Golden Age, October 25, 1933

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zke Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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in this issue

LATIN AMERICA

LABOR ECONOMICS POLITICAL FINANCIAL

EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE SOCIAL HEALTH AND OTHER NOTES

WORLD DIGS FOR WATER TO DRINK

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every other

WEDNESDAY

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

Vol. XV - No. 368

October 25, 1933

CONTENTS

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

Muscle Shoals at Work for People . 47 Public Utilities in the West ... 47 Percentages of Workers Unemploye 1 .’>2 Objections to Sales Tax.....52

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

New York City’s Huge Relief Bill . 49 87% More Prisoners in 9 Years . . 50

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORT!’! iU.N

Bremerton Jias No Railroads . . . 4G 1,800 Miles of Railway Abandoned . 43 Object to Rail Dictatorship . . .46 No City Taxes in Skaneateles . . . -'.7 Banks Want High Light Rates . 4S Anglo-American World War Ac. ord 4S Guardian Trust Company of

Cleveland

American Bankers Association . . 48

Points from Insurance Literal tire . 48

Pennroad Corporation

Public Debt of the U. 8. A. . . . 52

Americans Unpopular in Cuba . . 53

Costs of War

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AN D I O :E’GN

Long Beach Gas Works Pays . . .47 Glorified Bill-Collecting Agency . . 50 NRA Should Be Terminated Soon . 50 Tax-Exempt Properties.....51

United States Shipping Board . . 51 Bankruptcy of Self-Government . . 51

Amazing Civil Service Questions . 53

Morgenthau Thinks War Inevitable . 54

AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

Possibilities in Hybrid Nuts ... 55

All They Needed Was a Chance . . 55 Fertilizers with Every Rain . . .55 Why Farmers Get Nothing for Milk 55

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

Possibility of Reversed Refrigeration 56

Feats of the Electric Eye

3,000 Pictures per Second . . . .56

HOME AND HEALTH

Whole-Wheat Cereal

Cigarettes and Mental Instability . 57

Toxin-Antitoxin Admittedly Ino Good 57

No More Mouth Cankers

Suggestions for Houses ives ... 63

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

Latin America — Question Mark of 20th Century

Child Slavery in Ceylon .... 53

Brazilian Items

French Arms Exports Up . . . .51

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

The Radio Witness Work . . . . 43

“'The Mimic God’’

World Digs tor Water to Drink . 58

crke Golden Age

Volume XV Brooklyn, N. Wednesday, October 25, 1933 Number 368

Latin America—The Question Mark of the 20th Century

In Three Parts—Part 1

IF ONE takes the map of South America, mounts it on a board, and cuts out the great country of Brazil, what he has left is a huge question mark. It is in the order indicated by that question mark that we hope to give some consideration to this interesting portion of our planet. And we shall find questions a plenty, some of which we shall find it hard to answer.

The bulk of Africa lies above the equator, but the bulk of South America lies below the equator. Until the Panama Canal was opened South America was in a corner by itself. Being in the opposite hemisphere from the principal land masses of the world, it has tended to develop along lines peculiar to itself. Other factors have favored that tendency.

The northernmost part of South America is altogether south of the latitude of the Sahara Desert. The mouths of the Amazon and the Congo are in nearly the same latitude. Sydney, in Australia, Auckland, in New Zealand, and Cape Town, in South Africa, are in the same latitude as Buenos Aires. South America extends 1,500 miles nearer the south pole than does Africa.

The west coast of South America, most of it, is straight south of New York city. Brazil extends east of that line twenty-six hundred miles. South America, most of it, is in the tropics. People in the tropics must live and do live at a different pace than is usual in the temperate zones. The bulk of Mexico, with all that intervenes down to Argentina, is subject to the range of direct solar rays, i.e., tropical weather.

Altitude has an important bearing upon life in South America. Each ascent of 330 feet causes a variation of one degree Fahrenheit in temperature. There are places on the equator that are uncomfortably chilly. Thus in the tropics altitude tends to offset latitude. A point at 5,000 feet altitude on the equator has the same climate as one fifteen hundred miles north or south, at sea level. Mexico city is in the torrid zone, but as it is at an elevation of 7,500 feet the climate is that of eternal spring.

The Andes and the Amazon

The Andes mountain system is much more rugged than anything found in North America. Between Tolima, a Colombian peak eighteen thousand feet high, and Aconcagua, in Argentina, twenty-three thousand feet high, there are several peaks in Ecuador and Bolivia which are well over twenty thousand feet.

Throughout the Andes system there are active volcanoes, many of which are constantly in a steaming condition, with frequent eruptions. Earthquakes are frequent. For more than three thousand miles the Andes offer very few passes as low as twelve thousand feet.

In very many places, even near the equator, the summits of the Andes are covered with eternal snows. Though usually comparatively narrow, in Bolivia the chain widens out so that it is four hundred miles across.

At places in Peru the summits are so near the Pacific ocean that branches of the Amazon river rise within fifty miles or thereabouts from that body of water. The Amazon is navigable for the greater part of its 3,400 miles of length, so that it practically bisects South America.

Of its two hundred tributaries, a hundred are navigable. One of these tributaries is 2,300 miles in length. The Casiquiare, which flows into the Rio Negro, one of the branches of the Amazon, is also connected with the Orinoco. The Amazon contains one-tenth of all the running water of the globe, and is incontestably the world’s largest river.

The tides run up the Amazon four hundred miles. At a thousand miles from the ocean it is two hundred feet deep. At spring tide the bore, or pororoca, as it is called, rushes into the Amazon in the form of huge waves ten to fifteen feet in perpendicular height, three or four of which follow each other with irresistible force. The

mouth of the Amazon was discovered by Yanez Pinzon, in 1500; the river was descended by Francisco Orellana in 1540.

The Amazon river system as a whole affords some 16,000 miles of river suitable for navigation. The forests along its banks are the largest in the world. The main stream flows almost along the equator.

The South American People

Suppose you Avere asked to describe the people that go to make up the inhabitants of the United States. How would you begin? Would you describe the New England Yankee? the New York State Yankee? the Vermonter? the Knickerbockers? the Jersey Dutch? the Pennsylvania Dutch? the Michiganders? the Hoosiers? the Southerners? the North American Indians? and if so what tribe? the Negroes? the Irish-Americans? the German-Americans? the Italo-Americans ? Or how about the Japanese-Americans, or the Chinese-Americans, of whom we now have many thousands of actual bona fide citizens, born in this country and not knowing any other land? And don’t forget that we have Poles and Russians and Slavs and Hungarians and Greeks and French and Portuguese and Spanish, and their descendants, not a few.

The best you could do would be to analyze the situation, pick out some of the leading groups, tell something about them, point to what they have accomplished collectively, and to the present situation, and there let it rest. That is what we hope to do in this article.

The Latin American is not one; he is many. Something over a hundred years ago Baron von Humboldt, one of the most discerning and thoughtful men the earth has produced, estimated that in Latin America there were 3,500,000 whites, 7,500,000 aborigines, 5,333,333 mestizos (persons of mixed blood), and 750,000 Negroes. It will be apparent that at that time the proportion of whites was about one-fifth, or 20 percent.

According to the 1930 census there were then in the United States 108,864,207 whites, 2,019,696 aborigines and mestizos (including Asiatics), and 11,891,143 Negroes. The proportion of whites in the United States is 88.7 percent. North America is predominantly white; South America is predominantly dark. North America has always been inevitably governed by whites.

The government of a country in which the whites constitute but one in five of the population is manifestly a very different proposition from one in which they make up seven-eighths of it. The whites usually govern in Latin America, but they do not always do so, and could hardly expect to.

The Governing Class

The Spanish Inquisition, by which 31,000 persons were put to death, was set up by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1481. In that same year began the Avar Avhich resulted, November 25, 1491, in the overthrow of the Moslem empire. On March 30, 1492, an order was issued for the expulsion from the realm of all Jcavs and Moors Avho did not submit to be baptized. On August 3,1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos on his first A’oyage.

If the foregoing facts are kept in mind, one will readily discern the kind of immigrants that first found their way to Latin America. They Avere, first of all, Roman Catholics. The State took particular pains to see to it that none but the “orthodox” should go to the new Avorld. Thus North America Avas settled mainly by Protestants; South America exclusively by Roman Catholics.

In the second place, the first immigrants were soldiers by trade as xvell as soldiers of fortune. They had been engaged for ten years in the subjugation and expulsion of all persons not of the Roman Catholic faith, and their sovereigns Avere enthusiastic for the Inquisition.

In the third place, most of the skilled artisans in Spain had been Moors and much of the trading Avas in JeAvish hands, so that Avhen Moors and JeAvs Avere expelled, the country from which the adventurers set out Avas ill-fitted to provide the industry and skill needed to get on in a neAv Avorld.

We are thus forced to see that bigotry, cruelty, militarism and lack of industry Avere inevitable, at least at the start. But no sooner had Columbus made his discoveries than Ferdinand and Isabella Avanted gold, and in order to satisfy their demands he started the system of robbing the Indians of their treasures, Avhich has cursed Latin America from then till noAv. Greed was not limited to the sovereigns, hoxvever. It is a common enough trait of fallen man, no matter Avhere Ave find him. And the tropics promote laziness in all.

Trying to Understand the Spaniard

No one can deny that the Spanish are possessed of great physical courage. They are chivalrous, and they are proud. They love beauty for its own sake. They admire the artistic. They love oratory and are adepts at it. Their language is filled with niceties of expression that can hardly be mastered in a lifetime. Etiquette is taken seriously and practiced assiduously.

The Spanish are musicians and dreamers. They love color and romance. In their semiseclusion of their women, they suggest to some minds the people of the Orient. It is thought, indeed, that Moorish customs, which prevailed on the Iberian peninsula for more than seven hundred years, have left an indelible impression upon the Spanish people.

The men love politics, but they do not love business. They place great emphasis on politeness, the fine arts, pleasures and the emotions. The balmy nights stir the emotions and the imagination. The color bar is not as great a handicap as in North America, but aristocrats and the descendants of aristocrats are liable to be arrogant.

Home life among the Spaniards is on a high plane, but the sexual morals of the cavaliers that first came to America were low, as may be judged from the great number of mestizos. Deeds of violence were common in the early days in Latin America as they were in North America.

The aristocrats looked to the government to help them through this life and to the church to make it as comfortable as possible for them in the next. It was the Devil’s old game of Big Business, Big Politics and Big Church all over again. The only chance the common man had to get along was to be or pretend to be “loyal” to the people that had everything in their control.

Extravagance is common. A Chilean or Peruvian thinks nothing of mortgaging his place for every dollar he can obtain and then will take his wife and six or eight children and go to Paris or to the Riviera for two or three years until he has used it all up. The Latins love luxury, elegance, refinement and ostentation.

The Hapless Aborigines

As the North American Indians are certainly descendants of the Japanese, so among the South American Indians there are distinct traces of Mongolian and Malaysian features. Photographs of life among the lowly resemble those taken in China. One can hardly tell them apart.

When the Spanish discoverers and conquerors gained control of the new world they wanted gold. The old Spanish law was that all treasures of the subsoil belonged to the monarch. Those who would engage in mining were granted villages of Indians, the inhabitants of which they were at liberty to compel to enter the mines and do the actual work.

And now having said many good things, many kind things of the Spaniards, we are forced to say that no other subject peoples have ever been treated as badly as the South American Indians were treated by the Spanish cavaliers. It is of record that only one out of ten forced into slavery ever returned alive. You can blame the spirit of the Inquisition for that. In instances obstinate Indians were dragged to the mines by tying their hair to the tail of the rider’s horse. Can you wonder that the Indian now distrusts the white?

The Indians Have Made No Progress

The claim is put forth that in more than four hundred years of Spanish rule the South American Indians have made no progress, and that, as a matter of fact, they are less advanced now than they were in the days of Cortez and Pizarro. Today they are the indispensable hewers of wood and drawers of water without which Latin-American civilization could not go on. But they have not been rewarded. They have been kept in bondage.

An Indian, though he understands Spanish perfectly, will not answer a stranger, in that tongue, because he has come to fear it means some further plan to deprive him of that which is rightfully his. Nominally a citizen, actually the Indian is a sheep without a shepherd. What a blessing Jehovah’s kingdom will be to these poor unfortunates!

An item not to be overlooked is that the South American Indians, the Spanish and the Portuguese were all accustomed to be ruled by monarchs. Another is that for centuries Spain insisted upon ruling Latin America by men that were born in Spain. Even if a man was of pure Spanish ancestry, if he was born on this side of the water it militated against his chances.

Thus the caste system was really in effect: the Spanish-born at the top, next their American-born descendants, third the mestizos, and fourth the aborigines and Negroes, always at the bottom of the social ladder. The Spanish monarchs encouraged these four classes to feel contempt or envy for one another, according as they were up or down in the social scale, on the Devil's principle, “Divide and rule.”

One of the reasons why there are so many political disturbances in South America is that this Roman Catholic policy of “Divide and rule” has been so persistently maintained. It is impossible to maintain a stable government where the various component parts of the population are studiously kept at loggerheads with one another. In the year 1930 there were seven major political disturbances in the twenty countries that go to make up Latin America.

Many Restrictions of Trade

Instead of following a policy that would develop the new world, Ferdinand and Isabella adopted one calculated to prevent its development. By the year 1501, only nine years after Columbus’ first voyage, royal licenses were required of all who wished to sail to the new world. These restrictions were continued for three hundred years.

By 1503 a law was in effect that all supplies for the Indies and all products from there must pass through the one port of Seville. By 1543, and for two hundred years thereafter, sailings took place only once a year in each direction, when a whole fleet sailed at one time, escorted by an armed convoy. On arrival at their destinations lively fairs were held to exchange Old World products for the new.

In order to better collect the export and import duties at both ends of the line, the ports were restricted to three which were allowed to trade with Seville: namely, Vera Cruz, Cartagena and Porto Bello. No better system for stifling trade could have been devised. Wherever goods of any kind moved, fresh imposts were piled upon them.

The Spanish rulers forbade the trade in native products between various parts of Latin America, and for some inscrutable reason would not permit goods from the Philippines to enter Peru even as gifts. The Spanish sovereigns looked upon the whole country as theii' hacienda, or private estate, and their major ambition seems to have been to make it pay and pay well.

For two centuries their income was colossal, but much of it was squandered on foolish European wars. Firearms and superior organization enabled them to impose their will on a continent and a half. Piggishness caused them to lose it all.

Thinking to remain more firmly in the saddle, the Spanish monarchs encouraged jealousies between the clergy and the lay rulers, and were always ready to listen to tales of the one against the other. Reactions to this policy of “Divide and rule” are to be seen in the instability of South American republics to this day.

An Empire Easily Won and Lost

It was an easy thing for the Spanish cavalry, clad in armor, and possessing firearms, to crush or eliminate the aborigines, first in the islands, and then in Mexico and Peru. The natives had never seen horses, and were terrified at the appearance of warriors mounted, armor-clad, and able to kill at great distances.

All the lands seized were assumed to belong to the crown. They were parceled out to the whites. The great landed estates and the system of forced labor which they created has continued until today. The effort of the Spanish sovereigns to control all trade led to much smuggling and gradually the colonies lost most of their respect for the mother country.

At first the sovereigns demanded a two-thirds share of all the output of the mines. This was too great to be borne. It was finally reduced to one-fifth, and on that basis yielded the rulers an average of something like $2,500,000 a year for many years.

The merchants of Cadiz, by a handsome gift to the royal treasury, finally got the monopoly away from Seville, and thereafter all vessels to and from the Indies, as Latin America was called, went through the better harbor which for almost two hundred years had been coveting the trade.

The South American revolution, when it finally came, lasted twenty years. It resulted, toward the close of the year 1824, in the breaking of the Spanish power in South America. Oddly enough, it had its start in an uprising against Joseph Bonaparte, who had been placed on the throne of Spain by Napoleon in lieu of the supposedly legitimate king, Ferdinand VII.

Fifty years before the Spanish colonies gained their independence Britain is said to have frequently agitated the idea of revolutionizing them and separating them from Spain, with the avowed object of opening up the continent to British commerce. The plans which Britain made for enlarging her trade with South America proved a success. Before the World War British interests constructed and controlled eighty-live percent of South America’s railroads, harbors and public works, fifty percent of the shipping, commerce and finance, and a large part of the industrial and agricultural activity. But the Germans were making inroads into British trade as the great war broke out in 1914.

Soft Berths for the Clergy

As a rule, if a father has a son who he feels will never make a success at anything in life, he makes a clergyman out of him, and boys of that kind easily and naturally fall into that line of occupation or lack of occupation. The prophet sizes the whole class of the clergy up so faithfully, in Isaiah 56:10,11, that we do not see how anybody could miss the point. They just naturally love to eat and drink and sleep and pamper their bodies; but when it comes to lifting the weights they have placed on the people, the Lord says, they will not put forth a finger.

The clergy that set out to make a soft living in the New World were no better and no worse than the clergy in general. At the start they had it so soft that almost everybody wanted to be a clergyman rather than have to do work of any kind. Who wants to work up callouses on his hands if he can strut up and down beside a "church”, with a long-tailed robe on, learning Latin pages of “Eenie, meenie, minie, moe”?

In the year 1600 at least four hundred convents existed in New Spain alone. In 1620 the convents in Lima covered more ground than all the rest of the city. In the year 1644 the civic authorities of Lima petitioned the king to forbid the establishment of any more monastic orders, and to limit the revenues of the existing ones, as otherwise they would soon own all the property in the country. At that time there were more than 6,000 of the clergy that had no charges and were hoboing it through life. If any hoboes read this issue we trust they will forgive us for this comparison.

In 1501 Alexander VI gave Ferdinand and Isabella the right to collect tithes for the propagation of the “faith”, and in a few years they had the incomes from annates and indulgences, and the right to make all ecclesiastical appointments. This was because they were such zealots for the Inquisition.

The “Reduction” of the Heretics

It is not such a nice business, burning people at the stake. We sometimes do it here in the United States, but it is not popular. There are nice, refined people that object when a Negro screams in the vicinity of their home as some white gentleman bores through his abdomen with a white-hot crowbar. It never just got to be considered the right thing to do.

And so the regular Ferdinand and Isabella system of dealing with “heretics” never got a really good foothold in the New World. Only 41 were reported as having been burned alive in Mexico, and 59 in Peru, but this total of exactly 100 looks suspicious. It looks as if the figures had been doctored. There may have been several times that number.

The usual milder punishments were inflicted, of flogging, work in the galleys, banishment, imprisonment, or death by some relatively humane method. Confiscation of property took place in all of these cases, as it enabled the clergy to go that much longer without doing any work. The Dominicans were specially entrusted with the “reduccion” of the “heretics”.

The “reduccion” of the natives, i.e., their reduction or restoration to the supposed religion of their ancestors, was accomplished by less violent means. The images of the gods of the Aztecs and Incas were renamed or replaced by representations of Jesus, Mary, and the “saints”. The eagle on the Mexican coat of arms was replaced by the dove, so that the “Holy Ghost” would not be left out. The natives were already familiar with “religious” processions.

Twelve friars accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, and the work of the “reduccion” of the natives began at once. Their records were destroyed and great pains were taken to sec that they should be taught nothing but the ‘purest’ Roman Catholic doctrine. The missions were sometimes called “reducciones”.

Apportionment of the Lands

As the Spanish soldiers overran the New World, they7 and the priests that went along with them were granted the lands of the conquered aborigines and were given the “right” to wholly or partially enslave the natives. This “right” awarded by the crown was called a repartimiento. After the person who held the repartimiento died or was banished, his heirs or successors came into possession of the en-comienda which he left behind. They could levy tribute and “evangelize”, but were restrained from going to as great length as the original holder of the “right”.

It thus came about that the aborigines lost their lands to the Spanish aristocracy. The New World became a paradise for priests, friars and nuns, but assuredly not for the poor aborigines. Force, bribery, intrigue, cruelty and treachery bolstered up the union of church and state and left all the burdens of militarism, aristocracy and churchianity piled upon the backs of the simple-hearted natives.

As early as 1516 a Spanish priest Bartolome de las Casas, who happened to have a heart and a conscience, protested against the branding of the natives and the forcing of them into bondage. As neither the soldiers nor the priests would work, and the natives were unaccustomed to bondage, Las Casas visited Spain, urging the Spanish government to import Negroes into the New World on a large scale.

In later years, after his advice had been taken and great numbers of blacks had been shanghaied from their African homes and transported to America, Las Casas bitterly regretted that he had not earlier seen that the Negro has as much right to be free as the Indian.

One would not expect soldiers or priests to be good teachers of how to perform the labors of the Held and forest, and so the ox came to be the animal generally used for agricultural labor. Wooden plows, often made from the forked branches of a tree, were used. Grain crops were cut with knives. The mills on the sugar plantations were worked by hand, oxen or water power.

General Education Neglected

As early as 1523 Pedro de Gante had a school in Mexico in which he taught a thousand Indian boys reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, music, trades and mechanical arts, but the good example which he set was not followed, and the Indians today, after four hundred years of Roman Catholic “teaching”, are less advanced than they were when Cortez landed in Mexico.

The first Catholic University in Latin America was opened in Mexico city in 1551, eighty-five years before the founding of Harvard University, the oldest university in the United States. By that time (1636) there were several well established universities in Latin America. But they were only for the education of priests and the children of the aristocracy.

As the Roman Catholic church retains its control of the men through its control of the women, every effort was made to keep the women in ignorance. The few schools for girls were in the hands of nuns, and education beyond the barest rudiments was frowned upon. It is of record that one priest in Chile refused absolution to a girl who had confessed to the sin of studying French.

The Roman Catholic church looks upon woman as a means by which great numbers may be ultimately added to the church. Whether the poor woman knows how to take care of her brood does not matter, only so long as she brings them into the world. The priest makes a good thing out of it in baptism fees, masses and what not, whether the children live or die.

The women of South America are good mothers, in the sense that they love their children dearly, but among the poor their knowledge is so slight, kept that way by the “church”, that from forty to ninety percent die under two years of age. The children are often “spoiled”, though externally most polite to father and mother. The daily confession of the woman of the home makes the priest the real head of the home.

Most men wish to have their sons educated away from the influence of the priests, but the pressure brought to bear upon them by their wives is so strong as to usually prevent this. The men generally feel that the church is outmoded, belongs to the past. But they do not see how to get aw’ay from it. And, indeed, only the great Jehovah God could bring the deceptive and oppressive institution to an end.

Brighter People Nowhere

Nowhere will you find brighter people than in Latin America; and, given equal opportunities, they make their mark every time. By inheritance and training they incline more toward the literary and artistic than toward the mechanical and commercial.

It is of the nature of the South American that he will receive a North American, with utmost politeness and elegance of language, in a room that for ornateness and elegance of furnishings could scarcely be surpassed, and yet the room may be so cold that everybody has to wear an overcoat to keep from freezing. The first thing a Yankee would do under such circumstances would be to say, “Gee whiz! it is cold in here; can’t you give us a little heat ?” And it would be the last thing the Latin American would think of.

It takes a North American a long time to learn that the more leisurely and courteously he does a thing, the sooner and more pleasantly he attains his end. If he tries to rush things, they just don’t rush.

To the credit of the Roman Catholic church it must be said that though they did encourage the making of slaves of the aborigines, yet they did not encourage the breaking up of their families, as was done often in North America.

There were only eight printing presses in Spanish America up to 1810. Throughout the inquisitional period book dealers were required to furnish lists of all books they had on sale and to take oath that no others were sold. They had to keep on hand lists of the books that were under ban. They might not buy a library without obtaining permission from the censors for every book it contained. No books could be imported without their consent. The officials of the Inquisition had the “right” at any time to enter any home in search of condemned publications, the same as any other regular jail.

In the Good Old Yellow-Fever Days

In the good old yellow-fever days there was no sanitation. The garbage was thrown out into the streets, to be carried away by the buzzards, as was also the case in some of the cities of North America. Since then we have sewers, paved streets, and garbage disposal, and thus no more yellow fever. The oft-repeated yarn that vaccination has made the change is pure fiction.

The artistic sense of the people made the town square an attractive place. In it was usually a fountain from which the poor secured water for household uses. Some of the streets were lined with trees, and many of them were fairly wide.

At night, in the early days, the streets were dark and deserted and deeds of violence were common, but in the latter part of the eighteenth century oil lamps were set up along the most important streets and police patrols were instituted. Mexico city set an unusually high precedent and early established the reputation of being one of the cleanest, safest and most beautiful cities in the world.

The Monroe Doctrine

We do not feel called upon at this time to make any further statement of the history and purposes of the Monroe Doctrine than is contained in the following, taken from Judge Rutherford's book Light (Book One, pages 287-289). It covers the ground completely:

The imperialism of America dates from December 2, 1823, with the “Monroe Doctrine”. In substance that doctrine is that European monarchies or governments must not by conquest acquire territory and rulership over the countries of North and South America and make them colonies and thereby enlarge the territory of the European nations. The doctrine, however, does not declare against the United States’ enlarging her territory on the Western Continent at the expense of minor American republics. America did make war with Mexico and took over Texas. She made war with Spain and established a protectorate over Cuba and Porto Rico. She also acquired title to the Philippine Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, and Samoa and Guam, and thereby enlarged her territory. She has established a protectorate over Santo Domingo, Haiti, and has recently put in operation a military policy in Nicaragua. She has acquired the Canal Zone and Alaska.

True to the traditional policy (to wit, diplomatic hypocrisy) of the two-horned beast, the ostensible reason for the Monroe Doctrine was to protect the infant republics of the American continent. The real reason was in the interest of Britain and America; and in support of this conclusion the following historical fact is related: “The European power commonly called the ‘Holy Alliance’ [the chief amongst which was Germany, the head of the sixth beast] . . . turned its attention to Spain and to the Spanish colonies. The United States feared that France would undertake this commission also and would claim Cuba as the price of service to Spain, thereby securing a broader foothold in America.” To show that Great Britain was deeply interested in the policy of the Monroe Doctrine, and that Britain and America were working in conjunction with each other, the following historical fact is cited:

“The time seemed to have come in 1823 for some sort of action that would head off the threatened invasion of Latin America by third parties in behalf of Spain. Something was also needed to check the Russian advance into North America ; and the opportunity was convenient for expressing the undying love of Americans for the popular government that they had chosen. At this moment George Canning, Foreign Minister of Great Britain, stepped into tho controversy. England was interested in unrestricted trade with the Spanish-American countries and was extremely opposed to the constricting policy of the Holy Alliance, both in Europe and America. Hence, in August and September 1823, Canning four times proposed to Richard Rush, our Minister in London, that the United States join England in a declaration against intervention, and Monroe was inclined to accept the proposal. After long Cabinet discussions John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, convinced the President that it would be better to make an independent declaration. Adams’ papers show that he not only suggested but formulated most of the important presidential message of 2 Dec. 1823, several passages in which, construed together, constitute the original and genuine Monroe Doctrine.'’—The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 19, p. 374.

As with the League of Nations compact, an American president got the credit for writing the Monroe Doctrine, but it really emanated from a fertile British mind. In support of this conclusion the following historical fact is important:

“The original Monroe Doctrine was at once effective. Canning was so much interested in the result that he claimed it for himself and said (21 Dec. 1826) : ‘I looked another way ... I sought for compensation in another hemisphere. ... I called the new world into existence to redress the balance of the old.’ ”—The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 19, p. 374.

The same authority further says:

“During the Spanish War of 1898 Great Britain made it clear that other European powers must not interfere with the American policy of the United States.”—The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 19, p. 375.

Latin America Resentful

Latin America is resentful and suspicious of the purpose of the Monroe Doctrine; and who can blame her? By the time you have been robbed a dozen times by the same man you get to discount his professions of friendship and wish he would put up his gun.

As La Prensa gracefully but forcefully phrased it: ‘'The gracious benevolence with which one State would guarantee the independence of others is strictly outside international law and engenders the danger that there may arise a false vision of the possibility of tutelage and protection, which is absolutely inadmissible.”

Yankees and Spaniards do not naturally mix very well together. The Yankee is blunt, cold, content to wait on the law and will take and give a substitute; and he is a Protestant. The Spaniard is the opposite of all this.

At the Pan-American Union at Havana, in 1928, thirteen of the Latin-American countries made it clear that they do not want any government to intervene at any time in the affairs of any American state. While they did not mention the American Government, yet all knew what they had in mind.

The munition manufacturers of North America have been and are a curse to South America. The fratricidal conflicts of Latin-American nations are fought with North American weapons and financed sometimes, too, in the great nation that has more than half of the population of the Western Hemisphere and vastly more than half of its capital. Our tariffs have made us unlovely and unloved.

Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler says he has been on fifteen debt-collecting expeditions with United States battleships, but it seems that the North American State Department says it shall never be done so again. We shall be good now; so we shall.

Both North America and South America are sore because South American bonds have lost some 80 percent of their value. But what can be done about it? Not a thing. The phantom of prosperity is just around the corner, the big corner, Armageddon. Meantime we have to be content with oui’ “rugged individuality”.

The polite language of South America is French. Travel is almost entirely to Europe. There is in Latin America little if any feeling that the United States has any real interest in its welfare. That was a nice speech by the new Peruvian ambassador wherein, with true Latin-American courtesy and nicety of expression, he said: “You have changed from indifference to mild interest, but we want it to be converted into friendly interest. We have changed from hostile distrust to hopeful expectancy.”

While Mr. Hoover was president of the United States the New York Times represented him as saying on one occasion: “We are not attempting in any way to develop a super-state or- to interfere with the ‘greedom’ of action of any of the States.” “Greedom,” Mr. Hoover, “greed-om”? How come?

Good Relations Essential

It is essential that good relations should be established and maintained between North America and South America, even if there were no other motive on the part of each than pure selfishness. The South Americans are learning that by hooking up with North American firms they make money; so today many who in bygone years would have learned French are learning, not English, but the language we speak in the United States, whatever that is.

The direct investment of United States capital in all Latin-American countries is estimated as around $5,500,000,000. Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil have been the largest borrowers. Colombia, Peru and Bolivia follow in the order named. Peru and Bolivia have already defaulted on their bonds.

One thing that holds back South American progress is that most of the countries have but few tilings they can export; it is coffee, sugar, copper, lead, tin, nitrates, wheat or corn or it is nothing. If the export prices of these are down, then the country is down.

South Americans complain that they should not have borrowed as much as they did, and would not have done it, but that the loans were pushed on them and they were told to sign on the dotted line. That is all true. That is the way North Americans do business. The North Americans could see that South America has fabulous natural resources, only needing to be linanced to be an El Dorado. And it is that and will be that.

Tourist traffic between the United States and Latin America is on the increase, even in the midst of the great depression. That is a favorable sign. South America is still taking automobiles, electric equipment for the home, office appliances, machinery and motion pictures made in North America.

North Americans have learned that South American revolutions are not such serious affairs as they were once considered to be. Often they arise from the fact that commanding officers come to feel that their regiments belong to them personally. They get out of focus.

It is acknowledged that governmental favors are distributed too generously, for much the same reason. But in the long run the republics to the South, even if they do have shake-ups, manage to jog along as smoothly as the rest of the world. Personal greed is prevalent in every corner of Satan's kingdom; it is not peculiar to Latin America.

Page North America's greatest financiers and greatest statesmen.

(2’o be continued)

The Radio Witness Work

BUFFALO, N. Y. “Please send me Judge Rutherford's talk. Am more than interested and think his talks and guidance taken from the Bible are wonderful.” J. W. D.

Rochester, N. Y. “Due to illness we remained home from church Sunday, but were greatly repaid by listening to your address, and believe every word true. Will you kindly send me a copy of your address ?” Mrs. L. A.

Philadelphia, Pa. “Will you be good enough to send me at your convenience a copy of Judge Rutherford's talk as broadcast over the network on Sunday morning. I enjoyed every word of this marvelous talk.” Miss II. T. P.

Chicago, Ill. “Would you kindly send me a copy of the address by Judge Rutherford. I agree in every point with the speaker, and thank the Lord that he has the courage to proclaim the truth.” Mrs. L. K.

Springfield, Mass. “I missed a part of Judge Rutherford's talk on Sunday and would like a copy of it. If you will send me several copies I will see that they go to people where they will do good. It was marvelous, and I thank God for such a man.” Mrs. M. R. R.

Berkeley, Calif. “Please use the enclosed in your lecture work, or as you see fit in the Master’s cause, spreading His message to mankind. Words fail me when I think of the wonderful work you are enabled through His help to do.”

Toronto, Ont., Canada. “I would appreciate a copy of Judge Rutherford’s speech over the radio today. This is not only an inspiration to me, but I hope to use it with a group of business people for the study and development of better world conditions.” J. E. S.

Mahan, AV. Va. “Kindly send me The Harp of God, The Revelation, and Prophecy, or any books that will help me to understand the Bible. I am a young minister and very limited in my education, and I want to know the truth about the Bible.”

Waverly, N. Y. “Your sermon today was fine and we are desirous of copy. Keep this good work up, as we are in need of more men that think and dare say the things you are telling us over the radio. God bless you in your work.” Airs. 0. R. S.

Middletown, R. I. “We would be very much pleased to have you send us copies of Judge Rutherford’s lectures which he broadcast last Sunday and today; also any future lectures he may give. They are truly wonderful, and anybody having a hearing ear must be enlightened.” E. M. H.

“The Mimic God”

HOW kind but how plain was Judge Rutherford’s address on “The Mimic God", broadcast October 8, 1933, from the same great chain of over one hundred stations that carried the address the week previous on ‘‘The True God’’, of which mention was made in our last issue. Due provision will be made for putting these two addresses, together with the concluding one of the series, “Why Serve Jehovah,’’ in the hands of the people.

We say just a few words here, reflections of the message that came in from WEBL of Syracuse, eighty miles away. One would have thought Judge Rutherford was in the room. Every word was as clear and distinct as could be. In the early morning it seemingly threatened rain, but the witnesses said, “It will not rain; it never does; there will be no static until after the address,” which was scheduled for the noon hour. And sure enough, the skies cleared and at the hour of broadcast conditions for perfect reception were ideal.

Judge Rutherford started his address with a definition of the word mimic as he expected to use it in his delineation of the one that has deceived and blinded and oppressed the whole world. We do not have it by us at the moment; it was excellent. As shown by the dictionary, a mimic copies or imitates something that he feebly or remotely resembles, but the copy that he makes is ridiculously small or insignificant as compared with what is imitated. That is a good word to describe the conditions set up in the visible and the invisible world by the one who made merchandise of man in the garden of Eden, the one whose ambition was to be like the Most High.

As a result of selling mankind into slavery and death Lucifer's name was changed by Jehovah God to the names Satan, Devil, Serpent and Dragon, and he has been all of these. He challenged Jehovah God to put on the earth a man that would maintain his integrity; Jehovah accepted the challenge. All the sufferings that have come upon man have come from Satan.

Religion Ever the Devil's Tool

Strange to say, religion has ever been the means by which the people have been turned against Jehovah God. The first religions in the earth were sketched by Judge Rutherford in his address. They all had creatures as their object of worship. Israel alone of all the nations of the earth had the opportunity to know the truth. God commanded them that they should have no other gods before Him. All bowing down to man is an insult to Jehovah God.

Israel was untrue to her opportunities and in COG B.C. was cast away, and from that time the whole world has lain in the wicked one. Because it did lie in the wicked one, Jesus must suffer from Satan and his wicked agents, thus maintain His integrity and thus vindicate God's word and name.

The most religious people of His time, the scribes and Pharisees, claimed that Jehovah God was their father, but Jesus told them plainly that their father was the Devil. “His servants ye are to whom ye obey.” Men who, though with the best of intentions, follow the teachings of men instead of the true God, are in fact servants of the Devil.

That the people are so blind to the Scriptures is because of the Devil. The apostle plainly so states in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Satan’s real purpose in this is to turn the people away from Jehovah God, but, ‘Let God be true though it make all men liars.’

The Devil has for centuries been the invisible ruler of the earth. Commerce, politics and religion are joined together in his government of the world. The governments of earth have not knowingly followed the Devil; they have been overreached. It is because of this that the nations of the earth are now in great distress.

The world is in suffering and in great distress, not from anything that the true God has done; this distress is from the false god, whose race is now about run. Preparation is now progressing for the destruction of the Devil and those that have his spirit and do his bidding. The Devil has great wrath, knowing that his time is short.

In this perilous time, how shall the people know what to believe? The true God has made the necessary provision for those whose hearts are right in His sight. Jehovah’s witnesses come to you with the very help that you need. These witnesses are peacemakers, not trouble-makers.

No Opposition to Rulers

To oppose the rulers in their efforts to straighten out a mad world would be entirely wrong. If the rulers were wise they would pay attention to the great truths now being proclaimed in their hearing. The Scriptures plain-

ly show that in the conclusion of all this strife it will be seen by all that survive that Christ is now reigning upon Jehovah’s throne; in other words, He is Jehovah’s vicegerent in the earth. ‘‘The government shall be upon his shoulder,” and of the increase of that government there shall be no end.

We do not say that these are the things that Judge Rutherford said, but they are the impressions left in memory’s gardens. All should get the address and read it thoughtfully. By the time this issue is in the hands of our readers, the third and concluding address, “Why Serve Jehovah God,” will have been delivered over the big network, October 15.

We live in a time when the judgments of Jehovah God are beginning to operate in the earth. In our last issue, page 3, occurs the following paragraph:

The heaviest pressure was brought to bear in New England, where the city of Providence cringes under the lash of a bigoted bishop. In that city two station managements broke their contracts and gave up their manhood and independence, because covertly threatened with a boycott which it was hinted would include 400,000 Catholics. The owners of these stations had other businesses which they foolishly believed would be ruined unless they complied with the threats. The Providence Visitor was the paper used as the “bludgeon”. Had the men who owned these stations stood their ground, nothing such as they anticipated would have occurred.

That paragraph was written on Monday, October 2. It had reference to William A. Hickey, bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Providence. At that time, so far as we know, he was in perfect health. Only three days after the time when Judge Rutherford was lecturing over more than 100 radio stations (after Bishop Hickey had used all his powers to have him cut off the air altogether), we understand, the gentleman had a very sudden and a fatal heart attack. Shortly prior thereto (i. e., Monday, October 2) the ‘pope’ had cabled him his “blessing”.

The End of an Enemy

Bishop Hickey died on Wednesday, October 4, and his funeral was conducted three hours after Judge Rutherford had finished his second address, the subject of this article. Because this item is of some human interest, we quote from the account in the New York Times of October 9, the day this is written:

“Providence, R.I., Oct. 8. A throng estimated to exceed 50,000 persons jammed the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul here today to file past the bier of the Most Reverend William A. Hickey, Bishop of the Diccese of Providence, who died on Wednesday. The body of the bishop was borne to the cathedral at 3.30 P.M. to lie in state for two and a half hours, but at 10 P.M. the square and all the streets in the vicinity of the cathedral were still impassable because of tho crowds, and the steady procession into the church had not abated.”

“Burial will take place, after the imparting of five pontifical absolutions, in the marble crypt beneath the main altar in the lower part of the cathedral beside the bodies of his five predecessors and former auxiliaries of the diocese.”

There are 51 instances of imprecatory prayer in the Scriptures. We do not know that Bishop William A. Hickey was the subject of any prayers that he might get his just deserts for standing by and worshiping and serving the mimic god, and trying to prevent a faithful man of God from broadcasting over the radio his appeals to the people to turn to the tiue God of the Scriptures; but we know that he is now cold in death, and that Judge Rutherford is very much alive and is due to broadcast over 104 stations this coming Sunday noon, on another coast-to-coast network, “Why Serve Jehovah God.”

Looks as if he had all the best of it. Read the 92d Psalm, all of it, thoughtfully. If verses 7 and 9 do not interest you, it will be hard to find anything that will.

Heat in the Imperial Valley

IN AUGUST the temperature in the Imperial Valley, California, rose to 119 degrees on one occasion. This is one degree hotter than ever before recorded in that spot.

Are Women Worse than Men?

RE the women worse than we men? In the year 1932, 66,384 women were sent to prison, but only 63,471 men. No doubt the men were able to hire better legal talent and this affected the figures somewhat.

London’s Giant Radio Exhibition

T THE London radio exhibition in August there were nine miles of stands, with exhibits insured for $13,350,000. One exhibit which attracted considerable attention was provided with all-metal tubes which are practically indestructible.

Transportation

Merger of German Shipping Lines

TO REDUCE expenses the North German Lloyd and Hamburg-American lines have merged. Sailing lists will be consolidated, piers abandoned, and advertising reduced.

Camel-Foot Tire

THE camel-foot tire, so called because it exerts the same pressure per square inch as does the foot of a camel, has been found ideal for equipment of automobiles in desert places. A car thus equipped will go Hying across the desert at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour.

Decline in Coal-using Vessels

IN 1914, 89 percent of the worlds steamer tonnage was fitted for burning coal. Today this proportion is reduced to 531- percent. At the beginning of the century the percentage of the world’s tonnage owned in Great Britain and Ireland was 50; today it is but 28. The United States at that time had but 4 percent; now it has 15 percent.

Boys and Girls Migrating Through Des Moines

A DISPATCH from Des Moines states that from 400 to 500 boys ride through the city daily on freight trains, with an equal number traveling the highways by thumb. An average of four to five girls come into Des Moines on freights every day. On a rainy day, one train crew hooked on an empty so that the free passengers could ride in comfort.

Bremerton, Washington, Has No Railroads

THE city of Bremerton, Washington, across the Sound from Seattle, has the distinction of being the largest city in the United States not connected with the outside world by railroad.

Half-hour ferry service is maintained between Bremerton and Seattle, as well as frequent bus service to Tacoma. Highways to the west connect the city with other points in the state.

A New Russian Highway

ANEW Russian highway, 2G8 miles long, to run between Moscow and Nijni-Novgorod will be divided into three lanes. There will be viaducts at every point of intersection, and it is calculated that sustained motor speeds of 75 miles an hour will be possible and probable. The Soviet has recently granted complete amnesty to 12,484 political prisoners and cut the sentences of 59,51G others.

1,800 Miles of Railway Abandoned

THE railways are gradually giving up the light. In the year 1932 only 38 miles of new track were constructed, while 1,800 miles were abandoned. This is about double that of the previous year, when 945 miles were abandoned.

Rubber Paving in London Streets

A T COSTS of about $22.50 per yard London lias put in considerable rubber paving, and found it the cheapest and most durable road surfacing yet used. Rubber surfaces are not affected by heat or cold and do not become wavy; they are non-skidding in wet weather and do not transmit their vibrations to adjacent buildings.

New York-Philadelphia Ship Canal

THERE is revived interest in a New York-

Philadelphia ship canal of size adequate to handle ocean shipping of all sizes. Such a canal would use New York bay, Raritan bay and the Delaware river, necessitating a canal only 30 miles long, from Sayreville to Bordentown. Such a canal would not cross any important railways or highways. It would cost $173,000,000 and take ten years to build. It would bring New York and Philadelphia as shipping points nearer together and would obviate much travel through the storm areas off Atlantic City and Cape May and in Delaware bay.

Brotherhoods Object to Rail Dictatorship rpiIE railway brotherhoods object to a rail •T dictatorship under the control of Wall Street. They correctly foresee that the object of unifying the lines is to eliminate more jobs, and in their statement say:

“This is no time for the government, or the railroads, or private industries to add more thousands of men to the breadlines and to deprive dependent women and children of their sole support. No government or private employer has the right today to take away jobs or wages necessary to keep humans alive and healthy without accepting responsibility for supplying a new means of support. No man who has more than he needs has a right today to hoard his surplus while millions are in want. The government should borrow from those who will lend, and take from those who will not lend, all the money necessary to put millions to -work now7. We should be done with vacillation and delay and do this thing first. The government which will not put the need for spending money to provide more -work and more wages ahead of any demand for saving money by reducing work and wages cannot 'iidure.”

The Utilities

Muscle Shoals at Work for the People

MUSCLE SHOALS, the great plant in Tennessee built in war time, is at last at work for the people. Electric rates will be the lowest in the United States, being an average of about 2c per kilowatt hour for the general consumer. The minimum charge will be $1.50 per month.

The Insull Receiverships

TN THE first year of the Insull receiverships J- the receivers and their lawyers had received fees of $405,300, which amounts are lost to the stockholders for ever, and it is estimated that by the time they get done picking the bones they will manage to extract at least $3,000,000 more.

Ao City Taxes in Skaneateles

'V'OU may wonder why it is that in the thriv-T ing and beautiful city of Skaneateles, N. Y., they have no city taxes, and so we explain. They have their own municipally owned light and water systems. Please don’t say anything about this; as it might offend the Power Trust.

Telephone Items

ON DECEMBER 31,1932, there was one telephone to each seven of the total population of the United States. There are 700,851 stockholders in the Bell system. Sixty percent of these have holdings of from one to ten shares. There are 291,000 employees, of whom 77,749 are stockholders. The average daily number of telephone conversations is 61,064,000.

A Nation-wide Public Power System

A NATION-WIDE public power system seems to be in the making, and should be a good thing for the country. The Roosevelt administration has authorized the Federal Power Commission to prepare a comprehensive national plan for the development of electricity. A survey of the country will be begun at once. $400,000 has been allocated for the purpose.

Long Beach Municipal Gas Works Pays

THE Long Beach municipal gas works pays.

Though the rate to consumers is only 60c per 1,000 cubic feet, as against 80c in the adjoining city of Los Angeles, where the plant is privately owned, yet the Long Beach plant is so profitable that out of the surplus it has recently purchased a near-by utility plant worth $300,000 and has erected a new $125,000 building for itself.

Why the Power Trust Fights

WHY the Power Trust fights to retain its strangle hold upon the public’s neck is quite clear when we reflect that in Canada, under public ownership, the average cost of electricity for domestic service is 1.5 cents; in the United States, under public ownership it is 2.5 cents, but (in the United States) under private ownership it is 5.82c, or almost four times the Canadian rate.

Public Utilities in the West

CHANUTE, Kansas, has reduced rates to rural patrons to a top rate of 8c per kilowatt hour, and a bottom rate of 4c. Wilson, Kansas, owning its own utilities, has become debt-free. The following cities, owning their own utilities, presented patrons with one month's free service: Bloomfield, Iowa; Longmont, Colorado; Holton, Kansas; Wyandotte, Michigan; and Crete, Burwell, Dix, Potter, Curtis, Lodgepole and Edgar, Nebraska.

Municipal Ownership at Columbia

MUNICIPAL ownership of public utilities has been a huge success at Columbia, Mo. The’ tax rates of the city are now among the lowest in the state. The proceeds from the plant have enabled the construction of fine municipal buildings. The city is the best illuminated in the state. All the utilities are entirely free of debt; the utility rates are low; there is cash to pay municipal bills, and a surplus in the treasury.

Queens Borough Gas and Electric Company

SEVERAL times in recent years we have received complaints of the huge deposits required by the Queens Borough Gas and Electric Company before they would install meters for new customers. It was contended that these excessive deposits placed in the hands of the company a huge amount of capital which they use in their business, and that the inability of the consumers to use the money thus tied up works a hardship on those who pay the bills. The Public Service Commission has .just ordered 18 percent reduction in rates of this company, giving as a reason that in the last five years it paid out in dividends more than the entire amount the stockholders ever paid into the company, besides which the combined surplus and reserve is now more than five and one-half million dollars.

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