Awake!, February 8, 1951
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PEACE DREAMS
Despite the many shattered dreams, peace will come
United Nations Has Another Birthday
Its past five years; its life expectancy
Dying to Fool You
Animals that feign death to live longer
Electronic Paintbrushes
And the TV color controversy
FEBRUARY 8, 1951 semimonthly
THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL
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ENTS
Peace Dreams
United Nations Has Another Birthday 5
U.N/s Cold War Turns Hot
Whistling in the Dark
In the Wake of Two Hurricanes
Nightmare Ends at Daybreak
Hope for an Isle of Destruction
Dying to Fool You
A Hamlet in the Rough
Intelligence or Instinct?
Flashes from the Religious Front
Electronic Paintbrushes and the TV Color Controversy
Compatible* All-electronic Systems
“Now Three-Dimensional
Color Television”
“Your Word Is. Truth”
God’s Way Is Love
Monte Casslno Abbey—
a Military Objective?
‘That’s the Way the Money Goes!"
Watching the World
& “Now it is Mgh time to awake.”—Romans 13:11 &
Volume XXXH Brookjyn, N.Y,, February S, 1901 Numbers
PEACE DREAMS
TrIE spring and summer of 1945 witnessed the sudden thunderclap of double death blows to the remaining Axis aggressors, Germany and Japan, and the close of World War IL The mightiest military alliance of man’s history, that of the Western democracies and the Soviet Union, had worked a globe-girdling pincers movement whereby the two ends met in Berlin for knockout number one, and three months later finished off the final groggy foe with the arm of the American air forces and a double dose of unleashed atomic energy on the “isle of the mikados”. Hie war-worn peoples of the world crawled out from their bomb shelters. Glad to be rid of the horrors of total war, they little suspected the terrors of the “all-out peace” about to begin raging on all fronts.
The five and one-half years since have been generously filled with civil strife and aggressive war in the Near, Middle and Far East, political coups in Europe and revolutions in the Latin Americas, The once-strong allies of east and west have long since parted ways to set up separate camps and fire away at each other with scathing propaganda salvos. The Reds fenced themselves in with an “iron curtain” which became a dividing line of international rivalry. Each of the major powers involved has furiously sought to strengthen the weaker lands on its particular side of the “curtain”.
To what hopes have men clutched in the mounting crisis? Chiefly, to the United Nations. There they have grasped a thin strand of trust as long as the major conflicting powers would continue to assemble and discuss their differences- But increasing differences and the coming of actual war, as in Korea, serve only to show how far apart the various factions remain. Also, men do not Teatty have implacA fairth in the United Nations to preserve their hard-won peace. No? you ask. No. Hid they the faith of a grain of mustard seed in the structure, would they have persisted in the race for supremacy in atomic weapons and in the global battle to convince smaller powers of the superiority of either capitalism or communism?
That is what makes man's lot so awfully pathetic. He sees all sorts of political peace dreams collapsing, yet he can see or comprehend no other means of security. This was forcefully brought to light In the summer Of 1950, when Merlyn S. Pitzele, an editor of Business Week, called upon fifty-one leading American newspaper editors to present the “dream headline” they would place in their paper if they could print the news they most wanted to hear. Forty of the typical replies were printed in Argosy magazine’s July, 1950, issue.
The results were interesting. The overwhelming majority—80 per cent—hoped, for favorable U. S.-Soviet relations In the
interests of world peace. Ten per cent dealt with religious themes and the elimination of diseases. The final ten per cent was broken down into individual slants. Only one, the Boston Post, was absorbed in local matters, the hope for capture of the million-dollar Boston bandits.
How clearly it stands out that man wants peace, lasting peace. But where does he hope to get it? He seemingly knows no other source than the much tried but yet never proved channel of human political power. It is very significant that only two headlines dealt with a source of peace truly sound and confident. The Youngstown, Ohio, Vindicator’s heading ran: "Christ Returns to Earth”; and the Houston, Texas, Post's choice was, "Christ Returns; All Dead Arise.”
Argosy's own comment seems to give approval to the editors’ choices when it says: ‘They ask for world peace, above all They look for a reasonable way of achieving it, a way which would let them write a headline like "Russia, U. S. Reach Complete Agreement for Peace, International Harmony”. Are we to assume, then, that Argosy joins the majority of editors in considering Christ Jesus as not a "reasonable way of achieving” the peace?
Throughout the history of mankind’s seven world powers, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, MedoPersia, Greece, Rome, the British-American combine and now the eighth, the society of united nations, writers and historians have had ample opportunity to observe the fruitlessness and Infidelity of man-made political alliances. They have seen wars kindled by the agreements sworn to prevent them. In this very generation they have seen the "war to end all wars” produce a confederation known as the League of Nations only to witness the fall of the helpless League before the onslaught of the Nazi-Fascists and the coming of a war ending comparison with all previous wars. They have heard Communist Russia since 1545 repeatedly pledge itself solemnly to peace. Yet all the while she was snatching control of a ring of satellite powers, thrusting up "iron curtains”, waging "cold wars” and finally gave birth to a warm one in her support of the North Korean aggressors. Yet, men still prefer to look toward an agreement with Russia as a more "reasonable way” of achieving peace than the coming of Christ’s rule through God\ kingdom. Re~ gardless of what they may mean, that is what they say. Vain dreamers!
If that is true, then the Lord’s prayer they have repeated from childhood is not “reasonable”, since it holds out for the coming of God’s kingdom and the doing of his will on earth. Far more “reasonable” it would be to them to stock-pile atom bombs and sign an agreement with that “rocklike center of truth and integrity”, the Kremlin! True, some of the editors expressed the hope that the communist regime would be overthrown. But this would only make necessary an agreement with some other succeeding political faction. Such systems, being only less bad than something worse, have nothing to recommend them as peacemakers. How many more thousands of years would man the dreamer require to learn that?
But even their dreams were foretold and must come. However, those in search of true and lasting contentment, peace and happiness will read of- an agreement they can believe, God’s Word the Bible bears a remarkable, perfect record of fulfillment according to promise. Therein, we read of the one and only “Prince of Peace” God has provided and of the unbreakable nature of Jehovah God’s promise to install him as ruler over all the earth. (Isaiah 9:6,7; Psalm 89:34-37) Make-believe newspaper headlines are just a game, like political agreements. God’s Word is sure. Believe it.
Has nother Birthday
called “international brotherhood of peace”. btfe magazine, for example, wrote editorially: “Partly because we were much too starry at the start, most of us have been writing off the United Nations as just another noble experiment But the U. N. is far from dead and
NO BABY has ever had more 'Worldwide attention than the United Nations. From its birth, October 24,1945, it has been constantly watched over, cuddled and pampered by a mighty host of the world's wisest specialists in every walk of life. One would therefore expect this young child to be in the very “pink” of physical and mental health, a child proteg# capable of spectacular feats, fully able to stand on its own. But alas* the United Nations has been a very sick and helpless infant from its birth, requiring the constant watchcare of many political doctors and nurses, lest it die. More than once its creators have feared that if it had another turn for the worse it would gasp its last and that would be the end- So the fact that it is still alive and kicking after five years is, perhaps, something to exult in- At least the devout worshipers of this polyglot organization thought so as they celebrated its fifth birthday last October.
Around the world, m all the principal cities, parades were held, the bands played, church bells rang, the politicians spoke, and the newspapers, radio and television stations praised the virtues of this so-indeed—as'the New York Timetf capable Anne O’Hare McCormick observed in a speech last week on the fifth U. N. birthday—may have ‘just begun to live1. * ■ . Unless everything blows up in the near future you will be hearing a lot more about the U. n., which has become a very lusty infant” At the big birth-’ day party in the U. N. headquarters president Truman cut a cake with his left hand, pumped the delegate paws of some 60 nations with his right, joked with the Russian delegates as an old-time buddy, said that he thought Vishinsky was a nice fellow, and made a speech before the General Assembly. Next year there will be a repeat performance. That is the way with these annual celebrations.
In the meantime sober-minded, thoughtful people can property evaluate this five-year-old political newcomer on its own merits instead of under the pressure of emotional festivity and political speech-making, There must be some good reasons why “most of us have been writing off the United Nations as just another noble experiment”. Perhaps a look at the U. N.’s five-year history will explain.
What Is This "Human Rights” Talk?
The General Assembly has set forth what it calls the “Declaration of Human Rights'* for the protection of humanity's economic, social, political and religious freedoms. Sounds like a nice piece of work, but what fruit has it borne since it was made two years ago? What about the racial problem in South Africa, for example?
Recently India's Mme. Pandit charged that 300,000 resident Indians are segregated and discriminated against in South Africa, and are denied their “fundamental rights and human freedoms in every sense of the term”. More than that, this treatment Is sponsored by the government for “the complete degradation of the indigenous and Indian populations and the early extinction of the latter**, Mme. Pandit declared. South Africa Dr. Dongas, on the other hand, retaliated that it was none of the U. N.’s business how Asiatics are treated in his country, that it was purely a domestic affair. And besides, neither the U. N.’s Charter nor the Declaration defines what “human rights” are, so “how, then, can you have obligations toward them?’* Dongas asked.
Each member nation of the U. N. will go on treating its citizens just as it pleases. Communist Russia rules its people with an iron totalitarian hand. Democratic U. S. A. mistreats its Negro, Indian and Puerto Rican people. Catholic-dominated Argentina and Dominican Republic brutally persecute and imprison faithful Christians like Jehovah’s witnesses and deny them their freedom to worship God as He commands. No, all this talk about promoting “human rights” is only U. N. baby talk.
What About Freedom and Peace?
The U. N.’s greatest accomplishments are &id to have been in “promoting freedom for dependent peoples” and in “preventing and ending wars”, and making pos-sibte the independence of the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, Jordan, Israel, Korea and Indonesia. (AAUN Reporter, June 25, 1950) But let us be realistic about this matter. Was it the General Assembly that voluntarily championed the cause of freedom for those countries or was it the restless, rebellious masses themselves that forced the powers concerned to negotiate a change of government? And what about this thing called “freedom"? Is it true that those millions of Asiatics now enjoy greater blessings in life since their governments have been changed in name and personnel? After all, what real tangible freedoms do they now have that can be honestly attributed to the generous hand of the United Nations?
Look at the five-year record of this so-cailed war-preventing, peace-promoting United Nations! While the wrangling has gone on apace inside the councils and assemblies, outside blockades and airlifts have been set up, boycotts and counterboycotts have been imposed, and propaganda pugilists of the press and radio have matched each other blow for blow. Starting out arm in arm, presumably in search for peace, the nations soon broke rank and began running headlong in the greatest armaments race of all times. Political blocs, hemispheric pacts, military alliances were created. Member nations chose up sides, and while the one group rearmed eastern Europe and China the other powers sought to strengthen their Atlantic and Pacific and polar bases as impregnable fortresses against the time when all-out “A” and “H” bomb-throwing begins. Feverishly all the major powers of the United Nations are spending billions for war.
V. N.’s Cold War Turns Hot
Such insane tantrums and fits of madness were blamed on the use or abuse of the veto power in the Security Council.
But when a way was found to dodge around it, the United Nations immediately jumped into a war instead of expending its energies building up peace and security. No longer just a madhouse of contentious personalities flying at each other’s political ideologies in an open forum, the U. N. has come out find entered the Korean and China conflict in an entirely new role.
Oh yes, some call it only “police action”, the forceful suppression of those who make war, the patrolling of a sovereign border against international raiders, outlaws and ftto Beset U. N./// the New York Times bandits. But regardless of modern phrase- ----- - —
Instead of an instrument of peace, it has 1 Become a power forwar.Feeling its muscles, this “dove of peace” attempts to wield the sword instead of the olive branch, ofogy and nicknames by the propagandists, the same grim realities that characterized the last gory war are present: hundreds of thousands of men in desperato conflict. ^ousandg being kilied, many, ipgay fhou-3a^^s_Qf othg^ jhot upTmaimSTanHj^t ftheir IJyg^ whole cities gutted by savage fires —the latest tanks, land an3Tsgasplines, tombenTand fighter planes, rocket jghellg, flamejthgoyyerg^ arid battlgship^^all de-gjpyedto kill people. Call it “police action” if you insist on taBcing like a five-year-old, but in a man’s language it is war!
If war, is it a “preventive war^, a war that will stop communism and prevent another global war? Well, some people say so. However, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who probably knows^a^n^pti
says: In a booklet
“In my opinion, there is no such thing as|l eotitle^Ma^oF^Unit^^tates, Mother a preventive war. Although this siigges-^of theUnjted^Nations^wrTtten Ey a^lesult,
tion is repeatedly made, none Jiyet ex-
uuu ta ———j
plained how war prevents war, Ijorhas primatur Nihil obstat and other endorse-** j*“- **"*—’--- 4-1— +ka Pnmon r^o+hnlic Hipranchv.
Speaking before the U. N. General Assembly on its birthday, Truman said,' •‘Until an effective system of disarmament is established, let us be clear about the task
ahead. The* only course^ th^peace-loving nations can take jn"tiiTpresent situation is to create"RearmamentsHeeSeltoma£e Vflje" worl^S secure Jagamst*aggrexHbn?' s While seeming’to"pin*hopeon the tTiifted
Nations, the world’s leaders really put their greatest trust and faith in armaments; while praying for peace* they anxiously prepare for war/ ft sounds like double talk, and it is, Jju^ ftjqjygical of theJeadership of the nations. ~ *
Actually, fear reigns at United Nations meetings. Under the headlined “Fear Said (Nov. 8,1950) reported:ft‘The sixty mem-ber states attending the current session
of the United Nations General Assembly are beset by a great sense of fear—gfear that has been donfipati " 'iscus-
mal
sions^ _ -
fe I^earson^Cana an Minister of
^Affairs, said today.
WAfeffinp in the Dark
Without question of doubt the greatest jyhistlers to dispel fear the United Nations hSaretfieclergyofthe various denominations/ who, it seems,*try to out-chirp each other in praising that war-battered, blood-stained organization. _^very year when the General Assembly convenes in New York _a special mass attended^faytt^e U. N. dele^tes i^ helTTr^irdinal Spell-
DaiTieKA^Lord, anti which carries the im-
Mary is several times praised as “the idol, a plan-that is only one step removed mother of the United Nations*’.” from compulsory reverence and worship
Protestant organizations also bubble aU avowed Ssfiopil^ wTsTDoneganoLthe New York Protestant Episcopal diocese, “must support the measures being takenV by the United Nations to resist aggres? ^ion,7/Mso in a New York Protestant Episcopal church a special shrine has been dedicated for U. N. worship as "a place of by P^QPte”' De‘ daredclergymah Henry A. Atkinson, who is associated with the World Alliance for International Friendship Through Religion: “The kernel of the Question of world peace is embedded in the Charter of the United Nations/* Reporting on a convention of the United Council of Church Women, who claim to represent 10,000,000 churchgoers, the New York Times said the women called upon all people “to support by prayer, sacrifice and work every effort of the United Nations to establish a Just world order**. Then there is the Presbyterian clergyman, John Paul Jones, a former president of the National Peace Conference, who described the U. N. as the “world’s best hope for peace”.
What the United Nations needs is more whistlers like these, according to Nelson A. Rockefeller, who proposes a world conference of religious leaders as a supplement to the United Nations, At any rate, Samuel Rothstein, president of the United Synagogue of America, thinks organized religion should be “largely responsible” for the actions taken by the United Nations. And, as if in answer to the cry for more priests of Baal to offer sacrifices to this U. N. god, 100 clergymen of the Disciples of Christ came to New York to make a special study of the U, N. setup.
Right now a strong movement is under way to make the flag of the United Nations a sort of universal symbol, image or of this image by all mankind. Incidentally, it reminds one of the golden image set up by that ancient ruler of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, and which the faithful Hebrews refused to worship. (Daniel 3:1-30) Note that certain churches have enshrined this flag. And with the troops in Korea fighting and dying under it, General MacArthur calls the U. N. banner “the symbol of one of the greatest efforts man has made to free himself”.
Of course, there is a certain amount of opposition to elevation of the U. N. flag, as well as the plan for making the United Nations a superfederation. The loudest protesters are those who have their own ideas about ruling the world by some form of dictatorship. And while this opposition may be strong enough to stunt the U. N.’s growth, it is not likely to kill it. The United Nations may celebrate a few more birthdays before it meets complete annihilation at Armageddon.
Concerning this there cannot be a shadow of doubt The ultimate end of the United Nations was long ago foretold by the Almighty God and Omnipotent Sovereign of both heaven and earth, who declared that these present nations that rule the earth under the Devil’s control will be completely destroyed, together with their proud and wicked rulers. With their destruction, of course, will come the destruction of their monstrous confederacy, the United Nations, that now makes war in the name of peace. Removal of these political nations is absolutely necessary in order to make room for Jehovah God’s glorious theocratic kingdom under the administration of Christ Jesus. Let all therefore who are wise heed the warning from God’s Word and put their hope, trust and faith in His kingdom.—Psalm 2; Daniel 2:44; Revelation 16:13-16.
INTHEWAKE^B/,M/V^
for preparing against the oncoming storm. The season-
By “Awdk*rr correjpondenf In the British West Indies
; ITH the West Indies’ hurricane sea-/ son come the inevitable printed warnings, 'signs of the times': “At the beginning of the hurricane season the public are advised to take precautionary measures to ensure that ail doors, windows and shutters of their houses, offices, etc., can be securely fastened. The same applies to buildings used as shelter for stock. An adequate supply of hurricane lanterns, candles or electric torches is recommended, in the event of the failure of the electric light system during the storm.” So read the Antigua press in the summer of 1950.
While the ruins still smoldered behind two great August fires in the city of St. John's, the inhabitants of this Caribbean isle were warned of the approach of a tropical storm whose center would pass just a few miles south of Antigua.
A brilliant coppery glow in the western sky on the evening of August 21, along with very high winds increasing in tempo, gave added assurance that the report from the government weather observer could be taken seriously. That it was. People of high and low estate busied themselves in the only thing that now mattered, “battening down.” The words “we’ll get it this time" rang out amid running from shop to shop in search of hammers, nails, torches, candles, lanterns and anything useful al supply of hurricane equipment soon went out of stock as *an ill wind blew some people some good’.
By now the whole of St. John’s and neighborhood was fighting against time. The atmosphere was filled with the din of hammering, a warning far more effective than the tooting of car horns and the blowing of police whistles, which seemed very faint compared with the determined barricading efforts of worried tenants. Screaming babes and barking dogs suggested that they, too, knew what was coining.
First Storm and Aftereffects
By 7:30 p.m, angry gusts of wind reaching nearly eighty miles an hour were battering the city. By 10:00 p,m. the island was tom by its worst suffering in years. Trees bowed with great elasticity in all directions; they must snap or become uprooted. Fences were heaving and collapsing. Debris scattered to the four winds. Out there was no place for anything that breathed. Inside was frightful enough with the continual bulfetlike gusts blasting their target and seemingly defying it to resist longer. But somehow the house we were in had withstood the strain for nearly six hours. So by 2:00 a.m. we decided to retire, but found that sleep was Impossible. Through what seemed an endless night we waited for the dawn.
What did we find at daybreak? Not what had been expected, for little wooden houses were actually still standing! But though this proved the general rale for St. John’s, the poorer folks nearer the city limits and in the outskirts had suffered severely. Some of their homes had collapsed and others were removed from their foundations. From the sturdier buildings roofing had been tom away.
But the force of the storm could not be measured by St- John’s alone. Farther out in the villages, especially in the southern and eastern parts, hundreds of people were made homeless and had to seek temporary shelter in schools and church buildings. At Willikies and Seatons villages fifty houses were flattened. In Pigotts village twenty-one were leveled to the ground, and other country districts sustained much property loss. Livestock losses were pitiful, damage to crops of all kinds widespread. Floods following the hurricane added to the toll, especially with respect to livestock. Pitiful was the plight of the hardy and willing little donkeys, many of whom were found grief-stricken and dying in the pastures.
Despite all these losses, however, the God-fearing people took their troubles valiantly. One man who had lost his donkey said typically, “The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away.” Such simple faith in the Creator enables these unfortunate persons to make the best of anything they feel is destined to befall them. Nearly all with whom we spoke in the course of our missionary work showed appreciation of the strange fact that there had been no loss of human life. On this note of optimism the populace made the best of a critical situation. But the hurricane, the worst since 1871, had left its mark.
Proud of her survivals from a variety of catastrophes, prolonged droughts, storms, earthquakes, etc., Antigua attended to her wounds. It was said the island had never been known to be hit twice by hurricanes fn the same year. Hence even the victims breathed easily in the belief that they could expect security for at least another year. Optimism ran high. There was even that local pride that at last little Antigua had made good headlines in the Caribbean press. This island appeared to be a heroine among the Caribbean isles. But this unusual fame was destined to spread yet farther. How? The worst was yet to come!
Lightning Strikes Twice!
Once more came warning of a tropical storm approaching our shores! Just ten days after the recent history-making hurricane, the morning of September 1,1950, was punctuated with danger signals: intermittent gusts of wind, dull gray clouds, occasional light rain showers. By noon the government weather observer reported that a hurricane was located 120 miles northeast of Antigua, traveling at twelve knots an hour This time stores, banks and government buildings closed at noon in order that their staffs might get home to attend to battening down. No opportunity for frantic, last-minute scampering to shops as was evidenced ten days previously.
Adding haste to all preparations was the tone of the next terse weather report: by 7:00 p.m. winds of 100 miles an hour could be expected. Anxiety was evident on countless faces. ‘How can our homes possibly escape this time?’ Inevitably the furious, oncoming hurricane would pound their little island unmercifully within an hour or two. Still, all preparations possible had been made. Nothing else could be done—except wait!
By 9:00 p.m. cannonlike gusts overhead assured that the weather forecast had not lied. The center of the storm being many miles wide, it would require some hours to pass, and none now doubted that it would eclipse even the storm of August 2L Midnight came, but no abating of the elements. Rather it was, as one hardy Antiguan remarked, “like all the demons let loose/* Unrestrained winds played a fitting background to his words as they ripped our home like giant ocean waves. “Lightning** had struck its same target a second time, now with greater fury than ever, as it seemed bent on ruining all that had the temerity to stand before. What an experience, your first hurricane J Surely, we thought, the house must collapse at any moment, for outside others were doing so as well as stout trees. And debris of all kinds was being hurled aloft. What dreadful dins as flying rubble smashed into galvanized roofing, some of which now flapped like rent sailcloth. No sleep for anyone; apparently not one person had to be aroused like Jonah of Nineveh's day.
We were kept busy continually, examining first one part of the house, then somewhere else that seemed to be bashed in or where something was sucked out. Further concern arose when examination revealed lifting and bulgings of alarming proportions. Supposedly the more sheltered, or western side, received the worst of the battering. Someone thought of the windows, so to prevent the possibility of flying glass they were hastily boarded.
The night dragged on like a weird nightmare, filled with fantastic crashes and noises from without as the winds alternately roared and relented in their attack. Once a huge tree toppled and brushed the corner of our house as it crashed to earth. Many queer, unexplainable sounds made us fearful of what morning would show.
Nightmare Ends cd Daybreak
More than eight hours of this nightmarish horror went by before morning came, revealing that the house had suffered only a minor casualty. The water catchment on the west side had been dislodged. Though we had felt certain that our veranda would be ripped from the front of the house, we found it quite intact. Reassured, then, of our own property, we set out to inquire of our friends and neighbors.
Contrary to the conditions after the previous storm, it was this time very evident that all Antigua had been brutally beaten. A standing fence was a novelty, roofs were stripped and strewn along the roadways, and wreckage of every kind cluttered the entire landscape. Some trees had snapped like matchwood, others were lashed to shreds. The ugly roots of still others jutted skyward as mute testimony to the force of the irresistible winds that had ripped them. All of them were virtually denuded of leaves and fruit. Fallen telephone posts and twisted wiring, with the complete dislocation of the electric wiring system, contributed to the sorry sight that was now St. John's.
The worst was yet to be seen. At the waterfront on the city’s harbor, the sea had come in and hurled practically every vessel inland, smashing many of them to pieces and rendering all unseaworthy. Like a forlorn monument to the savagery of the storm, one tone eapsraed schooner reared its broken hulk out of the harbor's waters, now as still as death. Several large warehouses sustained losses of thousands of dollars when sea water surged in to soak foodstuffs, timber and other badly needed materials.
One previously acquainted with the locality would now look in vain for the familiar rows of native homesteads, bakeries, tinker and blacksmith shops that had formerly dotted the eastern rim of the harbor. To look in that direction now was to view mayhem and havoc. AH were either complete wrecks or the structures had been washed asunder from their foundations to become angled crazily in the passing thoroughfares. What a mess! And traveling farther, one simply met more of the same. Homes appeared to have been turned inside out and their clothes and bedding ripped to shreds, most of it struggling in the wind to get free from tangled wires, shredded trees and tom roofs. Many of their little wooden huts had been caught by the angry sea and tossed like boxwood, while the inhabitants were sent scurrying for cover in disorderly retreat.
Hope for an Isle of Destruction
Everywhere Antigua was an isle of loss and destruction. A hasty panorama will serve to picture what time and space wiU not permit in further detail. Cedar Grove village lost fifty per cent of its buildings, Barnes Hill nearly eighty per cent of its tenements. Forty-five houses in New Win-thorpe were rendered uninhabitable. In Seatons it was reported that only twenty-five houses were left standing. Many other places felt similar heavy property damage, and thousands of people from all over the Island sought refuge in churches, schools, government and private buildings, some of which were themselves already badly damaged. The 150-foot-high steel antenna crashed and crumpled at Antigua’s only transmitter spot Authoritative sources said the hurricane lashed the island with winds reaching 130 miles an hour, 160 in one spot. It was hardly surprising, then, when the completed government survey revealed that 1,348 houses had been totally destroyed and 2,343 damaged. This provided merely the fitting, official account of what everyone could see—the fearful toll exacted by Antigua's worst hurricane.
Antigua was back in the news. At once messages of sympathy and offers of help began pouring in from peoples and organizations In the North and South Americas, the British Isles and the neighboring islands of the Caribbean. This provided a much needed moral uplift for the afflicted Antiguans that served nobly to fill the gap until relief in the form of tangible gifts of money, clothing, food and medical supplies arrived.
But relief of another even more Important kind was and is still needed. The grief felt by the populace was added to by the uncertainty and bewilderment introduced by the past and present teachings of local religious “shepherds” who insist on labeling such outbursts of the elements as “acts of God”. Rather than furnishing spiritual aid to the congregations this has only put them In danger of even greater losses. It would add to their physical deprivations the possibility of lost faith in God. Certainly it is a gross wrong to preach such dishonoring principles in the name of the great God of blessing whose way has ever been one of helpfulness to his creatures. Thug it has been our pleasure and privilege here to comfort these people spiritually, contrasting for them the beneficent nature of all of God’s acts with the world’s present afflictions attributable to Satan the Devil.
Antiguans are as anxious as people anywhere else to learn that Jehovah’s great act at Armageddon will result In the end of Satan’s entire rule of sin and wickedness. Also, they rejoice to learn of the mighty godly acts in the cleansed earth of paradise to follow that battle. Though yet future, they take hope in God’s Word promising that “they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them ... as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands”.—Isaiah 65:21,22.
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TO FOOL YOU
Animals That Feign Death to Live Longer NEWS accounts from the Korean battle front during the communist occupation brought stories of captured American soldiers who preserved their lives during mass murder attempts by feigning death and lying very still in the midst of the bodies of their fallen comrades. This is no new device to man, nor is it any novelty to mankind’s neighbors of animaldom. Many forms of animal life have ever been noted for the maneuver. Closed in by a natural enemy, with all escape cut off, those adept at the art are known to suddenly topple over in a very convincing imitation of death itself. With varying degrees of success, the lower creatures have employed the ruse against man as well. Of course, if a dead quarry is as useful to the hunter as a live one, little is availed. But they will try it for all it is worth, and by experience you will find the clever rascals are all but literally "dying” to fool you.
Most noted of the death feigners is the hairy opossum. So much so, in fact, that the phrase “playing possum” is universally understood as describing the deception. Old possum is an easy-going sort. Physically, he could not be much else. His almost “legless legs” can only waddle his burly overloaded body over the ground. His favorite sport is seemingly sleep, with which he occupies his days. At night he steps out and If people and things will only let him alone he will contentedly waddle and nibble on about anything—his diet is omnivorous.
But alas, his life is beset by endless woes and excitement Unable to outdistance anyone, he finds his only defenses are to pretend he either “isn’t” or “just was”. He may roll his head down upon his breast and sit humped up atop a fence post expecting to be taken for part of the post. Of course, if pursued by a pack of hunting dogs, as is often his sad lot, he scorns anything so low to the ground and scampers into the uppermost branches of a tree. There the poor creature is seized with fright as one of the hunters climbs the tree and shakes his branch, swinging him back and forth like a pendulum. When his grip finally slips he hurtles downward amid the pack of hounds. There he goes into his act. The howling dogs charge in to find nothing but a motionless ball of hair, gaping mouth and lusterless eyes. At the first poke the walls of the body cave in, leav-ing only a nerveless partition g-szS of fat and hair for the hungry hounds* teeth. If left alone as dead and undelectable, he will goon look cautiously about and if all is clear he will next execute his “disappearing act”.
While the opossum may be the best known one who “dies” to fool you, there are others. The wily fox is known beyond denial as the shrewd, smooth article of the animal kingdom. At least some varie-
ties thereof apparently have long held the death-feint in their repertoires. The fox of the South American pampas will go limp before his foes and he will endureeven the whiplash without a single betraying cry of alarm. But after the enemy withdraws, having done his worst, the pampas fox will cautiously arch an eyebrow, then lift his gaze, throw up his head, and, if all is clear, leap to his feet to dart off in the opposite direction. And the cunning grin he may wear outwardly is nothing to the immense inward satisfaction that must be his.
Like the fox, the wild dog of Australia, the dingo, will carry the act to just about as great an extreme as possible. He has been found with his head cut half through following an unmerciful beating to which he submitted without lifting a paw while lying prone before his adversaries. Only after they considered him long gone, and were content with their carnage, was the tom dog able to drag himself from the ground and stagger off for repairs.
The bird realm too has its tricksters. The land rail, or com crake, has been known to take on as dead a look as ever a bird could have, then permit himself to be thrust into a bag, carried a great distance and dumped unceremoniously in a shed. But lo! no sooner is he alone than he is afoot again and quickly outside and gone. Some owls have been known to “die” at will. One example held captive for fifteen hours swooned at every human approach. Even a turkey buzzard once brought down by a hunter, but not wounded fatally, quite promptly upon hitting the ground acted just as dead as any dead turkey buzzard ever did.
A Hamlet in the Rough
But we have yet to discuss one of the most outstanding foolers of them all, an actor from an unexpected quarter, the snake family. One would justifiably think that, of all the “down-to-earth” creatures, snakes would lead the pack. Yet within their ranks exists as frivolous a prankster as anyone could imagine. How he can act; and how he loves it—a veritable “Hamlet” in the rough. This is the “hognose” snake, whose possum-playing antics have won for it the reputation of “out-possuming the opossum”.
Often death-feigners, like the opossum, present an inoffensive outward appearance from the start, and give every sign of wishing to find a peaceful settlement short of armed aggression. But let none ever say this of the “hognose”! No sooner is he confronted with an unwelcome caller than he throws his whole propaganda machine and war-production effort into high gear. At once he dilates his head to mimic the appearance of the deadly cobra, adds apparent size to his body by flattening it, pumps air into his lung and finally opens a barrage of striking and hissing. Imagine the reaction upon the unfamiliar observer! Strangely enough, however, all this is as much an act as what will follow. Yes, old hoghose is only bluffing. Behind this ostentatious front is absolutely no desire for war or conquest. But if you do call his bluff, what then?
Then comes the main event and the hognose assumes his favorite role in the death scene. Faced by one who has its number, the snake in an immediate “Jekyll-Hyde” turnabout, sheds all of its militarism, gives a few final wriggles, flops over on its back and, in its supposedly “dying” gesture, drops open its great, yawning mouth and —that’s all! It is “dead”, or at least so it hopes you believe. But just for curiosity, you may with a stick twist it over on its stomach. Then before your startled eyes the snake quickly turns itself over again on its back! Furthermore, as many times as you turn it on its stomach, just so many times will it return to its back and “die” for you over and over again.
Another reptile that performs an interesting variation of the “death scene" is the Congo lizard. This actor will roll over on its back while usually seizing one of its paws with its mouth. Then, there it will lie, motionless, with paw in mouth. Not comfortable, this, but often effective.
A glance at some insects will serve to widen the field of the depicters of death. An observer may brush against the leaf of a potato plant covered with potato beetles. Forthwith the beetles will fall to the ground and lie still for different periods of time. The most outstanding performances by insects come from the leaflike locusts, grasshoppers and the weird, twiglike walking stick. These varieties are known to simulate the death state for periods of hours at a time.
or Instinct?
These interesting life forms forever feinting and fooling have ignited long controversies among authorities concerning the true cause. The two schools generally believe that it is all done either through willful intelligence or through pure instinct, though some now believe that it is a combination of the two. Few would champion the intelligence of an insect to the point of declaring that it feigned death with the shrewd foreknowledge that it would thereby outwit an assailant. Rather more logical is the explanation of Professor J. Arthur Thomson in his volume, The New Natural History when he says: “At this low level there is no question of a deliberate playing ’possum as a fox might do; everything points to a racially established tendency to a sort of fit or cataplexy. The Inborn tendency works without deliberation whenever there is a threatening jar/'
As for the higher life forms there is greater reason for question. It is generally acceded that an animal smart enough to use so many ruses as the fox in throwing pursuing hounds or other foes off its scent would likewise be clever enough to play dead. With something like the opossum there is much conjecture. Certainly its brain is not generous and its feigning seems a more or less automatically controlled thing that is done in emergencies. Some hold that from sheer fright the opossum simply “passes and comes to later, usually after danger is past—that is, if the assailant has not devoured the prey in the meantime.
Dr. Frank A. Beach, in Natural History magazine of December, 1945, explained his theory by calling death-feigning a possible “variant of tonic immobility**. This somewhat stunned state occurs to certain animals when suddenly turned upside down. “It is suspected/’ he went on, “that this treatment causes the release into the circulatory system of specific glandular secretions and that these hypothetical chemical agents paralyze certain higher nervous centers of the brain.**
Even this technical point, though, is not nearly as important as the reasonable deduction from the evidence, that an all-wise Creator implanted in these creatures either the intellect or instinct (or both) to enact the death-feint for certain practical reasons. If no other purpose were served, it has meant the preservation ot life to many. Interesting too is the fact that even to this day some of these Insect and animal ruses are used successfully against twentieth-century, jet-propelled, atom-smashing man. So if these lowly creatures are still fooling him he need not feel so additionally humiliated because of not knowing for sure just how they do it. After all, even a wise writer of inspired proverbs wondered at the humble ants, conies, locusts, spiders, the 'way of an eagle in the air* and ‘the way of a serpent upon a rock*.—Proverbs 30,
Flashes from the Religious Front
The Madonna versus the Lava 1
<L Admitting that during the eighth century 1 “things had gone very far Ln the direction of 1 image worship”, the Catholic Encyclopedia, J vol* VII, page 668, continues: “Even then it f is inconceivable that anyone, except the most | grossly stupid peasant, could have thought 1 that an image could hear prayers, or do any- 1 thing for us.” Yet, lo, twelve centuries later, 1 in 1944, when Mount Vesuvius erupted, the J public press reported that humble Italian 2 peasants placed their Catholic images In the $ path of the lava In an effort to detour It. > Now comes the latest of such reports from J the New York Tinies of December 12, 1950, S relating of citizens of the village of Milo on 2 the slopes of Mount Etna rushing a statue < of the Madonna to the fringe of a tide of 6 erupting lava. Apparently nothing sensation- 1 al occurred, but the Times added lamely, J “The flow later changed Its course and less- 1 ened the threat,” thus leaving room to keep 1 alive whatever small spark of credit the g credulous might want to bestow upon the 1 utterly lifeless and powerless piece of chalk, * or whatever the statue was made of. 1
Priest Requests Han Jo we, Turned Down g
C, On August 20, 1949, Albert N. Van Nuffelen, g parish priest in Tubao, La Union, Philippines, 1 wrote to the Honorable Vicente Sotto, senator j of the Philippines, asking for financial help I in reconstructing the destroyed Catholic 1 school of Tubao. Adding that he had conse- e crated the town “to the Immaculate Heart fi of Mary”, he assured that he would include 1 the senator In any future prayers on behalf j of the school's benefactors if he came across J with a monetary handout. Unimpressed and B unintimidated, the senator replied five days £ later, saying in part: tt
“The Catholic Church, after the Philippine j government, is the richest corporation Ln the j Archipelago , . . the government of the U. S. J has recently paid the Catholic Chyrch, as war S damages, the fabulous sum of $1,923,996.91 2 . , . The Catholic Church and its religious g corporations came to this country without 1 bringing any capital whatsoever. Now, how- * ever, that, by magics, they are already multi- 1 millionaires, they still continue molesting the 1 hungry, penniless and encumbered people 2
with permanent pecuniary contributions under any pretext ■ . - Christian religion diflap-proves these priestly exploitations and foolishness unworthy of the twentieth (XX) century,”
Coll for Doorbell, ShoelcatRer Campaign
<L With the ringing words, “Many of you have never moved a Anger to give your friends the light you have/' Archbishop Robert K Lucey, of San Antonio, Texas, told his listeners, “You are selfish, almost unjust, when you don’t share that light.” The Daily Oklahoman, covering the address, said the archbishop advocated that his 4,500 Catholic listeners wear out a little shoeleather In visiting non-Catho-lie? to overcome this. In similar vein, the “Rev.” Charles Drees, director of Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, archdiocese of San Antonio, called public discussion “the normal method of making known the teachings of Christ”. So the Bible says at Acts 20:20, so Jehovah’s witnesses have contended for many years, and so the courts have repeatedly held when ruling on the many cases brought before them relative to preaching 'publicly and from house to house’.
Spiritualists' "Ghost Baby" Debunked
<L Following the appearance last fall of the ineffaceable imprint of a baby’s body on the bathroom wall of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Keith, Lily Dale, Naw York, the editor of a epirib ualist paper published a lengthy and high-powered theological explanation thereof, attempting to call it a communication from the “spirit world”, However, shortly thereafter a local Jamestown, New York, woman spied a strikingly similar imprint on a package of cleansing tissue in a grocery store. A reporter from a rival paper made tests and found the colored label would transfer the Imprint on a wall Identical to the one lauded by the spiritualist as a dispatch from the dead. Jubilantly the reporter’s paper published his find. The paper first publishing the spiritualist’s “explanation” made a half-hearted admission of the baby on the cleansing tissue. A good laugh was had by all—except probably the spiritualists.
ON OCTOBER 11, 1950, the Federal
Communications Commission handed down a decision on TV color that will profoundly affect the viewing habits of millions of television’s devotees. During the many months preceding the fateful decision, the television industry watched with glowing interest the outcome of heated discussions and lively demonstrations of various color systems evolved by the competing manufacturers and individual scientists* Each proponent of a TV color scheme contended that his was the best available and should be adopted bv the industry as a whole.
The task before the commission was a heavy one. The weighing of evidences and waiting for the ultimate system to be proposed could not continue on and on indefinitely. The industry was waiting and millions of people were waiting for color television to come out of the laboratory, that they might enjoy its benefits. By its decision of October U, the FCC has given the green light for color TV to go ahead. How this decision will be received by the hotly contending factions remains to be seen.
Already court battles are in progress. One prominent manufacturer having instituted suit to overthrow FCC’s decision. A three-judge federal court sitting in Chicago has issued an injunction halting commercial color broadcasts until April 1,1951, or until such time as the U. S. Supreme Court dissolves the restraint. Regardless of the outcome of the existing litigation, at least a beginning has been made.
Why this furor over what seemingly a few short years ago was but a scientific toy? Why do the competing television interests so avidly contend that their particular brand of color TV should be adopted? Why so Insistent that only certain TV color standards be adopted and none other? The answer to these questions may be found in the fact that television is the fastest growing new industry in American history.
In spite of the war yeare, TV has racketed to a ?2 billion business, and by 1955 it is expected to be valued at $5 billion. As of November 1, 1950, there were 107 television stations in operation in 63 different markets throughout the United States. It is estimated that 8,309,536 TV receivers are in use and more are being purchased at the rate of 800,000 a month. It is predicted by certain leaders in the industry that by the end of 1952 the country will have 20,000,000 sets in use and 80,000,000 viewers. The same men predict that three out of four families will own a TV receiver three years after the “freeze” is lifted and new stations are constructed. With color television in the offing television’s appeal to the public may well be enhanced a thousandfold. Any wonder, then, why the frenzied effort to be the first in the field?
Color television is a highly technical subject, the most amazing and complex, perhaps, of any utility ever evolved bey man. Being complex, however, should not frighten the inquisitive person into think-
ing that the subject is forbidden territory and beyond his comprehension. If certain men are capable of working out the myriad of initial details, then certainly the average layman should be able to understand an explanation of what the inventors have discovered. Also, just as the driver of an automobile who understands the modus operand! of the vehicle he is using can drive with far more satisfaction and pleasure than one who does not understand it, so likewise it is with the operation of a television set, or with any other tool for that matter. Therefore, let us investigate some of the fundamental principles whereby this husky young giant functions, and thereby derive greater satisfaction from its use.
The Simple Elements of Television
Before delving into the more intricate workings of color television, first consider the simple elements of the ordinary standard black-and-white TV system and see how they play their various roles.
Tn any TV system there are three fundamental parts, each working in conjunction with the others, and, each part depending upon all the other parts for successful operation, none can be omitted. These three parts are: (1) the camera and all its associated amplifiers and timers, (2) the receiver with its kinescope (picture tube), and (3) the interconnecting medium between, be it the carrier wave of a radio station or a metallic cable. Each of these three parts may be considered to be equivalent to a chain composed of many links, and all three chains with their individual links are connected together to form the complete TV system.
Starting at the head, the camera end of the chain, We find first of all the need of some kind of device capable of converting the scene to be televised Into an equivalent electrical current so that it may be transmitted just as is done in conventional sdund broadcasting. This highly important function is performed by means of an electronic instrument called an iconoscope, or otherwise more commonly known as the camera tube. One very popularly known tube for this purpose has the trade name of “image-orthicon”. The sole purpose of the image-orthicon is to convert a visible picture into its invisible electrical counterpart which faithfully represents every shade and detail of the scene being televised. After the “electrical image” has once been created, the remaining functions of amplification and transmission to the receiving point follow the ordinary techniques of radio transmission.
To convert a picture into its electrical image, the camera tube must combine two instruments used in the allied arts into one unit. These two instruments are the photoelectric tube and the cathode-ray tube. The photoelectric tube accomplishes the actual creation of the electrical image, while the cathode-ray transforms the image into a continuous ribbonlike electrical current. Just as is done in an ordinary optica] camera, so too in a television camera, a set of fixed optical lenses is used to focus the scene to be televised. Tn a TV camera the scene is focused onto the light-sensitive surface of the photo tube, which results in electrons being ejected. These electrons are collected on a target which may be likened to the retina of an eye. Its surface is covered with a microscopically thin layer of small conducting areas, all insulated from each other. The areas have minute dimensions and are capable of storing electrical charges. The charges on the numerous small areas vary in magnitude depending upon the brightness of the light falling, upon each unit area of the photo tube. The dark portions of the scene will be represented by small electrical changes, while the bright portions will be represented by large charges, and all the other gradations of light by correspondingly variable charges. Thus the electron Image is formed.
The minute electrical charges composing the image must be transformed into a continuous, but variable in magnitude, electrical current. The cathode-ray portion cf the tube makes the transformation. To do so, the image must be “seen*’ by the cathode ray one tiny element (dot) at a time but in an orderly manner and in rapid succession. That is accomplished by using the principle of scanning. The pencillike beam of the cathode ray being practically inertialess, it can be made to swing back and forth through a wide arc instantaneously. It is thus made to sweep over the entire area of the image, in all 525 times, line after line, until the entire surface has been covered once.
In standard black-and-white television such a scanning is repeated over and over at the rate of thirty times a second. The purpose of the scanning is to transfer the tiny electrical charges from the image on the target to an amplifier built as an integral part of the camera tube. The scanning and subsequent amplification of the image result, therefore, in an electrical current greatly enlarged, every detail of the scene as viewed by the camera lenses being faithfully represented by it. It is this current that carries the picture to a distant point there to be reproduced.
When visualized it has the appearance of a zigzag wavy line resembling somewhat the teeth of a saw. It contains not only every one of the thousands of elements of the picture, but also all other timing signals necessary to keep every one of the possible millions of receiving sets in precise synchronism with the camera at the head of the chain. How a single camera can so precisely control the array of receivers within an area of hundreds of square miles is an amazing phenomenon to behold. And it must be done If a television system is to render satisfactory service.
Assuming that every detail of the televised picture has been faithfully preserved throughout the chain of operations, the electronic “paintbrush” at the receiver performs the final operation. The fictitious artist with its eerie “brush” is nothing other than another cathode-ray tube. However, it is used for an entirely different purpose at the receiver than at the camera. It converts the invisible electrical current into a visible picture. The conversion is accomplished by causing the cathode-ray beam to scan a fluorescent screen within the tube in precise synchronism with the scanning as done at the camera. Where the cathode ray strikes the screen light is created, and the light thus created will vary in brightness with the strength of the cathode ray. Hence, as the screen is scanned in rapid succession, the entire area will fluoresce (light up) as a whole continuously in a pattern which is the exact duplication of the light gradations of the picture as seen by the camera. Television is the result.
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