"Men’s Hearts Failing Them for Fear”

In all walks of life is reflected the fear Jesus foretold

Rumania Under Totalitarian Shadows

Terrorism, restrictions and monetary troubles abound

Hurricane!

An ill wind that blows nobody any good

Lent—Christian or Pagan?

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

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CONTENTS

“Men’s Hearts Failing' Them for Fear”

War Jitters

Economic and Social Fears

U. N. Tower of Confusion

Vicious Armament Race

Clergy Are Trembling with Fear

Scientists Frightened by Future

Lacona Petition to Supreme Court Denied

Power-hungry Blasphemers Covet the World 11

Totalitarian Shadows on Rumania

Russian Rule

Soupless Days to Relieve Housing Shortage 16

Hurricane!

Causes of Hurricanes

Destructive Power

The Walking Dead'

Types of Leprosy

Filaria and Elephantiasis

Disaster Strikes in the U. S. A. “Thy Word Is Truth”

Miraculous Gift of Tongues

Lent—Christian or Pagan

Ever-changing Lent Customs

Watching the World

/WWCi/

Now it is high, time to awake.'—Romans 13:11 Qj

Volume XXIX              , '        Brooklyn, N. Y., February 22, 1948           \               Number 4

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"Men’s Hearts Failing Them for Fear”

NEVER was there a time in the history of man when distress and perplexity lay so heavily upon the nations as it does today. Never was there a time when anxiety, fear, alarm, panic and fright crushed upon the minds of the people as now. Never was there a time when the world was in such a bewildered, uncertain and shaky condition of agitation and turmoil. Beset by the disconcerting affairs, events and developments in the world today, and the terrible forebodings of the future, the people are plagued with a vexation of spirit and a painful uneasiness of mind. In the throes of these prevailing conditions many people are mentally prostrate, frozen with terror and paralyzed with horror. Chaos and confusion reign in many places. Mad hysteria has seized the masses, and trepidation and terror has taken hold of the rulers.

And why not? Are there not plenty of reasons for this morbid fear that has seized mankind? Look at the mountain of crushing economic conditions, the insurmountable barriers to world, peace and. the open threat of an atomic war that confronts this twentieth-century world. Look at the political afflictions that enmesh humanity; the hatred in Palestine, the killings in India, the hunger in Europe, the rebellion in Greece, the trouble in Indonesia and Indo-China, the race riots in Africa, the unrest in Egypt, the scarcity in England, the inflation in America, the war in China, the revolutions in Latin America, the bondage in Spain and Russia, all of these mounting problems are topped by even a greater issue, international atomic energy control. Little wonder, then, that these insoluble troubles accompanied by one emergency after another and one crisis after another have caused the stoutest hearts to faint with fear.

To prove that this is so, one has only to listen to the daily conversation of the people in the market places, -the factories, the offices, and the homes. Daily the radio and newspapers describe this universal fear and trembling. The common man knows this to be a fact, but for the benefit of those having a “show me” attitude, who demand an exact quotation, it is well to submit a few of the words from the lips of eminent personages: statesmen, financiers, clergymen, scientists.

Pierre van Paassen, the noted correspondent, lecturer and author, known best by his book Days of Our Tears, writing in Woman’s Day, said:

We are living in a crazy world, a world possessed. Our Puritan ancestors might well have called it a world possessed of the Devil. For evil and violence and heart-rending anxiety seem to have gained the upper ham for the time being, so that even the most Christian and the most peace-loving nations on earth are caught in a seething whirlpool.

The pillars of society have begun to shake. The foundations of truth and humanity, of reason and justice, which we thought of enduring character and of lasting value, sometimes seem to be disintegrating. At times we feel as if the very ground under our feet were trembling, and we no longer know on what to build or where to take our stand. The future weighs upon us as a terrible, incomprehensible burden under which nobody dares to plan and scarcely anyone dares to look ahead.

Winston Churchill likewise expressed his fear in his famous address at Fulton, Mo. Speaking of “the awful ruin of Europe” and the danger of collapse of the U. N. “temple of peace”, he said:

When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualize what is actually happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth. . . . Now, at this sad, breathless moment, we are plunged in the hunger and distress which are the aftermath of our stupendous struggle. . . . The Dark Ages may return, the Stone Age may return on the gleaming wings of science, and what might now shower immeasurable material blessings upon mankind may even bring about its total destruction. Beware, I say; time may be short. A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory.

A year and a half later Churchill is still filled with woe. Conditions in India, he says, constitute “one of the most melancholy tragedies Asia has ever known”. In Britain conditions are much worse now than during the war, he says, “but what has happened so far is only a foretaste of what is to come.” Though not expecting an immediate war, Churchill declares, “I cannot exclude the danger of war”; hence the Western democracies should “take every measure of prudent defensive preparation that is open to them”.

*

War Jitters

This fear of war is on all their lips. Senator Millard E. Tydings expressed the fear of many people when he declared: “In the present world situation all nations continue to straddle. They rely half on the United Nations to settle international disputes and half on their own mighty armaments, just in case. If the world continues to straddle, all is lost.” “American policy,” according to the newspaper columnist, Max Lerner, “proceeds both from a sense of power and a sense Of fear.” Moreover, he says, “the scared men in the Kremlin are matched by the scared men in Wall Street and Washington. The combination of power and fear on both sides may prove a fatal one for the world.” A scared man of the Research and Development Board, Dr. Vannevar Bush, fears that “the danger of aggression and war” is so great that the United States will have to maintain its military strength “for years to come”. Fear dictated the former secretary of state, James Byrnes, to say in his recent book Speaking Frankly that the only alternative to an agreement with Russia is to make “bigger and better atom bombs”. Fear also moved the prominent Socialist leader, Norman Thomas, to cry out: “Angels must weep at the spectacle of hungry peoples having barely survived one total war already preparing frantically to fight the third, deliberately robbing their children of bread in order to provide bombs.”

When Dr. Oswaldo Aranha, of Brazil, opened the second regular session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 17 he described the fearful conditions in the earth. “At the moment,” he said, “we have victorious peoples and vanquished peoples, while nearly all are burdened with poverty and fear. Peace in the occupied regions is merely a military condition. . . . Europe is an economic tragedy and a military question mark. In Asia the tide of blood which the war swept in has not ebbed away. . . . The next ten years may be envisaged as a period of doubts and insecurity.” Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Indian representative to the General Assembly, noted the “tense suspense” in the world and warned that there was “an uneasy awareness that things are perhaps moving toward some new and annihilating disaster for mankind”.

Pointing to other causes for mankind’s jitters, Joseph P. Kennedy, former United States ambassador to Great Britain, said Americans today are confused and restless because “administration economists have become politicians, and statesmen pose as economists. The net result is a very sickening and discouraging political economic philosophy which has given the nation a case of first-degree jitters”. Henry Wallace is also fearful of the “dangerous course” that the nation is following, one in which he says “every propaganda technique known to man is being used to win support for basically rotten policies”.

Europe’s condition, said Myron C. Taylor, Truman’s 73-year-old “messenger boy” to the Vatican, is “a pretty sad picture, politically and economically”. Herbert H. Lehman, former governor of New York and who was director general of UNRRA, said that the world as a whole is really gambling for the very “existence of civilization and humanity”. And Secretary of State Marshall declared “we must face the facts”, for “we are faced with the danger of the actual disappearance of the characteristics of Western civilization on which our government and our manner of living are tiased”.

These are the grave warnings of world leaders, and throughout they are punctuated with fear. One can feel the pessimism, anxiety and frightful alarm that has taken hold of these men.

Economic and Social Fears

Robert Wood Johnson, in his book Or Forfeit Freedom, after discussing the labor management problem, says that “if it is not solved, our society will collapse, plunging us and perhaps the rest of the world into new and terrible Dark Ages”. Senator Taft is also alarmed, saying that the “abuses in the labor field can only lead to conditions which require violent emergency action”. The president of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, Morgan L. Fitch, is frightened over the possibility of a “ruinous” inflation, but M. S. Eccles, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, fears that a “severe economic storm” is threatening and an “economic collapse” is sure to come if inflation continues.

The horrifying specter of starvation that stalks through the earth today strikes with terror even those that are well fed. Viewing Europe, Truman says that “France and Italy are without adequate food and fuel supplies for the . . . winter, and do not have the resources with which to buy them”. “The battle to save food jn the United States is the battle to save our own prosperity and to save the free countries of western Europe.” Frightened by the turn of events, Truman, in calling an extraordinary and special session of Congress, declared: “Our domestic prosperity is endangered by the threat of inflation; the peace of the world is endangered by hunger and cold in other lands.” James Forrestal, secretary of defense, said that the war “we are waging is against hunger and desolation, against oppression and tyranny, against disease and despair”. A crisis has been reached, says Secretary of State Marshall: “European economy might well break down under the intolerable strain of another winter of hunger, cold and want.” Dr. Martha M. Eliot, chief medical consultant of the U. N. International Children’s Emergency Fund, says that large numbers of Europe’s children are “terribly in need of still more food and clothing”. Europe’s hunger, says Secretary of Agriculture Anderson, is the kind “that gnaws at the very vitals of the human being, the kind of hunger that forces the body to feed upon itself”. Pleading for food, former governor of New York,

Herbert H. Lehman, says: “We must act quickly. We are in a battle against time. We cannot afford to give too little or too late. If we do not act properly I am fearful there will be chaos in all Europe.” Laments Secretary of Commerce Harriman: "I wish you could see, as I have, the slim margin of life of people in many countries and understand what will happen if enough food fails to come from us this winter.” Also Charles Luckman, chairman of the Citizen’s Committee, voices his fears: “Today the people of Europe are once again enslaved, this time by the tyranny of hunger. . . . We must fight. Food is the only weapon that can defeat hunger.”

Other people, no less worried over the shortage of food in the earth, yet fearful that the leaders at the top are incompetent,, have reasons to be panicky. They remember that the same secretary of agriculture, Anderson, that is now pleading for them to save food ordered the dumping and destruction of 45,000,000 bushels of potatoes last winter when people were starving, in order to keep prices up. Senator Leverett Saltonstall demands to know why the government was holding 90,000,000 pounds of eggs in dried and frozen forms at a time when eggless and meatless days were the order. Meantime, while such confusion worries people in America, this winter the 1,500,000 surviving European Jews will face their worst crisis since the war, according to Moses W. Beckelman. The wailing of the Jews over the plight of their people on Yom Kippur was heard around the globe. And in Palestine the Arab and Jewish situation casts a frightful shadow of woes to come. The oriental, on the other hand, is not concerned over the troubles of Europe and the Jews; he has his own. In India, starvation, floods, killings, 100,000 tons of rice lost, and cattle destroyed, are the brutal tragedies of the land, and Prime Minister Nehru fears that the riots and killings will lead India into a form of fascism.

In addition to the economic troubles the postwar era “has ushered us into a time of moral confusion”, says the “Rev.” Dr. John S. Bonnell, of New York. With a high rate of divorces and juvenile delinquency, and “a marked decline in sexual morality, the sickness of our society is plainly revealed”, he declared. “Rev.” Dr. W. E. Purcell, of Maidstone, England, says that this ‘social rot that has set in’ has “presented a frightening picture”. It is “short-sighted to spend billions to bring about a betterment in economic conditions” and at the same time fail to solve the problem of youth, says the editor in chief of the Toledo Blade. Five hundred missionaries and Congregational Church leaders have asserted that action must be taken on these social' problems if war and chaos are to be prevented from spreading. Such are the expressions of fear that come from a large body of the perplexed population.

U. N. Tower of Confusion

Nothing personifies the truth that ‘men’s hearts are failing them for fear’ better than the monumental U. N. “Tower of Babel”. Erected as a symbol of peace, with a banner on which are twin olive branches encircling a map of the world, the United Nations is hailed by many fearful individuals as “the last opportunity to rid the world of the scourge of a new war, and secure for the peoples those four freedoms for which they fought”, to quote Chile’s U.N. delegate, Senator Jose Maza. Others say that “there is no cure for the ills of the world outside these [U. N.] principles”, and morally, ideologically and militarily it is “the world’s most important instrument for the defense of peace-loving nations”. Hector McNeil, the U.N. British delegate, avers: “If we darpage this Charter, if we harm it, if we fall short of it,” then history “will overtake us and damn us forever”. Such oratorical eloquence springs from men who are desperate with fear and are trembling in their boots.

Other people who are more realistic are frightened at the utter failure of the United Nations. To quote the Denver Post, the U. N. has been reduced “to a mere forum of word throwing, incapable of enforcing the peace”. The Chinese foreign minister, Dr. Wang, quakes to think that the “United Nations has reached a point when its future development and possibly its very existence hang in the balance”. After listing the defects of the U. N. the Netherlands ambassador to the United States, van Klef-fens, said: “Small wonder that people of Holland are critical of the United Nations. They joined with enthusiasm,’’ but “they have been seriously disappointed. They know they are not the only ones who are so disappointed and alarmed”. It is almost ludicrous to hear Dr. Evatt, Australia’s U. N. delegate, say with all seriousness that the U. N. fails to maintain world peace because there “is as yet no world peace to maintain”. Frightened men are not able to reason or think straight.

Even Trygve Lie, the secretary general of the United Nations, admits that the U. N. has “made little progress toward capturing the enthusiasm and harnessing the imagination of the peoples of the world”. And this in spite of the fact that special masses are celebrated for the organization, with Catholic cardinals officiating, and in spite of the fact that Cardinal Spellman personally prays to his god for peace. Frightened by this continuing failure of the U. N. to capture the people’s interest, the propagandists are preparing to use cheap advertising to “sell” the U. N. to the public. This to come in the form of 20-second radio announcements, like the following:

The world is round? You’re crazy! A man flying? Ridiculous! A voice heard across the ocean? Insane! Well, people used to say those things were impossible. We know better today. The General Assembly of the United Na-^Z tions is accomplishing another “so-called” impossibility. . . . world peace! Get in on the discovery. . . . it’s an exciting experience.

Fearful Because of Peace Failure

* “Strange As It Seems,” edited by John Hix, says that in the last 3,434 years there have been 8,000 peace treaties signed but only 268 years of peace, which is enough to make the present puny peace-makers quiver and the people in general to tremble. “We have won the war,” murmurs Senator Taft, “but we have lost the peace.” Fearful that the United Nations will also fail, a group of frightened men are heard to cry for a “World Federal Government”. Albert Einstein, one of the sponsors, says that “everything has to be done to make it clear to the electorate that the solution can only be world government and nothing less”. “The very existence of mankind” is at stake, he says. Henry Chamberlin, in his book The European Cockpit, says that over there “a federated Europe”- is the only answer. Yugoslavia’s ambassador to the United States, Kosa-novic, thinks that peace will come when there is an agreement between the Soviet and the United States. Others, fearful that there will never be “one world”, work for a division into two worlds. On the one hand the “Truman doctrine”, the “Marshall plan” and the “little assembly” are put forth by the Western world as ways of obtaining peace, while Russia at the same time solidifies eastern Europe and revives the “comintern”, or . “cominform’’, as some call it, as her means of unifying the nations. And so it goes, every frightened mariner aboard the world’s sinking ship on this stormy sea suggests a different course to sail in hopes of reaching the same port of peace.

Instead of quieting the hysteria the splitting of the world into two camps has increased the people’s fears and anxieties by raising in their minds many new nightmares. Charges and countercharges are hurled from both sides with increasing violence. Russia is fearful of America’s military maneuvers above the Arctic Circle in Greenland and Alaska not so many miles from her borders. She is fearful that America is rebuilding “the war-industrial potential of Japar nese imperialism”, and reviving the German war potential in western Germany. She is fearful of a Vatican crusade, accusing the pope of “openly calling for war against the Soviet Union”. Russia sees America’s reorganization of her armed forces, development of new weapons and armament, the formation of military blocs for mutual hemispheric defense. Alarmed, she charges the western powers as “warmongers”, “imperialists,” “expansionists,” “cannibals, lusting for profits, who propose dropping bombs over the Old World.”

America also is trembling with fear from what she sees happening in eastern Europe: a totalitarian giant forcing itself, through a policy of aggression, on small countries while hiding her internal activity behind an iron curtain of censorship. America is fearful that Russia’s activity has filtrated into her own government, as an 'enemy within her gates’, “with the Single object of revolutionary subversion,” to quote J. Parnell Thomas, chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. To stop this Russian expansion policy, Prof. Finer, of the University of Chicago, told a conference of several hundred distinguished scholars, the U. S. A. would have to use the weapon of fear. “The United States,” said Finer, “most probably will be forced to rely on fear; the fear of armed force.”

But beating the war drums loud and furiously does not produce music conducive to peaceful sleep. Says the Dutch psychologist, Dr. A. M. Meerloo:

’ Some people today have the curious idea that one way to insure peace is to play up the horrors of the next war. Behind this sort of thinking is the notion that people will actually be forced by fear to build a constructive plan for peace. Psychology tells us that this way of thinking is dangerous. We know that fear never evokes peaceful reactions in men. On the contrary, people react to fear by readying themselves for defense and attack. . . . The answer to how to build a positive peace cannot be found in military strategy and atomic science. The militant way of life always fails. It always turns into a vicious circle of defense, aggression, and renewed attack.

Vicious Armament Race

• Racing around this vicious circle the world seems to have gone mad with fear. “The greatest momentum to war in the history of the world exists today,” moans the editor of the Saturday Review of Literature, Norman Cousins. Francis Biddle, after returning from the famous Nuremberg trial of Nazi war leaders, expressed the fear that such trials will not end wars. Dr. G. W. Frasier, retiring president of Colorado State College, also fears that “the United States seems headed for war”. The former assistant secretary of state, MacLeish, thinks “the worst of all religious wars” is shaping itself up. In France, Ramadier (then premier) and President Vincent Auriol recently voiced their fears of another war, and Charles de Gaulle said: “There is not one who does not see the great and heavy clouds massing on the horizon.” And Marshal Tito warns: “we prepare for war as though it were starting tomorrow.”

Where is all their atomic energy control? for Dr. Ulloa, of Peru, says that atomic energy “is a Sword of Damocles hanging over peace”. The Soviet plan is considered “defective”, and the U. S. War Department says that even if the United States plan is adopted other nations can wage an atomic war on an equal footing with the U.S.A, within six years. Hence, with panicky fright the great powers accelerate their armaments race.

A survey made a few months ago by the New York Times revealed that the world is maintaining 19,000,000 men in its armies. The United States Navy is four times as great as in prewar days. Yet, the former Selective Service director, General Hershey, says, “I am frightened” because voluntary enlistment of men has fallen off. The militarists are' screaming for universal service. The cost to the world for its armies is $27,000,000,000 a year, but this is only a fraction of what is being spent for another war. “Today millions, perhaps billions, of dollars -in concealed funds, only a fraction of which are reflected in this survey, are being spent on research and development into the atomic bomb, bacteriological warfare, guided missiles, jet planes and other new weapons.” (New York Times) Because of fear, tanks, heavy artillery and vital parts of battleships are hermetically sealed and stored away “ready for immediate use”. The production of bombs continues and these are being stored in earthen igloos ready for use. The development of bacterial warfare (BW) is being pushed for all it is worth. Already they have a certain toxin one gram of which will kill 7,000,000 people, and a virus 20 drops of which will kill 20,000,000 people.

Clergy Are Trembling with Fear

When the clergy pray for the deliverance of this insane world, only to find that their gods do not answer, they too are stricken with acute fear. From many pulpits come expressions of their terror. Dr. Channing Tobias, of New York, says that it is “a bewildered and pessimistic world”. The Associated Church Press writes about the “chaos and confusion”. Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr says the people are “hysterically anxious about the perils to which we are exposed”. Headlines in the New York Times read: “Oxnam [Methodist bishop] Holds War with Russia Sure,” “Bishop Tells Methodists Our 'Hysterical’ Policy Does not Solve Problems.” Dr. J. H. Cockburn says: “It is Christian civilization that is at stake,” not merely Europe. The archbishop of York, Garbett, is afraid that under the “growing tension” some nation “will decide in hysterical fear to end the crisis by using the atomic bomb”. Members of the World Council of Churches wail that a “crisis in the existence of mankind” has been reached. The American Council of Christian Churches says that unless Russia is resisted “the world is destined for the most horrible bath of blood anti holocaust of unimaginable proportions”.

The Catholic Bishops of America are fearful that maybe “there is no way out of the confusion and conflict which block the road to real peace”. The Chinese Cardinal Tien has advocated a third world war as the only remedy. Cardinal Spellman worries about “the world’s end”. The pope also is a frightened man who speaks of the present “perils without precedent”. In conference with his cardinals Pius XII said: “The time is running short. Incalculable calamities lie ahead if the world fails to agree.” Reporting the pope’s speech on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Catholic Action the New York Times said: “The Pontiff betrayed very deep anxiety as time and again he referred to the contest between the Christian and nonChristian forces, going so far as to state that ‘even a few minutes can decide the victory’.” And from the other end of the religious wailing wall, there is also heard an expression of deep anxiety. Protestant clergymen numbering 1,275, together with 6,000 laymen, declare that the Papacy is “the greatest single influence” working toward another war. How true Harry Emerson Fosdick’s confession!— “The world is certainly a mess, and whether or not we like to face the fact, religion helps to make it so.”

Scientists Frightened by Future

Surely the scientists, the “creators” of this atom-splitting synthetic world, should be optimistic about the future; but we find them as fearful and pessimistic as the rest of the world. Having a firsthand knowledge of the terrible horrors that are being perfected, yet unable to stop the unseen forces that are pushing them on, these men of science cry out in frightful alarm as they look into the future abyss. Expressing the fears of a great many of his colleagues, Dr. Harold C. Urey, Nobel prize winner and one of the foremost scientists in the atom bomb project, wrote an article (published in Collier’s magazine) entitled “I’m a Frightened Man”. Therein he said:

I write this to frighten you. I’m a frightened man, myself. All the scientists I know are frightened, frightened for their lives, and frightened for your life. ... I say to you— and I wish I could say it face to face—that we who have lived for years in the shadow of the atomic bomb are well acquainted with fear, and it is a fear you should share if we are intelligently to meet our problems. . . . Now, in Washington, we have learned a new fear: We are afraid of what politicians and diplomats may do with the atomic bomb. . . . If you, the people, let things drift, we will perhaps see a world divided into, two great spheres of interest, east and west, afraid of each other, afraid of one unguarded word. Freedom from fear? We will eat fear, sleep fear, live in fear, and die in fear.

It is most manifest from all of the above evidence that the people together with their leaders dwell in a compressed atmosphere of hysteric fear; yet they know not why. They know not that it is because we are in the “last days” of this satanic world. They know not that Christ foretold that it would be a sure sign of the setting up of His kingdom. They know not that He said in very plain language that there would be “upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves [of restless humanity]* roaring;. men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.”—Luke 21:25, 26.

When “Father” Gannon, the president of the Jesuit university of Fordham, declared that “a nearly desperate world stares with fascination toward Armageddon” he referred to an atomic war between nations. In truth and in fact the world is face to face with the Armageddon spoken of in the last book of the Bible, The Revelation. But because the people are blind and because the ‘blind are leading the blind’ (Matthew 15:14) they fail to see this real danger ahead—the ditch of Armageddon, which is “the battle of that great day of God Almighty”. (Revelation 16:14,16) In that battle, which will cleanse the earth of all evil and make way for the righteous administration of Christ’s kingdom over all the earth, the hearts of the wicked that now tremble with fear will stop cold. Persons of true good-will toward God will survive that universal war and live in endless peace and happiness. Former fears will neither be remembered nor come into mind.

-------<♦

Cacona Petition to Supreme Court Denied

C Awake! has kept its readers posted on the attempt of Lacona, Iowa, to inaugurate rule by mobocracy. Mob rule of the village resulted in disorders and denials of freedom of worship to Jehovah's witnesses. Deputized mobsters got the green light when a United States District Court ruled against the Witnesses, but the light turned red when a United States Circuit Court of Appeals halted the mobocracy steamroller and ordered religious freedom restored to the Witnesses. Lacona appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court. On January 12 the high court refused to hear the case. The light remains red for the mobocrats.

Power-hungry Blasphemers Covet the World

AT THE Eucharistic Congress held at Buffalo, N. Y., On September 22-25, seven cardinals and other representatives of the Roman Catholic Church set forth that cult’s recommendations for securing world .peace. Cardinal Spellman set the theme of the assembly on the second day, when he said • -I believe with all my soul and profess before the world that it is the sacred duty and the mission of the Church to bring peace.” This church boasts of its antiquity, yet throughout its centuries-long existence it has never fulfilled its “sacred duty". What a failure has this church proved to be, as testified by the hundreds of wars since its inception I Next this suave religious spellbinder called Cardinal Spellman as good as said Jesus lied when He stated that “with God all things are possible”, because Spellman arrogantly purred if'Even Goll cannot make a peace-, ful world without peace-loving men to help him." Modestly meaning himself and his sect, of course.

They are going to help God by making the world Catholic, At the seventeen sectional meetings during the Congress Catholic men and women in all walks of life were urged to spread Catholicism to all with whom they come in contact, to live their religion and win others tp it. Conversion activities are to sweep not only the United States but the world. And when this goal of world conversion has been reached, then the world united in Catholicism will be united in peace. Won't God be happy when they thus make it possible for Him to bring peace! What insufferable and gagging gall I

The aim of the ambitious Roman Catholic Hierarchy is not world peace, but is world domination. This aim as concerns

-<► the United States is well shown by Jesuit Francis X. Talbot: 'Why.can’t we raise a tidal wave that will bring Catholic culture into the United States! Why can’t we make the United States Catholic in legislation, Catholic in justice, aims and ideals! We are the greatest numerically in the country, strong and growing in the arts and education. We are now ready to expand. Now is the time to organize and strike hard to put the Catholic idea before all.” (New-York Globe, December 14, 1930) Since that time Catholicism has infiltrated its agents into key positions in polities and commerce, till now the nation is honeycombed with a Vatican State fifthcolumn. In time they hope to make the world Catholic in legislation, justice and ideals; then the clock’s hands will be whirled back to the Middle Ages with its bloody and unjust Catholic Inquisition.

We could well trade the entire bumper crop of nincompoop politicians of our day for a few Abraham Lincolns. He was awake to Papal Rome’s hunger for power, saying in warning:

"The Protestants of both the North and the South would surely unite to exterminate the priests and the Jesuits, if they could hear ... of the plots made in the very city of Rome to destroy this republic, and if they could learn how the priest, the nuns, and the monks, who daily land on these shores under the pretext of preaching their religion, are nothing else but the emissaries of the pope, and other despots of Europe, to undermine our institutions, alienate the hearts of our people from the constitution, and our laws, destroy our schools, and prepare a reign of anarchy here as they have done in [other countries].”—Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, pp. 699, 700.

TOTALITARIAN

WORLD War II found Rumania torn by conflicting factions. However, the pro-Nazi element gained the ascendancy under Ion Antonescu, who for a time was the dictator of the country, and who invited Hitler to send troops Into Rumania to reorganize its army. Before the Germans finally left they did a great deal more than reorganize the army, and Rumania was led into the war on the side of Hitler, and against Russia.

The clergy became the willing instruments of the dictatorship and from their pulpits preached in support of the "anticommunist crusade’⁷, prophesying an early defeat of Bolshevist Russia and peace and prosperity for the Rumanian people.

The Rumanians occupied Odessa and took over a new building for its officers’ headquarters. The building had, however, been “booby-trapped” by the retreating Russians and many of the officers lost their lives in the resulting explosion. Antonescu took dire revenge. He ordered 50,000 Russian men, women and children to be shot for this purely military act. That number were accordingly hunted up by the Rumanian soldiers, who lined them up along the bank of a river and mowed them with rifle and machine-gun fire. They were then thrown into the river..

The Rumanian troops shared Hitler’s victories in Russia all the way to Stalingrad, There, however, a large number of Rumanians went over to the Russians. This is reported to have contributed much toward hastening at last the failure of the German forces to take the city. These Rumanian soldiers remained in Russia until the summer of 1947, when they returned to Rumania, being hailed, particularly by the Communists, as the true 'Rumanian democratic army”. They had been thoroughly drilled in Russia and trained both politically and in a military way, and are expected to play a leading part in Rumania and its army to further Russian policy.

War Ravages and Losses

The war caused terrible ravages in Rumania, In the capital alone 12,000 houses and buildings were destroyed and many times that number were damaged. Other cities shared a similar fate. Hardly a street or railway bridge and but few railway Stations were left intact after the Germans had passed through the country upon their retreat.

King Michael in 1944 staged a coup d’etat (August 25) placing Antonescu under arrest and appointing a new premier, General Constantine Sanatescu. Two days later Rumania declared war on Germany, the advancing Russian armies driving the Germans and their satellites, back through the country amid heavy fighting. A great part of the civilian population were compelled to leave their homes, and returned to find them stripped, so that they had to start anew with practically nothing.

Rumania came out of the war impoverished and weakened, having lost also the territories of Bessarabia and Bukovina, and being further obliged to agree to heavy reparations to the Russians. The Russians were now the occupying power, and that meant the virtual loss of national independence, at least for a time. All this as a consequence of the Rumanian dictatorial government of Antonescu having entered World War II at Hitler’s side.

The peoples of the West enjoy many things of which the common people of Russia had no knowledge. For instance, watches and alarm clocks. Everybody knows by now that Russian soldiers were very eager to get such as they advanced through the eastern part of Europe. They judged the quality of a watch by its noticeable ticking. If it did not tick satisfactorily they were disposed to throw it away or give the timepiece to somebody else. The story is told of a Russian who had gotten an alarm clock and attached it to the saddle in front of him. It went off suddenly, ringing merrily, but the soldier seized it and threw it from him with all his might. Another having become the proud possessor of an alarm, on hearing it ring, took his rifle and shot it to protect himself.

Russian Rule

Although it came in a disguised form, Russian rule came to Rumania with the end of the war. This was hard for the Rumanian people generally, for they always had more affinity with Western civilization than with the Slav peoples. But now the Communist party came to the fore. Many of the Communists had been imprisoned under Antonescu’s government. When the war ended many Rumanian clergymen were imprisoned for a time because of the role they had played in helping to create an atmosphere favorable for a war on Russia.

The Communists, knowing that they had only about 18 percent of the votes of the country, agreed to have a “bloc of the democratic parties” formed. The bloc included Social Democrats, Agricultural Workers party, the Communists, and some others. Once this political machinery had been established, the Communists began to elbow their way to the position of power, playing a part more and more out of proportion with their numerical strength. However, it was less the Rumanian Communists that ruled than the Russians, who were backing them. The first postwar government, still in power, was formed according to the wishes of Moscow as set forth by the clever and energetic Vyshinsky, who counseled the Rumanian Communist party.

In 1932 Ana Pauker, a Rumanian Jewess, was given a sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment for Communist activity in Rumania, but she was soon freed and flown to Russia by a Rumanian major. She returned with the victorious Russian armies twelve years later. September last she represented the Rumanian Communist party in the meeting of representatives of nine European communist parties in Warsaw, at which time it was decided to establish an Information Bureau in Belgrade which is known as CominformT It is generally considered to be a revival of the former Communist International organization known as Comintern. Ana Pauker is in some respects the most important person in Rumania, representing the Russian government and the executive committee of the Russian Communist party in Moscow. She transmits Russian orders—party and government—to the Rumanian government, and these orders or directives are carried out, too. Rumania’s government is largely the instrument of the Russian occupation. No minister is allowed to resign of his own initiative; if he did so, he might risk being fetched out of his home at night and disappear. There have been such kidnapings already. State ministers and government officials'are said to be constahtly watched by Communist agents, who want to know who comes to see them and where and with whom they spend their time.

The Constitution of 1923 was abolished by Antonescu, but was again put into operation at the end of the war. But only in theory, not in actual practice. The government has ruled by decrees. There is no court in Rumania today that would dare to take a position contrary to the decision of the Communist-dominated government.

Terrorist Methods

The following is an instance of Communist action: The keeper of a newsstand in an eastern Rumanian town sold papers of all the Rumanian parties, including the daily of an opposition party. The Communist chief of the place came to him and told him not to sell that paper any longer, although it was still permitted by the government. The man protested that he was selling all papers. After a further warning the Communist official left. The newspaper vendor thereafter no longer sold the paper openly, but only on request. After about a week, when returning home about 11 p.m. the newspaper dealer was attacked by two men and .dreadfully beaten. Another case: A small factory had a staff of about fifty workers, not including any Communists. The owner of the factory was accused of having engaged in “black” trade and of doing other forbidden things in his establishment. All the workers were questioned by the police and all refuted the accusation. As a result they were held in custody for three days.

The Communists do not take democratic principles very seriously, and apparently do not consider themselves bound by them. They refer to such rules for party ends, but their application would be a hindrance to reaching their goals. At the end of August (1947) they put up notices in the working rooms of the Bucharest streetcar company stating that every worker who had not joined the Communist party by the end of August would be dismissed. As to being enrolled in trade unions, all the workers of industries and other enterprises were automatically registered as members of such unions without being asked. Many qualified workers, foremen and officials of the Rumanian railways and of other enterprises were dismissed because they refused to join the Communist party.

The ever growing Russian and Communist pressure in Rumania has created a state of great apprehension which makes itself felt everywhere. Seeing that about 80 percent of the population are peasants and that most of these were organized in a strong political party led by Maniu, onetime prime minister of the Rumanian government, the masters of the day determined to smash this party, and sentenced Maniu and other party leaders to long prison terms.

Stabilizing the Currency

The inflation of Rumanian currency, due to the postwar conditions, reached a stage where something had to be done. The income of a worker in inflated lei amounted to but a fourth of his wages in 1938, or even less. A pound of bread cost 150,000 lei, a pound of grapes 80,000 lei, a streetcar ticket 10,000 lei. A dollar being worth 4,000,000 lei on the unofficial market, these prices, compared with the dollar, were actually quite low, but to the Rumanian wage-earner they were terribly high, because he earned but 4,000,000 lei a month, the higher officials receiving from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 lei. In order to buy proper food, not to speak of other needs such as clothing, etc., they should have had from 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 lei per month. The peasants, naturally, held on to as many of their products as possible, rather than let them go at official prices.

The government therefore issued a new currency, and the Rumanian National Bank exchanged old lei for new at the rate of a million of the former for 50 of the latter. A peasant could exchange 5,000,000, a worker 3,000,000, employees and officials 1,500,000, while independent business people could not exchange anything. In this way peasants who had 5,000,000 lei received 250 new lei, $1.65, the workers a dollar, and the officials half a dollar. Rumania’s inhabitants had to start new, in fact, and millions of “millionaires” became- penniless, for accumulated lei were worth nothing beyond the small allowance indicated.

The government fixed twelve classes of workers, government employees and officials, whose wages now varied from 2,525 lei to 14,035 lei per month (or $16.80 to $93.40). While quite modest, these new wages could mean a great improvement over the former situation, prices in Rumania being comparatively low. However, the satisfaction felt over the stabilization, carried out according to the Communist proposals, did not last long. The new wages were not forthcoming, but only partial advances.

Before the stabilization trains were always overcrowded, many being obliged to travel on the roofs of the cars. Hundreds of thousands scoured the country to buy food from the peasants. Consequently less produce reached the markets. The peasants were not eager to sell their stuff at official prices for the inflated lei, which constantly lost value. A government maneuver combined with the stabilization arrangement, however, greatly raised the price of railway travel. The people could no longer go into the country to buy food from the farmers. The stations were suddenly empty. For hundreds of thousands it had become impossible to travel, because of the exorbitant tariff. The service given by the railways never justified the increase. Trains often have no windows and at night no lights, the windows being either boarded up or open, without glass. Evidently the government wanted to compel the farmers to bring their products to the markets and sell them to the Co-op, a semiofficial co-operative organization, at officially fixed prices.

Hammer and Sickle

Russian Communist leaders seem to be of the opinion that the peasants do not need to travel, but should stay on the farms and work. According to repeated reports Russian farm-workers do not get any wages, and do not see any money. They are fed, housed and clothed, and that is enough. The Communists, according to many Rumanians, were of the opinion there was too much traveling in Rumania and that this could be reduced by raising the tariffs. In Russia one is not even allowed to go from one village to another without official permission. The Rumanian clergy are not affected by the new tariff, for they have the privilege of traveling free. It has also been conjectured that another reason for cutting down travel was the bad condition of the railway equipment. Repair shops were unable to keep pace with the necessities of the situation. Some ascribe this difficulty to Communist dismissal of skilled mechanics and foremen just because they did not join the Communist party.

It is also suspected that the telephone tariff was raised drastically to cut down conversations to a minimum. Mail can be censored, whether foreign or domestic, but it is more difficult to check telephone conversations. It is asserted that this increase in rates was not called for by operating costs, and that the greatly reduced use of the telephone facilities may make it impossible to make the system pay.

Since stabilization many products have appeared in the stores which were formerly not seen there. Merchandise of all kinds, woolen, linen, cotton goods, shoes, etc., were brought forth, to the great surprise of the shoppers. If the Rumanians now get the wages indicated in the new government regulations, they may be able to buy themselves much-needed clothing, and by the time another year passes the streets of the cities will present a more cheerful picture.

Threatening Shadows

There are, however, threatening shadows of totalitarianism, political pressure, uncertainty as to how far Communist aims will carry things, and what will be the eventual status of the citizen. The peasants are afraid that they may become mere collaborators of some col-

lective farm, after the Russian pattern, and the owners of houses, stores, businesses, factories, etc., fear that it may be the aim of the Communist ideologists to have everything turned over to the state and thus destroy all independent existence. The recent dismissal of King Michael has added to the general perplexity.

Such apprehensions have a paralyzing effect upon the life of the nation. House owners are reluctant to have anything done to their property in the way of repairs, even if it is possible to get the necessary materials. The business world will carry on as usual without feeling any urge or ambition to go ahead, develop their enterprises and increase production, and even the authorities seem to have little courage in starting reconstruction work. The reparations weigh down heavily on the country, together with all the expenses of the occupying power, but the chief paralyzing force is fear, fear from which peoples were to be made free according to the promises of the Big Powers. The atmosphere is loaded with tension.

And what about the clergy? Under Hitler-Antonescu they blew the trumpet of the anti-Russian crusade. Now they have heard the order, “Left wheel, march!” They are quickly lining up on the side of the new masters. Some have even joined the Communist party, and one and all are ready to “maneuver” in agreement with the wishes of those in power, as they chuckle at their “success”.

Rumania is a rich country. She has a fertile soil and many natural resources. Her inhabitants could live in peace and plenty if only a just and fair government administered its affairs. But such a government, under present conditions, is a remote hope. Ultimately the kingdom of God, the only hope of the world, will do for Rumania what it will also do for the other peoples of earth, whosoever will. It will bring in health and prosperity, true freedom and enduring joys.

FOR almost a week notice of the brewing storm, as it sported out in the Caribbean sea, came at regular intervals over the radio and in the newspapers. It had a little beginning down there in the cyclone incubator of the Caribbean, and there it remained, but only long enough to give it time to goad itself into a full-sized monster. Straining and testing its bonds, it wove back and forth as though not certain which way to go. Its course was still unpredictable, for while its path lay generally to the north, it had reeled forth with the wayward steps of a drunken Frankenstein monster and might at any moment veer to the east or wdst, or even blow itself out right there in its own nursery. Nevertheless, word was flashed to all residents of the provinces of Havana and Pinar del Bio to take every precaution for a hurricane. Windows were nailed shut, houses barricaded, plate glass store windows boarded over, and light frame buildings were literally tied to the ground with heavy ropes. Havana battened down all hatches and was set for the storm.

Days passed, nothing happened. Havanans wearied of vigilance; word was

even whispered about that the hurricane had headed west for the Yucatan Straits. But tendencies to relax -were brought up short with definite notice that old "Hurakan”, as the Carib Indians had called him, had suddenly with all its pent-up, insane fury burst forth and headed north. While its advance on Havana was only ten miles an hour, the velocity of the cyclonic winds within it had passed hurricane speed of 75 miles per hour and were roaring at around 100 miles per hour. The sea-hatched monster of the atmosphere, now fully matured, had ceased its drunken stagger and with definite certainty set its- course for Havana. It would strike the Isle of Pines in the evening of October 17, and as this word was flashed to the city of Havana the squalls began. Havana would be in its rough embrace early on the morning of October 18. We passed the hurricane on the top floor Of a three-story home facing north, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. As final notice of the onspeeding hurricane came over the radio the rain came quite heavily and the strength of the wind was felt as it beat against the windows. We were awakened about 2:30 a.m. by the trembling of our beds as the house shook under the impact of the wind. At 4 a.m. we turned on the radio to hear the latest report. The hurricane had arrived at the Isle of Pines on schedule, and all means of communications were cut off. At 6:30 a.m. it was to hit Havana, and so it did. Just as we finished breakfast the lights and gas went off. The electric and gas. company had taken precaution against fire. But we were not in darkness, for the dawning of the day was only partly obscured by the density of the storm.

Through the gray we could see the water that the hurricane carried, tons and tons of it. It did not seem to fall, but, carried aloft by the strength and force of the wind, it swirled and tossed like the crests of great ocean waves as it was sent hurtling past the windows. That was only the beginning, for as the full force of the storm came, water began pouring in at the windows, making miniature waterfalls as it rolled off the gills and fell to the floor. Now our work began, unless we wished to be inundated. We began to mop up as fast as we could. The five of us in the apartment kept busy every minute of that day to keep ahead of the water. On the floor below us the water was a foot deep, and in some houses it rose to two feet before it could flow outdoors and downstairs.

The “eye” of the hurricane with its dead calm in the center passed, close to the west of us, so we experienced some change in the direction of the wind, but not so much as those directly in its path. The wind seemed to come in from the east at first and later to shift over to the southeast and finally south. One must experience a hurricane to appreciate its power; human words cannot adequately describe it. Constant pressure is against the windward side of the house, incessantly pushing, squeezing until the house strains at its foundations and hovers on the verge of collapse; then, suddenly, Wham! a frightful blow from the same direction buffets the building with staggering force, rattling dishes and shaking the floor as though the very earth were being rocked in the arms of some supernatural force.

Time after time throughout the eight hours that the hurricane lasted these blows rocked the house to its base, while the steady force exerted by the constant pressure of the storm seemed as though it would succeed at any time in tumbling the house down around our ears. At about 11 a.m. a momentary lull came. This must have been when the eye of the hurricane passed near by. (The eye is the exact center of the hurricane, is of very low pressure, and a dead calm from three to fifty miles in diameter. This calm has proved to be the undoing of many, as they leave their shelter, thinking the dangerous storm has passed. Then they are unmercifully struck from the other direction as the other half of the circling hurricane sweeps by.)

Under the Hurricane’s Heavy Fire

It was just after the passing of the eye that the bombardment began. The wind had now shifted and came at us from the southeast. The roof on the house across the street gave up; it could withstand the phenomenal strain no longer. Large pieces of these tiles were caught up and hurled with terrific velocity, smiting the sides of our house with resounding smacks. Sixteen windows were shattered by these missiles, some of them traveling with such speed as to crash through the window and hurtle faster than the eye could follow to smash into the opposite wall of the room. Another danger now loomed threateningly: through these broken windows the wind can enter—and when “Old Hurakan” once gets into a house anything can happen. He may tear off the entire roof or blow out a wall, or content himself with merely heaping up all the furniture in a corner of the room. We quickly gathered up all available cartons and tacks, and_t as soon as a window broke we rushed to nail it shut.

Although we were kept occupied most of the time, we did not miss the grandeur of the magnificent power manifest. We could see wave upon wave of the flying water as it was borne past the windows, rising and falling, twisting and swirling and rolling as it was tossed roughly about by the erratic will of the wind. At places, so strong was the wind, the pavement seemed completely dry, while right alongside rivulets inches deep flowed swiftly along, the wavelets of these miniature streams even being whipped into whitecaps. Peering out through the storm at the Gulf of Mexico, another phenomenon startled our already astonished gaze: the waves, which everyone knows steadily roll shoreward, had been thrown into reversei What a spectacle! The waves W’ere rolling back away from the shore and out to sea, and as they broke the crest tumbled and fell toward the open ocean. Also, as they broke the white foam of the crest was caught up by the grasping wind and whipped heavenward to swirl with the waters already boiling in the bosom of the storm. The giaht monster of sea and wind had grown to such overwhelming proportions that it was wont to surpass the power of the mighty ocean as it wrestled with the waves. And it seemed to be winning! But the billowing deep cannot be conquered for long by a foe whose passing is of only a few hours’ duration. Having spent its full force and fury in its effort to rule and destroy, the hurricane moved on.

Thus passed on to the north the great hurricane of 1944 that struck Havana with such devastating force.¹ Property damage was heavy, but less than that caused by the hurricane of 1926. This recent blow reached a maximum velocity of 162 miles per hour, with an average speed of 149 for the eight hours that it held Havana in its grasp.

Causes of Hurricanes

Meteorologists differ in their opinions as to the cause of hurricanes, some claiming that they are caused by solar storms or sun spots, some maintain that they are due to gravitational attraction of the sun, moon and near planets, and still others hold they are caused by seasonal changes in the upper atmosphere that result in variations of pressure. This latter explanation is the one most generally accepted, and seems to be the most logical.

The hurricane season for the West Indies begins in August and continues till the last part of October or the first part of November. The vast seas of the tropical-hurricane area are calm and still throughout the summer months, their low swells hardly rippled by a single breeze. Then as the autumn equinox approaches and the sun hangs to the south a decided change occurs. The atmosphere, till now peaceful, becomes restless; breezes stir the sea, clouds roll up on the horizon, sudden thunder showers fill the air, and the warm, vaporladen air begins to rise, resulting in a low-pressure area that is hurriedly filled by cooler, heavier air. The more the low-pressure area concentrates in one locality, the more the air from over a great expanse of the ocean begins to rush in toward this common center, pushing upward a column of warmer air.

Now the rotation of the earth begins to exert an influence’on the rising air column. It begins to twist and circle, as does water when it rushes to the drain of a lavatory or bathtub. It is claimed that the force exerted by the rotation of the earth sets the air column in circtilar motion as it rises, and that this is the reason why all cyclones in the northern hemisphere rotate counterclockwise and those in the southern hemisphere whirl in clockwise direction. When this rotary wind surpasses a speed of 75 miles per hour, it is called a hurricane in the West Indies, a tornado in Senegal, a typhoon in the Chinese Sea. The mad, whirling current of the screaming wind sometimes races at terrific speeds, between 200 and 300 miles per hour.

Now the twisting column begins to march. As w^Tater always seeks a low level, being attracted to the lower parts of the earth by the pull of gravity, so a hurricane travels the course of least resistance, that is, to warm, low-pressure areas. It is repelled by cold, high atmospheric pressure. The hurricane is a sea monster born of the warm moist air of the tropical ocean, and which needs such favorable conditions to continue its whirling, destructive course. Hence it does not survive long and lustily on land. However, men can never predict just what the great storm will do next; just when they think they have it all figured out along comes one that blows their theories to bits.

Destructive Power

A tropical hurricane is the most destructive of all forces on earth; more so than flood, earthquake or volcanic eruption. A fully matured hurricane will develop one trillion pounds of pressure and generate more energy than 1,000 atom bombs exploded simultaneously, according to W. J. Humphreys, retired U. S. Weather Bureau official. That is doubtless the reason why after the passing of a hurricane such phenomena have been observed as a on e-by-three-inch board ten feet long driven through the sixteen-inch trunk of a royal palm tree, and a piece of lead weighing 150 pounds carried 1,800 feet-, and another that weighed 400 pounds moved 1,680 feet.

Destructive and dangerous though the terrific winds and flying debris may be, still the greatest loss of life and property comes from the “storm wave” or great flood of water carried by or driven ahead of the hurricane. Sucked aloft by the partial vacuum of the “eye” and swept along by the force of the storm, this wave will inundate many square miles of land. Small islands of the West Indies have been completely submerged by the storm wave of some of the great hurricanes. At the mouth of the Hooghly river, on the bay of Bengal, the hurricane of 1737 left 300,000 dead, almost entirely due to the storm wave, and again in 1864 at the same place 50,000 humans and 100,000 cattle were drowned. Fifty thousand persons were killed by the storm wave that swept over the island of Barbados in 1870, and in 1900 there were 6,000 that perished in Galveston, Texas.

In the great hurricane that struck Santa Cruz del Sur, Cuba, in 1932, the entire village was wiped out by the sudden storm wave that rolled in, and 2,500 of the 3,500 inhabitants lost their lives. Very few facts are known of this hurricane of Santa Cruz del Sur, even though a well-equipped weather station was maintained there, since all records and instruments were completely destroyed by the storm wave; but when the twister reached the north coast around Nuevitas the velocity of the wind was estimated to be about 200 miles per hour. Large fishing vessels have been washed inland by the storm wave for distances as great as three miles, to be left stranded when the waters recede.

“Whirlwind of the Lord”

Men stand in awe and fear of the terrible power and force of a tropical hurricane as the elements are unleashed to form a giant of destruction. How much greater dread will clutch at the hearts of the wicked when Jehovah God calls into action such forces of His creation to aid in the destruction of the nations that have defied Him and His anointed King Christ Jesus! Then “the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble”; then 'a whirlwind of the Lord shall go forth in fury and fall upon the wicked’; then “a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth, and the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth”. Then the wicked, as a result of their sowing, “shall reap the whirlwind.” The woeful hurricanes now may be laid to Satan’s charge, but at Armageddon it will be a case of “stormy wind fulfilling his [Jehovah’s] word”. (Isaiah 40:24; Jeremiah 23:19; 25:32, 33; Hosea 8:7; Psalm 148:8) That demonstration of divine power in vindication of Jehovah’s name will make past hurricanes seem as summer breezes. And no protection men muster will suffice. Only those seeking early refuge with His organization will live out that storm. —Awake! correspondent in Cuba.

DISEASE is like a clawing hand that stretches over the entire earth reaching for victims. Some communities of education and wealth can muster facilities to wage battle against the deadly tentacles, hut many settlements in the earth have not the means to maintain such a tight. Such a region is Surinam, often called Dutch Guiana. This hot, tropical jungle country, with its old-fashioned reservoir of rain water for drinking, its dusty streets, its open-trench drainage system and blazing heat, is an ideal spot for disease.

A familiar one to this land is the chronic infectious disease called leprosy. Today outside the limits of the city of Paramaribo, Surinam, dwell those who have been banned due to active leprosy. There are three leper colonies, one sponsored by 'the government, one by the Hernhutter or Moravian church, and one by the Catholic church. Many of the patients shun the Catholic colony-because of the strict regulations. For example, the lepers may not get married, and if a child should be born in the colony it is immediately removed for adoption. A careful record of newborn babies from leprous parents has been kept, and it appears that leprosy is not hereditary. Statistics show that the most susceptible are children between the ages of ten and thirteen years. Persons over forty rarely succumb to the leprosy germ.

People quake in horror at leprosy. This horror is reflected throughout the centuries. In many communities lepers were required to use special clappers of identification; in some places they were required to warningly cry ‘TJnelean!” Sometimes they were to wear special dress, and when visiting the market they used a stick to point out the article wanted. Geikie, in his Life of Christ, says the following about leprosy:

It began with little specks on the eyelids and on the palms of the hands, and gradually spreading over different parts of the body, bleaching the hair white wherever it showed itself, crusting the affected parts with shining scales, and causing swellings and sores. From the skin it slowly ate its way through the tissues, to the bones and joints, and even to the marrow, rotting the whole body piecemeal. The lungs, the organs of speech and hearing, and the eyes, were attacked in turn, till at last consumption or dropsy brought welcome death. The dread of infection kept men aloof from the sufferer; and the law proscribed 'him as above all men unclean.

Types of Leprosy

After all theories and speculations on the origin of leprosy are done, the final answer seems to be that it is unsolvable. As to the causes of the disease, opinion seems to be that the germ of leprosy can be carried through tears, sputum, nasal, urethral and vaginal secretions; and outside the body it is to be found in air, water, food and dust. According to the medical record, only in a modified degree is leprosy contagious. It may be transmitted by blood secretions, and not by ordinary contact. And after the germ itself has been contacted the incubation period may range from two weeks to thirty years. The symptoms may be nosebleed, headache, frequent occurrenc-

es of fever, and loss of sensitiveness by certain parts of the body.

A general rash breaks out over the body, and this usually develops into split-pea-size nodules or tubercles, resulting in nodular leprosy. This causes the beard and eyebrows to drop out. (A striking feature in all leprous eruptions is the loss of hair in affected areas, but the most hairy part of the body, the scalp, is never affected.) The tendency is for these nodules to break down ana ulcerate and at times destroy all or parts of the ears or nose, laying bare the bones of the skull, and making large openings through the cheeks into the mouth. At times mastication is almost impossible. Ulceration of teeth and gums and loss of smell and taste may also be the result.

In other sufferers when the lepromata run together the growth causes the natural folds of the skin to be exaggerated. The skin of the forehead and eyebrows is thrown into massive folds and overhangs the eyes, the fleshy parts of the nose broaden out, the chin is swollen and heavy, the external ears become thick and pendulous, and the bloaty, dusky, wrinkled, passive countenance takes on a truly repulsive appearance.

Many lepers experience the paralyzing of the nervous system. This type is known as nerve leprosy. In the affected nerve areas not all the muscles are simultaneously attacked, so curious distortions may appear. Ulcers form over exposed parts of the hands and feet. These ulcerous areas may penetrate and disorganize the joints, and thus cause fingers and toes to drop off and in other cases dry gangrene may amputate fingers or toes. The advance of this type of leprosy is much slower than nodular leprosy. The latter endures on the average for eight or nine years,, but nerve leprosy may last eighteen. Death seldom results directly from leprosy, but usually the leper contacts some other ailment that brings about his demise.

Filaria and Elephantiasis

A dreaded cutaneous disease that clutches out to embrace many is filaria. It is carried by the mosquito. During World War II it, came to the medics’ special notice, since many soldiers were stationed in the tropics, and there contacted the germ. Thus far it has kept itself shrouded in mystery. After the mosquito has taken the virus of the disease from a filaria sufferer, a period of a week or more may elapse before the insect is capable of infecting someone else. A peculiar thing about this disease is that the young larvae forms do not come out into the general blood stream except at night. These larvae are taken with the blood into the mosquito’s stomach, undergo change there, and are then transmitted to victims as filarial worms. After the worm is in the human victim it passes through the bloodstream into lymphatic channels, to there develop and produce young.

In bancrofti filaria these worms become two or three inches long, and block up the lymphatic vessels, causing enlargements, usually in the legs or genital organs. Still another species is an adult worm sometimes called Guinea worm. It grows to a length of twenty-four inches, one-twelfth of an inch in diameter. It lives coiled up under the skin of the leg.

The worm is evidenced by first pain, then the leg swells greatly, and finally a blister forms. This ruptures upon contact with water. The sufferer must exercise care, because should inflammation due to slight injury occur in these areas of lymphatic congestion elephantiasis follows. (Some have diagnosed the disease with which Satan afflicted Job as elephantiasis, or black leprosy; merely called boils in the common verson Bible. —Job 2:7.) Experiments have shown that the disease cannot be contracted through the open sores that are formed. Many persons labor, under false impressions concerning this dreaded “black leprosy”, thinking it the same as filaria.

But a leading doctor in Surinam holds that only a few having filaria ever show elephantiasis. In most cases, filaria infection plus a secondary bacterial infection produces elephantiasis.

Black-leprosy symptoms are slow developing, perhaps over a period of several years. One may have recurring attacks of pain, swelling in glands, in the groin, red streaks up the leg due to inflammation of lymphatic vessels. Associated with the above comes elephantoid fever, chills, pain and bloody chylous urine. Gradual swelling starts usually in the leg or the external sex organs of the male or the breasts of the female. The affected parts may swell to amazing size, weighing from thirty to one hundred pounds. In elephantiasis of the scrotum, sometimes called scrotal tumor, the enlargement may reach from ten to fifty pounds. Heaviest on record, 224 pounds!

It is claimed that nearly seventy-five percent of the population in Surinam is infected with the filaria germ. Knowing

that true elephantiasis is permanent, it is truly a sad sight to see young children with legs almost two or three times normal size. The older generation far outnumber the young in affliction, but youth always attracts more notice as they are seen having to shuffle something along that appears like little elephant feet. Such are never permitted to leave the colony. From the human viewpoint this is a hopeless condition; but many are turning with hope to God’s kingdom message. Though the disease is incurable by man, Jehovah God cured it in Job’s case, and He will do as much for obedient ones that gain life in His new world of righteousness. What true comfort for these persons that are now no more than walking dead. In God’s time the clawing hand of disease will he turned back and shriveled to nonexistence as Jehovah it; vindicated as the One “who healeth all thy diseases” (Psalm 103: 3).—Awake! correspondent, in Surinam.

Miraculous Gift of Tongues

RELIGIOUS zealots that place great emphasis today upon the miraculous gift of speaking with strange tongues refer to Isaiah's prophecy, chapter 28, verse 11, as a proof that Christians in this late day would miraculously begin speaking with unlearned tongues and make a great impression upon the world. The verse reads: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”

Upon the day of Pentecost when the holy spirit was poured out, and the miraculous gift of tongues was bestowed upon the faithful disciples, the apostle Peter as their first spokesman did not give prominence to the above verse by quoting it, but did Quote Joel 2:28,29 as then undergoing fulfillment, namely: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out of my spirit.” (See Acts 2:16 21.) On the other hand, Isaiah 28: 11 is a judgment-time verse, foretelling how God would punish the unfaithful Israelites for disobedience and lack of faith toward Him. It refers to the same thing as foretold by Moses at Deuteronomy 28: 48-50, where Jehovah’s prophet says: "Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Loud shall send against thee, . * . The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young/’

The Pentecostal outpouring of spirit came upon the faithful, but the fulfillment of Isaiah 28: 11 came upon the unfaithful as a penalty. The first fulfillment of this latter verse came in 607 B.C., when the Babylonians assaulted Jerusalem and destroyed it and its temple and dragged off the surviving Israelites to exile in the far-away territories of Babylonia, where their enemies talked to the Israelites in "another tongue”, seeming to speak "with stammering lips” as they did so. A second fulfillment of Isaiah 28:11 came upon the Israelites in the year 70 (A.D.), when Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed for the second time, now by the Romans, and they were dispersed to the far corners of the earth, where indeed their Gentile captors and neighbors talked to the disobedient Jews with “another tongue”, stammeringly, and not with a blessing, but with a curse. , But the question still remains, Is now the time to be looking for Christians to be possessed of the gift of tongues by the spirit of God? Let no one refuse to read this article further just because we answer plainly No! If now is the time to be looking for miraculous gifts of the spirit in the way of tongues, then it is the time also to be looking for the other miraculous gifts, namely, miraculous works such as the first-century Christians performed, and miraculous interpretations of tongues, and prophecies, and sudden gifts of knowledge, and powers to heal the sick and even raise the dead. Why not, then, insist on Pentecostals producing the latter miraculous gifts as well as just their hobby of “tongues”? But today it shows no lack of the spirit of God among His people if they do not possess the gift of tongues. Even back there in the primitive church not all the Christians possessed the gift of tongues. Says Paul, who spoke with more tongues than they all: “God hath set some in the church; first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets?' are all teachers? are all workers of miracles ? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” (1 Corinthians 12: 28-30) Hence God does not necessarily require Christians to have the gift of tongues today.

Paul does not put “tongues” first, but away down in the list of gifts. He shows there is something better than “tongues”: “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.” Then after further argument on this subject, Paul adds: “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding.” Then Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11, to illustrate the rule of action that God would follow. He says: “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 14:4,5, 18-21) It was the unbelieving Israelites that had the Babylonians and the Romans speak to them in an unknown tongue for a punishment and curse upon them. Hence likewise in the case of the Pentecostal gift of tongues, tongues were for a sign to unbelievers, “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying is not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.” Vs. 22.

Why do we say God does not today dispense the gift of tongues to His faithful servants? Because the apostles are not upon the earth. Examine every account of the Scriptures of where the gift of tongues was bestowed and you will note that it was in the presence of the apostles of Christ or through the laying on of the hands of the apostles^ (Acts 2) Even Simon Magus saw that fact: “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the holy [spirit] was given, he offered them money.” (Acts 8:18) The twelve men baptized with John’s baptism at Ephesus did not get the holy spirit with its gift of tongues until Paul the apostle came along and baptized them and laid his hands upon them: “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the holy [spirit] came on them; and they spake -with tongues, and prophesied.”—Acts 19:6.

So, then, when the apostleship of Jesus Christ passed off the scene, then the gift of tongues by the holy spirit passed away. Paul said it would, at 1 Corinthi-, ans, chapter 13: “Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8, Am. Stan. Ver.) The gift of tongues has therefore not been revived by the Lord God, even in this day. But his enemies, the demons, deceive religionists of Christendom and work a fraud upon them' by obsessing them to utter squeaks and noises, which they are flattered to think are the holy spirit’s gift of tongues.

Lent-Christian or Pagan?

THE spring fast known as lent is annually observed by a very large section of Christendom, both Catholic and Protestant. The Boman and Greek Catholic churches, the Lutheran churches and the Church of England all profess to keep the 40-day lenten season, which is begun by many on Ash Wednesday and is ended at Easter. But the fact that it is not universally, observed by all of Christendom immediately raises the question, Why? Why is lent not kept by all professing Christians today? Did Christ institute lent and did His apostles keep such a fast, or is it of some other origin, like so many of Christendom’s practices? Christian custom or pagan practice— which is it?

Going first to the Bible and Bible concordances it is quickly discovered that the fast of lent is nowhere mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures. One must therefore turn to ecclesiastical and profane history to discover the origin of lent. In the historical writings of the “church fathers” during the first three centuries A.D. the most that can be found is mention of irregular fasting by some individuals prior to the annual memorial celebration. Irenaeus, one of these early ecclesiastics, said: “Some think they ought to fast for one day, others for two days, and others even for several, while others reckon forty hours both of day and night to their fast.” Faced with these facts the Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 9, page 152) declares: “We may then fairly conclude that Irenaeus about the year 190 knew nothing of any Easter fast of forty days. The same inference must be drawn from the language of Tertullian only a few years later. . . . And there is the same silence observable in all the pre-Nicene Fathers, though many had occasion to mention such an Apostolic institution if it had existed.”

It is therefore obvious that Christ and His apostles knew nothing about fasting in the springtime, and as long as the Christian church remained unstained with pagan customs there was no lent kept. This is supported by what Cassia-nus, a Marseilles monk who lived in the fifth century, wrote: “It ought to be known that the observance of the forty days [of lent] had no existence, so long as the perfection of the primitive Church remained inviolate.”

Well, then, whence did this observance come? “It seems that the observance of [lenten] fasts was introduced into the Church slowly and by degrees,” says McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia. Introduced “slowly and by degrees”, by whom and from what source? Alexander Hislop, dealing with this subject of lent in his The Two Bahylons, says: “To conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skilful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get paganism and Christianity .. . to shake hands.”

At first lent was limited to forty hours instead of forty days. Later it was extended, as noted by Socrates (about A.D. 450) in his Hist. Eccles., lib. v. cap 22, p. 234: “Those who inhabit the princely city of Rome fast together before Easter three weeks, excepting the Saturday and Lord’s-day.” After his day lent was extended to thirty-six days. Finally, says the historian J. R. Schlegel: “Gregory the Great in the sixth century, or as others say Gregory II in the eighth century, added four days more to this fast, so as to make it full forty days.”

Of Pagan Origin

It is only natural to inquire as to why lent was stretched out from forty hours to forty days. It was not because of some whim of an ecclesiastical authority, but it was directly tied to the adoption by the Roman Catholic church of the Babylonish pagan worship of Astarte. To be consistent Rome had also to adopt the Chaldean lent fast of forty days. A very interesting observation on this point is made in The Two Babylons, page 104: “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, ‘in the spring of the year,’ is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians.” This latter fact is attested to by the findings of the noted archeologist, Layard, who says that these people “abstain during that period [of lent] as completely as the Chaldeans from animal food.”—Babylon and Nineveh, page 93.

Another eminent archeologist, Wilkinson, points out in his Egyptian Antiquities (vol. i, p. 278) that centuries before Christ the Egyptians observed a fortyday lent. And Landseer’s Sabean Researches, page 112, says that this Egyptian spring fast of forty days was expressly in honor of the demon god Osiris or Adonis. What could be stronger proof that this forty-day lent is of pagan origin than to find that the natives of Mexico, whose sun-worshiping religion had its origin in the Nimrod-worship set up after the Flood at the Tower of Babel, also observed a forty-day fast each spring centuries before Columbus set sail for the West? Humboldt, in his Mexican Researches (vol. i, p. 404), says: “Three days after the vernal equinox . .. began a solemn fast of forty days in honor of the sun.” Moreover, the custom during the lenten season of fasting on weekdays and “weeping” because there is no meat and then “rejoicing” on Sundays with much feasting, is also directly traceable to the ancient pagan custom of lent attached to the annual worship of the demon god Tammuz. At that time the heathen wept and rejoiced.

Add to all of the above evidence the fact that there is a remarkable similarity between Christendom’s lent and that kept by the Buddhists, and one is more than convinced that this spring fast is of. pagan origin. After showing that Catholicism is in deed and doctrine the twin' sister of Buddhism, Van Dyke, in his book Popery, points out that the Buddhists "have also their lent, when for four or five weeks all the people are supposed to live on vegetables and fruits”.

Ever-changing Lent Customs

Lent having no divine origin or law to govern it, and being founded only on the shifting sands of human traditions, it is not surprising to learn that there is little resemblance between lent customs today and those of olden times. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of lent, concerning which McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia says there is “a perfect silence in the most ancient writings”. Pope Celestin III, in 1191, was the first to sanction Ash Wednesday as the universal beginning of lent. (Encyclopedia Americana) “In Rome the spectacle on this occasion is most ridiculous,” says McClintock & Strong, for “after giving themselves up to all kinds of gaiety and licentiousness during the Carnival [immediately preceding lent], till twelve o’clock on Tuesday night, the people go on Ash-Wednesday morning into the churches”. By thus gluttonously gorging themselves and committing all manner of wicked excesses they provide themselves with an excuse for undergoing forty days of fasting and penance.

Many changes have been made down through the centuries in the lent menu. Mosheim, in his Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, says that “anciently those who undertook to observe a fast abstained altogether from food and drink; in this age [the fourth century A.D.] many deemed it sufficient merely to omit the use of flesh and wine.” In the fifth century Socrates tells how some ab-

stained from all flesh, while others ate only fish; others ate fowl, while others abstained from nuts and eggs; some ate dry bread, and others not even that; while others fasted until three o’clock in the afternoon.

At first lent fasting was a matter of individual and voluntary piety, but A.D. 541 those who set themselves up, over and above their fellows as the Roman Hierarchy, decreed that whosoever fasted not offended the “Church”. Severe penalties were added in the seventh and eighth centuries, including “excommunication” of all who failed to keep this pagan lent fast. “In later times,” says McClintock & Strong, “some persons who ate flesh during Lent were punished with the loss of their teeth.” Then came the pressure of the Reformation and the Vatican began granting one indulgence after another until it was “allowing meat at the principal meal, first on Sundays, and then on two, three, four and five weekdays, throughout nearly the whole of Lent”. (Catholic Encyclopedia) Strange, how one “infallible” pope makes it a sin to eat meat, and then another “infallible” pope comes along and turns that sin-laden meat into good meat! But inconsistencies like this are bound to exist when adopting customs of the devil-worshiping pagans.

Ah, but the lent-fasters will be quick to call upon the Bible to support their forty-day pseudo fast. Christ fasted for forty days in the wilderness, say they. Yes, but in the fall of the year, following His baptism, and not when the pagans fasted in the spring! Again the theologians say: Did not Christ declare (Luke 5:34,35) that his followers would fast after he left them? Yes, after his death; but the lenten fast is before. Here, then, is a typical example of how the religionists wrest the Scriptures to support Christendom’s pagan practices, including lent.

“HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF”

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Will it always be thus ?

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Western European Confederacy <$- In a notable address January 22 British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin called for a confederation of Western European nations, bluntly charging the Soviet ‘Union with seeking ruthlessly to dominate Europe, which effort would inevitably lead to another war. He urged a “spiritual union” of free and equal democratic countries, in contrast with the Soviet-dominated bloc of Eastern European countries. Winston Churchill the next day endorsed Mr. Bevin’s plan, urging a speedy diplomatic action by the Western powers to “bring matters to a head” before the Russians developed atomic bombs of their own. On the same day Britain’s prime minister, Clement Attlee, delivered a speech attacking the Soviet, and charging the Russian leaders with driving a police van instead of being, as claimed, *‘in the van of human progress.” Russia’s newspaper Izvestia after a few days, retorted that Bevin had become “a salesman. of Wall street” and was seeking “an exit from England’s blind alley” of economic difficulties.

ERB Debate

Debate over the European Recovery Program continued in the U. S. Senate during the second half of January. The arguments of administration spokesmen, including Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal and Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall, were that EBP was a most important instrument in America u policy, necessary to avoid heavy expenditures for defense, which ml gilt equal in one year the total sum asked for the ERP- Secretary of State Marshall's assertion that “this program is an economy, not an expense” was weighed along with testimony by Bernard M. Baruch in its favor, and that of former President Hoover, who came up with an entirely different idea, completely setting aside the ERP. Various efforts were made by congressmen to cut down the sum total to be devoted to the program. It was suspected that many of these efforts were made for political reasons. By the end of the month the administration and the Republican leaders of Congress had reached virtual agreement on the question of the way the aid should be administered, but the question of how much should be deducted from the administration’s figure of $6,800,000,000 for the first fifteen months continued under discus-siam

Gandhi Assassination

<§> The strife that has long torn India and which has lately set the two newly-formed dominions against each other was complicated January 30 as a result of the slaying of Mohandas K. Gandhi, religious Hindu leader. The slayer was an Orthodox Hindu, an extreme Nationalist^ who resented Gandhi’s broader viewpoint. The violence that has been rife in India for so long now threatens to become a three-way struggle, and ominous Indications of Increased disturbances followed the assassination of the 78-year-old Gandhi* The day after his death Gandhi’s body was cremated, on the banks of the river Jumma, sacred to the Hindus. Thousands were present, mourning the death of him whom they called their father, and who has been referred to as “a saint among politicians and a politician among saints”. Pope Plus XII, who also deals with politicians, though he has not been called a saint, expressed himself as “deeply chagrined” over Gandhi’s death.

Pakistan Charges

<$> At Lake Success, January 16, Pakistan charged India with carrying on systematic military aggression and genocide against Moslems and she urged the U, N. Security Council to name a commission to investigate the tense situation in Kashmir, where Moslem raiders have been attacked by Indian troops. Later (January 19) India and Pakistan agreed to submit their differences to a three-member U. N. mediation board.

The French Franc

<$> The IS ch u man government of France the last week of January put into effect a drastic devaluation of the franc, because there were many more francs in circulation than there were goods that could be bought—an inflationary situation. A franc could buy hardly a tenth of what it brought in prewar days, such was the extent of Its decrease in value. The official exchange rate for the franc had been set by the government at 1J9 francs to $1, but a dollar will actually buy much more than 119 francs. Tourists could go to “black market” exchanges and get from 2250 to 350

francs for each of their dollars. The government now has set up a dual system, giving exporters 214 francs for half of the dollars they received in their business transactions, while the other half may be exchanged by them in the free money market for all they can get for them. This, it is hoped, will encourage the export, trade. Also, tourists will no lodger be expected to exchange their dollars at official exchanges, but may legally exchange them elsewhere at higher rates.

Palestine Problem

<$> In Palestine, two months after approval of the partition plan by the U. N., fighting between Jews and Arabs continued unabated. The death-toll resulting from numerous bombings and battles reached a thousand during that period. While the United Nations Commission for Palestine had agreed unanimously on the formation of Arab and Jewish militias in Palestine, Great Britain at the U. N. headquarters In Lake Success, N. Y., flatly rejected the proposal. British Representative Sir Alexander Cadogan said on January 30 that the British government will be responsible for conditions in Palestine until the mandate terminates (May 15) and the British get out.

German Unrest

The people of the German zones occupied by British and American forces are supposed to receive a daily food ration of 1,550 calories each. But in parts of the Ruhr people were really getting only half that amount, or less. The U. S. was to supply 1,000 calories per person, but German farmers, who were supposed to provide the remainder, continued to hoard their produce. The result was a very unequal distribution of the food. The shortage resulted in widespread strikes and demonstrations in mid-January. Thousands of workers walked out in Cologne and Nuremberg, as well as in other places. On January 23 some 2,000,000 workers in the province of Bavaria (largely Catholic) staged a one-day walkout, the agitation being directed against the German as well as the occupation authorities. Action by the occupation and German officials consisted in searches for hoarded food and the introduction of a program intended to compel well-off areas to share their food with needy regions. Appeals were also made to Washington for increased food shipments. *

Iraqi Cabinet Fall

<$> The cabinet of Premier Saleh Jabr of Iraq resigned on January 27, twelve days after an Anglo-Iraqi treaty was signed giving Britain the use of Iraq bases to protect her oil interests in Iraq. Popular resentment against this agreement expressed itself in riots which brought about the fall of the government. Mohammed el-Sadr was made the new premier and a new cabinet was formed January, 29. The U. S. is interested in the Middle East oil fields, which are estb mated to have a reserve of 27,275,000,000 barrels, the largest in the world, though poorly developed. On January 29 secretary of defense, James V. Forrestal, told the Senate War Investigat-ing Committee that the U. S. should protect its Middle East interests, stating that this was essential to the success of the Marshall Plan and that the region was a necessary depot for American armed forces in the event of an ‘‘emergency”.

Agreement on Java

The settlement, temporarily, of the Dutch-Indonesian problem is considered a significant achievement of the U. N. Good Offices Committee sent to act as mediator between the Dutch and the Indonesians. Both sides agreed that within two years a plebiscite will be called in which the 40,000,000 Indonesians can decide by vote whether or not they want to join a separate Indonesian republic in the projected United States of Indonesia.

Soviet Protests

<§> The U. S. intention to reopen the Mellaha air base, near Tripoli, in Africa, was protested by the Soviet in late January. Objection was also raised to the presence of American war vessels in Italian ports as violating the Italian peace treaty. The Italian government retorted that this was a matter between itself and the United States, which did not concern Russia.

Soviet Budget

<$> During the last week of January the Soviet parliament received the 1948 budget, which called for 428 billion rubles (approximately $85,500,000,000). Of this total, 66 billion rubles are for military purposes. The new budget is 56 billion rubles greater than that of last year, the allocation for military expenses being, however, a billion rubles less.

Marx Centennial

<$> January marked the centennial of the issuance by Karl Marx of the Communist Manifesto, a document that forms the basis of Communist philosophy. That philosophy or ideology now controls a fifth of the world’s area and inhabitants, and continues to spread,

Soviet Economist Demoted

<$> Academician Eugen S. Varga, number one economist of the Soviet Union, in late January was stripped of his post as director of the Institute of World Economics and World Politics in the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He made the mistake of asserting that he saw no economic crisis in sight for capitalism and that he believed the Soviet Union and Anglo-American capitalism could and should work together. It was something the Soviet leaders did not want said.

Hitler-Stalin Relations ’39-’41

About the most sensational development in Washington, U. S., during late January was the publication by the State Department of the 241-page record of Nazi-Soviet relations and consultations for 1939-1941. This record ■was captured by V- S. forces in Germany at the close of the war and has since been carefully studied by government representatives, eventually to be made public. The document showed that Russia had entered into deals with Hitler about grabbing land of various countries, such as Roland, the Baltic States and Rumania. The two dictators had reached an agreement to divide Europe, Asia and Africa into spheres of influence which each would control. They fell out as to how this was to be accomplished, when Russia demanded domination of the Balkans, the Dardanelles and the Baltic. Hitler wanted the Balkans and the Dardanelles himself.

America Becomes Vocal

<$> While Soviet Russia has been booming out its propaganda on every occasion, in season and out of season, America has been content with relatively little activity in this direction. The “Voice of America” broadcasts authorized by Congress a short time ago were extremely modest efforts to put the American idea before other nations. On January 19, however, a decisive step was taken in raising the “Voice of America” to something above a diffident undertone. Congress approved and sent to the White House a bill which will give the State Department’s foreign information program the sanction of a permanent law, and greatly increase the volume of' its efforts to inform other lands of America’s activities, purposes, achievements, etc. The first outstanding broadcast sent to all continents carried the information about the Russo-German schemes of 1939-1941.

U. S. Labor

In a statement to a Senate committee President Green of the American Federation of Labor stated that workers would rather see prices drop than wages increase in another inflationary spiral. He suggested that an extra hour’s work a day at overtime rates with effective price controls might halt new wage demands.

Eisenhower Withdraws

<$> General Eisenhower completely disavowed ambition to be U. S. president. In mid-January he issued a definite statement removing himself from the presidential race, stating that he did not consider that military personnel should be placed in the president’s office, Eisenhower-for-president clubs throughout the U. S. quickly disbanded.

Meganthropus and

Gigantopithecus

The American Museum of Natural History (New York) on January 22 put on a display of unnatural history intended to persuade us mortals to accept our alleged ancestors of “500,000 years ago” (conservative estimate). And a motley lot these ancestors must have been, evil in appearance, judging from pictures which “scientists” have been able to develop from a piece of bone here and there and a few teeth. The “valuable” display included the jawbone of the Java Giant Man, also called Meganthropus Man, and the “huge teeth” of Gigantopithecus, who is described as a “gigantic brute who roamed prehistoric forests about 400,000 years ago”, more or less, but mostly less. The “scientists” are sure he roamed the forests and did not sit at home in a rocking chair. The teeth were discovered in a Chinese drugstore some years ago. The “scientists” draw marvelous conclusions from the few pieces of bone and missing teeth which they have collected, and it will not be long now until they tell us about the even more “gigantic brute” who knocked out the teeth of Gigantopithecus. For most of us, modern man is a sufficiently “gigantic brute” for all diabolical purposes. The “weight of scientific evidence” is that they are not sure whether these pieces of bone all go together, or whether they belonged to different men (and animals), so that they cannot be quite sure when these “ancestors” lived or what they looked like? It is all very unscientific.

Philippine Earthquake

<$> Beginning Sunday, January 25, and continuing to the following Tuesday evening, the Philippine Islands experienced an earthquake that registered 53 separate shocks over a 300-mile belt, covering five of the larger islands. The city of Iloilo (population 125,000), on the island of Panay, experienced the greatest destruction. The earthquake caused fissures in the earth up to 300 feet in width. Loss* of life, however, was not great.*

Orville Wright

<$> January 30, at Dayton, Ohio, Orville Wright, 76, a pioneer in aviation, died. He and his brother Wilbur are credited with building the world’s first motor-driven aircraft Orville rued the destructive use made of the airplane, saying, during World War II, “No one could deplore more than I the destruction it has caused.”

Air Tragedies

<$> A series of airplane disasters occurred during the last week of January, involving the loss of many lives. A transport plane crash 75 miles from Fresno, California, resulted In the death of 32 persons, most of them Mexican farm laborers. Twenty-one Americans died in two separate disasters in the French Alps. Nine of these perished when a B-17 search plane crashed shortly after locating the wreckage of a C-47, which had fallen with four crewmen, three women and five children aboard. A British airliner, carrying 31 persons, disappeared somewhere in the Atlantic, about 300 miles northeast of Bermuda. Sir Arthur Coningham, General Eisenhower’s tactical air force commander during World War II, was among those who were on the lost plane.

THE BIBLE ...

The Most Reliable Source for Answer to Life’s Problems

While men in general are led to seek information from a great variety of conflicting sources, readers of The Watchtower are consistently directed to the Bible for guidance. Said a recent issue of this Christian magazine:

- ■    ' _{T T} W*-' °           no time

VOl -ti                _earth, h_armony

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FOLLOW THE BIBLE, You will find The Watchtower an invaluable aid toward this end. The Watchtower does not claim to be inspired. Its mission is to lead men in the way of life by pointing them always to the Bible, which is the inspired Word of the Lifegiver, Jehovah,

A year’s subscription of 24 issues of this 16-page magazine is only $1.00, Eight helpful booklets will be sent free if your subscription is sent as noted below,

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Enclosed find $1,00 Please enter my subscription for The Watchtower. If this is sent in prior to April 30, 1948, I am to receive free 8 booklets containing Bible treatises.

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