Consolation, March 20, 1940
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Contents
Convention Report 3
Watchtower and Consolation Distributors Arrested 4
American Railroads 5
New Jersey 10
The New Government
Punishment of East Indian Racketeer 12
From a British Pioneer 14
Kapuskasing, Northern Ontario 15
The Light of the Dying Leper 16
Counsel by J. F. Rutherford
Easter the Demon 17
Social
Child Curiosity 18
Under the Totalitarian Flag
The Middle Ages 20
Pictures Tell the Story 20
Misleading the Children 21
About the Inquisition 22
We Put It Over—Didn't We? 23
Damage Suit Asks But $4.40 23
Pupils Move—but Won't Salute Flag 24
"Onward Christian [?] Soldiers" 25
Canada 26
British Comment
Britain Snowbound 28
"Impartial Justice" 28
A "Red" Dean 29
South America 31
Published every other Wednesday by
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Editor Clayton J. Woodworth
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Appetizers
"Orl Right"
The old-iron merchant was trundling his barrow along a narrow English road. Behind him the impatient driver of a motorcar was hooting and tooting impatiently.
The old-iron merchant set his barrow down in the middle of the road, turned round and made a speculative survey of the car.
"Orl right, guv'nor," he said, "I'll call round for that tomorrow. I'm full up now!"—Labor.
Three Cheers
On a card in the front window of an Indianapolis suburban home appeared the notice:
"A piano for sale."
In the window next door another card appeared with just one word:
"Hurrah!"
Cautious About the Plumbing
Man in barber chair, twice nicked by razor: "Give me a glass of water, quick."
Barber: "Whassa matter; hair in your mouth?"
Excited Customer: "No, I want to see if my neck leaks!"
The Jaybird
The jaybird that works overtime dropping more nuts than he ever will be able to swallow, through a woodpecker hole in the shingle roof of a deserted barn, has got nothing on the jays who would grab the whole earth to assure themselves six feet of it.
Another Joy-Killer
Politician: "Congratulate me, dear! I was elected."
His Wife: "Honestly?"
Politician: "Why bring that up?"
Explaining the Delay
"Since Bill lost all his money he has lost half his friends."
"What about the other half?"
"They don't know it yet."—Kellygram.
When Hubby Was Too Thoughtful
"If I'm unable to get home this evening," he said, "I'll send you a note."
"Never mind," his wife replied. "I found it last night in your pocket."—Labor.
CONSOLATION
“And in His name shall the nations hope.”—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.
Volume XXI
Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, March 20, 1940
Number 535
Convention Report
JESUS foretold this day when the “great multitude” would come from the east and west to sit down by the side of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who together pictured THE THEOCRACY. (Matthew 8: 11) To those who are now privileged to witness the increase of this great, swelling army, the fulfillment of the prophecy is thrilling beyond expression. The sight of those coming now to seek salvation under the protection of the Lord’s organization was dramatically exemplified at the recent zone assembly in Long Beach, California, February 9-11. This was not really a convention, but only a joint meeting of Zones 1, 2 and 5 of the state of California. But those of the remnant and of their companions, the “great multitude”, heard of this assembly which was to be addressed by Judge Rutherford, and came from all parts of the west, Canada, and Mexico. The people of Los Angeles and Long Beach, who received an invitation to the assembly by means of wide advertisement and publicity, which was carried on without the aid of any newspaper, also swarmed to the congregation of the Lord’s people.
The climax of the meeting was the public address by Judge Rutherford, on Sunday, at 3 p.m., in the Municipal Auditorium, on the subject “THE THEOCRACY”. An audience of 8,000 people heard this wonderful message from the Lord in breathless attention. A thousand more people were turned away from this beautiful auditorium, picturesquely located on the beach of the Pacific ocean. No auditorium has ever been large enough, in Los Angeles county, when Judge Rutherford speaks.
As the remnant decreases in the earth and the “great multitude” sweeps up in numbers, the message of the Lord is more particularly addressed to that company who shall fill the earth with a righteous race. How intently this audience, chiefly composed of the Jonathan class, or “multitude”, heard the speaker describe THE THEOCRACY in the thrilling phrase of the Scriptures! There was realization in their faces that what they heard was life-giving truth informing them of the purposes of the Almighty to sustain them in this hour of peril and need. “Salvation belongeth unto Jehovah.” (Psalm 3: 8, A. R. V.) It was a marvelous sight to see the remnant and the Jonadabs gathered together in unity.—Psalm 133: 1.
Judge Rutherford’s speech was not delivered entirely by manuscript, as is compulsory in radio addresses, but it was a heart-to-heart speech delivered with all the fire and emphasis that was possible in appealing to those of reasonable minds that they might seek the Lord’s place of safety. Those joyous people, hearing the Lord’s way of salvation, were a sight never to be forgotten. Clearly it was outlined to them how religion has been the snare which Satan has used to blind the people. Another thrill came when it was pointed out that soon the Hierarchy’s chief potentate would arrange for peace, claim all the credit therefor, and then would sudden destruction come upon the Hierarchy and their whole gang. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 3) This great message of Jehovah was the soul-satisfying feast for the hungry Lazarus company, many of whom had been held in subjection by the religionists.
Long Beach is fortunate to have some real men among its citizens, who have not forgotten that this country was founded to give freedom to the oppressed. When the manager of the Municipal Auditorium was appealed to to rent the building for the assembly, he answered in this phrase: “Who? Jehovah’s witnesses want to come here for convention? Are you not the people that had trouble with the Coughlinites at Madison Square Garden? You can't rent this auditorium; we will give it to you free for three days, because you are the kind of people we want in this town." And despite the Catholic Hierarchy's usual methods of intimidation, in which they had endless telephone calls relayed to this freedom-loving manager, he stuck by his word and told this bunch of totalitarians to "go jump in the creek".
There were other real men in Long Beach. It is said that the city has recently had a change in official personnel, a Catholic mayor and governing group having been replaced by some red-blooded Americans. When the priests got their parishioners and other suckers to call up the chief of police and the mayor, asking them to stop Jehovah's witnesses, they got little satisfaction.
The only effect that opposition to the Lord's message has is merely to advertise it the more. In his address Judge Rutherford called attention to the tactics of the Hierarchy in thus trying to prevent the people from hearing the truth; and so five or six thousand of the public from Long Beach and vicinity heard the exposure of this gang, and their disgust was increased.
Other features of the assembly were service discourses both in Spanish and in English and a model Watchtower study. The Watchtower study was a revelation to many in the amount of ground covered in less than an hour. Brief opening and closing comments were made by the chairman, the salient points of the entire December 15 Watchtower were considered, more than thirty questions asked and answered, thirty-six paragraphs were read; and this was completed with accurate answering of all questions, requiring no additional comment by the chairman, in less than sixty minutes. This accomplishment did not permit of any "windjamming". On Sunday morning 226 were immersed, 5,500 books and booklets were placed, besides 1,171 individual copies of Consolation and The Watchtower, during the convention; attendance at phonograph setups and sound-car recordings was 4,019, besides those present at the meetings. All went home rejoicing at another victory for Jehovah.— Written by one who was present.
Watchtower and Consolation Distributors Arrested
FIVE young men, eager to bear to others the vital truths now due to go to the people, stationed themselves on a busy street intersection in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday, February 24, and offered passers-by the Watchtower and Consolation magazines, at the same time calling out, with great plainness of speech, "Religion is a snare and a racket" or "Read the truth about religion and see for yourself that it is the world's biggest racket", and similar other arresting observations.
They were entirely within their rights in so doing, not only on the basis of the Word of God, but also on the basis of confirmatory decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States, which, in opinions handed down in the Schneider case and the Lovell v. City of Griffin decision, made it clear that no one can be stopped from spreading papers, pamphlets, magazines or other literature, on the streets or elsewhere.
Whether the policeman on the job in this instance knew this or not, he understood that something uncomplimentary was being said about religion. His name was Leahy. So he arrested the young men, all of them, forgetting that the United States is a democracy and that freedom of speech and of the press is one of the most jealously guarded rights of the American people. He had sworn to uphold these rights and be loyal to them, and defend them with his life—but no matter. Here was something he felt must be stopped. But the end was not yet. He had to appear in court and explain matters.
When the cases were tried he was placed on the stand, and when asked whether he was a Roman Catholic he sort of hated to admit it, but said softly, "Yes." When asked to state why he had arrested these young men, he said that they had shouted too loud. Would he demonstrate just how loud they had shouted "Religion is a snare and a racket"? He tried, but something stuck in his throat, and the demonstration was far from convincing.
Then he was asked if it was not true that "Coughlin's Social Justice magazine" was regularly distributed at the same location. "Yes," that was true. But he had not arrested any of those who distributed that inflammatory periodical. Was he then a member of "The"
"Christian Front"? He turned red, but said "No". The attorneys for the WATCHTOWER distributors then saw to it that the record of the case included a statement as to the exact reason for opposition to the work of proclaiming the truth of the Kingdom of God. They were aware that the Kingdom publishers were not chiefly concerned about their personal liberation from restraint. They wanted to give a testimony to the praise of Jehovah's name; for the honor of that name, and not their personal liberty, was the issue. The judge on the bench at first wished to exclude such testimony, not appreciating the situation fully. But he was a just judge, and, mindful of the fact that these young men had been put to considerable inconvenience, he permitted their attorneys to include a statement of the real reason both for their work and for the opposition of the clergy (who were back of the policeman). A complete record having been made, the judge dismissed the case, with the statement that the workers of the WATCHTOWER were entirely within their rights, that it was perfectly apparent that their ideals were of the highest, that they were not criminals, and that police officers, instead of interfering, should protect them in their work. The judge stated, "These men will give their life for this work; our country would be better off if there were more men like that, as they are very rare in these days."
American Railroads
I AM a railroad man, and I wonder whether you know that approximately 16,000 passenger trains are operated in the United States, and somewhere in the land a train is either starting or ending a trip every five seconds.
All the cars and locomotives owned by the railroads of the United States, if coupled together, would make a train nearly 20,000 miles in length.
In a year, the railroads carry approximately 500 million passengers, or as many passengers as there are people in all of North America and South America, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Poland, Spain and Germany combined.
In 1930, the total mileage run by American passenger trains at a mile a minute, or more, was only 1,100 miles a day, while today it exceeds 50,000 miles.
The first streamline train was placed in service in 1934, and today there are 88 high-speed light-weight streamline trains in operation, on 18 railroads, in the United States.
Fifty-six percent of the passenger trains classified as the fastest scheduled runs in the world operate on American railroads.
A railroad passenger can now leave New York on Friday night and arrive on the Pacific Coast the following Monday morning.
One dollar now pays for carrying a railroad passenger 54 miles, compared with 32 miles in 1921.
Pullman and Dining-Car Service
In the course of a year 174 million pieces of linen and 535,000 blankets pass through the Pullman Company's laundries. Last year the Pullman Company, the world's greatest housekeeper, purchased 220,528 sheets, 157,780 pillow cases, 20,253 tidies, 455,829 towels, 24,318 headrest covers, 13,692 napkins, and 3,260 tablecloths.
The reason why the railroads know that Americans like pie is that apple pie is the most popular dessert served on railroad dining cars.
The first railroad dining car was built in 1868, by George M. Pullman, and was named "Delmonico", after the famous New York restaurateur.
Railroad dining cars use, each year, about twenty-four million eggs, nine million pounds of potatoes, two million pounds of butter, one and a half million oranges, fifteen thousand barrels of apples, three and a half million quarts of milk and cream, a million loaves of bread, and about thirty million rolls.
Railroad dining cars serve twenty-five million meals a year—which is equivalent to serving every inhabitant of a city of nearly 23,000 population with three meals a day for an entire year.
Railroads buy and use more than 70,000 different commodities, including such things as pins, needles, strawberries, locomotives, rails and bridges, and railroad purchases are made in 12,000 communities, located in all of the States, and in 85 percent of the counties in the nation.
Now Talking About Freight
Do you realize that the railroads last year performed a service equivalent to moving one ton of freight 2,230 miles for every man, woman and child in the United States?
Railroads are the backbone of the nation's transportation, because only railroads can provide the efficient, low-cost, all-weather mass transportation service required by industry and agriculture.
Last year the railroads loaded 30 million cars of freight and hauled them distances ranging from a few miles to more than 3,000 miles.
About 39,750 five-ton trucks would be required to carry the freight that one railroad hauls into, out of, and through Ashland, Kentucky, on an average day.
To carry the freight moving on one line of railroad out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on an average day, would require 32,000 five-ton trucks.
Nearly 1,100 five-ton trucks would be required to carry as much coal as a hundred-car freight train.
Ninety percent of the nation's freight traffic is handled in regularly scheduled freight trains that move on definite schedules, the same as passenger trains.
The average speed of freight trains last year was 61-percent faster than it was in 1920.
Approximately 80 percent of the operating revenues of the railroads is derived from freight traffic.
The railroads now haul an average ton of freight 98 miles for the price of one dollar, compared with 78 miles in 1921.
Except for Japan, where labor is very cheap, American railroad freight rates, as measured by the average revenue received for hauling a ton of freight one mile, are the lowest in the world.
To buy a three-cent postage stamp takes all the income the railroads receive for hauling an average ton of freight three miles, because the average revenue is only about one cent a mile.
Railway Express service in the United States was one hundred years old on March 4, 1938. The first "expressman" carried packages between New York and Boston in a carpetbag, and thus the service was inaugurated.
In one three-month period the Railway Express Agency handled more than 200 tons of bees from seven Southern states located east of the Mississippi river.
Rails, Ties, and Tunnels
In 1830 there were only 23 miles of railroad in the United States, while today the total length of all tracks operated in this country would form 138 lines reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The United States has about 31 percent of the total railway mileage in the world—245,752 out of 789,000 miles of line—although the land area and population of the United States are less than 6 percent of the world's total.
Railroad tracks in this country are laid on more than one billion crossties—nearly 3,000 crossties being required for each mile of track.
Despite extensive tests over a long period of years, the railroads have failed to find a substitute, which will stand up successfully under heavy main line service, for the chemically treated wooden crosstie.
The T-rail, and the "hook-headed" spike used today by railroads throughout the world to fasten steel rails to crossties, were designed about 1830 by an American.
Railroads in this country began to place steel rail in general use about 1867. The average weight of steel rail in use in the United States is 94 pounds a yard.
The railroads, by using a welding process for building up the worn ends of steel rails, prolong the life of such rails fully one-third.
The point of contact between the track and wheels of the modern railroad locomotive or car is no more than the width of a chalk line.
The first railroad tunnel in the United States was opened in 1833.
Class I railroads pass through 1,539 tunnels which, if placed end to end, would extend a distance of 320 miles.
Supplies and Pay Rolls
About two million tons of steel rail, enough to build a track ten thousand miles long, are normally purchased each year by the railroads of the United States.
The railroads use approximately ninety million tons of coal annually, or 22 percent of the nation's total coal production.
There is a railroad pay roll in every city and nearly every town and village in the United States, and railroad employees receive, in wages, around two billion dollars a year—or about half of every dollar the railroads take in.
The railroads provide employment to about one million wage earners, who, with their families, comprise a group of around four million men, women and children—which is more than the population of ten cities the size of Indianapolis, Indiana.
It is estimated that for every man directly employed by the railroads, one man is employed by other industries in the production and distribution of the 70,000 different kinds of articles the railroads buy and use.
When their income will permit it, railroads spend about one billion dollars a year for materials, supplies and fuel, thus stimulating employment and local business throughout the land.
Locomotives and Freight Cars
The building of a standard locomotive provides employment equivalent to the work of 50 men for one year, and requires more than 7,500 parts, from 119 manufacturing plants.
The firebox of one of the largest locomotives in operation is 9 feet wide and 22 feet long—or as large as the average room in a small home.
The building of one freight car requires materials from 31 states and provides employment equal to the work of one man for a year.
Who Own the Bonds?
I wonder whether you know that millions of persons benefit when railroad fixed charges are paid, because these charges are mostly interest on bonded debt—and 56 percent of the outstanding railroad bonds are held by life insurance companies, savings banks, educational and charitable institutions.
The value of railroad property, after allowance for depreciation, according to the Interstate Commerce Commission, is about two billion dollars greater than the total amount of stocks and bonds in the hands of the public.
Reports filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission show that there are approximately 871,000 railroad stockholders. One large railroad is owned by 215,000 individual stockholders, and about one-half of them are women.
Back in 1910, for every $1,000 invested in the railroad plant, the bonded debt was $606. This has been reduced until today it is only $439—or less than 44 cents for each dollar actually invested in the railroads.
Barge and Truck Competition
To provide and keep up their roadways, and to pay taxes, railroads claim they pay out about 32 1/2 cents out of every dollar they take in. Only railroads, of all the agencies providing general transportation service, operate on their own roadways, fully pay their own costs, and contribute substantially, in taxes, to the support of government.
The Federal Barge Line, Government-owned and -operated competitor of the railroads, pays no taxes, and its channels are built and maintained by the public.
The average annual cost of maintaining a mile of railroad, including structures, is $1,792, while the yearly maintenance cost of the New York Barge Canal is $4,749 a mile.
It has cost the taxpayers of the country $145,000 a mile to improve the Mississippi river, exclusive of flood-control work. Users of this waterway enjoy a subsidy at the expense of the taxpayers of more than $10,000 a mile a year.
The "taxes" paid by the highway carriers are not like railroad taxes. Railroad taxes are used for the general support of government. What the highway carriers pay is used, for the most part, to build and maintain the public highways they use as a place of business.
The Federal Government has expended 6 1/2 billions of dollars to encourage the development of transportation, of which 2 1/4 billions have been for waterways and about 3 1/2 billions for highways.
Passenger Service
Every once in a while you hear something about the railroads' being on the downward path, but I wonder whether you know what kind of service they are now rendering to the traveling public. I live in Green River, Wyoming, through which pass many of the finest and fastest long-distance trains in the world. The other day I borrowed an American Railway Guide and made up my itinerary for my winter vacation, during this January, 1940, just past, as shown herewith.
On this trip of less than two weeks I had an opportunity to see something of many of the most important cities in the United States; visited every state in the Union; saw all of the most majestic rivers; crossed some of the finest bridges ever made; visited the national capital, twelve state capitals and two Canadian capitals; saw some of the finest scenery in the world ; slept in a comfortable bed every night ; had the best of meals ; had access to all the best periodicals (except Consolation), with barber service, bath, valet service, ladies' lounge, soda fountain, radio, daily market reports, and other features.
January 1940
Arrive Via Mountain Time Leave Via Miles
Sat. 13 Green River, Wyo. 12:30 AM UP
Julesburg, Colo. 10:07 AM UP
Central Time
2:40 PM UP Odessa, Nebr. 2:43 PM UP 618
Mountain Time
Sun. 14 3:37 AM UP Green River, Wyo. 4:10 AM UP
4:00 PM UP Boise, Idaho 4:10 PM UP
Pacific Time
Pendleton, Oreg. 12:13 AM UP
Mon. 15 7:00 AM UP Spokane, Wash. 8:00 AM CM&StP 1649.3
Mountain Time
Butte, Mont. 7:15 PM
Central Time
Tue. 16 Marmarth, N. Dak. 8:01 AM
Aberdeen, S. Dak. 3:38 PM
Minneapolis, Minn. 10:30 PM
Wed. 17 Milwaukee, Wis. 7:05 AM
8:55 AM CM&S Chicago, Ill. 9:30 AM PRR 1878.4
12:12 PM PRR Fort Wayne, Ind. 12:25 PM Wabash 148
Montpelier, Ohio 2:24 PM
Eastern Time
4:15 PM Wab. Detroit, Mich. 4:45 PM CPR 146.5
Toronto, Ont. 10:25 PM
Thu. 18 7:45 AM CPR Montreal, Que. 9:30 AM CPR 569.3
1:50 PM CPR St. Johnsbury, Vt. 2:30 PM MC 151.3
Crawford Notch, N. H. 4:30 PM
7:30 PM Portland, Maine 8:40 PM B&M 131.3
10:30 PM B&M Boston, Mass. 114.7
Fri. 19 Boston, Mass. 12:00 AM NYNH
Providence, R. I. 1:25 AM
New Haven, Conn. 4:10 AM
6:10 AM NYNH New York, N. Y. 229.1
Jersey City, N. J. 8:27 AM B&O
Philadelphia, Pa. 10:17 AM
Wilmington, Del. 10:47 AM
Baltimore, Md. 12:13 PM
2:30 PM B&O Harper's Ferry, W. Va. 3:22 PM B&O 279.7
4:40 PM B&O Washington, D. C. 6:45 PM So.Ry 55.1
Lynchburg, Va. 10:57 PM
Sat. 20 Charlotte, N. C. 3:30 AM
Spartanburg, S. C. 5:03 AM
Central Time
8:17 AM So.Ry Atlanta, Ga. 8:50 AM A&WP 637.5
1:05 PM A&WP Montgomery, Ala. 1:20 PM L&N 176
Flomaton, Fla. 3:55 PM
Gulfport, Miss. 7:35 PM
9:30 PM L&N New Orleans, La. 10:00 PM MoP 318
Der Lust's remarkable vacation trip
January 1940
Arrive Via Central Time Leave Via Miles
Sun. 21 2:09 PM MoP Ozark, Ark. 3:08 PM MoP 612.2
10:25 PM MoP Memphis, Tenn. 11:20 PM IC 273.2
Mon. 22 Fulton, Ky. 1:45 AM
7:20 AM IC St. Louis, Mo. 9:00 AM CB&Q 316.1
5:21 PM CB&Q Payne, Iowa 5:48 PM CB&Q 449
9:15 PM CB&Q Kansas City 11:00 PM AT&SF 150
Tue. 23 Waynoka, Okla. 8:35 AM
Amarillo, Texas 1:45 PM
Mountain Time
Clovis, N. Mex. 3:20 PM
Wed. 24 Pacific Time
Seligman, Ariz. 7:00 AM
6:05 PM AT&SF San Bernardino, Calif. 8:08 PM UP 1716.4
Thu. 25 Las Vegas, Nev. 1:22 AM
Mountain Time
Salt Lake City, Utah 10:29 AM 929
Green River, Wyo. 2:34 PM
Total mileage, 11,548.1 miles.
Total time, 12 days, 14 hours, 4 minutes.
Miles per hour for entire time away, 38.2.
Miles per day for entire time away, 916.8.
The best of it is that I had this splendid vacation without the loss of a moment's time, and without its costing me one cent. I think I explained to you that a friend of mine loaned me the American Railway Guide. The itinerary was honestly made from that; the trip itself was an imaginary one. I could not spare either the time or the money to take it. I hope you enjoyed your ride; see the map. —W. A. N., Der Lust, Wyoming. [?—Ed.] New Jersey
Liberty Is Liberty
Liberty is liberty, even in Jersey City, and so most real Americans will be pleased and interested in the paragraph in the New York Post, which, commenting on the Supreme Court decision in the Jersey City cases, said:
From now on anyone may distribute circulars, conduct meetings or make speeches in Jersey City or anywhere else in the country without prior police permission, so long as he conducts himself in an orderly fashion, and the police are not entitled to decide, in advance, that a meeting should be barred because it is “likely” to be disorderly.
Relief Racket in West New York
◆ West New York is a suburb of Jersey City and has been having a beautiful time working the relief racket. There is a little difficulty just at present, as 10 of the employees, Walter Brierty, Rinaldo Bozzuffi, Ellen Kelly and seven others in the office, and five outside of it, are being tried for forgery, larceny, and conspiracy in 289 indictments. Relief orders were issued to hundreds of persons who do not exist, persons who had left the city and other persons who had not asked for relief. It was all part of the racket to make America Fascist.
Same as Anybody Else
◆ A representative of Mayor Hague, welcoming a convention of the C. I. O. to Jersey City, represented to the conventioners that Mayor Hague and the city government are just like anybody else. This should go in the “Appetizers” column, but there isn’t room. Mayor Hague is just learning the ABC’s of what it means to be an American citizen. After all he has said and done to the C. I. O. and kindred organizations it must burn him up to have to welcome them to his city, even by proxy.
Blind Persons Have Right of Way
◆ Blind persons have been given the right of way in traffic in New Jersey. The blind of Jersey City have been presented with white and red canes which give them the right of way at traffic intersections. There are 3,000 blind men and women in the state that will benefit by the new law.
Cleaning Out the Trust Company
◆ The Hague gang had a delightful time cleaning out the New Jersey Title and Trust Company, of Jersey City. When they knew it was going to capsize they patriotically withdrew over $2,000,000, so it would be sure to collapse. Then that highly honorable Hague judge, Thomas F. Meaney, resigned his $15,000 a year job so that he could collect the fees which would come in serving as counsel for the State Banking Commission in the cleaning-out process. Fine business, boys!
“Liberty Is Dead”
◆ At Plainfield, Samuel W. Rushmore placed a huge black wooden coffin on the roof of his mansion at 604 Belvidere avenue, placed on the front of the house a large painted sign reading, “Liberty is dead; Heil Hague,” and at the end of his porch put a large ashcan bearing another sign reading, “Hague is the law; dump law books here.” Mr. Rushmore is an old-fashioned American, of whom there are still a few, here and there.
The Diaz of Jersey City
◆ During the generation in which Porfirio Diaz was president of Mexico it was against the law for any voter to vote against him. That was a fine arrangement for Porfirio while it lasted. In Jersey City Frank Hague has been elected mayor six times, and in the last election he received 110,743 votes for and only 6,793 against. He is so popular that one man voted for him 137 times in the last election, and boasted of it. Porfirio Diaz died in exile.
Dorothy Stood by Celemma
◆ Dorothy Johnson’s parents, living in Philadelphia, decided to spend last summer in Atlantic City, but the cat Celemma would not be allowed to go. That is what the parents thought. Dorothy thought otherwise. She lit out with the cat, hitchhiked to the seashore, slept under the boardwalk, and showed up with three cents unexpended capital still on hand. She was allowed to stay, and to keep her cat. Dorothy is 13.
Two Years for Ten Cents
◆ At Woodbury, Richard Jonesboro was sentenced to eighteen months to two years for stealing two five-cent tarts.
Five Modest Trenton Cops
The modesty of Trenton cops is most touching. City ordinances of the New Jersey capital city forbid bingo. The city prosecutor denounced all operators of bingo games, and the police said they would take the operators to court on lottery charges. So far so good. Sergeant Kester Hughes (note the good old name) and four brave men went to St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church while a big bingo game was running full blast, but, you know, the "Reverend Father" Rakvica, who was running the lottery, would not let them in, because they had no tickets, and those five cops had been so well brought up by their mothers that they went right away without doing one more thing. Now, isn't it nice to have such modest cops?
That Was Just Too Bad
◆ That was just too bad that those boys at Upsala College stole some examination papers on religion and other subjects, copied them and sold them to fellow students for $5 apiece. One of the purchasers was a skillful buyer: he paid $2 down and the balance after satisfying himself that the copy was a true copy. Whoever swiped the original papers let himself in between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. through a window which had been opened from the inside during the day. The boys made good use of their papers. One who had been getting very low standings in his class work received an examination standing of 97. The Prof. thought that was too much of a good thing, and an investigation followed which brought the foregoing facts to light. Four boys were expelled, and a fifth suspended.
Gave the Murderer But 50c
◆ At Camden the "Reverend" Walter Dworecki, Baptist clergyman, paid a former boarder for murdering his own daughter, so that he could collect $15,600 insurance on her life. The sum agreed upon was $100, but the clergyman paid only 50c on the account. While his attractive daughter was being choked to death with the bare hands of the former boarder the "Reverend" was conducting "evangelistic" services to "keep people out of hell". When he saw the body of his daughter he put on a big display of grief. The "Reverend" has been unlucky in several arson and counterfeit money enterprises in which he has been engaged, and was easily caught.
Do You Like Them Steam-cooked?
◆ How do you like your babies? Steam-cooked? If so, apply to Perth Amboy General Hospital, where four were nicely done an hour after they had been inspected by the head nurse, Daisy Maguinness, and found all right. That was at 1:30 a.m. The radiator valve in the nursery had been taped because it would not hold together otherwise. Just as soon as Coroner Flynn had announced that the accident was unavoidable, the tape was removed, and with it the evidence of criminal negligence. A fireman stated to a reporter that the nurses sometimes removed valves to put up the temperature. What kind of hospital is it that would have radiator valves that a nurse could remove without a wrench, or in which a quadruple roasting such as this could occur? What with cooking men at Holmesburg and now steaming babies at Perth Amboy, it appears that everything is coming along nicely for the party anticipated just prior to Armageddon.
Nincompoops at Trenton
◆ It would be a disgrace to the worthy peanut to refer to the state senate of New Jersey as composed of peanut politicians. Imagine the utter worthlessness of men, seven Democrats and seven Republicans, that would rush to appoint as a judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals a man that less than three years previous had been admitted to the bar. When the New Jersey State Bar Association sought to investigate the qualifications of Frank Hague, Jr., to this $9,000 job the nincompoops at Trenton hurried and put him in the office anyway. Hague is a national menace.
It Pays to Advertise
◆ Robert Bierbaum, Camden grocer, was about to fail because his customers owed him $2,700 which they would not pay. He posted a sign in his window that he was about to close up shop because the following persons owed him the amounts stated. On the first day he took in over $500, and stayed in business.
Crooked Officials Jailed
◆ What is going to happen? At Paterson three former officials of the local relief administration were put in jail for conspiracy to misappropriate $15,000 of the city's relief funds. If New Jersey would jail all its crooked officials there would not be enough honest ones left to do the chores.
RIGHTEOUS RULER
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
Punishment of East Indian Racketeer
◆ Two of our Indian pioneers, Tony and Dan, in the course of their work in Poona of proclaiming the good news of the advent of the Theocratic Government, called at the home of an Indian religionist, Pastor Savant, and were invited by him to play the phonograph speeches. This was done, and he at once manifested the goat-like disposition that Jesus said would identify His enemies. (Matthew 25: 31-46) Instead of showing the gratitude due to those who seek to do good, this man resorted to violence as his father did before him.—John 8: 44.
Dan had been a newspaper correspondent for India’s leading newspaper until the truth reached him and he entered into its service, and, thinking this news item would interest the local press, he sent them a brief account of what had happened. But the Press of India is as prostitute as that in other parts of the world, and these rejected the item submitted, preferring the favor of the local religious crowd to keeping faith with their readers.
We have not the ability to mass hundreds of publishers at a given town, as have you; but we have that same consuming love for Jehovah as have His people elsewhere, and we gladly responded when the Bombay branch office invited another pioneer and me to take the sound-car to Poona. We are an insignificant body compared with the massed millions of India’s population, but we have no fear for the Devil’s hordes; our only fear being of Him whom we love supremely—Jehovah.
We took with us a thousand handbills which read as follows:
RELIGION VERSUS CHRISTIANITY
INDIAN PASTOR ASSAULTS CHRISTIAN WORKERS
Two of Jehovah’s witnesses, working with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, are in Poona preaching the gospel of God’s Kingdom by means of recorded speeches and printed literature. While working in Rasta Peth on October 16 they happened to go to Pastor Savant’s house (St. John Mission) and with his permission reproduced some Bible lectures by Judge Rutherford. As these lectures exposed the hypocrisy of the Christian religionists and showed a difference between religion and Christianity, the pastor became enraged, with the result that one of these witnesses was assaulted and abused by him and, as though that was not enough, this said witness was obstructed by force from leaving the premises for some time and further assaulted. A complaint has been filed at the Quarter Gate Police Station.
This sort of thing compares very well with the intolerance and religious persecution which Jesus and His disciples encountered. No doubt Pastor Savant was not afraid of these two witnesses who visited him, but he plainly was afraid of the truth which they brought to the attention of the people who listened to those lectures. Jesus warned His followers that they would be hated of all nations for His name’s sake, and especially by the same crowd of religionists who persecuted Him to death.
The same speeches which were reproduced to the people of St. John’s Mission are available for you to hear quite free of charge. You are invited to ask for them to be reproduced in your own home, or anywhere else. If you cannot ask one of Jehovah’s witnesses personally, write for further information and literature to the Society’s office:—
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY,
17 Bastion Road, BOMBAY 1.
These were distributed among all of the English-speaking public of Poona during the course of our door-to-door work, and given out to those who listened to the lectures from the sound-car.
At our very first pitch a man who invites those who can be so duped to call him by the title “Father” in direct violation of the commandment of Jesus to the contrary (Matthew 23:9), a minister in the Church of England, went off for the police. But while “Father” was able to induce a posse of police to come and listen to the lectures, he could not induce them to break the law by arresting us for exercising our lawful rights. So “Father” helped us to the extent of increasing our audience to the amount of six constables, for which we thank him. They listened to the lectures and, we hope, enjoyed them. We gave them handbills, and the “father” went away, no doubt much disgruntled and dissatisfied with a world that no longer jumps to obey when a back-to-front collar and flowing maternity gown commands. I found myself thinking that the police of America might learn a lesson from their less civilized (?) brothers in this land.
Notice was read out in all of the churches that Jehovah’s witnesses were in town, and that nobody should hear us, take our literature.
ture or entertain us—a bit of free advertising for which we were truly grateful. Even the clergy may sometimes do good, howsoever unwittingly.
We learned that Pastor Savant had a crowd of cronies to whom he dispensed occasional material blessings in the form of drink and food, and these were to attack us if we went anywhere near to his locality. Nothing deterred, and trusting in the protection of Jehovah, we went; and no harm came to us. "The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds; their might hath failed; they became as women." (Jeremiah 51:30) Instead of the promised thrashing, we got a large and attentive audience, among whom, perhaps, would be the pastor who had dared to touch one of the Lord's anointed, gnawing his tongue and kicking himself for a fool as the hypocrisy of the clergy was shown up by the lectures and his own particular wicked act told over the microphone. At most places where the lectures were given some people of good will were located.
Now Poona has a Model Study class started, and many are showing an interest in Christianity as opposed to religion. Some of these are from Pastor Savant's own flock, and I had the privilege to get in some "locust" work at a meeting arranged by them with the sole object of finding out why all of the clergy were warning them to have nothing to do with us. This was their very first question; I took in a very long breath and answered. It was midnight when we at last went home to our food.
The last that we heard of Pastor Savant was that he was consulting his lawyer for fear that we were going to take legal steps against him. He need have no such fear—we are not seeking our own vengeance; for Jehovah will settle all accounts at Armageddon. It is truly a strange work in which we are engaged, and with all my heart I thank Jehovah for the unspeakable privilege of being called to engage in it.
"Government and Peace" at Hamburg, Arkansas; 8 newcomers, not counting children
The work in India goes steadily forward. From various parts of our field I hear of advances being made. In fact, just now it seems that the toil of many a difficult year is beginning to bear fruit; for from various places I hear of opposition being aroused and of some coming into the fold of the Lord's "other sheep" as a result. Only those who actually work in this country know of the difficulties that confront us at every turn; and only we know the great joy that comes from serving faithfully in spite of these difficulties, and our cup of joy flows over when we behold the great multitude of those of good will rubbing their eyes in wonderment as they walk out from the darkness into God's marvelous light. —C. S. Goodman, Pioneer.
From a British Pioneer
◆ I feel so thrilled and grateful to Jehovah that I would like you also to share this joy He has given me during the last few days.
Last Wednesday morning there was a company drive and I was working with them as I usually do. In the course of the morning I observed a lady leaving her house three or four doors from where I was and my first thought was to let her pass without witnessing to her, but second thoughts prompted me to approach her quickly and before she had got many steps from her front gate. Judge my pleasure when after hearing the nature and purpose of my work she said "Come in" and returned indoors. Presently she stated that she was a Catholic. It was a Catholic district and a few minutes earlier a lady had, with a demonstration of indignation, come out of her house after me and tore up and threw away a Catholic-Fascist Menace leaflet. However, the lady I was interviewing had a very different mind and listened attentively to what I had to say. She said that she had not been satisfied for some time, and later divulged that at one time she had attempted to leave, but the "Father" had created a great fuss and so she ultimately allowed him to persuade her to stay. I asked whether she was a "practicing" Catholic, whereupon she told me that she was unmarried, was a lady of independence living in her own house and owning property; that she arose at 6:15 a.m. and went across to the "Church" and opened it every morning and assisted the priest daily in saying the Latin responses; she also had sole charge and care of all the priestly vestments, altar cloths, candlesticks, etc. In short, she was doing all the duties of a sacristan, free. I asked her permission to call in a company publisher—a sister—and quickly arranged for the sister to call for Miss Bennett to take her to a Salvation study for the following Tuesday. I placed with her, for the time being, Riches, Enemies, Salvation, and Uncovered, and asked whether she had a Bible, and she said "No". So I offered to lend her my Catholic Bible. I returned with it the same evening (also some records). She welcomed me and said she was free and desired me to go in. So I played several selected records, and when Judge Rutherford said on the "Enemies" record that for 1500 years the Roman Catholic Church had worked much injury to the people she spontaneously responded "That's true". I should have said, that immediately upon entering this time she picked up the Uncovered booklet, turned back, and showed me she had nearly finished reading it. I played "Instruction", and she gave me a year's subscription for The Watchtower. While I was there "Father" Rooney rang her up on the telephone and she, laughing, let me hear the conversation. He asked her to go across to the church; and she said, "No, I've got a visitor." She showed me the counterfoils of her cheque book; but, as she requested my confidence, I cannot repeat how many hundreds of pounds she had paid out to him.
Miss San Antonio, Texas, proclaims the Good News to a group of four, at the doorstep
Kingdom House, Manchester, England
--She has been a Catholic for thirty years, and I mentioned it was strange that no attempt had been made to induce her to take the veil; and she replied that they had had her in a convent and she wore the black habit of a nun under temporary vows for a short period. When she left, the mother superior spent three hours trying to induce her to stay.
She writes:
Dear Mr. Meaden,
Very many thanks for your kind letter and the loan of the book.
I have just finished reading it and am amazed at the accuracy of the many details. I know more of these things than the average Catholic and am in entire sympathy and agreement with the writer.
I note what you say re Tuesday and will bring the Bible and book (Salvation) mentioned.
I am hoping to find sufficient courage to take the first step in breaking away from the Catholic Church early next week. Unfortunately for me, it is not just a matter of working out of it at one step. I have various Church funds in hand which must be handed over to Father Rooney in person, besides other Church belongings. I have felt for many years that there was something very radically wrong with the Catholic organization. I myself could write a book on its injustices and cruelties.
I have been in responsible positions in the Church and have thereby acquired firsthand knowledge.
All good wishes until Tuesday.
(Miss) G. BENNETT.
She will attend Salvation study tomorrow, and I pray God will give her vision and courage to go the whole length, declare herself for Him and replace her former work with the Lord's "strange work" of witness.—Harry Meaden, Pioneer.
Baptism of Jehovah's witnesses at Houston, Texas
Miss San Antonio, Texas, thus carries her phonograph from one doorstep setup to the next
Kapuskasing, Northern Ontario
◆ We have had a very interesting experience in Kapuskasing. The chief of police accosted us three times demanding that we obtain a license to sell books. We showed him our testimony card and explained that we were placing literature on a contribution basis and did not need a license. He commanded us to secure a written order to this effect from the town clerk. We put him off the first time and studied our Order of Trial for our course of action. It occurred to us that it might be the decent thing to go to the town clerk, give him a witness and explain our work, but did not go, because we were afraid this would constitute a compromise. In this case the chief seemed to be trying to intimidate us into leaving town; so we continued working, and after interrupting us three times he picked us up and took us before the magistrate at the town hall. The chief accused us of selling without a license and said he had a witness ready to swear that we "sold him" a book; that there were complaints coming in every day about our 'bothering the people and refusing to leave their homes without their buying our books'; and what was more, they wanted to hear this "offensive record" we were using in this work. We waited until the chief got done spluttering, and then presented our testimony card and explained that as our organization had a charter to work anywhere in Ontario we did not consider it necessary to ask permission to do this work in Kapuskasing. The magistrate asked us where we had worked before, and whether we had been asked to secure permission to work in the other towns. We said, No, no one had even suggested such a thing; most church organizations solicit contributions for their work, so why discriminate? He then called up the party the chief mentioned as his witness and asked him if he remembered getting a book from one of Jehovah's witnesses and did he buy this book or did he contribute to the work. Just imagine our relief when the man assured the magistrate that it was a donation. At this point the chief again mentioned the record; so we asked permission to play it. Both men listened attentively right through "Snare and Racket" and at the conclusion the magistrate assured me it was a "very interesting talk". Naturally this was a little hard on our Catholic friend, the cop, and to let him down a little the magistrate gave us quite a talk on the importance of the town officials' knowing what was going on in the town. He ended up with the admonition to hurry up and get finished and get out of town because the telephone was kept busy with complaints about us. He stood up then, rubbing his hands as if to be through with us, and said, "Well, Chief, I won't do any more about this," and walked out. We asked the chief if everything was O.K., and he said "Absolutely". Needless to say there was a couple of thankful pioneers that moved out of that town hall quickly.—Mrs. E. Holland, Pioneer.
The Light of the Dying Leper
◆ To be sure, it is not to one's personal credit that he serves the great Creator with all his powers. Who does less is very foolish, unworthy of life, and is sure to die. However, the account of faithful service of those who do serve under great handicap thrills the heart of all who are interested in the vindication of the name of Jehovah.
In the leper colony of Pirapitinguí, São Paulo, Brazil, is an active company of Jehovah's witnesses. With testimony card, literature and phonograph they visit again and again the other patients of the colony, to the number of 2,500 to 3,000; visit the hospitals, where they play the records and read to the blind patients; and conduct Bible studies with the books and Watchtower every night in the week. Not content to witness only to those in their colony, they applied to the State Leprosy Board for permission for those who were physically able to visit another colony at Santo Angelo. After some months the request was granted, and five of them spent three happy days witnessing in Santo Angelo, finding interest and placing considerable literature. One interested person whom they found there was shortly afterwards transferred to Pirapitinguí, much to their delight, and is now joining with them in the work. How the Lord is finding the Jonadabs and adding them to His flock, even in a leper colony, is shown in the following story told by one of Jehovah's witnesses in Pirapitinguí:
"A little old woman, widow of one of Jehovah's witnesses who had died about six months previous, was dying in the isolation hospital of the leper colony. She was almost illiterate, but had continued to receive, read and pass on the best she could the sweet message of life contained in the publications of the WATCHTOWER SOCIETY. 'Please don't use any candles for me. I don't need them. Jehovah is my light,' she said. Her request was honored; she was buried without candles (contrary to the usual custom), and the young man who heard her request asked for her Bible and literature, read them, and has now taken his position on Jehovah's side, where there is light."
Some one unknown to the company (they suppose it to be one of the doctors) is writing regularly in their colony paper items of truth which he is taking from the latest publications of the Society.—N. A. Yuille, Brazil.
Reading—Writing—Speaking
◆ From the interior of Cuba comes a sweet letter from one of Jehovah's witnesses, Spanish, but educated in the rudiments of English. Writing to Judge Rutherford he said, in part:
Please excuse bad writing, because I never went to school. May Jehovah preserve you and all who walk uprightly. My gratitude to the Almighty is more than I can explain, but all true hearts must see the right, and that this work is the work of the Almighty God. I think I could tell about the Kingdom by word of mouth, but the phonograph is better. It speaks plainly and with striking harmony. I am glad for it. When I stand or sit behind it my mouth has great ease. I have so many back-calls that if I could divide myself in three it would not be enough. We trust in God.—Joseph Clarke.
Witnesses Are Exempted
◆ A lengthy report regarding conscientious objectors before the special tribunal called to consider their cases in London mentions that when Jehovah's witnesses appear and convince the bench of their convictions (i.e., that they really believe and practice the things for which Jehovah's witnesses stand) they are usually registered for agricultural or forestry work.
(To be continued) COUNSEL by J. F. Rutherford
Easter the Demon
"NOW about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands, to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers, to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people." (Acts 12:1-4) If "Easter" were a Christian feast, then King Herod the Jewish proselyte would not have shown respect for it. On this text the Catholic Douay Version Bible reads: "And when he [Herod] had apprehended him, he cast him into prison, delivering him to four files of soldiers to be kept, intending, after the Pasch [(Am. Rev. Ver.) Passover], to bring him forth to the people." In the face of all this the religionists of "Christendom" celebrate Easter, which is anti-Christian, demonistic.
Note The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, which says: "EASTER.—The English term, according to the Venerable Bede . . . relates to Eôstre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda . . . ; Anglo-Saxon, easter, . . . Easter is the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year. Leo I . . . calls it the greatest feast (festum festorum), and says that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter. It is the centre of the greater part of the ecclesiastical year. . . . the Apostolic Fathers do not mention it . . . " Thus it is shown that Easter honors a woman or a demon rather than Christ Jesus, the Son of God, whose resurrection religion claims to celebrate on Easter Sunday, the day of painted Easter eggs and bunnies.
Mark how religion has from the very beginning pushed the resurrection of Christ Jesus to the side. It was God's purpose that Jesus should be both the ransomer and the deliverer of believing men; and He could not be the deliverer if He remained dead. It was therefore necessary for Jesus to be resurrected. The question may be asked: If Jesus was put to death as a man, and the value of His sacrifice as a man must be presented in heaven to God, "whom no man hath seen, nor can see," how could a man appear in heaven and present that ransom price? The answer is: He could not, for the reason that no man has access to the spiritual realm. (1 Timothy 6:16; 1 Corinthians 15:50) A human creature is confined to earth. Jesus died as a man, but His Father Jehovah God raised Him out of death a spirit creature. About this 1 Peter 3:18, Revised Version, plainly says: "Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit."
Resurrection of the dead means an awakening out of death and a standing up again to perfect life. The man Jesus was dead and must forever remain dead AS A MAN, to the end that His right to live as a human creature might furnish the redemptive price.
The resurrection of Jesus was up to that time the greatest demonstration of God's power ever made manifest to man. Jesus' resurrection was and is a part of God's great arrangement for man's deliverance. This being true, it is to be expected that Satan the enemy would do all within his power to prevent the resurrection of Jesus, and failing in that he would do everything possible to blind the people to the truth thereof. It is reasonable to conclude that Satan knew the words of the prophecies. Jesus' resurrection was anticipated. For the first day after Jesus' death the Devil and his invisible angels, demons, and probably some of his visible angels, would be celebrating. They would be felicitating one another over the death of Jesus. At the first sober moment, they would recall His words concerning His resurrection. The record is: "Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead; so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”—Matthew 27: 62-66.
Satan the enemy knew of Jesus' words to the disciples, and Satan put that thought into the minds of the chief priests and Pharisees. Satan would reason that he would prevent the resurrection of Jesus, if possible, and, failing in this, he would so confuse the minds of the people that they would not believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Satan failed in the first, but he has fairly well succeeded in confusing the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. God has given such abundant proof, however, as to the fact of the resurrection of Jesus that all may know, and all will know when their minds are opened to a proper understanding.
Having received this suggestion from Satan, and having been authorized by Pilate the governor to provide a guard, the clergy hired a guard and put them at the tomb to watch. This guard kept close watch; but in due time there came to the tomb the angel of Jehovah God and rolled back the stone from the door and opened the sepulcher to reveal that it was empty. The guards, greatly frightened by what they saw and heard, hurried to the city to tell the religious clergy that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead.—Matthew 28: 1-12.
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