Watching the World

Social Earthquake

◆ A former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Labor expressed the view that the world faces a violent “social earthquake” if nothing is done to help the unemployed to find work. He said: “If development in the next decade merely serves to make the rich richer, and to bring few or no benefits at all, to the rapidly growing poverty-stricken masses, we will run the risk of seeing our efforts overtaken by a wave of great social unrest and even violence​—a social earthquake based on misery and despair of those who are unable to earn a decent livelihood for themselves and their families.”

German Inflation

◆ Karl Schiller, Federal Minister of Economics for West Germany, emphasized the growing anxiety over the inflationary development in the Federal Republic. He observed: “We have to admit that we are in a bad situation because the intended increase of the overall income has resulted in higher costs. . . . Because price controls are out of the question we are at the end of our wits.” In the space of one year the German mark has lost 2.5 percent of its purchasing power.

River Pollution in Germany

◆ Two tributaries of the Rhine River have become so badly polluted that several stretches of them have been declared biologically dead. These are the Necker and Sieg Rivers. One stretch of the Necker was filled with dead fish and rats for a week during May. The Rhine itself is reaching a pollution level close to that reached two years ago when nearly all fish died in the stretch from Bingen to the Dutch border.

Severe Drought Hits Mexico

◆ A vast area of northern Mexico was hit by the worst drought in thirty years. It covered at least nine states. Water rationing was imposed in the Mexican drought area. Hundreds of families have left their homes in search of water, and the Mexican government has tried to help by distributing millions of liters of water daily as well as sinking new wells in search of water.

Lead Poisoning from Wine

◆ A man living as part of a commune on a farm in the state of Oregon became afflicted with nausea, muscle cramps and extreme fatigue. A blood test revealed lead poisoning. A careful search of the farm by toxicologists turned up homemade plum wine that had a high concentration of lead. The man had consumed 50 gallons of it over a period of four months. The wine had been left in three bathtubs to ferment when it was made. Scraping of the glaze from the tubs revealed a concentration of 10 percent lead. The wine had leached lead from the glaze and poisoned those who drank it.

Executive Crime

◆ Former New York Police Commissioner Howard R. Leafy thinks that the man in the executive suite is a far greater danger to a company involved with business fraud than a dishonest employee at the bottom of the ladder. He observed: “That’s the fallacy​—most people worry about the dishonest employe who may steal a few thousand dollars. But it is the top executive, perhaps even the boss, or a vice president, treasurer or controller, who is pocketing a much greater sum.”

Stealing Church Art

◆ Concerned over a growing loss of Roman Catholic art treasures, the Vatican has ordered an inventory of them, the first of its kind. Priests were warned that those caught selling such treasures without permission would be excommunicated. The Evening Star of Washington, D.C., reported: “There have been reports, especially in Italy, of parish priests selling old church paintings, marble works and statues to raise money for more modern furnishings.” Cardinal Wright observed: “The faithful are pained to see, today more than in the past, so many illegal sales, thefts, usurpations and destruction of the church’s historical and artistic heritage.”

Sorcery in Italy

◆ In Catholic Italy sorcery is hitting a peak in popularity. A multimillion-dollar business is being done by the 10,000 soothsayers, clairvoyants, astrologers and the like. A sorcerer in Milan said: “More are coming to us every year.” A Rome sorcerer said: “Thefts of skulls from cemeteries are increasing. There is a flourishing black market in these by secret practitioners in the macabre and black magic.”

Church Supports Revolution

◆ During a House subcommittee meeting on U.S. business involvement in southern Africa, the United Presbyterian Church projected itself into the discussion. When asked if the Presbyterian church supported active revolution and violence for political independence, a church spokesman pointed to a Presbyterian clergyman, John Witherspoon, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, which declaration, he said, “approved violent overthrow. In that sense, we would support it, though we would hope it could come about nonviolently.” A congressman frankly told the church: “I wish at some point the churches would begin to pay attention to church business and getting us all to heaven instead of getting us to the position of, if not building violent revolution, at least supporting it.”

Baptist Minister Sentenced

◆ A man who has been an ordained Baptist minister for 17 years was sentenced to 10 years in prison by an Oklahoma court for distributing obscene writings, books and photographs. He claimed that they were cultural, scientific and educational. The jury as well as the judge viewed them differently.

Female President of Baptists

◆ The American Baptists Convention, consisting of 1.5 million members, recently elected a woman to be its president. This will be the fifth woman elected to this post in the 60-year history of the organization. On the night the convention opened, the Baptist delegates observed Communion, using grape juice. In both actions they were at odds with the Bible, which forbids a woman to exercise religious authority over men and which calls for wine, not grape juice, to be used in observing the memorial of Christ’s death.

Youth Blinds Self

◆ A 25-year-old youth took a potent animal tranquilizer that is often sold by drug dealers as a synthetic form of marijuana. When taken to jail for walking nude through an alley near his home, he gouged out his eyeballs with his fingers. Doctors say he will now be totally blind. What a price to pay for seeking pleasure through drugs!

Drug Problem in Navy

◆ Recent news reports focused attention on the grave drug problem existing among men in the United States Army. Now Navy Secretary John H. Chafee reveals that the drug problem in the Navy and Marines is out of control.

Amazing Water Purifier

◆ A transparent membrane that looks like cellophane is working successfully as a water purifier. Water containing impurities is separated in a tank by this membrane from fresh water. By applying pressure, the impure water passes through the membrane into the freshwater side leaving all impurities behind. Since the membrane has no pores, not even dissolved salt or bacteria can get through. Water molecules apparently get through by dissolving into the membrane, becoming part of it, and then emerging on the other side. Waste treatment units are being developed that employ the membrane. It removes all solids and impurities from the wastes, such as sewage, and the water that comes through the membrane can immediately be reused, being purer than the water in many municipal water supplies. It makes possible the recycling of water from a home sewage system.

A Doctor’s View of Abortion

◆ Expressing his view of the abortion policy of the American Medical Association, Dr. Kermit Till states in American Medical News of May 24, 1971: “It’s obvious that the AMA is attempting to resolve a problem which it is ill equipped to handle. We should get completely out of the abortion business and not dignify such a sordid procedure as the taking of a human life just because a woman thinks she doesn’t want another child. It is true that families with too many children need help, but it has been my understanding that you cannot help anyone by simply making life easy for him, and certainly not at the expense of taking someone else’s life.”

New Light on Colon Cancer

◆ According to Dr. Denis P. Burkitt of England, a diet that features a large amount of white flour and white sugar is responsible for the rising incidence of cancer of the colon in Western nations. The doctor noted that cancer of the colon seldom occurs in Africa where people eat fewer carbohydrates and more roughage. The disease is rising in Japan where the Western style of eating is becoming more popular.

Rise of Mental Illness

◆ In the past ten years first admissions to psychiatric institutions in Canada have nearly doubled. Commenting on this, Dr. J. D. Griffin, general director of the Canadian Mental Health Association, remarked: “Our statistics are beginning to look ominous. There is substantial evidence to indicate that the lifetime prevalence of serious mental disorders is well in advance of the traditional one in 10​—perhaps as high as one in four.”

Operations Without Anesthetics

◆The New York Times reports that open-heart surgery was performed on a woman in China without the use of an anesthetic. The patient felt no pain and was fully conscious throughout the operation. Acupuncture needles were used instead of a conventional anesthetic. The needles were inserted into the nerve areas involved. Two were inserted in each wrist and one in each forearm. Why the needles cause a numbness so that the pain of a serious operation is not felt is not understood. Ailments have been treated by acupuncture in China for more than a thousand years.

Should Tonsils Be Removed?

◆ In the past it was routine procedure for doctors to recommend the removal of tonsils. In recent years the wisdom of this practice has been questioned. In the magazine MD of May 1971, Dr. Nicholas J. Vianna of the National Center for Disease Control in the United States takes the view that the removing of one’s tonsils increases one’s risk of developing Hodgkin’s disease. He and his group of researchers said: “There is thus reason to suppose that surgical removal of such lymphoid tissue as the tonsil or the appendix . . . predisposes to the development of Hodgkin’s disease.”

Gonorrhea Out of Control

◆ At an International Venereal Disease Symposium it was reported that “an alarming situation of growing proportions” has developed with respect to VD. Concerning gonorrhea, a VD official of the U.S. Government observed that new cases are occurring “every 15 seconds around the clock.” The number of new cases since 1965 has nearly doubled. A report released at the meeting stated with respect to the United States: “Gonorrhea is clearly out of control in most parts of the country, and, so far, only small-scale pilot studies have been launched to develop methods and techniques to attack the pandemic.” This is clearly the fruit from the general breakdown in moral standards that has occurred in recent years.