Awake!, September 8, 1949
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Colombia’s Black-skirted Politicians Lose an Election Priests urge armed violence in political campaign
Shanghai Falls to the Communists
As it looked to a neutral inhabitant of the city
■ ♦ » .....
Fighting the Locust Plague
Not even modem methods of warfare have gained victory
Everlasting Life Possible?
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CONTENTS
Colom bifl ’s Black-skirted Politicians
Lose an Election
Electioneering with Guns
The Charge of Communism
Election Results
Political Priests Reap Catholic Resentment 8
Left-Handers in a Right-Handed World 9
Heredity or Training?
Not Yet the Answer to the Biddle
Who Invented the Plow?
Life and Love in the Animal Realm
Shanghai Falls to the Communists
Some of Surgery’s Successes
Correcting the Deformed and Crippled 17
Life-saving by Surgery
Operating on the Heart
Fighting the Locust Plague
Stomach a Bottomless Pit
Raising the Family
Obstacles in the Fight “Thy Word Is Truth”
Whom God Begets Spiritually Everlasting Life Possible?
Watching the World
COLOMBIA’S BLACK-SKIRTED POLITICIANS LOSE AN ELECTION
CURRENTLY featured in the news are the frequent revolts in Central and South America. Colombia, one of the larger countries, for a number of years had been considered as one of the most peaceful and democratic in the Latin-American realm. Then on April 9, 194Sj Colombia was catapulted into the scene of world discussion with the violent eruption of bloodshed and pillage following the assassination of the beloved leader of Colombia’s masses, Jorge E. Gaitan. However, Colombia was quickly forgotten by the larger nations as almost daily changes in world affairs popped. up. But let us take a peek into Colombia to see if peace again reigns.
_ A survey of the newspapers aiid magazines for months prior to and including May, 1949, testifies to the deplorable conditions that confront the people. From one end of the country to the other, particularly in the rural areas, political violence and killings occur almost • daily. Homes are burned to the ground, presenting their inhabitants with the choice of being roasted alive or of being shot on their escape frofii the flames. Miniature civil war exists in sections of the country. At one place a “no man’s land”, 15 kilometers [about 9 miles] wide, is found. One daily newspaper features the pictures of a man who is claimed to have been brutally murdered in front of his two children. His eyes were gouged out, testicles cut off and his tongue removed. Wholesale exodus is made from various regions with the peasants unable to work their own farms due to the political violence.
The seriousness of the situation can be appreciated by considering the report of El Tiempo, which states that, if the periodicals have reported accurately, more than 2,000 persons have perished as victims of party passion during the past two years, And that, if the hundreds of dead from the April, 1948, disturbances are included, the number of slain surpasses that of any of the revolutions staged in the other American countries during the same period.
Priests Spawn Violence
The cause of the violence lies in the intense hatred between the Liberals and Conservatives, Colombia’s traditionally prominent parties. Instead of trying to alleviate the situation, many priests have made matters'worse by their political oratory. Not only has the “church” abstained from sowing peace, but she has purposely fanned the fanatical fires of inter-party hatred, openly championing the Conservative party and condemning Liberalism. It is not the voice of Communism that says this, but is the opinion shared by all open-minded Colombians.
From 1930 to 1946 the Liberals had exclusive possession of the presidency.
Under such rule the Catholic Church had its rights respected although!! did not enjoy the more exalted and influential position of Conservative rule. Then in 1946 a split in the Liberal party permitted a Conservative president to be elected- Congress, however, continued with a Liberal majority. Under Jorge K Gaitan the Liberals reunited in 1947, promising a victory in the 1950 presidential elections. Although the Liberals have carried on a campaign for the reconquest of their power since the 1946 defeat, both parties began their political drives _ in earnest at the beginning of 1949, looking forward to the June 5, 1949, congressional elections.
Perhaps the “church” thought that the two parties were not evenly matched, since it is well known that the Liberals are stronger in numbers than the Conservatives. Then, too, she might have decided that the Conservatives were not employing the proper tactics to influence the masses. In any event, with a "let me show you how” attitude she plunged into the political campaign with zeal and zest. It was not long before the theme of the campaign was fixed: "Church versus Communism/'
The black-robed politicians were so active in' trying to coerce and browbeat their flocks into voting for the candidates that guarantee the interests of the “church" that consistently during the months previous to the election they were in the news. One headline read: "Five Bishops Prohibit Voting for Liberalism Under Pain of. Mortal Sin/' (Eco Nacional, April 26, 1949) Luis E. Benoit, priest of Caicedonia, Valle de Cauca, hit the headlines when he condemned as mortal sin pro-Liberal voting. "All Those Who Vote for Liberalism Will Go to Hell? (Jornada, May 3,1949)
Electioneering with Guns
■ What is the following if it is not a violation of the teachings of Jesus and His apostles? El Derecho', a religiouspolitical weekly, was denounced by the governor of Antioquia as "a vehicle of incitations against public order". Pointedly it urged the Conservatives to arm themselves, To quote from El Derecho:
In this manner I imagine that Our Lord htm-self would say on Friday, April 9, to the nuncio and to the archbishop and to all the bishops of Colombia and to the priests and the religionists: he that doea not have a revolver, sell his cloak and buy one. And it should be noted that when the Jewish mob came near to Our Lord his disciples asked him: shall we siiiite with the sword? And Our Lord didn’t say no. And then Saint Peter drew his and with one stroke struck off the ear of the high priest’s servant. And if he had cut off his head as he did his ear, Saint Peter would still have been Saint Peter, And the same Jesus gave a good lashing to Judas and to all his gang. Not of course with his hand nor with a strange weapon but with the sword of his blessed and powerful tongue. And therefore Our Lord didn’t sin, neither did Saint Peter sin, neither sinned Moses killing the Egyptian that was attacking the Hebrew; nor did Elijah sin killing with the rays from heaven on two occasions, including fifty soldiers and their captain who wanted to seize him; neither did the angel sin, who in one night killed 185,000 men of Sennacherib’s army. True, Our Lord said to Peter: Tut up thy sword into its place’. This means that once the proper defense is made, the weapon should be put away and not left in the victim. [El Tiempo, April 10,1949]
Doubletalk from the Archbishop
On April 22, 1949, the archbishop of Bogota released a pastoral after many priests had put the "church" on the spot. But the pastoral turned Ont to be ambiguous, for the Liberal newspapers interpreted it as a condemnation of the religious-political clergy. But Consrervat/re newsmen heralded the pastoral as a vindication of the campaigning priests in their Communist crusade. On Sunday, May 1, several incidents took place as a result of the pastoral In the church of San Francisco, one of the most prominent in Bogota and located in the heart of the city, a Franciscan priest rose, read the archbishop's pastoral and then proceeded to give his interpretation of it. He warned that Catholic families that professed Liberalism ought to change their political views or change the name of their party. He referred to the “governments that had expelled religious groups from the country”. (No doubt he meant the expulsion of the Jesuits on two occasions,)
When the congregation had enough of the Franciscan's political views they started to protest. Women and children began leaving the church, fearing violence, Men protested in loud voices. Word spread rapidly and outside the church groups formed, noisily voicing their objections to the clergy's intervention in politics. The priest became indignant at this reaction and cried out that he was not afraid of anyone or anything and that he was ready to die as the first martyr, if it was necessary, to defend the holy cause of religion. Only when military police reinforcements arrived was order restored and the throngs dispersed^
Not to be overlooked are the frequent threatenings of “Monsenor” BuHes, An-tioquian bishop, who spouts off with regularity. In one of his pastorals that El Tiempo refers to a$ “a political proclamation” he warns that “Catholics must choose between Liberalism and Catholicism and that the faithful must defend their religion, their homeland and their homes, cost what it may, even blood and life”. On another occasion Builes affirms that Liberalism is the enemy of the church. He tries to convince the gullible that the June 5 elections are '“between two antagonists, one that believes in God and the other that denies him\ “If you are Christians, vote for the candidates that give guarantees to your religion, and that do not hand your homeland over to foreign powers, to Russia or to communism.”
From the semimonthly publication, Critica, May 4,1949, we take the following excerpt from their editorial “The Political Clergy”:
We suppose that in the offices of the premier and foreign relations accumulating daily are the complaints against the priests that employ the pulpit to incite to the political crusade or to exercise their spiritual power as a coercive force to provoke in their parishioners the renunciation of their personal political ideas. And of scandalous public notoriety are the pastorals, circulars and sermons of bishops and priests in which armed fighting is brazenly and openly encouraged.
Forced Conversions to
the Priest’s Political Party
Since the incriminating evidence is so plentiful against the black-skirted politicians in Colombia we set forth in this article only a few of the highlights of the religious-political crusade. Note the following :
The priest of the village of San Mateo, Florence Torres, has established his own armed bands of “purification” and with a blue tunic (blue is the Conservative party color) and a prayer book in hand forces the Liberal peasants, captured by his gangs, to renounce their political views. On finishing the ceremony the new Conservatives receive the blessing as drops of holy water fall on them. At El Espino the tactics are different. There blue militia has been organized that receive from Pedro Leal semiweekly military instruction and once or twice a month perform maneuvers under the priest's direction. [El TiempOf April 23, 1949]
Colombia's most well-known daily newspaper, sedate El Tiempo, usually quite careful what it says as touching the Roman Catholic Church, has carried several editorials pointing an accusing and disapproving finger at the clergy's mixing in politics. “The Church,. that could fulfill such a special mission in the spiritual welfare of the people and that ought to be an instrument of conciliation and a symbol of alliance, has boldly taken aides in the fratncidal conflict and the words of the majority of its ministers are no longer of peace but of agitation to combat/' (El Tiempo, May 2, 1949)
In rural areas can be found posters along the roads showing the necessity of a Conservative victory in the elections. Why! Well, if not, all the priests will be assassinated/The population is reminded that on April 9, on crying out "viva” for the Liberal party, the clergy were murdered. A familiar cry from the Conservatives is: ’*Dios esta con nosotroe” SGod is with us), meaning that they have de "church” behind them blessing them in all that they do. Such pleadings find reception by the ignorant or by those that willingly close their eyes to the priests’ activity.
Any sensible person knows that God has nothing to do with the polities of this world and has special contempt for the rottenness existent in Colombian politics, If the priests would limit their activity to their religious duties and forget about the political campaign they would not have tp worry about persecution from any quarter. But as long as they continue to stick their necks out and look for trouble they will find it What makes an informed person wonder is why the whole Colombian population is not fed up with the entire corrupt system of Rome’s devilish representatives in their homeland.
The Charge of Communism
In condemning Liberalism the Conservatives and the clergy freely use th© expressions "reds”, "communists” and "communism” in referring to the Liberals. But does communism constitute a real threat to the Catholic Church in Colombia! And is it true that the Liberals are Communists!
Although the Communists were accused of the April 9, 1948, disturbances, "Monsenor” Builes confesses that they were not great enough in number to cause that "spontaneous tragedy”. It is admitted ny the Conservatives that ii* reality true Communists are not very numerous in Colombia but that the Lit erals embrace communistic ideas. They claim that the very fact that the Liberals have never clarified their position in connection with Communism is in itself an admission that they are allied with it.
Franciscan priest Jos6 Guadalupe Mojica, noted singer, attended the Janu-, ary Eucharistic Congress in Cali and later gave a number of concerts in the capital. At that time he stated that Colombian Liberalism was one of the most Catholic parties in America.
The fact remains that Colombians are still Catholics and not communists. True, due to the extremely high cost of living and the low wages paid throughout the country, some have turned to communistic thinking; perhaps because no other form of government eould put them under worse conditions than they already find themselves. However, those that are educated can readily see that Communism holds out no hope to the people, since, to rule, it has to deny them the right to think for themselves, becoming slaves of the state.
But Colombians are so Jteenstamed to political activity among the priests and to hearing political speeches from the pulpits that the majority continue to subject themselves to her doctrines and dominion. One group of workers, protesting against the. position of the "church” against their union, declared that in spite of such they would continue to be both Catholics and Liberals until their death. They know that the Catholic religion is still the popular thing, and so they attend mass and profess to be Catholies whether they have faith or do so for convenience’ sake. At any rate, Catholicism continues to be a form of worship and the masses accept that which their fathers taught them—subservience to the "church”.
On the other hand, the "church”, confident that the gates of hell will not pre-
\ail against it and witntheassurance that she will survive in spite of all opposition, continues to steer the votes toward the party that will give her the power she craves, condemning all those that do not fall in line, pasting the "Communist" label upon even her Catholic "children".
What is noted, too, is that a continual number of good-will persons are having their eyes opened to the hypocrisy and the unchristian conduct of the “church”. They are able to see that the “church's” policy during the Dark Ages, the. Inquisition, and toward the Catholic dictators, Hitler and Mussolini, is the same ruthless policy that she is pursuing today in Colombia.
Election Results
Firecrackers roused Bogota's populace before daybreak on Sunday, June 5, that all voters might get to the polls to take part in the congressional elections. The army was on hand to supervise the balloting, and as a result the agitation that usually occurs was kept at a mini-muni, with only a few deaths, and those in the rural areas of the country.
The following morning found the radio quite silent as to the election Returns. Hence, bogotanos had to turn, to the newspapers for the results. Bold and startling headlines assured both the Liberals and the Conservatives that their parties had each won a decisive victory. One Conservative daily boasted a 150,000 majority in the voting with an advantage of five seats in the House of Representatives. Liberal Jornada claimed that "in spite of' fraud and violence” its party had polled at least 100,000 more votes than the opposition. Such conflicting reports continue^ until Thursday, when it appeared that the Liberals had polled a decided majority vote, although losing a few seats in the House of Representatives. On June 24, nearly three weeks after the elections, the following figures were published: Liberals, 931,794; Conservatives, 804,-
344; Communists, <6,823. (This report was nearly complete, yfet lacking 9 mu* nicipalities which would make practically no difference in the final results.)
The Liberals carried 9 of the 15 departments (states) and 13 of the capital cities. The Liberal strength lies in the more populated areas, whereas the Conservatives hold more sway in the rural sections where the priests are able to keep the people in ignorance and enslaved to the church. In Bogota, Colombia's capital, the Liberals polled 63,000 votes, to compare with 20,000 for the Conservatives. Safe estimates give the Liberals a majority of eight seats in the next House of Representatives, that is, 70 Liberals and 62 Conservative#. The actual Congress has 73 Liberals as against 58 Conservatives in the House, with 34 Liberals and 29 Conservatives in the Senate.
Interesting to note was the balloting of -the priests who had been so very active in electioneering previous to June 5. Although they voted throughout the country, the only results we have at hand are those from the capital city. Out of 543 that went to the polls all but one voted Conservative. The lone vote was a blank ticket. The Conservatives bewailed such a poor showing by the priests, since Bogota alone has more than 3,000, excluding those studying for the priesthood in the seminaries. Incidentally, special voting tables were set up at one of the police stations to prevent any possible agitation against the black-skirted politicians by Colombian Catholics who were disgusted at the political campaigning from the pulpits.
Although the Liberals I d claimed that Conservative-instigated violence and fraud had deprived their followers of the right of suffrage in numerous villages throughout the country, the Conservatives boasted that complete calm and guarantees had accompanied the elections. Only after they realized that defeat was theirs did they raise the counterery of fraud and violence on the part of the Liberals.
The Election in the Offing
With the June 5 elections teiuiinated the two political parties are already engaged in their presidential campaigns which come off next spring. The Liberals know they have a majority if they can secure guarantees to vote in the rural areas, and they also know that to win next year they must be united. The Conservatives realize that they gained ground during the recent elections, and are determined to gain a majority vote next time. They know that if they cannot elect another Conservative president the Liberals will have almost complete control of the government.
To the rescue has come Conservative strong man Laureano Gomez, who is /being publicized as the Conservative candidate. After a self-imposed exile in Spaii> for over a year following the assassination of Jorge E. Gaitan he has now returned to his homeland to take over the leadership of his Conservatives. Time will tell as to how many of "Franco’s methods he has accepted. Tuesday afternoon he made a swift entry into the capital amid a display of police protection. During the manifestation Conservatives and Liberals were kept apart by military police. A few exchanges of rocks showed the seriousness of the situation.
Several times the police, with bayonets fixed, forced large groups of Liberals to retreat.
It appears that the presidential race will be even more bitterly contested than that of the congressional elections. Violence and bloodshed continue, with deaths being reported from various rural areas frequently. The present deplorable condition in which Colombia finds itself is a national disgrace but it is only a part of the confusion and hatred that engulfs the whole world at this time. Men are powerless to overcome such a state of affairs.
This fact stands true: Whatever power the Roman Catholic church does receive will be shortlived. A fate awaits her that was foretold long ago and continuously throughout the centuries. The world conditions now upon us indicate strongly that her destruction is close at hand. So, you black-skirted politicians, go ahead with your nefarious political activity. The "short time” allotted for Satan and all his agents, invisible and earthly, is closing in on you. Your doom is sealed. Priestly black skirts stained red by the shed blood of thousands of innocents will soon be no more. (Jeremiah 2:34) Jehovah God's new world will soon carry out its appointed task and then that live will enjoy a rule that is neither demon religious nor political. —Awake! correspondent in Colombia.
Politic^/ Pnests Reap Catholic Resentment
Bogota, Colombia, July 11 {AP>—Bishop Luque <>f Tunja has issued an interdict dosing all Roman Catholic churches and chapels in Sogamoso, second largest town of the Boyaca department, and ordering priests to leave the town. He took the action, bis decree said, because of a long series of “grave complaints in connection with actions of delinquency carried out collectively against the priests”. (An interdict in canon law is a prohibition which excludes the faithful from participation in holy things.) The decree said the offenses included ‘‘riots, stoning, shooting of firearms and throwing of bombs against the residence of the wain parish pastor". An Interior Ministry official said the situation possibly was aggravated by the “attitude adopted by the clergy” during Colombia’s recent elections. Liberal party leader® said many priests tried to prevent parishioners from voting for Liberal candidates.—N. Y. Times f July 12, 1949.
LEFT-HANDERS
R1GHT44ANDED WORLD
TN ANCIENT times, when Judge Ehud 1 thrust a dagger into the belly of wicked King Eglon with his left hand and delivered Israel from the oppressive rule of the Moabites, the ability to use the left as well as the right hand was considered a great advantage. (Judges 3:15-30) In this age when so many inventions and devices are molded for the convenience of a right-handed civilization, left-handedness is considered more or less a handicap. It is not surprising, therefore, that investigators and students of child-psychology have made an effort to find out what fundamental causes lie at the root of hand preference. Study has also been conducted in an effort to find out if the 15 to 25 percent “natural” left-handed children can be transformed .into right-handers without causing complications or injuries to their mental and physical efficiency.
It was long supposed that when a baby was born both hands were equal, and preference in time for either the right or the left was the result of habits,'training and education. This theory was supported with the observation that babies seem to reach for their toys with either hand until they are about six months old and then they begin to show a preference for one hand. In due time this theory was replaced by others, but recently new advocates for the older theory have spoken out
When the “equality” theory, or the belief that babies were born as natural ambidexters, that is, with the ability to use either hand with the same efficiency, was replaced, the teaching that there was really a hereditary physical difference in
IMS
the structure of the body was accepted. The substance of the latter theory was that the tendency to use the right hand for fine manipulations was due to a certain “type of inherited nervous structure”,-which in turn was thought to be related somehow to the circulatory organs. While it was believed that exercise could exaggerate this one-sided development, yet hereditary characteristics were thought to be primarily responsible.
Evolutionists often set fofrth ridiculous “explanations” for the trait of righthandedness. One of these “educated ideas” was that in the early days warriors carried a shield on their left arm to protect their vulnerable heart, and because they were forced to use the right hand to wield the sword they became right-handed. Another theory put forth by evolutionists is that right-handedness goes back to the time when man rose and began walking upright. Because his heart, stomach and other vital organs were on the left side of his body this made the right side some 15 ounces heavier than the left. So, in order to balance up this difference and permit himself to walk on an even keel, man began carrying a pound weight around in his left hand, and this in turn forced him to use his right hand to beat out a living. What magnificent nonsense!
Heredity or Training?
Dr. H. D. Chamberlain, after studying the heredity theory, concluded that most of us are right-handed because our parents and grandparents were righthanders. According to him, when both parents are right-handed only 2,1 per-
9 eenr or their children are left-handed, and when both parents are left-handed 17.3 percent of the offspring are “left-iea”. But what does this prove! If anything, it proves that heredity is not the whole answer; otherwise right-handed parents would rarely have left-handed children and the offspring of left-handed parents would average far more than 17 percent left-handers.
preference. One holding such conclu- processes might be developed in transBions, Dr. Gertrude Hildreth, thinks that forming a left-hander into a rightparents and teachers are responsible to hander, believes that the difficulty lies a large extent for children's oeing lefthanded. The first time a child grasps a spoon to feed itself it begins to form a habit by associating together hand, spoon and mouth. Hence, if parents were diligent to see that the child fed itself with its right hand the first time and each time thereafter, and if the teacher
Such findings, together with other facts, have made other investigators conclude that education and training are responsible as much as anything for hand were just as diligent in teaching the art of writing, then rarely would there be a left-handed adult in later years. Hildreth admits there may be a tendency for a child to be left-handed, but she thinks that, depending on its age, intelligence and personality, it can be changed oyer, and should be, since we live in a right-handed world.
It has long been known that the left side of the brain controls the activity of the right arm, while the right lobe governs uie left side of the body. Because of this, educators and doctors at one time advocated that children learn to use both hands with equal efficiency, on the theory that ambidexterity caused equal development of both brain lobes. Later on other authorities came to the conclusion that, since the left side of the brain controls speech as well as motor functions of the right hand, then overdevelopment of the left hand (controlled by the right side of the brain) would lead to speech impediment.
Those that believe there is an inborn tendency in the brain to use either the right hand or the left say that to force a Natural” left-hander to change means to make it shift its thinking process from one side of the brain to the other, and to do this is liable th cause emotional strain and mental confusion in the child. Hence, to play safe and avoid such things as stammering or disability in reading the Child should be left to choose which hand it pleases without interference. Dr. Hildreth, while admitting that complications in emotional and mental in the method used rather than in the actual change itself. If a change is to be made, all agree that it should be made during the first and second year, before the speech habits are formed.
Though Dr. W. Russell Brain, of England, says there is no difference in the size of man's brain lobes, some people contend that the left lobe of a righthanded person is larger and more highly developed. Hence, these say, left-handedness results when the left lobe is deficient
or
In an effort
to substantiate this theory the mental capacity of twins has been compared in cases where one twin is right-handed and the other is left-handed. Statistics have also been gathered to show that there is a higher percentage of lefthandedness' among the feeble-minded than among- the population in general.
At least one doctor, Abram Blau, of New York University College of Medicine, attempts to combine some of the theories on left-handedness by listing three possible causes. He thinks that newborn babies are “bilateral” with no preference for either hand; “no-handedness”, in other words. He-then says that one cause for left-handedness is a deficiency in either the physical or the mental make-up which hinders the child from learning to be right-handed. Another cause is faulty education. Either the child is allowed to imitate the eating and writing habits of its parents when these are left-handed or, due to ignorance of some parents who believe that it is dangerous to try to change an/ left-handed tendency, the child is not educated properly in the use of the right hand. The third cause set down by Blau is ^emotional negativism”; which he defines as nothing more than contrariness.
Vof Yet the Answer to the Riddle
Fishing in other waters for the answer sis to what causes handedness investigators have studied other animals besides tnan. Hunting dogs, it is observed, raise the same forepaw when “pointing”, and though it varies in individual dogs, each log invariably raises the same paw each :ime. One tusk of an elephant is always arger than the other simply because t is not used as much for rooting as the )ther tusk. Insects such as crickets and fatydids show a preference toward one ride or .the other in the way they fold their wings. One of the claws of lobsters and crabs is always larger than the other, due to more usage. Fish such as flounders, halibut and sole are particular to lie on one side when they are mature, although when young they swim around like other fish. Whether there is any connection between these peculiarities in the lower animals and handedness in man is not clear, nor are scientists by their study of the lower animals any closer to solving the "left-handed riddle”.
Psychologists, in an effort to find the answer, have branched out to include in their study what relation there is between handedness and the use of the feet, legs eyes and ears. Which shoelace do you tie first? Which foot do you put forward when stepping up a curb or ladder, a thing thought to be predetermined before a baby takes its fir st step? In using a shovel or spade, which foot do you use, or which hand goes on the topi Which foot do you wash first when taking a bath T In driving a car, though you think you use both hands equally, which glove wears out first? which eye do you wink? Or which eye do you use to look through a telescope or a keyhole? Other tests include the folding of the arms and hands. Individuals have preference as to which arm they place on top, and which thumb falls on the other.
Complicated and confusing? Yea, for man's investigation is still in the primitive theoretical stage.
Who Invented the Plow?
<1 That question may be forever unanswered, ajs a crude type of plow was used in Egypt when the pyramids were young. It merely scratched the surface, but it was a plow. The Pilgrims employed clumsy models requiring eight oxen to pull. Few reel improvements were made till 1785, when Robert Ransome of England introduced a east-iron share. Twelve years later Charles Newbold of New Jersey patented a plow with a cast-iron moldboard, but farmers rejected it with the claim that the metal poisoned the soil. Thomas Jefferson is famous as a statesman, yet he tackled the problem of designing a better plow. Jethro Wood of New York patented in 1819 the first really practical iron plow, After designs by Daniel Webster and John Lane, John Deere began to make farm implement history with his experiments in the development of more efficient plows, and twenty years later James Oliver added his skill to the task. So great Were their strides that almost a century passed without any major changes in the plow. Several years ago a veritable bombshell rocked the agricultural realm when some claimed deep plowing caused erosion and lowered fertility, and advocated that it be replaced by disking. Yet the plow still turns the soil.
iSffPTEMRSR 8} 1949 11
and Love in the Animal Realm
*8? In April came a jail break for freedom. The Mew Jersey state police were
called out to find the fugitives, but the countryside was not alarmed. It was only
& eight penguins. They had arrived at La Guardia airport and were traveling by
* truck in New Jersey when they made the eage-break. Six were retaken, but two
rugged characters were not stunned by their Leap from the moving truck, picked themselves up and hit the road for freedom.
They
when pony,
V Oh, to load a dog’s life! And also the life of cats and horses and hogs, it is on the Upson, farm in Ohio. When the pie wagon stops, four horses, a a hog, two dogs find a generous assortment of cats lick their lips. They have been dining on pie for years, broken pies that cannot be marketed in the usual manner, but fresh and delicious nonetheless. They drool over all kinds, except pumpkin.
In Chicago Ambrose always has four doves for dinner guests. Most cats— Ambrose is a cat—would star them on the menu rather than the guest list. Even Ambrose started life that way, chasing birds when a kitten. But his master brought home the doves, protected them from Ambrose at first, then gradually brought them together. Now the doves won’t eat without Ambrose, and oat add birds bunk together, too!
Last April a fierce BrahnSa bull in Nevada died of a broken heart. A cow wandered onto the railroad tracks and was killed by a train. The bull maintained lonely vigil beside her, preventing section hands from burying her. For weeks be kept watch, refusing to eat the hay thrown off by passing train crews. Finally he died, starved and broken-hearted. The section crew returned and buried both together.
Got a duck that won’t quack? Nothing to get excited about. It is only a strong silent male. Only female ducks, not males, quack. The ladies do the talking, the gents listen- Another thing: panicky ducks in ponds sometimes get water-logged and drown, and youngsters that get their backs wet in heavy rain are soon dead ducks. So don’t gaze at the rain and say: “Good day for ducks,” T’aint true!
Misty, a blond cocker spaniel, lost her only pup and was pining away till her owners brought home twenty-one chicks. During the night Misty cut through such red tape as adoption papers and carried the chicks one by one in her mouth into her closet-bedroom quarters. She has mothered them fondly, evenly fiercely.
*8? Two yolks in one egg is no oddity, but a hen in Georgia packed eight in one egg! It measured ten and a half inches long and eight and & half in circumference. Inside the large egg were three yolks and another egg, which in turn had three yolks and an egg within it. The center egg had two yolks, to make eight yolks and three eggs all wrapped up in one. Recall the cartoon of the rooster showing a hen an ostrich egg and saying he was not complaining but only showing what could be done? Well, this hen did it, and then some!
y This year two Harvard scientists .reported whales that whistle, sgnea), ciurp, mew, cluck and even trill. An underwater microphone with amplifier eavesdropped on white whales or porpoises in the lower Saguenay river in Quebec, The loquacious whales were said to compare with «ueh chatterboxes as monkeys and men, and are nicknamed «$ea canaries”.
SWANG
"■■T
FALLS TO THE tZOAIAW/WSTS'
. I ’J . r ’ ' . I- . . ST • •
City changes hands ( ernight
to fa st-moving Red armies
ONCE again victory comes easily to the Chinese Communists as Shanghai's six million fall to advancing Red armies. Red occupation of this great commercial metropolis of China had long been considered inevitable, but that it should be taken with such ease and smoothness came as a pleasant surprise and relief to most people. The Nationalists had built a tall wood fence around the city, and set some of their best troops to keep the Reds out. They talked about defending it as another Stalingrad. But the fruitlessness of such a stand was evident, and the collapse that came was, without doubt, the best thing for the city and everyone concerned.
Communist troops approached the city from two directions, both following the line of the rail way into the city. One fofce approached from the west along the Nanking-Shanghai railway, making their main objective the port of Woosung at .the entrance of the Whangpoo river. Capture of Woosung wTould put a stop to all Nationalist river traffic to Shanghai some dozen miles up river, and also cut off any'means of escape for fleeing Nationalists when the end came. In defense of Woosung the Nationalists put up some of their best fighting of the campaign, and succeeded in holding on to tfe port till practically the last.
The other attacking force pushed up from the south along the Hangchow-Shanghai railway with the large airport at Lunghwa their first objective. Here theNationalists put up a strong defense
SEPTEMBER 8S 1949
and the Red advance slowed down. The Nationalists used heavy artillery and their planes were up daily bombing the Red columns. The Reds relied upon their thousands of infantry soldiers moving like a human sea to overflow the Nationalists’ defenses. The noise of these two battlefronts was a nightly lullaby to the crowded city dwellers for almost a month.
In the south the fighting began to shift to the east side of the Whangpoo river, over toward Shanghai’s back dour. Here rapid progress was made in this weak spot in the defense, and soon these forces had practically completed the encirclement of the city as they stood almost Opposite Woosung on the east bank of the Whangpoo.
Slowly but surely the Nationalist defenders were being overwhelmed. Defeat was certain, and Nationalist top officials quietly began slipping away by every available plane. During May 24 one column of Reds began penetrating into the outskirts of the city in the southwest. Nationalist troops were withdrawing before them, leaving just a few men to slow up the Red approach. During the night this force made rapid progress down the main highway, and by 2:30 a.m. had reached the city center. This not without much machine-gunning to silence isolated points of resistance by remaining Nationalist troops. Not many of the people in the city slept that night as the noif^ of fighting passed their front doors.
At the headquarters of the city police, the chief and his top men had fled and another group had taken over. These hoisted the white flag and welcomed the
newly arrived Communists* Large numbers of the local volunteer defense groups and police began turning in their weapons. Likewise many . Nationalist troops laid down their arms and surrendered. The remaining Nationalist troops began moving north toward Wou-eung in the hope of evacuating by Nationalist warships.
Occupation Turned into Holiday
When morning came the populace began venturing out onto the streets to find out what had happened, only to learn of the quick Communist take-over. All business was suspended and shops closed; so, with.nothing to do, the Shanghai-lander seemed to want to make a holiday out of the occupation. The weather that morning was excellent, with bright sunny sky and comfortably warm atmosphere, prompting one of the newspapers later to .remark that the Bed occupation seemed to have divine blessing.
Not very many Red troops were in evidence that morning, and those that walked in seemed very tired. Some took up duty at old Nationalist sandbagged strong points, and promptly went to sleep on the street. Communist troops were dressed much the same as the Nationalist troops, only their uniform was an olive green in color. The Red troops were quiet and conducted themselves extremely well toward the civilian population. There was no molestation nor incident of any kind. The soldiers were su^ciently well equipped and could therefore act independent of the local people. They walked and carried their own supplies on their shoulders. This was quite a contrast to the Nationalists, who would commandeer anything and everything according to their immediate needs no matter who suffered.
Everyone looked on the changing scene with interest, wondering what was going to happen. The people were not hostile to the Reds, neither were they overfriendly. The students seemed to be the most enthusiastic in welcoming the victors, and were soon busy running around posting up notices welcoming the people’s liberation army. For the most part the general population; seemed to aet as if neutral, yet interested. They were very glad the fighting was over and that the occupation was effected so smoothly. Especially were they glad the take-over was done quickly and during the night hours of curfew. Thus there was no opportunity for looting, which the people feared most of all. For weeks preparations had been going on to meet the almost inevitable plundering and looting by the mob during the transition from Nationalist rule to that of the Reds.
In the case of Nanking the police and troops fled from their duty in the city more than twenty-four hours before the Reds arrived. The city was at the mercy of the mob, and a day of terror, looting and destruction followed. Order was restored only with the arrival of the Reds. Here in Shanghai, with such a quick take-over, law and order was maintained all the time, and everyone felt much relieved at that.
A Last-Bitch Stand
However, fighting did not cease all over the city immediately. Nationalist troops covering the evacuation toward Woosung made a two-day stand on the Soochow creek running through the center of the city. Here they made use of some big apartment blocks and the main building of the general post office. With machine gups on the roofs and at the windows they were able to put np a short but stubborn stand. Many foreign nationals living in the - apartment blocks found themselves caught in the middle of the battle, and were in a dangerous spot with bullets flying everywhere. They could not move out of the buildings, and their only touch with the outside was the telephone, during the two days of the stand.
Apparently, these Nationalist troops, many of them farm beys, were told by their officers to stand to the last Then, unknown to the soldiers, these officers had fled. These boys believed that if they retreated they would be shot by their own soldiers, and if they surrendered they would be shot by the Reds, So they tried to keep up a last-ditch stand. Only after some of the foreign residents of the apartments assured them that their officers were no longer around, and that the Reds would not shoot them, did they agree to surrender. Soon news came of the occupation of Woosung; and thus Nationalist opposition came to an end.
During the whole of the fighting the local people had acted well and orderly. Now a few of the poorer class began to demolish the sandbagged strong points in the streets and help themselves to the sacks, while the children enjoyed themselves in the sand, which is about the best use to which these things could be put. Six big ferocious-looking armored cars which the Nationalists had abandoned in the streets were now taken over by the children, who had a great time crowding into them and playing war with them. These abandoned cars stood as mocking symbols of the Nationalists’ show of strength. When the battle got too hot these troops just drove into a side street, left their ear and army jackets and caps, and fled, A sudden flight right back to civilian life and its neutrality. In other parts of the city ordinary troops discarded their battle dress and donned the regular long Chinese gown. Fires were made of the Uniforms.
Eight-Point Declaration
On the day of their arrival the Communists issued an eight-point declaration. This urged the people to return to their work as usual, and shops and businesses to open for business as usual. People employed by the Nationalist government in government offices were told to continue in their work and to preserve SEPTEMBER 8, 1949
all records and archives. All foreigners were assured of protection of their lives and property. Red soldiers would not take from anyone so much as a piece of thread without paying for the same. This declaration did much to put everyone at ease. Copies of it in Chinese were posted up throughout the city so that everyone could read.
For months the Nationalists had painted a morbid picture of Red occupation ; but most people felt the start in Shanghai was not bad at all. In fact, in many ways much wisdom and common sense was displayed by the Reds in both the occupation and the handling of the city’s difficult governmental affairs. The first day the Reds lifted the curfew that had been in force in the city and removed restrictions forbidding civilians to use the waterfront and to travel across the river to homes on the other side. In this way evety effort was made to get the city running in the normal manner as quickly as possible,
Chinese Rede Real Communists?
Opinions differ as to whether Red domination of China is a good thing or not. One thing, though, has dawned upon all who have given attention to the China problem, ana that is that the corrupt and decaying Nationalist regime has had its day. Even its most loyal supporter, the United States, has at last acknowledged that fact, but only after seeing three-fourths of its very liberal aid material surrendered or sold to the opposing Reds. This is the government that fought to liberate China from the Japa-nese, that represents China as one of the big four and possesses the power of veto in the family of United Nations, and that gave to China a constitution of democratic form. Yet it cannot stand in its own home. Disunity, gross corruption and amazing inefficiency has paid its dividend ana the whole national system is crumbling. This state of the national government and its chief political party, the Kuominrang, ha8*rm>wied ample material far Bed propaganda, and to arouse feeling against the United States for supporting^ such a government. The Ifceds have made hay out-of with the result that they haye'been able to whip up a zealous patriotic feeling in their forces. They see themselves as the liberators of the people, destined to overthrow capitalistic Chiang Kai-shek and complete the people's political revolution; that all reactionaries who stand in the way of that revolution must be destroyed.
Anti’Communist elements question whether the Chinese Communists will really follow the Moscow pattern of Communism. It is acknowledged that the Chinese are naturally proud df their race and .culture, but they are not usually fervently patriotic for their government or nation. This probably is due to the fact that they have never had a government that was democratic and represented the people. In all their long history government has been a family and military affair and the people have never had any say in the running of national affairs. The family has always been the essential unit in Chinese life, and family interests always come before national interests, Hence there has been an amazing lack of public spirit in China until the rising of the Beds,
Victory on the battlefield is an easy means of whipping up enthusiasm, but such enthusiasm soon cools down if the promised economic prosperity does not follow it up. People want food, clothing and homes, and it is on these points that the success of the Communists with the people will depend. Here the Beds have no easy task. Capital is needed to develop railways and roads, to modernize agricultural and farming methods and to build up essential industry in the country. In the past foreign countries have provided the capital and brains to accomplish these things. Now, with the Iron Curtain falling around China, any outside assistance it is thought will come from Communist countries ind mostly from Soviet Russia. However, the United States is still supplying food shipments to aid hungry Chinese in Nationalist territories, and at-the-same time hot British and American businessmen are anxious to begin trading with the Reds. Both countries hope to establish “friendly” relations with the Communists for the purpose of doing business with them. Nothing is being done that might offend the Reds. Foreign business interests are hopeful the Reds will respond and make use of their valuable services, to the mutual benefit of both parties. But, in recent statements and actions, this unknown quantity, the Chinese Reds, has given the foreigner cause for the jitters, and he is not so sure that he is considered so essential to Chinese prosperity and Red success.
With the civil war now over as far as Shanghai is concerned, the people's attention is quickly focused on the city's next big. headache, that of money. The Nationalists proved wholly incapable of maintaining a steady currency, but were constantly beset with deflation. In the nine months that their new “Gold Yuan” money, had existed up till zzow, it had depreciated from four to one American dollar to over fifty million to one. Now the Beds have their own currency called Jen Ming Piao, or People's money, which is being introduced into the city. People are hoping this will not take the same disastrous slide as the Nationalists' money. If foreign trade can soon be resumed in the port, and the local money kept stable, then the city can continue to provide a living for its teeming inhabitants. Hence there are still many vital problems facing this city.
But at least one major crisis has come and gone, and a further page has been written in the dazzling history of this glamorous and iniquitous city that has risen from the Whangpoo mud flats to be the fourth'largest on earth.—Awake! correspondent in China,
«f5UR(jERVzSSUCCES5ES
IT IS a strange thing, but some people hurl insult and caustic criticism at the surgical profession when they are healthy, yet if their bodies are crushed and mangled In an auto accident they are most grateful if a surgeon patches them up in time to. save their life. The same ones that call the doctors of surgery '*knife-wielding surgical demons’, “callous fiends,” “criminals/’ “wicked men/’ “saddists and perverts’1 who “lust to enjoy the pain of others” later express gratitude that a surgeon was able to pull them through when their appendix ruptured. Such a paradox is due to ignorance. Many of these people, though honest and sincere in their criticism, are entirely ignorant of the marvelous accomplishments of surgery until they are forced to personally visit the operating room.
Emergency operations save many lives following accidents, A leg or collarbone of an athlete has a compound fracture ; the hand of a machinist is mashed; a fishhook snags a sportsman’s eyeball; a.chicken bone strangles an old lady; an oil refinery worker has the skin burned off his face and arms; a bullet lodges deep in the chest of a hold-up victim. Everyday these, and a thousand cases like them, demand the services of trained surgeons.
When a horse bit off half of the ear of an 8-yfear-pld St. Louis girl surgery grafted it back on two hours later when the lobe was recovered from the stable. In Los Angeles § girl’s nose was sewed back on after it had been slashed off in an auto accident Another girl reached the hospital with a fractured leg dangling by only a section of muscle. Today, due to the doctor’s skill, she walks on two legs instead of one. After a little boy SEPTEMBER 8, 1949
fell on the open blade of a pocket knife and the wound apparently healed he complained of sharp pains around the heart. Surgeons found that the blade had severed the thoracic duct in his neck and chyle fluid had filled the chest cavity, where it crowded the heart. In Phoenixville, Pa., three surgeons labored five hours patching up the bullet-riddled heart, lung, stomach and spleen of a man who attempted suicide. When they finished they had knit him together with 150 stitches, and he lived! In an auto accident the stomach of a GJ soldier was squeezed up through the diaphragm into the chest cavity, and it took surgeons four and a half hours to make a 15-inch incision, remove one rib, and return the stomach to its normal position.
Besides life-saving benefits, victims of accidents receive great blessings. from plastic surgery. It is only short of miraculous, the way some that had had half their faces torn away by shrapnel, are patched up. Either using soft cartilage from the hipbone or a new synthetic plastic as scaffolding upon which tissues and skin are hung, plastic surgeons build up noses, ears, chins, etc. Diseased arteries and bile ducts have also been replaced with tubing of synthetic plastic.
Correcting the Deformed and Crippled
Not only is plastic surgery used annually to give new faces to an estimated 50,000 persons in the United States, including the ill-shaped, spies and reformed criminals, but it is used to correct many deformities. In one case a man looked? as if his ears had been pinned on his head upside down. In another, a man had webbed hands and feet. A freak of nature, with one side of his face a solid sheet of bone, had the upper and lower jaws separated by surgery, and with bone and flesh grafting was transformed into a normal-looking individual.
Mothers can now take home from the hospitals normal-looking babies even when born as harelips, thanks to surgery. When a baby’s tongue hung down its windpipe its life was saved by attaching the tongue to the lower jaw. A baby, born with an esophagus ending in a closed pouch and its windpipe ending in Its stomach, was able to live because surgeons made the necessary correction. Once a girl was born with no mouth, but surgeons separated the fused jaws, made a mouth, and permitted it to nurse like other babies. Another baby had a separated breastbone and only a thin membrane “window” over its heart that almost burst every time it cried, yet surgery corrected the defect Linda Thorson was born April 14 of this year with some of her vital organs hanging outside her body. After putting them back in place, sewing and patching her up, the doctors sent this Wisconsin baby home to a family of four sisters and two brothers.
In recent years more and more handicapped and crippled people have benefited from the science of surgery. One man having a bad limp because one leg was three inches shorter than the other had the short leg lengthened by special bone grafting. In other cases, where bones are diseased beyond repair, they are replaced by a “spare part” supplied from a quick-freeze “bone-bank” locker^ Even replacement of joints made of stainless steel and plastic has been accomplished by wonder-working surgery. Thus, otherwise hopeless cases doomed to a bed-ridden or wheel-chair life are blessed with full use of their limbs.
Even deformities caused by infantile paralysis, such as bowlegs, knock-knees and hunchback, can be corrected by surgical science. There was a so-called “spider boy”, 17 years old, that had a "floating pelvis” that made him walk with his arms swinging below his knees.
IB
By Hie use of steei pins and metal band*, and by fusing the pelvis to the spine, this young man was permitted to stand erect for the first time in his life.
Surgery is able to repair many damaged and worn-out parts of the body. In one very unusual case, where a man coughed and choked every time he tried to swallow, a surgeon rebuilt his whole throat One of the most remarkable operations, if true, is the report that a Soviet surgeon successfully replaced an amputated tongue with a flap of skin, and the patient was able to regain the power of speech.
The precious gift of sight, in many cases, is possible only because of surgery. Kings and nobles, veterans and aged grandmothers, after years of blindness are able to see once again because their diseased corneas have been replaced by healthy ones. In the future surgeons hope to correct near- and farsightedness the same way. When a person's eyes literally “pop out of their sockets” surgeons have been able to correct the defect If a blood clot fills the eyeball it has been possible to replace the eye flut’d with a fluid taken from the spinal column. A very ingenious operation, in cases where the eye is. lost, is to sew the muscles to an artificial plastic eye and thus permit the false eye to be rolled with the good one.
Lifesaving by Surgery
Fifteen years ago about 18,000 deaths a year Demurred in the United from appendicitis; but improvements in surgery and the use of penicillin have reduced this figure 75 percent. Recently a delicate operation was announced in which diseased areas in the lungs were removed without damaging the lungs themselves. In one instance a tubercular lung was collapsed to allow it to heal by placing a number of plastic “ping-pong” balls in the chest cavity. Years ago, amputation of old persons' legs above the knees resulted in gangrene and death,
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