AUGUST 22, 1956 semimonthly
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish Interests. “Awake!” has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; it is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This Journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
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CONTENTS
Fear of Man a Snare |
3 |
The Green River Ordinance and | |
Blank Engrossment |
4 |
Jehovah’s Witnesses |
17 |
Taking the Fire to the Fire Station |
4 |
Our Senses—Five or Fifteen? |
21 |
No Sabbath Day for Christians |
5 |
Atoms for Peace-^or War |
24 |
Youngest Pope |
8 |
“Your WorcLIs Truth" | |
Prayers vs. Action |
8 |
On the Side of the Serpent |
25 |
Race Troubles Near Exploding Point |
9 |
Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach in All | |
The Magdalena River of Colombia |
13 |
the Earth—Portugal |
27 |
Ecclesiastical Swindlers Prosper |
15 |
Do You Know? |
28 |
"Me Help Too!" |
16 |
Watching the World |
29 |
0
missionary arrived in Of MAN
the United States late ^^--- As Jesus showed: “Go in
last February after hav- through the narrow gate;
ihg spent four and a half years in Chinese prisons. Telling of his experience he said: “The mental pressure was terrific. They even took my Bible away. For 3} years we had to read and discuss Communist literature' and express Communist opinions. Anyone who did not was landed on with both feet.”—New York Daily News, February 26, 1956.
By such methods as these Communist rulers endeavor to ensure conformity within their borders. However, it would be a mistake to conclude that only in Communist lands is terriflic mental pressure brought to bear to ensure conformity. It might be said that in Western democracies public opinion similarly exerts great pressure to ensure conformity. Fear of what others think brainwashes many as thoroughly as do the more brutal methods of the Communists. Lacking the courage of their convictions, they are completely snared by the fear of man: "The fear of man bringeth a snare; but whoso putteth his trust in Jehovah shall be safe.”—Proverbs 29:25, Am. Stan. Ver.
Fear of man makes the fatal mistake of overlooking the fact that, while the majority rules in a democracy, in this wicked old world the majority is invariably wrong. because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through It; whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it."—Matthew 7:13, 14, New World Trans.
Perhaps the most Widespread form of this ensnaring fear of man is fear of the opinion of others. Thus when a number of children become unruly in a schoolroom, because of this fear of what others will think, few indeed will have the courage to refrain from joining in. This fear is, in fact, a powerful contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. The inexperienced are ashamed to admit that they do not use tobacco or narcotics, do not cheat or get drunk, or do not practice fornication. Youths often drive autos recklessly lest they be thought to be “chickenhearted.” Of course, such youths actually show themselves weaklings, for they lack the courage to do what they know is best. They have been ensnared by the fear of man.
Often husbands go along with the crowd, wasting time and money lest their business associates think them sentimental or “henpecked.” Likewise wives and mothers often neglect their husbands and children to
AUGUST ee, ISiH
keep pace with more sophisticated women, lest others think them to be too submissive and old-fashioned. Many employees will fail to give their best although they like their work and their employer, because of fear of what other employees or the labor union will think. Then again, many persons will not express their liberal views on public questions relating to civil rights or economic fairness lest others think them to be radical or accuse them of being Communists or “fellow travelers?’
Fearful lest others think they are lacking in manliness some act as though they enjoyed hearing foul or profane language. But they overlook the fact that at times a calm and friendly explanation as to why 6uch language offends may do much good. When boasts are made regarding the violating of traffic laws, tax evasion or cheating of merchants, some feel they must register admiration instead of Christian disapproval in order to be thought a “good fellow?’ However, there is a limit to politeness. Disapproval can at times be expressed without even saying a word, merely by assuming a neutral, thoughtful and serious mien and by refusing to be impressed by such lawless exploits.
Perhaps nowhere is this ensnaring fear of man more apparent than in the field of religion.-Rather than concern themselves with what is truth and right and with the question, tfWhat does God think?” their first thought is, “What will others think?” Let all such remember Jesus’ warning: “For whoever becomes ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he arrives in the glory of his Father with the holy angels?’ —Mark 8:38, New World Trans.
If we would please God and gain life we must get rid of the ensnaring fear of man. The antidote for such fear is to be found in God’s Word, the Bible. As Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.” How so? In that the truth about Jehovah, about his attributes of love, justice, wisdom and power, about what he has done, is doing and will yet do, will awaken in us a wholesome fear, not a morbid one, of displeasing Him. That wholesome “fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom?’ It makes us free from the fear of what others may think It is the beginning of wisdom because it puts us on the path of life.—Proverbs 9:10, Am. Stan. Ver.
BLANK ENGROSSMENT
In a canyon in California a motion-picture company was making a western movie. Cowboy actor Tommy McLeod suddenly spotted a mountain lion. With the lightning speed of a good Hollywood western star, the cowboy drew his six-shooter. He fired it also in true western fashion. But the lion just ioped off not too much alarmed. The sharpshooting movie cowboy was so engrossed that he forgot that his .45 was loaded with blanks.
tk* 7/t< to tki
If one encounters a fire and Is unable to put it out, there may be a possibility other than calling for the fire trucks. At least a man in Ripley, Tennessee, recently discovered this possibility. While driving a city garbage truck the man turned around to find his load on fire. So he drove tike mad to the volunteer fire department—then dumped the smoldering garbage in the fire station's driveway.
NO SABB
HAT an indolent people! What a slothful race! Wasting one day out of seven doing nothing at all! Yes, absolutely nothing! What fools!’ In this vein ancient Romans, such as Juvenal and Seneca, ridiculed the
raerr or
Jews for observing a complete rest or sabbath every seventh day as commanded by the law of Moses. Because of such mockery the Jews at one time even tried to do away with the sabbath.
In obeying God’s law to '‘sabbath” or rest on the seventh day the Jews were neither indolent nor foolish but were following the course of divine wisdom. It was “for the sake of man” that God had commanded: “You must not do any work” on the seventh day. And that fourth commandment of the Decalogue ordained rest not only for the Israelites and their servants, but also for the non-Israelite temporary residents and even for the beasts of burden!—Mark 2:27; Exodus 20:8-11, New World Trans.
For one thing, that law acted as a check on selfishness, it put a restraint on the exploitation of labor. Even farmers and others who were self-employed were not to be so anxious about laying up for a rainy day that they could not afford to rest one day in seven. That day of rest allowed the Israelites time for giving thought to Jehovah
DAY FOR CHRISTIANS
Why did God command the Israelites to rest on the seventh day? Are Christians required keep thefirst or the seventh day,or neither?
God, for did he not command that they were to speak of his commandments on ev-s*' ery possible occasion? (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7) A rest day also allowed them time to enjoy the company of their families and to observe the beauties of nature. With no lighting of fires on that day even housewives could rest. As Dr. G. R. Smith, in his The Physician Examines the Bible, so well expresses it: “One day of rest in seven is one of man's most precious health gifts. Both physical and mental health is preserved thereby.”
From Sabbath to Sunday
While God had made the sabbath for the benefit of man he also had it to serve as a sign distinguishing the Israelites from other peoples. Apparently in their zeal to make this distinction between the Jews and others as great as possible, the religious leaders, a few centuries before Christ, made man subservient to the sabbath, putting the cart before the horse, as it were. In their Talmudic commentary on the Torah or Law they had thirty-nine restrictions for the sabbath, among which were swimming, dancing and jumping. The picking of kernels by Jesus and his disciples was supposed to be a breaking of the third of these, which forbade any harvesting on the sabbath. And these thirty-nine restrictions were split into almost numberless lesser restrictions. Thus, one could not catch a flea on the sabbath, as that was hunting, which was forbidden. Walking on the grass was likewise forbidden, as bruising the grass was actually threshing it One had to be careful when feeding chickens not to leave a single grain on the ground, as it might sprout and one would be guilty of sowing seed on the sabbath day. And so on.
The Talmud would not permit giving relief to a sufferer on the sabbath unless death threatened. A bone could not be set on the sabbath, nor could a sprained ankle be poulticed or bandaged. Self-defense was also forbidden, but when 1,000 Jews were slain at the time of the Maccabees, their enemies taking advantage of this restriction, the high priest Matthias ruled that they could defend themselves on the sabbath. Proof of the extremes to which they went to exalt the sabbath is seen in their statement that “the sins of everyone who strictly observes every law of the Sabbath, though he be an idol worshiper, are forgiven.”
The claim is made that Sunday, named after the sun god, was chosen to replace the sabbath because Jesus rose on the first day of the week and was next seen on the eighth day, and because the holy spirit was poured out on the first day of the week, Pentecost. In support of this position 1 Corinthians 16:2 and Acts 20:7 are appealed to. However, the former text merely shows that Paul instructed Christians to lay aside in their own homes for their1 needy brothers at Jerusalem a certain amount each first day of the week. Nothing is said about meeting together on the first day of the week. As for the latter text it was but logical that Paul and his friends would meet together on that day, which happened to be the first day of the week, since he left the very next day.
What really seems to have been behind the change from the seventh to the first day was a desire to break with Judaism. Thus Justin Martyr, second-century “church father,” and the first to use the term “Sunday,” stated that "we do not sabbatize.” It was Constantine, the first to enact anti-Jewish legislation, who decreed in 321 that Sunday was to be a rest day for all except the farmers; and in issuing this decree he observed: “Let us have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.” In the eighth century all common labor was forbidden as well as all buying and selling and suits at court. However, both Catholic and Protestant theologians are agreed that there is no Scriptural authority for changing the rest day from the seventh to the first day.
The Sabbath Day Only for Israelites
Since the sabbath came into existence for the benefit of man and the rest day was changed without Scriptural authority, does that mean that Christians are obligated to observe the sabbath day? Some so hold, quoting God’s words to the Israelites that this law was to be binding forever, However, the Hebrew word there rendered “forever” means merely to an indefinite time in the future. That this is so is apparent from the fact that God also stated that the Aaronic priesthood was to continue “forever,” and we know that it was put out of the way by the death of Jesus. Besides, in this connection God also said that this sabbath statute was to be a sign only “between me and the children of Israel,” a statement made more than once.—Exodus 31:17; Ezekiel 20:20.
Note also that in giving the Decalogue or Ten Commandments to the Israelites God said, “I am Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt,” and “that is why Jehovah your God commanded you to carry on the sabbath day.” (Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 5:15, New World Trans.) Interesting is
Martin Luther’s comment on this: “The Ten Commandments do not apply to us Gentiles and Christians, If a preacher wishes to force you back to Moses, ask him if you wer$ brought by Moses out of Egypt.”
True, it might be argued that Christians have been delivered from a spiritual Egypt. Then let it also be noted that the Christians’sabbath must be a spiritual one, since they were released from a spiritual and not a physical bondage. And that is just what Paul shows at Hebrews 4:10,11, that Christians keep a spiritual sabbath of rest from selfish works and by faith and right works. The Jews carefully kept the sabbath, but did they have God’s approval? The fact is that the sabbath was one of a system of sabbaths, there being also a series of sabbath years.—Exodus 23:10, 11; Leviticus 25:1-12.
In endeavoring to make keeping the sabbath the law for Christians some hold that, because God rested on the seventh day and set it apart as sacred, all mankind have ever since been obligated to observe it. Say they: “Both the sabbath and the law existed from creation.” However, the evidence of geology indicates that those six days of creation must have been long periods of time, not just twenty-four hours, and so God’s rest day must also be far longer. And this is borne out by the many scriptures that speak of God as resting through the centuries.—See Psalm 95:8-11; Hebrews 3; 12 to 4:11.
The fact is that no sabbath observance was mentioned before the giving of manna in the wilderness. Adam was commanded to work, to subdue the earth'and dress the garden of Eden, but not a word do we read about his being forbidden to work on a sabbath day. Noah was told to build an ark and also was given explicit instructions regarding the sacredness of blood and human life, but not a word about keeping any sabbath. Abraham was commanded to offer certain sacrifices and io institute circumcision, but again, not a word about any sabbath. No doubt Noah and those before him did keep time by the week, for we read of his doing certain things on the seventh day or after seven days. But that does not prove that any rest day was observed. The first reference to a week in the Scriptures, however, is in connection with Jacob’s celebrating the marriage of Laban’s daughter Leah for a week.—Genesis 29:27, 28, New World Trans.; An Amer. Trans.
The Law Done Away With
Sabbath-day observers point to the fact that Jesus regularly visited the synagogue on the sabbath, overlooking that Jesus, because of being born under the Law, was obligated to keep the sabbath. Besides, both he and his apostles found it convenient to go to the synagogue on the sabbath, as the Jews congregated there on that day. Today, for the same reason, the Christian witnesses of Jehovah find it convenient to do most of their preaching on Sunday.
Regarding the law of Moses, Paul wrote that God "kindly forgave us all our trespasses and blotted out the handwritten document against us which consisted of decrees and which was in opposition to us, and he has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the torture stake. Therefore let no man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a feast day or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath, for those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.”—Colossians 2:13,14,16,17, New World Trans.
Hard pressed to explain the foregoing annulling of sabbath observance, sabbathday observers claim that although in the fifty-nine other references to the sabbath in the “New Testament” the sabbath day is meant, in this instance alone, which an-mils the sabbath, the sabbath years are meant. But if the sabbath is still binding upon Christians is it not strange that from Romans through Revelation this is the only reference to the sabbath and that it is a negative one? Nor did Paul make an exception for the sabbath day when he scolded the Galatians: “How is it that you are turning back again to the weak and inadequate elementary things and want to be slaves to them over again? You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years.” Nor can the sabbath be supported by the claim that the Mosaic law was in two parts, a ceremonial, which passed away, and a moral, which remained, for neither Jesus nor his apostles made any such distinction.—Galatians 4:9,10, New World Trans.
And finally, let it be noted that when the apostles and other older men met at Jerusalem no mention was made about the sabbath, but merely, “keep yourselves free from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things killed without draining their blood and from fornication.” —Acts 15:29, Neto World Trans.
The sabbath day that God commanded the Israelites to observe was pictorial of the 1,000-year Kingdom sabbath of which Jesus Christ is Lord. After six thousand years of toil and bondage to sin, sickness, death and Satan, mankind will enjoy a rest from all such. In this Kingdom sabbath, which Bible prophecy shows will begin shortly, Jesus will do on a world-wide scale what he did on a small scale when as a man he cured the Jews on the sabbath day. In that Kingdom sabbath he will bring physical and spiritual health and life both to those surviving till then and to the billions who have gone down into the grave but who are in the memory of God.
Truly, the Scriptural position regarding the sabbath day frees from bondage and is logical, beautiful and comforting.
YOUNGEST POPE
Under this title the Glasgow, Scotland, Herald of January 5, 1956, published a letter from one of its readers. It said: "Sir.—The exact age of Pope Benedict IX at election is open to considerable doubt. The learned English historian, Dr. Horace K. Mann, professor at Ushaw College, Durham, gives an impartial statement in his article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 429, col. 2, with references:
(1) For the age of 12 years: Glaber, R., Historic., Vol. IV, 5, No. 17, etc.; (2) for the age of 20 years: Duchesne, L„ Le Liber Pontificalia (Paris, 1886-92). Glaber is a most unreliable source (see biography, Catholic Encyclopedia, VI, 574-75), The Liber Pontificates is a standard work. Dr. Mann takes the latter view. So John XII remains the youngest Pope, at 18 years, as your most accurate Christmas Quiz has it.”
January 18 to 25 was a week set aside by Catholics and Protestants around the world as the "time for concentrated prayer for church unity.” But each conducted its services separately. Their prayers were for "reunion of the long-divided family of Christendom." Roman Catholics in Colombia, however, got off to an early start, which betrayed their lack of sincerity and exposed the hypocrisy of such idle prayers. Four days prior to reunion-prayer week, a mob set Are to a
Protestant church in Palmira, Colombia, destroying the $2,500 building. The United Press dispatch for January 14, 1956, reported that "this was the 46th
Protestant church to have been destroyed in Colombia since 1348." Are Catholics in Colombia really backing up their prayers with action?
Race Troubles
Near ~
THE section of territory in the United States above or north of the Mason-Dixon line is commonly referred to by Americans as “the North. ” Here in the North the white man is generally believed to be, and thinks himself to be, more liberal and more progressive in his attitude toward the Negro.
In theory, at least, the Negro in the North lives in a climate of freedom and equality. Northern state and city laws forbid discrimination because of race, color or creed. The Negro is granted equal rights, privileges and treatment with the white man. The same opportunity for employment and education and the right to ride any public transport without restriction are both his. He has equal rifeht to any public park, beach, swimming pool, theater, restaurant or hotel. Legally, in the North the Negro stands on a par with the white man. Yet he is not satisfied with things as they are—not as they are on legal paper, but as they are in actual practice.
The Negro believes the white man’s sentiments of prointegration in the North are hypocritically transparent. Like his sentiments, the white man’s racial liberalism tends to be naively abstract too. The extent of his liberalism is well stated in the words of a white man who said: “Integration is like a superhighway. It’s a wonderful thing—as long as it doesn’t run through my back yard.”
Many white northerners sincerely believe they have no racial prejudice. They claim that some of their best friends are Negroes. But the moment a Negro is admitted into an all-white apartment house or neighborhood, .these same persons unhesitatingly resort to discrimination. They say the Negro should have “the right to live anywhere he can afford. But that does not mean he can exercise that right in the same apartment or city block where I live.” White property owners usually say: “We don’t want to keep Negroes out because they are black. We want to keep them out because they have low educational and moral standards and no respect for other people’s property. If you let one family in, and go off on vacation, you’ll find four families living in the one apartment when you get back.” The Negro counters by saying that if lower educational and moral standards exist among his race, the white man has only himself to blame; that whatever the cause or camouflage, race discrimination does persist on a large scale in the North, despite claims to the contrary.
Lopsided Equality
In New York city, for example, where race-relations experts say conditions for the Negroes are the best in many respects among the major cities of the United States, the Negro is refendti to as “the oppressed class of the city.” A recent survey of Negro-conditions in northern cities, made by the New York Times, says of New York city: “Negroes are barred from most jirivate housing.... Many fields of employment are closed to Negroes. In many enterprises Negroes get the lower-pay, lower-grade jobs. Elementary and junior high school education for Negroes is inferior. In some instances the zoning of school districts prevents Negroes from attending higher-standard integrated schools or allwhite schools. The result is de facto school segregation.”
tn cities away from New York condi-tioitf are very much the same. Detroit, Michigan, the automobile capital of the world, boasts of its racial harmony. Yet racial friction between white man and Negro is still very much an issue in Detroit Negroes are demanding more and better jobs. A recent survey showed that only 6 percent of the teachers in Detroit's public schools were Negroes. Fifteen of that city’s large department stores refuse to hire Negro sales help. Employment offices admit that it is next to impossible to place Negroes .in skilled or white-collar positions with private firms. Even in factories job advancement can be difficult for the Negro.
Negroes with college degrees are reported running elevators, washing dishes or pushing brooms. They complain that they work fewer hours and are the first most likely to get laid off. Right now about 12 percent of the Negro working force in Detroit is unemployed, double the percentage to be found in the white community. In Chicago, Illinois, only 6 percent or less of the better jobs, ranging from foreman to professional posts, are held by Negroes. “There are some jobs for which we prefer to have Negroes,” said a white personnel officer, * but these are some of the heavier jobs, and jobs where there is some monotony.”
Negro physicians say they are being discriminated against in medical circles. Detroit's 170 Negro doctors say that no more than two dozen can get affiliations of any kind at hospitals for whites. No more than half of Detroit’s 47 hospitals will admit nonemergency Negro patients. Fewer than half a dozen private hospitals out of 75 in Chicago are open to Negro physicians. The large majority of Chicago's private hospitals do not want Negro patients.
The law provides equal rights and opportunities for all races. But what good are laws unless they are enforced? The Negro has equal right to all restaurants and hotels. But will he get a room or will he be served? One hotel manager in Cleveland, Ohio, said: “We do not, of course, refuse service. We politely tell them we’re out of rooms.” A head waiter in one of Detroit’s downtown restaurants was asked if they served Negroes. His answer: “Well, we've had one Negro come in here ten years ago. He was served and gotten out of here so fast that not one has come back since.” Negroes tend to shun places where they know they are not wanted.
Negroes in Chicago, Detroit, Boston and other northern cities can regularly attend "white” churches, but rarely without being embarrassed. Some Protestant churches in larger cities have moved to the suburbs to get beyond Negro reach. In Boston a Negro minister said he was asked by an influential friend of his, a white man, to persuade members of his race to leave white congregations and return to their own.
Housing Problems
The Negro finds his skin color most objectionable to the white man when searching for a place to live. Yet he must live some place. In many northern cities the Negro population is increasing at a rate far beyond that of white communities. In New York city today "one person out of every ten is Negro, in Chicago one out of seven, in Philadelphia one out of five.” Negroes are pouring into Detroit at about a rate of 500 a month and about 3,000 Negroes a month are arriving in Chicago. Negroes in Chicago have a population density rate of 39,000 to the square mile—four times the white rate.
Most of these Negroes come from southern rural areas north in pursuit of happiness. As one Negro said: "Where I was, I wasn’t getting nowhere. I hear about these big-paying jobs here, where you get eight, ten dollars a day, almost what I was getting in a week down there. So I figure I’ll come up the line and look around.” But each new family that comes north must also find a place to live. Since Negro neighborhoods are overcrowded, the migrating Negro is forced to search for a place to live in white neighborhoods, which presents a problem.
A young physicist and his attractive wife, a college graduate, spent five months before finding an apartment. And then they did not get what they wanted. There were many places that appealed to them, but they were not to be rented or sold to Negroes, A groceryman told them: AIf I rented to you I would lose my trade.” A real estate man said: “You would have saved your time and mine had you told me on the phone that you were Negroes.”
The Negro cannot build, buy or rent a home where he chooses, despite his educational, professional and financial qualifications. In Dearborn, Michigan’s fourth-larg-est city, 15,000 Negroes can work daily, but not one can live there. Mayor Orville Hubbard of Dearborn is quoted as saying: "I am for complete segregation, one million per cent, on all levels.” He is also reported to have said: "Not a single Negro” lives in Dearborn, because “every time we hear of a Negro moving in we respond quicker than you do to a fire.” Once a Negro family did move into Dearborn, but they found the gas turned off and the garbage was never collected. Finally, they were forced to move.
Residential suburbs, those with high-income white families, especially oppose Negro entry. Willoughby Abner, chairman of the Chicago branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, declared: "There are powerful forces in the city which are determined to keep these all-white communities all-white. While you don’t have local segregation, you do have a conspiracy by real estate groups, community organizations and financial institutions to maintain Chicago’s spotted segregation pattern."
To buy into white areas the Negro has to pay ridiculously high prices, and mortgage loans are hard for him to get. To meet stiff monthly payments many Negroes have been forced to convert their newly bought homes into apartment houses and use the rentals to meet the bills. In Chicago investigators have found 132 Negroes living in a single eight-apartment building. In Detroit a six-flat building was turned into 37 apartments. Negroes still occupy 75 percent of Detroit’s 34,000 substandard homes. In Harlem sometimes as many as five Negro families live in one-family apartments. This sort of crowding almost always creates a new slum area. The Negroes say that low wages and high-rentals force this pattern, that they have no alternative.
Two-Way Exodus
To escape the slums, with their high-crime and low-health rate, many Negro families have been moving out into white neighborhoods. But as soon as a Negro family moves in, white families move out. White home-owners become panic-stricken and put up their houses for sale without waiting to see what their Negro neighbors are like. As a result a general exodus is taking place to white neighborhoods and away from white neighborhoods to suburb sanctuaries.
Many whites believe that when Negroes begin to move into a neighborhood property values drop, school standards decline and crim* and delinquency increase. Racerelations experts say that most of the fears of white persons are baseless. They say property values drop momentarily because whole neighborhoods try to sell at once. If the property is well located its value will rise again to its original level and often above its value. As for crime and delinquency, experts say that these stem mainly from environmental conditions and not from race. Negroes are no more inclined to misbehave than whites in similar circumstances.
Riots and Mob Violence
White residents have been quite successful in being able to scare Negro househunters out of white neighborhoods by threats, boycotts and other means. Often they have resorted to violence. But a new generation of Negroes is growing up that does not scare so easily, nor are they easily intimidated or outmaneuvered. Therefore friction and tension between Negroes and whites is reaching an alarming stage.
In the last two years Detroit has had over thirty-two housing incidents. Five of these were serious, where groups of 100 or more white persons demonstrated in front of Negro homes, trampled lawns, defaced buildings, burned down garages and houses. In Chicago similar flare-ups of violence take place every few weeks.
Detroit’s top Negro paper stated: “Detroit seems to be rapidly returning to its old pattern of a few years ago when we lived from crisis to crisis. ... In the last two years there has been an unmistakable resurgence in organized resistance to Negroes based upon color prejudice. ... No effort is made to correct tragic mistakes in attitudes which can only lead to the destruction of our whole town.” Both clergymen and political leaders alike are warning Detroiters that they are sitting on a powder k^g of racial trouble.
What does the Negro want? the northern whites are asking. The Negro’s answer is plain and positive. He wants equal rights and opportunities in practice with the white man. He wants to be able to live wherever he can afford to live. He wants nothing less than full social, economic and political equality.
As a remedy, many Negroes are proposing Jesus’ words: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” To the North that glibly offers racial advice to the South, the Negro quotes Jesus again: “Hypocrite! first extract the rafter from your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to extract the straw that is in your brother’s eye.” That is sound advice and perhaps a cure.—Matthew 22:39; Luke 6:42, New World Trans.
One of New York's pet myths was recently shattered. Local folks had long been convinced that the top of the Empire State Building—world's tallest building—was swaying two to three feet at the height of more severe storms. Some guesses went as high as eight feet. Skeptical engineers checked the building sway with an ultra-precise gyroscope In a 50-mile-an-hour wind. The sway? It measured just one inch.
THE
MogMrn
By “AwakeI" correspondent in Colombia
O THE giant condor in his position high above the valley the scene appeared to be unchangeable. Sunlight reflected from the waters of a mighty river, flowing between towering mountain ranges. The two humans poling their balsa, or raft, along the shallower part of the river may have attracted his eye, but more than likely his attention was arrested by some animal’s dead body that would become his daily meal.
Suddenly, with the sun shining brightly, huge drops of water made a loud splash on the cliff around him and stirred up little spots of dust on the valley floor far below. Then swirling dark clouds obscured the sun and the downpour of a tropical rain
came. The many arroyos and dry washes became raging torrents. The natives on the river, who later became known as "Indians,” quickly guided their raft to some sheltered spot to keep from being caught in a swift current.
On this same day, in the year 1501, Rodrigo de Bastidas, exploring the coast of the Caribbean Sea along the northern tip of what is now South America, discovered this river. This being the day of Santa Maria Magdalena, he named the river for'the saint. To this day it is known as the Magdalena River.
Here at last was a way into the interior of this relatively unknown continent. And the Magdalena River became the highway of the Spanish conquerors or conquistadores. In the years that followed they brought a different type of culture and life (both human and vegetable) and a new religion to the native inhabitants. The first of such ones to navigate the river was probably Jeronimo de Melo, who, being sent by Garcia de Lerma, governor of Santa Marta, sailed into the mouth of the river and advanced as far as the present site of Malambo. This was
RIVER
in the year 1529.
Other pioneers quickly .followed. Some eight years later the celebrated expedition of Jimenez de Quesada entered the mouth of the river and navigated it as far as the site of La Tora, or, today, Barranca Ber-meja. Not being satisfied to continue by river his party left the valley here and went overland to the east and south, discovering the great plateau-valley that later became the location of the capital of Colombia, Bogota.
Pressing onward during that year and into the early part of 1538, Quesada re-entered the Magdalena river valley near the section of present-day Neiva, Colombia, far above and into the mountains from where he had left it. He called this section “The Valley of Sadnesses,” either because of the semidesert condition of the country or because or me hardships upon his party. Some historians think that the purpose of Quesada’s expedition was to discover the source of the river.
Investigating Its Source
The source, or sources, of this river have been found and provide interesting information. Running approximately north and south through Colombia are three mountain ranges or cordilleras. They are the northernmost ends of the famed Andes of South America. Close to the Ecuador-Colombia border they come together Into the one mother range. In this cold high spot 11,530 feet above sea level the Magdalena River is born, some 1,000 miles up from where it enters into the Caribbean Sea to the north. Here, in fact, are two birthplaces. In the “Paramo de las Papas,” a region of small lakes and lagoons, are two lagoons or lakes a bit larger than the others. From Laguna Magdalena the first stream flows. And at Santiago, or St. James, a similar lagoon about two miles to the east, the second begins. It passes under a natural bridge and then, so nearly hidden from view that some early explorers thought it was an underground stream, continues on to unite with the other some two miles below the lakes. Here, then, is born the Magdalena River.
When the source of this river was first found is not known. However, the team of Justo Ramon and Tomas Alfredo, who explored this area in 1946 and 1947 and furnished the above information, report that on an old trail between the two lagoons is a large rock with the monogram of the virgin Mary and a date that appears to be 1538.
Another thing that shows the nature of the terrain in this section is the fact that for many years the CaquetA River, which flows eastward from here and unites with the Amazon River some 1,000 miles or more down in Brazil, was thought to head in the same St James lagoon. This lagoon would thus have water flowing from it in two different directions'. However, while it is true that the headwaters of the Caqueta River are just a few kilometers south and east of these lagoons, yet they are separate and distinct, according to the above-mentioned explorers.
Along Its Course
The Magdalena being near the equator and yet originating high in the mountains, there is a variety of plant life along its course. As the river begins its downward plunge it passes between mountains that tower more than 15,000 feet into the sky, with the Sierra Nevada to the east reaching more than 18,000 feet.
As the river drops down into the inhabited regions, one "finds first the cultivated crops of wheat, barley, oats and other small grains, apples, potatoes and pasture lands in abundance. Passing below the 6,000-foot mark we find the money crop of the land, coffee, along with such things as com, sugar cane, papaya, oranges and bananas. And even lower toward the sea are tobacco, pineapples, lemons, coconuts, India rubber trees and rice. In fact, it simply depends upon your altitude as to what temperature may be found, and hence what will grow in the way of plant life. It may come as a surprise to some to know that many of these cultivated crops, such as wheat, barley, oats, grapes, beans, sugar cane, oranges, lemons and even coffee, were introduced by the Spanish conquerors.
The river, of course, serves as a commercial life line. Even the early Indians used it as their highway with balsas, or rafts, and canoes. The conquistadores used it for the same purpose. One early governor introduced the “champan” boat, which was simply a hollowed-out tree trunk, with a covering of a rustic sort to provide some measure of protection as a “cabin.*’ This was the best mode of transportation for years, both for passengers, including presidents and bishops, and for produce.
Nevertheless, progress will be felt In 1825 the first steamboat, the Santander, entered the mouth of this river, manned by a German, John Bernard Elbers, Its life was short, however, ending in the civil war of 1839. After the war the steamboat again made its appearance on the Magdalena, but in general kept to the lower part However, in 1875, after some four months of navigation, the steamboat Molke arrived at the city of Neiva on the upper Magdalena.
Since World War n traffic is coming in other ways. Highways are rapidly' being built The seaport of Buenaventura on the Pacific Coast is closer to the capital Bogota and to other cities than was the former long route by river steamer. Modern trucks cross the mountains every day, bringing imported goods and taking others away for export Railroads have been and are being built But latest and perhaps most felt is the rapid transportation provided by the great airliners. Thus the Magdalena seems slowly to be returning to its former, more uneventful existence.
The lone condor sits on his diff. The bright sun does not prevent giant raindrops from announcing a sudden tropical shower. The water rushes toward the river and all is as it was. Humans come and go with their differing ideas and their different cultures, yet the river continues its patient and unending progress toward the sea.
•Jf “The $100 Million Shakedown” was the title of a newspaper feature telling of the increase of ecclesiastical swindlers in New York city alone. According to the New York Daily News of January 4 and January 8, 1956, hundreds of small churches are being organized, not to teach the public, but to fleece the public. These churches expend their main efforts on collecting funds in the name of charity, often hiring professional collectors or swindlers who are marvelously adept at defrauding the public. Said the newspaper feature:
‘g “Every year, big-hearted, free-spending New Yorkers dig deep into pockets and purses and cheerfully pour more than $100,000,000 down a rathole in the name of sweet charity. Not one in a hundred would think of examining the shaker can thrust under his nose as he waits in line for theatre tickets, as he comes out of a subway, as he leaves a restaurant. Not one in a thousand would dream of asking for the credentials of the pleasantfaced woman in the religious habit. . . . Part of the fault lies with the public. They give to everything and everyone. If you took a can and marked it ‘all who contribute here are suckers’ you would still collect plenty.” 'jf Telling of the difficulty investigators have in curbing religious rackets, the feature continues: “Sam Friedman, a veteran of more than a quarter of a century as an investigator, sadly tells about the time he found a phony soliciting in an industrial plant. Sam waited for her to reach a heavily populated section of the building and ufent around warning employees not to give to the bogus charity. ‘They gave any way,’ he said sadly. ‘I told them she was strictly a pro, but they wouldn’t believe me because she was dressed in religious garb. She was wearing a Star of David on a band across her head. She had a crucifix on her chest. She had on everything but a sergeant’s chevrons. When we nabbed her, several people became quite indignant.’ ” ‘jj A major point of the Daily News feature: people do not seem to mind being swindled so long as it is done by someone with an ecclesiastical title or in religious garb. Could this be because churchgoers have been accustomed so long to giving so much for so little?
OW do you answer your energetic little youngster when he pleads: “Me too! Me help too!” Especially on those extra-busy days when everything seems to go wrong? Why not let him help? Probably you will be pleasantly surprised at how much he can do, and allowing him to help gives him a feeling of being an important member of the family. Not only that, but he will be learning invaluable lessons of industry and cooperation. Hours of pleasant companionship will result, and you will be building a solid foundation for a good parent-child relationship.
“Mother, I haven’t got my baby’s raincoat q--u-ite done,” said my daughter pridefully, her eyes shining. She was only four years old, and the_ raincoat was a poor thing, but she was uncritical. I had taken up my sewing, and she had wanted to help. A rather large needle, with double thread well knotted, a generous piece of cloth from the scrap bag, and her own blunt-nosed scissors were all the equipment she needed. She brought her own little rocker, and put her low table near me. She spent
a long and happy time at this task. And she was not whining, restless or getting into mischief.
■jj Does your child have his own little shovel? He can help you shovel the winter snow. Does she have her own little broom? She will be thrilled to help you with the sweeping. With his own little hoe and rake he can 2 work beside you in the garden, building a strong body, a healthy appetite, and learning the care of growing things, rather than being a whining nuisance who steps on the rows or thoughtlessly pulls up the tender plants. fg A sturdy, non-tipping stool and a wet-proof apron are an aid to many delightful indoor activities. What youngster is not charmed with warm,, sudsy w,a>t£r? If Mother is washing dishes, the child can help with its own
..... small dish cloth. The silverware can be wiped, or the pans. And when taught that dishes and glasses must be handled carefully, so as not to break them, the child will be very proud and careful when these are entrusted her. The child can scrub the vegetables, can fetch and can carry. Your child can sit on the kitchen stool at the mixing center and do a great deal of stirring for that cake or batch of cookies. And afterward there is the bowl to be licked! What happiness a child can have with a pinch of pie or bread dough on the kneading board with a small rolling pin!' Picking up playthings and tidying up rooms teaches the child habits of neatness. At this age you might work at his side. Then putting things away, instead of being a hated chore, can become a game. It will not be long before your child will pleasantly surprise you by taking over the job of picking up after himself. Some tasks require that the parent tactfully superimpose his own skill over the awkwardness of the child in order that both will be satisfied with the results, for example, making beds and setting the table.
‘j; On walks the child may have the responsibility of looking carefully each way to decide if it is safe to cross. A trip to the store becomes high adventure if he has his own piece of money to spend as he wishes, being able to pick out what he wants and to pay the clerk himself. Or he may have the responsibility of choosing and purchasing one item on the grocery list, for example, the cereal.
■w When parents of small youngsters realize the importance of letting the child help too, they will think of many enjoyable and constructive ways in which to give the child this feeling that he is an important part of the , family.—Contributed. I
Another
urt rules the
Green River Itiwi do
not appry to house"
Green River, Wyoming. What does the Green River ordinance prohibit? It prohibits persons, especially salesmen and solicitors,
A COMMON law in the United States is the so-called Green River ordinance. This law originated in the famous ordinance of from calling at the doors or homes of people without being previously invited to call. Some law officers, apparently not familiar with what the higher courts have ruled regarding the Green River ordinance and Jehovah’s witnesses, have used this law to try to stop the door-to-door preaching of Jehovah’s witnesses. A knowledge of one of the most recent court decisions on this matter will be a source of enlightenment to many city law-enforcement officials; and it will-be of keen interest to ail lovers of freedom of worship.
“Court Favors Local Pastor. Judge Rules City Ordinance Not Violated”—this was the heading of an article in the December 31, 1955, issue of the Anchorage, Alaska, Daily Times. The article said: “District Judge J. L. McCarrey, Jr. yesterday ruled in favor of the Anchorage pastor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in the appealed case involving solicitation for the sale of religious literature. Judge McCarrey ruled the pastor, Ancel Berry, did not make a sale as defined by the city ordinance prohibiting soliciting, peddling and hawkprofit on Berry’s material was so slight, the court held, that it could not be construed to be a sale.”
How did this case begin? On November 30, 1953, Ancel Berry, a minister of Jehovah’s witnesses, called on an apartment house in Anchorage. Atone door he preached a brief five- or ten-minute oral sermon to Mrs. Faye Timmerman. He talked to her On Bible subjects. At the end of the discussion he told her he had literature that explained more about the-sub-ject. He told her that she could have the literature and if she cared to do so she could contribute a small amount toward the cost of printing and distributing the books.
Shortly thereafter the manager of the apartment house came up to Berry and told him that he did not want him calling from door to door. The manager said he was going to stop Berry and went away to call the police. Mrs. Timmerman signed a complaint, and the following day Berry was formerly arrested, charged with a violation of Anchorage’s Green River ordinance.
The Green River ordinance that Berry was charged with violating reads: "Soliciting in residential area. No solicitor, peddler, hawker, itinerant merchant, transient vendor of merchandise, or other person
shall go in and upon private residences in the dty for the purpose of soliciting orders for the sale of services, goods, wares and merchandise, and. or for the purpose of disposing of and, or peddling or hawking the same not having been requested or invited so to do by the owner or owners, occupant or occupants of said private residences.”
In the city magistrate’s court Ancel Berry pleaded not guilty. Berry showed that the city's Green River ordinance could not apply to him, a minister, and that he made no money from his missionary work of preaching. He showed, in fact, that he lost money and that any money he received as contributions in excess of what he paid for the books was eaten up by other transactions in which he gave books free. He explained that he put all the money that he received back into the preaching work.
Anchorage City Attorney Ralph Moody agreed that “a man has a right to follow the dictates of his conscience and has the right to go out and distribute pamphlets.” “But I think,” said Moody, “he went too far in offering the books for a sum of money.”
City Magistrate George McLaughlin ruled that Berry had technically violated the city’s Green River ordinance. He fined Berry $10. Berry appealed the case to the United States District Court.
77re Defendant's Argument
In district court William H. Sanders of Anchorage and Hayden C. Covington, general counsel for Jehovah’s witnesses, represented the defendant. The attorneys pointed out to the court that the Green River ordinance, when properly construed, exempts from its provisions the door-to-door calling by a minister of religion preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. They showed that the Bible literature offered by Berry was In no way commercial, that his way of working was not commercial, that Berry’s purpose or objective was not commerce and that the activity of Jehovah's witnesses is neither “sales” nor business.
The attorneys explained to the court the purpose of Jehovah’s witnesses: to preach the good news of God’s kingdom and to distribute literature containing Bible information on the terms of the receiver. The work of Jehovah’s witnesses, it was shown, is undeniably noncommercial, because if it were commercial the literature would never be given away nor would the fixing of the price be permitted by the receiver.
They further explained to the court that not every activity that involves a ’monetary incident’ is merchandising. They said; “Dissemination of ideas is expensive if appreciative hearing is secured. No missionary effort, whether religious or political, or the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses, can be run without money. It is proper and necessary to receive contributions to help defray the cost of such dissemination, for if it were always required to be given away free of charge the freedoms would be very short-lived. To confuse the commercial business of selling fruit, vegetables, etc., with the kind of activity carried on by defendant disregards major emphasis which distinguishes charitable activity from Woolworth’s, the political party from 'Wall Street.’ ”
The court heard testimony that the contributions received by Jehovah’s witnesses are identical with free-will offerings received by clergymen when the contribution plate is passed. No reasonable person, the attorneys showed, would contend that the hearer “bought” or “purchased” a sermon, nor can it be said that anyone “bought” the printed sermons distributed by the defendant. They explained that Berry did not sell as that term is understood in commercial transactions, and that the fact that one might contribute and designate it as a “purchase” and state that he “bought” the literature, or thought he was buying it, or that it was “sold” to him, does not change the charitable nature of the preaching activity of Jehovah’s witnesses. It does not make it commercial, they added, any more than does the act of a person in a religious edifice putting fifty cents in a contribution plate make the sermon or the preaching in the edifice commercial.
The attorneys made it clear to the court that the only difference between the methods of the “recognized” clergy and the way Jehovah’s witnesses preach is that the clergy require people to come to their buildings and edifices to hear a sermon after making a contribution; whereas Jehovah’s witnesses carry messages, printed sermons and oral, to the people in their homes.
The attorneys for the defendant cited many higher court decisions in which the courts held that the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses is charitable and Christian; that the work is done as ministers of the gospel; that the work is preaching, and not “selling.” One of the decisions brought to the attention of the district court judge was the case of Murdock v. Pennsylvania (319 U.S. 105). In this decision the United States Supreme Court ruled: “The mere fact that the religious literature is ’sold’ by itinerant preachers rather than ’donated’ does not transform evangelism into a commercial enterprise. If it did, then the passing of a collection plate in church would make the church service a commercial project. ... It is a distortion of the facts of record to describe their activities as the occupation of selling books and pamphlets.”
The defense filed a motion for judgment of acquittal on two grounds: (1) That the Green River ordinance when properly construed excludes from its provisions the door-to-door preaching and incidental distribution of literature as a minister engaged in religious, charitable and noncommercial activity and (2) that the ordinance, if construed and applied “to the facts and circumstances in this case, abridges and denies the rights of the defendant to freedom of press and of worship of Almighty God, contrary to the First and Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The City’s Argument
The City of Anchorage rested its case primarily on a decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1952. This is the Breard v. City of Alexandria case. In this decision the Supreme Court ruled that the Green River ordinance did not abridge freedom of press when applied to commercial solicitation. The court said: “We think those communities that have found these methods of sale obnoxious may control them by ordinances.”
However, the attorneys for the defendant pointed out that the Supreme Court was not speaking of methods used by ministers of the gospel but rather of “methods of sale”; hence the Breard case does not apply to noncommercial activity. The attorneys presented to the court an issue of the University of Florida Law Review, Volume V, No. 3. In it an article entitled “Free Speech (1949-1952); Slogans v. States’ Rights,” discussed the Breard decision, saying: “Actually, the opfhion did not gainsay the right of persons to distribute religious tracts without prior permission from each householder, but it clearly upheld city ordinances that prohibit newspaper and magazine vendors from house-to-house soliciting.”
District Court Decision and Opinion
On December 30,1955, the district court rendered its decision. United States District Judge J. L. McCarrey, Jr., found that the transaction by Berry was “not a solicitation and a sale as contemplated by the ordinance.”
Said the judge: “I find that the solicitation and purported sale or transaction between the defendant and one Faye Timmerman on the 30th day of November 1953 was not a solicitation and a sale as contemplated by the ordinance. . . . therefore, the court finds in favor of the defendant and against the City of Anchorage.”
On May 11, 1956, the judge filed his written opinion. We close this article with excerpts from this excellent opinion (Civil No. A-9414) handed down by the District Court for the District of Alaska, third division:
“It is necessary to pronounce here that municipal ordinances, such as the one here in question, prohibiting the solicitation and distribution of pamphlets by canvassing from house to house, have been usually held unenforceable as applied to those who deliver literature and solicit contributions from door to door in the name of religion. ... It cannot be said with any clarity that the Appellant [Ancel Berry] came within the prohibitive language of the ordinance, since the testimony of the complaining witness, as well as that of the Appellant, does not support an offering of goods, wares, and merchandise for sale, in the true sense of those words.
“To come within the ordinance, the transaction would have to have had a commercial nature. It cannot be said this was a fact in this particular transaction for there was evidence that money was lost on books and pamphlets sold at the prices hereinbefore set forth, when one took into account the cost of gasoline, postage and mailing costs, which necessarily follow in the ordering and delivering of such merchandise. . . .
“If it were determined that a minister from a Jehovah’s Witnesses’ sect was in violation of the ordinance in calling from door to door to sell his literature, a serious constitutional question would be raised.
“The City of Anchorage has cited the case of Jack H. Breard vs, City of Alexandria, 341 U.S. 622, which upheld the right of the city to regulate peddlers, salesmen, etc. This case involved a magazine salesman who was engaged in a transaction of a commercial nature, and unless it was held that the transaction engaged in by the Appellant was one of a commercial nature, this case could not be considered in point, which I find it is not...,
“Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, for the year 1953, , . . defines the word ‘commercial’ as : ‘Of or pertaining to commerce; mercantile; as, commercial houses; a commercial treaty. 2. Having financial profit as the primary aim.’ The same authority defines the wonk‘commercialize’: ‘To render commercial; esp., to make profitable in a business way.’
“It is obvious from the transaction that the Appellant did not go to the apartment of the complaining witness for the purpose of making a sale, and did not disturb the peace of anyone, under the holdings of the courts (supra), but, rather, for the primary purpose of preaching his religion in an attempt to proselyte followers for his religious beliefs and congregation; thus, the sale, if it can be considered such, was incidental to this method of preaching. The transaction only augmented the religious message and oral sermon which the witnesses testified he gave. Appellant was not peddling, hawking, nor was he an itinerant merchant and vendor of merchandise, but, on the contrary, the Appellant’s primary purpose in going to the anartment of the complaining witness was to deliver a re-
ligious message, which he attempted to buttress by the religious writings that he sought to leave in consideration of recovering their bare costs.
"I am of the opinion that the Appellant does not come under or within the purview of Chapter 5, Section 115.1, and therefore find, for the Appellant and against the Appellee, City of Anchorage, as heretofore orally announced in open court.
“Having determined that the act complained of is not a violation within the purview of the ordinance, the other legal points raised need not be considered.”
SENSES^®
HAT which distinguishes the animal and vegetable kingdoms from
15?
fneral
kingdom is life. And that which distinguishes the animal from the vegetable kingdom primarily is the quality of being sentient. Sentient? Yes, for according to the dictionary sentient means “possessing the power of sense or sense perception: opposed to inanimate and vegetal.” According to the Bible being sentient is the same as being a soul and therefore is properly applied to ail living creatures, from insects
to divine spirits.
In the matter human body has with the senses various windows
of sense perception the been likened to a house, being the windows, the looking out in different
directions, for the body’s own needs. Animals have their own windows for their own needs and we can imagine the same regarding spirits. These windows are really “lowered thresholds of excitability” situated in different parts of the body for particular kinds of stimulation. Thus only the eyeballs are sensitive to light, only the nose is to odors.
Sense perception requires four things: (1) a stimulus—unless there were sound we could not hear; on the moon where there is no atmosphere there is no sound possible; (2) a nerve ending or “receptor” to receive a particular kind of stimulus, without which we could not be aware of sounds, sights, odors, etc.; (3) a nerve pathway to the brain—were this interrupted we still would not experience any sense perception; (4) a part of the brain able to receive the particular sensation, the brain being divided up for reception of the various sensations.
When speaking of the human senses the mind generally thinks of the five “special” senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. However, such authorities as Herrick, in his Introduction to Neurology, list more than twenty others. While not ail of these may be sufficiently diverse to merit discussion as separate senses, Geldard, in his The Human Senses, does make a good case for at least ten others in addition to the five special senses. Incidentally, there may also be said to be acquired senses; the blind seem to have a sense of distance, certain primitive people seem to have a sense
of direction. And then, among the lower animals some, such as the bees, seem to have a sense of time, “an internal dock,” as it were.
The Shin Senses
The ten other senses may be classified as follows: four skin senses of heat, cold, pressure and pain; the two of hunger and thirst; the two of motion and strain; sensation by the internal organs and the sense of balance*
Concerning the skin senses we find that there are separate receptors for pressure, heat, cold and pain, as well as for touch, one of the five special senses. That there is a difference between the sense of pressure and that of touch has been demonstrated, for it remains even though the sense of touch has been deadened or its receptors removed. The experiments regarding the sense of pressure are usually carried on by weights.
Heat and cold are separate sensations or senses because the body has separate receptors for each, those for cold being ten times as numerous as those for heat. There has been much speculation as to the nature of the heat and cold receptors, but according to Livingston, in his article on pain in the Scientific American Reader, fine nerve fibers with bare endings are able to elicit not only sensations of pain but also of heat, cold and touch, as is apparent from the outer ear, which is supplied by only such kind of receptors. Incidentally, the body’s sense of temperature, being designed for our comfort and protection, is relative rather than absolute. Within certain limits the body quickly adjusts itself so that what at first may have seemed too warm or too cold will gradually seem comfortable.
The sensation of pain is one that scientists have found singularly difficult to define satisfactorily. What is pain? Pain may be said to be an unpleasant sensation designed to serve as a danger signal and of such intensity as to Induce immediate action lest harm come to the organism. However, pain does not always immediately follow injury although its purpose is to warn us of it; for example, one may be so absorbed in what he is doing that he may have been injured without being aware of it.
The Divine Architect so constructed man’s organism that injury should cause immediate reflexive actions. Thus if we should accidentally touch a very hot stove our muscles would draw away the injured part before ever the message got to the brain by way of the spinal cord to advise us to do something about it Additionally there is also reflexive activity by the ductless glands and other organs, resulting in faster breathing, quicker heart beat and tensing of muscles. While pain as a rule is in proportion to the injury sustained, a surface wound often hurts more than a deeper one, because there are more pain receptors in the skin than in the tissues beneath it. Thus superficial burns are usually more painful than are deep bums.
According to one authority the impulses from the various receptors—pain, pressure, heat, cold—become mingled together in the nerves en route to the spinal cord, where they are sorted out and conveyed to the brain in separate nerve tracts and taken to a certain part of the brain. And most recent research on the subject tells us that acute pain reaches the brain over large nerve fibers at the rate of a hundred yards a second, or 400 miles an hour, while dull pain reaches the brain by way of small nerve fibers at the rate of only one yard a second, or about four miles an hour. Memory plays an important part in pain perception even as it does in the special senses. Thus a man who has had his leg amputated may not be aware of that fact at first and may complain- of feeling a pain in his big toe!
Hunger and Thirst
Hunger and thirst are termed “organic sensory patterns,” and have their own distinct causes. Why do we feel hunger? Because of the contracting of the walls of the stomach, a theory propounded long ago but only comparatively recently verified by suspending a balloon into a person’s stomach and then inflating it. In hunger the stomach makes from twenty to seventy contractions an hour.
What causes the stomach to contract? The actual origin is still a mystery except for the fact that it is something in the blood. Thus the blood of a starving dog transfused to a well-fed one will cause the latter's stomach to react as though he needed food, and, conversely, when the blood of a well-fed dog is transfused to a hungry one he no longer has any symptoms of hunger. For a time it was thought that the sugar content of the blood accounted for these facts, but this thought was found to be erroneous. Now some scientists speculate al^out a “hunger hormone.”
Incidentally, hunger should not be confused with appetite. Hunger is an unpleasant, painful sensation and can be dispelled by strong emotion, by swallowing hard, by just a mouthful of food, etc. But appetite is a very pleasant sensation, and keeps us eating until we are full, or too full. Some therefore list appetite as a separate sense.
Thirst is a rather -simple sensation, merely indicating that the water content of the blood is low as noted by a dry mouth or throat. This may be due to hot, dry air, to eating dry food, to excessive perspiration, to a mother nursing her child or to the loss of blood, as in an accident When the blood’s water content gets low it absorbs moisture from the surrounding tissues, a life-preserving measure, as this keeps up the blood pressure by maintaining the proper volume of liquid in the circulatory system. This moisture is also taken from the salivary glands, which are continually immersed in fluid, causing them to register thirst They therefore serve as “sensitive reporters of the body's hydration.” And here again we have an appetitive thirst, for while one mouthful of water will stop our thirst, we have appetite for water until our need for it has been fully met.
The Kinesthetic and Other Senses
Little is known about the kinesthetic senses, which is not surprising in view of their location deep below the skin. (Kinesthetic, from the Greek root, kinein, “to move”) One of these is the sense of movement, the feeling of motion, or the articular or joint sense. Only the joints have nerve endings or receptors that report on the direction and degree of our movements. The other is the muscular or “deep pressure” sense and its receptors are found only in the muscles. To illustrate their difference: When we lift a sheet of paper our sense of touch tells us we have the paper within our fingers and how smooth it is, and we can close our eyes and still tell just how high or in what direction we.are lifting it; but when we lift a heavy object, additionally, the muscular sense advises us of its weight (Here again, some add another sense, the tendinous sense, because of the nerve endings that are spread out over the surface of the tendons and advise usbf their being stretched.)
If little is known about the kinesthetic senses, still less is known concerning the visceral sense. Viscera refers to “all organs concerned primarily with the maintenance and reproduction of the body as contrasted with the” bone* and muscles. It is not generally known that these organs, such as the liver and kidneys, can be squeezed, tom or seared without any pain being felt However, when large distending forces such as gases are present, gas pains, spasms or cramps are felt and certain chemicals or degrees of temperature do make themselves felt deep within the body; for example, angina pectoris, a sharp pain in the heart, and appendicitis. Often visceral pain is felt in a part of the body other than where the cause lies. Here again we find a difference of opinion, some holding that all internal organs are without sensation and that the pain felt is due to the stretching of surrounding tissue when the organ convulses.
Last to consider is the sense of position and balance. Its natural development is no small wonder and any development in skill, such as by skaters or ballet dancers, is very small compared with that acquired at first. What accounts for our sense of balance? Two tiny organs, the vestibular sacs and the semicircular canals, situated in the bony labyrinth of the inner ear, which serve no function in hearing. This being so, it is not surprising that serious injury to the labyrinth of the ear results not only in deafness but also in faulty muscular adjustment as well as disturbed eye action and loss in muscular tone.
What particular roles the vestibular sacs and the tiny semicircular canals play is debated. The semicircular canals are on three different levels and represent a three-way co-ordinating system, each being from a half to one inch in length and about a thirty-second of an inch in diameter. They have well been likened to a carpenter’s spirit level. A peculiar fact is that these two nonauditory parte of the inner ear have no nerve connection with the brain; sensations of dizziness from being spun around, for example, give no indication that they originate in the ear. Of course, where this sense of balance is especially valuable is in modem aviation.
There was a time when some were quite dogmatic about their theories about these other senses and more often than not they have been proved mistaken. They call to mind the-apostle Haul’s words: “If anyone thinks he has acquired knowledge of something, he does not yet know it just as he ought to know it.” (1 Corinthians 8:2, New World Trans.) With the help of modern instruments man has learned much but has even more to learn. In respect to this knowledge it is also true: “For at present we see in hazy outline by means of a metal mirror, ... At present I know partially," Still, partial knowledge is better than none at all, provided we appreciate that it is but partial.—1 Corinthians 13:12, New World Trans.
Rtoms for Peace—or War
One of the melancholy. aspects of the “atoms for peace” is that scientists can turn out weapons of war as a by-product. That is the opinion of Hans Thirring, director of the University of Vienna's institute of theoretical physics. Thirring says that the process of generating atomic power produces as a by-product a radioactive ash, a “death dust.” In an article in Harper’s magazine, the Viennese scientist says that this dust could be mixed with sand and fired high into the air by rocket. It Would then form a radioactive dust cloud capable of killing all living things. Three tons of this radioactive dust could make an area of 40,000 square miles uninhabitable: attempts at civil defense would be like fighting an avalanche with a toy shoveirlt reminds one of Jesus’ prophecy that in the last days men would be "faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.”—Luke 21:26, New World Trans.
On the Side of the Serpent
BEFORE the Royal Society of New
Zealand’s Eighth Science Congress one of Australia’s top atomic physicists, Marcus Laurence Oliphant, lashed out against recent statements made by Pope Pius XII and former British labor leader Clement R. Attlee for citing the misuse of science as a menace to the world.
Scientist Oliphant implied that the world’s terrible mess is the fault of the churches for not doing their job better. “I can find no evidence whatever,” he said, “that the morality of mankind has improved over the 5,000 years or so of recorded history.” The professor, however, was not content to let the matter rest there, but he waded into religion itself, criticizing God’s wisdom and justice for expelling Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden for having eaten of the forbidden fruit.
Moreover, the scientist gladly ranged himself on the side of the serpent, saying: "We are told that. .. Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden because they disobeyed the law and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. It seems strange to me that the exercise of the greatest faculty with which man has been endowed should ever have been regarded as a sin. ... By a deliberate act, probably the greatest step he ever took, [Man] chose to seek knowledge, thereby setting himself apart from all living things and ensuring his ultimate dominion over the earth. What is called the Fall of Man should be known as the Ascent of Man.”
Professor Oliphant, however, is not alone in this position of belittling God for having expelled Adam from Eden. The professor has the stanch support of many modern clergymen who, likewise, make light of the Genesis account; For example: Lloyd C. Douglas, writing in his book The Living Faith, pages 289 and 290, says: “According to the Jewish account of the world’s beginning, Jehovah had not inquired about the first man’s wants. He had not solicited questions. He was flatly down on inquisitiveness. But He had made a very inquisitive pair of people, and for this questing trait of mind, they were expelled from Eden.
“Jesus of Nazareth, as a messenger of God, reveals his Father as an entirely different type of personality. . . . The God of Jesus encouraged human curiosity: ‘Ask and it shall be given you. . . . Seek and ye shall find, ... Knock and it shall be opened.’ The old gods would have kept man forever in a state of mental and spiritual infancy. The God of Jesus wanted them to grow up to the stature of the fullness of His Christ.”
These charges leveled against Jehovah are certainly not justified in the light of Scriptural knowledge. To begin with, Jehovah God did not make Adam an ignorant soul as implied, nor was it his desire to keep man in a state of mental and spiritual infancy. There is an overwhelming abundance of evidence to show that Adam had a high degree of intelligence before he sinned. He was capable of naming on sight all the domestic and wild animals, as well as all the flying fowls of the heavens. This involves a considerable vocabulary. It is extremely doubtful if there is any man today that can duplicate what Adam did. Among other things Adam was an expert gardener. He knew how to keep his home
in a paradisaic condition. How many today can make this boast? Adam enjoyed perfect health, peace and prosperity. He lived with a free conscience and in a continuous state of exhilarating happiness. Who among mankind today can boast of this? Yet the self-styled wise men of today say Adam was ignorant—Genesis 2:19-23.
Professor Oliphant says that Adam’s deliberate act of disobedience to God’s law was probably the greatest step man ever took; that, instead of its being called “the Fall of Man,’’ It should be termed “the Ascent of Man.” Does history justify such a conclusion? Hardly. What kind of knowledge did disobedience open to Adam and Eve? Their eyes were opened, but not to what they expected. Their eyes became opened to the awful realization of their sense of guilt. They were acutely conscious that they dare not face their Creator in their undone and naked condition. The knowledge they acquired made slaves of them. It gave them a taste of sweat and hard labor. It made them see sickndss, feel sorrow and pain. It opened their eyes to the ugliness of disease, old age and death. The peace that Adam enjoyed mankind still seeks after. The perfect health that was his science gropes for in countless laboratories. The home and hope that were his are still the prayer of the human family. Truly, the Edenic incident was an uncomparable debacle saved only by the love of God through Jesus Christ.—Genesis 3:8-20; Romans 5:15; 6:23.
God allowed Adam freedom of choice. He did not tempt Adam to be disobedient or wicked by putting this tree of knowledge in the garden, because there were many other trees to eat from; but God encouraged him to obedience and faithfulness by warning him of the penalty of eating of the forbidden fruit. If Adam was inquisitive about the fruit, as Douglas suggests, then he should have inquired of God. But he made no such inquiry. True, Jesus did say that man should ask, seek and knock after knowledge of God, but Adam did none of these. Even the great Jehovah invites man to reason with him. Adam, however, did not want to reason with God. Adam was not teachable, nor was his wife. She wanted to increase her knowledge by deciding for herself what is good and bad without consulting God. She set herself up as a judge of what is right and what is wrong.—Matthew 7:7; Isaiah 1:18,
Speaking to his only-begotten Son, the Logos, Jehovah said: “Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad.” Hence God in substance said to Adam and Eve: ‘All right, if that is what you two want, to be your own judges, to go your own way, to decide for yourselves what is good and bad, then there is no place for you ‘in my garden. This place is for obedient creatures. Since you will have none of me, I will have none of you. So now, get out!’ The reason given for ousting the pair from Eden was that “the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad.” He was put out so as to have no opportunity to eat of the tree of life. —Genesis 3:22, New World Trans.
Let the religionists and the scientists scoff at the Bible record and take the side of Satan the Serpent, but the Christian will answer as did Captain Joshua: “As for me and my household, we shall serve Jehovah.”—-Joshua 24:15, New World Trans.
AT THE extreme west of the Iberian peninsula on the continent of Europe is the small sun-drenched country of Portugal with its eight million inhabitants. The climate of the country is a most temperate one, particularly in the south, which is known for its dry mildness during the winter months. Portugal is one of the gateways of Europe, and those passing through cannot- fail to appreciate her charm and natural beauty.
Here in this carefree land freedom of worship is denied to all religions, except the Roman Catholic religion. However, a small group of Christian men and women, known as Jehovah’s witnesses, are making good progress in their preaching activity. They have faithfully presented the good news concerning Jehovah’s kingdom in spite of many difficulties, and their numbers have steadily grown from 14 in 1948 to 188 in 1955.
Naturally, the Portuguese are suspicious of anything that is not Catholic, but in spite of this many sincere persons are accepting the Kingdom message. They see the hypocrisy of false religion and they are glad to embrace the truth. The low living standard and the large percentage of illiteracy make the work of Jehovah’s witnesses not an easy one. In most countries Jehovah’s witnesses are free to meet in their Kingdom Halls, but not in Portugal. Instead they are forced to meet in small groups in private homes. In Lisbon over 160 ministers meet in eight different groups. It is a big problem to find accommodations for all who desire to attend.
Strangely enough, house-to-house preaching is done without difficulty in the capital city, Lisbon, although those who share in presenting the message must be extremely careful not to enter into any arguments. The people are poor, which makes the placing of literature very difficult. Many make sacrifices, however, to obtain literature that will help them gain an understanding of the Bible. The ministry gives rise to many interesting experiences.
Recently a gentleman called at the local headquarters to obtain all the literature of Jehovah’s witnesses in Portuguese; also to subscribe for The Watchtower and Awake! Many years ago he purchased one of the Society’s publications, but becafne so involved with secular work that he lost all contact with Jehovah’s witnesses. Now that he is retired he wants very earnestly to become one of Jehovah’s witnesses.
A group of Presbyterian stalwarts began to study with one of the full-time ministers. They soon left jtheir church to associate with Jehovah’s witnesses. Several are already sharing in the preaching work. One of them conducts a Bible study with fifteen persons in attendance. In the course of their witnessing, a chief pillar of the Presbyterian Church was contacted. He was invited to join in the preaching work. He accepted the offer, and after spending two hours in the field he said that he was convinced that this was the true way to worship God. Now he too is studying with Jehovah’s witnesses.
A booklet was left with a maid. On the return call the lady of the house came to the door and accused the minister of being a Communist. But after a brief explanation she accepted some Bible helps. Being a devout Catholic she took the literature to her priest to ask his opinion. Destroy those books, he said, Burn them. She refused. The priest was not going to dictate what she should read. As she read she marked her Bible, underlining texts that differed with Catholic teaching. She began pointing out to her friends these discrepancies. Now she is one of Jehovah’s witnesses preaching truth.
A gentleman who received a call from a Watch Tower representative immediately asserted that he was a believer in evolution and that nothing would make him alter his views. He was persuaded to take a booklet explaining this matter. Now he too studies with Jehovah’s witnesses and has obtained all their literature.
Some 200 miles to the north of the capital is the city of Oporto. It has a very busy commercial and industrial life. In this important city two young ministers began their preaching activity about a year ago. They have now organized a congregation and are holding regular meetings with about thirty different persons attending each week. Interest in the kingdom of God is great. There are actually not enough workers to care for their needs.
In the rugged mountainous regions the people barely eke out a living. Many of their homes are built of rough boulders of rock hewn out from the mountainside. Most of these people attend mass every Sunday and reverently doff their hats when passing a church or a wayside image. The majority of them are illiterate. To get them to see the good news of God’s kingdom is an almost impossible job.
Climb, if you will, for hours in remote mountainous regions of Portugal, and there too you will find faithful witnesses of Jehovah preaching the message of the Kingdom amidst the difficulties of poverty, ignorance, superstition and fanaticism, as wet! as opposition. In spite of these hardships people of good will are coming forth and are identifying themselves as a part of the ever-growing New World society.
U'KNOW?
• How fear of what others might think leads to delinquency? P. 3, 114.
• How to get free of the fear of what people think? P. 4, 113.
• To what extremes the Jewish Talmud went in restricting sabbath activity? P. 5, 114.
* What really was the reason for changing the day of rest to Sunday? P. 6, 113.
* How we know that the sabbath law is not binding upon Christians? P. 7, US.
• What shows that the United States' racial troubles are not Just a Southern problem?
P. 9, U4«
• How Negroes are kept out of some northern cities? P. 1 i, 113.
• How South America’s Magdalena River got its name? P. 13, 113.
• What to do when your child begs: “Me tool Me help tool”? P. 16, Hl.
• How an Alaskan court showed that the work of Jehovah’s witnesses is both proper and legal? P. 20, 119.
• What ten senses man has in addition to the five usually mentioned? P. 22, Hl.
• Why we feel hunger? P. 23, Hl.
• What shows that the first man had great intelligence? P. 25, U6,
• How many groups of Jehovah’s witnesses meet in Lisbon, Portugal? P, 27, 113.
The Poznan Food Riots
< In Poland a day’s wage is not enough to provide food for a family. The average Polish worker must give a month's wages for a pair of leather shoes. In Poznan, fourth-larg-est city in Poland, workers at the Stalin Steel Works had been getting 30-percent higher wages than the average worker. Recently the Red regime cut the wages by 30 percent. In July the workers went on strike. During negotiations for higher wages the workers warned the government that they would march in the streets unless their demands were granted. The warning was not taken seriously. The workers began a demonstration. Thousands of workers from other factories joined in. The crowcj chanted “Bread, bread, bread!” Soon it was a riot. Workers stormed the city jail. The militia did nothing as the crowd shouted: "You yourselves have nothing to eat!” After releasing the prisoners, the crowd attacked the secret police headquarters. Troops and army tanks had to be called to save the secret police from the mob’s fury. A Polish soldier was shot dead by his officer because he refused to Are on his fellow Poles. For hours the fighting raged as armed workers shot back at the troops. At least 48 were killed and hundreds wounded. The Warsaw government admitted that the economic plight of the workers was to blame for the riots. To placate the workers a general 15-percent pay increase was ordered. “They had sufficient cause to be embittered,” said a Polish Communist party newspaper, “but the form of protest employed by them was incorrect."
Moscow’s Explanation
The Kremlin’s anti-Stalin campaign has aroused more dispute among Communists than any ideological, issue since the Trotsky-Stalin issue. One of the big questions Communists in lands outside the Soviet orbit wanted answered was: If Stalin was such a fiendish monster, why had the present Soviet leaders not opposed him during his lifetime? Italy's Communist Party chief Togliatti even askdd if there was “degeneration" in the Soviet system. In July the first official explanation came from the Communist Central Committee in Moscow. After first praising itself for publicizing the “errors connected with the personality cult,” it cited three main reasons why the present Soviet leaders had not removed Stalin during his lifetime: (1) Because of “capitalist encirclement" there was a tendency to allow power to accrue to one man. (2) Because of Stalin’s popularity, achieved in the build-up of the country, action against him would not be understood by the people. (3) Many details of Stalin’s reign of terror were nob known until after his death. The statement denied that the present leaders lacked courage in failing to dispose of Stalin. As to the matter of degeneration, Moscow said: “One cannot, in particular, agree with Comrade Togliatti when he asks whether Soviet society has not reached ‘certain forms of degeneration.’ There are no foundations for such a question." The statement had the effect of moving Communists throughout the world into line. Typical of Western reaction to the statement is the New York Times’ comment: “Their pretense that they dared not move against Stalin because he was so ‘popular1 is obviously nonsense. They were Stalin's closest henchmen. . . . When he died, their claim to continued power was that they had been his closest ‘comrades in arms.’ . . . How can they now escape responsibility as his accomplices?”
Turkey and Cyprus
<$> Cyprus is more than 500 miles from Athens but only 40 miles from the shores of Turkey. But geography is not the only basis for Turkish interest in Cyprus. The Turks, not the Greeks, ruled Cyprus for 300 years before the British took over 78 years ago. Yet today Cyprus is more Greek than Turkish. About 80 percent of the population is of Greek descent. Since the Turkish minority on Cyprus claim to foresee discrimination against them should Cyprus be united with Greece, Ankara has kept its eye on the island. But during the many months of violence on Cyprus between the British and the Greeks, Turkey has been on the side lines. In July Turkey became the center of attention. A settlement between the Greeks and the Brit-l*h began to emerge. The Greeks agreed to drop their demand for anosis (union with Greece) and to accept a plan that would allow them to determine their own future in ten years, after an interim period of self-rule. This gave London assurance that Cyprus would remain secure as a British base for at least ten years. To complete details on a Cyprus settlement London sent a delegation to Turkey. As a condition for settlement Turkish Premier Menderes called for permanent representation for Turkish Cypriotes in the Cypriote Senate. It would have the right of veto. But that would give the Turks power to prevent enosis, something the Greek Cypriotes would never agree to. London’s hopes to restore normal life to the strifetom island came to a standstill as the Turkish premier said loss of British sovereignty over Cyprus would be an "international disaster.”
Neutralism and Regimentation
Some doubt has long existed as to just what is the U.S. policy on neutralism. In June President Eisenhower brought joy to the hearts of the neutralists by showing sympathetic understanding of their position. "We were a young country once," said the president, "and [for 150 years] we were neutral." A few days later the U.S. seemed to do an about-face. Secretary of State Dulles attacked neutralism with sharp words, calling it an "obsolete ... immoral and short-sighted conception." U.S. policy on neutralism was now more unclear than ever. In July VicePresident Nixon gave what is believed to be the final definition of policy. In Manila he read a speech prepared for him by the State Department. The message was neither so friendly toward neutralists as Eisenhower's nor so critical as the Dulles speech. Nixon said the U.S. cherishes the friendship of those nations “even though they have not seen fit to ally themselves with us.” “But," explained Nixon, toward the “brand of neutralism that makes no moral distinction between the Communist world and the free world . . . we have no sympathy. . . . Those who feel that friendly neutrality toward the Kremlin and Peiping may spare them . .. are taking a fearful risk.” In New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Nehru spoke out against the Nixon and Dulles statements: "We do not believe the world can be divided up into good and evil. No country is totally good. No country is totally evil. . . . Alignment to one side or another . . . means regimentation. I object to Communist regimentation. I object equally to non-Communist regimentation.”
The Shocking H-Bomb Testimony
& For security reasons testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee is heavily censored. Recently Lieut. Gen. James M. Gavin, chief of research and development for the U.S. Army, went before a Senate subcommittee. The censor released some of his testimony. The general told the subcommittee that hundreds of millions of people, including a great many in friendly countries, would be killed in event of an all-out U.S. nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. “If the wind blew to the southeast,” said the general, “they [the deaths] would be mostly In the U.S.S.R., although they would extend into the Japanese and perhaps down into the Philippine area. If the wind blew the other way they would extend well back up into Western Europe.” The general indicated that this information was no mere guess but was based on “current planning estimates." Besides the millions of deaths, he explained, there would be widespread trouble from strontium 90, a radioactive product that lodges in bones. The release of Gen. Gavin’s testimony stunned army officials. Throwing up their hands in disgust they complained that comparatively unimportant information is suppressed every day while statements that can do incalculable harm to the Allied cause skid through the security machinery. Especially shocked were those officials whose job it is to discourage neutralism.
Tibet: “A Wave of Rebellion"
<$> The rulers of Tibet are the Chinese Communists. Because of the land’s mountainous terrain and the Tibetans’ reluctance to submit to Communist rule, the Chinese Reds have not found it easy to keep order. Reports of armed revolts, underground opposition and widespread unrest have increased. The Dalai Lama’s brother, as a leader of a group of exiled Tibetans, recently sent a letter to India's Prime Minister Nehru saying that the Reds had bombed Litang, a provincial capital. The letter said that Tibetans “had risen in aid Of their fellow countrymen," indicating that the bombing resulted in stiffening of rebel resistance. New Delhi’s Statesman reported that “a wave of rebellion” has spread through eight eastern provinces. Both sides are reported to have suffered heavy casualties. Alarmed by the resistance, the Reds have appealed to the Dalai Lama to use his prestige to end the rebellion.
Back to Head-hunting
<$> In the hilly forests of northeast India live the Nagas. “Naga" is a word meaning snake; theNagas are so named because they are snake worshipers. At one time these snake worshipers were notorious head-hunters who terrorized the people of the plains. "Chopping off heads,” said the Manchester Guardian recently, “is to the Naga what cricket is to the Yorkshireman—the
event to be awaited throughout the week and sorrowed over when it does not come off.” For some months now the Nagas have been demanding independence of the Indian government. To back up their demands the Nagas have gone back to their old ways. The head of a government official was recently sent back with a note saying: "Please next time send a more polite man.” In July India decided to send a division of troops to put down the Naga rebellion.
Collision over Grand Canyon
About 90,000 civil and military aircraft are flying in active service in the U.S. today. Since 1950 there have been over 65 mid-air collisions of civilian aircraft alone. An airlines pilot survey shows that an average of four airliners almost collide every day. In about 25 percent of these narrow escapes the planes pass within 100 feet of each other. In July there was no escape for a T.W.A. Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 flying over Grand Canyon; they met in "a deflnite collision,” according to the Civil Aeronautics Board chief investigator. The United plane had been flying at 21,000 feet. The T.W.A. plane had been flying at 19,000 feet, but the pilot was granted permission to leave "instrument flight rules” so he could fly 1,000 feet above the bad weather. When the T.W.A. pilot reported that this brought him up to 21,000 feet, the pilot was warned routinely that another plane was cruising near him. After a tense voice from the United plane radioed, “We are going . . . ,” nothing was heard again from either plane. Of the 128 persons aboard the two airliners, none survived. The collision was the worst commercial airlines disaster in U.S. aviation history.
The Greek Island Disaster
> In three years’ time Greece has been affected by three major earthquake disasters. This year a new disaster made it four In four years’ time. In July an earthquake rocked the Greek island of Thera (population 10,000) in the Aegean Sea. So many buildings were wrecked that 60 percent of the Therans were made homeless. To add to the misery, a dormant volcano, actuated by the earthquake, covered the island with smoke and ashes; and a quake-caused tidal wave did more damage. At least 43 persons died in the disaster. In Athens, 150 miles northwest of Thera, pictures were jarred off walls and crockery off shelves. In 24 hours the Athens Observatory counted 257 tremors, three of them violent. So strong was one of them that It damaged the observatory’s seismograph.
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