Golden Age, August 2, 1933

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The Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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in this issue

STABILIZING THE WORLD

Complete text of address by Judge Rutherford broadcast Sunday, June 25, 1933

THE SACROSANCT CLERGY

NEWS IN BRIEF

EVENTS IN CANADA

every other WEDNESDAY

five cents a copy one dollar a year Canada & Foreign 1.25

Vol. XIV.No. 362

August 2, 1933

CONTENTS

• • • - - — ■ . - - ----- . • •

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

Nursing Vipers in Bosom .... G93

Justice Brandeis and FraukcuS'-m 694

Safety for Savings

Baby Born on Sidewalk .... 698

I What the World War Accomplished 698

President Roosevelt's Powers . . 638

Events in Canada......699

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

Back and Forth

Victor Smith—Victor

Thomas Challenges Executiw Edict (.94

Alas the Poor Garbage Can! . . 697

Trick That Enslaved the World . 697

Human Auras Measured .... G93

Ridding Italy of Malaria .... C94

What Is It Like to Be Dead? . . 698

Sure Way to Stop Gasoline Leans 703

HOME AND HEALTH

Aluminum Vats for Beer .... G;>7

Too Much Arsenic on Arm es . . 702

MANUFACTURING AND MINING

Wist Power Chain of East

. 697

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

Increase in Postal Saving . . . G'!3 Interest Bogy at Exeter .... (/ 3 ■lleetrifying Italian Railroads . . ; 93 Huge Locomotive for Russia . . 6.'3 Going! Going!.......''34

Plight of the Railroads .... 97

Insull Defalcations $7,000,09'.) . . . 97 S salvation Army and Big Busine:,, . 697 Gold Standard Top Fell Over . . 698 Associated Gas and Electric System 698 “Much Goods for Many Years’’ . 698

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

Socialism or Communism .... 691

Lawless Police in Canada Too . . 665

Sacrosanct Clergy or Canadv Terrible Drought in Africa . . Wild Dogs in Kenya . . . . New Eiffel Tower.....

Greenland the World’s Le Box Six Orphans Save Train . . . Feeding Infants to Dogs . . . Day of the Business Alan . . . ‘‘And Burn Her with Fire” . Roosevelt Accepts Catholic LL.D

680 693

693 695

695 695

696 (>96 637

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Stabilizing the 'World .... 675

Syrian Archbishop Takes Bride . 693 Foolishness of Buddhist Monks . C93 Bozo, the Demonized Dog . . . 696

Baptist Preacher, Manhattan, Mont. 703

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Entered as seconds lass matter at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1S79.

crtie Golden Age

Volume XIV Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, August 2, 1933 Number 3G2

Stabilizing the World

Broadcast from Hilversum, The Netherlands, by Judge Rutherford, Sunday, June 25, 1933

THIS is not a political speech, but it pertains to the best government the world will ever know, hence a perfect government. The purpose of this speech is to enable the people to see what is the source of all blessings of peace, prosperity and happiness provided for those who do right. The people have been too prone to listen to and follow imperfect human guides. A sure and safe guide is needed. The Word of Jehovah God, as contained in the Holy Scriptures, furnishes that complete guide. The Scriptures were written for the aid and comfort of the people who are now on the earth and who are in great distress and perplexity. They disclose the only remedy for the establishment of the world in righteousness.

A brief review of the history of man will enable you to more readily see and to appreciate the necessity of giving heed to the Word of Jehovah. There are in the universe two mighty powers unseen by human eyes; one is the true and almighty God of righteousness; the other is the false or mimic god of wickedness. The righteous One is named Jehovah; the wicked one is named Satan the Devil. The great question now before all creation and which must be for ever settled is, Who is supreme and by whom shall the people be guided and the world ruled ? The people must now have a knowledge of the truth to enable them to choose the wise and proper course to take. For that reason Jehovah God has made special provision in this time of distress for the people to hear and to learn the truth.

When God created perfect man and put him on the earth He installed as man’s overlord Lucifer, a creature of light and pow’er. Because of his covetous desire to be equal to Jehovah God Lucifer rebelled against God and defied Him to put on earth men that would remain true and faithful to righteousness. Because of his wickedness the name of Lucifer was then changed by the Lord, and he is known as Satan the Devil. Ever since he has opposed God and deceived mankind. To give Satan full opportunity to prove his challenge Jehovah permitted him to go on in wickedness for a limited period of time; but that time limit has now come to an end. The great crisis has arrived. Man followed after Satan and was justly sentenced to death, and for that reason sickness and death have been upon the human race for many centuries. (Romans 5:12) That period of suffering and death, however, is also near an end.

You recall that the Scriptures declare that “"the love of money is the root of all evil”. (1 Timothy G: 10) The reason for that is that Satan has commercialized everything in the world and planted in the heart of man greed for material gain at any cost. Satan began his wickedness by commercializing the human race to use them for a selfish purpose. Then he established a false religion for the very purpose of turning the people away from Jehovah God, and he has commercialized all religions to make religion a more effective part of his organization. The announced purpose of all organized religions is to gain something for creatures, and never to magnify the name of the Creator. Satan has gained control of “organized Christianity” and made commercial giants the principal men therein. He has commercialized politics and has caused everything to be used for selfish purposes. He has commercialized the food supply and all other necessities of life. There is plenty on earth for everyone, but selfish greed, the result of unrighteous merchandise, makes it impossible for millions to have the necessities of life. With these facts before us we can begin to understand the words of Jehovah God ad-

dressed to Satan as set forth in Ezekiel 28: 1G, 18: “By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore 1 will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, 0 covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of tire. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee; and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee.”

The elimination of Satan and his wicked organization is absolutely essential to the peace and well-being of the people. Only the Lord can accomplish that great work. His positive promise is that in His due time He will destroy that wicked organization. It is written, in 1 John 5:19, that the whole world lies under the control of the wicked one Satan, who blinds the people to the truth and turns them away from God. The only exception to this is those who give diligence to learn and to obey God’s Word of truth. The crucial hour has arrived, and now the question of supremacy must be settled.

How has Satan gained control of the world? Imperfect men organized governments and, they being selfish, the subtle and wily Satan easily influenced and got control of them. Satan has induced men to organize many false religions, and their teachers under his influence have blinded the people to the truth. This Satan has done lest the truth should shine into the minds of men and they learn of God and Christ and obey righteousness and live. (2 Corinthians 4:4) The most subtle and deceptive of all religions is that known as “organized Christianity”, for the reason that it operates under the name of Christ Jesus but denies Him and His kingdom as the only means of establishing the world in righteousness. When Christ Jesus was on earth He established the true worship of Jehovah, and His faithful apostles promulgated that truth. Soon after their death ambitious men got control of the organization, and under the blinding influence of Satan they have used that religion to turn the people away from God and His kingdom.

Could not God have prevented the Devil from thus deceiving the people and gaining control of the world? To be sure, He could have done so; but by so doing there would have been no opportunity to prove Satan a boastful liar, no opportunity for other creatures to prove their faithfulness under severe tests, and for God’s name to he wholly vindicated. In harmony with this Jehovah caused to be written in the Bible of and concerning the Devil (Exodus 9:16, Lee-see) : “[And in very deed] for this cause have I allowed thee to remain, in order to show thee my power; and in order that they may proclaim my name throughout all the earth.” This proves that in due time Jehovah’s name must be declared throughout the earth that the people might know the truth. That due time has now come.

The wicked challenge by Satan, and his subsequent action, has brought great reproach upon the name of Jehovah God. The vindication of that righteous name is the all-important thing, because from Jehovah every good thing proceeds and He is the source of life and happiness. Jehovah has bided His own good time to give creation an opportunity to know His name and to take their stand on His side and thereby choose the way to life or to remain on Satan’s side and be destroyed.

Long centuries ago Jehovah purposed to redeem the human race from death and then, in due time, to establish His righteous government on earth that all who would show their preference for righteousness might obey and live and enjoy the blessings of life. God’s promise was that He would raise up a seed through which all the families of the earth shall be blessed. That seed is the Christ -whose blood redeemed the world. Having purposed to do this God is certain to do it, because He so states. —Isaiah 46:11.

To accomplish His purpose Jehovah sent His beloved Son Jesus to earth, who laid down His perfect life in the place and stead of sinful man in order that mankind might be redeemed and live. (John 3:16) God raised up Jesus out of death as the divine One and clothed Him with all power in heaven and in earth and appointed Him to be the Vindicator of Jehovah’s holy name. When Jesus ascended into heaven He did not immediately begin the work of vindicating His Father’s name, because it was not then the due time. Jehovah said to Jesus, “Wait until my due time to put the enemy under thy feet.’ (Psalm 110:1) That due time began in 1914. How may we know that that marks ’the correct time? The Scriptures give the answer. When Jesus was on earth He laid great stress upon the importance of the kingdom of God. He taught His followers to pray for that Kingdom, lie promised that He would return and set up that Kingdom. When His disciples inquired of Him how it would be known when the wicked world would end, the time of waiting end, and when He would come, Jesus declared that the first evidence would be the world war, to be quickly followed by famine and pestilence. All men bear witness to the fact that these prophetic sayings of Jesus began to come to pass in 1914. Jesus said that the further evidence of this great time would be that the nations of earth would come into great distress and perplexity. That is exactly the condition that is in existence in all the nations today.—Luke 21: 25.

The Lord then pointed out that between the beginning of the events marking the end of the world and the beginning of the great battle of Armageddon Jehovah would give the people a clear understanding of His purpose and cause a wide witness to be given concerning the kingdom of God. Then He stated that after this witness work is finished there would come upon the world a time of trouble such as never before was known and that would be the end of all trouble.—Matthew 24:14, 21, 22.

During the past ten years and in obedience to the commandment of the Lord men and women devoted to Him have been going throughout the land telling the people of and concerning the kingdom of God, and this they are doing in absolute obedience to the commandment of the Lord, and not for any selfish reason. Naturally, who would oppose the message of good cheer concerning the Kingdom and attempt to prevent the people from hearing it ? Satan the Devil, of course; and he does oppose it for the purpose of keeping the people in ignorance of what God has in reservation for them. Satan, seeing that he has failed to turn all men away from Jehovah, is now determined to cause the destruction of mankind rather than to see any more serve Jehovah God. Hence he causes his agents, and particularly his blinded religious representatives on earth, to keep the people in ignorance of the truth as contained in the Bible. These religious teachers, in “Christendom” particularly, indulge in form worship instead of teaching the people the plain truth. It is such agents or teachers that interfere with the people’s knowing the truth. This is exactly what the Lord foretold would come to pass in these last days, as it is written, in 2 Timothy three: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, . . . ; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

For instance, Great Britain is the seventh world power and Satan is the invisible god or ruler of that world power. It is the most powerful empire that has ever been on earth. Its religion is called “Christianity”, but the most prominent men or leaders thereof do not believe the Bible, but call themselves “higher critics”. Today Great Britain will not permit radio stations to be used to broadcast the message of truth concerning God's kingdom. Canada has followed in the lead of her home country and likewise prevents the message of Jehovah’s kingdom from being broadcast. The arm of Jehovah is not shortened. He has provided other ways and means to permit the people of these countries to hear the truth. Faithful men and women are going throughout the land there, even as they do in this country, with the printed message to inform the people. Machines are being used for the proclamation of the message of truth. All this is done that the people might be informed and know what is the proper course to take for their own preservation. When that work of bearing testimony to the people is done, and it will soon be done, then will follow the battle of the great day of God Almighty, or Armageddon. In that battle Satan and his entire organization will be destroyed. Then immediately will follow the complete establishment of everlasting peace and righteousness on the earth. For that reason Jehovah God now gives commandment to His faithful witnesses to speak to the people these words (Psalm 96:10,13): ‘Say among the nations that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. For [the Lord] eometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.’ Here is the positive promise that Jehovah God will establish or stabilize the world in righteousness and that it will be forever ruled in righteousness by His King, Christ Jesus.

Everybody today sees that the commercial systems of the world are broken down. Alen are resorting to every possible known means among them to repair the broken-down machine and to start the world again in the way of prosperity. Regardless of their good intentions, and of their combined efforts, they are certain to fail, for the reason that Jehovah’s time has come to end Satan’s wicked, commercial, oppressive rule. Satan knows that the end is near and that he must fight, and he is doing what he can to prepare for it; hence the great preparation for war.

It will be conceded by all that religious leaders of the world now are telling the people that their suffering and distress has come upon them because of their unfaithfulness to their church organizations and hence God has sent this distress upon them as a punishment. Such claim or teaching is not only false, but a great defamation of Jehovah’s name. The twelfth chapter of Revelation shows that Christ Jesus began His reign in 1914, that immediately there followed in heaven a Avar between Christ and Satan and that Satan was cast down to the earth. Then the scripture reads (12:12): “Woe to the in-habiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” This is positive proof that the present distress upon the peoples of the world is due to Satan’s efforts to destroy them that they may not know and obey God and live. For this reason Jehovah will destroy Satan and his organization that the world may be established in righteousness and all the people have opportunity to learn the truth and live. In further proof of this, Jehovah now says to those who have faith in Him (Zephaniah 3:8,9); “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” The kingdom of Got! under Christ is the only possible means of lifting up and blessing the peoples of the world.

Now the time has come when you must choose between God and the Devil. This you will do by taking your stand clearly and positively on one side or the other. For this reason Jehovah is sending His witnesses throughout the land to bring to your attention the truth, that you may be enabled to choose the right way. What advantage will there be to those who now make the choice to take their stand on the side of Jehovah God and His kingdom? The Lord answers that question, in Zephaniah 2: 2, 3, that all who do thus seek meekness and righteousness before the beginning of the great battle may be hid in that time of war and trouble. Those who are thus taken through the great trouble will be the first ones to receive the blessings of the government of righteousness. When that great battle of Armageddon is done “Christendom” will be completely done and destroyed. Then the world will be established in righteousness, that all men who love righteousness may seek after the Lord. All who do so and serve Him in spirit and in truth shall live.

As Satan for centuries has been the invisible ruler of this wicked world, so Christ Jesus, the righteous One, becomes the ruler of the world, and His rule will be a righteous one and the people will he blessed. The Scriptures say (Proverbs 29: 2,14): “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever.”

Who will be the visible rulers of the nations of earth, seeing that Jesus will ever be invisible to human eyes I The Scriptures answer that perfect men will rule in righteousness. There are now no perfect men on the earth; but Jehovah God can instantly put perfect men on earth, and will do so. In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews it is recorded that from Abel to John, the forerunner of Christ, there were a few men who maintained their integrity with God under the most severe test and received God’s approval. They all died living witnesses to the cause of righteousness and God provided a place for them in His kingdom under Christ. These faithful men died before the first coming of the Lord Jesus. The man Jesus was a descendant of these men, and hence they were called His fathers; but when resurrected as perfect men they will receive life through Christ and become His children, and in Psalm 45:16 it is so stated, and that they shall be the rulers in all the earth. Furthermore it is written (Isaiah 32:1): “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” This is Jehovah's means of establishing perfect rulers on earth.

Jehovah's government under Christ shall bring everlasting peace, prosperity and life, because it is written, in Isaiah 9: 6, 7: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Then there shall never be another war, but everlasting peace shall abide.

Men have set aside this and called it a holy year with the hope of bringing about peace and prosperity again to the world; but they are doomed to disappointment, and their efforts to complete failure, because God will first destroy the present wicked rule and then establish the world in righteousness. There is no other way of accomplishing this great thing. The prayers of all religious institutions cannot hold together this wicked world. It must perish that the righteous government under Christ may quickly follow.

In that kingdom or government of Christ the people who are obedient will be restored to health and strength. Sickness and suffering will pass away and all those who continue to obey the Lord will live for ever on the earth. Now the people suffer by reason of poverty, sickness and death, crime and oppression, but under God’s government all such evils will cease. It is written in God's Word (Isaiah 25: 6-9): “And in this mountain [kingdom] shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain [kingdom] the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Your dead loved ones are not in purgatory, or torment, consciously suffering anywhere, as you have been wrongfully taught. They are dead, unconscious, and in the graves. Jesus is authority for the statement that they are all in their graves and that they shall all be brought out of their graves and the obedient ones thereafter shall live and not die.—John 5: 28, 29.

The place for the everlasting home and blessings of the people will be here on the earth. It is stated in the Scriptures that God made the earth for man and man for the earth, that the earth abideth for ever. (Isaiah 45:12,18; Ecclesiastes 1:4) Upon this earth God through Christ will conduct the righteous government for the welfare of the people, and that government will continue for ever for the blessing of mankind. That will be complete proof that Jehovah is the Giver of all things good, that He is the Supreme One, that His Word is true, and that His ways are always right, and His name worthy of all praise. It will be a complete vindication of His name.

Why have those great truths not been known to the people long before this time? Because Satan has kept the people in ignorance of the truth by employing and using false religious teachers and it has not been God’s due time before to interfere and to bring the truth to the attention of the people. God’s due time has now come for the people to have an opportunity to know the truth, and for this reason He is sending 1 lis witnesses to you to inform you. It is of the greatest importance for you to learn the truth and then to take a course in harmony with the truth. You do not need to join some institution. You need only to know what is right and true and then do right by obeying God's righteous laws. Books are now published in almost all languages setting out at length these great truths and citing and quoting the Scriptural proof in every instance so that you may sit in your own home and take these books, together with your Bible, and learn what is the truth, that you may decide for yourselves what to do. It is to your best interest that you get these books to gain a knowledge of the truth and thus learn what God’s purpose is and how He will establish the world in righteousness and bring everlasting peace and blessings of life to all who obey. Remember Jesus said, ‘This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’ My earnest request, therefore, to you is that you learn the truth of and concerning God and His kingdom. If you do this and take your stand on His side you will find the way to everlasting life, to peace, prosperity and endless joy. The source of all these blessings is the great God of the universe, whose name alone is JEHOVAH.

The Sacrosanct Clergy of Canada By Axel Nielsen (Manitoba)

In Two Parts — Part 1

TT IS not my purpose to offend the religious J- susceptibilities of my neighbors. They are sensitive about their religious beliefs. Often they find fault with what they are supposed to believe, but resent criticism by others.

I have knowm men who no longer practice their creed in public, and scarcely subscribe to the Word of God in any form, yet somehow, like a brook trout rising to a Green Bay fly, such men bristle with resentment whenever the creed into which they were born is criticized or belittled.

The clergy have proved themselves false toward God and man; while men have failed to fortify themselves against the hypocrisy and treachery of religious leaders throughout organized “Christendom”.

Immunity from Exposure

The Canadian clergy, particularly the Anglican and Catholic priests, enjoy the confidence of corrupted governments and Big Business alike. Some people still smile in a supercilious manner when they see references to Big Business, believing that agitators have created a Big Business myth. But recent developments in the United States and elsewhere have shaken the public faith in these “captains of industry”, while events yet to come will prove conclusively that the crimes of Big Business are a fiendish reality. Everywhere can be noted a conscienceless cooperation among Big Business, government, and clergymen.

Particularly is this true in Canada, where the alliance has been knit into physical facts, as this article will prove.

Premier Taschereau is virtual dictator of Quebec province, and his position is secured through the active support of the Catholic clergy and Big Business alike. The situation in Quebec closely resembles that obtaining in Spain before the Revolution, except that in Quebec a so-called “elective” government takes the place of a monarchy. But a straight election is not possible in Quebec, because the combined pressure of clergy and money power always forces the French Canadians to surrender their franchise.

It is a significant fact that the Canadian clergy have enjoyed immunity from exposure, as the press closes its columns to justifiable, and even necessary criticisms. Thus the Canadian clergy, particularly the Anglican and Catholic priests, have been set on a pedestal, while propaganda maintains a myth concerning their probity. They are the sacrosanct of Canada, utterly inviolable, and above suspicion, no matter what they do.

Sorrows of Church Orphanage Kiddies

My knowledge of clergymen dates back to my childhood, when I w’as left to their merciless misdirection in a church orphanage. Of all barbaric institutions, a church orphanage is the most heartless and stupid.

People donated money to this particular orphanage most generously, and to such a liberal degree that notices had to be inserted in the papers declaring that no further donations w’ere needed. Yet the orphans were fed and clothed at a minimum of expense. We had all we could eat, but were fed separated milk from cows we boys ourselves milked, while the cream and butter were sold. On Sundays w’e had butter, but on week days we were fed lard. We did not starve, but the management was careful not to include little things that mean so much to children, although there was plenty of money.

Visitors were a trial, for then we paraded in our Sunday best, and had to emulate all the saints or pay the penalty afterward.

Sanctimonious, sour and vindictive Sunday school spinsters were much in evidence, and I remember once how close one of these came to getting a dinner plate broken over her officious nose:

“Why, they even have sugar on the table! What an extravagance!”

Another one, seeing us drawn up in serge pants, black stockings, polished boots and white shirts, exclaimed:

“The idea! They're dressed just like other children.”

She was disappointed, no doubt expecting to see us in stripes or spots of some description.

Discredited Hell Mongers

The dictionary term for missionary follows: “A person sent to teach religion and do charitable work.”

Orphanage superintendents and matrons are missionaries too, for they are usually under the

clergy, and the missionaries of “organized religion” are a frightful class. A clergyman’s creed in respect to children other than his very own can be summarized as follows:

1. Spare the rod and spoil the child.

2. Teach 'em Hell and give ’em hell.

3. Fear is the best educator.

4. Humility before clergymen is essential.

5. An absolute mininum of worldly comforts for all charity cases must obtain in order to promote humility.

Money can be wasted without reserve, just so long as the recipients of charity do not benefit.

I have found that clergymen, who control the governing boards of church institutions like orphanages, hospitals, etc., are utterly incapable, devoid of practical common sense, and often ignorant in many respects. These clergymen pick the superintendents, matrons, and even janitors, applying the test of creed, together with outward demonstrations of church loyalty. Those in control of unfortunate orphans, of Indian missions and other church property, are never chosen for their honesty, humanity, tolerance and ability.

How to Locate Hypocrites

A man can give plenty of lip service to his church, lead the Sunday school class, be a pillar in his church, and yet he can be, and often is, like a devil incarnate! I know, because as a child I was farmed out to these superficial ‘‘Christians” and saw them take the mask off on week days. Appointees of the clergy are almost always unsuited by temperament, training or inclination to receive the grave responsibilities to which they are called.

The orphanage I attended is typical of all such institutions. An orphanage is a nightmare at any time, for the herding of little children into disciplinary camps fosters atrocities and grave injustices. Orphanages may be necessary, but I sincerely doubt it; for the children cry out in their miseries, while nobody listens. ‘‘You can’t believe a child,” and the superintendents in charge are such “proven Christians”!

In any event, no clergyman has a right to enter a charitable institution, or to pick those responsible for the conduct of its affairs; for no clergyman can be what he is and at the same time be endowed with the tolerance, charity and sincerity which must go hand in hand with the grave responsibilities of caring for orphans and other unfortunate persons.

We had with us at the orphanage a superintendent whose name was H. K. Anderson. How we loved him! He was fair and just. Patience was his middle name. He had a sense of humor, and we trusted him. But sometimes he did not go to church. And he was even seen taking a glass of beer once! He was one of the few Christians that I have met in my time; but he was not fanatical about it, and that was too much for the clergy, who demanded his expulsion.

Typical Church Orphanage Superintendent

Anderson’s successor was a religious fanatic of the most violent sort. He had a boy who was just about my own age, and I was delegated to show this boy around before the new superintendent had taken his hat off.

“Bet you’re scared of my father,” said the new’ boy.

“I’m scared of nobody,” I replied. The son and heir made haste to report the matter, and I was dragged down to the river front, forced to cut a willow stick, and “justice” wTas administered. I refused to cry, or it wouldn’t have lasted so long.

The fanatical superintendent always struck first and thought afterwards. Sometimes he prayed to God for His forgiveness, and took an hour or so to do this, while we had to listen respectfully, even if the dinner got cold or the milking hour had come. If we were clumsy at our work, he dropped to his knees and prayed God to give us sense. It is a nauseating chapter in my life.

Below the Average of Human Decency

I have never entertained illusions about clergymen. There is nothing sacrosanct about them. I always look for hypocrisy, and almost always it can be found in a clergyman. Weakness is another attribute, although this characteristic is not so general as hypocrisy. Most of them are selfish, while practically all of them are intolerant. Others are very ambitious, while some are dishonest. I can, of course, speak only about those whom I have met, and must admit that a few of the best were no better nor worse than the average carpenter. One or hvo ■were sincere and unselfish as individuals, but always spoiled the effect, and did much damage, by upholding false creeds.

A clergyman is almost always impractical, although he loves to meddle with things that do not concern him. He is therefore a mischief maker. To be sure, we should not expect perfection in a clergyman, for he is only human after all, “with the exception of the pope, of course.” But if clergymen as a class have a right to pull in their skirts while passing the common herd, they ought to give just cause for this attitude. Yet they are, as a class, far below the average of human decency.

The clergy have stolen the respect which people originally intended for God, while there is nothing to support the popular belief that they are deserving of popular respect as a class, even though a few may be doing their duty as they see it.

Subsidized Purveyors of Sorrow

In addition to their criminal mismanagement of orphanages and like institutions and their championship of false political and social standards, the clergy have proved themselves particularly unworthy in the field of mission work, where the gentlemen are hidden away from more intelligent persons, and are therefore free to muddle along with their shortcomings quite unchallenged.

I firmly believe that mission societies, and missionaries in particular, are a positive nuisance and do far more harm than good. This is certainly true of Indian missions, and is probably equally true of foreign missions in general.

An English schoolboy was asked to write an essay on “Empire Building”, and this is what he wrote:

“First a missionary is sent out to preach religion. He gets the natives down on their knees, and when the natives aren’t looking somebody runs up the Union Jack, and thus the Empire was built.”

What a lot of truth there is in the above, after all!

I have traded among the Canadian Indians for more than twelve years, and in that time have come to know what a missionary is. As champions of truth and the Word of God, these men are a dismal failure.

A bad feature is the fact that a blind government subsidizes Anglican and Catholic priests in the Indian country, leaving the “education” of Indian children in the hands of incapable missionaries, while the health and morals of Indians are neglected by both the missions and the government.

At Montreal Lake, Saskatchewan

It was at Montreal Lake, Saskatchewan, while managing a post for Revillon Freres, that I once more came face to face with clerical ineptitude, in the fall of 1918. Until that time I had studiously avoided organized religion as I would any plague, content to let the other fellow live in a fool’s paradise without me.

The Anglican missionary at Montreal Lake was a half-breed by the name of John Settee, who was incidentally the government school teacher, without any qualifications other than his Anglican appointment as preacher. Mr. Settee and the church were subsidized as follows:

The Indian Department paid Mr. Settee a teacher’s salary; furnished his living quarters and a schoolhouse, which was incidentally the church as well; furnished light, fuel and sufficient provisions to give each child of school age one square meal for each school day in the year, and paid Mrs. Settee a small salary for cooking the meals.

A Twice-paid Total Fake

The Anglican church paid their missionary, Mr. Settee, $5 a month, while the collections received from the Indians far exceeded this sum, and the mission was therefore money to the good, had free use of government property, and managed to have the missionary appointed to a job for which he was entirely unfitted. The Anglicans raise money both in England and Canada to carry on this sort of business, and a gullible public pays the cost of a soft-salaried overhead gang!

For sixteen years Mr. Settee had “taught school” in Montreal Lake. I found grown men and women who were supposed to have “graduated” from his “school”. Yet not one of them could write his own name, nor speak a word of English.

I happened to take an interest in a half-breed boy whose father had been killed overseas. This youngster could not speak a word of English, and I insisted upon his going to school. That was how I discovered Mr. Settee’s school.

Mr. Settee did not teach school a total of 24 days between November 15, 1918, and August 31,1919, by actual count.

Knew Only How to Collect

But he collected full rations for giving each child one meal a day, collected his own pay, while his wife collected pay for cooking meals which were never cooked. Furthermore, one could buy bacon and other articles from Mr. Settee, while it lasted, at half the going price, while the church wardens got their share for nothing, and the children went unfed.

Mr. Settee, next to preaching, was very fond of freighting; he was always for hire, and did considerable work for the traders freighting to Lac la Rouge and Prince Albert. He tried to be back over Sunday whenever possible. As for the school, it was a complete farce and scarcely existed.

The boy referred to went to school as ordered, but always came back, because Mr. Settee had a headache, or a bellyache, or had gone for a load of hay, to Prince Albert, or some other place. 1 checked up on the boy, scarcely believing that Mr. Settee could draw his pay and do anything but teach school, and found out for myself that the boy was not lying. This sort of subsidized connivance between church and government is typical of Canada.

Honest Complaints Unheeded

In February of 1919 the Indian Department sent up a nurse, as the influenza scare was then at its height. This nurse investigated health conditions, and found Mr. Settee’s house among the worst. She also discovered just how the school was run, waxed extremely indignant, admitted being an Anglican, yet promised that Mr. Settee would be out of there within two months. She was wrong; for Mr. Settee stayed for another four or five years.

Then in June of the same year, 1919, Montreal Lake Indians were “honored” by a visit from the Anglican “bishop” Newman, who was in charge of the Prince Albert diocese. Newman arrived late Saturday, stayed over Sunday, and early Monday morning, just before leaving, came to me for a donation, which I gave him as only a 20-year-old disrespectful young enthusiast can give a white-haired old skinflint.

“I’ll have you know that Mr. Settee is a Christian gentleman,” replied the “bishop”, “and the school children are doing very well, considering.”

The old fraud never saw the school in session. “Considering” is the veiled excuse of all missionaries, who give a false impression concerning the mentality of Indian children, and would have you believe that the natives are uncommonly stupid. But the imprint can’t be better than the stamp.

A few weeks later I got a letter from the Indian Department, with which I had been corresponding :

“. . . in view, therefore, of Bishop Newman’s position and reputation, we must accept his report as to the condition of Mr. Settee’s school, and must refuse to entertain your complaints further.”

That is typical of the conspiracy between governments and the sacrosanct clergy in Canada. Montreal Lake was only one instance in many, although I doubt if other missions were quite that bad.

“Bishop” Newman retired three or four years later, and I read about his well-deserved trip to England, where he would spend his declining years in peace and rest. If he spent those years with a clear conscience he was happily insane.

A Bishop Who Was Sincere

I believe that “Bishop” Lloyd was Newman’s immediate successor. You get men like Lloyd, even in the Anglican church, men who try to reform from within, but usually they are a drop of white paint in a black pot, and count for very little once the mixture is stirred up. How “Bishop” Lloyd ever came to be a church dignitary would be an interesting story, for he is not the sort of man who gets places by flattery, wheedling, or the prostitution of his convictions.

Be that as it may, Lloyd cleaned up the Montreal Lake mess in short order, and Mr. Settee found himself out of a job, temporarily at least,

Lloyd did not alter the principle of government subsidies for missions. In fact, he is reputed to have secured even better terms. But he at least believed in keeping straight a rotten system, a difficult matter, especially in remote parts. He was sincere, which in some respects is half the battle, but he was in mighty bad company, and championed a most unworthy principle: that of subsidizing missions with government moneys.

No Waters from Dry Wells

In September of 1919 I took charge of Prairie Lake Post, north of Grouard, Alberta. Between Prairie Lake and the Buffalo Head hills the Indians were mostly pagan, although there was an Anglican mission school at Whitefish Lake, which was only 40 miles east of Prairie Lake, while in Grouard were both Catholic and Anglican institutions, all heavily subsidized by the government.

The '“Rev.” White was in charge at Whitefish Lake school. He was a harmless curate, and got himself laughed out of Prairie Lake, and he never returned, for fear the Indians would scalp him. His school was a pitiful example of clerical incompetence in regard to all matters beyond the muttered rigmarole of his creed.

To say that he taught the children anything they did not know would be conceding him a measure of intelligence which he did not possess, for the man was entirely wrapped up in his creed, and hardly breathed the common air of every-day life. The North gets people, and missionaries fall the hardest, while the dangerous feature of this fact lies in the sacrosanct halo which surrounds the clergy.

There was also a “Father” Petour, a Belgian Catholic priest, who traveled about the country trying to convert Anglicans and pagans alike. He managed to attach a few Anglican heathens, but the pagans barely tolerated him, while sometimes they jeered him openly, although the young Belgian was patient and sincere.

Oblate and Obtuse

The Catholic church is the mother of applied psychology and shrewd sociology. She doesn’t send a bumptious tyrant around the country when there is pleading to be done; and neither does she employ earnest, honest young men where a big bluff, a snarling driver, or a shrewd money grubber will do the best work, and pay bigger dividends. Intelligent priests are slated for advanced communities, and the hell-fire ignoramus circulates among the poor. The church displays a cunning which amply betrays the identity of her master.

Most of the Catholic missionaries among the Indians belong to the Oblate order. These priests are usually given a minimum education, and take the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. They receive no salary, and are permitted no luxuries, nor do they question their superiors when orders are given. In actual practice, the Oblate “fathers” are well fed, warmly clothed and comfortably housed. They are not permitted to keep personal bank accounts, but their lot is far above that of those to whom they “minister”.

Many of the Oblate “fathers” are intensely ignorant. That is only natural, for it must take a weak head, or a poorly developed intelligence, to work for nothing while their masters get the best of everything, and good salaries besides.

If the Oblate “fathers” served God instead of the church, something could be said in their favor. But, while they do not seek money for themselves, they do extort money for the church, and from a people that can ill afford the outlay, and the pious camouflage is thereby entirely dispelled.

Hcdf-crazy Fanatics

The Indians have even less income today than formerly, and the missions have to depend in greater measure upon government subsidies of various sorts and descriptions. But some of the missions paid good money on their own account in years gone by; for traders have ways of knowing such things, and I have seen with my own eyes.

The Oblate “fathers” are sometimes fanatical, slaving for their church, and going half insane with the absurdity of their efforts. This has always been a matter of grave concern to those who would consider the welfare of Canada’s Indians.

Traders and trappers sometimes go mildly insane, or become “bushed”, as the Northern term describes it, but rarely injure others thereby. A half-crazy, fanatical clergyman, claiming divine powers, subsidized and recognized by the government, can do and does great harm among the Indians.

The Indians called Petour O-sow-o-ka-sees, with a slight accent on the “sow”, although the term means Red Fox. The priest had a red beard, and the pagan Indians said he was very cunning:

“He approaches ns with kindness, and a meek voice,” they said. “Bnt we have cousins in the Grouard missions. There the priests are fierce and merciless.”

Subsidized to Teach Torture

The Indians spoke the truth. The clergymen made converts, and were immediately subsidized by the government for this 'good work’ among the Indians, for the pagans are an independent lot. The doctrine of hell-fire subjugated the Indians where strong-arm police failed. A baptized Indian then surrendered his children to the church schools, which are subsidized by the governments, and usually pay good dividends to the church.

Petour was sincere, as an individual. I talked with the Red Fox one night until daybreak, and we discussed many things besides religion. He sincerely believed that his church and God were one and the same thing.

In his little chapel hung an enormous paintingin bright colors. This painting depicted “hell’s fiery inferno”. A grinning red devil stood at the edge of a flame-belching red-mouthed pit. The devil had horns, red tusks, a spiked tail and cloven hoofs. He was sexless and naked. In his hands was a trident, with which he shoved hapless sinners into the depths of hell.

Leading to this pleasant destination was a broad highway, upon which danced merry sinners. Various indiscretions were depicted in the course of commission.

A narrow path led straight to heaven’s shimmering hosts, and upon this path walked a priest, leading the faithful to heaven. The artist cut a private passage for Martin Luther, for the reformer’s special benefit. Luther had no doubt started out right in the beginning, but the artist depicted Martin Luther with one foot on the hell passage, and the other foot lifting off the special short-cut which connected the straight and narrow with the sinful highway.

Teaching Pagans to Hate God

There were similar short-cuts to hell made and provided for other reformers as well, although Martin Luther was given greater prominence. The priests go into great detail when this picture is explained to the Indians. The picture itself seems to leave little to be said, but the priests put the artist to shame with their oral descriptions.

This terrible picture hangs in every mission throughout the Indian North, and illustrates in vivid colors just what religion means to the Indians.

The Catholic church issues a deluge of printed material, which is circulated among the Indians. This stuff is written in syllabic, and reads more like anarchy than any communistic material in print. White men are monsters and liars, according to this literature, unless they happen to be priests.

The Indians have lost their backbone and sacrificed their manhood through the infiltration of bad habits, superstitious fears and shattered self-respect, or this sort of literature would certainly stir the Indians to violence. Most of this junk conies from the Jesuit college in Edmonton.

Petour explained the hell-fire picture to me. The Indians were savages, he said, incapable of understanding love, divine justice, or unselfish acts of any sort. The Indians did understand fear, hate and punishment. The savages must therefore be scared into accepting the Christian religion.

Then perhaps the second or third generation would absorb the better side of Christianity. Thus, the missionary spirit applied among the Indians was the same as that which was practiced upon me in the orphanage: Scare ’em. Give ’em hell!

The Devil’s Poor Reward

I once saw Petour humiliated in the Buffalo Head hills, and at the time my sympathies were entirely with the Red Fox. The priest tried to say mass for the pagans, who disregarded him utterly, beating their tom-toms louder and louder, while the young men jeered loudly.

Petour took refuge in Banepowahow’s tepee, where he found the old Indian and his woman quite alone. Again the priest started saying mass, which was a foolish sort of persistence really, as no man has a right to force his religion on a foreign race. The young Indians crowded into the tepee with their tom-toms, and Petour at last gave up.

Then the Red Fox asked the old Indian for a skin. The priest had come a long way, and had gone to great expense. I wondered what the old Indian would say to that, for the beaver and lynx skins which hung far above the smoldering teepee fire really belonged to me. Yet the Indians were queer in some ways, for I have known them to give things to a beggar, even though they despised and hated the beggar.

“Give the devil a skin,” said the old Indian to his woman, who reached up and brought down a worthless rabbit skin, which she handed to the priest.

Rabbit skins are now worth a few cents each, but in those days they were of no value, except as used by the Indians for mattresses and bedding. “Father” Petour was a martyr in his own eyes, but even as I pitied him as an individual, and expressed my indignation because a white man had been treated thus, a leather-faced old Indian told me to shut up, and I did shut up.

“A hundred devil priests in many places have avenged what we have done to this man, and the score is far from paid. If only a few more of the devils would come this way: if only certain ones would come this way!” said the old Indian. I could name a few priests whose lives would not have been worth much in the Buffalo Head hills. “Father"’ Petour was hounded out of camp, for the Indians followed with their tomtoms, and did not return until nightfall.

There were apparent advantages in joining the church, for the Indian Department, besides subsidizing the missions in various ways, also entrusted government rations to the missionaries, and pagan Indians were therefore ignored. The church and the Indian Department worked as a unit, while the pagans had plenty of justification for hating both.

Pagans More Honest than '‘Christians"

As a trader I learned to trust an Indian according to the inverse ratio of Christian devotion which he professed. A “good Christian” was often the biggest crook, and the pagans were usually honest, provided a fair understanding had been reached between Indian and trader. The pagan eared little about ‘white man’s law’, and conducted himself according to moral codes alone.

Returned half-breed soldiers flooded the Buffalo Head hills,, bringing home-brew contraptions, playing cards and other tools of vice along with them. The pagan Indians were impotent against the lure of fire-water and cards. As a result, my books were cluttered with bad debts. Then the flu epidemic ravaged the country, and the post was closed out, for the Indians buried their dead and moved away.

Even so, with the company gone out of business in that section of the country, the pagan Indians journeyed to Fort Vermilion, where they sought out the Revillon manager and voluntarily paid their just debts. These accounts had been written off, and the Fort Vermilion manager had to write out to Edmonton for them.

One of the pagans paid a five-hundred-dollar debt, an obligation incurred when rats were selling at five dollars, and other furs in proportion. It took the Indians seven years to pay up, for the price of fur had dropped far below the inflation period following the war.

This Indian, and all the other pagan Indians, knew very well that they were under no legal obligation to pay. The returned soldiers had spread that knowledge from the beginning, just as they told the pagans that tribal marriages were not legal either.

But the pagan Indians paid their just debts.

Paying Just Debts by “Confessions"

As for the “Christian” Indian, confession is the commodity with which he pays his debt in most cases. It would perhaps be idle to assume too much, and say that the priests teach this doctrine literally, but the Indians believe in the forgiveness of debts, and the priests and missionaries do not discourage this belief, unless the church is the creditor.

“Father” Guilloux, of Pelican Narrows, even went so far as to write indignant letters to traders in which he explained that Indians were minors within the law, and therefore did not have to pay their accounts.

That was perfectly true. But the Indians had contracted a moral obligation, and it hardly seems a clergyman’s place to argue the abandonment of a moral obligation, unless circumstances were such as to make him believe that the Indians were being swindled.

Traders have been dishonest, but there were times when Guilloux took a fiendish delight in assisting the Indians, by giving moral support, to default their entire account. Where a trader outfits an Indian to the tune of five hundred dollars, and does not get one penny in return, there can be no doubt as to which is the dishonest party.

The Pelican Narrows Indians at one time developed the practice of paying all or nothing, until traders developed a parallel habit of giving the Indians nothing! The Indians believed in the confession and the forgiveness of sin, including nonpayment of just debts.

Teaching Orphans to Hate Their Creator

I was placed in a church orphanage at the age of eight years, and before that time had no definite knowledge of hell, as my mother did not subscribe to a physical hell, and guarded me from such false doctrines. But in the orphanage I found ‘hell’ on earth, except for a brief respite when II. K. Anderson was in control.

The cruelty of teaching a burning hell to little children varies with the individual child, for not all children are equally susceptible to mental torture. I was an impressionable youngster, and suffered unspeakable torture, for Anderson’s successor was a religious fanatic of the most violent type, shouting hell fire and heavenly wrath before meals and after meals, at morning prayer and evening prayer, and any time in between, for the man brooded over such things at all times.

It took quite a long time to convince me, for even as a child I reasoned that no man, let alone God himself, could torture a human creature in all eternity, whatever the sinner might have done to earn it. The punishment was bad enough even if a creature could be found who deserved it, but the executioner, in my opinion, would be even worse than the victim ever could have been.

A child is a child, and constant repetition, repeated whippings, and the fact that God permitted such a man to control the lives of orphans at last convinced me that God would actually torment sinners in all eternity.

Hell Is the Torchlight

Hell is the torchlight of missionary work among the Indians. There would be few “Christian'’ Indians without the doctrine of a fiery hell, for the Indians could never reconcile the gospel of Christ with the injustices they have been made to suffer at the hands of white men.

But the Indians understand fear, and therefore “understood’’ the doctrine of hell, and accept Christianity for that reason. It is remarkable how well the missionaries have understood Indian psychology in this regard, while these same missionaries have failed to understand the Indian in every other respect.

The confession and forgiveness of sins are the Indian’s only solace. The Catholic church is by far the most successful among the Indians because the confession box is a physical “evidence” of actual forgiveness. Protestant Indians are taught to confess privately, and such Indians believe in complete forgiveness merely for the asking, even though an occasional missionary does explain the principle of sincerity that must go with a silent confession. Still, the Indians put their own literal interpretation to many statements, and believe what they believe, missionaries to the contrary notwithstanding.

Proper Self-Respect Destroyed

The Indians, particularly the Catholics, regard the form rather than the spirit of confession. They are terribly concerned when someone is thought to be dying, and will travel hundreds of miles for a priest, who will travel those hundreds of miles back with the Indians, to give the Devil his due.

Many such Indians have been given the last sacrament half a dozen times, over and over again, through several months or even years of sickness, while more than one Indian has died of fright as he viewed with terror-stricken eyes the paraphernalia of the sacraments.

All Catholic priests teach the Indians that non-Catholies go to hell, and many of the Protestant missionaries return the compliment with gusto. Villages divide according to creed, and families split up with undying hatred when creeds intermarry. Incidentally, the Catholics always gain, numerically at least, by such marriages.

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