VIOLENCE VS. VOTES IN PUERTO RICO

An on*the*scenes report of the recent uprising there -----:—-

Papal Rome’s Friends in Modern Times

With whom will she stoop to deal for political power?

Fishdom’s "Man from Mars”

The sea horse a miniature monstrosity

Paying Back What Belongs to Caesar

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

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CONTENTS

Keeping Resolutions	3	Revolution Mainly in Headlines	19
The Vatican’s Good Neighbors of the Fast	5	Plot on Truman, Arrest of Campos	20
Removing the Halos	6	The Trim Line Is the Health Line	21
Papal Rome's Friends in Modern Times	8	Science Delirious?	24
Open Friendship with Dictators	9	Surgery Goes to the Bugs	24
Would ‘Deal with the Devil'	12	“Your Word la Truth”
Fishdom’s “Man from Mars'1	13	Paying Baek What Belongs to Caesar	25
Violence vs. Votes in Puerto Rico	16	Argentina’s Fifteenth International
Nationalists Good Catholics	17	Cattle Show	27
Premature Explosions	18	Watching the World	29

KEEPING RESOLUTIONS

EXPERIENCE teaches cruelly that "New Year’s resolutions” are made to be broken. Their life span often proves so short that before the new year has outgrown the cloth triangle in which it is pictured as a romping infant, most of them are dead and buried. True, many of them will be due for a resurrection the follQWing year, but with little probability of gaining life where they failed before. Instead, the greater likelihood favors their suffering the “second death”.

The lackadaisical attitude of the private citizen toward improvement can be directly attributed to the bad example set for him by those to whom he looks for example, instruction, leadership and guidance.

Youths are especially influenced by the behavior of prominent, stage, screen and radio celebrities. Their impressionable minds take careful note when such personages enter into the sacred covenant of marriage. But it is too well known how many of these persons treat this contract. They marry in haste to divorce at leisure and exchange partners in the manner of schoolboys at a week-end dance. Modem marriages are not famed for their durability.

And what is so rare as a political promise fulfilled? Despite their prominence and opportunity for taking the lead in trustworthiness, worldly politicians have proved miserable examples. So groundless and empty have their resolves become that only the most credulous voter entertains a glimmer of hope for their fulfillment once his candidate is in office. While clothing himself in the garb of purest virtue, each politician will level the most scathing denunciations at his opponents, resolving to eliminate all their evils if elected. Party platforms are designed to please virtually everyone and offend nobody. They fit well into the mouths of silver-tongued, oratnra; then disappear until the next election.

Business, too, has long lacked integrity, its fantastic advertising claims often prompting government action to bring them down to earth. All will remember the Federal Trade Commission’s 1950 crackdown on unfounded cigarette advertising. And how often are highly paid lawyers in court to rescue their commercial clients from suits involving violated contracts? How many times a year are capital and labor at odds over broken agreements?

Among the dearest of man’s hopes has been the longing for lasting peace. But hedged by nationalism and jealousies, he has spent his history in almost constant war or the dread of it. Consolingly, his inspiring leaders have talked of peace and solemnly resolved to live together in harmony, while signing literally thousands of peace treaties and pledges meant to remain in force forever. But at most only a few scattered hundreds of man’s thousands

of years have been spent in even relative peace. It is enough to make one feel like the Bible writer of old who wrote: “I indeed said in my despondency, Every man is a liar.” (Psalm 116:ll,Leeser) But such practices can only be expected, for said the apostle Paul expectantly of our day: “In the last days perilous times shall come . . , men shall be lovers of their own selves . . . trucebreakers”—2 Tim. 3:1-3.

To Christendom's religions, then, men turn for a word they can trust. Solemnly they inscribe their names on church rolls and enter what they believe to be a covenant with the Lord. The sermons to which they listen with such benign approval prate loudly of brotherly love and Christian fellowship, of peaceful living and of setting a shining example. But outside the church doors it is quickly forgotten and replaced by six days of conniving, slandering and defrauding one another. The “golden rule” they shed with their Sunday clothes, to live the remainder of the week by the code of the wilderness, or the survival of the fittest. In a more critical vein, Christendom’s “Christians” mutter that 'thou shalt not kill, steal, covet thy neighbor's wife or commit adultery’. Yet, investigate and you will find that all the way from juvenile delinquents to thieves, adulterers and murderers, these sects are supplying the high criminals of the day.

Like men, like nations. The sixteen centuries of her existence have seen Christendom torn by continual warfare between her members, with the religious faction often at the very bottom of the struggle. In our times it was not heathen savages but the supposedly Christian nations of “western civilization” that suffered most in the grip of two world wars while modern-day peace treaties and covenants were turned to laughing mockeries. They will offer many excuses but God is just in holding them responsible as people having sworn to uphold his law which rules, “covenant breakers . , . are worthy of death.”—Romans 1:31, 32,

It is a good thing for man that his Creator possesses incalculably greater integrity than he. God's Word assures us that the earth was made habitable for man’s dwelling place. It tells us of the function of the sun, moon and stars and assures that this order will remain, all to the benefit of life on the earth. Were this not so and, say, the earth were to rotate much faster or slower than it does, then, as the book Man Does Not Stand Alone points out, all life would perish, either by a night freeze or a daytime cremation. If God decided to change the earth from its present ₍twenty-three-degree tilt on its axis, there would be no seasons, and a horrible combination of snow, ice and desert would result. And finally, remember that it is Jehovah God’s promised resolve for a new w^Torld where “righteousness is to dwell” that provides the underlying theme of the entire Bible and offers the only possible hope to the throngs accepting it. Were he, like vain man, contemptuous of his sworn word, all such hopes would be dashed.

But we know that, as his Word, previous acts and visible creation all testify, God will never fail us. Thus, what a joy to learn that this covenant-keeping God invites man into an intimate agreement with him under a resolve to henceforth do his will unequivocally. However, when a man learns what God would have him do and then enters into a resolution to conform to the divine will, there is no turning back.

For their faithfulness, those who keep their word with God will suffer no sorrow when this old untrustworthy world dies at Armageddon amid a bed of broken resolutions. Instead, they will know only joy as they look ahead to their part in the new world under God’s kingdom, the kingdom of the God who never breaks a promise.

LMOST before the echo had died away from the ^Second atomic bomb blast on Japan ending World War II in August, 1945, a steady and concerted campaign of Catholic propaganda opened up against Soviet Russia, flooding the press, radio and education centers of the Western democracies. Granted, the Catholic Church has long held forth against communism. In 1937, Pope Pius XI declared in an encyclical: ‘'Communism is intrinsically evil and no one who would save Christian civilization will co-operate with it in any undertaking whatsoever.”

As one, two, three years dragged on following the war, as the Kremlin extended its influence in Europe and Asia, and even prosecuted Catholic prelates accused of political meddling in communist lands, the Vatican fought back with propaganda and mass excommunications. When the Red surge reached high tide, lapping at the very cornerstone of St. Peter’s in the spring of 1948, the pope rushed to his balcony and pleaded with Italian voters to defeat the communists at the polls.

Not Neighborly with Reds

Rome has well succeeded in convincing the current generation that she will be no neighbor to communism. But betraying one end to which the Roman Catholic Church has apparently worked, a Pennsylvania Catholic bishop, William Hafey, declared

IPtore a college graduating class the summer of 1947 that critics >'■■Sttfthe Catholic Church were falling ^s;^^to a communist trap. Honest per-y ;dons with reasoning minds will tolerantly consider the source of such ’ statements. At least these columns will let no such imaginary dread suppress them from revealing truths of public benefit. Nor is this intended as a defense of communism in either its godless features or its slavish totalitarian political philosophy. But readers of Catholicism’s bitter denunciations have a right to examine all the possible motives of the Hierarchy at Rome for making her accusations. There are truths about Catholic policy just as important to the public as the truths about the aggressive and atheistic policies of communism. When the Catholic Church calls attention to acknowledged Red evils, well and good, but when she defies criticism of herself and cloaks any possible hidden motives for her attack with propaganda picturing the pope as a gallant, crusading shining knight against the forces of darkness, this is quite another matter. So moved was a Texas Baptist fundamentalist, Dr. J. Frank Norris, that in October, 1947, he foamed: “The issue today is not Catholicism or Protestantism. It is God or no God, and Pope Pius is God’s last great defender in Europe.” Rubbish.' Daring to begin an investigation, then, we wonder why, with all the current Catholic hue and cry against “Red totalitarianism”, “Red fascism,” “Red godlessness,” “the Red moral code,” etc., the church has waited until so late in her existence to discover these very apparent evils in the autocratic system of government. One wonders indeed at all the reasons Rome can present for not keeping company with the Kremlinites. She has not always been so particular about her traveling companions.

The skeleton of bad Vatican companionships is so monstrous that no ordinary closet can contain it Thus, to conceal it the owners long ago dismantled It and dis* tributed the parts over the world where they have arranged intimate deals with every kind of political riffraff the world has known. But a patient search through documented history brings the tattletale bones to light and unveils repeated Vatican association in the most questionable neighborhoods.

Cradled in Bad Environment

Non-iCathoIic historians can find no record of the Catholic Hierarchy as it is today identified before the Council of Nicea A.D. 325. Rome, however, claims her origin with the apostles and points to the Nlcene Council as simply a landmark whereby Arianism was officially condemned. The purpose here is not to argue this point, but to point out that all the benefits accruing to the Catholic Church from Nicea were wrought chiefly by the influence of the then Roman emperor, Constantine, whose title pontifex maximus has entitled him in the minds of many writers to the office of pope. However, Gibbon describes him as a chronic sun worshiper. There is evidence that he professed Christianity, but nothing to prove he abandoned his life of idolatry, vandalism and murder. From her very cradle the Catholic Church felt no shame in the fondling arms of a prize thug.

At the turn of the seventh century one "Gregory the Great” occupied the papal throne. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him "one of the most notable figures in ecclesiastical history**. He was canonized and made a "doctor of the church”. To merit such lavish praise from his church the modern reader would of course suppose he was every bit as squeamish concerning his friendships and alliances as the present pope is about communism. But not so! During his reign a captain in the emperor’s army, Phocas, led a successful revolt, murdered the emperor and empress, their six sons and three daughters, and usurped the throne for himself. FOr long a dispute had stood between the Roman pontiff and the patriarch of Constantino* pie over the office of ‘Universal Bishop” of the church. The former emperor had turned a deaf ear to Gregory’s plea for recognition, but the new ruler promptly bestowed this recognition on Rome.

History openly condemns Phocas, but Gregory saw no cause to do so. Rather, R. J. Long in his book The Popes of Rome records some of the praise the pope smeared over this murderer: "Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, and, for your illustrious deeds, let the people of every realm, hitherto so vehemently afflicted, now be filled with gladness. May the necks of your enemies be subjected to 4he yoke of your supreme rule.” Thus the church gains a victory—and lauds a murderous usurper en route.

Removing the Halos

Students of history remember that on December 25_f A.D. 800, Pope Leo IH, at the close of a public mass, slipped a surprise crown on the head of Charlemagne, visiting king of the Franks, declaring him emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire” Charlemagne is thought not to have overly appreciated this act seemingly binding him in subservience to a papal overlord while not enhancing his individual prestige in the least. However, lifting the papacy to a position of tacit supremacy over the world’s then mightiest secular ruler gave birth to a new era in Roman Catholic influence and opened her "millennial reign” of temporal power.

Today’s reader, knowing how carefully the pope picks his company and fires away

at such men as Joseph Stalin and his gang in the Kremlin, will of course assume that Charlemagne was the purest of Sir Galla-hads, the very essence of virtue. Quickly erasing such an impression, Joseph McCabe describes him as a barbarian giant, rude of manner, simple and coarse. Peculiarly, he fastidiously kept after his clergy to mend their ways, while not lifting & finger to correct his own. Following anything but a Christian code, he took to himself five wives hi succession besides an unknown number of mistresses on the side. By one means or another he came to be father to at feast twenty natural children. While energetically engaged in “converting” the Saxons, he employed the papal policy of ramming his religion down their throats while threatening with fire, sword and inhuman atrocities those unwilling to surrender- But he was in the church fold, he could be used, and use him Leo did.

But in that glorified high light of Catholic history, the period of the crusades from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries surely the peak of honor and greatness would be exemplified by the ‘swords of the church’ sent to reclaim Jerusalem from the Saracens. And did not Pope Urban II launch the crusades with the cry, “They who die will enter the mansions of heaven”? Surely to win such reward one would suppose that Urban, just as Pius apparently does, would carefully screen all applicants for Vatican employ and favor. But again, vain such supposition!

The Catholic historian Albert, the monk Guibert, William of Tyre and the Jesuit Maimburg, all admit the bulk of the papal crusaders were ‘perjurers, adulterers, incestuous persons, thieves, assassins and brigands’. Bayle exclaims: “Who will dare maintain that these monsters, who exhibited so much ardor for the Holy Land, were the flower of Christendom? Could those wretches who abandoned their country, their wives and their children, to go and fight against the infidels, be called the soldiers of Christ? No, for those hypocrites who pretended to see angels and saints at the head of their armies were but pillagers and assassins; they violated women, deflowered young girls, and murdered those who granted therri hospitality. The cruelty and depravity of those barbarians were so great that the Christians of Asia whom they went to succor evinced more fear at their approach than at the arrival of Turks and Saracens. The crusades are assuredly the most hideous pages of the history of Christianity.” Are these the men you said would enter the "mansions of heaven”, Urban? How different the papal Gallahads look without their halos!

Nothing They Would Not Do

As time went on and papal ambitions rose for more and more power, it became apparent that there were fewer and fewer things she would not do and that there was no scoundrel too vile to serve her selfish aims. In 1269 the Mongols under Kublai Khan, who had pushed his domains clear into Europe’s back yard, tried to contact the papacy in an effort to reach a working agreement with western Christendom. But alas! Rival claimants were at the time disputing over the pope's three-decked crown and by the time a return papal expedition was sent, it consisted of but two Dominican friars who quickly gave up the long trip. Probably just as well. By that time the Mongols too had become fed up with the workings of what they were told was the office of "Christ's vicar”. H. G. Wells comments that though the Mongols may have been interested in becoming part of the kingdom of God, they would have no relish for a satellite position under the "kingdom of the pope” or a lot of quarreling French and Italian priests.

Though heathen, they apparently had enough common human decency to abhor Christendom’s iniquities and hypocrisy.

Space will not permit a close account of all the Infamous partners the Vatican took Into its camp in the intervening centuries to satisfy its political lusts until the Treaty of Westphalia closed the Thirty Years’ War and disintegrated the '‘Holy Roman Empire”; or till 1799, when Napoleon sheared away the pope’s last temporal authority, and then till 1929, when it was restored by Mussolini, But today, honest persons will want to know if the leopard has changed its spots. And If not, what of the sudden burst of righteous indignation over the Red flood prompting all the black names with which the Hierarchy has contrived tobrandthe carcass of communism? The blunt truth is that not a spot has been removed. The answer is furnished from the mouth of the papacy, itself. Her acts of the past thirty years are but current carbon copies of those of the past centuries, telling us again and again that her policy was and is: “the end Justifies the means.” One motive and only one has inspired her every move, her every alliance, namely, the effect it would have on her political influence and her aim to rule the world.

But lest any cry out that this conclusion is based solely on the dim past, let him but keep it in mind while next considering the Roman Hierarchy’s modern record.

AD companion-Jj ships spoil good morals,” says God’s Word the Bible.

(1 Corinthians 15:33, Weymouth) Human history bears this out repeatedly. Of all organizations in the world, probably none has ever possessed such a wonderful combination of wealth, power, prestige and influence on the individual as the Roman Catholic Church. If ever any system had the opportunity to do good and assist the people to worth-while knowledge, certainly papal Rome in her sixteen centuries of existence has been that system.

But alas! If ever any system or organization made a miserable failure of such a golden opportunity, papal Rome has been that organization. While she has dealt with hoodlum princes and warriors in the past for political gain, her people have been left to abject poverty and ignorance.

In modem times Rome has proved both these principles still true. She deals with any.

Today the Catholic Hierarchy poses as the deadly foe of communism and the virtuous defender of all godliness and morality. But for all such talk her past is a history of willing alliance with every form uf godless and immoral desperado under the sun. In hope of relief and change in this century of enlightenment, Vatican well-wishers have again been sorely disappointed and disillusioned.

Prior to World War I the Vatican again turned to its ancient sword, Germany, and began a polishing and sharpening process. At the pope’s prompting, the kaiser acknowledged Germany’s position as the 'sword of the church’, and was probably glad to have something to add a note of sanctity to his forthcoming aims of ag-gresslon in Europe. Papal aims became increasingly clear, ao that surely by no mere coincidence the Treaty of London, signed by the Allied powers in 1915, precluded any papal representative from a place at the peace table. Does this clear up the question as to the Vatican's aloof treatment of the old League of Nations?

Again playing the field in the twenties, the Vatican even made friendly overtures^ to Russia, which had, in 1917, dethroned Rome’s arch-rival, the Eastern Orthodox Cnurch. However, nothing permanent came of the proceedings, and after 1930 the proGerman Pacelli succeeded to the office of papal secretary of state, and again attention was turned to Germany. In the meantime, the pope had arranged a treaty with Mussolini, the Lateran Pact in February, 1929, by which he secured restoration of Vatican temporal authority.

Sweeping liberties were granted the Catholic Church in the Third Reich. Di turn the churchpled^ged itself to German Allegiance on thepart ofJ3enpah prelates, to pray for tEe welfare of Germany and to submit to Hitler's approval of individuals appointed to ii)gh churdi ogices.At once someone may sense the logical accusation that the papacy willingly aligned itself with the Nazis and Fascists in ttteir intent to wreck the League and set up a totalitarian new order. You may forearm yourself with Francis McMahon’s argument, in his book A Catholic Looks at the World, that concordats do not mean endorsement of political ideals. You may feel that the Vatican did not anticipate the future intentions at Axis toctators. at tba tvrne wjsx-cordats were signed. There may be other arguments in your mind of similar vein. But the cold facts thundering an opposite answer are far too plentiful.

Not five months after iZ Dice's legions marched into Ethiopia in October, 1935, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, since Pope Pius XII, on February 23. 1936, declared in a public address thaj^frfussolini was “not only the government's* head, but_ the cul-tyj?4^^5£^5O!3£erialJ§mg?^7ⁱSie Rome then of the Fascists he called “God's city” and “the city of knowledge, majesty, truth and saintliness”. On July 31, 1946, while Italian fate was under discussion by the victorious Allied commanders, this same man, now as pope, seized the opportunity of another public occasion to call the Lateran Pact with Mussolini part.qf, an ‘inviolable faith ^inherited fTPm Roman ancestors*. He declared such to be “forever unchangeable laws”. Chanted Cardinal

Htastev                TAZ&, ?c>

What of the Nazi colleague? Just following Hitler’s election the German Catholic bishops convening in Fulda withdrew all criticism of the Nazi party. Seven years later, in 1940, during another Fulda conference and when the Hitler plan of aggressive conquest was perfectly apparent in course of execution, such bishops endorsed the German war program, expressing their thanks to German soldiers for their “victorious advance and defense of the German homeland”. But from the start the Vatican political engineers were well informed on Nazi policy. Cardinal Pacelli (again!) concluded the German concordat and signed for the Holy See. This 'jears di personal experience on his part in Germany. He knew Hitler's

plans for conquest from Mein Kampf and he had seen Nazism take root.

Back to Westphalia!

By 1940 the Nazi juggernaut seemed irresistibly launched on its course. Boldly the Goebbels-dominated Fremdenblatt of Hamburg declared: "It is not the revision of the Versailles Treaty which is the thought written on the banner of the German troops,                       _of^thc

lagt^remnantsof theJTreaty^of Westpfialia of            oTher'"words, extinguishing

tEe^iastremnants of the Protestant victory that year, extinguishing the last remnants of liberal government in Europe, that got the go-ahead that year, and re-establishing a papal-dominated "Holy Roman Empire” with the assistance of the pope’s modem associates, the totalitarian dictators. Professor F. L. Schuman of Chicago University in his book The Nazi Dictatorship reveals that^Franz^ yon Papen^ the ^apai kpight. rescued Hitl^andjhis^patty from bankrupt^; in^January^ 1933, by opening the way^fpr financial assistance tq_the_ N^zi^frojn w^alffiy Q^side_soqrces. Three months later the concordat was signed, with von Papen signing for Germany. Tibor Koeves, in his biography of von Papen, declares the concordat was a great moral victory for Hitler, his first such recognition from the outside world.

And who can ignore how warmly the Vatican has welcomed Spain’s Franco regime into its inner circle of friends, how papal blessings have draped the fascist dictator of Madrid even in recent postwar years? In January, 1946, the pontiff called attention to Spain’s having been dedicated to the "Sacred Heart” in 1919, and he expressed the confidence that the nation would be guided thereby to the goal that "Divine Providence has ever set for her”. The Catholic clergy in and outside of Spain have consistently stood by Franco

and his Falange fascists to the point of defiance. Small wonder that the generalissimo has thus been buoyed with the temerity to defy the United Nations and uphold his regime. Also, papal blessings bestow upon him the idea he is favored of God, crying out as he did in March, 1946: "We are right and God is with us. God will not allow barbarism and brutality to rule over Ms.” (Thisj^fter ten yea^^civilj^aj^dic-, tatorrule, erisUvonient of /thought and mass murder!j       ^J

In her march back to Westphalia Rome has decried, the comfnunists, but only a few months after the Japanese Axis partner sneak-attacked Pearl Harbor, the Vatican opened formal diplomatic relations with that Shinto-inspired power. Protests from the Allied powers were politely ignored and the Axis march went on. Godless Japaq,_y$s ^godless Russia, no! After 'all, tfeis talk of the evil of godless associations is good enough for the masses, but the hierarchical rulers know by experience that it often pays off politically. Furthermore, the German Catholic priest, KarZ Adam, in his book The Spirit of Catholicism, even boasts about the moral advantage of such leagues. Repeated heathen companionship, says he, in India, China and Japan will only serve to make Catholicism "even richer, more luxuriant, more manifold in dogma, morals, law and worship”. Why not?          Newman al

ways di^ontendjhat ^py-pagaji pr^tjce could be ‘sanctifie^^jjte^^ddption into tfie^oih^n^hurcjj^ In the much-blessed refiel^armife^ofVranca with which he destroyed the Spanish Republic from 1936 to 1939, thousands of North African Moslem Moors were employed. Did Rome complin about their religion? Of course not. Their membership in Franco’s, "crusade” was enough to "sanctify” them.

And on it goes. The Nazi-Fascist chain across Europe was joined in time by Cath-

otic satellite rulers like Petain in France and (ISo^ the priest, In Czechoslovakia, The aeSlgn was complete. A child could see it clearly: The Vatican politicians conspired with a gang of professional thugs to upset the Protestant and liberal Europe formed since Westphalia and strengthened after the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918. They stuck with their consorts, well, almost to the bitter end, pulling out just in time to change costumes for their postwar play with the Allied democracies.

Blessings for Axis; Curses for Reds

In all the years they remained in the Axis camp, was a papal word ever said about the Nazi and Fascist standards of morality, of how these isms undermined godliness, of Hitier’s un-Christian_ “freg love” pracfi^eToFfnssuppressiorrof every-THngandeveryone contrary to his own, will?For fee prosecution of but one man, as in the cases of Cardin§kMifidszerity and Archbishop Stejipae.every last individual directly jpvorved was placed under major excOTnhiunication. Yeai^grlier^or^jh^ mere ^crime^ of separating churclCand s(^^s-Sna*^<&Iacnig^3I2§figi2Ss^^^qual foQungTT^ entire government oi tHe ^panish KejouET lie? Yet MitlerT^Iussolini, FrancoTall Catholics, and Tojo could obliterate freedom, enslave millions, send Catholic, Protestant and Jewish dissenters to concentration camps, torture chambers and the execution block, commit vile atrocities against humanity, and yet continue to receive only pipal blessings and benedictions in return. Uife was all that could be mustered from

God's last great defender in Europe”!

Yes, they may say the pope has no temporal interests and is above politics. With their gelatinlike speech they may say that concordats do not signify agreement with governmental policies. But the facts are all against them. Illljiowthe^^^^ri^ concordats with Germany and Italy have never been rescinded, and Cathode fascist regimes continue to flourish as in Spain and Argentina. The facts prove the Vatican to be the world’s most astute political force—when it wishes. She now calls for a “united Christian front against communism”, but why did she never do so against Hitler? She complains of pagan Russia; yet the London Catholic Herald of November 25, 1949, spoke of a possible Catholic-Moslem front to fight the Reds.

Regardless of the meaning of a Vatican concordat, it is certainly no excommunication as levied upon communists today. The papacy had twelve long years to cancel its Hitler concordat and excommunicate him and his government, Catholics in America, on the basis of Hitler’s Catholic nativity, specifically reminded the pope of the weapon of excommunication in 1939. Everyone knows what the Vatican did about it. Even the upside-down understanding of the papists should be able to reason why,

, Why then the vast difference, like night and day, between the way the papacy has reacted toward the fascist dictators and the communist rulers? Until the time that Nazidom was a complete wreck, the pope’s declarations were so supple that both sides could anxiously claim them as endorsement of their respective causes. On this subject, Avro Manhattan, in his book The Vatican in World Politics, says:       .

“Then, more than a month after Germany’s complete defeat; above the moans of the millions of bereaved, homeless, wounded, humiliated and bewildered Germans; above the 9,000 to 10,000 Catholic churches out of the total of 12,000 in Germany proper which were completely destroyed or seriously damaged by Allied air raids or land battles; above the burned-out shells of cathedrals looming grimly against the sky—for the first time since the rise of

the regime the pope dared to breathe the word ‘Nazism’ in condemnation. During a short allocution Pius XII had the moral courage to declare that it was *a good thing’ that ‘Satanic Nazism' had been de* stroyed. That was all. The Pope had spoken against Nazism at last.”

Can any be childlike enough to believe that the Hitlerian legions, for all or their Catholic veneer, were one whit more relenting, kind, charitable, godlike or humanitarian than the Reds? Why be facetious? Or course not. But what was the lone difference? They were ‘swords of the church’ offering service to the Hierarchy of Rome, while the Reds (at least till now) are not. What then prompted the Vatican's “holy crusade” against communism? Love of right and justice? Hatred of Red aggression policies? Impossible! for these policies are hers, copied by present rulers IMom the pages of Catholic history. It is significant that remaining fascist rulers of today like Franco and Peron make capital of this same “anti-Bolshevik” crusade. Thereby they have been highly successful in duping the Western democracies into overlooking their existence. Whether planned or not, does it not appear that the same ends have been served for the Vatican and that this smooth cover*up has enabled her to adroitly change horses since the war, curry the favor of the democracies and at the same time prepare some new “swords” for what she evidently hopes will result in a world crusade to bring Russia to her penitent knees?

Would ‘Deal with the Devil*

The evident conclusion of the matter is simply that, as Pope Pius XI once put it, the papacy would deal ‘with the Devil himself' in an effort to win souls. Souls won by the Hierarchy, however, have ever been enslaved to the support of her autocratic empires. But since this policy exists, one wonders if a Vatican-Russian negotiation might ever conceivably occur. Do you think Stalin is too wicked for a pope to shake hands with? Then you do not appreciate how many slimy hands popes have shaken in sixteen hundred years. But be that as it may, only one source can answer this question and that is the Vatican itself, so we quote the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano_f in October, 1948:

“So far as the U.S.S.R. is concerned, it is jintrue to say the Holy See or the church has invoked its destruction.” Continuing, the paper assured that friendly relations with Russia would be welcomed “as soon as possible”, just as with all other countries. Osservatore commented that papal agreements with the czarist regime of 1847 “certainly were not broken by the Holy See”. Thus, if ever Russia surrenders her own selfish ambitions of world domination to those of Vatican City, you may expect to see the blood-red paw of the Kremlin clasped with that of the pope, who will let bygones be bygones.

Perhaps, from such truthful revelations, you turn, sick at heart, and look pessimistically into the future. If so, remember that all such two-faced worldly potentates and their selfish schemes of rule or ruin at the cost of innocent lives are now living in their last and numbered days. The finality with which God’s great battle of Armageddon will shortly wipe them from the world scene is as certain as the rising of the morning sun. Certain too is it^that people of honest heart of all nations will thereafter feel no sense of loss. Incoming now is the rule of God’s great Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Such administration in righteousness can be counted on to endure, for it is founded on the sure covenant promise of Jehovah God, who never plays politics and never changes.—Isaiah 55:11; Malachi 3:6.

OUT of “Davy Jones' Locker” comes one of nature’s strangest examples of “it can’t happen here”. The sea horse has been described as a “very improbable kind of animal”; and, stranger still, the more they are described and seen, the more improbable they seem. The common first conception of a gigantic, sea-going steed with a fish’s tail and weird slashing fins has been enhanced by storied fable wherein “Neptune” is pictured riding in a chariot drawn by such beasts. But the sea horse is no such animal. To make it appear such in comparison, the observer would have to stand, no more than an inch high, for the average sea horse is only from three to five inches long, dwarf models measure about two inches, and only rare varieties are more than a foot.

Facing an on-coming “herd” of sea horses, what do you see? The lead “horse” comes up for close inspection, not at a gallop, mind you, but erect, his head at right angles with his body, and his curious, flnless monkey’s tail curved out below him and inward. Perhaps he is somewhat in a hurry, so he leans his head forward a little and furiously flutters his dorsal and pectoral fins atop his head and back. These act as his propellers.

It is at once easy to see the resemblance of the creature’s head to that of a miniature horse. Now you note at close range that the body is embraced by encircling tubercles or spines of varying length and is compressed beneath these. Also, armory scales are evident about the body, giving the appearance of a medieval war steed girded for battle. It Is easy to see that this rigid structure would prove very confining and prevent much flexing sideways by the body. The delegate before us is a male, so he boasts a kangaroolike pouch on the underside of his belly. But what on earth for? Therein lies an interesting tale—more on that later.

Now the creature before you slows down from slow, his top speed, to dead stop, his favorite speed, glances about, then snags a piece of sea growth with his tail in true monkey fashion. By now any observer pauses in amazement. The head of a horse, a kangaroo’s pouch, a monkey's tail and a suit of armor thrown in besides—yet what is it? Why, a fish, of course! No wonder it is fishdom’s “man from Mars”; truly a fish ‘out of this world’.

Curio of the Deep

Then for the first time you look into the creature’s round, deep eyes—or you think you do. But you have only half his attention. Suddenly you become aware that though one eye condescends to take in this odd human visitor, the other spies something more interesting, food; for the eyes function independently and can look in entirely opposite directions simultaneously. Most sea horse delicacies are not much larger than a pihhead and consist largely of tiny crustaceans, capepods, sand fleas and opossum shrimps. Such a diet is none too plentiful, so the sea horse has to eat when he can. He will slowly move up on the unsuspecting meal; eye it furtively, come very dose, then suddenly the victim is gone from sight and the sea horse is licking his chops. His food must be perched stationary, as the sea horse is too slow to catch anything moving.

From his build and manner of movement, you correctly suppose that the sea horse must be delicately balanced to provide equilibrium. He is kept upright in the water by means of an air sack or “swim bladder” in the upper part of the body. This bladder is always extended by a quantit X of gas so exactly in harmony with the specific gravity of the body that the emission of a single bubble therefrom the size of a small pinhead would immediately knock the sea horse from his proud perch. Down to the bottom he tumbles in such cases, there to struggle about, thinking or muttering whatever disparaging things sea horses think or mutter in such circumstances, until the wound is healed and a new supply of gas is secreted by an internal membrane in the bladder.

By chance, do you suppose that sea horses do not “mutter”? Well, surely one more surprise concerning this curio of the deep will not startle you now. In his “Life History of the Sea Horses’*, Theodore Gill tells of two in separate glass vases of water that exchanged faintly audible sounds caused by snapping their jaws. Other like observations have led to the belief that this provides the sea horses with some means of communication or signaling.

Portable Camouflage

In the manly art of self-defense the sea horse is none too resplendent. It is fortunate in not ranking high in the taste appeal of larger fish, for its sluggish speed coupled । with opposition met from the tides makes it easy prey when in the swim. However, the creature can hide quite well in the seaweed and other oceanic plants about which it habitually twines its tail. Some varieties have stringy appendages to their bony spines that add to their elusiveness when found among sea plants. Another saving feature is the fact that they can remarkably change colors to suit environment, thus carrying their own camouflage with them from one “pasture” to the next. The fish authority Gill cites examples of several of the Mediterranean species brought into captivity. They were at first bright colored, red, pink, yellow and some were almost white, all quite irregular shades among sea horses. In a short time, however, these colors began fading and were at length changed to the more orthodox sea horse light brown or speckled hues. So this is just another accomplished gift for the sea’s “Man from Mars”—he is a chameleon!

The sea horses are an almost antisocial lot. Even the intrusion of relatives upon one's solitude is resented, and alone the sea horse prefers to hang by the tail from some secluded growth.

But of course there is one exception to the above rule, that common to all forms of life, the time when romance plays upon the heart strings and drives Mr. Average Sea Horse into public life in search of feminine companionship. As ever the case with all life, he finds it; but the results lead to consequences for Mr. Sea Horse never dreamed of by other males.

It is a rare treat to observe the sea horse courtship to its completion, but Dr, Filipo Fanzago, in May, 1874, was so privileged, in an aquarium in Naples, He records that the male remained quite pas-

sive while the female circled him and made all the advances in his direction. Here it appears opportune to disclose the big sea horse secret: At this point the female carries the yet unfertilized eggs. Her advances toward the male are with the intent of transferring the eggs to the pouch mentioned earlier on the underside of the male’s stomach. Dr. Fanzago tells of the female he observed pressing the aperture from which her eggs were expelled against the opening of the male’s pouch. This process was repeated five times until apparently she had made the transfer of her entire egg supply. In some way the eggs are fertilized during the act of transfer. Then off they frequently go together, their tails intertwined in a sweet sign of affection, or at least so it appears.

The Male’s ‘Beginning of Sorrows’

But by reading between the lines you will have already correctly supposed that the male’s trouble is only beginning. Prior to the courtship his pouch has become thickened with layers of fat for the purpose of feeding the young now soon to hatch inside. This would make possible their nourishment until sufficient maturity is reached to bring them forth to the outside world and put them on their own. Hence, papa sea horse plays the role of incubator. From the time he receives the eggs until the hatched offspring are expelled, the male spends about forty-five days in ever-increasing discomfort. So uncomfortable does he become that during the last few days before the “blessed events” become events, it is all he can do to lean groggily against whatever plant life he can find and convincingly look the part of a very seasick sea horse.

Worse still, is his mate there to hold his tail, pace the floor or die the traditional “thousand deaths” of the orthodox male on the day of the grand event? Why, no!

In fact she may not even be in the vicinity, so little does she apparently care for her woebegone husband or the new arrivals.

When he concludes that the time is ripe, the expectant father may pull himself erect, curl his tail around a handy growth and press downward with the weight of his body to force the delivery of the young ones through the opening in the top of his pouch. Or he may grab a smooth shell with his tail and rub his swollen pouch against it to accomplish the same end. Each effort produces a few babies and is followed by a brief rest. Delivery of an entire brood will consume several hours. The babies are very tiny carbon copies of the parent. One average brood may consist of 200, though sometimes this is increased to 300 or more.

Still the mamma remains entirely apathetic, and if any care is to be given the young, it comes from papa, who really pays in the sea horse household. But at best the assistance is of very short duration, and in what seems a heartlessly short time, the babies are shifting for themselves in a hard underwater world. There is no way they can return to the parental pouch if they grow tired. At least this makes it possible for all of them to one day exclaim, “I am a self-made sea horse!”

There are about thirty or forty varieties of the common sea horse found in tropic or subtropic waters the world over and along both coasts of the United States. If their sedate, haughty manner is a sign of conceit, they are not without some right to it. Consistently in aquariums they rate high if not highest in interest. Even when dead, their dried remains are often “best sellers” in marine curio shops.

With a last look we turn away, perhaps glancing at Mr. Sea Horse, who seems to have a twinkle in his eye. We think we know what is on his mind: “Who said it is a woman’s work that’s never done, eh friend?”

FOR long the Caribbean island of Puerto

Rico has enjoyed the reputation of being more or lessxa model of order and tranquillity among tie traditionally explosive Latin-American countries. While the various sister republics of Central and South America had their internal and external duarrels, flare-ups and violence, Uncle Sam’s political niece in the Caribbean quietly went along with little if anything to spot her record for good behavior. Then, at the end of October, 1950, usually well-mannered little Puerto Rico suddenly shot its way into the world headlines with a burst of violence that claimed more than a score of lives in the first five days. In rapid succession came a major prison break, armed rebellion by members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist party, and an attempt by two Puerto Rican Nationalists to assassinate President Truman at Blair House, Washington, D. C.

The pot which boiled over on October 30 had been brewing for a long time. The United States took over political guardianship of Puerto Rico in 1898. Just the year before, the island had been granted autonomy or self-government by Spain, this after many years of effort on the part of the island’s political leaders. Though submitting rather quietly now to U. S. political rule, the people’s interest in independence or at least self-government by no means died out.

In the early 1920*s a party was formed in Puerto Rico called El Partido Naciona-lista. Its leaders were quick to let everyone know that they believed the time was long overdue for Uncle Sam to turn Puerto Rico loose from his political apron strings. The party did not specialize in soft-spoken diplomacy or political maneuverings but trusted in the lusty insistency of its demands to eventually gain its end: full and complete independence for Puerto Rico.

When don Pedro Albizu Campos stepped into the role of party president in 1928 the scene definitely took on a foreboding aspect. A graduate of Harvard, where he proved an outstanding student in law, Albizu seemed to have developed a deep-seated hatred for the United States. It is popularly supposed that his bitterness springs from unpleasant experiences he underwent there due to racial discrimination. There is evidence to indicate, however, that such reason was circulated chiefly for its political effect At any rate, back in Puerto Rico now, he zealously fomented this hatred of the * Yankees and their imperialistic government* in his Na-cionalistas. With his broad-brimmed black hat, flowing cape, and black ribbon-tie he made quite a striking figure, and his eloquent tongue and fertile brain drew a crowd of admiring followers, especially $mong the younger element. Under his dominance the party went militaristic. The “Army of Liberation’* was formed, made up of black-shirted men and women. In the newspapers notices of political meetings were always set out in the form of a military command. And when Albizu spoke he always spoke to “the nation”.

Violence and Imprisonment

Verbal violence led to physical violence. In 1935 there was an outbreak between Insular Police and a carload of Nationalists in Rio Piedras and four Nationalists died in the shooting. On February 23, 1936, the Nationalists took vengeance when two young members of the party assassinated the head of the Insular Police, Colonel Riggs, while he sat in his car in front of the post office. The assailants were arrested by the police and taken into their headquarters. A little later shots rang out and the police came out and announced that the two assassins had died in an attempt to escape. A round-up was made of Nationalist leaders, including Albizu Campos, evidence was gathered, and they were brought to trial accused of “conspiracy to oppose by force the authority of the United States, incite rebellion, and recruit soldiers to serve in armed hostility against the United States”. While their “commander in chief” was waiting out an appeal in jail, members of the “Army of Liberation” lined up for a parade through the streets of the southern city of Ponce, although police were on hand to enforce a nb-marching order issued by the authorities. From somewhere a shot rang out, and what the Nationalists now refer to as the “Ponce Massacre” set in. When the smoke settled eighteen Nationalists and policemen lay dead in the streets. Violence continued until after Albizu and seven others were finally shipped to Atlanta, Georgia, federal prison on June 7,1937, to serve terms of from six to

ten years. Then, gradually, a measure of tranquillity set in.

Six years passed and “don Pedro” was released. After spending several years on parole in New York, came 1948 and he boarded a ship back to Puerto Rico, where an immense crowd gathered at the docks to see him disembark. After a brief period he again began to take an active part in the Nationalist party’s campaign to “free Puerto Rico of Yankee imperialism and oppression”. But the party, which in 1936 polled only 4,00Q votes out of a total 300,-000, had definitely gone on the wane. Early this year I watched as they paraded through the streets of San Juan behind their smiJing leader; men and women in uniforms that were far from neat or impressive attempting to march in unison as they headed for the cathedral and mass.

Nationalists Good Catholics

This is interesting to note, that almost invariably their meetings or parades wound up at the local Catholic church and terminated with the celebration of a mass. And Albizu’s speeches, which were always extremely vitriolic, sometimes made one think of Peter the Hermit and his rabble-rousing at the time of the Catholic Crusades. Albizu specialized in the stirring up of nationalistic pride and prejudice, pro the Puerto Rican “fatherland” and against the Yankee empire of the United States. The theme of many of his talks seemed to be that all that was good in Puerto Rico had come from Spain or other Latin countries, all that was bad had come from the Anglo-Saxon world.

But in his whipping up of such nationalistic spirit he frequently made use of the religious angle and made clear his loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church. When he was speaking to a large crowd in the public plaza in Ponce several weeks ago, I listened while he praised the Catholic Church and its “great men” of history. Then, referring to those who had left the “faith” or “fallen from it”, he shouted that they must be commanded to stand up and that sometimes it was necessary to “lash or scourge them” to make them rise* Although Catholic dignitaries in the island are quick to write column after column in the papers if some political figure¹ mentions birth ipntrol, they seemed not to_Tflnd time to condemn Albizu Campos’ hate-provoking tirades. Constantly he stressed that his listeners should not hesitate to use violence to gain their independence.

1948 was election year and Puerto Ricans for the first time in 50 years of American rule had the opportunity to elect their own governor. The Partida Naciona-li&ta followed a customary procedure and instructed its members not to vote. Then as soon as the elections were over they promptly claimed to have won them, saying that all the nonvoters were Nationalists. Actually the Partida Popular or Popular Democratic party won an overwhelming victory, their candidates being elected in 75 out of 76 municipalities and the head of the party, Luis Munoz Marin, being elected governor.

Premature Explosions

Then 1950, and the United States Congress, with one dissenting vote, extends to Puerto Rico the right to frame its own constitution. November 4 and 5 are set as the dates for new voters to register for the island-wide referendum to be taken next year. But before November 4 arrives something explodes.

The fuse was evidently lit on the night of October 26, Thursday. Albizu Campos had delivered one of his violent addresses in the eastern town of Fajafdo. On the return to San Juan, a car accompanying him was stopped by police and investigated, with a resultant arrest of four of its oc~ cupants for carrying revolvers and other weapons.

While Puerto Ricans were still excitedly discussing this, on Saturday afternoon came the news flash from the Insular Penitentiary at Rio Piedras that some 112 convicts had made a mass prison break, killing two guards and raiding the prison arsenal before blasting their way out of the rear gate of the prison. With several murderers and life-term criminals among their numbers, the people became increasingly jittery. And that night police raided the home of the Nationalist leader in Ponce on the south coast and found a large supply of bullets and a number of bottles filled with some unidentified liquid, supposedly incendiary bombs known as “Molotov cocktails”.

Monday, October 30, while police throughout the island were still busy with their manhunt for escaped convicts, on the south coast a group of policemen from Ponce, on their way before daybreak to raid the home of a Nationalist leader in nearby Penuelas, were surprised and attacked by a group of armed Nationalists. This news quickly reached the capital of San Juan but proved only the precursor of bigger events. At noon Monday in the capital a car traveled down the dead-end street which terminates before the big white building called “La Fortaleza”, the governor’s mansion. When about twenty-five feet from the entrance, out jumped six Nationalists armed with pistols and a submachine gun and opened fire on the police guards. The gun battle was fierce and brief, with death resulting to four of the Nationalists, another severely wounded, and the other arrested apparently uninjured.

Revolution Meanly in Headlines

Tljat was what actually occurred, but the effect on the populace as a whole was electrifying. Accurate repo'rts were slow in reaching the papers and radio stations, and the people, not knowing the extent of the attack, gave way to wild excitement and speculation. Reports were quickly circulated that a force of 300 Nacionaltetas were attacking the Fortaleza, And then San Juan’s tabloid, SI Imparcial, came out with screaming red headlines, Rebellion in the Island! From within the island reports came in of attacks on police in other towns: Arecibo, Mayaguez, Ponce. The town of Jayuya, high up in the mountains, was reported to be completely in the hands of the Nationalists.

The impact of this sudden burst of violence on the ordinarily pacific Puerto Rican scene left the people stunned. Though the governor urged for calmness, the newspapers and radio generally rendered a disservice to the people by grabbing at any and every rumor, splashing it on the front page of their extra editions and interrupting their programs to flash it into the minds of their already upset listeners. But real facts were extremely hard to get. On Monday afternoon, after trying in vain to find out what the actual situationwasbylistening to special "news” broadcasts which told absolutely nothing as to what the final results were, I made a trip to downtown San Juan, expecting to hear gunshots and other sounds of battle, There were none. The streets around the Fortaleza were blocked off by police and likewise those leading past the headquarters of the Nationalist party and residence of its leader, Albizu Campos. A crowd of two or three hundred persons was gathered at the lower end of Calle Cruz on which this building is located and another similar group stood at the upper end looking down, while a large number of policemen were stationed along the street. For two days the crowds watched and waited.

Puerto Rico had no real revolution nor even a full-fledged uprising. The vast majority of the people remained calm though somewhat bewildered- In reality the disturbance consisted chiefly of gangster attacks by armed fanatics and isolated gun battles- The one exception to this was the mountain town of Jayuya. Here the attack did assume the proportions of a revolt. The town was actually taken over by a group of Nationalists, but control by them only lasted about 24 hours, and then National Guard detachments occupied the town,

But even now that the shooting is all over it is difficult to say just what did happen in the majority of cases. An example of the confusion which was rampant was the “Battle of Barrio Obrero". In this section of the capital a gun battle broke out Tuesday afternoon about five o’clock when police went to the barbershop of one Vidal Santiago, said to be Albizu Campos’ personal barber ai^d a Nationalist leader. Four carloads of policemen and National Guardsmen quickly arrived on the scene and with them came a portable broadcasting outfit to carry a shot-by-shot report to radio listeners. This went on for some two and a half hours, with the dozens of policemen and National Guardsmen shooting intermittently into the barbershop at the "group of Nationalists” supposedly inside. Over the radio it sounded like the battlefront of a small war—and a very confused one. Some listeners later likened the broadcast to the Orson Welles* dramatization of the Martian invasion. When finally the soldiers were convinced that the shooting from inside had stopped, they broke into the barbershop and there found one man, Vidal Santiago, lying on the floor nearly dead from bullet wounds. As one

Puerto Rican commented, “They killed that man forty times arid on the thirtyninth time they were still afraid of him.”

Then Tuesday night out came the tabloid El Impartial with another sensational headline: “Planes Bombing Utuado.” The account actually stated that a plane of the National Guard had dropped a bomb near the home of the Nationalist leader in Utuado, neighboring town of Jayuya. Next day the paper carried a ^irge photo of a machine-gun shell and bL\Let found in Utuado and quoted the dictionary definition of the Spanish word ‘^ombardear” in an attempt to cover up their previous report. Actually the plane did attempt to machine-gun this house, but in doing so it also reportedly fired on a nearby schoolhouse and the superintendent had to phone San Juan to have them call off their winged zealot

Plot on Truman, Arrest of Campos

During all this time Albizu Campos remained in his residence on Calle Cruz, appearing once or twice on the balcony to smile and speak to the police below. But on Wednesday events suddenly took an international twist. By that afternoon all the world was hearing the news that two Puerto Rican Nationalists from New York had tried Unsuccessfully to assassinate President Truman at Blair House, Washington, D.C., one of them dying in the attempt. The two, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo, were both Catholics. On Tor resola's body was found a letter which reportedly carried the signature of Pedro Albizu Campos. That night Albizu was arrested by San Juan police and taken to jail. Later, before a group of newsmen, he stated that the “Fatherland is passing through its glorious transfiguration”.

Mass arrests followed and by the following Monday 729 persons were reported as being held by the police, most of them being Nationalists or Communists. Nearly 300 Nationalists were said to have given themselves up to police in Jayuya. With this the excitement gradually tapered off.

Though hundreds of shots were fired, when time came to count the dead they numbered just 27 with some 50 others wounded. At this writing all but a dozen or so of the 112 escaped convicts have been captured. Property damage was worst in Jayuya, with an estimated $750,000 loss.

Now Albizu Campos and a number of his party associates await trial for their part in “the glorious transfiguration” through which Puerto Rico passed. They do not seem to have the sympathy of the general public in their plight. Nor did the people of Puerto Rico seem to appreciate the action of the president of Cuba when, just two days after the attempt to assassinate Puerto Rico's governor, he cabled him asking that the governor use his good offices to “protect the life of Albizu Campos and his associates”.

It is generally considered that the acts of terrorism by the Nationalists were scheduled to take place on November 4 to thus thwart the registration for the constitutional referendum. Evidently the attack went off prematurely due to the police raids and the discovery of their supplies of arms. At any rate, whatever their purpose was they seem to have failed in it. Now the main concern of the Puerto Ricans seems to be as to what effect these events will have on the attitude of the United States government and its citizens toward them. For in spite of a quarter century of Nationalist activity the vast majority seem to prefer to remain close to their rich Uncle Sam.

If the events in Puerto Rico demonstrate anything it would seem to be that the world as a whole is in a sad condition and that Jesus' words were true when he foretold that this would be a day of “distress of nations”.

THE TRIM LINE IS THE HEALTH LINE

ARE you overweight? Then Stop! Look!

Listen! there may be danger ahead! There was a time when being fat was considered an asset or just a joke. And today most folks are concerned about their excess weight primarily because it detracts from.their physical charm or interferes with their enjoyment of pastimes such as sports or dancing. But more and more the fact is being brought home to us that the coveted trim line is also the health line.

For instance, statistics show that at thirty years the man of average weight (or less) has three times as good a chance to live to be seventy as does the fat man. Further, they show that the degree of overweight has a definite relation to longevity. Ten per cent overweight means 20 per cent increase in mortality; 15 to 25 per cent overweight means an increase of 44 per cent in mortality; and if you are more than 25 per cent overweight then your chances of living the normal average life span are cut 74 per cent. Statistics also show that married women weigh 28 per cent more than single women of the same age, that 50 per cent of all women over fifty are overweight, and that, all in all, one out of four is sacrificing years of life because of overweight.

Says a foremost life insurance company: “Certain diseases such as diabetes and diseases of the heart and kidneys long have been associated with overweight. So definite has been this association that life insurance companies have been reluctant to place standard insurance on people with more than moderate overweight, and where it is excessive, insurance has been refused altogether.”

So if you are overweight then Stop! and ponder over the foregoing facts; Look! at the statistics (and yourself in a mirror); and Listen! to the way your heart beats after climbing several flights of stairs or after running for that streetcar.

Ignoring the Cause

What is the cause of overweight or obesity? There was a time when it was held to be due primarily to glandular irregularity. This view has now been rejected by medical science in general, for, as Dr, Bruch of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, says, clinical and experimental studies “bring little if any support for the view that obesity is caused by primary metabolic or endocrine (glandular) disturbances”. As to the real cause, he further states; “There is no doubt left that obesity is the result of positive energy balance; that means a person becomes fat when his caloric intake is greater than his energy expenditure.” From which it appears that the term “obese” is a very fitting one to describe excessive overweight, for it comes from a root meaning, among other things, “having eaten one’s self fat.”

Obviously, the common sense thing to do, since you have become overweight because of eating more food than you really need, is to cut down on your eating. But you like to eat and so you conclude that you will reduce the easy way, via the drugstore. But watch out! says one authority: “It is dangerous or foolish to use commercial obesity cures which usually promise to

effect reduction wimout diet or exercise. Such cures have no real value unless harmful dpigs are used in their manufacture. Therefore, such products as ‘reducing’ soaps, creams, salts, pills, powders, garments, rollers or breads are useless or dangerous.” Of the same import is the observation made by Drs. E. F. Rynearson and C. F. Gastineau of the Mayo Clinic: “Almost all of the widely advertised cures for obesity are entirely worthless. Most such drugs are dangerous or potentially so/*

Perhaps you may ask, “What’s wrong with reducing by taking plenty of exercise? That way I could keep on eating the way I do and still reduce.” Nothing, except that it takes a great deal of time and effort to reduce via exercise alone. As Steinhausen states (in the /owzw? of Physical Education), “It seems obvious that modem man has neither the time, interest, nor physical endurance to depend on exercise alone for weight reduction. The practice, besides being uneconomical of time and energy, would certainly prove dangerous to the man who needed weight reduction most.” Meaning those in the higher-age brackets.

Will Power Essential

The prime essential for reducing is not a diet, but self-control. Says Dr. E. H. Rynearson (New York Times, Oct 21, 1950), “If we had a will-power pill to help patients stay on a reducing diet it would help. Unfortunately we have no will-power pills; if the patient does not want to lose weight more than anything in the world and is unable to follow a low-calorie diet without supervision, there is no chance of his losing weight.”

And quoting further: “Dr. Rynearson described a diet used at the Mayo Clinic in cases of pronounced overweight. It provides about 600 calories a day, in addition to adequate vitamin and mineral intake. (This is about one-fourth of the nation's average caloric intake, y This rigid diet is to be used only in cases of great overweight, he cautioned; usually a diet consisting of between 1,000 and 1,500 caloriefc will suffice. A reducing diet should exclude fats and carbohydrates to keep calories at a minimum and should provide protein essentia] to maintenance of proper nutrition, he said.” The foregoing may be said to present the orthodox medical viewpoint.

Among the suggestions given for reducing by those who adhere to the “nature” methods of health and cure are the following: Upon rising drink a glass of hot water with the juice of a half lemon. For breakfast, all the fruit you want, mint tea and toast. For lunch, a large glass of tomato juice, a salad or steamed vegetables (nonstarchy), a baked potato, skin to be eaten, mint tea, and, for dessert, a cup of unsweetened fruit salad with shredded coconut. For supper, a cup of vegetable broth, a salad, a baked potato, or four ounces of cottage cheese, or a half cup grated nuts or a serving of Iamb, chicken, beef or fresh or canned flshz Honey may be used for sweetening.

Supporting the role that the potato plays in the foregoing diet are the observations of Favor Smith, executive secretary, Long Island Agricultural Council. According to him: “Spuds Don’t Go to Waist. You may not know it, but the much maligned potato has all the advantages of many other vegetables—and it won't do any injustice to milady's figure.” He further points out that “the bureau and the Cornell Agricultural Extension Service, after three years of research and tests, have proved that potatoes are no more fattening than many other foods”.

Recently a new diet has been developed that permits the overweight individual to eat all he wants (no watching of calories!)

of certain foods that he really enjoys eating. While on this diet he does not feel hungry, neither does it interfere with his work nor make him feel depressed. Also claims are made for it that it will reduce one's blood pressure (which usually is too high in fat people) just as surely as it reduces one’s weight. What kind of diet can that be, you ask?

Well, this diet consists of two courses. First, one-half pound of meat (or as much more as you want to eat), one-fourth of which is to be fat, three times a day. And second, one other food at each meal, such as an ordinary helping of rice, potatoes (Irish or sweet), grapefruit, grapes, melon, banana or pear, raspberries or blueberries, etc. In this diet there is no provision for sugar, for anything made of flour or any salt. Included are the juice of a half lemon and six glasses of water to be taken before five p.m. Coffee or tea are permitted if taken without any sweetening or milk or cream.

This reducing regimen, which also includes a half-hour walk before breakfast and eight hours’ sleep, was developed by the medical division of the Du Pont Corporation, and is reported by them to have achieved remarkable results in their industrial plants. Individuals of a random group lost from 9 pounds in a month and a half to 54 pounds in six months.

Advocates for this diet point out that meat is high in minerals, has a fair amount of vitamins, and, most important of all, contains all the different amino acids that the body needs to stay healthy. While meat has a high calorie rating, it actually helps one to reduce because it speeds up the process of metabolism, its effect being likened to the stoking of a fire in a stove. And while meat fats also are very high in calories, yet, due to the fact that they digest so slowly, they eliminate the craving for food that usually goes with a restricted diet.

While the foregoing diets differ from each other in certain respects, they do have one thing in common, they all prohibit the use of pastries—cookies, pies, cakes, as well as puddings and other gooey desserts.

Today there is a tendency to rationalize and pamper every vice and weakness. Disobedient children do not need the parental rod of correction, we are told, but the services of a child psychiatrist. Adults who imbibe liquor too freely are not to be censured: they are mentally or emotionally or physically sick. To hold that drunkenness is merely a matter o^ lack of self-control is oversimplifying matters, they say. And so too, today some hold that “the cause of overeating usually lies in emotional disturbances _t . . If psychiatric treatment were widely available, overweight could be checked through alleviation of the mental compulsions to overeating . . . But there are not enough psychiatrists and psychoanalysts available to treat all the nation’s overeaters”. Incidentally, that observation was made by the same physician who lamented the fact that no will-power pills were available for those who needed to rediice! The Bible, however, speaks plainly and refers to overeating as gluttony, and condemns it.—Deuteronomy 21; 20; Proverbs 23:19-21.

According to foremost medical authorities, overweight or obesity is caused by overeating and is the greatest single hazard to human life in the United States. It also robs one of charm, of enjoyment of many of the good things of life, and cuts down on one’s ability and capacity to work and to endure. So it all sums up to this: Which do I prefer—the exhilaration and pleasure that come from eating too well, or the exultation that comes from achievement. (Galatians 6:4, New World Trans.) Shall I live to eat or eat to live? Remember, the trim line is also the health line!

SCIENCE DELIRIOUS?

George E. Sokolsky, writer lor the Los Angeles Herald Express, headed his column of May 18, 1950, "Science Delirious,” and, from a look at the matter he took up that day, there appears good reason for his observation. He brings up a matter released by Associated Press regarding what the University of Virginia’s Professor S. W. Britton would like to do by way of experimenting with the human race. To view the matter in Mr. Sokolsky’s words, we read:

"The learned professor would like our researchers to breed monkeys with human beings to see what would happen. To be scientific, he wants to use apes for his purpose and to breed them by artificial insemination. This, it would seem to me, is science in its most delirious >stage. Don’t we have troubles enough without that?

"I must admit that the professor sees some of the troubles ahead. He fears that if the human race got hold of these half-and-half folks, they would use them as slaves. Apparently he is certain that the ape men would not use humans as slaves. The professor is opposed to slavery, but not to the debasement of human beings.

"For instance, does he not realize that after a while some politician would demand social security for the half-and-half folks and that liberals would want to be married to them to prove their total lack of prejudice? And suppose the half-men decided to discriminate against the aboriginal whole humans. Horrible thought, but not very original,”

Mr. Sokolsky goes on to present excellent logic against the professor’s proposal. He points to other extremes to which man has gone scientifically only to find himself frustrated, namely in the case of the loosing of atomic energy. Now with atom and hydrogen bomb talk thick together with troublous worries over what might happen should such weapons be exploded on the polar caps, it is becoming increasingly evident that, as Mr. Sokolsky says, “There is a balance in nature which man challenges at his peril. This balance is being challenged every day by those who, denying Divine intelligence, never question their own.”

Ironically, the page on which Mr, Sokol-sky’s article appeared was balanced with these words of William Randolph Hearst: "The world progresses, and, whether a man acknowledges himself a progressive or not, he is caught in the current and swept along as part of the progress of the world.”

Inadvertently, one considering these facts wonders what progress this brainy world is making when so much learning is allowed to go up in the smoke of an idea like that suggested by Professor Britton, After generations of failing to get anywhere in proving man came from an ape, have such teachers now decided to try to prove he can return to one?

Paying Back What Belongs to Caesar

ODERN governments are a part of this present evil world, whose god, according to the apostle Paul, is Satan the

Devil. (Galatians 1:4; 2 Corinthians 4:4) While in them are found some honest and sincere men who try to do what is right, yet even these time and again serve Satan's purposes by failing to consider God’s requirements when making laws. The Christian must therefore be ever on the alert to note just where to draw the line between what his consecration to God requires of him and what an earthly government may properly demand.

When an issue arises between the demands of the state and God’s requirements, the tendency is to solve the question by acquiescing to Caesar’s demands; holding that such is ‘rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’, as though Jesus meant that we are to comply with every demand Caesar makes. Such a position, however, leaves out of consideration the more important part of that command given by Christ Jesus, namely: “and unto God the things which are God’s.”

To understand what is involved let us note just what was said by Jesus. The issue raised was regarding taxes, and his enemies tried to place him in a dilemma by asking, Ts it lawful for us to pay tax to Caesar or not?’ If he said it was, they reasoned, his influence with the Jews would be destroyed, for they hated to pay that tax. And if he said it was not, then they could charge him with sedition. Detecting their hypocrisy and trap, he said to them: “ ‘Why do you put me to the test? Bring me a denarius to look at/ They brought one. And he said to them: ‘Whose image and inscription is this?* They said to him: ‘Caesar’s.’ Jesus then said: ‘Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.”’—Mark 12:13-17, New World Trans.

Note the improved rendering: "Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar.” The word translated “render” in the King James Version means just that—the paying of a debt or the restoring of a due of any kind. As stated in The Watchtower, November 15, 1950, page 436:

“Whether the Pharisees, scribes and chief priests liked it or not, Jesus conceded that the payment of tax to Caesar was a due owing to him. It is true that Caesar was the military conqueror of Palestine and held the Jews in subjection, but, just the same, Caesar’s servants were exercising governmental functions. They provided many public benefits from their administration and kept the peace and public order. So for such social, economic and administrative benefits and services, even the oppressed, liberty-loving, independenceseeking Jews were obligated to pay back to Caesar what belonged to him. Part of the tax money paid in Caesar might use in his military ventures; but though the Jews had no sympathy for such military aggressions and did not join his armies, they still must pay the tax, because it was Caesar’s responsibility and not theirs as to what he did with his own money. The denarius coin was of his make, and not that of Jehovah’s theocratic government. The image and inscription on the coin identified the political taxing power, and it was in this coin that the tax was to be paid. So for the beneficial services that Caesar dispensed to them the subject peoples were to pay him back in the coin which he demanded, even if he overcharged them oppressively-

“Jesus himself paid the tax. And that he had no objection to the collection or the payment of the tax by his fellow Jews to a foreign imperial power he showed by his mingling with tax coilectors and seeking their salvation,”

When on earth Christ Jesus paid the temple tax. That temple was dedicated to the true worship and was a part of the form of worship that God gave to the Jews by the hand of Moses- Such was the case until the Jewish nation was cast off- (Matthew 17:24, 25; 23:38) We could not imagine Jesus paying a temple tax for the upkeep of a pagan temple, and history records that the early Christians refused to pay such taxes. They could not contribute to the support of false worship, whether through a pagan temple tax or the burning of incense to the emperor.

Whenever there is a conflict between what Caesar demands and what God requires, then the Christian has the right answer: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29; 4:19) That stand was taken not only by those early Christian witnesses of Jehovah but also by those living hundreds of years before, as shown by the example of the three Hebrews who refused to comply with "Caesar's” demands and go contrary to God’s expressed law in the matter of worshiping the golden image, and as also shown by Daniel’s course in continuing to make his petitions to Jehovah God in spite of the ban by the law of the Medes and the Persians.—Daniel chapters 3 and 6.

In view of these facts the Christian must take exception to the claim made for the modern state as noted in the Encyclopedia Americana to the effect that: “The state or politically organized community is indispensable to modem civilized man. We ? cannot conceive of anyone living outside of the state. Since no man can throw off the obligations of the state—which can in the last instance demand a man’s very life—it is as much the duty of the individual to support the state as it is to support himself.”—Vol. 26, page 228, under “Taxation”.

No, the state, while providing us with conveniences, did not give us our lives and so we are not obligated to pay back to it our “very life”. As the apostle Paul states: “Know ye not that ... ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20) God is the fountain bf life; salvation belongs to him and in his favor is life. (Psalm 36:9; 3:8; 30:5) So only God can require our lives, our hearts, minds, souls and strength.—Mark 12:28-34.

What about the fact that the tax money is used for military purposes? About 200 years ago Quakers objected to paying certain taxes because of that reason, and in the past year a religious news dispatch told that "41 persons from throughout the United States—most of them Quakers and all of them members of Peacemakers, a national pacifist group—have informed the government that they will not comply with federal income tax laws” because of being unwilling to contribute to the preparation for war.

To follow that premise to its logical con-elusion these objectors would have to live entirely apart from all modem nations, for the simple reason that today all pay taxes, either directly, or indirectly by hidden taxes, in every purchase they make, and therefore they would be contributing to war efforts in spite of themselves. To avoid that they would have to go out of this world, A more reasonable position to take on the matter is that Christians should pay taxes even though part of the tax money paid Caesar might be used for military purposes, for which Christians have no sympathy and in which they take no part, because it is Caesar’s responsibility and not theirs as to what he does with his own money. In so doing the Christian stands on the solid ground of the example set by Jesus,

It is not the duty of the Christian to reform Caesar by propagating the cause of pacifism, nor is it his commission to try to patch up this old system of things with the principles taught in the Bible, So he will continue to honestly “pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar” as long as Caesar is permitted to exist.

Above all, he will make it his concern to pay “God’s things to God”, Remaining neutral regarding the strife between nations, he will not permit himself to be sidetracked from his ministry but will keep on bearing witness to Jehovah God and His kingdom and maintain his integrity. Doing so he will share in the vindication of Jehovah’s name and help others to gain salvation, as well as assure everlasting life for himself.

Argentina’s Fifteenth International Cattle Show

By ‘'Awake!’¹ correjpondent in Argentina

ARGENTINA’S promise to provide meat for U.N. forces in Korea roused interest in its products and made its 1950 international cattle show the most interesting one in recent years. Atmosphere for the event played its part well: gaily decked, carefully groomed animals, bunting fluttering from atop fairground buildings in Buenos Aires’ traditional Palermo and the restless crowds surging in long queues to get their two-peso admission tickets. It looked like the finest exhibition since the war?

The government’s own change in attitude toward the show seemed chiefly accountable for its upswing in 1950. Now, an editorial -in the Buenos Aires Herald appeared, saying in part: “Better later than never. The governmental co-operation marks reversion to political recognition that beef plays its part in the national economy. The pastoral farmers are once again friends and not strangers in the official world. General Peron has assured them that Argentina has now enough factories and that a little more attention will be paid to the farms.”

The official banking institutions posted advertisements throughout the cities and even distributed printed propaganda offering credit on the “Rural Credit for Habili-tation” program toward the purchase of pedigree animals, with easy installments for as long as five years.

This reporter was informed that despite its “international” name, the show would exhibit only Argentine cattle. Uruguay had been expected to supply some animals, but at the last moment these arrangements were canceled. It is believed that the former cold reception offered by the government had discouraged other countries, but that the new shift in policy would result ’ in wider participation hereafter.

The Show in Progress

Saturday, September 9, brought the official opening to the gala affair. Enthusiastic applause greeted the grand parade of

prize cattle, lending popular support to the Judges* decisions. Sunday morning was marked by the inevitable “stockbreeders yearly mass’* at 9:30. Finding some object for this mass proves difficult, but for all of that it always occurs.

Monday marked the opening of the business at hand with the first purchases. However, disappointment soon entered as prices at once took an unfavorable turn when compared with former years. The grand champion bull of the shorthorn breed brought 100,000 pesos, whereas one year, 1925, the bull “Faithful 20” brought 152,000 pesos.

However, a surprise was destined to lighten Wednesday’s bidding. An Aberdeen Angus bull was auctioned at 205,000 pesos, claimed as a world price record. Just a week later that surprising price was broken when an imported bull of like breed, the Verven of Bywell, was sold for the astounding price of 215,000 pesos. Other attractions at the fair included horses, rabbits and feathered fowl, notably pheasants. A rabbit was sold for the surprising figure of 1,100 pesos.

The sad fact is that while here prosperity and abundance are clearly visible, in other parts of the world people are dying off like flies for lack of sufficient good food. Yet every cloud has its silver lining and this dark cloudy picture of maladministration of this world’s riches will soon give way to a scene like the sunny picture drawn in Ezekiel 34:27, where it promises that, under the king of the new world, “the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those that made bondmen of them.”—American Standard Version.

COURAGE!

Where and how can one get it? We certainly need it in this day and age. Yet more and more we find our nerves “on edge”. The uncertainty of world conditions makes many jittery. What next? Instead of calmness and firmness many find themselves in a state of indecision, and hesitancy. What shah we do? they ask.

The Watchtower magazine will render real aid to the reader. It sees things Scrip-turally. World events, troublesome as they may seem, are viewed in the light of fulfilled Bible prophecy. Bright hope that gives genuine courage is made available to you through its columns. Have this confidence-bringing magazine come to your home regularly for only $1 a year. Subscribe now. ■

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Wholly New War

<$> In Korea, a vigorous “end the war” offensive was instituted by General MacArthur (11/24), and it was expected to bring a quick end to the hostilities, but then suddenly (11/27) the U. N. forces were thrown reeling back by a wave of possibly 650,000 Chinese communists. Within just a few days hopes of a U. N. “victory by Christmas” had been shattered and MacArthur said a wholly “new war'* was on. Leaders in Tokyo and Wash* ington said that U, N. forces would not be pushed off the Korean peninsula, and that an “Oriental Dunkirk” was impossible. Then President Truman warned the Chinese (11/30) that, if necessary, the dreaded atomic bomb would be used to assure victory.

U. N. Considers Peace Plan;

' Receives Chinese Reds Trygve Lie’s 20-year peace plan was commended by the General Assembly and referred to other U. N. organs for consideration (11/20). The Soviet Union had announced (11/17) that it would agree to off-the-record talks by the foreign ministers of the 11 Security Council nations (part of Lie's proposal), but only if the Chinese communists were represented.

The Chinese Communist delegation arrived (11/27) to present its charge regarding Formosa. The U. S. representative first accused the Chinese communists of “open and notorious” aggression in Korea, and asked (11/28) whether China wanted peace or war. The Chinese Communist representative said that as long as the Chinese Nationalists held China’s seat in the U. N. he would not participate in any discussion of the complaint that Communist China participated in aggression against Korea, but he demanded that action be taken against the U. S. for “aggression” in Formosa, and that all countries be forced to withdraw from Korea.

November’s Catastrophes

<$> Driving rain and melting snow from the Sierra Nevada mountains turned rivers into raging torrents that flooded large areas of California and Nevada, causing an estimated $25 million damage (11/19). In Canada 20 persons lost their lives in a wreck of two Canadian National Railways trains near Edmonton, Alberta (11/21). A tragic wreck on the Long Island railroad claimed 78 lives (11/22). Both New York city's mayor and New York’s governor returned from vacations to investigate the horrible disaster and ascertain why, of 1950’s five major U. S. rail accidents, the railroad has been involved in two, killing over 100 persons in nine months. Then the eastern U. S. was hit by a major storm (11/25) that paralyzed entire industrial centers, crippled transportation, took a death toll of 300, and probably exceeded the $400 million damage done by the 1938 hurricane. Bitter cold reached the extreme south, and in the north Pittsburgh was smothered by the extreme snowfall, and Cleveland was “completely paralyzed”.

Cost of Living Going Up!

Consumer prices In the U. S. set a record high, surpassing the previous peak of August, 1948, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices have risen 2,7 per cent since June, 1950, and 31 per cent since June, 1946, the last month of price ceilings. Cost of food is 209 per cent of the 1935-39 average, but slightly below the July, 1948, peak. The increase in consumer prices brings automatic wage Increases to 1,000,000 workers, and this probably means a continued increase in prices.

Atomic Information Released

<$> In a major revision of policy on atomic energy secrets Britain, Canada and the U. S. have agreed to release data on “low-power” nuclear reactors (announced 11/23). This should speed the training of engineers and technicians, and hasten atomic energy development for peacetime uses, while not aiding rival nations, because low-power research reactors cannot be used for producing atomic weapons.

‘Poison Fog¹ in Mexico

<$> When an oil refinery pipe burst in a suburb of Poza Rica, on the Mexican coast 140 miles northeast of Mexico City, it spread a poisonous smog over the sleeping town (11/24), bringing death to more than 20 persons, severely poisoning 60 more, and slightly gassing an additional 250.

The gassing of the community was similar to the smog which took a number of lives in the IL S. at Donora, Pennsylvania, two years ago.

Uruguayan Elections

<£> Uruguay’s new president will be Andres Martinez True-ba of the Colorado party. His National party opponent received a much larger percentage of the votes than Trueba (11/26), but Uruguay has an unusual arrangement Under which votes for all the candidates of one party are automatically given to the one who receives the highest vote among them. The votes for each of the three Colorado party candidates were given to Trueba, who had the largest vote among the three, and this combined total put him away ahead of the National party’s candidate. The Colorado party has governed Uruguay since 1865.

In the Council of Europe

<$> The Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, meeting in Strasbourg, France, is the closest approach to a European parliament. It ended its latest session (11/25), and the delegates of 15 nations considering European union voted (1) to go slowly, hence abandoning the idea of a Unit-ed States of Europe, and (2) to work toward Intergovernmental “specialized agencies”, the first of which will seek international agreements on transport and agriculture. The assembly has only consultative powers as a forum where the nations can get together and compare viewpoints. Any action on its recommendations must be thken by the respective governments themselves.

In Germany

<$> German news concerns two wars. Regarding the last war, the West German government used Soviet figures to charge that the Soviet Union has failed to furnish any information on 1,285494 German prisoners of war that have not yet been repatriated. Also Ilse Koch, who served four years of a life sentence imposed by a U. 8. war crimes court, was on trial by the Germans for coricentra tion camp brutalities-Witnesses told (11/29) that she used tattoed human skin for lamp shades

Regarding preparations for the next war, British and U. S. reinforcements were sent into Berlin (11/16), the U. S. activated its wartime 7th army In Western Germany (11/21), and the Germans were prodded to take a more enthusiastic outlook on their part in European defense. The German view in at least three states was indicated when the Social Democrats won state elections (defeating Konrad Adenauer’s Christian Democrats). The Socialists oppose Adenauer’s rearmament proposals, and want assurance that rearming would not lead to a war fought in Germany.

Audience Halts Nicmoeller

Martin Niemoeller of the German Evangelical Church was^zhowlcd down by his former parishioners when he denounced the Western powers (11/16), saying that they were not concerned over whether Germans in the Eastern zone lived or died. He said, "The Americans and the English know no other interest than their own, and care nothing about the 20,000,000 Germans in the East zone.” Shouts and cries of indignation and contradiction from Niemoeller’s former congregation in Berlin arose to silence him.

Religious Censorship Expands <$> Spain’s censorship is strictly pro-Roman Catholic, The board of censors passes on books and motion pictures, and no book may be legally sold that appears on the Vatican’s index of forbidden publications. Eor several weeks, though, some newspapers would not accept advertisements for movies unless the church censor's classifications for them were also put into the advertisements. In protest to this attempt to force an even stricter Catholic censorship, Spain’s theaters and motion picture Houses declared a boycott (11/22) against the papers that had accepted this added church censorship.

Old-Timer Erupts Again

Europe's highest volcano, Mt. Etna, in Sicily, is one of the oldest in human lore. It may once have been called Vulcan for the Roman god of fire, hence possibly all volcanoes were named after it. It erupted again (11/25), spurting flames that lighted Catania, 20 miles away, and causing panic in nearby villages as the lava moved down its slopes and over the countryside at 114 feet an hour.

Red 'Peace' Conference

The communist-sponsored “peace” conference that was called off in England and shifted to Warsaw was attended by about 2,000 delegates. Among other things it was told by Hewlett Johnson, the “Red Dean” _of Canterbury, that the Soviet must rearm because of forces beyond its control. An American, John Rogge, shocked the congress to its roots (11/19) by saying that Russia preaches peace but practices aggression, and that he would not now sign the communist-sponsored peace appeal because communist attempts to accomplish changes by violence are a more serious threat than the atomic bomb.

Go-Slow Strikes In Satellites

<$> A decrease in coal production in satellite countries has become serious in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Rumania, according to reports from there. The Budapest publication Szabad Nep called for “more stringent national discipline”. Czechoslovakia’s central committee of trade unions

reproached the miners for their go-slow strike, and reproached the officials for not anticipating the strike. Electricity has been rationed in Rumania and Bulgaria as a result of the shortage. These countries have attempted to explain that the shortage is due to a greater need for coal, but it may be that the miners are growing weary of continual “Socialist competitions” to increase production.

Yugoslavia Receives Aid

$ Yugoslavia's drought and famine, combined with that countrys strategic military position, prompted U. S. President Truman to put aid for Yugoslavia on the list of “legislation of greatest urgency” during Congress' short session. He had already granted Yugoslavia $11.5 million in flour, $16 million in food for its army, and $6 million credit for food purchases. Now he requested an additional $38 million from Congress (11/29), which he estimated would provide Yugoslavia with sufficient food to last until the next harvest. Truman's reasons for this aid included “the protection of our strategic and political interests in that area”, and that Tito “represents the first setback to Soviet imperialism” and "controls the largest fighting force in Europe except the Soviet Union”.

Egypt Demands Britons Quit

In a speech delivered before a wildly cheering parliament for King Farouk of Egypt by Premier Nahas Pasha (11/16), he threatened to cancel the treaty that permits British troops to remain In the Suez canal zone and provides for joint administration of the Sudan. As the premier spoke riots of thousands of antiBritish students occurred in downtown streets. Windows were smashed, police stoned, and at least 41 persons injured. British. officials said they have no intention of abandoning the treaty rights to keep troops in the canal zone and officials in the Sudan. The anti-British outcry was blamed on local ills, Including scandalous misappropriation of Egyptian funds, graft, inflation, and general discontent.

Nepal Revolt Subsides

<$> In Nepal, located between India and Tibet, the revolt of the Congress party against the autocratic rule of the Nepalese premier was called oft (11/19). Nepal’s s e c o n d-largest city, Birganj, was recaptured by government forces (11/20), and the Congress party decided (11/26) to launch a mass nonviolent civil disobedience campaign. There seems to be no question that the movement will continue until the Rana family fields its hereditary ruler ship of. the country. The Nepalese ambassador to India said his government was willing to change the regime and gradually introduce a people's government, but that "too sudden a change or too much of it may be very harmful”.

The War In Tibet

<$> The invasion .of Tibet by the Chinese communists was brought before the U. N. General Assembly by El Salvador, but was shelved when India said she was convinced that a peaceful settlement could be reached with the communists (11/24). Due to the serious situation in Tibet the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s 15-year-oId “living Buddha”, assumed full ruling powers (11/17) as the "god-king", a year and a half ahead of schedule.

The Indo-Chinese War

<$> In northern Indo-China the war against communist-led Vietminh forces continued. It was announced (11/20) that U. S. naval vessels were being provided in increasing numbers to French units in IndoChinese waters to help prevent the smuggling of supplies to the * communists. It is believed that the call-up of French reservists for military service has added to the flood of citizens returning to France. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, in southwestern IndoChina, documents have been captured stating that the objective there is "to develop the liberation movement in Cambodia to the same level as in Vietnam”.

The Malayan War

The two-and-a-half year fighting in Malaya continues with the British using far more troops in anticommunist “police actions” than they would acknowledge, including bomber squadrons, rocket-firing jets, transports and helicopters. Because the communists are operating in small units, the British send thousands of small patrols into the jungles with the prospect of coming upon a fresh trail or being fired          amAwsh.

The problem was described by an official as being like “clearing a malaria-ridden country of mosquitoes”.

Huks Attack in Philippines

<$> Only 13 miles from a U. S. naval base, and within 55 miles of Manila, 150 wellarmed communist-led Huhs made a surprise raid on the village of Aglao (11/26). They herded all who could not escape (mostly women, old men and children) into the central plaza, shot and bayoneted them; then burned 34 homes and took eight captives.

Coal Converted into Gasoline

<$> Gasoline is being produced from coal for the first time in the U. S. in a "practical” quantity and at prices "within reason” at a plant in Missouri (announced 11/18). The process, in which hydrogen is added to coal under high pressure and temperature, was developed by the Germans and U&&4 to fwrmah gafioHne Iot the Luftwaffe during the war.

fyewtf

------1951------

YEARBOOK or Jehovah s Witnesses containiiag report for the service year of" 1950 Also daily texts and comments

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