Awake!, November 22, 1951

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THE SMOKE MENACE

A costly foe of health and beauty

"Do You Take These Chromosomes?”

Wise to investigate ancestry before marriage?

Honduran Moral Depths

Depravity and superstition riddle lower classes

Jehovah’s Witnesses Fanatics?

No, Christian zeal is good sense

NOVEMBER 22, 1951 semimonthly

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times murt be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests, “Awake!” baa no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; it is unprejudiced fry traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.

“Awake I” uses the regular news channels, but is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on oil continents, in scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their uncensored, on-the-scenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal's viewpoint is not narrow, but is international. It is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders'—why, its coverage is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens.

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

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

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CONTENTS

Conquering Fear

When the Wind Went Wild

“Right and Wrong”

Honduran Moral Depths

“Jehovah’s Witnesses Stand Pat”

T?ie Rise and Fall of the Amoeba

The Smoke Menace

Cause and Prevention of Smoke

Smoke Control Legislation

Falcons Drafted by the R.A.F. 16

Breaking the Ramadan Fast

The Pope Befriends Evolution

Speed in the Animal Kingdom

“Do You Take These Chromosomes . . . ?” 21

Tailor-made Offspring

Free Ice Cream Spurs Schoolwork

“Your Word Is Truth"

Jehovah's Witnesses Fanatics?

Who Will Rule Burma?

Watching the World

CONQUERING FEAR

IT WOULD be as useless to try to hide world fear in this modern age as it would to suppress the fact that the sun had risen in the morning sky. Wherever that sun shines its rays disclose fear and dread. The East-West tension grips the globe like a vise. Broken down within these larger blocs individual nations and small groups of nations are divided by fear of one another. Crime, delinquency and open immorality run rampant.

To a modem "brain age” have these evils come. Do you think it incredible? True, noble experiments in global governments, international families of nations, exist. Religious councils and leagues seek to draw men together across international boundaries. Science produces machines that “think”, artificial parts for the body, almost unbelievable progress in surgery and in fighting disease through “miracle drugs”. International scientific and cultural organizations and other world teaching bodies meet to consider the world’s fears and problems. More is said about morals than ever, and sex education is far more prominent and available than ever before. AH these advantages does the world have. Yet its heart flutters and each day is lived as if it may be the last.

Of course, there is plausible reason. For example, consider the political minds who lead the world Said Trygve Lie, secretary general of the United Nations, on April 12, 1948: “Today, as in 1933, too many people are afraid. People are afraid in America. They are afraid in Russia. They are afraid in small countries like my own. And the governments, too, are acting as if they were afraid.” Do you believe that the scientists have helped to alleviate this fear? The opposite proves true, and even they are fear-struck. President Umphray Lee of Southern Methodist University told the Seventh Ecumenical Methodist Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1947: “The fright of the scientists, not the cry of the dying, was the most significant point in the story of Hiroshima.”

As a last resort, men seek solace from religious guides, but for bread they are given a stone. An educational spokesman, Milton Burton, professor of chemistry at the sectarian Catholic University of Notre Dame, declared, in an interview following the Bikini atom bomb tests in 1946: “Anyone who has seen the destructiveness of the atomic bomb at first hand and up close, at Bikini or Hiroshima or Nagasaki or Alamogordo, knows that the days of the old world are numbered.” He proceeded to offer the alternatives of a human world government or an atomic inferno.

Hence, the people learn fear from their national examples. And when remedial measures are employed, matters only grow worse. In vain do they fill a serum needle with a poison in the hope of setting up immunity to the disease. They build bombs to quiet fears and ignite wars to keep peace.

Obviously, man cannot conquer fear and its causes exclusively on his own initiative. He sees only what is on the surface and his weapons are potent only against tangible, visible targets. Concerning the critical times in which this “end of the world” finds us, God’s Word, the Bible, tells us that unseen demonic powers an? driving the nations to final annihilation and that, in the meantime, these are the true cause that “men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coining upon the inhabited earth”.—Revelation 16:14,16; Luke 21:26, New World Trans,

True, there never before were times like these, and never before this generation has the Devil been hurled down to the vicinity of the earth, here to be restrained and in “great anger, knowing he has a short period of time". (Revelation 12:12, New World Trans,) However, neither has the Bible ever before been thrown open to such wide understanding, published so broadly, and accompanied with such Bible helps as in this age. If the times are worse than ever, man's opportunity to still fears through the sustaining knowledge of God's Word is infinitely better than ever.

To the world’s “wise men” who overlook this priceless source of knowledge while basking in the dim light of their own wisdom, and especially to the religious clergy who piously prate Bible verses they do not understand and who keep secret the news of God’s kingdom while backing instead political makeshifts for world domination, Almighty God says as he once said to His covenant people, Israel's leaders:

“Dazed shall you be, and amazed, blind shall you be, blind, fuddled—not with wine, reeling—not with liquor; for the Eternal has drenched you with stupor, closing your eyes and covering up your heads, till the sight of all this is to you no more than words in a sealed scroll * , . ‘Since this people draw near me with their mouth/ says the Eternal, ‘honouring me with their lips, while their hearts are far remote; since their religion is a mockery, a mere tradition learned by rote; I will now deal with them to their amazement, bewildering, surprising them, till their wise men lose their wits, and their clever men are fooled? ”—Isaiah 29:9-14, Moff,

What, then, is the formula for fearlessness, so free as to be open to all men of right heart toward God, yet so lofty as to escape the heady worldlings who scoff at God and mock his wisdom? Knowledge and understanding of God bring faith in him. Concerning this vital possession we read: “Everything that has been born from God conquers the world. And this is the conquest that has conquered the world, our faith.” (1 John 5:4, New World Trans,) Knowledge of God also brings great love for him, for hte mercy and loving-kindness. The apostle Paul ranks love far above special gifts or self-sacrifice; and he points up its unselfishness, humility and the manner in which it champions decency and all righteousness. Certainly one practicing true Christian love would not be numbered among the lawbreakers, warmakers or degenerates.—1 Corinthians 13.

Furthermore, love, being based on knowledge, knows what God can do for his cause and for those who uphold it. Forward without fear in God’s service, then, for “there is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint". (1 John 4:18, New World Trans.) For a life free from the world’s ills now and expectant of lasting happiness and security under the incoming rule of God’s kingdom, how wise it is to seek this true Christian standard. Why not use it to conquer your fears and to bring gladness to those you meet?

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By “Awake!'’ corrsiponcfent in Jamaica

FROM and after August 18, 1951, the eyes of the entire Western Hemisphere, and even such faraway places as Australia and New Zealand, turned to the comparatively obscure Caribbean island of Jamaica. But they are the eyes of pity and sympathy because of the devastation wreaked on this mere dot on the map, by what those who have lived long enough to know have described as the worst hurricane in over 50 years, and possibly in the island’s 457-year-old recorded history.

Jamaica’s being situated in the tropics, hurricanes are expected here from the later part of July to early November this period being designated as the hurricane season. Meteorologists say that around ths season as the autumn equinox approaches, the warm vapor-laden air, heated by the summer’s sun, begins to rise, producing an area of low pressure, which is filled by cooler and heavier air that rushes in, exerting an upward thrust on the warmer column. The rotary motion of earth exerts a pull on the rising air column that sets it spinning in whirlwind-like fashion at a velocity that may reach 75, 200 or even 300 milps per hour. Thus a hurricane is born. (See Awake! February 22, 1948, page 19.)

The first intimation we received of the ruthless monster was a brief Miami Weather Bureau report published in the August 16 issue of the island’s only daily newspaper, telling of its birth near the Leeward islands and of its moving at 15 miles per hour and carrying winds up to ICfo miles per hour at its center.

From about 7:30 that fateful Friday night of the 17th, a light drizzle began trickling down in Kingston, joined later by a fanning gentle breeze that ordinarily would be welcome during the summer’s heat (which has been very intense this year) were it not the precursor of a violent blower far from gentle and most unwelcome. By 9; 30 p.m. the city was plunged into darkness after periodic blinkings of the electric lights, which served as a warning reminder of the shape of things to come. By then the wind had gotten very frolicsome, and the inhabitants of south and southeast Jamaica were faced with the grim reality of having to meet and weather an angry wind that cared about nothing but finding a pathway across land and sea, and that without looking for roadways, rail lines or mountain passes, but preferring to trample, smash and ride roughshod over all in its path.

The Wild Wind Arrived

Plunging, as it were, out of the darkness with an ominous rattle it began its non-

SECTION OF PORT ROYAL

chaiant march snortly after 9:30 p.m., like a huge mechanized army that attacked in waves after its vanguard had made a break through the opposing lines. As its rainladen winds began their relentless pounding, tall and stately coconut palms and other huge trees started bowing in submission.

In the blackness, which was punctuated only by periodic sharp flashes of lightning, one could hear the whistling of the wind as in a carefree style it sped among the leaves. Weak houses that dared to oppose that ruthless, fast-moving enemy were swung off their supports or sent crashing in ruins, and, in many instances, bringing destruction to the animate and inanimate taking cover therein. Many of those more sturdily built that were too firmly entrenched to be completely knocked out were decapitated as their roofs were either completely smashed or their zinc sheets, shingles and tiles were removed with the precision of a skilled carpenter. This opened the way for the equally angry waters to drench the fear-struck occupants and their belongings.

Frightening indeed it was that night when waves of wind hurled themselves against the strongest house, shaking it to its foundations with the vigor of an earthquake, and, with a hissing noise, dashed water through every crevice and the most closely joined seams.

Huge ships were pushed aground as if mere chips in a rough ocean. Smaller craft were smashed with savage vengeance, baptizing some sixteen seamen in a watery destruction and leaving others to battle the churning waters of an angry sea, torrential rains, and a hideous wind, all working in destructive combination. It was a wild night of horror.

Frantic men, women and children rushed from their crumbling homes to find Red-Cross-designated places of refuge, sometimes to find them also victims of an impartial wind. Some, in trying to reach places of safety, were swept away by swollen rivers and gully courses. Many are the stories of narrow escapes from crashing buildings or falling trees. The General Penitentiary in Kingston was badly damaged and 76 prisoners escaped. Four convicts were in a' certain yard demanding men’s clothes during the heights of the storm when from underneath a fallen house they heard cries for help. The escaped convicts worked hard to get four trapped women out from under the house and helped them to safety in a house that had not blown down, then returned to the premises where a grocery shop had partly blown down, demanded money and food from the terrified grocer who gave them money, also clothes. They looted the shop and disappeared, leaving behind four persons who will always think of them with gratitude and another who will remember them with a feeling of horror. Even the sick and infirm were not spared, as the wind caved in the roof of a poor infirmary ward, wiping out eight lives, smashed a hospital ward in Spanish Town and completely destroyed another hospital at Morant Bay. The wind was really wild.

How long those hours seemed as they dragged on! Each seemed a day in length! All waited and longed with nervous anxiety for the appearance of the dawn, which would at least throw some light on the dismal work of destruction and bring to an end a night of desolation. At about 1 a.m. a change in the velocity of the wind could be noticed, although one could hear its subdued yet still angry charges, accompanied by its watery companion of carnage, against the yet remaining trees and clinging zinc sheets. As the hours wore on, and the cyclonic conqueror plowed onward across the seas, a gradual decrease in the wind speed continued.

The Morning After

Cam? the morning at last after a night of weeping, wailing and praying on the part of many. The monster had passed on without a backward Iodic of regret, and men, tense with expectancy, crept from the cramped places where they had spent the night and their energy trying to hold on to life. The lamentations of Jeremiah could well be repeated over the areas that received the mauling from the destructive denizen of the tropics. Oh, how the land lay desolate!

Electric and telephone poles lay sttewn amid a pile of debris in a mass of tangled wire and uprooted trees on city streets. All communications with different parts of the island were cut off; roads were blocked by fallen trees; electric power was cut off; the water supply stopped because of broken mains and lack of electric power. All tthis thrown in for good measure, in four hours, by a howling, harassing wind that snuffed out at least 154 lives (by latest count), did over sixteen million pounds' worth (at $2.80 per pound, this is $44,800,000) of property damage, and placed the island face to face with starvation by its wanton destruction of crops in every parish. The comment on the lips of everyone who got the full blast of the wind, on seeing the havoc wrought, was, “Never have we experienced anything like this.” The worst, they say, was in 1903, yet it cannot be compared in destructive’ ness. Every day since, new tales of horror, death and destruction emerge.

The Outlook

Jamaica is a comparatively poor country economically, having a national budget expenditure of approximately eleven million pounds. With over 25,000 homeless, destitute and huddled in government schools and other public places, the need for rehabilitation and relief is urgent.

Homes have to be rebuilt, damaged ones repaired, agriculture restored, plus the Immediate need for food, clothing and medical aid for those who left all behind in their flight to preserve life.

Food parcels began coming in from neighboring countries, accompanied by messages of sympathy. The British government, of which Jamaica is a colony, has given the sum of £250,000 and the local governor has started a hurricane relief fund which has feceived substantial support from individuals and commercial organizations. Red Cross has set up strategic aid centers where the destitute and homeless can get food, clothing and shelter, The Watchtower Society quickly collected clothing from Jehovah’s witnesses in the New York city area and sent it to Jamaica, sixty-five cases totaling more than ten tons being transported there free of charge by one of the United Fruit Company’s ships. Within forty-eight hours after receipt in Jamaica it had been distributed among the needy ones.

The fear has even been expressed that when the tumult and the shouting of the present dies many will be left forgotten and without relief reaching them. This is not an unwarranted fear, as the last such disaster in 1944 is cited as a striking example in support.

So, pressing as the need for material provisions is in the present crisis, the need for comfort and hope through the right kind of knowledge is even more pressing. Such is not forthcoming from orthodox religion, which leaves the people confused.

But in this time of uncertainties and distresses, as at other times, Jehovah's witnesses will continue to spread comfort to the mourning inhabitants by telling them of the Kingdom now established that will soon usher in a new-worid in which there will be lasting peace and complete security from such disasters.

“Right and Wrong”

Under the above title “Time” magHxlne rem the following In Its August 21, 1951, Issue

Louis B, Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland

Press, probably knows his readers better and talks to them with more immediacy than any other leading U, S, newspaperman. Noting that the U. S. air of 1951 was saturated with moral scandal, moral doubt and moral confusion, Editor Seltzer sat at his typewriter and, in fifteen minutes, banged out an editorial that raised uncomfortable questions about the state of the U, S, at a moment of world responsibility. His piece touched a nerve: in the following week, 1,006 people had tried to reach him by phone or had written him letters or stopped him on the street to talk about it. Forty publications have reprinted it. Seltzer's piece, titled ‘Can't We Tell Right from Wrong?’*:

“Some people think it dates back to the First World War. . . . There are those who think science and the assembly line started it as we turned into the 20th century. ■ . -Some blame the philosophy of Sufficient Unto the Day Is the Evil Thereof, induced by . . . depressions and wars, . . . The analysts, whose job it is to examine our national behavior, ... do not agree among themselves. About this, though, they do agree. Something has happened to us as a people—something serious. We have gained much in the last hali-century. We have lost something, also. . . . Has what we gained been more important than what we lost?

“What is wrong with us? It is in the air we breathe. The things we do. The things we say. Our books. Our papers. Our theater. Our movies. Our radio and television. The way we behave. The interests we have. The values we fix. We have everything. We abound with all of the things that make us comfortable. We are, on the average, rich beyond the dreams of the kings of old, . . . We lead in everything—almost. Yet . . . something is not there that should be— something we once had. . . . Stalin, like Hitler, thinks we’re soft, preoccupied with material things.

‘'Are we our own worst enemies? Should we fear what is happening among us more than what is happening elsewhere? , . . Why has a moral deterioration set in among us that brings corruption, loose behavior, dulled principles, subverted morals, easy expediencies, sharp practices? . . . What corrupts our top people? What has taken away the capacity for indignation that used to rise like a mighty wave and engulf the corrupters—the corrupters of public office, of business, of youth, of sports? What is it? No one seems to know. But everybody worries, as the father of a ten-year-old son, who this morning said:

“'What do I do? I am concerned about my son. We try to teach him right from wrong. But the air is filled with today's easy interpretations of what is right and wrong* . . .

"Maybe the farmer of years ago, looking with troubled eye at the skies upon which he depended so much for providential kindliness, had a greater faith than we who rise vertically many miles into the air to find out what really goes on Up There . ,

The Answer to the Above

“But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, without gratitude, with no loving-kindness, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with self-esteem, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away. In fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in'■association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted. On the other hand, wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse.”—2 Timothy 3:1-5,12,13, New World Trans,

Honduran^J&oral Depths

By “Awake!" correspondent In Honduras MARRIAGE and morals, while not easily controlled by mankind, are always subjects of interesting discussion and investigation. Spanish Honduras with its more than a million inhabitants, who, as a whole, are a friendly and likable people, does have its share of superstitious oddities in connection with the behavior of the sexes. Most Hondurans are Roman Catholics, that religion being the country’s spiritual guide for more than four centuries. The few superstitious marriage and moral customs here described are certainly not practiced by all Hondurans but are more generally found among the less educated.

Describing the unorthodox marriage customs of the “Zambus", Negro-Indian mixture of the mosquito coast section of Honduras, Peter Keenagh, writer explorer, has this to say: "The Zambus of the Patu-ca are polygamous. But their polygamy is not the orderly marital pluralism of most primitive tribes; it is little more than sanctioned promiscuity. Wedding ceremonies take place four times a year, and in these the whole of the tribe takes part. . . . there is feasting and revelry for three days, after which there follows a matrimonial General Post, The young are married for the first time, and only those who have proved themselves capable of child-bearing arM allowed to compete. Among the senior members of the village wives are exchanged and bought and sold, on the quarterly wedding days, according to the

whims of the husbands and the prices they are able to pay for their friends* wives- And, let it be understood, exchange of wives at any other time but the four appointed ‘wedding days’ is regarded as extremely immoral.”

The Spanish Indian or "Mestizo**, who makes up the greater part of the population, has his customs relative to the taking of a companion or companions of the opposite sex. Changes are frequent as to such companions and are made, in many cases, much as one would change an old garment for a new. Since more than fifty per cent of the Hondurans live together without the legal binding of a wedding ceremony a difficult problem is posed for the lover who may not wish to see his companion depart for a more alluring object of affections. Some rather amazing superstitious practices are carried on to prevent a separation and to prolong the duration of this common-law form of marriage.

How to Hold a Man in Honduras

In' many cases the woman, noting evidences of wandering affections on the part of her erstwhile more ardent companion, will resort to this trick, supposed to be very effective in maintaining his decreasing amor. The body of a rag doll, a few

hairs from the man’s head and some stickpins make up the equipment to be used* The pins are stuck into the body of the doll, pushed downward where the heart might be, and some are also stuck in from the lower part of the body pushing upward. Leaving the pins thus stuck into the doll and with the hairs placed in or about it, it is now imagined to be the body of the gentleman in question. The next step in this demonic practice is to bury the body in ,or about the premises where the man lives; all of this, without his knowledge, of course. Having done this the woman may now believe that the man is completely entrapped, while she may commit as many unfaithful acts as she wishes.

The puro or cigar superstition is still another trick thought to be effective in bringing back the male whose wandering fancies have taken him afield. This practice is not exclusively the ladies’, however, but is also tried by rejected men. A cigar is smoked in this particular ritual, the person doing it using seven or thirteen -matches for lighting and increasing the Intensity of the tobacco embers. A pin may be inserted in the cigar before beginning, forming a cross. Also, it must be smoked backward, that is to say, the end that ordinarily would be lit goes into the mouth and the other end lit. The smoke is not inhaled but drawn rapidly into the mouth and expelled, much on the order of the puffing done by a locomotive on a hard pull. Great care is used, however, not to break the ash, causing it to fall, because the ordeal must be prolonged as long as possible. During all this more matches are being lit, and the credulous one must read a short prayer, which, among other things, invokes the aid of the Devil in the return of the person desired. By now, if it happens to be a person not accustomed to smoking perhaps not even a cigarette, much less the rank tobacco of the handmade puro, a deathly sickness has set in, accompanied by vomiting. Finally, the ash falls and the remains of the cigar are thrown backward over the shoulder, terminating the ritual. Now, according to the theory, it is only a matter of a short time and the person who has been the object of the invocation will return again to the desirous one, never again to roam. In spite of the absolute worthlessness of the foregoing superstitious practice in reuniting the loose marital knot it no doubt leaves a lasting impression on the mind and stomach of the first-time smoker of the puro.

Also, there is the fresco, or soft drink prescription, which is supposed to be a lethal “Mickey Fin”, when administered to the unsuspecting adored one via his food or drink. The lady will take water in which she has washed her feet and mix it together With some fruit juice and sugar, making a soft drink. Now when the object of her affections comes along he may be surprised at her generous offer of refreshment; he may even think, “Why, I've hardly noticed her at all.” So with the drinking of this brew he is supposedly entrapped and irresistibly drawn to the practitioner of this bit of witchcraft. And so the pause that would ordinarily be refreshing might be the pause that infects one with hoof and mouth disease. It is certain that the desired effect is not obtained.

Catholic Influence a Failure

The failure of these demon practices to hold men and women together in the marital state is seen in the vital statistics of Honduras. More than half the children born in the country are hijos naturales, that is to say, children born to unwed parents. Many of the women have children by a number of different men, while many of the men father children by several different women. The complexity of the family pattern can be well imagined. The only wedding ceremony for many of the natives from the mountains and rural sections is described by one of the Hondurans, who said: “They walked together through the shadow cast by the Catholic Church, not being able to afford the costlier Catholic ritual reserved for the more economically favored sons of the church?' The blame for the lack of moral training over a period of more than four hundred years does rightly come to rest at the door of the self-proclaimed “Guardian of faith and morals’*, the Roman Catholic Church.

In spite of the scarcity of help from such religious quarters it must be said that many self-respecting Hondurans are taking advantage of increasing educational facilities made available by the civil authorities of the land. In addition to such educational advantages a new and powerful force, Bible truths being taught by Jehovah's witnesses, is being felt, reaping, as it grows, fruits of righteousness. Over the past few years quite a number of Hondurans have learned right moral requirements from the Bible and have legalised their marriage ties. As this article is being written more than a score of pairs heretofore living together without benefit of such legal sanction are preparing their papers and other affairs in order that they may be married in a recognized manner by their local civil officials. On the lighter side of these weddings being consummated throughout the country is the fact that in some cases the weddings are attended by the bride and bridegroom’s children and, in a few cases, by their grandchildren. Always lovers of fiestas or joyful get-togethers these Latin Americans will sometimes celebrate their marriage, inviting their friends of like moral standards and beliefs.

Thus a great many honest, humble and very likable Hondurans are moving forward with higher moral and educational standards made possible to them, leaving behind the enslaving superstitious practices of the ignorant. More and more their eyes are being opened to a glorious hope of a clean new world just ahead that will forever blot out the stains of corruption.

'Jehovah’s Witnesses Stand *Pat”

C. Under this heading the Manila Times of September 1, 1951, presented varied opinions regarding the right of school children to refrain from flag saluting. Present Philippine secretary of justice, Jose P. Bengzon, ruled arbitrarily in relation to children of Jehovah's witnesses, that they could be compelled to salute on threat ol expulsion. World-wide, Jehovah’s witnesses have always consistently held that for them to salute flags would be a form of idolatry. One writer to the Times, without indicating how his reasoning affected the case of those who sincerely refrained from the practice, said that Bengzon "should be congratulated by every Filipino who wants to teach and bring up his children with patriotism next to loving God”.

C. E. K. Stewart, branch servant for Jehovah's witnesses in the Philippines, cited Justice Jackson of the U. S. Supreme Court in defending the position taken by Jehovah’s witnesses, as follows: "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox In politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

C Stewart said further: "If Jehovah’s Witnesses were to change their belief every time there was a change in the person occupying the office of secretary of justice, they would be very inconsistent. Their belief does not rest on the opinion of a secretary of justice. It rests on the infallible Word of Almighty God which tells Christians: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’ *’

The Rise and Fall of the Amoeba

ACCORDING to the fancy of evolution, life keeps proceeding merrily on its way, on- y ward and upward forever. Scholarly men declaim that simpler organisms became more complex, gradually producing the many varieties of life now in existence. But evolutionists have been driven from cover to cover in retreat while searching for living examples.

4. Thwarted when, seeking such examples in higher life forms, evolutionary scientists * turned to more elementary organisms. Among the one-celled creatures they dabbled, hoping for a slight variation here, a mutation there, t anything at all from which they could sus- jf pend the idea that life was evolving to ever higher planes. Then along came the little onecelled amoeba. >

What was it that the evolutionists saw fh w, the amoeba? Not for looks did they seek to ? wed it to their theory. The amoeba is only a microscopic blob that for long was mistaken for ordinary bread mold. Only in 1902 was > the entire group clearly defined. Most recent < find that became of interest to evolutionists > was that of Kenneth B. Raper of the U. S. fc; Department of Agriculture. He uncovered a ? new variety of the amoeba family, now known intimately as Dictyostelium discoideum.

The outstanding feature of this latest j amoeba acquaintance is that it is not con- t tent to live its life in the same old rut Like Its relatives, Dictyostelium is sexless, dividing by binary fission (at maximum growth f the amoeba divides into two “daughter” S amoeba of approximately equal size) to re- \ produce its kind. It feeds by absorbing bar?-terla. It has the characteristic shape. However, when a sufficient number of them get > together, they rush into one unified, chain- u:. like form that moves off in a manner strikingly like that of a worm. Then, as if suddenly finding a neighborhood in which it desires to settle down, this outstanding amoe- 1 ba formation stops and proceeds to grow upward. A collection of swollen amoebas form j at the top as the form changes shape. A narrow stem holds connection between this > round, ball-like head and its base. At this 1 point the growth may attain a height of oneeighth of an inch. They flourish in beds of k dead leaves on the dank, wqt floors of forests.

But just at this point the life story takes a disastrous turn for the interests of evolution. The amoeba growth does not long enjoy its new-found luxury. Perhaps if evolutionists had their way they would write a “happy” ending, with the amoebas living happily ever after in more and more complex forms. But alas, not so in real life. Soon the elevated growth wilts, then crashes back to earth, releasing the independent amoebas composing its communal arrangement. The entire cycle, from single amoebas to the more complex growth to its brief zenith and its final fall, takes but four days. And in the end the supposedly "evolving” amoeba has “devolved” right back to its starting place. Says John Tyler Bonner, assistant professor of biology at Princeton University, in the Scientific American of June, 1949:

"One might just as well say that these forms represent an evolution in the reverse from Dictyostelium to a common amoeba. All I can ask is that you assume somewhat arbitrarily that this is not so.”

V Trying to find proof that Dictyostelium is a truly evolutionary "advancement” from common amoebas, the same writer said: "It is harder to see why Dictyostelium is a more effective organism than common amoebas. In fact, there is always the possibility, luhfcft. we will ignore, that it is not.” [Italics ours After describing how the amoebas are joined into a multicellular structure, he concludes with this thought: "It has, however, turned out to be a blind alley in evolution reaching little further than Dictyostelium itself.”

* And one must always remember that after this supposedly evolutionary movement upward into a supposedly advanced stage of development, all of which we are to “assume somewhat arbitrarily”, the multicellular structure collapses, dispersing the amoebas in their original, one-celled form. From this may we not assume, and not so arbitrarily either, that in this four-day test, evolution's hopes take wing from single cells and rise to their greatest height, one-eighth of an inch from a damp forest floor, only to plunge again into mossy oblivion?

SMOKE is a costly menace. According to one authority it costs the people of the United States upward of five billion dollars annually. It costs them more than does their medicine, their private education or their periodicals. Elimination of smoke would save each American some $20 on personal laundry and cleaning bills; would save Americans about twenty per cent of their fuel bills; would cut their housewives' cleaning work in two and would reduce by two-thirds the need of painting their homes. The cost of smoke to New York city’s real estate owners and merchants alone is $130 million annually.

As has been well observed, it is strange indeed that the people of the United States who carry the adage of “Cleanliness is next to godliness” to an almost fanatical extreme in the way of sanitary devices should be content to live and breathe in “an ocean of dirt”, “a sea of coal grime, sulphuric acid and aerial garbage". Why, a single cubic foot of city air contains as many as “three million particles of solid matter plus assorted liquids and gases”! Each year the 800,000 chimneys of New York city spew out some 38A thousand tons of soot, depositing it on the real estate at the rate of 100 tons per square mile. In a single breath of air a New Yorker may inhale some 70,000 particles of grit and dust. Is it any wonder that autopsies reveal that a city dweller’s lungs are black while those of a farmer are still pink?

The smoke and fumes belched out by the furnaces of industry not only pollute city air and real estate, and the city dweller inside and out, but they also do much harm to vegetation. In certain Pacific Coast areas fumes and smoke cause millions of dollars’ worth of damage annually to such crops as endive, spinach, tomatoes and alfalfa.

The Menace to Health

The most serious aspect of the pall of smoke and fumes plus fog that hangs over our cities, generally known as “smog”, is the harm it does to the human body. Smog can be a sensational killer, as when it took more than 70 lives in the Meuse region of Belgium, from December 1 to 5, back in 1930; and when it took 22 lives in Donora, Pennsylvania, in the last week of October 1948. Suits totaling into the millions were filed against the company responsible for the Donora disaster, and were settled out of court for $235,000, a mere five per cent.

A group of scientists who studied the smog disaster at Donora stated that the air pollution which caused the deaths could have been prevented. They also stated: “We can now say positively what could not be said before with scientific proof—that contamination of air in industrial areas can cause serious acute, disabling diseases.” No wonder then that in London, during one week of particularly heavy smog, the death rate rose 20 per cent above the average.

Foremost among the serious diseases whose incidence is increased by smoke are cancert pneumonia and tuberculosis. Statistics show that the “more smoke there is, the higher the death rate from cancer of the lungs, tuberculosis and pneumonia”. In some large cities as many as 700 deaths annually may be attributed to smoke. Smoke hurts the lungs by irritating the mucous membranes of the lungs and throat, and often causes violent coughs, which place a severe strain on both the heart and respiratory system.

Smoke also causes many minor irritations, In Los Angeles, California, on 53 days in 1948, as much as half of its population was affected with smarting eyes, nose and throat irritations; and the situation has not improved since. In the past year New Yorkers living on Staten Island suffered from stomach disorders, nose irritation and inability to sleep because of the smoke from New Jersey. smelters. Big business always blames the weather, but foremost medical authorities point out that fog alone could not cause such effects. At best the fog causes the smoke and fumes to settle down. Even in this, however, big business may be to blame, as often it is the smoke that is responsible for the fog.

Cause and Prevention of Smoke

What causes smoke? The prime factor is incomplete oxidation of the combustible material used and which may be due to failure to properly regulate the burning process. As a rule the presence of smoke means that fuel is being wasted, whether it be in a kitchen stove of a householder or in the furnaces of large industrial plants.

Then again smoke may be due to certain impurities in the fuel that simply will not burn. Usually 15 per cent of coal is ash, and some of this is bound to go up the chimney. Also, most coal and oil have about two per cent sulphur, some of which gets outside of the chimney. Sulphur fumes united with moisture become weak sulphuric acid, which eats holes in laundry and mars the paint on houses. And then again the surface condition of fuel may be at fault, a factor rather difficult to control.

But smoke can be controlled and prevented, and there are many ways of doing this. It can be controlled by baffling chambers, which slow up the smoke so that the particles in it fall out. It can be controlled by an electric precipitator, in which the particles are first charged by negative plates and then trapped by positive plates. It can be controlled by the water spray system, in which high-pressure jets wash out the dirt particles. Or by the condensation method^ in which the smoke passes between two walls, the one hot, the other cold, the particles clinging to the cold wall. Or by high-frequency sound waves which shake out the soot. '‘Smoke guns” are being considered whereby the smoke would be shot a mile into the air. Steam pressure jets in the furnaces themselves help to bring about more nearly perfect combustion, thereby decreasing smoke density, carbon loss and dust emission.

When blamed for smoke, industry likes to point to the thousands of dwellings that give forth smoke and the large number of autos that emit fumes. But let it be noted that these are negligible factors. When the steel strike was on, many downtown Pittsburghers, for the first time, saw the stars in the sky. The steel strike had not eliminated the use of autos or domestic heating. Los Angeles had a traffic problem for many years, but only with the coming of war industries did it also have a smog or smoke control problem. The Encyclopedia Britannica, in its discussion of the subject, shows a difference as great as that between day and night in the way certain cities of England look during the week when the industry is working and Sundays when the furnaces are banked.

Smoke Control Legislation

Where industry is not. concerned with the welfare of the people in the matter of smoke it becomes the duty of the duly elected representatives of the people to make it get in line. And that is not an easy thing to do. Industry takes the position that smoke control is too expensive, and so it hypocritically mouths co-operation while its actions are those of delay and defeat. Typical is the advertisement which the Consolidated Edison placed in a New York newspaper telling of the sums of money it had spent in smoke control. What the advertisement failed to state, however, was that Consolidated Edison was still the bluest of air in Nero York city >

and that with its sulphur fumes it was ruining the appearance of the beautiful new glass structure of the United Nations.

In .its refusal to co-operate with smoke control, industry may actually be penny wise and pound foolish. States one automobile manufacturer: “The installation of the new dirt-catching cupolas brought about an increase in production capacity of close to 50 per cent.” One West Coast smelting plant reluctantly spent $50,000 for special equipment to clean its smoke of solids, which solids it is now selling for $100,000 a year. (Of course, not all smoke solids are so valuable; there are some that are 100 per cent worthless.) A New Jersey industry was required to install new furnaces so as to be able to control its smoke. In three years the furnaces more than paid for themselves in decreased fuel consumption.

Regardless of profits, however, smoke currtro1! be iur Vn-

dustry. Big business should be made to recognize smoke for the’evil menace it really is, even though it may involve an added expense of two per cent in both installation and operation, and should therefore reconcile itself to including the cost of smoke control in its necessary expenses.

Smoke control, as noted by Heilbroner in Harpers, January 1951, requires good, stiff municipal or state ordinances, with sharp teeth and ample power. (They need, not be as strict as those passed centuries ago in England, one of which provided for the furnace’s being smashed at the second offense and another for the beheading of the offender! Fortunately, the latter was soon repealed!) Modern smoke control also requires trained staffs of engineers able to pass on new equipment and to advise on old. It also requires skilled administrators able to get the public aroused over the smoke situation. Certain European countries Stringent laws governing smo'Ke. Results are being obtained in the United States, although thus far the surface has only been scratched.

St. Louis, Missouri, which at one time was among the very worst cities as regards the smoke menace, has, by going after the problem in real earnest, cut its smoke 75 per cent in the last ten years. And as far back as 20 years ago, Salt Lake City, Utah, cut its air pollution 96 per cent. Hudson County^ New Jersey^ hired a smoke expert to conduct its campaign against smoke and, in a short time, had reduced its smoke 85 per cent. Being satisfied with the results, the smoke control board was disbanded, only to have the smoke menace increase 40 per cent in just a few months. It seems that eternal vigilance is the price of a clean atmosphere, even as it is of liberty!

Pittsburgh long held the reputation of being the smokiest city in the United States. In recent years it bas gone after the smoke menace with such vigor as to reduce it some 40 per cent In fact, the situation improved so much that the Pennsylvania Railroad, for the first time, had its station cleaned, confident that it would stay clean long enough to make the effort worth while. After 110 years of trying, Pittsburghers are at last beginning to see the light’ Pittsburgh, by the way, is the place where the word “smog” was coined, a combination of “smoke” and “fog”.

Every few years irate New Yorkers engage in an anti-smoke crusade. The current year saw another one of these, with the housewives crying: “Where there's smoke there’s ire!” Politicians shouted and fines began to be imposed—on the little fellows. The smoke control board was found to be at war with itself as to whether or not it should proceed in earnest against the city’s biggest air polluters, the Consolidated Edison, and, ironically enough, the city's own Board of Transportation, its Department of Sanitation and state and federal agencies. It finally decided that government agencies were not to be penalized. An editorial in the New York Times, which correctly summed up the situation, was aptly entitled “Smoke Control By and By”.

That political corruption played its part in the New York smoke menace is apparent from the item appearing in the New York Times, May 16, 1951, telling of the resignation of the stationary engineer member of the smoke control board. A twofold investigation found that he had forced operators of furnaces and power plants to buy certain devices for smoke control for which he received commission from the manufacturers, and that certain smoke violators had paid him for immunity from prosecution.

Smoke is a costly and needless menace whose toll in both dollars and health is truly enormous. Politicians agitate for smoke control while their elections are in the offing, but soon thereafter are likely to forget all about it. While public-spirited citizens do well to work for smoke control, Christian ministers, dedicated to God’s service, have a far greater menace against which to campaign: that of helping the people to see the sunlight of God’s kingdom through the spiritual smog of false religion. Soon that kingdom will end both the spiritual and the mundane smogs that now afflict the lives of men. Everyone sincerely repeating the “Lord’s prayer” is in fact praying for that very time. And Bible prophecy shows that we are standing at its threshold.

Falcons ‘Drafted by the R<AJF.

Back in 1941 the falcon came into prominence in this capacity when the Royal Air Force was ready to take drastic action to end the falcons' assaults on British carrier pigeons. A falcon enthusiast made the suggestion that the falcons could be converted to the R.A.F/s own purposes, and so the birds came to be drafted for use against enemy pigeons. Since then their peacetime use has evolved, and during the ^ays of the Berlin airlift British airmen tn Germany requested that some of them be sent to the continent to clear Berlin’s Gatow airfield of daily thousands of starlings.

By uAw<ikel’' <fcrr«pondent in Nigeria

ON ENTERING a shop in this teeming city of Ibadan, Nigeria, tb$ sight of silk, satin, linen and cotton greeted my eyes. The place was jammed With cloth, some in bale£> much piled in heaps, a great quantity stacked on racks, and yards hung up on display. The whole shop seemed to be choked with it, and the very air was tainted with the smell of fabric. Squeezed in the midst of all this textile sat a gloomy shopkeeper. With chin and head buried in the palms of his large hands, he appeared oblivious to my entry and quite indifferent or unconscious of the movements and happenings around him. Cheerfully I greeted him, "Good morning.” No reply. I repeated the greeting, but still, silence. Turning to the shopboy, I asked, "What is wrong with your master?” “Oh! the master is fasting. That is why he does not speak. You see, we are Mohammedans and today, being June the sixth, we begin our Ramadan fast which win last thirty days. It is the Moslem equivalent of the Christian lent.”

"Tell me, just how and why do you observe your fast?” "We must fast because the Koran, which is our Bible, commands us to do so. It is said that while Mohammed was at Medina he observed the Jews NOVEMBER 22, 1951

fasting on a certain day, and being told that Moses had kept a fast on that day in commemoration of the , (delivery of the Israelites from Pha-1 faoh’s hands, he remarked that Mds-I iems were nearer to Moses than the I Jews and therefore ordered that that I Jay was to be observed as a day of I fasting. Later, the entire month of K Ramadan was set ap&ri for that pur-® pose, for it is the month in which the Koran was sent down from heaven for man's guidance. During this month it is encumbent upon every yjosdem to abstain from food, drink, smoking, use of perfume and sexual intercourse from dawn till sunset. After sunset it is lawful to indulge in all these things. At the moment we eat only twice a day, before dawn and after sunset* Those who might be on a journey, the sick, or nursing mothers, are allowed to postpone the observance until a more convefdent time, while the aged and infirm have to see to the feeding of a poor person during the month in lied of the fast”

“What is the purpose of all this?” I further inquired. "We fed it is a means of gaining virtue and thus finding favor with God. A person who abstains from enjoying lawful things at the command of God will hate to touch unlawful things. The holy prophet, Mohammed, said: ‘Illumine your heart by hunger and strive to conquer yourself by hunger and thirst. Continue to knock at the gates of paradise by hunger? ”

To th# Praying Grounds

Thirty days of ‘knocking at the gates of paradise by hunger’ went by and finally July the sixth dawned. The morning air over Ibadan swelled and ebbed with sound as of mighty waters, the murmur of many voices, multitudes of tramping feet. What is it? The climax has come. The breaking of the Ramadan fast. The day has been

declared a public holiday. The Moslem male population is pouring out of the city like a mighty river, flowing into the spacious praying grounds on the outskirts. By 8 a.rn. thousands have deluged the place. The two roads leading to the praying grounds give the appearance of rIVera in full flood, surging and brimming with devotees of Mohammed, bubbling with religious fervor; driven by the strong current of devotion to Allah and the religious significance of the day, the festival of Id-Ul-Fitri marks the close of the fast. One, two, three hours go by and still they keep streaming, pausing momentarily at the brim of the open-air mosque to remove shoes, swirling around the water fountain to wash face, hands, arms and ankles before spilling over to fill and overflow the praying grounds.

Watch them come! A feast for the eyes, A symphony of color in movement, as young and old pass by in delicate lace and silk, in long, flowing robes brightly hued in sky blue, rose, amber, lilac, emerald and glossy white, charmingly patterned and richly embroidered. All this capped by maroon or yellow fezzes and white or orange turbans. They flowed along on foot, and on gaily decorated horses, keeping rhythm to the roll and rumble of drums. They came with praying beads, their rosaries, and with praying rugs or the branches of trees. Strange! Not a woman to be seen among the countless worshipers. Why not? They are forbidden to step onto the praying ground, because considered unclean, and there is the danger of their distracting the males.

With this river of worshipers drift hundreds of beggars, planting themselves along the banks of the highways and in the name of Allah drawing sustenance from the flowing crowd. A pitiful and repulsive sight. Wrecks of humanity, some blind, others with bent and crooked bodies, limbs twisted into all shapes, bodily parts consumed by leprosy and other diseases, all crying for help.

But let us turn our attention to the praying grounds. There is the aged king of Ibadan sitting on a mat under the shelter of a mauve-and-gold umbrella. Look! who is that man prostrating before him? The costly dress, the white linen garment embroidered with gold, the ermine cap— he must be some prominent chief. Listen! He’s singing in a high-pitched, feminine voice. Oh, just seeking alms. He scabs the coins flung and quickly passes on among the crowd for other handouts. The time approaches for the praying to begin. What a sight to behold! Acre upon acre, row after row of worshipers, squatting on a carpet of white sand spread under green trees and colorful umbrellas. Patiently many have been squatting for hours. Beggars taking advantage of this ply Up and down the rows of the faithful, forcefully reminding them of their religious obligation of giving alms. Even bread vendors with an eye to business have the audacity to enter the holy grounds. Following the beggars they sail down the aisles, but are soon seen scurrying away amidst a storm of protest

The Prayer

Everybody is now waiting for the chief Imam who will lead in prayer. Here he comes on a black mount and dressed in a long, flowing cream-colored robe, a white turban passing under the chin and piled a foot high on top of the head. Smiling, he dismounts, takes off his shoes, pays homage to the king, and disappears among the thousands. Soon a long drawn-out cry is heard. The vast multitude rises like the ocean. A hush fills the place. In unison hands are raised shoulder high with palms upturned to heaven. For a moment, motionless,' in silent meditation, offering thanksgiving and making silent request for peace and prosperity. Then like the rising and falling of the waves they bow with face to the ground; then rise, then prostrate, twice touching the sand with their foreheads. A second time they go through the same motions. The prayer is over* everybody shouts “Allah” and the tide returns, gushing out of the field, spilling down every outlet and channel, a mighty tide of rushing, jostling, bobbing color and flowing robes, returning to the city and flooding it with feasting, drinking, dancing and drumming, thus drowning out the day.

On this occasion millions of Moslems throughout the world, in all sincerity, offer up prayers for peace and prosperity. The “Holy Year” of 1950 saw millions of Catholic prayers offered for peace and tranquillity. Add to all this the countless millions of peace prayers by Protestants and other religious systems. Yet, what are the results? It seems that the more religious bodies pray for peace the farther the world gets away from peace, and today religion’s very existence is threatened. Why? Listen to Isaiah’s answer: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. . . , Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. . . . And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” (Isaiah 1:11-20) In view of this, what is left for all persons to do? Turn to Jehovah God, study his Word, the Bible, and serve him according to instructions issued therein. Then their prayers will be answered, God’s new world.

pope Befriend evolution

DESPITE the Steady retreat of evolution before the advance of the Bible and scientific fact, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has extended a helping hand to the godless "ism”. In an encyclical of August, 1950, Pius said that "the teaching authority of the Church does not’IorbiiT'tllfil IM1 IL’bfilormity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology research and discussions on the part of men experienced in Doth fields take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre existent and living matter*’.

<[ In September, 1951, an Associated Press dispatch reported that, in explanation of the 1951) cncycli&i, "Pope Pius XII says that the theory of evolution can be studied so far as it deals with origins of the human body but should nut be allowed to raise questions as to divine creation of the human soul,”

<£ The pope’s clear stand on the matter nils embold£n£crnis clergy to follow suit. Last spring, "Father” John P. O’Brien, C.S.V., of the Marquette University biology department, declared that it is “ja&t not true” that the evolution theory conflicts with religion. O'Brien said that Catholic schools should either teach evolution or explain to pupils that there is~~ndobjectiontortTS BlUflyrHC laufled the'1 scientiflc wbrk of Charles Darwin, nineteenth-century cornerstone of evolution, as “a great accomplishment of a God-given mind”,

…