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Moslem doctrine of salvation by dying for one’s country. “We shall always remember the words of one of our most intim ate comrades who was killed in action,” says the w riter. “ ‘Yes,’ he de clared ju st before he died, as I was reading to him from the Bible, ‘when you are up against it like this, one wants something more than the specu lations of the chaplain a t the Base, who does not appear to know what he be lieves.’ ” P rohibition an d Crime “During one year, in 56 cities of the United States, th ere were a million and a half a rrests,” says an exchange. “This is over a qu arter of a million more than the arrests made the year before, when prohibition began. How well we remember the many sermons in which we were told th a t prohibition would wipe o u t crime and close the penitentiaries and prisons. Instead, we see a rising increase in crime, th e sec ond year of prohibition producing 265,- 000 more crimes in 56 cities, th an the first year.” An au tho rity on crime says th a t prohibition has manifestly operated to diminish petty crimes and m is demeanors, bu t there is no evidence in th e retu rn s th a t it has dim inished the number of felons sentenced for high crimes to state prisons. “Some people have imagined,” he says, “th a t in some mysterious way prohibition would change th e character of crim inals so th a t he who stole would steal no more. On the contrary, sobriety increases the efficiency of a burglar, a forger, or an automobile thief. But prohibition does dim inish m ightily such petty crimes as vagrancy, assau lt and battery, drunkenness and disorderly conduct.” The Terrible D rug Evil Some astounding facts are coming out about th e narcotic business th a t has sprung up throughout the country since the E ighteenth Amendment went into effect. The big cities are honeycombed w ith dope agents. Even our schools, colleges and universities—-the very bul warks of a community’s moral fiber— are underm ined by sappers sent from the camps of the drug merchants. “Would you believe th a t there are young men and women in California universities whose way is being paid through school by the heads of the dope rin g ?” says a Los Angeles daily. “ It is true. Would you believe th a t the dope dealers have th e ir agents on duty every night in Los Angeles dance halls? That they are working among shop-girig? It is tru e .”
Tale from Borneo A San Francisco paper comes out w ith a g reat story about the newly discovered humans w ith tails. They have tails like monkeys and live in Borneo in th e tree- tops. So says the wife of Captain John Helbig, of th e South Sea trad ing schoon er, Eclipse. They are peaceful and childlike bu t ugly to look at. A t last th e missing link! No one has examined one of these new humans, but evolution ists won’t consider th a t necessary. It so perfectly bears out th e evolution theory th a t we will ju st take it for granted th a t Mrs. Hilhig is a very intelligent woman. The Business of th e Church We wouldn’t expect to find much along th e line of religion in “Life” hut the editor, nevertheless, made a few re m arks recently th a t show he knows a little something about life. “ Of course,” he says, “ the prim ary job of the churches is to conserve and im part religion. T heir g reat office is to connect things' visible w ith things unseen. If they don’t do th at, all th eir organization for benevolences and all the dollars they en tice from submissive contributors won’t save them from failure as churches. T h eir aw ard is spiritual. It cannot be accomplished by mere m aterial activ ities, though such activities are hound to follow if th e sp iritual really pros pers.” H. G. Wells Faces th e F acts H. G. Wells, who certainly cannot be accused of having any sympathy w ith prem illennarians, has said in a recent article: “ I have a conviction in my bones th a t things are going from bad to worse in Europe and the world gen erally.” Yes, yes—Mr. Wells is a very wise man. But if those words had been u ttered by a prem illennial preacher, he would have immediately been dubbed a pessimist. It is nevertheless tru e th a t th e w orld.is ripening for judgm ent and the coming of th e Lord draweth nigh. The Emptiness of Unbelief A number of magazine w riters have made th e statem ent since the war th a t men a t the fron t were unable to rest th e ir souls on Christ because of such stories as Jonah and th e whale and the Genesis creation account. We were glad to read recently th e testimony of a man who was in the ranks throughout the war, who says th a t the men’s disgust was excited not by Jonah and Genesis but by chaplains who had no message and who took p a rt in rag-tim e concerts when th e ir comrades lay dead afte r ac tion, and by the preaching of the
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