NATIONAL ELECTION CAPTURES ITALIAN MIND

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Race Problems and Policies in South Africa

•\ sober^- view of a ruoM diHiciih. piv-ht.-rii

Opening the Eyes of the Blind

'A hat help ter ih'ju e. hei h_Fo<_- thcji "ivht*

Prophetic Proof of Christ’s Presence

OCTOBER 8, 1953 semimonthly

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

New* sources that ere able to keep you awoke to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. “Awake I” has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish fiuj£& It is not bound by political amHtions or obligations; it is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; it is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This Journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.

“Awake [" uses the regular news channels, but is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their uncensored, on-the-scenes reports come to you through these columns. This Journal’s viewpoint is not narrow, but Is international. If is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields cf knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its coverage is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens,

**Awake I” pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of a right-ecus New World.

Get acquainted with “Awake!” Keep awake by reading “Awake!”

Published Semimonthly By WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC.

117 Adams Street                                  Brooklyn l_t N. Y._t U. B. A.

N. H. Knobs, Frcfideni                             Grant Suiteh, Secretary

CONTENTS

Awake! Is Thirty-four

Race Problems and Policies in South Africa 5

Riot, Arson and Murder

National Election Captures Italian Mind 9

The Campaign

The Results

Famous Kruger Park

Behind the Mardi Gras

Its Religious Background

The Villainous Vikings

Hawaii's Showiest Flower

Opening the Eyes of the Blind

Causes and Cures for Blindness

"Good" Vice versus Bad

"Your Word Is Truth"

Prophetic Proof of Christ’s Presence 25

Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach

in All the Earth—Switzerland

Do You Know?

Watching the World

Srooktjn, H. Y,, October 8, 1*03

"AWAKE!” Is Thirty-four

7TSDOM of the right order is es-

W sentlal to the welfare and happiness of mankind.¹¹ Thus, on October 1, 19]9, began the first article in the first-issue of The Golden Age, the forerunner of this magazine. Thirty-four years later, and with approximately H70 issues, Awake’ holds as firmly as ever to its duty of providing that wisdom. The Golden Age and its two successors, Oonftolatum and Awake! have been blessed with an excellent opportunity to provide it, for they have had no commercial interests at heart, no political ambitions or obligations, have been bound by no fetters, have remained free to publish facts, have remained unhampered by the whims of advertisers and have been unprejudiced by traditional creeds or national rivalries. Yet, though being able to speak freely, they liave not abused that freedom, but have held firmly to the truth.

An announcement that preceded the first issue of The Golden Age said: "Many wonderful events are transpiring today, all of which have a Scriptural meaning. The magazine will carry these current events, together with the Scriptural explanation of the same, . , . The purpose of the magazine la to make announcement to the world that the Golden Age is at hand and the hope is by this means to bind up the broken hearted and to comfort those that mourn and turn the minds of the people to the Lord?’ It gave consolation to its readers and awakened them to the seriousness of our times and to the necessity of doing something about them.

Il maintained a firm hold on its mission, and was enthusiastically received. By the time the second Issue was off the press about 20,000 subscribers were already on the list Ihiblished every other Wednesday, It contrasted the present age with the conditions that will prevail under God’s kingdom. Bihip lectures were published;'Bible questions were answered, The growth and thoroughness of the Christian activity of Jehovah’s witnesses were shown.

On September 29, 1920, a special issue (No. 27) was published to the extent of four million copies, to expose the fantastic persecution of true Christians, even in the United States, during 1917-19. It named the overt acts committed, gave proof of them, and even showed who among the clei-gy were involved. The account of radio censorship in the United States was given; religious myths were exposed. For eighteen years The Golden Age did its job, and did it well.

Then, October 6, 1937, a new magazine, Cowjsoitrtio?^ replaced it. With the change in title came a change in format. Its page size was reduced and made more convenient. A colored cover was introduced for the first time, and Improvements In typography increased its eye-appeal. It championed the rights of Christiana when-

ever these were trampled on by anyone— the public press, religious leaders, the political or commerdal interests. It reported outstanding legal battles that kept the door open for the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” and that firmly established your religious freedom. It exposed the backers of the totalitarian powers; stood out boldly for the truth; publicized the stand of Jehovah’s witnesses, who refused to bow down to manmade images and refused regimentation that would take them away from their God-given assignment. Special articles in 1945 and 1946 heralded the victory and triumph of thousands of Jehovah’s witnesses over the German concentration camps.

Further, it published many articles of interest on education, science, travel and geography. Much pertinent Scriptural counsel was contained within its pages, and it served a very definite place in the lives of those who really wanted to know what was back of current distress.

Then, after nine years of faithful service, Consolation became Awake! Again, with the change the magazine took a major stride forward. In eighteen years (1919-1937) The Golden Age reached a total circulation of 46,000,000 copies. In just half that time (1937-1946) 57,500,000 copies of Consolation were distributed. But Awake! now has a circulation of 1,150,000 copies an issue, which, every twenty months, equals the total 18-year circulation of The Golden Age! America's largest Protestant magazine has a circulation just over 600,-000; the largest Catholic periodical, 768,-000. Awake! exceeds both. Certainly many are reading it, recognizing its value.

Why such circulation? AwakeTs first article, “Wake Up, World!” August 22, 1946, described the present twentieth century as a synthetic, atom-smashing, Jet-propelled, rad ar-controlled, electronic world headed for the ditch of destruction because of its failure to be awake to the real issues confronting mankind. This was not to be the type of magazine that would tell you everything is getting better and better. It is a magazine for people who think; for those who, while wanting interesting reading, also want facts instead of just entertainment. As its predecessors were, it is published by Jehovah's witnesses, but it certainly is not read by just them, for its circulation is more than double the number of Jehovah’s witnesses there are in the world!

If you want a magazine, that tells the truth about a situation, no matter whose toes are stepped on, Awake! offers its services. Not everyone is pleased by its facts, for it lets the chips fall where they may, in religion as well as in politics. It might at times strike one of your pet ideas. But, if so, its purpose is not to antagonize you, but to stir you to very pointed and careful thought on the matter. If you prefer the truth to sugar-coating, if you are willing to accept firmly corroborated and thoroughly documented facts, then continue reading Awake!

Awake! is not concerned with pleasing everyone. It puts reliability ahead of popularity. It prints the truth to aid, not to offend or anger, and for this reason its circulation is expanding by leaps and bounds, for it provides to those who wish to be awakened the service of being alerted to the seriousness of our times. Are you one of such? Then Awake! will be pleased to continue serving you as it and its predecessors have served, throughout the past 34 years, hundreds of thousands, yes, millions who are of like mind.

By *'AwnV*r’ copras pendant In Spvlh Africa AT THE conclusion of the second world war, the Union of South Africa, accustomed to the semiobscurity accorded to countries small in the counsels of the nations, was bewildered and embarrassed to find herself a center of world interest and debate. The nations cast critical eyes upon her racial policies and at every session of the United Nations organization uttered sententious phrases of condemnation and advice. In the 60-nation Special Political committee in November, 1952, South Africa was specifically accused of "threatening the peace of the world by persisting with its policies of political, social and economic discrimination between black and white."

Much of the criticism leveled at South Africa was well founded. Much of it, the bitterest, betrayed a lack of an elementary understanding of the South African scene. The popular picture of white South Africans as ruthless oppressors and exploiters of their nonwhite fellows is mostly mythical. The plain truth is that white South Africans have on their hands the most complex racial problem in the world, for which there is no easy or obvious solution.

South Africa is a land of sunshine and genial climat^, erratic rainfall and poor soil, a land of wide open spaces, and a few bustling cities whose prosperity is intimately linked with the fantastic gold mines of the Witwatersrand. Excluding the disputed territory of South-West Africa, its area is 472,550 square miles—-more than five times the total area of Great Britain.

In this expanse live 12,600,000 people, of every shade of color from white to black, speaking a dozen different languages and in stages of development varying from the most advanced culture of the West to near barbarism. The essential problem of South Africa is to reconcile these differences In a single nation.

White South Africans number 2,640,000. Of these a slight preponderance apeak Afrikaans, a language essentially South African, developed from Dutch. Most of the rest have English as their home language. Closest to these “Europeans’* on the color wheel ore the “Coloureds," South Africans of mixed ancestry, with an infusion of white hiQtx!, who number nearly 1,000,000. Next come the 323,000 Indians, and the last and largest group are the native Africans, the Bantu, who number 8,500,000. The white man rules. The nonwhites have almost no legal power to sway the acts of government.

The indignation, not always righteous or disinterested, of the outride world, and the conscience of white South Africa itself, made more uneasy by the rising tide of complaint from its non white subjects, have made dubious the ethical rightness of such an order, which for 300 years has had the force of a religious dogma in South Africa. White South Africans are almost unanimous that such an order cannot much longer be maintained. What order can replace it without destroying white civilization in southern Africa is the present bone of bitter contention in South African politics.

OCTOBER a, 1SSS

FAe Bantu

South Africa Indian problem, by virtue of its superior articulateness and the support of mother India, has tended to receive disproportionate attention whenever South Africa’s racial policies are denounced in holy anger. The Indian problem is indeed an ugly sore crying to be healed. But South Africa’s basic color problem is not what to do with her 323,000 Indians, nor how to satisfy the just aspirations of her one million semiwhites, but what to do with the Si million Bantu within her borders. South Africa’s whole color policy is conditioned by this fact and this fear: 80 per cent of her population is black; if the color bar is breached, what new dike can stop a black flood from overflowing and destroying the civilization with which white men have displaced the wilderness?

The Bantu are not Negroes, although an infusion of Negro blood in the remote past has given them many typically Negro characteristics—flat noses, thick lips and short, curly, peppercorn hair. As far as historians have been able to* determine, their original home was somewhere near the equatorial highlands of East Africa. Some hundreds of years ago they began a leisurely migration southward, moved by pressure of population, tribal wars and the depredations of Arab slave raiders. Their arrival and settlement in the northern and eastern parts of what is now South Africa coincided closely with the white man’s arrival in the southwestern comer of that land. Dutchmen and Bantu were in South Africa together for nearly a hundred years before their vanguards, moving in opposite directions, made contact. Rivals for the same prize, representatives of societies at opposite ends of the cultural scale, their meeting led inevitably to war. For one hundred years white men and black men fought each other sporadically, until the subjugation of the black man was complete.

The beginning of the period of subjugation saw the Bantu scattered thinly over a great area comprising the best grasslands of South Africa. The end of the period saw him compressed into reserves a fraction of the size of his previous spacious habitat. And here a seal was set upon South African Native policy. From henceforth the Bantu was to be regarded as an inhabitant of the reserves. There he could live in a foreshortened tribal society, with the white man exercising paternal oversight. Outside the reserves and particularly in the white man’s cities he would be a stranger without rights. He might enter those cities temporarily to minister to the white man’s needs, but his residence would be a tolerated one, to which could be attached no privileges of citizenship. To this day this principle remains the essence of South African Native policy and legislation. The breakdown of that principle has left South Africa floundering in a sea of uncertainty, anxiety and conflicting counsel.

Two factors contributed to the breakdown: the steady, inexorable increase in Bantu numbers, and the white man’s insatiable need for black labor for his mines and industries. Unlike the Australian aborigines and the North American Indian, the Bantu has not followed what an Australian governor called the *’natural progress of the aboriginal race toward extinction.” Pressure of population in the reserves soon became evident. At the same time a vacuum was formed in the European areas. The discovery of diamonds and then of gold brought to South Africa capital, industrialization and the need for labor. The nature of the diamond and gold mines necessitated that much of that labor should be cheap. The abundant cheap labor pressing at the bounds of the reserves flowed in to fill the vacuum. Today 3,000,000 Africans live in tribal reserves. Nearly twice that number live in European areas. South Africa re-

ceived an immigration from within, and her immigrants were black. The preaait crisis is provoked by a demand on the one hand and a refusal on the other to recognize that that immigration has taken place and that it is permanent.

Policies and Problems

White South Africans are fundamentally divided on the Issue. The Nationalist party, presently in power, recognizes that the immigration has taken place, but refuses to accept Its permanence. Its apartheid program demands that the immigrants be sent back the way they come. It contends that the mingling of white and black in one social, economic and political system is good for neither white nor black. Its declared aim Is the construction of two separate societies in South Africa, one white and one black, each developing along Its own lines and according to its own ability. Its plan is basically the restoration and extension of the principle that the home of the Bantu is in the reserves, and that in the European areas he has neither rights nor claims nor permanent dwelling.

As a plan for racial peace and security apartheid has much emotional appeal among white South Africans. Opponents of the plan declare it to be based upon wishful thinking and impossible of execution. The United party, chief of the opposition, proposes as an alternative to apartheid a policy of qualified integration, the recognition that economic integration of black and white has taken place, that in the economic system of the Union black and white a» permanent urban dwellers are essential to each other. The qualification is that social integration shall not take place. White racial integrity is to be aafe-guarded by the continuance and extension of the principles of local residential and social segregation, which have always been a feature of South African urban life, Na*

tianahsts declare emphatically tnsrc oidh safeguards are not enough, that In such a society political rights and privileges must eventually be granted to black men, to the ultimate extinction of white leadership and rulcrshlp In Africa.

Upon the question of granting political rights to black men both plans arc discreetly vague. In effect both plans embody the conception of the white man, acting under different circumstances, as an enlightened trustee for his black wards. But both plans continually beg the question as to what is to happen when the wards come of age. Many of those wards are of age right now and are demanding recognition of their Intellectual adulthood.

Much wrong thinking is occasioned by envisaging the Bantu as a homogeneous whole. In South Africa the Bantu are divided linguistically into four major groups, the Ngoni, the Sutho, the Vcnda and the Tonga. Each group constitutes a separate nation whose language is completely foreign to the other three. Each group is again divided Into many tribes, speaking different dialects and traditionally antagonistic to one another.

In the reserves the Bantu is little removed from his ancient tribalism. In the urban areas he is found in intellectual conditions of great variety. Many are scarcely superior to their tribal cousins. Most of them still have their thought processes rooted in the sanctions, superstitions and traditions of the tribe. But an increasing upper layer is working steadily toward intellectual equality with the white man. And the intellectual attainments of some few proclaim their attainment of such equality. In this confusion and complexity the white man clings to the color bar as a weapon of self-preservation. It is less than fair to say he does so ruthlessly. The plain truth is he does not know what else to do.

The color bar operates in three ways;

socially, politically and economically. The Coloureds and Indians find all three operations galling and intolerable. But aside from the upper strata of African intellectuals, the Bantu masses know little and care less concerning social and political color bars. It is the economic color bar that presses most upon them and galls them to resentment. The strictures of the economic color bar, with just one exception, are unwritten. Their force stems from traditional European color attitudes. European trade unions are the main vehicle for their application. Their effect is to prevent the African from obtaining skills and to confine him to low-pay unskilled labor. Their basis is the European's fear of economic competition from cheap, “uncivilized” labor.

The most violent Bantu resentment, however, is reserved for the group of regulations known as the “Pass Laws.” The most sober and moderate European opinion declares these regulations to be based in necessity. It is contended that abolition of the Pass Laws would react unfavorably to the Africans themselves. But the black man loathes the multiplicity of documents that he must carry on his person and that a police officer may demand to see at any time. The African passive resistance movement of 1952 was directed primarily against the Pass Laws.

Riot, Arson and Murder

Those who know the Bantu predicted¹ that the passive resistance movement would result eventually in violence. In October-November, in the cities of Port Elizabeth, East London and Kimberley, Africans erupted suddenly in violence and sickening, primitive savagery. The riots were plainly antiwhite, and followed the same pattern at each place. Public buildings built by white enterprise m Native areas, even though those buildings were for Bantu pleasure or education, were burned.

The riots came at a time when South African Native policy was at the crossroads. South Africa faced a general election early in 1953 and the main election issue was the color policy. (See October 22 Awake! for a report on the election.) Liberals declare that the riots had their roots in repressive legislation, bad housing and the government’s declared determination to implement its apartheid policy. The government replies pointedly that all three centers in which the riots exploded are strongholds of liberal opinion and action. Port Elizabeth particularly is noted for its liberal local Native policy. Within its boundaries the Bantu are subjected to a minimum of restriction and control, and its New Brighton Township, scene of the riots, is declared to be the most modern, progressive and attractive Native housing scheme in southern Africa. These facts have strengthened the government in its denunciation of liberalism as a policy unfit for application in South Africa. Its declared intention is to arm itself at the next session of Parliament with increased powers to act against agitators and “resisters.” Passive resisters declare their determination to carry on their campaign, and they are now being joined actively by European sympathizers.

Amid the babble of conflicting counsel, charge and countercharge, many South African religious leaders are contending insistently that the basic need is to Christianize the Native. This, of course, is true. It is equally true that the white man himself stands in need of being Christianized. The handful of Christians in South Africa, of all colors, rejoice to know that Christ the King will himself shortly remove the affairs of South Africa, and of the entire earth, from the hands of foolish, fearful, selfish men and will fill the earth with the fruit of righteousness, which is peace.

By            carmponifant tn Italy

FOR the second time since the death of fascism, Italy took itself to the polls to express its views on self-government It had experienced the liberty uf a free election in 1948 and was eager to make its wishes known once more last June 7 and 8,

In 1948 the elections themselves showed much insight into the Italian political trend of thought. Among the multitude of political parties born and reborn following the waronly two seemed strong: the DemoChristians and the Communist party. The Christian Democrats put the Italian voters on the horns of a dilemma; “Italy will be Domo-Christlan or it will be Communist J* It began to Intimidate the other parties with the prospect of their dissolution, In case of absolute victory of the Communists. The tactics worked well, and the Christian democrats with De Gospcrl won.

What have been the results? Has the existing government been able to solve its problems? Ugo Ln Malta, affiliated with the Italian Republican party, in his article entitled “ Touch-and-Go in Italy/’ which appeared in the January issue of Forewn Affaira, an American quarterly review, summed up the situation quite well:

“Italy's fundamental problem is still what it was at the time of national unification—a problem of glaring contrasts. The manifestations of a long-standing culture stand beside the evidences of long-standing poverty. Qn the one hand are such progressive provinces as Piedmont and Lombardy: on the other, the island of Sardinia. ... The north is now heavily industrialized.

There are efficient mechanized farms, railways, and shipping lines with international ramifications, enterprising businessmen, workers with high technical training—and also with a heritage of acute class consciousness. The south has a backward agricultural economy, communications are larking, towns and villages are Isolated; there are masses of unskilled laborers and listless upper and middle classes whose members rely on government subsidies and government jobs. Vast inequalities of income make for the existence of two very different Itaiys, both In one political body.

“In southern Italy in 1950 the average individual income was no more than $115 a year. There were 7 automobiles and 35 radios to every 1,000 inhabitants and a correspondingly low consumption of food and expenditures for clothing and for fertilizer to grow food. In the north there were 131.4 industrial workers to every 1,000 inhabitants in 1938 and 133.4 in 1951, while in the south the number went down from 46 per 1,000 to 40, thereby worsening a situation that was already bad enough. As a result, 17,000,000 south Italians do not constitute a domestic market that anywhere nearly corresponds to their number. Their extreme poverty and lack of skill at any particular trade means widespread unemployment and the multiplication of petty middlemen whose profits prevent any increase of consumption/’

It cafinot be denied that great steps have been made by the Demo-Christlans in rehabilitating the country. On every hand, especially in the north, are to be seen new

factories and hundreds of new apartment houses. The ravages and scars of war are almost removed and forgotten as these new structures rise out of the destruction. The big complaint, however, especially in the south, is that the vast majority of the people, even though they may be employed, cannot afford to rent or buy these new dwelling places. This seems evident when one recalls that the average individual income is only $115 per year. One has but to look at the hundreds of families in the big cities of the south living in one room, and not too large at that, for a family of from five to ten or more children. With such conditions still widespread there was fertile soil for the seeds of communism to take root, and this they had not neglected to do.

The Campaign

Naturally, these conditions set the stage for the some fifty days of political mudslinging that seems to be common to all political elections. The Italian takes his politics very seriously. He may not have all the facilities of the American to promote his political views, such as the latest innovation—television—but what he lacks in this he makes up for in zeal and fervor in his own methods of campaigning. Italy is ideally suited for the barnstorming political campaign with its hundreds of huge piazze, or squares, that can accommodate upward of 100,000 people, it is claimed. During the nearly two months of the election battle these squares could be seen sometimes filled to capacity, sometimes with only a handful of stragglers, depending on the considered importance of the speaker, listening to the renewed promises of the Demo-Christians to continue the progress they claimed to have made; or listening to the Communists denouncing the DemoChristians for the legge truffa, or trick law.

This was the law that granted a premium of extra seats to the party or coali-

tian that won 50.01 per cent of the total votes in the popular elections. It was the

passage of this law through the Senate In March that had given occasion to certain unruly members to incite a riot an the Senate floor. Bitter words were hurled, names were called, but more substantial things like chair cushions and bundles of papers were thrown at President of the Senate Ruini for his responsibility in permitting the passage of this law. One journalist expressed his opinion that perhaps the record of the parliament of possibly no other country had ever reported a more violent or passionate sitting than this one. According to the Christian Democrats this law was solely to make possible a strong majority in order to form a stable government, otherwise there might be three equally strong powers with no one able to form a government. According to the other parties of the opposition it was a trick on the part of the Demo-Christians to maintain themselves in power.

Not to be overlooked in all the advertising and campaigning was the liberal use of billboards and posters. No building of any size or description was safe from being thoroughly plastered with every conceivable type of poster illustrating or condemning one or the other of the many sides of this electoral battle.

As the final week approached and the heat of battle was getting stifling, greater evidence of religious pressure brought to bear on the voters was seen as every day new supplies of handbills and leaflets appeared on the streets advising Catholics like this: “Who votes for the parties of the left contributes to the preparation of days of grief for the Church and for the Fatherland.” “Who votes for the parties of the right or for other opposition lists favors indirectly the victory of the parties of the left.” The speeches and debates finally reached their climax on Friday, June 5,

when De Gasped and Togliatti, the Communist choice, gave their concluding exhortations at Rome,

At last the greatest political campaign in Italy’s modem history had drawn to a close. The voters must have time to catch th^r breath and consider at leisure once ana for all the final Issues involved. Did they want to go along with the Christian Democrats and give them a further chance to put their policies and program into practice? Had communism grown to the extent that it could carry a great enough strength of voters to control the government and put its promised “equality of the workers" into effect? Where did the monarchists and the Neo-fascists stand in the minds of the Italian electors? Saturday was a day void of campaigning; the voter had to have a day of quiet in which to make up his mind, becati.se tomorrow he must vote. It was the law!

The Results

Sunday, June 7, the rtg hay, dawned with torrential rainstorms throughout most of Italy; but this did not serve to dampen the political spirits of the Italians. They went to the polls almost thirty million strung with an outcome Ui at is now a matter of history. The De mo-Christians failed in their efforts to win 50.01 per cent of the total popular votes, with the result that they did not gain their desired premium of extra seats with their coalition of the other center parties. The final tabulation showed a majority for the center parties’ coalition of 303 seals out of 590 total in the Chamber of Deputies, giving the opposition parties 287 scats; while in the Senate the Deino-Christjans won 125 seats out of a possible 237, of course together with their allies. This gave the opposition 112 seats in the Senate.

From these results it is evident that a form of democracy will continue for a while in Italy, as the peopte have expressed their desire to have it so. But it must he realized that various opposing factions have gained In power. No, Italy did not go Communist nor fascist again, nor even monarchist not even with the groundgaining accomplishments of these movements. More than ever can be expected the bickering and quarreling that has taken place before in parliament as each party continues to seek Its own interests.

1 Inwever, granted that a democratic form of government, generally speaking, has managed to hold a slippery grip on the reins, will this type of government ever be able to stamp out once and for all the misery that yet exists in many of the big cities of southern Italy? Will It be able to bring to an end the countless crimes and the delinquency that, still exist in every part of the country? Will It be able to empty the hospitals and sanitariums of' their suffering sick and crippled? Will It restore the hopelessly poverty-stricken to the point of being able to hold their heads up and not have to beg their neighbors for a crust of bread? Will it or any other human government be able to bring the Italian people to the state where each one wants to treat his neighbor as he would be treated?

Thousands of sincere, honest Italians are coming to the conclusion that neither the Christian Democrats, nor the monarchists, nor the Communists, nor any of the other political movements of any nation of the world can bring about the desired adjustment of these conditions. Only the power of the Almighty God can and will rectify the counties injustices that still exist in Italy. Only his power can bring to an end the heated words and blow's of the political battle. Only under the perfect theocratic government of God will man be able to find the answers to his perplexing problems.

cellent meals if one is not up to barbe-cuing his own.

One soon catches onto the traditional schedule of rising at 4 a.m. to get out on the road as soon as possible. From then

WE ENTERED the gates of Kruger National Game Reserve late in the afternoon. Upon driving the five miles to the rest camp called Pretoriuskop, where we were to stay the three nights, we came in contact with our first truly wild life.

nailing stripes glared at us through the tallish grass as zebra by the dozens merged and emerged in and out of the herd. Just as plentiful were the darker, more stalky looking wildebeest, also of the horse family. We became acquainted with the beautiful little impala, a reddish-toned cousin of the deer,

It was hilly country and the vegetation was plentiful, though not tropical. It is in the subtropical zone and there is a variety of types of trees with little underbrush in most places, though tall grass is in abundance—a natural protection for most of its inhabitants. In the distance we could see the cluster of rondawels, the round, brick homes with genuine thatched roofs, patterned after the native hut, that are the homes of rich and poor alike while guests at Kruger National Park. They are extremely accommodating in the hot weather, as the high, thatched roofs have a cooling effect. They are placed mostly in a circular arrangement, with a huge outdoor brick fireplace in the center, and which fireplace is constantly at your disposal. It is kept in condition by a group of very gentlemanly native boys, mostly of the Mashangana tribe. There are public washrooms, showers, a well-equipped store and a separate “Tea Room,” which serves extill about 6 or 7 all the animals are on the hunt for breakfast, or should I say the daily meal. When breakfast is over you see them relaxing in the grass near the roadside till about 8, when the heat of the subtropics drives them into seclusion. One might as well siesta until 4 p.m., when it begins to cool and they show themselves again. But back to stalking the prey.

You might be driving behind three or four leopards that find the dirt road an easy place to walk, until they catch a scent. They lope along with a slow, easy gait, their long tails swinging nonchalantly, looking back at you occasionally as if to say: "If you don’t like it, you can take another road.” Suddenly they become restless and alert and one by one head slowly off the road and disappear. At this point I received a not very friendly row of white teeth as I snapped a picture of one spotty when we drew up side by side with him.

Having lost the leopards you begin scanning the trees and grass to see what else you can locate in famous Kruger Park’s zoo-land. A couple of hyenas slink across the road, then herds of impala gracefully span the road with one leap, and with the little baby “Walt Disney” impalas following so nervously, Steenbok, wildebeest, waterbok, and more impala. Suddenly one comes across a group of tawny bodies in relaxation, with Leo himself watching over his wives and little ones, his huge, shaggy mane a threat to any intruder in this lions’ den. At one point one of the she-lions rolled

gracefully over on her hack, stretching out her paws and exposing her tummy as if to say, "Come on over and tickle my ribs?*

These animals arc at home here, the boundaries of the park mark their property _f and they view with absolute apathy these "iron Intruders." Perhaps the odor of oil and gasoline blots out any trace of human blood, but they seem to have no fear of tfce iron Intruder, which seems also to mind its own business.

One of the “musts" one must see while in Kruger Park is the elephant. He, in the true sense of the word, Is the king of the beaste, and the must dangerous and feared of jungleland, rivaled only perhaps by the rhinoceros. At the best of times he plays around by uprooting trees of a fair size, but when he is angered, anything in his way has to give way to his vengeance. If there k a iierd of angry elephants, even a motor car would soon be pulverized under the tread of about a 16-inch “paw." Hence the solemn warning "Beware of the elephant,¹' as you enter his domain. One does not have to travel very far before realizing that this is Mr. Elephant’s playground. The ground is covered with whole dead trees, while major paijjs of other trees hang down lifeless. For miles one sees this silent testimony that this is private property.

We looked long and in vain for the culprit, though, and stalked him as diligently as Leo stalks his prey, all to no avail. Big as he is, he has a way of blending into the trunks of large trees as a camouflage. Not that the animals here choose to remain hidden from our view, because they simply do not seem to care whether you are looking at them or not and would generally not bother with you unless extremely hungry or angered. And the chances of their being extremely hungry are slim, there being plenty nf their type of food in this 900-square-mile park.

While searching for the elephant, my eyes came across a terribly tall, rather spotted-looking type of tree, which, upon closer scrutiny, proved to be a giraffe. Mr. Giraffe is only 18 feet tall, if you please. Why, there are some types of trees here that he cannot quite look over! His mate reaches a more humble 15 feet, while baby has to diet on the more lowly shrub. The giraffe has not much natural defense other than his height (which is not to be over-looked, however), except a terrifle kick in his hind legs, which even Mr. Lion steers clear of. We watched him nibble at the top leaves of all the trees. He was quite oblivious to our presence, though his mate quietly kept her eye on us the whole time,

Tlien our attention was drawn away by a troop of monkeys, the largest of which come right up to the car with both hands begging for food. Baby hung onto mommy’s tummy as she scampered along, or sometimes scurried around to her back. In either position she seemed at home.

After a visit to the home of our thick-skinned friend, the hippopotamus, you arc ready to barbecue your supper, then dive into your little rondawel till 4 a.m. rolls around again. A couple of days in this glorious land where nature can display with pride her dustless, shabby-less, sleek-bodied creatures makes one realize that we are the ones behind bars, we are the ones in the zoo.

By “Awok»!'’ corrttpord-ent in Germany and Haiti

HE Mardi Gras is a religious carnival shrouded in pagan antiquity. Its king is the king of all carnival kings—Rex, Lord of Misrule. And its god, Comus, is depicted in late Greek and Roman mythology as the god of festive joy and mirth. The time for this celebration in cities or countries primarily under Roman Catholic dominance is just before “Ash Wednesday,” which is the beginning of the Roman Catholic forty-day Lenten season. Originally the season celebration began with New Year’s Day and terminated with parades, pageantry and a ball on “Shrove Tuesday,” which is “called in French Mardi gras, ‘Fat Tuesday/ in allusion to the fat ox which is ceremoniously paraded through the streets," and which is still observed in Haiti and some South American countries. However, today the festivities generally last only three days. In Spain the carnival lasts four days, including “Ash Wednesday.” In Russia the gaieties last a whole week, from Sunday to Sunday. In Germany it is only a three-day occasion, known as Fastendien-stag or “Der Karneval”

Along the Rhine River section of Germany last year more than three million persons crowded the streets to take part in the feasting and merrymaking. Protestants and Catholics alike joined in the frivolity and revelry. German austerity gave way to boisterous laughter, music and dancing. The atmosphere seemed almost magnetic in the way it attracted and affected the crowds. On occasions the mass of humanity would form a human pathway through which the magnificent floats were drawn. These floats depicted everything from scenes of legend and mythology to presentday political struggles and social needs.

People sang, “Heute blau, Morgen blau, Ubermorgen wieder” (“Drunk today, drunk tomorrow and day after tomorrow drunk again”). Arm in arm they swayed back and forth in time to the music of "Wir kommen aUe> alle in den Himmel” (“We’re all going to go to heaven”). Another popular song was, "Wer soil das bezahlen, wer hat das bestelltf" (“Who’s going to pay for it; who ordered it?”) The Wiesbadener Jfu-rier, February 17, 1953, stated: “Wine flowed in streams down the thirsty throats, an immense tidal wave of alcohol, taking captive and leaving individuals in distressful states.”

Despite their predicament the crowds managed to stand on their feet and dance to everything, from the music of the Blue Danube down to the latest on the American hit parade. Songsters and songstresses would give out with “Botch-a-me,” or tell the reveling world about the “Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy.”

Mardi Gras in Haiti

Across the Atlantic Ocean on the tropical island of Haiti, we find natives and tourists performing almost identically the same festive occasion. Last year the Mardi Gras began when the monstrous siren at Port-au-Prince sounded off. Everyone, from the unassuming peanut vender to the dignified political statesman, laid down his work and pressed his way through the crowded streets toward Champ de Mars, official rally ground for Haiti's national festival. The conventional form of life became completely paralyzed, business operations froze, public offices closed down, educational machinery recessed, Protestant and Catholic Churches postponed their services or had them on a preceding day, countryfolk forsook their banana and rice plantations—almost everyone was out to celebrate the Mardi Gras!

Groups of varied sizes formed. Some were composed of forty members, others ranged up to several hundred in number. These groups swept through the streets to the rhythm of jazz that filled the air. Groups of masqueraders carried flags or ensigns upon which were inscribed the name of a patron saint, such as “St. Jacques,” or a god or goddess designating their respective bands. Everywhere one turned he was confronted with the same eerie jazz, the laughter of crowds, the singing and swaying of a frenzied mob. Its effect was so overpowering that even spectators appeared hypnotized by it and slid into its magnetic rhythm.

Certain groups danced in scanty attire, their bodies wriggling and twisting to a suggestive jazz tune. This tantaiization spread like wildfire and affected other groups, who, whipped up by the Mardi Gras spirit, could no longer conceal their impulses. This suggestive gyrating in scanty costumes was doubtless what some of Haiti's newspapers referred to and denounced as an “indecent and vulgar carnival, ” and called for “good, clean frolic.” Whipped into a frenzy the carnival mixed blood and murder with sex. Groups clashed. Fists and knives drew blood. On February 18, the NouveUiste stated that “two groups went into it with such ferocity that police had a difficult time in restoring

order.” The same paper reported that twenty were victims of knife slashes and were sent to the general hospital for treatment, where one died shortly thereafter.

After seventy-two hours of “misrule,” King Rex, Lord of Misrule, called upon Comus, the pagan, god of drunkenness and debauchery, and the Mardi Gras, like a monstrous cyclone that has run its course, came to an end. The king ordered the court to partly disrobe and hurl their carnival apparel into the flames before him. With that command the final act of the Mardi Gras took place. Groups danced round the fire, and as they danced, gesticulating toward the fire as though the carnival were a repulsive thing, they tossed their masks and Mardi Gras apparel into the flames. The flames, like the celebration, roared loudly with destructive fury and# like the celebration, vanished into oblivion, at least for another season. The death of the last live coal symbolized the death of the carnival or Mardi Gras.

Hs Religious Background

But as a casual observer one might be prone to ask: Wherein lies the religious significance of this holiday or festival? Since it is celebrated throughout Christendom, does it have its origin with Christ, or his apostles, or his disciples? Does the Bible sanction the celebration of the Mardi Gras? Discussing the origin of the carnival or Mardi Gras, the Deutscher Kurier for February 14, 1953, stated: “In the most ancient times it was the custom of some folk at the end of winter to celebrate a festival of unrestrained gaiety.... A magnificently equipped festival-ship on wheels was pulled through the holy street [today floats are used] to the temple of the god Marduk. The ship-on-wheels can be called the symbol of this festival, which meant to greet spring which was drawing near. At all times and with all folk we find them celebrating the gay festival at the end of winter. In ancient Egypt it was held in the honor of the goddess Isis, in Greece it appears at the festival of drunken Dionysos, it emerges in the wantonness of the Roman Saturnalia and returns in the festivals of the Middle Ages throughout Europe. ... In the course of time, the Christian Church picked the heathen spring festival up and changed it to the beginning of the Easter season. So out of the Latin name ‘carrus naval is* came the word ‘carnival’ as a derivation of ‘came vale’ (fleshy live well) as a pun by the medieval monks referring to the ‘meatless’ Lenten season.”

Alexander Hislop’s The Two Bdbylons indicates that the pagan festival was held in honor of Osiris, through whom Semiramis derived all her glory and her claims to deification. The son, though represented as a child in his mother’s arms, was a person of great stature and immense bodily powers. Classical writers called him Bacchus, “the Lamented one.” In course of time he became represented under the symbol of a fat bull or ox. The custom of parading a fat bull through the streets or wearing masks depicting a bull with horns still prevails in the carnivals of Haiti and Bolivia.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, Volume V, also associates the carnival or the Mardi Gras with Bacchanalian revelry and the Roman Saturnalia. To quote: “The last three days preceding Lent, which in Roman Catholic countries are given up to feasting and merrymaking, . . . represents a compromise which the church always inclined to make with pagan festivals and that the carnival really represents the Roman Saturnalia. Rome has ever been the headquarters of carnival, and though some popes ... made efforts to stem the tide of Bacchanalian revelry, many of the popes were great patrons and promoters of carnival keeping.”

What could be more blasphemous than to take a pagan holiday with its wantonness, drunkenness and debauchery and charge it to Almighty God Jehovah? Yet Christendom does that very thing by her keeping of this pagan festival, calling it “Christian,” and the people who join in the frivolity of the occasion are “partners in crime.” Can you imagine Jesus, or his apostles, or disciples, or any of the early Christians (who did not even celebrate Easter or Lent) whirling through the streets of Jerusalem, wriggling their bodies in suggestive ways to the seductive rhythm of jazz? Can you picture the early Christians, with drooping lips and blurry eyes, singing, “Drunk today, drunk tomorrow and day after tomorrow drunk again”? And then having the audacity to sing, “We're all going to go to heaven”? Only a perverted and deluded imagination would allow for such thinking.

It is a big lie for Christendom’s religions to say that they can transmute pagan festivals to Christian use. The apostle Paul said: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? ... ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves/ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing/ ‘and I will take you in.’ ‘And I shall be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me/ says Jehovah the Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18, New World Trans.) The whole Mardi Gras or carnival celebration is steeped in paganism, and soon at Armageddon Jehovah God will treat it as the disgusting thing that it is. Christians now shun it.

By          carmpvfldaHt tn dctiMfir

rpiTERE was a day when the people’s _L faces flushed with horror when someone cried, Vikings' immediately the word called to memory tall, ferocious-looking warriors with huge swords, spears and fearsome-shaped battle-axes and helmets with hoitis. These warriors were notorious along the European shores, especially in France, England and Ireland, during the period between the eighth and the tenth century.

The viking was a symbol of an intrepid seafaring num and a skillful sailor, a hardened and undaunted soldier. Vikings would come in great numbers in dragonheaded ships, sometimes several hundred ships at a time, and spread dread and terror among the inhabitants as they looted the land. People in fear prayed, “Save us from the savage Norm ansi”

What made these men from the North the battling savages that they were? Historians point to the fact that Scandinavia at that time was overcrowded to such an extent that these countries could not feed their populations. But even though Scandinavia was densely populated, this could hardly be the reason for their young sons’ risking their lives on the sea in pursuit of land and riches. The real cause came from the South where Charlemagne expanded his empire. The war-loving Saxons, who lived jufit south of the Danes' border, resisted Charlemagne’s fiubjugntlon, which resulted in revolution and war and finally the annihilation of Saxon nilerahip.

With these happenings south of her border, the Danes had reasons for becoming apprehensive. Not only did Charlemagne now present a threai to the North as a military force, but he also isolated them from the South from where all their goods, food and raw material came. The South was filled with mystery and intrigue. There were tales of riches, beauty and culture, The Danes were also in fear of losing their independence and manner of worship. So, cut off by land, the Danes sought the sea. Ifoung men who sought adventure rallied around their chieftains. These directed the building of the monstrous floating battle wagons soon to ravage land and sea.

It was with one of these ships that the men from the North made their first appearance as vikings, when they slipped under the cover of darkness onto the tiny Island of Lindisfarne off the English north coast and massacred the monks and the nuns and looted the monastery. This is recorded to have taken place on June 8, 793.

Future raids were not short visits end hasty retreats OS the first one was, nor did they operate with a single ship, but whole fleets sometimes numbering a hundred or more ships moved into action- As they increased in strength, so also did they increase In their boldness, to the point of spending a whole winter in one place. At the conclusion of the viking era, their fleet of drips went out to conquer and subdue other countries and their Inhabitants. The Danish vikings conquered in

this way great parts of southern England and made them part of the Danish kingdom.

What They Worshiped

With the change in events came also a change in worship. Up until this time the vikings worshiped principally the elements of nature and the forces that governed the universe. In the imaginations of the people these forces took on various appearances as time went by and finally they were distinguished as separate gods with certain attributes and merits. Since these gods were the by-product of men’s imagination, they were restricted to the same limitations as man. By the time the vikings began to assert themselves the conceptions of the gods took on solid form, allowing for a constant development in ideas, which can be seen confirmed by the myths built up around the gods and their exploits.

For example: The Scandinavians believed the earth to be a flat circle of land carried by a huge sea. The creation of the world was due to the Asas or gods, Odin (Woden), Villi and Ve, who also created the first man and woman, Ask and Embla, and put them on earth. Beyond the sea lived the giants; they were the enemies of the gods and, therefore, also of man. The Asas or gods represented the good elements and the giants the evil elements. They were always fighting each other in deathly battles. Man had to be on good terms with the gods if he was to have success in life, so that is why he worshiped them. All circumstances in his life were ruled by the good and evil elements.

Odin was the most prominent of the gods. He was the god of the Teutons, Saxons and Thuringians. They called him Woden. The root of the name Woden is thought to be the Indo-European word va_f meaning “wind” or “to blow.” He may have been originally the wind god. Because of this, people worshiped him in groves, where the wind blowing in tops of trees was a visible expression of his presence. In gusts of wind it was imagined that Odin came to fetch the souls of the dead. He being god of the wind, it was not difficult for them to regard him as the god of spirit, mind, wit and cunning, and finally to be identified as the “master of life and death.”

No wonder the chieftains were ardent worshipers of Odin. They needed all the favorable wind, insight, cunning and courage they could muster to use in their battles and on their seagoing expeditions. The one who had the “Allfather,” Odin, as his = fulltr&i; that is, as his trust, would possess all these qualities. In order to obtain certain advantages and supernatural qualities the chieftain would devote the first prisoner taken in battle to Odin. It was the custom to hang the victim and pierce the body with a spear, as a spear was the symbol of Odin. To devote the entire battlefield to him was even better. All warriors who fell in battle became in that way the spoil of Odin and they were carried to Valhalla, which was a place reserved for men who fell in battle. Warriors who wanted to go straight down to the dark and doleful dungeon where the god-dess Hei reigned supreme and to have a light and airy hall in Valhalla would have to die honest and valiant in battle. There fighters were brought to life every day and engaged in great tournaments in front of Valhalla’s large square.

Odin would protect his favorites and deal out punishment to those who were slow to fulfill promises to him. The holy grove of Upsala, the largest in the North, contained the wooden image of Odin. Every ninth year the inhabitants would assemble in order to bring sacrifices. People came from far away bringing food and animals as offerings during the nine days the feast lasted. During that period they offered at least one sacrifice every day. It was not

infrequent to see a human creature offered to the gods. They hung them In the high trees of the grove or threw them In the pond while the chieftain^ who also acted as high priests, watched to see whether the victim would come up again to the surface or stay down as a sign of its accept' ance by the god and that the god would send them a good harvest the following year. As many as seventy-two bodies have been seen hanging in the grove of sacrifice at Upsala at one time!

The *V7orf” Thor

After Odin the god Thor was worshiped very widely. He was the patron deity of the common people. He was not a wise and cunning god, but what he lacked in wisdom he made up in strength. He was allpowerful. In addition he was Jovial and good-natured, and it gave him great pleasure to hunt down the giants, whom he caught and killed with his strange hammer that possessed the peculiar quality of always returning Lo him when he throw it after somebody. This hammer became the symbol of his strength and power. The Northerners thought ^that by carrying with them a small chafm in the shape of the hammer of Thor he would keep their possessions free from attack.

Thor was also regarded as the god of the weather. It was believed that he always rode in a carriage drawn by two goats, and when it thundered and lightnings flashed, the Northerners used to sey that Thor was out driving and, he drove bo hard that the heavens roared and sparks flew. Thor was known to be a bundle of strength with a short temper. People ascribed to him fill the qualities they would like to possess themselves and made him their ideal god. The name of Thor Is still with us m one of the weekdays, that is, Thursday, the same as the god Odin or Woden is represented in our weekday Wednesday.

The chieftains we satisfied with wot-duping Odin. It w not neceffiary for them to implore other gods, afl Odin could give them everything they wanted. But for the oonnnm man it was a matter of course to worship several gods, for instance, Njord, the god of fruitfulness, or Freyr and Freya, the two children of Njord, who, like the father, were gods of fertility. Other gods worshiped in Scandinavia were Heimdal, Vidar, Hoeder and Uli. Mention must also be made of Balder. He is the last, being the youngest among the gods, and no doubt made hfs appearance under the influence of "Christianity" as it slowly worked Its way toward the northern countries.

Balder was known to be the best of all gods. He was the fairest and the wisest. Furthermore, he was invulnerable. With him is connected the story of the end of the world where all the gods destroy one another and only some of their sons survive. These build a new empire. Also a man and a woman survive and they become the parents of a new generation beginning a new world. These jjydhs died with the viking empire.

Once again the Danes and the Norwegians and the Swedes are hearing news of the end of the world. This time the warning comes from the only true and living God Jehovah through His Word, the Bible, Many are seeking refuge from this storm by giving heed to God's Word, abiding by his commandment* and proclaiming bis kingdom as mankind’s only hope- The righteous are promised by Jehovah to survive the end of this system of things and enter into a world of God’s making, a new world wherein righteousness is to dwell. This is no myth or fairy tale nor a figment of men’s imagination. It Is the truth of the One who said: "I have spoken it, I win also bring it to pass; I have purposed if, I will also do it."—Isaiah 46:11.

oaroBflja a, ww

Sy “Awakd” ccrrtapendant Ln Hawaii HAWAII boasts of many flowers, but perhaps the most outstanding Is that claimed as Hawaii's own —the Hibiscus, Not that it grows only in Hawaii, for it is the outstanding flower of all the South Seas and has many relatives abroad. But by joint resolution of the Hawaiian Legislature in 1923, “this beautiful, indigenous blossom which grows luxuriously on all the islands'¹ was adopted as the floral Emblem of Hawaii, Hawaii's own flower.

No other in all Hawaii is so profusely scattered. It is literally .seen everywhere, tumbling in cascades of pink from small trees in yard and garden or spangling the many hedges along country roads and property borders. To add to its abundance is the fact that it blossoms practically the year round, so this welcome visitor seems to be ever with you.

Surprisingly, the bushes can grow as high as thirty feet, but most varieties limit themselves to eight or ten feet, Botanically, the flowers are composed of five rather stiff, papery petals and a prominent pistil or column rising in the center bearing the many anthers covered with brlght*yellow pollen dust much like the hollyhock, one of its close cousins. The common colors are white, red, pink and yellow, but because of many crossing^, every hue (except blue) and many striking color combinations, called polychromes, have resulted, so that, if words could do them justice, page after page could be written in describing the many beautiful shadings.

There are both single and double Hibiscus, the double ones resembling cabbage roses or peonies. This effect is formed by the stamens’ being modified into petals. Average blossoms measure five or six inches, but by hybridization and selection giants a foot across have been produced. These especially look very artificial and almost have to be touched to prove their reality.

Only about six or seven varieties are really natives of Hawaii, about 33 others having been brought from other countries. They are comparatively simple to propagate, crossing being accomplished quite easily. About one year is required from the seedling to the first bloom. It is estimated that more than 5,000 horticultural varieties have been produced in Hawaii alone. The Common Red seems to have been brought in at an early date, probably direct from China. It is said that the Chinese used a part of the bark for medicine and that Hawaiian s often eat the raw blossoms to aid digestion; hence, they are useful as well as ornamental.

Hawaiians have always loved flowers of all kinds, and they play a very important part in the life of Hawaii. The crossing of different strains began in the early 1900's, and at the first Hibiscus show in 1914, some 400 different varieties were exhibited. Today interest in Hibiscus culture is still growing, and yards and flower shows are a riot of color, with Hibiscus the showiest contestant of them alt

Perhaps the most outstanding trait of this prolific flower has not yet been mentioned —that of its lasting qualities. Most flowers begin to fade or wilt a few minutes after being picked. Some can be kept fresh longer if placed in water. Uniquely, the Hibiscus opens in the morning and suddenly closes near sunset whether on or off the bush, in or out of water! Some varieties have been known to last as long as two or three days. Those who especially want them for decoration after dusk pick the mature buds early in the morning and place them in the refrigerator; then when taken out near evening they unfold their papery petals to lend their flashy beauty to evening occasions.

This quality of endurance alone has made the Hibiscus very popular for decorative purposes. What a beautiful sight to see large showy red, yellow or white blossoms contrasted against the shiny black hair of native girls! Almost every hula girl displays at least one in her dark tresses. Many a Hawaiian luau, or feast table, is enhanced by these attractive blooms. How attractive these bouquets look as they grace the tables of Hawaiian homes, stores, offices and even banks’.

Indeed, the Hibiscus plays a major part in the decoration schemes of clever hostesses, festive pageants and gala events of all kinds, as well as forming an attractive accessory to milady's Hawaiian costume. Just another manifestation of the great Creator's handiwork for the enjoyment and service of mankind.

BLIND

THE eye, no doubt, is the most precious avenue to the human mind. Through the eye the world becomes alive with color, beauty and splendor. Without this doorway, the world for the blind remains mostly dark. No matter how descriptive the words or phrases, or how ingenious the invention may be to aid the blind, there is absolutely nothing to take the place of that which is instantaneously seen at the opening of the seeing eye. Those who have regained their sight say, “It is like being born all over again.” To lose one’s sight is a terrible tragedy.

Ian Fraser lost his sight in the trenches of World War I. He relates how, during the agony of his adjustment to the dark world, he got up in the middle of the night, turned on the electric lights and took a lighted warm bulb and pressed it to the sockets of his eyes, hoping that some light would seep through. But none did. From then on his fingertips and ears, like the fingers and ears of most blind, became his eyes. In the silent and dark world of the deaf-blind, only the fingertips interpret the meaning of the world about them. Seeing man has found no other way to enter their world.

In ancient times the world of the blind was dark and lonesome, indeed. There were no schools for them. The most they could ever hope to become would be professional beggars. In the Far East and Europe the blind were thought to be accursed of God, and parents cast them out of their homes at a very early age. At times they were considered as beasts, and were so treated as beasts of burden. Others sold

ground. After toiling all day they were made to sleep on the ground like animals.

It has been only in recent years that the blind have been freed from the degenerate view of the past and offered a position in society. Today, a child that happens to be born blind or suffers blindness through accident or illness is not ostracized from society; rather, he is extended an opportunity for education and employment The child can go to school and take up a variety of subjects: general science, arithmetic, grammar, history, literature and current events, and learn these just as efficiently and effectively as he would if he could see with eyes. If the child has the aptitude, he can go to college and there prepare for some profession. There are successful blind businessmen, teachers, lawyers, doctors, sportsmen, farmers, cooks, social workers, musicians, dancers, ministers, etc. The blind have demonstrated their ability to do good work, handling highly skilled jobs in many fields on an equal basis with those who can see.

Braille and Talking Machine

Emancipation of the blind came principally from among the blind themselves. A young man by the name of Louis Braille brought sight to the blind when he invented the system that bears his name. To him the world of darkness is greatly indebted. After five years of trial and error he perfected a system based on the arrangement of six dots similar to the six in the game of dominoes. He developed 63 possible combinations, of which 26 were employed to represent the letters of the alphabet, and the remainder were used for punctuation, etc. To his own amazement Braille discovered that he could not only write with this system but also do arithmetic, algebra and higher mathematics. He also found that his code could be adapted to mu- * sic. In fact, so ingenious J. is his system that “it -can be ‘translated* into k every form of human •• endeavor and under- ^u standing.” Recently it n has been adapted to the Chinese. And according

to Fact Digest, June 1939, “a blind person who has lost both hands may still be taught to read Braille with his toes. It has been done successfully by more than one blind individual.” Braille could write his system about as fast as a man could read, and read back about as fast as with sight. The average Braille reader can read from eighty to a hundred words a minute. New York City's library for the blind contains two and a half miles of shelves with 36,000 Braille books, 25,000 “talking books” and 12,000 scores of Braille music.

Even though the Braille system has been used universally for more than two generations, yet at the present time less than 25 per cent of the blind know Braille. The reason for this small percentage is that those who become blind in later years find the system difficult to learn. They have lost the sensitiveness in their touch. Children, on' the other hand, adapt themselves very quickly to the system and learn to read it without any trouble at all. At one school for the blind, youngsters would take the Braille books to bed with them and hide them under the sheets. Pretending to be asleep, with eyes closed and lights out, they continued reading their storybooks, the tiny sensitive fingers quickly moving over the raised type, which brought to life the story.

But for the three fourths of the adult blind population of America who find the touch system difficult to master, “talking books” have been invented. Talking books are electrically recorded disks onto which professional readers with stage and radio experience, or doctors, lawyers, scholars, engineers—whose voices have been tested by blind listeners, have read novels, poetry, story, sociology, physics, short stories, drama, and books of general literature. Among the 1,500 titles available to the blind readers, the Bible is the greatest in demand. The average book requires about twelve to fifteen double-sided twelveinch disks for its recording. It takes approximately eight hours of reading time to cover a single book.

Recently the “reading pencil” has been developed, which translates the shape of the letter into a distinctive sound which is heard by the blind person through a hearing aid. In about 25 hours the average blind person can be taught to distinguish 190 words, which can be read in sentences. With the help of the “reading pencil” the blind or near blind will be able to read anything, even charts and blueprints. But this instrument is still in experimental stage.

What Can the Blind Da?

With the aid of modern methods and techniques, the blind have demonstrated

their, ability to do just about everything there Is to be done. In Great Britain The blind are trained to use stenographic machines that write Braille, A Braille shorthand machine has been developed, capable of writing at least 120 words a minute. Blind English secretaries who use this machine are so highly efficient that they can compete with those who can see. In fact, there ia a demand in Great Britain for their services.

Captain (k S. Hennrikus, assistant public Information officer, said that in certain instances blind persons “are even more valuable than persons with full sight." At night and during periods of bad weather and poor visibility the blind have proved particularly valuable as spotters. Lack of sight has led to a keen development of the sense of hearing. They are able to distinguish by sound friendly aircraft from hostile craft.

The Beader's Ditjeat for April, 1953, told of Alice Haines, a successful blind fanner, who docs everything on the farm from hauling and spreading manure to plowing with a tractor. There arc blind factory workers who work at drill presses and perform assembly operations, typists who work in law offices, and musicians who are ranked among the best in their field. Dean and Sylvia McAdams, both totally blind, tackled the job of building a home without the aid of professional help. They aided each other in placing the boards, nailing and sawing. There are sightless sculptors, artists and dancers. Ian Fraser was knighted for his achievements. Blind men today repair radios, record players and electronic equipment They are trained to master the intricacies of a trade that has proved difficult for many physically normal men,

Betaurotfon for the Blind

No life, not even a blind man's, is complete without some relaxation from the

work and worries of toe day. The relax as do those who see. They have their gafnes, outdoor picnics, etc. Bob CunakUne told of ‘’a recreation camp fur the blind In New Jersey where soft ball is regularly played. The bail has bells inside it, which give off sound as it twirls to the home plate. The basemen simply call out, to guide a batter who has connected with a good hit” Twersky won the Senior Metropolitan Amateur Athletic Union Lightweight wrestling championship In 1942, Totally blind, he spots his opponent by his accentuated sense of hearing. The blind skate, bowl and fence. A *'sightless’¹ tele* vision eot has been designed to receive only the sound of television programs. Bernard Krebs, librarian of the guild and himself blind, said that television was psychologically important to the blind because It stimulated the visual Imagination more than radio. And, too, it helps them to know programs that other people talk about. Another form of relaxation is a walk through the park or around the block with his seeing-eye dog. It takes a month to teach the blind to be led by a dog, Only five out of every hundred blind persona can use a seeing-eye dog. The other ninety-five are either too young, too weak, or physically, mentally and temperamentally unsuited to handle the dog.

Couaes and Cures for Blindness

Blindness may be caused by one or a number of things. An eye accident may scar the cornea, the transparent part ii) front of the iris. Although the rest of the eye may be normal, the victim cannot see. In this case sight can be restored by providing the patient with a new cornea. Only new corneas taken from humans have proved successful. Animal corneas would not grew. Corneal grafting can restore sight in only one type of impaired vision, that caused by a defective cornea when the

rest of the eye and the optic nerve are normal. But, “only three or four out of every 100 affected with corneal opacity can hope to obtain any lasting benefit through this type of eye surgery?*

Dr. Modem! stated that a chronic catarrh of the nose is another cause of eye trouble. Headaches, which ultimately affect the eyes, may spring from digestive troubles or constipation. Rheumatism or gout may cause reddened eyes. Scalp scurf can affect the eyelashes and produce red rims. Cataracts today are removed. The cataract does not destroy sight, but merely Obstructs it. Having a cataract means that the lens of the eye behind the pupil becomes opaque, causing blindness. A slit is made in the front of the eye and a hole cut in the colored iris. Through this, the lens is removed in entirety. By wearing a strong spectacle to replace the lens, sight is restored. Operations on cataracts are now “close to 95 per cent successful”!

Dr. Franklin M. Foote, executive director of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, declared that more than one half of all blindness could be prevented by making full use of present knowledge. He stated that the early recognition of glaucoma could materially cut down its damage. Glaucoma, according to Norman Carlisle, “Is a condition in which pressure develops in the eyeballs due to a clogging of the usual channels through which flows the eye fluid known as the ‘aqueous humor.’ The pressure can become so great as to destroy sight.. .. The problem in glaucoma is to decrease the pressure in the eyeballs. That can be accomplished by surgery, through cutting a new drainage channel to permit the fluid to drain off, or it can be done chemically through the application of eye-drops,”—Coronet, August 1950.

A number of drugs and even clear spinal fluid have proved successful or partially so. But, perhaps, nothing has ever been so fantastic as the theory that man can be made to see without eyes! Since the eyes do not actually see “but collect impressions in the form of light, transform them into some sort of electrical impulse, which in turn stimulates a certain portion of the brain,” why could not science accomplish the same thing by constructing a transmitting station that would receive electrical impulses and transmit them to the brain, affecting the brain just as would messages received from the eye? Dr. Walter Hess of Zurich University in Switzerland “attached electrodes to the brains of cats and has been able to make a cat 'see’ without using its eyes.” Can the same be done with men? So men dream.

There will be no need for anything of the kind, because Christ has promised that he will open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf, and make the dumb to speak under his kingdom rule, which is at the door. (Psalm 146:8; Isaiah 29:18; 35:5; Luke 7:21) It will be a wonderful day for the blind to witness with perfect vision the marvelous creation of Jehovah, and honor Him, the Creator of that most precious organ—the eye.

“Good” Vice versus Bad

Indiana’s new administration recently enacted a law forbidding the possession of gambling devices, but exempting churches, lodges and veterans’ organizations. Apparently vice is all right in Indiana if the right people practice it. If it is wrong !n saloons, however, why not in the churches? It is reported that the sheriff of Marian County, where Indianapolis is located, says that with such loopholes in the law he will no longer try to enforce it against anyone.

Prophetic Proof of Christ's Presence

N THIS series on Christ’s return we have seen that Christ’s second presence will be invisible, that Bible chronology establishes 1914 as the date of this second presence, and now we consider prophetic proof verifying that date,

Jesus’ apostles, having been told by him that he would leave them and return, were anxious to know just when he would return, and so they asked him: What will be the sign of your presence and of the consummation of the system of things?** (Matthew 24;3)¹ Incidentally, here we have verification that Christ‘s return would be invisible, for were his return to be visible no sign would be needed.

But he did give them a sign, in fart, a composite sign, consisting of many separate and distinct Indications, as facets of a diamond, which, when seen together, would give a brilliant reflection or light, proving beyond the shadow of doubt that Christ’s second presence had taken place. These facets of the composite sign are recorded in the following chapters: Matthew 24 and 25; Mark 13 and Luke 21.

The first feature of the sign Christ mentioned was that of Wai’s: “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom,” (Matthew 24:6,7) Has this prophecy had fulfillment since 1914? It most certainly has! Why, World War I was seven times as great in casualties, in cost and in combatants involved as the 901 major wars fought during the twenty-four centuries prior to it. And World

War U was four times as great as World War I. In other words, mankind has seen thirty-five times as much war since 1914 as it did in the 2,400 years before 1914, Certainly an unequivocal facet of the sign. Continuing, Christ stated: '‘Thore will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.** These points of hie prophecy have likewise seen phenomenal fulfillment since 1914. After World War I, 255 million people were affected by food shortages to the extent of famine, especially in Russia, India and China; in China at that time some 15,CKX) people died dally from starvation. After World War H one fourth of the human race, 500 million per¹ sons, were suffering from hunger.

And as regards earthquakes. Although earthquakes have been noted as far back as the days of ancient Israel, yet since 1914 we have seen an acceleration of their frequency as well as of their intensity. August, 1950, saw the most drastic natural upheaval in a populated place that the world has ever known. The facts show that for the past 2,ooo years earthquakes have taken a toll of about 5,000 lives annually, but since 1914 they have taken more than 24,000 lives a year. So to wbte add food shortages and earthquakes, as parts of the composite sign.

Jesus also foretold that as part of the composite sign of his presence would be the appearance of pestilences ar diseases in one place after another. (Luke 21:11) The influenza epidemic, which took twenty million lives in 1918, has been termed "anf of the most devastating plagues of al

threw-** And todays although millions of dollars are being spent by governments and private philanthropy for research on cancer, heart ailments arthritis and polio, to mention the more prevalent ones, these diseases continue to increase and to shorten the lives of the people. Another facet of the sign.

Further, Christ foretold that his followers would suffer much persecution. (Matthew 24:9,10) This prophecy likewise has had indubitable fulfillment since 1914, war hysteria on the one hand and totalitarian tyranny on the other uniting to inflict the worst atrocities upon Christians that human ingenuity could devise, and that on an international scale; all because they refused to give to Caesar that which belonged to God only. (Mark 12:17) At present the fiendish persecution of the Christian servants of Jehovah is being stepped up in totalitarian lands, Czechoslovakia recently incarcerating some 2,200, or 90 per cent of them.

Another feature of the composite sign Christ gave was that the good news of God’s kingdom as man’s only hope would be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. (Matthew 24:14) This likewise has been the case only since 1914, the year 1953 seeing more than half a million Christians preaching this message in 143 lands, in some 100 different languages, using the printed page, radio, TV, public address and personal contact in the homes and on the streets. Through the years far more than three quarters of a billion books, booklets and magazines containing this message were distributed.

Our being able to see “the disgusting thing that causes desolation/’ as mentioned fay Daniel, was another indication Jesus gave to prove his second presence. (Matthew 24:15) What'is this? That which is highly esteemed and idolized among men is disgusting to God. (Luke 16:15) Today men are looking toward the man-made substitute, the Uhlted Nations organization, to solve their problems and bring about God’s kingdom on earth. It will yet result in desolation to Christendom.

Jesus further stated that as it was in the days of Noah it would be in the days of his presence. (Matthew 24:37-39) Today the people show the same indifference to the warning being sounded by Jehovah’s servants as did the people surrounding Noah. And as then the earth was filled with violence and wickedness, so it is today. Uprisings in Africa, Communist aggression in Asia, crime, divorce, juvenile delinquency and political corruption on the increase in the democracies; undoubtedly we are living in the critical times of the last days so fully described by the apostle Paul at 2 Timothy 3:1-6. Truly, as an editorial writer of the New York Sunday News, March 13, 1949, expressed it: “The last completely ‘normal’ year in history was 1913, the ye<ir before World War I began.”

Many in times past have prophesied Christ’s visible return and have been proved wrong. In view of the foregoing it is clear that they were mistaken both in what to expect and when. ‘One swallow does not prove spring is here,' but when in the Northern Hemisphere we see the days growing shorter, the leaves and temperature falling, days becoming cloudy, the birds flying south, beasts hibernating, then we can know for a certainty that winter is approaching. So in view of all the foregoing evidence verifying what we have learned regarding the time of Christ's return as established by Bible chronology, we can accept with certainty the date 1914 as marking the year of Christ’s invisible second presence.

Having considered the evidence relating to how Christ will come again and when, we will consider in our next issue why, or the purpose of his return.

Switzerland

THE Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society maintains a branch office in Berne, Switzerland. Here are the printcry, offices and living quarters for the more than fifty persons in Switzerland who are engaged in publishing literature concerning God’s kingdom.

During the summer months of 1952 Jehovah's witnesses traveled to various parts of the country that had nut been visited by the witnesses for many years. This territory is predominantly Catholic. Hore arc some experience® involving Catholic intolerance. They reveal a spirit similar only to that which flourished in the Middle Ages.

In the northwest of Canton Berne, two of Jehovah's witnesses, a married couple, unwittingly called at the Catholic vicarage. Tile priest and his vicar appeared at the door. The priest asked, "What are you doing here?” But before either of the ministers had time to reply the priest had raised his arm for a powerful blow that Struck the young woman squarely in the face. The two withdrew, followed almost to the garden gate by the priest, who frantically tiled to deliver further blows by foot or fist, but which, fortunately, missed aim.

A charge of assault and battery was filed against this belligerent priest. The priest was found guilty of the charge, fined, and ordered to pay damages to the plaintiff and court costs.

We continue our tour of the Swiss Cantons and find ourselves m Fribourg, another Catholic stronghold. On July 13,1952, five of Jehovah’s witnesses visited a village in their assigned territory. Soon after the witnesses started their work, a group comprised mostly of young hoodlums gathered on the street. They surrounded one of the ministers. The gang's leader, the president of the church council, demanded: "What are you doing in this village?" The minister quietly started explaining his mission. Whereupon the ruffians standing around burst Into loud mocking laughter. One of these had culprits stepped up and struck the minister on the chin, threatening mure if he did not leave. The minister was then “escorted" to the station. Hi® fellow missionaries preaching in another section of the city were mobbed. Some were badly hurt. All were forced to leave. Newspapers berated the Catholic action, but nothing was done to rectify the situation.

The Fribourg newspaper, Travail, headed its report "Love Your Neighbor," and said: "This Biblical principle unfortunately is not always practiced by those whose lipa most frequently repeat it. There are a number of people among us here who do not permit others to think differently than they think, whether it be in the realm of religion or politics. A few days ago Jehovah's witnesses sent a few of their people into our neighborhood , . . This served as sufficient excuse for certain fanatics to suddenly attack these people whose sole offense and whose only mistake consisted in their having other religious views than did the Catholic villagers."

In Obwaldcn, the heart of Switzerland, two of Jehovah's witnesses, while walking through the village, were attacked and

oaroB-Sija e,

beaten severely. So that in brief, is what religious “tolerance looks like in certain circles.

What irony if you place that statement alongside the report of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference of July 7, 8, 1952, which, in beautiful-sounding words, emphasizes above all the necessity of religious peace: "God is for peace, for He is the 'God of Peace’ . * . peace among the religious denominations. The preservation of denominational peace is a necessity and a benefit to our country. On all sides it is to be promoted in good will and with staunch adherence to faith and church. The Christian commandment of love is valid for all people. ... In the controversies in public life each person of honest heart who does not violently and independently disturb the peaceful interfaith co-operation has, as our fellow-citizen, the right to the respect of his just Interests and well-meant convictions.”

Who disturbs religious peace? Do the witnesses, who call on the people in a quiet and friendly manner, and speak to them about God and his kingdom? Or is it the false religious fanatics whose only answer to such Christian missionary activity is taunts and mockery, damage of property and mob gatherings, blows, insults and Injuries? It certainly requires no severe mental effort to find the answer! What if the work of Jehovah’s witnesses is not welcome in certain circles; does this antipathy give one the right to deny another his liberties or deprive him of them with medieval methods? Let us hope not!

But truly, Switzerland is a flourishing garden on top of the world, with chestnut trees displaying their white and red "candles,” with wisteria spilling over the housefronts and the air heavy with the sweet scent of lilac, with green meadows and yellow and browning cornfields, and the Alps glittering in the winter sunshine.

Yes, it is here in this land of democracy where Jehovah’s witnesses fight the good fight of faith against increasing religious intolerance. Their success is noteworthy. In the month of January, 1953, a peak number of 3,055 men and women engaged in this grand work of liberation, uniting with the mighty host of those bearing the tidings all over the earth.

\    • Why “Awake!” is not interested in pleas-

/ ing all its readers? P. 4, If5.

*    * What part of Africa the Europeans settled

r before the Africans did? P. 6, fll.

• Where in Europe the average income was f only $115 a year? p. 9, U5.

} * Why there was no campaigning the day ^j before Italy’s national elections? P. 11_T 01. /   • In what park uncaptured lions ignore you

i as you drive by? P, 12, 05.

,    • Why the elephant is the true king of the

/ beasts? P. 13, 02.

•    • Why a Haitian newspaper called the Mardi

/    Gras “indecent and vulgar”? P. 15, fl2.

\   • What pagan gods the Mardi Gras honors?

\ P. .15, IT4.

j/ • What prompted the ferocious vikings to raid Europe? P. 17, fl3.

• • What the vikings did to gain the favor of their vengeful god Odin? P. 18, fl4,

• • What Hawaiian flower can be made to open after it is picked? P. 20, fl7.

• • What a “reading pencil” is? P. 22, fl3.

• • How it is that the blind can play baseball?

P. 23, B.

• • How .something the apostles asked Jesus proves his return would be invisible? P. 25_t 12.

• • What modern conditions parallel the preflood period of Noah’s life? P. 26, fl4.

• • Where a priest was fined for assaulting Christians? P. 27, 114.

• • Why a Swiss newspaper said the Bible’s principle is not always practiced by those whose lips most often repeat it? P. 27, 116.

  
  
  

tierruany: Adenauer Win $ The prime issue was Gen man unification. The main contestants: Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's Christian Democratic Union and Brich Ollen-hauer’s Social Democratic party. The Christian Democrats maintained that West Germany could attain unification only by becoming strong through alliance with the West. The Social Democrats maintained lliat the only way to uniflea’ tion was through neutrality, that alignment with the West would torpedu all hope for agreement with Russia on unification. When the German vot era went to the polls (9/6), the big issue was decided. To 77-year-old Dr, Adenauer came an impressive victory, one of hie party officials calling it a "sensational” victory. And indeed the victory was hailed as significant Inasmuch as Dr. Adenauer liad succeeded whereas his colleagues in France and Italy had failed to win their people over to the idea of strength through unity of the Western nations.

Iran’s Stormy Politics

<$> Iran's drift toward communism ended when its stormy politics erupted into a revolution that brought about the downfall of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh (8/19). The ousted, 72-year-old Mossadegh had become fmiiuiu lor his nationalization of the oil industry and for his bizarre habits receiv. ing visitors In bed, weeping, fainting during public orations and scooting upstairs like a rabbit at formal meetings. While the key juwer tn Iranian politics has been the Teheran mobs, strangely, It was not the mobs that sparked the successful revolution. For after the shah had failed in an attempt to oust Mossadegh, the mobs were still screaming, "Death to the shah!” It was only when the troops took the initiative, rebelling against their pro-Mussadegh officers and furring the mobs at bayonet point to change their slogan to “Long live the shah!” that the mute shifted from Mossadegh's band wagon to the shah’s. For more than nine hours violence raged in Tf*he-nui; over 300 were killed. Pro-shah forces looted Mossadegh’s house, selling his furniture at low prices, A new refrigerator went for 536. General Zahedi, proclaimed rightful premier of Iran by order of the shah, accepted the surrender of pajama-clad Mossadegh. When Iran’s new regime appealed fur financial help, the V. S. quickly responded; the reason was clear: Western officials were elated that Iran had rewraed it* drift toward communism.

OWI ta Fl BStacea.

< Tba Hultan Is the temporal and spiritual leader of French Morocco: the French resident general holds the real power. For the put 25 years Sidi Mohammed ben Youssef has been sultan. Over the years he turned nationalist, advocating a break away from French rule. The sultan no longer pro French, the most powerful ally that France had was the Berber pasha Hadj Thaml el Me-zourarl el GlaouL When El Glaoul received the backing of other pashas, he pressed France to remove the national-1st sultan. In early August 500 pashas and raids met together with El Glaoui; they swore to drive out the sultan. The conclave designated Mmilay Mo-hammed ben Ara fa as the new Defender of the Faithful. Bloody riots ensued as the sultan sought io retain his power. The French government moved to settle the crisis arising from the disputed sultanshlp. The sultan was ordered deposed ift/20) and exiled to Corsica. Sidi MouJay Mohammed ben Ara I a was proclaimed sultan (8Z2i). The former sultan was allowed to keep his personal fortune, one of the largest In Morocco, although his annual Income of 70,000,000 francs was cutoff. A curious feature of the change-over is that the new suiten is the uncle of the deposed sultan.

Bomulo Forms OeaUUon

<$> The brief span of three-party politics in the Philippines came to an end (0/21) as Brigadier General Carlos P. Romulo announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy for the presidency and that his Democratic party would form a coalition* with the Nationalist party, whose candidate Ie Ramon Mags ay say. As a result of Romulo’s withdrawal President Quirino that same day predicted a sure victory for his Liberal party In the November elections. However,

competent observers disagreed With Qulrino’s analysis, maintaining that the Democrats would bring heavy political support to the Nationalists and thus definitely reduce the possibility of a Liberal party victory.

Ceylon’s Red Buddhists

<$> It is well known that in such lands as Italy and France, where the Roman Catholic religion predominates, communism has made some headway. Now communism seems to be making perceptible headway among people of the Buddhist religion. In Ceylon, where Buddhists make up 70 per cent of the population, there are already about 200 “Red bhikkus” (monks), who are trying to turn the more than 5,000,000 Buddhists to communism. The “Red bhikkus” had a recent setback, however, when Chinese Reds made a mistake: they distributed pamphlets from Peiping that showed pictures of Chinese soldiers sitting on a famous Buddha statue. This was sacrilege to the Ceylonese Buddhists, who even forbid the photographing of sacred Buddhist sites. Since Buddhism, like Catholicism, ittea relics, another attempt to expand Marxism was exerted by Chinese Communists who sent Buddhist relics from China on a tour of the island. The Communists’ offensive slowed down when anticommunist Buddhists said the relics were not authentic. Since Ceylon Is a land noted for its legendary visit from Buddha himself, the present battle between Communist Buddhists and conservative Buddhists is regarded with great significance by other Asian-Buddhist lands.

Peru: Religion in the Jungle

<$> Since 1945 the Summer Linguistic Institute has been operating In Peru with the purpose of studying the languages of the primitive Indian tribes. Recently *he Franciscan bishop of Ucayali charged that the Institute was using its linguistic activities to conceal an attempt to convert the Amazon Indians to Protestantism. The institute emphatically denied the charge, saying that only where tribes worshiped the boa constrictor as the supreme deity were attempts made to give the Indians a basic idea of what is known as the “Christian religion.” In spite of the Institute’s denial of Protestant proselyting the bishop declared: “The Peruvian jungle has been gained for the Catholic faith . . . and, with the help of the National Constitution, the Linguistic Institute must be stopped?* If the jungle has been “gained for the Catholic faith,” apparently many Indians feel that boa constrictors are just as effective in worship as statues, relics and rosaries. At least the snake is alive.

Antiaircraft Rockets

<$> Britain’s latest development in antiaircraft weapons may make it most risky for enemy planes, even the fastest jets. According to Duncan Sandys, Britain’s minister of supply, rockets have been developed that travel 2,000 miles per hour and that are able to out-maneuver any piloted aircraft. Said the official (8/22): “They are capable of high-speed twists and turns which create such intense strains and pressures as neither the human body nor the wings of any aircraft could withstand?’ The rockets are of two types: those that “ride” a radar beam onto their targets and those that steer themselves through a preset mechanism toward their target.

New Altitude Record

<$■ In August, 1951, when a civilian pilot took up a Douglas-buflt rocket-powered Skyrocket, he set two records: a speed record of 1,238 miles an hour and an altitude record of 79,494 feet. This latter record was broken (8/21) when a U. S. military pilot flew a Navy Skyrocket with four rocket engines to an altitude of 83^35 feet, almost 16 miles. The Skyrocket was taken up to 34,000 feet by a “mother” B-29 before it was launched for Its record-breaking climb. Later (9/2), the same military pilot failed in an attempt to break the speed record, but he did fly his Skyrocket at 1,143 miles an hour, the fastest any military pilot had ever flown.

Bomber with Parasite Jet

<$> The race for manufacturing weapons of total annihilation is now being paralleled by the race to deliver death-dealing devices. A recent offspring of this race has been the perfection of a technique, announced by the U.S. Air Force (8/25), that would enable bombers to deliver atomic bombs farther behind enemy lines than was previously possible and with a greater chance for success in their mission. The new process means that an F-84 jet fighter-bomber, capable of carrying an atomic bomb, could be launched and picked up again in flight by a B-36 intercontinental bomber. The mother plane could transport the jet some 4,000 miles, release the jet, which would m turn fly on another 500 miles to drop its bomb, and then when the “parasite” jet returned to rejoin the mother plane, it would be recovered in flight and transported back to its base. Since the process is a fairly simple one and could easily be duplicated by the Soviet Union, the race for more efficient means to deliver death will continue at a furious pace; that is, until God steps in and brings “to ruin those ruining the earth?* Jehovah God will deliver global destruction to this evil world; then his new world of righteousness will bring endless peace to this earth. —Revelation 11:18, New World Trans,; Psalm 46:8-10.

MoWttafr-cHmblng Dteastew

The craze for mountain climbing in the Alps, stimulated by recent conquests of Himalayan’ giants, has developed into something alarming- During just one week in August, 21 Alpine climbers met terrible deaths. Austria had the most fatalities, reporting as many as nine for a one-week period. As of August 29, Austria’s death toll due to mountainclimbing disasters stood at 75. This, together with the disasters in France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany, brought the season’s toll to a ghastly figure: 224. Also from Kashmir came word of disaster. An expedition announced that it had abandoned attempts to scale the world’s second-highest peak—the 28,250-foot Mount Godwin Austen—on August 9. In the descent, an American geologist, who was being carried on a stretcher, was killed as the roped party fell more

than feet befdre the last man could anchor the rope.

Flood Ravages Burmese Town <$> The 350-mlle-long Sittang River flows from east central Burma south into the Gulf of Martaban. Not far from this gulf is the town of Shwegyin, which, in late August, was devastated by the rampaging Sittang River. Flood waters literally gouged out the lower shoulders of the mountains and covered the once-flourishing town with silt! Of the town’s 5,000 inhabitants, 4,000 were evacuated. The other 1,000 were missing.

The Dutch Prefer Helicopters

<$> The February flood in 'the Netherlands left something in its wake besides debris, namely, helicopter mania. It seems that the strange, dragonflylike aircraft that effected so many rescues has captured the fancy of the people. This new craze is so acute that even the most streamlined jet cannot exalte as much interest as the ricketl est helicopter. When the Belgian airline, Sabena, inaugurated the world’s first scheduled international helicopter service (9/1) between Brussels (Belgium) and Rotterdam, interest only heightened, Dutch communities flooded Sabena with requests for helicopter service. Ironically, the Netherlands’ own airline, K.L.M., has ignored all the clamor, believing helicopters to be certain money-losers. In spite of the dark financial future, Sabena is pushing ahead with helicopter service in order to pioneer a new field and to make new millions of people air-conscious. But even Sabena is not going to answer every Dutch demand for helicopter service. Said one Sabena official: *Tf all the requests for helicopters were satisfied the sun would disappear behind a swarm of choppers, and the air would buzz from dawn to dusk.”

Here is a Bible study aid of 384 pages that will help you gain an accurate picture of God’s new world now so close at hand. You would like to live in perfect health with boundless prosperity forever, would you not? Then you need to learn about the new world and all the blessings it will bring to obedient humankind. It will bring new hope into your life.

Learn how “new heavens and a new earth” together form this new world. How can you gain entrance into it? When will it come? What must you do now to demonstrate your desire to live in that new world? These questions and many more are answered in the book “New Heavens and a New Earth”, Return the coupon be* low, with 50 cents.

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