Consolation, February 3, 1943
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Contents
School Hitlerism (Part 1)
Jehovah’s witnesses Hold Constitutional Law 9 Lands and Peoples of Northwest Africa 10
Fascist Ambitions in Libya
Why the Cry of "Tunisia”, "Tunisia”
« Algeria an Integral Part of France
4 Map of North Africa
Morocco Farthest West
Some First Hand Information
Butter Tree, Flour Tree, and Cheese Tree 15 "The Profit of the Earth Is for AH” 13 "Thy Word Is Truth”
No Life in Hell
The "Holy Roman Empire”
Attempts a Comeback
lias the “Church” Reformed?
Common Aims of Nazis and Hierarchy 21 The "Church” and Hitler Remember
Hitler a Catholic in Good Standing
Hitler and the "Old Lady”
Birds of a Feather
Condemned out of Their Own Mouths
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”
Features of The Emphatic Diaglott
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♦ The Report 0/ the New World Theo. cratic Assembly of Jehovah's witnesses, September 18, 19, 20, 1942, just at hand, is, by all odds, the best report of any annual convention of Jehovah’s witnesses that has ever been published. And it is the most attractive. With pages 9" by 12" in size (the same as The Watchtower), the pictures, 82 of them, are generous in their proportions, and tell a great story in themselves.
Of special interest is the magnificent scene which goes to make up the front cover. A hand, as the hand of the great Creator, is revealed as opening the windows of heaven and pouring out upon Jehovah’s witnesses so many and so great blessings that they could not be contained. The blessings themselves'are shown: the Watchtower Bible; the October 1, 1942, issue of The Watchtower, containing the discourse on “The Only Light”; the new book, The New World; Kingdom Neivs No. 11, entitled “The People Have a Right to Good News Now”; the booklet Peace—Can It Last? and Organization Instructions, which instructions enable Jehovah’s strange work in the earth to he done in an orderly manner by the most orderly and obedient people on earth; and then the avalanche of thousands upon thousands of these new features that enabled the witnesses to make immediate use of them.
As in all the new books and booklets, provided by the Lord through the Society, only the name of Jehovah- God is j exalted in this report of the greatest convention of Jehovah’s people ever held on earth. It is known that 156,424 attended and that at least 4,992 were immersed. In every way this report is different and better than any that preceded it. No one that is of good-will toward God can read it without praise to Jehovah welling up within his heart.
CONSOLATION
“And in His name shall the nations hope.”—Matthew 12:21, A.R.V.
Volume XXIV Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, February 3, 1.943 Number 610
School Hitlerism (Zn Two Parts—Part 1)
"The salute of the flag is an expression1 of the homage of the soul. To force it upon one who has conscientious scruples against giving it, is petty tyranny unworthy of the spirit of this Republic and forbidden, we think, by the fundamental law. This court will not countenance such tyranny but will use the power at its command to see that rights guaranteed by the fundamental law are respected.” —District Court of the United States, Southern District of West Virginia.
THERE has been much publicity about the enforcement of the flag salute in certain schools throughout the United States. On the other hand there is a total lack of publication as to the educational success of such schools. Some of Jehovah’s witnesses have now been refused an education on this ground for more than three years. What is accomplished thereby? Are the schools reaching new standards of excellence? Have their school methods and practices produced better Americans, well grounded in essential knowledge? It is now time to consider.
Publie Law 623, passed last June by the 77th Congress, expressly provides: "Civilians will always show full respect to the flag when the pledge is given by merely standing at attention.”1
Meanwhile some school authorities continue to bring unsavory attention to themselves by insisting on the salute, not lawfully required of civilians. Surely children are entitled to all the rights and immunities allowed to other civilians, especially to the inherent and constitutionally guaranteed right to worship God according to the dictates of the young conscience. Unprejudiced authorities would rejoice to see the child exercise that right. But unhappily there is a breed among our school potentates who find the Nazi methods more attractive than the American way of life. These are the little Hitlers of the schoolyard.
Among the tyrants of ail time no other is so des-p i c a b 1 e as the oppressor of the youthful conscience. It is painful to endure the ostracism of one’s schoolmates, but to suffer punishment at the hands of respected elders for that which is done for conscience’ sake is severe indeed. Let the minds of the adult return to his own school days and recall the little heartaches which racked so painfully. Pause for a moment and reflect as to how you would have endured chastisement for doing what you conscientiously believed to be God’s will. Such is the hardship courageously borne by little children who love the Lord.
School days are not the happiest times at best. The youngster must accommodate himself to discipline, sacrifice many yearnings, and obey without question. He must learn the difference between right and wrong. This is often hard, even though it may be explained to him that rules are for his benefit. To aid in this process of molding the young mind nothing else is so helpful as con-
fidence in and love of the teacher. How, then, can the school authorities gain respect from the child by forcing upon him that which is repugnant to his conscience? It is their duty to quicken this conscience and not to punish its Exercise.
Properly, then, the teacher becomes the j guide to right conduct and is looked up * to for instruction in nearly every phase of life; and the adolescent conscience is quickened not merely by “musts” and “must nots”, but by the example of the beloved ideal. For more than half his waking hours the student lives in this influence, which can be exerted mightily for his benefit,—Proverbs 22:6.
School thus grows to be a large part of the child's world. Those who people it have either his confidence or his distrust. He reasons about the conduct of others; and although he may accept unreasonable behavior, it is not without wonder, which may even recur in later years to be threshed out and the action condemned. Injustice is most likely to be bitterly remembered. •
Injustice comes now in its ugliest form: punishment for doing right. The whole framework of education built on confidence, respect and devotion collapses. The eminence of the child’s tutors is brought low, and nothing but contempt for such action, which will increase through the years, can result. Nor is the effect limited to the persecuted one, but spreads to all those who see it, and even beyond, to all who hear about ■it; little impressionable minds carrying a record of wrong for many generations.
Proper instruction, on the other hand, leads to “have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men”. (Acts 24:16) What happens, then, from the attempt to force an improper conscience toward God and toward men? What occurs when in good conscience a boy or girl asks to be excused from the flag salute because he or she considers it against God’s law, and, without any attempt to prove the child’s reasoning incorrect, the principal or teacher says: “If you don’t salute you will be whipped or expelled” ? The child of faith remains firm. But there are'many others with a sense of justice who begin to wonder whether the voice of conscience is-the thing to listen to or not. The teachers have said so. But now a schoolmate is in trouble because he insists on doing what he thinks is right. Are any rules right after all?
The principles expounded by the educators are fine. In an abstract manner their reasoning is sound; in practical application they are found wanting. Take, for example, Springfield, Mass. A write-up in the Springfield Union eulogizes the schools of that city for their teaching the youth the fine art of good citizenship and democracy. It says, in part:
Gone are the days when democracy could thrive in the schools on perfunctory salutes to the flag and pictures of Washington crossing the Delaware. Democracy is fighting for its life. The schools know this and are doing something about it. They realize that their big job is to make democracy live. They must show what lies behind the flag and what it means to live in a democracy. America must be understood rather than accepted. . . . Students learn of the bitter struggles by which liberty was won in America and how it is imperiled by antidemocratic movements which are sweeping the world. “Be open-minded and get the facts,” is the lesson students are urged to learn. *
The actions of Springfield schools belie the above words. They tried to force perfunctory salutes from children who declined because of conscientious scruples based upon God’s law. They tried to force acceptance of what they call “democracy”, not understanding true democracy themselves. These arbitrary methods failing to break the faith and integrity of the children, they were expelled from school.
Another ■ principle not everywhere followed is that stated by a well-known educator, Wilford M. Aikin, in the New York Tinies. He says, in an article entitled “What’s Wrong with Our Schools?” that after prolonged study many teachers and principals have stated their convictions, one of them in the following phrase:
We believe that the mind and spirit of man should be free, that there should be no shackles upon intelligence or spirit, that all aspects of life, even the democratic ideal itself, ' shall be open to honest inquiry, discussion and criticism. For that reason the Bill of Rights was included in the Constitution. Mind and spirit can be free only where freedom of speech, press, assembly and worship are guaranteed.
Demoralization is sure to follow digression from God’s law. School boards even digress from the laws of the land in order to set up petty dictatorships over the pupils. The Nazi example, where each official metes out “justice” according to his own whim or caprice, becomes the practice. Besides expulsion, whippings and incited assaults by other children are resorted to. Here again appears the Nazi pattern, the weapon of tyrants of all ages. Certainly this conversion to Fascism gladdens the heart of Hitler, and gives his father the Devil much joy because the whole tendency is to reflect discredit upon Jehovah. But it should be no cause for joy to Americans.
All patriotic Americans agree with the words of former Supreme Court Justice Byrnes when he said:
We must by all means avoid developing among ourselves a Hitler-like contempt of other groups and ereeds and races. We want no Hitler justice here. We want no trials by axe-men instead of juries. We know the meaning of Equal Justice Under Law. We know the blessings of liberty. To preserve these we will give our all. God helping us.1
Mr. Byrnes himself did not live up to that fine declaration of American princi-
1 Speech before the Illinois Bar Association delivered in Chicago, June 4, 1942.
FEBRUARY 3, 1943 pies, because, four days later, he fell in with the majority decision, that famous five to four decision against freedom, permitting tax levies upon Bible truths? Many school boards also thus render lip service to the four freedoms, while they deny their enjoyment to children of a faith different from their own. This statement, of course, does not include the thousands of American schools that magnanimously recognize the right of Jehovah’s witnesses to worship the Lord according to conscience, and excuse them from the salute. But today the germ of Hitlerism is spreading to some of these.
The question now arises: Why do school authorities emphasize the salute, which can have but small importance in the realm of education ? Briefly answered, they prefer Nazism to Americanism, seeking to dominate without recourse for the victim; and hate the God of Jehovah’s witnesses. They exhibit all. the symptoms of the disease ravaging this country, suppression of free worship. In violating the Constitution and Federal Law 623 the schools have been aided and abetted by other groups, as we shall see later.
Related to the exaggerated emphasis upon the salute are other questions for most serious consideration by parents and educators of the United States, to wit: How do the achievements of the schools in the proper field of education compare with their zeal to destroy obedience to Jehovah? While doing homage to totalitarian methods is there a corresponding neglect of basic and moral instruction ? In the unhappy land of Nazism immorality is glorified. Are the American schools following suit?
2 The Chicago Tribune editorially regretted the appointment of Byrnes as director of economic stabilization because of his “concurrence as a member of a five to four majority in the Supreme Court in an opinion of the court last June which held, in the Jehovah’s witnesses eases, that vendors of religious books and pamphlets may be licensed and taxed, notwithstanding the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, speech, and the press”.
The Answer '
, Answering the foregoing questions Consolation submits several forms of evidence: statements of pupils themselves; the opinions of educators and professors of grade schools, high schools, and colleges ; quotations from civic and national , leaders and spokesmen; testimony of * police officials as to immorality; Catholic and, particularly, Jesuit objectives in education, and the results; and excerpts from the court records.
Consideration will be given to the points in the order mentioned. First, the statements by the pupils themselves. This is perhaps the least reliable evidence, as children are given too much to imagination and hearsay and then repeating it as a fact. But to round out the picture such information is offered.
A high-school girl of fifteen relates the following:
In my English class the other day, we were ■ conjugating verbs,, and one of the girls asked if "sit, sat, sut” was correct. The teacher asked how she would use "sut” in a sentence. The girl replied: “We have sut here for hours.’’
The class’and teacher both laughed, but there was no attempt made to correct this girl’s mistake.
While I read a great deal, and have acquired a vocabulary that way rather than at school, yet I have not learned to spell properly. Several years ago, in South Carolina, we learned spelling through the spelling bee, which everybody enjoyed. Now they seldom, if ever, have spelling bees.
The present-day history books do not tell why America was settled. They show merely that the people were heavily taxed, and therefore left their country to come here. There is scarcely any mention of their desire for freedom of worship. No mention is made of the Catholic Inquisition or the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572. They don’t teach the coming of the peoples of Europe here to find refuge from the Inquisition.
Evolution is generally taught.
This young lady, who signs herself a "California high-school girl”, touches also on the subject of morality.
The average high-school age for boys and girls is from fifteen to eighteen years. Girls sixteen and seventeen are attending high school married. They talk freely of their married life in front of girls fifteen years old. Is this anything for these young minds to be absorbing! ... The boys have no scruples at all; they are utterly disrespectful to girls and to teachers. There is no limit to which they would not go to humiliate a girl, especially one who they know dislikes them. Mean things are done by starting untrue, filthy stories about the girl, and molesting her in the halls. These boys are not only filthy-minded, but filthy in body. In fact, they are quite insipid'and revolting. They wear dirty corduroy trousers covered with everything from lipstick to parts of their breakfast.
Ab an afterthought then she adds: "This is not true of all the hoys, but of the majority”; and concludes: "Youth composed of atheists, agnostics, is the result of this 'mess’ of education,—unbelievers, not only in God and the Bible, but in anything.”
The educational deficiencies are fully corroborated by newspaper statements and quotations from educators. The Los Angeles Examiner of September 11,1942, printed four news articles concerning the basic lack of modern education. The first of these is a report of interviews with students themselves, and is headed: "Progressive Education Condemned by Students Themselves.” Clubwomen, parents, businessmen, high-ranking military officers, and thousands of teachers, as the Examiner has shown with abundant evidence, have expressed alarm at what misnamed “progressive education” and slighting of the "three K’s” have done to school children. Now the children condemn it themselves!
Even the students themselves turned out of California’s high schools under the misnamed “progressive education” (or "coddling”) system don’t like what has been done to them! They know they have been shortchanged on the “three K’s”, and they say so.
Here are answers by high-school graduates to the question, “In what way do you think your, high school could improve on its program in preparing students for the university?”
“High school should be more thorough.” “More mathematics and English composition needed in high school.” “More homework. High school should raise standards.”
The next column of the same issue voices the request of 71,000 members of the California American Legion:
"Our organization at its last convention in Los Angeles went on record as. advocating the compulsory teaching of American history in all California institutions of learning— especially in high schools where it is frequently an optional part of the curriculum,” Happell declared. ...
The Los Angeles Examiner has made quite a campaign for improved education. In the issue of October 2, 1942, Doctor Russell W. Starr, 17th District Americanism chairman of the American Legion, is quoted as denouncing “schools’ stress of socially significant” topics to the neglect of basic training in the “three B’s”. Dr. Starr sees the infiltration of Nazism:
“The very future of our nation depends on the correct training of our children. You can change the outlook of an entire nation in 20 years by teaching methods, as witness Germany and other countries where that has actually been done.
“Suspicion is aroused that there may be some of this being attempted in some parts of our own country. [The enforced flag salute is just such an attempt disguised in patriotic dress.] Why have so-called ‘socially prominent’ items and attacks on our institutions become more important in classrooms than primary training in reading, writing and arithmetic ?
“Is an attempt under way to steal the minds of our children—to turn them away from basic principles, which have been proved sound in 4 period of over 150 years of our national life?
“Who is it who does not want children taught reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, and geography, hut nous want them taught foreign philosophies ' and ideologies? . . . [Who but the Hierarchy of the Catholic sect?]
“Why is so much time wasted in the'sehool-rooms—given to play subjects? Why the stress on letting the child ‘do as he pleases’? Why this encouragement, cited in many cases, of disregard of discipline ? Are these attitudes American ?”
Another educator, L. J. White, for 25 years an instructor in the Manual Arts High School, gave this opinion:
“I have opposed the so-called new or ‘progressive’ type of education [which appears to have conic in shortly before the enforced flag salute] for the past ten years. I do not believe we should confine the education of our children to just the ‘three B’s’, but I do believe every child should have a good knowledge of fundamental subjects first and so-called ‘cultural’ subjects later. . , .
“Some years ago I noticed that students in my A-II civics classes misspelled many words on every written piece of work they handed me. I finally gave a spelling test to the students in three of my classes and used a list of 50 words from the list used between high schools in radio spelling contests. I took the words in regular order and did not select difficult words. I pronounced each one carefully, and used the word in a sentence.
“Two of these students missed every word. A few got two words spelled correctly. The highest mark given was 52 percent! I alsq gave a little test in arithmetic and found almost as deplorable a situation. Many of our students take no mathematics during their high school course.”
“1 recommended a high-school girl to a friend of mine as a stenographer. He gave her a trial, but did not employ her. Later he told me she could take dictation rapidly enough, but couldn’t spell even the simple words after she had taken them down! The schools must get back to fundamentals, and to emphatic teaching methods.”
A monthly bulletin entitled “Friends of the Public Schools”, from Washington, D. C., puts its finger on the difficulty. Following are some excerpts from its issue of May, 1941:
j From all over the United States comes to 4this office letter after letter complaining that children can’t read, can’t write, can’t punctuate, have no vocabulary, can’t spell or can’t do simple arithmetic. What is the reason?
We have long felt that it is the shortening of school hours and the introduction of fads and frills, and, lately, the introduction of every sort of topic under the theory of broadening education. . . .
Let us just pause for a moment and think deeply on the fact that it was the methods of teaching in vogue 40 to 100 years ago that produced the brilliant men and women of invention, science, literature and art" that has made America the greatest nation in all human history—in every line of invention and endeavor. . . . But they were thoroughly trained in the fundamentals of reading, arithmetic, spelling and the like, or made themselves masters of those fundamentals and then diligently, systematically, energetically and continuously applied themselves to the one great objective in their lives. Almost none of them were the result of highly mechanized schools, or, as Mr. Hart puts it, schools with “too great educational machinery”.
If that teaching produced such an age of brilliant men and women with what the modern educators call “underprivileged” equipment, then we had better seriously sit down and reflect how many of the present fads and frills we should east out of our schools in order to get back to methods that will produce for coming generations the same brilliant men and women in same proportion according to numbers as the old methods of teaching produced in the past. . . .
There is no time (and we fear, sometimes, no inclination) to drill children in reading, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography and other fundamentals, and without drill (repetition) young children can’t learn, and above all, can’t acquire that fluency and confidence that bring success. [Now the “more religion” advocates would further encroach on precious school time and add religion to the curriculum of the public schools.]
The same bulletin quoted some of the remarks, on Senate Bill No. 1313 pertaining to education and schools, by Merwin K. Hart, president of the New York State Economic Council, some of which follow:
“Too many things attempted; too. few things perfected! . . .
“Public education in recent years, at least in New York, has tended to spread out and to include too many subjects. As more subjects have been taken in, the teaching of many of them, notably of such elementary things as reading, has often deteriorated. At a conference on the cost and quality of education held in February, 1940, in Albany, Dr. John L. Tildsley, former associate superintendent of schools of New York City, pointed out that about 20 percent of all pupils admitted to one high school in that city were unable to read well enough to read its textbooks in high school courses; and he believed that proportion would hold throughout the city. . . .
“Part of the cause of this I believe to be too much educational machinery. The schools are trying to do too much. In many cases they are not doing essential things well. The machinery eould be simplified with money saved and with better education to the child.
Dr. Joel L. Hildebrand, dean of the University of California’s College of Letters and Science, characterizes the modern trend as an “educational spree”, from which such educators must “sober up”. His book published in May, entitled “School and Society”, generally derides “progressive education” in biting satire.
A Los Angeles businessman, in search of a typist, opened a readably good letter from a girl desiring work as a “typest”. She failed to get the job.
It is, of course, not maintained that such deplorable conditions are the direct result of enforcement of the flag salute. But these facts are presented to show that the school authorities are not attending to their proper business. It will further be observed that ignorance is the devoted companion of lawlessness.
[In the foregoing, consideration has been given to the fact that while emphasis has been placed upon nonessential gestures and fads in the schools, education in fundamental and practical knowledge has been allowed to suffer neglect.
What, are the moral conditions in the schools? How are American children affected by their schooling? For what kind of activity in life does it apparently prepare them? And what influence back of the situation must bear a large measure of blame? These matters the writer takes up in the next issue, bringing the article to a striking conclusion.—Ed.]
Jehovah’s witnesses Mold Constitutional Law2
SELDOM, if ever, in the past, has one individual or group been able to shape the course, over a period of time, of any phase of our vast body of constitutional law. But it can happen, and it has happened, here. The group is Jehovah’s witnesses. Through almost constant litigation this organization has made possible an ever-increasing list of precedents concerning the application of the Fourteenth Amendment to freedom of speech and religion.
The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and religion from undue encroachment by the federal government. Of course, the freedoms are not defined therein. They assume definite content only when an individual alleges in the courtroom that as to him they have been infringed. As that body of precedents increases predictions as to future conduct become more accurately possible. In normal, peaceful eras precedents seldom arise, because challenges to them do not occur. Nonetheless, during the course of time a substantial body of case law has developed concerning the First Amendment. Only in recent years, however, has the Fourteenth Amendment been judicially considered as protecting the freedoms against encroachment by the states. Minute analysis here becomes possible only as a sufficient variety of cases comes before the courts. Until that occurs, prediction as to permissible conduct is little more than guesswork.
In the World War espionage cases the Supreme Court evolved the nowfamiliar “clear and present danger” test as the most definite available standard concerning the First Amendment. More recently, the same test has been applied to state legislation under the Fourteenth Amendment. And so, a body of precedent crystallizing rules regarding the limits of encroachments by the states has been developing.
To this development Jehovah’s witnesses have contributed the most, both in quantity and in significance. Primarily their interest has not been merely to develop this phase of constitutional law; rather, it has been to maintain and perpetuate the existence of organization. This cult has found it necessary to struggle against a tremendous surge of unfriendly local opinion and opposition —opposition aided by local laws designed to curtail the Witnesses’functions and activities—opposition aided and abetted by zealously antagonistic local law-enforcement authorities. Wherever and whenever they have been thus hampered, the Witnesses have alleged that the local legislation infringed upon their freedom of speech and religion. Favored by a strong organization with adequate financial support, they have been ready, able and willing to carry these issues to the highest tribunal in the country. The decisions resulting therefrom now set
the pattern for state courts in determining how far state legislatures may vaiidly proceed on matters pertaining to freedom of speech and religion. The cases assume greater and greater significance, as local legislative bodies, with , one type of law ruled unconstitutional, proceed to new and different devices * aimed at curtailment. Thus, while the cult, though vigorously active, has but negligible influence, its incidental contributions to constitutional law have been tremendously significant.
Whether one accepts their teachings
or whether he privately thinks them ridiculous, is beside the point. The Witnesses are citizens and residents of the United States; they are as much entitled to the protection of the Constitution as are various other religious sects. To restrain them because their beliefs are unpopular is hardly in keeping with American traditions; they should be permitted freedom of activity so long as they do not violate laws found to be valid exercises of the police power. This point of view has been affirmed by the Supreme Court in a series of important decisions.
Lands and Peoples
BECAUSE, unexpectedly, and, it would seem, under the circumstances, with excellent good judgment, the second front was opened November 7 in French North Africa, it seems appropriate here to pay some special attention to this portion of the world. The last previous issue of this magazine gave some historical information regarding Tunisia, now the center of the battle for control of North Africa. The possibilities of French North Africa were presented to the view of the reader, and, because almost all . the people of northern Africa are Mohammedans, considerable attention was paid to this particular religious racket , which controls 220,000,000 people.
Robert Gale Woobert, in the New York Times, gave a very interesting review of his travels in and impressions of North Africa. He referred to an oft-repeated saying that “Tunisia is a woman; Algeria is a man; but Morocco is a lion”. It seems that this statement is correct, and would be still more apropos if it said, “Libya is a child; Tunisia is a woman; Algeria is a man; and Morocco is a lion.” Libya is the least-fertile and the most desert-like of the four states.
It is only thirty years since Italy seized control of Libya. Though the
of Northwest Africa
country as a whole is rather barren, it has date-palm orchards, olive groves, lemon, almond and fig trees, and vine- yards. Other exports in normal times are tobacco, matting, carpets, leather articles, and fabrics embroidered with gold and silver. 1
The laws are made in Rome, and the government of the natives and of the Jews has not been such as to make the governors objects of love and appreciation by the common people.
Even before the present war broke out tales came from Libya that one of the prominent Mohammedan chieftains had been taken up in an Italian airplane to a height of several thousand feet. Then he was thrown out, and his remains were scattered over the landscape to teach the people that “Mussolini is always right”.
Within the hist five years the Jews in Tripoli, the largest city- in Libya, were hogged by command of the Italian authorities for failure to keep their shops open on Saturday in violation of their conscience. The floggings, ten strokes with a whip made of pleated leather, were inflicted in the open market-place. The red-whiskered assassin (Graziani, captured in the Ethiopian war) who perpetrated these and other outrages is now a prisoner of war in British India.
The population of Libya in 1939 was only 888,401, distributed over an area of 679,358 square miles. That is only one person to a little less than a square mile. The population is of a very mixed character, containing, besides the Moors, traces of the ancient Numidians, Phoenicians and Romans, together with the more recent influx of Italians, ■
Fascist Ambitions in Libya
It is now about seventy years since Italy began to have dreams of empire in Africa. Mussolini’s ambition, like that of Caesar, grew upon that on which it fed, and when he seized Ethiopia, in 1935, it was apparent shortly afterward that along with Hitler he planned the seizure of Egypt and the Suez Canal, and, indeed, the seizure of the whole of Africa; and, along with Japan, the domination of the world.
It is quite interesting that in 1935, when the Falasha princess of Ethiopia, Ras sari Heshia Tamanya, cousin of Emperor Haile Selassie, was in New York city, and when the unprovoked invasion of her country was impending, she made the correct prediction that a second world war, more wide-spread, more devastating than the 1914-1918 conflict, was in sight. The princess traces her lineage back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and seems to have some of Solomon’s wisdom. It is not apparent that Mussolini made much out of his Ethiopian venture, but the one that incited him to it, and “blessed” his murderous expedition, made it one of the conditions of his support that only Roman Catholic missionaries would be permitted to do business in this land which for centuries has been neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant, but of the Coptic religion.
The Roman Catholic Hierarchy would cheerfully bargain, with the Devil direct for anything that would give them political power. Hence the indulgent attitude of this “church” toward its children, Mussolini, Hitler, Franco, Tiso, Salazar, Quisling, and De G relle, and maybe Hirohito. (Hirohito’s four daughters are being educated by Roman Catholic nuns.)
Cardinal Fracchinetti, whose journey to the so-called “Eucharistic Congress” in Tripoli was made in an Italian warship, wrote on his arrival that one of the aims of the Congress is to aid Fascism, Latin civilization, and to stifle Bolshevism, Asiatic barbarism.
There are many interesting things in Libya besides those of military significance. One of these is the Arab city of Garia, sixty-five miles from Tripoli. This city is built thirty feet below -ground, where the people have lived for centuries in laboriously carved passages and exquisitely decorated chambers to hide themselves from the hot winds that sometimes sweep over Libya. To an approaching visitor the Arab city is invisible, but the Italians have built their barracks above it. The subterraneous houses are ventilated by airshafts which rise from the courtyard about which most Arabian homes are built.
In the middle of the Sahara, south of Libya, is the Emi Kussi, 11,000 feet high, ^he highest mountain of Sahara. This mountain contains copper deposits. Also, there are date and palm trees in the near-by oasis of Bardi. But, unfortunately, so think the Italians, this mountain is just over the border, and is therefore in the French Sahara. The Italians want it and asked France to give it to them, but the French said, ,Nix. Result: Hard feelings.
Why the Cry of "Tunisia”, “Tunisia”
Nominally the ruler of Tunisia is a bey, whose family has been on the throne for some 240 years, but in 1881 the French took him under their protection, and since then he has done what he was told. This has not just suited the Italians, because they have 94,289 of their nationality there out of a total population of 2,608,313; while the French, aside from the army, is only 106,068. Tunisia is about the area of New York state or Pennsylvania.
In the mountainous north there are large and fertile valleys; in the northeast peninsula, excellent land for fruit culture; in the central part, pastures and \ high tablelands; and in the south are famous oases and gardens in which dates grow in rich profusion. Agriculture is the chief industry, and wheat, oats, barley, olives, dates and grapes are produced abundantly, besides almonds, oranges, lemons, shaddocks, pistachios, alfa grass, henna, and cork. The most important minerals Ure lead, iron, phosphate, and zinc.
Those who have been accustomed to think of northern Africa as being mainly desert will be amazed to learn that there are, in little Tunisia alone, over 7,000,000 acres of tilled land, 2,725,000 acres covered by pine and cork forest of considerable value, 75,600 acres of vineyards, and 11,500,000 acres of stock lands.
Before the war well over 2,000,000 tons of shipping annually entered and cleared Tunisian ports. More than 60 percent of trade was with France. The chief imports were textiles, manufactured metals, and minerals, while the main exports were agricultural products, olive oil, and minerals. Governmental expenditures in 1940 were over 800,000,000 francs.
When Mussolini’s “government” stabbed France in the back, a few years ago, he doubtless visualized a greatly enlarged African empire for Italy after the war. These dreams are now fading, as is Mussolini himself. At the time of the back-stabbing, and when the streets of Rome resounded with the cry of “Tunisia”, this human jackal could have had no idea that, when the time came for foreign troops to cross the borders of that beautiful land, those troops would not be Fascist, bent on loot, but Americans and British sent to assist defeated and divided France.
Algeria an Integral Part of France
Algeria, unlike either Tunisia or Morocco, has been a part of France since 1830. For centuries the principal business of Algiers was piracy, and for a long time England paid the bey of Algiers $280,000 a year tribute. A part of this tribute was always demanded in armed vessels, ammunition, and naval stores, so that England really furnished these cutthroats with the tools wherewith the piracies on the ships of other nationalities were accomplished.
The time of settlement came when the Algerians captured two United States vessels and 21 men, who, as usual, were reduced to slavery while the question of their ransom was pending. Eleven of these men died in slavery, and as a consequence Admiral Decatur raided the whole coast. Coming into Algiers he chanced to find the entire fleet at Sea. He gave the bey three hours to release all captives, of whatsoever nationality, and fofswear all future tribute, or he would blow his place off the map. The bey capitulated. Subsequently Decatur visited Tunis and Tripoli on the same errand, and with like results. The next year the British government stopped paying tribute and made a similar trip.
The bey continued to prey upon the French, but it didn’t go, and in 1830 his country was seized, the French taking the whole works, though not without resistance lasting forty years. Today no native of Algeria can become a naturalized French citizen and vote unless he renounces his personal status as a Mohammedan. This includes giving up polygamy and accepting the French law of inheritance. Only a few thousand natives have accepted these terms and become French citizens. This Mohammedan situation is so ticklish that just before the greatest armada in history moved through the straits of Gibraltar every soldier was given printed instructions not to speak to any Moslem woman, not even the most innocent word, as such
would be considered an insult bitterly resented by every Moslem man.
Algeria extends for 650 miles along the Mediterranean sea, and inland for approximately 350 miles. On the coast is an area, the Tell, from fifty to a hundred miles wide, of very fertile plains, with valleys running out from the mountains. This land, principally owned by Europeans, is cultivated scientifically.
The agricultural products of Algeria include wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, artichokes, flax, and tobacco. Dates, figs and pomegranates grow in abundance. Also wine and olive oil are produced. Cattle grazing is the main agricultural pursuit. The country also has large deposits of iron, zinc, lead, mercury, copper, and antimony.
Algeria has an area of 847,500 square miles, and a population of well over 7,000,000. Southern Algeria takes up the larger part of the total area, being 767,435 square miles in extent. It is a separate colony under military command and has a separate budget.
There are three seasons in Algeria: winter, from November to February; spring, from March to June; and summer, from July to October. Rains fall plentifully from December to March. The summer is very hot and dry, and
the hot desert wind, called the “sirocco”, often adds to the heat. However, in many parts of the coast the temperature is moderate and the climate so health. ful that in times of peace Algeria is a winter resort for invalids.
Morocco Farthest West
If one were coming from Arabia and traveling along the eoast of northern Africa, the territory now known as Morocco would seem a far-off point. Hence the Arabs who conquered that entire region, in the latter part.of the seventh century, called it Moghreb el Aksa, meaning “The Extreme West”.
Morocco has been pacified only about ten years. The job was cleverly done and with no great amount of bloodshed. As the tribes were conquered they were allowed to retain their own customs and religion, except that they had to cut out raiding, pirating, kidnaping, and warring. As territory was brought under French administration roads, asphalt or raik, were built, modern cities were erected outside the native settlements, schools and public works were set up, and agriculture, industry and trade were promoted. But the main civilizing element was the highway. After every tribe was conquered, roads were brought to that point, and hotels, adapted to the climate, but elaborate in equipment and management, were built in gardens and oases. The tourists came in, and, before he kriew it, the native was civilized. There are many good points in this method of educating the demonized Mohammedans. 't'ake, for instance, the city of Casablanca. When the French took this over in 1907 it was only a native fishing village, but today it is a flourishing European-like city of some 260,000 population, whose dazzling white buildings make a striking picture from the seh.
While the French part of Morocco is only one-fifth the size of Algeria, it has a population of-only a million less than that greater neighbor, i. e., 6,242,706. The most numerous of the inhabitants: are-
the Berbers, w’hose ancestors conquered Spain three times. Spain now holds the upper or northwest portion of the country as a protectorate. This portion is about a tenth of the entire area. The Atlas mountains extend across the country from northeast to southwest. The Dra’a, a river 700 miles long, is periodically dry at its lower end.
The native sovereign, or sultan, of Morocco,. styled “emperor” by Europeans, bears the title of Emir el Mumen-in, or “Lord of the True Believers”. His subjects generally refer to him simply as Seid-na, “Our Lord.” LTntil recently, and perhaps this is true still to a considerable extent, his power was absolute; the lives and properties of his subjects being wholly at his disposal. He made and unmade laws at his pleasure. The imperial revenues were derived from imposts on property, from duties on imports and exports, from monopolies, and from fines or confiscation.
Under the sultanate regime every office was directly or indirectly purchased, small salaries or none being paid, as the holders recouped themselves by plunder and oppression, tempered by the fact that any moment they might be forced to disgorge to the sultan, or else— be left to rot in loathsome dungeons, or be beaten or tortured to death. All justice was bought and sold. The religious fanaticism, together with the mutual jealousies of. the European powers, was largely responsible for these conditions, and they were continued until quite recently.
Sparsity of woodland in Morocco keeps the wild animals ip check. The lion exists in limited numbers and is said to lack the quality of courage. There is also the spotted leopard, panther, hyena, jackal, lynx, fox, wild boar, porcupine, antelope, and gazelle. In the remote reaches of the mountains the aoudad, or wild sheep, is to be found. There are blackbirds, goldfinches, linnets, greenfinches, robins, wagtails, skylarks,
consolation
and crested larks; swifts, magpies, cuckoos, lapwings, rollers, shrikes, turtledoves, nightingales, jays, and egrets, but no sparrows. Some of the . country governors enjoy hawking, and the Moors are fond of hunting, frequently with greyhounds.
The mule is the most common beast of burden, but the camel, mare and ass are also used.'
Some First-Hand Information
A Consolation subscriber in Illinois, who, apparently, either was or is a missionary, sent in a memorandum, entitled "Excerpts on Africa”, dealing chiefly with French Africa. From this, note is taken of some interesting details:
In Morocco figs are many and delicious, being of various hues. Some are white, some black, and others purple, yellow, or green. The purple ones are considered the best, though the yellow figs are more beautiful. Fig trees are raised from seeds. The sprouts are transplanted in rows sixteen or more feet apart. The trees begin to yield when three years old, and some varieties produce two crops each year, and have done so for centuries. There are more than three hundred varieties.
As to olives, there are orchards everywhere. At about the eighth year the olive tree comes into bearing, and then will bear for a hundred years. Some trees yield forty gallons, and some a hundred gallons, in a year. Fruit that is pickled is picked comparatively green. In making the oil the olives are spread on a floor of glazed tile, to let the water run off; then they are pressed.
One of the modes of irrigating is to raise the water to a higher level by means of two ; wheels set at right angles to each other, moving in cogs and connected with a third wheel which has clay jars tied to its rim. This last wheel is so set that, as it turns, the jars dip into the water and fill.-As the jars come to the top they empty into a trough which leads into the field. The motive power is usually a blindfolded ox, camel or mule.
The village huts are made of mud, stone or straw. Each house has a wall or hedge of cacti around it. Some, of the villages are all tents, arranged either in squares or in circles. The tents are the homes of the shepherds, who move as the grass fails.
The natives have a novel way of climbing trees, using a long hoop of rattan fastened around the tree. Stepping inside the hoop the native raises it so that his back is supported by the hoop. He then moves his bare feet on the trunk of the tree and by a succession of jerks walks right to the top.
Butter Tree, Flour Tree, and Cheese Tree
The karite, or butter tree, has a bark and trunk similar to the chestnut tree, while the leaves are somewhat like those of the pear tree. It grows very large and has nuts so full of oil that when boiled in water the oil rises and can be skimmed off. It cools and hardens, and is molded into blocks which look more like tallow than like butter. The natives use this butter in many parts of the Sudan (Sudan means <fblack”). The oil nuts are each enclosed in a flesh which tastes much like a peach. It is so sweet that it can be made into candy.
The nata, or flour tree, has large pods containing flour of a yellow color, somewhat sweet to the taste; and the cheese tree, which the natives call the ffbaga”, produces fruit which tastes like cheese, with a fiber nearly as fine as silk. ,
On one of the caravan routes, in the midst of the Sahara, is a mine of rock salt which supplies many of the oases and a large part of the Sudan. The salt is dug in large lumps and trimmed into blocks about a yard long and eighteen inches wide, in which shape it can be easily packed on the backs of the camels. The salt is thus brought to Timbuktu, and is shipped from there to all parts of the Niger basin.
From Timbuktu to Jenne [250 miles southwest, upstream, toward Dakar—see the accompanying map] the Niger flows close to the desert most of the way, and on both sides of it are irrigated farms. Jenne stands on an island surrounded by branches of the Niger, its people owning most of the land for miles
around. It is better built than many cities of Egypt, and is a busy city; and at certain times of the day the business sections are ' crowded. The market is an open place' in ' about the center of the town, with shops on three sides of it, and a mosque on the fourth. Here hundreds of people arc buying and sell-t ing. Near the butcher shops are little ovens, 4 upon which one may roast his meat free of charge, if he buys his fuel from the fuel seller next door.
One of the chief exports of West Africa is palm oil and the kernels of palm nuts. These products come from the oil palm, which thrives everywhere along the Gulf Coast and is so numerous that thousands of natives are engaged in gathering the nuts and making the oil. The oil palm has no leaves except at the top, where the fruit grows in great bunches or cones, at the base of the leaves. Some cones weigh seventeen pounds, and a single cone may ■ contain as many as seven hundred nuts, each as large as a horse chestnut. The natives climb the tree by the hoop method, and cut off the cones and throw them on the ground, where they are left for a few days, till the nuts shrink and drop out. They are now boiled in water to remove the outside shell, which is lined with a fiber that is saturated with oil. The fiber is crushed from the kernels of the nuts in a large mortar and is then placed in clay vats filled with water. Native women get into the vats and tramp the fiber, pressing out the oil, which rises to the surface and is skimmed off. After this, the fiber and shells are again boiled and the oil skimmed. It is of a dirty yellow color, but it is so valuable for making soap, axle grease, and other things, that it is exported to Europe by the thousands of tons. The kernels of the nuts are valuable for the same purposes. They are dried and sent to Europe, where they are ground up and the oil pressed from them.
The leaves of the oil palm are used to thatch the huts, make hats, mats, and other things. At the root of the leaves there is a heart called the palm cabbage, which is eaten as a vegetable. When boiled it tastes like parsnips; and its neck has the flavor of the finest asparagus.
“The Profit of the Earth Is for All"
The foregoing gives one some idea of the abundant fruitfulness of North Africa. It is for the exploitation of these and other similar sources of wealth that “the king of the north” contends with “the king of the south”, seeking world domination in order to gratify unbounded ambition, and ignoring the Word of God, which says, “The profit of the earth is for all.”—Ecclesiastes 5: 9.
In this connection an excerpt from The New World is of interest: .
The tremendous issue at stake is universal domination, and the time schedules of “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” are inaccurate and unreliable, and shall never be carried through, either in time or in the events scheduled. . . . “The king of the north” and “the king of the south” were the two leading combatants in that world war of 1914-1918. But who are these ‘firings”? In chapter eleven of Daniel’s prophecy concerning the “time of the end” the term “king” does not mean the totalitarian dictator of Germany, the pope, or other individual. “King” is the symbol of a world power, and this accounts for the fact that Daniel’s prophecy shows that these two “kings” would fight, for centuries, until the final end in our day. During that time “the king of the south” has been Egypt, the first world power, and her allies. In the nineteenth century the British Empire became involved in Egypt by reason of the Suez Canal and imperial matters. When the World War broke out Britain set up a protectorate over Egypt, which protectorate has been replaced by a military alliance, in 1936. The United States of America went into the World War on the side of Egypt and Britain. Therefore when the “time of the end” began, in 1914, “the king of the south” meant, and it still means, the world ruling-power that claims the right to rule and does rule in the name of democracy. It is therefore the rule by creatures, presumably the people, in contrast with The Theocracy, which is the direct rule by God Almighty through his King Christ Jesus, the Seed of God’s “Holy Covenant”.—The New World, pages 321-323.
No Life in Hell
WHAT? No hell torment? God’s own answer is: “The wages of sin is death”; which precludes eternal torture. (Romans 6:23) Having fixed this penalty for violation of His law, God could not change it afterward, because He cannot be inconsistent; He cannot deny himself. (Malachi 3:6; 2 Timothy 2:13) It was by the disobedience of the first man that sin came into the world and death as the result of sin; and so death has been the penalty upon all mankind. “"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12) For this reason Christ Jesus tasted death as a man and was raised to life divine in order that there might be a resurrection from the dead of those whom He redeems.
Psalm 145:20 states: “The Lord pre-serveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.” The apostle Paul plainly says that all the wicked shall be punished with an everlasting destruction. “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:9) But do not the wicked go to hell?
It is true that all who have-died, from Adam until now, have gone to hell; but hell does not mean a place of conscious torture. Wherever the word “hell” ■ occurs in the English translation of the Bible it means the condition of death. Hell is not a localized place, but is a condition. Those who go into it are not conscious there; but they have gone into the death condition, which is the condition of those in the graves. Their bodies decay and return to the dust. The word “hell” translates the Hebrew word Sheol only a number of times, because a number of other times Sheol is translated “grave” and “pit”. The apostles, writing in Greek, used the word “Hades” to stand for “Sheol”, so that in their writings Hades likewise means the condition of death, the state in the grave.
Some Bible illustrations of this prove that “hell” means a condition of death. Take Job, that good and godly man who tried to obey Jehovah. He had suffered the loss of all his earthly possessions amjt then his neighbors taunted him because of his suffering. While thus suffering, Job prayed that God would permit him to go to hell, saying: “O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave [Sheol, hell], . . . until thy wrath be past.” He desired to be hid in the grave until the time of the resurrection, hoping in God’s promise that some day the dead would come again. Then Job added: “If I wait, the grave [Sheol, hell] is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. . . . Our rest together is in the dust.” (Job 14:13; 17:13,16) Thus he pictures the grave as a condition of darkness, where there is no knowledge, no wisdom, nor any device. He said also a man’s “sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them”. (Job 14:21) Why? Because those in “hell”, in the death condition, have no knowledge of anything. They are out of existence, and unless they are in line for a resurrection they shall not live again.
Benjamin’s brother Joseph was sold into Egypt by his half brothers. They dipped Joseph’s coat in the blood of an animal and brought it to their father Jacob and told him that his son Joseph was dead. In his grief Jacob exclaimed: “I will go down into the grave [Sheol, hell] unto my son mourning.” (Genesis 37: 35) According to Hebrews 11: 9,39, Jacob was a man of faith and approved
by Jehovah God. Hence Jacob meant he was going, not to torment in hell, but into the death condition, mourning for his supposedly dead son. .
" After Jacob lost Joseph his affections were centered upon his youngest son, , Benjamin. His elder sons came to him * and requested that Benjamin be permitted to go down with them to Egypt. Their father Jacob objected thereto, saying : “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave [Sheol, hell].” (Genesis 42:38) The hell here named could not be a place of fire and brimstone; for the gray hairs of Jacob would not last long in the fire. What he really meant was that as an 11 old, gray-haired man he would go down to the grave in sorrow if anything should befall his beloved son.
The Son of God came to earth, lived, died, and was buried; and of Him, Christ Jesus, it is written that He went to hell. Hence the psalmist says concerning Him: “Thou wilt not leave igy soul in hell.” (Psalm 16:10) If hell were a place of endless torment and Jesus went there He could not have been released. The fact that He did not remain in hell is proof conclusive that hell is not a place of eternal torment.
In the prophet Jeremiah’s day the Jews became religious and forsook their covenant with Jehovah God and became worshipers of Baal, who is -the Devil. In practicing Baal-worship the Jews offered ( their children as sacrifices, concerning which Jehovah God said.: “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind.” “They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” (Jeremiah 19:5; 32:35) The things which the heathen sacrificed they sacrificed to devils, and not to God. (1 Corinthians 10:20) Such false worship or devil religion established among the deluded people of the world was another means employed by the Devil to blind the minds of men to the truth of God’s Word and purpose.
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