Awake!, September 8, 1950
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THE LEGION—WATCHDOG OF AMERICAN FREEDOM?
Its history, purpose, and conduct
A Surplus of War Prophets
Some past and present prophecies of earth’s end
Smuggling
An immense world enterprise
Life on the New Earth
Glorious prospects that now comfort men of good will
SEPTEMBER 8, 19SO semimonthly
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CONT
ENTS
The Legion—
Watchdog of American Freedom? 3
Where the Money Came From
Americanism Si la Legicn
A Watchdog—but ior Whom?
With the Pilgrims at the Vatican
Statue Worship
Creature Worship
Reflections on Visit
A Surplufl of WAr Prophets
Prophets of Doom
Calling the Prophets to Account
End of Wars and War Prophets
Smuggling^an Immense
World Enterprise
When Man Upsets Nature's Balance
Effect of Killing Predators lAvo Die in Legion Lemonsfnififon £1Your Word Is Truth’' Life on the New E^rth
Can ad as Greatest Flood Catastrophe Watching the World
AWAKE
“Now it is high time to awake.”—Romans 13:11 9J
Volume XXXI Brooklyn, N. Y>, September 8, 1950 Number 17
THE LEGION—WATCHDOG OF AMERICAN FREEDOM?
Suddenly through the door to charged a group of American V ^^legionnaires. Shoving the club chairman aside the leader of the intruders delivered an ultimatum, asserting that all those present were classed as “subversive” and that the legionnaires would give them just ten minutes to disperse. “We will not warn you again,” was the final threat That occurred at an open meeting of a La Crescenta, California, democratic club being held in a private home. Across the country, in Monroe, Michigan, steel workers went on strike when their union failed to be recognized as bargaining agent Immediately steeltown legionnaires scrambled for their baseball bats and night sticks and marched against the strikers. In San Francisco a Negro, Edgar Brown by name, director of the National Council of Negro Veterans, was beaten as he and his associates marched in front of the Legion's convention hall petitioning the Legion to open its membership to Negro war veterans on the basis of “equality of sacrifice”. In Richwood, West Virginia, American legionnaires and their agents forced nine ministers of the gospel to drink castor oil and thereupon bound them with rope and herded them through the streets amid the vilifying jeers of a howling mob. In Duncan, Oklahoma, a convention of Christians assembled in a public school to hear a public Bible lecture was violently invaded by a flag-waving mob of 100, with American legionnaires notably predominating.
On a hundred fronts over thirty years, the Legion, though it endorses “100-percent Americanism” in its constitution and singles itself out as the “watchdog” of American freedom, has in unquestionably un-American style repeatedly violated the constitutional rights and privileges of other Americans.
On viewing Legion indignities on one hand, and on the other listening to the vociferous cries of the Legion for Americanism, law and order, freedom of speech, worship, etc., the honest observer queries: Is the Legion a faithful watchdog of freedom, safeguarding the principles of freedom impressively outlined in the American Legion constitution, namely: “To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States; to maintain law and order; , . . to combat the autocracy of both the classes and masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and good will on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy”? Or, has the Legion proved to be a barking dog that won't bite in the interests of freedom, but, rather, obsequiously wags the tail of friendliness to an unseen master and serves him well
in an attack on the very principles so nobly set forth in the preamble of the Legion constitution? The answer is to be found, not by investigating the three million-odd members who have joined the Legion because they want to "belong” to something and see in the Legion a powerful organization in position to obtain some of the benefits they desire, but by scrutinizing Legion leaders and their thirtyyear record. Bear in mind: The rank-and-file legionnaire obeys; he takes orders.
Haw It All Started
“Who started the American Legion? Nobody, and everybody.” Thus begins one of the many official and semiofficial histories which narrate the Legion story. While convalescing at a United States base hospital in France in 1918, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and a Sergeant William Patterson struck upon the idea of organizing "a veterans' association for the good of the country”. Later Patterson was killed in action, but Roosevelt continued to nurture the “veterans’ association” idea until such time as he had opportunity to present it. He was afforded that chance when top army brass ordered young Roosevelt and nineteen other officers to Paris, there to consider ways and means of boosting army morale, which was at a low ebb following World War I.
The story has it that on the evening of February 16, 1919, Teddy, Jr., invited his fellow conferees to dine with him at the Allied Officers’ Club, Paris. All accepted. And it was at that historic dinner that Roosevelt’s legion idea was first introduced, accepted, and became a plan-in-being, as arrangements were started for a "caucus” in Paris, March 15, 1919, and plans laid for Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt’s return to the United States to promote the creation there. Such were the birth pains of the American Legion— according to Legion authorities.
.What Legion histories do not generally reveal and what the average legionnaire does not know is that on March 5, 1915— at least two years before there was such a thing as a United States World War veteran, three years before Roosevelt and Patterson “chanced” upon the idea of a veterans* association and four years before the idea was introduced at the famous Paris dinner—a membership organization, reportedly a pressure group to force the United States into World War I, was incorporated in New York county and called American Legion, Inc. While it is true that earlier groups adopted titles bearing the term "American Legion” in one form or another, the distinguishing feature of the 1915 Legion is that Theodore Roosevelt, Jr,, was one of its incorporators and directors!
Other notable members of the 1915 Legion were William J, Donovan, David M. Goodrich, Ogden Mills and James A. Drain. Notable? Yes, for Donovan, Goodrich and Mills were also among the twenty officers to whom Teddy, Jr., supposedly first broached the idea of a legion! As for Drain, he became the seventh national commander of the new 1919 Legion.
Obviously the 1919 American Legion was no mere spontaneous happening.
Who Are the “Friends”?
It takes money to run an organization, and the American Legion, being no exception, borrowed $257,000 for initial expenses from “400 individuals in 13 states”. Who were the 400 individuals? you ask. Legion comptroller Glenn Crawford proffered the evasive answer: “Friends of the Legion, of course.” But what are the names of these “friends”? Since the Legion’s inception this has been the oft-repeated question of newspaper editors, the army paper Stars and Stripes, congressmen, veterans’ organizations and many others, but never in Legion history have these names been released.
Instead, the Legion has offered an indirect and deceptive answer in the form of an invitation, which appeared in Richard Seelye Jones’ book, A History of the American Legion, to wit: “The whole list was carefully preserved after the notes were paid, and remained subject to inspection at National Headquarters by anyone.” Justin Gray, author and formerly assistant director of the Legion’s Americanism Commission, accepted the invitation and wrote the national adjutant requesting the names. Shortly a reply was received wherein the Legion official referred Gray—believe it or not—to Richard S. Jones’ book, the same book in which invitation to inspect the names appears!
Beware lest you think the watchdog was chasing its own tail, for evidently the Legion had no intention of publicizing this list of financial backers. However, the “iron curtain” surrounding the generous Legion sponsors is not entirely impregnable. The facts, though belittled and suppressed but never successfully denied, fairly scream the words reactionary big business boys! What are these facts?
Where the Money Came From
Nearly one-half of the original sum, $125,000, was provided by one Grayson M.-P. Murphy, director of Guaranty Trust (a Morgan bank), Anaconda Copper, Goodyear Rubber and Bethlehem Steel, decorated by Mussolini and made a commander of the Crown of Italy. Additional funds were collected from the big moneyed enterprises, such as the Chicago packing interests.
Further light on big business backing was shed January 4, 1950, when National Commander George N. Craig showered words of praise on Legionism’s “staunch friend” and “American patriot”, William
Randolph Hearst. Said Craig, according to the New York Daily Mirror:
“We of the Legion know that the support of Mr. Hearst and his newspapers has been a mighty contributing factor in making our organization the great one that it is today.
“Old-timers in the Legion tell me that our leaders went to Mr. Hearst when our organization was founded and told him of •, our program for the true principles and doctrines of Americanism. He promised that, if we maintained that program, he would always support us. He has done so in a fine and generous manner.”
In passing, we might ask why National Commander Craig did not mention that William Randolph Hearst was Adolph Hitler’s good friend and admirer, and has always been the bedfellow of war-mongering fascism and against American freedom? And further, what brand of “principles and doctrines of Americanism” has Hearst supported in a “generous manner”?
If you now wonder whether the early Legion organizers were themselves identified with the financial interests, the business connections of these men should prove illuminating. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was vice-president of Doubleday, Doran, publishers; director of American Express Company; and connected with Chase National Bank. Franklin D’Olier held office as president and director of Prudential Life, director of Chase National Bank, Pennnsylvania Railroad, National Biscuit Company, and American Bank Company. David M. Goodrich, chairman of the board of the B. F. Goodrich Company, was high in the inner clique of the National Association of Manufacturers. Francis Appleton, Waltham Watch Company executive, was director of two banks. On and on the list goes to include such men as millionaire Chicago lawyer Milton J, Foreman; Nashville banker Luke Lea, eventually sent to
prison for fraud; and Thomas W. Miller, first Legion lobbyist in Washington, who went to the penitentiary for conspiracy to defraud the government.
From the very start big business has had its lackeys in there pitching in its behalf, with the National Association of Manufacturers making the big play. NAM is a strong profiteering outfit shown by congressional investigations to have bribed government employees, paid certain congressmen for "services performed”, employed labor spies, stool pigeons and industrial munitions to fight unionism, propagandized every source of public information and betrayed itself as being an enemy of small business while endeavoring to hide behind the cloak of “free enterprise” and “American initiative”. NAM-Legion cooperation has been clearly seen through the years, and this coordinating committee has proved to be a source of large sums of money to finance Legion activities, and in return the Legion serves as the propagandizing instrument of NAM gospel.
If there is any doubt as to the Legion’s being in harness to big business, with NAM walking the dog, consider the “Royal Family”, as the Legion’s ruling clique is termed. With but rare exceptions they are corporation and industrial giants and NAM men, like their predecessors Theodore Roosevelt, Jr,, Franklin D’Olier and the others. Of note is the fact that in the family tree of national commanders there are only three exceptions to this rule! The ‘‘king-makers”, as the policy-makers of the Legion are called, and the financial-backing dandies make very certain that only the right men, those of their stripe and ideals, attain to the various positions on the ruling roost of Legion politics.
Purpose
With the evidence painting an accurate picture of the Legion bowing to the whims of big business, are we to gulUbly believe that the Legion’s purpose wa^ and is "to combat autocracy of both the classes and masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and good will on earth; to safeguard . . . the principles of justice, freedom and democracy”? Or, shall we conclude that the American Legion was organized for the damaging use of a powerful few? Let us sound out the matter.
The Legion’s “open sesame” to the gold-lined pocketbooks of the Chicago packing interests and undoubtedly the other big business backers was exposed by a letter on Swift and Company stationery, soliciting funds, which said: “We are all interested in the Legion, the results it will obtain, and the ultimate effect in helping to offset radicalism.”
“Radicalism,” like “Americanism", is a matter of definition. To the Legionbacking moneyed interests following World War I, radicalism was the idealistic desire of all American soldiers for “A New World” and “A New Deal for Everybody", promised by Lloyd George, or the “Industrial Democracy", advocated by Wilson, or “A Land Fit for Heroes”, promised by victorious statesmen the world over. Johnny Doughboy had fought a bitter battle, and now he was restless, he wanted to go home to higher wages, a better standard of living, a truer democracy, and all the things he had been promised. Indeed, big business had cause for concern about “the postwar attitude of the average soldier toward extreme political radicalism”, for it meant reform that big business could not afford. "A safe and sound organization of veterans might be the best insurance against” the spread of this “radicalism”, they reasoned. Thus the American Legion was formed, and a label marked “Bolshevism” was slapped on the high liberal ideals of
the returning veterans, as well aa on dangerous Bolshevistic doctrine.
Through the years the Legion continued to tread the reactionary road, and following devastating World War H the alarming cry of radicalism again came gushing from the mouths of the Legion hierarchy. At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, before 80,000 soldiers, former National Commander Roane Waring blustered: “There will be more freak isms, more Utopian crackpots, social politicians and longhaired reformers, prophets and demagogues, who will trot out their schemes for bringing on the Millennium. . . . Your job will be to fight them to the last ditch/’ The danger of social reform again threatened to loosen the reactionary grip of big business, and the watchdog Legion came charging to the rescue branding anything and anybody contrary to the policies and practices of the “Royal Family” and its unseen masters “radical” and “communist”, the vilest words m Legion vocabulary. This has resulted in unjust slander and violence to innocent groups and persons who desire to exercise their constitutional freedoms and who have no connections with godless communism whatever.
Americanism a la Legion
The dirt of witch-hunting and red-baiting in favor of the moneyed interests has been skillfully swept under the red, white and blue carpet of “100-percent Americanism”, with the late Homer Chaillaux, director of Legionism’s Americanism Commission, and his disciples adeptly manipulating the broom. Every year the Legion convention resolves that “Americanism is the primary activity of the Legion” and that it is “to vigilantly combat communism”. While on the surface this appears to be a very worthy aim, we are reminded that communism does not compose the entire totalitarian picture.. During the past thirty years why has not the Legion come out actively against foreign and native fascism and nazism as it has done so-called “radicalism” and communism?
Perhaps we can understand when we recall that the Legion frequently rubs elbows with fascism and has cast an approving smile in its direction. Consider: Alvin Owsley, one of the early national commanders, proclaimed: “If ever needed the American Legion stands ready to protect our . . . institutions ... as the Fascist! dealt with the destructionists who menaced Italy! The Legion would not hesitate to take things into its own hands—to fight the ‘reds’ as the Fascist! of Italy fought them. Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States.” At the convention which elected Owsley, the Legion went on record by inviting Mussolini to make the principal address’
In 1931, Ralph T. O’Neill, national commander, presented Italy’s fascist ambassador with resolutions passed by the “Royal Family” favoring Mussolini! In 1935, the year fascist Italy raped Ethiopia, national vice-commander William E. Easterwood invited Mussolini to the Chicago convention, bestowed an honorary membership to the American Legion on il Duce and pinned a Legion button on him. (This action was later declared unconstitutional, since the Legion has no honorary members.) Even more revealing is the suppressed McCormack-Dickstein congressional committee investigation, at which General Smedley Butler, former commander of the U. S. Marines, exposed a plot by top strata Legion brass and Wall Street brokers to raise an army of several thousand legionnaires and march on Washington for the purpose of establishing a fascist regime!
However, the apex of this strange brand of "Americanism" is the incitement of decent men who come under Legion influence to engage in vigilante tactics and mob violence, the type of un-Americanjsm which makes thinking legionnaires blush in shame. Seldom if ever has the National Executive Committee (Legion hierarchy in Indianapolis) exercised its power to suspend or expel a member for "conduct unbecoming to a Legionnaire”, when this self-appointed, free-booting militia has been guilty of mobbing unpopular meetings or persons, such as Jehovah’s witnesses, and denying citizens the very crux of genuine Americanism—free assembly and speech, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.
Rather than reprimand such un-American tactics, the men in the imposing gray building in Indianapolis have actually condoned and encouraged it by issuing such directives as this one: "When any of them (organizations reported to be either communist or sympathetic to the communist program) announce meetings in your city or community . . . the . . , Americanism Commission will be pleased to give you information ... on their history.” The legionnaires are commanded to spot and counter such organizations, but in doing so they were warned not to wear Legion insignia. In other words, "Give ’em the business, boys. But don’t let the Legion be blamed!"
Professor William Gellerman of Northwestern University, authority on Legion activity and a member himself, summed up the matter in a doctoral thesis submitted to Columbia Teachers College: "The American Legion stands, in effect, opposed to such American ideals of democracy, civil liberties and equality of opportunity.” It is "fascistic, unpatriotic and a tool of privileged classes". "In the American Legion program of suppression (of constitutional freedoms, minorities, etc.) we see Fascism in its incipient states."
A Watchdog—but for Whom?
The burden of proof is against the American Legion as being the faithful watchdog of American freedom. The Legion cannot point to its ostensible record of. good deeds for justification. Damage wrought on account of its devouring hatred for those who exercise true freedom far offsets the fruits of good works. Nor can the Legion seek vindication in its record of administering "law and order” by indulging in mob action and depriving other American citizens of their constitutional rights. Such action displays contempt for the flag the Legion ostentatiously waves, scorn for the Constitution it is avowed to uphold, and disdain for the government the Legion claims to defend. The actions of the American Legion level the accusing finger of guilt against it and identify it as the fascistic watchdog of big business and reaction.
There are undoubtedly many honest and sincere men and women within the ranks of the American Legion who fervently believe that the Legion can be reformed to operate in the interests of real Americanism and the common good of the country. But we are reminded of the ancient adage: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. There is but one organization that will bring the benefits and blessings for which honest men of good will have vainly searched for centuries, and that is Jehovah’s organization, his kingdom by Christ, the Commander -to the people. That kingdom will not kowtow to the evil influences of scheming men who prey on the freedoms of the people, but will forever obliterate such and all those who bow the knee in servitude thereto. Jehovah’s new world of righteousness alone will insure for eternity the rights and privileges of all men.
WITH THE PILGRIMS
A AT THE VATICAN
out in order to actually pay with the
I ‘treasure’ of the Church the price of
By "Awake!” correspondent in Italy
WHAT do “holy year” pilgrims to Rome see and do at the largest church in the world, St. Peter’s Basilica? What ritual or worship do they there fulfill as the objective of their pilgrimage? Optimistic estimates set the number of persons who will visit the “Eternal City” this year at three to five million; their total expenses at well over 200 million dollars. For so many to be so willing to spend so much to journey to one city makes the event of more than commonplace interest. Therefore those who cannot afford to go, as well as those who have no desire or purpose in going, will want to know what happens at the Vatican when the pilgrims arrive.
A little background first. To appreciate what takes place, it is well to know the purpose of the “Jubilee Year”. In substance it is “a plenary indulgence, more solemn than the others, with the addition of several facilitations for the absolution of certain sins and from certain serious excommunications. The merits of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Saints constitute a kind of immense ‘treasure’ upon which the Church has the power to draw, distributing to repentant sinners a portion of the infinite merits of the blessed. From that spiritual strongbox indulgences are drawn
temporal punishment, or purgatory, UyT- which in Catholic theology each of the faithful must account for, even though after confession he has been I | absolved from eternal punishment. To Tj give greater importance to the Jubilee indulgence, during the Holy Year —except for rare exceptions—all other indulgences whether plenary or partial, for the living or the dead, remain suspended everywhere”. (From Oggi, Rome, December 29, 1949) According to this, it would seem that primarily in Rome are indulgences to be dispensed this year, but those dispensed are plenary, i.e., cover all sins.
And now to St. Peter's. The spacious St. Peter’s Square is encircled by quadruple colonnades topped by 140 statues of the “saints”, and rising from its center is a rose-col or cd Egyptian obelisk brought by Caligula (A.D, 37-41) from the pagan Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis to adorn that emperor’s Circus (completed by Nero), and which was removed centuries later by Pope Sixtus V to its present position before Christendom’s largest temple. Supervising priests hustle the throng into an orderly arrangement, each caring for his own group, until finally a lengthy procession has been formed and is moving up toward the Basilica and its “holy door”.
Prayer Ritual
Slowly, the dark-colored file of pilgrims advances with six or seven abreast, the long procession stretching out until it reaches from the obelisk right up to the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica. Walking alongside the moving column every fifty feet is a priest,
book opened in hand before him as he calls out, "SanfAgata!11 loudly enough for all in his section to hear. In measured unison, voices drawn out and toneless, the pilgrims respond: “Ora pro nobis.11 (Latin, meaning “Pray for us”.) Without a second's interval again the priest’s voice is heard: “BanfAgnese!" The people: "Ora ■ pro nobis/1 Another saint’s name, another singsong response, and so on up till the “holy door” is reached and a great number of "saints” canonized by the Catholic Church have been entreated to pray for the host of pilgrims preparing to pass through the sacred portals.
The "Holy Door1’
Before describing what now takes place, a word or two about the door itself. It is located at the far right of the portico designed by the famous sculptor Bernini and leads from this portico into the Basilica proper. Generally it is cemented shut, but at the start of each “holy year” the cement is chipped away to permit the opening of the door. Then at the close of the year it is once again sealed shut until the next “Jubilee”. The door was ordered made by Pope Boniface VIII, who instituted the “holy year” celebration in A.D. 1300. He decreed that the door was to be opened every 100 years, but, even before the first 100 years had passed, two other popes desirous of marking their reigns with the pomp and ceremony of a “holy year” celebration shortened the interval of time. Thus Clement VI, who was pope from 1342-1352, reduced the intervening time to 50 years and accordingly wangled himself a “holy year", while Pope Urban VI (1378-1389) abbreviated it to 33 years to feather his cap with one. Finally Pope Paul n limited the interval to 25 years, all of which makes an honest fellow ponder whether popedom is truly infallible—or changes according to its own
best interests during a given period of time.
Back now to the procession of the pilgrims. The leading priest kneels on the steps before the threshold of the door makes the sign of the cross, rises and kisses a cross engraved in the stone at the left. Those following him do much the same, kneeling, crossing themselves and entering. Inside, the cleric leads the dock toward the center aisle that extends from the enormous bronze main door straight through the middle of the magnificent edifice to the “Shrine of St. Peter”, a crypt in which the Catholic Church claims the apostle Peter was buried. Above this is erected a singular altar at which only the pope may celebrate mass. Its four great spiral columns as well as the ponderous canopy above are made of bronze stripped from the Pantheon, once a pagan temple, now a church. Beyond is the apse in the end of the church containing four gigantic statues of “church fathers” Athanasius, Chrysostom, Ambrose and Augustine, who are shown supporting an unoccupied bronze throne over which gilded angels hold in position a large tiara as though to place it on the head of anyone sitting on the throne. A dove set in the stained glass windows above and beyond the tiara is intended to represent the spirit’s descent upon “St. Peter’s throne”.
Statue Worship
The visitor’s attention is drawn to the black metal statue of “St. Peter” by the wall to the right. A curious spectacle is taking place. Leading up to the image is a line of worshipers who keep moving forward gradually, passing before the statue in single file and—of all things!—pressing their lips against the cold, unyielding metal of its right foot. Often does one hear of this being done, but now to actually see it! A glance at a watch shows that a full thirty persons kiss the toe every sixty seconds, minute after minute. In an hour, 1,800 persons will have kissed it! A closer examination shows that the toes are about fully consumed and the entire foot worn smooth and round, polished slate gray from centuries of caresses by soft human flesh—so it is claimed.
But why? and how can they do such a thing? one asks as he watches. Persons of elegant bearing and appearance, especially the men, seem to sense the unnaturalness of the act and bestow their kiss almost furtively, self-consciously, followed by a rapid movement of the hand in making the sign of the cross. Some of these, showing refinement, place a hand upon the well-worn foot and bend to kiss the back of their fingers, thus avoiding actual lipcontact with the same unhygienic surface already brushed by countless mouths. Still others merely caress the foot with a hand and bring the latter to their lips to be kissed. The majority seem to osculate with a half-curious demeanor, as though wondering what magic feeling would result from the sacred contact, while a brown-frocked friar, tonsure neatly encircled by a tufty rim of hair, clasps the upper part of the foot and with slow, meditative movements purses his lips tenderly against the image. Mothers lift their infants high enough for them to grasp the foot in tiny, eager fingers and impetuously buss its metal with innocent awe, their childish delight sobered somewhat by the solemn deportment of the grownups about them.
A quick reference to a modern guidebook reveals that the origin of this statue is not definitely known—or else not admitted* Some guidebooks state that “according to tradition” the image was “cast by order of St. Leo the Great in memory of the driving away of Attila” in the fifth century, or else “according to art critics it was produced in the 13th or 14th century”. To show the wide possibilities of its origin, however, note the comment found in R, C* Wyndham’s Practical Guide to the Principal Sights of Rome: “The statue was originally that of Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, but has been converted to a holier purpose by the Pope.” Whatever may be its origin, there is no room for doubt as to what would be Peter’s attitude toward the toe-kissing ceremony of this supposed image of him in view of what he said with unmistakable clarity to an Italian soldier who had prostrated himself before the humble fisherman-apostle. Said Peter: “Arise, I myself also am a man.” (See Acts 10:25, 26, Douay.)
Creature Worship
Meanwhile the pilgrims in the procession, having finished their devotions and having marched through the immense corridors of the Basilica singing, are now conducted outside. Their solemnity kindles into excitement as the word passes from mouth to mouth that they are to see the “Holy Father” Pius XII, himself, and receive his blessing. Past the gaily costumed Swiss Guard that constantly patrols the entrances into Vatican City swarm 18,000 people bent on seeing the pope. Some twenty minutes later the human tide has swirled into the Cortile of St. Damaso and filled its every angle.
Voices in unison cry out: “Viva! [pause] Viva! [pause] Viva rwa viva! Viva il papa!” In one part of the courtyard a group begins a religious hymn of adoration to the “Virgin Mary”. There by the wall is a dark-skinned Italian woman complacently breast-feeding her baby. The excitement and heat overcome an elderly lady and she is carried into a doorway near at hand* Twenty minutes have gone by. More shouts for the pontiff’s appearance uncover the growing impatience of the multitude, who must remain standing in close quarters for lack of space. Forty
minutes have passed. Some can wait no longer and start walking back.
About an hour later the crowd catohes sight of lances of the Noble Guard through the many-windowed facade of the building enclosing the courtyard- The din mounts quickly. French windows are pulled open giving access to a scarlet-draped balcony, and while the frenzied cheers, applause and shouting reach their crescendo, the thin, white-clad figure of the pope emerges onto the balcony accompanied by several church dignitaries. One of these takes the white cape off the pontiff's shoulders as the latter moves his arms up and down before him in salute to the masses below. He waves in every direction to neglect no one. After three minutes of this, a sudden change takes place as the pope spreads his arms out widely to either side and turns'his countenance toward the sky. The assemblage hushes. Slowly, while all eyes are fixed upon him, the pontiff’s arms describe a wide arc—as though calling a blessing down from above—and his palms meet at his chest. Then it happens. Making the characteristic papal gesture with his fingers, Eugenio Pacelli motions first to his left, then precisely to the center and lastly to his right to include all his subjects below in the blessing thus bestowed. Then he turns and makes his exit. Not a word has he spoken to them.
Reflections on Visit
These are but a few of the scenes likely to meet the pilgrim visitor to Rome this year. He may be impressed by the grandebr, the wealth and the antiquity of this center of Roman Catholicism. He may reflect upon the huge sums of money needed to build and maintain its costly structures, or puzzle over the vast riches concentrated tn golden, jewel-studded religious objects, vestments and works of art, while right in the city of Rome itself squalid misery is warping the lives of many. Considering this unused wealth in the midst of want, he may remember the words of the apostle Peter to a beggar who needed help: “Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give thee.” (Acts 3:6, Douay Version) Surely this huge organization that c/aims to be built on Peter cannot repeat his words without blushing.
The endless processions of priests and people, the meaningless repetition of memorized prayers, the burning of thousands of candles, the kissing of bishops’ rings and statues’ toes, the receiving of papal blessings, and all the other ceremonies in Rome’s “Jubilee Year”, will provide no real spiritual benefit to those participating. They may be impressed by what they see but not enlightened, for enlightenment as to Jehovah’s purposes for the salvation of those who seek him comes only through hip Word, the Bible. Jesus and his apostles did none of the things mentioned above, but spent their time and energy teaching the people the truth of God’s Word and the way to life. But religion has substituted ceremony for knowledge, credulity for faiths and pomp for the “simplicity that is in Christ”. (2 Corinthians 11:3, Douay Version) Jehovah's blessings are not being siphoned off through Rome this year, but to all honest persons everywhere he pours out spiritual blessings as they seek him through his Word.
IN THESE times many are frequently overheard to be soberly discussing whether or not the earth has long to last* This is not a matter altogether novel to this day and age, for man has never given the ball on which we live much chance for permanency. The ancients had their pagan conceptions of an ultimate fiery obliteration of our globe, and with the coming of Christendom and its hundreds of conflicting sects, millions of today’s “western civilization” have been taught to believe this selfsame doctrine in various forms. While many of the current generation had come to view such belief more lightly or let it slip from mind, the advent of atomic weapons has brought it sharply back into focus* Scientific talk of the prospect of single bombs able to destroy metropolitan areas the size of New York city, coupled with the human tendency to speculate, and the religious training of so many of the listeners regarding a fiery end to the globe, all add up to an uneasy state of mind over the destiny of “mother earth”*
“Wars and rumors of wars’’ have indeed ridden the back of this century with relentless fury* However, the sane fact remains that for all their horror the worst of wars has not accomplished anything approaching the destruction of the earth* But had numerous military prophets of the past thirty-six years proved true this planet would by now be either charred bald from pole to pole and devoid of inhabitants or nonexistent, with only disconnected shreds of atoms to fill the space occupied by the earth and its atmosphere* Prior to 1914 the fingers of fear gained a strangle hold after the first international peace conference at The Hague had failed to secure mutual agreement to disarm. Europe was crisscrossed with alliances and counter alliances, and the mounting tension finally rose to the boiling point with the outbreak of hostilities in what has been called “The Great War”.
In the four years of that war, science, the genius of the machine age, and the militarists allied themselves to produce the then most fierce of all conflicts. The land teemed with unprecedented troop movements, the seas swarmed with deadly submarines, and death rained from the skies with the birth of aerial warfare* All elements of human society were drawn into the catastrophe as the nations struggled through their first world war.
With the settling of battle smoke in November of 1918 a tired and bleeding civilization hungrily sought to readjust itself to peace and to forget all about war* But it was not so easy* For a handful of years the general unrest was kept submissive to the loud and wistful talk of antiwar zealots, who were trying to make more noise than the rattle of armament that began behind the scenes. Eventually,
swept under by the tide of militarism that steadily grew to threaten the peace every* where, their strong denunciations became desperate cries for help, heard only spas* jnodicalfy when they could reach the sur* face of the troubled seas for a breath of air.
Prophets of Doom
To read the papers or prevalent literature of the late twenties and through the thirties is to read an unending account of not "if” but “when” the “next war” would be fought. Fresh with the knowledge of World War I in mind, with its record in the advancement of warfare, a new age of war prophets rose prepared to blueprint the course of the next wan Looking back through what has happened in the meantime makes their words the more interesting to us today.
In 3933 graphic illustrated conceptions of the United States under attack in war were presented in magazine sections of many of the nation’s newspapers, The national capital was depicted as bombed out and choked with enemy gas. Plans were offered for rebuilding many of the country’s large cities in defense against such possibilities.
France’s Marshal Petain in 1934 described the next war as coming “like a thigh of lightning”. Just eight months earlier, Britain’s Viscount Rolhcrmere spoke of it as a declaration of war, the press of a button . and 20,000, perhaps 50.0CO airplanes laden with bombs and gas will rise Into the air and set off at more than 200 miles an hour to rain destruction on this country”. Concerning world peace, leaders on every hand shook their heads in the manner of a group of diagnosing physicians pronouncing doom upon a patient possessed of some incurable disease.
Nor were the scientists, chemists and biologists silent. In the spring of 1933 the
Canadian Parliament heard from one of its members of a deadly new gas capable of filling the lungs with water and rotting the walls of the blood vessels. Electrically minded men spoke of burning the enemy down by scores through charged w’ire entanglements, while others described the role to be played by weird “death rays”. The famed Dr. Charles H. Mayo foresaw squadrons of airplanes bearing deadly disease germs to be scattered over luckless cities.
In the early thirties the consensus of opinion in Europe was that another war would 'end Europe as we know it'. The noted Stanley Baldwin told the British House of Commons in November, 1932; “When the next war comes, European civilization is wiped out.” Without limiting his remarks to “European civilization”, the famous British general, Sir Ian Hamilton, was quoted in the San Francisco Examiner, in its edition cf April 2, 1933, as saying; “The ‘next war' wiD take as many weeks as the last war took years and civilization will be blotted out. . . . Hie whole of the mechanized motor-driven forces nf either side will meet at once on-der the sea, in the air and on the land. , . . That first encounter will almost certainly decide the war.”
Piecing the parts together, we arrive at the conglomerated vision of the then “next war” as seen by the prophets of the early thirties; a sudden horrifying push-button affair with airT land and naval divisions all converging together in one grand melee of electricity, fabulous “death rays”, bullets, bombs, bugs and gas. In one savage thrust one side would gain an immediate advantage, forcing the total surrender of the opponent within weeks. So devastating would be the weapons that the wake of this brief flare-up would reveal a completely disorganized human society on a blackened earth.
Calling the Prophets to Account
But what was World War II? Opening the third of September, 1939, it dragged on piteously over six years until the last flame was finally snuffed out on August 14, 1945, following the blast of two atomic bombs on the shores of Japan. While the air arm as predicted was perhaps the outstanding wing of victory, the infantry played its usual significant part, and the mastery of the seas also was a leading factor to ultimate Allied victory. Finally, though the property loss and desolation of cities were tremendous, only the areas directly involved in the line of conquest were affected. True, the social structure of the defeated countries was greatly demoralized, but by no means was it blotted out. In fact, it was even necessary to “de-Nazify” Germany to purge it of former political philosophies following the war's end, and similar programs have been carried out in Japan. Concerning the weightier matters, the observer may take comfort in the fact that neither the earth nor mankind has been destroyed, while he may similarly be alarmed to note that neither has the jealousy and teeth-gnashing among nations been removed.
One thing for certain has not changed —the world again has earned a surplus of “war prophets” who have donned their mantles and reappeared on the public scene. Scarcely had the echoes of the first atomic bomb explosion in Japan died away when talk of “the next (atomic) war” rose from the rubble. This time, with the experience of an atomic bomb explosion behind them, the seers spared nothing to make their prophecies worthy of the circumstances. Britain’s Sir Stafford Cripps warns that man could not survive an atomic bomb war, stating, “War has become certain suicide. There can be no victory. It must be final and disastrous defeat for all.” Just after the first atomic bomb blasts the famed British writer, George Bernard Shaw, testified that man might 'like a sorcerer’s apprentice’ practice his sorcery until the loosed atomic energy blew the earth apart, converting it to a cloud of stardust. Many learned heads wildly speculated along this line in the summer and fall of 1945, voicing the opinion that further atomic blasts might start a chain reaction of atom-splitting to end only with the complete unknitting of the earth’s structure. In November of that year, Life magazine carried an article headed “The 36-Hour War”, in which it pointed out the suddenness, ferocity and complete and widespread annihilation certain to come from an atomic war. Drawings showed New York’s skyline reduced to street level in a jumbled pile of stone and steel.
But already this fast-moving age has eclipsed the common A-bomb with the newly proposed and infinitely more powerful H-bomb, or hydrogen bomb. Some wishful thinkers like to believe that the new bomb is so powerful that it may even force the nations into peace. Such was the tenor of the remarks of William L. Laurence, science reporter of the New York Times, when he addressed a group of teachers on May 9, 1950. Mr. Laurence spoke of the H-bomb and its A-bomb cousin “as the greatest instruments, first for deterring war, and ultimately to abolish it altogether as a means of settling national rivalries”. Yet when statistics are cited on these weapons they are inevitably such that draw attention to the destructive rather than the peaceful nature of the bombs. Authorities claim the deadly new implement would probably destroy everything within 100 square miles of the blast and that a model could conceivably be made that would be destructive over an area of around 530 square miles. The atmosphere hangs heavy with this talk, leaving no
cause for wonder that those portraying the future. paint so drab a picture. Indeed, based on such sources alone, the prospects look bleak.
What to Believe?
However, there is no need to let one’s nerves fly apart like the core of a shattered* atom. Previous wars have been foreseen, yes. But have not the prophets of war proved false and deceptive in calling the results of the conflicts to the earth and man upon it? May it not be so now as well? While many even now are reaping the false prophet’s reward of embarrassment for the past, listen to some prominent voices from their very ranks that would dampen the fiery forecast for the future.
Dr. Robert A. Millikan, one of America’s leading men of science, reveals in his recently released autobiography that it is even doubtful if anyone can succeed in making a hydrogen bomb. Doctors Bacher and Bethe have spoken lightly of the H-bomb as a military weapon. Finally, Lewis L. Strauss, member of the Atomic Energy Commission indicated that the hydrogen bomb will never destroy all life from this planet.
But must we take our only consolation from the fact that man won’t concoct a hydrogen bomb simply because he will be unable to muster enough heat and energy in one place to do so? Will there be no “hydrogen war” simply because it would not prove militarily expedient, or because a plain old “atomic war” would be sufficient to blast bare the continents?
End of Wars and War Prophets
The prospect of a “war of the atoms” has driven man to frantically seek new defenses against the dread of tomorrow. Now that many have come to contemplate what sort of weapon will at last destroy the
earth and mankind, it is wondered if they have ever considered the testimony of the authority who writes: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4) Yes, incredible as it may seem in this unstable, atom-smashing brain age, here is word from one known as the wisest man of antiquity, King Solomon. Not because a human king wrote the passage cited, but because Jehovah God, the great Creator of the atom, saw fit to include this in his inspired Word, it is here mentioned for consideration in a discussion to which it directly pertains. Such a simple statement of truth may go unheeded. It has in the past been disregarded by the religious mind taught to believe that the globe must eventually be burned to cinder or by scientific-military authorities versed in the power of weapons in their control. .
Still, even man’s most savage wars have caused only a few surface adjustments, and despite all the promises and bombbursting human warfare would continue to do only that. Man will never prove able to mix together a formula powerful enough to interfere with the divine purpose of permanency for the earth. With each passing war the prophets of fear have expressed woeful doubts for the future of military security, of mankind, and now for the very earth itself. However, the Bible, the only book of prophecy ever to be proved true, foretells one oncoming final war accompanied by the removal of every force for evil from the earth’s surface. Removed as well will be the need of any further conjecture concerning future struggles. Then visualize not charred oblivion but global paradise from pole to pole, and the devotion of all earth's elements and energies toward the maintenance of peace, security and human advancement under the perfect rule of God’s kingdom.
^SMUG G/LAATG
-AN IMMENSE WORLD ENTERPRISE
SMUGGLING is an ancient art that is practiced on a worldwide scale. It existed long before Christ’s day, but the actual forerunners of modem smugglers were the
"Owlers” of thirteenth-century England. Their mighty organization of secret nocturnal traders grew, and for over 500 years it flouted British authority.
By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries smuggling was so general in England that the smuggler, whose contraband was cheaper than local merchandise, was aliwist a naticmal Tn TTfitase Commons it was asserted that “in some parts of the maritime countries the whole people are so generally engaged in smuggling that it is impossible to find a jury that will, upon trial, do justice to an officer of the revenue in any case whatever”. And a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine (September 3, 1735) complained that so many were engaged in smuggling that farmers could not get sufficient hands for their harvests.
Before the American revolution colonists smuggled to escape British taxes. Later rumrunners and slave traders became foremost among American smugglers. But even more extensive than any of this was the smuggling in Andorra, a tiny state on the border of France and Spain. One geography textbook said that its principal industries were “tobacco-growing and smuggVmg”. It was here that the famous Don Q. lived, Who was once a priest
and often masqueraded as one. Dressed as a friar he would get information, and a few days later when his informers were his prisoners he chided them, “You really should be more careful, my brother. . . . Never talk to a priest in a market place. Avoid the breed like sin!” (The Compleat Smugglerf page 213)
But those things happened long ago. Today, in the middle of this highly developed twentieth century, great forward strides have been made by the smugglers.
European Smuggling
Let’s put earlier centuries aside and take a quick round-the-world look at the smug-vA uqt Aay, Parting in T miand, where the liquor laws of 1919 encouraged smugglers to provide that country with an intoxicant vividly termed “sudden death”. Once received in Finland, this contraband was delivered in vans that were closely stacked with logs, but had a hollow center where 50 cans of “sudden death” were stored.
Dutch smugglers, during World War I, forwarded both Allied and German spies across international boundaries^ for smugglers have always been the allies of those who wished, for a price, to evade passport formalities.
Between Belgium and France trained dogs smuggled tobacco for their masters. The animals were starved for two days, then taken into Belgium in secret. Packs con-
SEPT BRIBER 8, 1950
tabling several pounds of tobacco were strapped on the dog's back and a man in an imitation French gendarme's outfit beat and kicked the animal until in terror it streaked for France. Half-starved, it remembered that each time it returned to its kennel a bowl of good warm food was waiting. Associating the gendarme’s uniform with horror, the dog crouched in fear or ran for its life when it saw a French officer. Finally, after running several miles to its French kennel, it found the food, a friend to take the pack of tobacco off its back, and no gendarme to frighten it. Here the dog rested a few days until starvation and beating marked the start of another trip.
A Swiss customs official made a “moderate estimate” that 50 thousand francs' worth of contraband was hidden within /
five miles of his office. He said that he had found 20,000 Italian cigarettes hidden in coffins in an undertaker’s loft, a quarter of a ton of coffee spread between the joists of a ceiling, and slabs of Italian tobacco in the thick grease of railroad axle-boxes!
Before World War II "human contraband” was smuggled over the Alps between Switzerland and Italy, for, in addition to the usual wine, drugs, coffee and tobacco, fascist agents and antifascist refugees and propagandists were transported across the border by smugglers who knew the “backdoor” passes of the Alps,
Today cigarettes are smuggled to Italy's black market from Tangier in speedy exsubchasers, An investment of $32,760 in the free port of Tangier brought $90,000 in Genoa, according to the Saturday Evening Post (May 6, 1950), and this load of cigarettes was delivered right in the harbor while the smugglers listened to music and laughter from the shore. At their home base in France smuggling is so commonplace that “the town belonged to the smuggling fleet, who play second fiddle only to American sailors as heroes and free spenders”.
As our tour of smuggling moves farther east, we come to the Carpathian mountains (between Poland and Czechoslovakia), where many peasants found that farming was unprofitable when compared with the profits from smuggling arms, cattle, cloth, Ukrainian agents, Russian couriers, refugees and political propaganda both into and out of the respective countries.
Around the World to China
Is smuggling an enticing subject? Are you amazed by its scope? Then view a smuggling operation in China that dwarfs any we have yet seen.
Chungshan has been bandit territory as long as history remembers, but modem equipment has been thrust into the bandit’s hands. Visualize a fleet of smuggling boats armed with rifles, small cannon, thirty machine guns, and three rocket guns, with a crew of 800 men, and you will have some idea of the scope of operations of just one smuggler-bandit, Wong Sam.
Three hundred large junks regularly carry contraband in his area, and each pays him $50 a month or doesn’t pass any more. A nearby rival, Wong Hon, had 1,000 men, including lar£e group who sped the smuggled goods from ships in emergencies when customs men approached.
American soldiers were tempted by the profits that could be made in China through smuggling. Many fliers on the famous “Hump route” joined xvith experienced local gangs to smuggle gold, jewelry, drugs, arms and other contraband from India to China for a period of more than two years. Red Cross workers, members of the Hying Tigers, and army officers made personal profits amounting to more than $4 million. One plane was discovered with 500 car
tons of cigarettes under its floor boards, another crashed with 35,000 rupees ($10,631) worth of drugs and gold.
As recently as May 12, 1950, the Shanghai newspaper Ta Kung Pao stated that in the Kwangtung province 1,500,000 persons depend on smuggling for their livelihood, and that despite efforts to crack down on smugglers in order to increase the government’s revenue, 10,000 of them still sneak across the Hong Kong-China border daily!
Leaving Asia, we cross the Pacific to view smuggling in the United States, In every big American city during the days of prohibition could be found the modern counterpart of the old smuggling gangs of England. Fast motorboats picked up bottles and barrels from larger boats beyond the territorial limit. Once it was estimated that only one in a hundred was caught.
To demonstrate the comparative ease with which a smuggling run can be made, the London Daily Mail once smuggled two large crates of contraband ashoi*e within a few hundred yards of a customhouse, in broad daylight on an August holiday in view of passing cars, busses, pedestrians and others who paid no attention.
Smuggling is the result of commercial and political attempts to force people to buy a local product even if it is inferior or sold at an inflated price. The smuggler's clients had no scruples about dealing with him when he provided excellent wares at half the local price. The British judge who punished him drank smuggled tea. The member of Parliament who made laws against him smoked contraband tobacco. The French housewife had no qualms about eating eggs smuggled from Belgium, where four eggs could be purchased for the cost of one French egg. An authority on smuggling, Geoffrey Pinnock, in his book Dark Paths, said that he told a retired Polish smuggler, “Ln smuggling you were doing a job that is a good deal more straightforward and decent than most present-day finance juggling and big business.”
Customs Evading in World Ports
Perhaps the most common of all smuggling is not by organized gangs, but by travelers in the world’s ports who hope that they can smuggle their purchases past customs inspection. From ten to twenty thousand seizures in United States harbors in a year is not unusual, and $15 million in smuggled goods was seized in the United States in 1948.
Customs evasion is a risky business, but the safest profits are reaped by the “informer”. If he overhears your plans, reports them to the authorities and you are caught, some governments give him one-fourth of your penalty as a reward. One man earned $50,000 by “informing" the authorities of attempted jewel smuggling.
Smuggled jewels have been found in soap, razor cases, toothpaste, fountain pens, hollow false teeth and chewing gum. On May 3 a stooped Chinese in Bangkok, Thailand, aroused suspicion, and it was found that his stoop was caused by 220 gold bars (worth $75,000) fastened around his waist. In New York an inspector stroked a cat that a woman was carrying in a cage. He discovered that it was stuffed —stuffed with $25,000 worth of narcotics!
One regular transatlantic jewel merchant was known to sell more jewels than he paid duty on. Inspectors took the handle off his shaving brush, the soles and heels off his shoes, examined his coat lining and squeezed out his toothpaste tubes; all to no avail. But when he was asked to remove his glass eye a valuable jewel was found glued inside it.
Even after getting through customs the would-be smuggler is not safe. Perhaps an inspector walking through the crowd sees a particularly happy gent, sidles up to him
and asks, “What did you get away with?” “Plenty!” he gleefully replies. “Oh you did? Step over here, mister!”
…