by James O. Henry Chairman, History Department, Biela College
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Fuel Cell to Run Moon-trip Radios
Election in the Soviet The turnout for elections in the Soviet Union in March was only a fraction under 100 per cent, according to Viktor V. Grishin, chairman of the Electoral Commission. He said that 139,947 persons were entitled to vote and of these 99.95 per cent had voted — a fraction less than the 1958 turn out of 99.97 per cent, when the elec torate was smaller. The interesting thing is that the ballot offered only a single slate of approved candidates. The record showed that just under 2,000 voters registered disapproval or spoiled their ballots. The Soviet con tinually chides the United States be cause they have a broader base of suf frage in the Soviet Union than we do. They especially boast about the fact that all citizens over 18 are permitted to vote, whereas, in the United States the voting age in most states is 21. Thus, they say, this makes them more democratic than the United States. But the test of democracy is not neces sarily in the number permitted to vote, but rather in the selection or choice given, to the voter. Laxity in Religion Only half of the 12,000 nominal Lutherans in Detroit are church mem bers and of these 40 per-cent never read the Bible, according to Dr. Ger hard Lenski Jr., Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Michi gan. Writing in the current issue of The Lutheran, the official news week ly of the United Lutheran Church in America, Dr. Lenski says this is an accurate reflection of the status of urban Protestantism over the country. His report is based on a study made by the University’s Sociology Depart ment. “ Though the Lutheran church es of Detroit are growing,” he writes, “many who call themselves Luther ans seldom or never attend church. Almost a third of those interviewed reported they seldom, if ever, attend. And 15 per cent claimed to attend only once a month.” If regular church attendance is uncommon among De troit Lutherans, Dr. Lenski points out that “ regplar Bible reading is less common.” Only 10 per cent claimed to read the Bible every day, he says, and 40 per cent reported they never read it. We are inclined to agree with Dr. Lenski that this probably repre sents a national condition among all Protestant churches.
The fuel cell, a young and promis ing form of power source, is going along on the three-man expedition of the U.S. to the moon. In addition to powering radios and running comput ers, the fuel cell will supply the astro nauts with the purest kind of drink ing water. Engineers do not like to call a fuel cell a battery, though there are obvious similiarities. A critical difference is that a fuel cell’s elec trodes are not consumed, as are a battery’s. A fuel cell converts chemi cal energy directly into electricity. Its fuel and oxidant are supplied from an outside source and, like a car, it will perform as the fuel and oxidant continue to be supplied. According to informants, the cell has been chosen for the round-trip lunar flight last ing perhaps two weeks, because the fuel cell would best fill the bill. It uses comparatively light materials, and is basically efficient, and it pro vides drinking water that otherwise would have to be carried separately. Vandals Desecrate Graves Vandals recently desecrated 1,500 graves in the 100-year-old Rosedale Memorial Park in Linden, New Jer sey, causing about $75,000 damage. Headstones weighing several hun dred pounds each were overturned and broken. Flower urns, stone angels and other memorials were smashed and scattered throughout three sec tions of the cemetery. An anonymous telephone call shortly after ten P.M. alerted a newspaper correspondent. The caller said he wanted to get in touch with “ Lieutenant Shaefer of the American Republican Army,” who took responsibility for a series of lumber yard fires in recent months in the area. The cementery vandalism was perpetrated, the caller said, to show “Lieutenant Schaefer” that he was with him and wanted to join his army. George Harvey, president of Rosedale Memorial Park Corporation, which operates the cemetery, esti mated the damage. He said, “ This is not the work of kids. I weigh more than 200 pounds myself and I can’t budge these headstones, all of which are set in cement.” This incident il lustrates two things: what can hap pen when radical groups are permit ted to operate in this country, and secondly, how sick the American mind is.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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