Golden Age, December 30, 1936
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The Golden Age
A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE
in this issue
THE MANUFACTURE OF PUBLIC OPINION
VON RANKE’S HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY
GOD’S BANNER
THOUGHTS ON THE CHOCO
THE FLAG NOT A FETISH
INSIDE EUROPE
DISOBEDIENCE BRINGS LOSS
every other
WEDNESDAY
five cents a copy
one dollar a year
Canada & Foreign 1.25
Vol. XVIII - No. 451
December 30, 1936 CONTENTS
THE MANUFACTURE OF PUBLIC OPINION 195
Newspapers Sicken Their Readers 195
Same as in the Days of Christ 197
The Lovers of Lies 198
Editorial Unfairness 199
Butting Heads Against the Posts 200
An Editor with a Backbone 201
Roman Press Methods 201
How Catholic Editors Love to Lie! 202
Radio Censorship Path to Dictatorship 202
Approved by the Pope 203
A Reply to a Half-cocked Editorial 203
A LITTLE FUN ABOUT EDITORS 205
VON RANKE'S "HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY" 206
The University at Wittenberg 206
Melanchthon's Close Contact with Luther 207
Why the People Hated the Hierarchy 207
Zwingli the Uncompromising 208
The League of Smalkald 208
GOD'S BANNER 209
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CHOCO 210
Chilean Chili con Carne 212
THE SUBSCRIBERS' GRAB BAG 213
Firing Protestant Postmasters 213
How the News Leaks Out 213
Grandma Baldwin and the Archhypocrite 213
For Speculating with Church Funds 213
Calling the Kettle Black 213
THE AMERICAN FLAG NOT A FETISH 214
No Hearst Propaganda Here 214
One Big Oath at Birth (!) 215
INSIDE EUROPE 216
Germany's New Religion 216
The Reichstag Fire 216
All Germany Worships a Murderer 217
The Little Hitlers 217
The International Murderers 217
The Jesuit Warrior of France 218
Mussolini, Who Bluffed the World 218
British Imperialist Adventures 219
Dollfuss and the Socialists 219
DISOBEDIENCE BRINGS LOSS TO POSTERITY 220
"To the Pure All Things Are Pure" 220
When Samuel Became Old 221
Samuel Reassured Saul 221
Saul Thus Became King 222
Saul Loses His Kingdom 222
The Winged Calves of Peru 223
CARTOONS AND CUTS
A Clear Case of Infidelity 195
The Unannounced Feature 196
Suggestion for New Jersey State Highway Commission 197
'Belshazzar's Feast' 198
The Stooge 199
KUMA 200
The Comic Strip That the Public Is Waiting For 201
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The Golden Age
Volume XVIII Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday, December 30, 1936 Number 451
The Manufacture of Public Opinion
ALMOST all newspapers are owned by men who have obtained large fortunes by other means, and wish to retain their holdings, and to increase them, and to make themselves appear as public benefactors while engaged in the art of removing what was overlooked in the first haul. The editors and reporters are up against it; they have to do what they are told or look for work.
It must have been a hard job for some of the honest newspapermen of the world to chronicle the fall of Madrid every day for four months, and yet it did not fall for all that time, despite the pressure brought to bear by Italy and Germany on behalf of the pope, in whose interest the war by Franco and his Moorish mercenaries was undertaken.
Twice a week during all that long period EAQ was cheerfully broadcasting the Truth all over the world. It is a pleasure to reproduce herewith a skit on this subject, written for The Golden Age by an honest newspaperman:
Over the air waves from war-torn Spain during the heat of the recent invasion of Madrid by the rebels, a voice in the wilderness was heard: a voice that stood out as a messenger of God and peace when many thoughts were for the defense or capture of the Spanish capital.
The voice was that of Judge Rutherford, in an electrical transcription coming from Station EAQ in Madrid, Spain. [Shortwave station covering the world]
Just why the station broadcast Judge Rutherford instead of news of the defense of the capital was not learned. However, by listening to other foreign stations via shortwave it was learned that at the time of the broadcast EAQ was the only station that could have settled a controversy as to whether Madrid had been captured by the rebels.
A Clear Case of Infidelity
Berlin reported that Madrid had been taken. London broadcast that the rebels had been driven back seven miles and for the time being the capital was safe.
But EAQ, in the heart of Madrid, unmindful of the death and destruction going on within a few miles, presented Judge Rutherford, December 16.
Why, no one here knows from explanations, but maybe the officials of that station realize the only way to obtain peace among nations and happiness.
Newspapers Sicken Their Own Readers
In the effort to toady to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy the newspapers of the world have sickened their own readers. Far better than to lie to them, as they have done, deliberately and willfully, they might have reproduced from Catholic sources such admissions as that made by the Reverend Wilfred Parsons, S.J., quoted by Right Reverend John A. Ryan, D.D., in an address at Washington, D.C., October 8, 1936. This citation is all the more to the point because it was the Jesuits, of whom Parsons is one, and the Roman Catholic Church, of whom he is one, that made Spain what it is:
The great tragedy of Spain was that in the nineteenth century the working masses apostatized from the Church, as Pope Pius X once remarked. And it is well to remember, it was poverty, destitution and injustice which made them apostatize. They got to hate the Church because they hated the friends of the Church, who exploited them and whom the Church did nothing to rebuke or correct.
As early as November 8, 1936, decorations were up in both Rome and Vatican City in joyful anticipation of the early fall of Madrid. At the end of the year the city was still in the hands of the Spanish Republic.
Viscount Churchill, back in Britain from Spain, was impressed with the fact that so few of the papers tell the truth about the Spanish situation. On a certain day he, with three British statesmen, called on President Azana and remained with him for over an hour. On that very day the Fascist (Catholic Action) spokesman Quepo de Llano broadcast the absurd "news" that Azana was in the hands of Communists and persons who had attempted to "reach" him had been killed in the attempt. De Llano may reflect that not everybody could tell as big a lie as that, but it may also be added that few would wish to do so.
Naturally the Catholic press of Spain has the pope's "blessing". And his blessing works—backwards. A correspondent in Madrid, Spain, writing July 25, says of the newspaper El Debate:
The pope blessed all the Catholic press, and this paper in particular at the beginning of the month, and see how wonderfully it has worked. The Debate had the fastest rotary press in Europe. Now the Communists are printing their paper there.
Apparently neither the pope nor the press has learned anything from the World War. At that time a group of American newspapermen in Belgium were overtaken by the German advance, and remained with the German army thereafter. While there a bundle of Allied newspapers fell into their hands. They were astounded and shocked by what they read. These men, Irvin S. Cobb, John T. McCutcheon, O'Donnell Bennett, Roger Lewis, and Harry Hansen, jointly dispatched a cable to The Associated Press, vigorously protesting its atrocities stories. They reported that after two weeks with the German army they had witnessed no mistreatment of prisoners or noncombatants, nor any instances of unprovoked reprisals. But the false propaganda policy of The Associated Press continued unabated. Thus it is morally guilty of murdering thousands of young Americans, who would not have so recklessly thrown away their lives if they had known the truth. —Merrill B. Knapp, Washington.
The Unannounced Feature
In his book Freedom of the Press George Seldes pays his respects to The Associated Press as follows:
The Associated Press, in short, seems always on the side of authority: it appears to make no difference to this great organization whether authority is a great president or a crooked secretary of the interior, a bloodthirsty dictator or a mild constitutional ruler, a city policeman or a steel company's hired thug.
That is just another way of saying that if The Associated Press had been in existence in the days of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, it would have been against Him, even as it is in this day against Jehovah's witnesses.
Seldes further states that
The Associated Press has employed ultra-Fascists to report on Fascism, strikebreakers to report on strikes, army and marine officers to report on 'traitors' they were fighting in Nicaragua and Haiti and reactionaries to report movements for political justice and freedom throughout the world.
It should be particularly noted that this same press invariably refers to Amleto Cicognani, the pope’s representative, as “Apostolic Delegate to the United States”, giving the impression that he has been officially recognized, and the very purpose of such misleading designations undoubtedly is to give the public that impression, though it is well known that this man occupies no such position as is suggested by his title, and his contact is or should be limited to representatives of the sect of which he is a proponent.
Same as in the Days of Christ
When Christ was on earth all the publicity channels of the time were against Him, but the common people were for Him; and it is the same today. The scribes and Pharisees wanted Him killed as a seditionist, but for no cause. They had nothing good to say of Him. His followers are treated just the same, and should expect nothing better.
THE STANDARD TRAILER CO.
Manufacturers of High Grade Trailers
Contract Manufacturers Of Puzzles, Novelties, And Other Products
Main Factory and Office Cambridge Springs, Pa.
Haul It On A Trailer—Don't Pile It On Your Car
C O Luce, President
Wm P Rose, Sec'y & Treas.
Cambridge Springs, Penn'a
Nov. 4, 1936
Mr. Frank Hague
Mayor Jersey City, N.J.
Dear Sir;
I was in the New York and Jersey City area a couple weeks ago on business. At about that same time it appears that there was a company of people known as Jehovah's Witnesses holding a convention in the area of Jersey City. I heard it rumored that some of these people were arrested in your city for distributing bible literature, naturally I thought that must be a joke as we certainly are not living under the rule of the Roman Catholic Church of the year 1500 A.D. Somehow these rumors got under my skin and I investigated further and found that it was the truth that many of these people had been arrested and given from ten to thirty days in jail.
I knew that Hitler of Germany was a dictator but darned if I knew we had one in New Jersey. If I know anything about the constitution of the United States and the State of New Jersey anyone has a right to worship God the way he or she pleases.
If you don't know about this situation for goodness sake investigate and do so at once and whoever is responsible for these arrests should be put behind the bars themselves.
If you know about it and have tolerated it then I would suggest that you advise the road commissioners to place DETOUR signs so people can get where they are going without traveling thru Jersey City. If you dont do this for goodness sake have someone sell clothes pins on all the leading highways coming into Jersey City so the tourists can clamp something over their noses while passing thru your city.
Yours for better news of Jersey City in the future.
C. O. Luce
COL/go
Suggestion for New Jersey State Highway Commission
The little fellows cannot lie as artistically or effectively as the big ones, but they do what they can to show that their hearts are with the hypocrites. The Kentucky New Era, of Hopkinsville, Ky., contained twelve sentences, six of which sentences were wholly false statements, respecting the activities of Jehovah’s witnesses in that city. Some wonder why the newspaper reports should lie so outrageously, especially when the truth is bound to be known eventually.
The honest and progressive newspapermen of the country generally hold the Hearst papers responsible for the flag-waving hysteria, the only real fruits of which were to cause great suffering to the children of Jehovah’s witnesses and their parents, but gave them a wonderful opportunity to take their stand on the side of Jehovah God. It is in order to make a few remarks about the work of this loud-mouthed multimillionaire’s activities.
It was a group of Hearst photographers, crowding Lindbergh’s car to the curb, and thrusting a camera into little Jon’s face, that so disgusted Colonel Lindbergh and his wife that they fled from America to a land where decent people still have some liberty.
Some of the reasons why Hearst is so militaristic are that he has a rapidly growing fortune of $220,000,000 which, it is no doubt his inward thought, is to endure forever, and he wishes to make sure that it will be protected; also that his holdings contain about $15,000,000 of interest in copper mines, and every shell that is made will improve the value of those holdings.
His widely advertised “National Conference of Clergymen and Laymen” in Asheville, N.C., was the most complete flop of any “convention” ever held in the United States. There was no cohesion among the delegates; they started out with a split, and at the last meeting, which was to have been the grand climax of the convention, there was nobody present but the speakers. This convention was tooted up all over the United States as the thing that was going to save the country from “Communism”. It is to laugh. It could not even save itself.
At Columbia University 200 members of William Randolph Hearst Post No. 1, Veterans of Future Wars, paraded behind a band, the leader of which used a crutch for a baton. The Future Veterans are demanding their bonus now and making all America laugh at the Monarch of San Simeon.
A few of the better salaried in America are William Randolph Hearst at $500,000 a year, Mae West at $333,166.65, Arthur Brisbane at $265,000, and four officials of the American Tobacco Company at a total of $637,951 among them.
An Interesting Phenomenon
One of the most interesting phenomena of the times is the betrayal of the people by the newspapers. Despite the certain knowledge that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is the world’s greatest foe of human liberty, not a chance is let slip to pose that same Hierarchy before the people as the grandest, most sublime institution on earth. The pettiness is astounding.
Thus, when the big news came of the arrest, July 18, 1935, of M. C. Harbeck, by the secret police of Germany it was concealed from the people that he was one of Jehovah’s witnesses, of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, and though it was grudgingly admitted that he is a prominent “Protestant minister”, the whole story in the New York Evening Journal, in which the account first appeared, was put under glaring headlines about the “persecutions” of Catholics in Germany, which persecutions are almost if not entirely camouflage.
The next morning, in the New York American, the same item appeared under glaring headlines “Hitler Orders Police Drive on Catholics”, but it was sandwiched in the middle of the article between two imaginary “reports” of contemplated action against Catholics. The effect upon the casual reader would be that the arrest of Harbeck was in some way an attack on the Catholics who were thereby being persecuted.
No mention is ever made in the metropolitan papers of the maltreatment of Jehovah’s witnesses in New Jersey. In other words, the yellow press of today is definitely on the side of the Devil and committed to him, body and soul, to do his will.
The New York Times had a decent and honorable report of Harbeck’s arrest; so also the World-Telegram; but in both the Journal and the American the camouflage was complete. Probably the fact is that Gog, the invisible prime minister of the Devil, caused the report of prospective attacks upon the Catholics to be circulated so that when he had nabbed Harbeck those who are given over wholly to the Devil might do just what the editors of the Journal and American did.
'GOD HATH NUMBERED THY KINGDOM, AND BROUGHT IT TO AN END THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES, AND FOUND WANTING. THY KINGDOM IS DIVIDED, AND GIVEN TO JEHOVAH AND CHRIST JESUS.'-Dan 5 26 28
The DAILY UN-NEWS
PROSPERITY PROMISED
By Clergy
HANDWRITING ON WALL GOOD OMEN REV STINQUE SAYS
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES PHOOEY ON OCCURRENCE
'Belshazzar’s Feast'
The Lovers of Lies
The Nazi papers love to lie, and hence the Fraenkische Tageszeitung, of Nuremberg, Germany, took great pleasure in publishing the absolute falsehood that the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses is Communistic-Jewish, financed by a Jewish banker and directed by a Jew. These lies were retailed in a story of the fact that of nineteen of Jehovah’s witnesses tried at Fuerth, Bavaria, five were acquitted and fourteen were sentenced to prison for terms ranging from three months to one year.
The pope is very enthusiastic about the Catholic press. In his eyes, according to his own preachments, it bears a most important relation “to the successor of Peter, the rock and foundation of the church and perpetual voice and guardian of its teaching”. The Catholic press is composed of “the most eloquent interpreters of the mind of the Vicar of Christ”. He assured the Catholic editors, “The director of your work is God the Creator.” He tells the editors, “You will first lay hold of the priests” and “by stirring the interest of the priests you will be able to awaken the people”.
The pope says of the press that antagonizes the Catholic press that it is "an attack that is carried on by an abundant and copious diffusion of literature, an attack that is carried on in the full and open light"; that "it is a great danger, a supreme and universal danger. It will continue in its universal appeal and will proclaim itself openly by a propaganda that will spare nothing."
Hon. W. D. McFarlane, in an address in the House of Representatives, at Washington, told of the great achievements of the Vernon (Texas) municipal lighting plant, one of the most successfully owned and operated plants in Texas. They have built their own beautiful city hall, worth more than $100,000, largely out of the earnings of the plant; they make no charge for lighting streets, parks, football and baseball grounds, municipal building and library. They furnish free lights to some charity cases; they make a flat rate to business houses, and, finally, says Mr. McFarlane: "The municipal light plant at Vernon represents an actual investment of approximately $450,000, entirely out of debt, all paid for out of plant earnings. The citizens of Vernon have a very efficient plant, and their light rates are among the lowest rates of any city in the State. In spite of this enviable record they have had the bitter opposition of the Power Trust and their own daily newspaper."
Georgia is making educational progress. At Decatur boy's high school a dog was graduated with 78 boys, because he had always attended class with his young master. Some of Jehovah's witnesses have been jailed in Georgia for trying to enlighten the people with reference to the Bible; educational work of the highest order. Newspaper stories showed marked respect for the dog; none for the true and faithful witnesses of Jehovah.
The Stooge
Editorial Unfairness
The New York American is always ready, as are other papers, to devote columns of slop to bequests, sometimes running into the millions, that are made to the most destructive, deadly heresy in the world, the Roman Catholic. Yet the following is the full representation of a story about a bequest to the cause of simple truth:
Odd Bequest; Boro Magazine Shares Reader's Estate. A woman in Tipton, Iowa, who kept to her bed for forty years in protest to the manner in which her father-in-law's estate was settled, has bequeathed 60 percent of her small fortune to Brooklyn's religious publication, The Watch Tower. Editors of the magazine said that they had seen press dispatches from Tipton explaining the bequest but said they had not yet seen the money. According to reliable correspondence the woman was Mrs. Mary W. Wickham and her estate totalled about $10,000 at the time of her recent death.
Other newspapers did their best to ridicule this woman and to make her appear a fanatic, and the story was written up with many fanciful details. If it had been a Catholic making a bequest to her "church" she would have been represented as a 'secluded saint, withdrawn from the world'.
Says the Washington Star (the same paper that refused to print Judge Rutherford's address on "Government", though they had it in type, and had in their possession a check for $1,371.51 to pay for its publication as an "advertisement"):
In early Christian times the Roman rabble blamed the Christians for every untoward event that happened, even that "Christians dominate the state and that they are everywhere". For every damage done the Christians were blamed. When the Tiber overflowed its banks, drought came, an earthquake, a famine, the cry always arose: "Throw the Christians to the lions."
Nobody need think that the newspapers do not have influence. They do. And frequently that influence is used for evil, as in the case of the Fresno (Calif.) Bee. This malicious Catholic sheet has been responsible for the persecution of many of Jehovah's little ones in the San Joaquin valley, causing their expulsion from school. One little chap, Vernon Mikkelsen, of the Walnut school district, a lovable little fellow, gave a fine account of himself among the small-souled and big-mouthed patriots of his community, even referring his persecutors to the three Hebrew children who likewise suffered because of their loyalty to Jehovah. The Bee was responsible for the dastardly persecution of a child, and then lied about it after it was done. They stated that he had called himself a "Russellite", a patent falsehood. Continuing faithful, Vernon will have everlasting life, and the responsible parties of the Fresno Bee will get just what they deserve.—2 Thessalonians 1:9.
Butting Heads Against the Posts
In the second edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of Monday, December 2, 1935, appeared the good news that the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom had protested against compulsory flag saluting, as it could only result in "hypocrisy on the part of the children". But does anybody suppose the Jesuits who control America's press could let an item like that stand? It did not appear in the final edition of the paper.
E. N. STURDIVANT
GENERAL MANAGER
TELEPHONE 88
The Voice Of Yuma County
KUMA
P. O. BOX 422
Yuma, Arizona
100 WATTS
211 METERS - 1420 Kc.
MEMBER N A B
November 3, 1936
The Watch Tower
117 Adams Street
Brooklyn, New York
Gentlemen:
I was forced to discontinue your transcriptions due to the fact that the majority of my advertisers are Catholics and they compelled me to do this if I expected to retain their business.
Trusting that this information is satisfactory.
Sincerely,
E. N. Sturdivant
E. N. Sturdivant
MODERN MERCHANTS BROADCAST THEIR MESSAGE
Said M. S. Key, in the Birmingham (Ala.) Post:
I have been reading of arrests of religious people in Lagrange, Ga. If this were happening in Russia, our daily press would cry out against religious persecution. So far I have not seen one editorial against this practice. What is wrong?
The Post, as well as other newspapers, has openly condemned the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. Others have condemned the action of the Mexican government against the Roman Catholic rule in Mexico. Yet here in good old United States of America we have people arrested for distributing religious literature, and our press remains strangely silent.
I do not believe in all these people teach, but our forefathers came to this country for religious and political freedom. They came here to escape persecution. Are our religious and political bosses afraid for the people to read and think for themselves? I imagine Christ would be called a Red if he were here on earth today and preached as he did back in Biblical days. I am sure he would condemn a religious and political setup that has us in the grips of debt, usury, hypocrisy and acute capitalism, which is slowly but surely carrying us toward Fascism, chaos and national destruction.
And this was written here in Brooklyn:
Dear New York Post: This is just to tell you how much the public appreciate that front-page more-than-a-column story sent out from East Orange, N. J., boosting magistrate Martin J. McHugh for "his humane and frequently scintillating decisions in police court cases". Jehovah's witnesses are well aware of the humanity and scintillating brilliance of this magistrate, because he sent some 30 of their number to prison under sentences of 130 days each for handing printed sermons to householders of that city. This was never done before, even in New Jersey.
The desire of the writer of the article which appeared in your issue of August 18 to do all in his power to paint Mr. McHugh as a gentleman of probity and justice is apparent from the following language which he reported Mr. McHugh as using in the dismissal of six men of the average of 63 years who were brought before him on the charge of gambling, and you are asked to judge whether or not this pretty language was fixed up for the newspapers, or whether it is from the heart of the man that broke up the homes of large numbers of law-abiding Christian men and women for no just reason at all for the cruel and illegal and beastly term of 130 days in prison:
The defendants are not criminals: they have never exhibited any criminal tendencies. Rummy games played for penny stakes seem to me to be an innocent pastime and not a vicious activity threatening the structure of the State or of society. If these men are guilty of a crime, then it is my opinion that we must return to the measures of a more unenlightened day and set up stocks for our lawbreakers at the corner of Main and Day streets. I find the defendants not guilty.
The Comic Strip That the Public Is Waiting For
An Editor with a Backbone
Samuel Jacobs, editor and publisher of The Leader and Bergen Ledger, Kearney, N. J., is an editor with a backbone. In the issue of November 14, 1935, he published a good editorial on the folly of trying to force patriotism by rules and regulations of flag saluting. His enemies, and the enemies of Jehovah's witnesses, took the matter up and lined up all the politicians and professional patriots they could control, making a wholesale attack upon him in the columns of their papers. Jacobs stood to his guns. He reprinted the editorial two weeks later, backed it up by similar editorials from the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, The Nation, the Birmingham (Ala.) Age-Herald, the Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, the Dallas (Tex.) Dispatch, the St. Louis Star-Times, and the Seattle Star, and in an advertisement said further:
Maybe the Press of the Nation is Wrong. The editors of the three local newspapers, "The Observer," "The Plain Dealer" and "The Record", last week referred to a quoted editorial appearing in The Leader as "muddle-headed comment". We gave credit to "The Baltimore Sun" in that editorial. If those editors had searched the files of journalism they might not have been so hasty in cataloguing "The Sun" as "muddle-headed". Each year the University of Missouri, the finest institution in the world in the teaching of journalism, awards prizes to the newspapers of the world. In 1931 the first award went to "The Manchester Guardian" and second prize to "The Baltimore Sun" for its brilliant, fearless and constructive liberal attitude.
Josephine E. Fuente, of Trinidad, British West Indies, calling attention to the banning of all Watch Tower publications in that colony, says in a letter to The People of that city:
In a community like this, where public taste for literature is alleged to be growing to the extent that one of our well-known librarians is being offered a scholarship abroad for the purpose of broadening his ideas on literary taste so as to meet the requirements of the public, one finds it strange that the Government should take such a step: for let it be known that the Watch Tower publications have for the past two or three years won high literature prizes in Paris.
The New York Times said editorially: "Seldom can the world have been in such a condition of puzzled uncertainty as today. Everywhere we see individuals and rulers in doubt what to think, what to say, what to do." This expression agrees exactly with our Lord's great prophecy of conditions that would prevail at the end of the world, one of the designations of which was that there would be "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity". Now and then the Press seems to recognize and admit the truth.
Roman Press Methods
The Osservatore Romano, Vatican organ, on the morning of the American election, November 3, came out strongly for Roosevelt. The difference in time between Vatican City and New York is about five hours; so it was about midnight, Monday, November 2, at New York city when this matter was published. It takes only a moment in these days for news to be flashed to all quarters, and on the morning of November 3 almost every Catholic in the United States knew how to vote for the pope's choice.
Efforts on the part of Rome to censor the news sometimes have ludicrous results. This was shown in the New York Times, where an article by Lord Dickinson demanded that the pope say something to show that he was against the Italian murder campaign. This demand of Dickinson was given the following headline, which is as silly under the circumstances as any ever written: "Stand by the Pope Against Italian Aggression Urged by Lord, Scoring Inaction." The casual reader, glancing at the headline, will form the impression that the pope has taken a stand against Italian aggression, and that others stand with him. The pope has taken no such stand. He and Mussolini are in cahoots.
There is liberty (freedom of the press) today in the British Isles, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Switzerland; there is partial liberty in France, Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Czechoslovakia; and there is no liberty at all in Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Rumania, Poland, and Russia. Several attempts have been made during the past three years to restrict the liberty of the press in the United States. Liberty-lovers have repeatedly called attention to bills having that end in view; none of them thus far have passed.
Chester H. Rowell, editor of San Francisco Chronicle, explaining the general disappearance of liberty from the earth, said:
The very first liberty the dictator suppresses is that of the press. Behind the screen of falsehood and ignorance which this suppression makes possible he then destroys all the other liberties of the people.
How Catholic Editors Love to Lie!
There is no defense against a lying tongue, and small satisfaction, therefore, in reiterating the fact that Catholic editors are the biggest liars alive. Their "faith" makes them that way. However, just to expose one more batch of their lies to public gaze, here is what the Catholic Bulletin, St. Paul, Minnesota, has to say on the subject of the Petition. As usual, it contains five lies, accompanied by the usual admission that the average Catholic, even when he has a statement in front of him in black and white, cannot be expected to know what he is signing. His "faith" works that way:
Do not sign any radio petitions. Father Corrigan of St. Mark's parish has brought to our notice another attempt of the followers of "Judge" Rutherford to enlist by a subterfuge Catholic support for this notorious enemy of the churches, Catholic and Protestant. This is the procedure: A man or a woman calls at a house and inquires if there are any Catholics present. If the answer is "yes" they are asked to sign a petition to permit a "well-known Catholic priest to talk on the radio". One woman who was approached examined the petition and discovered that the supposed priest is named "Rutherford". Father Corrigan said that many Catholics were deceived and signed the petition. Rutherford heads groups that call themselves the "Watchtower Bible and Tract Society" and "Jehovah's witnesses". His radio talks have been discontinued by all stations of any consequence.
Radio Censorship Path to Dictatorship
The Wayne County (Ill.) Press calls attention to the fact that the logical outcome of the present radio censorship, by which a few persons on the staffs of the National Broadcasting Company and Columbia Broadcasting System decide what 127,000,000 people may hear on the radio, is a dictatorship, and then says, rather significantly:
It doesn't matter whether the Democrats, Republicans or Jehovah's witnesses hold office. The air should be as free as the press. Once that freedom is impaired, no matter how slightly, the door is opened wide for more abuse.
John H. Frazier, of Oklahoma, writing to The Radio Guide, said:
You quoted the National Broadcasting Company's president as saying: "Our objectives have been to make available to the American people, entertainment and educational programs of the highest standard, to co-operate with representative educational, religious and cultural organizations. NBC has always maintained American standards of free speech on the air; of fair play for all people, regardless of race or creed, with decency and good taste." How can the above statement be harmonized with the NBC's continual refusal to broadcast the Watch Tower programs, even after two and one-half million people signed a petition against such unfair discrimination?
In a dispatch from Rome comes the news that after fifty minutes with the pope Will Hays, the movie "co-ordinator", announced that he and the pope are in full accord on the motion picture industry. How else would they be? Theoretically Hays is a Presbyterian. In spirit he is a "toe-kisser". Rumors that Postmaster General Jim Farley is to have Hays' job are questioned.
Approved by the Pope
In this connection an advertisement ten inches long, from the Oakland Post-Enquirer, is of interest. It reads:
Broadway: Starts Tomorrow; In Natural Color; Legong, Dance of the Virgins; The Naked Truth About Bali . . . Native Love . . . Native Passion Revealed in This Island Paradise; Produced Entirely on the Tropical Island of Bali. And Missing Girls: Roger Pryor, Muriel Evans, Sidney Blackmer; The Sinister Truth . . . About the Woman Racket! A picture that scoops the world with gangster information on why girls leave home . . . and what happens to them. . . . See their terrible fate! First Oakland Showing.
In the middle of this advertisement, midway between pictures of the two girls who each have on some clothes, but not many, occurs the interesting information, "Approved by the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae." The pope is very particular that all women who enter his august presence must be dressed "just so". Is it not a little inconsistent for his henchmen to advertise these pictures (unobjectionable in themselves, even though they show women but slightly clothed) as having papal approval?
What do you think of the idea that the real reason the Roman Catholic Hierarchy grabbed the movies was not to clean them up, for they are not the least bit interested in that, but to gain control of one of the most effective channels of propaganda known to man?
Whatever may be said of editors, seriously or otherwise, it is certain that they wield a wide influence for good or evil. Unfortunately, under present conditions the wide powers of The Associated Press are being employed not for the good of all, but rather for the advantage of the unrighteous powers that dominate the world. On this point Pearson's magazine well says,
If you can conceive all the power wielded by the autocrats of history, by the Alexanders, Caesars, Tamerlanes, Genghis Khans and Napoleons, to be massed together into one vast unit of power, even this would be less than the power now wielded by The Associated Press. Well-informed men know that the great controlling interests have secured most of the other sources and engines of power. They own and control most of the newspapers, magazines, most of the pulpits, all of the politicians and most of the public men.
A Reply to a Half-cocked Editorial
IT OCCASIONALLY happens that some editor more prominent for his lack of wisdom and lack of justice than for his ability to tell the truth gets an eyeful or an earful at the hands of some irate citizen who resents toadying and malice on the part of an editor; and when he does, it is a joy to all who have a spark of American manhood.
Read the following editorial published in the Rockford (Ill.) Register-Republic, and then read the copy of the letter by Dr. M. J. Eames which follows, and have a laugh at the rag Dr. Eames makes of Mr. T. Barney Thompson. The latter should quit his job and hire out as janitor for some branch of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy—Franciscan Friars, for instance.
FORCING FOLKS TO LISTEN
News that members of the city council are lending an ear to scores of complaints concerning the sound truck invasion of residential areas of Rockford will be welcomed by those who have found these itinerant broadcasters extremely irritating.
It seems reasonable that there should be some control of sound trucks that tour city streets during evening hours, the miracle of amplification carrying a confusing babble over a far-flung area.
The procedure of one sound truck operated by local representatives of a Brooklyn "soul saver" has been to pause in the middle of a block while the "canned" voice of the preacher pours out his message, exhorting all within reach of his voice to follow him.
If there is any thought on the part of truck operators that there may be within a nearby house someone who lies gravely ill, there is no indication of it. The message, several minutes in length, delivered, the truck moves on to the next block but the loud speaker is still within range of the householder who was in the "front line" during an earlier barrage.
There are in this modern age many methods available to those who have a message they wish to present to the public. Sending a sound truck into the residential areas on a hot summer night when doors and windows are open can only be construed as the method of those who have failed to win an audience through legitimate channels.
They would trap the people in their homes and force them to listen.
Rockford, Illinois
August 3, 1936
Mr. T. Barney Thompson,
Rockford News Tower,
Rockford, Illinois
DEAR MR. THOMPSON:
Having read the editorial in the Register-Republic of July 31, 1936, entitled, "Forcing Folks to Listen," I wonder if you will be fair enough to read the honest opinion of one of the operators of this sound car which you have held up to public ridicule under the guise of helping the oppressed people of Rockford. For nearly a year I have been privileged to work with this sound car and I count it one of the greatest privileges of my entire life. I sincerely believe there are two sides to this question, and if you and your newspaper are open to reason you will be able to see many misstatements of fact. I therefore ask you to give a correct statement to the people of Rockford of the things that I prove are not truthfully represented in your editorial.
You say "The procedure of one sound truck operated by local representatives of a Brooklyn 'soul saver' has been to pause in the middle of a block while the 'canned' voice of the preacher pours out his message, exhorting all within reach to follow him".
It seems impossible for those who hate the message of God's kingdom as given by Judge Rutherford of the Watch Tower to forget their prejudice and calmly and truthfully state the facts. Of course, you may not have written this editorial, but it must have met with your approval or it would not have appeared. I know from past experience with you that you have sufficient feeling on this matter to make it difficult for you to control yourself. I refer to something that happened a number of years ago when I placed a Watch Tower ad with your paper. Although this was a paid advertisement and a perfectly legitimate business transaction, you told me with sufficient feeling for me to remember for years to come, "I don't give a whoop for all the International Bible students." That was your privilege then, about ten years ago, and still is, but it should not keep you from giving truthful news items in your paper.
The first untrue statement is your sarcastic reference to Judge Rutherford as a Brooklyn "soul saver". I have never read any sarcastic remarks in your papers about the Rockford clergymen who are busy continually trying to save souls. You don't even criticize the priests who have to get paid highly for 'saving a soul' from "purgatory" and for 'forgiving sins', which you well know is entirely unscriptural and nothing but a racket.
I believe you do know, and if not, you should, that one of the reasons all clergymen hate Judge Rutherford is because he shows that God has not been trying to convert the world and save souls but rather He has been causing a witness to be given about the kingdom Jesus taught us to pray for and during which the name of Jehovah will be completely vindicated and those who desire may be reconciled to God. Therefore since Judge Rutherford does not attempt to save souls and does not teach it as the commission of any Christian, you have, in your desire to ridicule this work, grossly misrepresented this fact, and should correct it publicly. There is a possibility that you were ignorant of this and did not misstate things willfully; but in your next misstatement you cannot receive the benefit of the doubt, because it is reported as something that you know is being done.
I refer to your statement that "the 'canned voice' of the preacher pours out his message, exhorting all within reach of his voice to follow him". This can easily be shown to you to be untrue, because we have all these lectures on records, which do not change, and I will gladly bring any and all of them before your entire newspaper staff and before the city council and I challenge you to find one place where Judge Rutherford exhorts anyone to follow him. Rather he urges them not to follow any man but depend on the Word of God instead of traditions of men. It is not necessary to expand on this point, as the records are here, ready for you to use and prove your point.
Many thousands of people in Rockford have read Judge Rutherford's books and heard his radio lectures as well as the sound-car lectures and know you are not telling the truth, and what's better yet, they know why you are not telling the truth. I therefore suggest that it is best for your reputation and that of your newspaper to correct this untrue statement.
And now for a rather delicate point, Mr. Thompson. Please bear in mind that I am trying to "speak the truth in love".
I do not believe any intelligent editor would refer to the modern invention of electrical transcription now used in all radio stations and other high-class places throughout the world in such a way as you use, "the 'canned voice' of the preacher", unless he is deliberately trying to belittle the issue and make it appear funny to his readers. However, when wise-cracking on Judge Rutherford's voice either by radio or electrical transcription it is a very touchy matter, since millions of people know that he has a splendid radio voice. The public knows that Judge Rutherford has millions of listeners and speaks over approximately 300 radio stations each week by electrical transcription, and frequently over such extensive world-wide hook-ups that the clergymen wonder how he can do this without begging for money as they do. "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes."
The public also knows that the editor usually speaks over WROK only, and, believe it or not, Mr. Thompson, I have heard expressions like this, since your editorial appeared, that Judge Rutherford's voice by electrical transcription is superior to your voice when speaking directly over the radio. All of which proves to many people that "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".
Continuing in the same vein your editorial says, "If there is any thought on the part of truck operators that there may be within a nearby house someone who lies gravely ill, there is no indication of it."
If you or your reporter, or more probably a complainant, had spent a few evenings with us in the sound car you would have seen that the best judgment possible is used as to where the sound car is stationed, etc. We do not like to be "bawled out" by anyone for disturbing their peace; so it is natural that we be as considerate as possible. People are not so "gravely ill" all over Rockford, Mr. Thompson, away from hospital zones, that they cannot listen to their radio and even a 4 1/2-minute lecture by electrical transcription. Of course, we have found people sick occasionally; someone tells us, and we gladly move away. In operating this car for nearly a year we find that this is not a serious problem at all, and one that is easily handled. It is a beautiful alibi, however, for those who want the sound car discontinued for other reasons.
Again reminding you of the saying about "glass houses". Why don't you consider "the gravely ill" people you seem to think are so thickly scattered all over Rockford when your paper sends out newsboys late in the evenings shouting at the top of their voices "Extra, Extra, All About"—something you want to sell. This may hurt a bit, Mr. Thompson, but it proves your editorial is not sincere. You don't hold up to ridicule the Salvation Army and their band, nor the ringing of the church bells early in the morning which awaken and perhaps disturb the healthy as well as the "gravely ill". "O consistency, thou art a jewel," but as rare as radium, I guess. There is no need to discuss this point further, because you, or a reporter, are cordially invited to spend a few evenings in our sound car and note the reactions of the public you are so concerned about. You will see hundreds of people come out on their porches, lawns, sidewalks and street and enjoy the lecture to one who runs out with blood in his eyes and curses on his lips, threatening to break our necks if we don't move on, not because it is too loud, Mr. Thompson, but because they think their religious susceptibilities have been hurt by comparing their teachings with the Bible. You would even have seen at least one preacher come out into the street almost trembling with rage because the Constitution gives us the same right of free speech that he has. You would have been shocked at the actions and language of a few of our very elite of Rockford and you would easily have discerned the difference between the "religious bigots" who cannot reason on the Bible and those few who are sincerely bothered by the sound car.
As to your next statement, "the lecture, several minutes in length, delivered, the truck moves on to the next block," etc. To be exact, the lecture is 4 1/2 minutes in length and not given after 8 p.m. As for the proof that we do not "move on to the next block" you may consult our maps, which show every corner in Rockford where there has been a lecture and which tell you just what that lecture was. This work is done orderly, and we invite you to prove your point from our maps. The lectures are well spaced. No doubt there has been some overlapping at a few locations, but this could seldom bother anyone but a preacher or one of "the principal of the flock".
Your last and most astonishing distortion of fact is as follows: "Sending a sound truck into the residential areas on a hot summer night when doors and windows are open can only be construed as the method of those who have failed to win an audience through legitimate channels."
And this, Mr. Thompson, when you well know that Judge Rutherford has spoken time and again over the most extensive hookups in the history of radio. No doubt you also know or should know that whenever he speaks in public the largest auditoriums in this country and Europe cannot seat the crowds. Do you call reaching an audience by those methods "legitimate channels"?
And besides this, his writings have surpassed the circulation of 230 million copies, in almost every language on earth. No other author that ever lived has had such a wide circulation of his books, and then you try to make your readers believe he cannot reach the public in legitimate ways. A more untruthful and cowardly statement could scarcely be made.
Because the Catholic Hierarchy practically controls the Press, and Judge Rutherford's lectures are given no mention, does not mean that there are no other legitimate channels.
All this excitement about our disturbing the peace and quiet of Rockford citizens is nothing but the usual smoke screen laid down by the clergy, especially Catholic, to hide their efforts to stop Judge Rutherford and all the work of Jehovah's witnesses.
Perhaps you do not know that during the month of August, 1936, the Catholic population of the whole world was called upon by the head of the Hierarchy, through the Catholic press, to say prayers in order to "save us from the infamous Judge Rutherford of the Watch Tower Movement".
The Register-Republic of July 30 shows the clergy are operating true to form, as they do not come out in the open but use a loyal Hierarchy supporter, Attorney Thomas Gill, to denounce the noise of sound cars. With all due respect to Mr. Gill, he is nevertheless a supporter of that foreign power now striving desperately to control the United States. He speaks in our public schools and yet his organization is the avowed enemy of our public school system. Why not hold up Mr. Gill and his organization to ridicule before your readers? You know why.
If the motive is to promote peace and quiet for the people, why not mention the sound car of the Gospel Tabernacle of Mrs. Carpenter? Are they not also using "illegitimate channels"? And why the need of false statements and "wisecracks"? It would be very simple to remedy the noise of our sound car, or even pass an ordinance against its use, without all these extra flourishes of the editor's pen. But they prove, it seems, that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh".
Last September I discussed fully the use of this sound car with Chief Bargren and Mayor Bloom. I received their permission to operate it as it has been operated, and told them of the opposition of the clergy throughout the country. I said that no doubt similar efforts would be made to stop the work here as in other places. That is now being done.
Evidently the petition to the Federal Communications Commission and Radio Stations of the United States is the last straw that the slipping Hierarchy can stand. This petition, which is read at each location of the sound car, requests that a public debate be arranged, one side to be taken by a high official of the Roman Catholic Church and the opposite side by Judge Rutherford. Then millions of people can hear whether or not Judge Rutherford misrepresents the teachings of the Catholic Church.
You should sign this petition at your earliest opportunity if you want to hear something good.
In closing I would like to leave for your consideration the advice given by Gamaliel under very similar circumstances:
'Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found fighting against God.'—Acts 5: 38, 39.
Very truly yours,
MELVILLE J. EAMES, D.C.
A Little Fun About Editors
A BOY'S essay on editors said:
I think the editor is the missing link we read of, and stayed in the bushes after the Flood, and then came out and wrote the thing up, and has been here ever since. If the editor makes mistakes, folks say he ought to be hung; but if the doctor makes mistakes he buries them and people don't say nothing, because they can't read and write Latin. When the editor makes mistakes there is a big lawsuit, and swearing and a big fuss, but if the doctor makes one there is a funeral, cut flowers and perfect silence. A doctor can use a word a yard long without him or anyone else knowing what it means, but when the editor uses one he has to spell it. If the doctor goes to see another man's wife, he charges the man for the visit, but if the editor goes he gets a charge of buckshot. Any college can make doctors to order, but editors have to be born.
The secretary saith:
Who can find a virtuous editor? for his price is above rubles. The heart of his subscribers doth safely trust in him, so that he shall have no need of the censor. He will do them good and not evil, all the days of his life. He seeketh clippings and cartoons and worketh diligently at his typewriter. He is like the merchant's ships, bringing his material from afar. He riseth also while it is yet night and getteth an idea (yea, two), and writeth a manuscript, giving food for thought to his readers. He considereth also the galleys, and with the fruit of his hands he maketh a dummy. He girdeth his loins with vim and strengtheneth his pointed remarks. He perceiveth that his dummy is good, but he holdeth it back to the dismay of the compositor—sometimes. He layeth his hands to the scissors and stretcheth them out to the pastepot. He is not afraid of the enemy, and all his subscribers are filled with merriment. Some of his readers rise up and call him names, but he openeth his mouth with fact, hope and courage. Many editors have done well, but thou beatest the Dutch. (So to speak.) [The secretary is Dutch.—Ed.]
And the editor saith:
Woe betide that man that thinketh himself to be an editor, but his subscribers knoweth it not, who peradventure would produce a new number for the appetite of those who still have the hunger of youth. And he looketh in his kitty, and behold there is naught. In a day that he thinketh not the man from the dispatch desk leereth at him and demandeth the copy that is due unto him. And if the copy cometh not there is war in the camp, and a trembling in the host, and a running to and fro, and a searching for the jawbone left at Lehi, and it is not found. And the editor hath a pain above his neck, or below his neck, or wherever his brain may be, while those round about say the pain is neither above the neck nor below it, but in it. Thereupon he readeth ten thousand times ten thousand clippings, and the kitty is filled, and the subscriber knoweth it in due time.
Von Ranke’s “History of the Reformation in Germany”
THIS work (775 pages, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1905) is for the student of history, not the casual reader. Read at the rapid rate of 275 words per minute, it takes 26 hours of solid reading to finish it. Carefully compiled from letters and reports still on file in the official archives of all the principal German cities, it is as obviously fair as is possible to make it. It is overburdened with petty details of men and towns. It might better have been entitled “History of the Great Awakening”.
Prior to the middle of the fifteenth century the whole world was sound asleep. The god of this world had completely blinded the minds of all men.
Neither by land nor by water were the ways safe; no safe-conduct, whether of the head or the members of the empire, was the least heeded; there was no protection, whether for subjects or for such foreigners as were entitled to it; the husbandman, by whose labor all classes were fed, was ruined; widows and orphans were deserted; not a pilgrim or a messenger or a tradesman could travel along the roads, whether to fulfill his pious duty, or to deliver his message, or to execute his business. To these evils were added the boundless luxury in clothing and food; the wealth of the country all found its way into foreign lands, especially to Rome, where new exactions were daily invented.
Though the art of printing was invented in 1423 it took long years of patient effort to make suitable types, presses and other printing paraphernalia, and it was not until 1456 that the first book was printed. It was the Bible, the Word of the Living God, in the Latin tongue. It was not until fifteen years later that the British had their first printed book, an explanation of the game of chess. Columbus landed in San Salvador twenty-one years further on. It was God’s will that men should begin to shake off their sleep. Certain peculiar conditions made Germany the center of the awakening.
With the wider spread of the Bible in Latin, and with the discovery that the world is round, and not flat, as the Roman theologians had all along contended, it was inevitable that men would begin to think, and to explore every avenue of human interest. The universities became crowded with thousands of restless, earnest, honest, inquiring minds, and new ones were opened everywhere. Every emperor, and king, and lesser potentate, rightly desired to have a share. Knighthood had just passed out. The business of killing men at a distance, with guns and powder and balls, had just become established.
The University at Wittenberg
It was under circumstances such as these that Frederick, king of Saxony, founded the University of Wittenberg. Without a doubt divine providence led this wise, kind, honest and fearless man to establish the institution in which Luther and Melanchthon were the principal teachers. Without His protection they would have been destroyed long before the League of Smalkald gave their work the shelter it subsequently received.
The Luther-Melanchthon partnership worked perfectly. Luther was a natural-born politician, a clever pamphleteer, and musician, as well as a good scholar. Throughout his career he believed that the “higher powers” are the civil rulers. He thought the Roman Catholic Church the bride of Christ, and merely sought to cleanse her of her defilements by bringing all Germany back to the Bible, as the proper foundation of the Catholic faith. He had no thought of starting anything new. He was content that all the old forms and ceremonies should go on unchanged, except so far as they were contradictory of plain statements in the Word of God, to which he constantly appealed. He had a great fund of what is called “common sense”, and the ability to put things in such a way that any German who could read and write could understand what he had to say. He was the first in all the world to make great use of the art of printing to get the Word of God into the hands of the people.
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