Consolation, May 3, 1939

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Contents

Southern Rhodesia 3

The Notorious "Watch Tower" 4

The Native Question 5

The World's Richest Industry 8

China and Japan 9

A Boy's Letter to an Editor 10

Southwestern Clergy Stand on War 11

The New Government 12

'Devouring Widows' Houses' 12

A Manly Editorial 13

Good Advice from Police 15

Rocky Mountain States 16

Counsel by J. F. Rutherford 17

Dictators 17

"Sandwich Signs" Are Legal 18

The Mighty Manton Falleth 19

Under the Totalitarian Flag 20

"Mary Mother of God" (?) 20

Silly Idolatry in Newcastle 21

Spiritism 23

"Dowsing," or Water-Divining 23

Russia—in Spite of Stalin 24

Germany—No More Freedom! 25

Religion and War 26

British Comment 28

Big Business 28

Religionists' Lies 28

Ameringer's Remedy 31

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Appetizers

Imported from Britain

Three Scotsmen were invited to a golden wedding. The first took a packet of "Gold-Flake" cigarettes, the second a piece of "Golden Glory" soap, and the third took his friend, Mr. Gold.

"Phwat are yez doing wid a gun?" asked Pat of Mike. "Sure, and didn't yez know I wiz a crack shot?" asked Mike. "Crack shot!" replied Pat. "Whoy, yez couldn't hit that pigeon on that tree." Mike took aim, fired, and the bird fell dead. "Well," said he, "and d'ye think I'm a crack shot now?" "Och! Away wid ye!" said Pat; "shure the fall wiz enough to kill it."

An American, an Englishman and a Scotsman were invited to a silver wedding. The first bought as a present a silver tea service for ten persons. The Englishman, wishing to go one better, bought a silver dinner service for twenty persons. This rather puzzled the Scotty for a bit, but eventually he bought a silver tea-strainer for 500 persons—or more!

An Aberdonian went to Australia. When he returned, after three years, he found his three brothers, all with beards, at the railway station. "What's the big idea?" he asked. "Ye ken quite well ye took the razor awa' wi' ye," was the reply.

Then there was the Scot's father who went into the garden in the evening of the 24th of December, fired a revolver, and came back to tell the children that Santa Claus had committed suicide.

"I've seen better days, sir," whined the tramp to the Aberdonian.

"Why, so have I," said the latter, hastily moving off, "but I haven't time to discuss the weather now."

A Scotsman's son at college had run out of money. He sent the following telegram to his father: "No mon no fun your son." Back came the reply: "How sad too bad your dad."

Advised by a doctor to travel, MacIntosh decided to stay at home and let his mind wander.

CONSOLATION

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

Volume XX Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, May 3, 1939 Number 512

Southern Rhodesia

BETWEEN the Transvaal and the Zambesi river lies the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia. Though not so wealthy as the Witwatersrand, it is nevertheless a very rich country. While some people have made fabulous sums, the great majority are comfortably well off—very much so, compared with other countries. The upper classes have built themselves beautiful residences staffed with plenty of native servants, whose labor is very cheap.

Typically British, these people are slaves to convention. The great thing is to keep company with the "right people", patronize the "proper" institutions and do everything in the orthodox fashion. It is considered correct to support that which is British, but this particular form of patriotism frequently breaks down when any extra expense is involved. Unfortunately—for them—everything connected with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society is on the black list—it comes from America, it does not magnify the British Empire and it is condemned by the "people that matter". Few people realize what an effective and subtle form of censorship this convention really means.

Some Rhodesians would be quite as violently patriotic as the Nazis, if the law did not prevent it, and Jehovah's witnesses are not the only people who get into trouble either. Recently Professor Gray, of the Witwatersrand University, gave a lecture in Bulawayo on Spain. He criticized the policy of the present British government towards Spain and argued that it was obeying the wishes of those capitalist interests which were everywhere trying to stem the advance of movements likely to challenge the régime of private property. Immediately there was a storm of protest in the Press, of which the following letter by a member of Parliament was a masterpiece:

Bulawayo "Chronicle"—

17th September, 1938

(To the Editor, Bulawayo Chronicle)

Sir,—I have just read your report of the lecture given at Bulawayo by Professor J. L. Gray, of Witwatersrand University. One would think that there was enough bilious criticism of Great Britain in the Union without the aid of an imported professor from the London School of Economics. But I cannot believe that any success he may have had with his denigration of the Mother country in the south will be repeated in Rhodesia.

There is nothing new in the Professor's theories. They are just a rehash of the half-baked pomposities of the "Nation" and the "News Chronicle". I dispute every one of his assumptions. In face of the overwhelming evidence of the frantic baboonery that passes for government in Barcelona, to talk of "going to the aid of democracy in Spain" is sheer drivel. If there is anyone left who can swallow that stuff, let him read among dozens of similar unprejudiced, objective studies of the Spanish affair: "The Epic of the Alcazar," by Geoffrey Moss.

ITALY AND SANCTIONS

Nor is it anything but a vicious distortion of the facts to say that Britain "had not opposed Italy because she was afraid that a social revolution in Italy would endanger the Imperialist investments of Great Britain". What inhibited British action in the enforcement of effective sanctions against Italy was the discovery that, in spite of the pious phrases of the League, not a gun or a man would be moved by the other nations to Britain's support, and that we alone would have to fight with an army and navy appallingly weakened by the Professor's Socialist friends and the rotting influence of the Left Wing generally.

"Britain presents a humiliating spectacle." Britain's conduct "has exposed her to the ridicule and anger of people of all nations". Her "management of affairs" has "brought many to regard her as a second-class timid power". For all I know this bunkum is received with roars of applause in Pretoria. It won't cut any ice in this country.

I have during the last seven years repeatedly visited countries of the North Sea and Mediterranean littoral. Early this year I travelled in Holland, Belgium, France, Germany and Austria. I am entirely certain that Great Britain’s prestige is as high as ever. For two reasons. First, the character of her leaders, and second, the growing strength of her armed forces.

And may heaven preserve her from ever falling under the dominion of the parlour Bolshies and pink intellectuals who have been harbingers of doom in so many of the other States of Europe. —I am, etc.,

L. M. HASTINGS.

Macheke, September 14.

This is quoted to indicate the typical, intolerant disposition which is to be found among the higher-ups of Southern Rhodesia. Major Hastings was one of the gentlemen who voted in favor of the “Sedition Bill” in the Legislative Assembly two years ago. This Bill was admittedly designed to prevent the publications of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society from entering the Colony, but the courts later decided that this literature was not seditious.

These 100-percent Britishers (or may we say 200-percent?) believe in freedom of speech —except for those who disagree with them!

The proportion of the common people is smaller in Southern Rhodesia than overseas. Wages are good and they don’t have to work nearly so hard as in Britain or even in the Union, for reasons which will presently be explained.

The man who does most of the hard work is the native. His services are absolutely indispensable, yet his pay is very small—about £1 per month.

Europeans like to live in Rhodesia. It is a land of glorious sunshine all the year round. As already mentioned, nearly everyone is comfortably well off and there are plenty of natives to do all the hard work. Life is very free and easy. Plenty of entertaining is done, especially by the well-to-do people, and plenty of alcoholic refreshment is consumed, though one seldom sees a European incapable in public.

Rhodesia is rich in minerals, of which gold is the chief. There are hundreds of small mines, many of them one-man enterprises. Rumors of war and increasing uncertainty send the price of gold soaring, because it is the one thing that any nation will accept at any time in exchange for the necessities of war. Gold is so unlike other commodities, the markets for which, sooner or later, get flooded, due to overproduction meantime (the world apparently can never have enough gold). Men go right into the bowels of the earth to find it and then it is stored in vaults most elaborately protected; and there it remains.

The rearmament program is helping Rhodesia considerably. Asbestos is used in the construction of magazines for storing ammunition and for many other purposes. The asbestos mines are making large profits in the production of this curious substance. The copper mines of the North are very busy keeping the armament factories supplied, and their product commands an excellent price just now.

Another product of the Colony which brings considerable wealth to many is tobacco. It would appear that most of the exports of Rhodesia are used to mankind’s hurt rather than his good.

The Notorious “Watch Tower”*

Last year two of Jehovah’s witnesses from the Union of South Africa spent six months in the Colony. Their purpose was to advise the European population of the incoming Kingdom of Jehovah in order that those of good will might be sufficiently informed to take their stand on Jehovah’s side before He destroys all that is unrighteous.

As will be easy to understand, the ruling class was not at all keen about this message, but the common people were much more reasonable, though many of these were badly misinformed concerning the intentions of Jehovah’s witnesses and the Society they represent—the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.

Clergymen, missionaries, politicians, a number of the 100-percent Britishers, together with the Press, have succeeded in giving the Watch Tower a really shocking reputation.

The popular view has been that the Watch Tower is a sort of native communist-religious sect, backed by European agitators, out to cause trouble and generally against the government. A few influential businessmen have told the writer that their information is that an American Negro is at the head of the Watch Tower, while others have tales of American Negroes coming over to save their black brothers from the oppression of the white man—all under the direction of the Watch Tower. The most fantastic stories circulate among re-

* See “ ‘Roman Catholic’ Watch Tower”, The Golden Age, January 1, 1936, page 203.

responsible men, yet most of them admit that they are merely repeating what they have heard or read in the newspapers. Several highly-placed officials in the Native Affairs Department have admitted that any trouble among natives with a religious basis is almost sure to be labeled "Watch Tower".

The whole trouble is that the literature of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society points out that the missionaries and clergy are not what they profess to be, but are, in fact, frauds, and they are the source of the lying propaganda. This literature also has something to say of conscienceless politicians and ultraselfish Big Business, and for that reason the "men that matter" in the Colony have no time whatever for Jehovah's witnesses; and the Press meekly follows on.

Jehovah's Kingdom publishers in Southern Rhodesia

In the Union of South Africa no one ever dreams of making such accusations against the Watch Tower; and in many parts conditions are similar to those in Rhodesia. The work of Jehovah's witnesses has been intensively carried on among all sections of the population for many years, and no one dare make such accusations and expect to get away with it.

The Native Question

The African native is indispensable in the present economic structure of Southern Rhodesia and, indeed, of the surrounding territories as well. His labor is cheap, often less than a shilling a day, plus food and sleeping quarters, and his needs are simple. For that he works long hours and does all the heavy work. Without cheap labor the gold, asbestos, copper and other mines would be unable to compete in the world markets and the farmer would be unable to do anything.

For centuries the African native has led a care-free existence. His tribal customs and laws make an exceedingly interesting study, and some of these are definitely superior to our so-called "Christian" ways. Civilization has brought very mixed blessings to him, and no one can deny that both in morals and physique he has deteriorated. (But who cares in Rhodesia so long as cheap labor is available?)

The Government levies a tax of £1 per year on every adult male native; and that forces the native to work, and thus industry is provided with labor. This money is used for financing native education, health clinics and other services.

Ninety-nine percent of the education is in the hands of missionaries, who receive a subsidy from the Government according to the number of pupils on their rolls and the standard of education of their teachers. This encourages competition for converts among the various churches; and one Native Commissioner described it as like a scramble on the Stock Exchange. There are nineteen churches in the field, but the Roman Catholics get as much as one-fifth of the subsidy.

The education of the native is the Government's responsibility, and it should not be handed over to competitive religionists, who, in any case, have handled the matter unwisely. With a sensible education in such things as cattle management, practical agriculture, woodwork, etc., excellent results can and are obtained.

Many large employers of native labor are not in favor of native education; because immediately he begins to use his brains the native wants to get more of the good things of life and more money and more congenial work. That's why native education is not good—it annoys Big Business, which thinks only in terms of cheap labor and good dividends.

The Government does appear to be making an effort to better the condition of the native, but it can go only as far as the European employers of labor will allow. There are also a number of fair-minded men who see the advantage to all concerned of the uplift and enlightenment of the native; but these are in the minority.

The Victoria Falls

No remarks on Rhodesia would be complete without mention of the Victoria Falls. Many have tried to describe the beauty and grandeur of this magnificent work of the Great Architect of the Universe. Human words are inadequate. The first man who saw this spectacle of wonder said, “Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in the flight.”

The falls are over a mile wide, and the Zambesi river thunders into a gorge 350 feet deep at the rate of a hundred million gallons a minute. The water then rushes along the bed of the gorge, converging on a very narrow outlet, whence it makes its way to the Indian ocean, nearly a thousand miles away.

Man could not have produced better facilities than nature has provided for the sight-seer, for the level of the land, both above and below the falls, is the same; that is, the river falls into a tremendous gorge and one can look across this space in the earth to the lip of the falls. As a result of the terrific churning received by the water, clouds of spray rise far into the sky and fall again as a perpetual rain. The reverential mind is filled with awe and delight on viewing this magnificent spectacle—far grander than the greatest show any man ever produced.

The governments of the two Rhodesias have made commendable efforts to keep the surroundings as far as possible in their natural state.

The road and railway bridge passes over the narrow outlet just a few hundred yards from the falls. During the European crisis of September, 1938, this bridge was guarded by armed police. Officers with fixed bayonets went through each train and saw every passenger before it was allowed to proceed across the bridge. At night powerful searchlights played on the foundations and other vulnerable parts.

Apparently, information had reached the Government that, had hostilities broken out, it was the intention of Germans living in Northern Rhodesia to blow up the bridge and thus destroy the only connection between the greater part of Central Africa (including the Copper Mines) and Southern Africa.

Communications

The road system of Southern Rhodesia is unique. With enormous mileage and a limited population the Roads Department has used its finances to the best advantage by providing just two parallel strips of tar macadam, placed so that the wheels of a car can be conveniently kept on these strips. Sometimes one can drive for hours without meeting a car. The law requires that each motorist give way to the extent of one strip to a passing driver, the other wheels running on the gravel. Separate roads are provided for animal-drawn traffic.

The great distances between towns enable aircraft to be used to the best advantage, and an excellent service of multi-engined aeroplanes connects all parts with the Union of South Africa and with the Flying Boat Service to Europe on the east coast.

State Lottery

A sweepstake is operated by the Government on all big horse races and attracts considerable attention—and cash, most of which comes from the Union of South Africa, where lotteries are prohibited. Lotteries encourage the gambling spirit, which is degrading to a nation, but Rhodesians are unwilling to adequately finance their hospitals and charities otherwise.

Religion

Very superstitious, the native falls an easy victim to religionists, of whom many varieties operate in Southern Rhodesia. That confusion is the result, everyone agrees, but no one knows what to do about it. Both the missionaries and the Government agree that the work of Jehovah’s witnesses among the natives is undesirable, and it is not difficult to understand the view of either of these bodies. The Government has said that its action against the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society has been because of representations made to them by the churches.

The Roman Catholic institution is making remarkable progress, and hopes one day to have sufficient influence among the natives to be able to dictate to the Government what is going to be done. Here is a really dangerous institution with a shocking record of bloodshed, torture, rioting, cruelty and inquisition, which is operating unhindered—indeed, as already mentioned, it is in receipt of a bigger Government subsidy than anyone else. Few people realize that the selfsame institution caused the recent rebellion against the proper government of Spain, and many other modern-day crimes too numerous to mention. At the same time a perfectly harmless organization, which stands for law and order and advises its hearers to wait for God’s kingdom as a remedy for their grievances, is shockingly misrepresented and denied the privilege of sending a European representative to look after the interests of the 400 to 500 native witnesses of Jehovah, who have suffered cruel persecutions from those who ought to know better and who will yet be ashamed.

We were allowed entry into the Colony only on condition that we did not do any of our work among the natives, so that our activities were confined to Europeans. Every police station was advised of our presence, and our activities were under close observation. On several occasions people rang up the police to advise them of the presence of the "notorious" Watch Tower in the neighborhood.

A few, but only a few, of the businessmen were willing to state the reason for their opposition. The managing director of a wholesale warehouse truthfully said that the continued existence of the white man in Africa depended on his exploitation of the native. "For instance," he said, "I employ a number of Europeans and natives. The native labor costs £30 a month. If I could not obtain their cheap labor, then I would require to engage Europeans at a cost of £200 instead of £30 a month."

These conditions applying to all the industries of the Colony would mean that everything would come to a standstill and the white man would have to depart from Rhodesia. If he is to remain, he must continue to exploit the native and the native must not be allowed to know the extent to which his labor is being exploited. The gentleman already referred to strongly disapproved of our literature, because it tended to enlighten the native on the subject and thus jeopardize the white man's very existence in Rhodesia.

This is the real truth of the situation, though few are sufficiently honest to admit it and many probably do not realize the issue so clearly.

It was the clergy and the missionaries generally who drew the attention of the Government and the people to the great "danger" of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society's work. It exposes their racket, too, of course, and, while feeling generally is strong against the missions, they have many people's sympathy in opposing the Watch Tower. It is, of course, exceedingly convenient to have someone to blame for all the troubles among natives and for which troubles they themselves are to blame. From a reliable source it can be confidently stated that there is no evidence that the Society's literature has proved harmful to the native population; on the other hand, the very opposite is true, as was indicated in the case of the Copper Belt riots, where it was shown that the literature had had the effect of keeping its readers out of the trouble. Therefore the attitude of the Government in refusing European control is quite unjustified.

The Roman Catholic Hierarchy

The Roman Catholic Hierarchy is making remarkable headway in Southern Rhodesia; yet very few can see it. Most Rhodesians don't go to church, and many that do are not enthusiastic about it. Rome's method of operation in this case is to establish convent schools, of which there are several throughout the Colony. There are very many who say that the education there available is superior to that provided at the Government schools, and, of course, unsuspecting non-Catholic parents send their children to the convent school, which undertakes not to interfere in the child's religion. The Hierarchy knows the value of training the mind of the child, and its subtle and unscrupulous methods deceive nearly everybody; yet on the quiet Rome is making great progress.

In certain Government departments the Roman Catholic political institution is well established. The chief of the police is one of the leading Catholics in the Colony, and many people have commented on the relationship that exists between promotions and the religion of the individual concerned. The writer had three interviews with the chief native commissioner. This gentleman is not a Roman Catholic, but two of these conversations were interrupted by priests, who appeared to be on unusually friendly terms with him. The chief native commissioner, under whose care there are a million natives, sees no danger in allowing this political institution plenty of liberty in establishing its racket firmly among the native population. He imagines he has the situation well under his control, but he will never be able to say he was not warned. Rome's plans are well-laid.

The battle of Armageddon, soon to take place, will not miss the European community of Southern Rhodesia. There are, however, a few who give every indication of seeking to know Jehovah and receive His protection in that terrible time. Maybe they and their children will form the nucleus of the new Society of Rhodesia and receive the blessings of the new government now being established—Jehovah's Theocracy.—Robert Nisbet.

The World's Richest Industry

TWO thousand years ago diamonds were very rare indeed. They were said to be owned only by kings. The Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder comments on six different kinds of diamonds, mentioning their almost unbelievable hardness and their rarity. He also mentions two incorrect ideas which persisted for many years after his death: namely, that diamonds would withstand hammering on an anvil, and that the only way to soften them was to soak them in goat's blood.

As an industry diamond mining probably originated in India between the years 800 and 600 B.C. For well over a thousand years that country was the only known source of supply, and then stones were discovered in Borneo. From that time until discoveries in Brazil, other fields were unknown.

The Brazilian mines have so far produced sixteen million carats, but supplies are declining and the mines are now overshadowed by the South African fields. However, 20,000 carats per annum are still produced, Bahia being the chief center and, incidentally, the only spot in the world where the carbonado, or black diamond, has been discovered. This dull, lusterless, porous stone, composed of tiny, interlocking crystals, is tremendously tough, and is therefore in great demand in certain branches of the industry. In the early days of the Brazilian mines, this stone was thought to be of no value, and great quantities were thrown away by the miners. Today it brings a price comparable to that of ordinary diamonds.

The diamond fields of South Africa are easily in the van of the industry today. Since the year 1873 the Union has produced 185,000,000 carats, or three-quarters of all the diamonds owned.

Diamond mining is painstaking work. Only one part of the rock in 14,000,000 is diamond, and of that small portion only about a quarter is of any value. These figures are from the world's richest source of supply. During the past sixty years hundreds of millions of tons of rock have been mined to produce gems which could be packed in an ordinary cabin trunk.

Diamond cutting and polishing as it is understood today was not discovered until the year 1475. Before that time stones were polished with substances softer than the diamonds themselves or by rubbing one diamond against the other. This was a very tedious and laborious process.

It was not until the middle of the seventeenth century that the familiar round shape, or "brilliant" cut, was invented, and today this type of cut has been developed to a point of scientific exactness. The laws of refraction and reflection are taken advantage of and each facet is cut at a certain angle in order to bring out the full luster and brilliance. There are variations in shape, depending on the fashion of the moment or upon the shape of the stone in its original state. When cut in standard style, however, the diamond has 58 facets. The main facet is called the "table", and sloping from this, at an angle of about 35 degrees, are 32 "top" facets, while underneath are 24 facets, sloping again, this time at an angle of 41 degrees, to the "point", which itself has a small facet to prevent its chipping off. Some idea of the intricacy of this work may be had when it is remembered that some stones are smaller than pinheads, and yet all have these 58 facets. — James A. Williams, Lithuania.

Labor Conditions in Northern Rhodesia

◆ The view is occasionally expressed that the native is well and happy in his own surroundings, and that it is a mistake to introduce him to modern ideas as to sanitation, diet, and so forth. Even a superficial investigation of conditions will show this to be a disastrous fallacy; birth rate, infantile mortality, physique, and general health all indicate a population subjected to a perpetual drain only partially offset by sun, fresh air, and the African's natural vitality.—From a brochure by Major G. St. J. Orde Browne.

Dogs Protect Diamond Mines

◆ Fifty highly-trained police dogs guard the De Beers diamond mines of South Africa, do it for less than men would do it, and do it better. They cannot be bribed. They work in all weathers. They can smell intruders. They can track thieves, and they have cut down thefts to almost nothing.

China and Japan

Japan Shortens the Matches

◆ The Japanese government requested the match manufacturers to shorten the length of the match stick by twenty-nine one-thousandths of an inch. It is calculated that in the course of a year this would save enough to keep the army going about one hour and five minutes. Toy balloons may not now be had: the rubber is needed for war purposes. It is hard now to buy an iron frying pan, and is expected to be impossible shortly. The people are being urged to wear wooden shoes, instead of leather. A private citizen may buy but two gallons of gasoline a day. All raw cotton and cotton cloth have been removed from domestic use.

New Motor Road into China

◆ The Chinese Republic accomplished a very considerable feat in building, in eight months, a new motor road from the provisional capital at Chungking to the Burmese border, a distance of 1,400 miles. The road was built entirely by coolie labor and without any modern equipment. Stone rollers, carved on the spot, were drawn to and fro by bullocks, but, anyway, the road was finished and is a success. War supplies can now go into China from Rangoon, Burma, which, for the present, is far out of reach of Japanese planes or Japanese warships.

Proselytes are excellent missionaries

Paying for Their Own Murder

◆ The clever rulers of North China are making the Chinese pay for their own murder. Wherever the Japanese armies gain control, the sale of opium spreads out behind them like a fan, destroying the populace and providing the conquerors with the funds wherewith to destroy still other areas. American travelers in areas controlled by the Japanese report fields of poppies, and it is a matter of common knowledge that for ten years past Japan has been the world's chief distributor of this accursed drug.

"Ghosts" with Machine Guns

◆ Give the Chinese credit for something new in warfare. To protect themselves from mosquitoes in the Kutang swamps the Chinese soldiers were equipped with enormous mosquito hoods. When they charged through the morning mists the first Japanese troops to behold them fled in screaming confusion, thinking they were being attacked by ghosts with machine guns.

Japanese Must Wear Rayon

◆ Because the money hitherto used to buy cotton must now be used to buy war materials, the Japanese government has ordered the Japanese people to cease using and wearing cotton goods and to substitute therefor the synthetic rayon. Japan will continue to be the largest cotton manufacturing nation, but all its cotton goods will be exported. Its own people must wear rayon.

Pressure on the French

◆ Pressure on the French, whether direct from Japan or indirect via Vatican City, resulted in holding 1,000 motor trucks and thousands of tons of war supplies in French Indo-China, contrary to treaties in force between France and China. But today few treaties are worth the paper on which they are written. France had a treaty with Japan not to seize the island of Hainan, but that meant nothing. The island was seized anyway.

A Boy's Letter to an Editor

BEING a boy of 18 years of age I hardly know whether or not I have the right to ask or criticize what kind of a world we, the boys and girls of today, are being led into. We would like to have the privilege of knowing the answers to the following questions, with me asking for the thousands who are wondering and worrying over the problems facing us. We want you voters and officeholders to know that we aren't asleep on the job, that we think as much of our country as you do because we are going to take the responsibility of it in a few years. No, Mr. Editor, we are not asleep, we are afraid of being ridiculed if we try anything smart, as some people would say. May I say that anyone may feel free to correct or criticize me on any of my statements.

Let us look at the situation as it stands today in a nonpolitical, nonprejudiced manner and see if the young people look at it right.

We, the younger generation, are facing a 40-billion-dollar debt with increasing interest. We are facing the unemployment problem. People are living on subsistence diets. The people don't own their homes and farms. The boys and girls are not financially able to attend college. The crime problem in the United States is the greatest in the civilized world. People are living in unfit houses, and going without proper medical care.

Why do such things exist?

We owe $320 per person when we have 10 billion dollars in gold salted down in Kentucky out of a possible 14 billion in the world. We are the richest country in the world by far. We have more resources than any other three countries. Why did we borrow so much money? Who did we borrow it from?

It has been estimated that between 10 and 20 million people are unemployed. Why do cotton mills and clothing factories close (when our fellow men wear inadequate clothing) to put thousands out of work? We grow enough cotton, in fact the farmers are paid to plow it under and the government officials are sent down to pay the farmer to cut down production. We have the cotton, we have the factories and we have plenty of men to operate the factories; so why are there so many people out of work?

People are living on subsistence diets and again the farmers are ordered to plow under the wheat and shoot down the cattle. Each year our government borrows millions to give the farmer so he won't raise so much to eat and wear. We live in the most independent country in the world, as far as any product goes, and our people live on subsistence diets and wear inadequate clothing.

The majority of the farmers don't own their farms. Yes, there is plenty of land (over three million square miles): enough for every farmer to own around 400 acres. Who owns all this land? Look at the people who do not own their homes. Would it surprise you to know that in Oklahoma there is enough granite to build every Oklahoma family a nice comfortable home? Is there any excuse for people living in dugouts?

The boys and girls are not able to attend college, and every day the situation grows to where we must train ourselves to live in this specialized world. Look at the men in the army and navy that are being trained. They are the healthiest and the most physically and mentally fit of all our people. They are being trained, but not to be the best doctor or the best engineer—they are being trained to shed blood. The boys are not to blame, because they have been taught that it is honorable and glorious to die on the battlefield or be blinded or be crippled for life. The government spends lots of money on them, but if you want to be a doctor or an expert engineer you have to have the money or else you must go to school in the daytime and work at night on less than three meals a day. It is all right to spend money on a large army and navy, but if you don't have the money to be a builder of civilization it's your own hard luck.

Our crime problem grows more tense every day. Why should we have crime when we have the best schools in the world to teach those fellows the better things of life? We spend enough money on each convict in one year to send him to a university for a year.

In this wonderful country of ours, where we have "riches for all men", where untold wealth lies underground, where rich soil and rich forests can support almost the whole world, the home of modern factories and wonderful schools, is there any reason why people should go hungry and wear shabby clothes?

and be a burden and a drawback to mankind?

May it be known to all that I am not criticizing any person or organization, that I am sincerely just an interested bystander in the affairs of our government, and that I am not supporting any political organization. Every word I have said is from the bottom of my heart. I am as patriotic as anyone to my country. I would die for it, but I wouldn't like to go 3,000 miles from its boundaries to do it. When you voters go to the polls to vote remember that posterity will prove your judgment. Think of us when you vote, because we are going to accept the responsibility of the government in a few years. We don't want a Utopia. We just want a nice place to live, protection and security. Hoping to better our government, I remain patriotically and respectfully yours, Jack Deatherage.—In the Shawnee (Okla.) Morning News.

Southwestern Clergy Stand on War

War is inevitable. It is a divine institution. "I believe war is the divinely appointed means by which the environment may be adjusted." (Maude, in "War and the World's Life.") One thing is certain: environment is always changed and almost every time for the best of humanity, although the victor is by no means the gainer in all wars. History confirms its inevitability. In the 3,433 years of known history prior to 1937, there were 3,152 years of war and 281 years of peace.

Human nature, unchanged, makes war inevitable. Between states the only check on injustice is force. That has been brought out very clearly in many cases of modern social adjustment in recent years and is now in operation, in the minds of people at least.

War exerts a wholesome moral influence and develops patriotism, unselfishness, efficiency, economy, inventiveness, courage, science and a sense of social equality. All this we have seen take place right before our eyes. War performs the function of selecting the best nation and prevents overpopulation. It develops the race at the expense of the individual. All this will be a reality if the war is prolonged to any extent. There are economic values in war. It gives employment and teaches trades, along with the general gain in territory and in the field of commerce, and in crushing competition. There are generally two sides to any issue, war included. People should think. There is no better illustration of unpreparedness today than we are witnessing in China and Ethiopia. Should we be like them?—"The Rev." H. E. Corbin, in the Kansas City Star.

The Legion's Drafted Patriots

◆ Springfield [Mo.] had a glimpse of drunken revelry such as this city has rarely seen when the Legion held its convention here recently. We saw drunken men parading the streets, with our flag. The police records (lax as order was) showed an increase in vice for the convention period. We saw men in the semi-military uniform of certain "posts" break repeatedly the common laws of quiet, driving, property rights, etc., which form the basis of respect of law.—Herbert Hackett, in Springfield (Mo.) News and Leader.

America Is Coming Along

◆ America is not down to the level of Hitler Germany, not yet, but is coming along when the female superintendent of the Industrial Home for Girls, Chillicothe, Missouri, could keep a girl in a dungeon 116 hours without food, and 72 hours of that time without water. The woman, whose picture is shown in the Kansas City Journal-Post, looks like the Devil, and it makes one wonder why the great state of Missouri should feel compelled to give such a woman such a job. The girl in the case is a child of 16.

Another Fairy Tale Blows Up

◆ Harry Rimmer, American scientist, found in the Ozark mountains a petrified human skull and asked some geological friends its age. They unhesitatingly put it at not less than 25,000 years. Then he explained that he found buried with it some old-fashioned hand-hammered wrought-iron nails such as were commonly made by blacksmiths less than two hundred years ago. And thus one more fairy tale blows up.

Political Pressure in Oklahoma

◆ Neil Addington, Welfare Board director, Oklahoma, openly ordered 5,000 of the state employees of that state to get out and work for his candidate for the United States Senate or quit their jobs. If the governor of the state were half a man he would not let such a man stay in office a day; but it happens that Addington's candidate is the governor himself. Even then his duty is plain.

RIGHTEOUS RULER

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

Throngs Listening in Syria

◆ Letters from Syria tell of the wonderful work being done among the Syrian people. The enclosed snapshot tells its own story. These people are listening to the Kingdom message in the Arabic language. In one month 12 publishers placed 61 books, 197 booklets, witnessed 440 hours and had 3,225 sound attendance. Five Syrian pioneers are putting in full time in the Kingdom work. —Mike John, New York.

Throngs in Syria listening to Jehovah’s Kingdom message by transcription

Religious Racket in Greece

◆ The religious racket in Greece is in the hands of the so-called "Greek Orthodox Church", and nothing of a religious nature may now be circulated in the country unless stamped at the office of the chancellery of the Orthodox bishop of the district. The Orthodox stamp for Roman Catholic books is "Western Papistical" or "Papistical Uniate"; and are the Roman Catholics mad? The object of the law is, of course, to restrict the work of Jehovah’s witnesses. The witnesses merely ignore it and go about the business with which Jehovah has entrusted them.

'Devouring Widows' Houses'

◆ Meet the benevolent "Reverend" Albert J. Pitman, Downer’s Grove, Illinois. In January, 1938, he visited Theodore Vrdoljak, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, then in prison in that city for preaching the gospel, and told him that if he would promise not to take any more Watch Tower literature to the people he would see that he was released from prison at once. Just why a clergyman should have the right or the privilege to exercise such power is not known.

But the "Reverend" Pitman was benevolent to two other persons, himself and his wife, this time at the expense of an 85-year-old widow of a Civil War soldier. He felt that he and his wife could make good use of her property and also of her pension. The lady in question, Bertha A. Pyne, was herself charitably minded. When the "Reverend" Pitman came to her home soliciting food for the poor she gave the "gentleman" twelve hens, which certainly was a very considerable gift to accept from one old lady.

But "Reverend" Pitman was not done accepting gifts. Mrs. Pyne slipped and fell, and "Reverend" Pitman said he would take her to his home and care for her. First he had her sit up in bed and sign a deed to her home, but without reading it to her; then he had her sign a power of attorney, and with that went to the bank and drew out all her savings, $310, and had it put in his own name.

Then he started cashing her pension checks, and collected in all $225, and felt so prosperous that he talked of building himself a new home. But about that time Mrs. Pyne woke up to the fact that "Reverend" Pitman is in the religious business, and therefore entirely selfish and unreliable; so she decided to go back to her own castle. After she got back home he got $40 more out of the old lady by giving her $10 for a $50 check.

The preacher and his wife stripped Mrs. Pyne’s little home of most of its good things, replacing her good bedroom rug with a poor one, but gladly accepting two nice ones that she made for them while she was their "guest". The holy gent of the cloth had a woman come to help Mrs. Pyne for two days, and paid the worklady $4.50 in chicken feed that belonged to Mrs. Pyne. But in due time he rendered a bill to Mrs. Pyne for the $4.50, as if he had himself paid it in cash.

It seems that Mrs. Pyne lost her $310 postal savings, $225 in pension money, $40 in the short-change operation, and sundry and divers other chattels, all because she did not then know as much about these religious birds as she does now. At present she would not trust one of them as far as she could throw a bull by the tail.

Mrs. Pyne was in Mr. Pitman's care 36 days, all told, and learned a lot about this salvation-peddling business in that time—enough to last her the rest of the way. Now she reads Consolation; and here is hoping she likes it.

Jehovah's Kingdom publishers in Shanghai, China

A Manly Editorial

◆ What I like about these fighters in the Watch Tower (Jehovah's witnesses) is the way they defend democracy and expose the evils of Fascism. They're always eternally right when they educate the masses regarding the Fascist conspiracies of the Catholic Hierarchy in Ethiopia, Italy, Spain and other centers of Fascist intrigue. This is no new phenomenon. I have watched these enemies of militarism fight their campaigns for decades. During the World War, when Judge Rutherford and other leaders in his movement were sent to prison because of their peace propaganda, I studied their efforts with admiration, and later, when a member of Rutherford's editorial department supplied me with an amazing array of data, I issued a special edition of the Appeal to Reason, of which I was editor at the time. I joined in a plea for amnesty for these lovers of peace and social justice, and I'm glad to say that many extra copies of the little old Appeal—perhaps several hundred thousand, if my memory doesn't betray me—went far and wide with the plea that a great injustice had been done Judge Rutherford and his dissenters. I was a Freethinker then, as I'm now, but that didn't hinder me from joining them in their struggle to preserve our Bill of Rights, which then was under direct attack at the hands of the militarists. Today, I'm still a Freethinker, of course, but I continue to stand by Judge Rutherford and his colleagues, because they are pouring immense energy into the splendid task of educating the American masses, in the direction of a strengthened democracy and an unfriendly, hostile atmosphere for the doctrines of the forces of black reaction and Catholic-Fascism.

Judge Rutherford, like the editor of The American Freeman, has no prejudice against the misguided and misled Catholic masses. They are the helpless victims of the cunning Hierarchy. We both see eye to eye here and, frankly, many times I read some of his paragraphs and wonder if they really aren’t from my own pen. Judge Rutherford has spent dismal months behind prison bars because of his love of freedom, peace and social righteousness. I salute him and his social-minded co-workers. I notice that when the Catholic Hierarchy attacks Judge Rutherford it usually refers to him as a “jailbird”. Jesus, too, was a jailbird. When we know the facts of the Rutherford persecution we realize that calling him a “jailbird” is a way of praising him before all civilized, humane people. Today, in a hundred communities, followers of Judge Rutherford are being persecuted, fined, hounded, and even jailed, because they dare circulate literature that’s offensive to the supporters of the Catholic Hierarchy. Wherever Catholicism is strong in this country there you will find the followers of Judge Rutherford persecuted. These persecutors are the enemies of our free institutions; the persecuted ones are the defenders of our precious liberties, our glorious rights of free press, free thought, free speech and free assembly—rights which the Watch Tower Bible Students never fail to support with every legitimate weapon at their command. These men are true Americans. I have never heard a word in support of aggression from Judge Rutherford or any of his colleagues. I have never heard them abuse a man or a people for reasons of race or forms of worship. I have never heard them suggest that men and women should be bound and gagged because they happened to express unpopular opinions. They have never advocated oppression, persecution or Brutalitarianism.—By the editor of The American Freeman.

* Let smug religious hypocrites notice this Freethinker’s kindly reference to Jesus.—Ed.

Witness Hollis (Britain) and his combination home and sound-car

Eternal Fitness of Things

◆ The value of a paper can be judged from its appreciation of the eternal fitness of things. So give the Philadelphia Record credit for its very important public announcement of 20 lines that the “Reverend Father” McGovern thinks no Catholic family should be without a church paper, and the adjoining 12-line announcement that 7,000 of Jehovah’s witnesses were in convention in the city the same day that pa McGovern made his all-important statement.

Oh, Alice! Alice!

◆ One of Jehovah’s witnesses, making a back-call in Arkansas, was flabbergasted when the lady to whom she was talking undertook to defend the doctrine of “eternal torment” by a declaration that the Scriptures name one woman who went there. She then got her Bible and read Revelation 18: 9, 10, 15, 16 and applied the words “Alas, alas” to a naughty, bad woman that lived in the wicked city of Babylon. If you can beat that you will have to go some.

Sequel to an “Unsuccessful” Back-Call

◆ Just a few lines to ask you to please forgive me; I have a confession to make. Last Friday I knew you were coming out and I deliberately went out. To tell you the truth I was so confused in my mind that I needed to think things over. I did not sleep nights for a long time. The Devil hated to let go of me, but, praise the Lord, and thanks to you people, that is over now. I have been reading everything I obtained from you, the small booklets, Riches, and the Bible. I have a lesson to myself every morning and every afternoon, and every chance I get, and things are getting plainer. I do want to hear and learn, so much, now that I am started. Won’t you please come out Friday night, and please forgive me? I feel better to know you will see me again. My sister and her son’s sweetheart will be here; and they are Catholics, too.—Mrs. B., Maryland.

(To be continued) Good Advice from Police

Don’t carry your pocketbook in your hip pocket.

Don’t become careless when in a crowd—keep your coat buttoned—and your eye on your pockets.

Don’t be too eager to show your money in banks, theaters, railroad depots, steamboat landings or other public places. It is an invitation for criminals to follow or rob you.

Don’t fall asleep in public places; this gives thieves an opportunity thieves are looking for.

Don’t carry your handbag suspended by a strap from your wrist. Hold it tightly in your hand. This prevents thieves from opening the bag or taking valuables from it—or cutting the strap to steal the handbag.

Don’t leave a note on the door bell announcing that you are out and will return at a given time.

Don’t leave your key under the mat, or over the door.

Don’t pull all the shades of your apartment when you go out; it is an invitation for thieves to enter.

Don’t fail to note the distinctive marks on your valuables. This greatly assists the police in their search. Number and movement of watch, all descriptive marks on jewelry, etc., keep recorded.

Don’t leave valuable clothing or jewelry in a rear room with windows unlocked while entertaining friends in the front. You are assisting burglars to burglarize.

Don’t allow strangers who represent themselves as meter readers, etc., into your house unless they can show credentials.

Don’t leave valuables in the house when you go away for a vacation. Thieves can enter any house if they have time.

Don’t think an open window is safe from intrusion because it is not near a fire escape.

Don’t give strangers information regarding your neighbors.

Don’t close your house or apartment for any considerable time without being sure the windows are securely fastened; don’t rely on ordinary locks; nail the windows if necessary; heavy bolt locks are most secure for doors.

Don’t go on your vacation without giving written notice of your absence to the police headquarters; the police are glad to give your property special attention.—Altoona (Pa.) Mirror.

Social

The Law of Absolute Justice

◆ In Pennsylvania a miner seized his two-year-old child who had thrown his pay envelope atop a hot stove, rushed outside with him and chopped off both hands. His wife returned just as the act was finished, threw up both hands and fell dead. In Pie ton street, Brighton, England, a Royal Air Force pilot beat his seven-year-old son black and blue for stealing a watch and then compelled him to hold live coals in his hands until amputation was believed to be necessary. What about the law of absolute justice for fathers like this? If an eye for an eye, a life for a life, is absolute justice, absolutely right, what right has either of these fathers to retain his own hands? Paragraphs like this are a sorrow to every lover of justice. What is there about either of these fathers that the Creator would wish to remember unless they really repent?

Conduct Between Nations

◆ In our personal relations, there is approval of truth-telling, of respect for others’ possessions and for others’ lives. The opposites of these are disapproved—lying, stealing, homicide. And with the disapproval goes disgrace. But when men’s minds move out into the region of national conduct, then suddenly from some cupboard of the mind comes an entirely different standard, and a man is praised and rewarded for deeds that between individuals would blacken his name. Men are decked out in most honored vestments and are given high titles, to go forth and deliberately seize others’ land, burn their dwellings, and slaughter them and their families.—George M. Stratton, in a lecture at the University of California.

The Kidnaping Business

◆ Since the kidnaping of the Lindbergh baby, March 1, 1932, there were 18 other kidnaping cases in the United States that attracted general attention. Two of the kidnappers were lynched, two committed suicide, eight were executed or are awaiting execution, six are imprisoned for life, and sixteen others are in prison for terms of an average of forty years each. In only one case was the kidnap gang successful. They tried the same stunt a second time, and the four involved drew sentences of 386 years. Looks like a bum business.

Rocky Mountain States

Relative Worship

◆ One of the meanest, most narrow-minded forms of idolatry is the worship of relatives, on the presumption that because they are relatives they are of superior clay. A decent regard for kindred is all right, but it is the duty of every Christian to love his neighbor as himself, and that means that if he loves his relatives he should love his neighbor's relatives also. The Mormons carry this relative-worship to greatest lengths. They think (despite the Scripture teaching that when a man dies his wife is loosed from the law of her husband) that family relations continue in the hereafter: that wives are still joined to their husbands, and children to their parents. Every "good Mormon" is supposed to try to get all his dead relatives into the church.

Oregon's O.G.P.U.

◆ The Eugene (Oregon) Daily News contains a column editorial of the activities of the Portland Red Squad, which seems to indicate that for the safety of the community it would be best if all these agents provocateurs were locked up. When the city authorities scurried to help one of them in what they supposed was a battle against Communists they arrived just as he confessed his share in the robbery of a bank and embarked on a ten-year penitentiary term. Probably he is out by now. Another one of these gents helped plan a dynamite plot which landed other men in the penitentiary. It is a great business for law-enforcement officers to be engaged in.

Gateway to Royal Gorge, Colorado, on line of Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. Walls are 2,000 feet high.

The Clovis Market for Wild Horses

◆ The principal market for wild horses (or "mustangs", as they are called) in the United States is located at Clovis, New Mexico. The supply is obtained from the thinly settled country adjacent to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. A wild horse will run for 48 hours to avoid capture, and often, when captured, dies of fright or exhaustion. It takes a real horseman to ride a mustang, but a cowboy of the western plains can ride anything mounted on legs.

Father Did Not Stretch It

◆ A Kansas delegate to the Seattle convention, en route with his wife and two small children, told the little ones they might run into 12 to 14 feet of snow in crossing the Rockies. One of the little ones said to the other, "I think daddy is stretching it a little; he must have meant 12 to 14 inches." But daddy had not stretched it; for his party ran into 25 feet of snow at one point on their way over the Divide. All the world is most interesting, made so by the Creator.

Readers of Consolation who send in photographs of scenes in their vicinity are rendering a real service. They should pencil description lightly on the back or on separate sheet.

A $4,000 Stamp

◆ A woman in Anacortes, Washington, presented with an old stamp album by a German boarder, was surprised to find in it a yellow 30-cent stamp with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, so rare that its value is now $4,000.

COUNSEL by J. F. Rutherford

Dictators

IT HAS been shown in these columns that Jehovah God is the great Theocrat and that Christ Jesus is the Ruler of His church by the will of God. That being true, then why should not all Christians favor the rule of the nations by dictators rather than by the people themselves? The plain reason is this: The organization called "the church" and the organization known as "the state" are and indeed must be entirely separate from each other. The church is heavenly. The state is entirely earthly. Many sincere men have for years seen that there must be a complete separation of "church" and state, even though they have not clearly discerned what constitutes the true church. In countries where the law requires the complete separation of "church and state" the men who control the religious organizations called "churches" have much to do with the politics of the nation and the politicians generally seek the support of the religious leaders. Therefore there is in truth and in fact a close relationship between the state and the religious organizations called "the church". The United States is a case exactly in point. The big politicians seek the favor of big churchmen that they may receive the political support of the members of that religious organization. The big clergymen seek the favor of political rulers that they may have adulation from the political rulers, which increases their influence over the people. In Germany it is understood that the religious clergy are in the pay of the state. In England the clergymen receive support from the state. None of these, however, are any part of the true church.

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