About five or six years ago a young Spaniard in Salina Cruz received the truth through reading. He was a brick-and stone-mason, and while supporting himself at his trade he presented the truth to others, and soon had a company of twenty believers. After a year or so we took him into the employ of the mission, and he has been working there ever since.
Some of the brethren moved from Salina Cruz to other parts, carrying the truth with them and creating an interest in new places. Another brother, in Ixtaltepec, received literature, and after much correspondence and answering of questions he and several of his family accepted the truth, and the work has extended until now we have four companies in that part of Mexico.
Photo by C. L. Butterfield
BELIEVERS ATTENDING THE GENERAL MEETING AT SA KWARA, KOREA
In Salina Cruz there still remain a few faithful souls. It was my privilege to baptize one good brother in that place. The baptism took place in a little bay of the Pacific.
From Salina Cruz our worker, Antonio Sanchez, and I, took boat to Puerto Angel, a distance of about ninety miles. The boats load and unload during the day, and sail at night, so we were one night on the water. The next forenoon we arrived at the little port, where a brother met us with horses and took us to Pochutla, a small village about ten miles inland. This place is in a quaint little valley among the hills. The houses are generally made with mud walls and thatched roofs. The distinguishing feature of the village is the great number of chickens, and the chief amusement is cock-fighting. One thing that I never noticed in any other part of the world is that the roosters begin crowing at eight or nine in the evening, and crow every hour or half-hour till about three o'clock in the morning, from which time it is a continuous crow, commencing at one end of the town and passing to the other.
The houses are not fenced in with high walls as in many other places, and the chickens roost in the trees, and at night it seems as if every tree for a mile in each direction is full of the music of chanticleer.
The people in this part of the country seem to be an honest, serious class. As the boats do not pass very often, we were compelled to remain over three weeks. We had meetings every night and on Sabbath. The last Sabbath we were there we had the pleasure of baptizing ten, including Brother Sanchez, who desired rebaptism. He had been baptized in another denomination, but after seeing more of the truth he felt it would be a privilege to be baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The scene was one long to be remembered.
We went out into the country about three miles to a beautiful stream so clear one could see the bottom in any part of it. While examining the candidates, many of them broke down, and with tears begged forgiveness of their brethren and also of the Lord.
One man, the father of quite a number of those baptized, had heard something of the truth, and had attended a few of the meetings, but had given no sign of a desire to join us. While administering the rite, I glanced at him as he stood on the bank, and saw that he was deeply affected, even weeping. The next day he assured us that he had not understood the matter before, but he believes he does now, and it is his intention to be baptized later when his wife and another son can be present and be baptized also.
Two brethren in this place are in the employ of the government, and it is possible that they will lose their positions, but we believe the Lord will take care of them, and that other employment will be found where they will be able to keep the Sabbath of the Lord. Surely God is working by his Spirit on the hearts of these people. They are beginning to pay12tithe, and this little company at this time paid more than fifty pesos.
From Pochutla we returned to Salina Cruz, and by rail went to Ixtaltepec. This is only about two miles distant from Espinal, so we held meetings part of the time in one place and part of the time in the other. These are little Indian villages. The land both in the villages and in the surrounding country is held in common. Each family chooses a spot in the village for its home, and then goes out in the country a short distance and chooses a spot for farming; this is cleared up and used as long as the family wishes, but without any title to the land.
In this part and all through the isthmus live the Zapotecan Indians, said to number about one hundred thousand. The great reform president, Juarez, was a full-blooded Zapotecan Indian, and Porfirio Díaz also came from the state of Oaxaca, and is of the same race on his mother's side.
These people are serious and religiously inclined, and could there be more effort put forth, we should certainly see a goodly number brought into the truth. It was my privilege to baptize eight, three from Espinal and five from Ixtaltepec.
We went on to Puerto, Mexico, the northern terminal of the Tehuantepec Railway, where we found a few interested ones. Brother Sanchez expects to move to this place soon to see if we cannot raise up a company at this end of the isthmian line. The four companies we have in this part of the field are now paying tithe, and for some months past this has been sufficient to pay the salary of the one worker there.
Although it is very warm in the summer, yet many live there the year round. Many foreigners are found, especially in the two ports at either end of the railway line. Six months of the year the weather is very agreeable, and we believe that a good worker from abroad could spend half the year there and the other half farther up in the mountains on the table-land. The city of Oaxaca has about the same altitude as Guadalajara, and there is no reason why a worker from abroad might not have his home in Oaxaca, and labor in that part of the country during the hot months and in the lowlands the rest of the year. We earnestly hope that a suitable laborer may be found for this part of the republic. Here also we might soon organize a state conference.
While we were in Pochutla, the uprising took place in Mexico City. As there was no boat, it was impossible for me to leave. I might say it is a matter of seven days for mail to reach Pochutla from Mexico City. As soon as we arrived where we could get mail, we learned that nothing had happened to our people in Tacubaya, for which we were thankful. On reaching Mexico City we found a new government, and business going on as usual. The houses injured in the battle are being repaired rapidly. Many think the new government will be able to bring about peace. We do not know what is in the future, but we do know that so far the Lord has protected his work and workers, and also our brethren; not one suffered personal injury in the recent disturbance here in the city.
In spite of difficulties the work is onward. During the last six months I have baptized eighty persons,—three were rebaptized, the others were all new ones. I have visited all the companies except at Guadalajara and Santa Barbara. The former is asking that I go there to baptize four who are ready. From the first places which I visited in the north come requests that I go as soon as possible to baptize more who have taken their stand for the truth. Surely God is good!
There is great need of help for this distracted country. We need those who will be like Gideon's three hundred, and Gideon's proclamation will have to be the message given to those who think of coming to this field: ‘Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early.’
General Quarterly Meeting in Northern Korea
By C. L. BUTTERFIELD
C. L. BUTTERFIELD
JANUARY 2, in company with Dr. Riley Russell, it was the writer’s privilege to ride on horseback from Soonan to Sa Kwara, a distance of thirty miles, to attend a general meeting for this section. We feared a very cold trip, but the sun shone out warm enough so that the snow melted a little, and while it was harder for the ponies to travel, it was pleasant for us riding.
There were about ninety in attendance at the meeting, representing three churches and seventeen companies. Reports were read from each place, showing the condition of the churches. Some of the encouraging features of the reports were as follows: From the eighteen places only six persons were reported as being discouraged, while sixty-two new believers were reported for the past three months. About seventy are awaiting baptism. The present Sabbath-school attendance numbers more than six hundred. From ten of the eighteen places tithe was paid during the quarter, amounting to 150.05 yen. All present promised to pay tithe from this on. Sabbath-school offerings were reported from all but one place, totaling 57.22 yen; and annual offerings were reported from eight places, amounting to 97.42 yen, making 304.69 yen as the total of funds raised. These figures are much better than we have had in the past. The general quarterly meeting is proving a great help also.
God has certainly blessed the work in Korea during the past year, and our people are more firmly established in the truth than ever before. Three of our magazine workers were in attendance and gave reports of their work, which showed that they were selling from twenty to fifty of our five-sen magazines daily. That is very good, and when we consider that three years ago these same men declared that papers could never be sold in Korea, we feel to thank God for the success they are having in giving the message through the printed page. Pray for the work in Korea.
Poor, Degenerate Humanity at Kalyan, India
By M. D. WOOD
M. D. WOOD
I AM so profoundly impressed with the sad condition of the people of Kalyan that I feel I must tell you about them. When I go to the railroad station, I am often hindered from crossing the bridge that leads to the cars, first, by an old man with a broken leg, sitting on the ground. He looks at me in a most pitiable manner, and says: “O, sir, I am so needy! please give me a pice.” I am in a hurry to catch the train, and perhaps have no pice to spare, so I feel compelled to leave the needy man without aid.
Before I get onto the first step of the bridge, I meet a blind woman with nothing but dirty rags on her back, and a scrawny little waif astride its mother’s hip, nursing for its life from an impoverished breast, while a half-grown, sad-faced girl, who leads her poor mother with a bamboo stick, puts out her hand toward me and says: “Give me something; my mother is blind, and I am very hungry.” A twinge of pain goes through my heart, and I push my way up through the motley crowd of dirty-clothed Hindus and Mussulmans and get to the middle of the bridge.
Here sits a blind Hindu, screaming at the top of his voice, and banging together a pair of cymbals. He calls out the names of the Hindu gods, and at least pretends that he is very devotional. He, too, is in dire need, and must rely upon the sympathetic charities of the passers-by.
With a sigh of relief, I get through the long line of men and women, my fellow passengers, to the train, and find my seat in a third-class compartment. It is hot and dusty, the crowds of people shut out the fresh air, and I am restless for the train to start. But before the train has time to pull out, a young Mohammedan with but one arm, walks up in front of my carriage window, pulls up the sleeve of his shirt, and presents to me the ugly scar where once he had another arm. Doubtless he suffers no pain, but his pitiful look and sad voice appeal to my heart. I am so thankful I have the use of both my arms! By this time I cannot resist, and so I give what I feel I can afford.
While in the city of Bombay, at the doors of the shops and offices and about the public markets and at the street-car crossings, I am constantly surrounded by a throng of beggars and cripples, the halt and the maimed, all crying for pice. I look at them in pity. I wish I could help them, but I cannot.
One daily used to such sad sights and pathetic sounds may scold them off and to one side with harsh tones, as to a brute. At times they touch my feet and step in front to prevent my progress. They are so unclean and unkempt that one dreads their slightest touch.
At another time I leave my bungalow for the Kalyan market, but long before I get half-way there, I pass a camp of very poor people, who live in low grass huts. Half a dozen or more of their naked little boys and girls rush out after my carriage. They chase after me in the dust of the street, slapping their empty little stomachs and crying for pice. I confess I wish I had all those children. I would put them in school and teach them their letters, and how to work so they might not always remain so poor.
Just before I come to the main street of the town, I see a poor sick man lying on the ground, with scarcely a cloth on his long, lean body. He, too, is a poor beggar, and has the mark of a Hindu. I wonder why those well-dressed grain merchants near by do not see their brother’s condition and seek to help him. Then I remember that it takes more than stores of goods and wealth to learn to give to the needy. It takes the love of God in the natural heart.
And now I am quite a way up the main road of the town, and not far from the public library. There they sit in a long black row, just like crows huddled on the limb of a tree, men and women together. I see them there every day. They have photographed their faces on my memory, and I can never forget them. Their fingers are all gone, toes eaten off, faces puffed and swollen. O, how loathsome and unclean their appearance!
In hope of a bakshish, they all cry out, “Salaam! O, sir, salaam!” But I must not throw money to them. Even the copper coin would become contaminated with the seed of leprosy. For these, my friends, are the lepers of the East. They are found everywhere in this hot country. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations. So on I go.
But two rods away sits a young woman against the wall of the municipal office compound. She has no nose. The leprosy has destroyed it, and is eating out her very life. With ugly stumps for hands, she holds them up to my view, and in most unnatural, guttural tones13cries out, “Please have mercy on me, and help.”
Did I not see several young children beside those lepers?—Yes, I did. And now they are “untainted,” they say. But how long can they remain so, while they live, eat, and sleep with such wrecks of humanity? There are so many of them, too! Who can care for them all? They will fill the ranks in the long line of the march to the grave. But O, what a wretched existence!
But I must get on to the market. The street becomes narrower, and it is not without difficulty that I drive through the crowds of people. The water-pots and baskets on the heads of the passers-by make it almost dangerous driving, so I constantly cry out, “To one side!” But behold! beside the road in this crowd of people and in this narrow place, are two full-grown brothers. Their faces are so puffed out of shape everybody knows they are begging lepers. They, too, are looking for sympathetic hearts to help them.
Thus I press through the multitudes. Old men and women, blind, deformed, ragged, sick, and diseased,—the streets are lined with them. The sun is hot; the dust blows on them, and on us, too. We are all huddled together in the same street. But He who sent us here will care for us till our work is done.
Camp-Meeting Suggestions
By Marion E. Hull
MARION E. HULL
If convenient do not wear dark clothing at camp-meeting. Light-colored clothes are always cooler, sweeter, and more comfortable. Bathing the body often in water containing plenty of table salt, using the hand for friction, after adding a few drops of cologne to the water, then slapping the arms, face, and neck, is very restful to the nerves, and leaves the skin so fine one is paid for the trouble. It is well to remember that flies do not like spicy odors, especially lavender.
Soaking the feet for ten minutes in warm salt water will not only cure a headache, but will give a good night's rest.
Keep the hair sweet and bright by using a little hair tonic every day. An excellent and inexpensive tonic is: Witch-hazel, three parts; cologne, one part; to the pint add five cents' worth quinin bisulphate. With this a pomade can be used if the hair is dry, as follows: Lime-water, two parts; olive-oil, one part; oil of lavender, fifteen drops. Shake well. This makes an emulsion. A little used now and then will keep the hair well-groomed and tidy.
Do not forget to give the children plenty of water to drink. A few drops of grapefruit or lemon-juice added to the water will help to keep them well on a hot day. And last, but not least, be careful of your food combinations, especially avoiding fruits and vegetables at the same meal.
Intemperance and Prohibition
A GREAT crisis is upon the human family. A mighty struggle is taking place between good and evil, light and darkness, truth and error. Great evils are threatening the welfare of the state, the stability of society, the integrity of the church, and the purity of the home.
The Chief Evil
Among these great enemies of the human family intemperance stands chief and foremost. Indeed, when we come to trace out the sources of crime and learn their fountainhead and inspiration, we find that a large per cent of all the crime committed has come from the use of alcoholic drinks. Intemperance stands as the father of vice, the promoter of prostitution, the creator of poverty and sickness. Millions of dollars which should go for clothing and bread are spent in the saloons and dram-shops.
The Means Employed
And it is amazing to consider the means and avenues which are in vogue at the present time to create and foster an appetite for alcoholic drinks. In some form and in some degree this poison enters into many of the light drinks sold in the restaurants and drug stores. It is found mixed with candy and confectionery. It is contained in scores of patent medicines, many of which are bought for the stimulating, exhilarating effect produced by alcoholic mixture. Its presence may be detected in the punch-bowl of the social gathering, and oftentimes in the church communion service.
A Grave Responsibility
By these and thousands of other ways there is being insidiously created and cultivated in the human family a love for alcoholic liquors. This condition of things throws upon the leaders of society a grave responsibility. Upon them rests the burden of raising a warning cry against this great moral leprosy which is making such inroads upon the well-being of the nation. But too often they stand either indifferent to the situation or nerveless and hesitating in meeting bravely the crisis. Sellers and dispensers of this body-and-soul-destroying liquor are sometimes found among the most honored members of our church congregations. Oftentimes they are liberal patrons of the church, and this accounts for their standing in the church community.
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. . . .
When ye come to appear before me,
Who hath required this at your hand,
to tread my courts?
Bring no more vain oblations. . . .
When ye spread forth your hands,
I will hide mine eyes from you:
Yea, when ye make many prayers, I
will not hear:
Your hands are full of blood.”
The church of God is recreant to its duty when it retains in its membership the dispensers or users of strong drink.
Our Duty
We who sense these dangers should set ourselves with earnestness and resolution to meet and turn back the great wave of intemperance which is sweeping over the land. Let us arouse and do our duty, and strike against this great moral evil as against every other form of crime, even though loss of prestige and of patronage may be entailed upon our personal interests in consequence.
Principles, Not Men
It is not against dealers in alcoholic drinks as individuals that we war. Our opposition is against principles, not men;662against crime, not criminals. Indeed, we would help the liquor dealer, help him to engage in a better business, help him to hand down to his children a more honorable means of livelihood and support.
Where to Stand
Let every man who loves truth and sobriety, who takes pleasure in the purity of his home and in the prosperity of his fellows, throw his influence against the great evil of intemperance. No man has a right to murder or kill his fellows, and no man has a right to tempt his fellows to indulge in that which will fire their blood, and lead them to commit these crimes. By so doing, they become aiders and abettors of the crimes that are committed.
Arousing Public Sentiment
The duty of every loyal citizen is plain. He should not stand by indifferently while his weaker brother is being swept into the great maelstrom of intemperance. By influence and example, by precept, education, and exhortation, by voice and pen and vote, he should do all in his power to rescue those whose feet are set in the downward road, and check and eliminate from the community the evil influences which are dragging men down to the depths of misery and destruction. Let public sentiment be aroused. Let a great temperance army be created, and let the saloon, the brothel, the gambling den, and every kindred evil be banished from our midst. And let them be banished not for one day in the week, but for seven days; not for one year, but for every year, and for all time, and forevermore. Who will hear the voice of duty and respond to the call?
“If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?” And what shalt thou say when he shall punish thee?
True Men of Integrity
“THE world wants men—true men—
Who cannot be bought nor sold;
Men who would scorn to violate trust;
Genuine gold.”
The Lord Omnipotent Reigneth
By Phyllis Lee
PHYLLIS LEE
The Lord omnipotent reigneth!
Let every soul rejoice;
Show forth his praise, extol his ways,
With heart, and pen, and voice.
In every land and nation
Let boasting tongues be still;
The thrones of earth, with all their
worth,
He gives to whom he will.
The Lord omnipotent reigneth!
Then banish doubts and fears;
His love assures, his word endures
Unchanged, through endless years;
Of all that he has promised,
Not a single jot will fail;
So we need not fear, for our help is near,
Though the hosts of sin assail.
The Lord omnipotent reigneth!
Then raise the victor’s song.
The Lord’s our might, his cause is right;
The fight will not be long,
And soon the truth will triumph
For the Lord our Captain is;
And the rule of sin will soon give place
To the reign of righteousness.
The Lord omnipotent reigneth!
Take courage, fainting one;
His love enfolds, his arm upholds,
He is our shield and sun.
Let not your courage waver
For the Lord the battle gains;
He will wield the sword of his mighty
word.
The Lord Jehovah reigns!
What Is the Remedy?
By MRS. MARY D. MC KEE
MRS. MARY D. MC KEE
The Lord is revealing the fearful condition of the world in order to refute the declaration of many that “the world is growing better.” The frightful revelations of the white slave traffic and the wickedness of public officials in bribery, graft, and in being allied with sin in various forms for money,—all this is a sickening picture of the corruption that results from sowing to the flesh. The alarming increase of divorce shows the decay of the home life, and with the going of the home life the nation will go. There are in the United States today 1,258,000 “divorce orphans,” children without homes because their parents have separated. The increase of criminality among children and the youth shows the lack of religious influences in their homes. The new apartment-houses have done away with the real home idea, and the congested conditions are causing our cities to fester with crime and evil, in pernicious associations.
The home was intended by our Creator to be the bulwark of society, but the home has lost its power for good over the children, for the reason that the fashion-plates are studied more intently than the Bible, and the family altar has been supplanted by the moving-picture show for the children, and the club or lodge for the parents. When mothers allow their daughters to wear cobweb stockings and low-necked and short-sleeved dresses in winter weather, there is something wrong with their education or with their mental or moral make-up. The example which many professed Christian women are setting before younger and unconverted women in fashionable dress is now being criticized, and that justly.
When the study of God’s Word is set aside in the home for the follies of sin and the pleasures of the world, what can be expected? There is an awful day coming soon, when parents will wail aloud because of their neglect of religious duties in their homes. It will be too late then. The preparation for “the time of trouble” cannot be made in a day. Now, O, now, what is your custom in your home, my sister, my brother? Are your children united to unbelievers, contrary to the teachings of 2 Cor. 6: 14, 15? Did they have “the whole counsel of God” given to them? Where is the young man in the most of homes who prays that God will choose for him the companion of his life? Where is the young woman who seeks on bended knee for God’s choice of her husband? Too often, this generation repeats the saying of Samson, “She pleaseth me.” If people were married “in the Lord,” and husbands and wives understood Eph. 5: 21-33 and 6: 1-4 as God purposed their relations, what a different world this would be!
Where are the parents who teach their children not to love the world or the things of the world lest they be enemies of God? 1 John 2: 15-17; James 4: 4. Instead, the baby must wear a gold ring; if a girl, she must have a bracelet. She is told to see her “pretty shoes,” “pretty dresses,” and to admire finery rather than beauty of character, sweetness of temper, or purity of heart.
Home was intended to be the dearest, most sacred place on earth, and the two things most surely God-given in Eden were the Sabbath and the home: one man for one woman, the place they were to live, and love, and work. Sin has for a time marred God’s plan, but it will be his purpose to restore all that was lost; and our business is to get into line with that eternal plan. The question is asked by some who see existing conditions, “What is the remedy for all this evil?”
Vice commissioners are investigating, and are bringing pressure to bear upon transgressors by the hand of the law, to clean up the morals of the people. But what will that do for the hearts of men and women, “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”? No man-made laws can make people good, but rather there will be added to their sins the sin of hypocrisy, and under more secrecy and deceit will the evil in their hearts be lived out.
We are told that woman’s suffrage will be a means of purifying the world of its evil. While it is true there are some noble women who desire to accomplish this worthy object, yet the Lord never intended women to be politicians, but to be home-makers, and builders of character in the realm of home, where they might be powerful in influencing their husbands, sons, and brothers to strive for the better and the nobler things of life. Outside of that sphere God’s blessing cannot attend her.
The times show that every force is coming into action for the fulfilment of prophecy that foretells the end of the world and the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Are you glad? Are you planning to be a resident in that kingdom? The King’s business requireth haste, and obedience, and faith. Are you a “faithful servant” now? We see that events are shaping rapidly and with a fierceness and an intensity that are remarkable.
What a pitiful condition the great world is in! but O, how blessed the hope of the Christian! The vision of the future as it is in Jesus’ promises in his Word lifts the believer above the terrible situation of the world, and fills the heart with courage to “wait patiently for him.” The words of the apostle are true today: men are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness,” but no power to keep from sin. There is only one remedy, and that is the giving of the third angel’s message. Rev. 14: 9-16. That message, attended by the power of the Holy Spirit, will be the last call to the people of this world to turn away from the snares of Satan and come out from the world, which now “lieth in wickedness.”
Is it true of us that our church and the world walk hand in hand? Where will our dear Master find his chosen remnant standing in the day when his final test is given? They who are truly his will be clothed in his righteousness, without fault, blameless, and waiting and watching.
Are you ready, dear reader? Are your children ready? How about your household? Awake! arise! and let the glory of the Lord be seen by the putting away of sin, the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Then the closing work of the gospel of the kingdom will go with power, and the harvest of the earth be reaped. Then Jesus will come, our Saviour. God help us to discern the signs of the times, and to know the day of our visitation!
Byron Center, Mich.
Examining Our Thoughts and Feelings
OBSERVE what direction your thoughts and feelings most readily take when you are alone, and you will then form a tolerably correct opinion of yourself.—Bengel.
The Canal at Panama
By B. E. CONNERLY
AFTER centuries of delay, marked by countless efforts and fruitless endeavors, the world's great anticipation of an isthmian waterway is to be lost in a reality which far surpasses its most sanguine dreams.
The canal now stands about ninety-eight per cent completed, and everywhere there is a manifest desire to see it in operation. Not only do the men whose energy is making the waterway possible desire this, but the general public is impatient to see water flowing through the isthmian cordillera, and the present administration is anxious, to the border of passion, to see a hull brave the danger of the untried passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Never before have all departments of the work moved so harmoniously. Nearly forty thousand men are working with a precision that has not been equaled since the work began. Besides this enormous personnel, the mechanical paraphernalia which Uncle Sam has sent to Panama is no small item. The tools with which the canal is being dug have cost millions of dollars.
A real marvel of perfection is the system by which this great profusion of machinery is operated. A hundred human-acting steam-shovels keep a thousand locomotives and a thousand trains zigzagging over a half-thousand miles of track; while a score of powerful dredges have kept the wet, or below sea-level, excavations as rapidly advanced.
The fact that of the original 250,000,000 cubic yards to be removed only ten million of dry excavation remain, shows how nearly the great work has reached its completion. The five million cubic yards of concrete that compose the locks are practically laid; and the forty-six powerful double gates that open and close the locks are nearly all in place. Each of the ninety-two massive leaves measures seven feet thick, fifty-five feet long, and from forty-seven to eighty-two feet in height. Fifty-seven thousand tons of steel were required to build these monster gates; and it is reported that the contractors, the McClintic-Marshall Company, who fabricated and hung them, have lost money at a contract price of five million dollars.
Only at Southampton are there larger docks than those that are under construction at either end of the canal. These docks are to cost, approximately, seven million dollars each; and a ten-million-dollar dry dock and the largest coaling station in the world are being built on the Pacific side of the isthmus.
The great breakwaters that protect the harbor approaches of the canal are practically finished. The one on the Atlantic side is two and one-fourth miles long, and will cost approximately two million dollars, while at the southern terminal is one three miles long, and will cost three million five hundred thousand dollars.
By many it is supposed that the opening of the waterway will mean the blending of the waters of the Atlantic with the Pacific, but this is not the case; the fact is that the waters of the two oceans will never mingle, the canal only forming a water-bridge across the isthmus.
A ship will go through the canal something as follows, beginning at the Atlantic side: From Limon Bay it will enter the canal (five hundred feet wide and forty-five feet deep), and steam seven miles to Gatun, where, through a series of three twin locks it will be lifted eighty-five feet to the surface of Gatun Lake, and will then steam through twenty-four miles of fresh water to Gamboa; then the ship will enter Culebra cut (three hundred feet wide with forty-five feet of water), and steam nine miles to the Pedro Miguel locks, be lowered twenty-eight feet through one lock to Miraflores Lake, then steam one and one-half miles to the Miraflores locks, be lowered fifty-seven feet through two locks to sea-level, and sail seven miles to tide water on the Pacific.
The Gatun dam is one and one-half miles long, and one-half mile wide, and its crest reaches an elevation of one hundred ten feet, and impounds water that covers an area of one hundred sixty-four square miles. This lake is supplied with water from the Chagres River, whose tributaries drain a large portion of the Atlantic side of the isthmus.
That which is now proving to be the greatest obstacle to the flooding of the canal are the slides, or earth movements, in the Culebra cut. Excavations in the cut are finished except in the three miles at the south end, between the village of Culebra and the Pedro Miguel locks. Here the isthmian watershed reaches the greatest altitude, and here between Contractor's Hill and Gold Hill the canal prism reaches its greatest depth, more than five hundred feet, and it is in this section that all the great slides have occurred. Just now a spur of Gold Hill, on the east side of the canal, is making trouble; in fact, for years a great mass, millions of cubic feet of earth and rock, is, inch by inch, moving toward the canal, and will eventually have to be dug or pumped out.
The engineers plan to turn the water into the canal Oct. 6, 1913, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Pacific by Balboa. Then the long and ceaseless hum of air-drills and steam-shovels will cease, and the final tuning up of the big ditch will be made by suction-dredges.
A huge barge loaded to cause a displacement equal to that of a battle-ship, will be the first to go through the canal. Whether this barge gets safely through or not is a question that gives rise to immense speculations. At all events, it is evident that the work will be ready for the grand opening in 1915.
We have in this article noted a few of the facts concerning the construction of the canal which it is well for all to be familiar with; but there is more than these for Seventh-day Adventists to see in this immense work. A thorough study of the motives and outworking policies of our government in this undertaking will reveal what a mighty stride has been taken toward the fulfilment of Rev. 13: 11-16. And it will be interesting to note how easily our government, while in this land of the Southern Cross, can "grasp hands with the Roman power."
