WORLD NEWSGRAMS
Jam es O. Henry, M .A ., Editor, Associate prof, of History, Biola Bible College
years and a maximum of 30 years at hard labor.” Representative Hosmer of Long Beach has pointed out that tougher penalties have greatly reduced nar cotics violations in Detroit and New Orleans, and advocated that local jur ists should be sterner in their de cision. Federal Judge Leon Yank- wich in defending the record of his court declared that h e will not change his methods of dealing with narcotics violators. He said, “The in crease of severity of a penalty has never solved crime in a general way.” We wonder if the judge thinks laxity is the solution. A th eism in the Schools Alleged attempts by some educa tional theorist to foist atheism on schools and colleges was recently at tacked by Rev. Dr. Luther A. Weigle, Dean Emeritus of the Yale Divinity School. He assailed also a growing “disposition to expel God from both the government and education as an illegal entry.” He said “ the nation’s schools, as well as the government may be neutral as to the strife of the sects, but they cannot be neutral as to God.” , Dr. Weigle ascribed to some lead ers in public education the assertion that “belief in God is necessarily and wrongfully authoritarian in charac ter, that there is no absolute truth or value in obligation, that in mat ters of faith in God teaching is al ways neutral, that God is irrelevant to the real crises and decisions of human life and history, that belief in God is actually a hinderance to human idealism.” In his attack on the “ educational theorists” he said that, “what they were attempting to foist on the schools they preferred to call ‘non- theistic humanism’. This condition,” he declared, “ is due to an extreme interpretation of the (constitutional) principle of separation of church and state, which confines God to the church and outlaws Him in the State.”
convicted of new crimes.” There is currently a need of employment for at least 1,000 additional inmates at productive enterprises. On May 1, 1944 there were 5,711 inmates in the four (California) institutions. “As of June 30, 1953, 13,792 in mates were confined in the adult cor rectional institutions of the State— an increase of 8,081. Pending new construction, the problem of over crowding has had to be met by plac ing two or more inmates in a cell, or by use of temporary emergency facilities.” The editorial points out that, “About 28 per cent of the convictions in California Superior courts are placed on probation and not sent to prison.” It contends that there are too many criminals out of jail who should be in custody and made to work to pay their keep. The writer concludes “ Bigger and better prisons and more employment is the only answer to this problem,” which is the usual sociological argument of correction instead of prevention. A sh S tiffer N a rcotics haws Recommendations that California’s anti-narcotic laws be revised to pro vide stiffer mandatory sentences have been proposed to Governor Goodwin Knight. Those proposing the changes in the laws cited the belief of federal narcotips agents that Southern Cali fornia is one of the three main dope distributing centers in the United States, and argued that action be taken to eradicate the traffic. In the recommendation it was pointed out that “until the Louisiana law was changed, New Orleans held the dubious distinction of being among the top three black spots in the narcotics traffic. The Louisiana law amended in 1952 now makes it mandatory that certain violators be sentenced to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 15 years at hard labor and a violator guilty of selling narcotics to a person under 21 years be sentenced to a minimum of 20
K e c o rd C igaret Sales Cigaret users sent up record clouds of smoke in the 12 months ending June 30, 1953, according to a report recently released by the Agriculture Department. Nearly 397 billion cigarets were consumed, which was a 3Vz per cent increase over the previous year. Ac cording to the report, “Cigar smokers had a busy year too.” They consumed about six million stogies, also a gain of 3Vi percent from the previous year. P a sto rs Falling Bourn On the Job America’s pastors are failing in their jobs. They must “ come out of the isolation of their churches and give more than spiritual guidance to their congregations if* they are to meet today’s needs.” This was point ed out by Dr. Paul E. Johnson, visit ing professor of psychology of reli gion and pastoral counsellor at the University of Southern California. He spoke to delegates to the twelfth an nual meeting of the Welfare Bureau of the Church Federation of Los An geles. Dr. Johnson declared that “ Strict spiritual guidance will not meet to day’s requirements. Pastors must form a team to work with other profes sions.” He added that “Today’s pastor must be a psychologist, psychiatrist, medicine man and all-around handy man. He must know how to handle every problem confronting members of his congregation.” Perhaps Dr. Johnson is not acquainted with Paul’s admonition to young Timothy to Preach the Word. B igger P rison s N eed ed A recent editorial in a local paper reports that “One of the needs in California is more and better prison facilities. If better facilities were pro vided perhaps it would not be neces sary to release so many paroled con victs now being sent back to prison
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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