Awake!, May 8, 1949
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CANADA’S GREATEST PETITION!
Its 625,510 signers call for a Bill of Rights
The Shame of Edmundston Canadian province of New Brunswick spoiled by mob rule, proving once again the need for a Bill of Rights
Green Gold
From the green banana in the jungle to the yellow one on your table
The Mysterious "Trinity” a Fraud
How this pagan doctrine reproaches God
MAY 8, 1949 semimonthly
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Canada’s Greatest Petition Calls for a Bill of Rights
The Second Petition
Newspaper Response
Watchtower Booklets Clarify Issue
The Shame of Edmundston
Police Collaborate with Mobsters
Bibles Burned ,
Shame on You, Edmunds ton [
Animals and Civilization
Osteopathy Fights for Your Health Training of Osteopaths
“Let the Dead Bury Their Dead’*
Meet Friendiy Little Cuba
Rural Conditions
Housing Inequality
Green Gold
How It Grows “Upside Down** Where the “Gold’* Comes In Harvesting the “Green Gold*’ “Thy Word Is Truth’*
The Mysterious “Trinity** a Fraud From an American Citizen in Greece Watching the World
IB
CANADA’S GREATEST PETITION Calls for a Bill of Rights
SEPTEMBER and October, 1948; two momentous months for Jehovah’s witnesses in Canada! Through cities, towns, villages, rural areas, isolated settlements and outposts, from coast to coast; 15,000 strong they swept as one man! The businessman in his office, the workman in the factory, the Indian and trapper in the far north, the farmer on the broad prairies, members of Parliament, doctors, lawyers, students, housewives, the man on the street; few missed the force of the campaign. From 450 public platforms in as many communities the message was heralded far and wide. By hundreds of thousands of handbills, posters, placards, newspaper advertising, house-to-house visits, interviews, radio announcements, sound-cars; the attention of all was focused on an undertaking of tremendous proportions. Mature men and women, youths, boys and girls, persons of all ages from every walk of life, enthusiastically, and energetically shared in the work of the campaign. Why all this activity! It is the fight for a Canadian Bill of Rights.
Paradoxically, although Canada is a member of
MXT 8, 1949
SIGNERS
the United Nations organization which recently proclaimed a great new Charter of Human Rights, she has no writ-ten Bill of Rights guaranteeing for her own people such fundamentals as freedom of worship, speech, press and assembly. Canada's present constitution was established in 1867 by the British Parliament in a statute called the British North America Act. This statute, with its later amendments, is the organic law from which all authority in the federal and provincial governments and legislatures is derived. In this constitution certain minority rights are guaranteed, but no “bill of rights” is in the Act expressly guaranteeing personal civil liberties.
BUI of Right* Needed
625.5)0
A Bill of Rights J Why, that was settled long ago by Magna Charta, many argue, as, for instance, the former minister of veterans affairs: “Let us never forget that we already possess in this conn* finned in Magna Charta on the nineteenth day of June, 1215r 'the declaration of rights in 1628, the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, and
the great body, with its sweep and scope, of common law.” Magng Charts undoubtedly inaugurated some valuable principles of government, but it was executed at a time when some of the ideas of law and liberty were strange indeed, judged by modern standards. It could hardly be expected to be adequate under present-lay conditions. Much of the importance which has been attached to it has been added by later ages rather than extracted from the terms of the Charter as jt was originally drafted. This opinion is expressed by Professor W. S. McKechnie, of Glasgow University: “Much of its value (Magna Charta) does depend on sentiment. ... It is no disparagement of Magna Charta, then, to confess that part of its power has been read into it by later generations, and lies in the halo, almost of romance, that has gathered round it in the course of centuries.” The Magna Charta, the declaration of rights, apd the Habeas Corpus Act are inadequate to maintain fundamental freedoms. Their impoteney is demonstrated in the persecution and oppression of minority movements during the centuries since their enactment.
More than any other organization Jehovah's witnesses in Canada have been denied freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of assembly. By means of long-range planning and determined organization they have over a period of two years so strongly focused the spotlight of public attention on the lack of a Bill of Rights that public opinion has swung around to the point where many prominent men as well as thousands of citizens are demanding a Bill of Rights.
An early proceeding in the campaign was the presenting in the House of Commons on June 9, 1947, of a petition signed by 500,967 persons, the largest expression of public opinion on the matter to that date. This petition was not in vain, because about the same time Parliament resolved: “That a joint committee of both houses of Parliament be appointed to consider the question of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the manner in which those obligations accepted by all members of the United Nations may best be implemented.” After sitting in numerous sessions and publishing 10 reports totaling 204 pages, the committee reached the conclusion that: “There is need for more public discussion before the task of defining the rights and freedoms to be safeguarded is undertaken ”
However, as most persons know, parliamentary committees are an old story. On this point we recall Robert Gourlay's account of a petition on behalf of the laboring poor presented to the British Parliament in 1817: “A committee sat on the subject of poor laws last summer, and, so far as was known, did nothing; a committee is now sitting upon it, but they will sit till all their eggs are addled under them, unless they adopt liberal principles.”
The Second Petition
Taking the committee's statement at its face value when it asked for more public discussion, Jehovah's witnesses proceeded to make the question of a Bill of Rights a vital, living, national issue. Battles are not often' won in thb- opening skirmishes, nor entrenched foes dislodged by a few quick jabs. The fight for a Bill of Rights had a good start, was on sound ground, and now must be pushed from province to province, openly and boldly, gathering weight like a great rolling snowball.
At a convention of Jehovah's witnesses in Canada’s capital in June of 1948, the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society announced to the thousands assembled that a second petition would be circulated throughout the nation, this time more specific in its terms. It read:
To the Honourable the House of Commons in Parliament assembled;
The Petition of the undersigned people of Canada humbly sheweth:
That in the year 1947 over five hundred thousand Canadian citizens joined in a peti-tion to। your Honourable House praying for the enactment of a Bill of Rights to protect the fundamental freedoms of all the people of this nation.
That the persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses referred to in that petition has not halted but has continued to further deprive this minority group of the right of freedom of speech, press and worship.
That these rights should properly belong to every Canadian, and we protest against their denial by any authority whether munici* pal, provincial or national.
That it has been contended our basic liberties are now adequately protected, but the facts of the continuing persecution in Quebec and the decisions of the courts there show that these individual rights are not really guaranteed by Canadian law.
That objection has been taken that the Dominion Government is incompetent from a constitutional standpoint to enact a Bill of Rights that would effectively safeguard freedom of speech, press, worship and due process of law against all official infringements in Ibis country.
Wherefore with the object of preventing deprivation of inherent freedoms, such as that experienced by Jehovah's witnesses, your petitioners humbly pray that your Honourable House do submit an address to His Majesty . praying that he be pleased to cause a Bill to be laid before the Parliament of the Unitod Kingdom to enact an amendment to the British North America Act incorporating into that statute constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, press, worship and due process of law, and to make these rights enforceable by the courts.
And your petitioners, as tn duty bound, will ever pray.
At the time of circulating the first petition the charge was made that many would not have signed had they known it was for Jehovah's witnesses. Due to the manner in which the second petition
MAT 8} 1849
was conducted none could repeat this charge, and on February 8, 1949, Mr. Alistair Stewart, member of Parliament for Winnipeg North, as a result of the activity described in the opening paragraph of this article, was able to point to an eleven-foot stack of petition sheets containing 625,510 names, subscribed to the petition reproduced above. Imagine, the first petition being surpassed by more than 125,000 signatures, and Jehovah’s witnesses referred to more than once in it, too!
Prior to the invitation to sign the petition, each householder was handed a leaflet entitled Fight for Freedom! wherein were set out many facts concerning Jehovah’s witnesses illustrating the need for a Bill of Rights. One million, four hundred and ninety thousand copies of this leaflet were printed and distributed by Jehovah’s witnesses among a population of nine million; a monumental undertaking. In the province of Quebec, due to restrictive and unjust municipal bylaws, it was not possible to distribute the leaflet beforehand, which is in itself evidence of the need for a Canadian Bill of Rights. Freedom of the press could not be exercised there.
Campaign Experiences
The subsequent collection of 625,510 signatures speaks for itself. In addition to the actual names obtained, the results in favorable public opinion and general support were most remarkable. One of Jehovah’s witnesses in eastern Ontario received tlje following letter from a member of the Orange Lodge: "At our Lodge session this evening I ^poke on the Bill of Rights for our country and told of the great work that your organization was endeavouring to do for our benefit. Every member of our Lodge that was present signed this petition and I am returning it to you as I agreed to. ... I hope that through these few names that I have been able to get, it will help you out in some small way.”
a minister in western Canada relates: "WA had many other nive axperiences such as the man who read d<>wii as far as 'Jehovah's witnesses' in the heading of the sheet, then put up his hand and said, ‘That's enough r My first impression, of course, was that he was not favorable; but instead he called out to^hls daughter in another room: ‘Bessie, come here and sign this for me and ma and1 yourself !’ u Tn some communities as many as 80 and 90 percent of the population readily subscribed to the petition* Generally speaking, it can be said that a warmer and more intelligent reception was received to the second petition than to the first
Greatest opposition came from the province of Quebec. Writing from the tity of Quebec^ one of Jeho van's witnesses briefly outlines the foul methods used to counteract the petition and its circulation throughout the city:
Like a slow tide the opposition to the petition work has increased here in Quebec City. It has been in the form of the priests warning the people in church, the papers printing derogatory articles (L*Action Catholiqu# being the principal one). Small mobs from time to time have hindered the work. The police coining several times haVe caused some excitement on the streets. From time to time we have either been questioned by the police or taken to the station. As the priests continued their warnings the territories became harder to work, opposition more and names less. Small mobs became numerous as the people became alarmed, led to believe that we were communists. One brother . . . heard a priest tell a lady on the street that we were communists. I was taken in once because of a complaint which stated that I was getting signatures by telling the people it was a petition to have the Princess Elizabeth come to Canada, and that it was also a petition to stop conscription.
Newspaper Response
The enemy even went so far as to cause the arrest of three of the missionaries in Quebec City, in spite of the supposed guaranty the English BiE of Rights of to 69 which states: ‘ ... all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal?* Under the heading ‘‘A Petition which does not have to be signed” L'Act? on Catholique of October 14,1948, printed the following: (fWe must refuse to sign this petition for two main reasons. First of all, because Jehovah’s witnesses want to get liberty to propagate their errors by anti-liberty means; and secondly because they are ■entreating the intervention of the British Government in Canadian affairs,”
Instead of having the effect of slowing down the number of signers, this publicity only aided the petitioners, and therefore with anxiety the same paper six days later cried out: “Don’t Sign. It has been pointed out to us that too many people are signing the Jehovah’s witnesses’ petition for freedom without reading it. . . . The people want Canada to return to colonization by petitioning the intervention of the London government in Canadian affairs; and then their movement is tantamount to a federal centralisation of all regulations concerning the distribution of public announcements. ... Warn your neighbours.” Anybody notice the Jaint but very distinct odor of a large red herring?
In contrast with this press attitude in Quebec are the comments of more important publications in Canada where literally dozens of editorials have been written on this subject during the past two years. Bruce Hutchison, writing in a western Canadian newspaper, humorously explains the situation pertaining to a Bill of Rights in Canada today:
We insist on every other country protecting the basic rights of *its citizens. We are busy at interminable international conference^ devising a Bill of Rights for Russians, Rumanians, Bulgarians, Ruthenians, Patagonians— everyone except Canadians. We intend to thrust a Bill of Rights on every country which will never accept it, doesn't want it and wouldn’t know what to do with it—so long
sr st cannot apply to Canada, one of the few •dates which could enforce if The B. N, A. Act, says the voice from the storm cellar, must not be touched. And in a whisper it adds: *Not until after the next election anyway.* Well, gentlemen, if we are all agreed on maintaining the rights of all Canadians, what is the objection to putting it down in writing so that all Canadians may be protected by it equally, even Japanese Canadians, even Jehovah’s Witnesses, even the men now wearing the Quebec Padlock!
Commenting on the size and value of the petition the Winnipeg Free Press of February 12,1949, carried the following editorial:
A petition circulated by Jehovah’s witnesses and signed by over 625,000 Canadians has been submitted to Parliament protesting against the invasion of civil liberties which certain religious and minority groups have suffered. It is stated that some 70,000 people signed the petition in the province of Quebec; 224,000 in Ontario, 176,000 in the prairies, 108,000 in British Columbia and 46,000 in the Maritimes. Only an insignificant fraction of these signatures could have come from mejn-bers of Jehovah’s witnesses themselves. . . . Such a mobilization of public opinion in protest against discrimination of Jehovah’s witnesses is in itself a victory for the spirit on which genuine civil freedom is based.
Watchtower Booklets Clarify Issue
Closely related to the petition and further stimulating the activity on behalf of a Bill of Bights two booklets en* titled The Dynamic American Bill of Rights and The Case for a Canadian Bill ■ of Rights were prepared and printed by the Watch Tower Society to the extent of 10,000 copies of each and mailed with a personal letter to lawyers, judges, legislators, editors, columnists, members of Parliament and professional men throughout the country. Their effect and the response in support of a Bill of Bights were startling.
Some lawyers had considerable to say about the subject, offering suggestions
MAI 8, 1949
to how a Bill of Bights could be achieved. “I read your article and It is a splendid exposition of the subject and the argument is unanswerable,** said one. “No lawyer who respects himself, his profession and the traditions of his profession can possibly disagree with any portion of this article,” remarked another.
That there are. members of Parliament in full accord with the movement for a Bill of Bights is noted by the following response received from the House of Commons: “I am in full agreement with the stand that you have taken with regard to our constitutional freedoms and necessity for a Bill of Bights. I believe that all our schools should teach the history of the development of our system of government and human rights so that even young children will learn how dearly they were won and how important it is to preserve them.”
The Convener of Laws for the National Council of Women for Canada requested 50 copies so that one could be filed with each of the 50 Local Councils of Women in the country, and a Civil Liberties Association in Manitoba requested several hundred for distribution to its members.
There are strong and powerful forces in Canada working against the enactment of a Bill of Bights. They have seized on a variety of arguments to try to convince Canadians that a Bill of Bights is unnecessary, but the record of events refutes their position. Parliament and the Canadian people have the privilege of enriching freedom by removing the blots which have fallen on the Canadian record, and by making a Bill of Bights part of the law of the land as a protection for even the most unpopular and weakest minority. Canada’s greatest’ petition of 625,510 names demands just that. It should not be ignored! —Awake! correspondent in Canada.
HERETICS! Friends of the anti’ christ! Sect of Insubordinates! Troublemakers! Underminers of the basis of Society! These were among publicized expressions of hate lighting the fufee which set off an explosion of mob violence against four Christian ministers. The place? Edmundston, a French Catholic town of over 7,000 people lying in the northwest corner of "Canada's Unspoiled Province” of New Brunswick. The victims? Four evangelist missionaries, graduates from the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Jones, Miss Olive Lundell and Miss Winnifred Parsons. The mobsters? Five hundred citizens of Edmundston, adults and children, both businessmen and common townfolk. The instigators? We leave it up to the readers to decide after hearing the facts.
Weeks before the actual outbreak of violence agitation against the ministers started when public announcements over the radio, in the schools and from the pulpits were made urging everyone to refuse them accommodation, but the first intimation of real trouble came on Janu-ary 22 when a businessman approached Margaret Jones, advising her she could not work on the corner and they were having a meeting that very morning to arrange some way of getting them and their magazines off the streets and putting her in jail. In the evening their land-lady, Mrs, Glenn, regretfully told' the group they would have to leave because during the afternoon "Father” Gagnon had called on the owner of the building and ordered him to put her and her husband out of his home unless they had the four, to whom they were renting rooms, evicted.
Monday morning found them in the Magistrate’s Court with a charge of 'distributing or scattering handbills, dodgers or other'advertising material on the streets* laid against Mrs. Jones. True to the businessman’s promise, a way had been found to deprive this minister of
o/r> EDMUNDSTON
her freedom to preach and to get her and her magazines off the streets. When the trial was held in Edmundston before Magistrate E. J. Hubert on February 2, 1949, the magistrate spared no words in denouncing her activities, though this had no bearing on the law in question, and ended his upbraiding with a conviction giving no reasons for judgment.
Lucien Fortin, who is responsible for the expressions of hate used at the introduction of this article, is in agreement with the magistrate in denying Godgiven freedom and the right to fair trial, and he outlines in the Madawaska newspaper the bourse of action that should be pursued >by all citizens of the community :
Our line of conduct then is to firmly refuse the entry of our homes to the witnesses. To that end, and to facilitate the thing to all the population, the Leagues of the Sacred Heart of the two parishes have taken the initiative to have a small card printed,. size 6" x 8", bearing the following inscription, in both languages: “Notice—The entry of my home is strictly prohibited to the witnesses of Jehovah or to their representatives.”
The Campaign Advances
Early on Friday morning, February 11, word began circulating through the town that a mob was to form at midnight for the purpose of running these falsely-accused "insubordinates” out of town. News of this planned uprising reached the ears of the victims, who immediately visited the police office where the chief of police, Mr. Alvernini, informed them he had already learned of the possible uprising and assured them that the mob-
When city Wrirtf «W<i6d with 500 to «• mtafeters
out of iJew BruBftwfflk province, they only proved again Canada's need for a written BUI of Rights
bing would not materialize, as he had talked the mobsters out of it. With this word of assurance from the police the missionaries returned to their home believing that the situation was well in hand; however, during the day a feeling of tension began to grow throughout the town and by 9:00 o’clock in the evening it broke. A call came through advising that the mob was sure to organize as planned, so contact was again made with the police authorities,'only to find that the chief was not available and the constable on duty feigned ignorance of the mob. To take precautions the four decided it best to accept an invitation to stay at a friend's home for the night; and what next followed is described in the graphic account of one of the victims:
We started to leave the house about 10:15 p.m. Cars were passing in front of the house. We hesitated to step out, and when we did a ear that had been standing without lights opposite the house started up its motor; so we slipped back upstairs to warn our other companions. Unfortunately they had gone out the back way. We decided to slip out the same way quickly. No cars were in view. We reached the corner of Michaud and Emerson when we saw a grey car with three men in it. It passed by. At the comer of Cfostigan and Emerson two men stood talking and one moved away as we approached. The other made what seemed to be a signal with his hand. The grey rar was now approaching from Canada Road but with three men clinging to the rear bumper. When we heard the ear slow down we started to run. It turned around. My companion who was ahead of me seemed to have her hand right on the door of the City Hall (where the police station is located) when footsteps pursuing us closed* in. Someone pounced "on her from behind. I saw her dragged back down the walk as some-ode behind tripped me and I fell. I got up and made a move toward my companion but two men had me. Both of us were screaming. In resisting being forced into a car I saw Winnie being dragged on the ground. The City Hall door opened and Alvernini with two other policemen sauntered out. Alvernini was smiling 1
Police Collaborate with Mobsters
Police Chief Alvernini witnessed the next acts of violation of law and order. In a brave attempt to show his office he ordered the mobsters to release one of the two girls, and Winnifred Parsons was freed and taken up to the chiefs office, but not before she had been subjected to manhandling, dragging along the ground; and having her clothing shamefully disarranged. Her companion was forcibly thrown into the back of a car on the floor and off it went.
In the police station Miss Parsons was expressing anxiety over her companion who was last seen being forced into a car. Her constant questioning brought surprising words from the chief: “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt her. She will be fed and given a good place to rest?’ Strangely enough, after similar questioning by Miss Lundell the mobsters replied: “You won’t be hurt—we are going to take you to a safe place for the night where you will be fed and taken care of I”
Uneasiness increased as the angry moty surrounded the police station. Spurred on by the mob that by this time had swelled to,proportions of from 300 to 500, those* in-the lead became bold enough to press pn to the very doors of the City Hall and jam the corridors of the station. Feeling was running high and Miss Parsons was advised by Alvernini that if the mobsters broke into the office she was to' go with them but was assured that she would not be injured.
Three times Miss Lundell was circled through town in the car and on one occasion noticed & solid mass of mobsters pouring out of Bard's transport truck. Finally she was brought back to.the' police station to join her companion and ushered through the howling mob to the chief's office, where, instead of any effort being made to dispel the mob, Alvemi-ni’s collaboration again came to the fore. Frequently he stepped out of his office to presumably reason with the mob, and at one time he was seen shaking hands with one of the mobsters and smiling. Even one of the attending constables tried to cover up the handshaking by closing the door, but too late. The two girls were informed that the rioters, who seemed to be running the whole show with Alverni-ni acting as mediator, were intent on kicking them out of town to Quebec City. A plea was made to be allowed to travel to Woodstock some hundred miles south of Edmundston where they had friends; but Alvernini consulted with the mob— the victims must go to Quebec 1
Pause and consider. Mobster after mobster, big, burly lumberjacks pouring Out of Bard's transport truck, uniting forces with townfolk and moving en masse, throwing aside all semblance of law and order to get these ministers, What were the grounds for this outbreak of intolerance! Had any acts of lawlessness been committed to warrant an uprising! Where was the freedom of worship in Edmundston of which Canada so proudly boasts!
Concerned over their two companions Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Jones, who had earlier managed a safe retreat, phoned the police station for word about the other two. Somehow this call identified their whereabouts, and not long afterward a section of the mob swarmed around the house clamoring for the Witnesses, Denial of their presence brought in Alver-nini. Under escort of police the two Witnesses were led through the seething throng and instructed to get into one of the mobster's cars. Mr. and Mrs. Jones reasoned with the occupant of the car to be allowed to go back and pack their belongings, but received the reply: “We will have to speak to the boss.” The group was then united at the police station and taken to their home to pack. On entering the home they found the landlady in tears and their rooms ransacked; their packing had, in mob style obviously, been done for them. Now to the railway station. Greeting them were some of their belongings junked in cartons ready to be put on the train. In the back room of the railway station the chief demanded to know how much money the missionaries had, and on finding them short of the train fare the mobsters were quick to supply the lack.
Bibles Burned
No longer is it necessary to go back to the days of the'bloody Inquisition to find God's Word torn to shreds and thrown to the flames of the persecution that marked the path of the early Christian martyrs, Edmundston, along with Quebec province, has brought this up to date. At 2:00 a.m. silhouettes of children and adults dancing around a bonfire could be seen for blocks as Bibles and printed Bible sermons were tossed to the flames, "Why this frenzied hate against the Bible by representatives of a church which falsely claims to have made the Bible and preserved it! And now in auto-da-fe style these ministers of the gospel, whom they have falsely labeled “faith destroyers”, are forced to the train on a path carpeted with shreds of Bible literature and pages torn from the Bible blowing around in the wind. How proud Monsieur ’ Fortin must feel with the progress of his campaign 1 Surely a proud possessor he must be of his religious faith that led to mob violence, and the ousting of four gospel-preachers out of town. Yes, a successful 'climax to his hate campaign, but at the cost of depriving these ministers of freedom of speech, press and worship according to the dictates of their own conscience.
Time for the departure of the trafai approaches, and we. see these publishers of the Kingdom pushed to their seats and guarded lest they tell others about the good news of God's kingdom. How vulnerable religion does fear the Bible!
Shame on You, Edmundston!
Your own citizens are ashamed of your foul deeds. The province in which you are privileged to live has been spoiled because of your actions. All Canada is talking about you, and soon the whole world will know. You have made a name for yourself that will not soon be erased, because it has been carved with-instruments born of the Inquisition period. Listen to these expressions now being made known to the public:
We trust that you people^ will prosecute to the very limit of the law those responsible for riots and kidnaping of members of your organization ... in Edmundston, N. B. Let us have a show-down on all anti-God influences. — From the Pacific Coast.
The action of a mob of 500 people who seized and burned religious pamphlets and forced four members of the Witnesses of Jehovah to flee from Edmundston, N. B., is most deplorable. There is no room for malicious discrimination of this kind in Canada. . . . Those guilty of inciting the violence should be brought to justice and dealt with severely.—From Saskatoon, Star Phoenix.
National Brotherhood week begins next Monday but obviously the people of Edmundston, N.B., haven’t heard about it yet. . , . .Of all the scabrous pestilences which afflict mankind from time to time, none is more mischievous or vicious than hate. And hate based on religious persecution of this sort is the most vicious of all, not only in the grim effect it has on its victims but also in the degrading effect it has on its perpetrators. Cruel suffering is the fate of the victim. But the consuming inner rottenness and warped mentality of the perpetrator is even worse. —From the University of Toronto.
Canadians may protest against what has happened recently in Hungary. And while they protest, they should blush. Something of the same sort has been happening in Canada. If there is an important difference it is not to our credit.—Toronto Globe and Mail.
While the Orange Lodge is not sponsoring the teachings of Jehovah's witnesses or any other religious group, we do most emphatically protest the disgraceful expulsion frpm the town of Edmundston members of this particular sect. Freedom of speech and freedom of worship are two of the cardinal principles of democracy and we call upon the proper authorities to take action to punish those responsible for this outrage, and to prevent any such further occurrence.—From New Brunswick, St. John Telegraph Journal.
It was decided at a Protestant rally held in the Reformed Baptist Church here tonight that a strong letter of protest would be forwarded to the Mayor of Edmundston regarding the denial of religious freedom to. Jehovah's witnesses.—From Moncton, New Brunswick. .
It's a laugh on the town to think that 500 persons had to get together to put four people out of town. And how can they expect to make people obey the law when the police themselves break it!—From Edmundston itself.
In March the four evicted ministers returned to Edmundston and brought charges against some of the -mobsters, but Magistrate Hubert dismissed the case against these ringleaders,
Edmundston, you are the one to suffer most as a result of this disgraceful episode, The four faithful ministers who suffered at your hands can now turn with confidence to God's Word for comfort, wherein Christ Jesus said, at Mat-.thew 5:11,12: '^Blessed a£e ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against' you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." —Awake! correspondent in Canada.
Animals and Civilization
*5? The United States Fish and Wildlife Service had its troubles counting1 ducks and geese. The desirable method is to make an aerial survey by flying over marshes where the wildfowl are feeding and photograph them, and from these pictures make counts and estimates. But the hitch was that the birds were frightened by the roar of the plane's engines and would fly out of the camera’s range. Not so now, however. Modern civilization swoops in over the birds at their winter feeding grounds before they hear what it is all about. A jet plane now streaks over the
marshlands at a 400-mile-an-hour clip and snaps the birdies beneath the camera before they are aware of the sound made by this monstrous metal bird that flies so fast without even flapping its wings.
•$* Sixty pigeon fanciers in New Jersey are seeking emancipation for their 1,650 feathered charges. They are highly bred racers, but the Jgw overtook them and banned them from the sky over Bayonne. Whyf The complaint was that pigeons roosting in the eaves were defacing St* Henry’s Roman Catholic Church, Tsk! tsk! Jesus said'the clergy should clean up within their systems first and not worry only about outward appearances. Investigation might show these birds smearing the church are “Communists”.
Warning: Mothers, if your young son balks at bathing don’t let him read this. Pacific fulmars, gull-like birds, have a passion for bathing. They will soak in the “tub” for more than an hour at a stretch. But the fastidious fulmar's love for bathing can be his undoing. Sometimes they take such d long bath they get water-logged' and sink and drown. See what a potent argument this could be for Junior on Saturday night f But, at least, it is a clean way to die.
*8? In hiew York city recently a little spider could not have made a bigger mark in the world if it had been an earthquake. In fact, it was mistaken for one. Home-hunting, it explored the mechanical bowels of a seismograph, leaped upon the sensitive pendulum and caused it to register a violent earthquakeiike reaction, and then spun a web that pre* vented delicate recordings. The spider’s fate? “You may say,” a spokesman murmured, “that it received a decent burial.”
*5? A “sea serpent” named “Bobo” has now been exposed as a faker. For some time he has frightened several fishermen in Monterey bay. California, by surfacing alongside their small boats. Swearing off the bottle did not dispel the snaky vision, but the death of the maligned “sea serpent” did. When Bobo's body was washed ashore (and'quite a body it was, being 174 feet long) it was identified as an elephant seal. With a trunk, eight-inch teeth, a face covered with barnacles, these seals can be confusing.
Freddie lives in Auckland. New Zealand. He has a steady job as an electrician’s helper, and is one of the best in the business. He is unorthodox in his methods, however. With a string around his neck he stands at o»e end of a pipe, a man at the other end blows into the pipe the scent and Freddie scrambles through, taking along the string, which then is used to pull wiring through the pipe. In one morning Freddie laid wiring in 60. pipes, the longest of which was 130 feet, This job would" have taken an ordinary electrician a month and cost $300. Then an electrician’s union objected: Freddie was underpaid, under 15 years of age, and not a union member. Freddie’s boss replied: he is a grandfather; he will join the union; he will get a rabbit a day. Terms agreeable ; no strike called. Freddie, in ease you never met him, is a five-year-old ferret.
A WAKE I
OSTEOPATHY
=x Fights for Your Health
THE science of medicine, like the science of transportation or of communication, has advanced more in the past hundred years than in all previous history of mankind. Only sixty-five years ago a few outstanding pioneers wore fighting for the recognition of facts which are now considered fundamental in the medical field. Almost the entire medical world was fighting against Pasteur and his theory that diseases are caused by germs. The surgical profession was opposing Lister and his use of antiseptics in his operative practice.
It was during this stormy period of medicine and its research that osteopathy had its beginning. It dates from its founding by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, who was born near Jonesville, Virginia, in 1828. As a son of a pioneer doctorpreacher, he moved with his parents first into Tennessee and later to Missouri, and then to Kansas. At the age of 25, Andrew Taylor Still had started the practice of medicine under his father. He had the advantage of access to the few scientific books of his time. There were no laboratories where he could work.
Practicing, farming, pioneering, and as an officer in the Civil War, he passed the time until 1864. In that year he lost three of his own children in an epidemic of spinal meningitis. He had done all he could, all that was known to do for such cases. Realizing that he had been handicapped from the lack of knowledge for treating such a disease, his dissatisfaction with orthodox medical methods of treatment became more acute. His short college course about 1869 did not offer much light. Disease was just beginning to be studied. The most advanced scientists of the world actually knew less of its nature than does the average reading layman of today.
Immunity and Structural Perfection
In 1874, Dr. Still, as a result of his years of experience and observation, studying more closely the anatomical structure of man, announced two theories which are now firmly established. The discoveries resulting from modern study of the human body have contributed proof to his early statements. Dr* Still’s theory of immunity as he first stated it is: "The human body contains within itself all the elements and vital forces necessary to prevent the encroachment of disease; that the body takes from the ingested food and drink all the elements necessary to fight off illness. Nature develops in the body its own defense against disease/'
This statement of the modern theory of immunity announced by the mature mind of a thinking, observing, natureloving physician, as the result of his years of experience and observation, entirely without the aid of modern laboratory methods, antedates by eleven years the announcement of the famous Ehrlich who arrived at the same conclusion after years of laboratory study. This theory of immunity is practically undisputed today.
Dr. Still's second announcement is a corollary to the first. He said, in substance, that perfection of structure in the body is necessary for perfection of physiological performance. In order that the body immunity be perfectly exercised, it is necessary that the machinery shall be in proper adjustment. A perfectly operating body machine is necessary to bring about the desired flow of nerve impulses which control the circulation of the various body fluids. This is no doubt the reason for Dr* Still’s favorite expression, “The rule of the artery is supreme.” On these two theories, sane, sensible and understandable, is based the diagnosis and treatment of the osteopathic school of medicine and surgery.
The osteopathic physician and surgeon acts upon the principle that the human body is a living machine wbic^i, given wholesome physical and mental environment, good food and water, proper exercise and pure air, will be healthy 'just so long as all the interrelated parts of this mechanism remain in proper adjustment. When a derangement in such wonderful mechanism of adjustment is produced, a lowered immunity to disease is the result. The osteopathic physician corrects that maladjustment, if it is possible to do so by manipulation of the muscular and skeletonal structure^ and by such correction normal health is restored. However, osteopathy is not a system of rubbing or massage, nor is it chiropractic.
So much for theory. Most of us are interested in practical application of these theories and getting results. Besides appreciating the theory the osteopathic physician is interested in obtaining results and having satisfied patients. To obtain this goal, all modern methods of diagnosis, including the laboratory, X-radiance, and other methods, are used, as well as a careful, complete physical examination. Special search is made for mechanical defects, many of which have not given local symptoms. Many, but by no means all, mechanical defects are discovered in strategic positions, that is, in the local areas in which large nerves emerge from the spinal cord or the brain.
Osteopathic physicians spend years in developing their sense of touch. Perfecting the tactile sense to the highest degree, they are able to detect slight departures from the normal in the body tissues, not only superficial but deep. Patients often marvel at the physician's ability to detect by touch unsuspected painful areas, Just as the osteopathic physician uses all known methods of diagnosis as well as his own particular skill in finding mechanical body derangement, so does he use all other proved methods of treatment, and in particular his peculiar ability to correct the found mechanical difficulties. So with a skill and a technique acquired from years of careful, schooling and clinical experience, he is able to readjust and normalize the body structure so that health may return.
Training of Osteopaths
The first college of osteopathy was established at Kirksville, Missouri, 1892. The American School of Osteopathy opened with a charter stating its purpose to be: “to improve our system of surgery, midwifery, and the treatment of general diseases.” But the charter was not obtained easily. The attorney who was asked to draw the charter objected that he could not find “osteopathy” in Webster's Dictionary. To which Dr. Still replied: “Mr, Attorney, you get the charter issued and we'll put osteopathy in Webster's Dictionary r At the present time there are six colleges approved by the American Osteopathip Association. They are located in Chicago, Ill., Des Moines, Iowa, Kansas City and Kirkville, Mo., Los Angeles, Calif., and Philadelphia, Pa.
Each of these schools operates a large clinic in which every sort of diagnostic measure and treatment may be carried out. Efficient laboratories are provided. An out-patient department is operated as well, where students obtain wide experience in the care of bedfast patients. Each college has connected with it one or more general hospitals, and some are connected with hospitals for speciality practice.
The curricula of study in osteopathic colleges have been expanded gradually since the founding of the first school in 1892. All medical education has been sub-jeet to the growing demands of a thinking public since that time. Two- and three-year professional courses were necessary to teach the newly discovered field of therapy. Since 1916 the standard professional course has been four years of nine months each. And the requirements for the degree D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy) are a minimum of two years of college p re-professional education in an accredited university or college! and then the four years of professional study in one of the approved osteopathic colleges. Thus modern osteopathic physicians have a minimum of six full years of college training.
Osteopathic physicians are schooled in the basic biological sciences, including anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology and pharmacology, which comprise almost 47 percent of the 5,200 average hours of professional training. General surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, radiology, eye, ear, nose and throat diseases, kidney and genital conditions comprise 27 percent of the training, and osteopathic manipulative technique, pediatrics and public health the remaining 26 percent of the professional course.
Osteopathy Progressive
Osteopathic theory has progressed, accepting scientific truth where it was to be found. Osteopathy is today a growing, progressive therapy. New methods of diagnosis and manipulative treatment are daily discoveries. The actual methods of correcting faulty tissue are being defined. But some disease problems still defy solution. No single method of treatment is today complete, and none can truthfully claim to be a cure-all, but yearly steady progress is being made in the osteopathic profession in the prevention and control of disease.
Many have thought that osteopathy is opposed to surgery; but surgery is an integral part of osteopathy. Osteopathic physicians, however, because of their high regard for the physiologic correlation of all parts of the body machine, regard surgery as something that is not to be done promiscuously. The appendix, tonsils^ and other organs most commonly subjected to removal by surgery, are considered by the osteopath as parts of a carefully unified architectural structure, the human body. To remove a part of this unified structure weakens the body integrity and creates an unnatural condition of body mechanics. Yet there are conditions when an organ or a part must be removed. This is when it becomes diseased and menaces the health and life of the individual. Then there is no quibbling about surgery. The operation will be performed and the body vfill adjust itself thereafter; for this adaptive ability is one of the greatest powers with which the human body is endowed.
Osteopathy is today recognized by the laws of every state, the District of Columbia, in the Canadian provinces, and osteopathic physicians are licensed accordingly. Osteopathy is the least crowded of all the higher professions; there are 11,270 doctors of osteopathy practicing in Canada, U.S.A, and the British Isles, European Continent, South Africa, South America, India, China and Australia. To assist in their work here in the U.S.A. the doctors of osteopathy have established more than three hundred osteopathic hospitals and clinics.
Two great schools of medicine and thought have come down to us from recent decades. The allopathic, or medical, and the osteopathic. The allopathic majors on the idea of putting something into the body to make or keep it well. The other places chief emphasis upon the theory that the living body has the inherent ability to develop its own natural immunity to germs or to their products,, as well as adjusting itself to an amazing degree to other circumstances. But in order to do this, all parts of the body must be in correct structural relationship. These are the principles which are fundamental in osteopathy today.
“Let the Dead Bury Their Dead”
< Cardinal Spellman, of New York, in March accomplished his most important service in ten years. Fof seven weeks 300 men, most of them Catholic, had been on strike. They were gravediggers at two Catholic cemeteries operated by the trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. They wanted a pay rise, a forty-hour wees, with time and a half for overtime. But they could not fool astute Spellman. He saw it all in a flash. “This is not a strike for hours or wages or other working conditions,” the cardinal confided, and then let the sinister eat out of the bag: “Its very nature and conduct from the beginning are reminders of the anti-Christian atrocities now being exposed abroad. They all spring from the same evil, sinful source.” That’s right, the union was as red as the cardinal’s cap I
C. So Spellman herded 100 students for the priesthood from their classrooms into buses and headed for the cemeteries. Through the picket lines they went under polite protection, and dug graves. With a grandstand flourish Spellman said he would “do anything the foreman tells me to do” and upon arrival Volunteered to go digging”, but the well-rehearsed monsignor in charge dutifully denied him hard labor. Apparently it is still a little early for fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy that false prophets would cast off their religious togs and dig in the dirt, in an endeavor to hide a hypocritical past—Zechariah 13; 4,5, Am. Stan. Ver.
< Bitterly the Catholic strikers watched the strikebreakers. A union lawyer said: “It is more important to . . . pay the living a just wage than to bury the dead.” Other strikers observed that as Catholics they supported the seminary, now the seminary took the bread and butter out of their mouths, and were strikebreakers. Of the cardinal they said: “His labor schools teach labor’s rights. They fail to practice it themselves.” Oh well, they 'also preach the Bible, 'but fail to practice it. Later the union met, took an anti-Communist oath, voted to disaffiliate the parent union attacked as Communist-dominated, asserted Communism was not the real issue hut a “red herring1’, and adopted a resolution condemning “the union-busting tactics of any employer, including the Catholic Church when it acts as an employer”.
<L Spellman responded: “They’re getting repentant kind of late.” This surprised the union workers, who had been taught by the priests that the penitent who repents, no matter how late, even on his deathbed, gains forgiveness. A committee of the strikers’ wives called on the cardinal, objected to the “reckless and misguided charges of Communism”, and sought settlement of the strike. But Spellman said he wanted the men to return to work as Catholics and individuals but not as union members. As to the union-busting charge he emoted: “I admit to the accusation of strikebreaker and I am proud of it- If stopping a strike like this isn't a thing of honor, then I don’t know what honor is.” Well, one man can’t know everything.
C During this negotiating the seminarians were grave-digging^ but after two days Spellman tired of going with them on the bus, though he had first vowed he would stick to the end. The third day he “punched the time clock” very late, arriving at noon in his private ear. Thereafter his hours were quite irregular. He had tired of the bus ride, and publicity was ebbing. The union then broke away from the parent union attacked as “Red”, affiliated with one of a duller color; but surprisingly Spellman now saw other issues: wages and hours! Eventually the strike was settled, the workers getting an 81/3 percent wage increase, with no immediate adjustment of hours or overtime pay.
<L In summation, it appears that anything that displeases the Roman Catholic Church is necessarily Communism. It is the popular smear of the day, Jesus said His followers should be fishers of men. The Catholic Hierarchy catches “red herrings” and publicizes these fish stories. At this tall tale’s end strikebreaker Spellman said: “This has been the most important thing which I have had to do in the 10 years I have been in New York.” That doesn’t speak very highly for his other activities, since this one that he puts at the head of the list was minimized by Christ Jesus, when He said: “Let the dead bury their dead.”—Matthew 8:22.
MEET FRIENDLY LI
TIE old expression “One half doesn't know how the other half lives’’ is gradually losing its significance as modern means of transportation, radio and television draw the four corners of the earth closer and closer together until it is really a “small world after all”. The extensive travels of Marco Polo with their exciting tales of strange peoples $nd distant lands lost much of their appeal as GLs wrote home of the places they visited and then returned to tell more. But still little known and perhaps even less appreciated by most Americans is their closest friend and sympathizer, Cuba.
Friendly, hospitable, kind, courteous, sympathetic, are only a few of the adjectives that describe the nationality as a whole. “This is your house” is their way of saying “You’re welcome”, and they mean it. When you meet an acquaintance on the street and stop to talk a few minutes he will say, “Let’s go have a little coffee or refreshment/ and if you are so disposed he’ll spend a half hour or so in a cafe talking with you over a little cup of strong black coffee.
If you wish to know how to get to a certain part of the city or to a particular address, just step into a cafe or corner grocery store and ask someone. He will be only too glad to tell you, but if his •answer seems a little vague or inaccurate to someone else standing near by he will graciously volunteer his opinion, whereupon, perhaps, an argument may ensue, heated but friendly, accompanied by much gesticulation and arm-waving. Meanwhile you stand patiently by awaiting the final decision. Before it comes, however, several others may join the discussion, each presenting his opinion pro or con. One gratifying thing is that after such a discussion the reply to your question is generally correct. It is not
uncommon either for someone on such an occasion to offer to accompany you to your destination to make sure that you do not go astray.
Conversation is the most popular-pastime for Latin Americans. No conversation is private in a cafe. Someone seated at a near-by table and overhearing your conversation may come over and join you,' not discourteously, but just from the sheer love of conversation, to express his thoughts and to hear others. If, on the other hand, you might become interested in the conversation of some others and they recognize your interest they voluntarily draw you into it.
The main topic of conversation is, of course, politics. The oft-changing political structure of Latin-American governments furnishes a never-ending variety of topics. The Cuban conversationalist not only seeks to transmit his opinions to others but is very anxious to learn and is teachable, always giving an opportunity to the other fellow to speak his mind. Arguments are frequent and heated but almost never end in violence. It seems as though the one who talks the loudest and fastest wins.
A few years back patience was a virtue; to be in a hurry, a vice. Recently, however, a gradual change has been taking place in several respects in the lives and customs of the people. Modern industrial and business methods and practices are beginning to leave their mark. The people associated in business organizations are more prompt and they follow better organizational lines of operation. They are beginning to real-i ge that organization is the best way to get things done and, rejoicing in what they can accomplish in a comparatively short time, they preach it to others. They are beginning to clamor for better and more dependable service from the bus company. Let us hope they get it soon.
Government offices, nevertheless, still follow the policy of never doing today what can be put off until tomorrow. With a few possible exceptions the hours are from 8 a.m, to 1 p.m. six days a week. Most of the employees arrive between 8:30 and 9 and start working around 9:30. At 10:30 they take off fifteen to thirty minutes for coffee and begin to quit about 11: 30 or a quarter to twelve. Everybody jokes about how hard the government workers work, but do not complain, because almost every family in Havana has at least one member or very close friend thus employed, and each secretly cherishes the hope that someday he himself may have a chance at such an easy job.
Cuban people are congenial, sympathetic, and for the most part sincere. They seem to derive much pleasure from helping those who may be less fortunate than themselves. Some who appear to be in extreme economic circumstances themselves have been observed giving a* penny or two to a beggar on the street. Particularly manifest is' this quality at the time of a cyclone. Then those living in lesp secure houses are divided and encouraged to take shelter in the stronger ones of the neighborhood regardless of the difference in economic or social 'standing that may exist. The householder also provides food and drink for those taking shelter under his roof.
Jtara/ Conditions
Country life is down to earth, simple and rustic. Most of the homes are thatched-roof dwellings made almost entirely of palm trees. The wood of the royal palm is fibrous, strong and durable, especially suited to this type of structure, but because of its religious significance to Cuban nationalism special permissioh must be obtained from the government to cut down a royal palm tree. The floors are earth packed down hard, but some of the better ones are made of concrete. This type of house 'is very cool, and the ingenious roof made of many layers of palm 'branches never. Sermits even a drop of water to pass uring the most torrential tropical downpour. Such roofs last for many years.
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