Consolation, August 6, 1941

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Contents

St. Louis the Convention City 3

Ideal Site for a General Assembly 4

"The Louisiana Purchase" 5

The "Show Me" State 7

Jehovah's witnesses in St. Louis 8

Not a "Cult" or "Sect" 8

"From House to House" 9

Finland—Adieu 10

Why Be Conceited? 11

Australasia— Loading Cattle in Fiji 12

Britain— "They'll Never Quit" 13

Big Business 14

Birds— Swans, Gonies, Cuckoos 15

Counsel by J. F. Rutherford

Rest for Humankind 16

Foreign Conspiracy Against America 18

Aviation— Flying Blind, etc. 20

Canada— Hitlerism; "Defence of Canada" 21

California— Monarch Butterflies 22

China— Hard Lot; "Rip Tide" 23

South Atlantic States— Can It Happen Here? 24

New Government

The Proscription in Australia 25

Gobitas Persecutor Dead 25

British Comment

Much Less Night Bombing 29

The Church of Scotland Again 30

Rhodesian Copper Belt 30

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Prophecies of the Kingdom

◆ "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9, 10) [Under the Kingdom, God's will shall be perfectly done on earth.]

"A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." (Luke 19:12) [The setting up of Jehovah's Kingdom awaited the return to earth of Jehovah's King, Christ Jesus.]

"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." (Luke 17:20) [When the heavenly Kingdom is in process of being set up, the unbeliever in God's Word will not discern it.]

"The desire of all nations shall come." (Haggai 2:7) [All the honest-hearted in the earth—the Lord calls them His "sheep"—desire His Kingdom above all else.]

"In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." (Daniel 2:44) [All parts of Satan's kingdom must give way completely.]

"In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth." (Psalm 72:7) [The "everlasting" wars of Satan's kingdom will be followed by the everlasting peace of Jehovah's Kingdom.]

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."—Isaiah 9:7.

"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."—Isaiah 2:4.

CONSOLATION

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

Volume XXII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, August 6, 1941 Number 571

St. Louis the Convention City

SAINT LOUIS now becomes the site of the most unique convention in human annals, and one which will exercise a great influence upon the lasting welfare of the people not alone of the convention city but also of the entire nation and beyond our national boundaries. The convention deserves watching, and especially attendance by every person of good-will who can get there.

Foreground shows The Arena, together with adjoining buildings to be used for cafeteria, overflow meetings and other convention arrangements. Note parking lots adjoining. Background shows Forest Park, second largest park in the United States.

Just why a Higher Providence determined that St. Louis should be made possible and chosen for this important event of 1941 yet remains to be seen by what develops in the course of the convention to its grand climax on August 10, and by what follows in the wake thereof on the return of the conventioners to their homes throughout America and in foreign countries. Certainly it will play a significant part in these stirring times, when the world is plainly in a strange transition period and the destiny of America and of all nations is being decided. Those who hope for the ultimate setting up of a righteous government with enduring peace and blessings for all order-loving persons are especially concerned and anxiously hoping against hope. Despite the present desperate world outlook their hope shall be realized in a manner far grander than their fondest dreams.

The tragic force of events today, together with the harsh din of mechanized warfare, tends to draw the universal attention of the distressed people of the nations to the great battle arena of the European and African continents and the Near East. If, however, they would turn their attention west to The Arena in this mid-continental city and listen in during these Convention days of August 6 to 10, they might hear the clear accents of the "still small voice", telling of the only hope of all humankind. Scores of thousands, realizing the vital significance of this national convention, are streaming into the city by all the various means of modern transportation and taking up a temporary residence to be in attendance from start to finish. It reminds one of the migrations of population of many nationalities to the same city in bygone decades.

Ideal Site for a General Assembly

As a convention city St. Louis is ideal, and far different conditions greet those who now come hither than attracted "The First Thirty", as the original builders of St. Louis were called. Then the site of this chief city of the state of Missouri was but a howling wilderness where could be heard the crack of the adventurous ranger's rifle and the fierce whoop of the tribe of Sioux Indians known as the Missouri. It was the exclusive privilege to trade in furs that prompted the first settlement of St. Louis, in 1764, when the territory yet belonged to France. On the basis of exploration and discovery France claimed the whole interior of the North American continent and attempted to occupy it. She built a line of forts from Quebec and Montreal, on the St. Lawrence, to New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi river. Thus the English colonies on the Atlantic coast were hemmed in on the west by New France, even as defeated Catholic France is now being invited into collaboration with the dictatorial power of Europe in order to hem in the island fortress of Protestant Britain.

It was a cold wintry night, February 14, 1764, that "The First Thirty" under the lead of a French nobleman, Pierre LaClede Liguest, landed on the west bank of the muddy Mississippi, at the foot of what is now Walnut Street, there to lay the foundation of our convention city. That night they slept on the large flatbottomed water craft which they had poled and dragged along the frozen bank of the Mississippi some 60 miles from Fort de Chartres. The next day, on a site now bounded by Main and Second, Walnut and Market streets, LaClede began the building of what he spoke of as a "settlement which might become one of the finest cities of America". He built the first house, employing Indian women and children in digging out the cellar and carrying the earth away in their blankets. LaClede drew the plan of the settlement and organized "The First Thirty". The first settlers built their "houses of posts", that is, by placing logs on end instead of horizontal with the ground, after the manner of "the Bostons", as they called the settlers to the east of the Allegheny mountains. Today, after 177 years of growth and reconstruction, St. Louis is a "city of brick", a home-made city.

Religion and Jesuitism were associated with this commercial enterprise of St. Louis right from the start. During the first years of its history there were but two Roman Catholic priests in the St. Louis territory, one of whom was a Jesuit. A small church built of upright logs was erected, and on June 24, 1770, was dedicated. In 1772 the Capuchin monks came, and one of them became the first resident priest of the city. Today the city has within its environs the Jesuit institution known as St. Louis University, the first university of the West, and including St. Francis Xavier's College Church. In 1815 St. Louis became a bishop's diocese.

The fur trade proved successful and prospered and grew until St. Louis is now recognized as the greatest raw fur market in the world. The sales thereof each year amount to $20,000,000. During the city's first century of existence the business district remained right where LaClede's map had located it in the beginning. Down to the start of the great World War of 1941 the St. Louis business center had not moved the distance of a rifleshot from where this civil engineer envisioned as the proper place. Thus the original site of the city now forms a small portion of the business section of St. Louis.

"The Louisiana Purchase"

In these days of the early roaring forties St. Louis ranks as the eighth city in America, with a population of 813,748, which is quite a growth from "The First Thirty" within 177 years. When St. Louis and the rest of the vast territory included in "The Louisiana Purchase" was acquired by the United States, during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, this great democrat expressed the belief that a full settlement of the great Mississippi valley could not be accomplished in less than a thousand years. He did not foresee the invention of the steam locomotive. The railroads did it in less than a tenth of the suggested millennium.

In 1800 the St. Louisans numbered but 1,400, being mostly French, with some Spaniards, but with a steadily increasing influx of Americans from the east of the Mississippi, especially after the Louisiana Purchase, in 1803. Seven years after the incorporation of the city in April, 1823, the United States census of 1830 gave the city 4,977 residents. Then came great distresses and revolutionary troubles in Europe. The Irish famine of 1846 prompted an abnormal emigration to the great western land of opportunity and plenty, and St. Louis absorbed many of these immigrants. Then followed shortly the great European revolutionary upheaval of 1848, which resulted in a development that amazed St. Louisans, when the head of the greatest religious organization in the world and who claims to occupy on earth the place of Almighty God was obliged to flee from the Vatican in disguise and in fear of his life and to take refuge at Gaeta, Italy, outside the Papal states. There he remained until the newly set-up Republic of Rome was overthrown by the intervention of the French armies, to whom Pius IX appealed, and thereafter he returned to his religious capital, in April, 1850. Germany was also affected by the great surge of revolution, and there resulted a great influx of Germans from their seething native land into America. Again St. Louis was a beneficiary thereof which took in a large proportion of persons of that blood, but today those of that blood strain in the city are practically all natives. Meantime also the Negro population was increasing.

Missouri Admitted to the Union

It was in February, 1821, that Missouri was admitted to the American Union as a slave state, this upon the basis of the so-called "Missouri Compromise", which allowed Missouri to remain a slave state. To this day there still stands at the east door of the historic Old Courthouse in St. Louis the stone auction block on which these unfortunate blacks were sold. This famous old structure is also noted as the scene of the Dred Scott slave case, which shook the new nation to its very foundations. The case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, in 1855. Its decision, published in March, 1857, was essentially the same as the adverse decision of the Supreme Court of Missouri, which had been appealed from, to wit, that Dred Scott as a Negro was not a citizen of the country within the intent of the Constitution, and therefore the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction and the suit for assault and battery upon Dred should be dismissed. This decision greatly inflamed popular wrath, and soon the entire question was decided by the Civil war of 1861-65, throughout which, be it said, St. Louis remained steadfastly loyal to the Union. One result of this bloody struggle, in which Missouri contributed thousands of warriors to both sides of the conflict, was the addition to the nation's Bill of Rights of the Fourteenth Amendment, to wit, that "no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch believes in such protection of the rights of the underprivileged and of unpopular minorities. In 1940 a case involving the same principles as the Dred Scott case came up before the Supreme Court of the United States, and again as in 1857 the highest tribunal of the land evaded the issue and rendered an adverse decision against those suing for relief. This resulted in a great division of opinion throughout the nation, and in which many newspaper editors took the position of the present Chief Justice, Harlan Stone, who then as an associate justice dissented from the majority opinion. Among such was the editor of the Post-Dispatch, and next day under an article titled "A Terrible Decision" he said: "The peculiar thing about Jehovah's witnesses is that they are forbidden by their religion to salute the flag. This does not mean that they are unpatriotic, that they do not love their country. It simply means that, as they read the Scriptures, to salute the flag is to violate the divine commandment stated in verses 3, 4, 5 of the Book of Exodus [chapter 20] forbidding the bowing down to a graven image . . . We think this decision of the United States Supreme Court is dead wrong. We think its decision is a violation of American principle. We think it is a surrender to popular hysteria. If patriotism depends on such things as this—on violation of the fundamental right of religious freedom—then it becomes not a noble emotion of love for country, but something to be rammed down our throats by the law. We honor Justice Stone, who refused to lend himself to it."

This magnanimous editorial of the Post-Dispatch was, no doubt, potent for great good, as during the turbulent months that followed the Supreme Court decision, when mob rule broke out against Jehovah's witnesses and swirled about in the states adjoining Missouri and even invaded the southern section of the state, the city of St. Louis maintained its poise and calm and refused to participate in such flagrant disrespect of law and order and the Bill of Rights. It is expected that, to its own immeasurable benefit, St. Louis and vicinity will accord the same fair and proper treatment throughout the five days of the assembly of Christians for worship there.

St. Louis Easy of Access

It is easy for conventioners from all parts of the nation to get to this queen city of the great Mississippi valley. St. Louis is the gateway for north and south travel as well as freight traffic. A feature is the Eads bridge across the great "Fish River" (as the Indian name "Mississippi" means), or "Father of Waters". This bridge is said to accommodate more freight cars than any other in the world. The length of the bridge, including a tunnel at the St. Louis end, is 6,220 feet, and the span of the bridge is 55 feet above high water. River traffic is immense to and from New Orleans and intermediate points. All the steam railroads use the same passenger terminal, which was first opened in 1894, when it was the largest railroad passenger terminal in the world. Its facilities were increased in 1904. All of the 28 railroads entering St. Louis have access to the terminal facilities. The modern Union Station at 18th to 20th streets on Market street is used by all lines, and nearly 300 passenger trains arrive and depart from this central depot daily.

Besides, St. Louis is the hub of a vast system of up-to-date and improved highways radiating in every direction. Some of the conventioners may even come by the air route, as the city is an important link in the country's network of transcontinental air lines, furnishing passenger and mail service in all directions. Transcontinental planes take off from and land at the Lambert-St. Louis Municipal airport, a $3,000,000 project, and the air traffic is tremendous. Then, too, there are the ponderous cross-country buses that arrive at and depart from the downtown Bus Depot. Within the city and county transportation is provided by streetcars and bus lines. A novel ticket system is in vogue, whereby on the payment of $1.25 the St. Louis Service Company issues to the passenger a ticket which can be used during an entire week on all bus and streetcar lines of the city as many times as the ticket holder desires to ride whither and wherever. There is also a ticket issued for 25c, which is good for one day. These tickets have an attractive face with an announcement of some event worked into the design, thus having great advertising value. At their own request the Service Company were provided with copy for the 7-day transportation ticket of August 3-9, and attractively announcing the chief features of the Theocratic Convention, to wit, 'Hear Judge Rutherford, Saturday, August 9, 3 p.m., on 'Comfort All That Mourn'—Sunday, August 10, 11 a.m., on 'Children of The King', at The Arena—Free -- Welcome!' Thus for a full week many thousands of St. Louisans could have this ingenious ticket ad in hand as a constant reminder.

The "Show Me" State

St. Louis is situated in the foothills of the mountains which gave Missouri the name "Ozark State". The city site is a succession of gentle ridges and depressions, each successive ridge toward the west rising higher. At the western city limits the elevation is 600 feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond that the ridges rise until the plateaus of the Ozarks attain altitudes of 1,000 feet. The site averages 100 feet above all flood waters. The metropolitan area, within a 40-mile circle from the city and of which St. Louis is the business and banking center, has a population of 1,246,000. It manufactures more than $200,000,000 worth of shoes each year. It holds first place in the output of American-made chemicals. It is the largest lumber market in America, and also the largest coffee distributing point in the United States, and, by no means to be omitted, it has the largest horse and mule market in the world. Who hasn't heard of the Missouri mule from the "Show Me" state?

St. Louis is noted for its botanical gardens, its zoo, parks, and Municipal Open-Air Theater, seating 9,267. Its Washington University is one of the distinguished institutions of higher learning of the nation. General Grant, of Civil War fame, was a frequent visitor to the city, and the old U. S. Grant log cabin, built by Grant himself outside of St. Louis, draws many visitors. In striking contrast thereto St. Louis is a "city of brick", and a city of homes, due to the great proportion of one-family houses; 23 percent of the population own their own homes. How that great pioneer, the apostle Paul, would therefore have enjoyed carrying on his Kingdom activities in present-day St. Louis! for, describing his Scriptural method of proclaiming the best news of all time, he said to the Christians of the city of Ephesus: “I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from HOUSE TO HOUSE, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20: 20, 21) But what the apostle Paul cannot do today in St. Louis, Jehovah's witnesses are doing in the same apostolic manner, and not a house or home in the great metropolitan area but has been visited and presented with the message of the same Theocratic Government that the apostle himself proclaimed for the comfort of all that mourn. Be it observed that this house-to-house missionary was the most hunted-down and mobbed and maltreated of all the apostles in the Sacred Record!

Jehovah's witnesses in St. Louis

There are three active organized units of Jehovah's witnesses in St. Louis, namely, a Northern Unit and a Southern Unit and also a Colored Unit, together comprising a group of several hundred. During the past year alone they have distributed more than a hundred thousand books and booklets, besides other hundreds of thousands of magazines and free tracts, all publishing the Theocratic message. Also, due to the city's strategic location, the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY, publisher for Jehovah's witnesses, maintains a distribution depot in St. Louis for the service of the Middle West. As much as thirty tons of printed material for the supply of the witnesses passes through this depot in a month.

During the eventful Convention days of August 6-10, Jehovah's witnesses are assembling at the mammoth institution, The Arena, 5700 Oakland Ave., opposite Forest Park, the second-largest public park in America and approaching Paradise in its arboreal and floral beauty. From all sections of the land and from foreign countries they are coming hither, by all means of transportation, and the number expected should boost the number of inhabitants in St. Louis up to near the 900,000 mark temporarily. At The Arena space is provided for the assembly and accommodation of approximately 75,000 persons. If a greater number than that attend, they will be accommodated too; additional space has been arranged for. Notable among those in attendance is the high percentage of children, which serves to emphasize the theme for the public address at 11 a.m. Sunday, August 10, to wit, “Children of The King.” The people of St. Louis have graciously opened up their homes for the entertainment of these peaceful, law-abiding Christian visitors, a very different spirit from that of the municipal Chamber of Commerce, which refused to offer any welcome to them whatsoever. Nevertheless, they are coming anyway, and the people of good-will in St. Louis will receive the blessing and benefit, both financially and in the more lasting and higher values, the things of the spirit. Those who have come, bringing their own home with them in the form of trailer or house-car, have erected a small transient city larger in population than when St. Louis was incorporated as a city (less than 4,977). Thus by their presence, in camp, in private home and in hotel, and by their varied activities in convention and on the streets and from house to house, it will be possible for St. Louis to get an intimate close-up of Jehovah's witnesses, on a big scale, and get to know them better.

Not a “Cult” or “Sect”

But just who are Jehovah's witnesses? By whom are they selected and organized to perform their duties and carry on their work? The claim that any man is the founder or organizer of Jehovah's witnesses is blasphemy, for the obvious reason that it is the prerogative solely of Almighty God Jehovah himself to select and organize His own witnesses and no man has any authority whatsoever to select or organize them. Jehovah’s witnesses could not be a “cult”, practicing some system of religious belief, ceremonies and rites indulged in by an organized body of persons; and neither could they be a “sect”, following some particular human leader in their belief and practice of some specific religion. The witnesses of Jehovah are made up of persons who are entirely devoted to Jehovah God and His Kingdom of righteousness, and who are faithful and diligent in carrying out His orders as commanded in His Word. They are selected or chosen by Almighty Jehovah God. No man could select them. (See 1 Peter 2:9, 10.)

The Chief Witness of Jehovah God, and Head over all of Jehovah’s witnesses, is Christ Jesus, the Lord, Savior and King of The Theocracy. One of His official titles is “The Faithful and True Witness”. (Revelation 1:5 and 3:14) The first man who was selected as a witness of Jehovah God from amongst men was Abel, who received God’s approval and who for that reason was murdered by his brother Cain, a religionist. From the time of Abel onward Jehovah God continued to select His witnesses from amongst men, down till today. To them He says, in the words recorded at Isaiah 43:10-12: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, that I am God.” As Christ Jesus, when on earth, continuously proclaimed the name and kingdom of Jehovah, so all His followers must proclaim the name and Theocratic Government of Jehovah in order that they may prove their integrity and faithful obedience toward Him. To aid them in doing so and to work to the best advantage that body of Christians have the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY to act for them and in their behalf.

In many cities, towns and communities throughout the earth classes or companies of Jehovah’s witnesses are maintained and these regularly meet, many times during the week, to engage in careful and prayerful study of the Bible; and to do so they use the publications of the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY in order to study the Scriptures in an orderly way and get a better understanding of the will of God concerning them. Such persons are real non-sectarian students of the Scriptures and, being unselfishly devoted to The Theocracy and guided by the spirit of the Lord, they learn the Scriptures and the meaning thereof.

“From House to House”

Each and every one of Jehovah’s witnesses, consecrated to do His will, and hence commissioned by Him, is commanded to preach God’s message of truth to all that will hear. Such is the means of bearing witness to the name and Kingdom of Jehovah. They are not witnesses for any human organization, but are witnesses for the Most High, the great Theocrat. In obedience to His commandment they go from place to place and from house to house, calling upon the people and informing those who will hear of the good news that the long-desired Kingdom of God is here and, after the nearing battle of Armageddon, will fill the earth with blessings for all persons of good-will. Unlike religious denominations, which meet in imposing edifices and perform certain formal ceremonies, Jehovah’s witnesses follow the example of Christ and His apostles and go to the people and talk with them. They take to the people books, booklets, magazines and other printed matter concerning the Sacred Scriptures, which enable the people to find in them the full and complete proof of this good news and that the Righteous Government is at hand. Thus the people are enabled to stay in their own homes and learn of God’s gracious provision for them and learn thereby to “worship him in spirit and in truth”. All this work is done without pecuniary profit to any person. Furthermore, persons who do engage in this witness work contribute their own money to carry on the work. There is but one purpose in their lives, and that is to make known Jehovah’s kingdom and the blessings it will bring.

St. Louisans of good-will are mindful of the motto of their State of Missouri, "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto," meaning, "The welfare of the people is the supreme law," and for this reason they will receive Jehovah's witnesses with appreciation. The name and Kingdom of Jehovah by Christ Jesus are of supreme importance, and that Government of Righteousness and Peace is the only government that brings the eternal welfare of the people. Likewise Jehovah's witnesses are come to St. Louis in convention for the highest welfare of the people, not only the people of that city but all men of good-will everywhere, to whom the blessings of this Theocratic convention shall yet spread. All such are cordially invited to attend all the gatherings of the assembly at The Arena, and particularly the public addresses of the president of the WATCH TOWER SOCIETY, as widely advertised, "Comfort All That Mourn" and "Children of The King". These subjects bespeak the spirit and purpose of the convention. Learn of The Kingdom and rejoice and live!

Finland—Adieu

Some of Finland's Good Points

◆ The Finns seem to be willing to pay back the money they borrow without abusing their creditors; they do not invade other countries, but they defend themselves when invaded by giants, and do it in a way to make the whole world wonder. And when their farmer-president, Kyosti Kallio, old and ill, was laying down his burdens to his young and capable successor, they turned out en masse to bid him good-bye. The scene affected him too deeply to bear, and the account says simply that as he turned to wave good-bye to the people, with "Thanks for everything" upon his lips "he gasped, clutched at his heart, and fell dead in the arms of Field Marshal Mannerheim, his country's liberator".

When Viipuri Was Seized

◆ When Viipuri, Finland, was seized by the Russians inquiry was made if any wished to remain. Two out of the 80,000 inhabitants stated they wished to do so, but when the time came the two could not be found. When the war was over every seventh person in Finland was homeless and 49 percent of the evacuated and homeless children were ill. In one place there was only one pair of boots between twenty people and numberless children had to stay indoors rolled up in blankets because they were without clothing.

Finland's Plight

◆ Hemmed in on all sides and cut in two in the middle Finland can now be digested at leisure by the totalitarian crowd. The Finns abandoned 40,000 of their best farms rather than live under Stalin's rule, and 460,000 men, women and children pulled out of the Bolshevist paradise to make their homes in a rock-bound land crossed by the Arctic Circle.

Proud Even in Defeat

◆ Proud even in her honorable defeat Finland proffered payment of the $159,398 due on her debt to the United States on June 15, 1940. Few believe that America will touch a cent of this blood money, but the gesture is magnificent and puts Finland in a position where she can get anything America is able to give.

Half Million Homeless Finns

◆ Finland notified the League of Nations that, as a result of the Russian invasion and the peace she was compelled to make with Stalin, she then had 550,000 homeless persons to look after, 55 percent of whom are children and 30 percent women. Another huge addition to the millions of refugees who have no place to go.

Why Be Conceited?

THE following shows the contrast between conditions in the American Aleutian Islands and the adjacent Kamandorsky Islands of the Soviet Union. The comparison is not altogether encouraging to the conceit of some who conclude that everything American is beyond comparison. Quotation from The Roman Forum:

During the summer of 1938 a Coast Guard cutter made a cruise with four scientists to the Aleutian Islands and to the Kamandorsky Islands of the Soviet Union for the purpose of studying the origin and development of the Aleuts. These islands are east of Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia and were discovered about 1741 by Vitus Bering under the support of Empress Anne of Russia. The original expedition was planned by Peter the Great.

From one of the scientists some data has been gathered which will present some comparison in the conditions of the Aleuts under the United States and those under the Russians.

It should be remembered that the Kamandorsky Islands are one of the extreme outposts of the Soviet Union and as such will give some indication of the extent and of the type of policies that the Russians have developed in their handling of their more primitive groups.

The American Aleuts are reported as carrying considerable debt with trading stores, with occasional shortage of food, poor clothes, considerable addiction to liquor, with an unfortunate amount of venereal disease. This does not apply to all of the groups, but there is enough of these unfortunate conditions to leave open an opportunity for correction.

In the Russian Kamandorsky Islands, with a population of several hundred of the Aleuts, all of the children of suitable age were in school and all the adults who could work had jobs. Many of them had small farms with vegetable plots. They raised cows, there was a government station for raising fox and sea otter, with a scientist detailed for guidance.

No drunkenness was observed during the visit, no jail could be found, there was a community house and library available for the natives at the capital city and, as far as known, venereal disease was almost done away with.

The natives seemed to have plenty of clothes; calfskin boots were available at a cost of about $3.00 in American money. The natives and the quarters were models of cleanliness.

There was a nursery for the smallest children, a kindergarten and an elementary school. The library had books by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. The natives were fond of music, frequently enjoyed spontaneous singing, and played "Oh, Susanna" for their American visitors. Of the island government council of seven members, three were Aleuts. The director of industry was an Aleut.

What particularly impressed the visitors was the bearing and sentiment of self-respect and wholesome interest in a co-operative life that was everywhere evident. There seemed to be none of the fear present that would give rise to petty crime and hard dealing. When the visitors attempted to buy food, the local inhabitants went out to gather some fifty splendid salmon from a local stream and pass them to the ship's company without cost. There was a cinema available, and in sports the American competitors were beaten both at volley ball and chess.

The sea otter station, the fox farm and the reindeer stations were thriving and gave good support to the local community.

At the community house lectures and talks were given. There happened to be a chart showing Nazi and Fascist troops coming over a Russian wall, with Russian soldiers mobilizing to stop them. This was evidently before the non-aggression pact with Germany. There were no churches known in the islands, but at the same time there was free intermarriage and no racial feeling. The islands were protected by a vast military force of one lieutenant and six troopers.--Quoted by "Rev." Hewlett Johnson in The Soviet Power, pages 280-282.

Australasia

In the Lead

◆ New Zealand has a place in the sun, not only figuratively speaking, but in reality. Each year the country averages two thousand and seventeen hours of sunshine, or six hours per day, which is comparable with southern Italy. Other good things about New Zealand are: the lowest death rate in the world, 8.48 per thousand, and the lowest infantile mortality rate in the world, 31.21 per thousand. Others again: it was the first British country to give manhood suffrage and female suffrage; has in Arthur's Pass Tunnel (5 1/4 miles) the longest railway tunnel in the British Empire; has had universal penny postage since 1901, is Britain's best per capita customer; supplies about one-third of the butter imported by Britain, over one-half of the cheese, more than one-half of her imported lamb and mutton, and nearly one-quarter of her imported wool. Last year it bought more manufactures from Britain than did any foreign country except the U.S.A. It is the world's leading exporter of dairy produce, and of mutton and lamb, and second largest exporter of wool. New Zealand has been called "God's Own Country", but, like Australia, it bans the message of THE THEOCRACY.

Loading Cattle in Fiji

◆ When loading cattle on the Fijian coast the steamer is anchored as near shore as possible, sometimes about 400 yards away. It is also "tethered" to a cocoanut palm on shore. A launch then tows a whaleboat halfway between the ship and shore, where it is anchored. A Fiji boy jumps over the side of the whaleboat and swims to shore with another rope. This is made fast to the horns of a bullock which has been separated from the rest in an improvised stockyard made of bamboo. The gate of the stockyard is opened and out rushes the bullock. The Fijian boys howl with delight. The idea is to entice or force the bullock to get into deep water so that it can be pulled alongside the whaleboat. The bullock snorts and bellows, probably rushes at one of the natives; he runs, everybody laughs, and all seem to be enjoying it except the bullock. As any slack is made on the rope, the boys on the whaleboat tighten up. This continues until the bullock is in deep water and swimming. The rest is easy. As he swims, so he is pulled alongside the whaleboat. Arriving there, a rope is fastened to the side of the boat and round the horns of the bullock so that he floats with the swell of the ocean, looking very uncomfortable and hoping no shark will come prowling around. Meanwhile his head is above water. There he floats while another line is taken ashore and the operation is repeated until there are three bullocks tied on either side of the whaleboat. The launch then tows the whaleboat out to the ship and the bullocks are hoisted aboard in canvas slings. It is simplicity itself—so long as nothing slips.—Australian Consolation.

[It isn't the same world since Australian Consolation was stopped.—Ed.]

What? No Blackouts!

◆ When 477 British children landed in Australia they could not understand why there were no blackouts and no sandbags. They insisted on taking their gas masks ashore, but after they had eaten 300 oranges, 1,000 apples, 2,000 ice creams and 300 pounds of candy, with no ill effects, they concluded there are some good places in the world, after all.

Australia Wants Cannon Fodder

◆ Australia wants more cannon fodder, and hereafter each taxpayer will have a pension of 5 shillings weekly for each child under 16 after the first. Taxpayers having one child will receive a tax exemption of £150. Looks like an efficient plan.

Britain

"They'll Never Quit"

◆ London carried on. The people kept going. They put out the fires, cleaned up the debris. They patched up the public services, kept the highways open and the trains running. They helped each other. They took care of the injured and succored the homeless. Women tore up their underclothing in the streets for bandages. They fought disease. They buried their dead. They sent their children to the country, and the women fed each other's men.

Above all, the people of London—and of other cities, too—kept cheerful. They kept their chins up and their thumbs up. They fought back. They took it. They fired guns to drown the noise of bombs. When that did not work, they put plugs in their ears. They did not panic. They stayed put. They trusted Churchill and, if this war is ever won by anybody, no one will be entitled to a greater share of the credit than these front-line fighters in the Battle of Britain.

The British will never yield this city. They may yield a pile of ashes, a hole in the ground, but they will never surrender London. The "scorched earth" left behind by retreating Communists in China will look like an oasis compared to what the Nazis will find if they ever get to London. The English will fight on to the last man and the last stone. They'll never quit.—Harry Klemmer, in the New York Post, April 16, 1941.

Giving and Getting

◆ The greatest joy in life is in giving, not in getting. Jehovah is the great Giver. The Devil is a getter, but gets nothing in the end. "Give, and it shall be given unto you." "The liberal soul shall be made fat." The Scriptures are full of such admonitions. A British woman had lost her husband and her son in the war. She knew what to do. She saw a couple of Canadian boys talking together, drove up in her limousine, handed them a package of 150 £1 notes, and drove off before they could thank her. She will get pleasure out of the remembrance of that for as long as she draws the breath of life.

Still more precious is the gift of the truth to the good and honest heart, with the plain implication in God's Word that it actually means salvation.

National Buildings Record

◆ Britain has organized a National Buildings Record and is now considering what to rebuild and what to tear away. Architects, historians and archeologists are getting the facts together, so that when the war is over there will be adequate information regarding important buildings of all kinds. But it will be the Lord, and not man, that will determine what shall be rebuilt after Armageddon is past. The buildings will be superlatively useful and beautiful, and they will be all new. "Behold, I make all things new," and the former things "shall not be remembered, nor come into mind".—Revelation 21:5; Isaiah 65:17.

"Stay Put" Rules

◆ The British Ministry of Information tells those who expect to be in areas that are invaded: Go to work, whether in shop, field or factory; do your shopping; send your children to school until you are told not to; do not try to go and live elsewhere; do not use the road for unnecessary journeys: they must be left free for troop movements, even a long way from the region where actual fighting is taking place.

One-Seventh of Shipping Sunk

◆ To start with Britain had 21,000,000 tons of merchant ships, and added 12,000,000 more from the fleets of Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and France. One-seventh of the lot was sunk in the first 18 months of the war.

Big Business

Says a Buyers' Guide

◆ Says a Buyers' Guide: "A widely sold tooth paste contains 35 grams of potassium chlorate: 8 grams is a deadly dose"; many leading brands of catsup were found upon analysis to contain cockroaches and worms; many headache and pain remedies contain a drug which is charged with over a thousand deaths; a number of nationally advertised soft drinks contain a habit-forming drug."

"An average of about 25 percent of what the consumer pays for clothing represents the manufacturer's costs, the other 75 percent, or 300-percent increase over the manufacturing costs, going for advertising and selling expenses."

The Bureau names 16 cosmetics the ingredients in which average to cost 4c and the containers 7c, and which average to sell for $1.30; and then states that "almost every conceivable kind of claim is made for face creams, but most dermatologists agree that ordinary toilet soap makes the best possible cleanser for normal skins".

As for tooth pastes: "Water and a tooth brush are all that are necessary, but if something more is desired, dissolve a quarter teaspoonful of salt or baking soda in a glass of warm water and use this solution on the brush."

As for patent medicines: "Some weight-reducing remedies contain dinitrophenol, a deadly drug"; and, "One remedy was a capsule containing the head of a tapeworm."

"Obviously an industrial and agricultural system geared to mass-production and absolutely dependent on mass-consumption cannot be expected to keep in balance when only 41 percent of the consumer's purchasing power seeps through to buy its products; nor can consumers ever expect to realize the much higher living standards our modern production facilities make possible when 59 percent of the consumer's dollar goes to the peddlers of goods."

It makes one feel a little sick at one's stomach to learn "that unripe fruits and vegetables are often gassed or dyed to give them a ripe color"; "that common foods sometimes contain lead and arsenic"; "that old and mold-covered meat may be given a bath in a saltpeter or sodium sulphite solution and artificial coloring used to make it appear fresh and disguise its odor"; and "that pyrogallol, a poison used by photographers in developing films, is sometimes used in giving ripe olives a glossy black color".

"Enriched Bread"

◆ After the valiant efforts to feed the American people plaster of Paris in their bread, and then proprionic acid (Ward Baking Company Patent 2,154,449) so that no mold will form and breads ten days old could therefore be eaten, now cometh Bond Bread, with a half-page advertisement in the New York Times (costing a lot of money) and stating that it has "Delicious Bond Bread Now Enriched" and in the same paper a 14-line story from Washington which explains that before any concern may advertise that its bread is enriched, it must be made to contain among other things, nicotinic acid, derived from nicotine. The nicotine on the lips of a dirty old tobacco-smoking grandmother has been known to kill her little grandchild when she kissed her. Not wanting to be forward, but it seems as if a few of the good old-fashioned things like genuine wheat flour, real undoctored milk, etc., might be substituted for this chemical junk.

Anne the Queen Maker

◆ Friday magazine explains that the king without any job, i.e., Otto von Hapsburg, who has been running around the United States lecturing on why he should be put on the throne of Austria has not been traveling on any money he ever earned. Friday says that his queen mother, known to diplomats as “Meddlesome Zita”, never got very far with her queen business until she ran across Anne Morgan of the house of Morgan. After that all was lovely and one of her good friends (you can almost guess who it was) deposited $8,900,000 in American banks to be used as a fund for the restoration of the glories of the Hapsburgs which fell into decay since 1914.

Plan for One Big Steel Company

◆ A dispatch from Washington says: “High government officials today were studying the proposal of CIO president Philip Murray for conversion of the entire iron, steel and tin industry into one great production unit to assure adequate supplies for civilian and military needs.” It may come. Indeed, in Germany, Hitler runs every business, as Mussolini does in Italy.

The New Plastics

◆ The new plastics, made of coal tar and kindred products, are rapidly taking the place of real rubber and may eventually do away with almost all rubber imports. The annual value of American plastics thus produced is around $80,000,000.

Birds

Swans Froze to the Ice

◆ In the terrible winter of 1939-1940 two thousand white swans flew from the north of Sweden to Denmark, thinking to find better weather. They found worse, and many of them, landing on the island of Saltholm, southeast of Copenhagen, actually froze to the ice and had to be shot. Many were fed by airplane, and others were rescued and brought to the mainland. Indeed, in that dreadful winter in which men were lined up to slay one another by the million, efforts of humans to keep wild life existent in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere were very noticeable.

The Gonies Are Moving

◆ The gonies are moving from Midway Island, one of the airplane stops on the way from America to Asia. They do not like the trees which have been planted by Uncle Sam. When they try to fly they sometimes hit a tree and are injured, so it is necessary for these largest of all sea birds (Laysan albatross) to locate another desert island where they can mount into the skies without danger of being killed. Probably more albatross marriages have taken place at Midway Island than at any other place on the globe.

American Cuckoo Nicer than British

◆ The English cuckoo is an interloper that doesn’t bother to build its own nest. The American cuckoo, however, does set up housekeeping for itself and provide for its offspring. True, the nest is not exactly a finished work of art, but it is a nest. Its eggs are a pale greenish-blue. The American cuckoo is secretive, and even furtive, acting as if it had done or was about to do something it shouldn’t. But it gets after the tent caterpillar, and so performs a useful work.

“Patriotic Bird”

◆ Under the title “Patriotic Bird” the Los Angeles Times contains a picture three columns wide of an English sparrow waving in its beak a diminutive American flag probably made in Japan. There are a good many people in every land who have just as much sense as that bird and know just as much about what constitutes real patriotism. The whole thing is too asinine to even be ridiculous.

COUNSEL by J. F. Rutherford

Rest for Humankind

THE people want rest from strife and war. How will they get it? The word "sabbath" means "rest". By establishing the sabbath day with the typical Israelites, whom He used to make prophetic pictures, God gave an implied promise of establishing a government of righteousness for the benefit of man and that that government would be one of peace and rest.

Among other provisions of the law given to the natural Jews, or Israelites, was the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11), which governed the day of rest. "Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel [not the non-Jews or Gentiles] for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:15-17) These scriptures show clearly an implied promise on the part of Jehovah God to establish a righteous government amongst men.

The sabbath day enjoined on the natural Jews by God's law is not the Sunday now observed by the nations of "Christendom". The Jewish sabbath day was the seventh day of the week, and corresponds with Saturday as shown on present-day calendars. Therefore the clergy of "Christendom" have the wrong day, even if they were interpreting the law properly. In the second place, the clergy are not properly applying the law. The law never did apply to the non-Jews, but was part of Jehovah's law covenant exclusively with the nation of Israel; and the first record of the observance by man of the sabbath, and the FIRST COMMAND to man to observe the sabbath, is at Exodus 16:22-30, in connection with the work of gathering the miraculous manna for food in the wilderness. The statement concerning the creation, at Genesis 2:1-3, merely records the fact of God's resting, but does not command man to keep the sabbath. When Christ Jesus came and died upon the tree on Calvary, he put an end to Jehovah's law covenant with natural Israel by nailing it to the tree. As written at Colossians 2:14: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross [tree or stake]." Hence, at verses 16 and 17 following, the apostle refers to the Jewish sabbath law and says: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [reality] is of Christ."

With Christians every day is the same, and what is wrong to be done on one day is wrong to be done on any other day; likewise that which is proper to do on one day is proper on other days. Therefore to the Christians in Galatia the apostle wrote (Galatians 4:9, 10, 11, 21): "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law [covenant], do ye not hear the law?" If it be borne in mind that what happened to the Jews in connection with their law covenant was for the purpose of foreshadowing things future to happen, and which things are to be understood by those living at the end of the world, where we now are, then the whole matter becomes clear. When the apostle under inspiration refers to the Jewish law covenant and writes that “the law [has] a shadow of good things to come”, we may know that it had a significance far different from that given it by religious racketeers.—Hebrews 10:1.

Jehovah’s immediate purpose in giving the Jews the sabbath law was to establish their belief or faith in Him, so that they would know that man’s relief can come only from God and would come in His due time, and that they must by faith wait for it. By keeping the sabbath the Jews would show their faith and confidence in God and would trust Him. By giving them the sabbath or rest period there is a clearly implied promise on God’s part to give rest and regeneration to those who shall exercise complete faith in Him and that this He would do in His own good time. At Hebrews 4:1-11 the apostle says that the purpose was to establish faith in God and that the Jews did not profit by the law concerning the sabbath because of their lack of faith or belief. “For we which have believed do enter into rest. . . . For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”—Vss. 3, 10, 11.

God’s law to the Jews governing the sabbath day typically referred to the coming of God’s kingdom under Christ. Observance of that law showed faith of the Jews in God and in His promised King that would bring rest and blessings to the people. Christ Jesus came and fulfilled the law because He was and is the King; therefore nothing could be gained by observing the typical sabbath law after the coming of Christ, nor does failure to observe it now give one the “mark of the beast”. The kingdom of God under Christ is now here, and within a short time it will destroy Satan’s oppressive rule at the battle of Armageddon and usher in everlasting rest for faithful men on earth.

The question is raised, If not literally observing the Fourth Commandment today, why then quote the Second Commandment concerning idolatry when refusing to “heil” men and to salute an emblem standing for the government and the laws of the nation? At Exodus 20:4, 5 Almighty God says concerning images and symbols: “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them.” That commandment is not subject to interpretation by human creatures, be they judges of courts or religious “experts”. No doubt is left in the mind as to what is the meaning of those words, because God himself has given the plain interpretation thereof.—See Daniel chapters 3 and 6; also Esther chapters 3, 4, 5.

God provides the gift of life to all men who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior and who then covenant to be obedient to the laws of God and hence obedient to Christ Jesus. That which was written in the law against idolatry and religion applies specifically to all spiritual Israelites, or Christians who follow Christ Jesus. Upon this point there is not a possibility of doubt, as it is written to the Christians by the apostle, at 1 Corinthians 10:7, 11, 12, 14: “Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Now all these things happened unto them [natural Israelites] for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, FLEE FROM IDOLATRY.”

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:16) “Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9) “This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:20, 21) These texts are in harmony with the Second Commandment at Exodus 20.

Facsimile pages from the valuable work by Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse, Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States. Although published a good many years ago, by the Van Nostrand publishing house, of New York, the work is as significant today as when written. Professor Morse warned President Lincoln of his impending assassination by tools of the Jesuits, and wrote an introduction to the book Confessions of a French Catholic Priest, also published by the Van Nostrands, and reviewed in Consolation No. 561.

FOREIGN CONSPIRACY

AGAINST THE

LIBERTIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

Does this heading seem singular? What, it will be said, is it at all probable that any nation, or combination of nations, can entertain designs against us, a people so peaceable, and at the same time so distant? Knowing the daily increasing resources of this country in all the means of defence against foreign aggression, how absurd in the nations abroad to dream of a conquest on this soil! Let me, nevertheless, ask attention, while I humbly offer my reasons for believing that a conspiracy exists, that its plans are already in operation, and that we are attacked in a vulnerable quarter, which cannot be defended by our ships, our forts, or our armies.

Who among us is not aware that a mighty struggle of opinion is in our days agitating all the nations of Europe; that there is a war

these remarks with the purely religious character of the tenets of the Roman Catholic sect. They are not in discussion. If any wish to resolve their doubts in the religious controversy, the acute pens of the polemic writers of the day will furnish them abundant means of deciding for themselves. But every religious sect has certain principles of government growing out of its particular religious belief, and which will be found to agree or disagree with the principles of any given form of civil government. It is my design, therefore, briefly to consider some of the antagonist principles of the government of Austria and of the United States, and compare them with the principles of government of the Catholic and Protestant sects. By this method we shall be able to judge of their bearing on the permanency of our present civil institutions.

Let us first present in view the fundamental principle of government, that principle which, according to its agreement with one or the other of the two opposite opinions that divide the world, decides entirely the character of the government in every part of the body politic. From whom is authority to govern derived? Austria and the United States will agree in answering—from God. The opposition of opinion occurs in the answers to the next question. To whom on earth is this authority delegated? Austria answers, To the Emperor, who is the source of all authority—“I, the Emperor, do ordain,” &c. The United States answers, To the People, in whom resides the sovereign power—“We, the People, do ordain, establish, grant,” &c. In one principle is recognised the necessity of the servitude of the people, the absolute dependence of the subject, unqualified submission to the commands of the rulers without question or examination. The Ruler is Master, the People are Slaves. In the other is recognised the supremacy of the people, the equality of rights and powers of the citizen, submission alone to laws emanating from themselves; the Ruler is a public servant, receiving wages from the people to perform services agreeable to their pleasure; amenable in all things to them, and holding office at their will. The Ruler is Servant, the People are Master. The fact and important nature of the difference in these antagonist doctrines, leading, as is perceived, to diametrically opposite results, are all that is needful to state in order to proceed at once to the inquiry, Which position does the Catholic sect and the Protestant sects severally favor? The Pope, the supreme head of the Catholic church, claims to be the “Vicegerent of God,” “supreme over all mortals;” “over all Emperors, Kings, Princes, Potentates, and People;” “King of kings and Lord of lords.” He styles himself, “the divinely appointed dispenser of spiritual and temporal punishments;” “armed with power to depose Emperors and Kings, and absolve subjects from their oath of allegiance;” “from him lies no appeal;” “he is responsible to no one on earth;” “He is judged of no one but”

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