Consolation, June 29, 1938

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Contents

Afghanistan—the Land Route to India 3

Hierarchy Admits Jehovah Is God 11

War Whoops Up Business 13

Vaticana 14

Public Utilities 16

Counsel by Judge Rutherford

Conspiracy 17

They're Feeling the Heat 18

Sanctification of Murderers 20

Death Begins at 40 21

Here's a New One 23

"The Noble Red Man" 24

By Trail and Stream and

Garden Path—Moth Babies 25

Britain 26

British Comment 28

Good Provider—Cover Design 31

Published every other Wednesday by

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Appetizers

General Order

■ Now dot I take Austria dere iss a lull in my life, zo I take Czechoslovakia, in der meantime I take England und France. Spain iss no damn goot zo I gif it to Mooslini. Allzo I take Russia, China und Japan und fire der map dept., import und export dept., der prime minister und der ambassadors. Mooslini vill not like dis zo I take Mooslini. Now I begin to veel ambitious, zo I take WPA, TVA, TWA, GOP, FBI, ASPCA und Grand Central Station. But dis iss only der beginink — Vorld, take vorning! I gif you twenty-four hours to get oudt.—Adolfuss, in New York Daily News.

Mathematics

■ I am not much of a mathematician, but I can add to man's nervous troubles, subtract from his physical energy, multiply his aches and pains, divide his mental powers, take interest from his work and discount his chances of success.—C. I. Garette.

Sure Enough

■ A well-dressed man had sat down on a newly painted seat. Furious, he said to the painter: "Why don't you put 'Wet Paint' on your seats?"

Painter: "That's what I'm doing, ain't I?"—Labor.

"Peace on Earth"

■ "Peace on earth," was said. We sing it,

And pay a million priests to bring it.

After two thousand years of mass

We've got as far as poison-gas!

—"An Observer Warns the Church," in Harper's.

Troubles of a Pharmacist

■ Customer: "What have you put in that prescription?"

Druggist: "I can tell that only to the doctor."

Customer: "Better do it right away: by mistake I gave you my Chinese laundry ticket."—Labor.

Not His Kind

■ "Why don't you come to our church?" said one little boy to another. "Because we belong to a different abomination," he replied.

CONSOLATION

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

Volume XIX Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, June 29, 1938 Number 490

Afghanistan—the Land Route to India

AFGHANISTAN is the natural land route to India, Burma, Siam and Indo-China. It is a good route, and has been often trod since Alexander the Great chose it as a means of approach to what was the easternmost province of the 127 ruled over by Ahasuerus in the days of Esther. See Esther 1:1; 8:9.

Sometime, after the British Commonwealth of Nations has ceased to be (and that will not be long now, in view of the present machinations of the Roman Hierarchy, and the more sure Battle of Armageddon and eternal reign of Christ Jesus, earth's new King, which follows), there will be a great highway through Afghanistan, and millions will go over it.

One can almost certainly predict one of the favorite routes. There will be a wide, capacious, well-ventilated tunnel connecting Dover and Calais. The chalk is easily dug; there are plenty of engineering firms that would guarantee to complete the job in five years. Another tunnel would be necessary at Constantinople (now Istanbul). The rest would be easy. Angora, Aleppo, Mosul, Teheran, Meshed, and Afghanistan.

The natural entrance into Afghanistan from the west is Herat. And here, to help Consolation readers, are some comparative figures as to size. The country is somewhat more than twice the area of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is of about the size of New England and the Middle Atlantic States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia and West Virginia.

There are four principal cities, each about 400 miles distant from any of the others, set at the four corners of the country. Herat is at the west corner, Balkh at the north, Kabul at the east, Kandahar at the south. The country lies diagonally along the 35th parallel of north latitude (on a parallel line with Charlotte, N. C., Chattanooga and Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City and Los Angeles). India lies to the southeast, where it stretches along the 25th parallel (corresponding to Key West, Fla.) for a distance of 2,500 miles.

Sometime, after the big highway extends to Herat, it will go 365 miles to Kandahar, on the southeast corner, and then 83 miles to Chaman, India, whence there is now rail communication to every part of the Indian Empire. This railroad across Afghanistan should have been built fifty years ago. Had it been done, the entire world would have been benefited.

When Alexander Came

When Alexander came marching through Afghanistan he found nothing to impede his progress, and there has been nothing since, except lack of the social intercourse which makes men savage and suspicious. He came in by way of Herat, thence on down to Kandahar, in the southeast. From Kandahar he could have gone on into India by the route where the British now run their railway trains, through Quetta, but he elected to first go northeast to Kabul, which is now the capital of the country, and thence through the mountains to the west bank of the Indus. The soldiers did not wish to go farther, and Alexander stopped about where another British railway line leads from the Khyber pass to its Indian possessions.

You can believe either The Encyclopedia Americana, that the present population of Afghanistan is "estimated at 12 million" (probably wrong), or the 1938 edition of The World Almanac, that "the population is estimated at 6,330,500".

The Hindu Kush mountains run the length of the country, splitting it in half. In the northeast, in the neighborhood of Kabul, they are up to 25,425 feet high (in one place), but taper down to some 4,000 feet at the west, near Herat. Herat itself, 30,000 population, is 2,500 feet above sea level, so it would not be much of a climb to put a railroad over the divide at that place.

The waters on the north side of the Hindu Kush drain off to the great sumps of central Asia, created at the time of the Flood. On the south side some small streams find their way into India, but most of the waters move to the southwest corner, into another great sump. The outlet of Afghanistan to India is principally through Kabul, the capital, and down the Kabul river, through the Khyber pass.

When the Jews came into Afghanistan, in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, they stopped about halfway between Herat and Kandahar, in the neighborhood of what is now Zamin-dawar, where traces of them are still found. The followers of Mohammed went all the way through into India by the route Alexander took, and out of the total population of India, 351,399,880 by the last census, 77,677,545 are Moslems to this day. The Afghans are all Moslems. The spoken languages are Persian and Pushtoo.

Kandahar, on the southeast, has 60,000 population; Kabul, the capital, has 80,000; Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush mountains (the same as Herat) has only about 10,000. While there are some deserts in the south, Afghanistan will sometime be a paradise; it has a marvelous climate and a great quantity of arable land that grows two crops regularly every year.

A Well-watered Land

Afghanistan is a well-watered and fertile land. Wheat, barley and lentils are sown in the fall and reaped in the spring; millet, maize, beets and turnips are sown in the late spring and reaped in the autumn. As in most highlands, the fruits are abundant and excellent: apples, pears, peaches, oranges and grapes are of superior quality. Mulberries are so plentiful that, reduced to flour and baked in cakes, they form a staple food in many parts.

There are magnificent forests: cedars, pines, hazels, walnuts, willow, poplar, ash, lemons and wild vines. Rhubarb, currants, gooseberries and similar fruits grow wild. Pistachio nuts form an article of export, and melons are exported.

The northern boundary of the country, separating it from Asiatic Russia, is the river Oxus for some 500 miles or more. The tribes on both sides of the river are the same kind of people, and closely related to each other, and hence get along quite well, despite their different governments.

As might be expected in a well-watered land, of high altitude, in the warm temperate zone, there are plenty of wild animals: bears, jackals, hogs, monkeys, leopards, wolves, hyenas, wild dogs, wild cats, hornets of huge size, and men that are as wild and unprincipled as the silk-hatted and dress-shirted members of a board of directors of International Murderers.

The cows are humped. "Humph!" says you. Yes; that is right. The horses are heavy-shouldered, rather short of stature. The sheep have enormous fat tails, nature's provision for dry seasons or poor pastures, a sort of bank account, as it were, upon which the sheep may draw as long as there is anything on hand in the way of fat to be burned. Goats are valuable; their hair is long and goes to make shawls. Camels are used, but cannot work their passage in the snows that cover the land for two months in winter.

The silks made in Herat, Kandahar and Kabul are mostly used at home, but excellent carpets, soft, brilliant, durable, are woven by the women and girls, and find their way to the markets of the world as "Persian" carpets. Five-eighths of the trade with the outside world goes through India; the rest through Persia and Russia. The land is almost completely cut off from the outside world; more of this later, and why.

There is at least one hill of iron ore extending for many miles, and there may be many such. Gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, coal, sulphur, gypsum, sal ammoniac, antimony, marble, rock salt, slate, rubies and oil have been found, and some of these deposits have been worked a little.

Disturbances of the earth's crust are common as in other mountainous parts of the earth. In the year 1934, at a point midway between Herat on the west and Balkh on the north, the village of Patava, consisting of 150 houses, with fields and trees, was engulfed without a trace. Not a life was lost. The earthquake was preceded by a cloudburst. When the earth immediately afterwards started to tremble the inhabitants fled to the hills; they heard a terrific roar and, turning, saw their entire village disappear into the earth, which then closed down over it. For a similar event in Bible times, read the account at Numbers 16:31-33. The Khyber pass is volcanic; the lava rocks go right down to the banks of the Kabul river, with no sign of vegetation.

The Khyber Pass

The Khyber pass is the main doorway from India to Afghanistan. The defile is so narrow that there is only one-way traffic, or at least that was the case some years ago; but in many parts there are now double trails, so that possibly caravans may now move in both directions at the same time. As many as 120,000 loaded animals, camels, mules, horses and elephants, move through the pass annually.

The Afghans urge everybody to stay out of their country, and have been encouraged in it. Over the pass they are hidden in stone watch towers and rocky nooks. They are provided with field glasses and rifles, and would rather shoot than eat. At the border of Afghanistan is a large sign bearing the ominous and threatening warning, "Keep out of Afghanistan." Nevertheless, some do enter at their own risk.

There are no railroads in Afghanistan. The British come to the border at Chaman, near Quetta, but the remaining 83 miles to Kandahar has yet to be built. In 1932 there was a weekly air service connecting with Moscow, Teheran and the Indian frontier. The Germans project a line through to China via this route, aiming to avoid Russia altogether, and apparently British possessions also. Seems like a difficult route, over the Hindu Kush and the widespread heights of Tibet.

There are telephones in the larger towns; there is telegraphic communication with the principal centers, and Kabul is in wireless communication with India and eastern Europe. One of the acknowledged industries of Afghanistan is the "protection" of caravans from other tribesmen. This is one of the oldest rackets in the world. Until recently it was in full swing in New York city. The "Purgatory" racket is on that order. You pay one racketeer to keep the fellow racketeers from doing injury.

Afghans Claim Jewish Origin

The Afghans are all said to claim that they are descended from Ishmael, or else from Afghana, a grandson of King Saul, or that they are descendants of Jewish prisoners sent into the mountains by Nebuchadnezzar. There are a few words of Jewish origin in the present Afghan language, but scholars claim that these are all traceable to the Mohammedan conquest.

Travelers have noted the extreme Jewish appearance of the Afghans, and the selfishness and cruelty that so many times go with the hooked nose. The names Ibrahim (Abraham), Ayub (Job), Yakub (Jacob), Ismail (Ishmael), Daoud (David) and Suleiman (Solomon) are common. The practice of "the avenger of blood" avenging murder is carried out as in Bible times. -- Numbers 35:19-27.

The Afghans are described as being exceedingly handsome and athletic, having heavy beards and keen, inquisitive eyes that look you squarely in the face, and being unscrupulous in perjury, treacherous, vain, insatiable, and passionate in vindictiveness. Hospitality is practiced. Strangers are saluted, "May you never be tired"; to which the traveler is expected to reply, "May you ever be prosperous." On entering a hotel the proprietor welcomes the guest, "May you ever come"; to which the guest replies, "May you ever remain master of this house." When the guest departs he is led to the edge of town and sent on his way with the salutation, "May God protect you." And he needs it, in Afghanistan.

The women are exceedingly fair and handsome, and more intellectual than the average women of the East. The regular dress of the women is a black shawl thrown over their heads, and red trousers. The object of the red trousers is to prevent them from being shot by the men, who often kill other men just for the fun of killing them. Afghan children are well-treated.

A Few Touches of History

Nobody would be interested in the dreary succession of wars that have drenched the soil of Afghanistan with blood throughout the centuries of intermittent Grecian, Roman and Persian rule. Its own people think of it as really a part of India, which it is, and the British authorities encourage the feeling. The most beautiful gem in the British crown, the Kohinoor diamond, was carried off from India, through Afghanistan, to Persia in 1739. It got back to India and was grabbed by the East India Company in 1849. The Company gave it to Queen Victoria; but please don't think it was an unprofitable move on their part. The history of Afghanistan as a country separate and apart from Persia dates from about the year 1747, when the Durrani, the present reigning family, came into control. And now for a few words about some of these:

Nadir Shah, himself a Turkoman bandit, overran Persia and Afghanistan and was assassinated just as he was returning from India, laden with the huge spoils of conquest, from the sack of the city of Delhi and the massacre of its inhabitants. One of his cavalry generals, Sardar Ahmad Khan, raced back to the booty, seized it and proclaimed himself ruler. He held the job from 1747 to 1773, when his son Timur put him out. Timur continued until 1793. Ahmad died of a loathsome disease; Timur lacked his ability, and the kingdom shrank to its present size.

The next really capable amir (military ruler) was Dost Muhammad Khan, who died on the field of battle in May, 1863, at the age of 76. Styled by the Afghans the "Great Amir", Amiri Kabir, he reigned 37 years without introducing a single measure of general benefit to the country, but the Afghans admired him for his intrepid courage, vigor, simple manners, free hospitality, rough-and-ready justice and free accessibility to all.

The next one worthy of note was Abdurrahman, who reigned for 21 years, dying in 1901. A British engineer was visiting him in Kabul, and both were eating ice cream, when 400 mutinous soldiers from Herat were marched in. The amir ordered their eyes poked out, and it was done then and there. He had an official babu-ji or eye-blinder attached to his court. The engineer did not finish his ice cream, but Abdurrahman went on and gulped his down with a relish.

Trying to make his country safe for travel Abdurrahman showed incredible cruelty, even for a Moslem. On one occasion a British officer, alighting from his horse to drink, hung his belt on a tree and rode away without it. On his return a man in the neighborhood produced it and handed it to him. The officer was so pleased at the man's honesty that he asked him to come to Kabul and meet the amir, who would suitably reward him. When the story was told to the amir he smiled and asked the finder of the belt which hand he had used. He said the right, whereupon the amir roared, "Cut it off! How often have I told you Afghans not to touch other people's things?"

When a woman came to him complaining that her husband had no teeth, and for that reason she wanted a separation from him, the amir ordered all her teeth knocked out, so that she could have no cause for complaint.

Abdurrahman knew that he was a hard man among a hard people. He left advice to his successors to introduce reforms, but to do it gradually, as the people could bear them. He regarded all politicians, of whatever power, as pickpockets and robbers, and did not miss it much.

Amanullah the Aspiring

Amanullah, who came to the throne February 20, 1919, tried to reform Afghanistan in all things overnight, the same as Kemal Ataturk reformed Turkey, but he did not quite make the grade. His wife Souriya, herself the daughter of a queen, is one of the most beautiful women whose pictures have appeared in western papers. She also was progressive, and between the two of them they lost their job. Here is how it all happened.

December 11, 1927, their royal train of white and gold cars pulled in at the railway station in Karachi, India, and immediately the royal party took the breath and engaged the reportorial attention of the world. Contrary to all precedent, they were to make a royal trip to Europe; and doubly contrary to all expectations, when the ladies alighted, instead of being toggled out with Afghan costumes they were all dressed in the latest Parisian styles, with short skirts, silk stockings, patent leather shoes and everything else to match.

The reporters described Souriya as "very beautiful, with black, dancing eyes, delicate features, smiling lips and a clear white skin", which is enough of itself to twist the neck of most men, and then followed it up with alluring statements about the accompanying princesses and the great hit they had all made.

On January 8, 1928, Amanullah landed in Rome with a military uniform of sky blue covered with military decorations, a sword with a jewel-studded hilt, and a black shako topped with a waving aigrette. Like Mussolini, he put King Victor completely in the shade.

January 12, being a Mohammedan, he called on the pope, who bestowed upon him the Order of the Gold Spur. The papers raved about him as being an accomplished mathematician, lawyer, journalist, real estate agent, mineralogist, economist and authority on men’s dress, a worker, a disciplinarian, a hater of graft, a Fascist determined to Europeanize his country, and one who up to two months previous had never even seen a steamship.

At Rome the women in the party undressed—er, that is to say, they laid aside their veils and settled down to enjoying western clothes, decollette. About this time Lord Birkenhead, who knew something about Moslem customs, warned Amanullah, in a friendly way, not to bite off more than he could chew. Amanullah missed it that he did not listen to him more attentively.

On January 24 the amir and his queen arrived in Paris in the special car attached to the Blue train. February 12 the king cut into a carbuncle while he was shaving in Belgium. Ouch! While she was at Brussels Queen Souriya admitted that she had spent £3,200 for frocks alone for the trip, and it was estimated that the entire tour would cost the royal couple a matter of not less than £180,000, and possibly more. Meantime all this was going back to Afghanistan and getting in the papers. More Ouch! Also, Amanullah admitted that he had but one wife but could and did afford 50 automobiles. Still more Ouch!

On February 22 the amir landed in Berlin clad in a pale-blue dolman richly embroidered in gold, gold-lined trousers, and scarlet trousers at that (just what’s the big idea?), and that same black shako with those same white feathers. He could not have looked more perfectly sweet if he had been a cardinal, or something like that. Old Mr. Hindenburg was there and presented Souriya with a bunch of orchids. Beside her Amanullah he looked like an old weather-beaten telegraph pole in front of a bower of roses. The Hitler foolishness had not yet begun.

While he was in Germany Amanullah accepted as a free gift a three-motor, all-metal, ten-passenger Junkers plane, and Souriya was decked out with three toilet tables in mahogany, with silver trimmings, and a shoe firm sent her 100 pairs of shoes and asked her to pick out the 20 pairs she liked best, and they would just charge it to profit and loss.

The Amir in England

The amir and his bride landed in London in an inky-black fog, and Amanullah was delighted; he had always wanted to see one. He was given an address of welcome, presented in a gold casket. That was March 13. Time was slipping, and about this time Souriya’s father heard tidings out of the East that troubled him and he beat it back to Afghanistan; but the movie men got there ahead. Alack, amir! and alas, Amanullah!

Britain bent to the load. At the official banquet the prince of Wales was present, and so was the archbishop of Canterbury. Those two gents had not yet locked horns over the Baltimore lady that marries whomever and whenever she will. The archbishop was not at that time all heated up over saving the church of Henry VIII from marriage scandals; all he was intent upon was just in showing this Moslem that, as a good Episcopalian, he was for him as king of Afghanistan.

At night the two queens were at the theater side by side. It was a good hand. Amanullah held one of the queens and Mary’s hubby (Who was that? George?) held the other. Two kings and two queens. Amanullah distinguished himself by a twenty-two-mile trip in a submarine. He was permitted to fire two torpedoes at a British target ship and to send it to the bottom. He was entertained by seeing a thirty-eight-ton tank crash through a model fort in a cloud of dust and flying earthworks. Ten thousand rounds of machine-gun bullets were fired, and aircraft engaged in mimic battle, all for his benefit.

Amanullah flew over London. He gave away tips of £100.

April 11 he was back in Berlin and had his tonsils removed.

May 22 he was in Angora, Turkey, on his way home, and still receiving presents galore, rugs, jewels, Angora kittens and what not. He motored home via Persia.

Back in Afghanistan

June 21 he was back in Afghanistan and decreed prohibition throughout his realm.

July 26 he announced that a parliament would be summoned, and made a declaration against polygamy.

September 3 he decreed universal suffrage, abolished all titles and ranks, and forbade the wearing of foreign decorations.

Four days later it was announced that negotiations for building three railroads were in progress with German and French companies. When the parliament was assembled the king had the tribesmen shaved of their whiskers and dressed in frock coats and felt hats, to replace their flowing robes, turbans, rope shoes and voluminous waistbands. Parliament had to sit on benches and chairs instead of cross-legged on the ground. The queen appeared in the streets unveiled.

By the end of October Amanullah was hedging a little. Far from expending $900,000 on the trip (as estimated when at Belgium), it had cost a mere $75,000, which is a big shrinkage in six months. And then he had received presents of the value of $22,500,000; which is not to be sneezed at. Every dollar invested had brought back $300. He went on with his reforms. Newspapers were increased from one to fifteen; colleges were being built at Kabul and Kandahar; airdromes were being built; airplanes were bought; many young men were sent to Baku to learn how to work oil deposits; others were sent to Europe to learn all kinds of things.

By December 1 the priests had aroused the whole country against the reforms. They saw some of their money slipping away into the education of young men and young women; it would never do. Amanullah was accused of not paying his army. He became a virtual prisoner in Kabul. Airplanes took all European women and children out of the country, sixty-eight from Kabul alone.

Amanullah followed, and by September of the following year he and Souriya were Roman Catholics, and living near the Vatican, in Italy. It is claimed that on his first trip he brought out $12,000,000 in jewels and $25,000,000 in gold, which he increased to a total of $50,000,000 by wisely directed betting in the stock market. Moscow and Paris officials accused the British of being at the back of Amanullah's overthrow; he was, they thought, pushing reforms too fast; they did not wish to see railroad lines across Afghanistan.

Back in January, 1929, Amanullah rescinded all reforms and promised to be a good Afghan thereafter; but he was too late. The mad mullahs had beat him to it. On his way out of the country, after his escape by airplane, Amanullah claimed he had only $30 left in his pocket; he is described as weeping bitterly over his fate, and Souriya the queen also looked dejected. The jewelry taken on the final trip was insured on the boat for £11,050. On his return to Europe he was arrested by Swiss police, who mistook him for a burglar when they found him climbing through the window of a villa which belonged to him.

The Priests' Tool

The priests' tool in the overthrow of Amanullah was Bacha Sakau, a brigand. This man offered his services, and Amanullah accepted them, with some hesitation. Bacha was made a colonel in the army, given guns and ammunition and men. Suddenly he turned traitor, proclaimed himself the new king, and in no time he and Amanullah were each setting a price on the other's head.

Bacha seized the government, calling himself Habibullah Khan. Habibullah means "darling of God". He lasted ten months, when he was both hanged and shot, or shot and hanged.

After him came Nadir Khan, Amanullah's uncle. Amanullah wanted to represent him and his government at Rome, but the offer was not enthusiastically received. Nadir resorted to old approved Afghan methods of blowing condemned criminals from the cannon's mouth. When some of his subjects incorrectly reported conditions in the south of the country, he compelled them to walk a thousand miles so that they might see for themselves that the conditions were not as they had represented them. They were accompanied by guards bearing placards specifying the nature of their crime and the punishment imposed.

Nadir lasted four years, when he was assassinated by a man whom he had previously pardoned for some minor crime. He was succeeded by Zahir Shah, his son, the present ruler. After Nadir's death the assassin was put to death, together with all his male relatives and some of his acquaintances, 29 in all. Such are the ways of the Afghans. God's kingdom will change it all and make the land a paradise, and the people will get to know the truth and many of them will walk in it and rejoice before the Lord for ever. Hail the glad day!

Bad Actors with Guns

The Afghans are bad actors with guns and knives, as many have found to their cost. Sentries hail and fire simultaneously. Every European of any standing is expected to hire a chokidar, or watchman. Four Europeans in one house may have four different chokidars watching them and watching one another.

When an Afghan’s suspicions are aroused he shoots or knifes first and inquires afterward. Europeans had better not walk around after dark. If they have weapons they had best be kept out of sight, as otherwise they would be stolen. Religious fanatics among the Moslems are liable to take life at any time of those whom they esteem unbelievers. Every Afghan carries a rifle from early childhood, and knows how to use it, too.

You have probably read Kipling’s story of “The Man Who Would Be King.” It describes life among the Afghans. The tribes of the country are but thinly held together, with rival interests and little or no intermarriage. It is exceedingly dangerous and difficult to do any camera work in Afghanistan; but some has been done.

It is not pleasant to travel in a land where one may see a prisoner standing in an upright position with his ears spiked to a door. The wilder tribesmen have been known, on capturing other tribesmen, to boil them in oil, and that within the past ten years.

Only a few years ago a German professor rode through the Khyber pass on a motorcycle. Once in Afghanistan a mounted Afghan tried to keep up with the machine, whereupon his pony threw him to the ground, leaving him senseless. The German stopped to aid him. As soon as the Afghan came to he tried to rob his helper and was about to use his rifle. In a life-and-death struggle the German shot and killed him and hastened on to Kabul to explain it all to the German minister. He was thrown into prison for months and barely escaped with his life. As late as 1924 there were processions of heads on spears.

“It suits British politics well to have a fierce, warlike, well-armed people occupying an apparently independent state on the land route to India.”

Story-telling is popular; there are some phonographs playing Eastern airs; and there are a very few movies. But for the most part the women have no entertainment of any kind, except the routine of marriages, funerals, births and naming of children. In the cities there are conjurers and troubadours. In the cities also are pipe boys that for one pie, equal to about one-sixth of a cent, will permit a half dozen puffs on a pipe.

British Influence

British influence is all-powerful in Afghanistan. It suits British politics well to have a fierce, warlike, well-armed people occupying an apparently independent state on the land route to India. It suits so well that when King Nadir Shah (already mentioned) came into power the British government loaned him £175,000 without interest and 10,000 rifles and 500,000 cartridges, without stipulations of any kind, secret or open.

The British had wars with Afghanistan in 1838, 1878, 1880 and 1919. British historians have described the war of 1838 as an “unhallowed, unrighteous and causeless war”. They ought to know. The Afghans on that occasion completely annihilated an army of 5,000 men and 12,000 camp followers. Only one man, a physician, escaped. Of course, the British squared the account subsequently. There were other invasions of Afghanistan by British troops in 1878, 1880 and 1919. These invasions were to keep away the Russians or the Persians, so that Afghanistan might continue to stand as a buffer state.

In the aggregate Britain has given the amir of Afghanistan free gifts of a half million sterling, 30,000 muskets, two batteries of rifled artillery with their munitions, and has trained instructors and officers for the amir's army. It has provided him with skilled artisans for his ammunition factories.

Up until 1927 Afghanistan followed a policy of nonintercourse with any European nations whatever, and it was not a half bad policy from a purely Afghan viewpoint, speaking only in a political sense. As far as the Afghan people are concerned, however, it was a great error, and held back civilization. The first Afghan "consul of career" was appointed to the city of Karachi, India, in 1927; Afghanistan joined the Postal Union in 1928; joined the League of Nations in 1934; received the first American ambassador in 1935.

The Curse of Religion

The curse of Afghanistan, as of all the rest of the world, is religion—the blind adoration of men instead of devotion to the true and loving Creator, Jehovah God. The priests have encouraged blind fanaticism to such an extent that they sometimes get paid in their own coin. Thus, it is not altogether unusual for a community to deliberately murder its local priest so as to have an excuse for setting up a shrine to his memory, with the resultant traffic in pilgrims.

A very good idea of the Moslem religion, and of the risks that modern cameramen are willing to take for the sake of getting something new for the movies, is the following paragraph from the work Living East, published in 1929:

Thomas had disappeared inside the Mosque where the service was going on, so I followed after him. All three of us had borrowed astrakhan fezzes the night before, and we were so sunburned that by merely donning this local headgear we passed for young Turks. By this simple disguise, we not only reduced the risk of being attacked by a fanatic, but also by watching and imitating Naim-Shah's method of praying were we able to enter the Mosque and secretly take pictures. I have rarely seen a more impressive sight. Imagine an enormous field, with here and there a cherry or peach tree. The whole enclosed by white walls and at one end a raised platform, with Moorish arched niches at the back along the wall. Here the Mullahs stood and exhorted the faithful in powerful ringing voices. In front, arranged in orderly rows, were some two or three thousand devout Mussulmans. "Allah il Allah, Mohammed razoule," chanted the Mullahs, and the response of the thousands was like the booming of breakers on a beach after a storm. They stood, knelt and prostrated themselves in unison, till one could feel the thrill of fanatical fervor run through the crowds like an electric current. Nevertheless, I left with a feeling of relief, for I couldn't help imagining the scene if those stark fanatics should discover our presence in the Mosque. Three infidels, but worse still, infidels with cameras. An invention of the Devil, which the more ignorant Mohammedans believe capable of stealing their souls. Yes, the air was certainly better in the street outside.

The Devil uses his faithful children, the Moslem priests, to perpetuate his great lie that the dead are not dead, and so every Moslem, when passing a cemetery, is supposed to lift up his voice and cry "As Salaam alaicoon, ahl-i-Kabool!" ("Peace be with you, O dwellers in the tomb!") The men's gravestones stand thin and upright by head and foot; and the women's stones, broad and flat. By the shrines strips of rags, tied by the pilgrims, flutter in the breeze. The Roman Hierarchy's arrangement is a better financial scheme; for, instead of inexpensive rags, the people have to buy candles, at a good profit to the candle salesman, the priest.

The Afghans have some unusual conveniences for corpses. The grave is dug down several feet, and then a ledge is scooped on one side, on which the corpse is laid, with room to sit up at the day of resurrection, and also room for the cross-questioning angel to sit and make inquiry. It is of no use for you to laugh at this nonsense if you were ever fool enough to swallow the "Purgatory" or the worse "hell-fire-and-damnation" religious nutrition of the recent past. How happy all sensible people will be when the pure and beautiful and lovely truth of God's Word shines into every corner of what is still a dark world!

The priests are always willing to start a jehad, or "holy war", if they see their revenues falling off. Priests are like that. Anything that interferes with their business of fleecing and blinding the people is the counterpart of what the Hierarchy now calls "Communism", i.e., anything that they feel sure is liable to decrease their takings. And so, in Afghanistan, the hills are liable to resound at any time with the old familiar cry that the priests and preachers of "Christendom" put up in 1914-1918, "Glory for all, and heaven for those who bleed." "What fools these mortals be!"

Asia

Hierarchy Admits Jehovah Is God

◆ Many will be interested in the admission by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy that they know that Jehovah is the one and only true and living God. Yet they have never told this to the Catholic population.* The admissions were wrung from the Hierarchy by correspondence originating with Engracio Alinsod, now a house-to-house witness for Jehovah in Manila. On December 9, 1935, he wrote to the Right Reverend The Archbishop of Manila a letter from which the following extracts are taken:

Amidst rejoicing for the expected return of our Lord Jesus Christ the bombs of Satan frequently explode here and there because he knows that his time is short. On page 820 of The Golden Age [now Consolation] magazine of Brooklyn, New York, Vol. XVI, Serial No. 418, dated September 25, 1935, a Roman Catholic priest is quoted as saying: "If the people would stick together, they could defeat Jehovah."

A number of days has already elapsed and yet the Catholics as a great Christian organization have been silent. This seems to show that your mission is dead. The remnant people of God's organization on earth who are devoted to Jehovah will relentlessly expose your hypocrisy and tricks. The Catholic catechism omits in bad faith the name of Jehovah. Even in your sermons and glorification of divine power and entity Jehovah is least spoken of, although you know he is the greatest of all. And still not content with the offense, He, Jehovah, the Great God of the Universe, is relentlessly blasphemed.

Please declare publicly, fearlessly and openly whether or not you recognize Jehovah as God. Prepare. The Battle of Armageddon is at hand. Shame on him who says that Jehovah can be defeated. Who are we? Are we not a mere dust? He who can not acknowledge Jehovah openly as God is a hypocrite and should hide his face in the coming Battle of Armageddon which is now visible to human eyes.

In his letter to the archbishop Mr. Alinsod explained that he had formerly been a most humble follower, and accompanied it with the warnings: "You will see that the issue can not be ignored. We are for God or for Satan. We cannot be neutral," and, "The hypocrites will have a frail stand, as they will be silenced ignominiously." The letter produced results. In three days the Reverend Wm. A. Fletcher, secretary to the archbishop, wrote to Mr. Alinsod:

In reply to your letter of December 9, allow me to state that some 23,000,000 Roman Catholics in the United States, and about 9,000,000 Roman Catholics in the Philippines as well as millions of other Catholics throughout the world, adore and worship Jehovah, which is another name for the One, True God.

But the Scriptures state, "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."—Matthew 15:9.

* So skillfully have the Hierarchy hidden this knowledge from the Catholic population, that the Douay Catholic Version mentions the name Jehovah only once in the entire Bible, and that in a footnote on Exodus 6:3. In the text named another word is substituted [Adonai] which merely means "Lord", but even this perversion of the proper name of Jehovah God is apparently used only in the passage cited.

Bones of a Gibbor Found

◆ The bones of what may have been a Gibbor who lived before the Flood were found November 13, 1937, near Semipalatinsk, Kazakistan, one of the Soviet republics in Asia. There were ten feet of gravel over the skeleton, washed there by the Flood. This particular giant, however, was not drowned in the Flood, as were most of his comrades; for in his skull was stuck a sword. The joints and feet were one and one-half times the size of present-day humans, confirming all that is known of the Gibborim, whose fathers were angelic sons of God, and whose mothers were humans in those days when "the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:4, 5, 11-13), while Noah and his sons were building the ark. Now, as then, violence is everywhere, "and as it was in the days of No'e, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man."—Luke 17:26.

Protection Rackets in Singapore

◆ Protection rackets, of which that of "Purgatory" is an outstanding example, are now being worked in the Far East. Chinese secret societies have caught on to the racketeering methods practiced so successfully in New York and are now protecting all kinds of business for a consideration. Restaurants are protected by hundreds of men going in and sitting all day over a penny cup of coffee, leaving no room for other customers. After a few days the proprietor of the shop is willing to join up and pay the protection fee demanded.

Mountain Created in Two Weeks

◆ At Rabaul, British New Guinea, a volcano erupted and in place of a beautiful garden, only a few feet out of the water, a mountain rose in two weeks to a height of 850 feet, with not a sign of life anywhere. In the period in which the mountain was forming 750 women and children were taken to safety. It is estimated that 250 died, buried beneath the pumice and ashes.

Jehovah's Kingdom publishers at Manila, Philippine Islands; and their printing plant at Tokyo branch

--War Whoops Up Business

War whoops up business, and it matters not much where the war may be. If Japan is buying all the iron it can get its hands on, the result is big business in Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Bethlehem. The pay rolls of the steel industry in the United States in 1937 were $976,000,000, the largest ever known.

Record Peacetime Appropriations

◆ The national defense bill for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1936, was over $1,000,000,000, and the largest peacetime appropriation in history. The United States is at peace with every country in the world, but the munition makers felt that it was high time they had some swag.

Bombers Costing over $135,000 Each

◆ The United States Navy's new bombers, costing over $135,000 each, are each designed to carry six men, and are the fastest and therefore the deadliest bombers ever built. The Navy, which now has 1,000 planes, plans to have 2,000 by 1941.

Military Training in CCC

◆ The Japanese sinking of the United States gunboat Panay served more purposes than merely showing again how perfectly indifferent is the Japanese army to what it does to the boats or lives of the citizens of other countries. It brought out the statement of Robert Fechner, national Civilian Conservation Corps director, that the 2,300,000 youths trained in the CCC camps are about 85 percent prepared for military life and can be turned into soldiers at a moment's notice. That was known all along, and it is only common sense to admit the truth.

Seventeen Million Boys Murdered

◆ Seventeen million boys were murdered by the International Murderers in the World Foolishness of 1914-1918. Zaharoff, master armament salesman, would gladly have seen many more millions slain. Twenty-one million more boys were hospitalized, and twenty-seven million more boys had their home and family arrangements disordered so that they might participate. One out of every four Germans mobilized lost his life. Ninety percent of all Austrians became casualties, 73 percent of all Frenchmen, 65 percent of all Germans, 39 percent of all Italians, 36 percent of all British, and 35 percent of all Belgians.

Getting Uncle Sam Ready

◆ Not having learned anything from the World War, all the nations are eager to prove yet once again the fallacy of the argument, "In time of peace prepare for war." They expect to do this by the centuries-old plan of putting as much as possible into armament. Uncle Sam is leading in this campaign of foolishness. The munition makers will get a good hunk of the $545,146,506; they are so patriotic, you know. And, besides, Uncle Sam has money to throw away. Anyway, he is throwing it.

War an Expensive Process

◆ It is calculated that ammunition of all kinds averages to cost about 50c per pound, or $1,000 per ton, and that an army of six divisions (150,000 men) would shoot at least $2,000,000 out of existence every day of active fighting. The World War cost an estimated $190,000,000,000, with interruptions to trade and property losses running to a total of $340,000,000,000.

Vaticana

The Latest Dressmakers' Notes

One of the dressmakers' notes explains, under a Vatican City date line:

The Pope entered St. Peter's in full pontifical robes with the triregnum, or triple crown, on his head and his body enveloped in a magnificent cloak of a delicate shade of ivory embroidered with gold, which fell from his shoulders to his feet. Behind his head two flabelli, or semi-circular ostrich feather fans mounted on high poles, were carried aloft by purple-clad attendants. Twenty-seven Cardinals, resplendent in their scarlet robes and long purple cloaks, whose trains were supported by acolytes in violet, opened the papal procession, which blazed with the colorful uniforms and rich gowns of church dignitaries.

It should be added, to make the story complete, that this is all the Roman Catholic population get for their money; every last thing. They get no truth; none whatever. All they get is a cheap one-ring circus, and the exhibits in the side show are not worth going across the road to see.

"Having Great Wrath"

◆ The Scriptures say of Satan that he is making it specially hot for mankind because he was cast out of heaven, "having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." (Revelation 12:12) The Roman Hierarchy knows nothing of this, and therefore blames present evil conditions upon God instead, thus, as usual, doing all possible to dishonor His name. The "General intention for March, 1934, recommended by His Holiness, Pope Pius XI," contains the following: "Let us pray, then, for all who are unable to obtain employment, that they may patiently accept their sad condition as an affliction from the hand of God." Their affliction is from "god", to be sure, but "the god of this world", the Devil.

The Abdication of Celestine

◆ Sick of the job of being a pope, Celestine abdicated, being encouraged to do so by Cardinal Gaetani, who thereupon had himself elected in his place as Boniface VIII. As soon as Boniface VIII had got his job away from the old gentleman, he imprisoned him in a small room in the castle of Fumoni, where he died nine months later. He is now a Roman Catholic "saint".

The Liberty to Exercise Tyranny

◆ The liberty of the Papal organization is that the pope should be free, in his own name, to settle matters of faith, to impose his teaching on all, even by force, if necessary (Syllabus, Article 24); the pope should be free, not only not to allow any other church to exist except his own (Art. 77), but to stifle in his own (Art. 15) any striving after free and individual faith; all education should be free to pass entirely into the hands of the priests (Art. 45); the pope should be free to legislate in a sovereign manner (Arts. 68 and 69) on all matters relating to marriage—the core of civil life—to maintain for an indefinite period (Art. 43) all the concordats that have acknowledged his rights, and, above all, to require of every Christian ruler to place his authority at the service of all these liberties. —Terance Magowan, in The Monitor, citing as his authority the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX, published in New York city in 1912 and carrying the imprimatur of Cardinal Farley.

Screwing Down the Swiss Guards

◆ The 120 Swiss Guards, supposed to protect the person of the pope, are reported as sore because they have to work 40 years instead of 25, to get a pension. Guards must be native Swiss Catholics, of legitimate birth, unmarried, healthy, at least 5 feet 8 inches tall, and are not accepted after reaching 25 years. The uniform, designed in derision by Michael Angelo, is as near that of the cap and bell suits of court jesters of the Middle Ages as Michael dared to make it. Angelo thought it foolish for a person pretending to be the Vicar of Christ to have a bodyguard of carnal soldiery.

Nothing Can Be Believed

◆ Nothing that issues from the Vatican can be believed. This is well understood among newspaper correspondents. And so the statement of the Associated Press that the pope had ordered Chinese Roman Catholics to back up Japan may not be true. But the denial of the report may not be true either. The chances are that the report was correct, and that somebody at the Vatican let out something that, on mature consideration, it was thought best to keep secret. So the "best way to do" was to deny it. The A.P. says it's true.

Poison Gas

THIS past winter I have been in the homes of many people. In the cities many were irritable, sleepy-eyed, perhaps somewhat grouchy; while in the country, as a rule, I found the people more cheerful, ready to shout, "Get out and come in," when my car drove up. Nor did I have to look far to find the reason for the difference. The houses in the cities are tighter, in fact, almost too tight; and they are heated usually by natural gas.

What has that to do with it? Just this: Those houses, as I stated above, are almost air-tight, and the gas stoves burn all the oxygen out of the air, to be replaced with the unburned portion of the gas. That is NOT good to breathe. The smell is enough to make one sick, when one who has been in the fresh air steps through one of those tight doors.

I will state here that I am not a doctor. I do not know what that unburned gas is, nor what is its exact effect on the human organism. But one can judge from experience what it is that harms him.

I do not have gas in my home; so am not inured to its poison. After working in a town some distance from home I go to the house of one of the friends for a few minutes' rest. In ten minutes my head is aching from the gas fumes. It is not from heat; for a gas stove never makes that much heat. This headache will last for several hours.

Some people are chronically sick. They are unable to keep warm, and therefore keep their gas heaters turned up every cool spell. Of course, everyone with gas has a gas cookstove.

I do not believe that a gas stove would be at all harmful if used with proper caution. Ventilation should be provided by placing the stove in a fireplace with a small flue. Also water should be placed so as to evaporate and provide proper moisture. This is important, as lack of moisture will produce a headache almost as quickly as will gas fumes.

Anyone who so desires and who is equipped may prove whether these observations are true or not. The need of scientific investigation is great. Some of the money the government is giving away so recklessly might be diverted to this purpose, with some good results to the people.—Frank Wallace, Texas.

Sauerkraut Rises from Lowly Place

SAUERKRAUT, favorite dish in many homes and affront to olfactory sensibilities in others, has acquired a new prominence among foodstuffs as the result of an address recently delivered before the convention of the International Stewards association in Chicago.

Long considered the poor man's dish, sauerkraut came to attention as a healthful vegetable and a medicine when Louis Pasteur referred to it as the greatest conditioner on the face of the earth. Medical authorities have since declared that it is actually and effectively a cure for human ills from colic to headaches—a sort of vegetable panacea.

The precedent of beans and bran biscuits in wholesome diet foods, the companion food of wieners and spareribs is now recognized as a direct cure and is given first place among cures for diabetes. It is also given place as a beauty aid for women, a blood purifier and a remedy for indigestion and dyspepsia.

The kraut keg has also been advised for misbehaving livers and kidneys, creaky joints and rheumatism. Russia's leading medical authority says: "Sauerkraut juice is nature's own best medicine for disorders of the stomach and intestines. It is the greatest cleanser in the whole category of foods." It is the principal item in Russian military rations, 122 ounces being given to each soldier each week.

Why sauerkraut as a cure-all? The famous Elie Metchinkoff, of the Paris Institute, answers. Lactic acid bacilli, the germs which destroy poisons in our systems, thrive in sauerkraut. They are the strongest and most energetic of the helpful bacilli.

With such qualifications to give it claim to a place in the daily diet, this plebeian food appears destined to come out of kitchens and covered servings to a place of distinction on the dinner table. Even family bars have given place to sauerkraut juice for the popular sauerkraut cocktail.—Mrs. C. E. A. Datisman.

Public Utilities

Seven Years of A. T. & T.

In the seven years from 1929 to 1936 the number of employees of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company fell from 456,682 to 294,362. In other words, in that time the A. T. & T. put 162,320 persons on the "dole". Oh, no, not on the A. T. & T. dole, in any sense of the word, but they shoved them over on the public as unemployed and said to Uncle Sam, "Here, you take care of them." In the same period A. T. & T. wages paid fell from $676,543,312 to $475,000,000. And in the same period A. T. & T. dividends rose from $116,378,371 to $168,081,179. The reason for giving the $51,702,808 additional in dividends to the stockholders was that they could buy handkerchiefs in which to cry over the hard luck of the 162,320 persons that lost their jobs and didn't have anything at all. You see, by that means they were able to buy $318.52 worth of handkerchiefs for each person fired; and think of all the sorrow that represents when each handkerchief is filled full of tears!

The Three Backward Countries

◆ The three backward countries, United States, China and Ecuador, are the only countries which do not own and operate either their telephone or telegraph systems. American "statesmen" are afraid of offending the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, and, besides, most of them hold a good-sized block of A. T. & T. stock. Nevertheless, on seventeen occasions committees of Congress have recommended public ownership of these necessities. The average rate paid in the United States for telegraph messages is three times as high as in countries under public ownership.

The Big Money in Utilities

◆ The big money in public utilities is shown by the fact that in Washington, D. C., where the rates have been kept down by Congress to 3.9 cents per kilowatt-hour, the company's profits in twelve years came to over $60,000,000. At times the profits came to 60 percent of the cash invested in the business. Now you know why the dear public are encouraged to invest in pavements, bridges and sewers, which bring no income, and are nothing but an expense, but are solemnly warned by highly paid men (paid out of funds contributed by the public) that on no account must the public ever own public utilities that have incomes attached to them. Thus, it is all right for the public to own and pay for sewers and their upkeep, but what a terrible thing it is for them to own power plants and electric wires!

The Benevolent Telephone Trust

◆ Following the practice being gradually carried on all over the world, the telephone trust has put in automatic exchanges at Toronto to do the work of the telephone girls, who have been sent home to rest perpetually from their arduous labors. One can imagine the joy that fills the hearts of the trust that they have been able to do this, and how gladly indeed they will reduce the charges to their customers because of it, and how gladly also they will cheerfully pay huge taxes so that they may contribute their full share to the support of these girls deprived of their means of livelihood. Burp!

The Man Who Sits on the Rope

◆ The officer who sits on the grapnel rope of a cable repair ship has an important job. When the break in the cable is located with precision by means of electricity, the vessel steams to the spot and grapples for the cable. The officer, sitting on the grapnel rope, tells by the feel of the rope whether the grapnel has caught an obstruction or the cable sought. Modern cables weigh 33 tons to the mile. The repair ships mend about one break a week, on the average. The fall season is the worst for breaks.

240 Conversations at Once

◆ Telephone engineers, by splitting the sound channels, are now able to send 240 separate telephonic conversations at once on a copper wire about the size of the lead in a lead pencil. A little while ago it would have required a copper wire as large as a man's arm to render such a telephone service.

Telephone Service to China

◆ Telephone service between the United States and China has been regularly established, and the day draws closer and closer when anybody, anywhere on earth, may talk with any other person on earth.

COUNSEL by J. F. Rutherford

Conspiracy

JEHOVAH GOD created the earth for righteous man and created man for the earth. (Isaiah 45: 12, 18) Before the righteous man had produced children he joined the Devil in a rebellion against God and became unrighteous. The result was that all of Adam's children were born sinners, that is to say, imperfect. Adam was condemned to death and died, and all of the human race have inherited imperfection and therefore death. (Romans 5: 12) The Devil then challenged God to put on earth any man that would remain true to God. Accepting the challenge, Jehovah God gave His word that in due time He would raise up a government, under Christ Jesus; that Christ Jesus should first redeem the race, and then all who obeyed Him should be brought to the point of righteousness; that under the new government men would be furnished the opportunity of obeying the Lord and living for ever on the earth. God's purpose cannot be defeated, and in due time the earth shall be inhabited by a righteous race. Before this, however, Jehovah God first takes out a class of men "for his name" who prove their integrity by their faithfulness (Acts 15: 14), and these are joined with Christ Jesus in His royal house. The Devil set up religion and religious organizations to turn men away from God and to thus carry out his challenge. From the beginning till now religion has formed a part of all the governments and nations that have existed on the earth, because Satan is "the god of this world" and has seen to it that religion has taken a prominent part.

Jehovah God made Christ Jesus the King of the world with full right to rule, and the time for His government of righteousness has now come. All Christians are on the side of Jehovah God and Christ, and these are the ones that have the promise of being a part of the heavenly family. The Scriptures show that the Devil, under the cloak of religion, has drawn the rulers of the world into a conspiracy against God and against His anointed King and the King's faithful followers; and on this point the Scriptures read: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." (Psalm 2: 2, 3) "For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against thee."—Psalm 83: 2-5.

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