Consolation, June 1, 1938

Download: PDF — Consolation, June 1, 1938

Contents

With a Sound Car in India 3

Prison Keepers' Espionage 4

A Noble-minded Catholic 5

Choosing Life or Death 6

A Collapsible Oven 7

An Open Letter to Archbishop Roberts 9

'Behold the Elephant,

Which I Have Made' 10

Offsets to Japanese Aggression 12

"Parochial Stupidity" in Australia 15

Counsel by J. F. Rutherford 17

"A Man Supremely Honest" 18

Bible Truths Not Seditious 18

Educating an Illinois Sheriff 19

Give the Public Their Liberties 21

Safe in the Ark 22

By Trail and Stream and

Garden Path—A "Shadow" 23

Mussolini's Shameless Bloodthirstiness 24

An Opinion-forming Juggernaut 25

Britain 26

British Comment 28

Published every other Wednesday by

THE GOLDEN AGE PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.

President Clayton J. Woodworth

Vice-President Nathan H. Knorr

Secretary and Treasurer Charles E. Wagner

Five Cents a Copy

$1 a year in the United States

$1.25 to Canada and all other countries

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS

Remittances: For your own safety, remit by postal or express money order. When coin or currency is lost in the ordinary mails, there is no redress. Remittances from countries other than those named below may be made to the Brooklyn office, but only by international postal money order.

Receipt of a new or renewal subscription will be acknowledged only when requested. Notice of Expiration is sent with the journal one month before subscription expires. Please renew promptly to avoid loss of copies. Send change of address direct to us rather than to the post office. Your request should reach us at least two weeks before the date of issue with which it is to take effect. Send your old as well as the new address. Copies will not be forwarded by the post office to your new address unless extra postage is provided by you.

Published also in Bohemian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian, Ukrainian.

OFFICES FOR OTHER COUNTRIES

England 34 Craven Terrace, London, W. 2

Canada 40 Irwin Avenue, Toronto 5, Ontario

Australia 7 Beresford Road, Strathfield, N.S.W.

South Africa 623 Boston House, Cape Town

Entered as second-class matter at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Appetizers

Palmist "Blessed" the Cash

YOU have heard of these birds that, for a consideration, will "bless" automobiles, chickens, dogs, cats, pigs, guns, poison-gas bombs, battleships, and souls in "purgatory", all for cash. Well, Madam Lewis, palmist at Moundsville, West Virginia, told Mrs. Genevieve Dardinger, of that city, that if she would go to the bank and get her whole pile, $855, and turn it over to her she would bless it good and plenty (so it would feel like a soul in "purgatory" feels the minute some sucker on earth counts out the long green into the itching palm of a male cash-register in skirts). It worked, like a million dollars. Mrs. Dardinger went and got her pile and handed it to Madam Lewis; and did that lady "bless" it? You bet she did. Now she cannot be found, and Mrs. Dardinger feels like a "purgatory" sucker feels after he has read Judge Rutherford's Uncovered booklet and finds that there isn't any such place as "purgatory" and that somebody has gotten his money and given him nothing in return. However, the "purgatory" grafter has it all over Madam Lewis. She had to skip.

Mr. Barr's Business Is Punk

◆ W. G. Barr, pastor, First Methodist Protestant church, Paris, Texas, says his business is punk. He admits he wants more members, more payments on his salary, more for the presiding elder, and more for the parsonage rent, but in his distress at the nearness of the plow handles he says:

Where are our sons and daughters, yea, our parents? They are gone — somewhere — certainly not to church, for 70 percent of the pews are empty today! Think of it! Empty pews, empty hearts, empty treasury!

Paid Cash in Advance

◆ To locate a pot of gold under his house Sam Romano of Los Angeles, California, paid a fortune-teller $400 for a pot of cannibal's blood, $150 for a magic prayer, $1,500 for a share in the temple of gold in India, and $300 for incidental expenses; total $2,350. Neither he nor the police could find the pot of gold or the fortune-teller, and Sam wonders now if he should have paid in advance.

CONSOLATION

"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.

Volume XIX Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, June 1, 1938 Number 488

With a Sound Car in India

ALLAHABAD, or "The Place of God"; from here I write. As to WHICH god—well, you would not be long in doubt if you were here; for this city is one of the many that are a blot upon the fair face of Jehovah's creation. If you could not see or smell, if you could not taste, feel or hear, then it might be somewhat tolerable, or it would be a jolly fine place in which to be dead.

Of course, the monsoon has resulted in floods again. Poor India! how I long for that day when they will be delivered from all of this! Has ever any country been so cursed before with so much that is evil? Last evening we stood upon the bank of the Jumna and saw where a few days before there had been a fishing village; now one solitary hut stood just out of the water.

We are still in the house-car, but in this place we are not camping. Instead, we rented nominally an empty house and are living there. The reason, of course, is the monsoon. Already, with all our care, the van has tried to dig its way through to where you are via the earth's center. So we are able to keep the bus on made roads and under the porch, where it is protected from the rains. The rent for the month, which, small though it is, is hardly spared by us, is ten rupees (about $3).

Since writing before we have had a powerful sound equipment fitted to this van and are keeping it in good use. A few days ago we received a selection of records in the vernacular, and already we have been able to do a good work with them. Figure it out for yourself. Illiteracy here is about 95 percent, and of the other 5 percent their reading is in some obscure dialect when not in one of the primary ones in which the Watch Tower Society's publications are written.

Incredible Poverty of Poor Hindus

Before we had these records these people were quite inaccessible to us. As it is now, they are almost so. Only after spending years amongst these people and knowing the diabolical kink that the Devil has been able to get into their minds is it possible to understand this. So the sum of our difficulties is this: the cheapest booklet in the vernacular is equal to MORE than the average day's earnings of an Indian; which average includes the salaries of viceroys, governors, and innumerable officials and the incomes of rajahs and maharajahs and fabulous accumulations of such as the Nizam—reputed the richest man in the world—and countless others who feed well at the common trough; so if such parasites are included in an average which gives less than two annas (4½c) a day per person, then SOMEBODY is having a pretty thin time of it. Next, we have literature only in vernaculars known to about 3 percent of the people; and, lastly, their minds are so warped by their "vain philosophy" that the simplest writing only conveys to their minds results which are entirely different from those intended by Judge Rutherford or the translator.

So with the new records we are able to surmount some of these barriers. Two evenings ago it did my eyes good to see the whole congregation from a church stand to a man and hear some of the lectures through. And it was manifest that they not only understood but also enjoyed what they heard. All, that is, except the pastor. He, too, stayed, but he had something to say to us about what was said about the clergy. It did not take us long to nail him down before those of his congregation that stood around.

Prison Keepers' Espionage

We hear that the sermon in the Catholic cathedral was entirely about us. Of course, the usual misstatements were made. The lady who told us this had ordered some books, and, when we went to deliver, said that she had heard and agreed with the lecture that had been given on "Purgatory", and that she was still of the same mind to find out the truth in spite of her priest's instructions. They certainly have a very uncanny espionage system. She had ordered the books but had told nobody; yet the priest knew about it, and told her so.

I am sure that, for the first time in history, the Hierarchy is really afraid. Even in most obscure villages where you would think nothing could penetrate, much less the truth, there we have found priests who behaved towards us as though we were contagious, and showed that they fully knew who we were. I have in mind one place in particular, a most remote place where I am sure no worker has been before. And yet the priest there knew us as well as if he had been a priest in your own New York!

We have found with Catholics that the better policy is to hit straight and to hit hard. It has surprised me, the number that will agree heartily with what you would expect would the most offend them, such as "Purgatory", "Fathers," and "Trinity". In this city alone at least two Catholics have taken Riches and other books as a direct result of hearing "Purgatory" from the van.

"Has ever any country been so cursed before with so much that is evil?"

Good Interest at Cawnpore

Since being in these parts of India we have been having a very good time of it. At Cawnpore, a large manufacturing town, many manifested an interest in the Truth, as you shall hear. To be sure, the "great multitude" (Revelation 7: 9-17) is at last showing itself.

After our return and taking over this van again we were sent into the Telugu-speaking area, where we had plenty of excitement. The Americans have their mission field down that side, and it was chiefly among the mission folk that we were working. Really, sound equipment does stir things up!

The fact of it is that these missionaries have a hard task of it to foist the idea of the "Trinity" upon the minds of their converts until it has become THE point of distinction between the "Christian" and the heathen. Anyway, news of our approach spread well ahead of us and served to advertise us and we were not in a place long before somebody would come to us and ask us to explain to them our position. So lectures were arranged and there was always a strong element present determined to resist regardless of evidence, and always some more reasonable and truth-loving who were convinced.

Of course, the missionaries were boiling over this. But never would they come forward and defend their doctrine before us and their converts although often invited to do so. Sometimes we would have three lectures in a night and not get home till one o'clock a.m.

The missionaries were holding meetings to combat the truth that we were spreading, and they brought to bear every effort to discredit us. Their flock were coming to them with questions innumerable that they could not answer, and the non-"Christian" element were chuckling at their confusion.

A Y.M.C.A Secretary with Backbone

At one town a lecture was fixed up at the Y.M.C.A. The missionaries came down upon the secretary and threatened to withdraw their financial aid, but he stood firm by the contract. When the evening came there was a splendid audience, and when we had fixed up the PTM the leading missionary arrived and argued with the secretary for half an hour trying to dissuade him. All that while we entertained the audience with music. Then the missionary came on the platform and addressed the audience in Telugu and warned them that false prophets would arise, and so on. So before them all I suggested he should remain and then be in position to explain wherein our falsity lay; but he hurriedly declined even though the audience agreed that he ought to stay. So I asked him, seeing that I could not speak Telugu and he had chosen to address the people on our platform in that language, to tell them not to believe a word we said unless we gave them proof from the Bible for it.

The end was as usual. They saw what the Bible had to say about the subject, and had not a scripture with which they could support their position, and they left determined to thrash the matter out with their missionaries. Often I have wondered just what sort of time the missionary had at their hands.

First I must tell you about the broadcast we were able to arrange there. Note how providentially everything worked out. Our set had gone off color and we had failed to locate the trouble. At last we found an expert who attended to it for us. He was Catholic, but we told him our work, and he showed little interest until we told him that as a Catholic he was in the wrong boat. We spent some time there and put the whole truth briefly before him and he readily agreed that this is the truth—that his church has been teaching him falsely. He not only refused to accept payment for his services, but readily contributed for books and then offered us the use of his sixty-watt public address system (a total of six projectors) if we could make use of it. Shortly afterward we learned that all the "Christians" of Cawnpore were gathering for a "mela", that is, a kind of garden party, and we saw the convenor and it was arranged that we entertain them with "music and short interesting speeches".

A Noble-minded Catholic

The radio expert gladly lent us his outfit and came along himself to fix it in the field and brought his staff to arrange everything. That day we had about a thousand people hear actually in the field, and outside—who can say how many? for it was heard three miles away. Public officials attended, and, it being a "Christian" affair, many missionaries and their kin. Dog collars, I might mention, were not needed to identify the "dumb dogs"—you could tell them by their hang-dog air when such as "Hypocrisy" and "Why the Clergy Oppose the Truth" came through. A stall in front of our van displayed the books, and eighty pieces of literature were taken.

This happened during the April "Faithful Warrior" period [of giving the Kingdom testimony], and during those nine days we were permitted to place over 1,200 pieces of literature.

We had landed in Cawnpore absolute strangers. It was well past eating time and we had traveled far in the heat of the day. A stranger had given us an address of some people who might provide us with accommodation. We found these, and not only did the gentleman of the house turn out of his own room to give us that, but, as we learned later, we sat down and ate what was to have been his lunch! These kind folk kept us there all the time we were in the station—a period of six weeks—and not only would not hear of payment, but also took books and ordered The Golden Age [now Consolation]. Since then they have made headway in the truth; particularly the lady.

Near by another couple showed much interest and we had regular studies there. They informed a Catholic friend of theirs about the Truth, and he and his wife came along eager to know more. We were able to satisfy them, and he, too, took the books and The Golden Age. The other couple here mentioned had both The Watchtower and The Golden Age. On the last day in the station a friend of this Catholic requested us to come over that evening to his house. We went, and found a little tennis party gathered there. These, after their game, all sat and heard some speeches on the gramophone and asked many questions, taking books afterward. Yet another man showed every interest and took every book and booklet and wants to get a gramophone and records so that he can pass the news along. All of this, and more besides, in one town.

The Siege of Lucknow

In Lucknow we had the good fortune to be staying with an extremely nice couple there. We were grateful to Jehovah for providing us with a place in which to escape the heat of the summer that by then was upon us. To come in from a morning’s work and cool down beneath their electric fan was a boon indescribable.

In fact, the whole of this year we have been very fortunate to be given shelter. For the other nine months of the year we do not mind the camping life so much, but during the hot season, and in particular around these parts, camping is a killing proposition. Of course, it is the most practical way—I almost said the only practical way—of doing the work. It enables us to get into the parts not served by rail, and allows us the advantage of having the sound equipment with us.

Well, in Lucknow we met with a lady who has now taken her stand. She had obviously been searching for the truth and has actually had contact with the Society’s literature for some time, but never before saw the depth of meaning that it contains. Within the few weeks of our acquaintance with her she has come right along and already is prepared to say “Come” to others about her. It seems to me that this “great multitude” have not taken their stand before this for the reason that it was not then the Lord’s due time, but it manifestly is now, and we may look for and expect a great inundation before the complete end.

I would like to say a word in appreciation of the G.A., in particular of the cartoons it has contained. There is nothing quite like them to put a measure of relaxation into the tensity of the situation, and that without the danger of causing us to slack the hand. I mention that because there seems to have been some questioning as to if they should continue, and here I would like to express my vote.

Choosing Life or Death

At one small station the missionary invited us to lunch. We accepted and during lunch tried to bring the conversation round to the Bible, but he steered off it each time. After lunch we were leaving and I drew him aside and told him that he had taken books from us and given us lunch, but that did not in any way change his responsibility before the Lord to teach the truth. He asked if I thought he was not, and I told him that the Bible showed that to be the case. So he picked up a Bible and put it into my hands and said, “Show me.” We gladly did so. We confined ourselves to two points, “Trinity” and “Death”. At the conclusion he said, “I see that we are teaching lies, that what you have shown me is irrefutably the truth as the Bible teaches it. My whole theological training has not taught me so much as you have this afternoon. My colleagues had lied about you, saying that you took only texts which agreed with you and ignored the rest, but you have given me pro and con.” We pointed out to him the danger of his position now that he knows the truth, and advised him to get in touch with the office, but I am convinced that he, like Adam, chose suicide; the office never heard from him.

At some of the towns in that area the Indians would come to learn of the spot where we were camping and would come along with their Bibles, and there, while one was getting the food ready, the other was sitting on the grass with a small crowd around him learning the truth just as they must have done it in apostolic times.

A day or so later, as we drove into the colony the watch-and-ward man stopped us and said we were prohibited. I went to see the man responsible for the order and found that he had issued it with bad grace, but that the order had come down from the Agent himself—virtually the owner of the railway, and a Roman Catholic. I protested against this discrimination against us, but this availed nothing. However, we learned there was a little plot of government ground near the Catholic church; and so one evening we got on that, and after the service, when people were walking home, we put the power on full and most must have heard.

Devastating Demand for Literature

We went to Pondicherry, which is a French possession, with, as I thought, plenty of French literature from Paris for the purpose, and some lectures in French. The first night we waited at the spot where the crowd gathers to hear the band, and when that stopped we began with some good music. Now, this is to the taste of the French, and many came around the car to hear, including “von fader”. Starting with “La Purgatoire”, it was fun to watch the priest’s face. First surprise, then assumed amusement, now scorn, and finally, as he marched away double-quick, anger. From my vantage point I enjoyed the fun as did many of the people standing around.

We did ever so well there. Besides the books and booklets we placed in English and Tamil, we placed every book we had in French. In fact, the last booklets that were left we put together and these were taken into an office, where three different persons wanted to take all of them and where they would gladly have taken a lichesses had we any left.

Benares—a week later.

Another “holy” city. I feel very sorry for those, mostly Americans, who have come so far to see this place, hoping to catch some of the “glamour of the East”. There is nothing here that could not be seen in any Indian city, excepting that there are so many more deaths here and the bodies are burned at the pyre and cast into the “holy” Ganges.

At one part there is a street where people bring their old folk to die. Sometimes, I fear, they are as was Charles II, “sorry to be such an unconscionable time dying”; for some of them seem capable of living for some time to come yet. But what a gruesome idea, to leave your home and people just for the blessing (?) of dying in this hole!

The “Mount Perazim” period [of testimony] is on and so far we have been blessed in our efforts, and that in spite of the fact that this is far from being an ideal place in which to spend a special period. Today, between us, we placed thirty-six bound books.

A Collapsible Oven

At this moment Ron is preparing his yeast for bread-making tomorrow. He has grown very smart in this, and we are able to enjoy real whole-meal bread as a result. Of course, space is very limited in the van, but he has invented and made a collapsible oven from galvanized sheet iron at a very small cost, and this is heated by a Primus stove. This has been so efficient that I have often contemplated sending the design to The Golden Age, but have not wanted to waste the effort if it is not likely to be of any use.

This oven takes up space 14 inches by 16 inches by 1 inch when folded, and will bake three two-pound loaves at once at a cost of about one halfpenny (one cent) for oil. Our yeast we make ourselves at practically no cost.

It is true that in the days of experiment we were not so successful at this as we are now. We were taught nothing, and had to stumble on the knowledge as best we might; so we sometimes made experiments and failures instead of bread.

There was a phase that we passed through in our history in this van when we had a craze for making things collapsible. While Ron was busy making a collapsible oven and baking collapsible bread I was fixing up a collapsible mosquito net on the roof of the van for sleeping under. At first it took to collapsing at inconvenient moments and I was lucky if I escaped without a kosh on the nose from one of the poles; but a change in the design remedied that. You know that we get six months without any rain. Well, one night we had a most unexpected shower and I was asleep under the net. In my haste to get down and into the van I caused a premature collapse of the net which involved a struggling me and a pile of bedding. I was soaked before I found the inside. Our enthusiasm for things that collapse has waned considerably.

The Joy of the Lord

. . . There are times when I feel just ready to burst with pride and joy at being chosen by the Lord [Jehovah] to be among those who bear His name at this time and who are to be the targets of the enemy. As the years pass this feeling seems to wholly consume me, and while recognizing my absolute unworthiness of it I pray that when the day comes for my severest test I shall stand unwavering.

At the extreme south of the peninsula, Tinnevelly, we had an experience not easy to explain. We had been giving the usual lectures and there was the usual anger on the part of the mission folk. We put our van at night on a piece of jungle just outside of the town near the police lines. One night we were awakened by a weird noise, or rather, noises, for it turned out that there were half a dozen youths hiding about one hundred yards away and trying to give, I can only surmise, their idea of “the noise a ghost makes”. However, we showed no signs of life, but lay waiting to see their purpose. At long last they tired and went off, and I saw them go, not into the town, but along the road away from it. We were still wondering where they had gone and what they were up to, when they and a gang of about twenty others returned and made their way into the town.

What explanation have we to offer? I can only suppose that they thought to persuade us that that spot was haunted (these people are very fearful of such things) and thought we would shift along to another spot, and then when they had got us out of hearing of the police lines they would be lying in wait to wreak their anger for the attack that the Truth makes upon their cherished lies. Anyway, whatever it was, they boded no good, and Jehovah delivered us.

Trichonopoly. Here is a large workshop and colony for railway workers. Of an evening we selected spots and used the sound instrument. Mostly, they were Catholic, and many came and stood around the car, nodding their agreement. One time a priest strolled into the line of fire and he became fixed when "Purgatory" poured forth. Then he went around and instructed the flock to go inside their houses and not listen; but many refused, and others went inside but heard just the same. Shortly afterward we were denounced as atheists, Communists, Russians and other such in the churches.

An Excited Missionary

This evening we had a lecture on at a mission compound. The pastor there had heard us when giving some music, and invited us to give his congregation some music and Bible lectures. There were about 150 adults there and they enjoyed the introductory music. When the lecture started the padre started getting unsettled, and then when something about the clergy was mentioned he told me that he could not let this continue—that we must restrict ourselves to music, as the lectures were distasteful to him. I explained that we had come to give lectures, not merely to entertain with music, but he persisted that I go to the van and instruct Ron not to put on any more lectures. I told him that Ron was in charge of the machine and if Ron thought it right to obey his instructions (which I knew very well he would not) Ron would do so, and that he had better tell Ron what he had to say, and not me. So he marched off to tell him, and all the while the speaker was pouring forth the truth. The people, seeing that something was biting the padre, and guessing what it was, listened with great attention.

He got to Ron and Ron told him that he had better ask me—that he was in charge only of the machine and that I was in charge of the whole entertainment; and when padre sahib came back to me Ron quickly slipped on the next lecture. I argued with him for a bit and then sent him back again to Ron, but after Ron tried to shunt him back to me once more he got fed up with this and told me that if we did not leave his congregation would smash our car and us too, to which I shrugged my shoulders. And the lectures poured merrily forth. By this time he was real angry and he went to the congregation and told them that we were teaching heresy and that they were to leave at once and not hear any more. Some of the congregation got up and left—these, I know, were in the employ, directly or indirectly, of the padre—but even these only withdrew to a far corner of the field and listened.

The rest sat tight. Then he began to abuse them, calling "Shame!" to them that they should hear "heresy"; so one fellow got up and said that so far he had heard nothing heretical, and as for what was said about the clergy, well, he heartily agreed that such was the truth. This rather flurried the padre a bit, and he soon found that most of his congregation were of the same opinion and they were not only inclined to stay and hear more but determined to do so. At this point Ron, with admirable judgment, put on "Why the Clergy Oppose the Truth". The padre faded and left.

Many hearers showed much interest. They agreed that it was only that we had the courage to say that of which most of them were already fully convinced—that these clergy have no interest beyond holding down a soft job. One lecture, the one that had first ruffled the padre, they asked to be repeated. Most had already taken books from us, and one came up for more.

We had not got in under false pretenses. The padre had had The Harp some time ago and had seen the Photo Drama and had taken books from me when I called upon him. As we explained to him, after making the engagement at the cost of time, petrol and of the opportunity of lecturing elsewhere, we did not feel justified in withdrawing just because one man disagreed with what was said.

It really is remarkable, the way the Lord directs His work. Many times we have seemed right up against it and have just kept on, only to find the way open up for us. It is only the absolute faith in the knowledge that He is behind His people that has encouraged us to tackle so often the seemingly impossible, and get away with it. When the padre threatened that the congregation would smash the car and us I really wondered if he could dupe them enough to do so. We have promised to return to some of the congregation who want first to read the books and then ask questions upon them.—Claude Goodman, India.

India

An Open Letter to Archbishop Roberts*

40 Colaba Road, Bombay 5.

December 3/37.

Dear Archbishop:

I read in the newspaper report of your enthronement that you had chosen the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as your personal patrons and that you asked for the prayers from the clergy and laity to enable you to be identified more closely with them.

The example of these two saints is excellent and I suggest that you begin by noting what Peter did and said when a man fell down at his feet and adored him. ‘But Peter lifted him up, saying: Arise, I myself also am a man.’ (Acts 10: 25, 26) According to newspaper reports you allowed hundreds of people to “kneel devotedly” around you and kiss your ring when you arrived in Bombay. Hardly following the example of Peter, was it?

If anyone approached you saying, ‘Good master, what shall I do to possess everlasting life?’ I wonder if you would follow the example of Jesus, who replied to such a question: ‘Why dost thou call me good? None is good but God alone.’ (Luke 18: 18, 19) I wonder.

I would not make public these things were it not that Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of the religionists of His day, and that true Christians are commanded to do the same in this day for the purpose of uncovering the fraud and deception practiced in the name of God, that honest people of good will may see the truth. (See Matthew 10: 26; John 8: 31, 32.) The “church” to which you belong has ‘made lies its refuge and protected itself by falsehood’ (Isaiah 28: 15); but its end is near, when Armageddon shall sweep away the entire structure, to the vindication of Jehovah’s name and the blessing of the people.

With best wishes, I remain,

In Jehovah’s Kingdom service,

F. E. Skinner.

(*This was distributed freely in Catholic centers of Bombay, and caused no end of a howl.—Revelation 9: 6.)

Bholanath, the Demonized Ox

◆ In Bombay, India, the demonized ox, Bholanath, is giving exhibitions in which he unerringly picks out of an audience any person desired. A man has lost four teeth; who is it? Bholanath walks unerringly to him. Another is importing foreign fowls; who is it? Bholanath goes to him. A number of envelopes are passed around in the crowd; one of them contains a slip with Bholanath’s name upon it; who has it? Bholanath walks straight to him, when not even the man himself, or anybody else in the crowd, knew which envelope contained this particular slip. The keeper issues instructions to the ox from a distance. Demonism explains it perfectly.

Goddess Flunked on the Job

◆ At Lucknow, India, Mannulal, disturbed because his son did not recover from a long illness, went to the shrine of the goddess Sitla Devi, cut off a piece of his tongue and offered it to the lady. Sitla turned out to be a bum goddess, for Mannulal bled like a stuck pig and was taken to a hospital unconscious. Finally he was sent home, to make two sick people in his house instead of one, and to reflect on the perverseness of these cantankerous, crotchety, undependable, catlike female goddesses. Betcha the next time he cuts off a chunk of his tongue and hands it out as a titbit it won’t be any shemale that will get it.

The Price of Ceylon Tea

◆ Maybe you would like to know something of the real price of Ceylon tea. Wages are 7d (14c) a day for an adult, 4d (8c) a day for a child, for an eight-hour day. On this wage, it is calculated, the worker may have 1/2 pound of meat per month and 1 1/2d (3c) worth of vegetables; the bulk of his food is rice. The school ages are from 6 to 10, but only about half of the children of school age attend. A fifth of all the babies die at birth.

Science Does Not Support Falsehood

◆ According to Professor F. A. E. Crew, of Edinburgh University, lecturing in Calcutta, India, at the Indian Science Congress, there is nothing in brain surgery that supports the Devil’s statement to mother Eve that the soul lives on after death. He said:

As the brain is destroyed area by area by the growth of a tumor or by a surgeon’s knife, the personality progressively fades out until the individual is left with little sign of consciousness, though he may be still alive.

Progress of Hebrew University

◆ There are now 110 members of the faculty of the Hebrew University, Palestine. Thirty-five of these were connected with the now decaying universities of Germany. In the thirteen years in which it has been in existence the Hebrew University has added one department after another, and is a success in every way. There are at present about 800 students.

A Busy Devil in Beirut

◆ In Beirut, Syria, an Armenian woman lost three children in as many minutes. Her eldest boy, aged 7, in the course of play accidentally stabbed his brother, aged 5. Hearing cries the mother rushed from washing her baby. The eldest boy, terrified, ran and fell on the knife, which killed him instantly. Returning to the house, the mother found the baby drowned in the bath.—Melbourne Herald.

'Behold the Elephant, Which I Have Made'

(Job 40: 15, margin)

"THE works of Jehovah are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." (Psalm 111: 2) "Everything hath he made beautiful in its own time, also intelligence hath he put in their heart, without which men could not find out the work which God hath wrought, from the beginning even unto the end." (Ecclesiastes 3: 11, Rotherham) Consider the elephant, which God has made.

Perhaps few would at first think of the elephant as a beautiful creature. Rather the general attitude is expressed in the somewhat inelegant statement, "As graceful as the bird they call the elephant." Yet, beauty is not limited merely to that which has litheness and grace, as the deer, but includes everything that has a fitness in itself for the particular place it fills in the purposes of God, which are as vast as creation itself.

While at first thought the elephant may be considered ungainly, awkward and somewhat ludicrous, more careful observation will reveal that it has a beauty all its own, a rugged and strong harmony of build and dignity of movement that are entirely appropriate to this unique and interesting creature of the hand of God.

The elephant is a pachyderm; which is just another way of saying that it is a thick-skinned animal. The hippopotamus and rhinoceros are also in this classification; although science has in recent years adopted a different arrangement. However, the animals mentioned have skins you may not be particularly anxious to touch, but which, nevertheless, are suited to their particular needs.

In spite of its great size, the elephant, when tamed, is capable of a gentleness, a docility and affection that are truly remarkable. An elephant in its work will step over a sleeping child with the greatest caution. It fondles its young and its benefactors with its trunk with a tenderness that belies its ponderous form. It will perform assigned tasks and obey the orders and proddings of its keepers with patience and docility.

But the elephant is not to be trifled with, and will punish its foes or tormentors in a manner that is to be dreaded, and which is sometimes amusing.

The elephant has the distinction of being the largest land animal in existence. It often attains a height of ten feet at the shoulders, though there are smaller elephants that must content themselves with a height of seven feet. As to weight, 10,000 pounds is not impossible, though that is about the maximum.

The color of an elephant's hide shows good taste. It is a slaty or bluish gray. At this point an anecdote may be pardoned, of a lady who was large in the full sense of that word and who called on her dressmaker in garments of flaming red. The dressmaker pointed out that while there might be little birds dressed in that shade, the elephant had the good sense to stick to taupe.

The Elephant's Legs and Trunk

Naturally, in view of the weight of its body, the elephant must have good underpinning. Hence an elephant's legs are quite substantial, and are appropriately styled 'columnar'. For convenience the knees of the hind legs bend out, if you know what that means. This arrangement probably makes for balance. Besides, the elephant can lie down with the greatest ease, and also rises easily, though sometimes, for reasons best known to itself, it will go off to sleep leaning against a tree or a cliff. Its foot makes a track the size of a half-bushel measure.

The elephant has the horse beat when it comes to climbing mountains, or descending them, for that matter. On the level its gait is described as a shuffling walk, and even its charge upon an enemy is something of a shuffle, but double-quick, and fast enough. When charging it makes upward of twenty miles an hour.

The elephant's trunk is easily its most unique feature; and what a life-saver it is! It comes in tremendously handy in all the aspects of elephant activity. It is used in eating and in drinking, in fighting and in showing affection, in work and in play. What, with its necessarily short and thick neck, would the elephant do without its trunk? With this it can pick things off the ground and reach leaves and fruit many feet above its head. With it the female elephant fondles her young or tackles her foes. With its trunk the elephant will seize an enemy and throw him violently to the ground, then trample him with the heavy feet. The tiger is its chief enemy.

Domesticated elephants have been known to live a hundred years. In their wild state, it is believed, elephants live even longer.

The Elephant's Tusks

The Indian elephant (see cover) differs from the African elephant in that it has smaller ears, a longer head and smaller eyes. The hind feet are usually five-hoofed, whereas the African elephant's hind feet are four-hoofed. While the African elephants all have tusks, it is only the male of the Indian species that has them. The tusks are of great size, weighing around a hundred pounds, and sometimes as much as two hundred pounds. They are used in digging, but are not so useful as a weapon. It is found that the right tusks of African elephants are usually more worn than the left.

The elephant's tusks furnish the ivory which has always been highly prized for ornamental uses. The psalmist mentions "ivory palaces", while the prophet Amos speaks of the luxury represented by "beds of ivory". Solomon built himself a throne of ivory, but Ahab had an ivory palace, probably heavily ornamented with the precious material. The elephant's teeth were brought to Israel from a great distance, in all probability from somewhere on the African coast. (Psalm 45 : 8; Amos 6 : 4; 1 Kings 10 : 18; 22 : 39; 2 Chronicles 9 : 21, marginal reading) Objects of exquisite beauty are still made from ivory.

Some African elephants have tremendously large ears. These, when extended, at the will of the animal, appear to have a spread almost as broad as the animal is long.

In their wild state elephants live in herds, of which an old male is usually the leader. Younger males contend for the leadership, and if able to beat the older male in combat, assume that position, the old male then being banished from the herd.

The elephants are vegetarians. They are fond of sugar cane, but as a rule have to be content with humbler fare.

Elephants do not breed in captivity; hence wild elephants have to be captured and tamed from time to time. This, incidentally, is cheaper than raising them from infancy, although that is sometimes done.

To capture an elephant, various methods are employed. Sometimes they are decoyed into a stockade by tame female elephants, or are separated from their herds by the same means, and then fastened to a tree by the legs. When once captured it is first subdued by hunger and punishment, after which it is treated gently and every sign of good behavior is rewarded in some manner, usually by a treat of sugar cane. Once tame, the elephant is trained in a few months to do its work. Often they are so gentle that it is quite safe for children to play with them.

The Domesticated Elephant

In India the elephant often is a sort of animated bus. He carries a howdah on his back which will accommodate one or many persons, while the driver, called the mahout, sits upon his neck or his head (it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins) and directs the beast by words or by means of a small iron-pointed stick.

The princes of India, when riding in processions, use elephants richly caparisoned. The anklets, saddlecloth and other trappings of the beast are often as costly as those of the prince who occupies the curtained howdah, gorgeous in silks and jewels and gold.

The albino or white elephant is highly prized in India, and is considered sacred. One of these elephants was parading through the street of Bangkok, not particularly interested in what was going on around him. All he had to do was jog along. But suddenly he saw something that thoroughly aroused him. A small automobile was parked near the curb. He had no use for such cars. Seizing it with

(Continued on page 14)

Jehovah's Kingdom publishers at Shanghai, China; and their publicity car at Bombay, India

--China

Offsets to Japanese Aggression

◆ THE Japanese navy burns oil, but her leased oilfields in Sakhalin produce only 10 percent of her peace-time consumption. She is therefore almost entirely dependent on her imports. Even though she has recently been storing oil, the "Petroleum Press Service" thinks that the supplies in hand would hardly suffice her for more than one or perhaps two months' requirements under war conditions.

Japan's iron-ore production, plus that of Korea, meets only 30 percent of the peace-time demand. The working of the low-grade Manchurian ores has not yet been made an economic proposition.

The manufacture of airplanes is still very unsatisfactory, as the Japanese military have themselves admitted. The big enterprises farm out part of their contracts to small workshops, and assemble the parts. The small workshops in their turn give out part of the work to be done in households. Naturally these small enterprises are too poor to possess high-precision machinery, and find it difficult to work to standard. Hence the technical defects of Japanese-built airplanes, the large number of accidents, and the reliance upon imports from Britain and the United States.

The aim of the repeated air raids on Nanking, Canton, Hankow, and the other 60 towns which have already been raided, is to kill and devastate so far and wide that China will surrender although her armies remain undefeated.

The Japanese have been equally ruthless on the sea. Their submarines torpedo the Chinese fishing junks, which are like little villages afloat, since the fisherman's whole family lives with him on his boat. The Shanghai correspondent of the New York Times reports that the Japanese take no prisoners, wounded or otherwise. Private reports from Peiping hint at the shooting of hundreds of unarmed students in cold blood.

To the protests against such deliberate massacre of civilians as is daily conducted by the Japanese air force, the Japanese reply that so far we have had only the hors d'oeuvre. This is how the famous code of Bushido is carried out in practice; this is how the Japanese officers, whose "Samurai spirit" has been so much admired by certain British writers and army men, behave on the field of battle.

The Japanese army calculates that however brutal, cowardly, and contrary to all international law, their actions may be, the "civilized world" will do nothing but watch and shudder, and that Japan will now be able to realize her long-cherished hope of acquiring the hegemony of China if only her methods are sufficiently frightful to win her a quick victory.—Freda Utley and David Wills, London, in "Japan Can Be Stopped".

Loh Pa-Hong Murdered

◆ Loh Pa-Hong, multimillionaire Catholic leader of Shanghai, tried to please the pope by switching over to the Japanese, and it cost him his life. Two Chinese, disguised as orange peddlers, assassinated him. He is described as having had on his breast medals enough to make his front look like a pawnshop window. In the past eighteen years the pope had made him a Knight of St. Sylvester, Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulchre, Knight of St. Gregory, member of Permanent Commission on Eucharistic Congresses, president of Chinese Catholic Action, and other Catholic associations. He was director of many huge public utilities and general manager of a steamship company, a "principal of the flock".

Agnes Smedley, Newspaperwoman.

◆ Agnes Smedley, American newspaperwoman, spent four months in the winter of 1937-1938 with Chinese armies resisting the Japanese invasion. She reports many Chinese soldiers' marching for days over snow-covered mountain trails in weather 30 degrees below zero, many of them without shoes, and oftentimes for days without food. Their weapons are often clubs. They make their own hand grenades. The source of more guns and shells is capture from the Japanese. She reported Japanese troops as putting to death any of their own soldiers who may chance to be captured by the Chinese and afterward released.

Humane Boy Among Inhumans

◆ At Shanghai, China, a Hungarian boy, Valentine Holdosi, received medals from both United States and British governments for going through the Yangtzepoo zone, where the Japanese were butchering the Chinese, to save his pet dog. Probably both western governments were glad to thus rebuke the massacre now going on of the peace-loving Chinese.

'Behold the Elephant' (Continued from page 12)

his trunk, he lifted it and smashed it down and then finished it with his huge feet.

Elephants delight to play in water, sousing themselves and their fellows with the water blown from their trunks. They can swim like fish, and often go down so far that only the tip of the trunk is seen above the water.

On one occasion elephants employed by a Siamese teak company went on strike. Their rations had been reduced on account of the expense, and they stood it for a week. Then they quit and didn't go back to work until their old rations were restored. They had no use for the efficiency expert who recommended the reduction, and it is probably just as well that they were unaware who was back of the experiment.

Elephants in saw mills in Burmah pile logs hours on end with the regularity of a machine. But when the whistle blows they stop where they are, drop their work and leave. They know that the whistle means mealtime.

In Kandy, Ceylon, elephants abroad at night are required to wear tail lights. These, however, are not attached to the tail.

It takes a lot of pulleys, ropes and tackles to teach an elephant to stand on its head. With forty men handling the situation — and the equipment — it can be done.

A circus elephant named Rosie refused to continue her tour with the rest of the circus when at one point she was daily treated to three gallons of ale. She refused to take the train for the next stop, but was finally induced to do so by the simple expedient of placing a bucket of ale in her private compartment. Absorbed in absorbing the ale, Rosie didn't notice that the door of the car was locked after her, and then there was nothing to do about it.

Elephants Have Good Memories

Lyzzie, a huge Abyssinian elephant, suffered from colic on one occasion, and a druggist was called to minister to her in her distress. He effected a cure. Four years later the circus in which Rosie was the main attraction returned to the same town. The druggist was among those watching the parade. When Lyzzie spied him in the crowd, she ran to him with great joy and fondled him with her trunk. She hadn't forgotten her benefactor.

The world-famous elephant "Jumbo", largest ever in captivity, was struck and killed by a locomotive while crossing railroad tracks near St. Thomas, Ontario, in 1885. Alice, another elephant in the procession, passed the same spot again 44 years later, and showed great signs of grief, trumpeting and stamping her feet in distress. Alice was 110 years old, but had not forgotten the tragic end of her friend Jumbo.

The first elephant to come to America was "Buffon", who arrived at New York in the spring of 1797. The poster announcing the debut of Buffon is still to be seen at the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. The elephant was sold for $10,000.

When sleeping with an elephant (not in the same bed, of course), it is best to hide one's clothing. Albert Eninga failed to take this precaution, and in the morning found that the elephant that had shared his room had breakfasted on his clothing. So he had to stay in bed until someone brought him something to wear.

Tusko, who enjoyed wrecking things, was finally given a job to his liking. No piling logs nor lifting stone blocks for him. He is having a wonderful time toppling buildings from their foundations. Tusko is a house-wrecker now, and his owner gets paid for what he does.

Khartoum, who came within a half inch of being as big as Jumbo, who was ten feet, nine inches high, died a bad elephant. At one time gentle and friendly, his mind went back on him and then he became a rogue. He doused nursemaids and children with trunkfuls of water, and pelted people with whatever he could lay his trunk to. His keepers couldn't come near him. He simply had no use for humankind. But he liked birds, and took great interest in a pair of robins that made a nest in the fence of his outside yard. He watched them constantly, and occasionally touched the nest gently with his trunk. He is dead now, but his mounted skin has been sent to a museum.

Sylvia and Pete the Pygmy

Sylvia, a former soldier-elephant, didn't like the idea of traveling by rail. She was put in a car specially built for her, but when inside picked up her keeper, set him outside, and then proceeded to smash up the car. Two more private cars were built for her, and with them she did the same thing. Now she is permitted to travel on foot.

(Concluded on page 31) “Parochial Stupidity” in Australia

THE Roman Catholic Hierarchy, acting for and in behalf of the Devil, and being now and always his specially chosen and anointed representative in the earth, stuck its foot in it in terrible shape in Australia. In trying to use a few cheap and wooden-headed politicians to prevent Judge Rutherford from speaking in the Sydney Town Hall, they only helped to advertise the meeting and make it a big success. The Hierarchy is like that.

Reports which reached this office are not complete, and cover the situation only down to and including Australian newspapers of April 12, but they are enough to give every honest person some insight into the sinister influence and underhanded methods of Catholic Fascism. Australia is not Spain or Italy or Mexico — not yet. The Hierarchy has not been in the saddle long enough, and the people can still read, and think for themselves; hence the laughable flop they made of trying to stop the message of God's truth.

Here is the story, based on available clippings. There will be more to this later, in future issues.

Will Judge Rutherford Speak or Will He Speak?

When the news was first made known that Judge Rutherford would visit Australia and address a public meeting at the Sydney Town Hall, somebody got busy, and it hardly requires the attention of Scotland Yard to find out who it was. Anyway, newspaper articles yielded the following significant extracts:

APRIL 5, 1938: There is a suggestion that Judge Rutherford should not be allowed to speak in the Sydney Town Hall. — Sydney Daily Telegraph.

APRIL 7, 1938: Speaking last night to a meeting of 300 Jehovah's witnesses . . . in protest against the threatened banning of the judge from the Town Hall and the radio network, Mr. MacGillivray said:

“We have hired the Town Hall; we have paid for it. We are going to meet in it on April 24.

“We are not going to be hounded from pillar to post by any bunch of God-forsaken city councillors.

“Let them keep the people of Australia from hearing our leader's speech if they can.

“Jehovah Himself will find a way to have it delivered.” — Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Mr. MacGillivray described as “a malicious bogey” statements that if Judge Rutherford spoke in the Town Hall returned soldiers in Sydney for Anzac Day might stage a riot, because Judge Rutherford had been imprisoned in America for advising young men not to go to the war. . .

Ald. Grant said the proposal [to cancel the letting of the hall] was astounding, coming from people who claimed to favor a democracy, the principal feature of which was freedom of speech. — Sydney Labour Daily.

The City Council's decision not to allow Judge Rutherford to speak in the Town Hall is a sad display of parochial stupidity. — Sydney Daily Telegraph — editorial.

APRIL 8, 1938: Mr. A. MacGillivray . . . said yesterday that Judge Rutherford . . . had never been refused the use of a public hall in any other part of the Empire.

Legal advice was being sought on the cancelling of the Town Hall letting, and until that opinion was received he could not say what attitude might be adopted. — Sydney Herald.

Mr. A. MacGillivray complained yesterday that the Strathfield Council had ordered the removal of a sign which had been erected in Homebusch Crescent, Strathfield, advertising Judge Rutherford's lecture in the Town Hall on April 24. — Sydney Labour Daily.

Hundreds of petition forms from Jehovah's witnesses in Sydney have been carried by air to all States. The forms, not yet signed, urge the Federal Government to make arrangements for Judge Rutherford's Sydney speech to be broadcast over national stations. — Sydney Daily Telegraph.

APRIL 9, 1938: “Judge Rutherford will speak at the Sydney Town Hall on April 24 at 4 p.m." This was the message broadcast last night from loud-speaker equipment on special cars which toured the City, Drummoyne and Campsie. Officials of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society accompanied the cars, but refused to disclose the reason for announcing that the lecture would proceed in the Town Hall as originally planned. —Sydney Labour Daily.

The Commonwealth Government will not intervene to prevent Judge Rutherford from landing in Australia. No formal decision has been announced, but it is understood that the Ministry has tacitly agreed to ignore the whole incident. —Sydney Labour Daily.

At Strathfield headquarters of Jehovah's witnesses, workmen yesterday were painting hundreds of signs. These signs advertise Judge Rutherford's meeting at Sydney's Town Hall on April 24. This despite the fact that the City Council on Tuesday cancelled the letting of the hall for the meeting. Mr. H. E. Gill, a leader of the witnesses, said they had plans which he could not divulge, to upset the ban. "We have another shot in the locker—a ten-pounder," he said. "Just wait and see." "Spiritual or legal?" he was asked. "Ah, I'm not saying. We have implicit faith in the truth and right of our claim." . . . More canvas signs are being prepared for cars driven by witnesses. —Sydney Daily Telegraph.

APRIL 10, 1938: The refusal of the City Council to let the Town Hall on April 24 to "Judge" Rutherford, Chief Prophet of a religious sect, known as the Witnesses of Jehovah, and alleged anti-British propagandist, is commended by prominent returned soldiers and leaders of Church organizations. —Sydney Sunday Sun and Guardian.

APRIL 11, 1938: Returned soldier members of Jehovah's witnesses at Ashfield last night demanded a public apology from the Lord Mayor and City Council Finance Committee. The apology was demanded because the Finance Committee has banned their leader, Judge Rutherford, from the Town Hall on the ground that his alleged anti-British sentiments might cause resentment among returned soldiers. . . . "The reason submitted for the cancellation is without foundation, and a slur on the integrity of returned soldiers," the resolution read.

APRIL 12, 1938: The Lord Mayor (Alderman Nock) refused yesterday to reopen the subject of the letting of the Town Hall for Judge Rutherford's meeting on April 24. . . . Alderman Grant pointed out that only seven out of 20 aldermen had the opportunity to vote on the matter before the Finance Committee. He asked if the Lord Mayor would refer it to a special meeting of all the aldermen. The Lord Mayor: No. —Sydney Daily Telegraph.

The excuse that returned soldiers might object to Judge Rutherford was a mere subterfuge, Alderman Donald Grant said last night. In a broadcast address he protested against the banning of Judge Rutherford from the Town Hall.

"The Lord Mayor and some of the aldermen have tried and sentenced him without a hearing," said Alderman Grant. —Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Telegrams, which came from various parts of Australia, protested against the refusal by the Lord Mayor of Sydney (Ald. Nock) to allow Judge Rutherford the use of the Sydney Town Hall. —Sydney Sun.

While all this was going on Judge Rutherford was on the Mariposa on his way to Australia.

What happened after that has not yet been learned, but a cablegram from Sydney to the Brooklyn headquarters of the Watch Tower reported:

Twenty-five thousand visible audience heard Rutherford: Catholic Fascist opposition squelched.

(To be continued)

Training Mexican Priests

◆ Believing it to be for the good of the Mexican people, the government of the republic to the south forbids the education of any more Roman Catholic priests in that country. The Hierarchy is getting around this by opening a seminary at Las Vegas, New Mexico, a short distance across the national boundary line, as readily reached by Mexican youths as if it were located in Mexico itself.

Fascism (Catholic Action) in Mexico

◆ Representative Jerry J. O'Connell, of Montana, declares that information came to the liberal bloc of Congress as early as January, 1938, that Germany was then supplying arms and ammunition to an army of 100,000 men then forming in the Guadalupe hills of Mexico under the Roman Catholic General Cedillo.

COUNSEL by J. F. Rutherford

QUESTION: Does man have or possess any rights that are inalienable and which the "state" or government cannot properly take away?

ANSWER: Man's first duty is to his Creator. God created man and gave him life. (Genesis 2:7; Isaiah 45:12, 18) God is the fountain source of life, and He gives life to creatures according to His good pleasure. God is therefore supreme, and His law is above the law of any organization of men. All creation is commanded to worship God, and those who do worship Him in spirit and in truth are pleasing to Jehovah God, and men thus show their love or unselfish obedience to Him. Those who willingly take a contrary course are wicked. The law of God, therefore, concerning the good and the wicked reads: "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy."—Psalm 145:18, 20.

…