Golden Age, September 16, 1931

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Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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in this issue

AMERICAN

RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES

INTOLERANCE IN QUEBEC

RACKETEERING

THE DEVIL’S CIVILIZATION

FRAGMENTS

THE NATURAL

AND THE SPIRITUAL MAN

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Vol. XII - No. 313

September 16, 1931

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

Wyandotte Not Weak and Stupid 810

Crisp County, Georgia .... 813

11,000 Hungry Children Fed

in Chicago..... . 826

A Glutton for Charity .... 826

Unemployment in Los Angeles . 826

Scott’s Eun, West Virginia . . 826

Satan’s Civilization Admits Defeat ........831

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

American Rights and Liberties at Swoyersville ..... 803

How Far Away Is the Collapse? 814

Fragments ........826

85,000 Tower Visitors a Month . 826

40,000 Federal Prisoners . . . 826

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

Capitalism at the Crossroads . . 814

Ocean Liners Being Taken Off . 825

Federal Radio Commission Dilemma

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

Governor Pinchot and “The Golden Age” .... 810

Relieving the Destitute in Minnesota

Served Ninety Days for Three Murders

Post Office Department Revises Constitution..... .

Racketeering—The Devil's Civilization

The Earth in Travail .... 826

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

British Ahead on Television . . 826

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

Intolerance in Quebec City . . 811

The Presidency a Ticklish Job . 814

Preached 21 Hours.....825

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

The Natural and the Spiritual Man......827

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Volume XII . Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, September 16, 1931 Number 313

American Rights and Liberties at Swoyersville

ON MAY 10, 1931, the Roman Catholic priest of Swoyersville, Pa., caused the arrest of

Nicholas Belekon, Mike Wargo, John Wargo and Mike Hubal, charged with selling books without a license. After being in jail four hours, they were brought before a magistrate, where complaints were made and warrants issued.

The original complainants were the Catholic priest, a police officer and three other witnesses, but the charges were drawn only in the name of the officer and two of the witnesses. Judas and Caiaphas disappeared from the scene before Jesus was formally arraigned.

The four were released under bond and ordered to appear the following day for trial, when the burgess, Joseph Cheslick, fined them $5.00 and $2.50 and costs each, or thirty days in jail. They were granted five days to file an appeal from the decision; local counsel was engaged, and on June 11 the case was brought to trial before Judge J. Valentine.

At the trial the county prosecutor was assisted by the Swoyersville borough attorney. Their witnesses were the burgess of the borough, the arresting officer and three other witnesses who testified that they had been canvassed. The priest was not present. How well these birds know when their feathers are in danger!

The evidence was confined to the placement of two booklets for fifteen cents, namely, Prosperity Sure and Our Lord’s Return. One who attended the trial states that the judge’s attitude from the very beginning was that of one who had made a decision before the case was tried.

He and the prosecution held a private confab over certain portions of the Prosperity book. The judge then viciously denounced the author and those connected with the publishers as sedi-tionists and engaged in stirring up strife over the country. When the attorney for* defense attempted to present witness to explain the contents of the books he was admonished that the books speak for themselves, When he attempted to introduce other court decisions, and offered a copy of the Society’s charter in evidence, he received only violent rebuffs.

When he finally insisted on the right to present the side of the defense it was immediately established that no evidence had been submitted against Mike Hubal, and Hubal’s name was dropped. The other three testified that they were giving the message of God’s kingdom to the Russian and Polish people. The judge repeatedly interrupted with these words, “I know all about that message.”

At length the Society’s representative was granted five minutes to explain the work of the Society; that these men are Christians, not Bolsheviks ; that the world is in a terrible condition and no personal offense should be taken because of that statement, for it is freely admitted at Washington, D. C.; that rulers and judges are perplexed at present conditions, but have a wonderful opportunity now because God’s kingdom is at hand. If they will turn to the Lord and go back to the Bible for their authority, and obey His instructions therein, God will no doubt use them for good; that a good government is absolutely essential, but that every present government of earth is ruled over by Satan, the Devil, who is responsible for all the suffering and terrible conditions.

He was reminded that the Catholic priest who had had these four Christians arrested had his counterpart in Jesus’ day. The clergy then, because Jesus told the truth, and exposed the hypocrites, had Him arrested, and brought before the rulers, charged with sedition; that this is the day in which the Lord has promised to destroy Satan’s power and establish His kingdom in all the earth; that these books compare the physical facts of this day w’ith God’s prophecy, proving these things are true, and that God has commanded a testimony of these facts to be given to all nations, and we are giving that witness, and will serve our God regardless.

A colporteur, an ex-marine, was there, and his testimony concerning the fact that he was an ex-marine was very timely. The prosecution had tried to make it appear that we are a bunch of Bolsheviks, and called upon him to prove that he was an ex-marine. When he presented his credentials the prosecution was silent.

The three Russians were at great disadvantage because of their foreign tongue. The trial shows how necessary it is for all truth-lovers to be closely united if the foreign-speaking brethren are to receive justice.

Because this matter is of unusual interest to our readers, we present herewith Judge Valentine’s decision in full. He reversed the decision of the lower court, but as he made certain reflections upon the nature of the literature emanating from Judge Rutherford’s pen, we have great pleasure in publishing Judge Rutherford’s letter to him, a copy of which has come into our hands for the purpose.

JOSEPH F. RUTHERFORD

COUNSELOR

124 Columbia Heights Brooklyn, N. Y«

July 17, 1931. The Honorable J. Valentine,

Judge of the Common Pleas Court

of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Dear Sir :

A copy of the court’s opinion in the case of Swoyersville Borough vs. John Wargo et al. delivered at the April sessions 1931 of that court is in my possession. I note that you wrote the opinion, hence I am addressing you. It is quite manifest from your expressed opinion that you were laboring under a great misapprehension or else you had an improper desire to please a certain class of men who are not friends of the people. I prefer, of course, to think that the first reason assigned is the correct one; hence I have a desire to call your attention to the facts, that you may see the matter in a proper light. Surely you would not wish to willingly misrepresent anyone after knowing the facts.

I am informed by a gentleman who attended the hearing in your court that you denounced the literature offered in evidence by counsel for the prosecution, that you denounced the author and publishers thereof as seditionists and spreaders of communism. In this you were very wrong. Your published opinion construing the ordinance is judicially sound. As a good lawyer and one who should hold the judicial scales impartially, you should have stopped there. You went entirely outside of your right and duty as a judicial officer in expressing yourself in the following language :“We deplore the distribution of such literature as the evidence showed the defendants had distributed and fully recognize that the passages quoted spread the doctrines of communism and sedition, and that it would be far better for the community as well as for the causes of self government and of religion if magazines or pamphlets like the one offered in evidence were not printed or distributed.”

The defendants are men allied with no political party, but who are wholly devoted to Jehovah God and His kingdom. They are true followers in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. They labor with their hands to earn the bread they eat, and spend their spare time helping the people to gain a knowledge of the truth. A clergyman fearing that the people of his parish would learn the truth caused these young men to be arrested and thrown into jail. The magistrate summarily imposed a fine upon them. They appealed to your court, and it was your sworn duty to decide the question at issue wholly in harmony with the law and the facts. Wholly unsupported by the facts or the law, you denounced the author and publishers as seditionists, and as being engaged in spreading the doctrines of communism and sedition. You attempt to justify your conclusions by quoting excerpts from the booklet Prosperity Sure, which was in evidence in the case. Every quotation from that booklet and which appears in your opinion is the absolute truth. If libelous, then both myself and the publishers are liable to an action for damages, and the courts are always open to the men who are therein mentioned as being derelict. Of course, you know that if they should bring suit for libel they would not have a ghost of a show in your court if the defendants proved the truthfulness of the published statements. That may be the reason why these gentlemen have never brought the matter before the courts in an action that would permit the proof of the truthfulness of the statements published. Manifestly they prefer to hide behind some criminal statute or ordinance and make catspaws of judicial officers to pull their chestnuts out of the fire.

Much that you quote from that booklet was taken from the public press and from magazines, and from the Congressional Record, or other public records. If these statements are true, have not the people the right to hear them ? Is one guilty of sedition who publishes the truth, especially when it involves public interest'? All judicial opinions are supposed to be based upon the truth. Why then did you quote certain truthful statements and then declare such to be seditious? Calm, sober and fair consideration must convince you that something improperly influenced your judicial conclusion.

You must admit that if it is improper to cprote statements made by clergymen or other public men, then it was wrong in the first instance for these clergymen or men to publicly so express themselves. Clergymen are men wflio pose before the people as their spiritual advisers. If they are giving the people wrongful advice, is it not the duty of other honest men to tell the truth to the people? Surely you could not say that the telling of the truth is seditious, and yet you have judicially determined that the author and publishers of that booklet are guilty of sedition and the spreading of communism.

Members of the United States Congress publicly expose some of the unrighteous acts in the government. Able lawyers publish the facts concerning unrighteousness in the courts. For instance, you might have quoted from the same booklet, on page 36, the expressed opinion of Mr. Justice Ford, of New York, who said:

“In ray experience I have found the public service corporations, the street railroads, the telephone, the lighting companies in particular, to be the most prolific source of political corruption in the state. They more directly depend upon governmental favors than any others, and indeed the profits of their business now from the special privileges which they procure and hold from the government, both state and municipal. In my day at Albany these corporations plied their nefarious business of corrupting the people’s representatives so openly that a blind deaf-mute could learn what was going on. Not that legal evidence could be found against them. They were too shrewd for that. But every public man there was morally certain as to what vzas going on, and in private conversation it was freely talked about. These public service corporations pollute the very fountains of public virtue; they debauch our public servants; they subsidize party organizations for their own purposes. All the powers of government are subverted to their base ends; and government of the people, by the people, for the people, is made a mockery.”

And also on page 37 of the same booklet the words of the eminent American lawyer Mr. Samuel Untermyer, w'ho said:

“Nowhere in our social fabric is the discrimination between the rich and the poor so emphasized to the average citizen as at the bar of justice. Nowhere should it be less. . . . Money secures the ablest and most adroit counsel. . , . Evidence can be gathered from every source. The poor must be content to forego all these advantages.”

For even a more caustic arraignment of certain public officials reference could have been made to the 'Wickersham Crime Commission report recently published. If I am guilty of sedition in publishing this booklet, then these distinguished gentlemen are even more guilty. Can it be said that these gentlemen are guilty of sedition or of spreading the doctrines of communism because they exercise their right of free speech in making known to the people that which is of public interest ?

The conclusions expressed in your opinion show that you were laboring under the impression that-1 am advocating communism and sedition and that the publishers of the booklet are doing likewise. In this you are very wrong. In my book Government (published 1928), on page 13 I say:

“Contemporary with the war and thereafter revolutions broke out which really were expressions of the people of a desire for a better and more liberal government. Moved by a selfish desire the revolutionists have usually made the condition of the people worse, rather than better. Bolshevism rules some nations and people, which is especially a protest against the government under which they have heretofore lived. All who calmly and soberly view developments well know that bolshevism can never result in a satisfactory government of the people. Bolshevism is doomed to certain and complete failure. The same must be said of communism. Such radical movements for the establishment of a government of the people can never bring peace, prosperity and happiness to the peoples of the nations. Many other nations of the world greatly fear bolshevism, and properly so. Any form of government that denies the rights and privileges of some and shows special favors to others is certain to end in disaster. Monarchies have been, harsh, cruel and oppressive to the people, but bolshevism and communism are even worse. No government can bring happiness to the people unless it is founded upon honesty and administered in righteousness.”

Furthermore, by referring to pages 242 to 257 of the same book, will be found the Scriptural proof based upon the well known facts showing that Jehovah God’s government is a complete remedy for suffering humanity. If God has an adequate remedy for all the ills that afflict the human kind which remedy He has promised to soon put in operation, don’t you think suffering humanity should know the facts relating thereto? How could they understand these facts unless they had a proper understanding of the original cause of such unhappy conditions?

I am not publishing the facts concerning corrupt politics, oppressive big business and the apostate clergy for the purpose of producing strife and dissension amongst the people. My sole purpose is to inform the people why these unhappy conditions exist and to show them that men by resorting to revolution or any other means of force or violence can never remedy7 these unhappy conditions; that the only remedy7 is God’s kingdom which He is now setting up.

Bear with me, please, until I cite in brief wffiat the Scriptures show, and which Scriptural statements are entirely supported by the extraneous facts showing that we are now in the very hour of the fulfilment of prophecy: God made all His creatures perfect; Lucifer, who was made the invisible overlord of man, rebelled against God and turned man into the way of sin and degradation. God changed Lucifer’s name, and since the time of Eden he has been known as ‘Satan that old serpent and dragon the Devil’. God did not deprive him, however, of his opportunity to influence mankind, abiding His own good time to have the matter fully placed before creatures that they might choose the right way if they so desired. God has permitted men to take their own course, and men have organized governments and tried to rule, and doubtless have done the best they could without the aid of the Lord, but instead of following the explicit instructions of God’s Word men have unconsciously yielded to the sinister influence of the unseen enemy Satan the Devil, and for this reason it is written (1 John 5:19, Diaglott) that “the whole world lies in the evil one”, and (2 Cor. 4:3, 4) that ‘the Devil Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the people to the truth, lest the light of the truth should shine into their minds’. It was the solemn duty of the clergymen to keep themselves free and separate from politics and finances, and teach the people the truth as set forth in the Bible. They have, however, fallen away from the Bible and made common cause with political and financial rulers of the world and have therefore become a part of the world and come under the influence of the invisible ruler of the world, Satan, who is God’s enemy and the enemy of mankind. If this is true, then the people should know it, that they might know that such men are not safe guides. What then should the people do? I answer, Their proper course is to go to the Bible, study it and ascertain the truth for themselves. We are merely trying to help them do that very thing.

In the Bible they will see the cause for the great amount of unrighteousness existing amongst men, and they will learn that God promised that in His due time He would redeem mankind from the curse of death, and then set up a righteous government with Christ Jesus as the invisible ruler of the world instead of Satan, that He would then through Christ Jesus’ powerful organization destroy Satan, his organization and his power, fully and completely relieve the people from all oppression and bring about a condition that would enable them to dwell together in peace and enjoy prosperity, and health and happiness, and that that righteous government would continue on this earth and the people would live on earth forever as perfect men and women. No man or company of men or human organization could accomplish such good results to the nations and peoples of the earth. Only Jehovah God can bring about lasting peace, complete relief, blessings and happiness to mankind.

The world is now in a terrible state of distress, and you will readily agree with me that no human remedy has ever been offered that can solve the perplexing problems. I say to you, my dear sir, that the truth as set forth in God’s Word is of the most vital importance to the people, and a public official who denounces the publishing of the truth to the extent of his influence with the people hinders them from gaining a knowledge of the truth. Do you want to take : ” that responsibility before God ?

I am not complaining by reason of being charged by judicial opinion as a seditionist or the spreader of seditious literature, even though the charge is wholly false. The greatest creature ever on earth was .. Christ Jesus. When He stood before Pilate charged-___________

with sedition at the instance of the religionists of that ...........

time, in response to a question propounded by Pilate concerning the truth, He declared that God’s Word, the Bible, is the truth. Furthermore, He said: ‘For this cause was I born, and to this end came I into the world, that I might declare the truth.’ Because He declared the truth and exposed the duplicity of the clergy of that time they caused His arrest upon the charge of sedition, and the court unjustly and without any evidence whatsoever condemned Him. Jesus then plainly pointed out who was the real instigator of His persecution. To the clergymen who were causing His persecution Jesus said (John 8: 43,44,45) : “Why do ye not understand my speech ? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murder- ”

er from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”

A short time after His [Jesus’] death Stephen, a faithful follower of Christ Jesus, was arrested and brought before the court on a charge of sedition. The clergymen were back of that. This record is found in Acts 6:8-15, and in Acts the 7th chapter. Witnesses were even hired to swear falsely against Stephen, and although entirely innocent he was condemned and stoned to death. I cite this merely to show that because a clergymen has a man arrested and brought into court that is no evidence that the one thus charged is guilty, especially when that clergymen is moved by..........

some selfish desire to close the mouth of the one who is telling the truth.

As certain as the sun shines, God has made it clear in His Word that He [and not man] is going to completely destroy Satan’s organization and all who willingly support it. The ones who rule the nations of the earth are, to wit: The political, financial, judicial and religious leaders. It is the duty of the religious , ... leaders, to wit, the clergy, to tell everybody the truth, and especially to the rulers of the land. Instead of doing so, they have misled the government officials. The clergy have entered into a conspiracy against those who tell the truth and against Christ and all of His faithful followers, in attempting to keep the truth away from the people, and they have induced public ________

officials in the three primary branches of the government to join them to some extent in the conspiracy. Permit me, if you will and for your own good, to counsel that you take heed to the truth as set forth

in the Word of God, and especially in this connection, the prophetic words of Jehovah which now apply and which are set forth in Psalm 2, to wit:

“Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying: Let us break their bands asunder, and east away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou are my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, 0 ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

If the clergymen would teach the people what is in the Bible, they would be doing a good sendee to mankind. Instead they turn the people away from the Bible and from, Jehovah God. If all men followed their lead, then all would be soon plunged into complete darkness. Those who have a knowledge of the truth of God’s Word are commanded by Him to tell the truth to other people. That is why I am trying to help the people to gain a knowledge of the truth. It is no personal advantage to me directly or indirectly to engage in a controversy with anyone, but I do have an honest and sincere desire and am making an effort to enable the people to gain a knowledge of what is right. It is not my desire to do injury to any man, whether he be a political officer or clergyman. My effort is to help to enlighten the people concerning the truth, that they may take their stand on the side of Jehovah God, receive His care and protection in the great climax of trouble that is rapidly approaching upon all the world, and to be recipients of His blessing when that trouble ends. My responsibility ends when I have told the truth to the people. Those who willingly now oppose the spread of the truth, God will duly recompense.

Please be assured of my kindly feeling toward you as a man. I feel certain that if you saw the facts as they actually exist, your judicial mind and poise ■would lead you to a far different conclusion from that expressed in your opinion in the above case.

I have spent a goodly part of my years in the courts, and I know much of the woes to which the people are subject. Seeing no human remedy I diligently sought to learn if God had a remedy; and learning that His remedy is not only adequate, but is complete and will bring to the people endless blessings, I have chosen to devote all my time to helping them to understand the truth.

If you care to read them I shall be very pleased to present you with all my books, which you will see are not expressions of a man’s opinion, but that merely marshal the facts and cite the Scriptures to prove what is the correct conclusion thereon. If you accept my offer I only request that you give a careful and painstaking consideration to what is therein written, and compare the same faithfully with the Bible, and then reach a just and fair conclusion.

I beg to remain, my dear sir,

Yours very sincerely,

(Signed) J. F. Rutherford.

The following is the judicial decision to which reference is made in the above letter of Judge Rutherford:

Swoyersville Borough

vs.

John Wargo et al.

In the Court of Common Pleas of

Luzerne County

No. 487 ■— April Sessions — 1931 Appeal from Conviction and Sentence of the Burgess.

DECISION

Defendants have appealed from a conviction and sentence for the violation of an ordinance of the borough of Swoyersville, which provides: “That it shall not be lawful for any itinerant person or persons to hawk, peddle or offer for sale, either privately or by public outcry upon the public streets or places within the limits of the Borough, any patent medicines, soaps, nostrums, salves, or any other article or articles, or peddlers’ wares, without a license issued by the Burgess.”

The ordinance further provides: “Any person or persons found selling or offering for sale any article in violation of Sec. 1 of this ordinance, shall forfeit and pay a fine of not less than five dollars or more than ten dollars with costs, for each and every offence. ’ ’

The testimony showed that the defendants had either sold or distributed, “pamphlets or tracts” issued or published by the “'International Bible Students Association” or the “Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society”.

Defendants’ counsel has forcefully urged that the two associations interested in the distribution of the pamphlets are of a religious character, and that the distribution of the pamphlets was the work of charity. Doubtless the two organizations are engaged in what is regarded by their members as religious work, but the controlling question is not as to the general character of the work the organizations arc engaged in, nor the character of books or literature published or distributed by them, other’ than the pamphlets distributed or sold by the defendants.

There is in evidence one pamphlet produced by a witness for the Commonwealth, which pamphlet was eoneededly sold or delivered by the defendant Wargo. We express no opinion as to the character of this magazine or pamphlet; its nature is best shown by the following excerpts therefrom:

“THE CLERGY

“In the first place, the clergymen are not Christians. A Christian is one who believes that God through Christ has provided salvation for mankind. The clergymen as a general rule do not believe that. They pose before the people as preachers, and yet they are diligent in keeping the people away from the Bible. Daily they are becoming bolder in denying the Bible; and instead of referring the people to the remedy God has provided, they are telling the people that big business and the politicians and themselves are their guardians and saviors. The majority of these clergymen call themselves Modernists. That means that they deny the Bible account of creation, of the fall of man, and the redemption through Christ Jesus’ sacrifice. The scheme is to turn the minds of the people away from the Bible and away from God, and turn them to the worship of men or other creatures. ’ ’

“THE WAR

“The clergy as a class claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, and make the people believe that they are. The Scriptures designate Jesus Christ as ‘The Prince of Peace’. When He was on earth He repeatedly declared the law which His followers must obey: ‘ Thou shalt not kill.’ Anyone who is a true follower of Jesus Christ must be obedient to this command. Anyone claiming to be a follower of Christ and who at the same time urges men to kill each other is a hypocrite and party to the crime of the killing. There might be some excuse or extenuating circumstances for men who know nothing about the Bible to engage in war, but there is no excuse or extenuating circumstance in favor of a Christian voluntarily engaging in war or urging others to do so.

“During the World War of 1914 to 1918 the clergymen advocated war, urged young men to go to war to kill their fellow men, used their church buildings for recruiting stations, and denounced and persecuted every one who expressed conscientious scruples against killing. Everybody knows this statement to be true. They went even further than that. Many of the clergymen told young men that if they 'would go to war and die upon the battlefield their blood would be counted in with that of Jesus and their souls would immediately be winged off to glory. They should have known better; because war is murder and no murderer has eternal life. (1 John 3:15) If these men, contrary to the Word of the Lord, advocate the killing of other fellow men and at the same time claim to be Christians, they are both hypocrites and unsafe advisers of the people. The evidence is too voluminous for me to cite all of it; but I give you here some, naming the clergymen who are guilty of duplicity.

“There never was any danger of Germany’s invading America. Every sensible man knew that that was impossible. And yet some of the most zealous advocates of America’s entering the war were the clergymen.

“The Rev. Parkes Cadman, an Englishman who resides in America and who is president of the organization called the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, just before the war and while answering questions before the Bedford Branch of the Y.M.C.A. in Brooklyn passionately exclaimed: ‘Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! for war.’ When he was asked his opinion of students who refused to engage in military training he replied: ‘They are parasites, suckers, and rubbish. The teacher that teaches them they have no right to bear arms for the state should be fired out of his position. ’ Dr. Cadman with others boasted of the fighting rector, Dr. Reiland.

“The Massachusetts Clerical Association was one of the first to vote for America to enter the war, and a delegation of the prominent clergy visited Washington to combat the ‘unchristian influence’ of pacifists. They made it their business to use their church buildings for the preaching of war sermons. When the government enacted the conscription law and inserted a section making it possible for a Christian to decline active military sendee, nearly every clergyman in tho land opposed those who took advantage of this provision of the law. They spoke of such men as ‘poor pussy-foot pacifists’.

“Dr. S. E. Young, of the Presbyterian church, called them cowards and traitors because they ■ expressed their belief in God and in Christ and insisted on obeying God rather than man.

“Bishop Kinsolving, of Texas, declared that ‘such men should be driven not only from the country, but from the earth’.

“The Rev. Howard Ganster, of Waukegan, Ill., ‘advocated the organization of a society for the committing of murder of persons who do not stand up or who leave the building when the “Star Spangled Banner” is played.’ *

“Dr. Henry van Dyke delivered a so-called sermon, and referring to a gentleman who was candidate for mayor in New York, and who was against America’s entering the war, said: ‘I would hang every one, whether or not he be a candidate for mayor, who lifts his voice against America entering the war.’

“Rev. Gillis, a Catholic, said: ‘Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, but Pontius Pilate was the Prince of Pacifists.’

“Bishop Cooke advocated that those who desire to take advantage of the law for non-combatant service should ‘be deprived ... of all political and social and civil rights’.

“Dr. Eaton was made chairman of the National Service Section of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and performed the duty of delivering fight-talks in shipyards. He said: ‘When a spy comes sneaking around with a bomb don’t say, “Let us pray,” but take him out there on the marsh and tie him down and place the bomb on his chest. Light it and stand off and watch him blow to his Kaiser, to hell! Be regular he-men.’

“Evidently Eaton’s conscience hurt him so much after the war that he got himself elected to Congress from New Jersey.

“The Rev. W. W. Bustard, John D. Rockefeller’s loyal servant, from his pulpit exclaimed: ‘To hell with the Kaiser. ’

“Dr. Newell D. Hillis, of Brooklyn, pastor of Plymouth Church, was one of the most vehement advocates of America’s entering the war. When the nation did enter the war, the American Bankers ’ Association sent forth Hillis as its missionary to preach war. He prepared the sermons which hundreds of thousands of other pastors delivered, urging young men into the trenches. When the war ended and millions were in sorrow because of what had happened, Dr. Hillis, instead of visiting the widows and orphans as the Scriptures command that a Christian shall do (James 1: 27), still continued to express his vindictiveness and venom against the helpless people of Germany who had been driven into the war by their war machine. ”

“No general, no man in the army, nor any warlord ever gave utterance to such diabolical and wicked words as those written by Hillis. These clergymen are the ones who, ■with pious faces and sanctimonious words, tell the peoples that their organized system of oppression and murder represents Christ on earth and therefore constitutes ‘organized Christianity’, or ‘ Christendom’.

“Rev. Geo. Atwater directly linked the so-called Christian church with the war. ’ ’

“In the House of Representatives at Washington in January, 1918, the Rev. Billy Sunday was invited to deliver the morning prayer. He would make it appear that the Lord is as bloodthirsty as some of the clergymen. He said, ‘Thou knowest, 0 Lord, that no nation so infamous, vile, greedy, sensuous,, bloodthirsty, ever disgraced the pages of history. Make bare Thy mighty arm, 0 Lord, and smite the hungry, wolfish Hun, whose fangs drip with blood, and we will for ever raise our voices in Thy praise.’ The newspapers reported that when Sunday finished his harangue, for the first time in its history the House applauded a prayer.”

“POLITICAL

“There are very few statesmen left on the earth. Most men in public life are professional politicians. Politics is their business. A great number of them are either directly or indirectly in the pay of some big financial institution. High finance sees to it, that all the leading political parties nominate for office men that can be influenced by the corporations. When the election is held, no matter who loses the corporations win and the people pay the bills.”

“Even the courts are corrupted by Big Business. When Big Business is pitted against the common people, the people have no show in the courts.”

“War is declared by the law-making body yielding to the influence of selfish interests apparently supported by the people. The politicians quickly pass emergency laws which compel everyone of a certain age to render military service. The Avar is on, and the people are urged to buy the bonds to carry on the war.

“The clergy are called into action. They become the spellbinders. They use their pulpits to harangue the people and urge them to go to war. When some of these preachers go with an army as spiritual advisers they always manage to remain at a safe distance in the rear. They work hand in glove with their allies, Big Business and Big Politicians. They work up great excitement amongst the people^ and then they are ready to go to any extreme.”

“The purpose is to show that the clergymen are sailing under false colors and misleading the people; to show them that the clergymen are unsafe guides; to show the necessity of a power greater than that of selfish men to bring the people relief and prosperity. Attention is called to the wickedness of Big Finance and Big Politicians not merely to denounce them, and with no hope of reforming them, but to show the class of men with whom the clergymen have entered into an alliance. Men are judged by the company that they keep. The fact that they deny the Bible and join hands with an oppressive class shows that the clergymen are practicing a fraud upon the people, and that so-called organized Christianity is a fraud and a snare.”

Certainly the distribution of such literature is, in no sense, a work of “charity”. We should much prefer to be classified with those condemned by the abovequoted passages than to be associated with the persons responsible for their condemnation.

Is the sale of magazines and pamphlets a violation of the ordinance? The ordinance is designed to prevent hawking and peddling by itinerant persons without the procuring of a license. It makes it unlawful to hawk, peddle, or offer for sale “any patent medicines, soaps, nostrums, salve, or any other article or articles, or peddlers’ wares” without having procured a license as therein provided.

The ordinance is penal and must be strictly construed. 29 Corpus Juris, 228. It is not designed to prohibit the selling of books or magazines, nor does the sale of magazines or pamphlets fall within its prohibition. Magazines and pamphlets are not “peddlers’ wares”. Boys who sell newspapers on the streets are not peddlers and do not require a peddlers’ license. Rex. vs. Prosterman (Sask) 11 West L. R. 141—■ 29 Corpus Juris, 223. If the defendants can properly be convicted for a violation of the ordinance, then by a similar process of reasoning, the conclusion would be reached, that boys selling weekly magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post, would be guilty of violating its provisions. The only article sold or offered for sale by the defendants were pamphlets or tracts, nothing else was in their possession and nothing else was offered for sale. Tracts, magazines or newspapers cannot be deemed “other articles” within tire meaning of that term as used in the ordinance. “The merchandise included under the term ‘other articles’ must be of a generic character to that previously designated.” Renick vs. Boyd, 99 Pa. 555; Golien vs. Susquehanna Coal Co., 54 Super Ct. 299; Pittsburg vs. Pittsburg Railway Co., 47 Super Ct. 476; Burns vs. Coyne, 294 Pa. 512.

We deplore the distribution of such literature as the evidence showed the defendants had distributed and fully recognize that the passages quoted spread the doctrines of communism and sedition, and that it would be far better for the community as well as for the causes of self government and of religion if magazines or pamphlets, like the one offered in evidence, were not printed or distributed, but the distribution, or even the sale of the same, does not fall within the prohibition of the ordinance appealed from. Therefore, now, June 26, 1931, the judgment of conviction is reversed.

By the Court,

Valentine, J.

Governor Pinchot and The Golden Age By *George W. Woodruff (Pennsylvania')

*Mr. Woodruff is personal adviser to Governor Pinchot on public utility questions.—Ed.

THE governor duly received the copy of The

Golden Age in which there was such a clear and far-reaching discussion as to whether public utilities are treating the consumers lawfully and justly in the matter of charges and rates.

It was splendid for the governor and those who are trying to help him to get such a good resume of this question in hand.

We all feel sure that if the utilities do not cut their rates practically in half, they will certainly bring about almost universal municipal ownership of water, gas and electric plants.

As a pointer, I call your attention to the fact that I have just received upon request from Honorable H. W. Loy, mayor, Chanute, Kansas, some literature showing the astounding fact that they have paid for their electric, gas and water plants, improved the city, built up a large reserve, helped pay the taxes in ever increasing amounts per year, and now, in 1931, are meeting every last cent of the expense of running the city out of the profits on their municipal plants, while they charge only 6, 5 and 4 cents for domestic current, 3y2 to iy2 cents for power, 50, 40 and 30 cents for gas, and 25 to 12^ cents for water.

Wyandotte Not Weak and Stupid

THE theory that city governments are always

•weak and stupid seems not to be true at Wyandotte, Michigan. The Powei’ Trust gang would like to have the people think that they alone know how to manage public utilities, and that if, perchance, they should, any of them, be put in trust of civic interests, it would forthwith be demonstrated that they are Judases. So the argument is that the people should turn everything over to them. But Wyandotte is unconvinced. It has a plant which is valued at $800,000. It was offered $2,000,000 for the plant, but by a vote of five to one rejected the offer. In 1930 the people of Wyandotte drew a 10-percent dividend from the surplus earnings of their plant. They agree that it is probably true that no Power Trust man could be found who would manage the properties in the interest of the people as a whole, but they think they can do it themselves, and experience shows that they can. In trying to prove to the people that they are themselves not to be trusted the great minds of the Power Trust have overplayed their hand.

Intolerance in Quebec City By Victor Boire {Canada)

TO THE quaint old city of Quebec, with its massive ramparts and its citadel, the scene of several memorable battles, there still clings the atmosphere of medieval days. Here, on a rocky promontory overlooking the juncture of the Saint Lawrence and Saint Charles rivers, is one of the most peculiar and interesting cities on the American continent, which, because it is the only walled city in North America, has been called “the Gibraltar of America”.

The older part of the city is built along the foot of the cliff on a narrow strip of rocky ground. Many of the old buildings with their walls of cobblestones and mortar and their quaint roofs with dormer windows still remain. In some sections the roofs are connected with walks so that the inhabitants may go from house to house on the roofs instead of in the streets, many of which are too narrow to admit of sidewalks. A driveway along the foot of the bluff leads past the steep path up which Wolfe’s soldiers made their famous ascent, though numerous visitors climb the path without finding the task as arduous as it has been described in many accounts of the historic achievement.

In all older parts of the city buildings, shrines and monuments of the past intermingle with modern structures, methods and devices, but the most interesting feature of it all is the overshadowing influence of a past age whose grasp the enlightenment and progress of the present have not been able to weaken.

Primitive customs and ideas have been little affected by the passage of time, and the gross darkness with which the god of this world has surrounded the people has not as yet been pierced to any appreciable extent by the light of the new day. The people for more than a century and a half have preserved to the minutest detail their language, their religion, their social customs and their laws. These have been handed down from one generation to another practically without change, so that today we find, in the French portion of the province of Quebec particularly, a picture of the old Norman customs of a past age.

One transgresses the laws of the Roman Catholic church or the customs of society at his peril, and while the people generally are kindly and humble-minded, they are so thoroughly entrenched in darkness and false ideas that they fear and resent anything, however logical and reasonable, that might tend to disturb them.

It was in this striking example of a medieval French city that it was my privilege several years ago to participate in the distribution of some thousands of copies of a resolution passed by a large assembly of members of the International Bible Students Association in convention, which resolution was in the form of an “Indictment” of the present religious, financial and political order of things, and which, as may rvell be imagined, created no small stir.

And it was here, as recently as December, 1930, that three fellow workers and I encountered an experience which throws an interesting side light on the religious intolerance which is rampant here as well as throughout the province.

We had been engaged for several days in offering the Watch Tower publications to the French people, many of whom received us courteously and accepted the booklets quite readily. On two succeeding Sundays the Roman Catholic priests in all parishes of the city and suburbs had vehemently denounced our work. They had also appointed watchmen at various strategic points to report our movements, but for several days, chiefly because of the fact that we had moved to an “unguarded” district, we encountered no interference.

On the afternoon of December the 12th, as I was coming out of a house where I had been canvassing, I was stopped by a policeman, who asked me to accompany him to the police station across the street. He informed me that Mr. Lavergne, the curate of that parish, had ordered our arrest, that two of my companions were already in custody, and that he had orders to take me to the central police station. There he conducted me in a taxi, and there I found the other two colporteurs, the fourth up to that time not having been found.

As the judge was already there, we three were at once given a preliminary trial. Since we pleaded “Not guilty” to the charge of selling books without a .license from the city, the trial was set for a iveek ahead and we were released on bail. They had fixed the bail at fifty dollars each, and purposed also seizing our entire stock of books and forbidding us to canvass within the jurisdiction of that court, an area of nearly one hundred square miles. We

refused to accept such conditions, but agreed to a bail of five dollars each, and to this they finally agreed.

While canvassing, one of our party had met a French lawyer who appeared to be out of harmony with the clergy and had obtained one or two of our books. Feeling that he would be favorable toward our cause, we secured his services.

He interviewed the city’s attorney, also the clerk of the recorder’s court and the deputy chief of police, all of whom practically admitted to him that they had no right to arrest us and had no hope of winning the case but, being so hard-pressed by the clergy, they were forced to make it as difficult for us as possible, with the hope of breaking down our courage.

On the day of the trial I learned from one of the police heads that delegations from the bishop’s palace had called on them every day since the arrest, charging them with neglecting their duty and pressing them to do something to get rid of us. Their plea was that we were a menace to the Catholic church and should be in prison, or at least out of the city. I also heard indirectly that they had made the statement that we had captured the city of Montreal but would not be allowed to capture Quebec.

Cardinal Rouleau was absent from the city at the time, recuperating at Rhode Island from the effects of an automobile accident which had occurred some months before. No doubt this affair had something to do with hastening his return, as he arrived here a few days after the trial.

All went smoothly at the trial, which lasted over an hour and a half. There were a number of spectators in the gallery, but the clergy did not put in an appearance, preferring to work under cover, as usual, and had the city police department take the responsibility of the case.

The city’s lawyer contended that our books •were anti-religious and that therefore we could not claim the exemption which the law provided for religious and benevolent societies, and he asked the judge to confirm the charge.

Our lawyer, in accordance with instructions, proceeded to prove that we had an office in this province, that we were members of the International Bible Students Association, and that said Association had a charter from the Federal Government, and he produced copies of former judgments in similar cases, which were all in our favor. Among these was the judgment rendered by this same Judge Des Rivieres in 1925.

The decision was to be given a week later. A number of interested persons came to hear it, but were disappointed, not being able to distinguish a word the judge said. He spoke so low that at six feet away I had to strain to catch an occasional word. However, we understood that the case was dismissed.

I made eight visits to the City Hall in an endeavor to secure the judge’s decision in writing, but without success. The judge told me, on one of the occasions when I was able to secure an interview, that, his decision being the same as the one he had rendered previously, he did not see the necessity of repeating it. A French Protestant preacher told me that he had gone purposely to hear the judgment, but was unable to catch a single word. He was in the gallery. He said the judge, fearing the wrath of the clergy, hardly dared give out the decision.

While the three French daily newspapers and. the one English daily all gave considerable publicity to the arrest, misrepresenting our work and making it appear obnoxious, not one of them had sufficient courage to publish the court decision, other than to say the case had been dismissed.

The clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, are very angry because we are continuing with our work despite the fact that they have shown contempt for the message, and they have by no means given up the fight because we have proved that we have a right to offer our books.

The Protestant clergy are distributing a small tract entitled “Three Blasphemies of the International Bible Students”, and the priests in the various parishes are making desperate efforts to stop the message from going to the people by threatening them with excommunication and other evils (?) if they read our books or even look at them. They are inciting the people to destroy the literature and to throw us out, though so far few have dared try it. Their evil tongues have wagged to such purpose that some members of their flocks consider it their duty to persecute us at every opportunity.

Twice recently we have been forced to leave certain districts for the present because of mobs gathering and cursing at us. On one of these occasions I accompanied an officer to one of the stations to satisfy the person who had telephoned the police. When the officer got in touch with the deputy chief, mentioning my name, the latter said, “1 know that man. Don’t hold him.”

A Catholic business man whom I canvassed admitted to me that the city was run by the priests. The deputy chief of police confessed that he was never so annoyed by them as when our case was pending. They are everywhere and pry into everything, and evidences of their shameful exploitation of the people can be multiplied.

I long for the day when the poor creatures who for so many centuries have been under their domination will have their minds freed from the power of fear which has held them in bondage and, having full confidence that God himself will remove their blindness, I am glad to continue to witness for Him and await His due time to perform His “strange act”.

While the experience related above took place in the city of Quebec, the clergy have been similarly active against us and our work throughout the entire province. Time and again the police of the City of Montreal, goaded on by the priests, have interfered with the activities of the colporteurs and other workers in that city. Time and again cases were fought in the courts and in each case a victory was gained for the workers.

The persistence of the clergy, however, in forcing the police to continue molesting them, despite the repeated decisions of the court, made it necessary that some drastic action be taken, and the Canadian office of the Association, located at Toronto, determined to issue a writ against the City of Montreal for molesting its members in carrying on their work. This was done, and, after many months of adjourning the case, the City of Montreal recently offered to make settlement out of court, agreeing to pay $75 as damages and $50 towards costs. As the purpose was to teach the authorities a lesson and stop their further interference, this offer was accepted.

Crisp County, Georgia

CRISP COUNTY, Georgia, has the only county-owned po~wer plant in America. It has 1,050 users. The rates are among the lowest in the country. Most of their customers were once customers of the Georgia Power Company, a branch of the Power Trust. Where the Georgia Power charged the Circle Theatre of Cordele $125 a month, the present bill is $45 to $50 for the same service; where Elder’s Service Station formerly paid $40 it now pays $19; where Harris’ Garage formerly paid $90, it now pays $40 to $45. The manager of the county plant says hopefully that:

Ultimately, we believe, we can make an entire elimination of taxation, pay off the cost of the plant by its own earnings, and run our county business from the normal income of this undertaking.

In the effort to prevent the people from getting the truth, the Georgia Power Company is running whole-page advertisements in Georgia papers, trying to prove, as the Power Trust is always trying to prove, that there is not a man in the trust who, if he w7ere given the job of running a publicly owned plant, would run it honestly, in the interests of the people. But 'when the point is proved it proves too much. For, granting that a typical Power Trust man would not run a publicly owned plant in the interest of the people, how do we know that these advertisements, paid for by the people, taken out of their pockets, are really in the interest of the people? and how do we know7 that there are not some honest men, outside of the Power Trust, of course, who would do for the people just what the Power Trust vociferously claims that it would not do? The Power Trust overplays its hand.

The Power Trust seems to know how to get its stock in the place where it might do the Trust the most good. When Crisp County, Georgia, was putting up its fight to operate its own electric light and power company to take the place of the Georgia Power Company, whose rates were maintained on too high a level, five of the six members of the Supreme Court of Georgia were disqualified from serving because of ownership in their families of stock in the Georgia Power Company.

Relieving the Destitute in Virginia, Minnesota

A SUBSCRIBER in Virginia, Minnesota, tells us that the city has recently been thoroughly worked for a community chest, in the interest of the poor and destitute. Everybody was urged to give as much as possible to a fund which was to be divided among the Boy Scouts, the YMCA, the YWCA, and the Salvation Anny. Of this fund, $5,000 was to go for the relief of the poor next winter.

But the citizens were hard up, and some of them suspicious, and so when the totals were added up the administrators of other people’s money found to their dismay that they were about $6,000 shy. Something would have to be cut out. It would never do to have any of the adjuncts of Big Business go. We must have Boy Scouts to make soldiers, YMCA’s in which to train dispensers of cigarettes and chocolates in time of war, YWCA’s as training schools for nurses in the same hectic times, and Salvation Armies to keep drunken and diseased warriors from worrying about going to hell. So it was very naturally concluded to cut out the $5,000 for the relief of the poor next winter.

The Boy Scouts will get theirs, the YMCA’s will get theirs, the YWCA’s will get theirs, and the Salvation Army will get theirs, now, what there is to be had, and the balance, all that is coming to them, in Armageddon. And the poor will get theirs, where they usually get it, in the neck. When they are hungry next winter they can feed themselves by swallowing their Adam’s apples, and they can warm themselves by looking in through the windows at the cheery fires burning on the hearths of the YMCA, YWCA and Salvation Army. Anyway, they will know the Community Chesters meant to do something for them, if there was anything left over. So they won’t feel entirely neglected. ing his own business and attending to the 'duties of the particular job for which he was elected.

The Presidency a Ticklish Job

IF President Wilson was given a slow poison at the Paris peace conference, as alleged by Major Herbert O. Yardley in his book America’s Black Chamber, and if President Harding was poisoned by Mrs. Harding, because of marital infidelity, as implied in the narrative of May Dixon Thacker’s book The Strange Death of President Harding, it looks as if the presidency of the United States were getting to be a ticklish job. But it could hardly be said that either of them was poisoned because of minci-

Served Ninety Days for Three Murders "Oayette D. Marble, son of a Pasadena millionaire, was given a ten-year sentence for the death of three persons struck down by his automobile last December. After ninety days in jail Governor Rolph let this man go free. Meantime, he knows, and everybody knows, that Mooney, innocent of the crime for which he was convicted, is under sentence for life, and though he is the one man that can free him, he does nothing. Marble is the son of a millionaire. Mooney has nothing.

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