be poor and helpless was to invite wrath.

Not only were many of Hungary’s most intellectual men kidnaped, tortured, and murdered, but some were even kidnaped in Vienna, where they had fled, and were carried off and murdered. Pogroms were instituted by the peasants and in some instances were led by officers of the Horthy army. These officers lived in the best hotels and on the fat of the land while the poor and middle classes were dying of cold and hunger. No editor dared express an opinion reflecting upon the government.

In the winter of 1919-1920, when fear was on every side, two women of the Municipal Library were denounced as Communists, and though the charges were false, yet in the hearings one of them wms so beaten by the police captain and detectives that she was unable to move a limb. Beatings of prisoners continued all night. This was in Budapest. Many of these prisoners committed suicide by leaping from windows into the street.

Captain Freiszberger, in command of the Siofok garrison, with his friend, First Lieutenant Leszay, personally murdered in one instance forty-two prisoners. Freiszberger and his friends amused themselves by torturing prisoners in their own apartments. One night Freiszberger hanged eight men in his own room. Horthy knew all about these murders.

At Kecskemet, in the latter part of November, 1919, when Horthy’s army entered the city, nearly two hundred persons were robbed and murdered and the soldiers were paid with money taken from the victims; which, when you come to think of it, is an economical way of paying soldiers. The Horthy government pretended that this massacre was by an irresponsible gang of brigands, but it was well known to the people of the city that the soldiers all wore the national army uniform.

Some Brave and Fearless Men .

One bitter night in February, 1920, representatives of Mr. Horthy rounded up two Liberal editors, Messrs. Somogyi and Bacso, put them in a military automobile, sped with them fifteen miles to a country place, stabbed them to death, tore out their eyes and mutilated their bodies before throwing them into the Danube.

In May, 1925, Edward Beniczky, who had been Minister of the Interior, and was supreme chief of police at the time the murder was committed, hold in parliament that one of Horthy’s men had visited him and warned him to keep his hands off the case. The government confiscated the paper printing Beniczky’s story and suspended further publication. The murderers he had named were not arrested, but Beniczky himself was arrested and was indicted for high treason, despite a Hungarian law which expressly forbids the arrest of any member of Parliament without special legislative permission.

In 1922 a Liberal editor, Zoltan Szasz, was sentenced to prison for two and a half years, for publishing facts likely to damage the interests and reputation of Hungary abroad. Before he was sentenced he said to the court (and his brave words were published by other brave men):

The whole world knows our disgrace. I have only-signalized to the world that in Hungary the love of liberty and justice has not completely died. I have written to show the Magyars of the lost territories and the people of the civilized world that there are still people here who dare denounce this so-called “Christian” program of hate and revenge. And thus I think that I have served my country.

About the same time, according to the Manchester Guardian, the wife of a magistrate at Miskolcz was talking to her husband one evening before an open window’. She said that Hungary was “an impossible country”. She was overheard by some passers-by, reported to the police, and sentenced to a month in prison.

The horrible conditions continue. Only two years ago Baron Louis Hatvany, an author of European renown, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of $500,000 for writing seven articles which were published in a Vienna newspaper five years prior to that time. This man, solely and eminently a man of letters, was thus in effect sentenced to death and the confiscation of his estate for merely telling the truth.

Treatment of Political Prisoners

Any government can be fairly well judged by its treatment of those unfortunates who have offended it and are wholly within its power. Prisoners in Hungarian jails are commonly put in irons. The left wrist is chained to the right ankle, and the right wrist to the left ankle, and so tightly that the arms are taut and twisted. Not uncommonly the prisoners are permanently injured by this torture. Their screams fill the whole prison. Prisoners in torture are sometimes interrogated and receive cuffs and blows by the governor and the warders. Even women prisoners are thus put in irons. To Horthy, Bethlen, and Wall Street belong the glory. _ _ _

Mathias Rakosi, who has been in prison for three years, one time wrote to his legal adviser, describing prison conditions. The letter was intercepted. Rakosi was put in the dungeon, then isolated for three months, his food was reduced by one-third and his cell was heated for but one or two hours daily and then inadequately. Two and a half years of this life has made a nervous wreck of a strong and healthy man. He has developed chronic stomach trouble and has gone completely bald.

There are gendarmes in every village all over Hungary. The least expression of discontent is suppressed at once by force. The offender is grabbed and thrown into prison. If there is no immediate confession of guilt, then a confession is extorted by blows or torture. Many political prisoners have died as a result of hunger strikes aimed to ivin better treatment. One man climbed a flagpole and remained aloft for hours, refusing to come down until promised better treatment. At last accounts he was fatally ill of pneumonia.

The Manchester Guardian, which keeps in touch with the progress of liberty all over the world, said in its issue of November 4, 1927:

No one familiar with the character of the Hungarian Dictatorship will be in the least surprised by the contents of this statement; they merely reveal a procedure that is habitual in Hungary when evidence is required against political offenders, only as a rule these things are hushed up: “Edward Rubin was arrested in a room rented by the Hungarian Socialist Labor Party. He was brought before a high police official named Schweinitzer who ordered him to relate all he knew about the Communist party. Rubin said nothing, so was taken into another room. There he was made to stand on one leg up against a wall. ‘When I grew tired and wanted to change over to the other leg a detective drew his revolver and threatened to' shoot me. When I was completely exhausted and could not stand on one leg any longer and lowered my other foot he came up to me and hit me in the face and pulled me by the hair.’ He was then taken to another room, where 15 or 20 detectives were standing round. His hands were tied and he was kicked and beaten by the detectives. He was then ordered to take off his shoes and stockings. His feet were tied and held up, and the soles were beaten with an ox-hide whip. He felt about 15 blows, then lost consciousness because of the fearful pain. ‘My feet were untied and I was ordered to run round the room in a circle. I tried to stand up, but could not because my soles were fearfully swollen and hurt. The detectives stood round me, and pulled me up, beat and kicked me and pulled me round in a circle by the hair. After some minutes Schweinitzer came into the room and asked me if I were now ready to speak up, for if not they would beat me until I were dead. ’ The next morning Rubin was again taken to Schweinitzer, but still refused to give information about the Communist party. He was beaten again and again. Then his hands were tied behind his back with a strap and he was suspended by the strap from a large hook in the wall. He again lost consciousness but was brought to by more blows. He was taken before Schweinitzer and the chief of the Budapest police, who told him that they would let him rot in prison if he did not give them the names and addresses of people from Moscow. ... If he obeyed they would send him abroad with money to work for the Hungarian police. Completely broken by the torture Rubin agreed to everything and became a police spy. Here in Berlin his conscience tormented him and he at length made the above confession.”

Notes on Agriculture

Agriculture is the principal industry of Hungary. For centuries the land has been known as the granary of Europe. Most of the soil is productive; more than half of it is arable. Agriculture, with forestry, gives employment to 64.5 percent of the inhabitants. Sixty percent of the nation’s area is under cultivation.

The leading crops are wheat, rye, barley, oats, Indian corn, potatoes, sugar beets and grapes. Fruit trees are widely cultivated. Vineyards cover more than 850 square miles. The wines of the Tokay district are well known in most parts of the world.

There are important fishery preserves in the Danube and Theiss rivers and in Lake Balaton. The latter is the largest lake in central Europe, being fifty miles long by from two to seven miles wide. By treaties of friendship with Italy

qolden age

and Serbia, Hungary gets to the Adriatic Sea through the port of Fiume.

No other European country equals Hungary in the wild and profuse luxuriance of its fauna and flora. Vines, almonds, figs, olives and apples flourish in abundance. The forests are stocked w; h bears, wolves, lynxes, wild cats, boars, stag's and chamois, and the plains with hares and partridges; while wild fowl, vultures, and eagles soar overhead.

For a thousand years the Hungarian Hussar was famous for his horses and his horsemanship. The World War has put an end to the use of cavalry. Farmers have stopped breeding horses. Many thousands have been sent to the butchers. The breaking-in of colts has ceased. The automobile has come and the horse is out of it.

Hungary has a wealth of medicinal waters. Hunyadi Janos is exported to all parts of the world. Cold mineral springs are to be found almost everywhere, and a whole series of hot springs containing lime and sulphur are features of the banks of the Danube. If it were not for the Devil’s organization in full control of everything, Hungary would be one of the fairest spots in all the world.

The Secret Societies

As it once suited Queen Elizabeth of England to have on the sea plenty of pirates that could capture and sink Spanish galleons wherever they might be found, and yet could be disowned by the more or less virgin queen, so Horthy and Bethlen have made good use of secret societies composed of military officers, politicians, judges, lawyers and aristocrats, which societies they periodically disown. Nevertheless, these secret societies are important factors in Hungary’s reign of terror.

This clique of aristocrats that has the government at its mercy, and has done .and still does all the dirtiest work that Horthy wishes done, corresponds quite closely to the Wall Street Soviet which reigns in the Western World and furnishes the money for the eastern one. Illegalities are nothing, and their power is so great that the government dare not attack. The Manchester Guardian sizes the situation up well when it says:

A Liberal is worse off in Hungary than a Socialist. The Socialist at least has a party and a press behind him. If he is prominent and his case is one of particularly flagrant injustice a big stir is made on his behalf, and the trade unions may even take action. But Hungarians who belong to no big party, or have no international connections, are at the mercy of the system the moment they dare to oppose or criticise it openly.

The forgery of the French francs was the work of the secret societies which dominate Hungary. The work was done in the Cartographical Institute by government employees, and the former premier of Hungary, Stephen Frederick, testified in court that he had seen documents signed by Premier Bethlen assuring the counterfeiters the protection of the Hungarian government.

The prosecution of these forgers was an international joke. The state’s case was a mixture of one part prosecution and two parts de-■ fense. All Hungary and all the -world knew that these forgeries were intended to secure revenge on France and that court action was taken at all only to appease France and prevent international complications. All evidence at the trial tending to involve the Hungarian government was dismissed as hearsay and of not the least importance. The offenders were let off with light sentences, which, as a matter of fact, they will never serve.

Education and Religion

All boys and girls between the ages of six and twelve years are supposed to attend day schools, in Hungary; but as recently as 1910 nearly half of the population could neither read nor write. So the law is largely a dead letter. In the universities there is the same disposition to deprive the Jew of educational advantages as is characteristic throughout eastern Europe.

Sixty-three percent of the population are Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics or Old Catholics. The balance are Greek Orientals, Evangelicals, Unitarians, Evangelical Brotherhood, Baptist, Gregorian, Armenian, Jewish, and Mohammedan. The original pagan expression, “The God of the Hungarians,” is still in vogue throughout the land, and, oddly enough, in the Hungarian tongue, is called “Devla”. No meeting of more than nine persons can be held in Hungary without previous police permission.

The Hungarian love of music and dancing finds expression at every ceremonial, whether of religion, war, rejoicings, sacrifices or funerals. Liszt, himself a Hungarian, once said, “There is no other music from which European

The qOLDEN AGE

musicians can learn so much rhythmic originality as the Hungarian.”

All Hungarian railroad trains are provided with radio headphones in each compartment, and waiting rooms of the principal stations are equipped with loud-speakers. Thus, for a nominal fee, the Hungarian can have his beloved music with him wherever he goes.

27ie Holy Crown

After what has been said in this article as to the miseries of the common people of Hungary, and the source of their miseries, it seems odd to be told that most of the people still look to the restoration of the monarchy as their main hope for the future. This, of course, is due to improper instruction in church and in school. “The Holy Crown,” so called, has been and is the curse of Hungary.

The Allies, including the United States, encourage the Hungarian people to place their hopes in a monarchy; to their shame be it said. All the Allies have done is to remove the Haps-burgs from, the throne. But the removal of no one single family will cure the festering sore of royalty. Hungary has had too much, not only of the Hapsburgs, but of all the Magyar nobility, with here and there a rare exception, such as Karolyi. It is a state offense in Hungary to engage in propaganda looking to the establishment of a republic, but royalist propaganda by either of the claimants to the throne may be carried on unmolested.

The former emperor of Austria-Hungary tried to get the Hungarian part of his empire back in the fall of 1920, but Horthy doublecrossed the one who had raised him from obscurity to high rank. Horthy joined with others in arranging to receive Charles with open arms, and then fixed it up with the secret societies and with the troops to disperse the followers of Charles and seize him and his wife. When the queen arrived at the home of Count Andrassy the count mistook her for the new cook. This was a terrible humiliation for the proud Zita, but she should cheer up. It is better to be a cook with a job than a queen without one.

Charles was banished to the beautiful Madeira Islands, where he lived but a year. Zita has notified Horthy that she still regards herself as queen of Hungary and that her son Otto shall some day have the throne. And Horthy sits in her palace and smiles the savage smile of the despot. Otto will get the throne! And how?

All should be able to see that what Hungary needs with desperate need is the one thing that every other country under the sun needs, and that is the beneficent reign of earth’s rightful King, Christ Jesus, our present Master and Head and the future ruler of Hungary and of all the earth.

The Baptist Church at East Marion

OUR subscribers know that when the millowner of a church demands that people be put out of it, out they go. This was shown at East Marion, North Carolina, when one hundred members were dropped from the rolls at one time. Of course, they think they lost something. As a matter of fact, if they will receive it, this was a gift of liberty. They lost nothing at all. Nevertheless, some of the excommunicated ones feel rather badly. We have a letter from one of them in which she says:

“Since receiving your letter I feel that there are still a few friends that are really God’s children. I must say, though, that it is not a pleasant subject for me to talk on and that I have a burden on my heart tonight that I have never had before. I have been a member of the Baptist church since I was twelve years of age. For the last four years I have tried to live a life that would count for the Lord. Last Friday, November eighth, when my mail came, I was surely surprised to find my church letter sent me, without my request and with no knowledge whatever of the reason for such an act. The only thing I could get from the clerk was this: ‘The union and non-union cannot associate together.’

“I have four dear little children and it is my custom every Sunday morning to take them to church. We were always present, and my husband and I were both very active workers. What shall I do with my children? I cannot afford to send them, while I stay at home, and I don’t feel as if I can ever go back again. I shall try in my feeble way to hang on to God’s unchanging hand and overcome the Devil.”

Kaleidoscopics

Victims of Mad Drivers

OF THE 31,500 persons killed in automobile accidents in thirty-one states of the United States during the year 1929, more than half were pedestrians. The increase in fatalities over 1928 was thirteen percent.

Making Pearls in Brooklyn

IMITATION pearls are made in Brooklyn by the barrel and shipped to all parts of the world. The interior of the pearl is a carefully shaped round glass ball. The exterior is made of essence of pearls secured from the scales of millions of herring.

Wood Made of Cotton

ACLERKENWELL, London, man has invented a synthetic wood the base of which is cotton. The wood can be used for any purpose for which wood is used, and can be worked in any way in which wood is worked, and is quite inexpensive.

Slums at Kensington, London

Lord Buckmaster, of London, has recently pointed out that in Kensington, London, there are basements of four rooms in which live three families numbering sixteen persons. One room measuring eight feet by seven and one-half feet and without outside light was occupied by five persons. ..

Rome to Have Subway

ROME is to have a subway. It will have to be built thirty-five feet below the street level, so as not to interfere with the catacombs. Rome will also have a monument to the wufe of Garibaldi. The pope does not like it very well, and has complained about it publicly, but Mussolini is notoriously hard-hearted and seems to like to take a dig at Mr. Ratti often. .

The Thirteen-Month Calendar

HOUERE are now one hundred organizations -L in the United States that operate on the thirteen-period or thirteen-month calendar. These months are of twenty-eight days each and begin in each instance with the second day of January and end with the thirty-first of December. It is hoped to put the new calendar in universal use on January 1, 1933, because that day falls on Sunday.

Death for Graft in Russia

OUT of 129 persons recently indicted for graft in Russia, fourteen were sentenced to death and only six of the total number were acquitted. The head officials of several departments were among those accused.

Bloomfield’s Municipal Plant

THE municipal light plant of Bloomfield, Iowa, is free of all debt and pays seventeen or eighteen thousand dollars a year into the city treasury. Taxes in the city have dropped fifty percent in the last five years and the city is one of the best lighted in the state of Iowa.

Student Teachers in Mexico

TV/TEXICO is making up for her deficiency in schools and -teachers by opening new schools in homes and elsewhere which are taught in part time by students of the regular government schools, of which there are now four thousand in the country.

Argentina Drops Gold Standard

fa RGENTINA has suddenly dropped the gold standard, and Professor Fisher of Male University has declared his opinion that in about three years there will be a panic that can not be stopped because there will be insufficient gold in existence to bear the strain of the money in circulation.

Talkies in the Pulpit

fa N AMERICAN movie magnate insists that, -O- since many preachers read their sermons poorly, there has ceased to he any need of them, and he will shortly offer for sale to any church a combination of talkies with music that will make these knights of the collection basket a thing of the past. Alarm clocks can still be had for 89c. Overalls are about $1.25 a suit.

Ruins of Sodom Found

IT IS believed that the ruins of Sodom have been found at the head of the Dead Sea. The city, 1,965 feet long by 1,310 feet wide, has some houses fairly well preserved, but gives evidence of having been destroyed by fire. Near by is a salt cliff 150 feet thick. Lumps of free sulphur have been picked up in the vicinity. The accuracy of the Bible account of Sodom’s destruction is plainly evident from these facts.

Distribution of Earnings

IN THE year 1927 the average wage of railway employees was $1,676; of factory workers, $1,299; of textile workers, $1,040; and the average money income per farm was $717. The total income of 11,122 persons was equal to one-fourth of the total income of ten million factory and railroad workers.

Detroit’s Remarkable Firemen

IREMEN of the city of Detroit, having been recently granted an increase of pay, requested that the money be used to employ men who need work to provide the necessities of life for their families. This is a lesson in statesmanship that tells its own story to all who will heed it.

Five-Day Week for Plumbers

NATIONAL agreement for a five-day week has been entered into between the

United Association of Journeymen Plumbers and Steainfitters and the National Automatic Sprinkler Association. This is the first national agreement for a five-day week that has been entered into in the United States.

Vulcanite Portland Cement Company

HpHE Vulcanite Portland Cement Company, •*- Bloomsbury, New Jersey, works its men an average of twelve hours a day and pays them for but eleven hours, and openly advertises that fact in notices posted about the works. On the longest shift, of 22J hours, the men are paid for two hours less than they work.

Christmas Unlawful in Scotland

Mr. Ripley, of cartoon fame, points out that

Christmas has been illegal in Scotland since 1644, on the ground that it is a heathen festival. Bishop St. Nicholas of Myra, now known as Santa Claus, was the patron saint of thieves and pawnbrokers. The original Christmas tree of Nimrod’s time was a palm.

Discoveries in Antarctica

WITH the use of the camera 150,000 square

miles of Antarctica have been photographed from the air. Thus an area equal to all the New England states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and part of the Virginias has been added to the maps of the world.

Iceland’s Valuable Hot Springs

OT only are the hot springs of Iceland of great use to the farmers, in some districts doubling the potato crop, but arrangements are now in progress for using these waters to heat the city of Reykjavik, the capital of the country. The population of Reykjavik is 22,000.

Phoenicians in the Amazon

THE discovery of inscriptions carved on rocks in the Amazon valley leads to the belief that the Phoenicians once visited South America and built a city there. If this be true it may be found that South America is the lost continent of Atlantis and that the only reason it was lost is that those who once found it were not able, for some reason, to find it again.

Robot Traffic Policemen

HE Automatic Signal Corporation of New Haven, Conn., now has on the market an automatic robot traffic policeman which operates traffic with clock-like and almost human precision. The device has been used to replace traffic officers in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington, New Haven, Providence and Boston.

The Ohio Penitentiary

OF THE 4,703 prisoners in the Ohio Penitentiary, 61 are college graduates, and 135 have attended college; 242 are graduates of high schools, 742 have attended high schools, and 1,129 are graduates of grammar schools. The illiterate number 472, or 9.8 percent of the total population.

The Profits of Crime

OF 108 habitual criminals sentenced to life imprisonment under the Baumes law, twenty profited nothing whatever from their crime, one obtained twenty cents, seventeen obtained less than $100, twenty-one obtained an average of $250, and in the rest of the cases the property was all recovered.

Russian Broadcasting

THE largest radio broadcasting plant in the world is in Russia, just outside of Moscow.

It has a capacity of 100,000 watts. Receivers are placed on street corners, in schools, and in village assembly halls. The programs are educational and are intended to reach the masses of the people with instruction in Soviet ideals.

Radio Equipped Cars

AT THE Automobile Show in New York, Tv. Cadillac, La Salle, Reo, Dodge, Chrysler 1-7

and many other cars were shown fitted up with radio receiving sets which may be used either while the vehicle is in motion or while standing. The antenna is built in the top of the car and consists of several strands of wire run back and forth through the beams of the hood. The additional cost is $100 to $200 a car.

The Westinghouse Driverless Car

THE Westinghouse research department recently had on exhibit in New York a driverless car, operated by telephone. At the word of command the car went forward and then backed up forty feet. Lights were turned on and off as desired. The electric eye on the car opened a garage door when the driver pointed his spotlight on the sensitive mechanism.

No More Deadly Monoxide

Doctor Frazer, professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, has found a catalyst which changes the poisonous carbon monoxide exhaust of automobiles to harmless carbon dioxide and eliminates the offensive odor. The smoke of combustion is totally consumed and the heat value of the fuel better utilized. Experts are now preparing the patent for general use.

Widespread Russian Socialization

HpHE Soviet authorities are determined to ef-feet the socialization of everything in Russia during the next five years, come what may; so reports indicate. In one place, Budenovitz, it is intended to socialize an entire city of 50,000 inhabitants, doing all the cooking in one kitchen. The farm city will operate 500,000 acres of land and have its own canning, cheese, and other food establishments.

Labor-saving Machinery in Britain

AGAINST her desires Britain is adopting labor-saving machinery, and this at a time when she has something like a million and a half unemployed. The world is in a strange muddle. The thing that Britons want above everything else is work, and yet the economists point to the United States and tell her that the only way she can get what she wants is to adopt machinery that will put still more men out of employment.

Unbreakable Phonograph Records

octor Beans, professor of chemistry at Columbia University, has made from synthet-ie resin a new substance for phonograph records which is as flexible as paper and yet is insoluble and infusible, and will not crack or chip under hammering. It is believed the new material will be very valuable in electric installations and stereotype matrices.

Uses of the Noctovisor

WITH the use of a noctovisor an automobile headlight of ordinary brilliance was readily seen through four hundred yards of a heavy London fog. The machine makes use of the infra-red rays which are below the level of human sight but readily penetrate fogs and mists. This device is expected to be of great benefit to water and air navigators..

Effect of Talkies in France

"WTHILE France has next to no unemploy’ » ment in other lines, yet the radio and the talkies have filled the streets of Paris with actors, singers and-musicians for whom there is no work. The effect is the same in America, Britain, and elsewhere. The poor musicians are being compelled to give up their art and seek employment as waiters or any other employment they can get.

Congressman McClintic’s Quest

Congressman James V. McClintic, of Oklahoma, is trying to find out why it took over $500 a day to pay the expenses of Charles M. Schwab when he was nominally working for the government for a dollar a year. We wish Congressman McClintic luck in his quest about this $260,000, though there are 260,000 reasons why he will not get the information which he seeks.

Raising Beans in Florida

A FLORIDA farmer raised green beans on his land, sixty thousand pounds of them, and received $300 for his crop, which was $700 less than the crop actually cost him. The beans sold at retail in New York city for fifteen thousand dollars. The farmer received 2|c a pound for his beans, the retail dealers in New York paid 6c a pound, and the public paid 25c a pound. Seems too bad that things have to be done so unfairly as this, doesn’t it!

Unemployment in Europe

GERMAN unemployment is now very great, being around two million persons. In Austria one person in every four is out of work. This is the situation as of the middle of January. Austria has been on the brink of civil war for months past, a war between socialists and clericals, but conditions have improved somewhat more recently.

Ford Plants in Europe

THE Ford plants in Ireland, England, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy and Spain are in full swing, and in most cases pay the highest wages known in the countries where they operate. Business conditions are booming in Cork, ■where the tractor plant is located. The 4,600 men there employed are turning out sixty tractors a day and expect to speed up to 150 a day.

Popularity of World War Books

/NJLLIER’S magazine says of the popularity of books like All Quiet on the Western Front that “in a score of ways it stands proved that men and women are no longer fooled and cozened by old lies, traditions and superstitions, and have turned away from war as a thing abhorrent, criminal in its stupidity, sane in its futility”.

in-

Three Gangsters Get It

THREE gangsters in Chicago made a demand for $10,000 or his life of one of the labor leaders of that city. He made an appointment and at the meeting the three gangsters were shot to death by detectives secreted on the premises. They died squealing that they had not had an even break. The detectives were released under a verdict of justifiable homicide.

In Prison Nine Years, Now Proven Innocent

THE mayor of a French town, in prison nine years Tor killing a fellow man’, has now been proven innocent. Another man, who committed suicide, left a note stating that he had stolen the mayor’s gun and accidentally killed the man for the taking of whose life the mayor was incarcerated. Cheer up, Mooney. You have been in jail longer than that, and you are innocent too, but California may yet get an honest man in the governor’s chair and then you will be freed.

The Dust in a Cigarette

SOMEBODY has figured out that there are about four thousand million separate granules of dust in each puff of cigarette smoke. From the same source we learn that American smokers consume almost six pounds of tobacco per head of population per year. Now you figure out how many dust particles that is and you have the prize.

The Russian Air Force

fpil® Russian air force consists of ninety -L squadrons of twelve machines each. It is now admitted that this country is setting the pace in air armaments, spending a larger proportion of its revenue on aeronautical development than any other country. The whole aircraft industry is in the hands of the state. There are about twenty aircraft factories.

Disasters Due to Meteors

AT BUDAPEST recently a young girl on the way to a wedding was killed by a meteor.

This suggests that some of the unaccountable accidents which have befallen airplanes and vessels on the high seas may be due to this cause. A meteor the size of a hazelnut traveling at thirty miles a second hits its objective with the force of a five-hundred-ton train.

Europe’s Old Clothes

EUROPE’S old clothes are gathered together in a suburb of Paris, where they are sorted, cleaned, and mended, and then sold for so much a pound to dealers from Africa and Asia who, in turn, sell them again at retail to the poor of less favored lands. All the picturesqueness of African and Asian native garbs is being rapidly lost. One merely sees Europe’s old clothes on dark skins.

Vaccination Optional in England

AS A result of making vaccination optional in England the percentage of vaccinated births fell off from 97 percent in 1872 to less than 40 percent in 1922. And the deaths from smallpox dropped from 46,312 in the 20-year period, 1872-1891, to 122 in the 10-year period, 1912-1921. The British minister of health, Sir John Burns, stated on the floor of the House of Commons in 1911 that “in direct ratio as vaccinations had fallen off, the mortality from smallpox had declined”.

Doctor Cook’s Hard Luck

Doctor Cook is believed by some to have been the first man to visit the North Pole, but the world believed him a faker and turned its back on him. He was sure western Texas would be a great Hi field, sold plenty of stock, and went to prison for it. While he was in prison the oil was found just where he said it would be. Hard luck seems to have followed him through life.

Terrors in Berlin

SCHOOL children in Berlin rioted and smashed the furniture of a theater because shown lantern slides of a coal mine instead of a movie film as they had expected. In the same city a Russian doctor killed and robbed half a dozen people by shooting them with bullets of thin glass filled with poison gas. Eventually he killed several policemen and himself with the same gas when his capture was attempted.

Policeman Johnson’s Revolver

WHEN the hold-up men burst in on the Vitale dinner some weeks ago and held up the magistrate, the seven criminals, and Policeman Johnson, they took away Mr. Johnson’s revolver, but in some mysterious manner Magistrate Vitale returned it to him afterwards, refusing to say how it had come into his hands. The magistrate has since been up before the Bar Association for questioning. Police claim that the object of the hold-up was to secure possession of a murder contract which one of the criminal guests had in his possession.

Raising Cane in Washington

NDER this heading The Nation has a brilliant letter from Arthur Warner that is well worth reading. It shows, in the open, the curious methods by which the big business men pull their wires to reconcile their tariff differences, and that without taking the interests of the people into consideration at all. An interesting feature is the ridiculous light in which is placed General E. H. Crowder, one time ambassador to Cuba and during the World War in charge of the military draft in the United States. He was revealed as lobbying in the interests of Cuban sugar, for pay, and not hesitating to make use of American military and naval plans in order to gain his ends.

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