Golden Age, May 11, 1932

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<jAe Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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in this issue

SYRIA THE BLIND NOT SO SLIPPERY "MAY FLOWERS” IRISH FREE STATE PREPARING FOR WORLD WAR ALL MAY OBSERVE SABBATH iiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiii every other WEDNESDAY five cents a copy one dollar a year Canada & Foreign 1.25

Vol. XIII - No. 330

May 11, 1932

CONTENTS

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

Ponca City's Profitable Plant . 500

Too Many Clerks at Washington 5U2 Industrial Autocracy like

Czarist Russia

Dangers of Knowing Too Much 502

llawley-Snioot Tariff in Operation 530

My Son Stood Pat

SOCIAL AND EDUC tTIONAL

Essay on the Blind

Many Invations on Homes or

Wealthy

“'May Flowers’’

The Toll Bridge Swindle . . .

The Need of Information . . .

Six People Identify Wrong Ulan

Senator Johnson Hits the Nail . 502

The Ones That Want Peace . . 502

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

New Cars in Storage in Philadelphia

Big Business in Canada .... 501

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

Getting Beady for Another

World IVar

Harking Back to Diego Diva . 497

An Irish Free State Correction 497

Irish Free State in a Crisis . . 497

Columb’it S/Hctator and War

Departnii nt

Hobbing the Indians

Trotsky's Opinion of Fraiiee . 500

Mellon Charges Dropped . . . 503

AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

What a Florida Orange Grower Got

Brazil's Expensia e Covite Destruction

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

■World's Greatest Organ . . . 503

HOME AND HEALTH

Not So Slippery Elm Bark . . 493

Andrew Mellon Is the Ansaa er 495

Threats of False Arrest . . . 505

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

Syria—the Bridge to Three Continents......4S3

Wine Served Free in Hotels . . 495

Incomes of Wilhelm and Alfonso 501

Germany's Former Royalties . . 503

May Travel on Instalments . . 502

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Billy’ Sunday Lame on Constitution.......499

Atlanta Church Loses Pastor . 500

What Happened in Ocean Grove 504

The Radio Witness 'Work . . . 506

All M ay Observe Sabbath Without Hindrance .... 507

1‘uMislicd euerj other Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. 1'., U. S. A, by ' WOOVWOKTH, KNORR & MARTIN

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Entered as sccond-ckns matter at Brooklyn, N, Y., under the Act of March 0, 1S79.

aA Golden Age

Volume XIII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, May 11, 1932 Number 330

Syria — the Bridge to Three Continents

IF ONE wishes to go by land from Europe to

Africa, his journey will take him through Syria; if he wishes to go from Africa to Asia, his journey will take him through Syria; and if he wishes to go from Europe to Asia, the oldest and most direct route is through Syria, and down the Euphrates valley.

It was to get control of the Syrian route to the east that Germany embarked upon her enterprise that wrecked the world. It was to prevent any further aspirations in that direction that Britain and the Allies broke the Turkish Empire to bits, mandating Palestine and Iraq to Britain and Syria to the French.

Ancient Assyria ruled from the Black sea to the Mediterranean. The name became abridged from Assyria to Syria, and finally became limited in application to the more western part of these regions. Geographically, Palestine is a part of Syria. In its narrowest parts, the inhabitable area is only about sixty miles wide, and the total area of the country is only GO,000 square miles, or about the size of the state of Georgia.

Lovely Mount Hermon

Syria is a mountainous region, with Mount Hermon visible from almost all parts of the country and forming a valuable landmark for the guidance of caravans and aviators. The ancient name of Syria was Aram. Damascus was the capital of the ancient Aramaic kingdom and is believed to be the most ancient city in the world.

The mountains retain their snows until late in summer. They condense the vapors from the Mediterranean sea and give to both Syria and Palestine their fertility. There are few perennial streams in Syria; the rain is quickly absorbed by the stony ground.

The so-called “Syrian Desert” is really a fertile steppe, and when artificially watered yields a most luxuriant produce. In the rainy season the Syrian “desert” produces a rich crop of grasses and flowering herbs, affording most valuable pasture. Syria is one of the fruit centers of the world. What still remains of the historic cedars of Lebanon is now found only at a solitary spot.

Throughout the country there is an unwritten law that a shepherd may lead his flock where nothing is planted. The sheep are so well trained that they know they are not to touch a bite of growing grain. Such a thing as a fence is unheard of, yet a shepherd will lead his flock beside a wheat field and not a sheep or goat will pay any attention to it, but will continue to browse away where it looks as if they would get nothing to eat.

The first railway line of 54 miles from Jaffa to Jerusalem was opened in 1892. About 1400 miles were in operation in 1914, with electric street cars in Damascus and Beirut.

Beautiful Damascus

From a distance Damascus presents the appearance of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is said that when Mohammed gazed down upon the city in the center of its green gardens, he said, “When I die, I shall go to heaven; so why should I now go to Damascus

The best time to visit Damascus is in the month of May, at which time the plain in which the city stands is covered with a brilliant carpet of wild flowers and fruit trees of every variety and in great profusion are in full foliage.

There is no other city where customs have changed so little. The ‘street called Straight’, associated with the experiences of the Apostle Paul, is now called “Suk-et-Tawileh”, or “Long Bazaar". The city was often besieged, pillaged and burned, in Bible times and since.

It was the home of the noted Syrian warrior, Saladin. When Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany visited Damascus in 1899 he laid on Saladin's tomb a bronze wreath bearing the inscription ‘‘From one great emperor to another”. The kaiser is now sawing wood at Doorn and is the laughingstock of the world. (1 eneral Allenby removed the kaiser's wreath when he captured the city from the Turks, in 1918.

4S3

The most important building in Damascus was originally a Roman temple. Subsequently it became the Church of St. John, and was supposed to contain the head of John the Baptist. Although the church was turned into a mosque in the year 1705, it still has an inscription over the main door which reads, “Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.”

Damascus steel has for centuries had the reputation of carrying the best edge and being the toughest steel known. Some of the famous Damascus blades and swords and daggers can still be picked up.

Why France Got the Mandate

When the Turkish Empire was broken up the Syrians explicitly requested that the mandate for their country should not be given to France ; but the League of Nations disregarded tlioir wishes, because, years before the World War was fought, France and England had agreed between them that the thing should happen that did happen, that is, that Britain should have Palestine and Iraq and that France should have Syria.

Maybe you cannot understand how two nations can agree to divide between them the property of a third nation, but that is because yin are honest. Among “statesmen’’ a little thing like that is just as easy as it was for the kidnapers to steal the Lindbergh baby.

The first years of the French mandate wore troublous years. In the fall of 1925 there was a rebellion in which the French ruined without warning a city that was a seat of culture a thousand years before the Parisii laid the foundation for the city of Paris.

Damascus was bombarded for 43 hours. This bombardment reduced the center of the city to utter ruin and destroyed the most famous examples of Arab domestic architecture and early decoration, together with almost a thousand civilian men, women and children of the district.

The Wonders of Baalbek

Every visitor to Syria should visit the ruins at Baalbek. Here one may see the largest stone ever quarried. It is 70 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 12 feet thick. It is estimated that it weighs more than a thousand tons and would take the combined strength of 40,000 men to move it one-half an inch per hour.

Tn the walls of the temple at Baalbek are three stones, each of which is more than 60 feet long, 13 feet with1, and 12 feet thick. These wore brought from the quarry a mile away. How this was done and how they were lifted 20 feet from the ground and placed in their present perches in the wall, no human wisdom can explain.

The roof of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbek was supported by 54 Corinthian columns 22 feet in circumference and as tall as an eight-story building, standing on end. Six of these columns are standing today. Inscriptions at Baalbek attribute the building of this fortress of Baal to giants sent by Nimrod “the mighty hunter before the Lord".

Among the strange sights at the Temple of Baal are 200 granite columns, each 3 feet in diameter and 27 feet long, that were brought from far up the River Nile in Egypt, the only place where granite of this kind has been found. How these great columns were conveyed from Egypt to Baalbek is a problem no scholar has been able to solve.

The only logical explanation of the structures at Baalbek is that they are the work of the giants before the flood, and that their angelic fathers provided them with means unknown to us, of nullifying the laws of gravitation.

’The traditions of the Arabs are that Adam and Eve lived at Baalbek; that it was near this place that Cain killed Abel; that it was here that Cain built the first city; it was here that the Tower of Babel was built; and it was here that Noah lived and died.

Beirut, Hamah and Other Cities

Beirut is the chief port of Syria. Looking toward this city from the heights of Mount Lebanon, it presents a vonderful picture with the great Mediterranean sea sparkling behind it in the sun. It was down the mountainsides of Lebanon that the cedars were skidded to the sea, after vhich they vere made into rafts and floated to Joppa, and then taken overland to Jerusalem for Solomon’s Temple.

Hamah, 110 miles northeast of Damascus, is known as the city of 100 aqueducts. Huge wheels, 60 to 90 feet high, carry water from the riverbed to the orchards and gardens above.

Difficulties of Government

Syria has its pests. Each town and village is infested with masterless dogs and cats. Locusts are the plague of the farmers, often devouring whole crops. The locusts are eaten only by the Bedouins.

The inhabitants all speak Arabic, but present a conglomeration of races. Greeks, Romans and European crusaders have all blended with the anciejit Semitic stock to produce the Syrians of today.

Practically all the inhabitants of the coast of Syria in and about Alexandretta are afflicted with the “Aleppo Button” or the “Baghdad Date Mark”, each the result of a boil that always lasts a year before healing. Europeans often contract this disease after a stay of only a few days.

Discovering that they were not wanted in Syria, and finding the governing of the turbulent mandated country a less pleasant and more expensive job than they had anticipated, the French have discussed giving up their Syrian mandate, and the Italians have offered to take it in their place; but little as the Syrians love the French, they love the Italians still less. What they prefer is to be let alone to govern themselves as they see fit.

When General Gouraud was high commissioner in Syria, he was called on by a committee of Syrians who asked for three things: first, agriculture; second, religion; and third, justice. He is alleged to have said to them, “Get rid of your goats and you'll have agriculture; get rid of your priests and you'll have religion; and get rid of your judges and you’ll have justice.”

An Exceedingly Conservative People

It is claimed that one of Syria's greatest misfortunes is the religious antagonisms which prevail and it is further claimed that in some parts the golden calf of Baal is still actually worshiped as it was in the days of Moses.

Without a doubt this is the most conservative section of the ■world, and also one of the most “religious”. In Damascus it is difficult to get away from the sight of kneeling figures. At noon the Mohammedan shopkeeper draws a net over the front of his shop and spends the noon hour on his knees in prayer. When he gets up from his knees he is ready and willing to cheat the eye teeth out of anybody, regardless of whether that one has the same habits of life as he or not.

The latest riots in Syria were the anti-Italian riots of a year ago, and the more recent election riots, when stones were thrown freely in Damascus and Aleppo. The country is expecting to have a republican form of government after the French leave.

In the vicinity of Beirut and Aleppo are several princes claiming to be heirs of the late Sultan Abdul Hamid and hoping for the restoration to them of the ownership of 47 villages which they maintain formerly belonged to the sultan. The old Moslem sheiks are said to fear the liberal ideas of the young Moslem politicians more than they do the soldiers of “Christian” France or Italy.

Though Syria was one of the first of the nations of earth to use the alphabet, and although within its borders there was recently found the world's oldest dictionary, yet today only 20 percent of the people can read and write and not over 25 percent of the boys and 6 percent of the girls of primary school age are actually attending schools. Many of the educational institutions of the country are maintained by foreign missions.

The Truth-telling Druses

One of the most picturesque peoples of Syria, and one of the most difficult people in the world to handle unless they are treated with kindness, are the Druses, described as truth-telling, valorous, and the handsomest race in Syria.

They took a dislike to a certain French governor, and when they complained of him to his superior officer they were betrayed by a clerical, with the result that some 40,000 of the fiercest and bravest warriors of Mohammedanism arose in rebellion. They were defeated with terrible bloodshed.

When the first of the Druses were slain, the French committed the indecency of parading through Damascus on camel back the bodies of the twenty-five slain men and later exposing them in the public square.

The Druses claim to have at one time lived in China. They have peculiar religious beliefs and customs known only to themselves. Since the French came into control of the country, they have been in revolt against them on five different occasions.

Some of the Syrians admit that since the French have had charge of their country there has been a marked development in all branches of agriculture. Roads have been built facilitating the moving of crops to the cities, and other roads are under construction. Much valuable work has been done in checking up boundaries and titles. A silk congress was held; and the French have shown the Syrians how to encourage and build up a tourist business.

Syrians Want Their Liberty

Nevertheless, the Syrians are weary of French militarism and cruelty. In the town of Swedea a cat strayed away from the home of the governor, and notice was published in the town that if it was not returned within twenty-four hours, every household in town would be lined one gold pound.

Under French rule in Syria from 1919 to 1932 the public expenditures (in francs) for education were 0,300,000. During the same period the public expenditures for maintenance of troops were 1,782,000,000 francs, which is 283 times the amount for education.

A bridge called Jisr Addamour was built by the Turks for £8,000. When a French engineer-repaired this bridge he charged for repairing it more than live and one-half times as much as what the bridge cost new.

When a French officer in the custom house of Beirut became a millionaire through bribery, the case against him was dismissed and he was allowed to go back to France with all of his money, all of it collected dishonestly.

Terrible Cruelties to the Druses

When the Druses were being subjugated in 1926, it was the French custom on entering a village to shoot all the men they could see. The French soldiers and their friends returned from these raids loaded with loot, jewelry, silk scarfs, clothes, rugs and cattle.

In one case, because one French officer was attacked, the French authorities destroyed by bomb five villages; the women of the village were outraged, and 6,500 sheep were confiscated as indemnity. All together, 80 villages were bombarded.

Not only have the Syrians had to submit to these outrages, but they have actually had to pay a portion of the cost of perpetrating them; for Article II of the text of the mandate for Syria provides, “Nothing shall preclude Syria and Lebanon from contributing to the cost of the maintenance of the forces of the mandatory stationed in the territory.” One would think it bad enough to be robbed and murdered without having one’s heirs taxed to help pay the cost of committing the depredations.

In the educational projects which the French have put under way they have naturally sought to put the Arabian language in the background and the French language to the fore, and that is one reason why the Arabs want them to leave Syria.

Essay on the Blind By J. Lowell Bito (New Jersey)

HUMAN interest, apathetic as it might have been, was the dynamic force that propelled the movement of elevating the blind from a state of animalistic classification to a state of human rank; for it has been only a few centuries since, in the more primitive communities of England, blind people were ostracized from society and forced to roam the forests like wild beasts.

This action was prompted by the popular belief that the blind were the instruments of diabolic agents and were destined to create evil. The interest of the enlightened society was aroused by this peculiar belief and soon some wild blind were, literally, captured for scientific study.

After some time spent in investigation, science found that, although sightless persons maintained the keenness of their other faculties, they still possessed eccentricities which were compensations for sight rather than the misinterpretation of deviltry. This pronouncement served to further stimulate human interest, which in turn influenced the continuance of greater investigations.

The findings of science in time dispelled the false impression hitherto held by the cruder society, and soon enough people were interested in the blind to found a movement for the purpose of raising them to a higher station in society.

First Efforts at Education

The first notable step of this movement was the establishing of schools where the blind were given some form of instruction. That in these instructions, the preparation for some petty occupation was the predominating element seems to be a logical deduction. However, records show that very little was accomplished in these early years, and that the only force which kept the movement alive was the persistency of human interest.

In fact, throughout the various centuries this movement is characterized by an insignificant amount of accomplishment, but an abundant flow of enthusiasm. Probably this zeal was nurtured by the fact that some of the blind had learned vocations enabling self-support, and the public cherished the hope that all the blind could be raised from the parasitic class.

In fact, in any movement resulting in great achievement, it is this plenitude of belief and absolutism of confidence that forms the very essence of the movement’s early existence. Thus it is that even the present workers for the blind are able to so stoically face their many disappointments.

The early educators of the blind fervently adhered to the theory that the amount of development of any group of people was always proportionate to the amount of education received by that group. It was for this reason that they sought to increase the amount of instruction available to their students.

Undoubtedly a major step in this direction would be to devise a system whereby the blind would be able to read and write. If this could be accomplished, then it would be possible to fashion the system of education after the methods employed by sighted people.

At first this seemed a fanciful idea; but if the development of the blind was to be continued, it was requisite to devise some system of reading and writing.

Description of Alphabet

It is not of immediate value to discuss the evolution of the system finally adopted, but more important to familiarize ourselves with the method by which it is accomplished. Lacking the sense of sight, of course, it was necessary to utilize the sense of touch.

Thus the letters are formed by tiny projections, or dots, punched through a heavy sheet of paper. The relative position and number of these dots indicate the desired letter. For example, the system is founded on a group of six dots •• and by eliminating certain dots from this group the various letters of the alphabet are formed.

For instance, if from this group •• we eliminate the left center dot '• the letter Y is formed. However, should we eliminate both center dots '* the letter X would be formed. For more detailed explanation, below is given an illustration of the entire alphabet.

abode fghi jkimnopqr s t u v w x y

A considerable variety of systems have been used in creating tangible letters, but a solicitude for the convenience of the blind led to the general adoption of the above-illustrated method under the name of the Braille System.

Methods of Writing

In order for the blind to create these letters when writing, two kinds of apparatus have been invented: the Braille Writer and the Slate and Stylus. The Braille Writer is a machine similar in structure to a typewriter, but because of its ponderous size and delicate mechanism it is rarely used. The Slate and Stylus, on the other hand, are used by all blind who write the tangible letter system.

The slate is merely two strips of metal between which is locked a sheet of paper. The lower strip is lined with perforations arranged in groups of six •• •• •• H . The upper strip is lined with cells which indicate the position of the lower perforations.

Thus when the point of the stylus is placed in the cell, it is unable to enter the lower perforation because of the paper covering them. However, a slight pressure will cause the stylus to pierce the paper, thus forming a tangible dot. The blind writer, by selecting the perforations, forms those dots whose positions indicate the letter he wishes to create.

The stylus we mention is simply a pointed instrument very much resembling a miniature awl. The almost incredulous fact about this system is that the blind are able to write with the rapidity that we exhibit with our pencils.

Educational Statistics

After the advent of reading and writing by the blind, the building of institutions for their education was somewhat accelerated. At present there are in this country alone over four hundred institutions designed for the purpose of educating those encumbered by defective vision. In addition to these seats of learning, throughout the larger cities there are hundreds of individual classes maintained for the same purpose.

Sightless children, after they have reached school age, are sent by their communities to these institutions. These children are immediately taught the Braille System of reading and writing; and thus they are able to read the textbooks reprinted for them from the inkprint editions.

From here on the system of education is similar to the one found in the orthodox public school, with the exception, perhaps, that a greater stress is placed on subjects of vocational import.

Approximately twenty to thirty percent of these children graduate from high school; and of this group from two to ten percent enter universities. The most remarkable fact is that from ninety-five to ninety-eight percent of university students succeed in graduating, the others being eliminated because of financial inabilities.

Books and Libraries

There are thousands of books printed in Braille for the blind student, together with weekly, monthly, and quarterly periodicals. However, the most egregious blunder is that the managers of the printing presses make it a vow to reprint most of the modern fiction stories instead of attempting to effect a compromise between the number of novels and textbooks printed. It is justly argued that if textbooks of the best creation were more plentiful in Braille, higher education would iind a more facilitated access to the blind student. Sensible of this truth, small organizations have long endeavored to remedy this inefficiency. These small factions, however, because of pecuniary difficulties, have made very little progress.

In spite of this handicap, these factions still contest their problems with no diminution of zeal. However, until the managers of printing presses for the blind are aroused from their lethargy, the blind student will remain the martyr to their deficiency.

At present the only book-distributing centers are a mere handful of libraries scattered throughout the nation. The work done by these organizations is highly laudable. The task of distributing books is accomplished by mailing to the enlisted reader that book for which he had expressed a desire to read.

Through an act of Congress all reading matter for the blind passes through the mail without cost. By a general suffrage of the blind this service was proven to be the most beneficial rendered to them.

Society has endeavored to make provisions for all classes of blind: the children are sent to homes and institutions; the middle-aged are provided with special vocations; the impotent and old-aged are taken care of by philanthropic organizations. By this formula society has endeavored to mitigate the burden which would otherwise have fallen upon the shoulders of individual families.

However, “errare humanum cst,” and society is human. It is fitting, therefore, that we discuss some of the provisions that we have made which have not been stamped with high degrees of success.

Problem of the Middle-aged

It is the middle-aged blind who create the most momentous problems for society to solve. These persons have reached the age where education has been limited either by their intellectual levels or else they are so impervious to scholastic influence that further administration is futile.

Most of these people, although in indigent circumstances, follow vocations wffiich enable them to live with extreme frugality. That society assist in the adjustment of their lives is highly imperative. We all realize that their difficulty centers around the inadequacy of their occupation to yield substantial support.

But they cannot be made to realize the advantages of versatility in handicraft; nor can they be made desirous of a higher standard of living. Therefore our financial assistance to individuals is merely of temporary benefit.

Organizations have already attacked this problem from another angle. They have formulated plans to assist this class of blind, not individually, but as a group. For this purpose they have established community centers where these blind may congregate and thus be brought into direct contact with the organization's influence.

If this influence can encourage them to raise their standard of living, to expand their scope of vision beyond the term of self, and thus establish a closer relationship between their world and ours, surely this is more justification for financial expenditure than relief to individuals.

Such organizations as “The Community Workers for the Hebrew Blind”, “The Lighthouse for the Blind,” and “The New Jersey Commission for the Blind”, are devoting the major part of their resources in the establishing of community centers.

TVor/r of the Organizations

The principal functions to which these organizations have pledged adherence are: (1) To open now fields of vocation for the blind; (2) to facilitate the acquiring of new ideals and ideas; (3) to instill into the blind an enthusiasm for greater accomplishment: (4) to assist the blind in fusing themselves with the rest of the world.

The blind are enticed to the community centers by special social functions arranged in their behalf. This makes it possible for the members of the benofactory organization to mingle with them and learn of their difficulties and problems.

The organization then attempts to interest the blind in some of their courses of instruction, such as classes in music, weaving, broom-making, doll-dressing, etc. The blind are given opportunities to attend musical and dramatic entertainments of the best order gratis.

The organization sponsors conferences of newspaper sellers, insurance salesmen, piano tuners, etc. These meetings materially assist the blind by acquiring now ideas. In short, the different organizations have various methods, all tending to annihilate the barrier of distinction which immures the blind from the rest of civilization.

Theoretically we find it not difficult to concede that it is to the betterment of any individual if his environment be such as to influence him to project his life beyond the compounds of his own epidermis. Also, if one can profit by the knowledge of the experiences of others, steps ought to be taken to acquire such knowledge.

And apparently these are the objectives of the community centers for the blind. How far they have gone astray from their goal is difficult to ascertain, since the evils of any endeavor are always more accentuated than its merits. It is not our desire, however, to stress the virtues of this undertaking, and far less is it our wish to emphasize its defects.

However, in any constructive analytical study it is infinitely more valuable to discuss the had points of a system, rather than to consign ourselves to excessive laud. With this idea as our justification we shall devote a few paragraphs to a discussion of the pernicious effects resulting from blind colonization as we find it in the community centers.

Evils of Coeducation

In any society where there is established an association between the opposite sexes (as in the community centers) there inevitably arises some form of love intrigue. Thus it is that in these blind colonies it is not rare to have a male and a female become connubially linked. Consequently, eugenic examination not being necessary in respect to a marriage, the progeny of these unions are, as a rule, afflicted with blindness.

The most nauseating spectacle that this writer has ever behold was a family of three blind feeling their way along a New York city street. The father was a lank, thin, tubercular individual who shuffled along in a somewhat stooped posture which enabled him to describe a greater circumference with his cane.

His wife clung to his arm. She was a waxen-featured, scrawny woman, whose stunted, frail body and protruding cheekbones were made the more sickly by the atrophy of her eye-sockets. These two alone caused one to shudder, without the additional sight of their child.

He was an eyeless, emaciated youngster, whose pipestem legs were so badly warped that it forced him to waddle as his mother dragged him along. A thin stream of blood trickled from his chin, probably the result of an unfortunate collision.

The most uncouth feature about this child, however, was the peculiar canine symmetry of his head. In truth, this fact was so striking that it led one’s thoughts to his possible progenitors.

The three of them were clad in clothes indicative of (‘xtreme penury. This scene, sad to relate, was made the subject of drollery by some of the observers, but others were moved to the very soul.

Upon inquiry this marriage proved to be the result of an acquaintanceship made possible by one of the blind community centers. Such is the irony which blemishes the good intentions of these organizations. It is unfortunate, however, that most of them are slow in correcting this horrid enormity.

Efforts to Offset Dangers

We would not be treating this phase of our subject very judiciously if we were to create the impression that all community centers for the blind facilitate this class of marital relationship. In fact, of late there is a growing tendency by the more progressive societies to discourage such practices.

Leading in this movement is the managing board of The Lighthouse for the Blind. This organization not only forbids the association of blind of opposite sexes, but endeavors to establish acquaintances between sighted females and sightless males, and vice versa. For this purpose they arrange weekly dances to which are invited various sororities or fraternities, as the needs of the occasion dictate.

In addition, this organization maintains a splendid department of vocational guidance which aims to place the blind in such positions where contact with the sighted world is best assured.

In order to eradicate some of the wrong that has been done, this society maintains a sort of creche where infants are given the best medical and maternal attention to aid them in a fairer start in life.

That the Lighthouse has attained the acme of success in ironing out the evils of blind colonization is, of course, not implied. However, we can state with certainty that they have made more progress than the other community centers above mentioned.

(Note—This author had the privilege on several occasions to attend these functions, and to study the peculiar psychic reactions prevalent in this assembly. It is possible that, if sufficient interest is manifested, we shall devote an entire article to this subject.)

Contraceptive Practices

There are still more potent agencies which assist in minimizing the evils of copulation resulting from interblind marriages. These agencies are scattered throughout the length and breadth of every civilized nation. They have ostensibly espoused the cause of discouraging the fecundity of that class of people who are the victims of hereditary disease.

For this purpose these societies maintain a corps of obstetricians and other physicians skilled in the science of gynecology. True it may be, they whisper, that their practice is illicit; but, they continue, it is not motivated by selfish interest, since the ultimate beneficiary is the human race.

Thus, believing in this sophism, they spread the knowledge of birth control; they assist in the distribution of antifecundous drugs; they advocate not infertility and chastity, but contraception. In short, they attempt to efface hereditary disease from mankind by creating a marriage blanc.

Confidentially a member of this movement once remarked that his organization alone destroys more than fifty thousand embryos per annum. If this is accomplished by a single organization, we shudder when estimating the total number of lives which are wiped out by the combined efforts of all these societies.

Nevertheless, if we are to take their ostensible motive at its face value, they are, scientifically, justified in teaching contraception to this class of unfortunates. But the pivotal issue arises, Is there some other means by which hereditary disease can be checked, without infanticide?

Those who are inured to this practice will reply in the negative; while those of us who dearly love humanity will offer a solution on this plan: Let the money that is being spent to improve the chicanery of this supine society be added to the funds maintained for the purpose of raising and developing children.

If this noble movement could be made to assume greater proportions, in time there would be a human race whose offspring could not be of the undesired class. And again the human race would be the ultimate beneficiary.

The Lure of the Dollar

However, it is perfectly obvious that the purport of these societies is not as humanitarian as they avow. Their interest centers solely in fl-nancial rewards. Their field of endeavor is not limited to any certain groups of people, but includes all classes of society. To advertise their work, they publish magazines featuring nudity and the efficacy of their products.

The people connected with this movement do not admit that their action is lured by dollars and cents, but claim that their affiliation is prompted by a desire to wipe out hereditary disease. It is surprising, however, to note the short length of time that it takes their members to rise from poverty to opulence.

In spite of the fact that many blind families are subject to the influence of these societies, interblind marriages still greatly aggravate the burden of human society. For, be these unions fertile or sterile, matrimony increases their problems so many fold that they are unable to handle them without assistance.

This statement becomes more obvious when we realize the many problems that confront even a sighted person when leaving behind celibacy. Thus the burdens of interblind marriages become the burden of society; and it is this truth that reflects so sadly upon the Community Center System which made possible its miserable origin. In fact, this reflection is so ghastly that even condign praise of this system bears semblance to mockery and ridicule.

The Downward Drag

There is still another demoralizing aspect of blind colonization that is of sufficient magnitude to enter this brief discussion. This is a tendency to integrate all blind into a single group with a common set of ideals and ambitions.

Nature accomplishes somewhat the same task by the method expressed in the dictum, “Birds of a feather flock together.” However, in the community center system the corollary of this axiom is totally disregarded.

As a result, when the dissimilar classes of blind are fused together, there arises a conflicting standard of ideals and ambitions. Those with high ambitions spurn their fellows who are mediocre in their standards; while those possessing insignificant and low ambitions militate against the other classes. This situation simply discords the harmony of the entire colony. In fact, no group of people could remain a single unit under these conditions unless there is effected an amalgamation.

The community workers endeavor to solve this problem by establishing a standard of ideals that is neither too high nor too low. In short, it is an encouragement of that ambition which yields self-support without too greatly taxing the powers of the individual. This is really a compromise between mendicancy and intellectual endeavors. Thus we find that community centers are flooded with newspaper dealers, broom-makers, etc.

The effect of this is that those blind who aspire to become lawyers or writers find it much easier to earn a living by selling newspapers, and, strengthened by the encouragement of the community center, they lower their ambitions. The very few who cannot condescend stop associating with the colony, and thus the community center loses their elevating influence.

Consequently the colony becomes a veritable incubator of chair-caners, doll-dressers, etc., etc. This is another unfavorable condition for which a remedy has not yet been found.

The Best Method

In the final analysis it seems that the methods advocated by such distinguished educators as Dr. Burritt, head of the Overbrook School for the Blind, Philadelphia, and Mr. Van Cleve, head of the New York Institute for the Blind, New York city, are probably the most efficacious in promoting the welfare of the blind.

These men are of the class whose minds are emancipated from greed incited by pecuniary interest, and their endeavors are born of a sincerity unsullied. Their leading tenet is to so efficiently educate the blind that they may become without difficulty a part of the higher strata of society. Moreover, they do not believe in acting as a force to raise the blind, but rather to arouse an innate desire in the sightless person to raise himself.

To more definitely grasp this theory let us cite an illustration: In the process of drawing water from a well, we observe that the force generated by our hand causes the pail to rise. But as soon as this force ceases the bucket plunges downward. However, if the force were in the bucket itself, then it could regulate its own ascension, and our force would simply assist.

The present work being done for the blind is similar to this crude example: the blind are the codicil, and the workers strive to raise them. When the workers pause, the blind sink down to the level from which they have just arisen, and the workers must begin anew. But if the sightless were taught to raise themselves, then the remaining task would be very picayune by comparison.

The work done to attain this end will not be marked by rapidity in its progress; but work accomplished is irretrievable ground gained. In this system the blind profit, while the educators are kept subordinate. It is probably for this reason that such a method does not meet with more approbation.

However, if blind are to develop, they must develop themselves. If they wish to create the impression that intrinsically they are not parasites, then they themselves must become strong and virile individuals. It is only after this fashion that they can obliterate the stigma of mendicancy which is generally associated with their affliction.

[The Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society maintains a department for the blind at 1210 Spear St., Logansport, Ind., and, in addition to The Watchtower for the blind, which is published every other week, has arranged for the following publications to be made available in Revised Braille: The Harp of God, Deliverance, Creation, Reconciliation, Where Are the Dead? Comfort for the People, A Desirable Government, and The Kingdom, the Hope of the World. These books and booklets are distributed in libraries and sent to individuals in the United States, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, England, Scotland and Canada. The radio has found a number of the blind interested, and these have obtained the literature. We are glad indeed that the Society is able to do something in their behalf, and that those who are hungry for the truth are getting a knowledge of the Kingdom.—Ed.]

What a Florida Orange Grower Got

A LITTLE while ago everybody was going to go to Florida and grow oranges and get rich. Some went and are growing the oranges. Are they getting rich? The following is a true copy of a statement which one of them recently received for growing 100 cases of fruit and turning them over to the packer. All he was charged for his work wTas $14.29. The grower is glad and thankful that he was not charged anything for four of the items on the list. The packing charge of $1.15 a crate seems a plenty. Many of the oranges that are now coming into the New York market come in little sacks of an open mesh that we cannot believe cost more than 10c each, and we wonder what becomes of the other $1.05.

Lot No. 1008

Sale No. 898

AMERICAN FRUIT GROWERS INC.

ORLANDO, FLA.

E. B. Walling Weirsdale, Fla.

Car No. 35636

Packed at Weirsdale Shipped 12-2-31

12-12-31

TANGERINES

22'1-2 Blue Goose Suncrest

60.55

142.95

47.15

20'1

” ” Goldens

-2 ” ” Russets

Freight

90.55

250.65

Refrigeration Demurrage Auction Charges

4.39

Cartage and Labor

Clearing House Charges

1.00

A. F. G. Selling

20.00

115.94

Net Proceeds

134.71

Packing 115.00

Picking and Hauling 20.00

Freight to Packing House

Marking and Brand Advertising

Precooling 10.00

Coloring 4.00 149.00

DEFICIT 14.29

N. Y. Auction.

Not So Slippery Elm Bark By A. L. Green (England)

I READ with interest the article appearing in The Golden Age No. 318 entitled “Slippery, Slippery, Slippery Elm Bark-’, by Dr. H. AL Shelton. While agreeing with the basis of his article, that health cannot be restored without removing or correcting the cause of disease, yet it seems that he slipped upon the Slippery Elm: for there is another side to the question.

I do not claim to be steeped in medical matters, anti am glad I am not, but there appears to be some measure of balance needed when dealing with the subject of health. To group the osteopath, chiropractor, naturopath, electrotherapist and herbalist together with evangelists, Christian Science, monkey glands and witchcraft seems to me a hit far-fetched. And because a man does not practice or teach the doctrines of the school of healing he is professing to represent, that does not alter the truth or error of those doctrines.

As regards those who seek for “remedies” in order to continue their careless ways, no doubt they just suit the doctors and the doctors just suit them, so we will leave them to get on with it. But there are others who do value health and are seeking to improve the same, especially those fully devoted to Jehovah, and it is this class we will consider.

In the above-mentioned article we are given several items that are discounted as remedies, but nothing to take their place except the vague keeping “of the laws of life". We could make a good guess as to what is implied, but how many could keep these laws ? We need plenty of fresh air, but as, maybe, we work in a factory basement, we cannot get it; we need plenty of fruit and vegetables, but cannot afford all we should like; wo need restful sleep, but the neighbor's cockerel thinks otherwise; we should have plenty of exercise (the boss sees we get that), but should not work at high speed unless we can have; a two months’ sea voyage. We have to work at high speed or get the sack, and cannot afford a sea voyage anyhow. Then there are others who unavoidably make a bad start in life through having parents who think more of dancing, pictures and beer than of caring for children. In other words, we must remember that the Devil's organization is still here, and since it is hopeless to try to reform it, and things will not be satisfactory until God's kingdom is in full sway, we must in the meantime make the best of it.

While the Devil has been foisting as many fads as possible upon the human race, he has also been ridiculing everything likely to be of benefit, and it is for us to endeavor to sort out the muddle. His method of procedure seems to be to establish quack systems of healing veneered with some truth and to foster the belief in magical properties of true remedies to belittle their real value. Also, while there are a number of people whose living depends upon the existence of disease, and we cannot guarantee they are all honest, we have to tread warily.

Now as regards “remedies” and “cures”. Words are often used out of place, but we understand what is meant. In fact, the face value of a word is not a reliable guide; the accepted meaning is its real meaning. The illustration is given of a person's burning his hand and then wrapping it in salves and ointments to “heal” it. When the word “heal” is used, surely no one really thinks that the now skin that in time forms on the burnt hand really evolved from the salves and ointments. Obviously what is meant is that the ointment soothed and gave the body freer scope to heal the hand.

Tako an extreme case of a man rescued from drowning. His vitality has been brought so low that his body is unable to cope with the obstacles, and if we preached him a sermon on the laws of life and waited for his corpuscles to muster to the fight, we should wait until doomsday. So what do we do? We artificially help him to overcome the obstacles by applying artificial respiration. The same might be said of massage to help a sick person to make a more speedy recovery, even if the cause of the sickness was through careless living. And the osteopaths themselves claim “that the human body is a perfect machine and that all the remedies necessary to health exist within it”, and “the manipulative technique of the osteopath is employed to control and regulate the flow of the blood and healing fluids of the body, so that Hie body itself is enabled to resist and repel the invasion of disease-laden germs and effect its own core in its ovn way”.—The New Healing, by Wilfred A. Streeter, pages 34 and 76.

Now coming to herbs. A sure way of casting doubt on anything, without the aid of reason, is to class it with something objectionable. “Give a dog a bad name and the name will kill it.” Link herbs up with magic and the trick is done.

The Creator has given us a great variety of

plant life, which for convenience of reference we have classified. We call one class “trees”, another “shrubs”, and those plants that die to the root every year we call “herbs”. There is nothing spooky about that! Just as some plants and their fruits contain elements needed by our bodies, and others are unfit for consumption, so we find some herbs containing elements needed by us, and others unsuitable for use. Because some witch of the Dark Ages used a poisonous herb to do away with someone, that does not make any difference to those herbs that are not poisonous. Or, because a medieval country yokel thought that St.-John’s-wort kept evil spirits away as well as being good for lung trouble, the superstition does not alter the latter- fact.

Elderberries have been known for centuries as a means of curing a cold, or, as already explained, of assisting the body to more speedily get rid of the cold. (Although the elder is not an herb, it comes within the domain of an herbalist and is called an “herb” in the looser sense of the word.) Are we going to believe that the sweating evident after drinking elderberry syrup is the result of demonism or imagination, or shall we believe that it is caused by viburnic acid in the berry? How many herb scoffers use parsley to garnish their dishes? That is simply an herb.

I know an elderly woman who went to the hospital suffering from cancer and later was sent out as hopeless (only a fortnight to live) with a pain near her spine preventing her from sleeping. Soon after taking the herbal remedy mentioned in The Golden Age No. 245 (one ounce each of violet leaves, yellow dock and red clover simmered in three pints of water for twenty minutes) the pain went and she is now in normal health, in spite of the fact that our wise men are still searching for a remedy. If ‘‘testimonials of benefits derived from remedies mean nothing”, is this woman cured, or is she actually dead and only thinks she is alive ? The doctor who attended her was puzzled at the recovery, but has now evidently dismissed the matter from his mind.

Someone will rightly say that if this woman had lived properly she would not have had cancer. But since we have all been born while Satan's organization is running the world's affairs, and from birth have been surrounded by a crowd of hypocrites, one telling us that cigarettes are good for slimming; an aluminum firm boosting its rubbishy saucepans; the doctors waylaying us with serum squirters; Punch & Judy politicians speaking in the future tense; the shopkeeper recommending something he knows nothing about; and the pious manequin paraders urging us to reserve a seat in heaven with our last shilling, it takes some time to unlearn a great deal of what we learned and change our habits as far as environment and pocket will permit. (The Golden Age has been a great help to this end.) But this does not mean that we throw overboard everything practiced by our forefathers. If we are not blessed with a good constitution a great deal of damage may in the meantime have been done, and so, while reforming our ways, we seek means of assisting our bodies to return to normal; for example, massage, muscle and bone adjustments, electrical treatment, and herbs that are rich in the elements (in organic form) that are deficient in our bodies. We cannot expect one method of treatment to cure every complaint.

The simplicity of herbs savors of the Creator’s method of provision, and this may be one reason why they are rejected, because they do not give the medical profession scope to show its own “ability” with, of course, its high fees.

Why do we read in God’s Word the expression “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Bev. 22: 2) if it is not for the fact that the principle is borne out in a minor degree in nature? We might also ask, If aids to health are unnecessary, but sufferers should “reform their modes of living”, how long would it take a leper or one suffering from cancer or deafness to return to normal by this reformation only?

Why do I see the neighbors’ eats nibbling grass? Even they cannot keep fit under our wonderful civilization, and we shall find that after doing all we are able to live properly we shall still occasionally feel unwell, and then be thankful there are means of healing, or shall we say, assisting, our bodies.

In any case, with whatever health and strength we have, let us use it in the greatest work on earth, in the service of Jehovah.

[Since we published Dr. Shelton’s iconoclastic article on “Slippery, Slippery, Slippery Elm Bark” we have received several communications from those who have tried Mrs. Levens’ suggestions regarding slippery elm, as published in The Golden Age No. 318, and found themselves thereby benefited. Dr. Shelton may be a little bit savage, but he has good ideas. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.—Ed.\

Andrew Mellon Is the Answer

A FRIEND of ours, a landscape architect in California, becoming interested in the evidence we have offered as to the dangers of cooking in aluminum utensils, wrote the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Home Economics, Washington, D. C., to find out what they knew on the subject. Louise Stanley, chief of the Bureau, came back with the following highly illuminative ( ?) epistle:

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

BUREAU OF HOME ECONOMICS WASHINGTON, D. C.

February 1G, 1932.

Mr. Malcolm Rolls, Box 21, Escondido, California. Dear Mr. Rolls :

Your letter of February first addressed to the Department of Agriculture has just been referred to this bureau.

We have made no investigations on the subject of aluminum as a material for cooking utensils, but I am glad to inclose a list of references which you may wish to consult. From a study of the scientific literature, we can find no basis for the statement’s being made that aluminum ware is dangerous to health.

Your letter is being referred to the Bureau of Plant Industry for answer to your other questions.

Sincerely yours, Louise Stanley, Chief. Inclosure.

And then our friend Mr. Rolls comes back at ns and waxes inquisitive and sarcastic and wants to know of m.v, “Why does the Bureau of Home Economics not make investigations on the subject?” Andrew Mellon is the answer. Despite the five years that this subject was studied by the Federal Trade Commission, and the voluminous and instructive report of the same by Edward M. Averill, examiner for the Federal Trade Commission, in Docket No. 540, the Bureau of Home Economics, which is just the department that should know all about this important subject, admitted when Ruth Van Deman was its Associate in Publications and information (!) that it “has not conducted any experiments on aluminum ware”; and it plainly does not now know any more about this thing than it did then. And we may add that it will take mighty good care that it never does.

What is the reason? The answer is that it is Andrew Mellon. Does anybody suppose that the ladies in the Bureau of Home Economics are going to run the risk of losing their jobs just because a few hundred thousand people are being slain every year as a result of plating their insides with aluminum? Not a little bit. Mr. Mellon has a lot of power in Washington.

Mr. Mellon will supply all the information that is to be given out on this aluminum question. lie has a big research department at Pittsburgh in connection with the aluminum trust of which he is the almost sole owner, and it is the business of this research department to find Tacts’ that are favorable to the sale of more cooking utensils. And they will find those Tacts’ or Mr. Mellon will have to find scientists (Ha! ha!) who will.

The man who can pronounce the word “scientist” in these days without grinning is the man who has had an operation performed on his lips which makes it impossible for him to twist them into a smile. Numerous of these “scientists” testified to the truth about this aluminum business before the Federal Trade Commission, and when we merely gave their names, without saying what they said, they wrote us from every corner of the earth beseeching, begging, demanding, threatening and denying, and insisting that we say no more. They are employed by universities and have wives and babies, and, as Mr. Mellon’s friends put up the cash for their salaries, they do not want to be on the street looking for work, any more than the ladies of the Bureau of Home Economics. When we reproduced some of their testimony they shut up like oysters.

Wine Served Free in Hotels

WINE is served free with meals in numerous hotels in the latitude of New York and Philadelphia. It is cheaper than water in some parts, and much cheaper than kerosene everywhere. The vats of every farmer are overflowing. But before you rush out and buy your ticket, we hasten to explain that while the latitude is the same there is a difference of G5° in the longitude. The place where the wine is so cheap is in Portugal. By the way, Portugal had one three-foot snow this past winter, and that is a record snow for Portugal.

Getting Ready for Another World War

THE last World War was not enough, yet the writer Emil Ludwig, in the Saturday Evening Post reminds us that a parade of the dead, ten abreast, with a new rank every two seconds, would take 46 days to pass a given spot, and the incidental dead were five times as many. The cost of the war was $338,000,000,000; in four years Europe lost all the savings accumulated in a century.

Suppose the war now under way in Manchuria spreads so as to engulf the rest of the world. Here is what Marshal Foch says will happen:

Poison-gas bombs will spread deadly fumes which will penetrate any mask and produce death in a few minutes. Phosphorus bombs, impossible to extinguish, will burn the flesh to the bone within half a minute. Hundreds of tanks, each one able to shoot a thousand deadly bullets a minute, machine guns like automatic rifles which, in the hands of 1,000,000 men, will shoot 100,000,000 bullets a minute, will also be raging, and the heavens above will be darkened by a thousand airplanes pouring a rain of horror on the earth. Behind the lines, cities and villages will crumble in ruins under the destructive fire of the latest artillery. In the next war there will be no such thing as the front and the rear. The whole nation will find itself on the firing line.

According to Winston Churchill, the laboratories in all the great countries are busily studying systematic ways of infecting humans and animals in enemy territory, of spreading mildew to kill the crops, anthrax to kill the cattle, and bacilli to destroy the inhabitants.

America believes in phosphorus guns. They were tried in the latter part of the World War, and the burns inflicted were so deep that the flesh had to be pulled off the bones of living men.

…