Watching the World
Back to Paradise
◆ During the early weeks of November, thousands of convention delegates flocked to convention sites on those islands of the Pacific that have come to be viewed by many as the very symbols of paradise. A crowd of 15,443 assembled in Hawaii, 1,621 in Fiji and 614 in Tahiti, all to enjoy the program of the “Peace on Earth” International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Much as they enjoyed the natural beauty of the islands where they gathered, they were keenly aware that more than swaying palms and warm lapping waters are needed to make a genuine paradise. It is also vital that the people live together in peace, their lives governed by love for God and love for neighbor. Appropriately, at the conventions in Fiji and Hawaii, the Watch Tower Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, addressed the delegates on the subject “The Road Back to Peace in Paradise,” and in Tahiti, F. W. Franz, vice-president of the Society, spoke on “The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years.” The conventioners, from many tribal and national backgrounds, greatly appreciated the peaceful atmosphere that prevailed at each of these assemblies. To date, at the twenty-four “Peace on Earth” assemblies held during 1969, the total attendance was 986,926, and the assembly series was not yet finished.
Military Spending Cost
◆ The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reportedly disclosed that “the world’s military spending—$173.4 billion for 1968—now exceeds the total amount of all goods and services it produced in 1900.” The rate is said to be accelerating. Together the United States and the Soviet Union account for some 70 percent of the world’s military spending.
Man’s Second Moon Landing
◆ Eight hours of walking on the moon highlighted America’s second manned mission to the lunar surface a quarter million miles away. In all, the men spent 31-1/2 hours on the moon’s Ocean of Storms on November 19 and 20. The men returned to earth with 80 pounds of rocks for scientists, and pieces of an unmanned spacecraft, Surveyor 3, which landed on the moon 2-1/2 years ago. The moon mission was executed by astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Alan L. Bean and Richard F. Gordon, Jr.
Germ Warfare Renounced
◆ President Nixon declared on November 25 that the United States would not engage in germ warfare and also renounced all but defensive uses of chemical-warfare weapons. The president said the U.S. would not use bacteriological weapons even to retaliate against an enemy attack. He ordered existing American germ-warfare weapons destroyed. However, sources at the White House stated that the president’s order did not include tear gas and chemical defoliants, which the United States has been using in Vietnam.
Oil for Less
◆ Iran produces nearly 300 million tons of oil each year, of which the United States imports less than four million barrels. The U.S. agreed to consider this year an increase in American imports of Iranian oil. Why? Iran is willing to sell at one dollar less per barrel than American producers.
Appreciative Visitors
◆ How would you like to have 2,155 guests visit you in a single day? On Thursday, November 27, this number of visitors came from at least fifteen different states to tour the complex of buildings that make up the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society’s printing plant and Bethel home in Brooklyn, New York. In some twenty-five chartered buses, by car and subway they arrived. From Wisconsin and Michigan three chartered planes came, filled with persons who wanted to see for themselves what is being done at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s witnesses. A New York policeman who aided in parking the buses was visibly overwhelmed at the idea that so many people from so many places were so keenly interested in a printing plant that they would make long trips to visit it on their day off. Those who took the tour were deeply impressed with what they saw and learned. They knew that all the work was done by volunteers, ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses who are keenly interested in seeing that Bibles and Bible-study literature be made available to people in every part of the earth. But they were amazed at the vast quantity of such literature that they saw being produced. During October and November alone, 6,152,988 bound books and 33,474,368 Watchtower and Awake! magazines were printed here. Their visit also afforded them opportunity to view, at least from the outside, the Society’s newly acquired buildings (formerly the Squibb property), which double the amount of available factory space.
Vatican Warns the Press
◆ Newsmen applying for press cards at the Vatican press office in November were reminded that anyone who demonstrated an “incorrect attitude” toward the Roman Catholic Church might lose his credentials. Reporters fumed. A Vatican insider reportedly said: “Journalists today try to write like theologians, getting involved in highly controversial doctrinal matters. Any journalist who behaves irresponsibly in doing this kind of reporting can damage the religious consciences of Catholic readers around the world.” The consciences of many Catholics are very sensitive because of the many changes within the church in recent years.
Arms-Limitation Talks
◆ At Helsinki, Finland, in mid-November, the United States and Russia opened talks on strategic-arms limitation. The Soviet’s representative Vladimir S. Semenov said his government attaches “great importance” to the talks. Gerard C. Smith, for the United States, said he was convinced agreement is “in the mutual interests” of both nations. The basic goal of the negotiators is to limit strategic weapons such as ocean-spanning missiles, long-range bombers and defensive-weapon systems.
Sato-Nixon Pact
◆ In the third week of November, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato of Japan met with President Richard Nixon of the United States to discuss the future of Okinawa. After three days of talks, it was agreed that the U.S. will return Okinawa to Japanese rule in 1972, and that American military facilities on the island will be retained but governed by the 1951 Japanese-U.S. Security Treaty. Nuclear weapons, it was agreed, would also be removed from Okinawa.
Divorce Bill in Italy
◆Italy may someday have a divorce bill. In the last ninety-one years the Roman Catholic Church has managed to block twelve attempts to pass such a bill. But on November 28 the Chamber of Deputies passed a divorce bill by a margin of 325 to 283 over the opposition of the church. The Senate, however, must approve the bill before it can become law.
Christendom’s Decline
◆ The “era of Christendom is over,” stated Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, of the World Council of Churches. This is seen in sagging church memberships, lower attendance figures and a declining influence in Europe and in America. Blake said: “We are in a secularizing age, and the idea of the church dominating culture or dominating government has gone. This is complete.” A longtime Lutheran educator, Dr. Clarence C. Stoughton of Springfield, Ohio, said: “Our people are in rebellion against the church. This is a quiet rebellion, one in which people are simply walking out and never coming back.”
DDT Lingers Long
◆ If the pesticide DDT were outlawed tomorrow, “it would take 10 years or longer” to cleanse the nation of effects already caused by the insect killer, said Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Robert H. Finch of the United States.
“Slow Suicide”
◆ According to Prof. J. G. Scadding, a British specialist at the Institute of Diseases of the Chest, Brompton Hospital, chronic bronchitis kills 30,000 people a year in Britain—the highest mortality from the disease in the world—and yet it is largely preventable. In the booklet How Not to Get Bronchitis he says that any man who continues smoking after contracting the malady is committing “slow suicide.” In simple terms, he said, every smoker with morning cough has it. That is the mildest stage of the disease. The ideal recipe is not to smoke and to live in an area of low air pollution.
The Clergy No Example
◆ In an article, Dr. Max Rafferty, California superintendent of public instruction, refers to the relativists in religion. “The relativists,” he said, “can shrivel up your faith in everything large, divine and comfortable until you’re left with a little, rotten, shredded ball of shoddy skepticism, flavored with an occasional dash of sheer superstition.” And who are the greatest supporters of relativism? He answers: the clergy. And he goes on to say: “There’s no deadlier enemy than the sick preacher . . . he’s a more dangerous corrupter of youth than the Devil himself.”
Crime in Washington
◆ Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, has many problems, but one of the biggest is crime. U.S. News & World Report says that crime in Washington “has reached crisis proportions.” President Nixon referred to it as “a national problem,” a “disgraceful situation.” Schools are in turmoil, racked by violence and vandalism. Teachers are appealing for police protection. Venereal disease is epidemic: the gonorrhea rate is seven times the national average; the syphilis rate, 10 times. In the 12 months ended September 30, there were 58,662 serious crimes committed in this city. That figures out to one crime for every 14 residents, an average of 160 serious crimes every day. Robberies are increasing faster than any other type of crime and murder is second. America’s capital city has become a city of fear.
An ‘Honest Job’
◆ A Baptist minister in North Carolina left his pulpit to enter the business world. As public relations director of a bank he said his new job gave him “an opportunity to work in an institution that’s honest.” “In business we agree to cutthroat competition—and we go about it in a fair way. In a church, you never make this agreement. . . . There is, instead, a dishonesty.”
Salt and Heat Exhaustion
◆ It is generally believed that the taking in of limited amounts of salt relieves heat exhaustion. Recent studies reveal that the opposite can be the case. A study of Israeli youngsters working in the 100-degree-F. to 130-degree-F. heat of Israeli fields showed severe potassium deficits among heat-exhausted youths taking salt tablets. When they stopped the sodium-chloride-tablet intake and increased the potassium intake instead, the problem vanished. Researchers say that sodium replacement does relieve heat exhaustion when it is first taken into the body and therefore gives one the feeling of relief, but the process then reverses itself and a person becomes more exhausted as a result.
Leopard Skins and Ladies
◆ Professional hunters say that about the only thing that will stop poachers from killing the African leopard, and thus save the beast from extinction, is to have women stop wearing leopard-skin coats. Hunters get $240 to $600 for a large skin. Some stores in New York have announced that they would heed the cry to preserve the animal by not selling leopard coats.