Consolation, November 29, 1939
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Contents
A Critical Review of Mein Kampf 3
Not Mere Lunacy, but Demonization 5
The Timid Sponsors 7
The Results of Catholic Tutelage 9
Excuse for Wrecking Protestantism 9
Railroads 11
Palestine 12
Let America Mind Its Own Business 13
Justice in Pennsylvania 14
U. S. A. Judiciary 16
Manton's Mill for Selling Justice 16
Counsel by J. F. Rutherford
Hope for the Jew 17
Public Utilities 18
In the "Rockies" of the U. S. A. 19
The New Government
Object Lesson for God's Opposers 20
Russia 25
Science 26
Protestantism
An Ideal Candidate 27
British Comment
Contrasts 28
Great Efforts and Great Problems 28
Evacuation 28
All Europe on the Trek 29
Dreams of a Dean 30
Natural Phenomena 31
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Appetizers
The Men and the Hats
Those things called "hats" the ladies wear are enough to make men swear. It's not the cost—let's get it straight—that makes the male heart palpitate and strangers stop and stare and gawk at every female on the walk. It's not the color that they wear in those contraptions on their hair; nor how they tie them on with bows, anchored safely while it blows, that causes men to rant and weep when'er they venture down the street.
Nor does the ordinary man observe the millinery plan enough to know what is in style when hats parade along the aisle. To him the wearing of a wimple is only to adorn a dimple; and whether black or green or pink, or trimmed with tools from the kitchen sink, a woman's hat is a work of art, to which there is no counterpart.
And what she pins upon her hat, or whether this or whether that, few men would dare to be so bold as to criticize or scold. Let 'em wear upon their crowns things that make 'em look like clowns. Who is man, to tell a maid that her hat looks like a spade? Why should he object to feathers, vegetables, fruits or leathers? It isn't what she wears, or why, but it's those shapes that make us cry!
But when we stop to contemplate how very strange and out of date a dame would be unless her pate was topped with such a hod or crate, we must admit they know what's cute—that's why we chorus, "She's a beaut!"—Spokesman Review.
Help!
A gallant young husband was trying to teach his new and nervous wife to drive a car.
They were on a narrow country road and the wife had been driving for only a short time when she exclaimed:
"Take the wheel quickly, darling—here comes a tree!"—Labor.
Eau Seau?
There was a young lady named Fleau,
She had a good-looking beau.
Said Fleau to her beau, Let us geau to a sheau.
Said her beau, If you'll bleau, Fleau, I'll geau.
CONSOLATION
"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.
Volume XXI Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, November 29, 1939 Number 527
A Critical Review of "Mein Kampf"
ATTENTION is here drawn to an edition of Mein Kampf copyrighted 1939 by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., bearing the warning, "All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form. Copyright 1925 by Verlag Frz. Eher Nachf, G.M.G.H.; copyright 1927 by Verlag Frz. Eher Nachf, G.M.G.H.; this edition is published by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass." "Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, complete and unabridged, fully annotated; editorial sponsors: John Chamberlain, Sidney B. Fay, John Gunther, Carlton J. H. Hayes, Graham Hutton, Alvin Johnson, William F. Sanger, Walter Mills, Raoul de Roussy de Sales, George N. Shuster; Reynal E. Hitchcock, 1939, New York." "The following individuals as a committee sponsor the publication of this annotated and unexpurgated edition of Mein Kampf: Pearl Buck, Dorothy Canfield, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ida Tarbell, Cyrus Adler, Charles A. Beard, Nicholas Murray Butler, Theodore Dreiser, Albert Einstein, Morris Ernst, Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Rev. John Haynes Holmes, James M. Landis, Thomas Mann, Bishop William T. Manning, Eugene O'Neill, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Monsignor John A. Ryan, Norman Thomas, Walter White, William Allen White, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise."
It is no doubt due to the presence on the sponsor’s committee of a monsignor and several reverends that the real world significance of Nazism as set out in Mein Kampf is so sadly neglected in the annotations supplied by the editorial sponsors, and while the editorial sponsors no doubt labored to produce a reliable set of complementary notes in the efforts to unmask or refute Hitler, the real power behind him and the Nazis remains unchallenged and untouched.
The whole intent and self-confessed motive behind this translation is one of attack against a devilish system now endangering the entire civilization of this globe. This motive is inspired by a desire to arm the opponents of Nazism by placing in their hands categorical information calculated to defeat the Nazi idea in this country. If they have failed to do this, then the book remains an effort not only of doubtful value, but one that can place in the hands of unscrupulous men the tools wherewith to destroy democracy.
Failure to Expose
That they have failed to touch or expose the one force that enables Hitler to destroy democracy in other lands in favor of the totalitarian idea is the pathetic truth that promises well for Hitler and his cause. It must be concluded that fear and a childish haste to accept newspaper reports of questionable value thus cheats a waiting nation of its righteous cause. That this exposé would shock the religious susceptibilities of some is no excuse, and the committee has refused to investigate plain and easily proved clues to the reason for the power of the Nazis in countries other than Germany.
The facts brought to light in the events surrounding the destruction of Czechoslovakia, and the grabbing of Austria, plainly indicate that within the boundaries of every country Hitler has a nucleus of Nazi-minded men who labor unceasingly in his interest. That nucleus is a political-religious organization of world-wide dimensions and is known as the Roman Catholic Church and its dupes.
Had these editorial sponsors been true to their professed ideal of sounding the alarm against a foreign foe, whose avowed aim is the destruction of democracy, they would have uncovered the fact of Roman Catholic dominance in Germany; the destruction of a republican government in Spain, at the pope's behest, and with the aid of his strong-arm squad under Mussolini and Hitler; the part Catholic priests played in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia; the blessing of the pope on Mussolini's Ethiopian rapacity; the betrayal of Austria by the pope and Hierarchy by the person of Cardinal Innitzer; the Fascistic ranting and Jew-baiting of Charles Coughlin; the Fascistic régime of Cardinal Villeneuve in Quebec; and the whole train of underground conspiracy now easily discernible in every nation on earth.
Had they been true to their task, they would have warned the nation that every Catholic church is a hotbed of the totalitarian idea, that, by lies, prejudice and fear, these churches have brought their people to a unit in support of such an idea; that this foreign power either controls Hitler or he controls IT; and that it is the duty of every true American to set his face against Catholic dominance in America.
Trivialities Magnified
Inconsistently, the editorial committee carefully traces Hitler's early beginnings and endeavors to discover the kind of fare that made his warped mentality what it is, and ignores the most important clue of all; to wit, Hitler's youth as a Roman Catholic, his study of politics in Roman Catholic Austria, and the very Roman Catholic nature of his aims, ideals and actions to which he abundantly testifies in his book.
That he is a Roman Catholic of unimpeachable tutelage is proved by the perfect accord between his ideas and the political dogmas of the Vatican. For instance, the Vatican, as the author of the "divine right of kings", is really opposed to democracy, if only for the reason that the Catholic church cannot become the state church in nations that have democracy. Hitler is fanatical on the 'divinity of rulers' and hates democracy with equal fervor.
The works of Hitler speak louder than the smoke-screen used to conceal his position as the head of the new Catholic Inquisition in Germany. As examples, the destruction of the Protestant church as a unit in Germany and his signing of a Concordat with Pacelli (and no one ever heard of that church's signing such a document unless she gained a distinct advantage from it) are glaring truths, together with the fact that before Hitler's rise to power the Protestants and Catholics were fomenting a little religious war of their own, and that Hitler took the side of Catholicism as against Protestantism, are truths of deep and unarguable implications.
Afraid to Speak Up
That these sponsors could have uncovered such things as would guard against Papalizing America seems to be proved by the appraisal of Mein Kampf by Dorothy Thompson, inserted as a foreword in the book. She goes so far as to say that Hitler is "completely medieval", but neglects to add that the medieval is strictly Catholic, and that Catholicism is still strictly medieval. She further confuses herself and readers by referring to Hitler as a renegade Catholic because he rejects that church's professed doctrine of Universality. Dorothy deplores Hitler's ignoring of history, but here she is guilty herself, since even a cursory glance through Wells' Outline of History could convince her that this professed doctrine of Universality has always been conditioned on political expediency and power politics. Such a doctrine, though professed, has never been adhered to by the popes and Hierarchy, and was used only to deceive in moments when it could be most useful. Peace has never been the desire of the "Church", but unrest and wars are the bulwarks of her power. A degraded human race can be ruled; a peaceful thinking one never accepts dominance from the priesthood.
The Nucleus of Nazism
The following quotations from the body of the text, and also from the annotations, will indicate by complementary facts that the Hierarchy is indeed the nucleus of Nazism and Fascism, and that the esteemed editorial sponsors have turned traitor to their professed duty and have betrayed their country and their fellow men. In examining these notes it should be remembered that Mein Kampf was written before Hitler's rise to power, and illustrates the mental conclusions he had reached as to his future course.
(1) The boy Hitler, a serious Catholic, acknowledges his debt to the church in regard to Jews.
It was only when I was fourteen or fifteen that I came upon the word Jew more frequently, partly in connection with political discussions. I felt a slight dislike and could not ward off a disagreeable sensation which seized me whenever confessional differences took place in my presence. [Page 40]
(2) It was the Roman Catholic von Papen that paved the way for Hitler's rise to power.
But with Hindenburg's re-election in 1931 the prestige of the Nazi party began to fade, only to be revived again when Chancellor Bruening was dismissed and the government entrusted to Franz von Papen against the will of the Reichstag. Papen thereupon systematically undermined the Republic, so that it was virtually defenseless when in 1933 Hitler was entrusted with the government. Had it not been for this sudden change in the German leadership, Hitler might eventually have been compelled to seek a status as a normal political leader and try his hand at the parliamentarian game. [Page 131, footnote]
(3) That Jew-baiting is a Catholic dogma history can accurately demonstrate, and that she concurs in Hitler's Jewish persecution is proved by her Concordat with him, in comparison with the Protestant church's refusal to concur in such medievalism.
A crown-jewel-collector from the Kremlin meets a new prospect
Thus Protestantism will always interest itself in the promotion of all things German as such, wherever it is a matter of inner purity or increasing national sentiment, the defense of German life, the German language and German liberty, as all this is also rooted firmly in Protestantism; but it will immediately and sharply fight every attempt at saving the nation from the grip of its most deadly enemy, as its attitude towards Judaism is fixed more or less by dogma. [Page 145]
Not Mere Lunacy, but Demonization
That Hitler is demonized can be demonstrated, although Dorothy Thompson confines her comments to charges of just plain lunacy. She calls him “queer”. Yes! He is ‘doing God's will’, is god, too, and writes his scriptures with the same banality and hallucination characteristic of another god-person, Mary Baker Eddy, in her “Key to the Scriptures”.
In this respect let us consider the meaning of the word “Fuehrer” set out in a footnote on page 117.
The Fuehrer is a man who gives expression to the divinity that is enshrined in his people, a “Traumlaller” (one who speaks oracularly in his dreams) is George Schott's phrase. Gottfried Feder, author of the party program, once described the Fuehrer as follows:
He must have a somnambulist's feeling of certainty in the pursuit of his goal: he must not shrink from bloodshed or even war.
Addressing Nazi confreres, he has frequently stressed his ability to wait until what is in the folk soul dictates the course he is to pursue. He said:
I believe I am today acting in the service of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord’s work.
This demonization of a man and a whole nation is not contradictory to Papal policy, as history can show a continued labor of diabolical conspiracies, murders, inquisitions and betrayals down through the centuries on the part of the Papacy. That Hitler believes he is a Messiah is characteristic of the Catholic doctrine of the “divine right of kings”. It might be recalled that the Jesuits so corrupted Louis XIV in this respect that he considered as his due the title “Son of the Universe”.
Hitler Wedded to His Church
That Hitler early in his career arrived at the point where he deemed it wise and expedient to wed his cause to Roman Catholic ambitions is testified to in the following (pages 147-149):
There is one question which the pan-German movement in Austria ought to have asked itself. Is the preservation of the German nation in Austria possible under a Catholic faith? If it is possible, then the political party had no right to occupy itself with religious or even denominational affairs; if not, however, then a religious reformation had to set in, and not a political party. He who believes he may arrive at a religious reformation by the round-about way of political organization only shows that he really has not the slightest idea of the way in which religious conceptions or even dogmas originate and their effect on the church. Here one really cannot serve two masters. In this, I consider the foundation or destruction of a religion essentially more important than the formation or destruction of a state, let alone a party.
(4) The footnote to this material is misleading and seems to draw attention away from the fact that Hitler's excuse for demolishing Protestantism was because it failed to acquiesce, as the Papacy did, in Jew-baiting, but proves that Ludendorff had a good slant on the matter.
These words seem to define Hitler's point of view at the time this book was written, and doubtless reflect the situation in which he found himself in Bavaria of 1923. The statements here made aroused General Ludendorff, already then a violent opponent of Rome and the Jesuits, and were dealt with in a magazine article in which the General accused Hitler of having "sold out" to Rome. The Fuehrer was at the time uncertain of what the future might bring, and is known to have interviewed leaders of the Bavarian People's Party (Catholic) concerning the terms under which he might be admitted to that organization. Heiden puts the matter somewhat differently, suggesting that Hitler had merely been trying to get permission to reorganize the party. In addition, one of the best friends the Nazis had in the Bavarian regular army was General Franz von Epp, a Catholic who would have frowned on anything smacking of religious warfare.
Change in Attitude
Perhaps—it is not possible as yet to substantiate the statement in full—the change in Hitler's personal attitude is attributable primarily to the conversion of Cardinal Faulhaber, archbishop of Munich, from Monarchist Reformationism to Democracy and Pacifism. The Cardinal proclaimed this new attitude in a sensational open letter which implied criticism of the Nazis. In addition Hitler had come more under the influence of Alfred Rosenberg, whose ideas on racialism and religion have since been standard party fare. At any rate the Catholic Church took up in earnest the fight against the Nazi creed after the triumphal elections of 1930. A number of pastoral letters denounced the errors contained in the party's program and in the books of important leaders; and late in 1930 the Ordinary of the diocese of Mayence refused to grant Catholic burial to a Nazi. After Hitler came to power all this was changed. The Bishops revised their attitude: a Concordat was signed with the Holy See. Even more recently some Catholic leaders have professed to believe that a Modus Vivendi with Hitler might be reached.
We possess authentic records of Chancellor Hitler’s private views of the religious situation. One of these may be cited in part: Hitler said concerning Catholic opposition, especially in Bavaria, that its fomentors were wasting their time; they might as well stop pipe-dreaming; he would not follow the example of Bismarck: he was a Catholic. Providence had arranged that. Bismarck had failed because he had been a Protestant, and Protestants have no conception of what the Catholic church is. The important thing was to sense what people felt in religious matters and what endeared the church to them. If the clerical caste would not disappear voluntarily he would direct propaganda against the church until people would be unable to hide their disgust when the church was mentioned. Why, it was only necessary to make church history popular. He would have films made. Looking at them the German people would see how the clergy had exploited them, lived off them; how they had sucked the money out of the country; how they had worked hand in glove with the Jews; how they had practiced immoral vice; how they had spread lies. These films would be so interesting that everybody would itch to see them. He would make the clergy ridiculous. He would expose all the tangled mass of corruption, selfishness and deceit of which they had been guilty. He would make the bourgeoisie tear their hair. He would have the youth and the people on his side. He would guarantee that if he set his mind to it he could destroy the church in a few years. The whole institution was just a hollow shell. One good kick and it would tumble together in a heap. [Pages 145-148]
Praise of the Hierarchy
(5) As a further strain on the gullible, Hitler goes on in praise of the Hierarchy one page farther on.
But also in another direction it would be unjust to make religion as such or even the Church responsible for the mistakes of various individuals. One should compare the visible greatness of the organization which one has before oneself with the average faultiness of men in general, and one will have to admit that the proportion between good and bad is here perhaps better than anywhere else. Even among the priests there are certainly such to whom their sacred office is only the instrument for the gratification of their political ambition, and who, in the political fight, forget in a more than deplorable manner that they should be the guardians of a higher truth and not the promoters of lies and calumnies, but such an unworthy individual is outweighed on the other hand, by a thousand more honest pastors, most faithfully devoted to their mission, who stand out like little islands in a communal swamp in our mendacious and demoralized time. [Page 149]
(6) Hitler realized the futility of trying to fight Rome while building up a political machine, but sees use for it in that structure.
◆ Says he of an Austrian party which mixed Jew-baiting and anti-clericalism :
The practical result of the Austrian Kulturkampf was equal to nil. However one succeeded in tearing away from the church almost one hundred thousand members, but she did not suffer any particular loss because of this. She really did not have to shed any tears for the lost lambs, for the Church lost only what for a long time had not fully belonged to her internally. This was the difference between the new reformation and the old one: that once many of the best of the church turned away from it because of their inner religious conviction, while now only those went who were not only luke-warm, but for a consideration of a political nature. But even from the political point of view, the result was just as ridiculous and yet again saddening. Once more a political movement promising success and salvation to the German nation had perished because it had not been led with the necessary ruthless sobriety, and lost itself in directions that were bound to lead to disunion. [Page 151]
After the Money of the Jews
(7) The Jesuits no doubt joined Hitler in his Jew-baiting and were delighted to find a means of eliminating Jews rather than baptizing them as was done in the glorious days of the Inquisition. (Quote from footnote)
Traditional anti-Semitism had in Germany always been based on confessional differences. Any other motivation was forbidden by the church; and in all pogroms of the Middle Ages Jews were able to escape the rigor of persecution by accepting baptism. Surprisingly few availed themselves of that opportunity; and on the Christian side Saint Bernard had pointed out that the worst possible way to attempt conversions was to inflict torture and death on the recalcitrant. Therefore, racial anti-Semitism as an integral part of a program of a political action remains Hitler’s Copernican discovery; for now there is no escape for the victim — no escape even for his Jewish grandmother, by reason of whom he is a pariah under the Nazi laws. [Page 155]
◆ (8) Hitler’s recognition of the Roman Hierarchy as an aid and abettor of his political aims is confessed where he recognizes that a weakening of the authority of the church by an attack on her dogmas is a weakening of her usefulness as an ally, and rejects it. Jehovah’s witnesses and all true Protestants will understand the implications of this passage.
Remarkable also is the more violent fight begun against the dogmatic fundamentals of the various churches, without which, however, the practical existence of a religious faith is unthinkable in this world of man. The great masses of a people do not consist of philosophers, and it is just for them that faith is frequently the sole basis of a moral view of life. The various substitutes have not proved so useful in their success that one would be able to see in them a useful exchange for the former religious creeds. But if religious doctrine and faith are really meant to seize the great masses, then the absolute authority of the contents of this faith is the basis of all effectiveness. What, then, the customary style of living is for general life, without which certainly hundreds of thousands of well-bred people would live sensibly and wisely, but millions of others certainly would not, the organic laws are for the State and dogma is for religion. Only by this is the wavering and infinitely interpretable, purely spiritual idea definitely limited and brought into a shape without which it could never become faith. In the other case, the idea would never grow beyond a metaphysical conception; in short, beyond a philosophical opinion. The attack upon the dogma in itself resembles, therefore, very strongly also the fight against the general legal fundamentals of the State, and just as the latter would find its end in a complete anarchy of the state, thus the other is a worthless religious nihilism. [Pages 365-366]
The Timid Sponsors
◆ (9) The above is certainly not anti-Catholic. Even the editorial sponsors could see it, but frittered the whole away in the following footnote:
This is the reverse of “Religion is the opium of the people.” Rauschning (cf. his Revolution des Nihilismus) has pointed out Hitler’s deep respect for the Catholic Church, and in particular for the Society of Jesus. In this he resembles Auguste Comte, who once proposed a liaison between Positivism and Rome. Both sundered their admiration from any kind of belief. Hitler praises the ability (as he sees it) of the church to keep on resolutely proclaiming an article of faith, however powerful the arguments arrayed against it may be. If the nation can build dogmas about its new “myth” and propagate them as stubbornly, it may (so it is thought) give Germany a new faith, which the masses will cherish as tenaciously as they have until lately cherished Christianity. [Page 365]
◆ (10) Although the trail is now getting hot, the editorial sponsors keep cool, nor give way to emotion as they insert this footnote on page 371, quoted in part:
It was the annexation of Austria that first tipped the scales in Hitler’s favor. Almost immediately there appeared in various parts of the diplomatic world a ‘memorandum’ purporting to be a plan for a ‘Catholic group’ of states in Central Europe, running from Italy through Croatia and Hungary to Slovakia and Poland.
It is a pity we are not told who circulated the memorandum, but further on it says that the swastika became a popular symbol among the peasants of Slovakia and Hungary.
Who Financed Hitler?
(11) After seeing Hitler a staunch supporter of the Papacy, and dead set against what he calls religious nihilism, and footnoting that Hitler and the Papacy are in a Concordat, the next step was to make a guess as to what source Hitler's financial aid came from. But, of course, that would better remain a mystery. Certainly the organization that has for centuries swindled the human race out of their gold and silver would not have a cent to give to a demonized eunuch who would seat her in power and destroy her enemies.
Therewith the question as to how the Nazi party was financed had been raised, but no satisfactory answer has ever been given. During its early years, funds were obtained from Munich friends, from the Reichswehr and probably from White Russians, who had access to foreign money. Whence came the stream of gold that poured through White Russian fingers is indeed one of the unsolved mysteries of post-war history. [Footnote]
(12) It was time for the editorial sponsors to be watchful, because the facts were slowly emerging, but instead they inserted at this place a footnote, a statement in regard to confessional schools. But first we will quote from Hitler himself:
Here the Catholic church can be looked upon as a model example. In the celibacy of its priests roots the compulsion to draw the future generation of the clergy, instead of from its own ranks, again and again from the broad masses of the people. But this particular significance of celibacy is not recognized by most people. It is the origin of the incredibly vigorous power that inhabits this age-old institution. This gigantic host of clerical dignitaries, by uninterruptedly supplementing itself from the lowest layers of the nations, preserves not only its distinctive bond with the peoples' world of sentiment, but it also assures itself of a sum of energy and active force which in such a form will forever be present only in the broad masses of the people. From this results the astounding youthfulness of this giant organism and its steel-like power. [Pages 643-644]
Of course, that mysterious bond between the Catholic church and the masses could not be a result of knowing everybody's business through the confessional! Or because the Catholic church shaped the mind and temper of the victim!
Admiration of the Religious Racket
(13) Once more Hitler cannot control his admiration for "purgatories", candles, masses, etc., nor can he escape the conclusion that the church has a glorious future before it, and gives off as follows:
Here, too, one can learn from the Catholic Church. Although its structure of doctrines collides in many instances quite unnecessarily with exact science and research, yet it is unwilling to sacrifice even one little syllable of its dogmas. It has rightly recognized that its resistibility does not lie in a more or less great adjustment to the scientific results of the moment, which in reality are always changing, but rather in a strict adherence to the dogmas once laid down which alone give the entire structure the character of creed. Today, therefore, the Catholic Church stands firmer than ever. One can prophesy that in the same measure in which the appearances flee, the church itself, as the voting pole in the flight of appearances, will give more and more blind adherence. [Page 682]
(14) Hitler's articles of faith or political program cannot be gone into, but one point catches the eye, in article 19:
Roman law must be abrogated and replaced by German law. [Page 690]
Here was a wonderful opportunity for facts and analysis. The editorial sponsors flopped again. The facts will show that what really has taken place is, the abrogation of German law and its replacement by Papal laws. These might be indicated as below:
(a) The resurrection of the old Papal laws in restraint of the Jew—reinstitution of the ghetto, peculiar dress and systematic robbery.
(b) Destruction of freedom of speech, press and assembly as in the days of Torquemada and the Duke of Alva, in harmony with Papal encyclicals on such freedom.
(c) Doctrine of divine right of rulers, including Hitler, of course, invented by the Hierarchy so she could have an excuse, as representing divinity, to do the crowning.
(d) Throttling of Protestantism even as in the days of Charles V and Luther.
(e) Courts modeled on old Inquisitional forms, where the prisoners' defense counsel is only a formalism, and where the accused testifies against himself and is judged without appeal.
(f) Merciless torture of "heretics" and "Jews"; among the former, Niemoeller and Jehovah's witnesses.
(g) Gestapo, modern refinement on spies of Inquisition, who listened for the damning words from the unsuspecting.
(h) Death of every democratic principle inimical to the Catholic church's eventual despotism.
The Results of Catholic Tutelage
(15) Hitler now reveals the depths to which his Catholic tutelage has led him. He discovers that night is the best time for the dirty work of converting and inciting men to deeds of violence, injustice and crime.
It seems that in the morning, and even during the day, men's will power revolts with highest energy against an attempt at being forced under another's will and another's opinion. In the evening, however, they succumb more easily to the dominating force of a stronger will. For truly every such meeting presents a wrestling match between two opposed forces. The superior oratorical talent of a domineering apostolic nature will now succeed more easily in winning for the new will people who themselves have in turn experienced a weakening of their force of resistance in the most natural way, than people who still have full command of the energies of their minds and their will power. The same purpose serves also the artificially created and yet mysterious dusk of the Catholic churches, the burning candles, incense, censers, etc. [Pages 710-711]
You see he should have been a priest.
(16) A footnote on page 143 shows how Hitler has corrupted Lutheran Protestantism.
Lutheran teaching on the subject of baptism, which is regarded as the greatest sacrament, is that through baptism equality of status before God and in the church is conferred on man. Differences of race and environment may and do subsist, but they are not of essential importance. Moreover, the sacred ministry is open to all who have been baptized and are called. Therewith Lutheranism denies the priority of race. When Hitler came to power he immediately tried to place the governance of the Lutheran church in the hands of men who were willing to alter the traditional teaching. A large group of German Christians who subscribed to Hitler's views were recruited and their representative, Pastor Ludwig Mueller, was named archbishop at the command of the government. The majority of German theologians refused, however, to accept so drastic a tampering with their creed. Gradually they formed the Confessional Synod, and this has until now, despite all pressure and suffering, clung resolutely to the orthodox point of view. The best-known spokesman for this point of view is Pastor Martin Niemoeller, who was imprisoned by command of Hitler and is still held in virtually solitary confinement, but there are hundreds of clergymen who have learned, too, the meaning of opposition. More than twelve hundred of their number have gone to prison; some are dead. The crisis through which Lutheranism is passing is unquestionably the gravest in history.
His Excuse for Wrecking Protestantism
That he thus found a good excuse to wreck Protestantism and favor Catholicism can be demonstrated. His surrender to the Catholic Church was symbolized, one may say, by his efforts to appease and control the Bavarian People's Party (Roman Catholic). Proof of this adherence to Catholicism before his rise to power, at which later time he debauched Lutheranism, is found in the following footnote, but, of course, the editorial sponsors were really snoring when they wrote it, and so they failed to draw any conclusions.
The ultramontane* question was raised by Ludendorff. After Hitler's release from prison, he saw that without the tacit consent of the Bavarian People's Party any resumption of his activities in Bavaria was out of the question. Therefore, he publicly disavowed any interest in religious warfare, though other Nazis might keep up a fairly steady fire on the church from behind their desks in the Voelkischer Beobachter offices. Besides, Mussolini had reached a kind of armistice with the Catholic church (though real peace did not come until 1929) the dramatic value of which made itself felt even north of the Alps. Ludendorff, whose second wife had instilled into him a loathing for the Jesuits in particular, received this profession of religious neutrality, even of benevolence to religion, if one prefers, with unconcealed antipathy. North German writers, Count Reventlow in particular, also took exception to Hitler's stand. No sooner had the party come to power, however, than essays to which Ludendorff might have subscribed with gusto appeared on all kiosks. The preface to a brochure concerning the Jesuit, by Herbert Herrmanns, said in part:
This essay makes no pretense at being objective, since that would mean merely adding another to the enormously swollen tide of books and writings of that kind. It is offered, rather, as a clear-cut attack. Potsdam in the May moon of the first year of the National Socialist Revolution. Page 823.
You perceive, then, how easy it is for the editorial sponsors to get off the subject and wind up with an insinuation that Hitler was anti-Catholic, and that the criticism of Jesuits by Ludendorff was inspired by a woman, and—one cannot escape the thought—a questionable one. And now Hitler reveals that Protestants dare not be Protestants, that is, protest against anything:
* From Webster: Ultramontane, 1. Beyond the mountains, esp. the Alps. 2. Specif., one who lives south of the Alps; a supporter (orig. one of the Italian party in the Roman Catholic Church) of papal supremacy, rather than national churches.
For example, in all these three countries a struggle against clericalism or Ultramontanism can be preached without running the risk that through this attempt the French, Spanish or Italian nation as such will fall apart. But this may not be done in Germany, since here Protestantism, too, of course, would join in such an initiative. Consequently, however, the defense, which elsewhere would be solely by Catholics against political encroachments of their own prelates, would here immediately take on the nature of an attack by Protestantism against Catholicism. [Page 828]
Protecting the Singing Harlot
You see that would not do: the Catholic Church cannot take it, and so she must be protected. It is no doubt passages such as these that endeared Hitler to the Vatican. And then, after taking sides against Protestants, and perceiving the refusal of Lutheranism to join him in Jewish blood-letting, because of conscience, he has the gall to lie about it and say,
The most believing Protestant could stand in the ranks of our movement, next to the most believing Catholic, without ever having to come into slightest conflict of conscience with his religious convictions. [Page 829]
That is how Rome uses her natural enemies to overcome one another—divide and rule. By now it should be plain to the reader that, had one of those Jesuits so beloved of Hitler set out to debauch the German race, he would have chosen the identical methods resorted to by the madman of Berchtesgaden.
It may be said that, in a greater sense, the catholicism and orthodoxy of Adolf Hitler displays itself most abundantly in his hatred of democracy, and Mein Kampf is the most colossal tirade against democratic institutions that has ever been written. In this he is now ably supported (since he can no longer rave against Marxism in Germany) by the Roman Catholic clergy, in every country on earth, by their pot-shooting and ambushing of every free, liberal and democratic institution.
It is hardly necessary to point out that since the New Deal has been sworn to be the political expression of the late pope’s encyclicals, the resulting circumscribing of freedom, and demoralization of the masses, is a natural consequence. It might be remarked in passing that the United States and Great Britain have never been subjected to so great a barrage of meddling, criticizing, and greed for power on the part of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy as afflicts them now ; and since these matters dare not be openly presented to the public, either by press or radio, the prospect that the church of Rome and Hitler will realize their ambition to rule the world is very good indeed.
The Champion of the Hierarchy
To return to the sponsors: It is regrettable that they failed to see in Hitler’s destruction of labor unions, in his destruction of freedom of conscience, press and speech, in his medieval brutality and mysticism, in his merciless persecution of innocent men and women and children, in his bloody intolerance of any faith not Roman, in his trances and tremors, the pure, unadulterated and devoted champion of the Hierarchy, using the “Church”, and being used by her, to regain for her the lost power and prestige of the Dark Ages.
It is too much, of course, to expect these sponsors of great reputation to see or understand the signs of the times ; since in an earlier day an Augustus Caesar did not understand his time, nor the great and noble Pontius Pilate. And for that reason the following footnote can scarcely be held against them, although their attempt to pose Hitler as a persecutor of Catholics, and their willful and cruel ignoring of the terrible plight of Jehovah’s witnesses in Germany, will some day be counted against them by Him who sees all. Quoting from page 247 :
The nationalization of the great masses can never take place by way of half measures, by a weak emphasis upon a so-called objective viewpoint, but by a ruthless and fanatically one-sided orientation as to the goal to be aimed at. That means, therefore, one cannot make a people “national” in the meaning of our present “bourgeoisie”, that is, with so-and-so restrictions, but only nationalistic with the entire vehemence which is harbored in the extreme.
Demonization of the Masses
The footnote to this statement follows, and further illustrates the helplessness of the worldly-wise in the face of the greatest calamity of all time about to befall humankind, just as Christ Jesus foretold.
This hysteria was an important discovery. It was created by a kind of hypnotic influence, seemingly exerted by the Party assemblies on the people undoubtedly not wholly normal as a result of privations through which they had passed. Extraordinary phenomena of a similar kind were numerous during the post-war years, e.g., the curious "healer" of Hamburg, Haeuser, who was followed by immense crowds; the Bibelforscher (Bible Students) who raised tides of adventistic emotion in Silesia and elsewhere; Rudolph Steiner, the anthropologist, who built houses resembling trees, etc. Those who heard Hitler during those years are unanimous in saying that he engendered a kind of emotional trance with methods quite his own. Party guards moved continuously around the place of assembly, and usually some interloper was found who could be dramatically shaken and bounced. Then there was a pause. Had anything gone wrong? Then Hitler appeared, looking as if he had run the final two hundred yards in record time, to unleash a torrent of words, working himself into a frenzy of half-somnambulistic energy that lasted for hours, and reveling in climaxes that were more like motifs in Wagnerian drama than like any kind of discourse. Perhaps he would suddenly break into a sort of weeping, pause, and shout "Deutschland, Deutschland, Deutschland". However the foreigner might react, even quite normal Germans were swept off their feet. Hitler's very extremes had effected an emotional release. Then his oratory wrung every listener dry, provided, that is, that he could bring himself to be en rapport with what was said.
This self-evident demonization of entire masses of people could not possibly be noticed by the sponsors, nor by the learned editorial committee.
To conclude (and space and time forbid the analysis the book demands), Mein Kampf is a handbook for all the Totalitarian-minded, in whatever country or state they be. Having once read it, it is not hard to divine the significance of much of the hogwash published in daily papers, books and magazines; nor can one thereafter fail to mark the men who by their utterances and public speeches testify that they have learned the diabolical lessons it has to teach, and are endeavoring to put in practice those same lessons, hoping thereby to gain an end entirely selfish and despicable: an end that will prove unutterably tragic for the human race. And to this end the sponsors have contributed their share.—Jos. E. Bolden, Pennsylvania.
Railroads
A Ticket Calls for a Seat
Philip Davis, New York lawyer, sued the New York Central Railroad Company because, after it had sold him a ticket to Albany, for the sum of $2.80, he had to stand for the three-hour ride between the two cities. He won his fight and received $282.89 in cash, the same being a return of the cost of his ticket and legal costs and interest on the same to the day of settlement. A ticket calls for a seat, and if a railroad company sells the ticket, and a coach is overcrowded, it is its business to see that the passenger is accommodated in a Pullman if there is any space available in such cars.
Aluminum Cars in Subways
◆ Aluminum cars introduced in the subways of New York weigh only half as much as steel, cause less wear and tear on rails, reduce the noise, and are popular.
Buses Killing Railroads
◆ Complaint comes from Costa Rica that buses are killing the railroads. The same situation is developing all over the world.
Highwaymen in Wisconsin
◆ Two highwaymen in Wisconsin, one 3 years of age and the other 4, stood between the rails of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway at Crandon, Wisconsin, and brought a train to a screeching standstill ten feet away. They had a toy gun with them with which they figuratively shot the fireman who came to put them off the track. And in the end the only reward of their holdup was that they got spanked by their mother. As a matter of fact, however, it was the father and mother that deserved the punishment. It was they that placed the weapons in the babies' hands.
134 Miles an Hour
◆ A new streamlined train between Berlin and Hamburg made the record time of 134 miles an hour. The locomotive is Diesel-driven. A record of 125 miles an hour has been made in Britain, on the London and Northeastern Railway, between London and Edinburgh.
Fast Time in Belgium
◆ A new train makes the 57.7 mile run between Brussels and Bruges, Belgium, in 46 minutes, or at the rate of 75.3 miles per hour, start-to-stop.
Palestine
Britain's Pipe Line
A tremendous pipe line carrying oil from Kirkuk in Iraq to the coastal cities of Haifa and Tripoli is of considerable importance to the British and their navy. Like the well-known British life line, it runs through Arab territory. Hence Britain’s desire to keep peace with the Arabs, even at the seeming expense of the Jews in Palestine. Both the Arabs and the Jews have rights of long standing in that ancient country, but the Arabs have the important “nine points” of possession. Judge Rutherford, in his study of the prophecies, has stated that never again will the Jews gain possession of Palestine. And it is beginning to look like it in actual fact. Jew religionists continue to reject Messiah. They can hardly look for Jehovah’s favor as long as they continue in that course.
Rats Used to Burn Crops
◆ For some time Jewish farmers in Palestine suffered from strange fires in their standing grain, until finally a policeman caught an Arab, lurking near a field, carrying in a bag five oil-soaked rats. He had been following the practice of lighting the poor creatures and then setting them adrift to burn the crops of those he regarded as his enemies. This affords an interesting contrast to the following account found in the Holy Scriptures:
And Samson went and [took in snares] three hundred foxes, and took firebrands and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.—Judges 15 : 4, 5.
Brandeis on Zionism
◆ Former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis is quoted as thinking and saying that since the Jews have nowhere else to go, and Palestine can absorb 100,000 of them annually, they will find a way to reach that destination, regardless of attempted obliteration of their rights for the private advantage of others. He did not come right out and say that Britain is afraid of the Moslems and also afraid of the deviltry done in Moslem lands by German and Italian propaganda, but manifestly he could not be in sympathy with the disgraceful ending of the Balfour declaration in turning control of Palestine over into the hands of the Arabs, as now proposed in the British Government’s white paper on the subject. In its unprincipled yielding to the Mussolini-inspired troublemakers of Palestine, the British Government shows the same perfidious selfishness as it did when it put Czechoslovakia in the hands of Hitler. To all intents and purposes the present rulers of Britain are Fascists, because they play directly into the hands of the opponents of democracy. The Jews invested $500,000,000 in a barren land, and made it bloom, because they trusted British statesmen. Now their investment is worth nothing, and in the worst hour of their history Britain slams the door in their faces. At Munich Britain sacrificed democracy and Protestantism in central Europe and now sacrifices honor and the Jews in Asia.
Homeless Jews Fling Away Passports
◆ Jews who have been and are being expelled from European countries, and put on the high seas to Palestine, are resorting to the trick of throwing away their passports when refused admittance to Palestine, and then the authorities do not know what to do with them. They might as well, and they cannot be blamed.
Jews in Palestine
◆ At the end of the year 1938 there were 437,000 Jews in Palestine, and they then constituted about 31.3 percent of the total settled population of the country. The culture of citrus fruits has continued to expand, and the export of oranges and grapefruit has reached record dimensions.
The War in Palestine
◆ The undeclared war in Palestine was so serious that in a single month 678 were killed and wounded: 404 Arabs, 262 Jews, and the others British soldiers and constables. During the same month seven Arabs were executed after conviction in the military courts.
Jewish Use of Swastika
◆ Discovery was recently made for the use of the swastika in the floor design of a Jewish synagogue near Hama, northern Syria, showing that the Nazi symbol was in use 1,500 years ago. Hitler hates the Jews, but mimics them.
Let America Mind Its Own Business
A COUNTRY capable of producing an annual income of five thousand dollars per family, but permitting one-third of them to go underfed and another third to rot in idleness, has no warrant from on high to pose as arbiter of the world.
A country in which man is pitted against man, group against group, class against class, and all operating on the principle of every fellow for himself and may the Devil take the hindmost, should be the last one to hanker for the job of universal peace angel.
A country possessing one billion acres of fertile land, yet tolerating a condition in which one-half its farmers—that is, the hand that feeds the nation—are already landless, and the other half on the way, and all of them bled white by as lousy a gang of gamblers, speculators, hijackers and cutthroats as ever walked in shoe leather, should modestly refrain from telling other people how to run their affairs.
A country sporting the highest crime rate in the world, registering more homicide in any old county than the whole of England, is in no position to tell others to be good.
A country which allows millions of acres of its best farm and grazing land to blow into the Atlantic and wash into the Gulf has not enough patriotism in its make-up to tell others how to love their fatherland.
A country that lets millions of its children cry for fruit and bread and milk and meat while taxing milk bottles, bread baskets, fruit jars and the rest of the pantry, to pay honest husbandmen for plowing under food, burying pigs and murdering heifer calves, has neither brain nor heart enough to still the bitter crying of the children of other lands.
John gets all the facts at last, thanks be to a whole boatload of kind and true friends
And lastly, a country that only twenty short years ago permitted a parcel of greedy hogs, shallow-pated politicians, flag-waving nitwits, golden-calf parsons, and “boughten” scribes to bamboozle it into the World War, three thousand miles from home, at the cost of one hundred billion dollars, fifty thousand dead, and three hundred thousand permanently maimed boys, with no other result than preparing the witch broth that is about to boil over, over there, would, with better grace, weep over its own folly than hanker after the job of savior of the world.
I am not afraid to suffer for my convictions. I proved it when I faced the blood-drunken minions of Dictator Woodrow Wilson in the midst of the World War. I faced his white-livered, yellow-streaked home guard when I ran for Congress in the third district of Wisconsin on a 100-percent anti-war platform and with 80 years of Fort Leavenworth hanging over my bloody but unbowed head. And that, too, was DURING the World War, not after, nor before it.—Oscar Ameringer, in The American Guardian.
Hard-hearted Uncle Sam
◆ Hard-hearted Uncle Sam loaned $3,000,000,000 to 1,000,000 home owners but quite some time ago had foreclosed on 80,000 homes—the old skin-flint, or Shylock, as British call him.
Two-Thirds of World’s Gold
◆ Uncle Sam now has possession of two-thirds of the world’s gold. The amount now stored is in the immediate neighborhood of $15,000,000,000.
Pennsylvania
Justice in Pennsylvania
A large number of citizens feel that it is easier to have a case "fixed" than to go to trial regularly, and their expressed attitude "does not reflect a proper respect for our system of criminal justice".
In one case, at least, a witness before the commission was so disgusted with the way the case was handled and the obvious manner in which it was "bounced out", that he stated that if ever again he witnessed a crime being committed he would turn his head away rather than take a chance of being subpoenaed to attend court time after time and then seeing the whole matter obviously "fixed".
The commission has found that reconsiderations and modifications of sentences have been made by the courts after the term has expired; that such matters have been handled privately in chambers instead of in open court; that defendants after entering pleas of nolo contendere have been found not guilty by the court; that provisions of the probation act are ignored in that probations have been granted to defendants convicted of crimes for which the act provides that there shall be no probation.
Paroles have been granted in many cases without a formal petition being filed; without required notice being given to the district attorney's office; without including in the petition any statement of the prisoner's criminal record; without a hearing in open court or two judges being present; and in some cases without any of the requirements being met, as in one case where the parole was granted by mail and the judge instructed someone else that he could sign his name to the order; that paroles are refused by the court when formal petitions are presented by attorneys, but are granted shortly thereafter upon the request of a politician or favored lawyer.
The commission has also found that in numerous cases courts have required defendants acquitted by a regular trial jury to furnish excessive bail to "keep the peace" and upon failure to furnish said bail the defendants have been committed to jail. This has been done without any formal charge being filed or legal hearing held.
In several cases in which the penalty for the offense was only a fine, the court deferred sentence from time to time, with the practical result that the defendants served time in jail, but in another case the deferred sentence was used to keep a defendant out of jail, as he was allowed freedom on bail, while his sentence was indefinitely postponed.
In some cases the court does not have the complete criminal record of the defendant before passing sentence, with the result that frequent offenders receive light sentences, many criminals are acquitted or discharged due, frequently, to lack of preparation by the district attorney, the improper presentation of evidence, or the failure to have the proper witnesses on hand; that in some cases important witnesses essential to a complete case were not subpoenaed; that no permanent record is kept of all subpoenas that are issued; that in a number of cases where a defendant who is out on bail fails to appear and the bail is forfeited such bail is not sued out, no judgment taken, and no collection made.
Investigation has disclosed the practice of postponing trials time after time until the case comes up before a particular judge who is known to be generally lenient or even friendly to the defendant; that in many cases fines were imposed and were never paid and no effort has been made to collect them.
Criminal court records in Philadelphia county are often kept in a careless manner; in many cases reconsiderations, probations, and other orders of the court are written out by a clerk of the court and not signed by the court; in some cases reputable defendants have testified before the commission that they paid their fines and forgot all about the matter, whereas the court record indicates that these fines were remitted, with no indication that the fine was ever paid; that in many cases fines have been remitted at the request of a politician.
Investigation has disclosed that there is considerable jury tampering in many parts of the state; that the present method of selecting juries in many counties is a direct invitation to embracery; that there were many cases of substituting of jurors in Philadelphia county; that jurors were, in numerous cases, influenced by the conduct of the court itself; that in one case a judge threatened a juror with contempt if "he did not go along with the rest of the jury", and that the court instructed the clerk to see to it that certain jurors were drawn as foremen on certain juries.
Abuses of authority by magistrates have been shown to exist in that defendants are released from jail by 'sentencing magistrates' before they have served their terms in prison, although a magistrate has no authority to parole or modify a sentence; that there was considerable abuse in the matter of release on 'copies of the charge'.
The commission has further found that in the majority of cases the business of professional bondsmen borders on a racket; that they employ numerous straw men to put up bonds; that they overcharge in many cases; that they have connections in police stations and with certain clerks of courts and attorneys, which lend themselves to the easy fixing of cases.
The commission has found that some "third degree" methods and the confinement of prisoners in "cold storage" are still used by police, and that gun permits are granted to persons with criminal records and bad reputations.— Report of joint legislative commission to investigate the administration of criminal justice in Pennsylvania, in Altoona Mirror. (Although this commission held 135 hearings and took the testimony of 1,152 witnesses, only five of the nine members of the commission had the manhood to sign the report. Four were afraid to do so.)
The Murder Business in Philadelphia
◆ Philadelphia has a way of keeping in the limelight. First there was the old Bible-burning tub that scared Gimbel Brothers into a fit. This eminent Jewish concern did not want to run the risk of losing a couple of dollars, so it bowed to the power of the Hierarchy and closed WIP as an outlet for the message of the Kingdom. The next time Philadelphia stirred uneasily in her sleep was when the Holmesburg prison authorities tried baking 24 guests, but only four of them were really ready to serve at mealtime. And now, there being not much other business in the city, the staid old burg by the Delaware looms up as the center of the retail murder business. More than 100 people are now known to have been put out of this life by arsenic, antimony, drowning, automobile "accidents", or other means known to the trade. There were branch managers, to cover particular areas, there was a physician to help furnish prospects, and there were agents to do the bumping off at a minimum of $300 plus a 10-percent cut of all insurance above $1,000 for a case. One of the features of the business was that, once the gang had managed to make a woman an arsenic widow, they kept her busy thereafter, whether she wanted to or not. Whenever they wanted to finish off a man they used all their skill to get her to marry him; the rest was easy.
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