crA_e Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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in this issue

BELGIUM— THE CROSSROADS OF EUROPE REPENTANCE AT DEATH THE BUSINESS OF A RADIO “PRIEST” NEW JERSEY HATE BILL AND “THE COMMONWEAL” NEPHILIM AND SPIRIT MEDIUMS

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Vol. XVI-No. 407 April 24, 1935

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CONTENTS

............               »(D><a.*

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

Four Unemployed Generals . . . 461

Depression and Liberty .... 462

In Eighteen Months......462

What the American People Lest . . 462

Vocal Lessons in North Carolina . 462

Still Plenty of Unemployed . . . 479

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

The Golden Age ....... 463 Newark Evening Nc:va

for Free Speech

Machine Guns Decried as Educators 453

31 Persons Living in One Room . . 464

Repentance at Death

A Truthful Statement

N. J. Hate Bill and The Counnonvveid 474

MANUFACTURING AND MINING

Whipstocking Oil Wells .... 464

The Concrete at Boulder Dam . . 470

Glass Thirteen Times as Strong . . 470

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

Hurrah for the Baltimore Sun! . . 463

Adam and John D., Jr.....464

Some of the War Profits .... 464

The Billion-Dollar Gold Racket . . 464

A Thousand Miles on Ten Cents . . 467

Increase in Railroad Accidents . . 467

Plane Service to China.....467

The Business of a Radio “Priest” 472

POLITICAI^DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

Federal Reserve Desires More Rope 464

Uncle Sam Has Learned His Lesson 468

W.C.T.U. Law Enforcement Division 468

Great Achievement

by League of Nations .... 468

Kansas City Gone to the Devil . . 468 Relief Workers’ Banquet

at Breckenridge

Anarchy in Kansas

The Pedigree of Mr. Roosevelt . . 473

AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

Forests Need 70,000 Men a Year . 462

More About Talc

HOME AND HEALTH

“True Christian Heard in Court” 471

Moving Pictures of Souls .... 471

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

Belgium—the Crossroads

of Europe

Two New Railroad Wrinkles . . . 467

The Wrong Frederick

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

It Shall Not Return Void .... 466

Laughing at the Courier-News . . 466

Eight Postal Cards

The Lying Spirits of “Purgatory” . 474

Nephilim and Spirit Mediums . . 475

Lying Spirit Represents the Dead 478

A Presumptuous Sin

Published every other Wednesday by

GOLDEN AGE PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, Y., U.S.A.

Clayton J. Woodworth President         Nathan H. Knorr Vice President

Charles E. Wagner Secretary and Treasurer

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The Golden Age

Volume XVI                       Brooklyn, N. Y«, Wednesday, April 24, 1935                       Number 407

Belgium — the Crossroads of Europe

BELGIUM has the misfortune of lying at the crossroads of Europe, between three contentious empires. As long ago as the time of the Roman Empire Belgium was the meetingground between two great races, the Celts and the Teutons. The former occupied what is now France, while the latter occupied the territory north of the Rhine. Roughly, the Rhine was the dividing line between these two warlike races, but it did not serve to keep them apart in the early dawn of history, nor has it since.

The Belgae, as Caesar called the fifteen Celtic tribes living in the territory between the Rhine and the Seine, were semibarbaric and uncultured. They were beginning to be subjected to the attacks of the Teuton and Frankish tribes from beyond the Rhine when Caesar’s armies came and conquered the Belgians (57 B.C.). The Belgians put up a stiff resistance, but finally had to surrender to the superior military power of the Romans.

The conquerors took complete possession, with this advantage to the Belgae, that they hindered the Germanic tribes from making-further inroads into the territory south of the Rhine for a considerable period. The Belgae learned the Roman language, after a fashion, and later became “Christian”. It is said that Christianity was introduced into Belgium in A.D. 42 by Eucharius, who is supposed to have been one of the seventy disciples; but that is legend, and not history. In fact, there is considerable uncertainty about much of the “history"’ of those times, and it is only with difficulty that historians construct a connected account of the general course of events. It is generally conceded that Maternus, who lived in the beginning of the second century, was the first missionary to the Belgian tribes.

The First German Invasion

During the third and fourth centuries the Germanic tribes became stronger, while the

to Charles. Belgium continued divided in this way for three centuries.

During feudal times Belgium was divided among several counts, dukes, and even bishops. During this period the peasants were reduced to serfdom, if they ever were much more. No doubt the bishops ably assisted in this process.

Defender of the Holy Sepulcher

Godfrey of Bouillon belongs to this period. He captured Jerusalem in the first crusade. Offered the crown as king of Jerusalem, he refused, saying he would not be crowned king in the city where the Lord had been crowned with thorns. He accepted instead the title of “defender of the holy sepulcher”. Perhaps Godfrey meant well, but he overlooked the Bible statement that the weapons of the Christian’s warfare are not carnal.

In a later crusade another Belgian, Baldwin of Flanders, was made emperor of Constantinople.

The Belgian feudal lords owed allegiance to greater princes, but exercised almost unlimited power over their respective tracts of territory. It is during the feudal period that the various provinces took form.

When the towns grew in size and merchants increased in wealth, Belgian commerce brought ships from all parts of the world to Antwerp and Bruges. The merchants began to compete for the power exercised by the feudal lords. The towns, especially of Flanders and Brabant, became very democratic. There were frequent revolts against the ducal rulers.

Philip the Fair, of France, then interested himself in the situation. He sided with the nobility and sent his soldiers into Flanders to help the nobles. Philip was not unselfish as his action in this matter seems to suggest. He saw an opportunity to add Belgium, or at least part of it, to his own kingdom. The French soldiers remained in Flanders, to the great annoyance of the merchants and people. After five years, in 1302, a terrible uprising took place at Bruges. Then as now, the main cause of the trouble was a commercial one. The Flemings murdered all their French Catholic brethren in the early morning hours of a set day. Then Philip sent a powerful army to put down the “rebellion”, but it was defeated at Courtrai, in a battle called “the Battle of the Golden Spurs”, because of the large number of spurs collected on the battlefield after the defeat of the noblemen and the French.

The Dukes of Burgundy

Meanwhile the dukes of Burgundy had succeeded in increasing their possessions by various devices.

The dukes of Burgundy brought about the unification of the country, the lesser nobles having been eliminated from the field of competition. The possessions of these dukes included not only what is now Belgium, but also portions of the Netherlands and France. In 1361, with the death of Philip, last duke of the ancient Burgundian line, King John of France added Burgundy, as the country was then called, to his own possessions. In 1363 this king gave the dukedom to his favorite and youngest son, Philip the Bold. In 1382 the Battle of Rosebeque restored the waning power of the nobles. The marriage of the daughter of the last French duke of Burgundy to Maximilian of Austria brought the Low Countries under the control of the Hapsburgs. It is interesting to see how these “kings by the grace of God” conducted matters as if they owned everything in sight, and as a matter of fact they had things pretty much their own way, except when some “king by the grace of God” was pleased to question the right of one of his fellow kings.

Anyway, from the time of the Battle of Rosebeque until the time of the French Revolution the interests of the Low Countries were sacrificed to the schemes of their masters, first the Austrian, then the Spanish branch of the Haps-burg family, one about as bad as the other.

As an outpost of the Spanish power Belgium held about the worst position that could be imagined in the political picture. Its interests were neglected among the huge dominions of Charles of Spain. Cut off from Spain as far as any Spanish assistance was concerned, and open to the attack of enemies, poor Belgium and Holland had a tough time of it.

The interests of these countries were to a large extent similar. From the standpoint of language as well as geographically they were one country, but they had no national existence, being merely a part of the greater empire, their interests being neglected for the benefit of the Spanish power. Added to this were the horrors of religious persecution and inquisition.

In 1567 civil war broke out in the Low Countries, which resulted in their ultimate separation into two distinct nationalities. The sovereign rights (?) of kings began to be seen in their true light when these same kings butchered their subjects right and left in an effort to deprive the people of the right to worship God according to their understanding of His will.

The Inquisition

Charles V and Philip II of Spain, which then held possession of the Low Countries, tried to stamp out Protestantism by resorting to the most barbarous cruelty in what is known as the Inquisition. Philip sent the duke of Alva to carry on the war of suppression. It has been estimated that during these times 100,000 were burned, beheaded, buried alive, strangled or otherwise slain, not to mention the atrocious tortures to which additional thousands were subjected. One of the reasons why Belgium is a Catholic country today is that the Protestants were all butchered, with the exception of those who fled to the northern provinces and to England.

The prince of Orange had tried hard to keep all the Netherlands together, but when, on July 10, 1584, he was assassinated by the Spanish, the last hope of unity was gone. The northern provinces gained their independence, while the southern provinces, more completely under the power of Roman Catholicism, were constrained to submit to the despotic rule of Spain, though extorting from that rapacious power some guarantees of liberty.

In the succeeding century the northern provinces, as a republic, made rapid strides toward becoming the first maritime power of Europe; the southern section tasted the dubious benefits of subjection to religious and political despotism. Spain ruled the Belgians, but did nothing to help them. Belgium was in a bad way. It lay neglected and impotent, while liberty-lovers and devoted Christians who would not deny the truth God had given them pressed into the Netherlandish republic, strengthening and enriching it.

Belgium Slowly Recovers

Belgium has progressed only to the extent that it has resisted the encroachments of Roman priests and princes. At the end of the sixteenth century the country was in bad shape. Dikes were pierced, polders flooded, cultivation neglected, and wild beasts were rampant. It is reported that within a mile of some of the largest cities travelers were attacked by wolves. The Thirty Years’ war saw the country in its worst condition.

Then followed a period during which Belgium was the football of the great powers, now subject to this ruler, then to that, and always hampered by Romish influence. Not that Belgium was wholly supine under religious* and political oppression, but that the large number of its inhabitants, still blindly loyal to the greatest of all systems of oppression, caused them to constantly lose what little ground was gained in their efforts toward betterment.

When Joseph II, emperor of Germany, by the edict of toleration (1781) tried to sever the relationship between the pope and the clergy the Belgians were ready to fight for independence. It was one of those occasions where the religious or Catholic and the progressive element in the country got together, for Joseph also tried to introduce measures of government •which displeased the more liberal Belgians. The United States of Belgium was the result, in imitation of the other United States across the Atlantic.

One of the leaders in this effort for independence was Van det Noot, styled the Belgian Franklin, while another, Van der Meersch, is called the Belgian Washington. However, the nobility and the clergy retained the chief power in the Belgian “United States”, and they lasted only a year.

The Nineteenth Century

At the close of the eighteenth century Belgium was subject to Catholic Austria. The revolution then raging in France extended to Belgian territory. Then came Napoleon, and later Waterloo, fought on Belgian territory. The Belgian and Dutch troops were under the command of William I of Holland.

After Waterloo the rulers got together at Vienna and tried to decide what was to be done with the map of Europe; a question, by the way, that has never been settled, and will not be settled until God’s kingdom settles it once for all in justice and righteousness.

At Vienna Belgium and Holland were united under William I, and they stayed that way for a few years. Then came the separation, in 1830, largely as the result of the machinations of the international meddler, the Roman hierarchy, now so active in the affairs of the United States of America. The aim of the Hierarchy was to separate the Catholic provinces from the influence of the more enlightened northern section, chiefly Protestant.

Belgium became a “constitutional, representative and hereditary monarchy”, and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was made king of the Belgians, June 4,1831.

As soon as Belgium was definitely separated from the Netherlands the Roman Catholic clergy got busy and tried to get control of the whole business. They were particularly anxious to concentrate the entire educational system into their own hands, of which more will be said later.

King Leopold I is called the founder of modern Belgium. He was an uncle of Queen Victoria of England, who valued his advice, given unofficially, in her position as ruler of the incipient British Empire.

In spite of the fact that Leopold I became king as the result of a supposedly democratic revolution, he was annoyed because a liberty tree had been planted in front of the royal residence. He had it watered with a poisoned solution, so that it died. He felt better after that.

Leopold II was largely instrumental in building up the Congo Free State in Africa, exploiting it for his own benefit until the brutal treatment which his officers accorded the natives provoked so much unfavorable comment that in 1908 he gave the “free” state to Belgium, which made that country fifth in size among the empires of the world.

Leopold II was “a merry old soul”. On one occasion a priest undertook to lecture the king on the subject of his private life, telling him about the things that were said of him. The king listened for a while and then said, “What a funny thing, Monsieur de Cure. Do you know, people have told me the same things about you —only I refused to believe them.”

A Strange Accident

The next king of Belgium, Albert, was evidently a better-behaved monarch. In fact, all men spoke well of him, giving one the impression that the thing was rather overdone. He was the only one of all the kings involved in the World War to take personal command of his armies. Belgium was completely overrun by the Germans, leaving only a small corner of Flanders to the king and his troops, and naturally the king could not escape close association with his army.

The king was an experienced mountain climber and often visited Switzerland. On one occasion he is reported to have been saved from injury in a bobsled run by one of his companions holding on to the seat of the royal trousers. We suspect, however, that the royal companion may have been trying to save himself rather than the king, who was a big man.

It has been a matter of considerable comment that King Albert should have undertaken to make the climb in which he met his death. Frosts and thaws were known to have loosened many rocks.

The place where the king fell became a great center of attraction, and was plucked bare of stones, leaves, branches and everything movable. The great rock from which he is supposed to have fallen was surrounded by barbed wire. This was probably done for fear that the Catholics might take it away to some church and subsequently charge admission for a look at it, or at least make it an object of pilgrimage with the same general financial result. Most Catholics are great hands at collecting gruesome souvenirs. They dote on bones, hair, teeth, shrouds, and other relics.

While King Albert’s body lay in state at the Laeken chateau two “Sisters of Mercy” knelt all day at the bedside. Just why they should make themselves so conspicuous when praying we cannot explain. Jesus counseled His followers to withdraw from view when praying.

Some time after the king’s death an English author, Lieut. Col. Graham Seton Hutchison, said, “The biggest piece of spoof put over on the world in the past six months was the story of Albert’s death. A man with a rope around his waist does not go climbing by himself. There were no bruises on the body. In other words, he was rapped on the back of the head. That is known in Brussels, and nobody dares speak of the death of King Albert in Belgium today.”

Borel de Bitche, first secretary of the Belgian embassy in London, said, “If that colonel will come to the embassy and dare repeat his allegation I will give him a punch under the jaw.” That, of course, proves conclusively that the story was false, and makes it unnecessary for us to discuss it further.

“Uneasy Lies the Head ...”

Not everybody in Belgium was fond of the royal family. About the time of the marriage of the Belgian Princess Marie Jose to Crown

Prince Humbert of Italy, elaborate precautions were taken against possible attempts on the lives of the king, queen, prince and princess. As it was, an effort was made to prevent the wedding by an attempt to blow Prince Humbert off the map. It was not successful, and the man ■who tried to save Belgium’s tomboy princess from marriage to Humbert was sentenced to five years in prison. He was subsequently pardoned at the request of Marie Jose. Perhaps the princess, after two years of married life, sort of wished the man had aimed more carefully!

An official film of the wedding at Rome was shown at Brussels and the director of the theater was overwhelmed with anonymous letters threatening to blow him up as well as his theater if he did not take the picture off immediately. It was withdrawn. While in Italy, the Belgian photographers were given very little consideration by Mussolini’s henchmen. Royalty is in a bad way.

When the present king of the Belgians, Leopold III, rode into Brussels on a white charger, elaborate precautions were taken to prevent a demonstration in favor of a republic.

With the strong sentiment for democracy all about them the Belgian rulers try to be “democratic”. The present queen even went so far as to push her baby’s carriage through the streets of Brussels. That was when she was still crown princess. The time may not be far distant when royalty will be scrubbing its own floors. And why not? It would be good exercise, and more safe than mountain climbing.

The Land of the Belgians

The land of the Belgians comprises an area of 11,752 square miles, not quite the size of the state of Maryland in the United States. There are nine provinces, or states, in presentday Belgium. They are Antwerp, Limburg, Liege, Luxemburg, Namur, Hainaut, East Flanders, West Flanders, and Brabant. As a result of the World War the German districts of Eupen and Malmady were added to Belgian territory. The people of these districts are now agitating for a return to Germany.

The Belgian seacoast is about fifty miles long, but her best port, Antwerp, must be reached through the Netherlands, a situation which Belgians would like to have changed. However, entrance to the port is now entirely free, tolls at the mouth of the Scheldt having been abolished long ago.

The land is somewhat elevated in the southeast and slopes gradually toward the seacoast, where the low level plains are only a few feet above the sea and in some places below sea level. The southern heights are an extension of the Ardennes, which in some places attain a height of over 2,000 feet. Toward the north of this mountainous section is the coal field of Belgium. North and west of the coal field are deep beds of clay and sand. Part of the clay is suitable for the manufacture of earthenware or bricks, and part of it is suitable for making fine pottery.

The chief rivers of Belgium, the Meuse and the Scheldt, have a northerly direction and reach the sea through the Netherlands. These rivers have many tributaries, so that no other country in Europe, with the possible exception of Holland, is so well provided with internal water communication. The mouth of the Scheldt makes an admirable harbor, and Antwerp, located at that point, is one of the chief ports of Europe.

The climate of Belgium is subject to sudden changes, but generally temperate and agreeable. In the higher regions the air is pure and healthful; but in the low flats, rather sluggish and humid. Recently there was considerable concern over a certain fog which caused the death of nearly a hundred inhabitants in the Meuse valley. Cattle and animals likewise were affected. Scientists were unable to account for the unusual and fatal effect of the fog.

Nearly a fifth of Belgium is covered with woods. In Luxemburg and Namur the forests still shelter wolves and wild boars. The total value of timber produced yearly is about $4,400,000.

Most Dense Population

Belgium has a population of 8,159,824, which is almost 700 to the square mile. It is the most densely populated country in Europe. In the province of Brabant the ratio is 1,216 to the square mile. The majority of the population is said to be Catholic, but the amount of opposition there is to the Catholic party indicates that many Catholics are such in name only and that there is a considerable proportion of the inhabitants that are not interested in the “church” at all. We are told that the government impartially subsidizes Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish places of worship by contributing to the stipends of ministers, but as Catholicism is the prevailing "religion” and there are a negligible number of adherents to Protestantism, it can be seen that the Roman Catholic church is the chief beneficiary of this piece of legislation.

Immediately following the revolution which separated Belgium from the Netherlands the Catholics began to gather the entire educational system into their hands. Then the liberals got busy and made themselves heard.

A compromise was reached in the Education Act of 1842 which made religious teaching obligatory in the elementary schools, children of beliefs other than Catholic having their instruction on that subject elsewhere.

Blocked in one direction the Catholic party, with true Catholic spirit, tried to put it over on the people in another way. They appropriated more and more money for “education”. As a result, the people threw out the Catholic ministry in 1878.

The liberty-loving people of Belgium then united to secularize education and they obtained the passage of an education bill which threw out religion as a public school subject. There was a big fight over this, and the premier went so far as to break off diplomatic relations with the pope, who was no doubt inserting his proboscis into the affairs of Belgium to an offensive degree. Then the Catholic people were forbidden on pain of hell and damnation to send their children to the public schools, and Catholic teachers were forbidden to teach in them. These unprincipled tactics resulted in the reinstatement of the Catholic party. Consequently, as late as 1890 nearly 27 percent of the population above 14 years of age could neither read nor write. By continued agitation on the part of the Liberals this percentage dropped to 3 percent in 1923, but even yet the educational system of Belgium leaves much to be desired.

There are now both public and “church” schools. Pupils attending “church” schools and attaining the highest grade there must be sent to the third grade in the public schools if a change is made. So say the Liberals, and it may be something of an exaggeration, but there is doubtless much truth in the allegation. The conflict over religious or secular education continues to be a prominent issue in Belgium, indicating that the country is not as completely under the thumb of “mother church” as is suggested in her rating as one of the three most devoted children of that “church”.

The Language Question

Closely related to the education squabble is the language question, which keeps Belgium a divided people. In spite of the strong link that adherence to the Catholic church is supposed to provide, the Flemings and Walloons, representing the two linguistic divisions of Belgium, are not overly fond of each other. It is required that every one connected with the central government must speak both Flemish and French. The Flemish members of Parliament, however, insist on speaking Flemish in the Chamber, and when they do so, the Walloon members walk out. The Flemish, in turn, repay their fellow parliamentarians from the Walloon section by walking out when one of them rises to speak in French.

There was a great furor about the Ghent University, which the Flemings insisted should be an exclusively Flemish university. This objective was finally attained. The two sections of the country also disagree as to what part of the territory is Flemish and what part French, and so the fight continues. Extremists are not wanting who would like to separate the Flemish part of the country from Belgium altogether, which would mean about equal division of the territory. The Flemings form the majority of the population, and have strongly resented the efforts of the French section in trying to make that language predominant.

There are even some Flemings who would like to reunite the Flemish territory to the Netherlands, but that country is indifferent to the idea. No doubt the Dutch have trouble enough of their own.

Acta Sanctorum

One indication of how prominently Catholicism appears in Belgian education is the fact that the Jesuits receive an annual stipend from the government for working on a collection of books called “Acta Sanctorum”, which contains a record of the lives of the “saints” of the Catholic Calendar. This collection of writings, which is still in process of preparation and publication, will consist of over a hundred volumes. It has been in progress for nearly 250 years, and, while it is a most remarkable work, is comparatively worthless as far as containing any information of practical use is concerned. The “Acta Sanctorum” are supposed to have had their origin as a result of the destruction of Christian records by Diocletian, after which the attempt was made to fill the gap in the records of the church with legends and traditions. As time went on the record increased in length. The Bollandus edition, begun by Bollandus of Belgium, is an attempt to get out something “authentic” on the subject, but the result is not very convincing. The Catholic records on any subject are not overly reliable, since the end too frequently justifies the means, and it too often serves the purpose of “holy church” to distort and suppress the facts.

Belgian Politics

In Belgium politics is a three-cornered affair and the only way they can get anything done is for two of the three chief political parties to get together on a proposition. The three main parties are the Catholics, the Liberals, and the Socialists. Much of the time of the Belgian legislative body is spent in wrangling, which is not unusual in politics of any country. The three parties are internally divided on the language question. This question has for the time been settled by making French the official language in the south and Flemish the official language in the north. In the Brussels district both languages are declared official. The king tries to speak both Flemish and French, but not at the same time.

The subject of disarmament and cooperation with France, both in a military and commercial way, is another cause of friction in the Parliament. The majority, however, demand adequate (?) means of defense. There is almost complete agreement between Belgium and France on all the main questions of foreign policy. Belgium is nervous about Germany’s military activities. In December of last year about $150,000,000 was appropriated for building forts all along the German border and for the fortification of the Herve plateau. The Belgian line of fortifications will be a continuation of the French line. It is evident, however, that, in the event of war, fortification will play only a minor part in the military operations. Forts will not keep out enemy airplanes or poison gas or bombs. The only nation that is now completely protected is that “nation whose God is Jehovah”.

In 1931 Belgian army officers numbered 4,010, and the army itself numbered 68,920. It is planned, however, to enlist the entire man power of the nation, together with its economic and financial resources, in the event of a war. The navy has been abolished.

Under agreements concluded since the World War, Britain, France and Italy undertake to guarantee the rights of the Belgians against foreign aggression. But Belgium’s faith in the League and the Locarno pact is evidently not very strong.

The Belgian Socialist party, which is only slightly less powerful than the Catholic party, is strongly in favor of progressive reduction of armaments, while a large proportion of its membership favors complete and unilateral disarmament on the part of Belgium.

The thought of war is never far from the minds of the Belgian people. Anti-gas masks were on sale in the stores until the Government prohibited their sale and the display of exhibits showing the results of gas attacks. It was pointed out that the possession of such masks gave a false sense of security and that they were not of much good in the hands of the uninitiated.

Edith Cavell, the British war nurse, was shot on Belgian soil as a spy, having been incarcerated by the Germans in the St. Gilles prison. It is said that it was her honesty that led to her execution and that she also implicated a large number of Belgians who were accused of being her accomplices. Belgians are not unanimous in their appreciation of the boasted heroism of the nurse, thinking her rather stupid than honest. However, the cell in which she was kept has been set aside as a show place and is always decorated with fresh flowers by warm admirers.

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to why Aerschot was destroyed by the Germans at the beginning of the World War. It is stated that it was done by way of reprisal against sharpshooters, but this is vehemently denied by the Council of Aerschot.

There appears to have been some kind of understanding by which the Germans allowed King Albert to keep the little piece of Belgium in which he and his soldiers were quartered during the entire period of the war. The king himself was located at La Panne, about five miles from the battle line. The Germans could have shot La Panne to pieces at any time, but it was not bombarded.

Belgium and America

During the war and also after the armistice 6,000,000 Belgians were fed and otherwise cared for by means of funds raised in the United States. After the war the United States helped in the reconstruction of Belgium. Three seats of learning were built with American funds: the new University of Brussels at Solbosch, the School of Medicine on the Chaussee de Waterloo, and the new Louvain Library. Belgium has decided to pay nothing more on debts she owes the United States. However, the king always says nice things about the Americans at Memorial Day celebrations.

The architect of the Louvain Library planned a balustrade with the inscription, “Destroyed by German Fury; Restored by American Generosity.” This was objected to on the grounds of perpetuating the hatred engendered by the war, and a plain balcony was erected instead. Three times “patriotic” Belgians smashed the plain balcony; but the courts finally decided that it should be plain, and that ended the matter.

Belgium has decided to tax foreigners. As a result many tourists and visitors have left the country. The Dutch were most indignant at being taxed. Belgians in Holland are not thus treated. The Hollanders feel that the Belgians do not show much appreciation of the hospitality given them in Holland during the war.

The Belgian People

The Belgians are short in stature. Statistics show that 29 percent of them range in height from four feet three inches to five feet two; 69 percent range up to a maximum of five feet seven inches. Only 2 percent are over five feet seven inches.

Booksellers say the literary taste of the general public is very low. The best seller is usually a detective story, and novels that have been put on the screen sell readily. An attractive paper jacket counts for 50 percent in the sale of a book.

Women do not take part in funerals in Belgium, but remain at home while the men accompany the casket to the cemetery.

At King Albert’s funeral 10,000 war veterans marched before the coffin. It is said that many of them wept in the procession.

Belgium, like other countries that could be mentioned, is troubled with grafters in public office. Embezzlement by tax collectors attained such proportions that the minister of finance issued a special circular dealing with the subject.

However, in spite of the foregoing, crime has fallen off in Belgium to the extent of enabling her to close four prisons. Officials attribute this state of affairs to the leniency of the courts and to the fact that minors who formerly went to prison now go to the reformatory.

Alarm has been expressed at the steadily increasing number of mental defectives. About ten years ago there were 17,000 registered lunatics; now there are 23,000. Physicians report that there are 60,000 abnormal children in the population of about 8,000,000 Belgians. Belgium, a Roman Catholic country, refuses to consider birth control.

Walking Accordion Players

Walking accordion players are popular in Belgium. There are 40,000 Belgians who get a lot of fun and good exercise out of this diversion. The accordion, “the poor man’s piano,” is a favorite musical instrument.

Emil Gleaneur was acclaimed the accordion champion some years ago. He played his instrument from Thieu to Brussels and back, about fifty miles, taking off an hour for lunch and six hours for sleep. The people along the country roads gathered in groups and cheered him on his way.

Antimilitarism is increasing in Belgium, and the munition makers are exerting their influence to counteract this tendency. Statements appear in the controlled press that in the event of war conscientious objectors will be shown no mercy.

Many of the Belgians are still extremely superstitious. Recently an apparition of the virgin Mary was reported to have been seen at Beauraing, where a new Catholic church was being built. It was also stated that snowflakes had fallen at the spot in midsummer. The Belgian state railway ran forty excursion trains to the town and made a haul of $240,000. Of course, the building fund of the church got a big boost, and that was the inspiration back of the swindle.

Belgium has a Boy Scout organization, as well as a collection of Rotarians. King Leopold is the honorary president of the Brussels Rotarians.

The sale of liquor is restricted in Belgium, and there is a great deal of smuggling and bootlegging. Regulations prohibit the sale of liquor by the glass in public, but allow its sale in specially licensed stores in quantities of not less than two quarts.

At Arion an ancient Belgian custom giving aid to lonely lovers is still observed. The young farmers who are looking for wives visit the fair, called "The Lovers’ Fair”, where blooming girls from the Ardennes highlands assemble in goodly numbers. The first negotiations are made at the fair held sometime in December, and they are finally completed at another fair held shortly after New Year.

The Belgian flag consists of three vertical stripes of black, yellow and red. The national flower is the azalea.

The saxophone is said to be the invention of a Belgian professor of mathematics, named Sax. The first white man to see Niagara Falls ■was a Belgian.

Picturesque Cities

As most of Belgium’s cities are many centuries old, there is much that is picturesque and reminiscent of the past. Foremost among the cities is Brussels, the capital, with a population of about 800,000. Like Boston, it has many crooked streets which run in all directions, seemingly without purpose and certainly without plan. The old fortifications have been changed into raised boulevards, planted with numerous trees, and extending for five miles around the older part of the city. The only remnant of the old fortifications is a gate, the Porte de Hal, built in 1379. The Hotel de Ville, built 1401-55, has a spire 364 feet high, which is pretty good for the time it was built. There is also an ancient cathedral the construction of which spanned a period of nearly 400 years. The city is filled with monuments, sculptures, and works of art. John Esch and Henry Vos, the first martyrs of the Reformation, were burned at Brussels July 1, 1523.

Antwerp is the most prosperous city of present-day Belgium, and its only important gateway to the sea. The seaport is open to the largest vessels, in spite of the fact that it is 50 miles from the sea. Ostend, the only other port, is comparatively unimportant.

At one time Bruges was the main port of the country. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries sometimes as many as 150 ships a day entered the harbor, bringing in products from all the then-known world. Bruges was a rival of Venice both as a port and as a city of art. The river Zwyn gradually filled with sand, and Antwerp took the place of Bruges as the main port of the land. Today Bruges is only a dream city. The Belgians call it Bruges la Morte, which means “the dead”. It is the oldest of Belgian cities and a fascinating relic of the Middle Ages.

Ghent, with a population of 200,000, is famous for its flower market, its cotton and woolen manufactures, and is sometimes called the Belgian Manchester. During the Middle Ages it was the chief manufacturing town of northwest Europe.

Liege, with a population of 250,000, is the principal city of the Walloon country. Its main industry is the manufacture of armaments. It also produces steam engines, machinery, hardware of all kinds, watches and jewelry. Liege might be called the Pittsburgh of Belgium. Blast furnaces, machine works and factories line the shores of the Meuse.

Finally, there is Spa, 20 miles southeast of Liege. It is a watering place and was known to the Romans, Pliny the Elder making mention of it. It has been a health resort for 2,000 years. It contains wonderful medicinal springs. The waters are shipped to all parts of the world.

Belgian Manufactures

Belgium is famous for its fine linens, its lace, carpets and porcelain. These products are all of superior craftsmanship. Belgium is the most highly industrialized country in Europe. The factories, as a result of the war and subsequent reparations, contain the most modern machinery. Foreign trade for 1933, total imports valued at 15,217,000,000 francs and exports to the amount of 14,328,000,000 francs. Belgium can support only a third of its population, the remainder depending on industry and commerce.

The diamond trade is an important part of Belgian industry, employing 15,000 skilled workers who draw good salaries. Exports of diamonds, which before the American stock market crash amounted to $50,000,000, have since decreased noticeably.

Belgian workers do not get much for their toil, and there have been repeated demonstrations and strikes, both in the mining section and in other industries. During the miners’ strike the women took an active part. An eight-hour-day law was enacted providing for a work week of 48 hours. American workmen enjoy as comforts what the Belgian workers consider luxuries.

American manufacturers of automobiles are making inroads into the Belgian market and competing with European cars. This the Europeans in general and the Belgians do not like very much, but there seems to be no way of stopping it at present.

The Belgian Farmer

The Belgian farmer is considered the model farmer of Europe. The farms are usually small and every foot of soil is used for productive purposes, only a narrow road being left between farms. The spade is the instrument most frequently in use, and the ground is divided up into small square fields having the highest point at the center and sloping gradually toward the sides, where ditches carry off the surplus of water. The Belgian farmer has recourse to a process of trenching his farm to a depth of about 18 inches. This is not done all at once, but gradually, and begins by laying out the land in ridges about five feet wide. When seed is sown it is not covered by the harrow, but with earth dug from the furrows about two spits deep and spread evenly over the surface. The furrow is dug a little farther over each year, until in the course of five years the entire ridge has undergone an even spading. This process prevents the formation of a subsoil such as would take place if the ridges remained the same from year to year. The ground remains evenly trenched to a depth of about eighteen inches. Every province has what is called an agricultural commission.

Belgian cattle and horses are of a superior quality. The horses of Flanders are good draught horses.

Belgian farms are fully stocked. The cattle are fed at home instead of being allowed to graze in the field. In winter their food consists of turnips and roots; and in summer, of green crops so arranged as to succeed one another in regular order and supply a sufficiency of good food.

Each farm homestead has a tank into which the liquids of the cattle sheds are gathered. Rape cake is added thereto to increase its fertilizing qualities, especially for promoting the growth of flax.

Those parts of Belgium which are not suitable for raising crops are devoted to pasturage. The mast of the forests is utilized as food for large herds of swine.

Tobacco is raised in the Ardennes valleys, and vineyards line the slopes of the southern highlands.

The dominating factor in Belgian farming is economy, making use of every foot of soil and every bit of produce. Nothing is wasted. An equally important item is the industry which the farmers manifest in making the very best use of the materials at hand.

A considerable expanse of moorland waste, the Campine, composed mainly of sand, occupies a part of the Limburg and Antwerp provinces. There are in this barren section patches of cultivated soil which are made to produce corn and furnish pasturage. Agricultural colonies have been established in various parts of the Campine. Some of these are voluntary, and others are composed of convicts. Some of the best cattle of the country are now raised in this section.

The Belgian Congo

While Belgium itself is but little larger than the state of New Hampshire, it owns territory in Africa eighty times its own size, one-third as large as the United States. It was explored by Henry M. Stanley, upon order of King Leopold II, in 1876. The explorer founded stations and made treaties with the native chiefs, spending four years in the work. In 1885 the Congo Free State was founded, having its own flag, and being subject only to Leopold. He subsequently transferred it to the Belgian people.

Within this vast tract of land, estimated at 918,000 square miles, there are about 22,000 white people, and 8,800,000 blacks, of Bantu origin. Much has been done to develop this region. Where only fifty years ago there was nothing but boundless wilds inhabited by savages, we now find 2,566 miles of railway, 21,180 miles of roads, 80 post offices, 65 special telegraph offices, 27 wireless stations, and 60 telephone offices and 14 central stations, serving 1,420 subscribers. There is regular air service between Leopoldville and Stanleyville, a distance of over 1,000 miles.

Within the Belgian Congo three vast stretches of mountain, forest and stream have been set aside as natural parks: Parc Leopold, a million acres; Parc Ruwenzori, 500,000 acres, and Parc Albert, 800,000 acres. There are forests so dense that only at midday is the sun able to send down thin streams of light through the heavy foliage. Rain stands for months in the depressions under the overarching trees. The Ruwenzori tract includes the fabled Mountains of the Moon, rising, snow-capped and glittering, 18,000 feet above the jungle. Parc Albert is especially intended to preserve wild animal and plant life of the Congo, particularly the gorilla and the hippopotamus, threatened with extinction. The killing of animals or removing of plants or trees in Albert National Park is prohibited by severe penalties. The sanctuary is policed by Belgian colonial officers, and no one is allowed even to enter it without a special permit.

Belgium is encouraging the production of rubber and cotton in the Congo, with a view to rendering her industries independent of raw material from the United States.

In giving special concessions to exploit the agricultural and mineral resources of the Congo to any company the Belgian government requires that roads be built throughout the district and that the natives be encouraged in their agricultural activities. It is further required that hospitals be built and public health and education be given attention. At the same time the government does not relinquish its sovereign prerogatives in the territory. Evidently natives are given more consideration than under Leopold II.

The principal industries of the Congo are the mining of copper, diamonds, gold and radium, the production of cotton, rubber, copal, rice, coffee, cocoa and tobacco. The Congo is in reality an extension of Belgium, which takes most of its exports and transforms the raw materials into the finished commercial product. The diamond industry rivals that of the South African mines. The yearly production runs into millions of carats. The diamonds are of the alluvial variety and are of small size. The native workers are concentrated in villages which are provided with hospitals and other sanitary arrangements as well as schools. The diamonds are sent to Antwerp, where they are cut and polished. The cutters handle an average of $200,000,000 worth of diamonds yearly.

Occasionally there is an uprising of the natives, who seem not to like the idea of the white man’s running everything just about as he pleases. Such revolts are of little good to the native; for the white man, with his superior weapons, has no difficulty in subduing any effort at resistance.

Ruanda-U rundi

Belgium has a mandate over the former German colony of Ruanda-Urundi, in Africa. During the last fourteen years 85,000,000 francs has been spent to construct a system of roads; settlements, houses for administrators, schools, dispensaries, hospitals, clinics, laboratories and coffee plantations have been built, for which a total of 145,000,000 francs has been set aside. It is hoped that by 1951 this territory will be able to meet its own public debt and pay its expenses from mining deposits and coffee plantations.

“Great” Men

Belgium, like other countries, has its quota of “great” men, who doubtless figured prominently in its affairs. It has to its credit some noted names, but we will not here devote space to mention of these, believing that the tendency to hold men in high esteem has been carried to an unwarranted extreme in the affairs of this world. In due course, Belgians, together with the other peoples of earth, will come under the administration of the kingdom of God, that is, as many of them as love righteousness and truth, and they will share in the world-wide prosperity that will then be realized.

Four Unemployed Generals

WHEN Mayor’ LaGuardia took over the Tammany government of New York he found four unemployed generals. It was this way. In the Bronx district there was a staff of 91 laborers employed in the mosquito war then in effect. Over the 91 laborers with their weekly pay roll of $1,930 there were 95 generals with a weekly pay roll of $2,242. This left four of the generals without any privates in their ranks. The others had one each. Timekeepers, one for each five laborers, managed to keep the time; how did they ever do it? There was a chief supervisoi’ for each four men. Fourteen engineers planned the tasks of the army.

Disappointed

OHIO provides pensions for the aged, but not all who expected to benefit from this arrangement had their hopes fulfilled. Those who have only first papers are not entitled to the provision of the state, nor are those who have not lived in the state a sufficient length of time or those who have children who can aid them. Applicants for pensions who have some property are required to turn it over to trusteeship of the state.

Depression and Liberty

By Dr. Hugo Pack (Texas)

MISERY during the war enthroned Lenin, the Russian dictator, who swept away personal freedom.

When economic misery under the communistic regime became more serious, Stalin, the man of steel, became the man of the hour, wiping out the last remnants of liberty.

The depression following the war lifted Mussolini into the saddle, the Italian dictator, suppressing all freedom of thought and expression, and turning the whole nation into soldiers, trained to shoot innocents on command.

The depression (deflation) policy of Brue-ning in Germany caused such disintegration of the economic and moral structure that the rise of another dictator was possible, Hitler, with freedom of thought, speech and publication ended.

Economic misery meant the end of the democracy in Austria, and other countries are on the way, for the same cause, to revert to tyranny which not only suppresses all popular rights and liberties, but the elimination of all hope of general peace and happiness and individual prosperity.

The depression is the road-paver of dictatorship.

But behind dictatorship stands high finance.

In Eighteen Months

IN Snohomish county, Washington, 175 heads of families organized for self-help and borrowed $13,000 from the government. In that time they have cared well for their families; canned 80,000 cans of fruit; put in tons of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, turnips and rutabagas; cut 302 cords of firewood; opened a shoe shop capable of making 40 pairs a day; opened a clothing shop where all necessities of clothing for men, women and children are produced; have built and equipped a woodworking plant, machine shop, garage, and blacksmith shop, and bought trucks. The assets are now considerably more than the amount borrowed. If these families had been put on a dole of $25 per month per family, it is estimated, the sum required to care for them would have been seven times the amount borrowed, and at the end of the eighteen months the borrowers would be as badly off as at the start.

What the American People Lost

ACCORDING to a governmental survey prepared under the direction of Langdon W.

Post, tenement house commissioner, the American people, since 1929, have lost $287,000,000,000 worth of goods and services which were not bought and which could easily have been produced by the nation. Meanwhile the masses were underfed and poorly clothed and taxes raised to care for the unemployed. The report states: “Wholly without strain on production, the national survey budget, drafted to meet a suitable standard of living, would allot 67,000,000 suits and 363,000,000 shirts to the men and boys of the country, and 275,000,000 dresses, 681,000,000 pairs of hose, and 427,000,000 pieces of underwear to the women and girls. As for housing, 60 percent of our people are shown to be financially unable to live in proper homes. Only some $2,262,000,000 was spent for home building in 1929. The budget calls for 1,550,000 new homes each year (as against 434,964, the annual average from 1920 to 1930), a program which would offer no difficulty, since there are ample construction supplies available.”

Vocal Lessons in North Carolina

LABOR men in North Carolina complain that when they obeyed the injunction of Congress to vote for joining whatever labor union they chose, the railroad company had a former detective standing at the door of each polling place warning all employees that they must vote as the company wished or they would lose their jobs. This former detective, posing as a carman, but working only now and then a day, and stopping at the best hotel in town, stated on the witness stand that his unexplained large income was due to his method of conducting vocal lessons. Here is a suggestion for struggling music teachers. Vocal lessons at the door of a meeting of railway employees are much more profitable than any other form of vocal lessons known.

Forests Need 70,000 Men a Year

STUDIES by the forest service of the United States Department of Agriculture show that to keep the national forests alone at their point of highest profitable production, 70,000 men would be needed constantly. The federal-owned forests include only a fraction of the country’s total forest area.

The Golden Age

FROM the “Salutatory” of The Golden Age, Volume 1, Number 1, the following explanation is given as to the object of the magazine, and the reason for according it the name by which it has now become known in every corner of the earth:

Its purpose is to explain in the light of Divine wisdom the true meaning of the great phenomena of the present day and to prove to thinking minds by evidence incontrovertible and convincing that the time of a greater blessing of mankind is now at hand. Like a voice in the wilderness of confusion, its mission is to announce the incoming of the Golden Age.

• * *

There is a wide diversity of knowledge, which, if properly applied, would result in great and beneficial wisdom to the people. "What, then, is the real meaning of the present conditions, and is there a supreme remedy that will bring order out of chaos and establish a lasting peace, prosperity and happiness to the people ? The Golden Age enters the field for the very purpose of answering these questions and confidently expects to answer them to the satisfaction of all thinking minds.

The Golden Age will carry into the homes of the people the desired message which will tend to restore calmness to the disturbed minds and comfort to the saddened hearts.

The name The Golden Age has no back reference to any mythological “golden age” under the so-called reign of the heathen god Kronos or Saturn (the heathen counterfeit for Lucifer before he became Satan), nor does it have reference to any so-called “restitution” of such “golden age”. The new world, “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:13), are established by Jehovah God, hence are of divine source, and therefore the Bible symbol “golden” is properly applied to the aion or age which they introduce.

No Jury Necessary in Woodworth Case

IN The Golden Age No. 371 was narrated how a jury of God-fearing men and women awarded $250 damages to Daniel E. Morgan for false arrest and imprisonment at Pittston, Pa., for distributing free copies of The Golden Age. C. J. Woodworth was arrested at the same time, for interceding for those already arrested. After three years’ delay, the counsel for the Pittston officials advised them to agree to a consent verdict in Woodworth’s favor for the same amount: no jury was necessary.

Newark Evening News for Free Speech

THE Newark Evening News, one of the most influential papers in the East, stands squarely for free speech. In a stirring editorial it declares that “a congressional group with strong backing is planning to clamp an alien and unenforceable gag upon the United States”, and that this committee thus aiming at the destruction of American liberty “is supported in its efforts by the American Federation of Labor, the United States Chamber of Commerce, members of the armed services and an assortment of patriotic societies”. The Neus says, truthfully, that “such a law would be an entering wedge for complete suppression of criticism and concealment of political evils, as well as a present weapon for political reprisal and official gangsterism. The cure is so much worse than the disease that it must be emphatically rejected before the prescription is compounded”. Without a doubt the Jesuits of the Roman hierarchy are back of the whole thing.

Hurrah for the Baltimore Sun!

KIDDING the life out of the windbags at Washington who are trying to foist a sedition law upon the republic, the Baltimore Sun says, in part:

A sedition law is, of course, the most flatly and blatantly un-American law that could be proposed. . . . It is not attacks on the Constitution that Matthew Woll, Representative Diekstein and the magnifi-coes of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States have to fear, and a sedition law will not protect them. What they really need is a law making it a hanging crime to laugh in the United States or in any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof. For if there is no laughter in the country, then these gentry can not be laughed at, and the thing that destroys windbags is, not denunciation, but ridicule.

Machine Guns Decried as Educators

SINCE the machine gun reception planned for Judge Rutherford at Plainfield, N. J., somebody must have learned that this form of reception and education is not above criticism. Not sure if “Reverend” Joseph J. McCaffrey, Catholic chaplain at Sing Sing, had Chief Flynn in mind, but he is alleged to have recently said to 3,000 Knights of Columbus that, in the war against crime, education rather than machine guns should be employed. Plainfield papers, please copy.

The Principal of the Flock

Bankers Back in Control

ASSERTING that the bankers are back in control of the government, and denouncing current efforts to push through legislation limiting freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly and freedom of education, the Methodist Federation for Social Service made the official protest that “if this legislation is passed Big Business will have the legal machinery to put out of business any organization that opposes capitalism or that conducts a strike. It will not be necessary to subsidize Fascist storm troops. They will kill democracy in the name of democracy, and they will trample upon every sacred principle of Christianity”.

Adam and John D., Jr.

IF WHEN Adam was created he had started to draw wages at the rate of $4.80 an hour, and had worked 24 hours every day, including Sunday, and had saved every cent of his money, and had lived until now, he would, as a result of his industry and frugality, be able to buy out the oil holdings of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., now calculated as worth $245,000,000. Of course, Adam might have been worth this wage of $115 a day, for the lesson it would be worth to other young men who wish to get ahead in the world.

General Butler’s Charge Confirmed

General Butler’s charge that a plot had been laid to take over the United States government and make it a dictatorship in toto was confirmed by James E. VanZandt, of Altoona, Pa., national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who stated that he had been approached by agents of Wall Street to be a leader in an effort to establish a Fascist dictatorship in the United States under the guise of a “Veterans Organization”.

Federal Reserve Desires More Rope

HAVING done all humanly or inhumanly possible to ruin America, the Federal Reserve system is now asking for new powers of control over the government. Backed by the administration, the Federal Reserve demands “virtually complete supervision of the credit policies of the nation”, says The Associated Press. Being entirely discredited in the minds of honest persons, the Federal Reserve may as well have what it asks.

31 Persons Living in One Room

A MERICAN civilization has reached heights never before attained by any other people. The other day the newspapers published the grand inspirational news that Andrew Mellon is worth $91,000,000 more than he was just a little while ago, and federal relief workers near Joplin, Mo., found thirty-one persons living in a one-room shack. Timbuctoo papers, please copy.

Some of the War Profits

A BELATED investigation of war profits shows that in one year during the war the Calumet and Hecla Company made 800 percent profit, and the next year made 300 percent profit. It thus got all its money back in full eleven times in two years. The great packers make huge profits in all times, but in the war years they made $121,000,000 excess profits over their usual profits.

The Billion-Dollar Gold Racket

WHEN the gold racketeers anticipated the devaluation of the dollar they shipped one and one-half billions in gold out of the country. It was then worth $20.67 an ounce. As soon as the dollar had been devalued and the price raised to $35 an ounce, this gold was brought back, and the racketeers, as indicated by the published statements of the Federal Reserve banks, made $1,449,477,000 by the deal.

Whipstocking Oil Wells

BY THE use of the whipstock device a driller may control the drift in the drill hole, enabling him to drift in any way he chooses. For example, in swampy land a derrick can be set on firm ground and drifted out hundreds of feet beneath the swampy surface. A camera is lowered with a compass, to show the direction. The average cost of drilling an oil well is $200,000.

Rich Richer, Poor Poorer

TWENTY-SIX more million-dollar incomes in 1933 than in 1932, and 81,000 fewer persons making incomes of $5,000 a year, shows that the unscriptural interest system is accomplishing its designed purpose of ruining the world. At present there is not enough money in the United States to pay the interest on its outstanding indebtedness for a single year.

Repentance at Death

by Judge Rutherford

AMAN had been wicked all his days. When dying he called a Catholic priest, confessed his sins and repented. Will God receive that man into heaven? The clergy say yes, but the Bible says no. No one goes to heaven except those who prove their faithfulness to God while on the earth. To those who are devoted to the Lord He says (Revelation 2:10, A.R.V.): “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.”

The clergy attempt to support the deathbed repentance theory by the scripture concerning the thief when dying on the cross, and which is recorded in the twenty-third chapter of Luke. The thief said: ‘Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus replied: ‘I say unto you today shalt thou be with me in paradise?’ Those words of Jesus had no reference to heaven. The word “paradise” means a beautiful garden like unto Eden, and such will be the condition of the earth in the reign of Christ Jesus. To all persons who are then obedient to Christ during His thousand-year reign will be given the blessings of life everlasting on earth, and such will be in paradise. The thief w^rho died on the ‘cross’ is still dead, and during the reign of Christ the thief will be resurrected out of death and given an opportunity to obey the Lord and live. Hence Jesus asked him: Wilt thou be with me, or on my side, in paradise?’

The clergy claim the thief went to paradise or heaven the very day that he died, because Jesus used the words “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise?” The fact is, the scripture reads: ‘I say unto thee today [right now], Shalt thou be with me in paradise?’ Jesus did not go to heaven until forty-three days after He spoke those words; and this alone shows that the clergy are wrong in their conclusion. If a man can be wicked all his days, repent at death and go immediately to heaven, that would put a premium on wickedness and induce man to lead a wicked life. The deathbed repentance doctrine is contrary to God’s Word. Why, then, do the clergy teach it? Manifestly because they started in the wrong way when they believed and taught that every man has an immortal soul and that the wicked go to “purgatory” and torment and the good go to heaven. That doctrine was Satan’s first lie, and by it Satan has deceived many persons. No man has a soul, but every man is a soul. No man is immortal, because all men are subject to death, and immortality means that one could not die. No man is conscious while dead, because the Scriptures declare the dead know not anything.

Did the thief receive any benefit from his confession to Jesus when dying? No immediate benefit, no. The thief died that day and is dead yet. The Scriptures declare there shall be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. When the thief is awakened out of death he will no doubt immediately call to mind what was said by Jesus to him concerning paradise, and then he will know that if he obeys the Lord he will receive all the benefits of paradise, which include everlasting life on the earth. By taking the Lord’s side and obeying the Lord he will then be with the Lord in paradise. There is no way for man to get life except by believing on the Lord and obeying Him. Jesus said (John 17:3): “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ.” Read carefully the book Reconciliation and there find set out the Scriptural proof concerning God’s provision to give all persons an opportunity for life. A small number of persons will prove faithful to God while on the earth, who will be taken to heaven at the resurrection, while the great majority of men will get life during the reign of Christ and live on earth for ever; and at that time the earth will be made glorious, that is, a veritable paradise.

Being taught the false doctrines of “torment”, “purgatory” and human “immortality” many men have joined themselves to the church because of fear and a desire to escape such suffering. Says the Lord, their fear is due to the teachings of men which shall perish. Those who desire God’s approval must now carefully study His Word, learn therefrom the truth, and then obey the truth. The first great commandment is that man must love God with all his heart. To love God means an unselfish devotion to Him and then an obedience to His law because such is right. Such a person tries to do right at all times, and does not wait until he is dying

[The foregoing talk is one of 36 prepared in the form of phonograph records by the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N. Y., and used here by permission. The records are widely used as a means of refreshing the mind on important and Biblical issues and also to present these same truths to repent. The truth must be a guide to his course of action, as the Scriptures declare.

to neighbors, acquaintances and friends in an attractive and understandable way. The records are such as may be used on any phonograph. The talks are published in The Golden Age by special arrangement with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, and inquiries should not be addressed to this journal.]

Jehovah’s witnesses

It Shall Not Return Void

By A. L. Henry (Florida')

AX EXPERIENCE which I consider the best that has ever been mine prompts me to pass it on to you. I'm learning more about how Jehovah in His great wisdom and power is not allowing our work to go to waste. Last Sunday I filled an appointment at a man's home, using the small [phonograph] machine. After the lecture I asked if there were any present who desired to ask questions, to which the man of the house replied, “Yes, I want to know if you people are placing much literature in the hands of the people now?”

I said, “The work is growing in leaps and bounds, more books and booklets being placed than ever before.”

The man explained that he had worked at the city incinerator since 1928 and that three or four years ago quantities of Judge Rutherford's writings were carried there to be burned. He said he had noticed very little of it going that way during the past year. Then he added, “I want you to know that I have never allowed one piece of that literature to be burned when I could possibly save it. I accumulated wheelbarrow loads of it, giving it to people with whom I’ve talked the Truth and found interested. I've had many to ask where they could secure some of the literature; and what a joy it was to me to be able to give them help from the "golden storehouse’ which the blind had intended to be burned!”

He also stressed that he always placed the writings carefully away, so that they would never get back to the fire. He states that his supply is just about exhausted.

It shows that the Lord is carefully overseeing His work. We are commanded to be diligent. He will do the rest. I’m so grateful to have just a little part in this great work.

Laughing at the Courier-News

JEHOVAH’S witnesses are getting considerable merriment from the antics of the Plainfield Courier-News. That poorly informed organ of misinformation refused to publish the words of Harvey Rothberg, assistant attorney general of the state: “I have read some of the literature distributed by the witnesses of Jehovah, and have found it interesting and enlightening. I am in favor of its circulation in Plainfield without the necessity of any police permit.” At least, the Courier-News would not publish these two sentences as an advertisement, which perhaps many might not have seen, but the News did publish the same two sentences as part of its leading editorial lambasting Mr. Rothberg for telling the truth, and thus everybody would see it who reads the Courier-News at all.

The Roman Catholic priests, ably supported by reprobate and non-Protestant ministers, are leading the Plainfield authorities by the nose. Meanwhile the people of Plainfield foot the bills for the cost of the lawless and futile effort to stop decent men and women from calling occasionally at their homes to give them an opportunity to learn about God’s purpose to bless mankind.

A Truthful Statement

IT IS so seldom that newspapers give an honest and unprejudiced account of activities and beliefs of Jehovah’s witnesses that we feel the appearance of such an account is worthy of “honorable mention”. The Macon Telegraph, on its editorial page, carried V-/± columns of truthful and fairly presented information about the Atlanta convention of Jehovah’s witnesses and the talk delivered by Judge Rutherford on that occasion. None of the Atlanta papers took notice of the convention, which was attended by six or seven thousand.

Transportation Items

What the Ward Company Lost

THE world was horrified at the dreadful mismanagement and loss of life when the Ward Company’s “Morro Castle” burned off Asbury Park. Wondering just how much the Ward Company was punished, one learns with interest that as the ship was insured for more than its value, that company actually gained $263,099. The relatives of the passengers who died get next to nothing, as the law is fixed so that a steamship company is liable only to the extent of the salvage of the vessel wrecked; and as the loss in this instance was complete, there was nothing to divide among the claimants.

A Thousand Miles on Ten Cents

ANEW car, run by means of a battery which operates four electric motors, one for each wheel, has been invented. It will cost but ten cents to operate this car a thousand miles. This gasless automobile has already been tried out, on the quiet. In the first take-off the tread was completely burned off the tires. In less than half a minute the car got up to 85 miles an hour from a dead start. But don’t ask for any more about this new car, or whether the gasoline companies will ever let it get out for actual use. If they do, you will hear more about it.

Increase in Railroad Accidents

RMIERE were 17 percent more railroad acci--!• dents in the first seven months of 1934 than in the same period of 1933, and 22 percent more railroad employees were killed last year than in 1933. Accidents in 1934 were 3,644, while in 1933 there were 3,101. The number of employees killed in 1934 was 316, and in 1933, 258. Passengers traveled in almost perfect safety, however, as only 15 out of several millions were killed in 1934, and 7 in 1933. In 1934,1,527 trespassers were killed; 1,555 in 1933.

Hello! Is This Japan?

^"LTELLO! Is this Japan?” There is now regular telephone and radio communication between the United States and Japan, and, indeed, between the United States and almost every other country in the world, including Australia, the Philippines, India, South Africa, and South America. Every Bell Telephone subscriber is now connected with over 30,000,000 telephones, in sixty countries.

Plane Service to China

THE long-anticipated plane service to China, expected to start in April, is in six hops, aggregating 7,900 miles. The longest of these is the 2,100-mile jump from Alameda to Honolulu; it is 1,100 miles from there to Midway Island, 1,100 miles farther to Wake Island, and another 1,100 miles to Guam. From there it is 1,500 miles to Manila, whence it is 1,000 miles to Canton. In 1841 Captain Wilkes of the United States Navy was so little impressed with Wake Island that he did not consider it worth mapping. The island contains 2,600 acres, most of it ten to fifteen feet above sea level.

Inattentive Drivers Cause Accidents

IN MAKING a report on street and highway safety the governor's committee (Pennsylvania) says: “The driver of an automobile, particularly the high-speed cars which now predominate, cannot afford to relax or divert his attention from the job of driving. When he allows his eyes or mind to wander, or removes his hands from the steering wheel for a few seconds, someone pays for the lapse, and pays heavily. He himself may be the victim.”

P.R.R. Streamlined Electric Locomotives

FOR its fast passenger travel between New

York and Washington the Pennsylvania Railroad Company has ordered a fleet of 57 streamlined electric locomotives able to make 90 miles an hour. The cost is about $250,000 each. The Santa Fe road, instead of going in for lightweight, streamlined trains, is believed to be intending to operate present equipment with Diesel engines.

Railroads Gradually Shriveling

THE railroads are gradually shriveling, at the rate of about 2,000 miles per year, and, if the present rate of loss of trackage continues, there will be nothing left of them but a memory a little more than two hundred years hence. Who would have thought it possible?

Two New Railroad Wrinkles

THE Great Northern has installed a spring switch at Willmar, Minn., which eliminates the stopping of 2,190 trains annually. One of the Union Pacific’s new units is equipped with a headlight that enables persons on the train to talk to those at stations as they pass.

Governmental Brevities

Uncle Sam Has Learned, His Lesson

TN AN address before the United States Sen--*• ate Senator Reynolds, of North Carolina, said, in part:

“We have had enough. We have learned our lesson. When I say ‘we’ I refer to the American people around whose necks there has been hung a burden of taxation which will be transferred from one generation to another as a result of the forty-odd billions of dollars which those across the seas, and whose language is not ours, cost us during the World War, a burden of $40,000,000,000 in taxation that hangs around the shoulders of every living, breathing person within the confines of this America today, a burden to descend to the shoulders of our children and their children’s children. . . . Enter the World Court? No; never! . . . Are we going to subject ourselves to the will of those who have betrayed us? Are we going to do business with or affiliate with those who have robbed us, those who have deceived us, those whose words we cannot depend upon? Of course we arc not.”

W.C.T.U. Law Enforcement Division

T Los Angeles the treasurer of the W.C.T.U. law enforcement division converted $335.11 of the society’s funds to her own use. Seems like pretty good reasoning, that if the props were taken out from under the law enforcement division, then the law would not be enforced; but in this instance it did not work. The lady who took the coin tearfully admitted that the reason why she took it was that she needed it to take care of an elder sister. She seems to have been lame on justice; which is the place where most morally lame people are lame. They seem to think, if it suits their own personal interests, they have a perfect right to betray the innocent, and to heartlessly expose them to inconvenience, sorrow or despair. And the -worst of it is that oftentimes they have no remorse, but glory in their shame.

Relief Problem Here to Stay

INVESTIGATIONS by government officials disclose that about half the heads of relief families have passed their forty-fifth year, the age deadline at which many industries refuse employment. Every tenth person in relief families, among the employables, has never had a job, and there are children now living in homes in which during their lifetime the head of the family has never had regular employment. The relief problem is here to stay.

Great Achievement by League of Nations

FTER great efforts, extending over several years, the League of Nations has brought about the result in South America that “Bolivia can now purchase armaments from all the great countries of Europe, but Paraguay can buy none”. Of course, Bolivia has been getting arms right along, and so has Paraguay, and both will continue to get them; but think what a wonderful achievement it was for earth’s great statesmen to get such a low-down on the situation that they could proudly say that only one of these countries is getting its arms with the full consent of this institution that sprang into existence as the result of the murder of 10,000,000 men!

Raw Deal for Gypsy Girls in Texas

YPSY girls, the world over, are accustomed to enter the married state with dowries of gold to help their hubbies set up housekeeping, gypsy style. In Texas Federal agents raided a gypsy camp and discovered and confiscated gold coins found beneath the floor boards of an automobile. And further, the district attorney filed suit for a penalty double the value of the coins. All this, of course, is very reprehensible and discreditable to somebody. The gypsy who got into trouble knew very -well that Uncle Sam did not mean what he said on the face of the gold coin, and the girls who do without husbands will see the importance of not making promises and not keeping faith. Strange lesson to learn, is it not?

Kansas City Gone to the Devil

TWO years ago, when the Roman Catholic hierarchy was forcing radio stations all around that city to cancel their contracts to broadcast the addresses of Judge Rutherford, the editor of The [Roman] Catholic Register, published in that city, declared that he had two judges in that city who would absolutely do his bidding. Ue could get anybody he chose arrested and these judges would find them guilty. The Protestant preachers were happy over the whole matter, then. Now they are complaining that Kansas City has gone to hell; that the people have been licked, browbeaten, thugged and cheated out of their rights and at last are groveling before the very people that have made the city an unfit place to live.

Relief Workers' Banquet at Breckenridge

THE relief workers at Breckenridge, Texas, had a splendid time at their banquet. A few weeks after the banquet a grandfather, 65 years of age, himself on relief, urgently begged the relief workers for two cans of tomatoes so that his ailing granddaughter could be fed some soup. Although he had food coming to him, he was arbitrarily ordered by a woman relief worker to come back fifteen days later for it, as she had changed her plans. It was explained to her that there was no food for the sick child but bread and beans, and no seasoning or trimming for either one, but she was adamant, and the child died, and was buried. It was not explained in just what Sunday school this female relief worker received her training. But one can imagine the enthusiasm with which such a believer in hell-fire would tenderly say, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Probably, at the banquet, she was a star attraction.

The Wrong Frederick

/YNE of Jehovah’s witnesses writes:

A subscriber takes offense at the statement in Golden Age No. 400, page 228, that “Frederick the Great” had lice in his beard, and says he will cancel his subscription if this is not soon corrected.

As a matter of fact “Frederick the Great”, that is, Frederick II, who ruled 1740-1786, had no beard at all. It may be that The Golden Age meant Frederick I, who ruled 1152-1190. This one was not sur-named “the Great”, but “Barbarossa” [Red Beard].

The explanation suggested is probably the correct one. The item floated through the press years ago, but the identity of the Fredericks did not remain clearly in mind. Regrets that the lice were on the wrong Frederick. It is not so long since most of the monarchs were lousy. Anyway, Pharaoh was. The encyclopedia says on this subject: “Man is more richly endowed, having three species: the head-louse (Pediculus capitis), the body-louse (P. corporis) and the crab-louse.” Probably Pharaoh had all three varieties. He well deserved them all.

Income Tax Fraud in Pittsburgh

IpOR the first time in its history, the United States Government has sued an institution, alleging fraud in the income tax returns of the Union Trust Co. of Pittsburgh, a Mellon-controlled concern.

The Uses of Armories

IF ANY have wondered of what use the great armories are that stud the big cities, curiosity is relieved by the discovery that this is where the machine-gun gangsters have been getting their arms and ammunition. Finally, after 1,037 rifles had been stolen from these armories in a single year, together with thousands of rounds of ammunition, it dawned upon the brilliant minds that are interested in the protection of the public that it would be best to remove certain of the essential parts of these guns, so that when the gangsters get them, either by theft or purchase, they will be somewhat inconvenienced. The essential parts removed will be kept in the safe. And now when the gangsters want them they have to go to the trouble of chiseling the safe or driving up with a truck and carrying it off to their headquarters. Still, in these days, a real clever gangster could probably get the combination of the safe for a suitable consideration.

Anarchy in Arkansas

AT MARKED TREE, Ark., a jury of planters found Ward H. Rodgers guilty of anarchy on three counts: he had organized Negro share croppers to stand for their legal rights, as well as whites; he had called Negroes “Mister”; he had also said that relief for tenant farmers will not come until the U.S. Government abolishes the plantation system. Being unable to find $3,000 bail to defend himself from these terrible charges, Mr. Rodgers was locked up. Though not specified in the indictment, it is also no doubt held that Mr. Rodgers breathed Arkansas air and ate Arkansas food, making his crime just that much worse.

A Murder Every Forty Minutes

NEVER before has civilization reached such a high peak as in the United States. Since the Declaration of Independence was made 112,721 persons were killed in action in the country’s wars, but in the past ten years 120,000 have been murdered. Of late this is one murder every forty minutes. It is thus seen that, while in Europe and other effete countries murder is practiced more in the open, here it is done in a more quiet, orderly manner. Moreover, over there, when they do have a private murder they usually do something about it, but in America this is considered impolite.

More About Talc By H. W. Newcomb (Massachusetts)

Mr. I. A. Howard, R.F.D. No. 1, Proctorsville, Vt., has sent me further information about his experience with talc, which I am pleased to pass on to those that are interested.

It seems that back in 1878 he first started his experiments with talc on the farm. The results that he has obtained with it are such that he is so enthused about it that he now states, Tt is the greatest thing to use for agricultural purpose that there is in the world.’ Well, I don’t know that I blame him, after seeing some of the things he has done with it.

Last year he took a piece of ground that had been used for a garden for a good many years, it being pretty well run out and full of weeds and witch grass, plowed and planted it, using nothing but talc for fertilizer, and raised big crops of everything that was planted on it.

If you want to use any other fertilizer along with it you can do so, but Mr. Howard sticks to the talc. He finds by its use that the fodder corn grows taller and greener, the vegetables are larger and of better color and have an excellent flavor, and the potatoes are smooth and mealy. Flowers fertilized with the talc are larger and more brilliantly colored.

For grain he uses two tons of talc to the acre. In the garden, after plowing and harrowing the ground, he spreads half a pint of talc to a hill and drops the seed, such as potato, corn, etc., into it, or places his tomato plants in the hill. Where a drill is used, use about the same proportion of talc in the drill and drop the seed into it. When the plants come out of the ground, dust them freely with the talc until grown. By doing this no insect will work on them. For pole beans, set the poles in the ground and spread a pint of talc around them, plant four beans to the hill, and dust the plants until grown.

Use talc around all fruit trees, dusting them freely while they are in blossom, and you will have no insects to bother you, to say nothing of having your fruit free from arsenic poison.

The liberal use of talc will relieve you of worry about drought or disease of any kind.

The use of talc is not confined to crops, as excellent results are obtained by using it on the floor of the barn, stable, hen and hog houses. It kills all foul odors, keeping the place smelling sweet.

If a cow or horse hurts its foot, take about four quarts of talc, warm it and put it in a bag. Put the injured foot in the bag and tie the bag to the leg. This w’ill draw the soreness out and heal at the same time.

When you have trouble with the cow’s teats and bag, or if there are warts on the teats, make a paste out of the talc and hot water and apply to the affected part. It will draw out the inflammation and also remove the warts. Mr. Howard also claims it is useful in healing skin disease on cattle and works well in drawing out inflammation in humans. If you use it on sheep it will get rid of the ticks.

Most of the high-priced insect pow^Tders have talc as the principal ingredient in them, to choke the insects. Why pay 50c an ounce for something you can buy for $20 a ton?

Talc is also used in fire extinguishers, being mixed with chemicals; it will smother a fire without damage to clothes or furniture.

If everyone has as good success as Mr. Howard has with the talc, it looks as if the Millennium were a step nearer. I would suggest, though, that reasonable care be taken not to get the talc into your lungs while using it, as any fine dust inhaled in quantities is apt to cause trouble.

The Concrete at Boulder Dam

OULDER DAM, now completed, used enough concrete to build a standard 16-foot paved highway from Miami in Florida to Seattle in Washington, or to build a monument 100 feet square 2% miles in height. The dam, 660 feet thick at the base, is 45 feet thick at the top, where it carries an automobile highway from Nevada to Arizona. The dam is 726 feet high, and goes 130 feet into the rock below the river bed. Pressure of water on the concrete at the base of the dam will be 45,000 pounds per square foot. The dam will hold enough water to cover New York state to the depth of one foot. It will pay for itself in fifty years.

Glass Thirteen Times as Strong

LASS thirteen times as strong as usual is made by cooling the molten fabric by sudden immersion in oil at a temperature of 400 degrees. The resultant glass, when it breaks, instead of breaking into large razor-edged splinters, is said to break into less hazardous small pieces with rounded edges.

“True Christian Heard in Court”

UNDER the heading “True Christian Heard in Court on Vaccination” the Greenwich (Conn.) Daily News-Graphic said:

A crowded town hall courtroom today heard Special Prosecutor William L. Larash threaten with contempt of court Maria J. Braught upon her statement, “If this was Hitler or Mussolini country—”

Mrs. Braught, mother of four small children, had been arraigned on a charge of failure to send her 9-year-old daughter, Alice, to school. Her announced reason for the failure was the school rule requiring the child’s vaccination. Prosecutor Larash represented the State Board of Education in the ease which was held before Judge William P. Mulville.

READS STATEMENT

When called to the stand, Mrs. Braught, in no uncertain tones, informed the court that she did not intend to have her children vaccinated unless the doctors would guarantee the child’s continued good health.

Mrs. Braught, instead of telling the court her story, read a prepared explanation.

When explaining her objection she stated, “The court might as well ask me to take a knife and take their life.

“The court has no more right to vaccinate my child than to insert a knife in them.

“I am a true Christian and know and study the law of Jehovah God, which is the Bible. The law of Jehovah God is against the intermingling of animal matter with any human blood, as is stated in Leviticus, Chapter 18. The life is in the blood, and as vaccination is a direct injection of animal matter in the blood stream, vaccination is a direct violation of the holy law of Jehovah God.

“I have no fear of him who is able to destroy the body, but the Almighty Jehovah God, whose sovereign law is just and righteous.

“The fundamental law of the Constitution of the United States was made by God-fearing men and to all guaranteed liberty to worship Jehovah God to the dictates of their own conscience. The law of the United States also guarantees liberty to parents to have any doctor they wish to choose for their family. The law of the schools demands every child to be educated.

“As I am a lawful citizen and taxpayer of Greenwich, I demand to have my children educated. I have nothing to do with the medical board. I am asking the schools to educate my children, not the doctors....

“I charge that vaccination is unconstitutional....

“Last, but not least, it is against the sovereign will of the Almighty Jehovah God who soon will destroy all unrighteousness and everything that is not in harmony with His sovereign will. Take heed, oh ye mighty men, that ye not anger a just and righteous God.

“I have no alternative. I must obey Jehovah God’s law because it is superior to any law men may make.

“Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

“If the court insists on inflicting punishment upon me because I am obeying God's law, then the court must take the consequences before Jehovah God.’’

When asked if she had any witnesses, she replied, “God is my witness.’’

She was found guilty and fined $5 on each count. As her daughter had stayed out of school for eight weeks and each week is considered as one count, the fine amounted to $40. The fine was suspended for two weeks, at which time she will again be brought before the court, to show whether or not she has complied with the law. If she has not complied at that time, further disposition will be made by the court to enforce the law.

Moving Pictures of Souls “SCIENTISTS” notably Dr. Hereward Carrington, of the American Physical Institute, hope to make pictures of souls. The doctor thinks it is necessary to kill the individual in order to get the soul picture. He says he already has still pictures of the souls of a white rat, a horned frog, a chicken, and a grasshopper. Isn’t it thrilling! He said, “We would not care to execute a human being merely for experimental purposes.” The doctor has a more sensitive conscience than the aluminum trust. However, since creatures are souls, it is evident that pictures of souls have been taken for quite a long while, and the doctor is merely barking up the wrong tree, if we may be pardoned for such a crude expression. The Bible makes it clear that the “soul” is not something separate and distinct from the body. It further assures us that the soul dies.—Psalm 78: 50.

Commercial Pantomime of the Clergy “MOT willing to yield to the commercial ’ pantomime of clergy who are such by profession and not at heart, I always had a desire to learn the truth. Today the knowledge of Jehovah is of greatest importance to humankind. This depression has brought untold hardships for the poorer class of people. I myself thought at one time that life wasn’t worth while. Since I took my firm stand on Jehovah’s side, have had much blessing, much joy. Life is worth while, when one adheres to the truth.”—Mrs. A. D., Connecticut.

The Business of a Radio “Priest”

THE claim is made for the Detroit “radio priest” that he has the largest personal following of any man in the United States next to Roosevelt. This may be true. He has made a financial success of broadcasting attacks upon men and institutions that have deceived and oppressed; that is his business. He is not interested in the Scriptures; a sixteen-page radio lecture entitled “Following the Christ Child” contains not one Scripture citation.

His talks are semi-church affairs, all officially endorsed by the bishop of Detroit, and the claim is made by the priest that they represent the wishes of the pope. Yet he has been denounced as a public enemy and a very dangerous man by such outstanding Catholics as Reverend Father Belford, Catholic prelate of Brooklyn; Cardinal O’Connell, of Boston; and Criscuolo, the banker, decorated by the pope as a grand officer of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

He advocated “Roosevelt or ruin”; was sure God was guiding him; nine months later was denouncing him for plowing under cotton and killing millions of unborn pigs; and a few weeks later was back on the New Deal band wagon as if he had never fallen off. It is claimed that his appeal to his radio audience resulted in the sending of 200,000 letters and telegrams to Washington urging senators to keep the United States out of the World Court.

Do labor people feel that they are being imposed upon by their officials'? He declares that the American Federation of Labor collected $900,000,000 in thirty years, and wants to know what became of it.

Do the common people feel that they are being badly stung when all the wealth of the country is handed down from one useless generation of bloodsuckers to another ? He declares that America collects in inheritance taxes only $50,000,000, as against Britain’s $700,000,000. With only 4O-percent as much wealth, Britain collects inheritance taxes fourteen times as great.

Public Greatly Taken

The public is greatly taken by his addresses; also greatly taken in. He is interested in himself, and makes it pay. In one week he has received as many as 105,000 letters; on a single Tuesday he deposited in a Detroit bank $22,000 in one-dollar bills, received in Monday’s mails.

Connected with an institution that boasts that when it is strong enough it will put to death all Protestants that lift their voice against its evil teachings, it is claimed that sixty-five percent of this priest’s mail is from non-Catholics. It takes 104 young women to handle his remittances and other correspondence.

Part of the priest’s business is the sale of his biography and addresses for $3, bound in one book. Twelve of Judge Rutherford’s wonderful books explaining the Scriptures can be had for that money. The priest is a good cardplayer ; has played till 12: 30 a. m. He is building a $1,000,000 radio church; the church business is considered a respectable business, but is most disrespectable. Churches are run for the express purpose of dishonoring the name of Almighty God.

At the time silver was rising in price his secretary, without his knowledge, so it is claimed, and out of surplus funds, if anybody knows what they are in these evil times, invested $20,000 in such a manner as to rake in $100,000 net on the deal.

For the small sum of $1 each, Catholics, Protestants and Jews may “enroll” their departed ones with the priest; if one is enrolled it is $1; if two, it is $2; if three, it is $3; if four, it is $4; if five, it is $5. It is making money just like that. What do the people get for their $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5 ? Don’t ask silly questions. They get stung. Isn’t that enough?

The suggestion has been delicately advanced by some of the priest’s critics that some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing in to him should be used for direct relief of poverty; well, that only makes one more person or institution for the crusading priest to crusade against, and the net result is that another bunch of suckers put up $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5, and there are yet more surplus funds for use in whatever way the priest, or his secretary, or other persons not named, might elect.

Barnum was right: the American people love to be humbugged.

Censorship by Pope

THE picture called “Ecstasy was impounded by the New York customs after it had been denounced by the pope, says a press dispatch. Why should the pope pass on what pictures Americans shall or shall not see?

Eight Postal Cards

SOME sad-eyed priest in Anaconda, Montana, is out eight cents. As a result of a harangue by this genius that has his collar on backwards and is backing up through the world, eight cents were invested by his flock in postal cards here presented, as a revelation of the brilliant wisdom of this incipient farmer. When he has to work, he will miss those eight cents, which he might just as well as not have squeezed out of his loyal parishioners. It is a surprise to find that eight persons were willing to give up one cent each in response to his pitiful plea. The cards are as follows (sic):

Anaconda, Mont., Mar. 13, 4 I’.M. “Station KGIR Butte, Mont. Announcer;—I and many Catholic citizens protest against that lying Rutherford. Please take steps to put him off the air or we Catholics will. Ruth Palmer, 105 Chestnut St.”

Anaconda, Mont., Mar. 13, 4 P.M. “Radio .Station K.G.I.R., Butte, Montana. Sirs: As a citizen of the United States I am sending this complaint against that unscrupulous Rutherford. I, and many other Catholics in Montana, wish him removed from the Air. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smet.”

Anaconda, Mont., Mar. 13, 4 P.M., Radio Station KGIR, Butte, Montana. “Sirs: as one of the many Catholics in Anaconda I object to having Rutherford abuse our Holy Religion. See that this worm is removed from the air. Mrs. John Haramia”

Anaconda, Mont., Mar. 14 1 PM, KGIR Radio Station, Butte, Montana. “Sir: I abject of hearing Rutherford over K.G.I.R. on Sundays. About his lying against catolie religion. If he wants to talk over the radio he can talk about his own religion, and not mix any of the other religions in his speech. Lois Arvish”

Anaconda, Mont., Mar 14 1 PM, Radio Station KGIR, Butte, Mont. “Sirs: Please remove this horrid man Rutherford from the air who is abusing our religion. If not further steps will be taken. Signed, Mary Rose Balkovatz”

Anaconda, Mont, Mar. 14, 1 P.M. Radio Station KGIR, Butte, Montana. “Box 912, Anaconda, Mont “Sir! I am a Catholic and I happened to hear the person that you call Judge Rutherford on your station and I want to make this Protest, that you put that man off the air or I will take further steps to put him off. It is a shame the way that man abuses our sacred Religion. I think he is crazy, tile worm. I am surpraised that your station allows crazy men to brodcast. Mrs. Buckley”

Anaconda, Mont., Mar. 14, 1 P.M. KGIR Radio Station, Butte, Mont. “Sir: As a Catholic girl I object of hearing Rutheford talking against the Catholic religion over K.G.I.R. Marjorie Blodnick.”

Anaconda, Mont., Mar. 14, 4 P.M. Radio Station KGIR, Butte, Mont. “Sir, As Citizens we object to Ruderfords broadcasting. Remove him from the air, at once. Mrs Jos. Kuffner and party. 503 E. 3rd St., Anaconda Montana.”

Not so bad, yer riverence, not so bad. Eight postal cards, any one of which is enough to send its writer to prison for sending defamatory and threatening matter through the mails. The motto of the Roman hierarchy is, “Make the United States like Mexico; see what we did in 400 years of uninterrupted control of the country; what we did down there we can do in the United States.”

The “reverend father” should preach to his flock on the subject “Beware of Dogs'’ (also their sons), which would leave him without any congregation. Then the flock could go to night school and learn how to spell and punctuate.

The Pedigree of Mr. Roosevelt

By Ilm. Lloyd, Clark (Illinois)

rpiIE Chicago convention in which Roosevelt -*• was nominated was the most disgraceful, drunken debauch in American history.

The convention was opened with a speech by John J. Raskob, R. C., who made his millions selling murder machinery.

The permanent chairman of the convention was a R. C. [Roman Catholic].

The radio announcer was a R. C.

The reading clerk was a R. C.

The second session of the convention was opened with prayer by a R. C. priest.

The Catholic church and booze have shaped Roosevelt to do their bidding. To the enemies of his country he is as clay in the hands of the potter or as a corpse in the hands of the undertaker.

They own him brain, heart, and soul. He will do everything Rome wants done. He was nominated in an atmosphere heavy with tobacco smoke and the stench of bootleg whisky.

The mammoth leather suit cases of the Tammany delegation were so heavy with liquid goods that the bell hops carried them to the delegates’ rooms in the Drake hotel with difficulty. These bottles were carried empty from the convention building at the close of every session. It required 150 janitors to clean the hall after every session.

The convention was a gold mine for the gamblers, booze peddlers, demimonde, and crowded every service of the Catholic churches.

The election of Roosevelt enthrones Rome in Washington and shames America before the Protestant nations of the world. It puts an enemy of the public school and a champion of the parochial school in the White House. Mrs. Roosevelt was educated in a foreign parochial school, which, it is said, seriously changed her views on life. Is she the shadow behind the president in his opposition to the public school? [Whether or not Wm. Lloyd Clark is going a little too far in his analysis of the situation is left to the judgment of the reader. That there is much to justify his misgivings is not to be questioned.—Ed.]

New Jersey Hate Bill and the Commonweal

IT LOOKS as if, next to squelching Judge Rutherford, the Catholic hierarchy would like to put the skids on The Golden Age and send it to a place that is reputed to have a much higher temperature than the equally fictitious ‘‘purgatory^-’. Persistent efforts are being made by the Hierarchy, through harmless-looking representatives, to get laws passed which will make it a crime to laugh at or otherwise call in question this same doctrine of “purgatory” or its twin sister the old doctrine of “hell”. To point out the inconsistency of these teachings with the Bible could be construed as offending the religious sensibilities of those who find the “purgatory” business profitable.

Now that it seems possible that such a bill may be passed in some states, the ground must be prepared to put it to some use. Hence the Commonweal, Catholic weekly, tries to indicate that the truths set forth in The Golden Age, with a dash of satire and humor, are hurting the religious sensibilities of certain people just terribly. The Commonweal says: “Catholic citizens in various Eastern communities, and no doubt in other places too, have found on their porches of a Sunday morning copies of The Golden Age, a journal published in Brooklyn, N. Y., by the Rutherfordites. It is likely to make those of them who read it very angry indeed, being interlarded with propaganda of the most outrageous kind against the church. . . . That stupid gossip of this sort should be peddled round among poorly instructed people is an outrage.”

Analyzing this, it would seem that The Golden Age might be one of the first objects of prosecution under the New Jersey bill designed to protect the Hierarchy in its schemes to wring money from the people under its influence, referred to in the above quotation as “poorly instructed people”.

It should be stated that The Golden Age is not left on porches anywhere by any of its authorized agents. No one is commissioned to circulate it in any such way, and readers and friends of the journal are requested not to circulate it in that manner. Sorry the Commonweal considers some of the items in The Golden Age “outrageous”, but some of the old teachings of the papacy are very funny (not to say “outrageous”). At the last moment, as this issue of The Golden Age goes to press, April 9, comes the news that this morning the Hate Bill was signed by the governor and it is now “illegal” in New Jersey to tell the truth about the biggest hypocrites on earth.

The Lying Spirits of “Purgatory”

TpLizABETH Whyte, Jehovah’s witness, reared a Catholic, says: “I will tell you of some of my experiences with those lying spirits, known to Catholics as ‘The Poor Souls in Purgatory’. At a convent school in Ireland, away back in the sixties, I heard a sermon that impressed me greatly. I learned that when people died, and did not go to heaven because they were not good enough, nor to hell because they were not bad enough, there was an intermediary station where they had to wait and be cleansed from venial sins and made ready for heaven; that we could help them by gaining indulgences, making sacrifices, hearing masses or paying priests to say mass for them. I was born of very religious parents and had heard so much about saints that I resolved to be one. I knew it would cost me something, but was willing to pay the price. Satan saw my efforts to be perfect; just think of it! The thought of the sufferings of the ‘poor souls’ worried me. I went to bed, rosary in hand, prayed myself to sleep, happy to feel that I had done so much good, and had gotten so many poor souls out of the flames. I had made my first communion, and felt very good indeed. I was fast asleep when my bed shook violently. I looked up into the face of a strange nun; as she stood motionless I screamed. She disappeared and one of the sisters came running to me. I tried to explain. She said I had been dreaming, but in the morning she took me to the priest, a kindly old Irishman. He listened, and told me it was some poor soul that needed prayers and that I should ask her what she wanted, which I never did, of course.” (From this little incident it is perfectly apparent where the Catholics get their ideas of “purgatory”; the whole scheme is demonistic in origin and is demonism in fact and in truth. There is not a shred of Scripture to support the whole lying scheme. The passage usually quoted to support it is II Machabees 12:43-46, which, however, says nothing about “purgatory”, but plainly shows that the dead are awaiting the resurrection.)

Nephilim and Spirit Mediums

AT THE time of man’s creation the spirit creature named Lucifer was a member of

God’s organization, appointed and anointed of God to office. It was his privilege and duty to serve, support and praise Jehovah God and render complete obedience to Him, and he was fully equipped for that purpose. Of Lucifer it was that Jehovah said: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God.” (Ezekiel 28:14) It seems quite clear from the Scriptures that Lucifer was the chief officer over a certain division of God’s organization, having under him other spirit creatures or angels, and that his organization particularly related to man on the earth. Lucifer rebelled against God and corrupted his sanctuaries: “by the multitude of thine iniquities, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries.” (Ezekiel 28:18, A.R.V.) That would mean that at the beginning of his official term Lucifer’s organization or dwellingplace was devoted to God and righteousness, but that he willfully became wicked. This would also mean that others joined him in his treasonable course, thus corrupting the dwelling-place of Satan and those in his immediate organization.

At the time Christ Jesus cast Satan and his host out of heaven and down to the earth that company of wicked angels fought on Satan’s side, and their operations are now’ confined to things pertaining to the earth. (Revelation 12: 7-12) At the beginning they were creatures of God, but they rebelled and became the seed of the Serpent, Satan. The Lord Jesus Christ announces Jehovah’s judgment concerning this wicked company led by Satan as being everlasting destruction, pictured by fire. (Matthew 25: 41) Satan is tyrannical in the extreme, and those spirits operating with him are wicked tyrants. From the time of Eden Satan was a murderer (John 8:44), and those who joined him in his rebellion against God doubtless participated in the murder of Abel by Cain, and they also are murderers and have continued to commit murder since. Satan is the invisible ruler or “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4: 3,4); which means that he is the most powerful among all the wicked spirit creatures and that the other wicked ones operate wider him, and the entire organization fights against every

6:1, 2) All who had allied themselves with Satan the Devil were then, and are, ‘the seed of Satan the Serpent/ and hence the sons of Satan. This is proof that the ones here called the “sons of God” are entirely a different class or company from the ones that joined Satan in his rebellion. They were spirit creatures or angels having life from Jehovah God, and, continuing in His service, they are designated as “the sons of God”.

It was a part of Satan’s wicked scheme to defraud angels as well as men and to induce them to go contrary to God’s law. “The daughters of men . . . were fair,” and the “sons of God” saw these and observed that they were attractive. By fraud and deceit Satan first entrapped the beautiful Eve, which furnished Adam an excuse to join the Devil; and now 1,500 years thereafter he uses the beautiful daughters or granddaughters of Eve to entrap others, even the “sons of God”. Those angelic “sons of God” had power to materialize in human organism, and doubtless did materialize. There is no evidence that by materializing they violated God’s law. Appearing in human form they would necessarily be handsome and attractive men that would be pleasing to the women of that time. The Scriptures do not say that they were giants. It would not be at all reasonable to conclude that they materialized as giants, but that they materialized as attractive men. “The sons of God . . . took them wives of all which they chose.” The result of this marriage relationship was to greatly increase wickedness amongst the human race, and this of itself is conclusive proof that Satan was the prime mover in bringing about this condition.

Nephilim

“The Nephilim were in the earth in those days.” (Genesis 6:4, R.7.) The Scripture is definite that it was the “sons of God” that took them wives from the daughters of men, and this statement is conclusive proof that the Nephilim were not the ones who married them. The Nephilim (translated “giants” in the Authorized Version Bible), being giants, would have been entirely out of proportion in size to have human creatures for wives. That the Nephilim did materialize as human creatures there is no doubt, because the Scriptures say they were in the earth. Doubtless the Nephilim were the very ones who, together with Satan, induced the “sons of God” to leave their proper place in Jehovah’s service and seek pleasure with the daughters of men, and this they did to turn those “sons of God” away from Him and at the same time bring greater reproach upon His name. These “giants”, or Nephilim, materialized and were on the earth, but the “sons of God” married the daughters of men. This the record clearly shows: “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men [gibborim (Hebrew)], . . . men of renown.” (Genesis 6:4) It was after those giants first appeared on the earth that the “sons of God” and the daughters of men had children, as this text shows.

These “giants”, or Nephilim, were probably called “fallen ones” or ‘fallen angels’ because they had fallen entirely away from God, and for the further reason that they were “fellers” or ones who fell upon others and treated them in a tyrannical manner. According to a recognized authority, “nephilim” means those who fall (upon others), that is, “fellers.” (Strong’s Cone.) It is certain that they are not the same as the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6, for at least two reasons: (1) they were on the earth before the materialization of the “sons of God”; and (2) these Nephilim or “giants” w’ere not the sons of God, but the seed or sons of the Devil. Other Scriptures fully support this conclusion.—2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.

By the marriage of the “sons of God” with the daughters of men, children were born, and “the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown”. Those “men of renown”, the offspring of the “sons of God”, were not called Nephilim, but according to the Hebrew text are termed gibborim. In the great deluge that came upon the earth in Noah’s day the gibborim, or “mighty men”, were destroyed, but there is no Scriptural evidence that either the “sons of God” or the Nephilim were. On the contrary, the evidence shows that they are yet alive. At the time of the flood which destroyed all flesh except the creatures with Noah in the ark, these “sons of God” and Nephilim simply dematerialized and returned to the spirit condition. The Nephilim were a part of the Devil’s organization that had operated with him since the rebellion in Eden. By materializing as human creatures they would induce the “sons of God", who had up to that time been loyal to Jehovah, to materialize and to indulge in marital relations with the daughters of men. While the Genesis record is silent as to whether or not God prohibited them from marrying human wives, yet God’s law later on given to the Israelites shows that such a course was contrary to His will.—Leviticus 19:19; 20:15,1G.

The mere fact that the “sons of God”, after they had materialized, intermarried w’ith human women would not mean that they were directly a part of Satan’s organization or even in sympathy with Satan’s organization. Satan and his allies, the Nephilim, would cause these “sons of God” to indulge in false reasoning which led them into an unwise course. The disobedience of such “sons of God” continued during the period that Noah was building the ark. Speaking of them as being now “spirits in prison”, 1 Peter 3:19, 20 says they were disobedient when the ark was being prepared. When the ark was completed and the flood came, there the “old world” ended. That means the change in spirit conditions as well as earthly conditions; hence at that time apply the words of 2 Peter 3:6, to wit: “The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” It was at that time that the “spirits”, the “sons of God”, were imprisoned, but not destroyed. It was to those imprisoned spirits that Jesus preached centuries later. Who imprisoned them? There is no evidence in the Scriptures that God did. Those angels once in God’s organization and in His service had fallen to the Devil’s wiles, and God would deliver such up to His enemy Satan and permit the enemy Satan to imprison them. Satan’s purpose would be to keep them under his control and thus prevent them from returning to God.

Sentenced to Death

The Nephilim are angels that sinned ■willfully, joining Satan. Concerning such Nephilim 2 Peter 2:4 says: “God did not spare the angels who sinned, but having confined them in Tartarus with chains of thick darkness, delivered them over into custody for judgment.” (Diaglott translation) When were these wicked angels sentenced? It was preceding the time of the flood. According to the Diaglott translation the phrase “having confined them in Tartarus” is just one word in the original Greek text. According to the Greek mind Tartarus pictures a deep abyss and signifies a great abasement or degradation, a being reduced to a degraded state far deeper than that to the dust from which man w^ras made and from which he is to be raised out of death. It is the same abasement or degradation to which rebellious Lucifer was reduced. The “angels that sinned” committed that great sin long before Noah’s day; hence these are not the “sons of God” who married the daughters of men in Noah’s day, but these wicked spirit creatures were a part of Lucifer’s official organization, who joined him in the rebellion and were sentenced to death at the same time Satan was sentenced. Until the time of their execution they are “confined . . . with chains of thick darkness”.

That does not mean literal chains such as we see with our natural eyes, but restraint in darkness of having lost the light concerning God’s truth. This means utter darkness as to their understanding of Jehovah’s purposes. They are in the dark so far as God’s favor and His purposes are concerned. They are degraded and abased to the lowest degree. There is no light of God’s favor for them. In the light of God's favor is life (Psalm 30:5); hence “chains of thick darkness” would clearly imply eventual destruction, and could not refer to their being confined in the dark rooms of spirit mediums who operate there. Mediums’ operating in dark rooms is merely a means employed to deceive. The “angels who sinned” were once a part of God’s organization under Lucifer, and when Lucifer became God’s enemy they likewise became God’s enemies, and God degraded them into darkness.

“God . . . delivered them over into custody for judgment.” That would mean that these wicked ones are constantly under surveillance of the holy angels acting under the Lord’s direction. This surveillance, however, did not prevent the wicked ones from associating with and operating with Satan in heaven, for there they were at the time Satan was cast out of heaven by the Lord. At the same time these angels were cast dowm to the earth with Satan. (Revelation 12:7-12) They operate with Satan in his organization now to bring woe upon the world. Without doubt Jehovah has reserved them alive under restraint of darkness and under surveillance in order to show His power over them at the oncoming battle of Armageddon and thereby to convince all creation that Jehovah is God the Almighty One. (Exodus 9:16, Leeser translation) The Lord Jesus declared that these wicked ones who are Satan’s angels shall be cut off at the same time the Devil will be cut off. (Matthew 25:41,46) Jude (verse 6) fully sustains the foregoing concerning the “angels who sinned’’, including Nephi-lim.

Communication by Mediums

The wicked spirits that joined Satan in his rebellion have communicated and do now continue to communicate with human creatures by the use of willing mediums, and this they do for the very purpose of deceiving mankind and drawing men away from God and holding them in Satan’s snare. Jehovah God provided in His law that all men or women practicing the fraudulent art of mediums, witches, necromancers or soothsayers should be put to death, because they are working as Satan’s agents. (See Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10.) This is conclusive proof that the efforts of men and women to get in communication with the spirits is entirely contrary to God’s law and brings disaster upon those who practice such.

Witchcraft and mediums are of Satan and the fruit of his rebellion: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:23) These words, addressed to the disobedient king Saul by God’s prophet Samuel, announce Jehovah’s rule showing the direct relationship between rebellion and witchcraft and that stubbornness and lawlessness against God, the rejection of His Word, is the cause of one’s falling into wickedness. Saul was the first king of the nation of Israel, which used to be God’s typical organization. Saul disobeyed God and rebelled. Hence Samuel’s statement to him supports the conclusion that witches or mediums represent the rebel Satan and his wicked associates, who are also rebels, and that such are the ones that communicate through witches or mediums with the human race. Later Saul sought advice from the witch of Endor, after first having directed his servants to search out such a medium or witch. He fell completely under the control of the wicked spirits operating through that witch. (1 Samuel 28:7-16) Those wicked spirits induced Saul to believe that he was communicating with Samuel; but the related scriptures show that these spirits were lying, because Samuel had now long been dead, and God’s Word declares that the dead know not anything. (Ecclesiastes 9: 5,10; Psalm 146:4) Saul fell for Satan’s first lie.—Genesis 3:4.

Millions of other persons are deceived, being induced to believe that they can talk with their dead friends, when in fact they are communicating with those wicked spirits that have been opposed to God and righteousness since the days of Eden. Such wicked spirits act through mediums and by this means deceive those who do not adhere strictly to God’s Word. Many public officials in many of the countries consult these mediums, and thus consult the wicked spirits, in order to find out what they must do or what course they shall take, and thus the Devil carries on this wicked practice to turn men away from Jehovah and into unrighteousness. Every religious organization that has existed, beginning with Nimrod (Genesis 10: 8-10), Satan has overreached and used for his purpose. The most glaring example of this is the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Both Catholics and Protestants preach to the people that their dead friends are alive and conscious either in “purgatory” or in “torment”. Such is in substance Satan’s first lie spoken to man. (Genesis 3:4; John 8:44) No wonder many churchgoers are deceived into thinking that they can get in touch with their dead loved ones by means of spirit mediums! To Jehovah’s Word!—Isaiah 8:19, 20.

Lying Spirit Represents the Dead

THE London Sunday Express contains a half page of information (?) concerning the “other world” which was given by a demon who represented himself as being the deceased Dennis Bradley. Dennis Bradley had been a spiritualist and had promised to communicate with his family from the “other side”. (Incidentally, he died of “food poisoning”.) The spirit contradicts himself, which should be expected, as he is manifestly manufacturing his story out of whole cloth. Among other things, the demon says, “All the inventions which have caused such excitement and admiration on earth have been known here ever since time was.” Then he promptly contradicts himself by saying, “There are laboratories here in which spirits are trying to find cures for certain malignant diseases on earth.” No doubt they are experimenting on spirit cats and spirit dogs, so that vivisection appears to be practiced in that “other world” in which everybody knew everything since time was. At the same time the demon claims, “Time simply does not exist.” He mentions seeing Confucius, who “seemed to be wearing a brown habit something like a monk’s”. We suspect there is a good deal of monkey-business about this “spirit world” in which everybody goes where he wishes simply by wishing to go. The spirit talks about everything but God and Christ, as might be expected. The demons have nothing in common with Jehovah and His Son.

A Presumptuous Sin

A LETTER which purports to have been written by Christ is being printed in country papers in the Southwest. The letter says that those who, receiving it, fail to pass it on to someone else will be punished in various ways. It further declares that those who keep a copy of the letter in their homes will be safe from harm. Additionally it says, “You shall finish your work every Saturday at 6 o’clock in the afternoon, at which hour the preparation for the Sabbath begins.” This statement is one of the many evidences that the letter is a presumptuous act on the part of some misguided individual. The name “Saturday” was not in use in Jesus’ day, and to say that six o’clock Saturday afternoon is the beginning of the sabbath is so clearly a misstatement that the whole thing is readily seen to be a fabrication. The Jewish sabbath was the same as the day now called Saturday and preparation for the sabbath was made on Friday. It seems to be the Devil’s object to add all kinds of foolish inventions to the Word of God. The Catholics have no end of traditions, very much of the kind of thing this letter claims to be, and Catholic magazines give more space to such absurdities than to the Word of God, by far. Protestant publications incline toward the same thing. Books really worth consideration are those which seriously discuss and adhere to the Bible.

Still Plenty of Unemployed

THE National Industrial Conference Board estimates that there are still 7,899,000 people out of work in the United States, a conservative figure.

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It Is Sufficient to Say to Golden. Age Readers that Judge Rutherford’s Lectures Are on These Records

TT ISN’T necessary for us to tell you how good they A are, how clear-cut and easy to understand, and of how great importance these messages concerning Jehovah God and His purposes are to all people of good will. Readers of The Golden Age know that. If you haven’t already obtained these 4^-minute lec-				tures for your phonograph, then you undoubtedly will want them sooner or later. For your convenience we list them below. These discs may be had at 70c each, 6 for $3.50, all 18 for $10.50. If you want a portable phonograph to go with these records, then send $14.00 additional.
P-1	Jehovah	P-13	Holy		P-25	Fathers
P-2	Rebellion	P-14	Truth		P-26	Hypocrisy
P-3	Redemption	P-15	Trinity		P-27	Comfort
P-4	Life	P-16	Keys		P-28	Why Clergy Oppose Truth
P-5	Kingdom	P-17	Sanctification		P-29	Prince of Peace
P-6	Armageddon	P-18	Sheep and Goats		P-30	Peace Messengers
P-7	Soul	P-19	Suppressing	Truth (Part 1)	P-31	God’s Organization
P-8	The Dead	P-20	Suppressing	Truth (Part 2)	P-32	Satan’s Organization
P-9	Purgatory	P-21	Repentance	at Death	P-33	Warning (Part 1)
P-10	Resurrection	P-22	Way to Life		P-34	Warning (Part 2)
P-11	Whose Servant? (Part 1)	P-23	Prayer		P-35	Ransom
P-12	Whose Servant? (Part 2)	P-24	Model Prayer		P-36	Baptism

Special Note: The first 10 records listed above, namely, P-1 to P-10 inclusive, have been recorded in Spanish also. If there are some Spanish-speaking people in your vicinity, why not get these records and help them to learn about God’s kingdom also?

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□ □	p-1 P-2	Jehovah Rebellion	□ P-13 Holy □ P-14 Truth	□ P-25 Fathers □ P-26 Hypocrisy
□	P-3	Redemption	□ P-15 Trinity	□ P-27 Comfort
□	P-4	Life	□ P-16 Keys	□ P-28 Why Clergy Oppose Truth
□	P-5	Kingdom	□ P-17 Sanctification	□ P-29 Prince of Peace
□	P-6	Armageddon	□ P-18 Sheep and Goats	□ P-30 Peace Messengers
□	P-7	Soul	□ P-19 Suppressing Truth (Parti)	□ P-31 God’s Organization
□	P-8	The Dead	□ P-20 Suppressing Truth (Part 2)	□ P-32 Satan’s Organization
□	P-9	Purgatory	□ P-21 Repentance at Death	□ P-33 Warning (Part 1)
□	P-10	Resurrection	□ P-22 W’ay to Life	□ P-34 Warning (Part 2)
□	P-11	Whose Servant? (Part 1)	□ P-23 Prayer	□ P-35 Ransom
□	P-12	Whose Servant? (Part 2)	□ P-24 Model Prayer	□ P-36 Baptism

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