Jan. 18, 1922, Vol. Ill, No. 61

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JNmw ■ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1922 NDMBn ■

CONTENTS of the GOLDEN AGE

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

Capitalized Crains and Labor War Profiteers Now Safe._______

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL Prohibition of Liquor........236 Golden Rule Principles......240

ubsolAshness Requisite 240 Ie Knowledge Power?........MS

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

Away from the Lund

HOME AND HEALTH Why ThU DUtereuce?...................................  349

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Mouths    

On Sunday Anymore (poem)    ..........239

Interested In ZlonUOk

Studies Ln the “Harp of

God”

Ninety and Nine (poekn) 2SB

PebHabed Muy other Wadaeadiy at M Myrtle A ver. lie, Brooklyn. N. Y.,        . V & A.

to WOODWORTH, HUDGINGS and MARTEN CLAYTON J WOODWORTH......&1«»

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“Go to Church, Thou Fool”—In Four Parts (Part ii)

/~\F COURSE the clergy know that war is wrong; everybody knows that it is wrong; and in times of peace the “Reverends” are always opposed to the murder of their fellow men by this means. Thus the Board of Methodist Episcopal Church Bishops announce officially: ^,fWe earnestly hope that America may be a leader in allaying the passions engendered by war”.

Some of these bishops were present in Pennsylvania in the Spring of 1918, when 400 prominent Methodist Episcopal clergymen memorialized and petitioned Congress and the President of the United

States to inflict the death penalty on all violators of the infamous Espionage Act.

General Bell of the United States Army afterward stated that the specific object in view at the time that resolution was engineered by the clergy and the military was to procure the death of prominent executives and workers in the International Bible Students Association, and their friends and associates. Did those bishops and clergymen, who no doubt claim to be followers of Christ, and in their positions samples of His teachings, thus plan the death of the officers and prominent members of the I. B. S. A.? If so, why? The answer is written in the skies. Wherever they go they lay bare clerical hypocrisies. War is a good time for the “Reverends” to “stand in” with the authorities and to “get” those who expose their duplicity.

At present the bishops are all for peace, but not because there has been any change whatever in their views. During the war they were the strongest “rooters” for war in the whole country. They love peace but hate pacifists. Now they are for peace because their master, Big Business, is temporarily sick of war and, they know it. They “hear their master’s voice”. One can judge, therefore, how genuine is the principle back of the following resolution adopted at the World’s Methodist Conference at London, September 12,1921: “On behalf of millions of youths who suffered and died; on behalf of millions of homes broken by bereavement; in the name of the silent multitudes who still suffer, we insist that our leaders find a way for the settlement of international differences by other than arbitrament of arms. We repudiate the doctrine that war is a necessity. Justice, not force, must be the final arbiter of right. Differences must be settled by reason, not by human slaughter.”

Why did the Bishops wait until the Fall of 1921 to say this? \\ by did they not say it in 1914, or 191.1, or 1916, or 1917 or 1918? Every body knows the reason why. They did not want to go to jail and lose their titles and their respectability. Bishops have always been against war in general, but for each war in particular. For we must love our enemies, except during this particular war “for a just cause!”

Then there is the Reverend Karl Reiland, Rector of St. George’s Church, in the City of New York. In a sermon published in one of the organs of Big Business entitled Commerce, ami I'iname he said recently:

“A little reflection should convince us that we cannot improve this world by paying ignominious tribute to Mars, whose altars have been wantonly drenched in human blood, and we might try, even with hesitancy, paying tribute to the Prince of Peace and the brother-

hood ef sum. Whoever talks Mars instead of Messiah is speaking not for the brotherhood of man and the Bation's destiny, but for the blood of man and the nation's death. He is advocating for our youth not an Ideal of national character, but the idea of a national eemetery. He is not a patriot, but a parasite. Christianity cannot be reconciled to war any more than a gentleman can be to a philosophy of brute force. I admit that we have had to fight, and may yet have to fight, a war. But the point I make is that war should be an accident, pardonable if necessary; but peace, and a scientific, educational, cultural preparation for peace should be the supreme purpose."                  '

Reverend Reiland writes very well down to the word “I”, so well that one might even feel disposed to test his genuineness by asking him which one of the cell-houses he occupied at the Atlanta Penitentiary and what were his range and cell numbers and his convict number during the war. For he would have gone to prison, had he spoken thus when it was dangerous to do so. But every one knows and must know who reads the rest of his article that during the war he stood foursquare for war the same as all the other clergy have always done in every country and in every war, and that his whole essay is / o*nly a tickling of the ears of those who like to have their ears tickled,           .

Then there is Reverend Dwight J. Bradley, Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Webster Groves, Missouri. We know that he is against war now; for in a leaflet dated November 6, 1921, he says:

^<rIn our age there has arisen a mastering belief that war is no longer tolerable. The intelligent men and women of the world are almost universally of this opinion."

And we feel like asking, Where did yon, "Reverend” Bradley, stand on the war question in 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918! When did you get i/our mastering belief that war is no longer tolerable! Why didn’t you say it in 1917! And wAen did “the intelligent men and women of the world” who are now almost universally of the opinion that war is intolerable reach that opinion! It must have been very recently. It certainly was not in the piping days of 1917-1918, when Big Business was deliberately trying to force the country into war; and you know it, Reverend Bradley. They were for war, and we think you were too; for we do not remember seeing you at Atlanta.

We come now to the words of some of those who were openly and outspokenly for war and we shall see how they are floundering now that all the brutal, bloody and beastly facts are oonb> ing to the light/ Take for instance Reverend William T. Ellis, the so-called “Religious Rambler”, famous during the lifetime of Pastor Russell for his persecutions of that godly man;' On June 15, 1918, in the Philadelphia American, Reverend Ellis made use of the fol*

lowing blasphemous language:

"Reverently, many soldiers know in their deepart hearts that they are following in His footsteps wheo^ they fling their lives into this ministry of mankind. All the countless battlefield crosses that point backward and forward and upward with their arms of faith testify to a fresh appreciation of Christ and Him crucified^ offer up all for the sake of others, and of principle^ is the act that links man with God, and that reldUii ■Calvary to the Somme. Two great words of ScriptuH^ are often found in my mind during these days.

is ‘without shedding of hlood there is no remission^ sin*. We .perceive how war’s unmeasured sacrifice Sf purging the nations of grossness and tvil. The price that is being paid should free us from our national, sins. Somehow in ways we cannot freely understand^ God is fulfilling the sacrifice of His Son in this great hour. All who serve and suffer vicariously in this hour of crucifixion are sharers tn the travail and triumph ef the patient Christ!*' [Italics ours] ' . . ' -■<

It is evident that this statement was made by Reverend Ellis to herd the boys into the trench^ es and to receive the plaudits of his ally, Big Business.

If any worse blasphemy was ever uttered By one of the “Reverends” since Christ hung oM the cross to atone for the sins of mankind, wj have never heard of it. How the nations hoy* been freed of grossness and evil at the hand! of profiteers is a matter of history. And as to the holy calling of murdering one another, let the Reverend Ellis himself in the same Philadelphia North American; under date of May 24,1919, tell the effect that it had on the holiest of all, namely the Reverends who accompanied the American Expedition to France:'

"So widely had preaching become a profession, withr out the divine spiritual passion, that many clergyman^ instead of being leaders and prophets, have themselves, maintained a conventionally correct mode of life <wfly by circumstances. They followed the code of their calling, because it was difficult and dangerous to do otherwise. Many of these men went to war from varying motives; and some avowedly to escape the tedium' <x their distasteful round of ministerial duties. Of tide number a percentage, small, and yet too large io hi ignored by conscientious people, suffered a moral lap*

!

With the greater number of these latter, the failure was merely a relaxation of their standards of speech and of ■uch practices as wine-drinking. Others went utterly bad, sinking into sensuality and even crime. I know whereof I speak: I am hot exaggerating the occasional instance, such as the minister in Y. M. C. .A. work, who became a confessed and convicted, thief in France. My information comes at first hand and on the spot, from the officials who knew all the details/'

Let us take another illustration, touching some of the same points. The Reverend Thomas B. Gregory is a well-known contributor to the press, his articles being widely published in the New York World and other periodicals. In 1916 the United States conducted a general election, which was won by a college president because “he kept us out of war”. Air. Gregory was on the side of this president at that time. He was against war with Germany. He was for continuing the maintenance of neighborly treatment of all nations and discussed the subject as follows:

"The successful preacher of today is the one who" talks about the things of today: without wasting his precious time talking about things that are supposed to have happened thousands of years ago—things that are ef no particular importance whether they happened tor did not happen. Of more importance to us than the 'Abrahamic Covenant* is the covenant that we make today with our neighbors that we will be neighborly and treat each other with justice and good will.”

- This statement shows that this man is absolutely devoid of knowledge of the religion of 'Jesus Christ. Inasmuch as the Scriptures show that the Abrahamic Covenant states that in Abraham’s seed, which is Christ, all nations, kindreds and families of the earth shall be blessed during the Golden Age, Reverend Gregory’s speech is almost as blasphemous as that of Reverend Ellis. But it is not for that we have quoted it. We want you to compare its spirit and its apparent principle with the spirit and principle of the same gentleman’s utterances a year later, when the president that kept us out the war was busy trying to get us into it and the twenty-five press hounds bought with British Gold — bought for the purpose by Big Business—were busy laying the foundation of lies upon which the war structure was subsequently erected. Hear him in 1917:

"How souls are thrilled by the spontaneity and joy with which so many millions of human, beings are giving themselves up to save the world, to rescue freedom and civilization from its would-be assassins, and contribute by their devoted and unselfish servioe to the welfare and happiness of those who are yet unborn. Thank God for the spectacle. It heartens us; it makes us proud and glad to witness such nobility of ideal and action. This is the most terrible emergency that' humanity has ever been called upon to face; and yet, Heaven be praised, it is being met with courage and ' with faith, in the firm conviction that out of every bit of sacrifice, out of every duty bravely attended to, out of sacred agony and every noble task for the Brotherhood’s sake, there shall come the flower and fruit that shall gladden all the coming generations.”

All men now know that the flower and fruit of the war are revolution, famine, bestiality, disease, and death.

Other church officials that were outspokenly for war: James M. Gray, Dean of the Moody Bible Institute, said in a letter to the Chicago Daily News in October, 1919, “I favor universal military training because it is the duty of citizens to defend their country and sometimes defend other countries, as in the late war with Germany”. Reverend Francis Kelley, Papal-empire chaplain of the American Legion, said in a speech at Cleveland: “A nation is to be judged worthy of existence as a. nation by its ability to fight, and the aim of America should^ be not to be loved but to be feared”. Former Field Marshal Von Hindenburg is a deacon in the Lutheran Church at Brandenburg; and the miserable outcast in the House of Doorn, Kai- ' ser Wilhelm, was one time a regularly ordained minister of the Lutheran Church, and head of the Lutheran Church of Germany.

Some of the Kaiser’s crowd persecuted the International Bible Students because they were unwilling to slay their fellow men. At last accounts Dean Gray of the Chicago Moody Bible Institute, it was alleged, was encouraging the Moodyites to offer persistent prayer for the destruction of the Bible Students—because they will persist in telling the truth and exposing the hypocrisies of the clergy business.

It is a matter of history that the French gov-eminent awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor to the president and the secretary of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America as a mark of recognition both for the part played by the Federal Council in the winning of the war and for the personal services of its president and secretary. This shows well enough where the clergy stood during the World War. They proved the maxim, “We -have no king but Caesar”. They gloried in war and considered it fine, wonderful, spiritual!

Else why did the same Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, on October 7, 1920, award to President Wilson a chaplain’s war medal “as an expression of appreciation by the churches of his distinguished services to the church and to the world through his leadership in winning the World War”? Now the same men are seeking to perpetuate Mr. Wilson’s un-American attacks on the United States Constitution (which demands that church and state be kept forever separate) by forming a Woodrow Wilson Foundation which shall continue his policies indefinitely.

Judged out of Their Own Mouths

ET the clergy now acknowledge who were responsible for the World War; for we

will give a number of citations, so' that all may be convinced. First comes Rabbi Wise. Addressing recently the Free Synagogue congregation in Carnegie Hall, New York city, he said: .                            .

“Failure of the churches and synagogues to maintain leadership over the people was the cause of the present war. They have enthroned a war devil in the place of God. The church is muzzled and throttled into submission. It is like a dumb dog, old and toothless, that can no longer bite. Hany of us looked to the Socialist* to avert such a war as this; but we never looked to the churches, mosques, and synagogues to prevent war. None of us expected such a thing from them, and we know what would happen to any leader in the Church of England who would dare raise his voice against his country's part in the present strife* And when the nations were preparing for this war they never consulted the churches because they knew that, just as they relied upon their ambulance corps and their commissaries, they could rely upon the churches to uphold them.”

The next witness is the Reverend '■Doctor George H. Combs, of Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Combs, addressing the Detroit Pastors Union, at its monthly meeting in the Y. M. C. A., in November, 1919, said:

“Ijeather-lunged, intemperate proclamation of the ‘gospel of hate’ during the war has brought the pulpit into contempt and caused the preacher and preaching to lose ground. In the name of patriotism the pulpit was converted into a soap-box, and we are now paying the penalty for it.”

The third witness is the Reverend H. M. Chworowsky, evangelical minister at Oconto, Wisconsin. At that place in October, 1920, he said:

“The church has suffered more than any other institution from the cant and casuistry of the war spirit.

In the beginning of those days, when we refused to be-believe that a general return to pagan principles etf thought and action still were possible, there were many voices that stood out for that pacificism that is not only compatible with but the logical and moral complement of Christian ethical truth. Then as nation after nation entered the conflict, church after church performed that-amazing psychological somersault, changing from sistent attitude of opposition to wars to the ineompi*^ hensible stand of not only submissively acquiescing iikj the national demand for militaristic enterprise bat *et; openly and publicly defending wars, and this war entirely ethical and Christian. Then arose that wav*’ of open hypocrisy and .shameful duplicity in religion, barely hiding the abject moral cowardice it was mfeanA to cover, when from pulpit and religious press fhert issued forth those turbid streams of vituperation and; ghastly slander that rivalled the hysterical ravings dt a perverted patriotism.’”                            v a

The fourth witness does not give his nanje, but states that he is a clergyman. He writes iff The Nation, March 6, 1920:            '

“The record of the war activities of the churched while very ample, is. simple. Practically every pulpit in the land was a source of patriotic inspiration. Every/ clergyman labored day and night fostering the moral# of the army and the people. At home the dergy preadh-cd atrocities, and in the camps they fired the sdldiei# with a holy zeal to attack and kill the enemy. Briefly^ the record shows that both here and abroad each of tto; ordained spokesmen of Christianity justified and coM&k crated the action of his own people in resorting to arm#¹ His nation was fighting God's battle, and a5J who wished-to be friends of God must help to the fullest extent 'dt. their powers. Thus a composite photograph, as it of all the Christian preachments reveals to us the doir trine of the man in the street, the doctrine of those whd' believe it to be their highest duty to be ready to die for their country whether right or wrong.”             ’ .

The fifth witness is Doctor Edward A Steiner, a converted Jew. a Congregational minister,, occupant of the chair of Applied Christianity in Grinnell College, Iowa. He writes in Tke Independent of his impressions of Europe, obtained after several months which he recently spent there:                                       - ■ '

“All through Europe I found a feeling, freely expressed, that at a critical moment in the world’s history, organized religion failed to fulfill its claims as a bringer df peace. The hopes mankind placed in it were not rgftluaed; for the churches failed to function except as an amen to the reactionary Pagan state. The church gave its all to Csesar; even that which was God’s; the folds of the flag obscured the moss, and the great sacrifice. of Calvary seemed in vain. Sermons now are full of assertion that militaristic force is futile in settling quarrels between nations, that besides being un-Christian it is imprafr Heal; and not only ministers say it, but also professors, essayists, political economists, sociologists. However, they are saying it between wars, when it is safe to say it. If the church or its ministry were faithful to the spirjt and teachings of Jesus during one war; if the state knew that it could not use the church as a recruiting rtation, and as a laboratory for the culture of fighting morale, it might be less willing to rush into war- Of Bourse the church would suffer martyrdom: but there is an outspoken, demand that Christianity manifest itself In its full power, by accepting the consequences of its teachings, or cease its pretense of being the bride of Christ when it is only the concubine of Cossar." _ The sixth witness is Reverend William Austen Smith, editor of The [Episcopal] Churchman:

"Churchmen at conventions talk very solemnly about Christian leadership. Where, in God’s world, can bishops, clergymen and laymen exercise finer leadership in this war-stricken world, than by preaching the Christian doctrine of peace on earth? Will the clergy lead in this Brusade, the greatest since Christ was born? Or will they fold their hands and say: 'It is a problem for experts, for statesmen and cabinets’ ? God pity us. Statesmen, cabinets and experts have been leading us, and • leading us by the nose, in this war-morality for generations. Can we do worse if we follow Christ? If the churches cannot trust Him, who then will? If the Christian Church could raise up in England, France ^and America a thousand ministers who would be will; Jug to suffer martyrdom to end this business of war, there could never be another war. Governments cannot Make war without the consent of the churches. The Christian Church has never tested its power. The clergy Consented unto this wicked thing! How much longer are we going to do it?”

/-*: The same writer (we wonder if he has read ^“The Finished Mystery”) at an address before t the Episcopalian ^ministers at a congress in tJew York said:

' "To my mind it was a serious blunder that the church appeared to confuse patriotism with religion throughout the war. Only a few voices in the churches made clear the teachings of Christianity that war is a loathsome, diabolical disease; that it kills romance and compassion, and finally slays the very soul of justice. I think it heartless, un-Christian and indecent for clergy and philosophers to glow over the spiritual benefits of a war that laid seven million boys in their graves, starved and maimed from twenty to thirty million human beings and bathed the world in hate and darkness.”

Again,-the same writer, in the issue of The Churchman of November 12, 1921, says:

"The churches among all the warring nations, shared the sins of their governments during the war. We hated M our governments bade us hate. We spread lies about our enemies as those lies were meted out to us in official propaganda. We taught unforgiveness even as our rulers and diplomats inspired us to do.”

The seventh and final witness is Reverend John Alfred Faulkner, who gives expression to the following sentiments in The Epworth Herald of November 6, 1920:

"The church is partly responsible for the great war. She has taught on exaggerated and false patriotism. No war was ever waged but that the clergy have either incited it or praised it when once started. What if between 1871 and 1914 every synod, conference and clergyman in Germany had spoken out against that militarist regime and those militarist ideals of which the Great. War was the logical consequence—what would have been the result? I think the only man who did thus speak out was Liebknecht, the Socialist, and he was in prison for two years. Men who sinned in a similar way in ' America were sentenced to twenty years, more or less; and what Church has asked for their release ?”

Oeorse Bernard Shaw is not a clergyman, but he sized up the situation very well in the Fall of 1919, when he was asked to send a mes-. sage to the Protestant Episcopal Church of America—the same church that, when the Right Reverend Paul Jones of Utah declared himself a real Christian, opposed to war, “accepted” his resignation because of the “impaired usefulness of Bishop Jones under the present conditions”. Well! Mr. Shaw wrote the gentlemen a letter long to be remembered. It is couched in his usual witty but forceful and cutting language:

“If the blood of millions of their fellow creatures did not move the Protestant churches to protest, nor the Catholic churches to proclaim that in the kingdom of heaven there are no frontiers, can you suppose that a few drops from my ink bottle would have any effect on them ? I am duly flattered by your assumption that the -men who would not listen to Christ would listen to Bernard Shaw; but the churches have come out of the war so badly that if they did listen to me now I should ask, like the Greek orator, 'What foolish thing have I said ?’ All the men and women in America to whom anything I could say would be likely to appeal seem to be in prison, where my words cannot reach them. If any of the few who were faithful to a religion which I, being only a connoisseur and not a devotee, do not profess, are still at large,' I can only congratulate them* I can hardly congratulate the churches on having missed a supreme opportunity; for I am afraid that supremo opportunity may prove to have been their last chancel*

Henry Newmann is not a clergyman either, but he says some things that fit in very well with those of Mr. Shaw. In an address delivered October 5,1919, before the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture he said in part:

"Perhaps I am too biased; but it looks to me aa if in the main the conduct of the churches during the war revealed a fundamental defect in their beliefs. To put it bluntly, I think that what most of the churches have done has been of a sort *to inflame the world's illness ‘ rather than to heal it. Have not the churches outdone even the newspapers in preaching hatred and vengeance ? Certain young men, called to take up arms; replied, ‘We believe that the war lust js found not only in Prussia but everywhere. We find it in ourselves. We will not kill There is a better way of driving out violence than to repeat the enemy's evil.’ These young men went to jail. Some died there. Did the church, custodian (as we thought it) of the sanctities of conscience, plead for them? Did it raise its voice in behalf of a , • juster treatment than they have received ? In the main 'With but a few honorable exceptions, it joined the pack in hunting them down. As George Bernard Shaw says, the churches resisted the invasion of the Prince of Peace more fiercely than that of the Kaiser. Few things have been more distressing than the way in which everywhere ministers of religion have been the most intemperate in reviling the enemy, in extravagantly lauding their own people, in confusing justice with sheer vengeance."

A clergyman in New York, catching the first faint glimmerings of what is coming, made the naive statement, “It was too bad we stepped on the conscientious objector so hard during the war ; it is so difficult to explain now”.

During the war the young men were encouraged to rush headlong into death by those who in ordinary times would have offered them no hope of God’s favor except by compliance with many and heavy ecclesiastical rules and expensive masses. It is well known that the R^man Catholic religion holds out no hopes of dodging purgatory for hundreds of years even to the popes and cardinals; but Cardinal Mercier, of Belgium, imbued with the usual spirit of the clergy in war time, said in his Christmas pastoral in 1914:

"I am asked what I think of the eternal salvation of a brave man who has consciously given his life in defense of his country's honor, and in vindication of violated justice. I shall not hesitate to reply that without any doubt whatever Christ crowns his military valor, a-nd that death accepted in this Christian spirit assures the safety of that mans soul. Must we suppose that God requires of j^he plain soldier in the excitement of battle the methodical precision of the moralist or the theologian ? Can we who revere his heroism doubt that God welcomes him with love?"

But if the souls of those who died in battle

were safe, what about the souls of those who^: went through the same battles unscathed! Are; not they safe, too; and if not, why not! But anyway, Canon William Chase, of New York, says they are not. He said at Washington, January 14, 1921:                              _A ' ^:-'^-7

"Our men did not come back spiritually uplifted, we had hoped. They have not gone into the churches/,? they have not brought any new spiritual force to hearj in our national life. Many of the veterans of the wai| show a cynical disregard for the higher life, rather than $ an awakened moral conscience."                ’    .

It is pitiful to see the work that some of these:] clericals perform in trying to make their Christian conduct agree with their professed': Christian religion. The Protestant Episcopal Church of America held a convention in Newl; York City in Ma^, 1919, and The World morrow in its June issue of that year said:

"But perhaps the most significant of all was tlfe-con^ fession of Bishop Rogers Israel of Erie that throughout? his entire service at the front he was haunted with question. ‘Should we have met might with might, hor^ ' ror with horror, slaughter With slaughter?' Th^ bishop denied that he was a pacifist; but his question would/ have been regarded as the kind of pacifism which mighty be punished under the Espionage Act, had he spoken :* in 1918 instead of 1919. It is hopeful that a Bishop of* the Church should have come so far; and yet isitnot>? an ironic commentary on our faith that 1900 years after Christ, we should hail as encouraging the fact that one bishop in the Christian church is doubtful whether waiv-is the way of Christ or effective for the redemption the world?"                                     -      .

Some go a step farther’and admit that they'?, are sick of war. Note Jhe belated conviction ol Reverend J. H. Hopkinson, vicar-of Holy Trinity Church at Colne, England, as reported in the New York Globe, May 7, 1920:

"We have learned that war is not a matter of flutter* ing banners and clashing swords and beating drums, but merely a sickening and dirty butchery of lads in water-logged or fly-infested trenches. We shall be less ready than we were to compare the movement of the church to that of a victorious army. Hymns that we could sing unthinkingly before the war have become • lying blasphemy. Who would now sing, Take a mighty army moves the church of God’?”            ’      '

An Episcopalian pastor, writing in the Statesman magazine goes still farther. He says:

"I for one will step down and out of my pulpit if there is any Japanese war. I shall not play hanky-pank with the word or gospel of the Prince of Peace and turn the House of Prayer into a recruiting station . for gassing off yellow men. I did it in the World War, want over seas and received a decoration. But I’m through. They may call me a pacifist, clap me into jail or anything else. But no more of it for this laddie. I will preach the flag of Christ’s Cross, but I will be hanged if I will preach any other kind of flaggery. Never again I At least I’ll be a Christian, whatever the results may be. And churches could stop another war. They could and can preach the Prince of Peace, and follow peace.”

-That there were some clergy that actually did keep a people pacific during the World War (without taking into account the motives that led them to take such a step) was brought out by George Fentrick, writing in The New York World, September 7, 1921. Mr. Fentrick said:

"When, during the World War, England passed the Conscription Act for Ireland, the Irish priests called their congregations together one Sunday morning and asked the people to raise their hands and swear that they would not obey this law. Now this of course was -treason. But since they could not execute 3,500,000 people, the law went by default. This shows what the church can do when it takes concerted action.”

* The magazine Unity, writing of the responsibility for “the next war”, says:

‘ “To our way of thinking, the situation calls for nothing less than a vast international conference of all the churches in all countries, which shall solemnly pledge Christians in the name of God and Jesus Christ: (1) not to pay any taxes to any government which supports a separate and competitive army and navy, and (2) not Co fight in any war under any circumstances, and which shall organize machinery in every country to educate ' people to the acceptance of these pledges, and put them into effect.”

The Papal Empire has come out of the war ■ with greater gains than any other of these institutions calling themselves churches and presided over by “Reverends The Empire is after the almighty dollar, and takes a long look into the future to see what can be done with it.

The Sons and Daughters of Washington, with headquarters at 101 South Manning Boulevard, Albany, New York, are memorializing Congress demanding an investigation of the Knights of Columbus, an accounting for the many millions of dollars collected, from Protestants mostly, under the supervising hand of the United States Govermept and turned over to them by the Tumulty government in the latter part of 191S.

They wint to know why this money, extorted from the American people under the pretense that it was to be used for the benefit of sick and wounded soldier boys, is now being kept by this religio-political organization, while thousands of those jaame soldier boys are without food and have no place to lay their heads.

They demand to know why it is that $1,000,-000 should be sent to the Pope at Rome to help destroy the Y. M. C. A., and to break up the work of the Methodist Church in Rome, and why $1,000,000 is set aside for the rewriting and perversion of the History of the United States, so that the minds of the youth of America may be corrupted at the fountain by Roman Catholie school books before they get old enough to have them corrupted finally by a Jesultized press.

Mr. John B. Kennedy, director of the publicity’ department of the Knights of Columbus, claims that there were only $8,000,000 left and that this is being used in hospital and educational work. He states further that the gifts to the Pope and for the purposes of rewriting American text-books came from private Knight of Columbus funds. But sometimes such things are mere matters of book-keeping, such as any clerk could do on a moment’s notice.

Service as Spies

AN OCCUPATION to which the clergy are . particularly well suited is that of spies; and the governments associated with the Papal Empire and with the various Protestant sects have always made large use of them for this purpose, especially in time of war.

We have already alluded to the effort made to secure the death penalty for Judge Rutherford and his companions at the hands of a gang of Methodist Reverends in Pennsylvania; they were representative of the clergy, in general, as we have pointed out in The Golden Age Number 27, wherein we narrated more than one hundred cases of mob violence, all or nearly all of which are known to have been incited by men engaged in the clergy business.

During the hysteria of the war period there was an opportunity for the “Reverends” to get at innocent people of differing religion. That they made full use of their opportunities is evident from the following extracts from affidavits by Bible students who were persecuted on false charges of sedition. In all centuries political Reverends have utilized the civil powers to settle grudges against persons of other beliefs than their own. Big Church, Big Business and Big Politics—an unholy alliance—travel hand in hand and stop at nothing. There was no law in the Constitution, the State Constitutions, the State statutes and the local laws concerning freedom of religion that was not violated by a class of men preaching a devotion to law and order. Some of the outrages by Reverends are:

"At Weyser, Idaho, two colporteurs were taken before the Chairman of the Council of Defense, and charged with selling seditious literature. The Chairman, not being versed in religious matters, called in a local minister to pass judgment on the books ["Studies in the Scriptures”] and the latter remarked that if he had the power he would stop the distribution of all those books, not only until after the war, but permanently”

At Winnsboro, Texas, the victim states: "The city lock-up, where I was taken, was an apartment of the city toilet, which had no sewerage connections whatever, thus making it the filthiest place imaginable. My arrest was instigated by one of the Methodist preachers of Winnsboro, who assisted the officers in my arrest and examination held at police headquarters.” r

"At Celeste, Texas,” another victim writes, "two clergymen to whom we handed copies of 'The Kingdom News/ demanded of the city marshal that he arrest us. The marshal refused and attended the lecture that same evening in Celeste; and expressed himself as well pleased with the talk. However, the clergymen stirred up the people, who phone(Dthe marshal demanding our arrest. The marshal called up the County Attorney, Mr. Frank Kemp, and Mr. Kemp told him to put us in jail regardless of character and sex. This the marshal, Mr. Brewer, refused to do. . . . Later, when the marshal, accompanied by ourselves, appeared before the County Attorney, the Cotfnty Attorney said we had not violated any law, and ordered our release, although six hours before this he had instructed that we be jailed.”

"I was warned by prominent members and deacons of the Baptist Church here [Post Oak, Mo.] that unless I bought bonds, etc., I would get into trouble. On May SOth, 1918, several churches met to pray together. That night my automobile was stolen from my garage, taken to Leeton, Mo., painted yellow, and left in the street-The next morning, while I was inquiring about my car, the Reverend G. L. Newkirk, Pastor of the Providence Baptist Church, called me over the telephone and told me my car was in Leeton, Mo. When I arrived in Leeton, I noted Reverend G. L. Newkirk, dressed in common clothes, so as not to be noticeable, standing near the automobile, together with a large crowd. ... I was later informed that the crowd was prepared to paint me yellow in case I made any remarks about my new car being damaged.”

At Denison, Texas, "We were called German propagandists, anjJ Mr. E. J. Smith, head of the War Council, told us that he was 'against us and our d—d religion’, and that his recommendation as head of the W ar Council would be to line us up, both men and women and children, against a brick wall, and shoot us, and not stop until all of us had been killed in the whole country... A committee waited on J. R. May and told him that the persecutions which he received were not given him because he did not buy bonds, ‘but because -of'his d—*4, religion’. . . . The clergymen of this city formed part, of the local War Council.”

At New London, Ohio, "We distributed a special’ edition of The National Labor '(ribune,. The $hen£; and deputy, with a crowd at their heels arrested we were about to board- the train to return home; and] charged us with being Bolsheviks. The crowd yelled^ 'Lynch them’. We were taken to the sheriff’s office*. The Mayor of Wellington, Ohio, vouched for our chiaipr acters. They could find nothing whatever wrong witlT the paper, and were willing to release us. But the.mofr outside, stirred by two clergymen, was growling. KI nally a friend of ours took us back to Wellington automobile.”

In Garfield, Washington, "While distributing *King-J dom News’ . . . the sheriff detained Donald Main in? his hotel. A clergyman questioned him in the hotel;;: and said to him: ‘If you fellows don’t stop putting oiitj your literature, you will find some of your people strung' up to a telegraph pole, and I will be one of the first to-, pull the rope’. . . . The same night he was called before^ a judge, and although it was late in the night, a Bap-; tist minister was present as a spectator. . . . The Courts in Spokane, after investigating the copies of 'The King*^ dom News’, stated they could see nothing wrong in.it*”^

At Chetonak, Oklahoma, “The Council of Defense^ consisting of Walter Brumley, W. C. Canterbury‘anfo A. 0. Johnson, called on me and told me to either’; change my attitude or leave town immediately. I lefV town with my family on the first train. My case camej up in July and no bill was found against me/ I have.] since learned.that our'persecution was instigated by the’’ clergy, and came at the end of »a four-weeks union' meeting of the churches, during which our beliefs were ' made the subject of attack two nights of each week.**"

At Miami, Texas, Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Bayless swear: ■                                    '

“Reverend J. C. Stalcup, Secretary of the Council of Defense and Baptist preacher, took a copy of the paper from Mrs. Bayless and gave her to understand that he would read it over and notify her to cease distribution if he found anything wrong in it. He did not notify ua. . . . . About a week later ... we were arrested. . . .We were . . . arraigned before U. S- Commissioner A/A/.1 Brown, with Reverend J. C. Stalcup ... as the only complaining witness .... When comlnitted to prison, ’ our two Bibles, some copies of The Watch Tower and two sets of 'Studies in the Scriptures’ were taken from us and never returned, though we repeatedly requested them. While we were in jail in Muskogee the Council of Defense of Miami, Texas, entered our house and ransacked it, taking our hymn books, volumes of ‘Studies in the Scriptures’, issues of The Watch Tower and paper and tracts. . . . The Federal Grand Jury met at McAlester, Oklahoma- Reverend Ji C. Stalcup, Secretary of the Council of Defense and Baptist preacher, made several trips there to prosecute us, but we were released?*

Says Charles J. Crews, of Little Rock, Arkansas:

"I received frequent warnings from the Baptist Minister, Reverend E. D. Cameron, of Checotah, Oklahoma, saying that if I didn’t give up 'that belief’ I would be sent to the penitentiary”.

The foregoing are only a small fraction of the instances that might be related of how, when conditions are right, the Reverends “get” people that diffej from them in belief. How long will these white-walled monsters of iniquity be permitted to darken the land and fill it with violence ?

The Right Reverend Theodore S. Henderson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in a sermon in Detroit in the summer of 1918, after referring to the fact that he had been accused of being partly responsible for the mob which did to death the innocent Prager at East St. Louis, falsely accused of being a German spy, went on record as saying:

"If any man or women accused of sedition or disloyalty, and after process of trial by jury should be found guilty, such traitor should be taken out and shot.” The Bishop then went on to laud the Espionage Act, stating that "the passage of this act makes it possible for the legal punishment of all violators, without any resort by the citizens to take the law into their own hands”. [See how narrowly he misses advocating mob violence]

The Reverend John G. Still, pastor of the People’s Church of Louisville, Kentucky, trimmed the bishops in good shape for the part they ' played in upholding the infamous and unconstitutional Espionage Act, whereby the liberties of the American people were taken from them and vested in the Preachers, Profiteers, and Politicians. In a sermon delivered in February, 1920, he said:

"Remember what part you played—you bishops and priests and churchmen? Remember how you stood in your pulpits—and how you raised your voices to cry aloud with prophetic power that the God of Israel hath said, 'Thou shalt not kill’? Remember how you went up and down the land urging, pleading, imploring, demanding that there shall be 'peace on earth and good will amongunen*—remember that ? Of course you don’t. For that isi^’t what you did.

"This is what you did. You converted the churches of Christ, the Prince of Peace, into Temples of the

War God. You fanned the fires of hell and hate into the consuming flames of war. Stand here with me, and tell me this: Tell me what crimes did ’Gene Debs commit? Why, you say, he violated the Espionage Act. . You hypocrites 1 And only yesterday, when I stood in one of your pulpits you told me that religion has nothing to do with politics! What business have ywn to talk about Espionage Acts? To judge by the tone of the Christian church one might thi-nk that Christ said, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant—thou hast obeyed the Espionage Act—enter into the joys if the Lord!' No, sir. You can’t get by with that. We demand that you tell us in the eternal terms of right and wrong, not in the terms^of transient politics, what crime is it for which this man goes ten long years behind prison bars ? And there is just one answer, ’tis his own, made before his judge, when he said: 'I admit it. I am opposed to war, all wars) and this war, too. And if I stood alone I should nevertheless be opposed to the war-’ That 10 the crime in the terms of your Christian religion—he was opposed to war—in the language of your own orthodox theology—he is guilty of standing by the cross of Christ, the Prince of Peace, in time of war 1”          :

Reverend Still hit on a sore spot when he -mentioned Mt. Debs. The clergy know that they are responsible for having this man locked up and having him kept locked up; and yet-here is a man who loves his fellow men sa much that he has been known to give the overcoat off his back to a total stranger, in midwinter, without asking the stranger’s name, merely because he saw that the man was suffering with the cold. This man was locked up and kept locked up, so that he would not, in some strange way, take away the liberties and the happiness of 108,000,000 people that inhabit this broad land 1

The Universalist General Convention^ at Detroit, in October, 1921—in order to prove that their clergy are as narrow-minded and as small-souled as the clergy of any other denomination —voted to strike the name of Eugene V. Debs from an appeal to President Harding requesting amnesty for political prisoners. And, O. Consistency! the same convention urged the full restoration of free speech and the press, which is guaranteed by the constitution anyway—and it was for the exercise of free speech that Debs was sent to prison. Never on earth were there more hypocrites alive than just now.

As respects this matter of spying upon the liberties of others and trying to take away the rights of minorities, Wendell Phillips said in 1860:

"Governments exi$t to protect the rights of minorities. The loved and the rich need no protection—they have । many friends and few enemies. We have praised our Union for seventy years. This is the first time it is tested. Has it educated men who know their rights and Hare maintain them? Can it bear the discussion of a ' great national sin, anchored deep in the prejudices and Interests of millions? If so, it deserves to live. If not, the sooner it vanishes out of the way the better. The ' time to assert rights is when they are denied. The men' to assert them are those to whom they are denied. The । bommiinity which dares hot protect its humblest and * taost hated jhemb'er in the free utterance of his opinions,

Bo matter how false or hateful, is only a gang of slaves?’

Prohibition of Liquor

THE Anti-Saloon League is composed of cler-' ." A gymen and was the instrumentality used in , bringing about the prohibition of the liquor J traffic in the United States. The League has ' I been forceful, efficient, and ably managed; and

] it has produced the results it sought. The Pro; hibition Amendment is a part of the fundamen-j tai law of the land; and if anybody in power I in this. country paid the least attention to the

< I Constitution, prohibition would be a reality.

I . Since the Prohibition Amendment and the ; [Volstead Act were passed, the clergy have been ; trying to have the law upheld. Reverend G. E. j Richter, of Stamford, Connecticut, is one ofi - these. Prohibition gives the^{4 4} Reverends ’' some

! thing fresh to fight about. The New York World ^: Credits him with having given expression to the following utterances on this subject in the Fall Of 1920:

*1 am not afraid of God, or man, or the devil, or the baptism of eggs that has greeted my efforts to purge

’ these communities of low gambling and drinking. And I shall carry a gun, no matter what the officials of Darien may say.”

After being denied a permit to carry a revolver Mr. Richter said:

*If I had a revolver I would discharge it into the sir, and then my friends would rush out. I see no reason

• why I should not have my constitutional rights. And I you I will have a revolver, and I will fight for my rights in this community!”

The-clergy of the Episcopal church are accustomed to greater personal liberties than those of most other Protestant denominations, and they do not take well to restrictions of their own liberties or spying upon the liberties of others in this matter of prohibition. In January, 1920,’Reverend Doctor Henry Davies, rec- tor of Christ Episcopal Church, Easton, Md., replied to an invitation of Darnel C. Roper. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in such a way as to imply that Mr. Roper had wanted his assistance in the enforcement of prohibition in the vicinity. He said:

“In this church we are not accustomed to such intrusion into private morals and conduct of its members, which looks, on the surface at least, too much like a secret service, or worse, spying. Moreover, I believe that my people would not be so low as to be informers.'’’; .7-4;

Sometimes, when there is no war, the “R^ erends ’ ’ think some laws should not be obeyed} The Dean of St. Paul’s, London, says thatit is all right to cheat the government by. gling in liquor, if the government Exceeds it* rights in prohibiting some harmless act”. On® can hardly help wondering just who are the; people that are to determine when the government has exceeded its rights and how they ar®, to go about the enforcement of their opinion^

Reverend B. S. Bouchier, vicar of St. Jude¹* Chureh, does not have a high opinion of pro-5 hibition in America. At a prohibition meeting; in Hampstead Gardens Free Church,’London,' in May, 1920, he startled the supposedly prd^ hibition audience by saying:

“If I had my way I would have emblazoned on bah^ ners 'God save the king and beer for the British people*;; I have just returned from America. I saw how prohibi^ tion works. The rich mon can get his liquor but this) poor cannot. In this country it ill becomes the clergy^ to pour scorn on the brewer who has done so much ta -support our churches and our charities!”             :'v

As soon as prohibition went into effect, in September, 1919, Chicago churchmen openedi? church saloon, at 884 South State Street, witS% a Reverend for a bartender. The bar and the " fixtures are of the regular, old-fashioned, rumhole variety. A picture published in the Chicago Herald and Examiner, September 23,. 1919, shows six men, one behind the bar and five lined up in front of it. Of the latter, three have their feet on the bar rail as if it were a familiar position with them, and four have glasses of Some _z kind of drink in their hands. All but one of the seven men in the picture are stated to be Rev- :• erends—three of them Presbyterians.         .

The Los Angeles Times, November 29, 1919, is authority for the following:                .

“It is evident that some of the city churches propose to be fortified with the proper amount of wine for sacramental purposes, as it came to the attention of thedocal Federal officials, yesterday, that the official board of a Los Angeles church has invested in 300 gallons of wine to be used in the ministrations of the body* As there are BOO members of the congregation that means a halfgallon for each one of the communicants. 'Preparing for a large addition to the membership/ was the only comment of Internal Revenue Collector Carter, who refused to give the name and address of the church, perhaps fearing a rush for 'ministrations’.”

Sunday Blue Laws

KRISTIANS are not under the law of Moses, but under the law of love. The seventh day of the week, upon which the Jew was required to rest, represents the great seventh-thousand-year day of human history, the Golden Age, during which the world of mankind will recover from the toil and travail of the six thousand years of sin and death that are now in the past. To the Christian that seventh Klay—our Saturday — typifies or pictures the rest of heart into which he enters when he enters into Christ.

There is a general impression among Christians that in some way they are obligated to a special observance of Sunday, but the Scriptures enjoin no such rule or even hint at it — rather the opposite. Real Christians are glad that by custom there is a day in each week available for restand worship, but it makes no difference to them what that day is, nor have they any wish to push their preferences upon others by onerous and unnecessary laws.

' In revolutionary days there was a strict Sunday (miscalled Sabbath, for Saturday not Sunday is the Bible Sabbath) law in all the colonies, namely, the Act of Charles II, which provided that:

’ "AH and every person whatsoever shall every Lord's Day apply themselves to the observation of the same, by exercising themselves thereon in the duties of piety . and true religion, publicly and privately”.

The law forbade all unnecessary travel and stipulated that:

"No tradesman, artificer, workman, laborer, or other person whatsoever shall do or exercise any worldly labor, business, or work of, their ordinary callings^*.

At present there are no Sunday laws whatever nr the District of Columbia or in California ; nor have there been any in Oregon since -1918, when the people got -tired of them and threw them out. Sunday labor and amusements are perfectly legal in Colorado, Illinois, and New Mexico unless they disturb church congregations.                      \

In the good old days in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, they had some pretty strict laws. No one could vote unless converted and a member of. some one of the churches allowed, within the city; food or lodging could not bo-offered to a heretic; no one eouid cross a river on Sunday except an authorized Reverend; no one could travel, cook victuals, make beds* sweep houses, cut hair or shave, or kiss hi* children on Sunday—and the day began at sundown on Saturday. No one could wear clothes trimmed with gold, silver, ribbon, er lace worth , over a shilling a yard without incurring a fino of $1,500. Bringing cards or dice into the city was punished with a fine of $25. It was illegal to eat mince pies, dance, play cards, or play any other instrument of music than the drum, trumpet, and jew’s-harp. No one could court a maid without obtaining the consent of her parents* under penalty of $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second offense, and imprisonment for the third offense.

Many of the Reverends, encouraged by their success in the prohibition crusade are pressing hard toward the passing of laws for a strict Sunday observance the country ever. Reverend Noah W. Cooper, Chairman of the Methodist Central Sabbath Crusade Committee, representing nineteen southern conference* of that denomination, recently appeared before Congressional Committees and presented a proposed national Sunday observance biU, together with a lengthy petition, both of which were introduced into the Congressional Record of July 13, 1921. The proposed national Sunday law and the petition urge Congress to prohibit the publication and circulation of Sunday newspapers, the operation of Sunday trains and all interstate traffic, the prevention of all professional and other labor, likewise all amusements of every character that are conducted for profit on Sundays. Mr. Cooper claims that 1,500,000 ' constituent members of the Methodist Church South are backing him up in this movement.

Reverend Cooper is not the only one that is pressing for drastic Sunday legislation. Another is Reverend Harry L. Bowlby, D. D., head of the Lord’s Day Alliance, an organization representing in an official capacity sixteen religious denominations. In the Philadelphia Public Ledger, of November 28, 1920, Doctor Bowlby made the following statement of ths intentions of his organization:

"We propose by legislation, to make it easier for people to go to church. In other words, we shall try to dose the baseball pSfcks, the golf links, the motion pio-

hire and other theatres, the concert halls, the amusement parks, the bathing beaches, and so on. We shall fight all amusements where an admission fee is charged. We shall oppose golf, tennis, baseball, and other sports, even if purely amateur and void of financial cost to those taking part, because they set bad examples for children who otherwise might be content to go to Sunday school. We shall seek to restrict the sale of gasoline for pleasure yachts, automobiles, and urge other measures that will stop Sunday automobiling and joy riding. This will not bring the old-fashioned horse and buggy back, because we believe that the Lord's day should be a day of rest for man and beast. Excursion steamer rides on Sunday will be opposed by us on the ground that th^,iy are unnecessary to the moral welfare of Christian America.’ No, I see no reason why the public libraries or the art galleries should remain open on Sunday. Wc shall seek to eliminate the huge Sunday newspapers, and establish a censorship [Italics ours] over the stuff that gets into them on other days. Of course, we shall back no law that would compel a man or a woman to attend church. But we believe that if we take away a man’s motor car,’ his golf sticks, his Sunday newspaper, his x* horses, his pleasure steamships, amusement houses, and parks, and prohibit him from playing outdoor games or witnessing field sports, he naturally will drift back to the church.”                        —

- - The New York World seems to think that there is a good chance that the united efforts of Reverend Cooper and Reverend Bowlby will succeed. It says:

“The same elements that brought about the Eighteenth Amendment [prohibiting the sale and manufacture of liquor] and the Volstead Ijaw [enforcing that ‘ Amendment] are back of the proposed Sunday-observance amendment, and the political influence of these elements can hardly be overestimated.' It is not too much to say that the Anti-Saloon League alone is now the best organized and the most powerful agency of government in the United States. If this lobby now sets out to write the Puritan Sunday into the Constitution of the United States, there is no reason to assume that its campaign will be anything but triumphant.”

The Sunday-observance movement is spreading. The Reverends of the city of London have united in a refusal to conduct Sunday funerals, as they need the rest. They did this after the ’ various common councils had refused to make

Sunday funerals illegal.

It is just possible that some disappointments await some of these enthusiasts who favor closing everytlftng but the churches on Sunday, as Judge Burnell of Los Angeles, California, has ruled that a collection taken on Sunday is virtually an admission fee to thjrSunday services. If everything's closed up that charges an ad

mission fee the collection box will have to go.‘-The stock argument set forth as the. reason for a strict Sunday observance was voiced by Reverend L. S. Barton, at the Boston-Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma^. Preaching upon the Ten Commandments ^hich: God made the basis of’ His law covenant Israel, Reverend Barton laid stress on the oifti] calling upon the Jews to “ observe the Sabbatjr day and keep it holy”. He said in part: ery law of right or wrong has its basis in these^ commandments, and it is the enforcement of ] these laws that the ministers of today stibulcT derhand”. .                         -

Reverend Barton does not pause to considet’-j that if his statements are correct then practi**s cally every minister in America is guilty of mur^ der; for during the World War nearly every^ one of them completely ignored the command?;' ment, “Thou shalt not kill”.

Many of the clergy seem to think that they have the right to tell all tlffe other peoplerjust?; what they can do and cannot" do. Reverend^: John Roach Straton'states the matter grand^j iloquently: “The religious forces have both the^ right and the duty to influence the state in the^ enactment of enlightened ideals into righteouM^ laws”. We can find plenty of statements just-J like that, made by the Popes in the days of the? Inquisition.

Noting the threat of the Reverends of HasZ tings, Nebraska, to precipitate a fight for the? closing of the Sunday amusements of that city, ? the Hastings Tribune said:              ' _ ‘

"This is a bold threat of the most brazen kind. The ’• ministers should remember that the laymen also have < a right to organize to fight for what they deem is their . prerogative. The Tribune does not believe that the jnin* •• istors have any more right to say how things should be conducted within the corporate limits of Hastings than ’ has any other body of good citizens. The people, and the people alone, have the right to say how the city of -Hastings should be run.”                              .

Hore and there is a man in the clergy business that sees the injustice of trying to force ■ everybody into one groove. Reverend Roy V. Harp, pastor of the Christian church at Fair-, view, Oklahoma, and a representative in the legislature of that state, is a broad-minded, ; sensible man. He said on this subject :          -

“1 am dead square set against the blue Sunday laws?' I don’t want to legislate people into theHringdom of heaven. It can’t be done. If the church cannot compete with the world, I will quit preaching.”            .

Now let us observe a few'instances of the enforcement of Sunday laws in various states. At White Plains, New York, in March, 1921, a man was arrested for striking another man on a Sunday. On the same day he was convicted for the offense and sentenced to six months in prison. A higher court set the verdict aside Because, it had been given on a Sunday.

A lady writing from London, Ontario, Canada, under date of June 12, 1921, gives us the next to the worst case of Sunday idiocy that has been brought to our notice. Her letter says:

“AU Sattfffiay night and Sunday till half past twelve we witnessed the greatest storm that any one in this part of the country had ever seen. In some places the water was fifteen feet deep, and traffic was blocked on public streets until the foUowing night. Some families were compelled to move out of their homes on Sunday, furniture and all, because the foundations of the house were: being washed away. -This caused the Lord’s Day Alliance to have, summons sent to them for breaking

: the Sabbath.”

Gneother illustration, however, is still, worse. - It shows what may happen anywhere when fools pass laws which are entrusted to fools to execute ; and certainly no one dare trust a Sunday observance law in the hands of a class of men .who have declared that bootlegging is as bad as murder, and that the offending, bootlegger should be slain at sight.

On Tangier Island, in Chesapeake Bay, there is a law in effect requiring all persons to either attend church services or else stay at home while the services are going on, One lad elected to stay at home and took a seat on his father’s front porch until the services should be over. A constable came along and order him to go into the house; he refused, a struggle ensued and the constable shot the boy in the stomach. This is what a country gets for giving up its rights to a lot of fanatics and ^u Fools Who Go to Church”.

In Iowa, in 1917, when an attempt was made there to revive some of the ancient and ridiculous blue laws, the proposed legislation was laughed out of existence by the circulation oil the following poem composed for the occasion by a wit of state-wide renown:

ON SUNDAY, ANYMORE

BY MAL ROSE

Yoih must not do a tap of work

( . Sunday, anymore.

You must not farm, nor cook, nor clerk On Sunday, anymore.

You must not pack your trunk or grip, You must not ride on train or ship, Nor even take or give a nip, On Sunday, anymore.

You’ve little use for life or limb, On Sunday, anymore.

You must not hunt, nor fish, nor swim, On Sunday, anymore.

You must not golf, nor ride, nor row, Nor take the kids to see a show, And as for baseball, graejous, no!

On Sunday, anymore.

If you are ill, you must not die, On Sunday, anymore.

“The law’s the law,” they alibi, ‘ On Sunday, anymore.

You must not call the doc, they warn, To pull your tooth or treat your corn, And there shall be no infants born I

On Sunday, anymore.

Your stomach’s really not your own, On Sunday, anymore.

Those chicken dinners you’ll postpone, On Sunday, anymore.

You must not eat, you must not drink, You must not. wag your ears or wink, It’s ten bones’ fine to even think I

On Sunday, anymore.

You must not play the phonograph, On Sunday, anymore.

You’ll sure get in bad if you laugh, On Sunday, anymore.

You must not whistle, hum, or sing, Or turkey trot, or highland fling, Or hesitate—or anything—

On Sunday, anymore.

The rich man with his limousine, On Sunday, anymore.

Will have to steal Kis gasoline, On Sunday, anymore.

And he who dares- to crank a “Liz”, And down the public highway whiz, Gets thirty days in jail for his, On Sunday, anymore.

With stone-age statutes raising Ned, On Sunday, anymore.

A fellow may as well be dead, On Sunday, anymore.

If there must be a woeful dearth

Of music, movies, maids and mirth, There’s no use hanging ’round this earth, On Sunday, anymore.

FOREWORD

URING the past thirty years, with increasing frequency, the public has been subjected to curtailment of industry with consequent financial loss as well as inconvenience as a result of the threatened or actual tying up of transportation facilities because employer and Bmployes have been unable to adjust differences arising between them.

; Transportation is of foremost importance to Dur country. Without it agriculture, manufacturing and other activities would be useless and we would degenerate to the status of the aborigines. Being, as it is, a public necessity, noth-, ing should be permitted to come in the way of its continued service.

It matters not what the causes are that have led up to our present difficulties. No doubt much testimony could be brought forth by either party to the controversy in proof of the fact that the other party is guilty. It is also quite true that both parties are not guiltless; rhowever, it is not the purpose of the writer to open up a discussion on those lines, but rather to offer a solution of the present difficulty in erecting a platform on which the three warring elements can be brought'together in a program of progress to the end that our transportation Systems can be made to serve more adequately the public whose creatures they are.

^: It has been said that “when the strength and wisdom of man fail there is an inexhaustible supply yielded us from above through the power of prayer”. The writer has prayerfully considered the problem “without the hope of fee or reward” other than a knowledge of a public duty performed. If there is anything of value to be gleaned from the following pages it is my earnest hope -that it will be accepted, by those directly interested, in the spirit of tolerance of human frailties.

unselfishness requisite

In this stirring period of reconstruction it is no time to threaten an industrial war but rather to approach the subject with an open mind, prepared to enter whole-heartedly into a constructive progTapi for a rehabilitation of the economic and industrial structure so badly disrupted by a World War.

The writer is firmly convinced that the fol-

--JESUS of NAZARETH lowing plan for the reconstruction of our transportation facilities coupled with the plans tentatively suggested by the Interstate Commerce : Commission, “in the matter of consolidation off/ the railway properties of the United States into ' a limited number of systems,” Docket 12964^^; will afford a means of carrying out the letter at / well as the spirit of the 1920 Transportation;; Act.

Our country needs adequate transportation ; facilities at reasonable rates. Moij^y invested ; in the transportation business must be fairly¹/ compensated in order to attract sufficient ofj/ that kind of capital to meet the country’s needa ^ as expansion of facilities becomes necessary-/* Brains must also receive a commensurate rectum in order to attract the highest form .of. * talent to the railroads which need the, besfc^ Brawn cannot be sidetracked in the matter off? compensation. It is entitled to receive fair con- > sideration at the hands of money and brains. It must also give the best it has in return.

The time is past when knock-down-and^drag-'? out methods are to be pursued by any one the three or either two in combination against;/ the third. To the end that public necessity be met with adequate and economical tranpor-tation service, Money, Brains, and Brawn must -be coordinated in a system that will make for the highest form of efficiency.              ■   - •../

GOLDEN RULE PRINCIPLES          ' ?

That the principles of the Golden Rule as out- < lined in the following plan can be successfully applied to the Transportation business is ap- > parent when fully understood and put into op-' eration.¹ The writer is firmly convinced that he could, with open-minded support, successfully inaugurate the plan on any road or group of roads within eighteen months from the time the^ job is undertaken. He has faith enough in the'-average human being to believe that, given an • opportunity and a fair trial, the purely money / investors and those who invest their talent and ■; energy in the railroad business can become partners in the full sense of the word and together work for their mutual as well as the public interest. The plan outlined in detail in the following pages is therefore commended to your consideration in the hope that the Golden Bub may reign supreme in settling the present diff* Acuities and become the guide for the future relationships between money investors, executives and workers on American railroads.

In solving the railroad problem by the Golden Rule the writer has considered the subject nn-Her the heads of

L Capitalization

• 2. Directorate

• 3. Returns on Investment

• 4. Increasing Efficiency

• 5. How the Public would Benefit

• 6. The Plan in relation to Consolidation

Under each of these heads will be appropriately treated in more or less detail the various phases in the working out of a general plan tor a rehabilitation of the carriers so as tn place them in a position to serve the public adequately and at the same time to produce a net revenue sufficient to fairly compensate the money, brains and brawn invested in the enterprise.

_ There are many points of detail which it is impossible to incorporate, owing to the limited size of this article. However, the writer will gladly furnish additional details, or enlarge up-■. on any points not thoroughly understood, upon request It has simply been my purpose, in the limited space at command, to touch the high ■pots with sufficient detail to illustrate the fan-flamental principles involved.

CAPITALIZATION

The fundamental essential to the successful operation of any business is a proper coordination of money, brains and brawn, neither of which can, alone or in combination of two’s, produce satisfactory results. It requires a well-balanced ratio of all three elements. With this fundamental tact in mind it is apparent that •ne of the first steps necessary is a reorganisation of the capitalization of our railroads which dairies with it a new and progressive Idea, to wit, Capitalizing the brain and brawn effort as well as the money invested in the transportation business, to the end that only ■uch an amount of each as can be economically utilized is included.

If the A&erican roads were to be capitalized on these lines it would appear somewhat as fol-knri:

Capitalization $75,364,000,000 Money Capital (Plant & Equipment)

I. C. C. Tentative figure_____$18,900,000,000

Brains Capital (Executive Class)

22,873 officers_____________________ $2,150,000,000   -

Brawn Capital (Employ^ Class)

1,838,820 $54,314,000^000

Thus it is noted that upon capitalizing each of the three classes of “investors” we have a total capitalization of $75,364,000,000 made up of money capital, represented by plant, equipment, and working funds, equal to $18,900,000,-000, a figure tentatively established by the Interstate Commerce Commission under the 1920 Transportation Act; brains capital, represented by the executive class, comprising some 22,-873 general and division officers whose annual compensation averages $4,700, the equivalent of an income of 5 percent on $94,000; hence a total — of $2,150,000,000 worth of brains are invested — in the business and matched against the stockholders who have invested only money in the 2 enterprise; last, there is the brawn capital, represented by the worker class, under the leadership of the executives, comprising some 1,838,-820 employes whose average annual compensation is at present $1,485, equivalent to an income of 5 percent on $29,700 each; hence a total of $54,314,000,000 of brawn capital is matched against money and brains.           ^z

The above figures indicate the approximate total capitalized money, brains and energy invested in the American Class 1 railroads at present. Perhaps there is over-capitalization in one or more of the three classes represented; if 30, a means should be provided for reducing the total capital invested to an amount that can readily be absorbed by the business without saturation. There is no doubt but that some of our Class 1 Roads have more money capital than necessary, while others are suffering for a lack of money with which to get the properties in proper condition adequately to serve the public. Stock issues representing money capital should be called in and new stock issued in lieu thereof carrying a proviso that the corporation reserves the privilege at any time after one year from date on any dividend-paying date of cancelling same at $102, and accrued dividend, thus eliminating unnecessary money on which dividend must be earned. Likewise the “stock” issued representing brains and brawn should carry a proviso that at any time necessary any employe could be dispensed with; his stock taken up and cancelled upon payment of $2 per share. Thus in times of business depression, when the demands upon transportation lag, the corporation can free itself of the liability for having to pay dividends on unnecessary capital represented by money, brains, or effort.

CAPITALIZED BRAINS AND LABOR

To illustrate the method of capitalizing the “Executive” and “Employe” classes let us consider one capable of earning the average compensation of each class on basis of present salary or. wage payments. There are approximately 22,873 officers whose average annual salary is $4,700,. which amount is equivalent to an income of. 5 percent on $94,000. Hence each officer has invested in the business- executive " ability of the same value as an investor who has- contributed $94,000. That officer then be-_ comes a. ⁴‘stockholder” to that extent. Many corporations in the industrial, wo rid are organized along, lines, where part of the stockholders contributemoney, and others property, and still others real estate, all of which is capitalized on the basis of. the dollar value. -

Why not brains or energy contributed!! A mechanic’s or- clerk’s energy may also be capitalized in like manner.. The average wage compensation paid employes is at present $1,485, the equivalent of 5 percent on $29,700. There-. fore-that mechanic or clerk is contributing the equivalent of just that total dollar value of energy. It might be said that an average salary of $4,700 to an officer or $1,485 in wages to the average employe is excessive, based on compensation for like service in other lines of business. Surely a superintendent or a machinist is economically worth more to a railroad than to a steel plant, shipyard, or shoe factory. Hence his capitalized value should be determined in accordance with a survey of return that same sort of ‘ ‘ Capital ’' would earn in comparable occupations in other lines of business. The United States Department of Labor could reasonably be entrusted with the duty of making a survey and cataloguing the intrinsic value of the several classes of railway executives and employes; or the Railway Labor Board could perform that function.

In event an “investor” in the employe class is-promoted within that class or into the officxadi class, his stock certificates are increased to tow amount represented, by his new classifications To illustrate.: supposing Train Dispatcher capitalized at $48^000 is promoted.to-become a» Assistant Superintendent capitalized, at $6Q^r 000, he would receive non-transferable stock to * the extent of $12,000. Likewise; whem an em- ■? ploye for any reason is demoted, his- ffto<ik is reduced accordingly. The question, might be? asked as to how the various capitalized values ? are to be established: This is a proper j.ob for the United States Department of Labor, who .. with data at’hand as to the value of- such work in other lines of business, locality and cost of... living taken into* consideration, could readily? determine the economic value of each' clhss of? workers to be used as a basis' for determinism•> the amount of “£tbek” each is entitled to-wks?) ceive as representative of his “ capital⁷’ invest^ ment;

With the capitalization of the carriers reorM ganized in accordance with the above, each clfese* of “investors” would be compensated according to the investment each class bore to the-¹? total; distribution being made on-a single per^ centage basis. In other words, if the net eariS^ ings exclusive of all forms of compensation^? dividends, salaries and wages; after all¹ ex*? ^: penses and fixed charges had been met; equaled? 5 percent of the total capitalization then thenet¹ , amount due each' class would be distributed’on’ that basis. The detail of" distriburion will be* taken up and illustrated under the head of? “Distribution of Compensation” later on.

DIRECTORATE

Under this heading we will now take up the method bf representation for each class of “Investors” in the management of the affairs: oft the corporation. In order that there may be a< proper community of interest in management; each class, money, brains, brawn, should have* , fair representation in management, as each class has an inherent right to a voice in tor > conduct of the business. They are all partner® in the enterprise, working for the common good to produce a “commodity” called transportation, at the least possible cost commensurate with a first-class article and at the same time¹ ' make a profit that will afford a fair return to the investors, hence our organization will appear somewhat as follows;

CAPITAL

, Money Brains Brawn

•         DIRECTORATE

■ • 3 representing money capital

3 representing capitalized brains 3 representing capitalized brawn

From this, it is observed that each class of investors is equally represented irrespective of the amount for which each class is capitalised. No one class has an advantage over the others, yet a combination of any two classes constitutes a majority. The three representatives from each class might properly be elected by a majority vote of the “Stockholders” from that class. One director from each class being elected apnually, thus retiring a director every three years, hence it would follow that experienced directors would always be in the majority With such a directorate representing, as it does, each of the three classes of investors, the corporation would have the benefit of the combined technical experience and viewpoint of ' each class, resulting in a balanced judgment for the economical management of affairs, and in a confidence in each other born of a desire to plan and work for the common interest.

\

RETURNS ON INVESTMENT

Under the head of “Capitalization” and ***Directorate” we have outlined the method ’ whereby brain and brawn effort can be capitalized into the transportation business on an equal basis with money. We will now demon-/fitrate; with the use of 1920 figures taken from the Interstate Commerce Commission reports, how the net earnings can be equitably distributed to each class of investors. Let us first define “Net” earnings as Gross Revenue less all operating and fiduciary expenses exclusive of dividends, salaries and wages—in fact, compensation in any form whatever. With that understanding in mind the following tabulation will serve to illustrate the point:

1920 Gross Operating Rev-

_< enue, Class 1 Carriers               $6,225,402,762

1920 Operating Expenses,

less all forms of compensation. ___, materials, maintenance, and other expenses n.............................._....$2,084.000,000

Rents and Miscellaneous 56,000,000 Taxes, etc.    181,000,000 2,321,000,000

Net revenue subject to distribution______$3,904,402,762

Thus it will be observed that after taking care of all operating expenses, including materials, supplies, maintenance repairs, depreciation, rents, taxes, and miscellaneous expenses, i there remain $3,904,402,762 to be distributed * among money, brains and brawn; but before a ; distribution is made, a sum equal to -J of 1 percent should be set aside in a sinking fund and> invested outside of the business (such as the bonds of this and other governments, including states and muncipalities), from which may be drawn amounts sufficient to maintain a level of distribution during the lean years. Such a fund, improved by interest accretions and contributions until a sufficient amount had been accumulated to tide over three to five years depres- _K sion, would eventually become a source of rev- . enuo, thus increasing the amount subject to distribution.                                      .

On the basis of the above gross revenue the " fund would amount to $31,127,013, which if compounded at 4 percent would in three years ' J amount to $35,013,654, and in five years to $37,876,664. which would be sufficient to maintain a return of 5 percent, even though the actual net revenue rendered a return of only 3| percent to 4 percent on total capitalization.' By this device, money, brains and brawn. contribute equally to the losses as well as dividing the profits arising from the conduct of the business.

After taking care of the $31,127,013 contribution to the sinking fund, there would remain $3,873,275,749, the equivalent of approximately . 5.2 percent on the total capitalization of $75,- . 364,000,000. When distributed it would look like this:                                                   -

■          MONEY CAPITAL

$18,900,000,000 at 5.2% equals_____________$ 971,350,380

BRAINS CAPITAL

2,150.000.000 at 5.2%, equals 110,497,745 BRAWN CAPITAL

54.314,000,000 at 5.2% equals..........   2,791,427,6^4 _

$75,364,000,000                '         $3,873,275,749

On the above basis of distribution each of the 22.875 officers would receive on an average $4,830, and each of the 1,838,820 employes an average of $1,518 per annum, which, in each instance is in excess of the annual return at ' which they are respectively capitalized, from which it is patent there is ample opportunity, with higher efficiency, to increase the return.

Distribution tu money capital could be effect* * cd, as at present, in the form of quarterly dividends, 1| percent each quarter, but distribution to brains and brawn could be made on the basis of quarterly accounting as follows:

Monthly advances against prospective dividends equal to 75%; one-third of say 75% of the quarterly paymeat; and thus afford funds with which to meet current living expenses; and at the end of the quarter the difference between the total of the three monthly advances and the total dividend due the officer or employ^ to be included in the third monthly cheek.

This might be illustrated in the following manner. .An employe whose capitalized value is - $29,700 would be entitled to a dividend on the basis of an annual return at 5.2% or $383.60 X* each quarter, but has already received three monthly advances of $85.00 each, a total of $255.00; hence there would be a balance of $138.60 due, making his third monthly check ‘ $223.00.              •

This method of distribution would also apply to the official class and would afford a convenient means of saving and, as opportunity presented, would also enable brains and brawn stockholders to acquire money stock and ultimately to gain financial as well as operating - control of the carriers to the limit of their ability purchase such stock in the open market and to pay for it

INCREASING EFFICIENCY          ‘

With money, brains and brawn properly capitalized into a three-cornered partnership, there - is every incentive, under the leadership of a board of directors in which each class of investors has representation, to carry out the dictates of the Transportation Act of Congress, by economically operating the carriers so as to earn the stipulated 5|% and even more.

The stockholder who entrusts his money to brains and brawn has a right to expect that it will be utilized for the purpose of earning a return in which all three elements will participate to the largest possible extent. Hence brains and brawn must together cooperate with money in devising’ways and means of economically ... operating the property. While the directors rep-senting money on the board cannot participate directly in the operation of the roads, they can enter into The management and by advice and counsel work to accomplish the highest efficiency.

Inasmuch as approximately 60 percent of the carriers' gross revenue must be expended in. compensation, it is through that channel the greatest opportunity for saving presents itself | > yet the $2,084,000,000 expended for materials, supplies and maintenance, offers a prolific source for the practice of economy. If 10 per-/, cent can be cut from that bill, there will be $208,-: 400,000 more added to the net amount subject. to distribution among the money, brains and brawn stockholders. This will hinder the graft* arrangements now made by money directors;

With the employe class capitalized as. partners in the business there will be no need for overtime payments; the Adamson Law can ber-scrapped along with the working rules and regulations about which so much has been said^-J A “partner⁰ is not interested in such things;!' in view of the fact that he wilT^articipate the net revenue. Likewise maximum train- and. full crew laws, designed to create unnecessary > jobs, would be abolished with a view to a reduction in the number of employes, thus permitting the distribution of net revenue among a smaller number of stockholders.             ’

In 1916 the carriers handled 500 billion traf- ‘ fic units with 1,647,097 employes; while in 1920. _v there were 589 billion traffic units handled, or⁴-^-an increase of 17.8 percent. If the number ofi employes had been increased at the same ratio, the 589 billion units should have been handled¹' with 1,942,280 employes, whereas 1,993,524 were 5 employed, It is therefore apparent that 51,244’ unnecessary employes were used. 51,244 ployes capitalized at $29,700 each represents total of $1,521,946,800. A return on that amount ^f of capital at 5.2 percent equals $79,141,233. It is apparent that brawn would not be very keen -to maintain 51,244 unnecessary employes on the pay-roll when by eliminating them, more than 79 million dollars would become available for distribution in dividends. In other words, it is quite likely, a means would be found for handling an increase in traffic units with-a fewer number of employes.

Personal efficiency would be stimulated under such an arrangement. Every officer and employe with a knowledge of proprietorship would be prompted to bend every effort to the economical production of transportation to the end that an increased compensation would result. The section crew tamping ties would see to ft that no drones were on the job, and it is doubt ful if there would be many kicks about pumping

the car out to the end of the section “on the company’s time”; likewise the freight crew would not be so keen to “double” a hill for the sake of overtime when they realized that the additional coal consumption cut their dividends. Then too, it is quite possible there would not be quite so many “hot boxes”, “leaky flues”, or “poor steamers” to add overtime. ■ In its final analysis there is not a shadow of doubt that the employe class would look at the proposition differently through the glasses of _ ownership when they were brought to a realisation that the maximum income is dependent on their highest efficiency.

The money stockholders would also suddenly develop a keener sense of efficiency in seeing to it that dividends were not being paid out of net earnings on unnecessary dollars in the business. It is quite likely that they would be right on the job devising ways and means for cutting out unnecessary expenditures in plant and equipment, to the end that a minimum amount ^z of “Capital” should be employed in the conduct of the affairs of the corporation.

„ Brains stockholders might be expected to “take stock” to ascertain if, perhaps, there might be a few too many “officers”. It is quite likely that a means might be found whereby the affairs of the company could not be more economically arranged. Surely, when the executive’s thought and energy is devoted to management, instead of spending h i s time in needless “wrangling matches” .with employes’ “business agents” over national working rules and agreements, etc., fewer executives would be necessary. Under present methods one out of every three executives’ time is spent, not in the constructive management of the property, but - in meeting with grievance committees. It is quite possible that the 22,573 members of the official class could be reduced to at least 17,500. which would release $534,962,000 worth of brains capital, which at 5.2 percent return would add $27,817,024 to the dividend fund; ' this, coupled with the $79,141,233 added by a reduction of employes, would make a total of $106,958,257 to be added to the dividend, bringing the 1920 figures up to $4,011,381,019, which would permit of a substantial reduction in rates and at the same time leave a division of net earnings equal to more than 5 percent on capitalized money, brains and brawn.

HOW THE PUBLIC WOULD BENEFIT

When the really efficient operation, as a result of reorganization under this plan, had become effective the capitalization scheme would look something like this:                     '

Capitalization$73,636,000,000

Money 18,900,000,000

Brains (17,500)  1,645,000,000 Brawn (1,787,576)  53,090,907,200 This represents a reduction in capitalization of nearly two billion dollars on which a divi-^x dend would not have to be paid, hence rates could be reduced without materially affecting a normal return to all three classes of investors.

, Taking 1920 figures as a basis the increased efficiency together with a reduction in rates as a stimulus to business the statement of revenue might be reasonably expected to look something like this:

Gross Operating Revenue

1920 __$6,225,000,000

Less 16.5% rate_______ 1,027,125,000

$5,197,875,000

Plus 10% tonnage_____ 623,500,000 $5,820,375,000

Operating expenses reduced 10%_____L- 2,088,900,000

Net revenue exclusive of compenBation_ 8,731,475,000 Less 10% sinking fund 87,214,750

Net amount subject to distribution_____$3,694,260,250

Based on a capitalization of $73,636,000,000 the above net revenue subject to distribution is equivalent to a return of a fraction over 5 percent. Thus if rates were reduced 16.5 percent, which is the average of one-half of the increases granted in “Ex Parte 74”, and traffic units increased but 10 percent the gross revenue would be sufficient to care for operating and maintenance expenses reduced 10 percent from 1920 figures. Owing to decreased costs of materials and supplies, the net divisible revenue would equal an amount that would afford a return within approximately one-tenth of one percent of the return figured on the basis of 1920 totals. Therefore the public could enjoy a material reduction in rates; and money, brains and brawn would still earn a return on its capitalized value at the rate of 5 percent which no one will deny is a fair return on such investments. This plan adopted in all industries would result in such a reduction in prices as to correspondingly increase the buying power of the wages paid to everybody.

THE PLAN AND CONSOLIDATION OF CARRIERS

The Interstate Commerce Commission has, in its Docket No. 12,964, promulgated a tentative plan under the Transportation Act whereby the carriers can be consolidated into nineteen systems. If in the consolidation scheme each of the nineteen systems were to be recognized under Federal Charters and capitalized in accordance With this plan a means would be provided for accomplishing the desired result. The writer has made tentative calculations in connection with one of the proposed systems, using figures taken from recent reports, and finds that it would be perfectly feasible to incorporate this idea into such a consolidation. If the consolidation of our carriers into a limited number of systems as proposed would effect such economics as Congress believed would follow such consolidations, then it is a foregone conclusion that still further savings would follow combining this plan with any plan for consolidating the carriers.

conclusion                .

The writer hopes that the foregoing has been sufficient to stimulate thinking minds to cob-sider this plan seriously as an avenue for escape from the troubles of past and present and that the seeds for thought thus planted may germinate into and give birth to an Idea thaT can become the means of solving the ridffli¹; Constructive criticism is courted, to the end^ that we may together work out a practical • scheme that will forever still the strife betweea/ so-called Capital and Labor as far as transportation is concerned and thus fulfill the prophecy that the lion and the lamb shall lie down together. If such can be accomplished it is vreBL worth the effort; and money, brains and brown, can then go through the Golden Age ahead, sharing each other’s burdens as well as partiefc ’ pating in mutual benefits.                    _:' •

BREVITIES

Professor Miller Brooks

rofessor Miller Brooks, formerly teacher, for four years, of Hygiene and Physical Culture in the* University of Mexico, Mexico City, is greatly interested in the work of The Golden Age. We confess a partiality to ild people. Professor Brooks is seventy-seven years of age, is growing new hair, tells us that he is a strict vegetarian, and is anticipating a journey to Florida and return during the Winter months, during which time he will try to spread far and wide the good news that Millions Now Living Will Never Die. He is much interested in Zionism and looks forward hopefully, to Palestine as the homeland of the Jews and their secure anchorage there by 1925.

Why This Difference?         B> w. a. Uurenor

I HAVE been reading the articles for and against vaccination which have been appearing in the Golden Age. I see wisdom expressed in both sides to the issue. I have neither wisdom nor learning to offer in the matter, but I do desire to tell a true circumstance. I was the

first-born of a young married couple; unless I am entirely ignorant, I Was flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone; their blood was my blood.                                                            ....

Less than two years afterward another child was born to them. As I see it, we two children are of our parents’ flesh and blood. We two children sprang from the same source; and as I see it, we had about the same constitution, physically, to begin with. Both children grew and started off well.

When both children were yet under twelve years of age, a smallpox epidemic broke out and both of these children were vaccinated against smallpox on the same day. The vaccination took effect on one and not on the othez. The one that it took effect on had a very sore arm. The abrasion amounted to little or nothing where the virus had failed to take effect

Now let us consider the general health of these two persons since their vaccination, or since one became inoculated and the other not The smallpox epidemic soon died out, just a few cases, only one death—he exposed himself to a storm. But getting back to these two children of whom the writer is one, neither one of these two children took the smallpox, the one that the vaccination failed to take effect on has grown into a beautiful human being. If this one cared to do so, I beEeve she could sit as a model for symmetry of form, beauty of face, fine teeth, perfect complexion, strong, forceful, enjoys living.

; . The one that became inoculated with the virus soon began to develop weakness (diseases) the face looks sallow, the countenance sad, the teeth have practically all rotted out, and is tortured by ^frightful skin troubles^—the bones are not sound, deformity exists in joints and several other places; this one has been to famous health resorts, is a weakling and has often prayed to die in order to be out of pain and suffering. Medical men say “Incurable”, and yet this suffering one believes if the medical man had not ' injected this virus into the blood stream, this suffering one would have developed in health as the other one did.

Debt-Paying That Would Be Ruinous

WHEN the war debts of the Allies to the

_ ..United States were incurred, there was no money sent to them from this country, for which ' they became in debt to this country. What was sent was manufactured products or raw materials made or produced in the United States. These goods were sent to Europe after being made here. In return the United States did not receive money, but promises to pay or simple acknowledgements.

The process of getting into debt consisted of the passing of goods from the United States to the Allies.

It is obvious that the payment of the debts must be the reverse process of the passing of . goods from the Allies.to the United States.

The United States has more than half of the gold stock of the world; and as the supply of gold outside of the United States is only a fraction of the eleven billions of debt, it is obvious that the debt cannot be paid in gold. Gold is the official international material of exchange, /■ilver and other metals being only commodities.

Since the debt can never be paid in gold, it must be paid in goods.

To reverse the debt process means that goods must be-manufactured by the Allies and sent to the United States in return for which the United States would send back receipts reducing the indebtedness.

If the debt is eleven billion dollars and the interest rate is live percent the annual interest is $550,000,000. This must be paid annually, but this vast payment will not reduce the debt. For the debt to be liquidated in, say twenty years,, will require roughly the annual payment of $500,000,000. This plus the interest roughly totals an annual payment of $1,000,000,000 a year, increasing the capital payment as the amount of interest decreases.

Thus the United States will be enriched by a billion a year of goods without paying a cent in Return.

Happy prospect! Something for nothing!

But no matter what goods may be sent to us, nothing must be manufactured and returned. . This means that much less manufactured by American workers than under normal conditions of international trade. It signifies that a cool billion is the amount of reduction that must be made in the volume of American mills, fac-' tories, mines, and farms.

Someone will have to decide what~kind of goods shall be received from the Allies.

Shall it be farm products? Then the American farmers must be content to sell a billion -dollars less of farm products a year; for that volume of farm products will flow into the country without being paid for, and will come into competition with American farm products. There will be an-enormous oversupply of farm products, a glut of the market, and a ruinous drop in the price. How will the American farmer like a further drop of perhaps a quarter or a third from the present low prices? The American farmer would be under the necessity of uttering an emphatic political “no!” to the administration that would for twenty-two years practically destroy the farmer.

Shall it be copper? The copper mines will shut down for twenty-two years, and a great and profitable industry be destroyed for a generation.

Let it be textiles. Then for twenty-two years the textile mills of New England and the South must shut down, and the machinery rust, until the textile industry is obliterated.

Then it shall be iron and steel. But what would the United States Steel Corporation and . the independent producers say to the glutting of the American market with foreign iron and steel?

Automobiles? Then lor two decades grass must grow in the streets of Detroit and other motor vehicle-producing localities.

What industry and what class of labor is willing to make the supreme sacrifice of its all— for two decades or so—in order that the Allies may pay their debts?

/Who will stay out of a job in order that the Allies may have work manufacturing things to send to America to pay those debts?

And echo answers, “Who?”

Is Knowledge Power?            b? John Diww&n

WHEN Lord Bacon made the statement that “knowledge is power” he did not know that it was to be the inspirational stumbling-block of every generation that should come after.

The best up-to-date dictionary gives the definition of wisdom as "the right use and exercise ■of knowledge”. The Wise Man in his Proverbs says: ‘"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth injhe chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity! and the scorners delight in their scorning, and' fools hate knowledge?”—Proverbs 1:20.

How does wisdom cry without, in the- streets and in the chief places of concourse? The answer is this: Every individual is in the school of experience. Let every individual see to it that he makes a right use and exercise of his knowledge and experience. How? Get rich? Piffle! Acquire poyer? More piffle! Get an education? Stop and think.

The same wise man said: “In much wisdom is there much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow’”. (Ecclesiastes 1: 18) Now how should there be much grief in much wisdom, and an increase of sorrow in an increase of knowledge? The fact is this: Every individual carries a responsibility for the right use and exercise of his knowledge. "You should know better” is a phrase which every boy and girl has heard. Every man who does his best to exercise his knowledge aright observes the silly foolishness, the emptiness, and the vanity of the passing show. The more knowledge a person acquires, the greater his responsibility. The modern educator, teacher, and preacher carries more responsibility than any other class. Upon th# modern educator, teacher, and preacher, rests the decision whether anarchy shall come to America as it has come to Russia.

The desire of individuals, communities, and: nations to get rich and powerful has brought the world to ruin; one-half of the world tried tn;: destroy the other half. The present generation;' has an advantage over all preceding generation# in that it has at its disposal the sum of all th# ' knowledge and experience of all the generation#/ past But the wrong use and exercise of thi# knowledge has brought about this world-wid# ruin, desolation and despair.

Inuring the last hundred years.knowledge ha# increased at a rate and to an extent that Lor£ ^: Bacon never dreamed of. It is also an interest-: ing fact that this great increase of knowledge" has come only to those nations and peoples'; which had the Bible in their midst, whether they believed it or not. The presence in their midst of a small section who believed the Bible and had faith in its teachings is the salt which ha# preserved these nations so long.

China, India, Central Africa, and other countries of similar character have had no part in the increase and dissemination of knowledge. .They have rather been the prey of the so-called: civilized nations that had their own fierce international squabbles over the exploitation and partition of those heathen (?) nations that did not have such a wealth of information* This fact in itself would have been a comedy if it had not been so tragic—just like taking candy from a baby.                                ,

Five, six, seven years ago, the nations of the world on both sides of the conflict called together their wise men, scholars, thinkers, scientists, inventors, and writers, and instructed them to apply all the knowledge they had at their disposal, i. e.. the sum of all the knowledge and experience of the ages—for the one purpoa# of destruction. Such was the great international conflict, which has now given place to an internal conflict — class against class, capital against labor, labor against capital; and those sam# wise men, scholars and thinkers, scientists^ inventors, and writers, are puzzled to know which is the worse, au international conflict of nation against nation, or an infernal conflict — claa# against class, capital against labor, labor against capital, civil wars and revolutions; in effect, every man’s hand against his neighbor.

I venture to suggest that if knowledge should increase during the * next twenty years at the rate and to the extent that it has during the last twenty years, and that if the fierce struggle for supremacy and dominion—individual, communistic, and national — keep pace with the increase of knowledge, even allowing that this generation has the advantage of the sum of all the knowledge and experience of all past generations, before the twenty years have expired the human race will go out of existence. So fierce will be the struggle that the race will destroy itself. "Except these days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.”—Matt. 24: 22.

Is knowledge power? Is there wisdom in riches? “Wisdom is the principal thing: therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:7) “Get wisdom, get understanding ; forget it not. . . . Exalt wisdom, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honor.”—Proverbs 4: 5, 8.

Away from the Land!

THE city dweller in baby innocence sings the ballad, “Back to the Farm”. But the veteran of the soil shouts out, “Away from the Land!” Not only the rising proportion of town and city population, but new data from the Department of Commerce show the drift from the discouragements and impossibilities of farming into the cities and their trades.

Considering the 13 percent increase in total population from 1910 to 1920, the number of persons engaged in “agriculture, forestry and - ahimal husbandry”, should have risen from the ' 12,659,082 of 1910 to 13 percent more, or 14,-304,76Z

" The census figures show that the number decreased by 1,708,008, to 10,951,074 or 15 percent. Subtracting this from the 14,304,762 that there ought to be, if the proportion of 1910 had been maintained, the loss from soil to city is 3,353,-688, or 23.4 percent.

The number devoted to these occupations is 23.4 percent less than it should be, based on the 1910 figure.

If only this rate of loss should continue the percent in agriculture, and the total population will be^as follows by decades:

Yea/                Total population            In finnint. etc. Percent of total

1.000.W**           l.OOO.&Wf in fannlnn, »it

1910 91.9 12.6--33.2

1920 105.6 10.9 26.3

1930 119.3 9.2 19.6

1940 ____	_____134.3_____	______7.8______	______14.8
1950 ____	___152.3_____	______6.6______	_____11.1
1960____	_____172.1_____	______5.6______	_______8.8
1970____	__194.4_____	______4.7______	__— 6 J

No more startling figures have ever been published.

They signify that, looking ahead only half a century, the kind of civilization now in existence will have only 6.2 percent of its population’ ^;; raising food to feed it. Only one in sixteen will be devoted to farming and forestry, compared with the one in four now and the one in three a decade ago.

Long before the half-century is up one of two alternatives will have been met; Either the population will* starve and die down to a number that can be supported by the small number op the farms, or sufficient of the people will have been enslaved and forced like serfs to work and stay on the farms, producing food that the city brethren may live.

The present civilization is rapidly getting to a situation where it will starve itself to death.

What causes this incessant drift from country to city?

The factory type of industry, together with a selfish callousness.

Cities are made by factories. When home industries were the rule and each worker owned his own loom, he might live where he pleased; but when the looms were owned by one man and were housed in a mill building, the workers were compelled to five near the mill. Other mills were added, stores multiplied, theatres, and movies and other attractions were the rule; and the iure of the city increased in geometrical proportion.

At the same time the attractiveness of the country diminished in geometrical ratio. The work was harder, the hours longer and the wage less. Prices of farm products were set by city^ men who controlled the city market, and the prices of things made in the city were raised^ so that, as it became increasingly harder to make a living in the country, men and women fled from farm to city in an ever rising tide. From 1910 to 1920 the population increased 13 percent and the number on the farm decreased 15 percent Everything is going against the farm; and it is getting worse and worse, as the city merchant is replaced by the unscrupulous profiteer fearing neither God, man, the courts, nor the devil.

Under human selfishness it is difficult to figure out a better system than this imporfeet one. In Russia, now Socialist, the farmers who had been expected altruistically to produce enough _ for themselves and plenty for the city, simply lay down, refused to raise more than they needed themselves, and would not send food to the cities, claiming that the cities had nothing to give them in return. It was impossible to coerce scores of millions of farmers each living in an isolated position, and so Russia has had to return to a modified form of the old economic system. American farmers are not any more Jfond of giving up their produce for nothing than are the Russians. The new scheme has not Worked.

A new system is urgently needed, or the people will starve. Nothing can now succeed except an order of things where people really care For one another, where the Golden Rule is the law and where love prevails among human beings so that country and city people will help one another. In other words, the actual Christianizing of the social order is imperative simply that there may be food to eat.

Only the promised kingdom of God will bring order out of the impending chaos. That, thank God, is almost here. Its beginnings may be expected by 1925.

New Jerusalem Blown Up

HIS is the expressive headline in a British newspaper about the torpedoing of the Disarmament Conference by Premier Briand of France.

M. Briand said categorically and emphatically that France would positively not reduce her land armaments. “France ” he said, “has already cut down her army to the extreme limit *iof national safety. France would not abide any Hietation as to the size of her army, being con-jrincdd that force is needed in face of the German and Russian menaces.”

"That,” comments the Daily Herald of London, "is precise and unmistakable. It blows sky-high Mr. Lloyd George’s New Jerusalem.”

’ "There is to be no land disarmament, no limitation bf armies? If France will not, no .other European nation dare disarm- Germany will inevitably begin to arm anew. Even Soviet Russia will not dare disband her Bed army. The old mad competition begins anew. Con-fpriptinn stays. And if France will not limit her army. dare Great Britain limit her navy? The Straits are narrow. The Entente already a dffbioua patch-work thing* there is no ‘sure shield’.

"Not much hope of even a REDUCTION. Of gennina disarmament, of a world-peace compact, not the vestige of the shadow of the ghost of a chance. Just read M. -Briand’s words again. And then consider how silly, iflj Mr. Lloyd’s George’s millennium chatter.”

For the first.time since Napoleon Bonapartef France has an army able to sweep its.way? throughout the whole of Europe. She is keeping; her army intact. Big armies are not made to? keep but to use. At the bottom of French perial dreams are three factors:              ^;

• 1. The militarists, headed by Marshal Foch.'

• 2. The French Bankers, led by the Quay d*-Orsay, the French Wall Street. '     '

• 3. The clericals, dreaming of the establish*' ment of a vast European papal empire. . '   <

This is the same unholy trinity that affects? America, the same kind of crew that plunged Germany into war/ the same that controls Brit-? ish policies.                   •      ,                -

If America disarms and France does not,? then England cannot, and Japan will not ^Rny-? way. America is placed at once at a disadvAn^ age—headed for a permanent position as a sec-?: ond or third rate power, perhaps to become the? China of the Western Continent, to be dismem-S bered at leisure.                               ',    ■,

This is not the beating of swords and spears; into plowshares and pruning hooks. At best is a counterfeit designed to establish the more? strongly the powerful governments of the Old World. At worst and in truth it is a calm before another storm—the prelude of the dteacL summons: "Proclaim ye this among the gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.”—Joel 3: 9,10. -

The Disarmament is not a crisis, but it pre- ’ cipitates a crisis.

Concerning the Japanese menace to world peace General Sir Jan Hamilton said before the London Press Club:

“If you are going to block up the safety-valve of the “ Japanese, put on your gas-masks. Better let the Japanese have the whole of China than have another-war. It . comes to this: If by any mischance we [British] were to have trouble with Japan, they know quite well that they could take Hong Kong and the Philippines and that it would take a long time to get them out.” "A smoking concert in a powder magazine," was Sir Jan’s final reference to the Disarmament Conference.

Both Japan and America border on the Pacific. No stone wall can be run from Behring Straits to the Antarctic to delimitate spheres of influence. Both want to control Pacific policies and the sleeping giant of China. Only one can. It is a commercial and industrial difference, and that is the sort of rivalry out of which are born the horrors of war. For Big Business in Yokohama and Big Business in Wall Street are covetous of the same thing. Both control armies, navies and air fleets, and at the proper moment one is going to launch the thunderbolt at the other. It will be done for the “honor” of the nation or for “law and order”. Which will do it first!

America wants a free hand commercially in China, the freeing of “the heart of China”— Shantung—from Japanese control, the abrogation of the Chino-Japanese treaty of 1915 extorted f born an unwilling China while her European protectors were slaughtering one another, the abolishment of all alien spheres of influence, and the open door for equal trade opportunities for all nations. Wall Street would prefer an ’ exclusive sphere of influence in China, but for policy’s sake hypocritically pretends to want it for all

Japan is after the real thing—to get more and to keep what she has. She intends to keep China’s heart in her mailed fist—Shantung— with a protectorate over Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, controlling China from the north and east and holding all of North China tightly. In the center of China the demand is only for a grip on the carotid artery, the Yang-tse-Kiang valley, and in the south, as a beginning, territorial rights in Fukien, opposite Formosa.

The fact is that it is believed in well-informed non-imperialist British circles that an arrangement has long existed between Japan and England for Japan to have North China and Britain South China, the latter welded to India in a vast empire. Japan is open in expressing her desires. England is after her part, but diplomatically cannot publish her aims yet. The Disarmament Conference was to be utilized to advance rihtional. interests to get all they can ~ grab, so far as China is concerned.

So doth the dove of Peace hover over Washington.

War Profiteers Now Safe .

ON THE sea there is a three-mile limit beyond which *‘hootch” pirates are safe, and on land there is a three-year limit beyond which the land pirates are safe.

The three-year land limit expired on Armistice Day, November 11, 1921, three years after the end of hostilities in 1918. The federal law against profiteering carried a three-year statute of limitations, during which the war profiteers might be prosecuted criminally for their crimes against the United States, but after which they might enjoy their ill-gotten gains in peace and plenty.

The three years are up. Peace reigns in the profiteering camp.

How did the profiteers escape proper attention during the three years!

How does a naval fleet escape the view of the enemy? By a smoke screen. How does an army escape the attention of the airplane spies! By camouflage.

The profiteers kept up a persistent smoke screen as long as such a defense was needed. They kept attention off themselves by keeping it on some one else. They controlled the press and the secret service.

First, were the “pro-Germans”. The eyes of the American citizenry were kept looking for mysterious “pro-Germans”, of whom Federal judges and attorneys now frankly say that there were practically none.

Then the “disloyalists” came in for their turn of public attention.'                    -

Next the public were trained to look for “reds”, of whom there are practically none of a dangerous variety.

Afterward came the^useditionists^,,,,and many a State passed laws to catch the menace to public peace who might think differently from Big Business or Big Church.

In the nick of time came the election for President; and in the hullabaloo over politics the profiteers were again forgotten.

Last of all came the Disarmament Conference. The lion pulled on a sheepskin, and the wolf the pelt of a lamb. The militarists became pacifists—except Briand and the Japanese who told what they thought, or dissembled their thoughts until out of the spot-light.

And in the midst of the preliminary fervor about utter disarmament, then limited disarmament and finally no disarmament for France— 0 happy, blessed hour—came Armistice Day.

The statute of limitation had run its course. The smoke screens had worked. The profiteers were free from fear of jail.

The situation is put plainly in the Minneapolis Daily News for November 18:

“War-time profiteers, crooks and sharpers who defrauded the government of millions of dollars in connection with war construction and supplies, unless they already have been indicted or convicted, will face no prosecution.

“They are as free from any criminal action as though they had been tried and acquitted. -

“They may later find themselves defendants in suits brought b.y the Government to recover money paid on fraudulent deals or illegal contracts, but these can be only'civil suits which will put no one behind prison bars.

“Expiration of the three-year limit, within which any criminal action, not capital, must be instituted, has shut the the door to prosecution.

“Except perhaps in a few scattering cases in which frauds against the Government were committed in adjusting war contracts following the signing of the armistice, the Government, fey inaction, has forfeited its right to prosecute and punish.

“The Department of Justice will not give out any estimate as to the number of cases in which immunity is bestowed because of the inactivity of that Department in beginning prosecution. -                        _

“The Special Committee of Congress which investigated war expenditures, reported that ‘in the judgment of the Committee enough irregularities and fraudulent practices have been uncovered’ to warrant prompt and rigorous prosecution in scores of cases.

“In the construction of army camps alone the Committee declared, there had been leakage of approximately $80,000,000.

“Many expenditures, the report declares ‘were obviously tainted with fraud’."

When the Shipping-Board investigation was made it was estimated that the number of persons probably guilty of offenses worthy of prosecution ran up to some 2,400. The waste, fraud and stealings ran to the incredible sum of $2,000,000,000, and later on it was asserted by a new head of the Shipping Board that practically all of the $4,000,000,000 put into Shipping Board operations was a loss. It was pronounced the most stupendous wreck ever known.

In the army there is little doubt that the needless losses to the American peqple ran to the enormous figure of⁷ several times those of the Shipping Board.

Why was no one prosecuted effectually?

Why was there a universal whitewash?

Because the trail ran straight to the door of Big Business and to the door of the White House.

Big Business has gained many “brethren” through the war profiteering. The number of millionaries has leaped from 20,000 to over 50,; 000. War profiteering is now a family matter. It is the skeleton in the Big Business closet., -

But will the farmer-labor movement about to ' seat its men in legislatures, in mayorships, in governorships, in Congress, perhaps in the Cah-. ■ inet and even in the Presidential Chair, be as ready to let this odorous cadaver rest in peace as the profiteers hope they will? ’           -

No. For the profiteers, for this unholy brood -of a New Rich of a ghastly species—hands and arms still dripping with the blood of boys <3bn<? secrated to death in stinking trenches, whil$-they reveled in perfumed apartments—for them', are destined stormy, dreadful days.

Not for nothing has the Divine Decree gone out against all oppressors: “These be days of/ vengeance”. Not merely worked out in mys- : terious invisible ways, but Divine Vengeance,' wrought through the persons of trodden and ¹ desperate human beings, little brothers of the/ rich, idle by millions, hungry, waiting for the. next voting-time.

There is a remedy. If the 50,000 American millionaires, the real rulers of the nation<will heed such a kindly warning as this, and utilize i their vast abilities in behalf of the common peo-< pie, and act toward all as toward beloved broth-, i ^zers, there will be no Divine Vengeance, but the / inauguration of the Golden Age. On the heels of Prosperity will follow Love, the love of man < for man. All differences will be forgotten in a . new brotherhood. The kingdom of God will have come through those having the means and the power to lead the world to its better things.

But the same Bible that foreshadows and foretells many things, also declares that these . twentieth-century oppressors of the poor will not change their ways even though there be shown them the evil and the peril o^rfheir way, the divine remedy, and the frightful consequences of any other course than that which God has shown to be the right one. Would that the world’s leaders might heed! We but do our plain duty in bringing such matters to their attention. The outcome lies with the men of power. The decision lies with Big Business whether it will take the path of life or the way of suicide.

STUDIES IN THE “HARP OF GOD” (^IUD^^^H^S?^D’^S)

SWIth issue Number 60 we began running Judge Rntherford’s new book,    R | l|

“The Hurp of God", with accompanying questions, taking the place of both     zrtrb

Advanced and Juvenile Bible Studies which have been hitherto published.

STRING i: CREATION

TP HE subject of creation here treated relates -*• particularly to the earth and the creatures of the earth, the chief one of which is man. We will not attempt to discuss at length the creation of other planets, nor of the other creatures. Attention is merely called to the Scriptural statement that the beginning of God’s creation was the Logos, which term is translated in our Bibles “the Word”. The record reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with [the] God and the Word was [a] god”. (John 1:1) God is a name applied to Jehovah, thtf' Almighty One. It is sometimes applied to other mighty ones also ; whereas the name Jehovah applies exclusively to the great eternal God. The Logos, the Word, was a god, a mighty one. “ The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him . was not anything made that was made.” He was Jehovah’s great active agent in the creation, of all things created.

"Since the Bible was written for man’s benefit, the Genesis account of creation has to do with man and his place of habitation. There we read: “In the beginning God created the heav-. ens and the earth”. He created the sun, for light by day; and the moon, for light by night, upon the earth. God then created the birds and fowls that fly through the air, and the fish of the sea. He created the cattle and the creeping things, and all the beasts of the earth. All this was before the creation of man. He had formed the earth many centuries before man's creation, and He created it that man might have a place to live. He caused His prophet to write: “I have made the earth and created man upon it. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited.”— Isaiah 45:12, 18.

^v "God Cheated the first man and woman out of the elements and gave them power to produce and bring forth children, and all the human race sprang from the first pair. God was the Father and the earth the mother of Adam. The first man was named Adam; the first woman, . Eve. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multi-' ply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”—Genesis 1:27, 28.

⁸¹We are all interested in knowing how Jehovah created the first man, Adam. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7) ' God did not give man a soul separate and distinct from the man. The word soul means being living, breathing creature. Every man is a soul. . No man has a soul. Every living creature is a soul. God called all moving creatures that have life souls. (See Genesis 1:20, margin) He Xies-ignates various animals as souls. — Numbers 21:28.                                         '

⁸²Jehovah then made a beautiful home for man, which is designated in the Bible as Eden —a garden, a beautiful park. Everything in Eden was perfect, because all the works of Jehovah are perfect. (Deuteronomy 32:4) “ And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it”—Genesis 2: 8, 9,15.

”God next gave to man a law to govern him. He told him what he might do and what he might not do; and informed him that violation of this law would bring death upon him. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”—Genesis 2:16,17.

“God then created Eve to be a helpmate or companion to Adam. (Genesis 22:21-25) If Adam and Eve had been obedient to Jehovah j at all times, there would have been no sickness, ; Borrow, nor death amongst the human race.

"In the"Scriptures Jesus, the Logos, is designated as “the bright and morning star”. (Revelation 22:16) He at all times was and is , the joy and delight of the heavenly Father, Jehovah. A star is used to symbolize a heavenly creature. The morning star is the most honored one in all the divine realm, Jehovah alone ex-, oepted. Other heavenly creatures are designated as stars. *

••Many times you have heard the question asked, Who made the devil, Satan, the evil one?

¹ The correct answer is, He was not always the , devil or Satan. He was created a perfect and beautiful creature. He was also designated a star of heaven. His original name was Lucifer.

' The prophet Ezekiel says of him that he was “the anointed cherub that covereth”, which Beems to indicate that he had authority over some others. Continuing, the Prophet records: ‘ “Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;

thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Ezekiel 28:14, 15) He is described as a beautiful creature. Thus the Prophet speaks of him: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created”.—Ezekiel 28:13.

^S7Other angelic hosts in heaven are designated the sons of God. When God created the earth, laying its foundations as a habitation for man, when He created these beautiful earthly creatures upon the earth, these two great -stars of heaven sang together a song of gladness, and the angelic sons of God shouted for joy. (Job 38:4-7) Jt appears that at that time all the ■ ■ creatures^ of Jehovah Were in harmony with Him and obedient to Him, and of course they would watch the creation develop; and when the highest earthly creatures were made, perfect man and perfect woman, endowed with the

attributes of wisdom, justice, love, and power,' made in the image and likeness of Jehovah, there was great joy in heaven. Hence the occasion for the song and shouting by the heavenly.; hosts.                                                        . ... y.

³⁸In the unfolding of the divine plan, there«J fore, we see that creation is the first part andis£ properly designated as the first string upoittK^I harp of God. “God is light, and in him is no-j darkness at all*” (1 John 1: 5) All the works of j Jehqvah . are perfect. (Deuteronomy 32:4)> Hence we must conclude that all the creatures’ of Jehovah were in the light, were creatures of light, all happy, all joyful. And when the perfect man and perfect woman were placed in the beautiful garden of Eden, everything there wasu joyful.                                                  -jd-

QUESTIONS ON THE FOREGOING TEXTUAL MATTES FB01f£ “THE HARP OF god” .

A;

To what does the subject of creation herein briery 1

treated relate? fl 28.

Who is designated in the Bible as the beginning of?

God’s creation? fl 28.

To what does the Genesis account of creation relate?^ fl 29.

What earthly creatures did God create before making man? fl 29.

For what purpose did God create the earth? fl'29.

What human beings did God create? fl 30.

Who was the father and who was the mother of ths/-, human race? fl 30.

Who was the father and who was the mother bf-z

Adam? fl 30.

What power and authority did God give to man at z his creation? fl 30.

How did God create man? fl 31.

Define the soul, fl 31.               "

Does the word soul apply to any creatures except man? Give Scriptural proof, fl 31.

Describe the original man’s first home.'fl 32.

What is the moaning of the word Eden? fl 32.

What law did God give to man by which he was to be governed while in Eden? fl 33.

Describe the creation of Eve. fl 34.

By obeying God’s law, how long could Adam and Eve have lived in Eden? fl 34.

A star is used in the Scriptures to symbolize what?-fl 35.

What is the meaning of the Scriptural term “bright and morning star”? fl 35.

Who is the most highly honored one in the divine realm? fl 35.

Who is the devil or Satan ? and who made him ? fl 36.

What was his original name? fl 36.

How does the prophet Ezekiel describe Lucifer? fl 36.

What other beings in heaven are called sons of God?

I 37-           .

When God created man, what was the effect upon the host of heaven who observed the creation? fl 37.

. What is the first string upon the divine harp ? fl 38.

Does the revelation of thin string cause rejoicing? and if so, by whom? fl 38.

Who is light and without darkness? fl 38.

Has God ever created an imperfect creature? fl 38.

What is the disposition of God's creatures white in harmony with Him ? fl 38.

What was the condition in Eden when man was created? fl 38.

NINETY and NINE

There comes an answer as I pray;

Is not the spirit more than clay?

In thine own kingdom dost thou find Where statue governs breadth of mind? When this lost world of guile and Wot Returns to God, whom it forgot, And pleads the Savior's sacrifice Earth will become a Paradise I               .

—Drury D. Sharp

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IOOK at these two cars shown above. The upper one, at the end of 50,000 miles,

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346 ATLANTIC AVENUE

The “Harp” Bible Study Course 68ds

OPPORTUNITY is now offered to all who desire to avail themselves of a brief, yet comprehensive, course, in topical Bible study. This course uses as a hand-book “The Harp of God”, a work of 384 pages, recently announced on this page.

Each of its eleven chapters is followed by numerous questions (often several to a paragraph), which are so designed as to enable even the humblest reader not only to gather the thought but also to weigh and retain it.

But as a further help in and stimulus to study the Association will send - out from its headquarters at set intervals a total of twelve question-aires to every purchaser of one of the Student’s Edition of “The Harp of God”.                                    *                               -

The Student’s Edition is printed from the same plates as the library edition previously announced. The margins are merely smaller and the paper thinner, so that the book can be carried .with convenience in the pocket or hand-bag, and spare minutes on train or street-car utilized to advantage. The book is well bound in cloth.

The price of the volume, 68c postpaid, includes the course of twelve lessons. For Sunday School teachers, for leaders of Bible Classes, and for all students of the Bible this course will be found of highest value.

The more limited your time, the more will this course prove its worth.

Send 68c for text-book and course: no future payments.

International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.