Awake!, March 8, 1956
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THE NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS
Progress in Treating Mental Ills
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The Explosive Farm Issue
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Marking 1914 as One of History’s Milestones
THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. "Awake 1” has 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 by traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
“Awake I” uses the regular news channels, but is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. From ihg four comers 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 cover* age is as broad as the earth and. as high as the heavens.
“Awake 1” 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 righteous New World.
Get acquainted with “Awake!” Keep awake by reading “Awake!”
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CONTENTS
Marking 1914 as One of History’s Milestones 3
The News Behind the News
This Concrete Age
Minerals as Important as Vitamins?
‘Favorable Testimony from Outside’
The Human Ear—How Astounding!
The Explosive Farm Issue
The Lady Had a Way with Lions
Caribbean Isle of Treasure
Spinsters and Pin Money
Progress in Treating Mental Ills
Needles in the Washtub
“Four Word Is Truth"
The Scapular Scorched by God’s Word 24
Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach in All the Earth—Taiwan (Formosa)
Physician, Heal Thyself!
Do You Know?
Watching the World
NO ONE
, not even the skeptics, will deny that there has been a change in the world since A.D. 1914. In fact, recorded history points to that year as the turning point of our time, as the following quota* tions show;
“It has long been apparent that August 4, 1914, was one of history’s milestones. Forty years is a short enough span as history is reckoned, but the events those years have thrown up—two world wars, the coming of the Welfare State, the production of atom and hydrogen bombs, to mention only a few—clothe the era of 1914 with strange and misty garments.” (The Listener, July 29, 1954, published by the British Broadcasting Corporation) “Summer of 1914 closed an age when the world was full of friends. It was the last of the years of tranquillity though no one, of course, knew it. A golden age in which the world, in general, had been at peace and minding its own business was rapidly drawing to a close in that summer of 1914, Just forty years ago." (Capper’s Weekly, July 27, 1954) The Augusta Herald, September 4, 1954, under the caption “When the Lights Went Out in 1914” declared: “Today, forty years after 1914, we are confronted with one unalterable fact, there will not be a world peace if we avoid war; violent contentions will continue. Children will be born into manhood and die old men without the experience of peace such as was known before 1914, Our hearts are full of fear and anxiety of what the future may hold for us.”
The Times-Herald, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1949, quoted priest Robert I. Gannon, S. J., ex-president of Fordham University, as saying in a speech made at the New York Herald Tribune Forum for High Schools: “You were born into chaos.” “The last completely ‘normal’ year in history was 1913, the year before World War I began,” the editorial commented. That is why anybody born after 1914 has no personal recollection of anything but ‘ “abnormal,” upset, excited, nervous times—though a lot of younger people have doubtless heard plenty from their elders about the good old days before the wars.’
Associate professor of history at Columbia University’s Barnard College, Rene Albrecht-Carrie, also pointed to 1914, saying: “It is indeed the year 1914 rather than that of Hiroshima which marks the turning point in our time, for by now we can see that; whatever the future may hold in store, it was the first world war that ushered in the era of confused transition in the midst of which we are floundering." (The Scientific Monthly, July, 1951) And H. R.
Trevor-Roper, don at Oxford, confirms the above with these words: “Nevertheless the first war marked a far greater change in history [than the second world war]. It closed a long era of general peace and began a new age of violence in which the second war is simply an episode. Since 1914 the world has had a new character: a character of international anarchy.”—The New York Times Magazine, August 1, 1954, page 9.
The Bremerton Sun, published at Bremerton, Washington, stated on its editorial page for July 30,1954, under the subheading “It All Began 40 Years Ago”: “The first world war, and with it the beginning of most of our present international troubles, broke out 40 years ago [1914] ” And from the opposite side of the United States, the Boston Sunday Globe for April 12, 1953, reports: “Crises make headlines, but continuity is not news. News is a break in continuity, but we can no more live on interruptions to the normal flow of life than we can eat an absence of food. Since 1914 we have had so many crises that our nerves are benumbed, and were these crises as decisive as we are given to suppose, we would by now all have starved or frozen to death. . , . Crisis is a thundersquall, a cyclone, a blizzard, an earthquake, a flood, a fire, a volcanic eruption, a revolution, a war, a pestilence. It may be objected that the foregoing catalogue of crises reads uncommonly like a continuity of our experience since 1914, but had it heen, we would now be extinct.” There were a few days of respite, but none worth mentioning, for all the world since 1914. David Lilienthal, onetime boss of the Atomic Energy Commission, speaking at Western Reserve University, decried "Scaremongering, but conceded that “any person who wants to live a peaceful, quiet, uneventful life has just picked the wrong time to live,”
“Ours is a time when events course by so madly that few stand their ground stubbornly against the sea of troubles,” writes news commentator George E. Sokolsky. “We seem to leap from incident to incident. Suddenly there is a new emergency and men die. Since 1914, great empires have collapsed and nations hardly known then are now world problems.... Our problem is today, as it has been since 1914, to discover a formula for saving our civilization. We have tried war, appeasement, charity, diplomacy, the League of Nations, the United Nations. These efforts have failed. The proof of their failure is that we are still at war. True, the battles for the moment have been localized, but the preparations are for a general war.” “Obviously, something happened between the years 1914 and 1950 which altered the course of Western civilization and of American history and life. That alteration has not been for the better. It has brought us, to date, three general wars and an economic dislocation of great depth. Its social consequences are just beginning to appear in the changed character of our family life." Reminiscing, at another time he recalled an acquaintance’ saying that “the world was fairly comfortable until we all went to war in 1914.” After that it got all mixed up.
Another news correspondent, Edgar Ansel Mowrer, a Pulitzer Prize winner, joins in marking 1914 as a milestone in history. He writes: “But with the carnage of World War I, the subsequent revolutions and famines, the world-wide economic depression, the march of Fascism and Nazism, and the holocaust of World War n, that secure environment [known prior to 1914] receded further and further into a virtually incredible past. Since 1914 there has been no lack'of excitement to complain of. Indeed there has been so much that at times the unending crises, the bloodshed, the tensions have made me reverse my boyhood longings and caused me almost to pine in-
stead for the stable, neat world of Jane Austen.”—Saturday Review of Literature, December 22,1951.
There is no doubt that ours is a different world materially and spiritually from that before 1914. “Probably no period in the world’s history has seen so great and significant changes in so short a time. They have affected our preaching, our churches, our denominational life, and our doctrinal emphases. It is a different age.” (The Watchman-Examiner, April 19, 1951) What has brought about these catastrophic changes? Why are we so confused? What is the true significance of 1914 and why cannot this world ever be the same? What is the meaning behind the news, the rise in crime, violence and delinquency, the decline of morals, the quest for peace and the preparations for war? What is the news behind the news? Let history and the Word of God answer for us in the following article.
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NEWS.
Forecasting world events today is haiardous bus Ines even when based upon sober analysis of power politics global strategy and the present and prospective balances of forces. Nevertheless, events can be foreseen and world happenings understood.
VENTS now taking place in the world are of such magnitude that all major nations are forced to alter their views almost from day to day. In fact, so baffling has been the course of the world in recent years that news analysts and commentators shy away from unearthing the news behind the news. Columnist George E. Sokolsky writes: “We seem to leap from incident to incident. Suddenly there is a new emergency and men die. Since 1914, great empires have collapsed and nations hardly known then are now world problems. . . . Our problem is today, as it has been since 1914, to discover a formula for saving our civilization. We have tried war, appeasement, charity, diplomacy, the League of Nations, the United Nations, These efforts have failed.”1 “Obviously,” he says, “something happened between the years 1914 and 1950 which altered the course of Western civilization,” history and life.
But what has happened to
the world since 1914 none among world leaders seem to know. The celebrated philosopher and adviser to presidents, Bertrand Russell, declared: “Ever since 1914, everybody conscious of trends in the world has been deeply troubled by what has seemed like a fated and predetermined march toward ever greater disaster. Many serious people have come to feel that nothing can be done to avert the plunge toward ruin. They see the human race, like the hero of a Greek tragedy, driven on by angry gods and no longer the master of fate.”2 Modern man, of course, rejects the ancient superstitions. A more practical and palatable alternative is concocted to explain the peculiar behavior of the world since 1914, one more in line with modem thinking. So current world events are variously interpreted as “a quest for power,” “a struggle for world domination,” "a search for peace,”s for freedom, for land and food. As sound as these explanations may appear, yet they do not fully satisfy the more inquisitive thinker who desires to know why world woes have accumulated upon this generation in doses never matched in all history. To quench this desire necessitates venturing behind the news with spiritual insight. It is impossible to understand it otherwise.
Studying world events without the lens of a spiritual eye is like trying to study the universe without a high-powered telescope, or microscopic life without a microscope. Without these aids distant objects remain vague, indistinct, without definition, and even the closest and most familiar things are not seen in minute detail. With instrumental help distant parts of the universe are brought clearly into focus, their definitions are clear, their enlargements are magnificent, and our conclusions are scientific and accurate. The means of sharper discernment for the spiritual-minded man is God’s Word the Bible. With its help the spiritual man can accurately evaluate world happenings.—1 Corinthians 2:11-16.
The Significance of Our Times
More than 2,000 years ago the Bible peered into our day and revealed that with the coming of 1914 (A.D.) the “times of the nations” (the Gentile times), spoken of by Jesus, a period of 2,520 years, which had their beginning 607 B.C., would come to a close; at this time the nations would be angry and woe would come to our earth. This is precisely what followed. The significant factor behind the news since 1914 is that a kingdom government was born in the heavens, that the great adversary of God was thrust 3 out of heaven and confined to the vicinity of our earth, that humanity has entered upon a judgment period, which soon now will culminate in the destruction of all wickedness in “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”—Armageddon.—Luke 21:24; Revelation 12:12; 16:13-16, New World Trans.
Intelligent, thinking men of the first century associated the consummation of this system of things with' the coming of Jesus Christ into his kingdom. So they inquired of him when this would be. Jesus, with prophetic foresight, indicated that this would not come about until after a great lapse of time—“until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled”—after which nation would rise against nation in world war; there would be food shortages, anguish of nations, earthquakes in one place after another; that “all these things are a beginning of pangs of distress” on the earth, and that the generation that witnessed all these things would also live to see the consummation of the wicked system of things at Armageddon, followed by the will of God being done on earth as it is done in heaven. The disciples of Jesus wrote further about this eventful generation, stating that it would be marked with an increased crop of ridiculers, also with a flourishing harvest of ultrarich and a moral breakdown. Bible chronology sets 1914 A.D. as the year when these events were due to start. The events since 1914 have been irresistible and stand irrefutably in support of prophecy.—Luke 21:7-28; Matthew 24: 3-13; James5:l-6; 2Peter3:3,4; 2 Timothy 3:1-5. New World Trans.
Proof that the physical-minded man is blind as to what lies ahead
was evidenced in his predictions and
AWAKE!
“golden dreams” of what was to follow war years. Democracy was to be safe, freedoms were to reign, there was to be plenty for all. Said Sir Winston Churchill: “It was my dream during the war years that after the war Russia, whatever her ideology, . . . would help to bring about the Golden Age on which all our hearts are set, which would be possible but for the follies of men.”3 But by his peering through the prophetic eye of the Bible, the spiritual-minded man was not overcome by wishful thinking, golden dreams or rosy political prognostications. The Bible brought clearly to view that “woe” was in store “for the earth and for the sea [restless humanity], because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” As far back as 1877 students of the Scriptures could see these woeful conditions coming!—Revelation 12:12, New World Trans.
Thirty-four years before the Gentile times came to an end A.D. 1914, The Watchtower published this fact, giving Scriptural proof? Worldly men, however, could not see these truths until late 1914, over thirty years later, and even then did not recognize their significance. Winston Churchill admitted that “there never was a war in history easier to prevent,” that it could have been prevented without firing “a single shot.” But, he says, “no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool."5 Nation rose against nation, kingdom against kingdom, exactly on time and in the way the Bible foretold.—Matthew 24:7,
Not only the beginning of hostilities were predicted, but also their sudden halt in 1918. Edwin Leland James, former editor of the New York Times, wrote: “In a twinkling, four years of killing and massa-
1. The Watchtower, March, June and July issues of 1880. 5. The New York Times, March 6, 1946, ere stopped as if God had swept His omfiip-otent finger across the scene of world carnage and had cried, ‘Enough.* Had World War I led into the battle of Armageddon, no flesh would have been saved. All humankind would have perished off the earth. So that some flesh might be saved through Armageddon’s battle, it was not dated to follow World War I. This fact only the spiritual-minded can appreciate.—Matthew 24:22, 14; Revelation 7:1-3, New World Trans.; Ezekiel 33:7-9.
Behind the Food Shortages, Earthquakes
While natural-minded rulers proclaimed plenty and prosperity for the postwar world, the Bible foretold “food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.” What do the facts since 1914 show? Dr. Josue de Castro, Brazilian expert on human geography and nutrition, recently declared: “Of the two and a quarter billion people on earth, . . . two thirds live in a permanent state of hunger. A billion and a half human beings cannot find the means of escaping this most terrible affliction of society.”4 Another authority states that “there are now more people hunting desperately for food than at any other time in history.”5 6 Here again, the Bible’s foresight stands vindicated.
Even as to such unpredictable phenomena as earthquakes, the Bible prophecy is scientifically accurate. Since World War I scientists have observed a strange change in the behavior of earthquakes. Scientists say: “Major quakes used to occur in clusters, each period of activity being followed by a rest period.. .. But the periods of activity became progressively shorter and closer together. Since 1948 the pattern has entered a new phase, with approximately one great quake a year.”7
Accepting Jesus’ words with faith, the spiritual-minded man is at an advantage. He is not left to speculate about the meaning behind world famine or the acceleration of earthquakes in this generation; he can modestly, humbly and truthfully say he knows. The Bible, like a powerful microscope, has revealed their hidden meaning, showing them to be a part of the one grand composite sign marking the end of the Gentile times, and to be evidence of the setting up of the kingdom of God and the nearness of Armageddon, and to be a positive indication of the incoming new world, where righteousness is to dwell.—Matthew 24:3, 7.
Behind Corruption and Delinquency
Looking back over the years since 1914, we see that it is quite obvious that something has happened to morals. In 1951 news reports of corruption were so frequent that it ceased to be news. Senator Fulbright scored Washington as having a "double standard of morality.”8 “Influence peddling and favoritism,” “falsification of records,” “organized crime in interstate commerce,” “blackmail, browbeating and homosexuality in government,”8 were only a few of a long list of charges of corruption in high places. In 1952 there was much more of the same.
For examples: Mayor O’Dwyer’s friend and protege, James Moran, was imprisoned for masterminding a $500,000-a-year extortion plot during O’Dwyer’s term as mayor of New York city;8 corrupt elements in business communities blackmailed government officials; lobbyists for big concerns influenced legislators; the newspapers refused to print that which might reduce their advertising; the churches favored big subscribers and shied away from preaching God’s truth to them; personal standards became corrupted, so much so that it is common practice today to grab everything that can be gotten away with.
While adults ponder the moral collapse among their age group, an ugly, menacing world problem has arisen from among the juveniles. Variously, experts endeavor to interpret the causes, but no formula is agreed upon. Judge Camille Kelley of Memphis, Tennessee, charged "separated and divorced parents”9 10 with the rise In crime and juvenile delinquency. Bertram Beck of the Federal Children’s Bureau noted a “positive correlation between the rate of delinquency and war and cold war.”9 Roman Catholic Bishop Sheil told Senate investigators that lack of religious training is behind the plague. Children, he said, are “so lacking in religious training that two-thirds of fifty thousand school children checked in New York city never heard of the Ten Commandments.”1*
The Bible lists the moral breakdown as a sign of “the last days” of this wicked system of things. Note the apostle’s words: “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 Ipvers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.” The apostle advises: “From these turn away.”—2 Timothy 3:1-7, New World Trans,
The News Behind the Peace Talks
World conditions, however, appear to be improving. There is a big boom in peace
11. The New York Times Magazine, May 29, 1955. 12. United Press Dispatch, July 15, 1955. talk, but real peace is not in sight. Big shooting wars are becoming unpopular. Nobody, not even the Communists, appears to want new wars. The maneuvers behind the peace talks are viewed with suspicion. Premier Pibui Songgram of Thailand said: “Before the first world war, we talked about peace; before the second world war, we talked; and now, perhaps before the third, we talk peace and the countries prepare for war,” A third world war, he added, “is inevitable.”11 Scientist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer also spoke of this inevitability when he compared communism and capitalism to “two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life.” “The basic fact is,” said Oppenheimer, “that the time in which this may happen is short.”12
Notwithstanding the irresistible composite sign before them, what worldly men fall to see with their natural eye is the rapid approach of Armageddon. But Peter tells us that “according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice.” Jesus said: “Blind guides is what they are. If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” The pit ahead is the battle of Armageddon, which is no fight between nations of this world, but is Jehovah’s battle, fought against Satan and his demonic organization, visible and invisible. Using the Bible to peer into the future we can, with accuracy, foresee what is to come. Paul warns us: “Whenever it is that they are saying, ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them just as the pang of distress upon a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape.” This prediction is as sure of fulfillment as all the others.—2 Peter 3:5-13; Matthew 15:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:3, New World Trans.
This Concrete Hge
VISITORS to the Leeds City Hall, England, may
the name of Joseph Aspdin. It is a reminder that 130 years ago he patented his “Portland cement,” an event that was to make the twentieth century the “Concrete Age.”
For years men had been searching for a building cement that would harden under water. Probably the first man to tackle the problem was John Smeaton, famed as the builder of the Eddystone lighthouse. He conducted a series of experiments with various types of clay and stone during its construction in the year 1756, Others followed him. In 1796 a man named Parker produced what he called “Roman cement,” while Vicat in 1813 and Frost in 1822 made further contributions to its development. What proved to be the forerunner of modem cement was discovered by Aspdin in 1824.
Today’s product is made from materials rich in silica and lime, such as clay and limestone. These two, ground and mixed
together in specific proportions, are fed into a kiln and burned. The resulting clinker is pulverized and about 3 percent of gypsum is added to modify the rate of setting.
The ingredients may be adjusted to produce a variety of cements for different purposes. Addition of alumina, for instance, hastens setting, and although this type of cement generates great heat during this period, this is no disadvantage when it is used in the building of harbors and other underwater projects. It is also put to good use in wintertime during freezing conditions. In contrast are the slow-setting cements with relatively low heating. First employed in the construction of the mighty Hoover Dam, they are required for massive structures in which there is difficulty in dispelling the heat, and where failure to do so would result in cracks’ appearing.
In the early days cement making was a slow business, but, with the introduction of mass-production methods, each stage of manufacture no,w follows upon the other without interruption. Even the critical period of burning is a continuous process as the crushed raw materials are fed into the top of the kiln and emerge as clinker from the bottom.
Cement is best known the world over as the essential component of concrete, that versatile man-made stone. The earlier uses of concrete were limited, however, due to its inability to bear tensile stresses, until the introduction of mild steel reinforcing about the year 1868, The credit for the discovery of the latter is popularly accorded to a French gardener by the name of Joseph Monier, who, desiring to strengthen some concrete water basins he was making, did so by the insertion of iron rods. From then on, concrete underwent continual improvement, opening up vast new fields in its application.
The next development was prestressing, a technique based on the fact that concrete is ten times stronger in compression than in tension. The problem was to retain a straight concrete beam in a state of compression when forces were trying to tear it apart This was solved theoretically in 1928 by M. Freyssinet, a French engineer; but its practical application had to await his invention of a special wire-tensioning jack in the year 1939. His idea was to stretch high-tensile steel wires through holes passing down the center of the precast beam, anchoring the wires at the ends. In the effort to return to their original length, the wires maintained the necessary compression. The holes were finally filled with liquid cement which, when set, firmly secured the wires at every point of their length. By this means concrete was capable of carrying far higher loads and greater spans were achieved.
Claim for the largest single span of prestressed concrete is made for a bridge 140 feet long over the River Don at Conis-borough, England.
Focusing our attention now upon the building industry, we find that concrete has made for remarkable progress in methods and practices. Many of the holdups due to bad weather and lack of space on the building site are being eliminated by the factory prefabrication of concrete building units. The units, often complete with doors and windows, are delivered from factory to site as they are required.
A recent achievement in this method is the erection, four months ahead of schedule, of a number of blocks of eleven-story-high apartments at Wandsworth, London, Precast units included walls, partitions, balconies and stairways.
The shell roof is yet another interesting architectural development. Designed on the principle of the sea shell, this one-piece
roof ewes its great strength and rigidity, in spite of its comparative thinness, to the steel reinforcing and its curvilinear shape. Apart from valuable saving in materials, the shell roof provides a covering for large areas free of supporting columns, an important feature in the design of auditoriums, theaters and similar buildings.
As a protective finish, concrete has proved to be invaluable. Steel work of bridges when encased in concrete is safe from attack by corrosion, and the initial expense is more than offset by low maintenance costs. Its protective qualities are further emphasized in cases of fire. The steel framework of buildings likewise enclosed invariably remains intact when unprotected girders have bent and buckled into a twisted mass because of the intense heat.
It would be impossible to give a clear picture of the modem application of concrete without mentioning roadways. The latest methods of road-laying are almost revolutionary, to compare with prewar practice. A team of about twelve men and a machine can now equal the effort of two hundred men previously working by hand. Where the nature of the soil permits, even metaling (a carefully laid but costly stone foundation) is being replaced by a process of soil stabilization. The soil forming the bed of the road is lifted by machinery, mixed with cement and pounded back into place by mobile rams, providing a solid base for the road surface above.
Whether the need is for fencing posts, street lamp standards, sewer pipes, power pylons, or what may be the most unique t project of our concrete age, a 750-foot-high ' towerlike TV aerial mast with a restaurant at the 500-foot level in Stuttgart, Germany, concrete fills the role.
While credit must go to the men whose toil and ingenuity gave us cement and concrete, the Bible reminds us that ‘there is nothing new under the sun.’ Geologists will tell us that in a process known geologically as “cementation,” alligo-calcareous elements have united to form certain types of natural rocks.
Thus the very chemical changes produced artificially by man have been at work for centuries in nature, and the results stand as a silent monument of praise to their Creator.—Contributed from Dublin, Eire.
Mnerals as Important as 'Vitamins?
■j? According to Dr. Russell Couch, professor of poultry husbandry biochemistry and nutrition at the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, far more attention has been paid to vitamins than to minerals in animal and human nutrition than the facts warrant. When distillers’ dried solubles (yeast) were added to the diet of chicks their rate of growth was increased thirty-two percent. It was also found that adding the various minerals contained in these solubles individually produced no results; it was the mixture, a balanced combination, that stimulated growth. The report, published in the New York Times, November 20, 1955, goes on to say: “Dr. Couch believes that this finding will have a profound effect on the thinking of nutritionists. It looks as if the proper combinations of minerals may be as important as vitamins in the development of both animals and human beings. Dr. Couch suggests that it is time to begin a field study to determine what mineral mixtures should be added to soils, especially those which have been partly washed away, to produce crops of maximum nutritive value.” It might be observed that this is the very basis of that type of husbandry known as “organic farming.”
FAVOURABLE TESTIMONY FROM OUTSIDE
DN SPITE of the unpopularity of the beliefs of Jehovah’s witnesses, their conduct, such as was noted in connection with the 1955 "Triumphant Kingdom” assemblies, did elicit "a favorable testimony from people on the outside,” even as the apostle Paul said should be the case with mature Christians.—1 Timothy 3:7, New World Trans,
V Thus two columnists writing in the New York Daily News, July 21, 1955, stated: "It was a goodly crowd—of good people, merchants and others who met the witnesses agreed. The shop owners in the area around the stadium were greatly impressed by the quiet, sober and cheerful behavior of the visitors?* Among other things they quoted the owner of an eating place opposite the stadium aa saying: "You know, a guy had something to eat here, and he went out. An hour later he came back, and said, 1 forgot to pay for my meal.* Can you imagine That?”
The New York World-Telegram and Sun, July 20, 1955, told of New York City health department officials lecturing “100 or more volunteer cooks, KP’s and food servers already assembled for the convention [at Yankee Stadium]. While the volunteers listened carefully, it was Ln a sense like telling birds how to fly.”
En route to Europe a crew member of one of the chartered ships said to one of the witnesses: "You are the most exceptional group we have ever had. Why, you make us feel as though we were the passengers and you the crew J” And said a Pan American Airways captain at the end of the flight: "This has been the happiest group we have had in a long time.*’ / The London Reynolds News, July 31, 1955, described the witnesses as "perfectly organized and co-operative.” “Predominantly young, cheerful, smiling, yet quiet and orderly.” “Self-disciplined.” It quoted a British Admiralty director of victualing as saying: "The foundation of your success is clearly an abundance of willing workers, ably directed.”
The Stadt Nurnberg, in its August 11,1955, morning edition had, among other things, the following to say: “From the smallest infant in arms—most witnesses attend an assembly with their entire families—to the old grandmothers, all ages are represented. One even sees the sick in their wheelchairs, and how eagerly they drink in the words of the speak* ers! Especially worthy of mention is the exemplary order and cleanliness of these people. In the eating stands there are no scraps of food lying around, no empty bottles, and no paper.”
And in its evening edition of the same day this paper further observed: “One is struck with the fact that not a one smokes.” "The witnesses contribute voluntarily to support their organization, no pressure is used. Scattered throughout the grounds are Inconspicuous contribution boxes. The call for volunteer workers was not ignored, as can be seen by the fact that 149,000 man hours were spent in making the grounds ready for the assembly.”
An official in behalf of a line that had transported many witnesses abroad wrote the Watch Tower Society: "I would be doing less than my duty if I did not tell you that your passengers were the best we have ever had to handle. They were the most co-operative, and also appreciative, and I and my staff are very sincere when we say that we would rather handle Watch Tower passengers than any others,”
The two Dutch papers De Telegraaf and Nieuws van de Dag described the returning witnesses of Jehovah as “the most accommodating air passengers in the world,” because although repeatedly having "had to wait many hours” at the Amsterdam airport, "not a complaint passed from any of their lips.”
What an amazing organ is the human ear! The loudest sounds it can hear without pain are approximately ten trillion times more intense than the softest. No wonder that such a delicate mechanism is frequently Impaired! Learn to care for it. "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them.” —Proverbs 20:12, Am. Stan. Ver.
ISSUE
'HE United States farmer is growing
LU
very unhappy. His cash is not going so far as it used to. Net farm income is down to $11 billion, a drop of 30 percent from the Korean war peak of $15.8 billion and the lowest level since 1942. This represents an annual drop in income of about 54.7 billion under the 1952 level. While prices received by the farmers for their products have fallen 21 percent since the Korean war, the cost of what they buy has declined less than 3 percent, and. in some cases prices have actually gone up. The farmer, then, is faced with the problem of having to pay more for the things he buys, while getting less for the things he sells.
For example: Between the years 1947 and 1949 a farmer bought a combine at market value with about 2,000 bushels of wheat, to compare with 2,600 bushels now. In 1948 he could purchase a tractor with the proceeds from 37 hogs. It takes at least 138 hogs at today’s prices. It requires 55 gallons of milk to pay for a standard automobile tire, where it used to take about 40 gallons. What 70 pounds of chicken used to buy, now it takes over 200 pounds to buy. Almost every product that the farmer sells, brings him less in return in the form of things he buys. One farm survey reveals that a farmer gets “about 30 cents an hour for his labor.” How, then, can he be expected to buy goods manufactured with a minimum wage at $1 and more an hour? A farmer can raise a hog for about $12 a hundredweight. The market price is about $12.75. The $12 covers the cost of feed and leaves nothing for labor
TODAY
and investment.
What is happening to the farmer is the same as if a factory worker, who had been receiving over $100 a week in wages in 1952, had been suddenly cut to $90 a week in 1953, $85 in 1954, and then to $80 a
week in 1955, in the face of the rising cost of living. This sort of thing can cause no end of unhappiness, worry and concern, as it has among farmers, It has forced them to live up their reserve, caused some to go into debt and others to give up farming altogether and go into industry.
Behind the Farm Squeeze
The cause of the price-cost squeeze is a relatively simple one; the remedy, however, is still as elusive as ever. What has been happening, experts say, “is a painful but not yet critical adjustment from a decade in which a voracious, war-stimulated world appetite demanded all the food that the U.S. could produce at whatever price the buyer had to pay.” Back in 1942 the United States inaugurat-tion of food to fill the wartime demand. The government guaranteed to support farm prices at 90 percent parity.
ed a program to encourage maximum produc-
Parity is explained as “the price that a farmer needs to get for a crop in order to ■ give him the same purchasing power he had back in a base period,... which often is taken as the pre-World War I period of 1910-1914.” Ninety percent parity was the point at which the* government fixed the price-support level for certain farm products. By direct buying or price-support loans, the government took steps to keep prices of these commodities from dropping below that level. What the farmer could not sell, the government would purchase and store. It bought and stored prodigious quantities of surplus grains, butter, cheese and other products. That is how the United States government went into the storage business.
But, with the close of the Korean campaign, the war demand for food dropped abruptly, domestic and export markets were cut sharply, yet the rigid price supports were still enforced. This merely stimulated a greater production growth for profit. The result is obvious. The farmer kept producing much more than the domestic and foreign markets could absorb. The mass food surpluses that did not return a reasonable profit to the producer through normal channels of trade were bought by the government. The total value of surplus stock on hand now stands at more than $7.5 billion, and it is rising fast. The storage bill alone of this surplus glut is more than $700,000 a day, a half-billion dollars a year.
In warehouses and storage bins around the country the government owns outright or on loan 913,000,000 bushels (a year’s crop) of wheat, 657,703,000 bushels of corn, 6,327,000 bales (a year’s supply) of cotton, 810,000,000 pounds of cottonseed oil, 110,000,000 pounds of wool and enormous stocks of such surpluses as barley, beans, winter cover crops, olive oil, linseed oil, tung-nut Oil and whey.
To get rid of the surplus is the solution; but how to do it is the problem. Despite all encouragement to grow less and other restrictions enforced on the farmers today, there is still more food produced than the domestic market can consume. And each year the export market gets leaner and leaner.
The Government’s Flexible Program
What has the government done to liquidate surpluses and stabilize farm prices? The 90 percent parity program, which encouraged production during the war years, was dropped and flexible supports were made a policy under the Eisenhower administration. This meant that supports would be increased if total supplies of a supported crop were reduced; supports would be decreased if these supplies continued to grow. When supplies of a crop were large the lowered supports were expected to persuade the farmer to cut his production. When the supplies became reduced, the increased price supports were expected to encourage more production. In addition, to be eligible for supports on such basic commodities as wheat, com or cotton, a farmer must agree to plant only as many acres of these crops as he is allotted.
While the program appeared sound in principle, it failed in practice. By adding fertilizer or planting closer rows farmers increased their per-acre yields until their total crops were about as large as before. Because the flexible program failed to halt the overproduction, which was its primary purpose, the farmers strongly urge that the whole plan be scrapped. But they offer no substitute program, nor do they have a
concrete remedy for the mounting surpluses.
What they want is “equal privileges with other industries.” The farmer believes he has just as much right to know what price minimums he will get for his crop before he plants as a union man has to know what wages he will get before he agrees to a work contract. If labor has the advantage of a guaranteed annual wage and business has fair trade laws and subsidies, the farmer says that he is entitled to an equal amount of support. But as to how to win these rights and guarantees, there is little agreement among the farmers. They are agreed on one point, namely, that rigid price supports were better than the present flexible plan. They prefer it as the lesser of two evils.
Substitute Plana
Politicians and farm organizations are constantly mulling through plans to help the farmer. A land-rental program by the government is proposed as a device for taking more acres out of crops by paying farmers for diverting these acres to soil-building grasses, legumes, for a minimum number of years. But many farmers oppose this program because it would upset their crop rotation system. They fear, too, that it would not spare enough land to receive a substantial rental payment Others fear they might have to give up too many acres for too long a period.
Some Democrats favor the Brannan Plan, under which the farmer would sell his goods in the market place for what he could get and the government would make up the difference to a predetermined “fair return." This plan, too, is not agreeable to all. As Secretary Benson said in an interview: “It’s very, very hard for a man to establish policies and programs that are equitable and fair to 5 million farmers. There are many different types of farming areas. To devise any program, even after Congress has passed legislation—to try to fit that into any program that’s fair to all the farmers is almost an impossible task,”
Despite all the outcry against flexible supports, there are some who recommend that the policy be continued. For some crops the flexible program appears to be working. The once huge stocks of dairy products are being whittled down to size. In one year the stockpile of butter in government hands has been reduced 60 percent.
How bad off are the United States farmers? A Federal Reserve Board report on the agricultural situation shows that price and parity statistics do not tell the whole story. On January 1,1955, savings held by farmers were as high as they were on the same day in 1954. And land was worth $91,300,000,000 at the start of 1955, to compare with $89,100,000,000 at the start of 1954. Seven out of ten farms are free of mortgage.
The Coveted Farm “Commodity”
In off years the farm issue would have been pushed into the deep background, but with important elections coming up there exists a tempting tendency to make political hay out of it. The stakes are high and the farmer holds a most precious “commodity”—his coveted vote. The politicians know very well that farm troubles could easily add up to highly explosive political dynamite that could be a deciding factor at the polls.
In an effort to win him over to the democratic side, party leaders have ridiculed the Republican attitude and program and have made attractive promises to the farmer. Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Raul M, Butler, belittled Eisenhower’s approach to the farmer, saying: “Through tariffs, special tax relief
and plain giveaways, the President has extended lavish help to his big business friends, but;" he added, “somehow it is wrong and- immoral to save the American fanner.”
On January 9 of this year President Eisenhower asked Congress for a $1,000,000,000 "soil bank,” This sum is to pay farmers for growing smaller crops and improving soil; the aim of which is to cut surplus output an<> to steady farm prices and income. The plan’s primary aim is to take 12 million acres out of wheat and 3 million out of cotton. It would bar use of land for corn and rice and other crops, even grazing. The program is designed to stem the five-year decline in the farm economy. Reportedly, the plan will “prove more effective in displacing rigid price supports and getting the Republicans out of a political hole than it is in providing a basic solution of farm problems,”'
Many are the conflicting opinions already regarding the new farm program. Whatever the case may be, there still appears to be a rough road ahead for the farmer.
■BROME big cats are devoted IS friends to man. A big cat may unexpectedly acquire an attachment for a human, -the friendship bringing intense pleasure to both anima] and man. Several years ago an artist by the name of Weber was watching a bored mountain lion or puma sunning himself at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. Though the artist spoke to the lion, the big cat refused to blink an eye. The National Geographic Magazine reported on what followed:
C ‘‘Ten minutes later the animal suddenly came to life. His ears twitched. He listened. He
visitor put her hand into the cage and he pressed his face against it happily. Then he looked about to find a gift for his enchanting friend. He picked up a leaf from the ground and brought it to her in his mouth. She handed him a small twig which he carried back and forth across the cage and then returned to her. This little play was repeated several times until he bore his present into the den for safekeeping. * “ ‘Is he an old friend?’ asked Weber. ‘Did you raise him and train him?' ‘Non! Non! 1 never saw him before I came here.’ Just then the mountain lion bounded out of
sniffed. His body quivered. He looked eagerly up the path. Greatly mystified, Weber looked too. There wasn’t a soul in sight. The cat became jubilant. He leaped about and bounded excitedly up and down the cage. From time to time he peered up the walk, obviously expecting someone.
C. "Suddenly a girl came into view. She was a pretty brunette, young and rather foreign-looking. As she approached the cage, the mountain lion pressed eagerly against the bars. ‘Mon ami! Mon ami!’ exclaimed the-girl affectionately. The mountain lion went into an ecstasy of contortions and gymnastics. The the cave and threw himself against the bars. The girl scratched him under the chin and around the ears. Rapturously, the cat rolled over and lay on his back. He purred in perfect contentment. *1 must watch out for the cops!’ exclaimed the girl, looking over her shoulder lest the guards discover such dangerous goings-on. ‘I go at once!’ The cat tried to detain her, thrusting his paws through the bars. Not once were his claws unsheathed. She patted his head affectionately. ‘Au revoir, mon ami! I will return. Be good!’ Crouching on the floor, the deserted mountain lion pressed his face against the bars, watching long after she had disappeared.”
been
8# correspondent
in Cuba
ARE is the person who, as a child, has not dreamed of going to the haunts of the pirates and corsairs and finding a treasure chest filled to the brim with gold and silver and precious stones. Few have
those who have had their desires fulfilled. A brief visit to an island rich in pirate legends, which gave rise to the nickname “Treasure Island,” will be of interest. That island is the Isle of Pines, which lies in the Caribbean Sea about fifty miles to the south of the island republic of Cuba.
The Isle of Pines is shaped like a quitrtn (a two-wheel topped wagon once in use in Cuba), The island has an area of 1,182 square’ miles, which is larger than the combined areas of the islands of Barbados, Dominica and Guadeloupe. Almost one half the population of 10,163 lives in the capital, Nueva Gerona, and the first established city in the island, Santa Fe.
The Isle of Pines was discovered by the white man when Columbus landed there in 1494. The real discoverers, though, were men of copper-colored skin, who apparently landed on the Isle of Pines when they lost their way in their canoes. After these first arrivals, many other Indians came and settled there. Soon the island was populated by this simple,, good people, who made small ornaments from snail shells and lived on the products of the forests and of the waters of the rivers and sea.
The Spaniards forgot the Isle of Pines until the nineteenth century, and then it became the refuge and lair of corsairs and buccaneers from France, England, Spain, Portugal and Holland. With the coming of the pirates to the island the Indians were murdered or sold into slavery.
The island continued in Spain’s possession until the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898, when freedom-loving Cubans and the United States eliminated Spain from lands discovered by Columbus. In 1901 at the writing of Cuba’s constitution the Senate of the United States, by means of the Platt Amendment, stipulated, among other things: “The Isle of Pines is left out of Cube’s limits as proposed by the Constitution, leaving it for a future treaty to fix its ownership.” Then in 1925 the Senate of the United States, by an overwhelming majority ratified an agreement, known as the Hay-Quesada Treaty, relinquishing all rights to the Isle of Pines and recognizing it as belonging to the republic of Cuba.
Treasures of the Island
Oh, yes, those who have gone there have found some of its treasures, treasures buried by pirates in an earlier period of its history; but its treasures are by no means
limited to the gold and silver buried by pirates. Its waters, both the sea that surrounds it and its rivers and streams, abound with finny treasures. More than thirty different kinds of sharks inhabit the waters around the island. The oil produced from the shark’s liver is claimed by many to be superior to cod-liver oil. Besides the liver, the meat, fins, teeth, vertebrae and skin are useful. The waste can be used to make food for animals and for the making of fertilizers. Today the catching and processing of sharks is the livelihood of many.
Have you ever eaten lobster? It is good, is it not? Well, perhaps it was canned in the Isle of Pines. A large part of the world’s production of lobster comes from the island. The sponge is something that has proved to be very useful, a veritable treasure, one that is plentiful in the waters of the Isle of Pines.
Many kinds of trees are found in the forests of the isle that are used to make lumber of great value, such as the caoba (mahogany) and cedar. From mahogany it is possible to make very fine, beautiful furniture. The cedar is a much softer wood than the caoba and because of its bitter taste the insects do not bother it. It is used for many things, such as cigar boxes, book and collection shelves, wardrobes, fine furniture, doors, window blinds, etc. Since the days of the pirates two thirds of the beautiful pine forests have disappeared under the machete, ax and saw of the lumbermen, until today the tree that gave the island its name is to be found in small numbers only in the swamp of Siguanea. Also to be seen are the pdhna barrigona (big-bellied palm), the guanas and mangrove trees.
There are many places of scenic beauty that the visitor will long remember, such as the “Columpio,” which reminds one of the Rock of Gibraltar and the cascade of
Santa Barbara. There are many beautiful beaches in the world, hut rare is the beach that can compare with Playa Negra (Black Beach). This beach, located about four miles northeast of Nueva Gerona, the island's largest city, is very beautiful and very unusual, because, as indicated by its name, it is formed of black sand. Then there are Red Beach, Blue Beach and Long Beach. Long Beach, near East Point, is nine miles long and is comparable to the best beaches of the world.
In Santa Fe, the island’s second city, the first solarium of Cuba and America is be* ing constructed, with equipment from the famous French solarium of Vallauris, Cannes, France, which was saved from destruction during the past war. Of this type of solarium, which takes advantage of the sun’s rays for the benefit of the human organism, there are only three in the world, one in Aix, France, another in India and this one being built in the Isle of Pines.
Besides the solarium for man’s physical well-being the island boasts many excellent medicinal-mineral springs. The hottest waters (about 124 degrees Fahrenheit) are those of Ojo del Rio Casas, near Nueva Gerona. The coldest waters (about 66 degrees Fahrenheit) are those of the medicinal spring Santa Lucia. At present there is a modern hotel in Santa Fe that provides thermal and medicinal waters far its roomers.
If you should happen to visit the Isle of Pines someday, maybe you would like to do a little exploring. That is easy, because not very far from Nueva Gerona is Water Cave, underneath the marble of Lookout Peak. Water Cave is a huge underground cavern, containing large subterranean lakes of pure, sweet water.
There are four great deposits of kaolin, the fine white clay used in the manufacture of porcelain. Up to the present time this is
one of the many treasures that has not been exploited. But there are others. There are deposits of gold, tungsten, iron and other minerals. There are mountains of almost solid marble of many colors, black marble, marble with veins a delicate shade of red, and others.
These are all natural treasures of the island, existing there since creation, to be taken and used by man for his well-being. Nevertheless, the riches of “Treasure Island” are not limited to the natural treasures to be found and enjoyed. Man has found that when he cares for the soil, using fertilizer and planting seeds, a rich harvest is in store.
Today, when the Isle of Pines is mentioned, the first thought that comes to mind is the production of grapefruit, oranges, watermelons and cucumbers. And truly these products play an important part in the economic life of the island. In 1953 the production of grapefruit was 18 million units. The grapefruit is known as “the Isle of Pines’ spoiled child,” because of the practice of waxing and packaging each grapefruit individually, for exportation to the United States. In 1953, 360,000 cases of cucumbers and about 100,000 units of watermelons were exported.
Rice has been planted in the past couple of years and it has been found to yield a good crop, and so rice mills have been constructed to care for future harvests. Beans have been planted and harvested with good success. The Isle of Pines can become the granary of Cuba in rice and beans, because it can produce 200,000 hundredweight in rice and 250,000 hundredweight in beans, according to conservative estimates.
Vegetables from the Isle of Pines find a good market in the United States, It has been proved that the soil produces good pasturage for cattle and soon, perhaps, the verdant fields will be seen dotted with browsing cattle, preparing themselves for the meat markets of the Isle of Pines and Cuba.
Truly the treasures of the Isle of Pines are many and varied. There are treasures on which to feast the eyes—God’s creation, the mountains and valleys, rivers and seas and beautiful beaches. Treasures to provide man with the necessary things for everyday living—minerals and lumber. Also, treasures to sustain life—fruits and vegetables, sea food and meat.
But the wisest man who ever lived on this earth said: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” (Matthew 4:4, New World Trans.) In 1952 the island was visited by the first preachers of the good news of Jehovah’s kingdom. A congregation has been formed and it is now growing month by month, as inhabitants of this “Treasure Island” joyfully learn of and accept the message of God’s kingdom that provides the greatest wealth of all.
Spinsters and Pin Money
Unmarried maidens acquired the name spinster from a custom that ruled that all maidens were to spin their own trousseaux before becoming brides. Among other things, a bride’s trousseau was to include “a pin dowery” of “8,000 needles and 9,000 pins.” The bridegroom usually checked his fiancee’s trousseau carefully to make sure that the needles and pins were present as promised. These were considered rare and costly items of great value, and as a rule they symbolized a woman’s wealth. Pins were so rare that they could be bought but two days a year—the first two days of January. Husbands would set aside money for their wives to buy this luxury item. The little lump set aside was called “pin money,” a term that has stuck down to this day.
PROGRESS? a well-informed reader may ask. Progress, when the inmates in mental institutions have increased four times as fast as the population in certain parts of the United States in the last fifty years?
Progress, when mental illness is costing United States taxpayers a billion dollars annually and represents an economic loss of S2 billion a year?
Progress, when half of the hospital beds are occupied by mental patients, some 750,000, and when 7.5 million others are unable to accept employment because of mental illness?
Progress, when mental illness represents the greatest health problem and when, according to one psychiatrist, if we do not do something about it soon, we shall have "so many people inside the institution that there won’t be enough left on the outside to run around and lock all the doors”?
Yes, the picture is bad even if we take into consideration the facts that today both doctors and relatives are more ready to make use of mental institutions than they were years ago, that more people grow old and that at times even sane aged persons are committed to such places because they have no other place to go.
…