Golden Age, July 23, 1930
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ai,r Golden Age
A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE
in this issue
DOES ANDREW MELLON CONTROL '
THE SOLAR SYSTEM?
A resume of the '.‘aluminum poisoning” issue.
. “TRUTH SMOTHERED”
WHEN THE WORLD WENT MAD
“SALT AND BONFIRES”
' QUESTIONS
Wi!!i answers by Judge Kutlierford, broadcast June 8 in the watchTOWEti national chain program.
every other WEDNESDAY
five cents a copy one dollar a year Canada & Foreign 1.5a
Volume XI-No. 283
CONTENTS
LABOR AND ECONOMICS
AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY
Chile Idemnifies Crime Sufferers 686
Oranges in Palestine .... 685
SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL
Gatherings .......685
Sperm Whale off Vancouver . . 685
Constantinople Is No More . . 685
85,000 Soldiers Still Missing . . 685
Airplanes on Sale in London . 685
17,500 Suicides a Year .... 686
The World’s Widest Streets . 687
When the World Went Mad . . 689 “A Well of Water Springing Up ” 696 Borah’s Advice to the Young . 703
FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION
Does Andrew Mellon Control
the Solar System? . . . 675
Object to Old Age Pensions . . 685
Mr. O’Donoghue’s Electric Bill 687
Municipal Ownership Pays . . 695
Soviet Matches in Belgium . . 702
SCIENCE AND INVENTION
Insurance Sold by Machinery . 685
Maizolith, a New Material . . 688
More Remains of the Giants , . 688
HOME AND HEALTH
Slaughter of the Innocents . . Health in Denmark During War Josephine Marie Carroll . . . Serum Treatment .....
No Aluminum for Thompson
Restaurants
Do 9
08 :
'RAVEL AND MIS C ALLAN
Floods in South Australia . . 694 “Salt and Bonfires’’ . . . . 695
The Loneliness of an Honest
POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
“Truth Smothered by Govern
mental Influence” . . . 680
Enforcement of Prohibition . . 688
OVhy Mooney Is in Prison . . 688
Boston Citizens Pining .... 693
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
Seventeen Kinds of Mennonites 69f»
Questions . . ... . . . 697
Published every othei* Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A., by WOODWORTH', KNORR & MARTIN
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Golden Age
Volume XI Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, July 23, 1930 Number 283
Does Andrew Mellon Control the Solar System?
THERE are some people who believe that our earth is the most important part of our solar system. There are others who believe that America’s great financiers are gobbling up most of the valuable property in the world. There are others who believe that these great financiers, and especially Andrew Mellon, control the government of the United States.
Some might go so far as to say that the government of the United States controls the people of the United States, but right here is where we draw the line. Whatever the theories and facts may be in other lands, the theory in America is that the people of the United States own this country and that the government officials are their servants appointed by them to preserve order and to do such things, and refrain from doing other things, as the Constitution of the country stipulates.
One of the stipulations of the Constitution is that Congress shall pass no law abridging freedom of the speech or of the press. To us this means just what it says. We do not know how it looks to the present secretary of the treasury and head of the aluminum trust.
We have no personal acquaintance with Mr. Mellon. We know of him only as reputedly a man of great ability, a director in over forty of the largest corporations in the United States, and a fellow member of cabinets graced with the presence of Warren G. Harding, Harry Daugherty, Calvin Coolidge, Albert Bacon Fall, Herbert Hoover, and Charles Evans Hughes during the late oleaginous administrations preceding the present electrified one.
On October 6, 1926, the question was first raised in the columns of The Golden Age as to why the division of health of the United States treasury department cautions against letting food stand in aluminum dishes.
October 20, 1926, we noted that the total investment of the Aluminum Company of America was less than $3,000,000, but that its assets and cash dividends together then amounted to more than $136,000,000.
In The Golden Age No. 206 we mentioned that on February 17, 1927, out of 554 guests at a banquet in'Kansas City, all the food for which was carefully selected by experts and cooked in brand new aluminum ware, 150 persons became ill within twenty-four hours.
On November 16, 1927, we told our readers how to make aluminum hydroxide by boiling water half an hour in a clean aluminum dish; how to produce aluminum phosphate by cooking eggs in aluminum; how to produce aluminum chloride by cooking salted meat in aluminum. Aluminum hydroxide attacks the gastric juices of the stomach, and itself remains as a poison in the stomach, producing loss of appetite, pain, discomfort, nausea, vomiting, purging, congestion, hemorrhages and ulcer. Aluminum compounds cause red corpuscles to aggregate or clump, leading to anemia. Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland, .Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Brazil prohibit the use of aluminum compounds in foodstuffs. Aluminum hydroxide increases the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and thus predisposes to cancer, because every cancer patient has first an acidosis.
On December 28, 1927, Mr. Kitzmiller told us that though he had been eating crabs all his life, yet when he first ate crabs cooked in. aluminum utensils the crab- juice ate holes in his clothing and in his shoes, everywhere it touched them.
On March 7, 1928, was published the fact that all foods cooked in aluminum greatly increase the cancer reaction, and it has been found necessary to avoid aluminum dishes and utensils in the preparation of food for cancer patients. The same issue contained a report of the 200 church diners poisoned at the First Baptist
The Golden Age
church at Punxsutawney, Pa., due to the fact that the entire supply of gravy was collected into one aluminum container, and it was first revealed to our readers that the managing editor of a great daily paper in Toledo was discharged instantly for allowing a report to be printed in his newspaper questioning the wisdom of the use of aluminum utensils.
On March 21, 1928, we first revealed to our readers the brilliant care which the aluminum trust takes of newspapers that mention aluminum poison. We saw how promptly the word aluminum could be whitewashed into the word “metal”, and good chickens could be turned into bad ones to conceal the real truth.
April 4, 1928, issue mentioned the nine-page attack on The Golden Age by the Correct Eating magazine, in which attack Dr. Alsaker became so much excited that he used the personal pronoun “I” a total of eighty-five times in the one article. The same magazine contained a nice full-column advertisement oE aluminum ware.
April 18, 1928, contained references to the testimony of two prominent physicians before the Federal Trade Commission, giving at length their rea.sons for the opinion that aluminum compound was poisonous to all forms of life, including the higher animals.
May 2, 1928, a subscriber reported that after eating food cooked in aluminum utensils an ice-like film formed before his eyes, lasting for half an hour, but that seven days after discarding aluminum utensils the blindness gradually disappeared, was gone altogether in a month, and has not returned since.
May 16, 1928, discussed at length aluminum compounds in city drinking water, in medicine, from water purifiers, in baked goods, in whiskeys, in baking powders, in injections before major operations, in 'bases for false teeth, and in cooking utensils.
May 30, 1928, tells how a woman saved her finger from amputation. Her doctor had tried for two years to reduce the swelling, but when she discarded all aluminum at once, the growth disappeared in four weeks.
July 11, 1928, another lady subscriber who had been using aluminum utensils exclusively for twenty years reached a crisis where her physician insisted on an exploratory major operation at once. She immediately discarded all aluminum vessels and began at once to slowly gain in strength and in red blood corpuscles.
July 25, 1928, a woman suffering from low blood pressure who had to spend ten to twelve hours a day in bed and then got up tired, related how she left off cooking in aluminum and could actually feel how much better she felt each morning than the day before, and is sure that the publication of the aluminum articles literally saved her life and helped her to become once more a useful member of society.
August 8, 1928, contained the names and addresses and titles of more than thirty persons of prominence in the medical profession who have agreed and many of them have sworn on their oath that in their opinion the salts of aluminum are harmful in human food. The same issue reported a gentleman who at one time sold aluminum ware as having given up the sale and use of aluminum utensils on the ground that they are bad on the teeth and kidneys. This man is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
August 22, 1928, a subscriber who had been suffering from stomach inflammation for several years recovered completely and regained his normal weight and health three months after discarding all aluminum cooking utensils. The same issue told of a family of four made ill from eating a pudding purchased in an aluminum pan. One of those who was made ill died.
September 19, 1928, one subscriber, subject to spells of sick headache, reported that they ceased entirely after giving up aluminum utensils. Another subscriber reported that oats cooked in aluminum made one of his goats sick, but when the same food was cooked in granite ware the diseased condition disappeared.
October 3,1928, a subscriber reported that she had been troubled with sore mouth, sometimes so sore that she could hardly eat. She stopped preparing her coffee in aluminum, and her mouth got well; but being in a hurry one morning, went back to coffee made in her aluminum coffee pot, and by noon was in such misery she could hardly eat her dinner. That night her mouth and throat burned so she could hardly stand it.
October 17, 1928, beans cooked in aluminum and left to stand in the aluminum vessel until thoroughly poisoned caused the death at Crowell, Texas, of the father of the family and a five-year-old daughter and the serious illness of five others.
October 31, 1928, reported benefits to the health of an entire family, and the recovery of two neighbors, one from severe pains in the left side, and the other, a man of eighty-eight years of age, from stomach trouble.
November 14,1928, a subscriber who had herself .been relieved of indigestion, headaches, and constipation, noticed that her dog, when given milk that had stood in aluminum would not drink it, but took it readily when it was given to him out of an earthenware crock. The same issue mentioned a workingman’s objecting to an aluminum pudding dish in his dinner pail; and gave another illustration of a dog’s refusing to drink milk that had stood in an aluminum kettle overnight. The same issue also contained reference to' Dr. Murphy’s great discovery that cancer is caused by chemical poisons.
November 28, 1928, contained the frank admission of Dr. Royal S. Copeland, United States senator from New York, and former commissioner of health of New York city, that food should not be allowed to remain overnight or for any period of time in aluminum cookingware.
esting information
or fresh
that when rhubarb
December 12, 1928, we published the intertomatoes are cooked in a discolored aluminum pan, they will ‘scrub’ the pan more thoroughly than can be done in any other possible way. The dirt goes into the food; the food goes into the human being; and the undertaker gets the remains.
December 26, 1928, a subscriber reported a complete recovery from severe stomach trouble, dizzy spells and intense vomiting spells, after she gave up eating food cooked in aluminum utensils.
January 9, 1929, Dr. Betts reported that an agent in New York city who was selling his books, An Opinion Upon Aluminum and Aluminum Poisoning, was deliberately pushed in front of a subway train and his skull was crushed. It is not known who bumped him off, though the reason why is quite apparent.
January 23, 1929, referred to the poisoning of the Peters family, evidently due to eatingbeef and cabbage boiled in an aluminum kettle. Two children died as a result of this poisoning, which sent five of the family to the hospital.
February 6,1929, reported the Memorial Day poisoning at Bennington, Kans., in which practically all the food was cooked in aluminum utensils, allowed to stand in them, and warmed in them.
February 20,1929, contained an article showing that milk sickness and trembles in cows and other animals, including cats, rabbits and human creatures, is brought about by the drug aluminum phosphate, which occurs in excessive quantities in certain areas. The effects are constipation, rapid loss of weight, weakness, torpor, vomiting, tremor, jerking movements, convulsions, paresis, diarrhea, and death.
March 6, 1929, a subscriber who had ulcers of the stomach found that he got well after stopping the use of aluminum cooking utensils and baking powders.
March 20,1929, announced that the Perfection Aluminum Company of Cleveland, Ohio, had closed its doors to the manufacture of kitchen aluminum ware. The same issue also mentioned that during the war the soldier boys, supplied with aluminum canteens and cooking outfits, contracted trench mouth, now believed to be traceable to their aluminum cooking utensils.
April 3, 1929, a cook who had recovered from acute aluminum poisoning after abandoningcooking utensils, invites skeptics to stew apples and sugar to a sauce while cooking them in aluminum utensils, and then set them away in the kettle. The juice of half a lemon should be added before cooking. The cook thought the result would be fit only for the garbage cam
April 17, 1929, an experienced and capable dietician reported that after the family began using aluminum cooking ware his wife suffered with frequent sick headaches, accompanied with vomiting, while his youngest son was troubled with eczema-like sores in the summer and fall. With the discarding of aluminum in the kitchen, both his wife and his boy got well.
May 1, 1929, reported many interesting experiences and observations with aluminum. Among these were the instructions sent out with the first aluminum ware to the effect that certain foods should not be cooked in aluminum. If the aluminum manufacturers knew this at the outset, how does it come that they cannot find it out now? An aluminum kettle filled with buttermilk in the evening is black in the morning, and the buttermilk also is black.
May 29, 1929, a ham cooked in an aluminum roaster and left in the roaster pitted it all over the bottom so that one could see through it. Two healthy kittens brought in from the barn in cold weather and given their milk in an aluminum dish sickened and died the following morning. A man who had ulcers of the stomach stopped eating food cooked in aluminum cooking utensils and got well.
June 12, 1929, an experienced cook noticed that cakes baked in an aluminum pan have a distinctly peculiar taste on the outside of the cake.
June 26, 1929, contained another splendid article by Dr. Betts. The same issue showed that sulphate of aluminum ate through the paint and .attacked the steel plates of a tank in a Philadelphia navy yard.
July 10, 1929, revealed the Aluminum Company of America as advertising for laborers over twenty-one and under forty-five years of age to work ten hours a day at thirty-eight cents an hour.
July 24,1929, cited a Pittsburgh dispatch that the Mellon family made a profit of $300,009,000 in the first five months of 1929 in the rise in value of stock of the Aluminum Company of Anierica and the Gulf Corporation of Pennsylvania.
August 21, 1929, contained another of Dr. Betts’ splendid articles.
September 4, 1929, Dr. White reported that many of his worse cases of arthritis, colitis, “stornach-itis,” were readily cured as soon as the aluminum dishes were smashed. The same issue refers to the warning of an aluminum salesman that food should not be allowed to stand in the utensils. His remark was not taken seriously, which resulted in the death of the head of the family.
September 18, 1929, contains.a reference to the $30,000 three-yoar investigation made by the National Coffee Boasters Association proving that coffee cannot be properly prepared and does not taste right if made in an aluminum pot.
October 2, 1929, tells of a subscriber who was often subject to impaired taste, sore mouth, constipation, colds, low blood pressure, gall bladder trouble and anemia, and recovered from all of these when she gave up her aluminum utensils.
October 16, 1929, narrated the experience of two pairs of twin goats. The one pair, fed out of aluminum, died within seven weeks. The other pair, fed from granite, never missed a meal and are in splendid condition.
October 30, 1929, narrates the experience of restaurateurs in Winnipeg who tried to advertise that they protected the health of the public and did not use aluminum utensils. A hardware compare of the city, evidently backed by the aluminum trust, forced the publisher of the paper to change the advertisement.
The foregoing is a brief chronicle of some of the evidence which appeared in the columns of The Golden Age up to and including the end of October last. Since then, in every issue, similar items equally interesting and equally important to the welfare of the American people and the people of other lands have been published on this subject, and will continue to be so published, because this magazine is run, not to please Andrew Mellon, nor the government of the United States, nor anybody but Almighty God, the only One we fear, and (barring those in full harmony with Him) the only one in these days for whom we have any respect.
On November 13, 1929, there meandered into our office a gentleman who represented himself as an attorney sent hither by the Federal Trade Commission, one of the instruments of the United States government, supposedly concerned with the subject of seeing that the trade of the country is carried on in a proper manner. We had no business with this gentleman, nor he with us, as we are exclusively publishers, and not engaged in trade in any manner.
It was necessary to tell the gentleman that freedom of the press still maintains in this country, that it is held very dear by us, and that Congress itself cannot pass a law that can prevent us from stating what we believe to be the truth as respects the deleterious effects of the use of aluminum utensils upon the health of those whose food is continually prepared in them.
After a quite lengthy interview, which was not without its amenities and asperities, he withdrew, taking with him a few copies of The Golden Age with our assurance that the articles which they embraced on the aluminum question were but a bagatelle as compared with what we had published and intended to publish on the subject. '
On May 26, 1930, the gentleman returned, and we presume cared as little about undertaking the errand of again interviewing us as we did about having him come. So that makes it even, anyway. The fact of the business is that some financiers and some politicians in this country give us a pain. They seem to think that the legacy of the ‘divine right of kings’ has somehow landed on their brow. The Federal Trade Commission is doing a splendid work in exposing the crookedness of the Power Trust; but when it comes to trying to tell us how to run The Golden Age, that is a job outside of its bailiwick.
If we think fried ham is not good for people, do we have to run to some commission or other and locate the fried ham department and ask them what we may say about fried ham? If bleached flour gets on our nerves, must we look up the bleached flour department before we dare ‘holler’ about it? If we think straw hats or lip sticks or bustles or corsets are ‘no good’, must we get permits from the straw hat, lip stick, bustle or corset departments before we dare open up on the subject? Not that you could notice it. ■
But perhaps the fried ham, bleached flour, straw hat, lip stick, bustle and corset departments shall say we are interfering with their business, or with the business of those who placed them in office. That would all be very sad, but it is the penalty one has to pay for living in the land of the free and the home of the brave in this twentieth century.
Suppose some day we should suddenly come out advocating a diet of nothing but fruit, and advising everybody to wear summer garments consisting of a one-piece abbreviated suit. All the departments would be on top of us at once, because we would be interfering with everybody’s business.
But there is a bright side to it. Nobody need pay any attention to us unless he wishes. So freedom of the press has its drawbacks. If there is no sense to what we say the people will find it out sometime, and then good-bye Golden Age. But suppose w’e happen to be right on this aluminum utensil business, and a thousand and one other things, then who is going to undertake to stop us? He has yet to be born.
Again. We are very much interested in the gospel truth about God’s kingdom. We are much pained to find that this good message is being blackguarded and lied about in every corner of this country, constantly. Do we run to the Federal Trade Commission or the pulpit commission, or the collection basket commission, or some other commission, and whine about what hurts our greatest interest in life? Not at all. And it Avould not do us any good if we did. A cause worth while must be a glutton for punishment.
Now it so happens that some of the aluminum cooking utensil people are quietly going over to the manufacture of stainless steel. They would not be doing that unless they knew in their hearts that it is the right thing to do. We are really trying to help these fellows do what they must do sooner or later; so, in reality, we are the truest friends of the people that are in the cooking utensil business. Sometime they will be glad we were of this kind.
Well, our friend from Washington came to see us again, and we gave him a letter of introduction to our counsel, a gentleman for whom we have the highest esteem. The editor went along, to enjoy the. fun. It was a wonderful two hours, one of the kind of experiences that linger in the memory.
The gentleman was questioned by our attorney as to who sent him. He seemed unable to make satisfactory, definite answer. He was reminded that in no honorable court in Christendom can a complaint be lodged against a person or institution without making known the identity of the complainant. This would have been enough to justify termination of the interview, but our attorney was patient and considerate, and wanted to know what was really wanted.
The questioner then said that he wanted to know’ the size of the subscription list of The Golden Age. ’With dignity and firmness our attorney explained to him that that is the affair of The Golden Age itself, and none other. When the questioner thought he could get that information elsewhere it was intimated to him that that was not impossible, but seemed not to be a proper matter of his concern.
The questioner then desired to know the financial backing of the paper, from what source its funds are procured. Again it was explained to him that this also is the affair of the magazine itself; yet he was assured that the funds are not supplied by either capitalists or bolsheviks. Our subscribers well know that The Golden Age lives because it honestly tries to tell the truth on all subjects. They pay the bills; no others.
There was much learned discourse on the subject of freedom of the press. The questioner indicated that it was his ambition only to get the truth. He got plenty of it. He was for the people. So are we. He was for trade. So are we. But we are particular about what kind of trade. This is where the shoe pinches. From our personal point of view this man had no more business to come into a publisher’s office and ask such questions than we would have to inquire what he ate for breakfast or when he brushed his teeth.
We conclude this little story with an affidavit by Doctor Betts, which we are sure will be of interest to all our readers. It seems to us that it is about time the government got around on the right side of this problem and tried to do something for the people. If Mr. Mellon objects, give him a one-way ticket to Pittsburgh. The truth oh this aluminum cooking utensil question is with us, and the people are with us, and are convinced. A careful inquiry in any hardware store shows that the dealers see the handwriting on the wall. Meantime there is no objection to using aluminum for automobile chassis and other things for which, as a metal, it is preeminently fitted.
“Truth Smothered by Governmental Influence” By Dr. Chas. T. Betts
IN 1913 the writer’s head th was in such a serious condition that a trip was made to Colorado. It was while there that by a simple observation with an aluminum cup and soda water he obtained the information that aluminum produces gas in the presence of an alkali and liquid. He returned home and investigated the aluminum culinary department and found that the metal dissolved from the utensils and contaminated foods cooked therein.
When the dissolved metal is ingested and comes in contact with the alkaline juices of the body, gas is formed in the alimentary tract, which was the evident agent that produced the disease which caused the journey to the West.
Then for a period of about twelve years a clinical examination was made with a large number of patients and it was found their recovery was as remarkable as was that of the writer after discarding the aluminum dishes. After all of this data was compiled a decision was made to publish, the facts in booklet form. The writer visited a number of printers before one was found who would print the monograph, and then it was accomplished only after considerable consultation with their attorney and the manuscript changed from statements ot fact to AN OPINION and QUESTIONS.
An Opinion Upon Alumimim was printed October, 1926, in Toledo, Ohio, without the printer’s name appearing thereon. Reasons for this were definitely expressed. Before the abovementioned work was completed the writer found that between the years of 1915 and 1919 an examination regarding the. physiological effects of aluminum had been made at the University of Michigan. Extensive examination had been made and the findings Avere about to be published, when an officer from the Internal Revenue Department appeared upon the scene, according to the scientist’s statement quoted below, and this happened just before the findings at the university were to be published. (Reader, please note that this same thing happened in the writer’s office before his book Aluminum Poisoning was published.) Strange how these coincidences do happen!
The scientific investigation upon aluminum poisoning has been extensively made throughout the land, and thousands of dollars have been expended. The results of this work have been tabulated, but the record, is usually kept under cover and is known as a “confidential” or “secret” document. ■
Such an examination was made at the Columbia University, of New York, by Dr. William Gies. His findings were placed in printed form occupying about 100 pages of a 12-mo book. The writer has attempted to secure a copy of this work at various times and has received silence for a reply in every instance. The doctor gave testimony to the Federal Trade Commission in Docket No. 540; the examiner reported four of his experiments. Eight studies in the metabolism of aluminum have been completed at the toxicology department of Yale University. This was published in the American Journal of Physiology, September, 1929, $3.00 a copy. .
Dr. Harry Gideon Wells, of the University of Chicago, made an extensive study of the effects of aluminum compounds on living tissue, which was published in the “Archives of Pathology”, August, 1929. AU this information is for those doing scientific work only. Following is a typical letter of those received from University professors:
■ December 2-1, 1929
Dr. C. T. Betts
320 Superior St.
Toledo, Ohio
Dear Sir:
I have no supply of reprints available for the general public, and it will. not be possible for me to comply with requests sent me by laymen and people not engaged in scientific work. . . .
Yours very truly,
(Signed) H. Gideon Wells.
Why is this material copyrighted and ■ not available to the writer or the public? Why is it that the universities of our land, the American Medical Association and college professors so carefully copyright their work and do not allow the lai tv to secure this information? THE .REASON IS" APPARENT. Below is quoted a copy of. a letter received from the scientist in Michigan, who evidently suspected that the writer is also a scientist and knows the ethics sufficiently to avoid giving these matters to the public, and therefore gladly gave a short synopsis of his work:
We did animal experimentation first, then the various food stuffs were taken up, and finally we observed the effects upon humans. Many compounds were isolated—hydroxides, oxides, nitrates, chlorates and various others. All except a few wore harmful to man when taken internally—some by the mere contact with the epithelial tissue, such as gum tissue. We noted that there were throat involvements, gastric involvements, nephritis, and even gall bladder manifestations. The greatest affinity was for epithelial tissue, but connective tissue was involved in some cases. I thought the subject was well known and settled. However, if such is not the case, then I am glad you are presenting the dangers to the public.
The above letter came at the time the writers first article appeared in the Toledo Times, December 13, 1925, and the discussion of the question of aluminum compound poisoning had reached extensive proportions in this country.
The writer was indeed happy to find that his work for twelve years from a clinical standpoint was not to be cast aside as of no value when here he had the backing of one of the foremost scientists in America from the University of Michigan.
A request was at once made for all the data or a transcript of what he had upon the question. The writer was previously under the impression that he was the only one who had observed the poisonous effects of aluminum compounds, so was interested to find that others had made a similar discovery long before the writer had found them, but the scientist’s answer to publish the •matter was very illuminating. The writer has found few persons in prominent positions who do not also have fear of the federal revenue department.
The following answer* was received to the request for publishing the findings at the University of Michigan:
January 6, 1923 Beau Du. Betts :
Kindly treat this letter strietiy (confidential) for reasons you will note.
When my work on aluminum was about completed in 1919 and I was getting it ready lor publication my office vens invaded by an income tax man from the collector of internal revenue and lie started to go over my books, It took me some time to catch, on to the meaning of all this, but I finally “tumbled”. Suffice to say that I have never published my work and I diave not been bothered since by anybody from the collector’s office.
Of course, it is merely a coincidence that Mr. Mellon rules the Treasury of the United States and is the head of the Aluminum Company of America. No one can connect the two in any way with the dispute about my income tax or with any other person’s tax. However, Senator Couzens from Michigan thinks differently perhaps than myself. Suffice to mention that Senator Couzens is a wealthy man and can think out loud, if he so desires, while I am a professional man of poor financial standing and must do my thinking quietly, as I have to work for a living. Therefore, the warning to you to be careful unless you are prepared to fight back.
Kindly treat this confidential for reasons stated above.
The writer found that he had violated the rules of ethics of the scientists when he asked for the privilege of making these matters available to the laity. So far as I know, there has never been any public announcement of the findings upon aluminum at the University of Michigan. The influence or activity of the Treasury Department in this particular case, according to the above, quoted letter, has smothered the truth upon aluminum poisoning from reaching the public from one of the best universities in the land. Subsequent experiences have proven that what was true of the University of Michigan is true of many of our universities upon this sub-' ject.
Eleven months before An Opinion Upon Aluminum was published the report of Edward M. Averill, examiner for the Federal Trade Commission in Docket No. 540 was filed with the commission. About eighteen months after this occurred the writer found a transcript or printed copy in his physician’s office. An attempt was made at once to secure several copies of this work from the Royal Baking Powder Company, of New York city, respondent in the case. This was denied. They stated that the report was not for the laity, but only for those doing scientific work, and that if I would refer such inquiring persons to them they would probably forward a copy of the report.
The Royal Baking Powder Company case, which had been pending for more than five years before a federal authority, no doubt cost it and us (United States citizens) a tremendous sum of money. It is evident that the company felt justified in publishing the examiner’s report after the case was dismissed. The federal authorities thought otherwise. They claimed to have rendered no decision in the case, that they merely dismissed the formal charges before the commission. Therefore they held that the respondent had no right to publish the so-called “confidential” report of the examiner, and they reopened the case. The Royal Company appealed that action to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. The writer has not learned what disposition, if any, has been made of the case.
Upon reviewing the copy of Averill’s report the writer decided that the vast amount of scientific material revealed therein before our federal authorities upon the question of aluminum poisoning or the physiological effects of the ingestion of alum should be given to the laity. Plans were made to publish all or portions of this document, giving due and proper credit for the work. When the manuscript was ready for the printer the writer journeyed to New York and Boston in an attempt to secure a publisher for the work to be called Aluminum Poisoning. The question arose of the possibility of the book’s being “tied up” by litigation, should the second party (publisher) become involved.
It Avas plainly evident that the book would never reach the public if the Eastern publishers visited would secure a copyright on the work. While standing upon the grounds of Bunker Hill by the side of the monument the writer remembered the history of the place and decided to return home and publish the book under the name of the “Research Publishing Company”, so that there would be no one involved but himself. This was done in spits of the fact that the Royal Baking Powder Company frankly refused permission to quote their publication. This refusal was no doubt made on account of fear of further involvement with the Federal Trade Commission.
As above stated, the scientist had all his material ready for publication, when a federal authority appeared upon the scene from the Internal Revenue department. The writer’s manuscript -was about ready for the printer and a telegram, quoted below in Otis B. Johnson’s letter, came from our Federal Trade Commission, on June 15, 1928, stating that it would be “highly improper” to publish Averill’s report to that body, “in whole or in part.” The writer had no knowledge that our government officials knew that such a manuscript was being prepared. Instead of becoming frightened and laying it aside, as was done by my brother professional in Michigan, the proper credit to Averill was removed and portions of his report were published only as “testimony and evidence” given in the case.
The writer could not understand why Otis B. Johnson would be in such a hurry about this matter as to forward the demand for silence by telegraph. At first it was considered that someone had played a prank, and no immediate consideration was given it. During the day, however, it was thought best to secure a copy of the telegram which had been delivered over the telephone. After reading, it was thought best to write Mr. Johnson to determine for & certainty that it actually came from the commission. The following letter was forwarded at once:
June 16, 1928 Honorable Otis B. Johnson, Secretary Federal Trade Commission
Washington, D. C.
My dear Mr. Johnson:
I received a telegram from your office today that causes me to understand that the Federal Trade Com-■ mission is a secret Federal organization and that the testimonies given before the Trial Examiners, as well as the official reports or documents, are confidential instruments to the Federal Body, after the cases have been dismissed. Is this the intention of the telegram?
I have been to considerable expense in time and money, in preparing the new book—“ALUMINUM POISONING”— for distribution and will appreciate your advising me, under seal of the Federal Trade Commission, by letter, so that I will know that it (demand for silence) comes from our Federal officers.
Thanking you in advance for this courtesy, I am Very respectfully,
■ (Signed) C. T. Betts.
Apparently at the first meeting of the commission the subject was up for discussion and the following letter was in hand within twelve days after the telegram was received:
June 26th, 1928 Dear Sir: .
Your letter of June 16th was received and presented to the Commission, and in reply I was directed to quote my telegram to you under date of June 15th, as follows:
“June 15 th, 1928 “Charles T. Betts
c/o Research Publishing Co.
320 Superior St.
Toledo, Ohio
“Attention Federal Trade Commission called to circular announcing contents book proposed to be published by you entitled Aluminum Poisoning and containing quotations from report of Trial Examiner Averill of Staff this Commission stop Be advised Commission regards report Trial Examiner Averill as confidential document and its publication in whole or in part as highly improper stop Commission would appreciate advice your intention this respect.
“Otis B. Johnson, Secretary Federal, Trade Commission”
With reference to your statement relative to testimony and report of the trial examiner, ! was directed to say that the testimony of witnesses in formal docket cases and all the evidence introduced in these eases, is a public record, but that it is only the trial examiner’s report which is a confidential document.
As suggested in your letter of June 16th, I have affixed the seal of the Federal Trade Commission to this letter, and this seal, according to the statute, shall be judicially noticed.
By direction of the Commission.
Signed—Otis B. Johnson, Secretary. [Seal FEDERAL
TRADE COMMISSION
UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA]
The reader will note that the above letter contains a threat in the last paragraph, that ‘according to the statute the seal of the Federal Trade Commission, attached to the letter, shall be judicially noticed'’; whatever that means.
It was thought by the writer that this was only an intimidation procedure and that if Averill’s report was published in whole or in part some federal statute would apparently be violated.
If Averill’s report was a secret federal document it should have been kept secret, but as it was published for distribution to various persons and sent through the United States mails it was no longer a secret document and could be quoted by anyone so desiring, according to legal advice.
Without much delay the manuscript was placed in the printers hands and in due time the book Aluminum Poisoning appeared and was distributed to all those who had prepaid or given pre-orders for the work. Within a few days after the first copies were distributed a federal examiner, Mr. James Horton, called at my office, 320 Superior Street, Toledo, Ohio, and informed me that I was informally charged with conspiracy and violation of the Clayton Act, and that he was vested with authority to give me a hearing and to make an examination of my affairs. '
I asked him who my accusers were and he stated that he had no authority to give me that information. I did not know that the Constitution of the United States allowed a federal 'authority to place charges against a citizen of this land to be investigated and to be given a. hearing without knowing who the accusers were in the ease, but this seemed to be the situation according to Mr. Horton.
I immediately called my attorney to ascertain. for a certainty that the gentleman Jiad proper credentials and was vested with authority to make the examination as above stated. Upon being informed that if I did not allow it the federal authorities would continue to harass me, by demanding that I bring my correspondence and other data to a federal court or possibly to Washington, causing annoyance and endless expense, no objection was raised.
The. examination was conducted in the week of October 10, 1928. There was no objection to the examination by myself or upon the part of anyone connected with the printing, binding and other work with the preparation of the books An Opinion Upon Aluminum and Aluminum Poisoning. I offered to assist or to give any desired information available upon any items that might be desired.
Upon concluding the examination Mr. Horton advised that it was his opinion that we were both gentlemen. I especially appreciated this opinion of himself. He volunteered the statement that it was his opinion that I would become legally involved from what he termed a “back wash” by continuing the work upon this subject.
It is stated by innuendo by practically all of our so-called “national health writers” belonging to the American Medical Association that the writer is paid by anti-aluminum interests to father the aluminum crusade. Recently similar information has been given by the Bureau of Home Economics of the Agricultural Department by letter. In the public press can be found articles which are published upon this subject in many parts of the country, of which the following is a copy. Why has the Agricultural Department seen fit to defend aluminum ware when they have made no examination of such wares?
NO HEALTH MENACE FROM COOKINGIN ALUMINUM WARE
By Ruth Van Deman
Associate in Publications and Information Federal Bureau of Home Economics
Some way the idea has got abroad that aluminum ware is dangerous to health—that foods cooked in aluminum utensils absorb some kind of poison.
How such a notion got started is hard to say. Certainly, it was not really to protect the public from harm. Perhaps the original idea was to help the sale of some other’ kind of cooking utensils.
But, in the end, such trade wars serve mainly to befuddle the public. They benefit nobody.
The Department of Agriculture, itself, has not conducted any experiments on aluminum ware. We have, though, made a careful study of the scientific literature reporting experiments done by other reliable research institutions.
Not one statement can we find, backed by scientific research, that even suggests aluminum ware as the cause of disease or as a menace to health.
The writer, on September 19, 1928, published in The Golden Age, of New York city, a challenge to pay to Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the American Medical Association Journal, one thousand dollars, if he or any of his agents could judicially prove that one hundred dollars or more has ever been paid to me by any persons, corporation or group to whose interest this crusade would be of financial benefit. I make this offer now to pay $1,000 to any charitable institution designated by the Court if it can be judicially proven that I have accepted $10 or more in money or bonds from any source whatsoever for the furtherance of this crusade, except for the literature which I have had for sale.
is’
Toledo, Ohio Juno 2nd, 1930 State of Onio )
County of Lucas ) ss:
Dr. Charles T. Betts of 320 Superior Street, Toledo, Ohio, first being by me duly sworn according to law deposes and says:
THAT the foregoing statements composed of ten typewritten pages, which also contain my initials on the margin of each page thereof, are true to the best of his belief and knowledge.
Dated at Toledo, Ohio, this 2nd day of June in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty.
Witnesses:
Irene Gnieser
F. G-. Hufford
C. T. Betts
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 2nd day of June, a notary public within and for Lucas County, Ohio.
John C. Budd [Notarial Seal]
[Signed] John C. Budd Notary Public Lucas County, Ohio
Santa and Satan
A WRITER in Cappeds Weelclg calls attention to the fact that Santa and Satan are composed of the same letters arranged differently. The odd thing about this is that St. Nicholas is another name for Old Nick, which, as everybody knows, is Satan himself.
Workers Rise to Honor Christ’s Memory
AT A labor convention at Atlantic City in April the delegates rose and remained standing in silence three minutes in honor of and out of respect for the founder of the Christian religion, Jesus Christ.
Sperm Whale off Vancouver
THE Vancouver Sunday Province publishes a picture of the head of a sperm whale taken off the coast of British Columbia, and says: “This whale could easily have swallowed Jonah, for it is not unusual to find a ten-foot fish reposing whole in its belly.”
Constantinople Is No More
CONSTANTINOPLE has gone the way of St.
Petersburg and Christiania. It has ceased to be, under its old name. The new legal name of the city once called Byzantium and later named after the emperor Constantine is Istanbul, and that is the name by which it will henceforth be known.
85,000 Soldiers Still Missing
TWELVE years after the war eighty-five thousand soldiers are still missing. No doubt most of these were slain, but some are believed living in other countries under assumed names, having remarried and not wishing to return and face bigamy charges. Numerous others are insane.
Object to Old Age Pensions
THE Manufacturers’ Association of New Jersey has gone on record as opposing old age pensions. The ideal employee, it seems, is one that will work his head off for small wages until he is forty years of age and then quietly submit to being dropped into the ash can without remuneration and without protest.
Slaughter of the Innocents
AT THE Luebeck Home for Infants eight babies died and twenty-four others were made seriously ill because the physician in charge inoculated them with tuberculosis germs from cows. After the babies had been slain the treatment was ordered stopped immediately, and yet the semi-apology was made that this outrage was “the method commonly in use”.
Insurance Sold by Machinery
TN Germany a person may purchase insurance * for one or two days merely by dropping a nickel in the slot. The apparatus receives an imprint of the purchaser’s thumb. The policy is printed on a card..
Restoring the Parthenon
THE work of restoring the Parthenon, at Athens, has been in progress for some time and is now so far advanced that the excellent work which has been done by the artists is becoming apparent. The northern facade is completed and the effect is said to be extremely fine.
Airplanes on Sale in London
AVIATION has become so popular in Britain that Selfridge’s,' the leading department store, has installed an airplane department, handling English, German and Italian planes. Eight of these were sold in the first two weeks after the department opened. Prices range from $2,800 to $4,000.
Borden County, Texas
BORDEN county, Texas, is a queer county.
It has a courthouse and jail, yet in thirty-nine years there has not been a prisoner in the jail. In Borden county there is no railroad, no physician and no preacher. The sheriff of the county is seventy-five years of age and works as a cowboy.
Oranges in Palestine
A JEWISH orange grower who recently visited California declares that on a given area of land almost twice as great a crop of oranges is grown in Palestine as in California. The number of trees is greater in the same area, the yield per tree is greater, and the trees come to fruitage earlier.
Hot Winds on the Sun
DY SPECTROSCOPIC methods it has been found that in the sun’s upper atmosphere there are hot east winds that blow at the rate of 240 miles an hour. These regular and slow-moving solar currents are not to be compared in speed with the blasts which occasionally burst from its surface and speed outward at the rate of thousands of miles an hour.
Hot Cross-Buns
THE sign of the cross on hot cross-buns is not a representation of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, but is the sign of the horns of the sacred bull or boss, the derivative of the word bun. The ancient custom of marking the cakes used at the pagan festival lias lost its significance and is often misunderstood to have reference to the cress.
Frogs Sing Only in the Dark
IT HAS been found that frogs sing only in the dark. Turn an electric light upon their habitations and they no longer wish to hear themselves. This is the way it is with the antitypical frogs that have filled the earth with their croak-ings on militarism, hell fire and the divine right of kings and clergy. As the light of the new day is turned on they become silent.
Distress in Raleigh
THE Raleigh (N. C.) News and Observer calls attention to the fact that there are
250 families in Raleigh that are appealing for food. Meantime Uncle Sam lias 100,000,000 bushels of wheat that lie cannot sell. Why not let some of those Raleigh folks eat some of it? It would taste a lot better than nothing, and might, in the end, be a better investment than a battleship.
17JKN) Suicides a Year
A MERICA has 11,000 murders a year, 17,500 suicides a year, and 31,000 automobile deaths a year. Last year, on account of the stock market collapse, there was a considerable increase in suicides. New York city’s record was 1,255; Philadelphia, 337; Los Angeles, 271; St. Louis, 186; Cleveland, 170; Baltimore, 123; Washington, 120; Minneapolis, 113; Boston, 112; Milwaukee, 104; Pittsburgh, 100.
Prayer at the Divinity School :
AT THE Divinity school of the University of
Chicago it is said that representatives of thirty churches are putting religion to the test. Dean Mathews of the school is alleged to have said that by prayer a man could make; more money, get a better job, be more popular, in fact get about everything he might want intelligently and morally; all of which, sounds mighty strange to us, and we think would sound equally strange to God and Christ and the angels.
Chile Indemnifies Crime Sufferers
HILE has undertaken wholesale prison reforms and is building a new prison which will occupy one hundred city blocks, and include the farm, hospital, gymnasium, concert hall and other features of the most modern prisons anywhere. The prisoners will work for wages and a part of their wages will go toward indemnifying the victims of their crimes.
Health in Denmark During War
TpldWER people died in Denmark during the
World War than at any previous time in the history of the country. The reason is that food supplies were cut off, it was necessary to kill the pigs and the cows, and the people ate the rough foods, barley, potatoes and bran, theretofore fed to the cattle. The country was virtually meatless.
What Is a Boy Worth?
JT^OR the average family with an annual in-x come of $2,500 it costs $7,238 to rear a boy up to eighteen years of age; so says the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Speaking economically, a boy is worth. $9,333 at birth, is worth $15,050 at six years of age, is worth $21,500 at twelve years of age, and $28,654 at eighteen years of age. But a good boy is worth several million times that to a fond parent.
Jewish Population of Palestine
FipHE Jewish population of Palestine has now -*L grown to 162,000, or 18 percent of the total population. Palestine is said to be one of the few places in the world where work is now plentiful. The Zionist organization has asked the British, government for permission to bring in additional immigrants, but this permission though at first granted was at last reports held up.
Ivan Kolesnikov, Cobbler
Tvan Kolesnikov, cobbler, stole the diploma of an assassinated surgeon at Kiev, Russia, and performed six hundred major operations in Russian hospitals before it was discovered that he was not a graduate surgeon. He has been sent to prison for six years. The odd thing about it is that the percentage of recoveries from the operations which he performed was much higher than that of the average hospital surgeon in Russia.
The World’s Widest Streets
MEW ORLEANS has one street 438 feet wide and several, others ranging from 160 to 267 feet. The Champs Elysees in Paris is 250 feet wide, the Beeper Bahn in Hamburg is 210 feet, wide and the Ring Strasse in Vienna is 185 feet wide. The main business thoroughfare of New Orleans, Canal Street, is 171 feet wide and is claimed to be the world’s widest main street of businss.
Women Getting Too Much Smoke
OME of the women who do not like too much tobacco smoke are getting too much of it and are beginning to rebel. It seems that all kinds of women’s shops are now being patronized by smokers who smoke while they shop, thus adding greatly to the fire risks, as well as to the discomforts of the women who are content to remain feminine. The non-smoking women complain that the women who smoke do not smoke like gentlemen, and they are probably right.
Profits to Five or Seven Companies
ECAUSE they cannot even buy a yard of wire without sending the order through one of the parent companies, the users of electric current all over the country are paying more for their supplies than they should, and in many places there are from five to seven companies one above the other between the man who consumes electric current at ten. to twenty times what it costs and the man in Wall Street who sets the price for it and supplies propaganda to the local newspaper.
Josephine Marie Carroll
Josephine Mabie Caebcll, 420 Union Street,
Jersey City, N. J., at the ago of eighteen months trippad and fell over a rug. Thereafter for three years she was under the care of a hospital, twenty-one months of which time she was strapped to a board and at the end of the period was worse off than when the treatment began. Thirty-seven days after her first chiropractic adjustment she was able to walk for the first time since her fall, She now walks all about the house, playing as do other children, and it is expected that in a few more months she will be as well and strong as any other child on the block. '
The Unoriginality of the Chinese
HINESE bandits who successfully kidnaped wealthy travelers passing through their haunts are said to be building a temple in northern China as a sort of thankoffering, We cannot but wonder how many temples in Europe and America have been erected with funds obtained by equally dubious means. The Chinese are often said not to have much originality, but to be great copyists.
Vaccination versus Baptism
HE new regulations in Mexico city are that babies may not be presented for baptism until they have been vaccinated. This is a new one. The baby must, apparently, go to hell forever if its parents do not believe in vaccination. Even New Hampshire has not proceeded that far yet, but is on the way. The Bible says nothing about baptizing infants, and nothing about vaccination either; yet it seems that, if some people are right, both are essential to salvation and the vaccination must come first.
Jobless Protestant Ministers
ISHOPS are complaining that they have too many men and not enough jobs for them as ministers of Protestant churches. The villages of America are falling to pieces and cannot afford to maintain churches as hitherto. Catholic papers declare that both in Europe and America there are large numbers of Protestant ministers who are applying to them for jobs, and are willing to believe almost anything or do almost anything except work if only they can find some way to be supported.
Mr. O’Bono glute’s Electric Sill
WRITING in the New York Times, John G.
O’Donoghue, of Jamaica, N. Y., declares that in the first six months of 1926 he lived in Toronto and his electric bills came to $8.18. Moving to New York city his bills for the same sized family, the same sized apartment and the same electric utensils were $24.53. Naturally, Mr. O’Donoghue thinks somebody else is getting $32 a year away from him; and he thinks right. But look at all the legislators, college professors, newspapers, bankers and other■ public-spirited people in America who have to be purchased, and it becomes clear that the $32;is not all clear profit, though it is mostly so.
Maizolith, a New Material
MAIZOLITH, a new material, is made from corncobs and cornstalks, ground fine, boiled with caustic soda, washed, beaten and dried at high heat. The result is like stone, and it is believed it will be very useful in the manufacture of noiseless gears, door knobs, handles, and other similar articles.
Serum Treatment
Wilbur J. Murphy, M.D., writing in Health Culture for March, says, “All serum treatments are useless and in error. Serums can give no immunity and can only hasten a fatal ending which vivisection’s methods have induced, and it is time their failures were exposed.” This general statement Dr. Murphy applies specifically fo the insulin treatment of diabetes, the rabies antitoxin treatment of rabies and the intramuscular' injections of blood to prevent measles. .
A Nation of Glorified Clerks
TT uston Thompson, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, in an address before the Institute of Justice, Chattanooga, told the simple truth when he stated that America has become a land of glorified clerks, taking orders from the Wall Street crowd, without ever seeing the men who dictate the policies they are putting through. The way the thing is now engineered the insurance funds of the nation and the profits from the chain stores furnish Wall Street with the rawhide thongs wherewith to cut off the breath of the people.
More Remains of the Giants
/TORE remains have been found of the giants ■*■*-2- that lived before the flood, these giants being the result of the improper union of angels and women. This time the findings are in a cave in Nevada, where charcoal has been found under an undisturbed stratum of seven feet of earth. This earth was washed over the charcoal during the flood, but imaginative scientists are trying to prove that the man that burned the charcoal lived twenty to thirty thousand years ago, and that the dust has been sifting over his charcoal all that time. How strange that a scientist should dodge the reasonable and sensible explanation of the Scriptures for the unreasonable imaginations of man!
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