Awake!, September 8, 1967
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CONTENTS
World Population "Exploding" 3
Famine: "The Dreaded Tomorrow
Already Has Dawned" 7
The Future: Disaster or Prosperity? 11
An Age of Plenty Near! 16
Why the Religious Apathy
Durian—Offensive yet Delicious 23
Your Clothes and You 24
"Your Word Is Truth"
Prayer That God Hears 27
Watching the World 29
BEFORE you finish reading this sentence, at least ten babies will have been born throughout the world. And, at the end of your day, the world's population will have increased by nearly 200,000 persons!
For many, the birth of a child is a welcomed event, bringing into the world a life to love and cherish. For others, bringing forth an additional life complicates an already difficult situation. And on a global scale, today's fast-increasing population frightens those who study it.
In this regard one authority said recently: "In 1950 many students of the situation concluded that a major world catastrophe was in the making. Today when we view the growth of world population in relation to what mankind is doing about the situation, that catastrophe appears a near-certainty."
Similar opinions are voiced by the overwhelming majority of those concerned with population trends. New Zealand's Southland Daily News reported: "Unless something is done to arrest the present
growth of population, the human race is in for a black and dismal future. . . . Even if the distribution of food is perfected . . . it could not possibly keep up with such a rate."
A New York Times report of January 20, 1966, stated: "Four Nobel laureates urged today that government take an active role in curbing population expansion. One of them raised the possibility that uncontrolled population growth might force man to resort to cannibalism, and another feared that the world would be plunged into a new Dark Age."
Still another commentator called the population growth "the gravest problem of our time, certainly more serious in the long perspective than war or peace."
Summarizing the opinions of analysts, U.S. News & World Report declared: "How can the world feed all its people, at the rate the population is growing? That is becoming the world's No. 1 problem. A look at what's happening shows why experts are worried. The human race is doubling in numbers every 35 years."
Skyrocketing Growth
From the evidence gathered by those concerned with the situation, it is clear that the growth in world population in our day is very different from the slow increase of many centuries ago. What is taking place today has been termed a "population explosion." Some are calling it a "population time bomb."
Never before in history have so many people been added to the human family each year. At present there is an annual increase of about 70,000,000 births over deaths. That is much larger than the total population of France!
A look at the long-term population trend reveals just how staggering the increase is. It took from the first century to the seventeenth century before the population of the world doubled from 250 million to 500 million. Then, in a little over two hundred more years, in the nineteenth century, the population doubled again, reaching about one thousand million (1,000,000,000). But in only a hundred more years, in the twentieth century, it once more doubled. And now? At today's rate of growth the population would double in just thirty-five years!
Another way to understand better the magnitude of this explosion is to realize that it took all human history up to the year 1830 for the world's population to reach 1,000,000,000. However, the second thousand million was added by 1930, in only a hundred years. The third thousand
million was added by 1960, in just thirty years. And currently the world grows by one thousand million people in only fifteen years!
In the years ahead, each thousand million will be added ever faster. Population experts agree that, if the present rate of increase were to continue, there would be at least 6,000,000,000 people on earth by the year 2000. Then it would take only eight years for the next thousand million persons to be added. If that rate were maintained, two hundred years from now there would be almost 200,000,000 people on the face of the earth!
Another factor to be considered is that the growth rate has not remained steady. Commenting on the current 2-percent annual growth of world population on the average, Newsweek stated: "In itself, that seems small, but it is more than double the rate of fifteen years ago, and the cumulative effect is staggering." So, not only has the total number added to the population increased each year, but the percentage of growth has likewise increased, combining to make a highly explosive mixture for future growth.
Why the Explosion Now?
What is responsible for this sudden explosion of the world's population? The basic reason is that advances in disease control have drastically lowered the death rate in most countries, while
the fertility rate has not decreased.
Indeed, because of better care during pregnancy, the birthrate has increased in most lands.
An example of this is the country of Ceylon. In 1946 life expectancy at birth in that land was forty-three years. But in just one year that life expectancy increased to fifty-two years, a gain of nine years! This was due primarily to the introduction of insecticides that practically eliminated malaria, Ceylon's major disease that was responsible for its high death rate previously.
In other countries similar advances have been made in the last half century, although perhaps not as quickly as that made by Ceylon. Nor have the countries that reduced their death rates been among only the highly developed, richer nations of the world. In less developed lands governments have adopted disease prevention methods established elsewhere and have been able to reduce or even eradicate many diseases that hitherto had taken a high toll of lives.
The mass control of infectious disease has produced a spectacular reduction in the death rate among infants and children. It is one of the main reasons why persons under twenty-five years of age make up more than half the population of most countries. This high percentage of young persons feeds the population increase. Children that previously were cut down in death due to disease now live to marry and produce children of their own.
Compounding the Problem
What compounds the problem is that the population is exploding the most in the very lands that can least afford it. The increase is particularly centered in countries near or in the southern hemisphere.
In most industrialized countries, almost all of which are well north of the equator, in the northern hemisphere, the population increase is well below the 2-percent average for the world. Russia and the United States both have a rate of about 1.5 percent, while Europe has slightly less than a one-percent annual increase. But the picture in lands near the equator and in most of the southern hemisphere is far different. In Africa the rate is 2.4 percent annually. South America has an even higher rate of 2.8 percent. In some lands the rate has soared much higher. Costa Rica's population increases at the astounding rate of 4.3 percent each year; the Dominican Republic's, 3.6 percent. Also above 3 percent are El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. Many countries in Africa and Asia are also well above the world average.
Thus, while the populations of North America and Latin America were about the same a few years ago, population experts estimate that within thirty-five years Latin America would contain well over 630,000,000 persons, almost 300,000,000 more than in North America. Africa would have over 400,000,000 more than North America, and Asia would have over 2,000,000,000 more! Yet, Latin America, Africa and much of Asia are the very places where the problem is the most severe already.
One of the countries critically affected is India. India has two and a half times the population of the United States. But India's 500,000,000 people occupy an area less than one-third that of the United States. India has, on the average, over four hundred inhabitants per square mile, while the United States has only fifty-five. Although India's population is over seven times as dense as that of the United States, her annual increase is more than four times as great, being about twelve to fourteen million a year in an already impoverished country.
Communist China has the largest population of any country on earth. It is estimated to be over 700,000,000. That is a density of about 187 persons per square mile, well below India's. However, a large part of China is made up of mountainous areas such as Tibet, or desert areas, neither of which is favorable at the present time to large-scale habitation and cultivation. And China's population explodes by approximately 15,000,000 persons each year, the largest increase of any nation on earth. So, as indicated on the cover of this magazine, a large proportion of earth's population is Asiatic.
The problem of nations with a high density of population can be appreciated when we examine the comparatively abundant land available to the United States population of about 200,000,000. They inhabit an area of about three and a half million square miles. Excluding areas uninhabitable at present, there are roughly four acres of countryside available for each person, on the average. But in a little more than a century there would be just a half acre left at the present rate of increase. Yet, in other countries where the density of population is far greater, the available land would be much less. And world wide, it has been estimated that if the present rate of growth were to continue, there would be only one square yard of land available for each human in six hundred years!
Pessimistic Outlook of Experts
Also, as population explodes, the land area that can be used for cultivation will actually diminish even faster, because cities, dwellings, highways, industries and public works take land away from food production.
When experts view the future, they view it with pessimism. They realize that the problems already accompanying the current population explosion are not being solved. As the population continues to explode, so do the problems.
This is true even in the more industrially advanced nations, where cities are growing larger and becoming packed with people. Urban renewal has not generally kept pace with the deterioration evident within most large cities. And in the majority of instances, it is the poorer people who must live in the overcrowded, less desirable areas, because they cannot afford to live in the more comfortable sections of the city, or in the relatively affluent suburbs. Discontentment over living conditions causes tempers and tensions to mount, providing a fertile field for all kinds of social disorders.
Indeed, crime is exploding many times as fast as the population in most industrialized nations. In the United States, the most technically advanced and materially prosperous nation in the world, during the first three months of 1967 crime exploded with a 20-percent increase compared to the same period last year! Nor is there any assurance at all that this will be relieved. All signs point to an aggravation of the situation. And although the United States rise in population is relatively low, yet Look of February 9, 1965, declared: "The outlook as population grows is for crisis doubled and redoubled."
Also, rivers and air become more polluted due to chemical wastes and toxic gases from factories and millions of automobiles. This pollution has already become a health hazard in nearly every industrialized country. In addition, deaths due to automobile accidents mount, now being about 50,000 annually in the United States alone.
And automobiles are being built faster than highways or parking areas can comfortably and safely accommodate them, further adding to the frightful congestion and frustration already existing.
That scientists are not optimistic about the future was noted in a seminar sponsored by the American Institute of Physics. After the meeting, the following report was issued in the New York Times of March 15, 1966: "Man appears to be losing his fight against drought, famine and air pollution despite 'exciting' scientific advances, a panel of specialists said."
One of these specialists pointed to the most menacing aspect of the entire problem. As the Times related: "Dr. A. Richard Kassander, of Arizona University's Institute for Atmospheric Physics, said: 'We're really kind of losing the race to grow food and increase water faster than the population grows.'"
This focuses attention on the most serious and most immediate of the problems: producing enough food to feed adequately the exploding human population of earth.
IF YOU live in one of the more industrialized nations of the world, you likely eat two or three adequate meals a day. It may be difficult for you to appreciate that people who eat as well as you do are a small minority of earth's population. Indeed, you probably have more leftover food from your daily meals than hundreds of millions of people eat each day!
Some analysts say.
that as many as eight out of ten of earth's inhabitants are undernourished. Almost all authorities agree that one-third to one-half of the world regularly suffers from hunger.
For many years population and food experts have warned of impending disaster, saying that the population explosion would inevitably bring on famine conditions. Looking into the future, the London Daily Telegraph and Morning Post said
several years ago: "Shortage of food in many parts of the world may create a more serious situation than the hydrogen bomb."
The disaster predicted for the future, however, is not waiting for the future. It already has begun! An Associated Press report stated: "For some areas, the dreaded tomorrow already has dawned."
Science News also said in its issue of
July 30, 1966: "Some experts say the Great World Famine has already begun."
Previous Warnings Being Fulfilled
That a food crisis already has begun was noted last year. A Buffalo Evening News editorial of February 25, 1966 stated:
"With quiet persistence and chilling facts, a Buffalo expert on food production has been doing his utmost for many months to alert Congress, the public and the world at large
to an impending global food crisis of potentially cataclysmic proportions. . .
"For, very simply, it is Dr. [Raymond] Ewell's thesis that the world is rapidly running short of food; that, since 1600 the percapita production of food in Asia,
Africa and Latin America has been declining by 1% to 2% a year; that, if these trends continue for the next 10-15 years, mass starvation, on a scale never before experienced in the world's history, will inevitably result...
"In India, Dr. Ewell told the committee, it is upon us now."
The events of the last two years have confirmed these observations. The country of India now is experiencing its worst famine in recent history, perhaps ever. The New York Times of April 19, 1967, declared in a headline: "Famine, Disease and Drought Sweep Bihar State in India, Affecting 40 Million." An accompanying article stated:
"About 40 million of Bihar's 52 million people have suffered to some degree since the failure of last summer's monsoon set off the worst drought in memory. However, Government officials and private relief workers agree that its worst effects are being felt only now. . . .
"Villagers have begun to die, either from starvation or from diseases they cannot overcome in their weakened condition. . . .
"In the most remote villages of the Gaya and Monghyr districts, one can see the results: women so weak they can hardly drag themselves out of their huts to greet visitors and men with gaunt, haggard faces who break into tears and cry, 'Nothing in the stomach. Nothing in the stomach.'"
After making a tour of some of the affected areas, a reporter for the Times
of India wrote the following account (April 20, 1967):
"The worst famine of the century has reduced millions to moving skeletons.
"Some cannot even move. They are on the verge of death. . . . in the districts of Budh Gaya and Palamau, hundreds of thousands are in the grp of hunger and thirst that defy description. . . .
"In a village called Baljathnpur, I encountered a farmer named Paguna and his wife Dakhya. They have five children. Children do not lie, and these little ones, looking like black skeletons with their eyes popping out, said they had not eaten since the previous evening. Their last meal was of boiled mahua flowers."
In a normal year the Indian state of Bihar produces about 7.3 million tons of food grains and is given about a million tons more by the central government. But as a result of the drought brought on by the failure of the annual monsoon rains, the crop this year is not expected to exceed 2.8 million tons, perhaps less. Over two million tons of grain may be shipped to Bihar by the central government of India this year. However, while India as a whole will import about twelve million tons of grain this year for relief purposes, only about one-fifth of that can be given to famine-stricken Bihar, and it is not enough. Why? Because the Indian government needs the rest to give to other
hunger areas throughout the country.
Due to the famine, the State of Bihar proclaimed a famine emergency, the first to be declared by any state government in India for the twenty years it has been an independent country.
The dreaded catastrophe that has already dawned in India was also described
AWAKE!
by an on-the-spot report published in U.S. News & World Report of May 1, 1967. The reporter wrote:
"Tens of thousands of people are going to starve, no matter what we do," I was told by a member of a famine-relief team at work in this parched country.
"Said this man: 'I can show you villages where people are gathering scum from stagnant ponds and mixing it with earth or cow dung to give it body and then eating it.'
"Reports like this, heard over and over, reveal the utter desperation of the people here in the State of Bihar. . . Nothing the average American has seen or been told could prepare him for such a visit. . .
"The crisis is not limited to Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh, to the west, you find areas where food is just as short as in Bihar's famine area. There are reports of similar conditions in parts of West Bengal, around Calcutta to the east, Orissa to the south, and Madhya Pradesh to the southwest. . . .
"Americans here can see with their own eyes that no matter what is done this year, starvation and disease are going to reap a ghastly harvest in human lives. And, they warn, unless a whole new effort is made to increase production from India's own land, the Bihar famine will be only a curtain raiser for what is to come in the years ahead."
Such grim reports are verified by our Awake! correspondent in India who writes that even in Andhra Pradesh to the south twenty-five million people are face to face with famine. He notes that cases of suicide are mounting and relates: "A father will administer poison to his entire family and then kill himself, unable to stand the strain of watching them gradually go into decline and die from lack of nourishment."
India Not Only Famine Area
While India is at present the most critical famine area in the world, it is not alone. In Africa and South America and other parts of Asia as well, famine conditions exist and worsen.
The areas in color get less than a minimum adequate diet
Commenting on the possibility of alleviating this condition in hunger areas of Latin America, Time of October 29, 1965, said: "Not unless a near miracle takes place, reports the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization. . . . More disturbing still, Latin America's food production is slipping behind its population growth—to the point where this year's projected per capita production will be 11% less than the prewar average."
Truly, the lands of almost the entire underdeveloped world, such as India, China, Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil and many others, are in a desperate plight. These underdeveloped nations constitute two-thirds of the earth's population, well over two thousand million people; they cannot feed these people, and yet they have exploding populations that experts predict will add another thousand million more mouths to feed by 1980.
Worry over Different "Explosion"
Authorities in the field worry over what might happen when too many people find themselves without food and without hope.
This fear was expressed by an Associated Press dispatch under the title: "World's starving millions may ignite explosion unless relief forthcoming." It said: "Because hungry people don't care how or by whom they are ruled—
"Because millions of children are doomed to die painfully of hunger—
"Because millions of others will grow up physically and mentally retarded from hunger—
"Because mass poverty of a third of all human beings is beyond the comprehension of rich countries—
"Because of all these things, a world calamity of vast proportions can be just around the corner. . . .
"Unchecked, the gathering catastrophe can bring disease, pestilence, revolution, perhaps more and crueler Viet Nams, perhaps even world war. It can threaten the security of the whole Western world. . .
"Without combined effort by the rich nations, the world, as a U.S. agricultural economist, Prof. Earl Butz, has put it, 'is on a collision course.'
"When the force of zooming population runs up against insufficient food production, there will be an explosion, says Butz, and unless we give increased attention now to the softening of the impending collision, many parts of the world within a decade will be skirting a disaster of such proportions as to threaten the peace and stability of the Western world."
The wealthier nations now recognize the gathering storm. Their officials realize that the population and food crisis can bring on social explosions that would have a profound effect on all countries. No doubt that is an underlying reason for the following report in the New York Times of June 10, 1967:
"WASHINGTON (D.C.), June 9—The Committee on the World Food Crisis demanded today that the Administration stop talking and start doing something about the onslaught of massive starvation throughout underdeveloped areas of the world."
Diminishing Stocks
However, while there is much concern, the hard, cold facts reveal that the world's reserve stock of food is shrinking. Since 1961 each year has seen a drop in the world's supply of grain left at the end of
the year. From about 136 million metric tons of grain in 1961 the year-end world supply shrank to about 73 million metric tons in 1966. And the estimate for 1967 is for only about 50 million metric tons left at the end of the year, a very small fraction of what is consumed annually throughout the world.
Even in the United States the supply of reserve grain has shrunk. In 1961 an estimated 1.4 thousand million bushels of wheat were carried over to the next year. But in 1966 that reserve supply had decreased to less than half that, about 536 million bushels. The 1967 carry-over is estimated to be only 420 million bushels. Similar reductions have taken place in corn and other feed grains. If the current crop were wiped out, those reserves would last the United States alone only about ninety days.
Yet, the United States, Canada and Australia are about the only nations left that can still export any substantial amount of food to help fight world starvation. Formerly other areas did export food, but, as Science News states: "Over the past several years, large regions such as India, Africa and South America have had to change from exporting food to importing food." Thus, only a handful of countries remain that have much food to export, and even their stockpiles have been reduced sharply due to huge exports to hungry lands.
Also, the world's food gap is widening. Look of March 7, 1967, declared: "The world is running out of food. That is a fact of life, and of death. Not just death for the hundreds of thousands who are starving routinely today, but for hundreds of millions. . . We are now losing the race between available food and the growing number of stomachs."
Yes, "the dreaded tomorrow already has dawned."
WHAT does the future hold? Will
was increasingly exploited. And the nations of that area became more interested in world conquest than in taking care of the ground. As a result, the land deteriorated. It became a desert and could not be brought back to full production without a major effort.
In many productive parts of the United States similar desert conditions would exist
the world see disaster or prosperity? The answer is that it will see both!
To appreciate better why it can be said that both are in store.
it would help to analyze briefly the causes for the present situation and the prospects for improvement.
First of all, is it beyond the earth's productive capacity to supply its current population with food?
were it not for the efforts of conservation-minded agriculturalists. In California several large areas such as the Imperial and San Joaquin valleys would be bleak deserts if modern farming methods, proper irrigation and sufficient fertilizer had not been used. As a result of care of the soil these potential desert areas produce abundantly, their fruit products being among the best in the
Is the Earth at Fault?
At present there is not enough food being produced to feed everyone properly. But does that mean the earth itself is at fault? Is the soil simply unable to sustain today's 3,400,000,000 people?
While it is true that some areas are not producing good crops, it is not true that the soil is always at fault. What is at fault is the way the available soil has been handled.
For example, historians recognize that
world. But if that same land were neglected or abused, it would turn into a vast wilderness.
That the earth is not primarily at fault, that there is enough good soil to feed today's world population, and many more, experts admit. Professor D. Bogue of the University of Chicago stated: "Given the present capacity of the earth for food production, and the potential for additional food production if modern technology were more fully employed, the human race clearly has within its grasp the capacity to chase hunger from the earth
the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, called Mesopotamia, was once a very fruitful area, producing abundant crops. Today it is practically a desert. Did the soil turn bad? No, it was mismanaged. The fine irrigation systems from the Tigris and Euphrates were neglected gradually. Instead of the land's being cared for, it SEPTEMBER 8, 1967
priority to choose range from within a matter of a decade or two."—U.S. News & World Report, January 2, 1967.
Further, there is more land available than there are people to cultivate it properly. The Soviet Union is sparsely populated. It could hold millions more persons. Huge Canada's population density is only about five persons per square mile, com-
pared to Japan's more than 680, India's over 400, and Puerto Rico's 754.
Obviously, much territory is not being cultivated at all. The entire continent of Australia contains only about the same number of people as metropolitan Tokyo! Most of Africa, including many fertile areas, is relatively empty. It has been said that Rhodesia, with a population of slightly over four million, could support fifty million people!
ishly the earth's resources. Instead, there are power blocs, national divisions, selfishness, greed and hatreds that fragment mankind and make solutions of its basic problems impossible.
Example of India
All of this can be seen in the disaster now overtaking India. While it may be said that an immediate cause for India's famine is the lack of rainfall, still that
World wide it is reported that only about a quarter of the arable land available is now under cultivation, and less than 10 percent in Latin America. Some experts on population matters even say that the earth could support a hundred thousand million persons.
What Is at Fault?
However, if the earth itself is not at fault, then what is?
Geochemist Harrison Brown of the California Institute of Technology stated:
is not the entire picture. Of late, even in good years, the crop has not been enough. The drought merely aggravated an already bad situation.
Is India's land at fault? No, for that same land could produce many times the food that it does at present. Primitive farming methods, insufficient fertilizer and a lack of irrigation are some of the things that contribute to make India's land far less productive than it should be. Wooden plows that only scratch the surface are used because peasants do not
"Here indeed is the great potential tragedy of our age! Our science and our technology have given us the power to create a world in which virtually all people can lead free and abundant lives. We have the power to create a civilization as yet undreamed of in its beauty and its accomplishments. Yet somehow we can't seem to organize ourselves to use that power effectively to solve mankind's basic problems."
Note that key point: "We can't seem to organize ourselves to use that power
have the money to buy a modern plow. Even if they could obtain one, their hungry oxen could not pull it.
India's religious attitude also contributes heavily to her condition. Hindus believe that cows are "sacred," descendants of a cow goddess. The population of these animals increases at a rate almost equal to the explosion of India's human population, and there are already about 250 million cattle in India. Many of these are diseased and underfed. Yet they roam unchecked through the land, an added set of drain on the sources food supply. Nor
effectively to solve mankind's basic problems."
What is clearly at fault, then, is the system of things that prevails on earth today. The governmental, economic, social, racial and religious systems are not cooperating together sufficiently to solve mankind's problems. There is no central control to distribute equally and unself-
vere drain on the scarce food supply. Not will the Hindus eat these "sacred" cows, so a potential source of food goes untouched. It is unlikely that these animals will be either curbed or used for food in the near future. Last year riots resulting from the slaughter of such cows created a "national calamity" and threatened another religious war.
Poor administration in the distribution of available supplies has added to the difficulty, as has corruption and greed. Also, the Hindu teaching of "karma" hinders progress. This teaching says that whatever a person suffers in this life is a result of what he has done in a previous life. If he wants to obtain grace, "dharma," then he must accept his fate. This fatalism has resulted in a grave lack of initiative on the part of many.
That it is the system of things that is primarily at fault was noted in Look magazine this year. It stated: "There is no doubt that man has the technical capacity to lift food production around the globe. But modern, scientific farming involves fundamental changes in the social structure of a nation, and that is a painfully slow process. Illiterate peasants are not likely to respond quickly to the demands of either scientific agriculture or family planning." Such has been the case in India.
Also, in spite of her pressing problems India has spent thousands of millions of dollars on armaments and has fought a costly war with Pakistan, which country also has population and food problems. Similarly, China has clashed with India. In all of this, resources that could have been used to aid
agriculture have been diverted to nonproductive purposes. Over 40 percent of India's budget this year will be for armaments!
Some countries, particularly the United States, are sending substantial amounts of grain, helping India to avoid total disaster. But even in the famine areas, the small relief rations amount to only about 600 calories a day for many, far below adequate levels. And it is not really solving the problem. As Professor of Sociology Nathan Keyfitz of the University of Chicago stated: "How different the case would be if the United States had given fertilizer factories rather than wheat. Then more grain could sprout on the Asian countryside, and there would be no reason for the peasants to accumulate in the city beyond the needs of industrial growth."
Sadly, these handouts have encouraged many peasants to leave the land and flock
into the cities, where food distribution is centered. Instead of being producers, they become only consumers and worsen the situation. They are also robbed of their dignity by being reduced to the status of a near-beggar, unable or un-
willing to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Years ago India should have been helped where it would have been the most effective, in farming methods, modern implements, fertilizer factories and irrigation projects.
Part of India's dilemma stems from her colonial background. Under the colonial regime relatively little effort was made to combat illiteracy among India's masses so they could eventually help themselves. Elsewhere, too, the colonial powers have had a poor record in the lands they previously held in Asia, Africa and South America. As Professor Keyfitz stated: "Western governments and electorates sense the tragic state of affairs, and at least vaguely feel responsible for this aftermath of colonialism, and so we provide food and other kinds of aid."
Yes, the basic cause for India's dilemma and the world's dilemma is the controlling system of things. It does not work for the benefit of all. It is simply not arranged to aid underdeveloped nations overcome their population and food problems.
Colossal Waste
The time, energy, money and resources that are spent for constructive aid are dwarfed by the colossal expenditures devoted to implements of destruction.
The nations of this system of things are spending fantastic amounts on weapons of war. The United States alone spent about seventy thousand million dollars on armaments last year, more than half her annual budget! This colossal and tragic waste of resources each year makes the amounts spent on helping the hungry pale into insignificance.
And even within the boundaries of wealthy nations that are spending so much on armaments, what do we find? A New York Times headline of June 17, 1967,
reads: "Severe Hunger Found in Mississippi." The report said:
"A team of doctors who recently returned from Mississippi told Congress today that they had found hunger approaching starvation and serious untreated diseases among hundreds of Negro children there. . . . They described the health of the poor children there as 'pitiful,' 'alarming,' 'unbelievable' and 'appalling.' . . .
"The doctors' report continued: 'We do not want to quibble over words, but "male-nutrition" is not quite what we found; the boys and girls we saw were hungry—weak, in pain, sick; their lives are being shortened They are suffering from hunger and disease and directly or indirectly they are dying from them—which is exactly what "starvation" means.' . . .
"It is fantastic,' [one doctor] said, 'that this should be so in the wealthiest nation in the world—the wealthiest nation that ever was.'"
That the present system of things world wide is not working for the good of all mankind, even a United States Senator acknowledged. Writing in Look of March 7, 1967, he stated:
"It is not that the earth lacks the capacity or modern farmers the know-how, to 'produce subsistence for men,' but rather that governments lack the will and the courage to bend their efforts to the task. Horrified historians may record that as the world sped on a collision course with starvation, its great powers fiddled with a war in Vietnam, a crisis in Berlin, a contest in arsenal building and a race to the moon.
"In Vietnam, we are willing to pour a million dollars in ammunition into the jungle if one VC [Viet Cong] sticks up his head. But hunger threatens to swallow civilization and we are hesitant to mount a solid counteroffensive.
"Everybody is talking about it, and nobody is in charge, . . . Where is the General West-moreland to lead the war on hunger? Where is the necessary incentive to farmers and technicians? Where is the Manila Conference to rally allies among other affluent nations?
"We are spending seven-tenths of one percent of our gross national product for food and development assistance. This is only one-sixth the cost of our military operations in Vietnam [which is still only a part of total armament costs]."
The nations of this system of things have spent astronomical amounts year after year for armaments. Aside from that, the current race to the moon will cost the United States over forty thousand million dollars, and no doubt Russia will spend a similar amount. This while famine stalks the earth, and conditions within the wealthy nations themselves cry out for improvement. Such resources, had they been spent on the population and food crisis, could have had remarkable results. Why, just last year's United States armament expenditure could have provided 14,000,000 homes costing 5,000 each in the poorer countries! Or it could have provided a salary of5,000 for that many teachers to educate the illiterate masses throughout the world.
But the money devoted to armaments is not being spent for the benefit of mankind, nor is it likely to be spent. Why not? Because the present system of things on earth is simply too selfish, too full of political and economic greed. Indeed, the kind of aid required has been in a declining trend. One population authority said: "We are faced, however, by the sad fact that for the past five years aid contributions from these countries have remained static. Indeed, as a proportion of their incomes, aid contributions have decreased from 0.8 percent to 0.6 percent."
Prospects for Future
A crash program of capital investments of titanic proportions is needed to increase food production in poorer countries. But of this a panel of experts related the following facts, published in the New York Times of June 18, 1967:
"Since the main hope for increasing food production in the poor countries was through increased yield per unit of land, there could be no substitute for this higher investment in improved seed, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and water for irrigation.
"Even more difficult would be the vast educational and training programs required to create, distribute and properly use modern crop production input and the transportation to distribute, process and market the output of farms . . .
"Even under the most favorable circumstances the interval between the inauguration of such programs and their realization in the form of increased production of crops will be at least 5 to 10 years.
"It is by no means certain that this task can be accomplished to the extent or at the rate needed to meet food requirements during the next two decades, even with a 'warlike' mobilization of the developed countries."
The tremendous crash program needed is not even in the planning stage! And there is no assurance at all that it will ever be undertaken or implemented in this divided world.
Along with any increase in food production, experts agree that the skyrocketing population must be curbed in the future. In a few countries the birthrate has been lowered, partly by new birth-control methods. For example, in the United States it is now acknowledged that the "baby boom" of the last two decades has come to an end, at least temporarily. The number of births in 1966 (3,629,000) was the lowest since 1950. However, as more of the postwar baby crop reaches maturity, experts predict, total births will rise again.
In Japan an exploding population has been brought largely under control, as the annual increase is barely one percent. But the decrease in the birthrate is not altogether due to birth-control measures. In large part it is due to legalized abortion.
It is admitted that Japan has at least as many abortions as live births.
However, countries such as Japan and the United States are among the wealthier nations. They do not have the severe population and food problems that the underdeveloped two-thirds of the world has. In those areas, the critical areas, the population explosion is not at all being halted. Food production is not being raised. Nor is the aid given them enough to halt their downward plunge.
Truly, the entire system of governments, societies and ideologies is proving inadequate. And the religious and national barriers are hampering progress. It all simply means that the population and food crisis is not being solved.
But does this mean there is no solution? Does it mean that the future is hopeless? Not at all! On the contrary, the population and food crisis will be solved without fail, and that in the immediate future!
An Age of Plenty Near!
WHAT does mankind need to solve the population and food crisis? What is needed is a central authority that can marshal all the resources of the earth and justly and fairly use them for the benefit of all mankind, without wasting them in war, without individual and collective greed making a shambles of such efforts.
Will this ever be done? Without doubt the population and food crisis positively will be solved, and within this very generation! But not by means of this present system of things.
This System on the Way Out
For nearly 6,000 years of human history, mankind, for the most part, has carried on in its own ways, outside the direction of the Creator, Jehovah God. Rather than submitting to direction by God, man has rebelled and sought out his own paths independently from his Maker. In all this time God has wisely permitted man's experiment in rebellion and independence. Today, we can clearly see the sad results of man's independent thinking and activity. Proved beyond a doubt is what the prophet Jeremiah was inspired to write:
"I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step. Correct me, O Jehovah, however with judgment."—Jer. 10: 23, 24.
Almighty God is going to do just that. Not forever will He permit this system to go its own destructive way. God has set a time limit for this system of things, and that time limit is almost up. This system has had its opportunity to administer man's affairs, and it has failed to bring peace, blessings and prosperity. Soon God will call it to account and bring it into judgment. He will execute his perfectly righteous decisions in accordance with what individuals and organizations have done to the earth.
What have men done to the soil, to one another and to the animal kingdom? Have they used earth's resources for the good of all? Or have they gone on in their own selfish, destructive way?
The record of history is that mankind has made a monumental mess of governing this earth. Men have abused earth's natural resources, they have worked for selfish advantage at the expense of their fellowman, and they have spilled the blood of millions of innocent persons in fiendish, wasteful warfare.
God's time for executing his judgments on this unrighteous system of things nears. Of this time, Bible prophecy states:
"The nations became wrathful, and [God's] own wrath came, and the appointed time for the dead to be judged, and to give their reward to your slaves the prophets and to the holy ones and to those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth."—Rev. 11:18.
That is the true meaning of the world's pitiful condition today. We are nearing the end of this system of things, a system that has brought such tragedy to all mankind, that is progressively breaking down before our very eyes. (2 Tim. 3:1-5) One of the many evidences that positively identify our generation as being in the "last days" was given by Jesus Christ in his famous prophecy about the end of this
system of things. He foretold that "there will be food shortages . . . in one place after another."—Matt. 24:7.
Jesus foretold that within our very generation Jehovah God, Creator of heaven and earth, will directly intervene in man's affairs and "bring to ruin those ruining the earth" by destroying the entire present wicked system of things along with its promoters. Matt. 24:3-14, 34-39.
Yet, those who have respect for what is right, who are willing to submit to God and his righteous laws that benefit everybody, will be permitted to live through the coming execution of this old system of
things. The psalmist, writing under inspiration by God, foretold:
"Evildoers themselves will be cut off, but those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth.
"And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more...he will not be.
"But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. . . .
"The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it." —Ps. 37:9-11, 29.
By bringing this system of things to an end, with one swift stroke God will solve the population crisis. There will then be no more exploding population. Only honest-hearted persons will continue to live, but
in a new system of things, a new arrangement of human society on earth governed by Almighty God
through a heavenly kingdom, a heavenly government.
This is the literal government for which Jesus Christ told his followers to pray. (Matt. 6:9, 10) It is the government that ancient Hebrew prophets knew would take control of all earth's affairs and administer them the right way. Of this government, the prophet Daniel said:
"And in the days of those kings [in existence in our time] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite."—Dan. 2:44.
Unequaled Prosperity
After God ushers in his new system of things in heaven and on earth and takes complete control of all earth's affairs, then what? Then righteousness will extend throughout the earth. As the apostle Peter stated: "There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell."—2 Pet. 3:13.
Under a righteous administration obedient mankind will work in loving cooperation with one another as well as with their Creator. People will be organized earth wide under God's one government so that all persons can benefit equally from earth's rich resources. There will not then be some rich and some poor, some well fed and some starving. God will make a banquet for all peoples, without discrimination or prejudice:
"Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples, in this mountain, a banquet of . . . well-oiled dishes filled with marrow, of wine kept on the dregs, filtered. . . He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces." Isa. 25:6, 8.
The Creator guarantees that death, hunger and unhappiness will be eliminated in that new system. No more will men have to struggle with the earth, only to be buried underneath it eventually. They will be able to live forever and observe the earth produce bountiful as they work it under God's direction. "There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow." (Ps. 72:16) Indeed, mankind's needs will be completely satisfied under that central government for all the earth. The inspired psalmist said: "You [God] are opening your hand and satisfying the desire of every living thing."—Ps. 145:16.
Under God's righteous government and under the loving care of unselfish men, the earth will be transformed gradually into a literal paradise, providing all its inhabitants with the best of material benefits for their eternal happiness. All the bad conditions of today will be eliminated. No more will there be overcrowding, poor housing and hunger. No more will mothers bear children and raise them to maturity only to have to send them off to be slaughtered by selfish rulers. No more will armaments races be permitted to waste earth's resources and drench the soil with blood while millions starve.—Ps. 46:8, 9; Isa. 2:3, 4.
Thus, within this very generation, an age of plenty will begin that has had no parallel throughout man's history! It will be a new system of things that will forever bring to an end population and food problems. Then earth's population will never go beyond comfortable limits or outrace the available food supply. God will see to it that human procreation is kept within the bounds he sets so that every person will enjoy the productive earth and the fruits of his labor.
Do Not Be Mistled
God's new system is the only and sure answer to the population and food crisis.
Do not be misled by high-sounding words, even well-intentioned promises, by men in this system of things. The Almighty God, Jehovah, says that this system and its leaders will utterly fail to solve mankind's grave problems. He tells us that men alienated from God will become ever more deeply mired in their problems, until God intervenes and rips control of earth's affairs from them. —Luke 21:26-28.
So, instead of focusing your attention
and hope on false remedies, focus them on the only One who has the power and the will to solve the population and food crisis, Jehovah God. As His Word encourages: "Hope in Jehovah and keep his way, and he will exalt you to take possession of the earth. When the wicked ones are cut off, you will see it."—Ps. 37:34.
God's time for cutting off this wicked system of things nears. His time for ushering in his righteous new system thus also nears. Take advantage of the remaining time to learn about it so that you can enjoy its benefits, so that you can live in the coming age of plenty.
THE rank and file of baptized Catholics in Latin America are more and more falling into a state of apathy as regards religion. For example, in Ecuador, officially dedicated in 1873 to the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" and in 1892 to the "Immaculate Heart of Mary," the attitude of the public has undergone a remarkable change within the past few years. The Roman Catholic Church has definitely lost much of its influence over the lives of Ecuadorians.
In Peru, too, recent visitors noted that the churches there are no longer the center of family life. At the hours when mass is being said, people will be grouped together watching television or off for a day at the beach. The showmanship of
processions at special fastas still attracts the crowds, but people then quickly lapse back into the religious apathy that is gradually enveloping them.
In Uruguay a veil of indifference and sheer lack of interest in religious matters seems to have settled down over the people. One has only to mention such words as "God," "Bible" and "religion" to close down a conversation, for many people do not care to discuss such questions. The majority of the men are agnostics or atheists. The same general trend is seen in Brazil, where the people are often Catholic in name only. There is a growing gulf between clergy and people. Fewer than 10 percent of Brazilians attend Sunday mass, and in parts of the country where Catholicism was strongly entrenched there is a noticeable turning away.
That religion is losing its hold on Chileans was admitted by priest Ignacio Garcia when he spoke before a forum in Santiago: "The priest is a bridge . . . and the people do not want to cross it. What is happening on the bridge? We take off the cassock, we speak Spanish [in compliance with ecumenical developments] and nobody crosses the bridge, as though getting to the other side no longer interests them." (Vea, Santiago, Chile, November 24, 1966) In Argentina it is estimated that no more than 5 percent of the Catholics "make their Easter duty," that is, comply with the church's requirements as to fasting, confessing and attending mass.
Bolivia's Indian population has dutifully observed the rites of the Roman Catholic Church for more than four hundred years. It now becomes evident that theirs has been a purely mechanical expression without any deep-down intellectual appreciation. Says Werner Krauss, professor at the German High School in La Paz: "Even today one cannot note any definite inclination toward Christianity [on the part of the Indian]. The result is that the impotent temples spread throughout the land have not accomplished their task and their deteriorating fronts are not merely the effect of poverty and time, but also constitute a symbol." (El Diario, La Paz, October 28, 1966) A symbol of what? Of the apathetic attitude of Bolivians toward religion.
In Venezuela, too, an attitude of apathy toward the church is especially noticeable among the men. They will often express the opinion that religion is only for women and children. Time after time missionaries who visit the people in their homes are told: "I do not understand my own
Catholic religion, so how can I understand another?" The youth are turning to atheism and science as substitutes for a religion they cannot respect. The mounting disrespect may be gauged by the increasing number of thefts from church treasuries.
Seeking the Explanation
A variety of reasons are offered in explanation of this trend toward religious apathy. For example, in his book The Coming Explosion in Latin America, Canadian journalist Gerald Clark declares that "the hierarchy in general, and many parish priests, cling to a Middle Ages mentality that supports the traditional landowners and preaches that man's reward comes in afterlife." He also reminds readers that "the Church remained aloof from the material problems of its converts and opposed to social changes. In the process it amassed a great fortune. By the nineteenth century the Church, through gifts, tithes, and other revenues, owned between one third and one half of all private property in the colonies. It also directed education."
The same author goes on to reveal that "in parts of Ecuador peasants have to pay merely for the ringing of funeral bells." There, too, according to the same writer, "twenty-five percent of the husband-wife couples admit to living out of wedlock because they cannot raise enough money for a marriage ceremony. In Colombia, where a church wedding costs on the average fifty pesos, or four dollars (more than most campesinos earn in a month), half the children are illegitimate." Pointing to the fact that, though 90 percent of the slum children in Lima, Peru are baptized, only 9 percent of their parents go to mass, journalist Clark observes: "If the adults feel that children should be started in a righteous direction, the same compulsion does not motivate their own later lives, particularly since formal worship involves financial cost."
Among youth a cynical attitude toward the church develops as they note that, no matter how great the enormity of the crimes committed by church members, they are still received and accepted by the church. Women known to be promiscuous are not excommunicated. Murderers, thieves, liars and adulterers still receive the rites of the church. Those who can afford to make an adequate contribution in money or in kind are readily absolved of their sins and find it easy to repeat the same offenses.
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