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Freedom of the Press
Example of courageous Catholic editor I
“The King of Eternity”
The Chaplinsky Case
Framed by mischievous trick
Weekday Classes in Religious Education
The Fall of Singapore
Five Cents a Copy Vol. XXIII No. 693 • $1.25 In Canada and Published Every
One Dollar a Year June 10, 1942 • Foreign Countries Other^Wedncsday
Contents
Perplexities of the Church Business
Weekday Classes in Religious Education 11
“Thy Word Is Truth”
“The Earth Hath He Given to the Children
The New Government
The Chaplinsky Case, in New Hampshire 20
Argentinians Long for The Theocracy 22 “Jehovah Looseth the Prisoners”
The Flag
Its Friends, Jehovah’s witnesses
Its Enemies in Its Folds,
Catholic Legionnaires, Priests, Dupes
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom” 25
Published every other Wednesday by
WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC.
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Editor Clayton J. Woodworth
Business Manager Nathan H. Knorr
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Notanda
Farm Lands Booming
♦ Farm lands always boom in war times, and are booming now. American crops for 1941 were big, and prices good. In some sections schools were recessed so that'the children might help to harvest the crops. Vegetable and fruit canning broke all records, with the government buying the 10 percent extra pack. InWorld War I farm values in the United States went from $35,000,000,000 to $70,000,000,000, and then subsequently shrank back to normal, leaving vast numbers of farmers, and plenty of banks and insurance companies, victims of the hallucination that booms last forever.
Importance of Worms
♦ One of the greatest manufacturers of plant food is the humble earthworm, of which there are upward of 1,000 varieties known to science. Set two plants in flowerpots of the same size; use the same earth in each. Put earthworms in one of the pots and not in the other, and the pot with the worms will produce a plant of approximately twice the size of that grown in the other pot. Chickens supplied with a percentage of worms in their diet grow much more rapidly than otherwise.
Astonishing Root Growth
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♦ Measurements of a clump of prairie grass in a mass of soil seven feet deep and four feet square, conducted by the University of Saskatchewan, disclosed two miles of roots were added by each day’s growth, and the total mileage for the clump for a season was 320 miles.
Always Carry Both Cards
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♦ Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 and the Presidential regulations thereunder require that each male person who has registered under the Act must at all times carry on his person his registration card and classification card. This should be complied with at all times.
CONSOLATION
“And in His name shall the nations hope.”—Matthew 12:21, A.R.V. Volume XXIII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, June 10, 1942 Number 593
Freedom of the Press
AT THIS time when America is fighting for the freedom essential to a continuance of democratic government, as well as against the aggressions of the totalitarian abomination, editorial and other comment on the subject of freedom of the press (one of the four fundamental freedoms) is timely. Consolation merely observes that all true freedom must be based upon a recognition of the fact that none is free from obligation to righteousness. This righteousness must be in conformity to the Word of God as it concerns the conduct of men in their relationship to Him and to one another, and the Word of God is found in the record He himself has.provided in the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of the prophets and apostles of the people of God.
With this primary fact established and with the appeal to the reader that this be kept in mind in the examination of what follows, Consolation presents the following facts in such sequence as may best impress this truth.
A former well-known columnist a few years ago made the following observation with regard to the influence of a religious organization over the press:
Precarious is the position of the New York newspaperman who ventures any criticism of the Catholic church. There is not a single New York editor who does not live in mortal terror of the power of this group. It is not a case of numbers, but of organization. Of course, if anybody dared, nothing in the world would happen. If the church can bluff its way into a preferred position, the fault lies not with the Catholics, but with the editors.
This columnist subsequently became a Catholic himself, but it is not necessary to conclude that he essentially changed his attitude with regard to this matter.
Liberal Catholics claim a considerable amount of personal discretion in their doing and -thinking, and are often a match for their otherwise-minded ecclesiastical monitors. By way of illustration, the course of the editor of the fine Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, may be mentioned. Although himself a Catholic he rejected the demand that he make an apology for running a birth-control advertisement in his paper. On May 27, 85 Catholics of New Haven, Kentucky, attempted a boycott in a joint letter canceling their subscriptions. Previously 102 readers had threatened reprisals if the apology was not forthcoming. The Courier-J ournal replied editorially, declining to submit to coercion, and claiming the right to hold and express opinions even if some Catholics did not approve them, saying “it is no more wicked for a newspaper to disagree with an archbishop than to disagree with the president of the United States”. The Courier-J ournal is still going strong, although a Protestant or other nonCatholic publisher might have fared less pleasantly.
The courageous stand of this Catholic editor is a reproof to the generality of American editors and publishers. According to a historian, for it is history now, the American press was garroted by the J esuit organization with reference to the reporting done on the Spanish rebellion. This Philippine historian says:
The fact that a majority of the American people up to the present day do not know the truth about the so-called “civil war” in Spain is solely due to the policy of intimidation of the press in the United States applied by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. ... At the beginning of the Fascist invasion of Spain, the American press was impartial and tried to print the truth: that the dictatorship had been voted out by the Spanish people in free elections, that a democratic government had been established, and that the big landowners, big business men, and reactionary militarists had negotiated with the'dictators of Italy and Germany to overthrow democracy in Spain. The issue was land, bread, and liberty—not religion. Religion only came in when the Hierarchy made the case of the Fascists’ invaders its own. Within a short time, the Roman Catholic clergy in the United States had started a concerted action to suppress the truth in the American press, and it succeeded. The Spanish people who tried to defend themselves against the foreign invasion led by Spanish generals, were branded as “bolsheviks” while the invaders were held up as saviors of civilization.
There is a tendency now, and a definite tendency, on the part of certain Catholic clergymen to arouse hatred toward the president and the government on the grounds that America is helping the Bolsheviks. This trend will bear watching. That the, sympathy of the clergy generally, and the Hierarchy as a whole, is with the totalitarian principle is too well known to require proof. There is, however, a large number of American Catholics whose sympathies are unequivocally with the democratic forces, regardless of the attitude of the Catholic press controlled by their priests.
In the United States Catholic editors incline to give support to what they suggest are the “lesser Fascisms” of Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, De-grelle’s Belgium and Petain’s France. (This observation is drawn from prewar sources. It may be confidently expected that the Japanese assault will drive such sentiments undercover.)
In Canada
The stress of war came to Canada before it reached the United States. It became apparent after a while that the support given to the war effort by Quebec was negligible, and that there was, as a matter of fact, a very definite leaning toward sympathy for the Axis powers. Those who called attention to this situation were quickly attacked as creating and promoting disunity. In an editorial appearing in the Toronto Telegram September 27, 1941, this is apparent.
We are tempted to assert that The, Globe and Mail is a hypocrite when it says that any one who champions equal rights and equal obligations for all Canadians is guilty of promoting disunity; for our part we want nothing to do with a unity that is built on special rights and evasion of obligations for any group of the population.
The charge of promoting disunity is evidently a favorite with certain groups, and is sent back and forth with a will. At any rate, The Globe and Mail carried an advertisement which, in bold letters, was headed with the statement: “Why the Italian Apostolic Delegate to Canada, Archbishop Antoniutti, Should Be Expelled for Subversive Activities”; and the archbishop of Toronto took occasion to write the paper a letter, from which the following is an extract:
No country in the world during this war has contemplated such an insult to the historic centre of Christendom as your advertisement, demands. President Roosevelt, whose effective good-will to the cause for which Canada is fighting will not be questioned, has sent a special personal envoy to Vatican City. Great Britain, we may be sure, would be horrified at the suggestion of such an offense given by any British group to the highest and most potent moral authority in the world. Only our enemies could and would rejoice at a disagreement between a British country and the Holy See at this crucial time. Only Nazi propagandists will delight in the religious feelings and disunity caused by such an insult to the representative of Pope Pius XII.
While the newspapers of Canada thus appear to. still have considerable liberty of expression, the Watchtower and Consolation magazines were prohibited from entering the country, at the behest of a religious organization that, according to many observers, is quietly working against the democracies by all possible means. As a preparatory measure numerous Catholic writers have stressed the word "subversive” with reference to these publications and Jehovah’s witnesses, their distributors. This, however, comes with bad grace, and the American people are not so lacking in common sense as to think that Jehovah’s witnesses, who are in concentration camps in every one of the totalitarian countries, would lend any aid or comfort to an enemy that is so evidently even more their foe than it is the foe of the democracies.
The tendency to interfere with the freedom of the press receives added impetus at times when the feelings of the people are aroused by such attacks upon their security and freedom as have been made by Japan and other totalitarian interests. This may seem like a paradox, but its truth will be realized when it is seen that such freedom implies not the freedom of the majority to go its own way, however obviously right, but the freedom to weigh impartially and state truthfully whatever is of sufficient weight to be given publicity at all, and in which the people are rightfully interested. Thus a fine balance is indicated, rather than a strong leaning in any direction. Such leanings are, however, granted expression on the editorial page, where they can be properly evaluated as the editor’s own views.
Even before the present outbreak the press was concerned about its constitutional prerogatives. During National Newspaper Week last year there was a special effort made to center national attention on the vital importance of the declaration in the Bill of Bights that neither Congress nor any other legal authority shall ever enact any law or promulgate or enforce any policy abridging the freedom of the press.
On that occasion President Booosevelt gave his unqualified endorsement of the observance of this week, in a letter to William N. Hardy, chairman of the National Newspaper Week Committee at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
August 21, 1941 Dear Mr. Hardy:
The recurrence of National Newspaper Week should awaken in the hearts and souls of all Americans a renewed determination to defend and maintain and perpetuate the priceless heritage of a free press.
The maintenance of an unfettered press, informed by truth and guided by courage and conscience and wholehearted devotion to the public welfare, is a fundamental obligation of patriotism.
I trust as a result of the forthcoming observance that Americans everywhere will have a renewed sense of the incalculable blessing which a free press confers. It must be maintained against all assaults.
Very sincerely yours,
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Earlier in the year a plaque, in stainless steel, was presented to the American Newspaper Publishers’ association, during its convention in New York. Under a representation of the American eagle the plaque bore the words:
LEST WE FORGET Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.
—U. S. Constitution
It is to be hoped that the press of America will bear in mind, more fully than it did with reference to the Spanish rebellion, that this right involves also a responsibility to give the people the truth in spite of seemingly powerful opposition. Freedom of the press is not merely a freedom to publish what the publishers like, or even what the public itself may like, but to present the events and questions of the day with the proper consideration for truth. An honest newspaper will mirror the world as it is, without distortion or without obscuration, in any direction. It is not the prerogative of the newspaper to form or even influence public opinion. Nor is it justified in selecting and playing up out of due proportion matters of news that have a wide public appeal merely on that score.
Freedom of the press, like every other freedom, still leaves those thus free accountable to Jehovah, the great Judge of all, for the manner in which that freedom is used. Even the free citizens of a human democracy are subject to the requirements of the all-embracing Theocracy. Also the publishers and editors of newspapers and periodicals must remember that they are responsible to the Higher Powers for what use they make of the liberty and freedom wThich is allowed them as intelligent creatures, and which freedom and liberty are recognized, not granted, by the laws of the United States of America.
In this connection it will not be a digression to mention that the Roman Catholic. Hierarchy, through its mouthpiece and head, has on various occasions specifically denied the freedom recognized and protected by democratic nations. This denial is probably not taken too seriously by American Catholics, or they may in some manner reconcile it with their own convictions in the matter. Certainly it is not the purpose of this article to call in question their patriotism or to call them “subversive” because of this well-known fact. While it is true that these papal pronunciamentos bear the seeds of disloyalty and subversion, and have indeed borne fruit in that direction on numerous occasions, it is fortunate that the majority of Catholics draw no such conclusions from them. They may be viewed by such as a too strongly stressed principle, that there is no liberty without responsibility. It is true, too, that the Hierarchy at Rome has sought to transfer the place of accountability from heaven to the Vatican, a fruitful source of subversiveness. The same ecclesiastical ruler has said of the Catholic press throughout the world that it is “his very own voice”, an unfortunate statement in view of the many divergent opinions and observations.
Thus, it should be recalled that the "highly blessed’ publisher of Social Justice was at one time, and perhaps still is, deeply enamored of Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, et al., as well as their methods. This was true to such an extent that the paper carried almost word-for-word rehashes of the sentiments of that outfit and endorsed them. The “Very Reverend” Lodge Curran, publisher of Light magazine, also ran in the same direction, and his admiration for the totalitarian idea was matched only by his dislike for Jehovah’s witnesses; a fact which can be well understood by all who have even the modicum of intelligence that is required to read the comics. It must be concluded that the pope, who called the Catholic press “his very own voice”, has had that voice greatly obfuscated by "sticking his "‘very own” foot in his mouth’.
The “freedom of the press” outside of the pope’s “very own voice” appears to have been limited by the effect of that “voice” on more than one occasion, as is shown at the beginning of this article. One outstanding example may be mentioned. This was on the occasion when religiously zealous mobs of “patriots” suddenly and simultaneously attacked Jehovah’s witnesses in many sections of the United States for circulating Scriptural and anti-Hitler books and pamphlets. The New York Post wanted to know the why and wherefore, and asked a statement of Judge Rutherford, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, and president of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, publisher of the literature circulated by them. It was understood that this statement would certainly be published. Hence considerable time was taken to make a complete statement, which the Post promptly refused to publish, although it is in some respects a liberal paper. The people were interested in the facts, but the pope’s “own voice” in the background (this time using the Jesuits, no doubt) had spoken, and “freedom of press” was thrown into the discard for the occasion. [The entire statement was then published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society for the information of the public, and is still obtainable in pamphlet form.]
President Roosevelt, on April 17,1941, told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that “free speech is in undisputed possession” of the press, the radio, the moving pictures, and that as far as he was concerned “it will remain there, for that is where it belongs”. He added, “It is important that it should remain there, for suppression of opinion and censorship of news are among the mortal weapons that dictatorships direct against their own peoples and direct against the world.” The chief executive wants no interference with these rights.
Nazi Postmaster at Charleston, S. C.
The postmaster at Charleston, South Carolina, J. G. Thomas, showed his attitude toward freedom of the press by posting upon bulletin boards in the various post offices under his jurisdiction the following notice:
All employes at this office, Station A, and the Navy Yard Branch are requested to keep a very careful watch on the following newspapers, and to furnish me with the names and complete addresses of all persons receiving copies of any of the papers. This information should be treated as confidential and under no circumstances should the addressees be advised that this list of subscribers has been recorded. As soon, as the information is obtained, it should be sent to me under cover.
It is sure that more brass has not been shown in Germany or Italy than is shown by this un-American postmaster. He belongs where he would likely put those who take papers he does not approve.
Freedom of the press is somewhat hampered in cases of which the following is an example. The Chattanooga News was run out of business because it stood for the public welfare and was progressive and independent. The editor, John Fort Milton, was obliged to sell out, to Roy McDonald, but started another paper, The Evening Tribune, made possible, in part, by popular subscription. First the building The Evening Tribune had rented was destroyed by fire. Then McDonald wrote contracts for advertising which required the advertisers to limit their advertising to the McDonald paper. The Evening Tribune went into bankruptcy, even though McDonald and his treasurer were convicted later of violating the Antitrust Act.
In view of the foregoing the definition of “freedom of the press” printed in The American Guardian sounds an understandably ironic note:
Freedom of the Press: The right of any and all owners of publications to print anything they see fit, provided it does not conflict with the interests of their advertisers to the extent of withdrawing their patronage, thereby putting him out of business. However, even in such instances, the freedom of the press remains, inasmuch as the owner of the publication in question still retains the inalienable right to decide freely whether to change his mind or go out of business. . . . Also, the right of a non-owner of a publication to write anything the owners of publications may see fit to print.
The important bearing that advertising revenue has on the freedom of the press is evident. It was recognition of this fact that led the publishers of PM to exclude advertising altogether, and to publish information about sales in department stores, etc., as matters of news. It is said that Marshall Field III has sunk $2,000,000 in PM, and that he did it because the other stockholders were pulling out and he did not want to see the enterprise collapse; It was he that said he 'did not know what would become of all his money under present conditions, and he didn’t give a damn’. Even with such liberal backing, PM may find it hard going. The “fi’ cent” price is doubtless one factor that limits its circulation. The venture is a gauge that shows the limitations of freedom of the press.
In Fad, a small, four-page pamphlet published by Geo. Seldes, gives its readers much information that is carefully hidden or kept out of the regular press. Like PM, it carries no advertisements ; and while the subscribers do not get much paper for their money, they get lots of news. An example follows:
Freedom in Philadelphia
After 13 years of “fine work” John Malone, financial reporter of the Phil Eve Bulletin was fired because he took a humdriim business report and put a human interest touch to it. That touch, however, touched the department stores of Philadelphia, and dep’t stores are No. 1 Sacred Cow and Raging Bull of American journalism.
Malone wrote: “Last week should have been an opportune time for retail store employes in this area to approach their bosses for a raise. The reason: Business was good. Sales in the larger establishments ran 10% ahead. ...”
For Executive Editor Dwight S. Perrin this suggestion to dep’t store and other workers to ask for a raise was treason—to the freedom of the press. He not only fired Malone but issued the most fantastic cockeyed and sacred bull story in journalistic history, saying that Malone had violated journalistic ethics.
The irony of the matter lies in the fact that the Bulletin has been an enemy of labor, liberal and progressive ideas for years, and has slanted its headlines and editorials for' reactionary purposes (and Mussolini defines reaction and fascism as synonymous) for years.
Thanks to spirited work by Phil-Camden Newspaper Guild, however, Malone was reinstated. No Perrins, however, are ever fired. They are the mainstays of the sort of freedom of the press which the publishers are now celebrating in their annual convention. —In Fact, April 28, 1941.
Few newspapers publish the Federal Trade Commission’s orders to cease and desist from advertising that misrepresents well-known products. Such orders have been directed against such advertisers as Ford, General Motors, Goodyear, Goodrich, Sears Roebuck, the biggest cigaret companies, and many others. It can well be seen why papers that depend on advertising for income would be shy about publishing such information, and it would not be outside of the proper limits of freedom of the press that papers be required to publish such obviously valuable information.
Other Dangers to Freedom
There has been considerable criticism of the publicity activities of the Federal government, which, in 1936, employed press agents to the number of 270, drawing salaries aggregating $521,000 a year. The possibility of using these employees for propaganda purposes brought the whole thing under suspicion as destructive of freedom of the press.
Numerous newspapers suppressed a statement some months ago by General Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. Army, that Nazi Bundists and their sympathizers had engaged in sabotage in the Army by stirring up protests against the lengthening of service.
In September of last year an attempt by the Navy to influence public opinion against an independent air force, by supplying “editorial” matter to newspapers, was revealed.
The manner in which the press often distorts the news is shown in a dispatch published in the Burlington, Vt., Daily News for June 21, 1941, in which one of Jehovah’s witnesses, a woman, was represented as attacking a policeman! A group like Jehovah’s witnesses furnish opportunity to see how exceedingly anxious the press can be to back up the great religious systems to the detriment of the individual’s right to worship God in harmony with the dictates of his conscience. In this particular case the fact was that the brave police officer, supported by two other men (?), attacked the lady witness, destroyed her phonograph and scattered her Bible literature over the street. The public had no way of knowing the facts except as its native common sense revealed the likelihood that there was something wrong with the story.
The coloring of news is well shown in the following bit of editorial wisdom (?) appearing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last August after the most remarkable convention, as well as the largest on record, of Christian people since Pentecost. Note the labored effort of the editorial writer to make Judge Rutherford appear ridiculous, by stress on his clothing, which was no different from that of other men in any particular.
Is Something Lacking ?
Wearing a light green suit, a high collar and a green bow tie for his triumphal appearance before the massed assembly of Witnesses of Jehovah at the Arena, “Judge” Joseph F. Rutherford yesterday bitterly attacked, a great religious body, which maintains schools, hospitals, homes for orphans and for the aged and charities of many other kinds throughout the world.
The Roman Catholic Church, and the Protestant denominations at which “Judge” Rutherford also rails in his speeches and pamphlets, do not need to be defended. Moreover, under a constitutional guarantee of religious liberty, freedom to criticise another religious group is implicit in freedom of worship.
But it is worth noting that whereas the religious bodies which “Judge” Rutherford flays have far-reaching works of education and charity to speak for them, the Witnesses are singularly without record in this regard. Whatever theological differences the Witnesses may have with the older, established churches, the latter have over years made great social contributions which command the respect of all just men.
The following letter to the editor of the Post-Dispatch, in response to the above “editorial”, was not published; for the same reason that the “editorial” was:
Oct. 2, 1941 Editor,
Post-Dispatch St. Louis, Mo. Gentlemen:
In your editorial of August 11, the day after 115,000 heard Judge Rutherford’s lecture “Children of The King”, appear three paragraphs entitled “Is Something Lacking?” You extol the “great social contributions” of the Roman Catholic Church, while you condemn Jehovah’s witnesses as “singularly without record in this regard”.
This is, of course, the opinion of the Post or one of its Catholic editors, and as such it is not important to Jehovah’s witnesses, as we seek the approval of Jehovah only. But it is interesting to note what Jesus said about the “charities” so highly praised in your column: “Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly.”—Matthew 6: 2, 3,4.
The reason, therefore, that you have never heard of the “alms” or “charities” of Jehovah’s witnesses is that they do not use the newspaper columns or other publicity agencies to trumpet about them.
Nor is the Roman Catholic Church interested in the welfare of the United States. Her “social contributions”, if you mean Jesuit colleges, parochial schools, nunneries, and the like, are opposed to all the American principles of liberty. If you think that the Catholic Hierarchy has fostered Americanism, you are both unfamiliar with history and with the daily Catholic press denunciations of democracy and equality.
Yours for an enlightened press,
Elton Gboves.
Another instance illustrating the manner in which the press uses what freedom it has is noted in the column-and-a-half review of Chief Justice Stone’s career, in the New York Times, when he was promoted to occupy that position. What may be regarded as the outstanding opinion of this Supreme Court Justice was his courageous, far-sighted and honest one-man minority opinion in the flag-salute case, protesting against the delivering of a helpless minority into the hands of persecutors because of their conscientious personal convictions. The Times carefully refrained from mentioning this important protest in any way. The only approach to it was a carefully worded statement that “Justice Stone has also taken a consistent stand in favor of wholehearted support of civil rights throughout his career, not only in decisions on the bench but also in his early life”. It would not have pleased the censors to have mentioned Jehovah’s witnesses, the ones involved in this outstanding case.
The question remains as to how badly the press really wants freedom. It appears that thus far their fight for freedom has been a rather ignoble struggle to protect their own selfish interests. It is probably too much to hope that those who represent the press will get together and really show that they mean to exercise their rights “with liberty and justice for all” and with a sense of their individual and collective accountability to Him who is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and who will render to every man according to his works.
Apprehending an important truth, Roger W. Babson, the statistician, writing from Savannah, Georgia, said:
Although I head a large statistical organization, scouring the country for facts, I am utterly bewildered at times trying to separate the truth from falsehood. Of course, the real remedy for our difficulties will be found in the twentieth verse of the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy (‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor’). Since time immemorial, lyin^ has been recognized as one of the ten basic sins. In fact, the only hope of world peace is to get back to the teachings of the Bible which all nations have, for the time being, thrown out of the window.
Perplexities of the
THE church business finds the going hard, with the world going the way it is and with the preachers not knowing the first thing about the Bible, and with Jehovah’s witnesses coming around and telling the people the truth. A Los Angeles Lniversalist church celebrated a Catholic solemn high mass, and a Church of Christ in Springfield, Missouri, refused to observe Easter because it is of heathen origin—which is the truth. At Trinity Episcopal church, Broadway and Wall street, New York, Dr. Frederic S. Fleming stated, truthfully, “The only government to which this world can look forward is a Theocracy.” The three men were pulling three ways. Dr. Fleming’s bishop, “Reverend”
Church Business
Manning, says that his big cathedral is now two-thirds finished and soon one wTill be able to look right down the main aisle one-tenth of a mile to the high altar. Now, isn’t that something?
The Episcopal business is hard in Seattle, where Shaughnessy runs everything. The St. Louis bank that held the mortgage for $266,316 closed down and the Episcopal cathedral had to blow out the sanctuary light that had been burning eleven years and hand over the keys to the bankers. The dean of the cathedral may have to go work, like other folks.
The missionaries who have returned to Canada complain of starvation wages. One was hardly able to get back; and there was no need that he should.
Weekday Classes in Religious Education
OPINIONS from State boards of education or chief State school officers in some States indicate conditions under which pupils may or may not be released for weekday classes. For example, opinions for Connecticut, Delaware, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Utah leave the decision of whether or not pupils shall be released to the jurisdiction of local school officials. Specific requirements, however, are made in New Jersey for a four-hour school day before pupils may be dismissed, and in Utah the State board of education recommends that not more than three hours a week be used in high schools for classes in religious education. Opinion of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction gives local school boards authority to close school a period earlier than is customary on one day a week for religious instruction.
Number of school systems releasing pupils for weekday classes:
New York .... 45 New York .... 59
Ohio........20 Minnesota .... 29
Illinois......13 Wisconsin .... 13
States which were represented in the 1932 study but not in the 1940 study are Alabama, Arizona, California, Mississippi, and Montana. Reports from Arizona and California stated that classes had been discontinued.
The chief objection to the program was expressed as a violation of the constitutional provision for separating church and state. Other objections included the need for the full school day to provide for regular activities, and dissatisfaction with the management, curriculum, and results of the program as discovered through studies of practice in other school systems. Several replies raised the question : “Why cannot the churches conduct classes at times which do not conflict with school hours?” and suggested that classes be held before or after school.
Approximately one-third of these school systems have carried the program for one year only. The total number of years during which pupils were released ranged from one to sixteen, with a median of two years.
Nearly all of the reports of discontinued programs included explanation for the decision to terminate them. Two major reasons were given: First, decisions of the sponsoring agencies to discontinue the program; and, second, dissatisfaction with the program due to a lack of suitably prepared teachers, inadequately planned programs, and unsatisfactory results. Comments explaining action taken by the churches included the burden placed upon the ministers and church members for both time and money; a waning interest on the part of the community, the teachers, and the pupils; and the factor of church denominations which became a problem in some communities. Dissatisfaction with the program centered chiefly in the teachers’ inability to meet the publicschool’s standards of teaching and to maintain discipline among the pupils. Waning interest of the community and the pupils was largely attributed to inadequate teaching. Other difficulties connected with the conduct of weekday classes included lack of curriculum; too great a distance between schools and weekday centers; inadequate heating of the centers; inadequate attendance records ; small numbers of children released, which complicated the school program; and a need for general church supervision. Several superintendents stated that they would be willing to participate again if requested to do so and if the difficulties previously encountered were cared for.—Federal Security Agency, Bulletin 1941, No. 3.
The Rugg Textbooks
THE GREAT TECHNOLOGY intro--L duces his Social Science Series and explains evolutionary steps for this nation’s entire social, economic and political readjustment. The Rugg manifesto proposes to create millions of new individual minds and, incidentally, sow the seeds for a new form of government. The nation, it is proposed, will be welded into one social mind.
Doctor Rugg’s new program is based on ten axioms in Chapter X of The Great Technology. Creation of a nationwide, organized body of minority public opinion and the exertion of public compulsion upon elected officials is the method Rugg proposes to introduce to the nation to secure social change without violence. A digest of his axioms holds as follows: An economy of abundance may be had on a sixteen or twenty-hour week; divide the social income—some other unit of purchasing power must be found; adopt rigid central control, with basic industries conducted as technological enterprises; let scientific students manage the currency; under the idea that much wealth is fictitious, produce and distribute only real wealth; control surpluses rigorously ; divide the social income—take away from the well-to-do; eliminate the middlemen, parasites in the social scheme; the government must control free competition in business; introduce a nation-wide educational program so collective control may be understood.
It is on these axioms that Doctor Rugg proposes to base the new school program. He seriously intends to remake the public school system and to re-mould minority opinion. As he himself admits, it is a first step toward social reconstruction. —N. T., in The New Age.
(The foregoing review of one of the Rugg textbooks will be of interest to many parents who wish to know what their children are being taught in the schools. It also serves to show why some are putting up a fight to prevent the Rugg series from being used. Dr. Rugg’s plans for a “new order” are as hopeless as Pacelli’s. The Theocracy alone will solve the yawning problems briefly suggested above.—Ed.)
The Apocrypha Again
THE Apocrypha is a collection of religious writings which have been made a part of the Roman Catholic editions of the Bible but were never accepted by Protestants as on a par with the books, from Genesis to Revelation, known to be authentic. There is no reasonable doubt about the unscripturalness of the Apocryphal books. Because of their evident inferiority to the Scriptural books, the Apocryphal books were entirely rejected by the Hebrews, questioned by Catholics as late as the nineteenth century, and put in a class separate from the Scriptures by Protestants. It was not until the Vatican Council in 1870 declared the Apocryphal books to be of equal value with the books of the Bible that even Catholics could bring themselves to accept them as such, and then with misgivings.
For a time the Apocryphal books were included in Protestant editions of the Bible, but were always brought together in a separate section and marked as not of equal importance with the Canonical Scriptures. The Apocryphal books are published by the Oxford Press in a separate volume. The great Bible societies have consistently circulated the Bible without the Apocrypha.
Lately, however, Protestants are losing sight of the value of the Scriptures, and efforts are made in certain quarters to again introduce the spurious Apocryphal books as belonging to the Bible. A recent publication called “The Bible Designed to Be Read as Living Literature”, while it omits portions of Job and certain other parts of the Bible, sees fit to include the inferior Apocryphal books.
The University of Chicago Press also issues an edition of the Apocrypha in an “American Translation” and says wile-fully, “With the publication of The Apocrypha there is available for the first time in the American Translation the complete Bible.” The obvious aim is to convey the untruthful claim that the Apocrypha is a part of the Bible, and by association to bring the Bible itself down to the level of these sentimental, religious, inaccurate and often silly writings. It is a step away from Protestantism toward Rome, and was in all probability engineered by a subtle Jesuit.
Flower Lore
Occasionally a rose develops another rose out of itself. The center of the parent rose develops a stem which eventually matures into foliage and a second bloom which may be even more beautiful than the first. Such took place at the home of Charles Blevins, San Antonio, Texas, in 1934, and at the home of Dr. Frederick E. Beckman, 562 North Kenmore avenue, Los Angeles, California, in 1935.
Jet-black roses were grown at the Sangerhausen, Germany, rosarium in 1933, and green roses have been growing in England since the days of Queen Elizabeth. They cannot be produced intentionally, but their growth can be continued by cutting and budding. They have occasionally appeared in America.
Rambler roses beautify the cuts of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad; they hold the banks excellently and are a delight to the eye of the traveler.
At Hutchinson, Kansas, a rosebud was brought to light which had been encased in concrete for eighteen years. It still had its original color and even a faint fragrance when brought forth from its tomb. How like the resurrection of the just!
In the middle of the seventeenth century an epidemic of tulipomania involved the Netherlands in one of the strangest and wildest panics ever. Wealthy Amsterdam people began buying bulbs from Turkey at fabulous prices; the middle classes followed; the craze spread; other nations followed, and when the bubble burst great numbers of people were ruined. So people can go crazy over flowers. Don’t.
At the time of the tulip craze a sailor who carried a message to a merchant received from him, by way of a tip, a red herring. Before leaving the establishment the sailor saw an “onion” on one of the counters and took it with him to eat with his herring. Shortly afterward he was overtaken by the merchant, who had discovered that his cherished Semper Augustus tulip bulb was missing, but by that time the sailor had eaten both the tulip and the herring, at a cost, to the merchant, of $1500. Even at that, the sailor did not particularly enjoy his “onion” appetizer, but doubtless enjoyed telling the story on numerous occasions thereafter.
Many cross the ocean to see the tulips of the Netherlands. Men tend the tulip fields constantly, cutting every fading flower, leaving nothing but choice specimens on exhibition.
A modest but successful way to send flowers to a distant friend is to insert the stems in slits cut in potatoes. Thus inserted, flowers have been known to keep fresh for two weeks.
Flowers as Food
A NEWS dispatch from Berlin told how Germans had been advised, in effect, to butter their bread with daisies. The, Volkischer Beobachter, Hitler’s official Nazi daily, said that wild flowers contained more vitamin C, more health-giving minerals and more nourishing salts than most . domestic vegetables, but many British Columbians merely laughed it off as propaganda born of necessity.
The fact is, however, that flowers have had a place in the world as food for centuries. In Brazil certain types still are commonly used as a vegetable.
Of course, all children know the edible quality of the ordinary nasturtium and many of their elders can easily recall that tempting salads prepared from them were, a few years ago, a quite frequent item on the menu.
Primroses, likewise, were popularly used for salads in Europe, and marigolds furnished ingredients for soups and broths.
Forty years ago candied violets had become a product of commercial importance in the Old World. At Grasse, France, in the neighborhood of which great quantities of these were grown, old and stale violets were sold to candy makers. They were steamed, dipped in boiled sugar and sold at high prices as ‘■'confiture of violets”.
In Rumania violets, roses and lime flowers were widely used for flavoring preserves. The ancient Romans made wine of violets. To this day they are used in Turkey in the preparation of sherbets.
In parts of India violets are used as an emetic.
Rosebuds boiled in sugar and made into preserves are eaten by Arabian ladies. In China, dried rosebuds are candied like violets, as also are jasmines.
Tasty preserves are made from yellow pond lilies, and the Turks also prepare a cooling drink from them. The species of lily known to botanists as “Thunbergii” is one of the choicest delicacies of China. It is dried and used for seasoning ragouts and other dishes.
The lilies are grown for market in many provinces of China, being harvested just before they are open. Cooked as a vegetable, they have an agreeable odor and taste. They are much used in sacrifices to ancestors.
The most remarkable of plants that produce edible flowers is the butter tree of India. Its blossoms, during hot months of the year, are the chief means of subsistence of Bhils and other hill tribes of the interior. A method similar to Britain’s present blockade of Germany was used under the old Mahratta rule to overpower the lawless Bhils. The butter trees in their country would be cut down, causing a shortage of their principal food.
When fresh, these butter tree blossoms have a peculiar and luscious taste. Usually they are dried in the sun, shriveling to a quarter of their original size. They are prepared by boiling or used in sweetmeats. Sometimes they are baked in cakes. Nearly every animal, wild or domestic, eats the butter tree blossoms greedily.
There are great forests of these trees in India, affording drink as well as food for whole populations. They have more than half their weight in sugar. A powerful alcoholic beverage, said to resemble Irish whisky in flavor, is distilled from them. This is the liquor of the central tableland of India, and every village has a little shop for the dispensing of it.
In Sind and Punjab, as well as in Afghanistan, there is a shrub which botanists call Calligonum polygonoides, but more commonly known as “phogalli”. Its small red-pink flowers are dried and eaten by the poorer classes. Usually they are made into bread or cooked with butter. They contain 46 percent of sugar.
In India the young flowers of the banana plant are eaten, while in China they are prepared by pickling them in vinegar.
Also in India the flowers of a kind of sorrel, which have a pleasant acid taste, are made into tarts and jellies. The blossoms of the shaddock are used for flavoring sweetmeats in the same country. —By C. J., in Vancouver Daily Province.
Plant Oddities
♦ The giant Madagascar pitcher plant subsists on rats, and there is on record a story by Dr. Carl Liche, noted Austrian scientist, that at Mkodos, Madagascar, he personally saw a maiden, at javelin point, forced to her death in the fatal embrace of a “man-eating tree” which first stupefied her and then crushed and digested her.
It is claimed that the giant aweto, a New Zealand caterpillar, develops with a parasitic fungus in its body that eventually causes a vegetable plant, sometimes eight inches in height, to grow from the back of its neck. Seems like a tall story, doesn’t it? But that is the way the story comes.
The horses are not all dead, and may sometime stage a comeback. They will be interested, and the cows too, in a new form of clover with flowers two inches in diameter, and seven leaves instead of three or the rare four or five Or seven sometimes found.
The present generation is interested in the humble English pasture plant Spar-tina Townsendii, which has the happy faculty of reclaiming the shore front by rendering the soil firm against eroding waves. This plant is now being widely planted on the shores of Britain and the Netherlands, with pronounced success.
Automobile tire manufacturers are interested in California’s rapidly spreading punctureweed, whose half-inch thorns play havoc with motorcar tires. Like the “Purgatory” and “hell-fire” jackets, it is a great nuisance but it does keep money in circulation.
“Sugarin’ Off” Parties
♦ Haydn S. Pearson, in the New York Times, almost says right out that ‘you didn’t have any fun yet unless when you were young you went to a “sugarin’ off” party’; and it is easy to see that he was there. Here is the way he put it: “Just at the right moment the thick, hot syrup would be dipped from the evaporator and spread on pans of hard-packed snow. It quickly congealed into sticky, sweet candy with a flavor comparable to nothing else in the world. With hot coffee, doughnuts and sour pickles, every one feasted to his heart’s content. Then by taking some of the syrup that had been boiled a few minutes more, one could ‘stir it down’ with a wooden paddle into soft, creamy sugar. Spread on thick slices of fresh, homemade bread which had been covered with a generous coating of butter, it made a sandwich fit for the gods.” Probably by now Pearson suffers from occasional indigestion, and wonders what gave it to him, but nobody who ever- went to a “sugarin’ off” party can question either his truthfulness or his reason for enthusiasm.
715,000 Dispossessed Farmers
♦ Between 1935 and 1940, claims the new census of agriculture, some 715,000 American farmers lost their farms to the banks and insurance companies that held their mortgages. The decline was greatest in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Oddly enough, it was largely in this section that the persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses by mobs was most prevalent, and there may be some connection, not now discernible.
Bad Guess on Alfalfa Crop
♦ A Nebraska farmer promised his wife she could have the entire alfalfa crop from a nine-acre field if it yielded thirty bushels of seed. His daughter asked if she might have all it yielded over thirty bushels, and he agreed. He thought the yield would be twenty bushels; it was ninety.
TnyWORD i s Truth—
“The King of Eternity”
<<JEHOVAH is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King” (Am. Rev. Ver.); “he is the living God, and King of eternity” (Auth. Ver., margin). So reads Jeremiah 10:10. Jehovah is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God”. (1 Timothy 1:17) Says the psalmist: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” —Psalms 90: 2; 145:13.
Concerning Jehovah’s almighty power: Solemnly the angel inquired of the patriarch Abraham: “Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?” (Genesis 18:14) And in the face of battle Jonathan, the lover of David, did not hesitate to act on the belief that “there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few”. (1 Samuel 14:6) Jesus himself asserts that “with God all things are possible”.
Concerning the manifestation of His power and wisdom: Though Jehovah is invisible to human eyes, “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Timothy 6:16), yet “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made”. (Romans 1:20) The thousand and one uses of electricity now make the invisible powers of Jehovah God conspicuously manifest. But it is when the secrets of the Bible are opened up to the understanding that the amazed searcher exclaims: “0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33) “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”—Hebrews 4:13.
All creation is the work of God’s fingers. He “laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever”. (Psalm 104: 5) He “stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing”. (Job 26:7) He causes the flashes of the light of truth at the due time, and thus He sends “lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are”.—Job 38: 35.
Jehovah only has foreknowledge of all things, “declaring the end from the beginning.” Man cannot comprehend this; hence the Creator graciously explains, saying: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. F’or as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”—Isaiah 55:8,9; 46:10.
Men are changeable, but Jehovah is unchangeable. (Malachi 3:6) “The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever.” (Psalm 33:11) Men of the world are unrighteous, but Jehovah’s righteousness endures for ever. His is an everlasting righteousness. (Psalms 111:3; 119:142) “The goodness of God endureth continually.” (Psalm 52:1) Religious men are not truthful, but “the truth of the Lord endureth for ever”.—Psalm 117: 2.
He is the One whose “hands have made me, and fashioned me” and “in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind”. (Job 10:8; 12:10, margin) Not in a mere casual way is He interested in humanity, but “from the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He considereth all their works”. (Psalm 33:14,15) “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” (2 Chron. 16: 9) The Lord God is not selfishly interested in nor conniving at the wicked: “there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts [bribes].” (2 Chronicles 19:7) “The Lord pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”—Proverbs 21: 2, 3.
Jehovah is considerate of those who take their stand on His side. “He knoweth qur frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:14) He is compassionate toward anyone “that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully”. (Psalm 24:4) He is gracious toward these. “The Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.” (Psalm 149:4) He is merciful; for “his mercy endureth for ever”. He is forgiving; for, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (Ps. 136:3; 1 John 1:9) Hence the admonition is given: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” (James 4:8) “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him.” (Psalm 145:18) “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”—Hebrews 4:16.
Jehovah is the personification of faithfulness. He is the One “that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him”. “There hath not failed one word of all his good promise.” (Nehemiah 1:5; 1 Kings 8:56) There is never any slackening of His watchcare over those that love Him. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” “The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding.” (Psalm 121:4; Isaiah 40:28, Am. Rev. Ver.) To His faithful ones who are threatened with assault by the enemy He says: “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.”—Zechariah 2:8.
“God is love.” (1 John 4 :8) This means He does everything unselfishly. He is the personification of love in His dealings with His devoted children: “for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and seourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Hebrews 12:6) Since the rebellion of Satan and the disobedience of Adam the name of Jehovah has been reproached and besmirched, and for those who would have a part in the vindication of His name the path is therefore one of suffering. Hence to such it is written: “Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” (1 Peter 4:19) Such may know full well that, “whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:8) “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” —Matthew 7:11.
The family of Jehovah God, in heaven and in earth, is and for ever will be those who have actively and enthusiastically participated in the fight for the vindication of His name. Such are lowly in themselves, and to them the vindication of God’s name is all-important and the loftiest thing in which they could engage. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15) As in ancient time when He led His chosen nation, going “before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night”, so now Jehovah through His Theocratic organization under His beloved Son, Christ Jesus, leads His faithful people today to the blessed hour of that coming vindication of the name of the “King of eternity”.—Exodus 13: 21.
“The Earth Hath He Given to the Children of Men.”—Ps. 115:16
The Carnivorous Plants
♦ The California Darlingtonia, one of the pitcher plant family, devours insects, attracted by its honey glands. As a house plant it is fed raw beef twice a week. All the pitcher family are provided with traps, partially filled with water, into which insects fall and are drowned. Escape is cut off by stiff hairs lining the pitcher mouth and pointing downward.
Butterworts have flat leaves covered with a sticky secretion. Any small insect that lands on one of the leaves is doomed. The edges of the leaf roll inward, pouring out a digestive fluid that consumes the insect body.
The sundew of Africa and Australia discriminates between fragments of meat and eggs and inorganic substances such as particles of sand. When meat or eggs are placed on the leaf, the curling up and digestive process begins at once, but when sand is applied the plant pays no attention to it.
Help Yourself to Apples
♦ At a place in Iowa now called “Apple Treat” a farmer planted by the roadside 100 apple trees at distances of 50 feet apart and invited the public to help themselves to the fruit when it is ready to eat. Thousands have done so, and motorists have driven long distances to see the sight. All the farmer asks is that none take -more than a fair share. ’This puts the visitors and sight-seers on their honor and, incidentally, is a protection to the farmer’s own orchard.
Long Island Cauliflower
♦ Long Island, the bigger end of which is in New York city itself, raises over a million and a half crates of cauliflower annually, and not only takes care of the needs of the big city in that respect, but provides thousands of crater for such far-away points as Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, and Des Moines.
No Room for the Wheat
♦ It looks as if the robes with which man is clothing the earth in his moral achievements were funeral robes. Thus, about 300,000,000 Europeans are facing starvation at the same time that the big grain elevators in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City announced that they would not be able to store any of the 1941 wheat crop because they had so much of the 1940 crop left over. Also, the government doesn’t want the farmers to raise so much wheat in 1942. The Lord seems to have done His part in providing more coffee, cocoa, wheat and other good things than these ‘moral achievement’ birds know what to do with. Meantime they are burning the surplus coffee in Brazil, and burning the surplus cocoa beans in West Africa, and the chances are even that it won’t be long before some of the “statesmen” will be saying all over again that the way t,o gain prosperity is to burn the Creator’s gifts.
Artificial Insemination
♦ Artificial insemination of females with the sperm of selected males is now widely practiced in Russia, and has its advantages for stock growers, though it is unfair to the cows and mares and it is doubtful if it would have divine approval. The experimenters discovered that by injecting into ewes a serum made from the blood of a mare in foal there was a stimulation of the ovaries and in 10,000 cases there was an increase of 50 lambs above normal per each 100 ewes.
Is Your Tree Sick?
♦ Is your tree sick? A new instrument records what is going on inside the tree. The device, said to be somewhat like a stethoscope in operation, records the difference in electric potential in different parts of the tree and determines whether the tree has been injured by insects or is otherwise ailing, and where.
Earthworms as Soil Improvers
♦ The Reader’s Digest contained a copyrighted condensation of an article in Nature Magazine showing that earthworms are constantly swallowing and devouring all forms of earth, dried leaves and other decomposing organic material. They leave behind them a perfect form of soil humus, and tunnels which oxidize and nitrify the soil, and act as watering tubes in which rain is stored to as much as six feet or more in the ground. This discovery has led to the restored fertility of much land made barren because the worms had been exterminated by strong chemical fertilizers and insect sprays. From this it appears once more that the Creator knew what He was about when He pronounced His work of creation very good. And it also looks very much as if man were a natural blunderer that needs to be guided and held in check. It looked rather foolish all along to spray so much poison around.
Tractors Displace Farmers
♦ Rapidly now the tractors are displacing farmers and farm laborers. The farmer that formerly operated a 160-acre farm with horses as the motive power can now operate 320 acres with tractors, and can get along without a farm laborer in the bargain. The natural consequence is that those who can afford tractors take over the farms of those who can not and both the farmers and farm laborers are being “tractored off” the farm and out of employment, and no remedy is in sight.
Turns Bread into Milk
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♦ A Kansas dairyman buys stale bread for his cows at 1c a loaf. Each cow gets four loaves in the morning and four at night as part of its diet. Result: More milk.
100,000 Foreclosures a Year
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♦ There are about 100,000 farm foreclosures per year, and that many farmers are forced out of the only business they know and their lands are allowed to lie idle.
Good-bye to the Smokehouse
♦ Now that electricity has come to the farm, there is a new way of curing hams. The hams are put in a box 4 feet by 2 feet by 2| feet with a 200-watt electric bulb at one end wired to a thermostat. The temperature is maintained at 110 degrees Fahrenheit for seven weeks, and the hams come out uniform in color and flavor.
Sob-sistering the Pope
♦ While actually the most cruel, coldblooded potentate on earth, it suits the Devil’s purpose to have every pope, in his long white dress, held up as a sister among the other sovereigns. Hence the ideal Vatican news correspondent feels that he must write just so many sobsister stories about the monarch on his throne. Last summer an enterprising reporter said the pope refused to heed an air-raid alarm and the next day the news came out that there had been no air-raid at which he could have been alarmed even if he wanted to. The Converted Catholic says succinctly, “In other words, the whole report was concocted out of nothing to glorify the pope’s supposed bravery.”
Comforting Murderer Mussolini
♦ The following is the text of the pope’s telegram to Mussolini when his son Bruno Mussolini was killed.
“We are present at your great and sudden sorrow, Your Excellency, and accompany to God with our prayers the soul of him who passed his brief day with faith in Him. We comfort Your Excellency and all those near and dear to you with Our paternal blessing.”
Mussolini replied:
“The comforting words of Your Holiness, sent me in this hour of mourning, have touched me deeply. Together with my thanks for your blessing, I offer Your Holiness my devoted homage.”—London Catholic Herald, August 20, 1941.
The Chaplinsky Case, in New Hampshire ♦ The following is a statement of the facts in the Chaplinsky, New Hampshire, case as presented to the United States Supreme Court in a brief filed by Joseph F. Rutherford and Hayden C. Covington for the October term, 1941.
The appellant Walter Chaplinsky, on the afternoon of Saturday, April 6, 1940, was standing and walking back and forth on the sidewalk at the corner of North Main Street at Central Square in the City of Rochester, New Hampshire. He was distributing and offering to distribute Biblical periodicals entitled “Watchtower”, “Consolation” and others, and announcing his pamphlets as his means of preaching the gospel. Appellant is an ordained minister of Jehovah God and is one of Jehovah’s witnesses possessing credentials attesting to such fact.
While appellant was thus engaged in his work, a mob formed around him on the sidewalk, a tumultuous crowd of about fifty or sixty persons objected to his work and threatened him with violence if he did not discontinue. While the crowd was still around him, City Marshal Bowering, accompanied by a man named Bowman, earne through the crowd and accosted appellant, and Bowman assaulted the appellant, catching him by the throat with his left hand, and struck at him with his right fist, whereupon appellant wrenched himself free and turned to Marshal Bowering and said, “Marshal, I want you to arrest this man,” and Bowering answered, “I will if I feel like it.”
The marshal walked away with Bowman and the appellant continued his work of offering the magazines containing the message of God’s Kingdom for distribution on the sidewalk. In about four or five minutes appellant looked down South Main Street and saw Bowman coming rapidly down the street with a staff and flag in his hand, with the staff pointed towards appellant. As Bowman came within about ten feet of appellant, he made a terriffic lunge at appellant with the flagstaff as a spear in an effort to plunge the flagstaff through appellant, who avoided the blow, but was pushed by Bowman into the gutter against an automobile as he passed appellant. Bowman then walked to the corner and gave the flag to another man and came back toward appellant and caught him by the collar and said, “You son of a bitch—.” Bowman then asked the appellant, “Will you salute the flag ?”
The marshal, Officer Lapierre and two others picked him up from the ground and started him along Wakefield Street toward the City Hall, shoving him along roughly. While so doing, the appellant turned to the marshal and asked, “Will you please arrest the ones who started this fight?” and the marshal replied, “Shut up, you damn bastard, and come along,” whereupon appellant said to him, “You are a damn Fascist and a racketeer.” R. 44.
Marshal Bowering testified that appellant called him “a God-damn racketeer, a damn Fascist”. R. 12.
While being shoved and dragged by the officers to City Hall along Wakefield Street in a rough manner, appellant recognized among the officers escorting him one of the men who had struck him, and appellant asked him, “Who are you?” and the man replied, “I am a deputy sheriff.” Appellant said, “If you are a deputy sheriff this whole city officials of Rochester are Fascists.” As they entered the City Hall, the man who identified himself as a deputy sheriff named Ralph Dunlap said to the appellant, “You son of a biteh, we ought to have left you to that crowd there and have them kill you”; and Marshal Bowering shoved appellant down into a chair and said to appellant, “You unpatriotic dog, I am going to arrest you on account you called me a God-damned Fascist,” to which appellant replied, “You are a liar, I did not call you a God-damned Fascist.” Appellant testified ho called him “a damn Fascist”. R. 44.
The concluding article in the brief will be read with great interest by all who
Jehovah’s Kingdom publishers in action on the streets of Providence, Rhode Island
JUNE 10, 1942 21
respect Judge Rutherford’s memory. So far as known, this is the last case in which he appeared before the United States Supreme Court. He passed away January 8, 1942, but though he 'rests from his labors, his works do follow him’. (Revelation 14:13) Read this conclusion carefully:
Conclusion
To permit this conviction to stand means the end of free speech and constitutional liberty in this country. Chaplinsky, the appellant, was engaged in a Godly and Christlike work, as an ordained minister of Jehovah God, peaceably and quietly standing on the sidewalk exhibiting literature to passersby. Because the message contained in the pamphlets and magazines was not suitable to the rabble element of Rochester, including members of the police department, a mob formed and gathered about him, threatening him with violence unless he discontinued his work. He refused to discontinue his lawful and constitutionally guaranteed work, as well as refused to salute the flag, the staff of which had been wrongfully and unjustly used as a spear or javelin in assault against him. He violated no American law by thus refusing-He was, therefore, assaulted and beaten in the presence of public officers, one of whom actually participated in such maltreatment, and which officers subsequently arrested him.
Thus it is manifest that the real motive and reason for the arrest of the appellant, Chaplinsky, was the fact that he chose to obey Almighty God and preach the Gospel in spite of mob violence, following exactly in the footsteps of Jesus Christ’s faithful apostle Paul and God’s faithful prophet Jeremiah.
Because Chaplinsky was not a coward, but boldly trusted in Jehovah God, Marshal Bowering saw fit to ‘frame mischief by law5 (Psalm 94:20), knowing that unless he framed Chaplinsky, he would be unable to stop his lawful activity.
Under all the facts and circumstances, Chaplinsky was justified in saying what he did say and such utterances were provoked by the police, one of whom participated in the mob.
For the reasons hereinbefore discussed, the judgment of the courts below should be reversed and the appellant discharged, or in the alternative, for procedural errors, the judgment should be reversed and the cause remanded for new trial.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph F. Rutherford Hayden C. Covington Attorneys for Appellant The Supreme Court decided adversely, despite 36 pages of excellent arguments that Chaplinsky was wholly within his rights and wholly justified in rebuking those who feignedly arrested him for his protection but actually to figure out some way to get something on him.
An ambassador of The Theocracy will profit by this experience and train himself so as not to lose his temper while being mistreated by the "strong-arm squad”, remembering, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35), and also keeping in mind the words of David, “I will keep , my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.” —Psalm 39:1.
When Walter Chaplinsky found that he must spend six months in prison (at the Stratford County Farm, Dover, New Hampshire) he wrote to the Society expressing great appreciation of what had been done in his behalf, saying, “At all times I shall, by the Lord’s grace, stand firm for The Theocracy, and will await the day of my release with joy. Your brother by His grace, Walter Chaplinsky.” No doubt some of the Lord’s “other sheep”, seeing their fellow witness in prison, will wish to write to him, as the Lord suggests in Matthew 25: 36, and ‘comfort him with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God’.—2 Corinthians 1:4.
Argentinians Long for The Theocracy ♦ The people in general are poor, which has always been noticeable in all Catholic-dominated countries, beca,use the common people are oppressed and what few cents they obtain and have left over
CONSOLATION
must always be turned over to the priest. It is reported that during the year past the conditions are much worse for the common people and that because of the bodily hunger on their part it is hard for them to contribute even a few cents for literature. While wheat is piled high in railroad stations and warehouses, and much more is piled high in the fields and simply covered with canvases, it is left to the rats and other pests to destroy, and the poor undernourished people must go without eating anything. The Branch servant remarks that it is hard to explain how, in the face of plenty, the people must go hungry; yet it is so under the reign of “the god of this world”, who is Satan the Devil. Thank God, conditions such as this will change and will not exist under The Theocracy.—1942 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses.
“Jehovah Looseth the Prisoners”
♦ I have a great desire to leave Satan’s organization, after reading several books and Watchtowers. I am out at business all day and do not live in my own home, so never have the opportunity of opening the door to Jehovah’s witnesses. If you could forward me the address of the secretary for the High Wycombe area, or their times and places of study, I should be very grateful, so that I can seek them out and join with them in carrying out Jehovah’s command. I have already placed an order for The Watchtower through some friends in the Nottingham area, and have received the two latest. I have studied them closely and found great joy in them, but need to join with the others of good-will. Yours faithfully, E. A. E., England.
Witnessing in a Concentration Camp
♦ Information at hand shows that there are- some privileges of witnessing for the Kingdom in at least one of the concentration camps in occupied France. Further information is withheld, so that the privileges granted by the Lord may not be interfered with.
She Answered Her Own Question
♦ Newly interested woman: “I can’t see that it is fair and just for God to destroy the poor little innocent children in the Armageddon slaughter mentioned at Ezekiel 9.” J.w.: “Children often grow up to be as big rascals as their godless parents. God cannot allow anyone, adult or child, to pass through Armageddon who might mar the purity and perfection of the ‘new world wherein dwelleth righteousness’. Remember, Hitler was once an innocent little baby.” Newly interested woman: “Hitler should have been strangled at birth. If he had died as a child, look what a lot of misery would have been prevented.” J.w.: “You have answered your own question. That is exactly what God is going to do in Armageddon, nip evil in the bud by destroying all creatures on earth who are not devoted to Him, to prevent affliction rising the second» time.” All the friends laughed when the foregoing occurred at our Bolsover (Britain) study.—Contrib.
One Less Graven Image
♦ On our return call on a lady of Catholic sympathies, she was telling us of how her Catholic sister had given to her a casket containing an image of the pope. She had given it to her little boy to play with. When his mother asked him who he had, he said it was Jesus. It was plain to see how he was worshiping it. Realizing the snare that the little chap was falling into, I explained to his mother from the Scriptures about images, and turned up Exodus 20. We also showed from the Bible and the physical facts the intrigues of the Roman Catholic system. This lady then went up to the child and got the casket and image from him and threw it into the fire. Since then she has been explaining to her neighbor about the truth and" is also reading the Children book to this neighbor. She is teaching her children from the book, and has taught them the prayer quoted on page 26 from Psalm 25: 4-7.—J. A. W., England.
(To be continued)
The Flag
Its Friends,
Jehovah’s witnesses—
Who respect it as the emblem of liberty.
Who befriend it by fighting for the Constitution it symbolizes.
Whose sincerity in acknowledging God above the flag points the way to The Theocracy.
Whose true patriotism seeks the people’s good, that is, the Kingdom, which is God’s way to salvation and life.
Its Enemies in Its Folds,
Catholic Legionnaires, Priests, Dupes—
Who hate liberty.
Who seek to destroy the Constitution.
Whose hypocrisy ensnares the people in treacherous religion.
Whose pretended patriotism is a smokescreen to cover Nazi-Catholic schemes of world domination.
Its Friends (continued)
Who emphasize its virtues by seeking the liberty not to salute, which is guaranteed by the flag’s creators.
Whose frankness and courage and devotion to Jehovah’s law is the essence of Americanism.
Who boldly and steadfastly stand for Jehovah’s Theocracy, or Kingdom, as man’s only hope.
Who seek Jehovah’s new Government of Righteousness.
Who warn the people of the danger of Armageddon.
Who expose the conspirators against the principles of which the flag is the emblem.
Its Enemies (continued)
Who disgrace its name by hiding mob-ocracy behind its folds.
Who give it the salute of Judas while stabbing its mother in the back.
Who secretly ally themselves with America’s enemies, Nazism, Fascism, Romanism, and Shintoism.
Who support the Hierarchy’s “new order” of wickedness.
Who conceal from the people their way of escape from destruction ahead.
Who betray the flag and the land over which it waves.
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”
CHRISTIANS sing praises to God and His King; for that is Jehovah’s will concerning them. It is also His will that such singing be done “with understanding”. (Psalm 47:7) That means study!
Home Study
Everyone who is a student of the Bible, everyone who wants to preach “this gospel of the kingdom”, should know something about careful study at home. Digging out information about certain words, finding out their meaning, and locating scriptures which prove the doctrine one wishes to teach concerning them, all requires individual study at home. Such “homework” not only will be profitable to one as an individual student, but may be put to use in Jehovah’s service.
When confronted with a word or topic for consideration, ask concerning it such questions as Who ? How ? When ? Where ? What? and Why? The reason is this: If one of Jehovah’s witnesses is going to make a back-call, and intends to discuss, for example, the earth, there would be certain scriptures to which he would wish to direct attention. The above questions would assure complete coverage of the various acts and purposes of Jehovah relative to the earth. The persons being visited may ask, Who made the earth? Who owns it? Who will inhabit it? Who shall rule it? How was it created? When was it formed? When will it end? Where is it? What is it? Why was it made? Be able to give to every man an answer to these and other questions on the Scriptures.
Now, one should give a Scriptural answer, not one’s own ideas, not the traditions or theories of men, but what the Bible says. There are several ways of obtaining scriptures in answer to these questions. First of all, take the Watchtower Bible helps and look up in the indexes of these books the word “earth”. Under such headings as ‘Earth created for’, ‘Earth inhabited by,’ etc., reference will be given to certain pages and paragraphs. Then read these pages, find out what the Lord has revealed about the earth, and note on these pages the texts proving the various points.
After one has searched through these Bible helps and obtained some texts and learned their proper application, one may want more scriptures than these found in the books; so, in the Bible itself check any marginal references given with these texts and thus locate additional scriptures, checking in turn their marginal references; and so continue until this source of further texts is exhausted.
There may still be scriptures concerning the earth which would be of value on a back-call. Go to a concordance— an exhaustive one, such as Strong’s, if available—and complete the assembling of texts bearing on the word “earth”. In this manner a great array of scriptures dealing with the earth may be accumulated, doubtless many more than necessary. You may have forty or fifty texts. From these pick out the ones that present most clearly and forcefully Jehovah’s purposes concerning the earth, answering by such texts the questions hereinbefore mentioned.
Such study will teach one to choose the most pertinent scriptures on a given point of doctrine, and also the most efficient use of the Watchtower publications. Thus run to and fro in the Scriptures and increase your knowledge of God. Search and dig for it as for hid treasures. So doing, you will find the knowledge of God; for Jehovah has so promised.. (Proverbs 2:1-7) Then let such light shine to His glory.
Presenting the Message
Not only must one who is a servant of the Lord carefully consider the message he is commissioned to proclaim, but he must also have in mind other factors. First, the messenger’s own appearance and bearing. When one is engaged in the Lord’s service, that person is representing Jehovah and bearing His name. Any misconduct or untidy personal appearance would inevitably reflect upon the honor of that name and Jehovah’s people as a whole. Therefore it goes beyond a personal matter with the individual. The proper course in this is set down in the Scriptures, man’s true guide in all things. One should speak boldly, yet with kindness; neither apologetically nor rudely; fearlessly, but without arrogance. With calmness and dignity speak the words which Jehovah has put in the mouths of His servants. As admonished, at 2 Corinthians 7:1, be neat and tidy and clean in physical appearance. Do not suffer because of personal negligence in this respect or bring reproach upon the Lord’s organization, but rather let all suffering be for righteousness’ sake, because of unswerving devotion and integrity toward the Almighty.—2 Cor. 6: 3.
Another factor to be considered is the actual delivery of the message, particularly in the case of a prepared speech before an audience assembled in a hall. Much has been written about delivery, and while it has doubtless been overemphasized by those of the world, proper delivery will add much to the effectiveness of the talk.
There are three methods of conveying thought in delivering a speech. Two are supplementary, which are gestures and facial expression, and the third and most important is the oral means of expression. Gestures can be very effective if used sparingly and at the right place. Some may be able to use their face, eyes, and to some extent their body, but it should be done with care. A gesture can emphasize a thought and be most effective at times, but loses force when it is used too often and becomes a distracting mannerism. Gestures should never be studied. They should be natural, spontaneous and unaffected.
One should enunciate clearly, pronounce correctly, and place not only emphasis on the right word but also the proper degree of emphasis. Pitch and inflection of the voice should be varied, avoiding a monotone, and volume of speech should change.
The keynote should be simplicity, sincerity and clearness of utterance. Never try to imitate any man, particularly the clergy. They lack knowledge, sincerity and conviction. To cover up such deficiencies they resort to showy oratory, which is vain and displeasing to God. It is an exhibition of the speaker, not of the subject.
These general points concerning delivery are mentioned and may prove helpful, but the most important requisite for effective speaking is already possessed by all of Jehovah's witnesses, namely, a deep and unshakable conviction of the importance of the message they declare. The enthusiasm, warmth and unquestionable sincerity with which they speak does more than anything else to make a talk persuasive. Their heart is in it. “For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”—Luke 6:45.
The apostle Paul was not the most polished speaker so far as impressive delivery was concerned. 2 Corinthians 10:10, according to Weymouth, says: “His personal presence is unimpressive, and as for eloquence, he has none.” He said himself that he didn’t come with ‘surpassing eloquence’. (1 Corinthians 2:1) He did not strive for that. Yet because of his Scriptural wisdom and spiritual understanding, and because of the earnest conviction and sincerity with which he spoke, he almost persuaded King Agrippa to become a Christian!
So, in delivering the message of the Kingdom, the Lord’s people already possess the foremost essential. The other counsel here presented on delivery may be used to assist in good presentation of the subject matter, but never should it be allowed to overshadow the material. It should be so subordinated as to unobtrusively add to, not detract from, the subject. Anything that might focus attention on the speaker rather than the message should be studiously shunned.
By God’s grace this counsel will make all Theocratic publishers better instruments in God’s hands to be used in His “strange work”.
Gallimaufry
Her Heart’s Desire Was Granted
♦ I am a little girl ten years old. I have been in Birmingham, Alabama, a few months, visiting my grandparents, and since I have been here I have come into the Truth, and have been working with my grandmother and other friends. My parents are not in the Truth, but, by the Lord’s grace, I hope to get them into the Truth soon. I live in C——, Republic of Honduras, and am returning on the sixteenth of this month. I would like to do some witness work down there when I go back, and, as there is no company of Jehovah’s witnesses there, I wish you would send me instructions. I love the Truth and would like to know how to proceed and make my reports. I surely want to be one of the Lord’s “other sheep”. A friend of The Theocracy, Frances Richardson.
Farmers Forbidden to Harvest
♦ At Dickinson, North Dakota, ten farmers were prevented by court injunction from harvesting crops because they had been planted on government-owned land; but there was such a wave of indignation that the harvesting was permitted, with the question still before the court as to what disposition would be made of the crops.
5.5 Tons of Cotton per Acre
♦ The world’s record of cotton per acre is held by two Russian women, Madraim Babarahimov and Madjid Kurbavnov, who picked 5.5 tons per acre. Their nearest competitor is a Russian man, Ahmedjan Tashbayev, who picked 5.4 tons.
Captain Kelly a Presbyterian
♦ The Monitor calls attention to the disguised and generally hidden information that the courageous aviator Colin P. Kelly, Jr., who sank the Japanese battleship Haruna, was a Presbyterian. President Roosevelt bestowed great honors upon Kelly’s surviving son, and with this the American people were well pleased.
The Pope’s Brother
♦ The pope’s brother, Marchese Pacelli, is dead, and the Italian king has just lifted his three surviving boys to royal rank, at Mussolini’s request. It was Marchese who spent six and one-half years running back and forth between Mussolini and the pope, working out the details of the -present Lateran Treaty and Concordat. The story is that in that time he had 129 audiences with the pope, many of them late at night, so that others would know nothing about them, and some of them four hours in length. Also, he had more than 100 conferences with Mussolini and other representatives of both the Vatican and the Italian government until they finally ironed out all the wrinkles by which Italy is what it is and Vatican City is what it is. Now the three sons of Marchese come in for the pay-off.
Toronto Bible House Blacklisted
♦ Through its absolute control of the province of Quebec, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is in complete control of Canada. This is seen in an official order of the Canadian post office department that the Toronto Bible House may neither receive nor dispatch mail because, forsooth, it will not give written assurance that it will not “distribute any more such pamphlets as caused complaint” and which pamphlets, it seems, “attacked the Catholic Church.”
Bibles in Montreal
♦ The Monitor contains a good story that a woman in Montreal got hold of a Bible. Her priest did not wish her to have it, and finally, after raising the ante several times, purchased it for $25. Thereupon the woman went to the book depot and got 25 copies of the same work for her own use and for distribution among her friends. No details are given, and the story may be a yarn, but also it may be true.
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British Comment
By J. Hemery {London)
[Compiled, this issue, in America.—Ed.]
The Fall of Singapore
♦ It was a great shock to all the Allied nations when the Japanese took Singapore. The British had figured the Japanese would have to come by sea. They came by land . instead, and captured 13,000 Australians, 15,000 Britons, and 32,000 Indians. Sir Shenton Thomas, governor of the Straits Settlements, who illegally and unfairly intercepted the literature of The Theocracy en route from New York to Bangkok, was one of those made prisoners. He seems to have been a poor manager of a $100,000,000 plant.
There are 700,000,000 rubber trees in Malaya and Sumatra. Nobody had time to cut them down; so the Japanese have the rubber supply of almost the whole earth in their hands. But where will they sell it? They are at war with almost all the nations that constitute their market.
Some of the newspaper correspondents think the Japanese could have been stopped if it had not been for the inefficiency of men like Sir Shenton Thomas. As it was, the troops fell back ten miles or so a day on schedule; vast storehouses of food were left untouched; boats of all kinds were left undamaged; at Penang a quarter of a million dollars was left in the treasury, and the broadcasting station was undamaged. All the Japanese had to do was to come in, take over the treasury and start broadcasting. A writer, referring to men like Shenton Thomas, said, caustically, “Up until the day of the war, the colonial administration was unable to distinguish between Japanese as potential enemies and the Chinese as allies.”
The London News Chronicle quotes
Cecil Brown, of the Columbia Broadcasting System, as criticizing the “Singapore mentality” in the following language:
For civilians, this walking death is characterized by apathy in all affairs except making tin and rubber money, having stengahs [whisky and soda] between 5 and 8 p.m., keeping fit and being known as a “good chap” and getting thoroughly “plawstered” on Saturday night. Singapore, so far, represents the pinnacle of the examples of the countries which were unprepared physically and mentally for war. [January 13, 1942]
Concerning the march down the Malay peninsula the Altoona Tribune, January 13, 1942, had the following account:
British colonials and Japs now in a last-ditch battle in Malaya are like soldiers dodging in and out among the props of a bizarre three-ring circus. Nature’s menagerie is filled with fierce beasts and its sideshow freaks are some of the world’s strangest savages. Monsoons deluge the east coast jungles and malarial germs fill the sickly swamps in which crocodiles lie in ambush. If it were not for rubber, tin, and Singapore, no human would fight for the pest hole, according to New York explorers who have recently returned. Delayed floods are about the only misery lacking this season.
Here are seladangs, the most ferocious of wild bisons, and more man-eating tigers than in any other spot on earth. Pythons, king cobras, and boa constrictors writhe in the undergrowth. Lurking always are the Sakai, the aborigines, armed with blow guns that shoot poisoned darts. These nomads believe in evil spirits, and when one dies his hut is instantly burned to destroy the devils.
This is the land of Lord Jim, Conrad’s strange hero. Scotch soldiers are learning that kilts have no place in the jungle. White men wear long trousers with stockings pulled over the cuff lest fever-spreading mosquitoes and blood-sucking leeches bite them. These inch-long worms drop from the trees on bare skin. If slapped they leave their heads in one’s flesh, which cause septic sores. To get rid of them the victim touches each with the lighted end of a cigarette. But in war even this relief is denied, for the glowing butt is a target for a sniper’s bullet.
The New York Times took the fall of Singapore pretty hard. It said, in part: (February 12, 1942)
Through the smoke we see with dreadful clarity how weak the anchors are on which we based our assumptions that at least the foundations of our world were stable. They are not; Singapore, above all, was a point of equilibrium, and in the light of what it has meant in the delicate balance between East and West, in the gradual process of integration between two worlds, the firing of the city by the British is almost as shattering as its conquest by the Japanese. For this is like burning in effigy a symbol of our civilization, and it reveals more clearly than anything that has happened that civilization as we know it is literally at stake in this war.
Why Singapore Fell
-
♦ The London correspondent of the Vancouver Daily Province, A. C. Cummings, writes that—
Singapore’s fall, it is being revealed, was nearly as much due to failure of the British population there to take the war at all seriously as to the mistakes of the government and its naval and military advisers. Up to a few days before the surrender, social life, including teas, dinners and dancing, was carried on as usual in the doomed city.
The Manchester Guardian, in its issue of February 20, 1942, goes more into detail, and, though not mentioning by name the governor general of Malaya, who, shortly before he became a prisoner of war, found time and inclination to detain shipments of books explaining the Bible (most certainly at the instance of some half-baked, half-witted religionist), put it down in black and "white in this wise:
The absence of forceful leadership at the top made itself felt from the top downward. The material of the men was potentially good. Something was lacking to crystallize it, to coordinate it, to infuse it with the fire of confidence.
The same lack of dynamism, of aggressive energy, characterized the upper ranks of the civilian administration. Perhaps it is impossible to retain these qualities after a lifetime spent in the easy-going routine of colonial administration, much of it in the enervating heat of the tropics. In Malaya there was time for static to be replaced by dynamic and able leadership. The Government had no roots in the life of the people of the country.
Many small ships and launches that could have brought many thousands of people away from Singapore were anchored out in the harbor, but they never sailed, because the native crews had deserted and there were not enough Europeans to man and stoke them. After nearly 120 years of British rule the vast majority of Asiatics were not sufficiently interested in this rule to take any steps to ensure its continuance.
And if it is true that the Government had no roots in the life of the people it is equally true that a few thousand British officials in Malaya and a few thousand British residents who made their living out of the country— virtually none of whom looked upon Malaya as being their hbme—were completely out of touch with the people. British and Asiatics lived their lives apart. There was never any fusion or even cementing of these two groups. British rule and culture and the small British community formed no more than a thin and brittle veneer.
The India Problem
-
♦ It seems to be well accepted that the India problem is beyond the power of man to solve. The 80,000,000 Moslems want a state of their own, but they are interspersed throughout the remaining 320,000,000 Hindus. There are 60,000,000 so-called “untouchables”, among the common people; they want equality; and there are 260,000,000 Hindus all about them who do not intend they shall have it. There are 225 languages, and 85 percent of the people are illiterates. There are 600 Indian princes, one of whom, the nizam of Hyderabad, is lord over an area as large as Italy. Somebody has said that the India problem is so complex that no one can solve it without first living in India for thirty years, and by that time he would not be able to grasp anything. Of course, The Theocracy, which is the kingdom for which Jesus taught His followers to pray, is the solution for India’s problems and for those of the whole world.
Criticism of Burma Road Conditions
♦ All trucking is under the control of the Southwest Transportation Company, a monopoly that formerly charged 15 percent of the value of all shipments, including “lend-lease” war equipment, but which now charges “nominal” rates —and diverts most of the shipments to “contractors” at double and triple rates. The company is, of course, owned by private capitalists who have the support of officials of the Chungking government. Profits are estimated at $30 per ton for three-day hauls and are quite obviously shared with the government officials who also protect the food racketeers who have forced the price of the necessary foods to almost prohibitive levels.
American limousines that sell at four to ten times their normal sales price, whisky that sells at $20 and even $30 a bottle, “perfume for wives or concubines” that is almost priceless, vast quantities of gasoline that is sold privately at $1.60 a gallon, such commodities are given precedence over the one road open to China, while medical supplies, blankets and similar necessities donated by China relief committees are allowed to rot in warehouses at the wrong end of the road.
Mr. Stowe doesn’t say it, but the fault for the prevalent condition lies with the Chinese capitalists. Profits can be made by a transportation monopoly, by passing through luxuries for a .small number of wealthy and influential Chinese capitalists, so the wounded of the Chinese armies must go without medicinal supplies, so the Chinese war effort itself must be endangered. The capitalists call it “private enterprise”.—Weekly People (Socialist, New York), January 10,1942.
The Ants and Leeches of Malaya
As he (the soldier) struggles beneath the boughs he will see them suddenly covered with red ants running from hidden places. They have furiously gleaming black eyes, red mandibles. They drop all over him and search for bare flesh. An ant will bite till it is killed.
But the ants are not so bad as the brown leeches. Upon the leaves and grass-stalks they stand on their tails— some scarcely thicker than a thread, some an inch and a half long.
If they cannot find a way through your boots or puttees they climb your legs to your knees: get at you they will. If one bites you others attacking later will descend at once upon the sore first made. They hang in clusters on the body. A leech’s bite causes irritation for days.
The forest vegetation itself is more than a hindrance. There are trees that grow long slender tendrils armed with talon-thorns that cling sharply to anything that runs into them.—Sir George Maxwell, quoted in London Sunday Express.
Elephants Try to Remain Sane
♦ Dispatches from Burma state that when the respectable elephant population learned that their white keepers had gone mad and were bombing each other, they also went mad and stampeded in great herds through the villages and along the marshy river banks. Anne O’Hare McCormick, in the New York Times says:
The thought of those frenzied mammoths going berserk under a rain of bombs lends a kind of primeval terror to the Burmese campaign. The scene it conjures up is like an awful allegory, the jungle stirred to revolt by the whirring engines of destruction conceived by the Power Age.
If one did not know that present conditions in the earth are the result of long-planned activities by the big Devil and the host of little devils, it would almost be necessary to conjure up devils to account for them.
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