The Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

in this issue

“VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED”

TOO MUCH FOOD?

NEWS NOTES

SANCTIFICATION

REMONSTRANCE TO CHIEF OF POLICE

FEAST OF THE SUN AND

“MASS OF CHRIST”

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every other WEDNESDAY

/ive cents a copy one dollar a year Canada & Foreign 1.25

Vol. XVI - No. 400

January 16,1935

CONTENTS

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LABOR AND ECONOMICS

‘ ‘ DO We Have Too Much Food ? ” . 233

Twelve-Hour Day for Women . . 235

How a Sales Tax Works .... 237

What California Refused .... 237

Homestead Tax Exemption in Florida........237

Will Distribute Unaddressed Matter 237

Air Mail Service in Britain . . . 239

Wipe Out Tyranny......251

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

Operation of FERA in Mississippi 236

Prison Conditions in Europe . . 238

Boys Taught Love of Murder . . 239

Belgium Would Humanize Murder 239

Minister Desires to Go Straight 243

Worse Mix-up of Relationships . . 244

Remonstrance to Chief of Police 245

MANUFACTURING AND MINING

Los Angeles Still Happy .... 234

“All the Elements of Cost” . . . 237

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

Liquor Factor in Accidents . . . 233

Six Hundred Planes in Service . . 234

Blue Sky Sold in Blocks .... 234

Less and Less........234

Drive Fast, Get Flowers Early . . 234

Reduction of Railway Fares . . . 234

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

Nothing More Ridiculous .... 236

Japan in the Philippines .... 238 To Increase Italian Families . . . 238 Butler’s Way to End War Racket . 246 Nuns and Their Activities .... 246

AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

Business of Not Raising Hogs . . 236

Shooting Cattle in Oklahoma . . . 236

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

Bread Baked by the Sun .... 233

Sperry Rail Service.....  234

Air-Conditioned Trains .... 234

HOME AND HEALTH

“The Very Hairs of Your Head

Are All Numbered” .... 227

“Not Running a Rattery” . . . 235 Whisky as an Anesthetic .... 235 Insects May Be Killed by Radio . . 235 Clay Impregnated with Poison Gas 235 Therapeutic Value in Radio Waves 235 “Large Metal Container” . . , .246

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

Duranty’s Picture of Moscow . . 238 Black Man in His Own Land . . . 239

From Letters Received at Paris 242

Five Days with the Sound Car . 247

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

“How I Was Stranded in Africa” 240

Doctor Clarence Tucker Craig . , 240

Sanctification.......241

What You Get for Only $25 . . 243

The Feast of the Sun and

“the Mass of Christ” .... 252

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Published every other Wednesday by GOLDEN AGE PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., U.S.A. Clayton J. Woodworth President         Nathan H. Knorr Vice President

Charles E. Wagner Secretary and Treasurer

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Golden Age

Volume XVI                      Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, January 16, 1935                      Number 406

“The Very Hairs of Your Head Are All Numbered”

(Matthew 10:30)

A RED-HAIRED woman has on her head

30,000 hairs, a black-haired woman 110,000, and a blond-haired woman 150,000. A woman’s hair is coarser and heavier than a man’s. A man may have as many as 1,200 hairs in a single square inch on top of his head, thinning down to 160 per square inch on his face; all together, he has about twice as many hairs as a woman.

The medulla: that is the inner part of the hair. The cortex is the part that surrounds the medulla. The cuticle is the skin of the hair. Below the surface of the skin of the body from which it grows the hair is surrounded by two layers of cells which surround it in the form of a sheath.

When hair starts to grow on a part of the body where it has not previously grown, the skin of the body thickens at that point until a plug has been thrust down through it. At the bottom of the plug the hair follicle gradually forms and the related parts develop, consisting of oil glands and fat cells needed to keep the hair in good condition. The hair is not hollow.

The biggest hairs we know anything about are the horns of the rhinoceros. The spines of porcupines and hedgehogs are classified as hairs. The difference between straight hairs and curly hairs is that the straight hairs are round and the curly hairs are flat; the flatter the hair, the better it will curl. The hairs of all creatures are arranged on their bodies in an orderly manner, revealing wisdom, skill and art of the highest sort. They do not grow in hit-and-miss fashion; they grow according to design; in other words, they are numbered.

Egyptians Set the Pace

There is no limit to what mankind, and especially womankind, have done with their hair, but the Egyptians set the pace. The custom for centuries, for men, was to shave everything off. The priests used to shave their bodies all over every third day. It is supposed that this practice originated on account of the tendency of the climate to generate fleas, lice and other vermin that nest in the hair.

This practice accounts for the first mention of shaving in the Scriptures. This is where it is said of Joseph that when he was summoned to come in “he shaved”. Slaves were obliged to be clean-shaven, as to both their beards and their heads. Women wore their own hair, and wore it long, in Egypt, in ancient times, the same as they did in all other lands until recently. The men wore wigs.

In Egypt, in ancient times, a beard on a man was an indication of slovenliness. The same was true, at one time, in Rome, where, on one occasion, a man who had been banished for a time was ordered to have his beard shaved before he entered the senate.

Among the Jews long hair was admired. That of Absalom grew so luxuriantly that, according to Josephus, it was necessary to cut it every eighth day. Samson’s strength lay in his hair. Elijah had flowing locks, but Elisha was baldheaded. Solomon’s bodyguard wore their hair long. Solomon had a thousand other persons who were watching him closely who also wore their hair long.

The Early Christians

The early Christians were interested in something else besides fussing all the time with their hair; and it is interesting that on one occasion a criminal who pretended to be a Christian w^ras proved to be an impostor by the luxuriant and frizzled appearance of his hair.

Oriental women go to great lengths in the care they give to their hair. Both the prophets and the apostles have said something on this. At one time the ladies of the East wrought their hair into most fanciful devices, to represent

coronets, harps, wreaths, diadems and other figures, and loaded it down with ribbons, gold threads, pearls, and what not. Some Arabian women have small bells concealed in their hair.

It is less than 150 years since our greatgrandmothers affected the coiffure a la fregata. In this Marie Antoinette creation the lady of the period atop a face seven inches from chin to the roots of the hair had an exhibition made up of “rats”, “switches,” combs and gums and ribbons and the design of a ship that stretched upward for another full twelve inches. It took about a day for the hairdresser to make up one of these works of art (?), and it necessitated the lady’s sitting up all night. She had her hair dressed one day and night and -wore it the next for the occasion for which it was prepared.

The old-timers believed in taking care of their hair. Here is one said to date from some thousands of years before Christ. It was to promote the growth of the hair of the mother of one King Chata, and reads as follows: “One pad of a dog’s foot; one fruit of a date palm; one hoof of an ass; all to be boiled together in oil and to be applied hot with a brush made of a horse’s tail once a week for a year.” Probably that was as good as any prescription for the same purpose since.

The Assyrians wore their beard and hair long, and their statuary makes them look like the breaking up of a hard winter. Alexander the Great changed all that. He made his soldiers shave, so that their enemies could not seize them by the beard. The American Indian shaved his head, except his scalp lock, which was worn in bravado; it said in substance, “Come and get my scalp if you can, but beware that you do not lose your own in the process.”

Slaves were not allowed to wear long hair. Maidens cut their hair just before marriage. When the Germanic races were conquered by the Romans their hair was cut off and used to make false hair for the dandies of Rome. The practice by men of cutting their hair short dates hack about 450 years. Ordinarily, a man’s hair, if uncut, will grow only to his shoulders, and when thus worn the man looks very well. A woman’s hair, being stronger, grows to her waist, and sometimes to her feet.

Changing Styles of Hairdressing

Probably there will never be any end to the changing styles of hairdressing. Henry VIII, of England, rounded his beard and married six ■wives in quick succession. Not sure if this is to be taken as an encouragement or a warning. More clever than Henry was King Archelaus. When his barber asked him how he would have his hair cut the king replied, “In silence.”

The Russians go in for long and heavy beards; maybe the climate has something to do with it. When Ivan the Terrible was czar he was so charmed with the five-foot beard of an English envoy at his court that he asked permission to run his fingers through it.

Not so many centuries ago, populous beards were so plentiful that when the selectmen of a community wished to choose one of their number for chief it was a custom to spread their beards on the table and into whichever one the Pedic-ulus capitis elected to make its home, he it was that was most looked up to by his fellow men. Frederick the Great, ruler of the country of which Hitler is now the guiding star, had visitors in his beard and was proud of it. The great Frederick was not the only lousy monarch.

Nowadays the ladies often comb their tresses in public; it used to be the style for a man to do it. A noble of the realm would stand in his scarlet suit, with pretty white satin cuffs, and comb and comb his natural hair or his wig, whichever one he happened to have, while behind him his valet would adjust the boo’ful curls after the comb had passed through them.

In the days of Queen Elizabeth a female might have on her head her own hair and in addition might be carrying around as many as two hundred tufts and loops pinned on where they would fit the best, or the worst. Women tried to make their heads resemble leaves, pyramids, globes, bird cages, steeples, and horns. The hair was propped with forks and wires into the most grotesque shapes. This was not in the South Sea islands, but in England.

Scipio Africanus Shaved Daily

It is said that Scipio Africanus was the first man to shave daily. He started all this argument about which is the best shaving cream, or whether the old-fashioned cake of soap is best; whether a he-razor is the thing, or one of these modern contraptions that is carefully designed so that it will yield not more than one good shave. Wait till Scipio wakes up and the men get around him to tell him what they think of him. Since he went to sleep the worm has turned many times, but, alas, the men keep on shaving; for it is the custom of men, having done a thing once, to do it forever and forever.

In the sixteenth century French gentlemen used to have one lock of their hair left long. Into this lock, which was allowed to fall to the shoulder, the dandy had woven a switch given to him by his lady friend. The lock was called a lovelock. From time immemorial the men have earnestly tried to see what complete jackasses they could make of themselves over the women, and the women have ably assisted in every way in their power.

Permanent waving dates from the days of Nero. One of the favorites of the old maniac stayed three weeks in a hot bath with her hair in curls, securely packed with clay. Jewelry of the times shows the marcel waves distinctly. It is from this beautifully engraved jewelry, by the way, that we obtain our best portraits of just how all these old-timers looked. In the British Museum one can see thousands of cameos which bring out in detail all the principal characteristics of the notables of twenty centuries ago.

The first patent for a modern permanent waving machine was taken out by a woman in 1873. Ivory hairpins were in use in London in the days of the Roman occupation. Some beautiful specimens are also to be seen in the British Museum. In Iceland, at one time, women wore their hair long (and perhaps do yet): single women with their braids over the left shoulder, and married women with them over the right shoulder.

Seventy-five Miles of Hair

A woman with a good head of hair 36 inches long is said to be carrying around with her about seventy-five miles of hair, if the hairs were all placed end to end. The average rate of growth is half an inch or an inch a month. The rate of growth is greatest between twelve and thirty. The life of a human hair is six to ten years. Forty to fifty hairs drop out daily, but if the follicle is healthy a new hair takes the place of the old. The hair is the last part of the body to decay; there are credible instances where hair has grown several inches after death. A mummy exposed to the sun grew hair.

In Germany, in ancient times, unmarried women wore their hair loose. In ancient Greece, just before a woman was married she had her hair cut off and offered to one of the gods. Only a few years ago the flowing blond hair that had once made up the beard of Andrew Jackson was on sale in New York. Peter the Great, of Russia, had an order in effect that all visitors to his court must be clean-shaven.

Sunlight is good for the hair growth; food is of even greater importance. When a drove of cattle were fed on carrots their coats became heavy and glossy. When humans eat carrots they get the same result as the cattle do. Some raw food enthusiasts claim that by living largely on carrots, raisins, lettuce, spinach, leeks, strawberries, radishes, apples, prunes, cherries and blackberries they can even grow new hair in bald places, and that the new hair will be its natural color where the hair that fell out was gray. Sounds too good to be true.

The hair is quite inflammable, consisting of 50 percent carbon, 21 percent oxygen, 7 percent hydrogen, 17 percent nitrogen, and 5 percent sulphur, with a very little alkaline sulphate, oxide of iron, and silica. Women have deeper hair follicles than men, and a greater supply of sebaceous glands to nourish the hair.

The Cause of Baldness

Baldness is caused by lack of nutrition. If you wish to get bald, wear a tightly fitting hat, one which cuts off the blood stream to the top of the head. To get bald earlier, wear the hat in the house as well as out-doors. To assist still further, wear a nightcap at night. Anything that will reduce the general tone of the system will cause the hair to fall.

Some causes of baldness which are listed by an expert are given in alphabetical order: arthritis, bleaches, blows, braises, burns, carbuncles, catarrh, crimping, curling, dyes, ear troubles, friction, frights, headaches, injuries, mental disorders, mercury, nervous diseases, ringworm, salves, scarlatina, sexual irregularities, shampoo excesses, skin diseases, sweating, tonics, tuberculosis, typhoid, venereal diseases, waving, worry wounds. Sounds as if most of us would have to get bald.

The hair grows faster in health than at other times; it reflects the state of the health; it grows faster by day than by night, and faster in warm weather than in cold. It is a great protection to any part, and is especially valuable in guarding the brain and nerve centers from shocks, injuries and irritations.

In man to some extent, and in other creatures to a great extent, the hair is an organ of sense. There are muscles at the roots of the hair which, on occasions of extreme fright, tighten and in sa doing cause the hair, if it is not too long, to stand straight up. Who has not seen the hair rise on a dog’s neck, or a cat’s? Humans have more hairs than apes.

The Uses of Hair

Do you wear clothes? If you do, you know that wool is a useful article. You use a pig’s hair to brush your teeth, your hair, and maybe your clothes. The artist uses brushes of skunk’s hair, camel’s hair and sable. The camel’s-hair shawl of a generation ago was a beautiful thing. Horsehair furniture was once quite the thing. Horsehair cloth is still used to stiffen other clothing. Mattresses, supposed to be made of horsehair, are stuffed with goat hair, pig hair and barbers’ sweepings. The making of human hair into curls, frizzes; false fronts, puffs and wigs is a large industry. The hair of the yak and of the goat is worked up into theatrical wigs and false beards. Cowhair, and hair of any kind, is used for certain roofing materials and for holding plaster together. The hair of rabbits, dogs, cats and other animals goes into felts, overcoats, blankets, and the like.

Hair was once much used in telescopes, surveyor’s instruments, and clinometers; convenient alloys of metals have since taken their place for these purposes. The manufacture of hair ornaments was once a great industry. Nowadays nobody has the patience to make hair ornaments. Blond human hair is still used in an instrument, the aero-meteorograph, carried aloft by airplane pilots.

No two persons have hair structure exactly the same. Mongolian hair is heavier than Caucasian; Caucasian is heavier than Negroid. The hair of the Negro contains an excess of air bubbles. There are a number of different styles of eyebrows. Those of an artist are of a distinct type. One hair, in the hands of an expert, under a powerful microscope, may prove to be a means of identification.

Brushing and Shampooing

It is good to brush the hair thoroughly every night and in every direction; that exercises the muscles that hold it in position and stirs the sebaceous glands to pour out more nourishment for the hair. Massage is good; it exercises the same muscles; makes them strong, so they can hang on.

When it is considered that the hair is, in effect, a plant, set down in a little pot filled with fats and oils, from which it receives its nutriment, it will be apparent why a reasonable amount of shampoos is all right and an unreasonable amount is all wrong. If one took a good shampoo every day in the week it is doubtful if he would have any hair in six months.

The experts seem to think a shampoo once in two to three weeks is about right. They recommend hot oil before the shampoo, and rinsing after the shampoo, with one teaspoon of salts of tartar and two teaspoons of strained lemon juice in three pints of water, to keep the hair light in color. For the shampoo itself pure castile soap, or olive oil, or castor oil, or egg yolk, or dry starch (this last for a dry shampoo), is recommended. One writer says, to shave up a bar of soap, add a pint of cold water, let it simmer until the soap has dissolved, then strain it through a double thickness of cheesecloth, and you have your shampoo made up into its best form.

“The Hoary Head Is a Crown of Glory”

The statement of the wise man (Proverbs 16: 31) being most certainly true, and it being without question that a beautiful head of gray hair is one of the most beautiful things in the world, why be ashamed of it? A woman old enough to have gray hair who tries to make her hair look like that of a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl only gets herself laughed at.

Hydrogen peroxide, always used to produce blond hair, may catch fire and injure the patient for life. Copper, used to produce reddish tints, may cause skin eruptions or ulcers. Lead, mercury and silver nitrate, used to turn gray hair black, are all extremely irritating to the skin and highly poisonous. In Colonial days it was the custom for people to wear white wigs, which gave faces a youthful appearance and enhanced their beauty. Too much exposure to the sun is said to yellow gray hair. Instances are on record of fright’s causing an entire head of hair to turn white in a single night.

To offset the fact that “gentlemen prefer blondes”, somebody has gone to the trouble of pointing out that 76 percent of persons convicted of crime are blonds. Don’t know what that proves, but there it is, anyway. Contrary to general belief, it is claimed that red-haired persons are mostly mild-tempered. Where any of them spunk up it is because they have been teased into it.

Hair dyes are very popular among the natives of the north of Africa. Black hair is turned brown by a paste made from ashes. Hairstraightener is much in demand in the section of New York city (Harlem) where the bulk of the Negro population resides.

If one insists on dyeing the hair, it is claimed that camomile tea harmlessly brightens both blond and light-brown hair, that henna adds a reddish tint, and that bluing takes the glint out of either of the other rinses.

People who are afraid of getting gray hair too young are advised to get easy shoes, with wide, low heels, and to do considerable walking, to eat foods that contain plenty of fruits and vegetables and few starches and confections. When rats were fed almost exclusively on the wheat germ their black and white hair changed to silver gray; when whole wheat was added the normal color returned.

The Strange Case of Hugh McDonald

Hugh McDonald, of Portland, Oregon, was born with black hair; scarlet fever left him bald at 16; he grew red hair at 17; typhoid fever left him bald again at 23; he grew black hair at 24, and his hair turned white at 28.

Oil workers do not suffer from dandruff; the mist of oil in the air keeps their scalps from getting dry.

Barbers have discontinued the use of hairbrushes, convinced that they are unsanitary for miscellaneous or general use. Hairbrushes are cleaned by the use of soda dissolved in cold water; hot water ruins brushes. After being rinsed in the soda water the brush is dried by being stood on the point of the handle, in a shady place.

Barbers have discontinued the use of the common styptic stick, convinced that that also is unsanitary.

William F. Kenny, millionaire, being in England, and wanting a haircut of the kind he wanted, had Louis Arico come across the ocean, eight thousand miles, over and back, to give him what he wanted. It made a nice trip for Louis, and probably would not happen again in ten million years.

In Germany women can curl their hair upon dropping a coin in a slot. The iron is ready in 30 seconds and remains usable for four minutes. An ear protector has been devised to keep women and children from getting their ears burned when they have their hair treated.

Under favorable conditions hair petrifies, merely because it provides a mold for inorganic matter. In such cases it usually petrifies as a mass, and only rarely are the individual hairs recognizable.

Women and Bobbed Hair

In 1928 the French government redesigned all its gold and silver coins. The best artists in the country were in the competition, with the result that not one of the sixty-four new coins bears the design of a woman with short hair. This is not saying that women should not bob their hair, though it is true that some barbers refuse to cut a woman’s tresses, believing it wrong to do so.

Queen Mary of England dislikes bobbed hair; her influence has held back her daughter and her daughter-in-law from having their hair bobbed. Maids at Buckingham Palace may not have their hair bobbed. In Warsaw, Poland, a 64-year-old woman swallow’ed poison because her daughter sacrificed her beautiful tresses.

In Germany a factory proprietor ordered all women employees to bob their hair or look for other jobs. It is unsafe for women with long hair to be about machinery. Accidents too dreadful to mention have occurred.

Cutting the hair too short is causing many women to become bald, or partly so. Many women have been forced to resume wearing long hair to cover bald spots, and some have tried to regain their lost tresses and been unable to do so. Chinese women took readily to having their hair bobbed. For some unknown reason the women all over the earth are eager each to look exactly like every other woman. In British workhouses the women inmates made such an outcry that it was necessary for the government to make contracts to provide them with the shinglings they desired. At Eatontown, N. J., the oldest woman in the town had her hair bobbed so as to make the town 100 percent. The only way a man in that town can see a woman with hair the natural length is to go to some other town for a look.

In Zerbau, Germany, the city fathers voted a tax of 50 cents a month on each married woman who bobs her hair, and 25 cents a month for each woman over 14 years of age, unmarried, who commits the same offense. In the kingdom of Hedjaz, any barber found guilty of cutting a woman’s locks is sent to jail or fined. The men are wasting their breath. When a woman will, she will.

It is estimated that in Britain 20,000,000 women have had their hair bobbed or shingled. In the Mayfair district hairdressing is done by contract. Each client pays a certain sum annually, in quarterly installments, and for that sum is kept looking as nearly as possible like every other woman. American women are said to spend $1,000,000,000 a year keeping themselves beautiful. A single chain of barber shops in New York city, in a single year, had an income from women of $916,000, as disclosed by a lawsuit.

A few courageous women retain their hair full length. A Detroit girl has a braid that reaches to her shoe tops. In athletics or in a factory her hair would be a liability; but she seems to like it, and who would say she has no right to it? A significant fact is that women who have their locks severed always keep the shorn tresses. That shows that they are just the least bit uneasy.

A German girl of 24, the mother of two children, rightly suspecting that in these days the men fall for the long hair, pursued a successful confidence game in Berlin. She worked in a place until entrusted to take considerable sums to the bank, when she disappeared with the money, braids and all. In one place she got away with 2,400 marks, but the police got her in the end.

Men and Bald Heads

You cannot have hair unless the roots are nourished by an abundance of blood; hence, a good, strong heart is necessary if one is to have a nice head of hair and keep it. Unless right food is put into the stomach the right kind of blood will not circulate throughout the system. If you wear a tight hatband, you may expect to discourage the growth of your hair. The frequent close cropping of men’s hair tends to cause baldness. The true preventives of baldness are in the food that comes to the roots of the hair through the food brought by the blood.

It is generally observed and conceded that a measure of baldness is likely in the case of all who perform constant intellectual work. There is a measure of truth in the aphorisms “Grass doesn’t grow on a busy street” and “A baldheaded man is seldom found in an insane asylum”. The bald-headed man can point with pride to the bald-headed eagle and also to the bald truth as standing at the head of the class.

Dr. B. Norman Bengston, Maywood, Hl., experimenting for two years on a man of 58, developed a complete head of gray hair on a bald head, and after several months’ more treatment this hair turned black. If that isn’t the truth, somebody will have to answer for it some time; but it won’t be we.

In a New York wig store the proprietor employs three bald-headed clerks to exhibit wigs and toupees to the visitors. In one of the largest and most flourishing barber shops of New York city, where sale of hair tonics is an important feature, two of the salesmen are bald as billiard balls. Doesn’t that show that bald-headed men have their uses? Who was that savage who said, “No man is expected to develop both hair and brains”? He deserves a funeral. A tendency toward baldness may be inherited.

Permanent Waves for Men (!)

As women gradually take on the vices and follies of men, the men (some of them) take on the weaknesses and frailties of the women. A man cannot help it if he has naturally wavy hair, and it may even be admired, but what man who is a man wants to go to a beauty shop and have himself fixed up like a sissy? In Paris there is one barber shop exclusively devoted to male marcels. A special machine for permanent waves for men has been invented, and there are said to be numbers of them in use in America. Men have had to take a lot of advice as to how to shape and trim their mustaches, and, judging by the results, most of the advice has been bad.

A London business man interested in astronomy alleges that the hair should be cut just before a new moon, and not when the moon is full. At full moon the hair has the most sap. This statement is probably based on the gravitational pull of the lunar orb.

Some women are honest enough to say that they prefer men who do not keep their hair slicked to those that do. Seems as if a man ought to have something more serious on his mind than slicking his hair.

When the bearded General Balbo was in America somebody said that beards were coming back into style. Well, they come back into style all right at about 6: 20 every morning, and require a good ten minutes to get them into the place where they belong. Napoleon said that great men shave themselves. He had that straight, anyway; hadn’t he, boys?

Next!

Oh! Just one more item. Here is one about a certain professor who sewed some hundreds of hairs into the head of a Miss Peggie Tudor, to cover a bald spot about the size of a quarter. Each pair of hairs was fixed into a gold ring so small it could hardly be seen with the naked eye. Then the ring was buried down in the tube where the hair used to grow. The professor says the hairs he sewed in will be there when Peggie is 2,000 years older.

“Do We Have Too Much Food?”

SAYS George A. Nelson, of Wisconsin, in a booklet put out by the Socialist party:

The AAA has proceeded on the grounds that since production and consumption are out of balance, balance must be restored by stopping production and reducing the living standards for all. At the same time another branch of the government, making a study of PWA funds, has been finding out how much food the 125,000,000 residents of the U. S. would consume if they ate as much as the Department of Agriculture says they should in order to keep in good health.

This study shows that with the good crops of 1929 we had plenty of grain, potatoes, bacon and lard in that year, but we have been short over three billion gallons of milk, and short over a billion dozen of eggs. We have only a little over half enough green vegetables, only half enough butter, and would have had a shortage of nearly two billion pounds of meat.

If every man had been able to buy one suit of clothes every two years, we would have had to import cotton and wool. Since in 1929 there were forty-six million people who had incomes of less than $426, they could not be expected to maintain a decent standard of living and have an egg for breakfast, half a pound of meat and a pint and a half of milk every day.

In the face of these facts, the AAA program called for reductions during 1934 of 20 percent in com, 25 percent in hogs, 40 percent in cotton, and 15 percent in wheat.

Such a program will work only when and if the American people are willing to live on a much lower standard than they have ever known before. Subsistence farming and living on relief is a program for a defeated nation, without hope for the future. Already our conservatives are talking of depriving the millions of unemployed workers and destitute ex-farmers of their right to vote. This is the way Rome created a slave class from its own people. There are better ways out of our present problems than this.

It is the height of absurdity to talk of there being too much in this country, even in so-called “prosperous” times. There are millions of people who have never seen an orange or had milk to drink since they were babies. Share-croppers in the south get fresh meat two or three times a year, in good years. Lettuce, tomatoes, celery, and other fresh vegetables are absolutely unheard of in thousands of mill towns and in some farm regions. Sow belly and beans is a lot nearer the American idea of a good meal than most people like to think.

The Brain Trusters seem to think that everybody starts out the day with grapefruit, bacon and eggs, toast and coffee, just because they do. What this country needs is a farm program that will enable workers to buy everything the farmers now produce and holler for more, a program based on plenty and not scarcity. This is America, not China, and President Roosevelt needs to do some more traveling before announcing again that there is enough for everybody.

Do not these things prove conclusively- that the politicians in power do not know anything about the farmers’ problems? If they don’t know, how can they help us?

Bread Baked by the Sun

T MOUNT WILSON observatory, California, bread has been baked by causing oil, heated by the sun, to circulate about the exterior of an oven. The cooled oil gravitates back to the sun heater to be reheated!

Liquor Factor in Automobile Accidents

IN THE state of California in the first six months of 1929, of the automobile accidents that occurred, 1,115 of the parties to the accidents had been drinking; in the first six months of 1930 the number had risen to 2,020; in 1931 it was 2,798; in 1932 it was 3,009, and in 1933 it was 3,803.

Finance and Transportation

Less and Less

THE railroads operate 2,833 miles less than a -L few years ago, and 8,500 fewer passenger cars; there are 14,358 fewer locomotives; the freight car capacity is almost 10,000,000 tons less than seven years ago; the cars loaded with revenue freight are a little over half in number of what they were in 1926. The mileage run by freight trains in 1933 was 393,359,000 as against 613,444,410 in 1929. The passengers are fewer than half what they were in 1925, and so are the passenger miles. Freight revenues are a little more than half what they were in 1926; passenger revenues are less than one-third; express revenues are less than a third; dividends are less than a fourth.

Drive Fast and Get Your Flowers Early

TA RIVE fast, and get your flowers early. At U 20 miles per hour a car occupies 38 feet of roadway in addition to its own length; at 40 miles per hour it occupies 126 feet of roadway in addition to its own length; and at 60 miles per hour it occupies 263 feet of the roadway in addition to its own length. A man has thrown a 16-pound shot 53 feet; if he had the energy of a car going 60 miles an hour he could put the shot nearly 10 miles.

Sperry Rail Service

THE Sperry Detector Car, propelled over a railroad at five to seven miles an hour, self-driven by gasoline, detects any defects in the rails. When the searching unit encounters any defect the rail is automatically marked by a paint gun and an indication of the location of the defect appears in ink on a moving chart record in the observation room at the rear of the car.

Pennsylvania Air-Conditioned Trains

THE Pennsylvania Railroad now has a total of 750 air-conditioned cars in service; all the principal trains are air-conditioned the year around. Three air-conditioning systems are used: the ice activated, the mechanical compression, and the steam jet system.

Reduction of Railway Fares

IN THE effort to recapture some of its lost passenger business, rates on the Missouri Pacific lines are now down to 2c on one-way tickets and 3.6c on round-trip tickets. Probably this is generally true now of western lines.

"Not Running a Battery”

Gbobge Stabb White, M.D., of Los Angeles, says:

“As we are dealing only with humans, we are not at all interested in the ‘laboratory findings’ of aluminum-tainted foods on pigs, rats, miee, monkeys or goats. We are not running a rattery, neither are we running a piggery. We are teaching humans how to live to get the most out of life, and how to conserve their health through wholesome living. In other words, teaching humans how to retain health, or how to regain health. Thousands of persons have written me, telling of their recovery from all manner of unhealth, simply by throwing all aluminum-ware out of the house. Clinical findings we must go by. Practically all laboratories can be hired to give findings to suit the case. The more capital there is back of any product, the better the ‘laboratory findings’ usually are. Some animals can eat strychnine and not become poisoned by it. Some can eat tobacco and not die from its poisonous effect. Some can eat food cooked in aluminum and not get rheumatism, or ulcers, or cancer from it. Why take chances?”

"There Is Such a Thing”

IN THE New York Daily News a physician is asked, “Is there such a thing as aluminum poisoning? I have been told by my physician that I have this trouble. I have always considered such a thing nonsense, yet should not want to take a chance.” What a grand opportunity this man had to convey some real truth to an anxious inquirer and to his readers, but he side-stepped. He admitted, to start with, that there is such a thing as aluminum poisoning, and then said, “Careful research has shown that ordinary foods cooked in aluminum dishes cannot and do not dissolve enough aluminum to cause poisoning”; and this in face of the fact that sometimes as many as three hundred to a thousand persons have keeled over at one time because of that very thing.

But How About the People?

JUST noticed in a San Francisco paper an illustrated free advertisement that a certain aluminum coffeepot stands the test. That is all very well for the coffeepot, but the important question is, How do the people who drink the coffee made in it stand the test? At a cost of $30,000 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology proved to its own satisfaction that “metal” (by which was meant aluminum) coffeepots are not desirable things in which to make coffee, but if you want to drink aluminum hydroxide, just go right ahead.

Whisky as an Anesthetic

TWO babies were recently operated on successfully in a Kansas City hospital. As they were too young to place under ether, they were made to absorb whisky through a small sack of sugar placed in the mouth; and while the baby was on the whisky jag the operation was performed.

Insects May Yet Be Killed by Radio

EXPERIMENTS which have far progressed indicate that the time may soon come when a farmer will be able to take a specially designed radio set and travel with it from tree to tree through an orchard, killing all the pests automatically as soon as he gets to a tree.

Clay Impregnated with Poison Gas

GERMAN chemists have invented a method of impregnating clay with poison gas. The clay is sprayed from an airplane exhaust in the form of a fine powder. When ground is sprayed with this powder it cannot be occupied or crossed for eight days.

Should Be Afraid of the Dark

IT REALLY looks as if pedestrians and automobile drivers ought to be afraid of the dark, because there are almost four times as many killed during the four rush hours of the evening (5 to 9 p.m.) as during the four rush hours of the morning (6 to 10 a. m.).

Therapeutic Value in Radio Waves

IT HAS been demonstrated that radio waves have a therapeutic value. When beds are hooked up to receive short waves, it is claimed, certain diseases that ordinarily take six weeks are completely cured in four days.

Dye Treatment of Burns

THE new method of treating burns is to spray the burns with tannic acid or purple dye.

This forms a shell which remains until new skin forms underneath. Best of all, this method of treatment renders the burns painless.

Twelve-Hour Day for Women

A FACTORY inspector in Britain found six girls who had been working in an ice-cream factory from 9: 30 a. m. to 9: 30 p. m. every day in the week, Sundays included. This was at Plaistow.

IT SEEMS that one of the best-paying businesses in the country is that of not raising hogs. At Poplar Bluff, Mo., in June, a farmer received 18c for 670 pounds of hogs; the rest went for yardage, insurance, commission and drayage. In Kansas City, Mo., in August, 44 pigs were sold at $1.75 per dozen, and two days later, in Harper, Kans., two 80-pound pigs would have brought their owner 96 cents, but inspection charges, yardage and selling cost him 81 cents, and when he took his 15c check to the bank that businesslike and humane institution charged him 10c for cashing it; so the total he got for two pigs was 5e. On the other side of the story is the money that is paid out by the government for not raising hogs. The Financial Chronicle, of New York city, has the following: “A friend of mine in New England has a neighbor who has received a government cheek for $1,000 this year for not raising hogs. So my friend now wants to go into the business himself, he not being very prosperous just now; he says, in fact, that the idea of not raising hogs appeals to him very strongly. Of course, he will need a hired man, and that is where I come in. I write to you as to your opinion of the best kind of a farm not to raise hogs on, the best strain of hogs not to raise, and how best to keep an inventory of hogs you are not raising. Also, do you think capital could be raised by issuance of a non-hog raising gold bond? The friend who got the $1,000 got it for not raising 500 hogs. Now we figure we might easily not raise 1,500 to 2,000 hogs, so you see the possible profits are only limited by the number of hogs we do not raise. The other fellow had been raising hogs for 40 years and never made more than $400 in any one year. Kind of pathetic, isn’t it, to think how he wasted his life raising hogs when he could have made so much more not raising them! I thank you for any advice you may offer.”

Shooting Cattle in Oklahoma

rthur L. Claus, pioneer, encloses a clipping from the Tulsa Tribune that of 63,968 head of drought-distressed cattle purchased by the government the first week in September, 27,684, or more than forty percent, were shot because they did not seem able to stand shipment to pasturage. Mr. Claus says:

“The Federal Government is buying hundreds of cattle here in Creek county, paying $4 for calves up to a year old and $12 for cows and steers, shooting them down at the place they buy them, and giving them back to the farmer after they are shot. Sometimes they are skinned and the meat is put up by neighbors and the poor, and again they are not even buried, but are left to rot. Should the farmer skin a beef he can sell the hide at an average of $1.09. One woman pleaded with the men shooting down good milk cows to please give her one, as her children had not had a drop of milk all summer; they replied that she would raise a calf or two if they did, and increase production, and that is what the Government wants to stop. They pulled the trigger, shot down a nice cow and said to her, ‘You go home and get you a knife, skin her and take home as much meat as you like, and if you won’t wish to do that, why let it rot.’ ”

Operation of FERA in Mississippi

AYS Rhodes Gibson, of Mississippi: “As your paper is one of facts, I would like to report a recent ruling of the FERA put in force in this county, and said to come through state headquarters from Washington, that is, that only home owners can get direct relief or work; share croppers and renters are cut completely out. This rule is strictly enforced here, even to extending medical aid. In this little community I can count nine home owners; all except two own over 100 acres of land; four of them have share croppers on their places, and four of them operate automobiles; one operates a grist mill, and one a saw mill. This is the condition that exists in all places from which I hear. The men mentioned above as getting relief are good men as far as the world goes, and no doubt need it, but the renters and half croppers need it worse. We renters are not surprised; we know that this ruling is in keeping with the policies of the present administration.”

Nothing More Ridiculous

IN A FINE article entitled “Remove the Profit from Legalized Killing” the Pictorial Review says:

“At the present time we are facing more disarmament conferences. We have been through several of various types. Nothing could be more ridiculous or atrocious than delegates from civilized countries, men who are supposed to be intellectual and humanitarian leaders, sitting around the conference tables discussing, not how to disarm, but in all seriousness arguing over what kind of lethal weapons and chemicals may be ethically used to slaughter the youth of their lands, and knowing full well that when war comes none of the nations involved will pay the slightest attention to these so-called ethics except to blame each other for violating them.”

“All the Elements of Cost”

SAID Hon. John E. Hankin, of Mississippi, in an address to Congress:

“It is said that the Tennessee Valley Authority does not take into account all the elements of cost the private concerns have to meet. That is true—they do not have to take them all into consideration. They do not have to take into consideration the payment of dividends on watered stock. They do not have to take into consideration money paid as tributes to holding companies, bonuses, and rake-offs to high-priced promoters, such as Samuel Insull and others. They do not have to take into consideration the money expended to hire lawyers that they do not need—invariably the sons, relatives, or law partners of men in responsible offices, and in ‘ rare instances ’ the officials themselves. Their services are very valuable and often very expensive. Then there is a swarm of power lobbyists in and around Washington, as well as around every state legislature. The TVA does not have to pay for them. It does not have to pay for the propaganda in big newspapers and magazines. Not only that, but we found college professors on the payrolls of certain power interests. They were writing school books in the state of Ohio, and probably other states. All that money spent for propaganda from the kindergarten to the higher colleges the TVA does not have to take into consideration.”

Louis T. McFadden Defeated

READERS of The Golden Age will be interested to know that Louis T. McFadden, courageous and honest and capable, was defeated for reelection to Congress, and well they know the reasons why. Naturally the Devil and his ally, the Roman Catholic church, would do everything possible to prevent the return to Congress of any man who would dare to stand for liberty and righteousness in this evil time. We are assured that God, who gave him such great privileges of usefulness last winter, is not forgetful or indifferent and the time will come when Louis T. McFadden will look back and rejoice that he was permitted to be absent when scenes about to be enacted shall occur.

How a Sales Tax Works

A SALES tax puts the heaviest burden on the one least able to bear it. By way of illustration: Here is a bachelor; he has one mouth to feed, his own. Here is a widow with five children; she has six mouths to feed, her own and five others. The sales-tax plan proposes to let the burden rest six times as heavily on the widow as it does on the bachelor.

What California Refused

CALIFORNIA refused to have poverty ended and voted to keep in power the system under which it is now almost $100,000,000 in the red. What it refused, when it refused Sinclair, were: State land colonies, state factories, state financing system, repeal of the sales tax upon poverty, passage of the graduated state income tax on wealth, increase of state inheritance tax to one-half of large fortunes, increase of taxes on public utilities and banks, exemption from all taxation of homes and ranches occupied and used by owners where the assessment is less than $3,000, a graduated tax on all idle laud, a pension of $50 for every needy person over 60 years of age, pensions to the blind and disabled and to mothers. Apparently, it was Hearst and the so-called “churches” that defeated this plan that would have really done something for the common people. California prefers bankruptcy to ending poverty, and is in a fair way to get what it prefers. We are not objecting; we are just telling about it.

Homestead Tax Exemption in Florida

TPHE State of Florida has passed a constitutional amendment exempting from taxation all homesteads up to $5,000 in value, and it really seems like the most sensible legislation passed by any government in years. What is a government for, but to make the homes of its future citizens secure? How ridiculous to let church institutions go untaxed and yet sell a poor man’s home from over his head because he cannot pay taxes on a little place that he has been able to save for himself from the clutches of the bond-clipper! The home is an asset to the country, but the church, because it dishonors the name of Jehovah God, is a liability, sure to drink of His wrath soon.

Government Will Distribute Unaddressed Matter

HEREAFTER the government will distribute unaddressed matter, circulars, leaflets, etc., to all the homes in any one or more lettercarrier routes of the United States. The mail may be simply addressed to “Patron” or “Householder”, Letter Carrier Route No.----. The

minimum number of pieces that will be received for distribution is the total number of homes in one route. The number of homes in each route may be ascertained at the post office.

News Notes from Abroad

Japan in the Philippines

THE Japanese consul general in Manila went A out of his way to warn the Philippine people of what they would suffer if their legislature, which is at present a part of the government of the United States, favored the United States in respect to its tariffs. How is that for nerve? It may be mentioned that the United States government has expended several hundred million dollars in the Philippines, and will never get any more in return for it than it got from loaning money to the militaristic and quarrelsome governments of Europe once called “The Allies”. Japan expects to gobble up the Philippines, as a matter of course, and now cannot even wait until the United States is through pouring in its money. Britain would be well pleased to see Japan and the United States in mortal combat.

Duranty’s Picture of Moscow

Walter Duranty, of the New York Times, after describing the terrible conditions which prevailed in Moscow at the time he first visited it, thirteen years ago, at which time the population had fallen from 2,000,000 to less than 1,000,000, says:

“What a different picture today! The ruins have all disappeared and every vacant lot is bright with grass and flowers. The main streets and squares are smoothly paved, traffic signals have been installed, and everywhere there is building in progress. The existing edifices have been cleaned and refurbished and on thousands extra stories have been added. The population is now 4,000,000, and it has increased so rapidly that it was only this year that the building program caught up and surpassed the demand.”

Austria’s Hangman Goes Insane

USTRIA’S hangman, widely renowned because he always wore evening clothes and a silk hat at hangings, has gone insane from overwork. For each legal killing he received $33.50, half of which went to himself and the other half to his two assistants. Jails are so overcrowded that factories, gymnasiums and warehouses have been turned into prisons. Tourists have dodged the country, trains are running empty, the streets are full of beggars, thousands cannot pay rent, stores are empty and going into bankruptcy every day. When the crops were being gathered there were so many workers in jail as to make the harvesting a serious matter.

Prison Conditions in Europe

CERTAIN types of prisoners in Russia are allowed one-day vacations, and others are allowed to meet their families privately from time to time. In France, in some prisons, the prisoner is not allowed to speak for two years. In Italy the prisoner receives macaroni soup and bread once a day, at noon. The prisoner may take the left-over bread to his cell, and it must suffice for his evening meal and for his breakfast the next morning. In the United States many prisons are in charge of men of low caliber. British prisons are far better, as a general rule, though some of the latter are unspeakable. These conclusions are the result of a four-month study by a former deputy commissioner of correction.

To Increase Italian Families

TO INCREASE Italian families Mussolini’s newspaper Popolo A’ Italia indicates that his next move will be to remove all Italian women from industry and give their places to men, even though it results in the breaking up of many homes. The paper says in extenuation of this terrible act of injustice, “There is no victory without dead.” Mussolini is determined to have more Italians, and to get them by making it almost necessary that all Italian women should be confined to the home and the raising of children, and, so far as possible, that all Italian men shall become heads of homes.

Motor Horns and Radios

IN ROME and Paris and all over Britain motorists must not toot their horns between 11: 30 p.m. and 7: 30 a.m.; and it seems like a good rule to make world-wide. A British woman, fearful of burglars, has installed in her home ten loud-speakers, each installed in the wall of a different room. Should a burglar enter one room a light ray will start the set working and from each loud-speaker a specially made record will reproduce the barking of a dog and a man’s voice shouting, “Who is there?”

Furs Brought by Plane

URS from northern Canada are now brought in every spring by plane. In a few hours they come distances that are traversed by trappers both ways with great effort only once in a year.

The Black Man in Hie Own Land

THE Manchester Guardian’s correspondent in South Africa says:

“The Department of Labor has admitted that Indians and men of mixed birth may be regarded as 'civilized’ if they conform to the European standard of living. But for the native there is no hope. He is totally excluded from the definition, and it has been categorically stated that neither skill, length of service, nor rate of wage will avail to turn the native into a ‘civilized’ worker. He remains for all time the object of discriminatory legislation on the part of the authorities of the State.”

Icebound for Five Years

FORTY-FOUR Russian colonists of Wrangel island, in the Arctic ocean, far north of Bering strait, icebound for five years, were visited and furnished with supplies in August last, the first time a ship had been able to get to them in that time. They have received supplies by airplane, and, having a sending station, have been in constant touch with the mainland by radio.

Boye of Eight Taught Love of Murder

THE Italian government now makes all Italian males over eight years of age conscripts.

From 8 to 14 they are taught love for war and military life, from 14 to 18 they get athletic training, from 18 to 21 they serve in the militia, from 21 to 55 they are in the reserves. Children will not be promoted in school, nor receive diplomas at any stage, unless they take this course in the love and practice of murder.

Belgium Would Humanize Murder

BELGIUM would humanize murder, having issued invitations to all foreign governments for an international conference to be held next year to humanize war. The conference will meet at the Brussels world fair, and will probably have Zaharoff, the Du Ponts, Vickers Armstrong and the Schneiders as its patron saints.

Russia Restores Rights to Many

THE Russian government has restored rights to several millions, including former landlords, clergymen, minor officials in the czar’s police, children of rich peasants, choir singers, organists, charwomen, bellringers and other church employees, but they must have served five years in exile first.

International Telephone Grafters

TN ARGENTINA the government has been asked by the director general of posts and telegraphs to forbid the International Telephone grafters from continuing monthly surcharges for new telephone instruments which the company admits are cheaper than the old ones. Wonder if it would be possible to get such men to emigrate to North America, and, if they landed here, if they would have the same courage and honesty.

The Big Postage Stamps

THE Honolulu Star Bulletin, referring to Mr. J- Farley’s big stamps, says, facetiously, “We used to think a stamp was a stamp, but Big Jim has made it a combination mural painting, tapestry and radiator blanket. If he could make those two-centers a little thicker a pair of them would make a very attractive runner for the front hall.” A subscriber calls up and says he thinks it a shame for the government to throw money away on unnecessarily big stamps, in these trying days.

Nazis in Austria Taste Own Medicine

rp HE Nazis who seized a radio station in J- Austria, but failed to seize the government, though they tried to do so, are said to have made a sorry sight when they came into court. They had broken arms to exhibit, to which, they added, they also received kicks, beatings with rifle butts and even bayonet thrusts to make them sign the statements put before them.

Big Game Increasing in Uganda

THE game warden for Uganda reports that elephants are twice as numerous as twenty-five years ago, one herd encountered numbering 600. White rhinoceroses and black rhinoceroses are plentiful, and lions abound.

White Man’s Burden in Singapore

TN SINGAPORE alone there are about 300 J- opium shops licensed by the government; the colonial governments of the Far East are run on the money made from the opium trade.

Air Mail Service in Britain

rpiIIS past summer intercity air mail service was begun in Britain. Letters posted before lunch are delivered almost anywhere the same evening.

Frauds of Various Kinds

“How I Was Stranded in Africa”

THE magazine Real America, issues of July and August, 1934, have a stirring article by Margaret Reinhart entitled “How I was Stranded in Africa”. To prevent other young people from getting similarly stung by the Paul Rader outfit she describes in detail how this gang that boasted that it raised over $100,000 a year set her on a platform in Chicago and used her as bait to wring money out of the audience, but, thereafter, after hustling her off to Africa, far from civilization, from September of one year to October of the next, let her stay in the heart of Africa with only $10 for her support. This faithful and trusting young woman lived on white ants and locusts while Rader and his religious frauds disposed of the $100,000. Miss Reinhart reports that many missionaries thus inveigled into the work die or become insane; she had a good constitution and pluck and made her way across Africa, where, at length, she got word to her mother. That faithful soul mortgaged her home and sent her $500 for her return passage. The letters that Miss Reinhart received from these missionary frauds while she was in Africa would be a disgrace to the Devil. They were strong on telling her they were praying for her, but she had to depend on the Africans to keep her from starving. She declares that the female savages of Africa have more of real Christianity in their make-up than the persons who got her into the mission field; and, without a doubt, she is correct. Rader and his gang almost drove this woman out of the United States, in seeming haste to get her into the mission field. They would not allow her time to go home to see her folks. On this point Miss Reinhart says: “Only now do I realize that all this rush and hurry were just part of the racket. We were rushed off our feet for two reasons: to keep us from changing our minds, and to serve as sacrificial lambs in a calculated scheme of money raising.”

The Thing That Would Amuse

STANDING up for the truth on this subject of aluminum poisoning, and referring to the attitude of the American Medical Association and its editor on that subject, the Gunnison Empire says: “A man who can deal with public poisoning in a humorous vein ought to get quite a kick out of seeing his mother run over by a freight car.”

Doctor Clarence Tucker Craig

CH. Yaxley (pioneer) sends us a clipping • which says, in part:

The principal address delivered to the council at yesterday’s session was by Dr. Clarence Tucker Craig of the graduate school of theology of Oberlin College. His theme was “The Significance of Jesus for Personal Faith and Living in a Day of Social Crisis-’. He said:

“Jesus is not a teacher who answered all the issues of life. He had one great interest—religion. He was not in our modern liberal sense a well-balanced personality.”

On this basis Yaxley says:

Am enclosing another gem of sparkling light emanating from one of the bright minds of our modern liberal age. This pearl of “wisdom” proceeded from a Dr. Craig, teacher of theology at Oberlin College. He charges that Jesus was interested in religion to the exclusion of other important matters. After reading the 23d chapter of Matthew I think the religionists of His day would have been glad if Jesus had not been interested in religion at all. But because He was chiefly interested in the honor of His Father’s holy name, and the Devil’s religionists in dishonoring that name, He did interest himself sufficiently in the matter to show those religionists where they got off. (John 8:44) Note the further accusation, that Jesus was an unbalanced personality. Why, then, does this ‘ ‘ doctor ’ who doubtless would call himself a Christian, follow (or profess to follow) the teachings of one whom he considers his mental inferior? ‘He who honors not the Son dishonors God, who sent Him.’

New Church Deal in North Dakota

SAYS L. H. Strege, of North Dakota: “The Lutheran churches out here started a new deal; they leave small banks at each home, and each one in the family, before each meal, must drop one cent into the bank to keep up the church. Someone told me that even that was getting hard to do.” Of course it was getting hard to do. Roughly, it is $50 a year for an average family, and the real good that the family would get would be 50c, at the outside.

The Man Who Got It Easiest

THE Wall Street Journal says that three children were discussing the incomes of their fathers. One said: “My father writes a song in the evening and sells it for $25.” The next countered: “My father writes a story in an evening and takes it down town the next morning and sells it for $50.” “That’s nothing,” declared the third, “my father gets up in a pulpit on Sunday and talks for half an hour and it takes twelve men to carry the money up to him.”

THE SEVENTEENTH

Herewith we present the seventeenth in the series of eighteen short Bible talks by Judge Rutherford. These talks are intended to clarify important Biblical questions, and have been greatly appreciated by earnest seekers for the Truth. In his straightforward presentation of the facts Judge Rutherford not only points out the right view, but also clearly shows why certain views are wrong. In this way the reader gets a clear conception of the point at issue and is in a position to fortify himself against misconceptions that tend to confuse the mind.

Sanctification

TO BE wholly devoted to God and His kingdom means sanctification. When a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as the redeemer whom God has provided for man, and agrees to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by doing the will of God, he thereby makes a consecration. If the person who makes a consecration to do the will of God then faithfully carries out that agreement he must become sanctified. How can he become sanctified?

Church organizations teach that one, to be sanctified, must have some kind of ceremony performed for him by a clergyman or preacher in the meeting house or church building. That is not the way the Scriptures say that sanctification is accomplished. The faithful apostles of Jesus had consecrated themselves to do the will of God and had followed Jesus for more than three years. Jesus had said to them: “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.” At the time He spoke to them the mystery was not revealed to them. He told them that after He had ascended into heaven unto His Father they would receive the holy spirit and then understand. Just before His departure He prayed to Jehovah concerning these faithful disciples, using these words (John 17:17, 18): “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” Clearly these words mean that the disciples must know the truth and devote themselves wholly to the truth in order to be sanctified. That same rule applies to all who believe on Christ Jesus.

To participate in some formal ceremony performed by men could have nothing to do towards sanctifying you. According to the announced rule you must learn the truth as contained in the Bible and then devote yourself to telling others about the truth. That means that you have taken your stand on the side of Jehovah God and His kingdom, that you believe in and recognize Christ Jesus as the Savior of the world, and God’s appointed King, and that His kingdom is the only hope for the people. If you truly believe this you cannot fail to tell others about it. Your proclaiming this message to others will offend all who are teachers of error, such as the clergy, but you must not be disturbed by reason of that. You cannot be a man-pleaser and at the same time please God. All men who love and serve Jehovah God will be pleased because you tell the truth, but those who are under the control of Satan, the god of this wicked world, will be offended and will say all manner of evil things against you.

To the one who has made a consecration these words of instruction are given in the Scriptures: ‘Study to show yourselves approved unto God, and sanctify yourselves, and make yourselves meet for the Master’s use.’ (2 Timothy 2:15) The work of the great Master, Christ Jesus, is to vindicate Jehovah’s name; and to be meet for His use you must be a witness in the vindication of Jehovah’s name. You must shun vain babbling or doctrines of men and learn and obey the truth of God’s Word. No one can gain the truth for you, but you must acquire it for yourself by carefully studying the truth as set forth in the Bible. By the grace of God books are provided in these days of great need to enable the people to find in the Bible these truths and to learn how to understand them. That is the reason for many books’ now going into the hands of the people. Every question that today arises concerning the sickness, suffering, oppression, woe and distress upon the earth is completely answered in the Scriptures. The only means of relief for the people, their uplifting and blessing, is also stated in the Scriptures. At once it becomes apparent that a knowledge and under-

standing of God’s Word not only is necessary but is the only means of sanctification. Learn His truth, obey His commandments, and you will rejoice. The man who finds understanding and wisdom is he who learns and obeys the Word of God. To such Jehovah graciously says (Proverbs 3:13-18): “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding: for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is every one that retaineth her.”

[The series of eighteen talks of which the above is one has been recorded for use on the phonograph. These records are a valuable addition to any collection, furnishing not merely entertainment, but worthwhile instruction. Those who have obtained the set are making good use of them by inviting friends, neighbors, acquaintances and relatives to hear the talks. Inquiries concerning these records, however, should not be addressed to The Golden Age, but to the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N. Y. It is by special arrangement with the Society that these talks are run in The Golden Age.]

Extracts from Letters Received at Paris

Towards the light:

Now since you have opened my eyes, like those who are blind, I open them wide—.

B., Paris.

Lightnings reaching Italy:

May I ask you to send me the catalogue of your publications and journals? Thanking you in advance, I remain,...

A. C., Milano.

... and Portugal:

The post Radio Toulouse has transmitted to us your radio talk, which was well heard over here and which gave me your address in order to obtain some information and subscriptions. Would you therefore let me know the price of the subscription for abroad, as I learned the price for France to be only six francs....

I have received your letter and sample copies of the Age d’Or¹ journal and thank you for it. I am sending you through my son who lives near Paris 20 francs, i.e., 10 francs for a subscription for the Age d’Or, and the other 10 francs for some publications as marked in your catalogue.

Amongst the addresses of the offices which you maintain I find also Portugal. This surprises me, however; for never during the 44 years I have been here have I heard anything of your journal. Please tell me, I ask you, where I can write to, probably to Lisboa, and tell me also if the literature is translated in Portuguese.

L. M., Portugal.

^xTAe Golden Age, French edition.

Desires instruction:

Having read with pleasure and interest your book Creation, I should be obliged to you if you could tell me the price of the other books Harp of God and Deliverance, for I deem it interesting to learn more about God’s purposes and I want to know the hidden truth.

R. S., Seine Inferieure.

A zealous sower:

I should be happy to receive a hundred copies of your special issue of the Age d’Or. I will distribute them with joy amongst my friends and acquaintances.

N. L., Nord.

Generosity:

It is with great pleasure that I am writing you in order to let you have my offering for helping along my pioneer brethren in their task; herewith a thousand francs.

D. E., Nantes.

As I cannot take part in the Kingdom Praise Period, I am sending you a small amount to assist you in your good work. Please accept, dear friends of the Tour de Garde, my sincere greetings.

J. B., Saone et Loire.

Again I am so happy to send you the amount of ------. Last Sunday I happened to be favored with a visit of one of Jehovah’s witnesses. I am not able to express my joy which the brother, who so unexpectedly met us, has brought to me, the more so as it was the first time I had this experience. As this thoroughly devoted brother did not want to accept my gift, I asked him to come with me to dinner.... A friend devoted to your cause.

D. A., Nord.

From Canada:

I am thanking you herewith for the great favor which you have accorded me by letting me know the message of Christ Jesus. I am satisfied indeed for having learned your address. From a person passing through here I [obtained] a book which carries the title La Harpe de Dieu. Please send me a Bible if possible. I am passing all the books to the other members of my family and wherever I go I announce these good news. Please do not forget me, for it is my greatest pleasure to read. Please do tell me if I am on the right way and if in order to please God I must confess that I have read this book so much. After forty years of Roman religion one is fearful to change, and I want to know if I am duty-bound to go on confessing and taking communion. I am but a poor woman suffering from deafness, and I would like to read of you again. Do not forget me; I wait patiently for your answer, A thousand thanks.

L., Montreal.

Strength, courage and confidence:

Would you be so kind as to send by the bearer of this letter the book Light, for which I am waiting with great impatience. I should be very glad to have the visit of one of Jehovah’s witnesses, if there would be one passing through this town, in order to talk with him about things personally. Yes, I begin to regain strength, courage and confidence through these books where the Truth is revealed. It is not too early, I assure you; one cannot go on any longer like this.

Respectfully yours,

Mme Ww. Pl., Seine.

Who would have thought?

I am taking an immense interest in your radio talks of Wednesday and Saturday evening by Radio Toulouse on the subject of such interesting matters. I should like, therefore, to get some of the books of your firm in order to learn more about the problems you are entertaining us with.

Would you be so kind as to let me have your catalogue with a sample copy of your journal L’Age d’Or for which I desire to subscribe in case I should like it. Please accept, dear sir, my most sincere thanks.

the abbot of -------,

Haute Savoie.

Madagascar!

Having had the opportunity to see one of your publications, I hasten to address you this letter in order to ask you for the two following books and five booklets as well as all the other books and different writings you might already have published and which are not among those mentioned. Furthermore, would you kindly let me have a copy of each new book or tract which you are publishing in the future.

J. L. T., Madagascar.

At sixteen, ready to serve the king!

I have received your letter. I have a boy who is our gardener, and a daughter. She is sixteen years old, and helps her brother in the garden and me in the house. She is free every day, and would be glad to spread the message of the Kingdom at E----. Be

assured, dear friends, of my profound sympathy.

S., Nord.

Minister Desires to Go Straight

THE Memphis Press-Scimitar, August 28, 1934, contains this advertisement, under “Positions Wanted—Male”:

Baptist minister, 50 years, desires honorable work.

Any kind, at your wages. Willing worker. 8-1389.

We are sure this will appeal to everybody.

Here is a man who wishes to reform his life and now desires to get into something honorable. If he has really caught the proper thought, that the dishonoring of God’s name is the most dishonorable work in the world, and if he now honestly desires to do something worth while for the good of his fellow men, he should be granted every encouragement and aid.

What You Get for Only $25

A COPY of Pilipinas, which seems to be put out by “Father” Walter S. Cain, M.SS.E., Box 493 H, Brisbane, Australia, tells what you get for only £5 or $25 cash, or in installments. You get your name written in an album and you get a receipt for the money, but your name is not published. When you part with your collateral you can specify that you desire either a speedy entrance into heaven, or a happy death, or blessings on your home, or business, or farm, or cattle. The album is put under the altar, to tip the Lord off to the fact that “Reverend” Cain has got your $25 and that it is up to Him to carry out His end of the bribery.

The Fraud Supreme

The Crib of the Divine Infant

BY SENDING 25c a name you can get your name and your friends’ names written in a book at the Office of the Provincial, 2222 West Market Street, Louisville, Kentucky, and as soon as the book is full it will be presented “at the crib of the Divine Infant on Christmas Eve”. We understand that the Provincial, “Fr.” Aloys, O.M.C., keeps the money. Unless they have the loose-leaf system, about the most names anybody could write in the book in a day would be 1,000, which at 25c apiece would be only $250 for a full day’s ■work, but with the loose-leaf system this could be multiplied indefinitely. But even if the loose-leaf system is not used, it is probable that the ‘Divine Infant in the crib’ would not put up any special uproar if more than one book of names were placed near the crib. Considering these hard times, this looks like quite a good enterprise.

A Worse Mix-up of Relationships

SAYS C. R. Johnson, of Tennessee (and we think his friendly criticism is quite right): “Referring to the ‘Mix-up in Relationships’ in The Golden Age of October 24, I wish to say that the relationship of two popes in the tenth century, Pope John XI, 931, and Pope John XII, 956, outrivals the Samuel Kricbel and Jacob Doney affair. Historians tell us that John XI was the son of Marozia to Pope Sergius III (904-911). When John XI became pope, Marpzia then poisoned her husband and became the mistress of her own son. Shortly after, Alberic, another son, imprisoned his brother the pope, and became the paramour of his mother. From this criminal intercourse sprang a child who afterwards became Pope John XII, in 955. Pope John XII was not only the son of Alberic but also his brother. Marozia was not only his mother but also his grandmother. Can you beat that?”

Holy Name State Police Now

EVER since the Holy Name Saloon was opened over in Newark there is a rush to get more and more “Holy Name Societies” in everything political. The New York Times mentions a Holy Name Society of New York State Police, held at the Elks Club, Freeport, L.I., and predicts that this particular “Holy Name Society” will probably be the nucleus of a state-wide organization among the state police; and we hasten to say that we haven’t a bit of doubt that the prediction is the truth. Everybody these days is hustling to put on his garments of indentifica-tion.

Get a St, Joseph’s Cord

THE way to get a “St. Joseph's cord” is to write to the Pious Union of St. Joseph, St.

Benedict, Oregon. The “St. Joseph’s cords” are “blessed” and distributed by the priest members of this Union. No money, no priest; no priest, no cord; no cord, no bless. However, if you are thinking of digging up for one of these cords, you can get a prayer to the cord free of charge. The prayer contains 66 words and for saying it once a day and adding to it seven times Gloria Patri you get 100 days indulgence; and if that isn’t something, what is? Moreover, by a decree of Pius IX there is a plenary indulgence for those who die while wearing one of these cords. The place where this cord is mentioned in the Bible is 00 times in Book 00, chapter 00, verse 00.

Lace Frocks and Petticoats

THE Cleveland Plain Dealer contains a wonderful picture of large numbers of persons with big feet, dressed in lace frocks and petticoats. Not sure if they were men or women, but as they had apparently backed into their stiff white collars, they were probably wearing the nice, pretty lace only because they liked the feel of it, and were probably masculine persons in disguise. Another thing that suggests it is that their bonnets were not as stylish and cute as they might have been, their faces would stop a clock, and in a few instances, where bonnets were missing, there was some indication that the domes above the collars were poorly thatched. A bird without feathers makes a mighty poor-looking bird.

More Equitable Distribution Wanted

IN TALKING it over at Vatican City with the bishop of Springfield, Ill., Ambrose said, “A more equitable distribution of the world’s wealth is the Catholic idea.” What he means was illustrated in St. Louis recently, where a wealthy woman left something like $2,000,000 to the ‘church’ and about $10,000 to her needy relatives. Had she made “a more equitable distribution” of her wealth she would have forked the whole estate over to the ‘church’, as thousands have done, and been coaxed to do, and the relatives could have been put on relief and fed by the taxes wrung from the poor suckers who do not understand how to distribute wealth when they get it

A Remonstrance to Keokuk Chief of Police

THE Dubuque Leader contains the letter of F. W. Mahlke, of that city, addressed to the chief of police, Keokuk, Iowa, respecting the arrests of Jehovah’s witnesses which occurred in that city last summer:

Dear Sir : Your letter received and contents noted. In reply will state that I have no intentions to enter any controversies with you whatever, but I believe you were led to make last Sunday’s blunder through a lack of knowledge of facts relative to what Jehovah’s witnesses were endeavoring to accomplish in your fine city. Permit me to say that this witness work is universal and this preaching of the gospel of Christ’s kingdom is printed in more than fifty different languages and does not involve the slightest commercialism or the getting of a few pennies by street-hawking or peddling which your city ordinance on peddling covers. It is the same gospel that Jesus Christ preached, that the kingdom of God is at hand.

If you had given the matter careful thought you would have realized that when more than one hundred fifty people come several hundred miles, at their own expense for gas and food, the small contribution any resident of Keokuk might voluntarily offer for such priceless books or booklets would be microscopie compared with the valuable vital information and knowledge contained in this literature.

Through the action of your department you permitted the impression to be spread throughout the United States, by a biased press, that more than one hundred and fifty criminals infested your city and that every householder was in danger of having something pilfered. Now you know the truth of the matter was that kind, meek, gentle-hearted men and women with the love of Christ in their hearts were endeavoring to enlighten the minds of your citizens that have been kept in darkness through superstition and fear in the nominal systems.

You state, “The clergy had nothing to do with the arrest of these people.’’ In the next paragraph you state you “assisted in the arrests that were made after we received numerous complaints from our citizens’’. I grant you the benefit of a doubt, but in doing what you thought your duty you placed yourself “between the Devil and the deep blue sea”. The very fact that numerous complaints came pouring in over the phones from all parts of the city and almost simultaneously is proof positive that someone or several people incited your citizens to call your headquarters. It certainly has all the earmarks of the usual methods employed by the clergy. If one or two isolated calls had been made it would have been a passing incident, but you let the cat out of the bag by emphasizing the fact that “numerous calls were made”, which very clearly indicated that a premeditated concerted action had been carefully launched to ridicule and persecute honest and earnest respectable men and women.

Now, Mr. McPherson, I want you to observe the whole matter without prejudice or bias of any kind. Is it not strange that, with thousands of Jehovah’s witnesses working from coast to coast, going from door to door, preaching the gospel of good news that Christ’s kingdom is in the process of being established, they go unmolested except in a few places like Keokuk, where the clergy still seem to have the upper hand? These visitations by Jehovah’s witnesses have been made time and time again to such towns as Rockford, Ill., LaCrosse, Wis., Waterloo, Iowa, Davenport, Iowa, Burlington, Muscatine and Fort Madison, Iowa, just to mention a few good-sized cities, and no one was molested. On the contrary, all were given a hand of welcome, because everyone knows that what this sick world needs more than anything else is more of the holy Bible, Jehovah. God’s inspired Book. Other cities offer police protection rather than to incarcerate big-hearted, loving Christians. Police chiefs have said, “The city is yours”; “May every success attend your efforts”; “God bless you in your work”; and other friendly remarks.

You have no excuse for the outrageous treatment offered last Sunday. Before any of the workers went to a single home a paper explaining what was being done and a list of the names of the workers were left at your office on your desk by your assistant to whom everything had been fully explained as to what kind of a mission these people were on. You should have known that these people do this work without any recompense or profit. You should have known that a small contribution of five cents could not cover the cost of printing or production and distribution, saying nothing of the expense of coming to your city.

However, you permitted your department to become an agency of suppression of Bible truth, using the weak excuse of violating a city ordinance which can in no sense of the word cover the preaching of the gospel according to the Constitution of the United States. Several hundred of the booklets were given gratis where no contribution was offered. Does this look like peddling? This door-to-door visitation is not selling, but an educational work, purely philanthropic and altruistic in every sense of the word, and is so recognized by all right-minded people.

In the crowds at the jail many Masons and other fraternally minded Keokuk citizens voiced their disapproval of the high-handed methods employed, and voluntarily offered money and influence to right the injustice. One Keokuk citizen, Dr. Wedel, made the offer in your office to sign bonds for the release of all arrested. Another Keokuk citizen offered to advance $1,000.00 to be used to liberate Jehovah God’s faithful ones. These sympathetic Keokuk citizens were all strangers to Jehovah’s witnesses and were ashamed of

what had occurred. But Jehovah’s witnesses rely on no men, but stand on their constitutional rights, with faith in the Supreme One above. Are they contumacious? Not a bit. Being law-abiding and determined to do their duty by preaching the gospel by the printed page, thereby sacrificing time, energy and money because they love their fellow man, they cannot be stopped by threats of future arrests. They have no fear of what man might do to them, but they must obey what Jehovah God wants them to do.

In your sixth paragraph you complain of the methods used by Jehovah’s witnesses. You state “all were sorry for these people”. You do not specify nor clearly state how these methods are unlawful or remiss in any way. You deal in generalities. Honestly, now, you cannot truthfully state that any of these people looked like convicts or jail birds, can you? If the methods employed were criminal, why were these good people released? You state in the same paragraph that if the same methods are employed again, these people will probably again be arrested “and will not get off so easily”. I do not wish to think you mean to insinuate a threat, but none of Jehovah’s witnesses desire to violate any laws, but are polite, kind-hearted, God-fearing people, and when imposed upon and insulted offer no resistance but sing songs to Jehovah’s praise, considering it a privilege to go to jail rather than to be cowardly and deny their Lord.

You state in the last paragraph of your letter that you do not belong to or attend any church. I congratulate you on your good sense in this respect. But do not make the mistake by thinking that Jehovah’s witnesses’ work is just another silly creed or new religion. It is merely Bible education explaining what is in store for all of mankind in the near future.

You also state how fair you have been to all creeds. You may not know it, but all the creeds are being relegated to the ash can and people all over the world refuse to be any longer flimflammed by man-made dogma and doctrines, but want the Bible truths.

I thank you for your kind welcome asking our return to Keokuk. However, you qualify the invitation to your city by saying we are welcome if we obey your laws. You know now that we have not disobeyed any of your laws; and so far as peddling licenses are concerned, your city ordinance in this respect does no more apply to the work of Jehovah’s witnesses than it would to preachers or priests who take contributions on Sundays in collection plates and not even give the contributor a book or booklet to take home for further instruction and information.

If you will permit me to suggest it, I think you should procure the entire set of our Bible helps and study them. You will learn what it is all about, and surely will be well repaid for your time spent. Then when narrow-minded bigots and religious fanatics come to you demanding you to exercise your authority to jail mothers and fathers of good, respectable families and even take innocent children, like last Sunday, you can do your duty by showing them that they lack tolerance and a Christlike spirit. With, a knowledge of what these books contain you will be well qualified to show the hypocrites and bigots the truth.

“Large Metal Container”

0 MAN advertising aluminum would intentionally let it get out that; lemonade stored in an aluminum bucket will half kill those who drink it. Therefore we read in the Springfield (Mo.) News and Leader the following dispatch from Tulsa, Okla.:

A group of 63 Clarendon (Texas) Boy Scouts today resumed their homeward journey after ptomaine poisoning struck like an epidemic in their midst Friday night at their roadside camp east of here. The attention of six doctors was necessary at the boys’ camp during the night to treat the ailing youths, suffering from the poison contracted in drinking lemonade made and served from a large metal container.

Butler’s Way to End the War Racket

DENOUNCING war as nothing but a racket, Major General Smedley D. Butler, in the

September Forum, says:

‘ ^fThe only way to stop it is by conscription of capital before conscription of the nation’s manhood. One month before the government may order the young men of the nation to be killed, it must serve notice of conscription on the country’s capital. Let the officers and directors of our armament factories, our gun builders and munition makers and shipbuilders all be conscripted, to get $30 a month, the same wage paid to the lads in the trenches. Give capital thirty days to think it over and you will learn by that time there will be no war. That will stop the racket—that, and nothing else. ’ ’

Nuns and Their Activities

THE Cincinnati Times-Star gives some interesting figures regarding the number of nuns that are active in the United States spreading and assisting in the spreading of the doctrine of complete submission to the pope of Rome as necessary to salvation. There is a total of 123,304 of these workers, which means that there is a nun for nearly every 1,000 persons in the country. Most of the nuns are teachers, many of them nurses, while others sit around in prominent places holding receptacles into which the unwary traveler may drop a coin, if he has no better use for it.

Five Days with the Sound Car

Tom. Joe, how about going out with the sound car all next week?

Joe. How about starting Wednesday?

Tom. Fine! We shall ask Lester to arrange an itinerary for us. Where to, Lester ?

Lester. Here is a map. Take this highway, beginning here, and cover it to this point, then west to this point; circle around these few towns and come back north to this point, and then make a wide circle and cover what you can in thes direction. You have an outline of what you should cover, and can work it to suit circumstances.

Tom. O.K. Will meet you at ten o’clock Wednesday morning, Joe.

Wednesday

Tom. Good morning, Joe.

Joe. Hello, Tom. Sure a fine morning, isn’t it?

Tom. Certainly is. (Car proceeds to assigned territory.) Look there, Joe! But no; Lester said that town had it. Let’s start at the next.

Joe. Well, there she is in the distance. (After a few minutes’ drive.)

Tom. Here we are; Star Junction. Looks like a town of about 500. There is a pretty good spot.

Joe. I think we’ll pull up to the other side.... Here we are. Looks pretty good from here.

Tom. O.K. We can turn all four horns in a semicircle.

(Music, "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life.’’)

Tom. Look at them come out, Joe! What are you going to give them?

Joe. “Kingdom Blessings for the People.”

Tom (through the microphone when music has ended).“To the people of Star Junction: What you are about to hear is not man’s idea, nor does the speaker, Judge Rutherford, claim it as his message. He is merely doing his part as one of Jehovah’s witnesses in bringing this message to you ...” (Then the lecture. Many people stand in their tracks, listening to the end, and many come out and sit on their porches, listening to the message.)

Tom. Now, Joe, on to Everson. (Uponarrival) Here we are. Let’s turn here. Looks like a hill up there. Wonder in what direction the wind is?

Joe. There doesn’t appear to be much wind. I think I’ll pull up here. This takes us to the top.

Tom. Go slow, Joe. Looks as if they’re fixing the road. Go slow over these sharp stones. That’s fine.... Well, here we are, all set up; let them have it. (The lecture proceeds.)

Tom. Lady, may we go to the top of this hill through this gate and put on a program?

Lady. Surely. Go right up.

(At top of hill.)

Joe. Horns O.K., Tom. Let them have it.

(Lecture proceeds.)

Stranger. Boy! He knows how to tell them, doesn’t he? I believe every word of it. See that fellow with the white trousers. Notice how closely he is examining your outfit. He is an electrical expert.

Electrician. You boys have some sweet job here. I have never seen anything just like it before, and I have seen many.

(At Leisenring, a mining town.)

Tom. One can see it’s a priest-ridden town. Nothing but poverty. Let’s pull up here. This looks pretty good.

Joe. Look, Tom! There’s a Catholic church. Let’s put two horns over there and two on the town. They are all there in a group. O.K., Tom?

Tom. O.K.... Look, Joe! Look at the priest scurrying up the steps. He just came out from among those trees. Look; he runs up two steps and then looks, and then two more, and looks. Reminds me of how we used to jump rabbits.

Joe. He might just as well stay where he is; he can’t get away from this. He can’t shut this off as he can the radio. Say, look at the crowd coming! My! They are coming in swarms. (Fifteen minutes later.)

Tom. Say, Joe, did you ever see a crowd sitting around in such a uniform manner? Nothing but a clay bank, but it looks more like a stadium, the way they are sitting.

Joe. Yes, but some of those younger kids look mischievous.

Tom. Well, there’s the end.... Everything O.K., Joe, hop in.

(Joe looks back and sees boy putting something under the wheel. Jumps out, with threatening look in his eye, and warns boy. As we reached the bottom of the hill some rocks came perilously near.)

Tom. Only the Lord helped us to get out of that jam. Well, I guess we’d better go back to Brother J’s and get our supper, so as to be in Connellsville in time to put on a couple of programs before it is too late.

(After supper.)

J. I can show you boys a place where you can get both this end of town and a suburb with one blast.

Joe. Fine, let’s have it.

(Eight o’clock, in another location.)

J. Now here is a good setup for this end of town. (Horns are directed as suggested, when)

Joe. All set, Tom?

Tom. Yep, let her go.

(With first sound the people of both sections come out like flies.)

Stranger (after listening a while). Whom do you represent? Do the clergy support this work? It must cost a lot of money to build a car like that ...

(The work is explained to him and a few other professional-looking men standing near. Meanwhile R comes running up.)

R. Say, the minute I got off the train I heard the judge’s voice. You can hear it all over the place down there. I didn’t know you were in town. I traced the voice, and here I am.

Joe. There is something wrong with the mike, Tom. Your announcement did not go over well. Shake the mike a little. I think there must be a loose connection. Well, we have only one more town, and if it does not work we’ll fix it this evening when we get home.

(At J’s home that evening.)

Joe. Do you know of a good radio man in town, Brother J? We should like to get the mike looked after, but we don’t want anyone to hold us up. If we were nearer home we could get one of our boys to look at it.

J. Come to think of it, Brother A works for the Bell Telephone Company in town. He is an expert. I will call him up. (Phones.) He said you can call at the office at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.

Thursday

Tom and Joe. Good morning!

A. Good morning, boys; what can I do for you?

Joe. We should like you to test our mike.

(Half an hour later.)

A. Here you are; try it out.

Tom (at car, parked on Main street, after connecting microphone). One, two, three, four; one, two, three, four; keep in line, you rookies; hip, hip, hip, hip.

Joe. That’s enough, Tom. It must be working. Look at the men running up here.

(A Jewish cobbler runs out of his shop and up to the car, all aghast.)

Cobbler. I thought the whole army was coming down the street. Say, that’s a swell outfit you’ve got! (Reading sign on car) “Jehovah’s witnesses, Pittsburgh Division.” It must be an army, after all, since you designate yourselves a “division”.

(On way to territory, after driving an hour.)

Tom. There’s Somerset. Quite a big town.

Joe. Yes, it will take a couple of blasts here. (Just as the lecture ends a man pulls up in a car and shows his badge.)

Offices. You are disturbing the court down there and will have to stop.

Tom. Are you an officer of the law?

Officer. No, a court attache.

Tom. Well, we will stop. (Officer’s chest swells up as he draws away thinking that he has gotten rid of these “locusts”.)

Tom. Joe, I thought we would let him think he bluffed us. I want to see that chest go down. We don’t want to be so close as to disturb the court; so let’s find a place where we can get it over here in a way that the people can get it, and not disturb the court.

Joe. It seems that the judge outside is interfering with the judge inside. Well, the Lord didn’t say we should go out with this sound car and, if court is in session, go back home. So we will get out of town and find a place to send it over. There’s a good spot over there.

(At another point.)

Joe. Well, here we are. Boy! what a site! All ready, Tom?

(Tom walks about half a mile toivard the toicn while the lecture is in progress, and returns.) Tom. Joe, it is hitting over there like a machine gun. Can you imagine that officer’s chest go down when he heard the first strain of “Sweet Mystery of Life”?

(Lecture nears completion. A woman approaches all out of breath, after half running almost a mile. Either her husband is after her or she is heading for us.)

Woman. “Where the carcass is, there are the eagles gathered together!”

Tom. Then you are one of us?

Woman. Yes, I am Sister W; and is it coming in down there! I was near the school, just a block from the courthouse, when the judge’s voice came over. A man was passing me at the time, and we both stopped. “What is that?” he said. ‘It sounds like Moses’ voice”; and with that I started, and here I am. Come over, and I will prepare dinner for you.

Tom. Since you have not started dinner yet, we will go over to the other side and give them a blast, and then we will come in for lunch.

(Later, at Somerfield.)

Tom. Well, here is Somerfield, Joe. A nice little town. Let’s stop here before we go into it. Won’t it smack against that ridge over there, though! Let them have it.

(Lecture almost through when young lady approaches on the run.)

Lady. I am Brother M’s niece, Sister S. Every word is coming in clear down there in the valley; clearer than it is up here.

(After supper. At Connellsville. First lecture in progress.)

Stranger. That sure is a nifty outfit you have there. What are you advertising?

Tom. God’s kingdom.

Stranger. We need it. What kind of mike is that, a “G.E.”?

Tom. Oh, no. It’s a “J.w.”, and that beats a “G.E.” any time.

(Onto final lecture for the second day out. Wind up at 9:45, tired, and, to bed.)

Friday

A beautiful spot overlooking downtown Connellsville ; and a more beautiful sight, overlooking a nice big building with a cross on it and a beautiful parish house beside it. Music begins. Two nuns bring the children out and line them up facing the hill on which the sound car is located. The lecture comes on and a priest comes out and turns his ear into the wind. The nuns go over to confer with him but do not seem to arrive at a decision, so the children stay.

Another setup at Villa, then on to Dunbar. At a beautiful spot just half a mile from the edge of town a man gives permission to locate on a knoll near his house. Tom starts program and walks almost into the town. The nearer to the town, the clearer the judge’s voice becomes. People on mountainside a mile away are out on the porches, looking and listening. As the lecture nears completion a car approaches from Dunbar and stops. The occupants jump out and almost stumble over themselves to get to us. It is a carload of Jehovah’s witnesses from Brownsville. We didn’t know they were there, and they didn’t know we were around, until the lecture began. They locate the sound car, and everybody is happy. On their way back they make arrangements for us to have our supper at Uniontown.

At the next town, Mt. Braddock, we pass through town and up a hill into a yard where a lady graciously permits us to set up. At the first blast everybody on Main street halts and looks up. Men come out of doors and sit with pipe in mouth. Women come out wiping hands upon their aprons and sit down to listen.

The next town is Lemont Furnace. Here Tom stays in town to listen while the car proceeds up a slope to a point near the schoolhouse. It is recess time. The music begins and teachers and pupils surround the car. Tom, from the hill opposite the town, can hardly see the car for school children. The dresses of the school girls add color and make the scene a beautiful one. The judge’s voice comes over, but the wind is strong, blowing it away at a distance.

Tom descends the hill to the town nestling in the valley. No wind down there. He winds in and out through the streets and alleys, but just can’t get away from that voice. It is clear and distinct wherever he goes. People on their porches, business men at their doors, stand and listen. “It is marvelous in our eyes.” On to Oliver, and then to the Government camp for unemployed men. These say, “It is simply great. Come back again. We are sick of those preachers they send out here every Sunday.”

Saturday

At Washington, Pa., we pass through the outskirts, on to Amity, and set up on the main road leading into town. As the music comes on people from both sides of main street run out into the street, and collect in groups to listen. Then to Waynesburg. Sister S prepares dinner while sound car sets up in suburbs. It is a “Holy Roller” town. People roll out. Several climb roof of abandoned factory and sit and listen till lecture is finished. After lunch, on to Sycamore, a sleepy little town which suddenly becomes very much alive. It hasn’t been aroused so much since Morgan’s Raiders were headed its way.

Then to Nineveh, Graysville, Wind Ridge. Wind Ridge is a beautiful little town situated on top of a 1500-foot hill, the very knoll of the hill where we set up being slightly higher than the town itself. They must have thought it was the angel Gabriel, so many swarmed out into the street. Then to Rogersville, and to Waynesburg again for one setup and an early supper, so as to get an early start for Morgantown that evening. We arrive at Sr. S’s, who suggests that we see the burgess and get permission to set up at the band concert which is held every Saturday night in that town in front of the courthouse. We interviewed the burgess, who is a fine man. Although a strict Catholic, he said he had heard every word of the lectures, “Jehovah,” “Rebellion,” “Armageddon,” an hour previously, but hesitated because he did not know how the people would take to such a program. We were finally able to gain his consent, and were taken to the station house and introduced to the policemen, so they would know what was going on.

Then to Morrisville to put one on there before the one at the band concert. Covered Morrisville with two horns, swinging the other two over Waynesburg, which was a few miles to the west. Needed only two horns where we were, so thought we would get what we could of this side of Waynesburg. After the lecture in the very center of Waynesburg, for the benefit of the concert crowd, a lady living a block away said she heard the lecture just as plainly from Morrisville. Our setup in Waynesburg for this occasion was in a park two blocks from the courthouse. Had we set up at that point, traffic would have been blocked. We could see the people as they came to the main intersection and look our way. It came in there well, for Tom had gone there to get the correct amount of power on, so as not to have it too loud. The people had to keep moving, however, as the streets were crowded, but they all got some of it. Couldn’t get away from it. That name “Jehovah” struck that old intersection and the crowd at the concert more than in all the years that preceded this occasion. Only the Lord himself knows the results. Then, home and to bed, tired.

Sunday

(Rose 'bright and early. A beautiful Sunday morning. Ate a hearty breakfast and headed south. First stop, Mt. Morris.)

Tom. There’s a nice spot, Joe, across the creek and upon that knoll. It overlooks a beautiful little stream, clear and pure, and also the town, as quiet as a little town nestled in the hills could be. How does this look, Joe?

Joe. Fine. Swing those two horns around a bit. ("Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life” hits the town and the distant hills and echoes back. The echo is nearly as plain as the original. People come out and stand listening to the music, but with beginning of the lecture some sit down and make themselves comfortable.)

(On to Morgantown, where, up a road overlooking the river and the town from Westover, the entire business section and the university lie before us. One blast and everyone stops. A crowd collects on the bridge on the other side and there are a half dozen men sitting on a porch roof. Some are standing on the campus, a mile to the northeast. The program continues.)

Stranger. Say, I can take you fellows to a place where you can get the whole business without moving.

Tom and Joe. O.K. That’s fine. (Lecture ends. Stranger squeezes into car with us, and up, up, up, over another road, and up, up, up, until Reservoir HUI, the pinnacle of the mountain, is reached, and there before us is a panorama to behold.)

Stranger. There is Morgantown; you can see practically every house in it. There is another town over there to the south, and over there to the north still another. In fact, you are looking at the entire county.

Tom. Joe, it looks like a long way over there. I wonder if it will reach.

Joe. I don’t know. All we can do is give it to them, and how!

(In a home four miles from Reservoir Hill.)

Mrs. T. “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life!” Isn’t that beautiful! An organ solo. Clara, tune in and see where that is coming from.

Clara (turns dial of radio). That’s funny; I can’t get it.

Mrs. T. Isn’t that sweet! Seems to be coming right up from out of the river.

(Then the judge’s voice; and Mrs. T stated she did not know from what source it was coming until the announcement after the lecture, and then had no realization that she was listening in to something that had its source four miles from her home. She claims to have heard every word of the lecture.)

(On Reservoir Hill)

Tom. Joe, let’s have those field glasses. There should be more people out down there if there weren’t a sound car around. Such a beautiful morning! (Adjusts glasses and looks.) See that house up there, Joe? that one on the very top; the one farthest from here? I can see them standing on the porch and looking. They must be getting it there. (Looks at watch.) I’ve got it! It’s church time! That’s where they are, and boy! is it hitting in there, Joe! It’s not hitting hard enough to disturb them, but, can you iriiagine? it’s going through the open windows of those churches down there- just enough to tickle the ears of the “prisoners” and to the discomfiture of the ‘prison keeper’. And they can’t turn it off.

Joe. Well, good-bye, Morgantown and vicinity. It is almost beyond comprehension, isn’t it, Tom? that within one hour the Lord’s message was carried over this entire country. And into the “prison houses” also; a place where it could go in no other way.

Tom. That’s true, Joe, and no doubt it will cause many people to give more heed to the message when we go from door to door. Well, we must hurry, as we want to give the works to —let’s look at the map. There are four more towns yet to do, and that will complete our five days of blessedness.

(After completion of towns)

Tom. Let’s look at your logbook, Joe. Well! It shows that we worked thirty-six towns, some of them necessitating as many as four setups. Your estimate of hearers is conservative, approximating 57,000. And we put in an average of almost eleven hours per day.

Joe. Didn’t the time go fast! Small wonder the Bible says that with the Lord “a thousand years” is “as one day”. When one is busy the time passes so quickly. Well, here’s your home, Tom. Good-bye! I’ll see you later.

Tom. Good-bye, Joe. We will plan another trip soon. _________________

Wipe Out Tyranny

AT THE recent San Francisco Convention of the American Federation of Labor, President Wm. Green said: “The A. F. of L. has no creed, no race, no nationality. It is our hope to unite the entire world into an international brotherhood. We must continue this boycott [of German goods] until the tyrannical governments of Germany and Italy are wiped out. So far as it is within my power I shall do everything possible to make the boycott effective until the liberty and freedom are restored to the workers of Germany and they are allowed to work and live in peace.” There was only one dissenting vote to the resolution to continue the boycott. Evidently the delegates to the convention were not convinced that the present conditions in Germany really express the will of the German people. The only power, however, that can wipe out tyrannical governments is the supreme power of Jehovah God; and He will accomplish that very thing in the great battle of Armageddon.

The Feast of the Sun and “the Mass of Christ”

IT IS over once again, the time of “the mass of Christ”, formerly observed as the “feast of the sun” and identified with the birthday of Nimrod, the wicked founder of Babylon. It is a time when there is supposed to be much graciousness abroad, when otherwise surly and cussed people blossom forth into benevolence and sweetness. It is a time when there is singing of carols, and jazz. It is a time when stomachs are stuffed beyond the limits designed for that much-used organ. It is a time when the poor, or some of them, forgotten throughout the year, receive baskets of food and other supplies. It is the time when in great cathedrals and temples and smaller places of worship “mass is sung” and the people look at little babies in cribs, and perhaps kiss an old board, which is claimed to have been part of the original “cradle” in which Christ supposedly slept in His Nazareth home. (Cradles were unknown until A.D. 1140.) It is a time when “gifts” are “exchanged”, as an evidence of love, sentiment and unselfishness!

“Christmas” is a sweeping and all-inclusive holiday. Gentile and Jew, sinner and saint, believer and infidel, Christian and anti-Christian, have all to some degree and in some fashion bowed, whether sincerely or obsequiously, ignorantly or with understanding, at this shrine of hoary antiquity.

It should be apparent to everyone who does any thinking at all that merely attaching the name of Christ to anything does not make it either holy or desirable. Nor does such a practice honor either the Father or the Son, but is more likely to show deference to some crafty scheme of Satan.

Jesus Not Born in December

That Jesus was not born on December 25 is now an admitted fact. The circumstances surrounding His birth show that date to be wrong. It was at a time of the year when the shepherds and their flocks were in the field by night, while the stables were empty. It was not in midwinter, which even in Palestine would be too cold to keep the flocks in the fields.

There is proof that Jesus was born about the time of the autumnal equinox, approximately October 1. How, then, did the birthday of Christ happen to be associated with December 25? It is a long story, and the details are more or less obscure, but it is not hard to see the machinations of the Devil back of it all. Going back to the days of Nimrod we find some interesting clues. These are set forth at length in a book named The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop. Incidentally, this book shows up so thoroughly the pagan sources back of the practices of the Catholic church that it is not obtainable in the United States, but can be had only by addressing the publishers, Partridge, London.

Nimrod and Semiramis

Briefly the story unfolds itself as follows: Not long after the Flood the peoples of earth began to turn away from Jehovah God and to exalt instead the names of men. Foremost among the “great” men in the earth was Nimrod, who performed deeds of daring and prowess and who made a great impression. His mother, Semiramis, was an imperious woman, unscrupulous, cunning and ambitious. She idolized her son and carved for him a position of glory and power. Though the wanton shedding of the blood of animals was forbidden by the covenant which God made with Noah and all flesh, Nimrod became a mighty hunter “before the Lord”. Evidently he was not such with Jehovah’s approval, but in spite of Jehovah’s disapproval. Nimrod preferred to follow his own will rather than to obey God. The people, self-willed and apostate, preferred their visible and glamorous “hero” before Jehovah, the invisible and holy One, whose ways are righteousness and truth.—Genesis 10:8-10.

Having captivated the imagination of the people, Nimrod, encouraged by his mother Semiramis, who also became his wife, furthered his ambitious designs by making himself king and undertaking the building of the tower of Babel, from which as a center he extended his kingdom to the surrounding territory in every direction. Legend and myth bring the story to us in dim outline. Only the Word of God gives us some definite and clear indications of the extent of Nimrod’s ambitions and conquests. Finally, in some manner, he was slain, whether by the beasts which he harried and hunted or by some enemy cannot be definitely determined. Hislop, in his analysis of the numerous myths about the occurrence, attempts to prove that Nimrod was judicially executed at the behest of the patriarch Shem. The Scriptures, however, are silent on this as well as other points in the story.

Whatever the means may have been, Nimrod was slain. Semiramis, his wife and mother, determined to perpetuate the glory of her son, and incidentally her own. Urged on by Satan, she claimed that Nimrod had become a god, who, though invisible, would still be the deliverer of the people. She identified herself with the woman who was to be the mother of the seed that should bruise the serpent’s head, according to the divine promise given in Eden, and stated that Nimrod was the seed foretold. She called attention to an evergreen tree growing out of the stump of a dead tree, and asserted that the new tree sprang up in one night as a symbol of her son’s rise to new life as a god. Nimrod became “father of the gods” and Semiramis was, of course, “mother of the gods” and “queen of heaven”. By secret and magic rites the worship of Nimrod spread far and wide.

Madonna and Child

In the course of time the original story regarding Semiramis and Nimrod took on varying forms. The worship of “mother and son” is found in practically all heathen religions, under one hame or another, and in many forms. In Assyria these two appear as Rhea and Ninus; in Egypt, as Isis and Osiris; in Greece, as Ceres and Dionysus, or Bacchus; in India, as Isi and Iswara; in Asia, as Cybele and Deoius; and in Pagan Rome, as Fortuna and the boy Jupiter. Even in far-away China a counterpart of the “mother and son” idea is found in Shing Moo with a child in her arms. Nimrod also appears under the names of Belus in some countries; in others, as Zoroaster, Adonis or Ninus. The Scandinavian countries, too, present in the stories of their pre-Christian gods similarities to Semiramis and Nimrod.

In connection with feasts held in honor of the “queen of heaven” and “father of the gods” there were weird symbols and ceremonies, orgies, debaucheries. The chief feast of all occurred in the latter part of December or early in January, varying in different countries, but centering around the fact that the sun, having reached its lowest point, was again increasing in strength. The sun was worshiped, frequently, as the embodiment of the great “father of the gods”. The old Roman feast of the birth of Sol was observed on the 25th of December.

When Christianity spread among the peoples of Europe, in name rather than in spirit, the feast which was originally celebrated in honor of the sun, or of Nimrod under some other name, became a bone of contention. True believers would not celebrate it at all, others compromised, and finally the name of Christ was attached to the sun-feast. The Encyclopedia Americana says, on this subject:

Christmas, derived from the mediaeval Christes Masse, the Mass of Christ; the feast commemorating the birth of Jesus, observed by the Christian Church annually on the 25th of December. It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian Church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth. The death of the martyr Stephen, and the massacre of the innocents at Bethlehem, had been already long celebrated, when ... a feast was established in memory of this event in the 4th century. In the 5th century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed. Among the German and Celtic tribes the winter solstice was considered an important point of the year, and they held their chief festival of Yule to commemorate the return of the burningwheel.

The Merry Yuletide

McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia tells us:

Yule (from huel, a wheel) was a sunfeast, commemorative of the turn of the sun and the lengthening of the day, and seems to have been a period of pagan festival in Europe from ancient times. At court, among many public bodies, and in distinguished families, an officer, under various titles, was appointed to preside over the revels.... In Scotland he was termed the Abbot of Unreason; but the office was suppressed by act of Parliament, A.D. 1555. Stow (Survey of London, p. 79) describes the same officer as Lord of Misrule.... Prynne says, in his strong way (in Histrio-Mastix'j, “Our Christmas lords of misrule, together with dancing, masks, mummeries, stageplayers, and such other Christmas disorders, now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian festivals.”

The reference here to a “lord of misrule” is unmistakable reference to a representative of the Devil, one who is against the rule of the righteous Jehovah. Satan himself is the chief “lord of misrule”, and Nimrod became his first royal earthly representative, since which time the dominion of earth has been exercised by those who have not known God.

While the name of Christ was attached to the popular sun-feast by calling it “the mass of Christ”, it was just as heathenish as before, and practically all the heathen ceremonies and observances, together with drunkenness and ribaldry, continued. The Christmas tree, reminiscent of the tree which Semiramis employed as a symbol of her slain son-husband, saying he had become the father-son god, has been traced back to the Romans. It went from Germany to Great Britain, and thence to the United States. It has nothing to do with the worship of Jehovah or with His Son Jesus Christ.

Befana and “Saint” Nick

Christmas, with its numerous customs and practices, is a fusion and confusion of many holidays and ancient observances connected with heathen gods and goddesses. The holly, the mistletoe, the wreaths, the special foods, all have their significance and are hang-overs from the time when the people believed that the burning of a yule log would keep away bad luck, or the display of festoons and wreaths would exclude evil spirits.

One of the feasts which, in the United States, seems to have been absorbed by the Christmas celebration is that of Befana. This old lady, in Italy, takes the place of “Saint” Nicholas. Befana is supposed to be the spirit of an old lady who, when the “wise men” passed through her little town on their way to Bethlehem, was too busy to go and look at them, intending to see them on their return. They never came back that way, and, somehow, she is still supposed to be waiting for them. At the feast of Epiphany, January 6, commemorating the visit of the "wise men”, bringing their gifts, Befana is supposed to bring gifts to little children who hang up their stockings on the preceding evening. Bad children receive a stockingful of ashes.

Patron of the Hock-Shop

"Saint” Nicholas, a legendary character, is supposed to have lived in the fourth century. Nothing certain is known of him, but tradition says that he helped out a poor nobleman by furnishing dowries for his three daughters, a bag of gold for each, which he threw into an open window on three successive nights. Sometimes “Saint” Nick is represented as holding three bags of gold, and at other times as holding three golden balls. He is called the patron saint of Russia, and is considered as the special guardian of virgins, children and sailors, and also of pawnbrokers, and sometimes of thieves.

In Europe the feast of “Saint” Nick occurs on December 6. He is dressed quite differently from the “jolly old Saint Nicholas” who in the United States is represented as riding in a sled drawn by reindeer. The European “Saint” Nicholas, which in the Netherlands is abbreviated to Sinte Klaas (hence our Santa Claus), is dressed in rich ecclesiastical vestments, wearing the high “fish-caps” of the priests of the god Dagon, and carrying his bishop’s crook. Of course, such a splendidly dressed individual could not slide down the chimney; hence the European or Netherlandish Nicholas is accompanied by a swarthy servant, whose complexion does not suffer from contact with the lining of chimneys. This dusky accomplice of the dignified bringer of gifts also carries the rod and attends to the chastening (and frightening) of bad boys and girls, and some not so bad.

All this fibbing about “Saint” Nick and Befana, and similar stories so common in connection with the Christmas season, would be effectually ended if people believed that the dead are dead, and that neither the old Nicholas nor the unfortunate Befana can go wandering about for good or ill, if either of them ever did exist.

Old Nick or Christ?

The observance of the feast of “Saint” Nick on the same day on which Christmas is celebrated is evidently another attempt on the part of Satan to obscure the important issue before creation, and to detract from the honor that is due the One whom Jehovah has appointed to settle that issue. The effort of the adversary has been, right along, to oppose the work of God, and to bring reproach upon His name. He has exalted unrighteous men to carry forward his schemes, and has multiplied myths and superstitions to obscure the truth. Jehovah alone is God, and Jesus came to bear witness to that truth. He faithfully did bear witness and suffered death because of so doing. It is His death which He commanded His disciples to commemorate, for His death was the seal of His faithfulness and the price of mankind’s redemp tion.

One more point must be mentioned. It has to do with the magi, who are indirectly honored in the legends about Befana and Nicholas, bearers of gifts. The magi, incorrectly referred to as “wise men”, who came from the east to honor Jesus shortly after His birth, were undoubtedly used of Satan, though they were ignorant of that fact. The “star”, which they followed, did not guide them to the child, but to one who was the enemy of the newborn King. It was as a result of the visit of the magi, or magicians, that the babes of Bethlehem and vicinity were slain, with the object of making sure of the destruction of Christ. Surely Satan himself was back of that scheme. The instruments he used were such as would be thoroughly under his influence, for they practiced magic arts and were readily influenced by visions, omens and apparitions.

Not of Jehovah God

The entire development of the Christmas celebration marks it as not of Jehovah, but as of His enemy, Satan, whose only purpose is to confuse and confound the people, and to dishonor the One to whom all praise and honor are due. Just as at the time of Jesus’ birth Satan sent his tools to “worship” the babe, so he still uses those who are under his influence and who come in an attitude of “worship” and at the same time resist the truth. While in the past Jehovah’s people may have given unwitting support to the Christmas desecration of the truth, they will no more lend countenance thereto.

In recent years Jehovah’s witnesses have, at the time of the autumnal equinox, or about the beginning of October, taken part in a nine-day period of praise and thanksgiving by bearing the message of the truth to the people. While this was not consciously and especially done in commemoration of God’s great gift, it is surely a fitting way to show their appreciation of the goodness of Jehovah and their desire to honor Him and His glorious King.

Took Two Scientists to Do This

DISPATCHES from Paris state that it took two scientists to photograph a shroud at Milan “said to be Christ’s” and to send out word that Jesus Christ was 5 feet 10.9 inches tall, that they had found chemical stains to that effect. It is good to know that they put two high-class scientists on this job. One of them probably was given the job of seeing to it that the Jew who made the shroud had not left his price ticket on it. It is best to be careful about proofs, especially when you are trying to put a swindle across.

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