Quebec, You Have Failed Your People!

Shocking demals of freedom in Canada’s problem province

Progress in Communications

From the beating tom-toms and smoke signals to the marvels of modem times

Meet Mr. Bat

Creator's work magnified as bat myths exploded

False Apostolic Successors

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CONTENTS

"Now it is high time to awake."Romans 13:11

Volume XXVIII                      Brooklyn, N.Y., January 8. 1947                             Number 1

Quebec You have failedyour people!

To inform all Canada of Quebecs fight against freedom, this article is being distributed Free in folder form throughout that nation. First printing is 1,600,000 in English. 300,000 in French, and 76,000 in Ukrainian.

QUEBEC'S burning hate for God find Christ and freedom is still the shame of alt Canada. In recent weeks the eyes of Canada have been turned toward Quebec province, and what they have seen haa deepened the national shame. Quebec rulers, your actions since November 15, 1946, have screamed out to the nation and to the whole world your hate for free speech, your hate 1'or free press, your hate for free worship. Your deeds have even shouted out your hate for free and open study of God’s Word and for the principles of Christ.

When Jehovah’s witnesses distributed nation-wide n folder exposing this burning hate as demonstrated in recent years and months, the only rebuttal Quebec’s infuriated officials could muster was a colossal smear campaign, misrepresentation and name calling in mass production, and a sleeping wave of false charges and false arrests, By their actions Quebec rulers themselves piled mountain-high additional proof for the heavycharges Jehovah’s witnesses leveled against them in the folder entitled "Quebec’s Burning Hate for God and Christ and Freedom'’, The undemocratic and anti-freedom tactics are a stench in the nostrils of Quebec's many freedomlovers. Now a second folder circulates throughout the nation to focus Canada’s eyes on the continued hate rampant in the province of Quebec. You look for yourself, and see how miserably Quebec has failed her people!

On November 15, 1946, Jehovah’s witnesses began distributing the first folder exposing Quebec's hate for God and Christ and freedom. The heavy charges were supported by a detailing of unlaw-

ful police interference, unjust recorder discrimination, vandalism and mob violence launched against Jehovah's witnesses, their Bible literature and even their Bibles. Moreover, the pamphlet pointed out evidence that convicted Roman Catholic priests as being the moving force behind the burning hate. (That pamphlet was distributed free throughout Canada, and it was reproduced in full in the December 8, 1946, issue of Awake!)

Smear Campaign Against Witnesses

Apparently, Quebec's rulers did not feel equal to any sensible refutation of the charges. Instead, they turned to the weapons of the professional rabble-Touser, to the hurling of misrepresentations, false charges and inflammatory name-callings calculated to whip up a hysterical frenzy of hate against Jehovah's witnesses. Though highly charged with emotional content, the reckless denunciations were empty of logic or reason. The arm of the law was drafted to parallel the smear campaign. The statements in the folder could not be refuted ; so their distribution must be suppressed. No less personage than the premier of the province, Mr. Duplessis, who is also attorney general, spearheaded the drive on the legal front But at the same time he did not overlook the strategy of the two-pronged offensive against the Witnesses; he did not forget the smear front.

At a press conference on November 21 Duplessis declared: "My attention has been drawn to certain circulars being distributed by persons describing themselves as witnesses of Jehovah, I have noticed that there are certain sections which undoubtably are intolerable and seditious. These people, among other things, apparently complain about crucifixes being hung in the legislative assembly and the legislative council/' To say that Jehovah's witnesses comp, .lined about the presence of the crucifixes is to distort the facts. To bandy such distortion about the province is stooping to rabble-rousing, and betrays that vulnerable religious susceptibilities are the concern more than sedition. As was expected, many newspapers took the premier's cue, caught up the distortion, and carried it a little farther. They reported: “One extract of the sect's writings that has aroused ire in Quebec is that demanding removal of a crucifix from the throne in the legislative council/'

Now, you fair-minded persons, read what the folder actually said. Here is the setting: the force behind Quebec’s burning hate for Jehovah’s witnesses was being discussed; the faqts indicating Roman Catholic power and influence in the courts and in the government were being recounted. Imbedded in this series of facts was the following sentence: “In the Quebec legislature the crucifix is placed above the Speaker’s Chair, and in the Quebec Parliament buildings alongside the throne of the lieutenant-governor of Quebec is installed a throne for the cardinal." No complaint voiced, no demands for removal ; only a statement of fact to prove Hierarchy influence. This one example of many misrepresentations only proves that when politicians and newspapers speak of Jehovah’s witnesses you should not believe them hastily.

Religious Persecution by Prosecution

But settle attention, now, on the all-out blitz against the Witnesses on the legal battle-front Prior to the distribution of the folder the Witnesses had been repeatedly arrested on charges of distributing literature without a license. Jehovah’s witnesses do not ask men for permission to do God's work; in this they are backed up by the legal , guarantees of free worship. Early arrests made during the distribution of the folder were on the no-permit grounds, but newspapers stated that the report was current that Duplessis was going to have

all Witnesses that were arrested during the last two weeks of November rearrested on the new charges of “conspiracy and distributing libelous and seditious literature”. Two weeks after he launched the drive against the Witnesses, the admittedly intolerant Duplessis stated to the press: “The propaganda of the witnesses of Jehovah cannot he tolerated and there are more than 4tX) of them now before the courts in Montreal, Quebec, Three Rivers and other centers," Arrests ran as high as thirty a day, and by the end of November there wore some 1,000 enpes pending in the Quebec courts. Some Witnesses had as umuy as 43 eases stacked up against them. Exorbitant hail demands soared as high as $500 cash or $950 property bond.

Through all trials Jehovah’s witnesses prove their unquenchable love for God by obedience Lu His commandments to preach, and in standing fast for freedom they make more secure the civil liberties of all men. Misrepresented, maligned, discriminated against, mobbed, hounded throughout the province, systematically hunted down and falsely arrested, and then held in vermin-infested, disease-ridden jails on exorbitant bail demands —still they maintain integrity toward God and are back in His service upon release. And it is a question ns to which is the severer test: the filthy jails or the field work. Sometimes Catholic youths precede the Witnesses from door to door warning and prejudicing the people, or they follow after and gather up the folders and destroy them. Persons who would like to read are often fearful because of their neighbors. In less-educated sections where people are mere puppets of the priests, by the time three or four homes are worked the first householder is out screaming threats and rousing the neighborhood. Soon many arc on their porches or in the street filling the air with abusive tilth and cursings, while others are phoning the police. Often it is necessary for the Witnesses to work a half dozen homes, go to another section and work a few minutes, and then return to finish the original section. It would be a'harrowing and unbearable ordeal if it were not for the sustaining strength and spirit of Jehovah God.

Rabid Catholic leaders co-operate closely with the police in rounding up these Christian ministers. In the nntori-ous Quebec City the Sacred Heart Leagues printed a £)"xl2" sheet in French crying out for all Catholics to work with the police in running down all of Jehovah’s witnesses. Made up in big, splashy advertising style, the bold black type had a message from the chief of police. It blustered that the "chase against every last one of Jehovah’s witnesses is being pursued with more intensity than ever”, and placed the RadioPolice at everyone’s disposal “to free the streets of Jehovah's witnesses". Proininentiy set oil by itself is the phone number of Radio-Police. It is one of the Hierarchy's modern versions of hunting down “heretics” for another inquisition.

f)uu: rum na turn and Raida

Generous Quebec City shares with others her experience at suppressing freedom. For instance, Sherbrooke newspapers of November 20 reported how Mayor Lucien Borne, of Quebec, counseled the city of Sherbrooke on getting rid of Jehovah’s witnesses. The City Charter is to be amended so as to prohibit even free distribution of religions material without first securing permission of the chief of police. The chief can then censor what might be unpleasant to hie priest The resolution passed unanimously, and began with these words: “So that we may get rid of Jehovah's witnesses once and for all ... ” Such openly frank discrimination is unusual, except in Quebec.

A few days puss, and the Sherbrooke municipal police make league with the provincial police mid raid the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses in that city.

Twelve officers storm through the front door on the evening of November 25 without so much as a push on the bell. Books, booklets, 7,000 of the folders, records, mail, office equipment, and even Bibles, including the Catholic Douay version, all this material valued at several hundred dollars was seized , and thrown into au open truck. En route to provincial police headquarters rain damaged many of the books. In the hall the money/was taken from the contribution box mounted on the wall, and then in a typical display of spitefvlness the emptied box was torn from the wall and the plaster damaged. Nine Witnesses, five men and four women, were arrested by the raiders and their bail was set at $500 cash or $900 property bond each. The charge was intent to circulate seditious literature.

Three evenings later the raiders swooped down once again on the hall, duly to find it as bare as they had left it. Frustrated and desperate, they went so far as to raid the flat above the hall, which was occupied by people not even interested in the work of Jehovah's witnesses. Other raids were aimed at private homes scattered throughout the province. At St. Jerome the invasion of two homes netted 4,000 of the Quebec exposure folders and 3,000 booklets containing Bible treatises. Oddly enough, it seems that in the eyes of Quebec rulers the appearance of the folder has somehow transformed all the Bible literature into sedition. How they will sweat trying vainly to prove it so I

Not all of the police of Quebec, however, are in such heart sympathy with Duplessis¹ putsch. Some of the Witnesses taken in to the station but not arrested reported that the chief and his men listened attentively to the testimony, then told them of the pressure being brought to bear upon the police. In another case officers had been sent out to arrest the Witnesses, but did not want to do so. They suggested that the ministers might change territory for a while, and they would tell their police captain that they could not locate the Witnesses. Again, one police captain told publishers : “The* first ten phone calls we get don't bother us at all, but when we get twenty-five or thirty, then, of course, we have to do something." The priests may be able to stir many of the people into goading the police, but there are many thousands of freedom-loving persons in Quebec that not only turn a deaf ear on* priestly agitations but also raise a loud voice in opposition to such suppression. Their voice is being added to that of Jehovah's witnesses in telling Quebec’s rulers they have failed the people.

Duplessis* Odious Action

And bow that chorus of voices did swell in number and volume from and after December 4! On that day officers of the Permit Department of the Quebec Liquor Commission swooped down on Roncarelli's restaurant, demanding its liquor license. No reason was given this restaurateur (who had held liquor licenses since 1911) for the action, and Liquor Commission trucks hauled off liquor Valued at $5,000. Frank Roncarelli has operated a cafe in Montreal for many years; he is also one of Jehovah’s witnesses and has supplied bail bond for the Witnesses to the extent of some $80,000 or $90,000. This greatly irked rulers and frustrated the persecution-through-prosecution drive; so on November 22 the Montreal courts said that hereafter the policy would,be “a different bondsman for each accused". This would eliminate Roncarelli as a future bondsman; it would keep the Witnesses locked up while the trials were indefinitely postponed. But that was not enough. Bitter hate wanted revenge in the form of ruin for Roncarelli! Hence it was that on December 4 the liquor license was revoked, and the reason was given on the same day by Duplessis himself: “A certain Roncarelli has supplied bail for hundreds of witnesses of Jehovah. Today,

Roncarelli is identifying himself with the odious propaganda of the witnesses of Jehovah and as a result, I have ordered the Liquor Commfssion to cancel hispermit.”

Frank Roncarelli termed this arbitrary and capricious cancellation ‘another example of the odious discrimination in Quebec and which the Witnesses claim is a shame upon Canada'. If it is wrong to supply bad, then arrangements providing for bail are wrong, and courts are wrong in accepting any bail If it is not wrong for courts to accept bail, and for laws to provide for it, and for persons to supply it, then Roncarelli has committed no wrong. He has not, and the people of Quebec say he has not* but they do say Duplessis lias coiumilled a wrong and a rank discrimination against a man because of his Scripture beliefs. As the storm of protest swelled ominously Du pleasis realized many Quebecers were not yet willing to stomach such tyranny; so he thought up a new reason. Vague, tenuous, far-fetched, it failed to quiet fears. His new theory was that Roncarelli made money from the license, the money was used to bail out Witnesses and since the state granted the license, the state was an accomplice to the bails. But bails are lawful; so even if the premier’s specious, tricky, sleight-of-hand reasoning were true the state would not he an accomplice to any crime. Furthermore, days before Duplessis made his hateful stab at Bon-carelli’s livelihood the Montreal courts had eliminated the restaurateur as a bondsman! This fact alone strips Duplessis of excuses and exposes him as a rank discriminator. Premier Duplesaia, you in particular have failed your people. And, what is more, they are telling you so!

Quebec People Raise Storm of Protest!

By telephone, by letter, by public platform, by radio, and by newspaper persons not Witnesses hut who favor freedom for all have raised a flood of protest. Dozens of editorials and scores of letters have appeared in Quebec papers. They protest that “Duplessis ia only corroborating certain charges which appeared in the pamphlet Quebec's Burning Hate"; that “the methods employed bring reproach on us all”; that “they constitute a brazen and shocking denial of a citizen's civil rights”; that the Witnesses are “not getting a square deal in this province”; that they should not be “subjected to a twentieth-century inquisition”; that Duplessis action is '‘intolerant if not tyrannical, and certainly contrary to the spirit of Christ” and his “categorizing of this sect with the Nazis, in fact his whole attitude, only makes one’s blood boil"; that the drive againwl the Witnesses “deeply involves the whole principles of freedom of religion”; that advocates of religious liberty arc aroused over “the vindictiveness of Mr. Duplessis’ persecution by court prosecution”; that in this issue “Mr. Duplessis constitutes himself accuser, lawyer, witness and judge in a case to which, as he says, the attorney general has become a party’', and hence sits as judge in his own case; that the government seems to have “proceeded outside the law”; that “to make a bludgeon of the law and to wield it arbitrarily is beyond the function of the state”; that if Duplessis continues denying Hbert-y citizens will be “compelled to ask our federal government to intervene’'; and that “an uprising of public opinion should force him back to the ways of civilized, democratic government or throw him out of office”. In the heat of indignation one citizen queried: “Has anyone got the guts to stand up and demand freedom, now! Or shall we wait until it is our turn—until it is too late? Is it a crime to criticize a political party, or a religious group who are in power! Only in a dictators nip!”

The foregoing are only samples of many editorials and letters published; hundreds of phone culls and additional

JAAT’XJii' iw?                                                           7

letters were received by Quebec papers. Many letters protesting Quebec’s failure to protect freedoms were from orthodox ministers. The Church of England bishop of the Montreal diocese penned an open letter of protest to the premier. On December 9 the Montreal Daily Star published a joint protest signed by nine “"Reverends”. That issue of the Star carried an editorial and ten letters on the hot controversy, and the editor advised: “Owing to the great number of letters on the Jehovah's witnesses matter, on hand and arriving, the Star regrets that space will not permit the publication of any more." And it is with similar regret that we heed the demands of limited space and move along.

Organizations took group action to tell Quebec’s rulers that they have failed their people on issues of religion and freedom. On December 6 thirty McGill University students met to organize student-body protest against Duplessis’ use of police power “to further religious intolerance". In the group were represented campus religious and political organizations, and petitions of protest were signed by 1,200 students. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation Committee for the Defense of Trade Union Rights scored Duplessis’ actions as “high-handed and unconstitutional", charging Roncarelli's business was to be ruined because his providing of bail “temporarily interferes with Mr. Duplessis' mass persecution of a religious minority", and claiming that “such contempt for liberty and justice it would be difficult to match outside a fascist state". Prominent citizens endorsed the protest.

Also, the Montreal Civil Liberties Association urged citizens to flood Duplessis with protests by wire and letter; and went further in calling a mass meeting of protest. It was held December 12 in Montreal at Monument Nationale, which was packed out. Principal speaker was Hon. C. G. Power, ICC., M.P., who was Canada's wartime air minister. Round

after round of applause roared out the audience’s approval of his and other prominent speakers' condemnation of Duplessis’ denial of freedom. Chairman of the Civil Liberties group had previously deplored Duplessis’ methods as “repugnant to anyone who supports the democratic process” and claimed that he “destroys the process we have elected him_h to maintain". Over the radio this liberty-lover stated: “Incipient tyrants have usually begun the exercise of arbitrary authority on the most outrageous grounds. . . . Now is the time for believers in freedom to speak and act Today it is Mr. Roncarelli. Tomorrow it may be you. Today it is the Jehovah's witnesses. Tomorrow it may ■ be your particular minority group." Leslie Roberts, writer and chairman of a Democratic Action committee, asked at the mass meeting: “Do we turn the press into the jackals of a one_rparty dictatorship, change the courts from halls of impartial justice into the tools of a fuehrer U Previously he had evaluated the premier as follows: “This situation is nothing new for Mr. Duplessis. People would do well to think back to the Padlock Law, to the premier's anti-war position in 1939 which swept him from office, to his attempts to disunite the country with his constant autonomy cries. What has happened is profoundly shocking, but it is certainly no mew approach on the part of a man who is fundamentally a minor league Franco."

Witnesses Refute the False Charges

The freedom-loving people of Quebec have in an amazing, way come forward to champion civil liberties, and to prove that certainly not all Quebecers hold hate for freedom. Now it seems appropriate that Jehovah's witnesses offer some answers to the charges Quebec rulers have so recklessly tossed about through the columns of the public press. Some are so absurd that, they only prove the effort to create prejudice against

the Witnesses, such £is the one that appeared in the French paper Lc Petit Journal ⁰¹¹ November 24: “Tn the Quebec capital indignation is very great against the Witnesses, since it wna revealed Friday evening that these sectaries had even offered $10 in cash to a little lad if he would trhmp on a cni-cifLX."

That paper's policy to print lies was exposed in the sani article, when it claimed that the Witnesses sold copies of Quebec's Burning Hale, folder “at fantastic prices, varying from 5c to 50c according to the interest manifested¹’. Practically every household in Quebec and nil Canada knows the distribution of this folder was free; and to anyone in Canada it i.s .still free for the asking. Recorder Mercier slandered the Witnesses as commercial agents who profiteered by selling 5c pamphlets for 25c. But Recorder Plante, who repeatedly denounces the Witnesses and alludes to them as *^la bunch of crazy Hats’", was very loquacious on the morning of November Id in court when 14 Witnesses were to appear. He had not seen the folder that had started circulating the day before, and talked to defendants' counsel for twenty minutes about the Witnesses about the mins soliciting, and then: “1 have seen with my own eyes where they say the Roman Catholic Church is n racket. Maybe it lh h racket —you pay when you are born, yon pay when you die, you pay after you die, you pay, pay, pay all the tinie— maybe it is a racket. But they shouldn't say so!" As for Jehovah's witnesses, if their work were commercial they would choose a pleasing ear-tickling message that would Selk They only deliver God’s message.

But in the little space remaining let us concentrate on the main charges of serious import. Premier Duplessis, at his press conference on November 21 when he revealed his orders for a drive against the Witnesses, showily emoted: ’’The province of Quebec, jealous of its tradi-tiontf, reputation and religions beliefs, would not and will not tolerate atheism, the twin brother of communism, nor will it permit such illegal publicity [referring to the Quebec’s Burning Hale folder J to be made here in jta favor." In a statement to the press on December 4, when he announced his dictatorlike action against It one are Hi, DnpWsis summed up: ’The Communists, the Nazis as \vt*U us those who an? the propagandists for the WitiH?w;wa of Jehovah, have been treated and will continue to be treated by the Union Nutionalc government ns they deserve tor trying to infiltrate themselves ujid their seditious ideas in the province of Quebec." In these releases to the public news channels the prujnior uccusoh the Witnesses uf being atheists, charges them with sedition, and by linking in Communism and Nazism purposely plants and cultivates the clmrgp. that they are also supporter? of these alien isms. So we settle attention on these four charges.

Hw the Tables Are Turned!

Commvnists. The premier reasons that Jehovah’s witnesses arc Communists because he believes them to be atheists, the ‘twin brothers uf Communists*. Does he believe the many educators and scientists who are atheists are also Communists? Is it not true that during the past decade or so the Hierarchy's established policy is to label ae Communist anyone who opposes her? And certainly Canada knows that the Catholic legislators of Quebec left the term “Communism” undefined in the Padlock Law so that it might he misused to embrace this broad meaning. But since the premier’s smear that the Witness?* are Communists is based on his charge that they are atheists, we will let the two false charges fall together.

Atheists. If the premier knows a Bible citation when he sees it, and if he has ever examined any of the literature of Jehovah’s witnesses, ho knows that he

can hardly turn to a page that does not have Bible citations or quotations. As you note the following comparison, observe that the quotations are all taken from the Catholic Do nay Version Bible (not a Protestant Bible or Catholic catechism or prayerbook).

Jehovah's witnesses believe the Bible where it says: “He spared not their souls from death” (Psalm 77:50); “the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more” (Ecclesiastes*!):5). But the Catholic Church teaches that the human soul is immortal and lives on, conscious. She teaches the Serpent's lie to Eve, “No, you shall not die.”—Genesis 3:4.

Jehovah's witnesses believe the Bible where it says: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die” (Ezechiel 18:4, 20); “the wages of sin is death” (Bomans 6: 23). But the Catholic Church teaches that punishment for sin is either eternal torment in a fiery hell or a long period of purging in purgatorial fires, out of which the victim can be ultimately delivered by the prayers of priest, for money consideration.

Jehovah's witnesses believe the Bible where it says: “Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing” (Exodus 20:4); “fly from the service of idols” (1 Corinthians 10:14); “what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:16) But the Catholic Church revels in graven images, among which are graven crucifixes, which items the Bible never mentions as instruments of worship.

Jehovah's witnesses believe this Bible testimony about Jesus: “The Father is greater than I” (John 14: 28); "there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). But the Catholic Church teaches the mysterious pagan trinity doctrine that claims God and Christ are the same; and the priest is set up in Christ's stead as man's mediator with God.

Jehovah's witnesses believe and obey

Jesus' command, “Call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9). But the Catholic Church teaches that men must call her priests "Father”

Jehovah's witnesses believe and teach Bible truths, but the Catholic Church preaches contrary doctrine. Unsuspecting, sincere Catholics are pumped full of pagan doctrine and ritual that are contrary to their own Catholic Bibles; Actually, this makes them and their church the atheists; not Jehovah's witnesses. And to go along a bit with Duplessis in his folly of reasoning that atheists are Communists, then it is the Catholics and their church that are the Communists, because they certainly do not base their teachings on the Catholic Bible. How the tables are turned !

Nazis. In Germany Jehovah's witnesses were known for years as “Earnest Bible Students”. A Catholic priest of Berlin, writing in The German Way of May 29, 1938, quoted Hitler, as saying: "These so-called “Earnest Bible Students' are trouble-makers; they disturb the harmonious life amongst the Germans ; I consider them quacks; I do not tolerate that the German Catholics be besmirched in such a manner by this American 'Judge' Rutherford; I dissolve the 'Earnest Bible Students' in Germany; their property I dedicate to the people's welfare; I will have all their literature confiscated.” The priest added, “Bravo!” More than 6,000 Witnesses were held in Nazi concentration camps; many died there; and many were released only when the Allies whipped Germany in World War II. To call them Nazis is to lie.

But the Vatican made- a concordat with Hitler in 1933, and despite repeated pleas by Catholics the pope would never excommunicate Catholic Hitler, The pope blessed Mussolini's rape of Ethiopia as a glorious crusade; he whitewashed Butcher Franco by calling him a “fine Christian gentleman”; Hitler's

invasion of Austria was welcomed by a swastika flown from Cardinal Innitzcr’s cathedral; “Father" Tiso was made Hitler's puppet ruler in Czechoslovakia (the Allies me new trying him as a war criminal); priests followed Hitler’s legions into Poland and on into Russia in a modern crusade; the pope landed Trni-tor Petain as a ’’Good Marshal'’; and the Vatican recognized the Japanese sponsored government of the Philippines when that land was, oveuim. Tlwre i& ample documentary evidence to support these facts, as informed persons know. What gall for a Catholic politician to even hint someone else might be a Nazi!

Skthttontsts. To date this charge remains In the category of name-calling. Neither the premier nor any one of his henchmen has backed the charge with a seditious statement from Quebec'# Burning Hate. They have babbled about references to Catholic images in legislative buildings and criticisms of mobsters and delinquent police and court officials. But no intelligent person considers that sedition. Since Quebec rulers do not cite hacking for the charge, suffice it to say here that the accusation is an ancient one against Gods servants. When the Jews were God’s chosen and faithful nation, enemies hurled that charge against them. (See 1 Esdras 4:12,15,19, Catholic Bible.) The evil scribes and Pharisee priests had a religious ftv to grind against Jesus, and to grind it they tramped up a charge of sedition against Him and pressured it through on perjured testimony. At the insistent uproar of a religious mob goaded on by the priests Jesus was murdered as one guilty of “perverting our nation”. (See Matthew 2G: 59, 60; Luke 23:1-24. Catholic Bible.) Years later religious rabble-rousers were still busy stirring up the populace against the apostles and early

Christians, saying that because the Christians advocated Christ’s kingdom they were against the state. (Acts 17; 4-8, Catholic Bible) Then there were orating slick-tongues, like Tertullus, who went before the rulers accusing the apostle Paul to be “n pestilent man, and raising seditions ’, to bo the “author of the sedition”; and he was said to “profane the temple”. (See Acts 24:1-6, Catholic Bible.) Su Premier Duplessis it no pioneer when he accuser the Christian Jehovah's witnesses of being pests and authoring and circulating seditions.

A conclusion for the preceding body of material is hardly required. Indeed, public reaction indwates that the people have already reached right conclusions on the failure of Quebec officialdom. How true for the religious kingdom of Quebec is the divine deereel —“Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting." (Daniel 5: 27, Catholic Bible) Wanting in love for God because Quebec rulers do not respect or follow the righteous principles of His Word, the Bible. Wanting in love for Christ because Quebec rulers hound and persecute His followers. Wauling in love for freedom because Quebec rulers trample underfoot a minority that disagrees with them. “'Where the spirit of the Lord is, there i& liberty^; but that is not in Quebec officialdom, despite the presence of crucifixes. (2 Corinthians 3 :17, Catholic Bible) Quebec rulers, the eyes of Canada were upon you, but by now they have turned away in disgust. You have failed your people.

Beaders, what do you think? Why not write to the Prime Minister of Canada, at Ottawa, Ontario, and ask him to investigate the action of Mr. Duplessis in denying Canadian citizens their liberty! Shall not Canada also have the Four Freedoms?

THE Great Creator of speech first spoke to “his only begotten Son”, the Word, unnumbered centuries before man. Adam, the first man, was taught or endowed with speech and it is recorded that he conversed with his Maker in the Garden of Eden. Hence it is not necessary to consider the guesses of science that communication between men began with grunts, gestures, 'pictures, and, after centuries, came words. Nor will the development of writing and printing be considered herein, but more particularly the transmission of information.

Just how slow was the development „ of fast communication, and just what a setback the interchange of knowledge received during the Dark Ages of religious domination, is manifest from the fact that as late as the seventeenth century the fastest known methods of communication were the horse and the sail However, earlier beginnings of our present lightning-fast communications were recorded long before. Beaters upon the tom-tom drum anciently called the hosts to assemble, warned of-encroaching danger. In the days of the faithful Joshua, more than fourteen centuries before Christ, the Bible states that “a long blast with the rarn^s horn” presaged the fall of Jericho. (Joshua 6:5) Visual signals, light reflections from his spear, and columns of smoke, commu, nicated messages in his victory Qver the city of Ai. (Joshua 8:18-21) Primitive peoples, such as the American Indians, spelled out communications with puffs of smoke and flashed messages with mirrors.-Use of the heliograph was also known to the. Romans.

The progress and success of military operations came to be gauged by the comparative efficiency in the opposing army’s communications. Persian King Xerxes, or Ahasuerus of Bible note, stepped up invasion speed by the use of relay runners; while Ghengis Khan, to skip ahead some sixteen centuries, employed the carrier pigeon to communicate between his Oriental capital and invasion headquarters in ravaged Europe (twelfth century).

As a ’ signal by night, as late as the sixteenth century beacon fires blazed to w^Tarn of the approach of the Spanish Armada. Signal flags, lights and cannons have been employed for many centuries in a manner similar to their use today in naval flags, lighthouses, railway lights, weather bureau warnings, beacons and traffic lights. A familiar figure in harbors used by the United States navy is the sailor semaphoring from the bridge. Ships that pass at sea have long used an international system of signal flags to exchange messages in an international code that is known to vessels of all nations.

Turning now’ to postal communications,

there opens one of the most romantic, as well as historically important, chapters in American history. This chapter officially opens with the quaint law passed in 1639 by the General Court of Massachusetts, that all mail going to and from Europe was “directed or taken to Richard Fai Thanks’ Tavern’’. It includes mail carriage by two-wheel earls, whose wheels were sections bodily sawed from round tree trunks; its hazardous transportation by the emigrant trains in the famous covered wagon or “prairie schooner"; the stage coach; and the last romantic event in man-und-horsc portage, the “pony express '.

The story of the pony express captures the imagination. Although it had only a brief existence -of 16 months (1860 G1) the pony express had much to do with holding California and most of the west to the Union. Its usefulness, and hence its operation, ended when Edward Creighton completed the telegraph to San Francisco, October 24, 1861. Some of the feats of this courier relay are well-nigh inspiring. Historically, its chief importance lay in the fact that it cot the twenty-day time of the Butterfield crossing from Missouri to southern California, to less than ten days. And it was so reliable that only one moil was lost during its operation. One rider was lost, hut his horse faithfully brought in the mail I           _H

Pictures that show the express riders with heavy carbines are incorrect, as the couriers carried a light equipage of only 13 pounds, and only side arms, with instructions to outrun enemies rather than fight. That they were so successful in crossing the. 1,966 miles of desolate plains^ rocky mountains, alkali deserts, and high sierras between St. Joseph on the Mississippi and Sacramento, Calif., Jay in two facts: relay stations with fresh riders and horses were provided every 10 or 15 miles, and its operator, the Central Overland and Pike’s Peak Express Company, provided the very finest horses, as well us some ponies, whence the name. Episodes of stamina and endurance were numerous. Once when no other riders were available, Jim Moore rode continuously a total distance of 2SU mil?.* in 14 hours 46 minutes; an average of 19 miles per hour!

The passing of the pony express, in the fall of 1861, ended an epoch of American history, which included the Mormon settlement of *47, the gold rush of ’49, the spanning of the continent by telegraph, and the opening of the Civil War.

Meanwhile the telegraph had been developed for about seventeen years since its invention, in 1844, by Samuel Morse. The simple principle behind its invention is interesting as the forerunner of both the telephone and the radio. The use of an electromagnet, which became magnetized only when a current was passed around it, had been known previously. By making and breaking this circuit by means of a small finger lever called a key this magnet, when placed many miles from the key, could he made to successively contact and release another similar key called a receiver, causing a clicking noise. By making long and short clicks, a message could be sent in the code, which bears its inventor’s name, Morse.

It was while experimenting with a de-

vice io transmit simultaneously six messages over the same Hue, by using metal senders of different pitch, that a phonetic instructor, Alexander Graham Bell, discovered the key to transmitting electrically a voice instead of a noise, (June 1875) To understand the principle look at your telephone. Behind the mouthpiece is a metal diaphragm, which vibrates when you speak. When you lift the receiver your line is connected. The vibration as you speak affects or* alternately compresses and expands the carbon particles in contacting box. The change in the current caused by the change in the density of the carbon particles is in turn translated back into vibrations by the alternate strengthening and weakening of an electromagnetic pull on a receiver diaphragm, and thus your words are reproduced.

Thereafter the ‘ Bell Telephone and Western Union grew up together. It is interesting to note that the latter refused to purchase the telephone for $100,000 in 1877, but would have gladly given twenty-five million for it two years later.

Just as telegraphy was the forerunner of the telephone, radiotelegraphy, dots and dashes, was the forerunner of many phases of modern radio. Thus there has been considerable overlapping in their development by Western Union, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., and Radio Corporation of America.^

It was back before the turn of the century that Guglielmo Marconi sought a means of communicating with ships at sea and attempted to interest English shippers by demonstrations of his antenna and sparker wireless transmission in the English channel. But it was not until the sinking of the SS Republic, in 1909, and that of the SS Titanic, in 1912, that the-usefulness of the wireless was recognized. After World War J, communication advanced again. Alongside the wireless key appeared the microphone, through which the man could talk

and sing. The crystal detector was supplemented by the vacuum or electron tuberUse of the long wave Marconi system was gradually replaced by the higher frequency (or greater number of alternations in the (Erection of the current per second) short wave, harnessed to circle the globe.                 \

The latest in complete communication, namely television, has yet to be perfected. While the RCA log of developments shows that television on a 6^zx8' screen was shown at RKO Proctor’s 58th St. Theater, ?v?vr York, it was 1941 before the first commercial television station, WBBT, was put in operation. Some of the difficulties encountered by television are discussed in' connection with the coaxial cables developed by the telephone company.

The diversity of modern types of communication is truly enormous. Furthermore, the study of radio has led to the study of electronics, radiothermy (the application of heat generated by high-frequency radio waves), radar and microwaves (waves of ultra-high frequency), and to the development of the electron microscope, which magnifies up to 100,000 diameters; the magicote lens coating for eliminating reflection from eye glasses; and the electron multiplier tube designed to convert a feeble light impulse (such as that from a star) into electricity and multiply its strength.

The telephone company is aiding in this research. In 1937 there were 19 million phones in the United States, half of all those in the world. Already the “wirephoto”, or picture by wire, was being transmitted. In making this the picture was placed on a revolving roller and, as a tiny light passes over the print, the dark and light areas are translated into electric impulses flashing over special wires of the telephone system, At the receiving end the impulses are turned back into light, exposing a negative on another revolving roller. When developed it provides a duplicate of the

original photograph. The teletype is a development of the telephone, used by newspapers and police. The cotnmuni-eatious are typed on keyless typewriters by ‘'ghost fingers" that do not err.

The war gave further impetus to communication. Radio was employed for the development of radar, which is really a direction finder for enemy vessels, and oven for projectiles like the rocket bombs, the principle being that of a ray that strikes the object sought, such as the moon, and reflects or bounces back to the sender. Radio is used to direct robot or pilotless planes, to equip torpedoes with target finders. Complete radio telephones were placed on liferafts and also on lifeboats, with generators that could be operated by hand. The famous “walkie-talkie \ the portable voice communication system tot war Held operations, was in valuable. The mobile highway telephone system for traveling automobiles, uow being put into effect, uses similar equipment

Interesting information marking the progress in the last-mentioned mode of communication appeared in the Mow York Times of November 20, 1946:

Cruising about the city, newspapermen and others in radio-equipped automobiles had no trouble making local phone calls. If the telephone company had permitted, they might just as easily have talked with Canada or England,

A subscriber merely lifts a French-type phone from a cradle beneath the automobile instrument panel, presses the talk button, then releases it and awaits the answer of the operator, who responds with the customary ■"Number, please!”

After the number is given the automobile occupant awaits the completion of the call in the usual manner. The operator can be heard dialing. If the special circuit used for the service is idle the call goes through immediately, provided the number colled is not "Lua/*.

A button on the handle of the [nubile phone unit is pressed to talk and released to listen. Both poroma cannot apuak at once, m over an ordinary phone line, because of the type of (diaPTirl and equipment provided and the need for making the device as simple ns possible.

From a land-wire phone to a vehicle the process is merely reversed and the caller requests 'flong distance, mobile service'¹. Mobile nimtben> are to be provided in a special book.

RCA aku claims credit for pioneering the way to television. The close association with radio and the tcdepbnnfi is seen in'the use of the coaxial cable, which is capable of carrying 4S0 telephone messages simultaneously and also television signals, which require u band, width or range of frequencies of at least 41 megacycles (4| million cycles or changes in direction of current per second).

The human nervous system remains the finest form of conunujiicatiun. In a manner not explainable by science it not only transmits the sounds and sights but ako the senses of touch, smell and taste. Let this accomplished fact cause (he learned scientists to render their true homage not to men but to Jehovah, the Creator of communications.

A Dedd BirJ’s C17

C The great auk, also eahed the garefcwl, was a bird about the si?e uf a goose and looked like a penguin. At one time it lived south of the Arctic circle along the Atlantia principally around Newfoundland, tluatgl fossil remains show that it migrated as far south us Florida. It did not become extinct until the nineteenth century, when collectors uf museum specimens and antiques killed off the last of them, selling their skins as high as S650 each and their eggs for $2,500. The 7R rrumnierl specimena now found in the muacuma of the world silently cry out against man’s ruthless destine-r.ic]ii of¹ the auk.

L’SUALLY bats are thought of as miserable, repugnant and hateful things.^ Down through the centuries all kinds of superstitions and legends have accumulated about these mysterious "night riders". It would therefore be well to brush away some of these age-old misconceptions, especially since the commonly known bats are really some of man’s best friends. Moreover, for millenniums the little bat has used scientific principles only recently appreciated by man.

The 900 species of bats may be divided into two groups: the tropical bats, like the "vampires” and "flying foxes", and their temperate-climate cousins. Vampires found in the American tropics are probably responsible for many of the weird tales that are told about bats in general. It is true that vampires pierce the skin and lap the blood that flows therefrom without awaking their victim, but they are the only bats that are blood-drinkers. The flying foxes found in Australia, India and the Malay States, the largest having bodies as big as squirrels and a wingspread of five feet, are all fruit-eaters.

The other group of bats is made up of some 200 species distributed over Europe, Asia and North America. The 35 different species of the United. States are subdivided into “cave bats", like the big and the little brown bats, and "tree bats", known as red bats, hoary bats and silver-hair bats, A yellowish bat called "big ears” is found in the dower Mississippi valley, (Speaking of bat colors, there are two in South America that are white, and the Blainville bat is of a bright orange color.) The common cave bats and tree bats are perfectly harmless. They live only on insects such as moths, mosquitoes and other insects that are enemies of man, These bats should be protected and treated as friends.

Some think that bats are carriers of

bedbugs and disease, A little parasitic bug is sometimes found on bats, but those who bave handled thousands of them say that these bugs will not attack man. And the superstition about bats’ getting into the hair of women is also false. They are too clever to become entangled like that.

It is also wrong to speak of bats as birds. Bats have fur; their teeth are well developed; their young are born alive; their babies are nursed at the breast; and their wing structure is altogether different from that of birds. The bat’s wing has a bone structure similar to the arm and hand of a man, with the finger bones greatly elongated like the ribs of an umbrella, over which is stretched a very thin membrane of leathery skin giving a webbed effect These characteristics make the bat a mammal, like man.

The bat has the high honor of being the only mammal that can fly. The so-called "flying squirrel" has no power to lift itself in flight; it can only glide. Bats, though mammals, outstrip the birds as aerialists in many ways. They may give the appearance of faltering haphazardly in their flight, but this is because they are darting after moths and insects .on the wing. Few birds can compete with bats in zooming, banking, diving and zigzagging on the wing. Yet when necessary the bat can fly to a feed destination as straight as a bee.

MR. BAT

Most birds and insects that can fly can also walk, but the bat is practically helpless when it comes to getting around otherwise than by flying. High-speed pho-tography has revealed other interesting things about the bat as an aerialist Instead of fluttering its wings like a bird the bat makes a stroke like a swimmer, about fifteen of them per second, and travels at a speed of ten miles an hour. Neither can the bat soar like the birds.

Hibernation and Migration

Another misunderstanding is that cave bats live only in caves. During the summer they come out and live in old

barns, attics and in the woods. Then when cold weather sets in they return to their caves, pack together closely, and hang themselves up head downward for the winter.

This hibernation phenomenon is still a mystery to biologists. Close examination shows that it is not really a sleep, but rather a torpid condition wherein the beating of the heart can scarcely be detected, breathing practically ceases, circulation almost stops and body temperature fails to within a degree or two of freezing. In such a condition it takes an expert to tell a hibernating bat from a dead one, for even if frozen to death their grip is so strong they hang on the wall all winter. Metabolism, the process of burning fat in the tissues to produce energy, practically stops. But even then bats lose half their weight during the winter, for they get nothing to eat.

Here is another queer thing about this hibernation process. If the 'bats are handled a little, or disturbed by loud talking, they soon come to life, with their temperature, respiration and circulation all returning to normal rates. Or if left alone they doze off again, becoming stiff and to outward appearances lifeless, with no harm done.

Unlike these cave bats, tree bats of the New England states would nover think of putting up for the winter in a dank, blackish cave or an old abandoned

mine. They fly south for the winter, perhaps to the Bermuda islands, with the aristocrats.

It is not definitely known that they go to Bermuda, for that would necessitate a nonstop 600-mile flight over briny ocean, a feat that seems almost incredible for these little creatures to perform. And yet, every autumn great numbers of tree bats suddenly appear in the Bermudas to take up winter quarters. It has also been reported that

these tree bate have alighted on ships 200 miles at sea on the way to the Islands. Through the efforts of Donald R. Griffin, of Harvard University, and his colleagues, who like to call themselves the “master bat banders", some 13,000 tiny aluminum bands, weighing less than onehundredth of an ounce, have been placed on the legs of bats. Such tagging has -shown that bats travel overland from 100 to 500 miles. Bats also have a great sense of direction or “homing instinct” which characterizes migratory birds.

Bats breed in spring and fall, and even in the wintertime, bat the strange thing about those that breed in V¹⁶ ?&11 and winter is.that they do not bear young until the following spring. The sperm remains dormant in the females and does not fertilize their eggs until the return of the warm weather.

The first to leave the caves are the female bats, which group together, a hundred or so, and set up a “maternity ward” in the rafters of an old house or barn. And bat babies are really big 1 At birth they weigh one-fifth to one-fourth the weight of their mothers, and are practically grown in a month's time.

When hunting time comes, in the evening the youngsters cling tightly to the fur around their mother's neck and away they go on a thrilling ride that beats any roller coaster human children ever ride on. There is one instance where a bat carried four young ones, totaling up to more than her own weight, and yet she was able to dart and dash after fleet-winged insects.

“Echolocation”

From the superlative expression “as blind as a bat”, one would think that these creatures were as blind as the present leaders of the people who “have eyes, and see not”. (Jeremiah 5:.21) But not so. Though their eyes are small and surrounded with fur, bats have fairly normal sight. However, their eyes do them little good, since they are mainly nocturnal creatures, sleeping during the daylight. For centuries scientists have been stumped over the fact that bats can fly through pitch-black caves or dense forests during the night at full speed, never touching bo much as a twig. Lazaor Spallanzani, the Italian scientist of the eighteenth century, observed that if the bat’s eyes were covered or blinded he Btill had no difficulty in flight. But if his ears were covered, the Swiss scientist Louis Jurine learned, the bat could not avoid running into obstacles.

Not until two scientists working at Harvard University, Dr. Robert Galam-bos and Donald Griffin, made their discoveries a short time ago, with the aid of modern electronic tools, was this marvelous bat mystery salved. Blindfolded bate flew as well as those that could see., But when their ears were plugged they blundered, or if their mouths were taped shut they had collisions. Apparently, to detect objects in their path they had to hear something, and, since they also needed to open their mouths, the sounds that guided them must come from the bats themselves. By means of the cathode-ray tube the scientists at Harvard learned that the bat has a shrill cry with a frequency of 50,000 cycles per second, more than 30,-000 higher than man is able to hear! In sending out this cry and then receiving back, its echo from the surrounding objects the bat can locate exactly how far away obstacles are. These signals are normally sent at the rate of 30 per second, but when echoes quickly bounce back warning of very near objects the rate is speeded up to 50 per second. So sensitive is this “echolocation” device, this sending and receiving mechanism, that bats are able to avoid strands of wire and to safely pass through openings with only a f raction of an inch clearance.

Yes, Jehovah God has always known of radar, and when He created the bat He endowed him with this principle of detection that has taken man nearly 6,000 years to learn about. But still there is an unsolved mystery. Every year bats return to the same cave in which they hibernated the previous years. Flying only at night from a distance of more than a hundred miles, how. are bats, with all of their “radar” equipment, able to locate the cave’s half-buried entrance on some desolate hillside in the dead of night? Will it take scientists, who know not God, 6,000 years more to find this answer? Truly, the bats prove very baffling to the biologists!

Inflation as a Form of Taxation

THE Scriptures say there is nothing new under the sun; and this is certainly true of inflation. The worthless currency, again devaluated in a dozen countries, so testifies. In former Axis countries it is now so low in value that it is practically repudiated; while in China the debacle of inflation is dubhed “Shanghailation”. Around us is to be seen the ruin brought about by uncontrolled inflation.

To Germany inflation is certainly not new, not even to this generation. Germany struck the skids of runaway inflation in 1923, when her total currency issue of marks was 74,954,803 hi 11 ion (that is 9 noughts omitted) which had a total value of only 722 million gold marks. This meant that the gold mark was worth more than a hundred million paper marks.

This country also suffered an inflation after the first world war, and while stability was regained it was not without several headaches in the form of depressions, In fact, inflation has a case history somewhat similar to alcoholic indulgence: mildly pleasant sensations, exuberant ecstasy, to be followed by the most calamitous despondency when the excitexnent of increased prices and sales has finally given way to a distrust of a currency so rapidly deflating in value. This ‘flight from currency’ may thence go to the extreme reaction of repudiating the money altogether.

Most Americans have witnessed this cycle in other countries. They do not believe it will happen here. But the top has not been reached in price ris^s, warns John R. Steelman. Another advises: “In the long run inflation is a lot more dangerous, and a great deal more painful than taxes.”

It is a well-recognized formula among economists that inflation is a form of JANUARY S, 1947

taxation, but the people do not generally understand this, nor do they know how or why the inflation method is used to give the government great spending power. The government in war, especially, needs great spending power because it requires great consumer power, that is, it requires a tremendous amount of goods and services. Our present deflation was begun, according to Professor Frank A. Fetter, Princeton, by the devaluation of the dollar in 1933-34, that is, the required gold content of the dollar was decreased. For the past twelve years the currency has been increased by sale of government bonds to bunks, upon which holding of bonds accredited banks may issue currency. Thus our outstanding money throughout the country, which was less than $6,000,000,000 in 1933, increased to $29,000,000,000 by 1945. In the same period the per capita circulation had risen from $42 to $210; bank cheeking accounts, from 15 to 106 billion.

Just how this inflation consists of taxation is seen when it is put this way: without the collection of taxes, and by increasing the total amount of money, the buying power of money decreases to a fraction of what it was. According to Steelman, the dollar is worth only about two-thirds of what it was in 1941, while the 1941 dollar was worth much less than the 1930 dollar. This decrease is not the result of the wage-price race, but is directly attributable to the increase in the amount of currency in the United States. This method of meeting expenses by government borrowing is sometimes called “red ink financing”.

An illustration will make this clear. In 1943 the total income of the American people was 125 billion dollars after payment of all taxes. On the market only about 85 billion in consumer goods was available. With this unstable equilibrium caused by the issuing of currency, the

most of the 125 billion, except savings, would go to buy the 85 billion of goods, bringing a consequent rise of price.

Why not pay direct taxes, as so many authorities advocate? The reason is that heavy taxation brings outcry. Inflation is the automatic method and is at first painless. One authority says that this increased purchasing power means goods and services destroyed because of the inevitable rise in prices. The same writer advocated the “pay as we fought” policy, and says that increased production is not the answer because increased production in itself brings in more money in wages, purchases, etc. On the other hand, increased taxation, as advocated by economic experts, seems to call for increased government spending rather than balancing the budget Nor is it likely that the other proposed cure, voluntary restraint on the part of the buying public, will be put into general practice.

It seems, therefore, that we are likely to have increased inflation until the bubble breaks, that is, until either meteoric prices or currency repudiation causes buying to cease and brings attendant ills, such as business stagnation, unemployment, depression. Meanwhile we may as well face the evident truth that inflation is taxation.

"Looney Laws”

<LA new book on this subject will make you wonder about those statesmen of the post who dreamed up such silly legislation. State by state the absurd laws are set down and allowed to speak for themselves. For example, state law in Arizona declares that a tfain, if flagged, must stop and give water to anyone in distress. A local ordinance in Phoenix requires every man to wear pants when he comes to town. In Arkansas a real relic of a law says an automobile must he preceded by a man carrying a red flag.

An ordinance in Los Angeles forbids young persons to dance together unless they are married, California also has a law which makes it technically illegal to trap a mouse without a hunting license. In Pacific Grove, in the same state, it is illegal to draw the blinds or shades at night; and in Santa Ana you daren’t swim on dry land, legally, that is. Berkeley Solons tackled a rat problem in the past with this bit of law: the town clerk was authorized to order all citizens to fill their bathtubs at the same time, then pull the plug simultaneously, the object being to drown the sewer rats in a sudden deluge.

In Michigan an old law says that a husband owns his wife’s clothes, and if she leaves his home he may follow her on the street and remove every stitch of said clothing. Connecticut law prohibits a man from kissing his wife or shaving on Sunday; also says it is illegal to chew tobacco without a doctor’s permit, and that no man may ride a bicycle more than 65 miles per hour. In Essex Falls, N.J., local law forbids dogs to bark, roosters to crow or ducks to quack between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. A Fort Madison, Iowa, law says firemen must practice 15 minutes before attending a fire. Another Iowa law once stated that women were not allowed to wear corsets, and it appointed a number of corset inspectors whose duty it was to poke women in the rihs to see whether they were wearing them. Finally, in Kentucky one law says a man is sober until he can’t hold onto the ground, and another gem of legislation in thdt state reads; “No female shall appear in a bathing suit on any highway within this state unless she be escorted by at least two peace officers; or- unless she be armed with a club/’ (Taken from INS dispatch)

Looney Laws shows that the legislators are in there trying; and that often it would be better if they weren’t

Housewives wen; urged to contribute their kitchenware in the drive for metal needed in the manufacture of war equipment. There was, at the moment, a scarcity of it, or of the means of producing it. So, many American housewives rose to the occasion and junked their aluminum, while the piles of utensils grew all over the country. Aluminum, as far as cooking utensils were concerned, was measurably out of the picture. The metal was needed in the war. Its use in the kitchen was not pushed. Aluminum is now coming to the fore again; hence the consideration of its poisonous character is in order.

Before launching into the subject, however, a few incidental observations concerning aluminum may prove of interest. Aluminum was unknown until very recently. Only during the last century has it come into prominence. Our ancestors got along without it entirely for thousands of years. They knew about alum, of course, and there is a connection between alum and aluminum. Alum was known to be a poison. In some countries its use in foods is prohibited even today.

Though long unknown, aluminum, paradoxically, is the most abundant metal there is. The earth’s crust contains it in a widely diffused form, as it is always mixed with other elements. The more concentrated supplies are found in the form of bauxite; and wherever bauxite is to be found in any quantity there the aluminum interests are on the job. Mining the bauxite is not a difficult matter, as the deposits lie near the surface.

Producing Aluminum

The process of separating aluminum from surrounding matter is accomplished by electrical means, and it requires twelve kilowatt-hours of electrical energy to produce one pound of aluminum. To produce a ton of the metal requires as much electrical energy as is used in the average home over a period of thirty-five years. The Aluminum Company of America has invested millions of dollars in dams, reservoirs and powerhouses to provide the needed electrical pow^Ter for the production of aluminum ■in great quantities.

The use of aluminum in airplane construction is well known. In fact, it was the war that stepped up the production of aluminum more than sevenfold, so that upward of two billion pounds was turned out in the last year of the war. Reconversion to peacetime production required that no obstacle be placed in the way of its use for any and all conceivable purposes. As the aluminum industry is a private industry, interested in profits, it not only must produce aluminum but must sell it. That is where advertising comes in.

Many of the claims made for aluminum, aside from those having to do with its suitableness for culinary purposes, are true as well as interesting. Doubtless the metal can be made to serve a wide variety of uses. Among them may be mentioned the building of heavy-duty trucks, buses, railroad equipinent, bridges, and even houses. Designs of all sizes have been cast of the metal, and ornaments are made of it, too. Then there was mention a few years ago of a blanket of woven aluminum foiland a single pound of cotton. It was said to retain warmth just as efficiently as wool. Aluminum dresses are another idea, according to reports, the metal being spun into material as soft and fine as silk At the other end of the list are aluminum girders and other construction materials. Mirrors made of aluminum have also been turned out. They reflect only 3 percent less effectively than silver with its rating of 93 percent.

Defenders of Aluminum Kitchenware

In view of these abundant outlets for the use of aluminum it would seem unnecessary to make cooking utensils df the metal. As, however, there is such an abundance of it, the utensil field is a very important one, and apparently the aluminum interests are not at all inclined to relinquish it. Defense of aluminum for culinary purposes, therefore, continues to appear in numerous articles written by people who should know and which have a more or less scientific approach. Speh articles are published in reply to the persistent rumors that aluminum for cooking purposes is injurious to the health and may even be responsible for the increase in cancer that has so perplexed the medical profession during the last half century. Those who write in defense of aluminum cooking utensils, however, are quite positive that no poisoning can result from their use.

An article appearing in Good Housekeeping stated, “Aluminum Utensils Are Safe; They Cause No Toxic Effect.” The article admits that aluminum is dissolved into the food during the cooking process, but its main argument appears to be that as there is a kind of aluminum in most minute quantity in some foods that we eat without apparent harm, therefore the addition of the metal from the cooking utensils in greater quantity can do no harjn. It is insisted, too, that the aluminum is eliminated from the body. Says the article, “Did you ever have the misfortune to swallow a button or a penny? It didn’t poison you because it passed through your intestines without dissolving, without being absorbed into the blood. That is true of almost all the aluminum we swallow and is a reason for its hannlessness.” (The latter statement is assumed, that it is harmless, as many can testify.) The admission that not all the aluminum escapes being taken into the system is the flaw in the argument.

And here is an older protagonist, Dr. Rasmus Alsaker, who is quite as emphatic as his fellow defenders of aluminum. He says’: “Heed not the slanderers of aluminum cooking utensils!” Aside from the consideration that it is difficult to slander an inanimate thing, we observe that the gentleman follows a rather odd line of reasoning. He continues: “I have attended banquets where all food was prepared in aluminumware: I have even been the guest of honor in banquets of this kind, and in not a single instance has anyone become ill.” We infer from the emphasis that it is more dangerous to be a guest of honor at such affairs (or did he just want us to know that?), and further, that the doctor has personally checked up on all the guests at these many banquets and found that none of them became ill. He also mentions, quite incidentally, that he is personally acquainted with officials of aluminumware companies. That much we. can believe quite readily. But the interesting part of the story is the following remark: “Those who sell aluminum cooking utensils should tell their customers to season the food at the end of the cooking and not in the beginning. If salt is used all through the cooking period, more of the metal gets into the food than when plain water is used.” He admits, therefore, that metal gets into the food, and that more gets in when salt is used during the cooking, and, more significantly, he advises on how’ to avoid it!

One writer, in the Ottawa Farm Journal, in his zeal to defend aluminum and the scientific experimenters, made the following observation: “It was also found that there is scarcely a food that does not contain aluminum [as much as a one-millionth part]. An egg is literally full of it!" He made the slight scientific error of confusing aluminum with albumin!

Evidence of Poisonous Nature

It is doubtless true that most persons continue the use of aluminum cooking utensils without being aware of any ill effects, or without associating the two. Careful examination of patients by doctors equipped to test for aluminum poisoning, however, is stated by Dr. G. Schmidt, of Chicago, to show that from eighty to ninety percent show aluminum poisoning. He puts it down as the most common form of toxemia, after syphilis. He states that the symptoms of aluminum poisoning are about as follows: a peculiar feeling in the stomach, like a mild hunger accompanied by a slight pain, which comes on within ten or twenty minutes, and lasting about a half hour, followed by a lazy, sluggish feeling generally, which may continue for four hours or more. Where elimination is good, the effects are slight, but in other cases the cumulative result of aluminum taken into the system is severe and may produce ulcers or other eruptions.

Dr. George Starr White is one of the medical profession who does not endorse aluminum kitchenware. He says aluminum poisoning is slow but sure. He cures numerous cases of rectal and other troubles by instructing the patient to prepare his food in something other than aluminum. For a scientific test that can be made at home he advises boiling water in aluminum and another quantity in a nonaluminum vessel. Cool and pour into separate, clean jars. Hold up to the light, and twirl slightly. Note the appearance. The experiment should teach you more than a two-hour lecture on the benefits or dangers of aluminum.

Among the first to discover the injurious effects of aluminum upon the human organism was Dr. C. T. Betts, a dentist with a talent for analysis. Doctors had 'given him up. He could not live much longer, they said. But Dr. Betts went west for a final try, at some mineral springs. One day, when filling an aluminum cup at one of these springs he noted that the water was effervescent in the cup. A lady filling a glass jar obtained no such results. The dentist's busy brain went to work on the simple fact, and he began to associate the phenomenon with the aluminum, and the aluminum with his illness. Returning home he discontinued the use of aluminum in his kitchen for a while to sec. He did see. The aluminum disappeared from the kitchen and the sickness disappeared from the doctor!

Another investigator was Edgar J. Saxon, editor of Health and Life, London. We shall not here review the various evidences he presents in his well-written and scientifically precise booklet, Why Aluminum Pans Are Dangerous. He says: “In view of the known dislike of plants for aluminum, which is confirmed in the Ministry of Health Report, we have ^evidence of the serious disturbance due to chemical manures."

Dr. Leo Spira, M.D., published a booklet Clinical Aspects of Poisoning by Aluminum and Its Alloys. The booklet has a foreword by Prof. Dr. Hans Horst Meyer, of the University of Vienna, which says: ’’By systematically examining all the possible causes, Dr. Spira has recognized, as a hitherto hardly considered source of this chronic poisoning, the use of aluminum utensils in the kitchen. He has actually proved this by the success of the treatment which he based on his findings in cases in which every other method of treatment had failed.”

Dr. K. M. Le Hunte Cooper, M.D., B.S., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., has also issued booklets on the subject of aluminum poisoning. He says, after extensive discussions of the many sources of aluminum poisoning: "I think it will generally be accepted that the reason why, uuder these conditions, we are not all continually ill, and that it causes ill effects at one time and not at another, lies in our powers of elimination and acquired immunity. So long as the former are working efficiently, no obvious symptoms develop, but any cause temporarily weakening these will at once allow the system to become overcharged, and adverse effects to follow?’ He refers to ^headache, pyorrhea, sore throat, sore.mouth, rheumatism, neuritis, bowel conditions, indigestion, ulcers, skin affections, etc., all relieved by avoiding use of aluminum.

Having suffered in-his own organism from malignant conditions due to cooking in aluminum utensils, Harold W. Keens, by his publishers, the C. W. Daniels ^Company, Ltd., 40 Great Russell St, W. C. 1, London, England; has produced a little book of 48 pages entitled "Death in the Pot”. It is a thorough and scientific study which shows that much of our vegetable produce is rendered poisonous through treatment by sprays and artificial manures containing aluminum.

As a finale to the evidence convicting aluminum containers as poisonous, the New York Times of November 28, 1946, reported:

A warning against Norwegian sardines in aluminum cana now on the market in this city, because they are likely to cause food poisoning, was issued yesterday 'by Health Commissioner Israel Weinstein. Four thou-sand cans, bearing twelve brand names, were seized in twenty-one retail stores after twenty persons had been made ill jn the last six weeks from eating the sardines.

On December 14 the New York Herald Tribune reported that "the city placed an embargo against sardines packed in aluminum”. The same day the new York Times stated:

An international exchange of investigators has been arranged by Norway and the United States in an effort to find the cause of food poisoning that made twenty persons ill last month after eating Norwegian sardines from aluminum cans . . . After 10,000 cans of the suspected sardines were seized by the city Health Department between Nov. 6 and 29, the Norwegian government stopped the importations here.

It will be some investigation, because the aluminum interests have planted a fifth-columnist. One of the investigators is a chemical engineer for the Norwegian Aluminum Company. Though the aluminum utensil manufacturers and their friends howl volumes to the contrary, a word to those who are awake will be sufficient.

False Apostolic Successors

ECAUSE Christendom refused to recognize them as ordained ministers of the Christian gospel, thousands of young men sincerely consecrated to God were deprived of their puhlic ministry during World War I[ and were clapped into prisons and even shot by tiring squads, particularly because they stood for their claim as “Jehovah's witnesses”. At the same time that Christendom’s mightiest religious organization denies the ordination of Jehovah’s witnesses in these days, that organization contends earnestly that its ‘‘bishops” are the successors of the apostles of Jesus Christ, and that the bishop of Rome is the successor of Peter himself. It therefore contends that it is the apostolic church. But certainly apostolic must be as apostolic does; else it is not apostolic.

Chapter VII of the hook The Faith of Our Fathers, by the late Cardinal Gibbons, says: ’’That the Church was infallible in the Apostolic age is denied by no Christian. We never question the truth of the Apostles’ declarations; they were, in fact, the only authority in the Church for the first century. . There is no just ground for denying to the Apostolic teachers of the nineteenth century in which we live a prerogative clearly possessed by those of the first, especially as the Divine Word uo where intimates that this unerring guidance was to die with the Apostles. On the contrary, as the Apostles transmitted to their successors their power to preach, to baptize, to ordain, to confirm, etc., they must also have handed down to

them the no less essential gift of infallibility/’ »■

A faithful examination of the inspired and infallible Scriptures shows the above-named cardinal to be guilty of false reasoning. Also the history of his religious system and the teachings and pronouncements of its religious heads belie the cardinal’s wishful thinking. Take your Bible, either Catholic or Protestant, and search through it with the help of a Bible concordance of all its words, and you will convince yourself that those sacred Scriptures nowhere mention successors to the apostles. They do not even hint such a thing, but rather they teach against such a thing. When the apostle James was killed by King Herod Antipas, the book of Acts of the Apostles shows, no meeting was held of the surviving apostles to appoint a successor to James, because James had never vacated his apostleship as Judas Iscariot did, hut James finished it faithfully.—Acts 12:1-5.

Certainly the so-called “successors” are not infallible and apostolic in assuming the title- “father”; for Jesus plainly told His true apostles: “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” (Matt. 23:9) There is no Bible record that the faithful apostles called Jesus “Father”, nor did those apostles violate Jesus' commandment with respect to calling themselves “fathers”, or calling anybody else in the church by that name. At 2 Peter 3:15 the apostle Peter speaks of “our beloved brother Paul”, but not of “Father Paul”. Jesus’ apostles addressed their younger brethren in the truth in terms of affection, such as son or children, hut they did not demand to be addressed by them as “father”, There is no scripture, either, that shows that the Christians of that first century addressed the apostles or others in the church as “fathers”. (Read 1 Corinthians 4:14,15; 1 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; 1 John 2:1,12,18, 28; 5: 21; John 21: 5.) So, apostolic is as apostolic does; and the so-called “successors” do not act in the way that those twelve apostles of Century I acted.

Going beyond that, the religionist that claims to be the successor of the apostle Peter takes to himself the title of “father of fathers”, that is, papa, which title the Roman religionists explain to mean pater patrum. To this title he adds to himself, as his predecessors have done, the titles: “Holy Father, His Holiness, Principal of the Apostles, the true Vicar of Christ, The Head of the whole church, the Father and Doctor of all Christians ” But Paul, whose apostleship cannot be questioned, writes to true Christians: “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of otir profession, Christ Jesus.” In the Latin Vulgate translation of this verse, Hebrews 3:1, the expression for “the Apostle and High Priest” reads: Apostolus et Pontifex. But the self-styled “vicar of Christ” goes one better than Jesus himself and takes the title Pontifex Maximus.

The title Pontifex Maximus is of no other origin than demonistic. According to Roman tradition, the pagan pontiffs of Italy were instituted by Numa, the second king of Rome, whq lived and reigned from 715 to 672 B.C., and to him the origin of nearly all the religious institutions of pagan Rome is ascribed. Pontifex literally means bridge-builder or wag-maker, and the word has a different root-source than sacerdos does. The Latin word sacerdos means priest. When did the fisherman Peter ever build

a bridge? and do they mean to say that Jesus as a carpenter at Nazareth went in for bridge-building? Why, in the apostolic writings from Matthew to the Apocalypse (or Revelation) the word bridge does not once occur. No, that title pontifex did not come from the apostles and Peter never wore it. During the Roman Empire the functions of Pontifex Maximus were discharged by the pagan Roman emperors. In A.D. 325 Emperor Constantine assumed the title, which means that the bishop of Rome did not then have it Gratian, the emperor from 373 to 383, was the last emperor to bear the title. He, a political ruler, refused to wear, the insignia of Pontifex Maximus as unbefitting a Christian. But the pope of Rome was not slow to snap up this title of pagan origin and thereby increase his political power.

Even in the Latin Vulgate Bible the term Pontifex Maximus is not found. In translating the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into Latin, the translator Jerome translated “high priest” as summus sacerdos or princeps sacerdo-tum, except when translating Pauls letter to the Hebrews. In that book, when “high priest” applied to Jesus^ Jerome translated it by another Latin term, not pontifex maximus, but simply pontifex. At Hebrews 4:14, where the Greek text has “great high priest”, meaning Jesus, there Jerome translated it merely pontifex magnus. Now maximus is .the superlative degree of magnus. There was no reason, however, for Jerome to switch from summus sacerdos to pontifex, be* cause in the original Greek from which Jerome translated there was no change by the apostle Paul to a different word for “priest”. But, letting that be as it is, yet, inasmuch as the disciple is not above his Master Jesus Christ, it is surely not infallibly apostolic for a professed disciple of the Master to assume the title “Pontifex Maximus", whereas the Master Jesus Christ himself is called only magnus.

In his own day Paul had to contend for his right to the position and responsibilities of an apostle of Jesus Christ* Not out of peevishness over that fact, but as a warning to Christians today he wrote concerning religious deceivers; “Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also he transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Cor. 11:13-15) AH those who blindly follow such false apostles through this postwar world will in time go down with them into the ditch of destruction at the battle of Armageddon, “the battle of that great day of God Almighty”

Are You Also Excommunicated?

IF YOU are one of the 138,000,000 people in the world that were born and raised as “Protestants”, then you are already excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. This means that you are looked upon with the blackest contempt by the Vatican, being cursed and damned with the Devil and his angels. Says the Catholic Encyclopedia:

With the foregoing exceptions [infidels, pagans, Mohammedans, and Jews], all who have been baptized are liable to excommunication, even those [ protestants ] who have never belonged to the true Church, since by their baptism they are really her subjects, though of course rebellious ones. Moreover, the Church excommunicates not only those who abandon the true faitb to embrace [protestant] schism or heresy, but likewise the members of heretical and schismatic communities who have been born therein.

All those belonging to such lodges as the Masonic, Fenians, Independent Order of Good Templars, Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance, or the Knights of Pythias, are also excommunicated.

This is “canon law” which the Roman Catholic Hierarchy seeks to enforce on the pretext that it is God's law. The authority for excommunication, they claim, is based on the teachings of Christ and the apostles, as found in the following scriptures: Matthew 18:15-19; 1 Corinthians 5 : 3-5; 16:22; Galatians 1:8, 9; 1 Timothy 1:20; Titus 3:10. But the

Hierarchy’s excommunication, as a punishment and “medicinal” remedy (Catholic Encyclopedia), finds no support in these scriptures. In fact, it is altogether foreign to Bible teachings.—Hebrews 10: 26-31.

Where, then, did this practice originate T The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that papal excommunication is not without pagan influence, “and its variations cannot be adequately explained unless account be taken of several non-Chris-tian analogues of excommunication.” The superstitious Greeks believed that w^Then an excommunicated person died the Devil entered the body, and therefore, “in order to prevent it, the relatives of the deceased cut his body in pieces and boil them in wine.” Even the Druids had a method of expelling those who lost faith in their religious superstitions. It was therefore after Catholicism adopted its pagan practices, A.D. 325, that this new chapter in religious excommunication was written.

Thereafter, as the pretensions of the Hierarchy increased, the weapon of excommunication became, the instrument by which the clergy attained a combination of ecclesiastical power and secular tyranny that finds no parallel in history. Princes and potentates that opposed the dictates of the Vatican were speedily impaled on the tines of excommunication and hung over persecution fires. Not duly individuals, but whole countries, were so treated: France, in 998; Germany, in 1102; England, in 1208. Even Rome itself was excommunicated in 1155, Luther and bis forty-one "errors" were similarly "cursed" in 1520. Likewise Napoleon in 18Cf9 and Victor Emmanuel in 1860.

The excommunication of Frederick II furnishes a good example of the dire effects produced by these papal "curses" in the thirteenth century.

Five times king and emperor as he was, Frederick, placed under the bau of the church, led henceforth a doomed existence. The mendicant monks stirred up the populace to acts of fanatical enmity. To plot against him, to attempt his life by poison or the sword, was accounted virtuous.. .. Hunted to the ground and broken-hearted, Frederick expired at the end of 1250.—Encyclopedia Britannica.

Excommunication as a papal force was greatly reduced with the fall of the "Holy Roman Empire”. So much so that this generation does not observe such ruthless consequences of the past befalling Tito and his associates who were recently excommunicatecL (See Awake! November 22, 1946.)

In recounting all of these facts one is at a loss to find an explanation why the "crimes" of Tito and his associates are greater than (or as great as) thos6 of Franco, Mussolini and Hitler, and their gang of cutthroats. Only when we tqrn to the Catholic Encyclopedia do we find the answer. There it is stated:

The Church’s right to excommunicate is based on her status as a spiritual society, whose members, governed by legitimate authority, seek one and the same end through suitable means. Members who, by their obstinate disobedience, reject the means of attaining this common end deserve to be removed from such a society.

Here, then, is the explanation why the Axis dictators were not excommunicated. They were 'seeking the one and same end⁵ with the Roman Catholic Church.

Blessed Peacemakers?

Cursed by religious leaders, vilified, accused of being divisive! All because of their Christ-inaugurated method of preaching from house to house. But did not God bless the peacemaking, house-to-house ministry of His Son, Christ Jesus? Likewise, today, despite being cursed by some men, Jehovah's witnesses have experienced the blessing of Jehovah God as they pressed forward throughout the entire earth, bringing peace to thousands by their house-to-house preaching. Consider the factual evidence in the 448-page

1947 Yearbook of Jehovah ^fs witnesses

Of equal interest is the 1947 Calendar, picturing the tangible agencies for spreading the peace message into many lands. Order now.

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United Nat ion Debate

<$> In thG United Nations Assembly the debate on armaments, already an Issue of long vexation, dominated the meetings. The proposal of Bernard Baruch to set up an independent Internationa I organ to regulate atomic matterq, Including controls, inspection and penalties for violation of atomic agreements bud heen considered. The plan also included the yielding of the veto right In this field. Russia had countered with another plan, calling for International treaties to outlaw the atomic bomb, and early In December came around to accepting the principle of Inspection, but Insisted on the veto. Senator Tom Connally, u. S. delegate, said America would not consider the use of the veto in this matter. Britain’s Sir Elartley Shawcross, adding his bit, proposed census of troops with an arrangement for immediate verification, Molotuv of Rnssio said armaments must also be counted, Inferentially including atomic stockpiles. Senator .Connally proposed then .that the whole question be referred tn the committee dealing with these matters. The subcommittee finally approved a seven-point disarmament resolution, calling for (1) practical measures, (2) elimination of weapons of mass destruction, (3) use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes alone. (4) veto-leas inspection safeguards, (5) an

International police force, (0) balanced withdrawal of troops from ex-enemy and other lands where they were not wanted, ("1 gradual reduction of national nr ini os. December 14, after much discussion, the Aswinhly approved the resolution. rej<M?t-Ing, however, an immediate {Tnsus of troops and arms.

Big Four Council

<$> The Council of Foreign ministers, the Big Four, nioctlng at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel was able during the first half of December to arrive nt final conclusions in n-spect to the peace treaties with the five satellite nations of the Axls: Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland. Provisions were made for handling disputes that might arise in connection with their application or endorsement. The Paris Conference had recommended that sueb disputes be referred to the International Court of Justice, hut that was rejected by the Big Four because of Russian objection. The accepted arrangement ties in witfi the United Nations.

A statute for Trieste approved a gnvernment under Security Council supervision. Trieste boundaries were agreed upon. Boundaries of various other nations wen¹ adjusted in the treaties, givinc two-thirds of Italy’s Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia, all of Hungarian Transylvania to Rumania,. Rumanian Bessarabia and Bukovina to Russia, while southern Dobruja is transferred from Rumania to Bulgaria. In the matter of reparations Russia will receive from various nations a total of $900,000,000. Yugoslavia will receive $200,000,000; Czechoslovakia, $50,00(1,000; Greece $150,000,000; and Ethiopia will receive from Italy $25,000,000. The council agreed to Include free navigation of the* Danube in the treaty arrangements, particulars to be decided upon later. February 1-15 was set for the signing of the five treaties.

The Big Four agreed to hold meetings In Moscow beginning March 10 to consider pence treaties with Germany and Austria, Byrnes insisted that there must he complete freedom of reporting the news of the meetings, just as there had been complete freedom at Paris and New York. Molotov gave assurance that such freedom would be granted.

Site for the United Nations

<$> The United Nations organization has been looking for a place to locate its permanent headquarters, An 18-man site committee was appointed to look around and report. Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco were among the most likely places given consideration. It seemed for a while that San Francisco might become the so-called "cftpital of the world”. To this arrangement, however, Russia strongly objected, even warning that if San Francisco were selected Russia and certain "other members" of the United Nations "would not attend the conferences at all". A skyscraper home in New York was next considered in response to an effort ou the part of New York city’s officials to surpass the attractions which other sites olTexed. What finally turned the scales in fnvor of New York was the offer by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., of a plot of land in the midst of New York city, some six blocks in area, and valued at $8.5(MUMX>. This offer was backed by offers of additional land by

New York city. The site Wm Inspected, approved In the Headquarters Committee, 33 to 7, and accepted by the GenerakAssembly by a vote of 48 to 7. New York city becomes the “capital of the world**.

Franco and the United Nations $> The United Nations found the subject of Franco’s regime a thorny one that would not down. A Polish resolution called for breaking diplomatic ties with Spain. December 3 the United States representative countered with a resolution impliedly condemning Franco Spain and informing the Spanish people why their “Franco Fascist government” could not be admitted to membership in the United Nations. The proposal was backed by Great Britain, and expressed the conviction that Franco should surrender authority to a representative provisional government, committed to respect freedom of speech, assembly Ind worship and which would arrange to hold free elections. The Spanish people were assured of a cordial welcome into the United Nationa family when the present fascist government of Spain is once terminated. It was explained that the United Nations was Dot interfering with Spanish internal affairs, but simply pointing out in “the clearest possible .terms why their country Is not at present eligible for membership and full participatioo in the community of nationa”. The Franco government promptly denied the charges implied in the resolution. Neither the Polish nor the American resolution, however, was carried. The Assembly compromised by denouncing the Franco regime and recommending that the United Nations members recall their diplomatic heads from missions at Madrid.

UNESCO

$ The United Nations Educa-* tionel, Scientific and Cultural Organization, meeting in Paris, on December 0 approved a full program for 1947, stressing mass education and International communication. It planned an Internationa] seminar for next summer to consider revision of history, geography and civics textbooks, to ellininate causes of friction between nations.

Ambassador to Britain

<$> Oliver Max Gardner, former undersecretary of the treasury, whose appointment as ambassador to Great Britain’s “Coijrt of St. James’s*’ was announced by President Truman December 8, Is described as being an advocate of capitalism. He is 64 years old, and helped to defeat President Roosevelt’s effort in 1937 to enlarge the membership of the Supreme Court.

British-American

Zone Unification

<$> An agreement to merge the British and American zones of occupation tn Germany economically was signed December 2 by Fnreign Secretary Bevin and Secretary of State Byrnes. The resulting unit is expected to operate more effectively, although independent politically. Russia and France were invited to join *ln the arrangement and make all of Germany an economic whole to hasten recovery.

Report on Germany

<$> Col. Robt S. Allen, in a copyrighted article in the New York Times of December 3, set forth detail^ of a suppressed report of the Senate War Investigating Committee on conditions in the United States zone of occupation in Germany. Mention is made of;

An alarmingly high venereal disease rate: 30 percent among white, 70 percent among Negroes;

Displaced persons refusing to return to their homelands are being cared for at United States expense. Plans to take them off the freekeep list was blocked by United States pressure groups. A carefully organized and well-financed plan brought 150,000 Jewish refugee immigrants Into the United States zone to be cared for. The British zone has been closed to all refugees, and the French zone has never been open to them at all, caring for only 33,000 DP’S.

The denazification program Is a,failure and widespread fraternization with German women is undermining the effectiveness of the military government. Demands for luxurious accommodations by United SttttSB personnel have caused a housing shortage. A number of' high-ranking army officers are Involved in gross black-marketing operations.

An article In the December 5 issue states that Truman favors the suppression of the repnrt, but that the Republican forces in Congress will doubtless insist npon a thorough Investigation,

Palestine Problem

<$> While the United Jewish Appeal in national conference adopted a quota of $170,000,000 for its campaign during 1937, to bring relief to Jews in Europe and aid refugees for settlement in Palestine, five Britons were killed In Palestine by Jewish terrorists, who had placed a mine at a sharp turn in the road to Tel Aviv. London reported that from July to October of 1940 81 Britishers had been killed in Palestine. In the United States Harold L, Ickes, former United States secretary of the interior, said the subject of oil was closely bound up with the Palestine situation. December 8 Secretary of State Byrnes announced that the United States will send an observer to the Palestine Conference in London, if the Jewish and Arab leaders would agree to attend.

Greek Situation

<$> Sunday, December 1, Premier Constantin Tsaldartfr of Greece left Athens by plane, tn arrive in New York the next day. He was met at the airfield by Archbishop Athenagoras. He came to lay Greek border troubles before the United Nations Security Council, and to ask for a Uhlt-ed Nations investigation. For months armed bands have been causing havoc in the border reglens of Greece to gain a foothold and have grown from being bands of fifty to some as great as a thousand or more. A fortypage memorandum to the General Assembly stated, “There Is conclusive evidence that the whole guerrilla movement against Greece is receiving substantial support from the countries adjacent to Greece's northern boundaries, particularly Yugoslavia.”

Attack on Freedom In Italy

<$> Freedom of the press tn Italy 1h in danger of being lessened because of articles about the pope which have appeared in throe antl-clertcal publications. One of these, Fl Mercaiite (“The Shop-keeper*’), referred to Premier Alcide de Gaspari as “the pope’s hound”. Tli€i premier, of the Christian Democratic (Catholic) party, says these anticlerical papers offend “the honor of the chief of a foreign state”, the pope he!ng head of the pseudo-state of Vatican City. Gasped doubted thot the Italian people were sufficiently mature tn have unlimited publication rights. The Vatican has Issued excommunication han8 against dealers who sell Doti. Basilio, the first of these anti-clerlcal papers, so called, to appear. One or more of the members of the stalT of Dun Baxilio formerly worked on the Vatican’s own newsshect, L’Osservalore Romano. The Catholic newKpaper Tl Popolo said the government was still bound by the 1929 agreement between Mussolini and the Vatican, insuring the Catholic religion against any offense.

Mexico’s New President

<$> Miguel Aleman Valdes was sworn In as president of the United States of Mexico December 1. Representatives from more than thirty nations attended the ceremonies. The new executive, In his inaugural address, paid his respects to the “good neighbor policy”. He said, too.' that “amid the world-wide confusion of this hour the new world must be the guardian of human freedoms’'.

Azerbaijan Conflict

<$> Troops were ordered Into Azerbaijan by Premier Ahmade Ghavnm of Iran December 4 to Suppress an uprising in the province. The Azerbaijan leader Jaa-far Pishevnri declared determination to defend Azerbaijan liberty, saying: “We shall succeed because our cause is just and honorable and ours is a religious war and all freedom-loving na-tlona share our ennse,” December 6 the Iranian ambassador to the United States informed the Uoited Rations Security Council that Russia had admonished the Iranian government not to send troops Into Azerbaijan, which is oo the border with Russia. A minor civil war flared in the region when (he troops entered, but lasted only a few days, J’ishe-vnri capitulated, and advised the government he would not interfere with supervised elections In the disputed province.

Coal-S trike Struggte

<$> The lights began to dim all over the land. The stoppage of coal mining on the verge of winter, which struck the United States as a major disaster, continued to be its number one problem Id early December, Government court action had serious meaning for John L. Lewis and the mine workers. When the testimony was all in Lewis and his union were found guilty of contempt of court Fines of $10,-000 for Lewis and $3,500,000 for the union were recommended by the assistant attorney general. The fines were imposed. Mr. Lewis and the union filed an appeal. The government moved to speed up the appeal, carrying the case direct to the V. S. Supreme Court. The surprising and remarkable climax came when, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Lewis called off the strike, telling the mioers to return to wdrk until April 1, 1947. And the lights went on agaio all over the land.

Expedition to Antarctica

What la described as the largest expedition ever to head for Antarctica sailed from United States ports at Norfolk, Port Hueneme and San Diego December 1. The thirteen naval vessels and their planes were under the command of Rear Admiral Richard E, Byrd, already noted for his south polar explorations. Ge-olngists believe that the icecap which covers “the bottom of the world” is gradually growing smaller and that some day an Antarctic colony will he possible. As the Ice blanket covering the continent la thousands of feet thick, however, that day appears remote. Antarctic fossils show that the area once was verdant with vegetation, treea and ferns. Quantities of coveted nres, Including uranium, are believed to lie present A number of nations arc Interested In Antarctica and oilier expeditions are planned.

Rocket Plane Test Hop

<S> A rocket-propel led phuio, America’s first, made a successful test flight at Muroc army air base, Los Angeles, Calif., December 10, doing a mere 550 miles per hour, though designed for the supersonic speed of 1700 m.p.h, The 31-foot plane was described as “little”. It cut loose from an Army B-20 at an altitude of 25,000 feet, when it turned on part of its own power, and shot forward with accelerated speed, rising to 35,000 feet. It landed “light as a feather” and without the use of power.

[solation of Americium

<$> The elements numbered 93, 04 and 95 are, respectively, neptunium, plutonium aud americium. They have been produced artificially from uranium. Americium has now been isolated In pure form. This accomplishment was announced by Prof. Glenn T. Seaborg, of the University of California, at a meeting nf the Americao Chemical Society. Professor Seaborg is n co-discoverer of americium aod plutonium, nod also of curium (element 96). “Bombarding” americium with Deutrons produces curium.

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By ordering now you will receive aa a gift the books “The Kingdom Is at Hand” and “Let God Be True”. The first-mentioned book gives in narrative fashion the history of the Kingdom promise and proves that its fulfillment, is at hand, not in the form of communism, not as monarchism, not even as a democracy, but as the Theocracy With Christ Jesus as King. The second book in its 24 chapters, each a complete doctrinal treatise, upholds God’s true Word as contrasted with the divisive creeds of men. Beautifully bound, these volumes of more than 300 pages each will greatly enlighten you.

[J Enclosed find $2.00 for a year’s subscription for The Watchtower and Awake! and send me as a gift “The Kingdom Is at Hand” and “Let God Be True”.

[J Enclosed find $1.00 for a year’s subscription for The Watchtower, and send a gift copy of “Let God Be True”.

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