Watching the World

“We’re Not Worried”

◆ Recent political events moved “The National Observer” to interview people in several U.S. cities. Many persons were sour​—but one couple clearly was not. Says the report: “A San Diego [California] couple, who identified themselves only as Joseph and Margaret, declined to say whether they had opinions on the pardons, the Presidency, or the future of the republic. ‘As Jehovah’s Witness missionaries,’ Joseph said, ‘we practice total neutrality. We’re neutral, we’re not worried.’ He whipped out his Bible and began leafing through it. ‘There’s a verse that covers it all,’ he said. He suggested the 37th Psalm (‘ . . . just a little while longer and the wicked shall be no more’), and the 146th Psalm (‘ . . . do not put your trust in nobles’).”

Nuclear Potential

◆ Right now there are 19 nations with a total of 149 nuclear reactors producing electricity. Could these be employed to manufacture nuclear weapons? Before the spent fuel from such plants can be used in weapons, radioactive waste must be separated from the plutonium​—a difficult and expensive process. Nevertheless, ten of these countries have already refused to sign or ratify treaties limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. And, currently, 23 other nations have plants under construction or planned.

Stock Market Woes

◆ This September the Dow Jones Industrial Average on the New York Stock Exchange dropped to near 600 (after being as high as 1051 in 1972). What does this low figure mean in dollars and cents? Well, suppose that in 1969, a little over five years ago, a person invested $30,000 in the thirty stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrials. In September 1974 they were worth under $20,000​—less than two thirds of the original figure. Of course, due to inflation even this reduced amount buys far less than it would have five years ago.

India’s Crime

◆ “India’s crime rate surpasses its population explosion,” says an article by Captain F. D. Colabavala in Bombay’s Free Press Journal. During the decade of the 1960’s population went up 27.4 percent but crime increased 56.6 percent. Juvenile delinquency, during the same period, skyrocketed almost 135 percent. Says the article: “The streets of major Indian cities have become as deadly for peaceful citizens as the streets of New York.”

Hungrier than Ever

◆ Compared with previous decades and centuries, how much progress has been made in feeding the world? Rene Dumont, professor of agriculture at the National Institute of Agronomy in Paris, gives his answer in a recent issue of The Courier: “Our world has gone mad . . . Although it is difficult to make a precise assessment, it seems more than likely that the poor countries are, on average, as undernourished as they were before the Second World War. . . . [T]he poorer classes in India, Bangladesh and most of the Andean mountain regions are less well nourished than they were in the eighteenth century . . . If the experts are unable to work out a co-ordinated programme designed to halt population increase, then we face the prospect of a series of catastrophes, whose precise nature no one can predict at this stage.”

Unity and Food

◆ One reason that many people do not have enough food to eat is the lack of unity among the nations. But how much could be provided if there were no nationalistic divisions? Says a current issue of BioScience: “Although figures can only be estimated, many believe that an organized, integrated plan of action involving all nations could, through improvements in conventional agriculture, at least double annual world food production within a reasonable period of years.”

Polka Mass

◆ A popular polka band in Eveleth, Minnesota, plays two nights a week in a popular dance spot for local Croats and Slovenes. But on Saturday night the band plays at Roman Catholic Masses. “With different lyrics,” says the National Catholic Reporter, popular tunes like “The Barking Dog Polka” and “The Iron Mike Polka” become “the entrance, offertory, communion and recessional hymns.”

Deadly Dust

◆ “Technical progress” exacts some tolls that are not always readily apparent; for instance, occupational diseases. Dr. Robert Murray, Medical Adviser of the Trades Union Congress in the United Kingdom reports: “The most important diseases in this connexion are the dust diseases. They affect workers all over the world​—coal miners, gold miners, diamond miners, copper miners. Wherever men have to go underground to drill and break rock or to win coal or ores, dust is inevitable and within some years of first exposure comes the corresponding disease.”

No Harmony at Concordia

◆ Problems continue to plague Concordia conservative St. Louis seminary of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. Its 136th academic year began in early September with only about 190 students and 20 full-time teachers​—far less than the previous year. Many “moderates” broke off from Concordia over doctrinal and other issues earlier in the year. Concordia used to be the largest Lutheran seminary in North America. Now it is the smallest.

Speed Kills

◆ Evidence accumulates that fast driving is deadly. In the early months of 1973 there were no speed limits on road driving in Finland. During the same period in 1974 the oil shortage imposed an 80-kilometer-per-hour (50 mph) speed limit. Results? Deaths were reduced by 44 percent. Similar drops were recorded in Belgium (23 percent), France (22 percent), West Germany (21 percent) and Austria (18 percent).

Bankruptcy Boom

◆ In the first four months of 1974 there were 2,400 bankruptcies in West Germany. That is a 40-percent increase over the same period in the previous year.

Disaster Averted

◆ Earlier this year the miners’ strike made it necessary for Britain temporarily to impose a three-day workweek. While parts of four months’ production were affected, industrial output was actually down only 6 percent. Why? Better management planning techniques, about half the normal number of absentees, and harder work during available hours. Leisure business skyrocketed in the same period. Says Europe’s Vision: “Life settled, after a brief dislocation, into a new and different rhythm.”

Violent Environment

◆ Violence is part of the American environment, says Dr. Eugene C. Bianchi of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. In Christian Century he points to one subtle manner in which it is impressed on young men: “The American family also teaches violence by direct example, notably through father-mother relations. . . . In addition to wife-beating, there are threats of abandonment, which are especially menacing to a woman whose socialization has left her without independent means of support. She may be punished by being ignored or by having her movements and her circle of friends limited. The young boy observes these control patterns and incorporates them into his own personality for later use.”

U.S. Taxes Rise

◆ It takes money to run a government. How much do taxpayers pay out? In 1973 the people of the United States paid $396 billion in federal, state and local taxes. That is $20 billion more than spent for food, shelter and clothing combined. The tax total has more than doubled since 1965. Last year the annual taxation for every man, woman and child was almost $1,900; the figure has gone up $200 per person over each of the last three years.

Appliance Costs

◆ The average price of a refrigerator in America in 1972 was about $300. A recent study reveals, however, that this price accounts for only 36 percent of the appliance’s lifetime total. Power costs another 58 percent, and servicing still 6 percent more. Thus the $300 refrigerator will have cost $1,130 during its estimated fourteen-year life-span.

Supermarket Cheats

◆ A recent New York magazine considers how some supermarket check-out clerks cheat store patrons. Primarily it is done with the subtotal key on the cash register. One customer has a small load, say three dollars’ worth of groceries. He is given a check-out register receipt that has only a subtotal. The next shopper has maybe thirty dollars in groceries. But the previous subtotal of three dollars is still in the register. The second customer’s receipt, correctly listing the price for each item purchased, does not show that earlier figure. Few shoppers with large bills even notice the few dollars difference. The article claiming that one thief makes up to $900 on a single Saturday, notes: “There are enough supermarket check-out-counter rip-off artists working in the greater New York area to fill a small auditorium.”

Transportation Dilemma

◆ The increase in automobiles in the nation has created what U.S. Secretary of Transportation C. S. Brinegar calls a “terrible dilemma” for cities. In twenty years the number of cars has doubled. During the 1960’s suburb populations rose by one third. Thus, more people started driving into the cities for work; daily traffic jams intensified. Why not build more roads? ‘Using whose land?’ asks Brinegar. Besides, more roads would probably mean more automobiles and even greater congestion. Meanwhile, new subway systems cost over $40 million per mile and take ten years to build.

Sex Revolution’s Results

◆ “At most colleges, the sexual revolution is over.” When a person reads that statement in a recent Time magazine he thinks that an incredible reversal has taken place; are students suddenly moral? Well, read on: “Premarital sex and cohabitation among unmarried students are accepted as a matter of course. More recently, students at many campuses have become highly tolerant of homosexual and bisexual behavior. Among the most extreme avant-garde students at Berkeley and Columbia, it has become fashionable to have a homosexual or bisexual experience.”​—Italics ours.

Gas Stations Close

◆ Gasoline stations were among the U.S. victims of the recent petroleum shortage. About 20,000 closed in the one-year period ending June 30, 1974.

Value of College

◆ Theodore Newcomb, a noted teacher who has instructed at many U.S. universities, was asked, “What does college do for a person?” He answers in a recent issue of Psychology Today: “Frankly, very little that is demonstrable. . . . Most kids go to college to get certified; credit for courses has become the be-all and end-all of education.”

Modern Zoroastrians

◆ The 25,000 persons who practice Iran’s ancient religion of Zoroastrianism are making changes to keep up with the times. For centuries they have left their dead to decompose on the open roofs of isolated towers. Now they must bury the dead​—why? Moslems are said to have ‘violated’ the towers’ secrecy, flying over in helicopters and taking pictures for newspapers. Medical students, too, have stolen body parts.