Fear Sharks?

THU MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

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CONTENTS

Try a Mild Answer

Dante's Inferno and Modern Religion

The Main Feature—Crime

Taming the Mighty Zambezi

Conceit

Do You Fear Sharks?

Common Market versus Free Trade Area

Colombia—A Door to South America 20

Strangest Leaf in the World

Jehovah’s Witnesses—An Issue

of the Day in Greece

"Your Word Is Truth”

Christian Neutrality

Watching the World

DO YOU have a temperament that is like a simmering volcano? Do you explode with abusive speech when someone angers you? When you become involved in heated arguments do they end in verbal or physical fighting? If you have an explosive temperament it can destroy your friendships and demolish the cement of love that is essential for holding a marriage together. It can bring an immeasurable amount of trouble upon yourself as well as upon those who are close to you.

Nothing is accomplished by giving forth an angry outburst because of what someone says or does. Such reaction only antagonizes the other person, causing his anger to flare up. Newspapers frequently report incidents in which hot tempers erupted into fights that put some of the fighters in the hospital, in the cemetery or in prison. They would have been much better off if they had exercised self-control.

Emotional outbursts often come from persons who are tense; whereas the person who is relaxed is less likely to become angry over small or imagined offenses. He is better able to control his emotions. The tense person may be able to relieve some of his tension by exercise. But, whether relaxed or tense, you should learn to practice self-control. It is for your own good.

Instead of giving forth with an angry reply to an offense, try a mild answer. It will keep your blood pressure down as well as that of the other person. The Bible gives good advice when it says: “An answer, when mild, turns away rage, but a word causing pain makes anger to come up. An enraged man stirs up strife, but one that is slow to anger quiets down contention.”—Prov. 15:1,18.

The person who possesses self-control and who remains calm is better able to meet and overcome trying circumstances than the person who is hotheaded. It is not possible for a person to think clearly when overcome with anger. The one who controls his temper and keeps a cool head is a better man. “He that is slow to anger is better than a mighty man, and he that is controlling his spirit than the one capturing a city.”—Prov. 16:32.

Angry words are like bullets. Once they are fired they cannot be pulled back, but they speed on to do damage that sometimes cannot be repaired. They can destroy the love of a marriage partner or the friendship of a companion. Once this love and friendship are destroyed how can

they be renewed? To regain a friend you have injured is more difficult than taking a fortified city. This is indicated at Proverbs 18:19, which says: “A brother transgressed against is more than a strong town, and there are contentions that are like the bar of a dwelling tower.” It is no easy matter to gain entrance to a tower with a barred door. So it can be with,a friend you have injured with harsh words.

Instead of being brutally blunt, use a mild answer. Be tactful. Tact is defined in Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition: "Acute or nice discernment of what is appropriate to do or say in dealing with others; peculiar ability to deal with others without giving offense.” This can be done when a person remembers to give a mild answer.

An example of tactfulness is found in the Bible at Judges 8:1-3. Gideon and his men went out to fight the Midianites, but the men of Ephraim were not invited to go along. It was not until the Midianites were retreating in defeat that Gideon sent word to the men of Ephraim to come against the Midianites by cutting off their retreat. After the battle was over, the men of Ephraim were hot with anger toward Gideon because they had not been invited to join in the battle at the beginning.

“Then the men of Ephraim said to him: ‘What sort of thing is this that you have done to us in not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?’ And they vehemently tried to pick a quarrel with him. Finally he said to them: ‘What now have I done in comparison with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape gathering of Abiezer? It was into your hand that God gave Midian’s princes Oreb and Zeeb, and what have I been able to do in comparison with you?’ It was then that their spirit calmed down toward him when he spoke this word.”

If Gideon had replied untactfully he would have added fuel to their anger. But he did not permit their anger to stir up his anger. His tactful reply was a mild answer that preserved the friendship of these men.

Rehoboam is an example of a person who did not use tact. His reply to the people when they asked for lighter burdens was a- harsh answer. He declared that he would increase their burdens. He alienated himself from the people by his untactful reply. Ten of the thirteen tribes withdrew their allegiance to him and set up their own government with Jeroboam as their king.

Life in this World brings enough trouble to a person without his heaping more upon his head by being untactful. The man with an angry temperament stirs up trouble for himself and for others wherever he goes. “A man given to anger stirs up contention, and anyone disposed to rage has many a transgression."—Prov. 29:22.

Uncontrolled anger leads to transgressions of laws that govern human relations. A moment of anger can reap a lifetime of regret A wise person will foresee the damage that can be done by not controlling his temper. He will exercise self-control by swallowing his anger. Why lash out at others with harsh words that do nothing but stir up strjfe when you can just as well use a mild answer? Follow the Bible’s advice by being long-suffering with other people and by exercising self-control. Try mild answers and see how they help to maintain peaceful relations with other people.

Do not have companionship with anyone given to angef, and with a man having fits of rage you must not enter in, that you may not take a snare for your soul.—Prov, 22:2b, 25.

iiT N AN altogether unique way,” says I a comment in The Harvard Classics, “Dante summarizes the literature, the philosophy, the science, and the religion of the Middle Ages." He did this in his work the Divine Comedy—a poem in which the writer imagined a visit to hell and purgatory. “It gives a complete picture of Catholicism in the thirteenth century in

Italy,” says The Catholic Encyclopedia.

Whatever the source of Dante’s fantasy, an interesting question arises: How does Dante’s inferno compare with the teaching of Christendom’s religions today regarding hell?

A dispatch in the New York Times of March 24, 1949, said: “Pope Pius called today for ... a greater hell’s fire preaching in the church.” A few years later the same newspaper, in its issue of February 6, 1955, reported: “Pope Pius XII told a group of lawyers today that there is an eternal hell after death for the souls of men who have committed grave sins. He admitted that many people, including theologians, found the idea of eternal punishment hard to believe.”

Fire in Clergy Hell Diminishing

“Churchmen Cooling to Fire, Brimstone Version of Hell,” said a February 11, 1956, headline of a widely published Associated Press dispatch, such as that which appeared in the Chicago Daily News of that same date. “Much church opinion today holds there is no real fire in hell.” Regarding the view that there is literal fire in hell, the article quoted Baptist clergyman James A. Davidson of White Plains, New York, as saying: “That’s mostly a thing of the past”

Admitted Methodist cleric Allen Claxton; “If the church frightens people into being good, it only holds them so long as they are afraid.” Episcopalian Dr. P. M. Dawley of the Episcopal General Theological Seminary concurred: “In our time, there has been a great decline in the fear emphasis. . . . The medieval picture of hell as a place of flaming torment which held the minds of men for some generations was inadequate.” Jewish Rabbi Emanuel

Rackman said that the Dante version of a physical-type hell has diminished, that those “who believe in a physical hell have become fewer and fewer.”

The article continues: “Among major churches, the Roman Catholic Church holds uniformly the doctrine of a fiery, eternal hell, and this view, with broader interpretations, is strong among Lutherans, many Baptists and some others. But they, too, stress the spiritual travail—the sense of loss, failure and hopelessness—in the deeper implications of hell. And the nature of the fire is seen as problematical. Whether it is of an earthly type, man can’t know positively, said Msgr. Charles Walsh, New York director of the Catholic Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.”

So problematical Is the fire in the clergy hell that some clergymen have fiercely attacked the eternal torment doctrine. In Pasco, Washington, not long ago an Episcopal rector stirred up a religious storm-that spread through the Episcopal district of Spokane. Said Time magazine of December 30,1957: “The trouble began with a sermon in Pasco’s Church of Our Saviour by energetic Rector Charles Lester Kinsolving, 30. ‘Hell,’ he preached, ‘is a damnable doctrine—responsible for a large measure of this world’s hatred. According to this doctrine, God, who commands us to love our enemies, plays the hypocrite by damning his enemies. This in turn stimulates the hatred of God by people who abhor hypocrisy—and it gives sanction to Our hatred of certain selected enemies.”

Even some Roman Catholic authorities have taken a dimmer view of hell. “To many it appears that for God to plunge the soul into a sea of fire [suggests] a vindictive God, who takes joy in torturing his enemies,” confesses Jesuit Robert W. Gleason in Thought, a Fordham University quarterly. Giving a psychological interpretation to the fire, Jesuit Gleason suggests that the agony of the fire is not something created by God after all, but, rather, that it grows out of the damned soul’s eternal tension between love of self and love of God, much like the pain of schizophrenia, “We know that in this life the schizophrenic personality suffers greatly. Such a man believes that he is himself and someone else [and] riven by this conflict he suffers as though devoured by himself. . . . The pain the soul suffers ... is then the pain of fire and it is the direct result of the pain of loss,”

That Jesuit version of hell sweeps Dante’s fire-stoking, spike-tailed demons out of existence. Obviously Christendom’s religions are much confused on the subject.

If one is to avoid the abyss of confusion, he must go to God’s Word the Holy Bible.

What the Bible Teaches

Does the Bible teach a Dantelike bell? Before one could be roasted or deep-frozen eternally in torments one would have to possess an immortal soul. Does the Bible teach that man has such a soul?

Of sinful men in general Ezekiel 18:4 declares: “The soul that slnneth, it shall die.” (AV) Of Christ Jesus it was foretold at Isaiah 53:12: "He poured out his soul to the very death.” Regarding the word “soul” the Alphabetical Appendix of The Emphatic Diaglott says: “In all the 700 times which nephesh occurs, and the 105 times of psuchee [words from which ‘soul’ is translated], not once is the word immortal, or immortality, or deathless, or never-dying, found in connection, as qualifying the terms,”

Those who still put literal fire in hell cite Ecclesiastes 12:7: “Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to The true God who gave it,” If the spirit within a person were a person, then in returning to God it could not suffer in hell-fire unless God himself were there. But what is man’s “spirit” in this text? It could not be the same as “soul,” for the Bible, at Hebrews 4:12, distinguishes between the two: “The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of the soul and spirit.”

The “spirit” or life force that returns to God is just that—life force, energizing force. On the other hand, the “soul” is the living creature himself, as the Bible account of man’s creation at Genesis 2:7 shows: "Then Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground, and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living

soul” So an earthly soul is a living, breathing, sentient creature.

As to the spirit or life force—what happens when you switch off the current from a light bulb? The bulb returns to darkness and the current goes back to the power plant that gave it. Etoes the current, returning to the circuit, retain the shape, mold or- identity of the bulb it vacated? No more than does man’s “spirit,” his life force, the power from God that energizes the human body of dust to glow with life, return bearing the shape, mold, imprint or personal identity of the mortal body it vacated. Declares the Bible at Psalm 104: 29, 30: “If you conceal your face, they get terrified. If you take away their spirit, they expire and back to their dust they go. If you send forth your spirit, they are created.” The spirit is something that God can switch on or off, like current in a light bulb.

But, argue Dantean hell champions, did not Jesus Christ warn at Matthew 25:46 against everlasting punishment? Of course he did, although a modem translation more accurately renders Jesus’ words: “These will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into everlasting life.” If a judge pronounces the death sentence and a criminal is executed and the sentence never rescinded nor the victim restored to life, how long a punishment does he endure? As long a punishment as Jesus warned against; it is everlasting. Why read everlasting conscious torment into something so simple? The punishment for the goatlike wicked is an everlasting cutting-off from life, an everlasting destruction: “At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings due punishment upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These very ones will pay the penalty of everlasting destruction.”—2 Thess. 1:7-9.

Rich Man and Lazarus

The rich man and Lazarus parable of Luke 16 is used to argue hell torments. But if the rich man went to a literal fire, then Lazarus went to the literal bosom of Abraham. One cannot rightly split a text in two, applying one half literally and the other half symbolically.

That would be like interpreting the "beast” and the “smoke” in Revelation 14: 11 as real, literal—then interpreting the “Lamb” in Revelation 14:10 to mean Christ. But if the Lamb symbolizes Christ, then the beast and the smoke symbolize something. Are they any less symbolic than the Lamb? Likewise, if the place where Lazarus goes is symbolical, then the place where the rich man goes is symbolical. Instead of seeking to know what the symbolic language means, champions of eternal torment, in their desperation, give a literal interpretation for part of a parable.

Is it that death—everlasting destruction —is not adequate punishment for the goatlike wicked? Is God, the Judge, not satisfied? Is God more concerned with fiendishly torturing the wicked or is he more concerned merely with eliminating the wicked?

The Bible Hell—Sheol Hades

The clergy are admitting that the teaching of a hot hell does not coerce people to morality. But the case does not rest there. They must also bear the responsibility for the fabrication of an eternal torment doctrine that has goaded people onward toward a sense of hopelessness, hate and loathing for God. The clergy must bear the blame for not making clear to the people the meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek words Sheol, Hades and Ge-

henna—words that have been translated as hell, etc., causing great confusion. “Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused," says The Encyclopedia Americana, “through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception.”

Sheol or Hades, the Bible hell, is not eternal. These words represent the common grave of mankind. At the resurrection the Bible hell (Sheol-Hades) gives up its dead, as Revelation 20:13, 14 shows: “Death and hades [hell, AV] gave up those dead in them . . . And death and Hades [hell, AV] were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire." Thus hell or Hades is eternally destroyed, for the “lake of fire” represents an everlasting destruction. If hell is the lake of fire, as some have, said, how can it be cast into itself?

As for the word Gehenna, it occurs twelve times in the Bible. But the average reader does not know this, since Bible translators Have rendered it as “hell.” Jesus used the word Gehenna at Mark 9:47 as a symbol, not for everlasting torment, but for everlasting destruction.

When Dante conjured his myths of hell’s torture chambers, he was merely extending beyond death the very real, very hideous Inquisition that his church was pursuing toward “heretics,” pulling victims’ limbs apart, burning them alive, etc. Thus a pattern of sadism was set for Dante to translate into a ‘'sacred poem.”

Has terror induced any other emotion toward God than it induced toward Hitler? And whom did Hitler image, the god of eternal torment or the God of love?

God draws by love. The only fear he wants his creatures to know is the fear of displeasing him. Those who refrain from wrong-doing only out of dread of a hellish torment are not happy in loving God. It is a forced love, and that is no love at all.

Christ’s apostle wrote: “By this the love of God was made manifest in our case." How? By his fabricating a religious hell of torment to terrorize men? No, "because God sent forth his only-begotten Son into the world that we might gain life through him. . . . God is love. . . . There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint. ... As for us, we love, because he first loved us."—1 John 4:9, 16,18, 19.

When the Israelites religiously burned their children in fire, God said: “They have built the high places ... in order to bum their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.” (Jer. 7:31) How, then, would God feel to be forever responsible for torturing creatures in a Dantean inferno? As sane, rational children of our Creator, should we not abandon the restraint of morbid fear that misrepresents God as a fiend?

Some of the religious clergy are now putting out the red-hot fires of their Dantean hell, but the Bible hell (Sheol-Hades) has always been the cold, silent grave.

THE MAIN FEATURE-CRIME

During a recent debate on a proposed movie-attendance tax in Munich, Germany, it was disclosed that some four hundred motion pictures were shown in the city’s theaters the preceding year and that these films portrayed the following criminal acts: 310 murders, 104 robberies, 405 cases of adultery, 624 of fraud or cheating, 54 of extortion and 34 of arson.

IN THIS part of the world man’s efforts to reach the moon seem eclipsed by man's efforts at taming the Zambezi. Sometimes called “The Angry River” and “River with a Vengeance,” the mighty Zambezi, in its 1,600-mile course to the Indian Ocean, is

Africa’s fourth-longest river, being surpassed only by the Nile, Niger and Congo Rivers. Taming the Zambezi is an outstanding engineering feat

More than eight years ago plans were made to tame the mighty Zambezi by building a huge hydroelectric dam at Ka-riba Gorge, a long, narrow pass through which the Zambezi stampedes after its leap at the great Victoria Falls about 250 miles upstream.

In 1950 a conference was held between representatives of Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland regarding the proposed dam. An agreement was reached and designers came up with a beautiful £80,000,-000 ($224,000,000) plan that would provide low-cost electricity to large areas of the Rhodesias.

The go-ahead signal was given in March, 1955, and work was begun, using an impressive engineering scheme. The base of the dam would be built in two stages:

First, on the Northern Rhodesia side a circular cofferdam would be built during the dry season so that when the floodwaters would come workers could continue to build the diversion channel dam wall on dry ground in the cofferdam. When this base was completed, the cofferdam protecting it would be blown up and the water diverted between the completed wall blocks, and then the other portion, the main dam wall, would be constructed on the river bed in a similar cofferdam.

It almost appeared

as if the Zambezi were waiting for attempts to tame it. In March, 1957, she let loose with a terrifying torrent of water, about two feet above any previously recorded level, the water rising a record of seven feet in one day. The powerhouse at Victoria Falls was inundated; power and water supplies were cut off. Down the river the crest rode, thundering into Kariba Gorge at the rate of 1,250,000 gallons a second.

Activity inside the first cofferdam was like a pot of popcorn without the lid on: everything popped out—out came several hundred men; the huge twenty-two-ton capacity overhead Blondin cables pulled up bulldozers, pumps and excavators. Then in came the Zambezi, seemingly bent on squelching any attempt by man to tame it. The river rose eight feet above the cofferdam wall and filled it like a bathtub, then threatened, within feet, to remove the new road bridge connecting the north and south banks. Even the unofficial mascot of the project, a hippopotamus, had enough. He used to float around in the water by

day and inspect what progress had been made at night, but now he left for more tranquil surroundings.

The Zambezi, however, had spent its fury, and it gave up before any real damage could be done. The contractors took it in stride, pulled the plug out of the cofferdam, drained it and carried on.

With work In the first cofferdam completed, the walls were dynamited, leaving the tall cement skyscrapers protruding high above the water, where they could continue working on them. The south cofferdam was then begun and completed in November, 1957, just before the rainy season was to begin. Work was started inside it on the main portion of the dam base. As men stood inside it on the ancient bed of the Zambezi and looked up at the cofferdam’s 140-foot-high walls, one was heard to say: “The river has been tamed.” The mighty Zambezi was forced by man to leave its bed and go through the completed diversion channel.

Africans often display an uncanny accuracy in foretelling the weather. While the 1957 flood was still in progress, they were already warning, ‘Wait until next year,’ with ominous forebodings. But Impresit Kariba, the largest Kariba contracting firm, was unimpressed; they were ready for the Zambezi's worst—or so they thought.

New Floods Arrive

■ On December 30, 1957, the river began to rise, but, then, that was to be expected. The river still rose in January, but the peak was not expected until April, so there was nothing to worry about. It rated only the inner pages of the newspapers.

Rather than be bound by old records, the Zambezi was out to write some of its own. The river kept rising until, on February 8, its savage waters attacked one of the road bridge piers. While futile efforts were made to save the bridge, most of the officials’ . anxiety was centered on the upriver cofferdam wall. The water had crept to within seven feet of the top and was still rising. A decision again had to be made—whether to continue work and risk the loss of lives and machinery or to stop work, remove the machinery and lose valuable time, perhaps needlessly.

The risk was too great, so the Blondin cables again came into use, and at the expense of $280 an hour to run, they hoisted out all the machinery. At the same time work was being done on heightening the up-river cofferdam wall with wood and sandbags, the men working night and day under floodlights while muddy, wild waters were churning below sending up fiftyfoot-high showers of spray, drenching men and equipment.

Breathing came easier again when the water began to recede, and on February 12 work began again. This was short-lived, and on February 18 another new peak was reached. The river beat and lashed at this man-made obstacle. As the men watched its seemingly futile efforts, they looked in unbelief as, suddenly, the rock strata under the wall gave way and through a gaping hole poured 45,000,000 gallons of water. There was no chance to save the thousands of dollars' worth of bulldozers, excavators and pumps and other equipment. Now what?

The experts immediately devised plans for draining the dam as well as heightening the upper dam wall in case the water kept rising; thus a twelve-foot extension was erected.

“Fiercest of Them All”

But the mighty Zambezi was not to be scared off this time. Its waters became more wild and savage by the day. The weakened road bridge could stand no more. On February 22 it succumbed and sank

below the surface. Two days later the waters crept over the very top of the cofferdam wall extension. Yet the peak was still to come I

Who would have thought that the last link between the north and south banks, the suspension footbridge that normally swung safely high above the waters, would be the next victim? A staff reporter for the Rhodesia Herald described its death with vivid expression: “The suspension bridge swayed a little, dipped slightly toward the water which seemed to reach up and pull it down. The tower kept leaning over further and further until with hardly a splash it fell beneath the water. The bridge seemed a living thing, a snake fighting for its life. It hurled itself in the air to try to rid itself of the grasping, tormenting water which was pounding it mercilessly.”

The brace cable snapped and the bridge broke up. “The bridge,” said the reporter, "was hurled 20 feet into the air, arching itself as in a death agony; it turned itself through 180 degrees into a giant corkscrew. There was the sound of wood und steel snapping, and the sections of the bridge crashed against each other. Above all rose the triumphant roar of the Zambezi. By noon the battle was over. The Zambezi had won.”

The loss in bridges alone amounted to $392,000. Work on the dam came to a standstill, but the water did not. The Zambezi came on and on until its surface topped the cofferdam and its extension by seven feet! From an airplane it looked like a symmetrical man-made waterfall from a river that was forcing 3,286,000 gallons of water a second between the “teeth” of the base blocks in the diversion channel and over the cofferdam wall. It raced at twenty-five miles an hour over the level bed, the water backing up behind the dam blocks so that a fourteen-story skyscraper could be stood up in the water and disappear out of sight.

Witnesses to the battle could not find enough adjectives. The roar was not. steady, but a pulsating, rhythmic beating, a deep-throated roar. An on-the-spot radio report sounded more like the ninth inning of a tied World Series baseball game. The background was deafening, the announcer’s description, breathless and excited. One bystander commented: “It was as if the river were taking revenge for the effort made to tame it." An Italian engineer added: “Today the river seems alive.” The general manager of Impresit, Dr. Bergamasco; remarked: “I have worked on rivers in all parts of the world, but the Zambezi is the worst and fiercest of them all.”

Loss of life and evidence of violence to animals brought even greater sorrow to the Kariba workers. Many looked on in helpless pity as a small tree came floating down the river manned by a family of five baboons, clinging to it in terror. It went between the wall blocks, down the thirty-foot drop and disappeared, only to come to the surface farther downstream —empty.

Waters Subside

When the Zambezi finally subsided, animals, people, governments and companies licked their wounds. The Zambezi caused the loss of from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 in damage at the Kariba Dam project alone. Despite this loss, however, the dam contractors were optimistic. For one thing, the damage was mostly covered by American and British insurance companies. They were also confident that they could make up their lost time and actually finish ahead of schedule by working night and day.

Their first job was to drain the cofferdam. They finally found the hole under the cofferdam wall and after numerous at-

tempts and failures they were able to stop it up and drain the cofferdam. Throughout the whole period of suspense and worry they continued working on the two tremendous powerhouses 560 feet below the surface of the ground, which fortunately did not flood.

On December 3, 1958, the whole dam wall stood high above the river bed, little short of its planned height. The Zambezi still had not been completely stopped, however, for through the twenty-five-foot openings in the wall was still flowing 17,500 cubic feet of water a second. At seven o’clock on this morning, the momentous occasion had at last come. On a given signal from the chief engineer, truckload after truckload of rock was dumped in front of the steel grids covering the holes and the force of the river drew them up against the holes, stopping the flow of water. At last the Zambezi was tamed!

Largest Man-made Lake

The impounded waters of the Zambezi have grown into a vast, shimmering lake. Lake Kariba will eventually reach a length of about 200 miles and a maximum width of about forty miles, the storage capacity being greater than the total provided by Shasta, Friand, Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams in the United States.

As the waters of the new lake rose, hills became islands swarming with panicky animals. Monkeys, baboons, wart hogs, civet cats, antelope, rabbits, lizards, porcupines and snakes ail sought safety and food. Monkeys, in their plight to get food, even stripped bark from trees; some at; tacked their enemy, the deadly mamba, a poisonous snake .whose bite can kill a man in ten minutes.

A rescue operation has been carried on to save many of the animals from watery deaths. To facilitate rescue work the animals are chased into the water. Then rescue workers, wearing bathing suits, plunge in after the animals. Though it is much easier to catch swimming animals, the porcupine, whether on land or in the water, still remained a thorny problem. Even in the water it takes three men to outwit a porcupine. One man grabs the tail, being careful to avoid injury from the quills; another grabs the head and front feet; and the animal is then lifted into a sack held by a third. The rescued animals, placed in cages, sacks and boxes, were released later on the mainland.

The beautifully designed, curving, 1,800-foot-wide dam wall is scheduled to be finished in June or July this year. The remainder of the work will be the installation of the hydroelectric machinery, which will be producing power in 1960. Ultimately the project is expected to have a yearly pow«r capacity of 1,200,000 kilowatts. Taming the mighty Zambezi in this manner means low-cost power for industrializing this area of Central Africa, There will even be Other benefits: Flood control and irrigation of a wide area. The new lake will also provide an abundance of fish unobtainable from the river.

So if you ever get the opportunity to visit Central Africa, see the dam at Kariba Gorge, Kariba Lake, which will be the largest man-made lake in the world, and the nearby game reserves. All this on and along the mighty Zambezi!

Conceit

“If there is one thing in the world that will make a man peculiarly and insufferably self-conceited,” once said American humorist Mark Twain, “it is to have his stomach behave itself, the first day at sea, when nearly all his comrades are sick.”—The Innocents Abroad.

DO YOU FEA

ly "Awoke I" torrejpondent In Cuba

WHEN contemplating the sea, who has not envisioned the chilling possibility of meeting up with a fierce man-eating shark ? Many of us have. Men fear sharks, and, without any doubt, the sharks have justified man’s respect for their reputation as being dangerous. The fact remains, however, that man is indebted for this fear to only a few of the more ‘ than forty species that inhabit the world’s seas.

There are some twenty-two species inhabiting the seas around the island of Cuba, with its 2,500 miles of shore line. Some of these species are small and inoffensive, like the dwarf shark, but others, like the hammerhead shark, require caution. There is a large shark that is not only the largest one in Cuban waters but also of all seas; that is the whale shark. Fortunately it feeds only on small fish, being entirely harmless with humans. It possesses so many teeth that the jaw’s surface is Tike a file, with as many as 6,000 teeth in each jaw. But it does not depend on teeth as a weapon for its defense.

On March 11, 1930, a whale shark was caught near Cojimar Beach, east of Havana. Its weight was approximately six and a half tons, and it was thirty-two feet long. There is another species second only to the whale shark, and that is the man-eating shark. One of those was caught several years ago; it weigned more than 6,000 pounds, the liver alone weighing some 1,000 pounds. In contrast to those large species is the eight-inch dwarf shark.

Big sharks, however, are abundant all over the world, not only in Cuban waters. Near Mayor Island, New Zealand, a mako shark that weighed 1,000 pounds was caught. In the Bay of Islands, also in New Zealand, a 1,382-pound tiger shark was landed. In the Bay of Daniel, Australia, a white shark weighing 2,536 pounds was caught. So these huge fish are found in many places.

Sharks are not limited to salt water. There are at least three species known to live in fresh waters, one of them in Lake Nicaragua, Central America. The common idea that they are a menace only in the sea or at the seashore is wrong. There are fresh-water species that have been caught in various places like the Amazon, Senegal, Zambezi, Ganges, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, also in the fresh waters of Malacca, in Thailand, in upper Sarawak in Borneo, and in the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers in Western Australia. The sharks of the Ganges River, in India, for instance, sometimes attack the pilgrims while they are taking their “sacred bath” there.

Curious Facts About Sharks

It seems that the senses of sight artd hearing are not the most used by sharks in their search for food. Unquestionably the most used sense is that of smell, and with good reason they have been named “swimming noses." Their ability is amazing, similar to that of a bloodhound, only much superior to any land animal. A deer,

JUNE S, 1959

for instance, may sense the presence of a hunter over half a mile away, depending on the direction of the wind, but a shark can exceed this distance in spite of contrary water currents. It is said that their amazing sense of smell is aided by a series of special nerves that respond to vibrations traveling through water at great speeds. A floundering fish, for instance, can immediately be detected at an amazing distance.

With regard to teeth, there are also some surprising facts. Teeth are considered the main weapon of certain species of sharks. Sharp and keen, they are placed in a symmetrical, destructive line, two or three rows, one after another. Teeth change continually, and before one row disappears there is a new one to replace it. This seems to explain why sharks at times leave some of their teeth when they attack, like a “calling card." Their bites are frequently mortal, because they may pierce an artery and cause too much loss of blood.

Another unusual feature of this creature is its capacity to digest almost anything. Things such as cans or wood are easily vomited. Eating is easy for a shark: it just opens its mouth and swallows.

Did you know that a shark can be faster than a tiger or a rhinoceros when rushing to an attack? A shark may move at the incredible speed of some thirty miles an hour, stop almost instantly and turn away.

What to Do When Meeting a Shark

An interview with five Quban diving hunter champions was published in Bohemia magazine of March 2,1958, giving information on what to do when encountering a shark. “A shark will not attack if faced,” said one of the champions. Others declared: “The shark eats people, yes, but only when the victim turns back and tries to flee.” Another interesting conclusion one made was this: '‘Whenever I have met sharks they flea as I faced them. Invariably they beat a retreat.” Another said: “The shark is a coward and suspicious. It will not attack immediately, and even to swallow a fish hanging from a hook it first will smell it and will move around it until certain that the fish is dead and then it will swallow it” Of course, there are no rules on shark behavior, but in most cases they act with extreme caution, and that gives the swimmer time to get out of danger. However, there are those that are extremely fierce, like the great white shark or the tiger, the mako or the blue shark, which live in deep waters. The sharks themselves have enemies. They fear the sea hog or porpoise. Perhaps that is why sharks respect diving hunters equipped with fins on their feet; their vertical movement in the water is similar to that of the porpoise’s tail.

If a shark is near do not become panicky. The most intelligent and practical thing to do is to face it. Swim slowly toward a boat or the shore, and before leaving the water check to see how far away the shark is, as many times they attack if the prey appears to be escaping.

How Sharks React

A well-known diving expert, Jacques Yves Cousteau, reported two encounters he had with sharks: one in the Red Sea, and the other in front of the Cape Verde islands, in the Atlantic. In the Red Sea the shark was attracted to Cousteau from a distance of about thirty feet. It deliberately attacked him, but he got out of danger when the shark finally turned aside. In the second attack, off the Cape Verde islands, the sharks resisted every effort of Cousteau and his companions to scare them off; they would move away but each time returned. Every known method was used to get rid of them—agitation of the arms letting air out of their tanks, etc.—but

they did not succeed in driving the sharks away. Cousteau even struck one of them on the nose with his heavy submarine camera. The sharks knew pretty well what they wanted and so did Cousteau. However, by several maneuvers Cousteau and his companions safely got out of the waters. Cousteau asserts that no one can safely anticipate a shark’s movement. He cautioned that those entering a shark’s domain should do so with utmost alertness. Sharks will attack people under certain conditions. The trouble is we do not know all these conditions, and certainly the swimmer does not know what conditions may have influenced the shark.

Commercial Value

There are several species in the Cuban waters that are of commercial value. In the days of the Spanish dominion in Havana there was a premium paid by the authorities for each big shark caught and brought to shore, as they were considered dangerous and fit only for extinction. Shark meat was sold to fish-fry stores and sometimes in the market. The Chinese used to buy the fins to make a delicious gelatinous soup, which contained even tonic or stimulant qualities. Shark backbones were used to make canes, which were considered quite fashionable. The teeth and jaws, cleaned and polished, were sold as novelties.

Several years ago the right to catch sharks in all Cuban waters was given to an organization with the understanding that they would exterminate them or at least decimate their numbers so that commercial products from certain fishes, crustaceans, mollusks and chelonians could increase. Also, it was hoped that the danger to swimmers, fishermen and sailors would be eliminated. But the organization was soon dissolved.

Later, when several purchasing enterprises appeared in the market, shark fishing was intensified and, with the development of modem techniques and methods to obtain an oil of high quality, a larger profit from sharks was the result. It was discovered that shark liver oil is rich in vitamins A and D, superior in quantity to that of codfish liver oil. Also, some shark meat is healthful, nutritious and of a pleasant taste. It can be sold in the market provided it is labeled as shark meat, and salted shark meat is relished by many. Some of the fish, not suitable for human consumption, are used in fertilizer. Sharkskins, which can be highly polished and made very attractive, are used in various ways.

Last, it might be said that sharks really prove the Bible account of creation instead of the theory of evolution. Though the “ancient shark” is placed at the bottom of the exhibit entitled “The Face from Fish to Man,” displayed in New York City’s American Musem of Natural History, yet in an article in the Bohemia magazine it is stated: The shark “is so perfect and its physical functions are so well balanced, that the Creator has not considered necessary to make any change in His work, keeping ‘the shark' without evolution during millions of years, as proved by geological findings.”

The time is near when this roving and powerful creature of the sea will live in peaceful conditions under the dominion of perfect man. There will be no man-eaters among sharks. There will be peace, both among men and between men and the other living things on earth.

As for this sea so great and wide, there there are gliding things without number,—Ps. 104:25,

November 20, vlv 1958, Britain’s Manchester Guardian Weekly warned its readers that “the future of Europe politically as well as economically has been put at hazard by the French rejection of the Free Trade Area.” The paper went on to say: “If the Common Market countries were to retreat into an exclusive club, leaving their relations with the rest of Europe unsettled, the major instruments of post-war European co-operation—the O.E.E.C. and the E.P.U.—might well become unworkable. N.A.T.O. [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] itself would be exposed to strains which it might not survive.”

Things seemed to be just that serious. But what was all the trouble about? What do the expressions "Common Market” and “Free Trade Area” mean? And what do the abbreviations O.E.E.C. and E.P.U. stand for? The following will help you understand Western Europe’s economic problems and the ups and downs of its struggle to solve them.

The initials O.E.E.C. stand for the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, founded on April 16*, 1948, with headquarters at the Chateau de la Muette, in Paris. .This organization groups seventeen nations, which are the highly industrialized Continental bloc, composed of France, Western Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg (the latter three forming a customs union known as Benelux); the six economically strong sur-Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Denmark; and the outer ring of five economically weaker countries: Turkey, Greece, Portugal,, Ireland and Iceland. You will note that this list includes all the main states of noncommunist Western Europe, with the exception of Franco’s Spain.

The purpose of OJEE.C. was to organize the economic recovery of Europe by the gradual removal of trade restrictions made necessary through the shortage of foreign currency that existed throughout Europe as a result of the war. The original idea was for it to include the east European states. But O.E.E.C. was created as a direct result of the United States postwar aid program known as the Marshall Plan. This gave it a distinctly Western, that is, a pro-American flavor, which meant that other European states, such as Finland, Poland and Czechoslovakia, that would have liked to join the organization, met with a firm niet from Russia’s Molotov.

So for the first four years of its existence, O.E.E.C. was largely a clearinghouse for the billions of dollars poured into Europe through the Marshall Plan. Much of this money was an outright gift from the United States, the rest taking the form of long-term loans. For a time a country’s international status rose or fell in exact proportion to its reliance on U.S. dollars.

Viewed in this light, it is significant to recall that out of some thirteen billion dol-

Jars given or lent in Marshall Plan aid to the seventeen O.E.E.C. member-countries from April, 1948, to June, 1952, more than one fifth went to France. In contrast, as early as January, 1951, Great Britain voluntarily refused any further Marshall Plan aid. Not that her economy had no use for such funds. Her railways, for example, are still in need of the modernization that the French railways have undergone since the war, thanks largely to U.S. dollars. But Britain realized the political implications of the American aid program. She was no longer the dominant member of the Anglo-American world-power partnership, but she was bent on maintaining for herself at least the status of “junior partner” rather than “protege.” It explains why Britain, although remaining a member of O.E.E.C., has, on several occasions, opposed proposals to extend the powers of that organization.

In September, 1950, Q.E.E.C. organized the European Payments Union (E.P.U.). It was designed to facilitate the monetary transactions between the member nations whose money was not freely convertible into other currencies. The E.P.U. continued successfully until December 27, 1958, when the British treasury made the pound sterling freely convertible by foreign businessmen into any other currency. This financial move made the E.P,U. unnecessary. The disappearance of E.P.U. ushered in a new and tighter banking arrangement known as the European Monetary Agreement

Six, Twelve or Seventeen?

As early as 1951 the six-nation Continental bloc (France, Western Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) began forming closer ties with one another than with the eleven other members of O.E.E.C. On April 18 of that year they signed a treaty creating the European Coal and Steel Community, commonly known as the Schuman Plan, True, the Community was open for other nations to join. But its treaty included supranational clauses that were known to be unacceptable to Britain and the other O.E.E.C. countries. So the Schuman Plan only succeeded in creating a six-nation European community that has since come to be known as “Little Europe.”

The separation of these six from their O.E.E.C. partners was accentuated on March 25, 1957, when their governmental representatives signed the Treaty of Rome. This treaty created two important new ties among the six: the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the European Economic Community (Common Market).

The purpose of Euratom is to co-ordinate the nuclear research and development programs among the six nations. Britain, already an atomic power in her own right, has refrained from joining Euratom, but she is showing no animosity toward it. In fact, according to Le Monde, February 14, 1959, Britain and the five other O.E.E.C. members associated with her have agreed to co-operate with Euratom in a five-year research project. So, “atomically speaking,” Europe seems to be developing a twelve-nation community.

However, no such easy solution has been found for associating the six members 'Of the European Economic Community, or Common Market, with the other members of O.E.E.C. The Common Market, which began operating on January 1, 1959, is more than a simple customs union. It aims, within a period of twelve to fifteen years, at abolishing all tariffs and trade barriers among the six member nations, at removing all restrictions on the free movement of capital and workers and at harmonizing the social security and labor standards practiced throughout the community. In addition, the six member-nations commit themselves to applying a uniform tariff wall against all nations outside the community, even against their eleven partners ofO.E.E.C.

It is this common tariff against outsiders that caused the British to speak of European unity as being endangered by the Common Market. Britain proposed instead what she called a Free Trade Area. This area would be open to all the seventeen O.E.B.C. nations and, like the Common Market, would aim at removing all trade barriers among its members. However, unlike the Common Market, it would allow each member nation to fix its own tariffs in trading with states outside the Free Trade Area.

The Anglo-French Dispute

The present trade dispute over the Common Market and a proposed Free Trade Area really boils itself down to a quarrel between Britain and France. France’s five partners inside the Common Market are known to be not fundamentally opposed to extending to the eleven other members of O.E.E.C. many, not to say most, of the advantages of the Common Market. But France is unwilling to do this. She maintains that if Britain and the other O.E.E.C. members are not willing to become members of the Common Market, sharing its advantages and disadvantages, then they must be prepared to be discriminated against by those who are. To prevent this Anglo-French quarrel from degenerating ■into a trade war between the six Common Market countries and the rest of Europe, efforts are being made to find some workable arrangement satisfactory to both sides.

On the political side, it is clear that Britain’s opposition to the Common Market is not merely inspired by commercial reasons. Sir David Eccles, president of the British Board of Trade, has admitted that the Common Market represents something Britain has resisted for centuries: the unification of Europe. Such uniting of the Continental bloc places Britain in the following dilemma. If she decides to throw in her lot with the six pations of the Common Market, the “uniform tariff” clause of the Rome Treaty would oblige her to cease her long-established system of “Imperial preference,’’ that is, low tariffs in favor of the countries of the British Commonwealth. But this would cut her off from the Commonwealth, and Britain owes her position as a world power to her unique position in the Commonwealth. If, on the other hand, she opts for the^r Commonwealth and remains aloof from the Common Market, which now constitutes a powerful industrial complex of 160,000,000 people, she risks losing her position as America’s number-one ally, A problem indeed!

Another interesting political aspect of the European trade dispute is the attitude adopted by the United States. U.S. business interests would have preferred the larger Free Trade Area. Yet in the showdown they supported the Common Market. Why? Because United States diplomacy was glad to. see the Common Market tie Catholic Adenauer’s Germany more closely than ever into the Western camp. Through the Common Market, the United States hopes West Germany’s economy will become inextricably tied into the Western (American) bloc.

Germany itself has kept remarkably quiet during the Anglo-French rumpus over the Common Market. Yet it is a known fact that West German business interests, with their eyes on world-wide markets, are more in favor of the British Free

Trade Area plan than the more restricted Common Market. Why, then, when the showdown came between Britain and France did Germany side with the latter?

It must be remembered that World War II left Germany with a reputation of national “delinquency.” The cool reception German officials still receive in various nations is a reminder that all is not yet forgiven and forgotten. Germany’s remarkable recovery has made her once again an economic giant, but a giant that needs to tiptoe in diplomatic ballet pumps, at least for the time being. For years Frenchmen have warned against the creation of a “Little Europe” dominated by Germany. In these circumstances West Germany found it better to do nothing'to vex France and to settle (at least for the moment) for the Common Market, which, incidentally, will provide German industries with a welcome backdoor entrance into the vast markets of French Africa.

One last point on Germany. When E.P.U. drew up its closing accounts in January, it was found that all the other sixteen member-nations, including France and Britain, owed money to Germany. No, Europe has not heard the last of Germany, by any means!

Religious Undertones

When big business and politics are involved in some affair, worldly religion is never far away. The Common Market is no exception. What are, the possible religious aspects of the Common Market versus Free Trade Area dispute?

It is a well-known fact, at least on the European continent, that the Vatican is interested in European unity. On March 29, 1957, just four days after the signing of the Rome Treaty creating the Common Market and Euratom, Pope Pius XII stated to a group of German Christian Democrats: "The statesmen are about to create a united Europe. This is a great work and we have always said how much we appreciate the progress being made in that direction.”—Le Monde, March 31-April 1, 1957.

For the Vatican a united Europe means, of course, a Catholic Europe. The so-called Christian Democrat parties in Europe are openly dedicated to uniting Europe around the Catholic Church. Well now, how does this affect the recent European trade dispute? France, West Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries are predominantly Catholic. In other words, the Common Market is an arrangement the Vatican will have no difficulty in influencing. But would it be the same of a Free Trade Area including Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, all predominantly Protestant? Might not this be the reason why certain well-known Catholic statesmen came out in.favor of the restrictive Common Market when the commercial interests of their country would probably have been better served by the wider Free Trade Area?

Some commentators in Europe feel that in any case this limited Catholic European community will be obliged to develop into the wider Free Trade Area. Be that as it may, one thing is certain. The Catholic Church will do its utmost to spread its influence. And another thing is just as certain. Each nation, large or small, will act in its own interest, regardless of its alliances.

How obvious it is that human arrangements, whether capitalistic or communistic, will never succeed in bringing lasting peace and prosperity to this earth. And how equally obvious that exclusive devotion to God and submission to his kingdom are the only hope of uniting men of good will, now and in the ages to come.

COLOMBIA is the northern Li

port of entry to South Amer- fl Vv ica. It is located in the north- i t Vj west part of the continent and borders Panama, the land-link between the South and North uMpR American continents. The country’s 2,000 miles of coastline is washed partly by the Pacific Ocean and partly by the Caribbean Sea. Tourists will find this a fascinating tropical land. Its fifth-largest city, Barranquilla, is only five hours by air from the United States.

The western part of Colombia Is dominated by three great chains of the famous Andes Mountains. The highest peak in the country is La Horqueta, located near Santa Marta in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It towers to a height of 19,152 feet. On the mountain slopes and in the fertile valleys of the highland region are found, not only the economic heartland of Colombia, but also the greater part of the country’s thirteen million people. The population is formed by three distinct ethnic groups—Indian, Negro and white—and mixtures of them.

About half of the country’s territory is formed by the eastern plains and forests.

Because the climate is not as desirable there as in the higher altitudes this area is sparsely settled. Some parts of it are arid and other parts are heavily forested.

Colombia as a whole provides an interesting variety of climate that changes according to altitude. Generally the characteristics of the country are tropical. The seasons are marked as being ei. ther wet or dry. Each lasts for about | three months. The Pacific coast jun-gk gles are noted for being very wet. ||| They receive an annual rainfall of »   132 inches. This is one of the highest

9 rainfalls in the Americas.

S' A Look at the Cities

n Coastal cities are hot the year fit round, but Barranquilla is blessed with a light sea breeze in late after-y noon and evening. It is a chief sea-k port with a population of more than 320,000 people, t’isitoi-s will find it to be a bright and modern city, near the mouth of the Magdalena River. This river is navigable for over 800 miles- and is one of the great waterways of the Western Hemisphere. The city is famous for its annual Carnival, or Mardi Gras, as well as for being the commercial and industrial center of northern Colombia.

A little to the west of Barranquilla is the coastal city of Cartagena. This picturesque city of nearly 140,000 is of particular interest to the tourist because it reflects some of Colombia’s past. There is an old section of the city that is bordered by a thick wall. 'Hie great Sun Gate that leads through this wall to the inner city is four centuries old. The old homes and streets of the inner city are well preserved. They stand out in sharp contrast to the beautiful modem homes in the newer sections outside the walls. An Englishspeaking taxi driver will take the tourist

on a complete tour of the inner city and give him an explanation of what is seen for about five dollars.

Moving south from Cartagena on a major highway, travelers pass over a road that has many trucks but few passenger cars. This is due to the fact that some parts of the road are unpaved. It winds through the.scenic mountains of Antioquia. Its breath-taking curves and the marvelous scenery are two things that will not be forgotten about a trip from Cartagena to Medellin.

The city of Medellin is a sharp contrast to the hot coastal cities. Because of its altitude it has a springlike climate. Besides the climate, it is famous for its orchids and gardens. When tourists arrive here they find lodgings at reasonable rates in the Hotel Nutibara. It is one of Colombia’s finest hotels.

Bogota, the capital city of this interesting country, sits in the highland at an altitude of 8,700 feet. Nearly a week is required to reach it by boat and approximately three to four days by car. The city was founded by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada in 1538. It was built on the site of a Chibcha village. The Chibchas were a tribe of Indians, but they are extinct now. As you draw near the city you will be impressed with the prosperous appearance of the homes and farm land. While in Bogota, make it a point to see the famous Tequen-dama Falls that are near the city. They are a natural wonder that is well worth seeing.

This chief city of Colombia is the most cosmopolitan of all Colombia’s cities. There are a large number of foreign-born people here. Although the city has a lot of cloudy, overcast days, the climate is very agreeable to foreigners. Surrounding the city are beautiful mountains that provide a scenic background. A cable car ascends one of the peaks, making it possible to have a magnificent view of the city. You will see many first-class stores and a number of large engineering and construction firms. These are visible proof of the city’s drive and progressiveness.

To the south of Bogota and nearer the equator is the city of Cali. It is nestled in the rich Cauca Valley. The Cauca Valley is considered to be the widest and most productive valley in Colombia. Its population of 350,000 enjoy a pleasant climate in spite of their proximity to the equator and the low altitude of the city.

Since there is an insufficient number of good highways, it is best not to depend upon an automobile for seeing Colombia. The most practical way to travel about the country is by airplane. There are a number of airlines that serve the country; the largest and oldest in South America is Colombia’s AVIANCA.

Resources

Colombia is rich in natural resources, but they need development. Within its boundaries are gold, emeralds, platinum, many minerals and oil. Not only is it the largest producer of gold in South America, but it is one of the few platinum-producing countries of the world. It is the second-largest oil-producing country on this continent. Big oil companies such as Shell, Texas and Standard are operating here.

Agriculture needs further development, as only about 6 percent of the land is cultivated. Twenty-three percent is used for grazing. Good progress is being made, however, under government encouragement. Production of the principal crops has increased about 40 percent over what it was twenty years ago. It is still necessary, however, to import some farm products such as wheat, fats, beans, eggs and powdered milk.

The significant agricultural exports are coffee and bananas. Colombia produces

about one tmra or rne wonas supply oi mild blending coffee. As regards total production it stands second to Brazil, the world’s biggest exporter of coffee. Coffee makes up more than 60 percent of Colombia’s exports. There are some large coffee estates, but the bulk of the coffee is grown on small hillside holdings by family labor.

The bananas are grown on irrigated land near the Caribbean in the Santa Marta region. Millions of stems of bananas are shipped out yearly. Another popular crop is corn, which occupies more acreage than any other crop except coffee. Sugar cane, wheat, cotton, tobacco, potatoes and a number of fiber-yielding plants are grown in varying amounts.

Rice is such a popular food in Colombia that the tourist who imagines it to be strictly an Oriental dish will be very much surprised. Rice production is being expanded.

You will find a large variety of fresh foodstuffs available in the markets, but the vegetables may not compare in quality with what you are accustomed to back home. Meat is plentiful and inexpensive. This is especially true of beef. Stockraising has been one of the chief industries of Colombia. Some of the meat that is butchered on the coast is flown to the highlands in refrigerated planes. Fresh fish is available in many of Colombia’s cities, but in the interior cities it is bought frozen. All the large cities have pasteurized milk.

Living Conditions

There are₍ modern conveniences in all the principal cities. These have electricity, public water, telephone service and so forth. Although many people continue to cook with the traditional fuel of charcoal, others are now using gas or electricity.

As in many cities of the world, furnished living quarters are difficult to find in voiomoia. wnen mey are locatea uiey are Usually costly. However, unfurnished, medium-size homes or apartments are generally available in the cities. To a foreigner the rent would not seem expensive.

The educating of Colombia’s children is cared for by public and private schools. Although public schools are plentiful, some persons prefer to send their children to private schools where, they believe, a higher educational standard exists. The Roman Catholic religion is generally taught in all of Colombia’s schools.

The manner in which the people dress is typical of the section of the country from which they come. Their style of clothing is so distinctive they are easily identified with the part of the country from which they come. The clothing for men and women tends to be conservative. Businessmen on the coast are often seen in shirt sleeves, but in Bogota, where the altitude is higher and the temperature cooler, they wear fall-weight suits. Women are never seen wearing shorts or slacks in public.

Skilled workers who have come into the country from other parts of the world have been training Colombians in their trades. The result is that more and more Colombians are able to do the work that was once done exclusively by foreigners. Some Colombian companies, however, still have as much as 20 percent of their personnel made up of foreigners. Common laborers, such as carpenters, masons, mechanics and so forth, are plentiful among the Colombian people. Their wages may seem low when compared with what such laborers receive in the United States, but it must be remembered that the cost of living is less when figured in American dollars. A family of four, for example, may live well on 1,200 pesos a month. At the present exchange rate this would be $150.

Religious Activities

Colombia is predominantly Roman Catholic, but there are some Protestant organizations that are flourishing here, especially in the coastal cities. In addition to these, Jehovah’s witnesses have been active in Colombia since late 1945. During a period of thirteen years they have built up approximately thirty congregations throughout the country. Some 1,200 Colombian Witnesses show love for their fellow countrymen by preaching the good news of God’s kingdom to them and by trying to build up faith in God and in his written Word, the Bible. Their zealous -activity has done much to bring

Scriptural enlightenment to many of the people. As Jesus’ followers they have been doing what he was commissioned to do: “Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year,"—Luke 4:18,19.

Since a recent change that was made in the political situation in Colombia there has been greater freedom of religion than in previous years. In fact, more freedom is being enjoyed by everyone. It is guaranteed by a constitution that is similar in many respects to the Constitution of the United States.

Colombia is a republic whose president is elected by direct vote for a term of four years. There is no vice-president, but there are first and second designates to take the president's place in case of death or resignation. They are elected annually by congress. The country is divided into fifteen departments. The governors and the executive authorities in the municipal districts within these departments are appointed by the president The department assemblies and the municipal councils are elected by the people. Public expenditures are supervised by a comptroller general, who is responsible to congress.

Colombia is a country that is well worth a visit. This door to South America stands open, and the hospitable Colombians say: “Entre por la puerta,” which means, “Come in.” Those who accept this invitation will see a country of scenic splendor they will long remember.

itt lie Tihytltl

C "The most curious leaf In the world—or so it has been called—is that of the telegraph-plant of India,” says Vernon Quinn in Leaves; Their Place in Life and Lepend. “Even scientists are at a loss to explain its unusual behavior, a peculiar jerky agitation of two of the leaflets that rarely ceases, day or night. This strange leaf has three leaflets, the center one long and broad, the two lateral ones small and narrow; and it is the little leaflets that are in continual motion, alternately jerking upward and downward; at rare times stopping as if for a brief rest, then beginning again their almost ceaseless motion, which continues throughout the entire life of the plant. The large leaflet moves only to fold down against the stalk when darkness comes, and lift again at dawn.”

Greece is a beautiful land and one well known for its philosophers and statesmen who gave form to high principles of freedom and democracy. Today Greece is faced with a challenge to see how many of its people still hold to those principles. The issue involves the way of worship of Jehovah’s witnesses.

Official religious circles declared the year 1959 “Anti-Heretic Year,” Of course, it is well known in Greece that when the religious leaders speak of a fight against '‘foreign heresies” they mean a fight against Jehovah’s witnesses. This is clearly shown by a comment in the Athens daily, Estia, on February 24. After expressing the wish for the country to get rid of certain elements from the government, the article, which also commented on the archbishop’s declaration of “AntiHeretic Year,” said: “This will probably be more important than the extermination of Jehovah’s witnesses.”

As part of the “Anti-Heretic Year” program a congress of the sermoners of the Greek Church assembled in Athens, from March 3 to 10. Among the objects of the congress, according to the Athens press reports, was the following: “On March 4, the Archimandrite Christophorus Papu-tsopulos will propose a practical means of confronting the heresy of Millennialists [as they wrongly call Jehovah’s witnesses in Greece], while also analyzing their doctrine.”

That “Congress of Sermoners” had such a noisy failure that even the press joined in the criticism, blaming the Greek Church leaders for the rough way in which they had organized the congress and for assigning the main speeches to professors from Athens University who were clamorously disapproved by the sermoners of the congress.—Vradyni, Athens, April 2, 1959.

An Important Decision

In addition to that bad start for the “antiheretic” program, the Athens newspapers, on March 11, reported another setback. The headlines read: “Millen-nialism Is Equally a Known Religion”; “Millennialism Protected by Constitution”; “Acting Attorney at Supreme Court Renders Opinion for Millennialism.” The news reports added that the opinion of the attorney general was rendered in response to a petition of the “Holy Synod,” asking whether Jehovah’s witnesses are a "known” religion and therefore entitled to enjoy the protection of the Constitution. The decision is a credit to Greek justice, and since it is one that readers of Awake! will find of interest, we quote it here:

Opinion No. 14          Athens, March 6, 1959

To the Holy Synod of the Church OF jREECE

By your communication No. 3526 of 1959 we are asked whether the “heresy of the dogma of Jehovah’s Witnesses may be considered as a ‘known religion’ according to Article No. 2 of the Constitution, and whether the followers of its doctrines are entitled to enjoy the protection prescribed by the above provision,’’ , . . According to Article No, 1 of the Constitution 1952 in force, “dominant religion in Greece is that of Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ; any other known religion is free, and its worship rites are performed without hindrance, under protection of the laws, proselytism and any other Interference with the dominant re-

ligion being prohibited.” Moreover, in Article No. 2 of the Constitution it is prescribed, among other things, that "the freedom of religious conscience is inviolable. Free performance of religious duties is not allowed to offend public order or morals.” Constitution Article No. 1 comprises: (a) on dominant religion; (b) on legal status of other religions than the dominant; (c) on rituals of these religions; and (d) on prohibition of proselytism to the detriment of State's dominant religion.

Out of these points, you are concerned about the limits of freedom of the above “heresy”, as you designate it, of Jehovah's Witnesses.

"Known Religion’’: A known religion, according to the standing Constitution, is not merely "tolerable”, as it was prescribed by the Constitutions of 1844, 1864 and 1911, but is free. This is to say that we now have even formally a religious freedom in Greece, as provided for in the early Constitutions established after the Revolution (Constitution of Troezen, Article No. 1: "Everyone in Greece may freely practice his religion, enjoying equal defense of its rituals.") . . . and not merely a religious tolerance.

Further, 'known religion’ simply means an open religion, having open doctrines, that is, not being an illicit union or a secret society or organization for unlawful intentions, it being of no further significance whether this religion is a heresy in connection with another known religion.,..

Can the above heresy of Jehovah’s Witnesses be considered as a known religion? This question has long busied both the Attorneys at the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court itself, and also the State Council, and many of those versed in Canon Law,

Designated as “Chiliasm” (“Millenniaiism") is the religion admitting a peaceful and prosperous Kingdom of Christ together with the faithful people on earth, before the future judgment, of a thousand or more years’ duration. This religion found an easy spreading out during the times of persecution of the Christians. .. -

It is considered as accepted at present that "Chlliasm” is a heresy. According to the Canon Law theorists of the Roman Catholic Church, it is held, in a technical sense, rather as a Christian “error" than a heresy, (See particularly: Alberto Pincherle, Professor of Christian History at the ’University of Rome, “Encyclopedia Itaiiana di Scienze Letters ed Arti”, Vol.

XXIII, Year 1951, word: "MiUenarismo”, page 317.) ...

“Chiliasts” ("Millennialists") appear today under the name of "Jehovah’s Witnesses", are organized in congregations, and in America, according to facts recorded in encyclopedias, it appears that they keep about 3,000 congregations. In America, both the common Justice and the Supreme Federal Court, were many times kept busy over the matter of legal status, in the point of Constitutional protection of Jehovah's Witnesses. (See particularly: Robert K. Carr - Don. H. Morisson, etc.: “American Democracy In Theory and Practice", U.S.A. 1951, page 526 on.) A great legal and religious writing has been developed there in this respect..., and by many Court judgments, various orders of Government’s Agencies were annulled as opposed to the religious freedom of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are also constitutionally safeguarded in the United States of America.

No further explanation is required on what has been accepted about this heresy here and elsewhere, inasmuch as this is not the first time that an Attorney at the Supreme Court is busied on a^imilar Opinion....

In any acceptation, whether of “heresy” or of “error”, about the doctrine, it is a known religion, and therefore, it is protected by the Constitutional provisions, as above stated.

An dr. Toussis

Attorney at Supreme Court

Reactions to Opinion

As was to be expected, this opinion of the acting attorney at the Supreme Court, made known' all over Greece, gave rise to varied reactions. Many honest-hearted persons who knew of the difficulties encountered by Jehovah’s witnesses in connection with their worship were glad to hear of the decision and freely expressed their satisfaction about it to Jehovah’s witnesses. Lawyers, doctors, scientists, literary people, even police agents joined in expressing open approval of the impartial decision.

On the other hand, intolerant religious groups became greatly upset by the opinion. It was not the reply they expected or wanted. The very day after the decision was made public criticism was directed

against the acting attorney by fanatical individuals and groups for having passed what they considered to be an “erroneous” opinion. On March 31 the “Holy Synod” met to consider the matter and expressed its complete disagreement with the opin* ion. The newspaper that carried their statement added: “We are informed that the Holy Synod will apply for a revision of the opinion.”—Eleftheria, Athens, April 1.

Not everyone is in favor of freedom of worship, as their antagonism shows. How* ever, their counteraction and censure of the acting attorney’s opinion is viewed by impartial jurists as of little importance from a legal standpoint and as being devoid of modesty, decency and respect for the officials of the country’s highest judicial institution.

This is not the first time that the Supreme Court’s attorney has handled a case involving the way of worship of Jehovah’s witnesses. Away back in February of 1927, thirty-two years ago, the then acting attorney, G. P. Choidas, replied to an inquiry from the Ministry of Justice with the decision that marriages performed by the “Millennialists” were lawful and should be registered by the State. Again, in January, 1947, Ang. Buropulos, attorney at the Supreme Court, replying again to an inquiry of the Ministry of Justice, rendered the opinion that the “Millennialists” are a “known” religion and entitled to enjoy the religious tolerance provided for by the Constitution. In April of the following year he repeated that decision in. response to a question from the Ministry of Public Order.

Divine Approval

Above all, Jehovah’s witnesses look to Jehovah God, the Universal Sovereign, and to his supreme Lawbook, the Bible, for approval. He is the One before whom all men must stand in judgment He views the worship of his witnesses as much more than simply a “known” religion; His Word calls jt “the form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father.” (Jas. 1:27) Their way of worship is dictated by the divine law recorded in the Bible, and they show their high regard for its Author by regularly coming together to study it in their congregational meetings. The Almighty God places his true worshipers under obligation to speak of him and of his glorious purposes when he says: “ ’You are my witnesses,' is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and lam God.’ Isa. 43:12.

Jehovah’s witnesses in Greece are not surprised when their way of worship is spoken against. The same was true of the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first century. (Acts 28:22) The opposition they meet does not come as a result of any wrong conduct on their part. They are peaceful, law-abiding and principled people. The reason for the persecution is explained by Jesus, who said: “If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.” (John 15:19) This opposition does not dull their appreciation of their worship and of the loving provisions of Jehovah God. So it is that, in obedience to God and out of love for their Godfearing neighbors, they continue to make known the life-giving message that God’s kingdom is now ruling from the heavens and the end of this wicked world is very near.

Do not meddle with these men, . . . because, if this scheme and this work is . . . from God, . . . you may perhaps be found fighters actually against God,—Acts 5:38, 39.

BECAUSE of disputes over politics and land a man was murdered in a small village in the state of Durango, Mexico, back in December, 1958. In retaliation a band of twenty-five bandits raided the village and took fourteen men of the village captive and told them they would be shot. Among these were six witnesses of Jehovah. One of these witnesses explained that Jehovah’s witnesses are always neutral as regards such matters and also testified to Jehovah’s supremacy and his coming day of vengeance. Convinced that the Witnesses could not possibly have been implicated in the murder of the man, the bandits let the six Witnesses go free, killing the other eight captives.

Why do Jehovah’s witnesses stay neutral as to the fights of this world, be they local, national or international, racial or political? Because that is the Scriptural position. Christianity is not only a form of worship, a religion, but it also involves allegiance to a government, God’s government, the kingdom of the heavens. That is why we read not only of Jesus Christ as being an apostle, a prophet and a high priest, all religious offices, but also of his being a king and prince, involving government. He is like Melchizedek, who was “king of Salem” as well as “priest of the Most High God.”—Heb. 7:1.

It is as King that Jesus will vindicate his Father’s name by destroying all God’s enemies and forever settle the universal issue raised by Satan the Devil, Who is Sovereign?—Ps, 45:3-7; 83:18; Rev. 19: 11-21.

Why, the theme of Jesus’ entire ministry was the Kingdom rather than the salvation of human creatures, as so many mistakenly think. He began his preaching career by announcing, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” He taught his followers to pray, “Let your kingdom come," and urged them to “keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.” Emphasizing the importance of the Kingdom, he time and again began his parables or illustrations with the expression, “The kingdom of the heavens is like . . . ”—Matt. 4:17; 6:10, 33; 13:13, 31,33, 44,45,47.

That is why his followers are not /only termed a priesthood of believers, a Christian congregation of worshipers, but also a “royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Emphasizing this fact are Paul’s words: “He [God] delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transplanted us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.” “As for us, our citizenship exists in the heavens, from which place also we are eagerly waiting for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”—1 Pet. 2: 9; Col. 1:13; Phil. 3:20.

A Christian cannot give his allegiance and devotion to two nations or kingdoms, and especially not if they are opposed to each other. Because of this Jesus said: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews, But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source.” And regarding his followers he said in his prayer: “They are no part of

the world just as I am no part of the world”—John 18:36; 17:16.

In full agreement with Jesus’ words are those of the disciple James: “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: ... to keep oneself without spot from the world." Yes, whoever “wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God." What does the world that is here mentioned consist of? Not the world God loved so much as to send his Son to die for it, but the wicked oppressive ruling factors of the world, beastly and corrupt governments, greedy and corrupt commercialism and hypocritical organized religion.—Jas. 1:27; 4:4.

But perhaps someone will ask at this point, Did not Jesus command that we give „ Caesar’s things to Caesar? True, but note in the first place that what was under consideration was not allegiance, devotion or obedience, but taxes. Hypocritically his enemies had flattered him, hoping to throw him off guard, and then posed their question: “Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not?” However, in answering, note that Jesus not only said, "Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar,” but also said, “but God’s things to God.”—Mark 12:14-17.

More than that, very revealing is his saying that we are to pay “back” Caesar's things to Caesar and God’s things to God. Since Caesar has minted coins, he has a right to ask back some of them. But has Caesar the right to ask of us dedication, devotion and our lives? No, for he did not give us our hearts and lives, so we simply could not give them back to him. We can give these back only to God, for he alone gave them to us in the first place. What he requires of us is exclusive devotion.

Nor is that all. In a conflict of authority, does not the higher take precedence, and is not Jehovah God the Most High? 'therefore we may yield to Caesar only that on which God does not have a lien. The Christian principle ever holds true: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”—Acts 5:29.

Christian neutrality rnerefore demands that Christ’s followers keep separate from all politics, not being involved in any government other than God’s kingdom. They cannot accede to the demands of worldly governments for their devotion, their time and their lives. These they have dedicated to God. If Jesus Christ were a man on earth today, whkn flag would he salute? For which government would he shoulder arms? Would he be in accord with the sentiments expressed by national anthems praying God to bless such nations? Would he follow the customs of the nations when such anthems are played, or would he follow the example set by the three Hebrews in Daniel’s day who refused to bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s image when the music began to play?—Dan. 3il-30.

Religious enemies of those who practice Christian neutrality often maliciously charge them with sedition. Thus Christ was accused: “Every man making himself a king speaks against Caesar.” Likewise Paul’s adversaries said: “We have found this man a pestilent fellow and stirring up seditions among all the Jews throughout the inhabited earth.”—John 19:12; Acts 24:5.

But regardless of how their position may be misunderstood or maliciously misconstrued, or what difficulties it might pose for them, Christians have no alternative. They must be wholly and solely for Jehovah God's kingdom, manifesting loyalty to it, not only by not compromising, but also by leading clean lives and by publishing its good news as they have opportunity. They must avoid friendship with and being spotted by the world by keeping strict neutrality in respect to all worldly strife.

Peiping’s New Chief of State <£> On April 27 Liu Shao-chi was elected chairman of the Chinese People's Republic, He succeeded Mao Tse-tung, who had announced last December that he would drop this post as Peiping's chief of state, Liu had formerly been chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress and was replaced by Marshal Chu Teh-Chou En-lai was re-elected to the Peiping premiership, which he has held since the beginning of the Chinese Communist regime in 1949* While no longer acting as state head, Mao Tse-tung still wields control as chairman of the Chi* nese Communist party.

Seven Picked for Space Try $> On April 9 the National Aeronautics and Space Admin* istration announced the selection of seven U.S- test pilots, one of whom will be chosen for the first manned space flight, AH seven are volunteers, are married and have families. They have undergone rigid mentaland physical tests, in some cases under simulated space flight conditions, The Project Mercury Astronauts, as they are known, will yet receive extensive training. The manned space flight is to be attempted in 1961, Traveling in a one-ton space capsule, the selected as* tronaut would circle the earth two or three times at an altitude of about 125 miles, then make a safe descent into the Atlantic.

Intrigue in Panama

<$> British ballerina Margot Fonteyn was arrested by Panamanian officials on April 20* Held for thirty hours, she was questioned regarding her husband’s alleged revolutionary activities. She was later released and expelled from Panama, returning to Britain. Dame Fonteyn is the wife of ^pe-time Panamanian ambassador to Britain, Dr, Roberto Arias* Arias has been accused of plotting an attack on a National Guard garrison near Panama’s capital city* He received asylum in the Brazilian Embassy on April 24.

Tibet* India and Peiping

<$> Countering charges made by Peiping that the Dalai Lama was being held in India against his free will, on April 18 it was stated by him that he was in that country voluntarily and that he was “not under duress,” The 23-year-old god-king of a million Tibetans charged the Chinese Communists with violation of an agreement signed in 1951 giving them authority over Tibet's external affairs and defense. Under provisions of the treaty Peiping was to permit the country to exercise internal autonomy. On April 23 It was reported that Communist troops had dispersed rebel forces in Tibet and had closed the Indian border. Nearly 2,000 rebels were said to have been killed, wounded or imprisoned.

New French Senate

<$> The first Senate of the Fifth French Republic was selected on April 26 < France’s 108,374 "grand electors” chose 255 senators. Of these, 170 had been members of the Fourth Republic’s Council of the Republic and 30 had been Deputies, Moderates won and Communists declined in the elections. In make-up the new Senate closely resembled the old Council of the Republic,

Capsule Search

<$> The U.S, Air Force sent a 1,600-pound satellite into a polar orbit on April 13, As the vehicle circled the earth at altitudes ranging from 152 to 220 miles, it ejected a 160-pound instrument capsule. The capsule was borne earthward by parachute* Though the Air Force had intended to recover the instrument package as it descended by snagging it in a rig dragged along by planes, Improper timing caused them to abandon the plan. The capsule fell in the Arctic, some-where in the Spitzbergen archipelago. U*S, and Norwegian teams began an. intensified search for it immediately, but more than a week later the hunt had still proved fruitless.

Cuba and Castro

<£> Cuban Premier Fidel Castro began an 11-day visit to the U*S. on April 15. Among other things, the 32-year-old revolt leader stressed his new land reform program. He stated that his regime would "expropriate legally” uncultivated or unproductive land. This would be not by nationali-zation or confiscation, but

through proper payment. These lands would be organized Into co-operatives, which would give work to many of Cuba’s 700,00 0 unemployed persons. A few days before the Castro visit, Alan Robert Nye, a native of Chicago, was convicted by a Cuban military court of plotting to kill the rebel leader. Nye received the death sentence, but this was suspended and he was permitted to leave Cuba and to return to the U.S.

Ivory Coast Vote

< Elections held in the Ivory Coast on April 12 resulted in a thorough victory for the African Democratic Rally. Eyery one of the hundred seats in the Assembly went without opposition to the party, headed by F61ix Hou-phouet-Boigny. The Ivory Coast is an autonomous republic within the French Community.

8EATO Meeting

On April ^representatives of Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines and the U.S. concluded a meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization Council of Ministers. A closing communique revealed that the three-day paf-ley had given considerable attention to economic development of the Asian member nations, with a view toward coping with “Communist economic subversion.” The Council was formed in September, 1955.

U.S.: New Secretary of State <$• U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles handed in his resignation on April 15. The ailing 71-year-old secretary had been undergoing treatment for cancer. Dulles was replaced by Christian A. Herten, who was named to the post on April 18 by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His appointment was confirmed on April 21 by a Senate vote of 93-0 and he was sworn in by Eisenhower on April 22. On the following day Eisenhower commissioned ex-Secretary Dulles as special Consultant to the President.

Bolivia: Short-lived Revolt

Insurgents attempted to overthrow the Bolivian government on April 19. Heavy firing began in La Paz, the capital, shortly before noon, but by 5 p.m. all was quiet. Quick action by the Bolivian militia foiled the revolt. Far-reaching dissatisfaction over high prices and inflation were thought to be factors contributing to the uprising. On April 20 it was reported that revolt leader Oscar U n z a g a de la Vega, head of Bolivia’s Socialist Falange party, had committed suicide.

St. Lawrence Seaway Opens

The St. Lawrence Seaway was opened to ship traffic on April 25. Canadian icebreakers, d’Iberville and Montcalm, were the first to enter the se-; ries of locks that ultimately lift vessels 602 feet above sea level. Before day’s end nearly a score of salt water craft had passed through the locks, 2,342 miles within continental North America. Hundreds of vessels were expected to traverse the Seaway before its official opening ceremonies, to be attended by U.S. President Eisenhower and Britain's Queen Elizabeth on June 26.

Pacific Ash Deposit

<$>.A deposit of fine white ash has been discovered in a vast area of the tropical Pacific several hundred miles west of Central and South America. The ash layer, extending from about 750 miles north to approximately 825 miles south of the Equator, ranges from one inch to one foot in thickness. Its existence was reported by a scientific research team aboard Columbia University’s vessel Verna. Though it is held that the layer records some notable occurrence in history, scientists cannot determine its origin. Some speculate that a collision of heavenly bodies In outer space may have sent debris falling to earth in that area. Others attribute its existence to widespread volcanic action.

Mau Man Leader “Freed”

Jomo Kenyatta, leader of the 1952 Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, was released from prison on April 14. He had served five years of a seven-year term. Kenyatta had been imprisoned in January, 1954, in the wake of Mau Mau terrorism, which had as its aim the ouster of the Colony’s white settlers. Kenyatta and four accomplices were released at the same time and all of them were sent to remote Lodwar in North Kenya, where they are to be kept under government surveillance.

Refugee Flight

Many refugees are continually fleeing from behind the Iron Curtain. On April 15 it was reported that a total of 33,605 persons had fled from East Germany and East Berlin in the first three months of 1959. This tally of refugee movements into West Berlin and West Germany was based on data supplied by the West German Information Office.

Pope and Politics

Roman Catholics throughout the world were forbidden, on April 13, to vote for Communist "fellow travelers.” The decree issued by Pope John XXIII was published on that date in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. Pope Pius XII had, in July, 1949, excommunicated all militant Communists. The current papal decree forbids Catholics to vote for persons or parties supporting or sympathizing with communism. It was assumed by some sources that Catholic church leaders in each country would indicate

before each election the candidates and parties coming under the new papal ban.

Bolshoi Troupe In U.S.

<$► The Soviet Union’s celebrated Bolshoi Ballet opened a nine-week U.S. tour on April 16. The troupe’presented Pro-kofieff’s “Romeo and Juliet" to an audience of 3,816 packing out New York city's Metropolitan Opera House, Seats sold .for as high as $50 each and some who bought standing-room tickets had waited in line as long as 39 hours. The Russian entertainers received a standing ovation at the conclusion of the 3i-hour performance and they, in turn, applauded the audience. Part of the cast of 110, selected from a total company of 250, were Qalfna Ulanova as Juliet and Yuri Zhdanov as Romeo.

Anti-Siesta Campaign'

The traditional Roman si* esta may be on its way out.

Organized labor and particu-larly the womenfolk have launched a campaign calling for banks and offices to schedule work from 8 or 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each working day. Usually Romans take a break between 2 and 4 p.m., rush home, eat a meal and, if time permits, take a mid-afternoon nap. The new anti-siesta moves, if successful, will end Rome's severe pre- and post* siesta traffic problems.

Prince Weds Commoner

More than 2,600 years of tradition were broken in Japan on April 10. In Tokyo Crown Prince Akihito married commoner Michiko Shoda. Both the prince and Miss Sho* da were dressed in traditional court robes. The ceremony was colorful though brief, lasting only eleven minutes. It was the first time in the history of the Japanese throne that a commoner had wed into the royal family.

To Bore Earth’s Croat

<$> What Iles immediately beneath earth's crust? A U.S, research team intends to find out. It was announced on April 20 that sometime in May U.S. ships would select a spot north of Puerto Rico and then begin drilling through the crust of the earth. The underwater hole is to be made through about a half mile of sediment until what is called the “Moho" is reached. "Moho” stands for Mohorovicic Discontinuity, named for a Yugoslav who identified the layer. It is the lower part of the very crust of the earth, below which is the “mantle," comprising about 80 percent of earth's mass. Within the mantle is the core, and both of these vary considerably in composition from the crust of the globe. It Is believed that the sediment brought up a^s drilling takes place will be rich in fossil finds.

NOT MY WILL BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE

How often Jesus spoke those words to his Father! No doubt, you too have uttered that prayer. But what is God’s will?

When will it be done? What part can you have in it?

Read, without fail, the most timely book on the subjects

“YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH”

You will be directed to God’s own Word for the answer to these vital questions. Send only 3/6.

Hard bound, gold-embossed cover, 384 pages, subject and scripture indexes.

WATCH TOWER

THE RIDGEWAY

LONDON N.W. 7

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When God Speaks Peace to All Nations

Join the thousands who will thrill to this featured public talk Sundays at all the 1959 Awake Ministers District Assemblies listed below. Attend the assembly nearest you!

July 16-19, 1959

Bristol, Gloucestershire, Bristol City Football Ground.

Rooming: Kingdom Hall, Gatton Road, Bristol 2.

Dundee, Angus, Dundee Ice Rink.

Rooming: Kingdom Hall, Court Street, Dundee.

July 23-26, 1959

Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, Ayresome Park Football Ground.

Rooming: Kingdom Hall, 95 Westbourne Grove^North Ormesby, Middlesbrough.

Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Stoke City Football Ground.

Rooming: Kingdom Hall, 22A Market St., Longton.

July 30-Aug. 2, 1959

Belfast, County Antrim, Ulster Hall.

Rooming:. Kingdom Hall, 343 Ormeau Rd., Belfast.

Wenjbley, Middlesex, Empire Pool.

Rooming: Kingdom Hall, 7 Oakington Manor Dr., Wembley.

For rooms write WATCHTOWER CONVENTION at rooming address above

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32

A WAKE!