Awake!, February 8, 1950

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IN THE NAME OF TOLERANCE

: ‘ tolerance mean to ^k'ntl.v endure manv evils Moo < IviM in' 's Jnir a J! s arc as tic speech?

Japan Today

: '*;• ii(h the Nipponese tiarhi^ occupation

"But Can It Be Found in the Bible?”

>oappin^ the subtle snares woven by the ic.'cptivu ads vh knights of Columbus

Garden in Your Window

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital Ihhtiom of our tinfcs mmt be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. “Awake 1” has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish fads* It Is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; It is unhampered by advertisers wnose toea nxxrt not be trodden on; unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This journal keeps Itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.

"Awake!” uses the regular news channels, but is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their imcenscred, on -• the - scenes reports come to you through these column^ This JnfjrnaJ*tf 1S not narrow, but Is international. It is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its coverage is as broad as tlm earth and as high as the heavens.

"Awake 1” pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, io championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a de Unguent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of a right' eous New 'World,

Get acquainted with “Awake t" Keep awake by reading “Awake!”

•* MW V

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CONTENTS

La the Name of Toteranee

Oil from Shale and Coal

Tolerance for What?

“But Can It Be Found in the Bible?”

Proper to Use Sarcasm?

Tradition Contrari ids Scriptures

Un inis taka hl ft Mockery and DcriHion

“Report on Wild Life

Why Awake f Uaes Cutting Speech

Garden in Your Window

Japan Today

Soil and Water Needs

Japan’s ’*Big Brother'1 Nazi. Crimea Outdated

Foliage Plants

Flowering Plants

Folly of Persecution

"Thy Word Ij Truth”

"Age of Triviality”

‘Marry in the Lord'

Mcrnntains and Oceans of Oil

Conscription and Freedom of Cnnacifnoe

Tidelaadis

Watching the World

to to co

flWAKE/

^“Now it is high time to awake.— Romans 13:11 91

Volume XXXI Brooklyn, N. Y., February 8, 1950 Number S

IN THE NAME OF TOLERANCE

Much is said today about tolerance. Not the tolerance that allows free expression of differing opinion, but a tolerance that silently endures contradictory opinion. But this silent tolerance la deemed essential only in religious matters. Much is said about brotherhood, but always relative to religions. There are no Brotherhood Weeks for politicians, or financiers, or militarists. Tolerance to them does not mean silent endurance of clashing opinion. They plunge Into sarcastic word battles and fiery cold wars, loose their verbal broadsides in tempestuous rough-arid 'tumble that truth may triumph over error. But the modern view Is that Bible matters must not be so threshed out in the open forum of public discussion. In the Bible realm free speech beepmea intolerance; retigioip error becomes unassailable; blunt or sarcastic words horrify. But in the field of the Bible, what better authority than the Bible? This article looks Into the Scriptures to see whether plain and even sarcastic speech stands or falls before the divine standard.

fiCTjROTHERHOOD is not only a gen-

D erous impulse but also a divine command. Others may he moved into brotherhood only by sentiment. We acknowledge brotherhood as a religious duty. All the faiths represented here claim as a common heritage the great thoughts of, the Hebrew prophets. The prophets were among the first of men who saw that the concept of the fatherhood of God required men to do justice to one another/7

So said President Truman to the National Conference of Christians and Jews when pledging support .of their Brotherhood Week. His words raise questions. Is brotherhood among differing church groups a divine command and a religious duty? Was that outstanding Hebrew prophet Moses saying so when he warned concerning other religions: “Neither ©halt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring

FEBRUARY 8, 1930

after their gods’’? (Deuteronomy 7:16; Exodus 34:13,15) And was Christ the Son of God admitting brotherhood with the Pharisees when He labeled them sons of Satan?—John 8:44.

Realize that the way of Christian integrity does not tread the path of compromise, Jesus advocated no interfaith movement to'consolidate scribe, Pharisee, Sadducee and Christian. Rather than such a merger, Jesus told Christians: "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind; both shall fall into the ditch/7 (Matthew 15:14) When the mentally blind had their eyes opened they abandoned their former bedarkened sects. They tried no foolish uniting of Christianity with the doctrine of Pharisee and Sadducee, for that religious leaven would have contaminated pure Christianity, (Matthew 16: 6,12; Galatians 5: 9) Neither Jesus nor His disciples tolerated unequal yoking of believer and infidel, righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, God’s temple and idols. Not inter faith but sep-

aratenegB, they demanded.—2 Corinthians 6:14-18, .

Nor did faithful men before Christ champion interfaith. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed t' (Amos 3:3) When the Israelites entered Cana aula nd they were not instructed to launch Brotherhood Weeks to promote haratay between themselves and the false worshipers there. Such weak fraternizing was practiced later, but the price was prohibitive. On the subtle altar of religious peace they sacrificed integrity toward Jehovah. As the centuries rolled by their spineless backsliding gathered momentum, till finally it swept them to national disaster and Babylonian captivity. But faithful men sidestepped the Bly interfaith snares and weak brotherhood compromises. They counted the cost of religious peace, and when it added up li> their integrity toward God they balked at the price.

Tolerance for What?

Today most religionists readily pay over integrity to Scriptural principle fdr outward harmony between sects and cults. Popular belief once held that the many separate religions were merely different roads leading to heaven, but now modern religious engineers want to cement together into a manydaned highway these different religions roads. They yearn fuf one world church. Realizing that this means drawing together a conglomeration of ritual and doctrine that clashes and repels and pushes apart, they cry out for tolerance, hail tolerance as the glue needed to cement info one the diverse sects.

Tolerance for what! Why, tolerance for error. For a Christian to enter the inter faith fold, would mean be must tolerate pagan teachings under a Christian label, tolerate the tenet of a Ihree-in-one God, tolerate claims that God fiendishly tortures souls in fiery lakes, tolerate the hlaaphdiny that for money God will release suffering souls from a flaming pur-gnfnry, tolerate bingo gambling, tolerate the view that Jesus was not Messiah but an impostor, tolerate clerical hypocrisy and political meddling, tolerate religious warmongering, and chaplain-blessing of Christian killing Christian, and on and on would flow the endless stream of blasphemies against God that the Christian would have to tolerate in silence. He would have to wink at sin, shut eyes to wnmg, plug ears to blasphemy, make his tongue dumb to silenlly tolerate evil Fearing to offend by word or deed, tolerating in the name of tolerance every satanic snare, he would convert to an unresisting worm squirming its pay through a useless existence till eternally dead.

This sly, subtie, modern doctrine of tolerance that snakes, its devious way through the land is not true tolerance, but is actually intolerance in devilish disguise. In the name of tolerance hipii have become intolerant of exposure of religious evildoers, intolerant of unadulterated Bible truth that makes men free, intolerant of gospel-preaching that re-leaws prisoners from false religions and sets them moving on the n»id hj life. The modern tolerance-cult gives new meaning to the word tolerance. To them it doos not mean tnleratijig expression of opinion different from theirs; to them it means tolerating differences that must never be vigorously debated. To challenge is to stir up hate, they say. This they cannot tolerate.

Actually, the tolerance-howlers are not tolerant in matters on which they feel strongly. For example, do they tolerate in silence policies political* commercial, social and military that they oppose! Would there be such a hot cqld war if they did ? Silent toleration of error seems to apply only to the religious realm. Why? The reason so many can grandly say we should mumly tolerate religious differences is that they consider religion of little practical consequence. So they argue, Why highlight differences and create frictions, why not live and let live T With their nearsighted and materialistic vision they gee not God in the picture, fail to see the need of letting truth triumph over error through public discussion, of letting Bible truth be preached oven though it divide father, mother, son, daughter. (Luke 12:51-53) They prefer blasphemy against God to error exposure that shocks vulnerable religious susceptibilities, because they appreciate not that "God must prove true, though every man be false’7. (Romans 3:4, An Amer. Trans.) Better that mankind be divided and some right than united and all wrong.

Proper to Use Sarcasm?

In the name of tolerance some legislators would become intolerant of freedom of speech and worship. They would frame mischief by law. (Psalm 94:20) Last year a bill was introduced in an Australian state assembly to prevent “blasphemous writings likely to incite abbot'r^niT* again st any religion or any religious denomination or sect”. One of the published purposes of the bill was to halt "the insulting and abusive slanders on all forms of organized religion in the journals of such bodies as the Communist party and the witnesses of Jehovah”. Any prosecuted would have the burden of proving their literature not guilty; it would be considered guilty till proved innocent. Again, a bill introduced in the California state legislature sought to make it unlawful for anyone to distribute or prepare "any propaganda designed to belittle, ridicule, upbraid, condemn or Sold up to scorn and contempt any religious system or denomination" More than ten years ago the United States Supreme Court declared such gag laws unconstitutional.—310 U.S, 296.

Occasionally a reader of Awake! will make a similar protest against the use of sarcasm. One recently objected; “Is the sarcasm necessary, that appears so consistently in the main articles of Awake!! Ca^’t we have straight report-

ing for a change, and leave sarcasm to the world and its writers 1 Tact should be our Theocratic weapon. Why isn’t tact being used in the Awake!?’ Undoubtedly these questions are asked in sincerity, and deserve respectful answering.

/« Sarcasm Theocratic?

First, there is a proper hhtred, Jehovah. hates liars and evildoers. (Psalm 5:5,6; Proverbs 6:16-19) Christ shares that hatred. (Hebrews 1:8, tf) All Christians can say Aruen to David's words: “Do I not hate them that hate thee, 0 Lord! And do I not loathe them who oppose theeT With the deadliest hatred, I hate them." (Psalm 139: 21, 22, An Amer. Trans.) Nor is that hatred suppressed or concealed hypocritically, but finds frequent and blunt expression in Gndi Word. Yes, it even finds outlet in cutting san asni and mocking ridicule.

Job called his three “religious friends" “forgers of lies" and “physicians of no value". (Job 13:4) Isaiah pulled no „ punches when he exposed religious shepherds supposed to wateh over God's floc* ,’ “JLIis watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dojfs, they cannot bark; sleeping [dreaming, or talking in tbeir sleep], lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough" (Isaiah 56:10,11; margin) And what about Jerenduh’s slashing verbal barrage that castigated Israel's spiritual adultery vvitb demon gods by likening her to lust-maddened beast si—"How dare you say, ‘I am not stained, I ha^e not sought the Baals' ! Look at your life in the Valley, think how you have carried on: you are a swift young camel, that doubles on ber tracks, a heifer running wild in the wold, heated with passion, snuffing the breeze, in the rutting season —who can control her! No male need trouble to search for her; all can find her at mating-lime."—Jeremiah 2:23,24, Moffatt.

Who will contend that Job and Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke in unruffled tones void of oral emphasis or feeling 1 Can any conceive such devastating condemnations parroted out of mouths minus the vocal inflections of scorn and disgust the words cry out fort Who can argue that this was no more than “plain speech"? that this strong language was weakly uttered in placating or neutral voice! that the speakers' hearts were not in it! The heart represents the seat of motives an'd emotion*. and we can he euro an abundance of righteous indignation welled up in those three hearts to make those three mouths pour out the words with all the feeling needed.

“Out of the abundance of the heart the month spenketh/' said Jesus. (Matthew 12:34) Henee we can bp positive Ihal Jesus also allowed heartfelt feelings to merge with ideas from the mind so that both might find full expression in the words that came out of His mouth. He spoke with feeling when Jie referred to murderous, crafty Herod as “that fox”, and when He spoke of some as brutish swine before whom the pearls of truth should not be cast. (Matthew 7; 6; Luke 13: 32) Was He not ridiculing the hypocrites that presume to remove specks from the eyes of others while they have beams in their own? (Matthew 7:3-5) And now ridiculous Ho painted clergy that fussed over minor matters but flouted major duties! If you saw a finicky fellow strain a gnat out of his drink but leave in and swallow a camel, would you not brand him a ridiculous fool! So Jesus called such clergymen fools and said: “Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel! Matthew 23:17, 23, 24, Am. Stan. Ver.

And who is such a dullard that he can not sense the deep concern in Jesus* voice when He cries out: ‘ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. Woo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchresj which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell [Gehenna] !** (Matthew 23:25, 27, 33, Am. Stan. Ver.; margin) Later He told the same class, “£e are of your father the devil.” (John 8:44) Peter referred to backsliders as dogs returning to their vomit and as washed sows returning to their miry* wallows.—2 Peter 2:22.

Unmistakable Mockery and Derision

If so the still say the foregoing is not sarcasm hid only blunt speech spiritlessly spoken, let them weigh the following. Again give car to Job as he addressee his three “friends”: “No doubt you are the men who know ? Wisdom will die with you!” Did Job mean that! Hardly! Seconds later he told them: “Ask the very beasts, and they will leach you; ask the wild birds—they will tell you; crawling creatures will instruct you, fish in the sea will inform you? Not ho wise, if needing to go to crawling creatures to get gome sense. Those men thought they knew it all, thought all wisdom resided in their heads and would perish with them. That is what Job was telling them. Irony is used when a person says one thing and means just the opposite. Job’s words dripped sarcastic irony 1—Job 12: 2,7,8, Moffatt.

For an example of mockery open your Bible to Isaiah chapters 13 and 14 and read there the taunting song aimed at Babylon and its king. Also, note the taunting ring in the following: “The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women." (Jeremiah 51:30) On another occasion God’s then-holy city tossed her head and laughed in scorn at Assyrian king. Sennacherib because he stupidly blasphemed God: “She scorns you, she laughs at you, Sion the maiden, she tosses her head at you, Jerusalem the

maid. Whom have you insulted and bias* p he med, at whom have you dared raise your voices and Jift your eyes on high! —the' deity of Israel I”—2 Kings 19: 21, 22, Moffatt.

Wishy-washy Israel at one time trickled aimlessly along its religious course, weaving unsteadily between Jehovah's worship and Baalism. Then, a showdown, “Elijah came near unto all the people, and said, How long go ye limping between the two sides? if Jehovah be God, follow him; but if Baal, theh follow him?' Elijah proposed a teat: put a bullock on Baal’s altar and one on Jehovah's altar, let the Baal prophets call on their god to devour their sacrifice by fire, let Elijah ask Jehovah to consume his by fire, and the .deity who answers ia the true God. The 450 demon prophets “called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon", They shouted and leaped, and cut themselves with knives and lances after them manner till the blood gushed.” But no answer. Then, “ft capie to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked.”—1 Kings 18: 21-28, A. 8. V.

Jehovah Mocks and Derides

Elijah mocked the false prophets, ridiculed them, taunted them, sarcastically suggested to them that their god was preoccupied, or astray, or asleep on the job and needed to be roused. Was Jehovah displeased, did He deem His sarcastic prophet intolerant? No, for despite the handicap that Elijah's sacrifice was repeatedly drenched with water “the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the atones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench”. (1 Kings 18: 30-38, Am. Stan. Ver.) What God approves shall we disapprove?

If one disapproves of properly used sarcasm ho will have to disapprove of, FEBRUARY 8, 1950

not only Awake!, not only prophets, not only apostles, not only Christ, but also Jehovah Himself! When men and nations plot and rage after world domination they scheme against Jehovah, for He has given World rulership to Christ's kingdom. How does God react? “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision," Or, “The Lord mocks at them; the Lord makes sport of them/' (Psalm 2:4; Moffatt; An Amer. Trans.) In other words, they are a joke, make themselves a laughingstock. Puny men warring against Almighty God? Too ridiculous to take seriously. Worthy only of mocking gibes and derisive laughter. Jehovah reserves for himself the last laugh: “I in my turn will laugh in the hour of your doom, I will mock when your terror comes."—Proverbs 1: 26, An Amer. Trans.

As men sow they reap. If they persist in planting folly they must expect to haryest ridicule. Certainly Christendom's religions sow folly in the name of serving God. Their sermons range from silly twaddle to political meddling. They wheedle and beg, demand and gamble for money. Much of their public praying is nauseatingly selfish or maddeningly blasphemous. (Matthew 6:5; James 4:3) Jehovah evaluates such spiritual feasts and sacrifices as follows: “I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your feasts.” (Malachi 2:3; Amos 5:21, Am. Stan. Ver.) In the name of tolerance Jehovah God does not silently tolerate impure sacrifices.

Whff “Awake!” Uses Cutting Speech

False teaching in God's name must be attacked in a spirited way, with righteous indignation, appealing not only to the mind but also to the heart, not just to the intellect but to the emotions as well, to impress the hearer or reader with the seriousness of the error. The issue is bigger than avoiding wounded religious pride. It is a matter of eternal life

or eternal death, and better to wound now with corrective words that cut than to tolerate in silence the evil and allow the evildoer to land himself and others in the ditch of destruction. (Proverlia 28 : 23; Matthew 15:14) Furthermore, the isHiie is bigger than human salvation ; God's name is involved. It must be cleared, vindicated. Hence it is necessary to roll up the sleeves of our vocabulary to grapple adequately with the many blasphemies against our Creator.

In their tight against satanic error Christians ask no quarter, want none, get none, and give none. They have courage to speak unpopular truth, and Awake I standk shoulder to shoulder with them, Unwilling to disembowel itself of in les. tinal fortitude to please men or Devil. After strong speech from Jesus religionists complained, 'TTs a ho dost thou insult FJ ^Luke 11:45, Rotherham) But Jesus did not change His way of speaking. When Paul attacked idolatrous religion its devotees feared that “the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised" and especially that “this business of ours will be discredited" Boi even threat of mobbing did not alter Paul’s message. (Acts 19:23-29; An Amer, Trans.) Neither will Awake! convert to the stylish doctrine of tolerance for religious error, which is no more than a subtle scheme of Satan to gag Christian mouths. Awake! will not “develop character" with the tolerationists and set itself up as “holier than Bible writers" and “holier than Jehovah", who were not averse to strong and sarcastic speech to slash and rip away the sheep’s clothing behind which religious wolves mas. querade.-—Matthew 7 :15; 2 Corinthians 11 :13-15, An Amer, Trans,

Because Awake! is written for persons of good-will and not for errant religious leaders, some may question the use of sarcasm aimed at clergymen. But what about the Bible sarcasm T Many times the barbed remarks were spoken directly to the offenders, but not always. Even when they Were, usually the common people were standing by to see the outcome. Others were present when Elijah needled the Baal prophets. And Jesus' scathing denunciation of. the scribes and Pharisees. Doesn’t it open with-these words: “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples"! (Matthew 23:1) Moreover, hasn’t God caused all this BarcHarri to be recorded in the Bible, which is circulated to all classes of persons!

Bowmm, thin point etinntd be too forcefully made, namely, that sarcasm should be the exception rather than the ride, and then used only when facts have been presented that justify it. Remember how Elijah waited for a full morning of failure by the Dual prophets before ho mocked them, at noontime!

In conclusion, Awake! cannot please all. It does not try to. The Jews wanted a sign, the Greeks wanted showy wisdom. Jehovah God gave them neither, so His message was a/stumblingstone to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. (1 Corinthians 1:22,23) Yet God did not allow them to dictate the message to Iff preached. Nor are the world's skep-tics or its wise men of today allowed to dictate His message. The aim of Awake! is not circulation at any price, popularity at any price, or religious peace at any price. The magazine's purpose is to please God, to tell facts, to expose hypocrisy and blasphemy, to comfort mourn-ers, to show the Kingdom hope to a world overflowing with misery and woe, to point to Jehovah's righteous new world. Awake! writes for those who sigh and cry for all the abominable conditions in the land, who are not satisfied 'with present conditions or imperfect human leaders but who look for something better. Ah it strives to meet this purpose it sticks to righteous principles, Bible principles, and among which is found full justification for sturdy speech.

And in those righteous Bible principles nothing is found to justify evil in the name of tolerance.

________ noticeable X thing about Japan is its people. Everywhere you look there are people both old and young. Plenty of people uu the sidewalks; plenty more in the € streets. People on bicycles and people rui buses mid streetcars. Everywhere masses of people—some riding, some walking, and some just stand ing around or squatting on their heels. In city or country there are people wherever one goes, and wherever there are people there are babies. Most of the women party habits on their backs, and tied to the backs of many young girls and boys are more babies. The baby-rjiiRnig business is indeed one of Japan's greatest industries, with production figures well over a million births a year.

Feeding the hungry mouths of this vast population is the most serious problem. There are approximately 80,000,000 people living in 147,690 square miles, yet only 15 percent of this area can be cultivated, because the greater part of the islands is Tnoiiiitairious. During the war most of the food went to the military forces, so much so that even workers in the war industries got only two light meals a day. Since the ending of hostilities conditions have gradually improved, and this last year, the first in many, the people seemed to have gotten enough to eat.

By stringent government control on both production and consumption, Japan is able to raise approximately 85 percent of her food. All basic items are rationed FEBRUARY 8, lU5ti

and prices are fixed by the government, A quota system is used for all farms, one in which the kinds of crops, the area planted for each crop, the quantity produced, as well as the price received for each foodstuff, is set by the Japanese authorities. If a farmer is unable to raise his quota, lie goes to the blackmarket, buys the balance needed, and turns it over to the quota-collecting agency for about one-fifth of what it cost him.

Bice is the chief item in the diet, with just enough pickled turnip or other vegetable and h small amount of dried nah. added to make the dish tasty. White and sweet potatoes, wheat, barley and corn are raised in limited amounts. Seasonings, such as soy sauce, ginger, sesame, etc., are extensively used. Green tea. without sugar or milk, is the national drink, for coffee, though enjoyed, is priced out of the general public's reach. Steamed beans are a favorite breakfast food, and early in the day, from five to six o'clock, men and boys on bicycles or afoot go through the streets and lanes selling steamed beans, often slightly fermented. As they go they ring out "Nato! Nato!" You see, it is considered impolite to shout, and the Japanese are sticklers for politeness, so they sing their bean song ever so loudly.

Foreigners are required to purchase their food from Overseas Sales Stores, provided for that purpose. All the food in these stores is imported so as not to further burden the limited donieistic supplica. The canned and packaged foods

are mostly from tha United States with butter coming from Denmark, cheese from Italy, oleo from the U«SJL and meat from Canada and South America, Clothing, cars, gasoline and fuel for heating are also sold by this Overseas organization, but only to foreigners.

Housing, No. 2 Problem

The Tokyo-Yokohama area has the greatest population, with the second-densest section in Osaka-Kobe, In the Tokyo area it is estimated that out of every 100 homos, 65 were destroyed during the war by explosives and fire bombs. Rebuilding has progressed slowly, bo today housing is stih a major problem, second only to food. The people are crowded together in tho smallest possible HpH.ce, with many families living in a single tiny room. These houses, with their thin wails, multiple sliding windows and doors, and their flimsy paper-covered .sliding partitions, are highly suitable for the warm summer weather. But how tragic for the cold winter Beason! Japanese homed have no central heating systems; only small charcoal stoves for cooking, big enough for a single pot. There are no warm ovbratuffed aofas in which to curl up. One sits nn the cold floor, nt best only thinly padded. At night there is no warm bed in which to sleep, A large stuffed fulan about one-third as thick as a mattress spread on the floor serves as a bed—delightfully cool in the summer; miserably and painfully cold in the winter.

Coming to these islands in tbc winter, visitors might think the ruby-red cheeks of the children are the picture of health. On a second look, however, they would gee that the cheeks and bands of the poor children are badly chapped from the cold. Their noses seem to be always running during the winter months, This sad condition is due to their cold houses and their lack of sufficient clothing. Clothing is another serious problem for the masses, for many of them lost their entire wardrobes in the wartime fires and have since beep unable to replace them. Clothing is rationed and any made of cotton in quite expensive, while the older women still wear the Japanese kimono, the younger women and girls prefer Western styles. All mon, with the exception of the beskirtod priests, wear Western costumes in public, but at home, especially the older men, like to relax in robes centuries-old in design.

Sanitation conditions, while not as primitive as in Minin parts of the earth, are nonetheless much worse than they Bhould be. With few exceptions there are no modern baths or toilet facilities in the homes of the people. Each neighborhood in the large towns has a public hath available for a small fee. The sewerage system, however, is twHd (te/riff/whte. Tor-lets equipped with wooden buckets must be emptied every ten days, the service charge being 10 yen the bucketful. The contents of these '‘honey buckets*1, aa they are called, arc carted off to the farms and used as fertilizer. In the summertime when the “honey carts” are passing they radiate such a terrible and in describable stanch if reaches io high heaven, forcing the whole neighborhood to close all doors and windows despite the excessive heat.

Other Difficulties and Problem*

Tn the, Tokyo area .besides the streetcars and buses there are electric trains serving the principal sections, and most of the time these are all jammed to the limit with people. Gasoline is sb highly restricted it is seldom used and most trucks and taxis operate on charcoal or wood-burning furnaces. A fanny sight to see these stop to fire up. Such clouds of billowy smoke! From a short distance it appears the whole neighborhood is on fire. Most hauling, including loads the size of 5 or 6 telephone poles, is by means of bicycle trailers or pushcarts. As a visitor, ox- and horse-drawn carts would attract your attention because the "drive/'

instead of riding, always walks ahead leading the plodding animal and its load.

Throughout this country human power is still the most common force used to turn the wheels of indue try. Electrical, Diesel and steam power is still very limited. The farms average only 2j acres in size and here handpowcr is used to sow, cultivate and harvest the crops, including grains, It is hardly correct to call it ‘‘manpower”, since the women arc the cidef burden-bearers, After doing a man’s share of work in the field the women take cure of the cooking, homeinaking and the raising of the children.

Whether due to a lag in education during the war, or an inadequate system of teaching, the average college graduate of Japan is hardly equal in general knowledge to the average /\rn«r-ican high-school graduate. On the whole the Japanese also seem handicapped with a lack of initiative, perhaps due to centuries of regimentation when they wore told when to think, what to think, when to act and how to act. Receiving freedom now, they do not seem to know how to make full use of it to their best advantage.

Japan's "Big Brother*’

The occupation of Japan by the Allied powers has heen beneficial educationally, socially and in many other ways, for these people have received valuable training in conducting along democratic lines their own government, schools, hospitals and other institutions. Public health and sanitation engineers have come in to supervise the construction of modern underground sewerage systems.

Along industrial Hne^modern methods have been introduced, improvements in wo rising hours and conditions have been made, and a long-overdue emancipation of Japan's women from their life of servitude has begun. These advancements, it is true, have manifested themselves only in the large populated areas, and it will require a long time for them hi penetrate the rural communities.

FSBR VARY 5, 1350

"Benevolent and protective,1’ that is th& way the Japanese speak of the Occn-pation forces—Japan's #ebiff brother*. By ^protective” they refer to the immediate threat of communism that has moved right up to Japan's back door in China. Within the country the communists are only a small minority, only about 5 percent, yet they are exceedingly vocal in their statements and plenty active in instigating nets of violence. Politically, the remainder of the population U, roughly speaking, about (55 percent in favor of I he policies of the Occupation and about 30 percent either disinterested. uninformed or too old and sot in their way of thinking to wish any change from the traditional feudal Hystem of the past. Religiously, Japan today is about the same as it has been for the past hundreds of years, and, no doubt, if the apostle Paul were to visit this country today he would exclaim, as he did in Athena 1000 years ago, "in all things yon are extremely devoted to the worship of demons.* (Acts 17:22, Diagloit translation) The so-called li Christum" missionaries that have Hocked here in great numbers since the war have done little to change this condition. There are thousands upon thousands of shrines and temples, nig ones and small ones, each and ail dedicated to some demon god.’

Everything the people do seems to have a religious significance. When frog leg* are exported, one of the pagan priests is called to comfort the "spirits” of the frogs. When eels are eaten to give health during the coming winter, a religious ritual is observed to comfort the "spirits" of the eels before cooking. When a house is to he built, the priests of these pagan gods are called to erect an altar and io declare which way 1 he house may face and where the windows and doors may be put. Almost every home has its own altar where the poor and ignorant householder offers food, flowers and prayers to his gods.

It is obvious that in spite of improve-

mants route lines over the farmer state of affairs, still there remain many barriers and stomblingstones in the path of the good and honest peaee-loving people of Japan. These mast yet be removed in order that they may behold the great Signal, Christ Jesus, whom Jehovah God has set up as the Leader and Commander of the people, the King of the new world of righteousness, man’s only hope.

Crimes Outdated

< Motives behind the Buppre^on by the anny of ite film, “Nuremberg—Its Lesson for Today," described as a powerful indictment against anti-feemi Lisin, are being questioned here. Produced to tell the public the story of the Nads’ crimes, the film was documented by captured Nazi films of the organized moss murder of Jews. The official explanation offered by the army for eup-pnuinn is that it is outdated, technically im-perfoei, and contains too much horror. However, some quarters in Washington an charging that the army fean criliewm of the failure of its denazification program and is afraid of slirriug np public opinion in view of new occupation polities, which provide for the return of Nazis to respectability. Tt has been indicated, also, from sources within the government, that renewed public resentment of Nazism might interfere with Army and Stale Department plans for the new Western German republie and might complicate the creation of a solid anti-Communist Western Europe,—New York tyaHy Compost, September 29,1949.

^olly of Persecution

< The history of persecution is a history of endeavour* to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand, Tt makes no difference whether the actors be many or one, a tyrant or a mob. A mob is a society of bodies voluntarily bereaving themselves of reason and traversing its work. The mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast. Its fit hour of activity is night, Its actiumt are insane, Kim its whole constitution. Tt perftw.nt« a principle; it would whip a right; it would tar and feather justice, by inflicting fire and outrage upon the houses and persons o£ those whp ha re these. It rcBomblea the prank of boys, who run with Are engines to put out the ruddy aurora streaming to the stars, The in violate spirit turns their spite against the wrongdoers. The martyr can not be dishonoured. Every lash inflicted ig a tongue of fame; every prison a more flJustriouB abode; every burned Louk or house enlighteuB the world; every suppr^serl nr expunged word reverberates through the earth from aide to side. The minds of men are at last aroused; reason looks out and justifies her own and malice finds all her work ip vain. Lt is the whipper who is whipped and the tyrant who is undone. From Ralph Euiensju’s essay uii “Cuuipejibatkni”.

"c/Vffe of Trivia/ity”

*- The president of West Virginia’s Marshall College has gone on record as believing Americana are killing time io an “age of triviality". Dr. Stewart H. Smith declared: hSome people say that we are living in the atomic age. Olteru call it the age of science. It is fsally the age of triviality. Moot of us arc using all kinds of childish esc a pc inechauuuns to avoid being serious about the thing* that really matter” He continued to tell thousands of delegates attending the education association convention that Americans are “witnessing a progressive degeneration of our standards of taste, our sense of values and our judgment of what in sound Qnd true and valid. Fifteen years ago the radio programs were well filled with irally good programs—the world’s great rnusie, great pZays, good speakers, talented comedians, serious and effective reporting of the events of the day. But today thousands of radio stations, potential instruments of cultural and spiritual growth, are filling the air waves with blood-curdling crime stories, tmemie soap operas, time-killing breakfast elnh programs. From the lovely melodies of Stephen Faster and Victor Herbert, we went to ragtime, then to jaaf to jive and finally to the dignified title of ‘be-bop*. I am told the current readers eunsume 20,000,000 ramie bocks weekly. This is just another effortless way to kill time."

Mountains and

OF ALL the panicky signs of a dis-astron? oil shortage during 1948, the ninst alarming appeared in the form of a price upshot that catapulted crude oil from $1.25 to $3*00 a barrel delivered on the New York market.

Oil tycoons, economic prophets and political soothsayers painted the sign* of the times in such lugubrious colors that TT, S, foreign-policy makers worked overtime* to involve America in an all-out defense program covering Greece, Turkey, Iran, Arabia and the general Middle East area. A cordon of treaties, pipelines and guns was thrown up around the fabulously rich Middle East oil reserves Irei ng exploited by British and American oil monopolies. A cold war of hot words and bristling threats reverberated hack and forth across the border between Iran and Soviet Russia, and still rumbles on.

Keynote of the warning cries that nil, "the lifeblood of economy/' was apt to be nut off by the Russian bear was struck by the chief of the State Depar hnent’s office of Near Eastern Affairs, Loy W. Henderson. He shuddered out loud through the American jtrcsw and radio to. think that if Anglo-American domination of oil production in the Middle East were interfered with by the Russians, the Communists would be “in a position to hamper, if not pervert the rehabilitation of western Europe and to retard the economic development of Africa and southern Asia’". No one in the political realm stopped to ask why the world’s recovery

Ooeani of Oil

program had been made dependent upon oil siphoned from the world's most de-fenaeless and prostrate countries lying just up against the borders of Soviet Russia. Rather, on July 25, 1949, President Truman called for a stepped-up arms program that would pour $300,000,000 more into the defenses of the Middle East and ilu gateway.

And the general public, frightened by the specter of gasoline rationing and heatless homes, naa swallowed the hysteria. They rtcHi’<*ly hear the dissenting voice of the few who ask if things can really be as bad off ns they sound. Has it rttcrw to be a matter of lire or death to world economy that the United States and Great Britain continue to tap Arabian oil! Or the fact that Middle East labor and production costs are bo cheap that oil monopolies find more billions of profits from the Middle East oil fields than from anywhere else—would that have anything 1c» do with it!

If Soviet Russia interferes with Middle East oil supplies, will the rest of the world’s economy, which depends upon oil, collapse! Will European recovery fall apart ? Will the American domestic oil supply dry up! Some men with both hands weighted with irrefutable facta wave the evidence in the face of the scaremongers and call the whole thing hugaboo. While Russian interference would work a hardship under present conditions, they say there is no valid excuse for letting things drift along to such a sorry state. They say it is an insult to

ATTwrimtn ingenuity to make the country dependent tor oil upon any foreign sources.

True, at present rate of consumption the 22 billion barrels of proved oil resources remaining in the ground of continental United States would be exhausted in another 11 years. Prospectors *ho really feel an oil scare, however, seem always to find more new oil-producing areas. (In 1925 the nation had known reserves big enough to last only 10 years.) And of the two thousand million barrels of oil consumed each year a prodigious amount of it is wasted.

Proponents of self-sufficiency point to improved cracking processes that can now double the yield of gasoline from petroleum. New techniques of drilling can sink hti old-fashioned 3,000-foot well down to 18,OOQ feet and the well of ton-times comes to life again to produce from SO percent to 50 percent of its original yield. Thus countless fields of America’s 425,000 oil wells (95 percent of the world's total) may prove to be found hoarding new frontiers right under their own derricks. And what can be said for the still available natural reserves at the tip of America’s drill bits can be said for Canada, Mexico, Brazil, or just about any other area in the Western Hemisphere or in Africa or in Europe, or even to some extent in the island country of Great Britain.

Then, besides the still unproved areas in. the United States, there is h land area ft one-half million square miles in the Alaskan, Canadian and Arctic regions where oil seepages reveal unknown reserves of oil that can be drawn off at less expense than fighting a third world war.

It is likely that the investigators who argue for the development of a self suffi cient. oil industry go to extremes in their predictions. They estimate that there are at hand sufficient reserves within the U. S. national boundaries to supply American ecniiorny with gasoline and other petroleum products at present rates of consumption for a thousand years. Even though some of their estimates must be taken with a grain of salt, it is refreshing to turn for a moment from the oil-scare hysteria to hear what these investigators have to say.

Tidefajuft

Over and above the practice of oil conservation, new cracking processes and drilling techniques, and the tapping of uncharted areas, the optimists point to an entirely new frontier of oil-prod doing ground. It is an area one-twoHth the size of the nation’s land area. Proved rich in petroleum wnd other nahind rewmn!-ea, the new frontier extends seaward and under water. It consists of the continental shelf or land masses less than 600 feet helow the surface of the seas. The land masses or “tidelands” extend under the shallow waters of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico as far as thirty miles and more, narrowing under the Pacific waters in places to as little as five miles, but yielding to ingenious methods of underwater well-drilling to disclose at least 10 billion barrels of oil, or almost half the known remaining land reserves.

Although dangerous, underwater oil prospecting is admittedly less hazardous than fighting an atomic war oyer oil. It is expensive, or cheap, depending on the way one looks at it. One underwater well 14,000 feet deep costs half a million dollars; hut one B-36 superfighter costs as much as fifteen of these oil wells. A floating platform big enough to house work crews tea miles off shore and strong enough to withstand ocean hurricanes costs anywhere from $200,000 (the price of an obsolete bomber) to $2,000,000 (the price of two atom bombs). Not long ago Congress voted $24,000,000 for scientific research on oil developments, and $189,-000,000 for the construction of one super aircraft carrier This latter project was scuttled ia favor of 39 B-36 bombers costing $300,000,000. That is ten times all the lease money bo far spent Cm tideland oil grounds.

And what if all the continental shelves bordering all the countries in the world were tapped! It is said that they would yield thirty million cubic miles of oilbearing sediments to produce 500 billion barrels of oil.

Oil from Shale and Coal

Another immeasurable reservoir of oil lies compressed and untapped in common shale rock. Containing from 5 to 80 gallons of liquid fuel to the ton, shale can be found in many states in the United States. The richest area yet discovered is the gigantic Green River formation, stretching through 2,600 square miles of western Colorado, 4,700 square mites of Utah and 9,200 square mites of Wyoming. One lone mountain in Colorado te assayed to hold 300 billion barrels of oil, waiting to he roasted out of the rock. That is six times as much oil as the world has consumed since the first oil well was sunk in the United States, in 1859. It is enough, this 1,000-square-niile mountain of oil, to keep America s autos, planes, Diesel locomotives, oil-consuming industries and two million home furnaces going at current rates for generations. To get an impression of its richness, jimt consider: a single 70-foot seam in the Colorado shale mountain treasures twenty times as much oil as was found in the fabulous east Texas oil Strike.

Experimentation proves that oil can be extracted from shale rock for about $2.60 a barrel and piped to California and New York at no greater cost than natural crudes cost at present.

The remaining proved natural oil deposits, currently estimated at 22 billion barrels, constitute only 0.4 percent of the oil that eofild be produced in the United States. Seven times as much oil can be extracted from shale; and yet shale oil constitutes only 3.6 percent of the known potential. By far the most prodigious storehouse of synthetic liquid fuels is to be found in coat Coal constitutes.more than 95 percent of America’s mineral fuel-energy reserves. At present consumption rates, that is enough fuel energy to laid the country for 3,000 years.

There are two basic methods in use for converting coal into oil—direct hydrogenation and gnu synthesis. The less expensive conversion, by hydrogenation, produces gasoline at a cost of 12o to 15e a gallon. An experiment, now under way in Alabama, may by-pass both methods by an inexpensive short cut. The new method is to ignite an underground coal mine and catch the escaping gas and convert it into liquid fuels.

Cost of a Synthetic OU Industry

While these mountains, mines and oceans of oil have been lying around thetri all the time, the big oil prospectors have shunned the initial costs of exploiting them. More immediate profits lay in tapping oil fields of natural erodes where ver I hey could find them, even though it be thousands nf miles from home within the boundaries of precarious nations where the greedy struggle for oil endangers world stability and threatens to touch off a third world war.

Servite government officiate, toadying to the demands of the prospectors, have paid scant attention to the black-gold mines in their own back yards. Not until the Nasi menace to world domination threatened American fuel supplies were the oil tycoons and politteal lackeya forced to acknowledge the oil substitutes on the home front. It was as late ae 1948 that Congress voted the first noteworthy search for petroleum reserves. It allotted the Bureau of Mines $24,000.000 to explore the synthetic field. That amount is hardly two-thirds of the $38,000,000 which the Arabian oil monopoly, Aramco, filched from the IT. S. Navy in overcharges for Middle East oil during the heat of World War II. It is just one-fourth the $99,000,000 which dw United States poured into- Saudi Arabih up to-1947 in behalf of Aramco's oil coilceis^iona.

On its modest budget, the Bureau of Mines has already produced evidence sufficient to prove that the United States (or almost any similar area on earth) could develop a synthetic oil industry that would make the country self-suffi-cient under almost any conceivable conditions, The Bureau has proposed the construction of a gigantic fuels industry. If built, it would become the biggest single American industry, employing millions of people, and producing the minimum requirement of 2,0(10,000 barrels a day.

If the bureau’s program were adopted, natural gas would be converted into motor gasoline at the rate of 150,000 barrels a day. Shales would supply 850,000 barrels a day of heating oils. Coni would contribute one million barrels of various type fuels to round out the program. Big oil companies, fighting the program, say the cost of the industry would be closer to 18 billion dollars instead of 12 billion dollars. But seeing that modem Americans have "billifius for extravagant waste, nothing for social welfare”, wby haggle over a paltry six billion?

Twelve billion dollars is slightly more than is spent in one year on the navy, air force and anny combined. It is four-fifths the 15-billion-dollar annual cost of nonmilitary defenses. It might not be venturing too far to say this: If Aramco and similar economic monopolies were 'eft to shift for themselves on Russia's doorstep, enough could be shaved off the 42-billion-dollar defense program to build the synthetic fuels industry proposed by the bureau. Such candid opinions must be simmering near the surface of the minds of men like Dr. Wilbur C. Schroeder, head of the Office of Synthetic Liquid Fuels, In speaking out for the synthetic fuels program, Dr. Schroeder said:

At the start, costs may be higher than for ml from foreign sources. But security can be worth this added cost. If a ^ynthetirj? industry should prevent a war, or make it possible to win a war, the added cost would be a small one to pay. Repeatedly in the past the cost of synthetic products baa been high in the beginning, but in the end they have been as cheap ofl or cheaper than natural products.

Situation Certain of Adjustment

It is not the purpose of this article to advocate a political or economic program for a nation to follow. It. is the purpose here to draw attention to the bountiful provision made by earth's Creator for its inhabitants. By bo doing the Creator hiniseH can he seen to stand absolved and guiltless of promoting any greedy squabble over the wealth of the planet. The wealth is here in superabimdancH and in such variety of form as to challenge and absorb the marvelous brainpower of humanity in exploiting it fairly, with no time or reason to waste in deceiving, cheating, fighting and destroying each other—as well as earth's resources—over a selfish love of gain and power.

It is the purpose here to answer those who ask why, it the Creator has done all this, He has not exercised a righteous dispensation of earth's affairs. The answer is that in His patience the Creator has placed the written testimony containing His purposes for creation before men's eyes for thousands of years for them to learn, and they have not learned. The time is at hand for Him to make the proper and permanent adjustment of all affairs of human society and “destroy them which destroy the earth”, if it must come to that (Revelation 11:18) Those who scoff and ask "TVhere is the sign of all this!” have only to look'abroad at earth's present-day affairs which so manifoldly fulfill the prophetic Bible blueprint, and then acknowledge that it is so.—Contributed.

ers have sent in ninny z Knights of Columhus

advertisement headed, “But Can It Be Eouird in Ihn Rihle?” The definite purpose of the ad is to show that finding it in the Bible is not an essential requirement, and that the Bible is not an adequate "rule of faith1’, hut requires the addition of tradition. The reason for this effort is that the Roman Catholic Church holds numerous teachings and observances that not only are omitted in the Bible but arc not even hinted at in what the Bible teaches. The general idea is, however, that the Catholic Church has merely added certain things that are nouessential, and that other religious denominations reject. There is more to it than that. But, to examine the ad a little further.

We read, "Christianity did not begin with the Bihlp, Tt began with the coming 'of Christ/5 While this expresses a fact, it does not tell the whole story; and, since the purpose is to discredit the Bible as a sufficient guide for Christians, it.merits further examination. It is remarkable how closely Christianity from its very begin [tings is linked with Scripture (which admittedly preceded Christianity). Christ demonstrated His own Messiahship from the Word of God, and at His baptism said, “Tie, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, 0 God.”—Psalm 40: 7,8; Hebrews 10: 7.

Even before He began His ministry He used the things written to repulse the tompier, referring faithfully to the Word of God, (Luke 4:4,8,12) Then, announcing His ministry at Nazareth, He again appealed to the Bible, quoting the prophet Esaias (Isaiah), (61 : 1, 2)

Throughout Ills ministry Jesus constantly appealed to the written Word of God, saying repeatedly “It is written". He did not quote tradition except to condemn it. (Matthew 15:3-9) Even after His resurrection He instructed His disciples from the Bible, saying, not that they were slow to helievn Him, but that they were “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken". (Luke gin without the Bible.

The ad mentions that the church is “the pillar and mainstay” of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15) But how was the early church the pillar (supporter) of the truth! Evidently by holding fast the Word of life, not by pushing it into the background. (Philippians 2:16, Moffatt) The apostles, like the Master, continually quoted I he Word of God as support for Iheir preaching.

An attempt is next made to insinuate doubt by saying, “The last part of the Bible, written by St. John , , , was not completed until 60 years after the crucifixion of Christ/’ The part that John wrote, while of great value, particularly today, was, for the most part, symbolic and prophetic, and evidently the Lord saw no nesd of hastening it. But this fact does not mean that the church then did not have the Bible. They had the apostles while these carried on their ministry, and after the death of the apostles, including John, they had tbeir writings, and these in the providence of God completed die Sacred Record, making it a harmonious whole.

It is a remarkable fact that the early Christians had the all-but-completed Word, m writing witbin the generation

that witnessed the death of Christ Jesus. They had three records of the life of Christ, one of them by A.D. 41, only eight years after Jesus’ death. Also they had the richly full writings of the apostle Paul, and the epistles of Peter, Jude and James. This left only the three brief epistles of John to be added, together with his gospel, which was meanwhile unquestionably circulated orally, and finally the Revelation (Apocalypse), to complete the canon. And these were all supplied before the last of that generation passed away.

In view of these facts the statement of the ad is seen to be a dodge, when it says, “There was no Bible in anything resembling its present form until nearly .400 years after Jesus had died on the cross.” As though the form made a particle of difference. That they did have the Bible is evident from the words of Polycarp, disciple of the apostle John, who wrote (A.D. 107) to the Philippians: “1 trust that you are well read in Holy Scripture and that nought is hid from you?' He would surely not write this had these Philippians had no access to the Bible.

Then, “the widespread distribution of the Bible as we know it today was impossible until the invention of printing, some 1400 years after the Savior’s death. By what ‘rule of faith* did the millions of Christians live during those 1500 years?” This does not make a point, for if the early Christians in the days of Polycarp could he expected to be well read in Scripture, those of later and more advanced times also might have heen expected to have ready access to the Bible. As a matter of fact, the Roman Catholic Church, arguing from another angle, will insist that many Bibles in the language of the people were circulated even before Luther (hence before the invention of printing). They also contend that monks often spent all their time copying the Bible in Latin, so that it could have been provided in larger numbers for the benefit of the people had

not the Catholic Church itself hindered such distribution, as it did all too often. Still it was circulated.

Tradition Contradicts Scriptures

Then the advertisement makes much of the fact that there are so many Protestant denominations, though it ignores for the occasion the divisions within the Roman Catholic Church itself, whose “unity” is more apparent than real. But what is more important is that the chief fault of the denominations is not their difference one from another, but their similarity to Catholicism in the most important doctrines. It is here that the effect of tradition shows itself most plainly. It is not that the Catholic Church has made some additions to the Bible that are of secondary importance. It is that things are taught and believed that are entirely at variance with the Bible. Tradition, in other words, fundamentally contradicts the Bible. It is in the chief doctrines that arc taught that this contradiction is evident:

…