p. 752 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 47. (11/30/1915)

Earlier text: QUESTION CORNER

4 Gateways

Between the EAST and SAN FRANCISCO and LOS ANGELES

NEW ORLEANS EL PASO

OGDEN PORTLAND

Trains of Highest Standard

Best Dining Car in America

Oil-Burning Engines—

No Cinders, No Smudge

No annoying Smoke

Automatic Block Safety Signals

Protecting more miles of Railroad than on any other line in the world

*_Awarded Grand Prize for Railway Track, Equipment, Motive Power, and Safety-First Appliances, San Francisco Exposition, 1915_*

Our Representatives

UNITED STATES AND CANADA

Alabama Tract Society, Room 316, Lyric Building, Birmingham, Ala.

Alberta Tract Society, 502 17th Ave. West, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Arizona Tract Society, 417 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, Cal.

Arkansas Tract Society, Box 14, Little Rock, Ark.

British Columbia Tract Society, 1708 Maple St., Vancouver, B. C., Canada.

California Bible House, 537 25th St., Oakland, Cal.

California-Nevada Missionary Society, 341 E. Lodi Ave., Lodi, Cal.

California Tract Society, Northwestern, 537 25th St., Oakland, Cal.

California Tract Society, Southeastern, 417 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, Cal.

California Tract Society, Southern, 417 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, Cal.

Central California Bible House, Box 1304, Fresno, Cal.

Chesapeake Tract Society, 1611 10th St., Baltimore, Md.

Colorado Tract Society, Eastern, 1112 Kalamath St., Denver, Colo.

Colorado Tract Society, Western, 122 S. 8th St., Grand Junction, Colo.

Connecticut (See New England, Southern).

Cumberland Tract Society (Eastern Tennessee), 404 Tremont St., N. Chattanooga, Tenn.

District of Columbia Tract Society, 708 McLachlan Bldg., Washington, D. C.

Florida Tract Society, Room 11, Yowell-Duckworth Block, Orlando, Fla.

Georgia Tract Society, 169 Bryan St., Atlanta, Ga.

Greater New York Tract Society (See New York).

Hawaiian Tract Society, 767 Kinau St., Honolulu, H. T.

Idaho, Northern (See Upper Columbia Tract Society).

Idaho Tract Society, Southern, Room 327, Sonna Bldg., Boise, Idaho.

Illinois Tract Society, Northern, 3645 Ogden Ave., Hawthorne Sta., Chicago, Ill.

Illinois Tract Society, Southern, 304 W. Allen St., Springfield, Ill.

Indiana Tract Society, 521 E. 23d St., Indianapolis, Ind.

Iowa Tract Society, Nevada, Iowa.

Kansas Tract Society, Room 615, Butts Bldg., cor. First St. and Lawrence Ave., Wichita, Kan.

Kentucky Tract Society, Box 38, Nicholasville, Ky.

Louisiana Tract Society, 810 Jackson Ave., New Orleans, La.

Maine Tract Society, 75 Grant St., Portland, Me.

Manitoba Tract Society, 418 Lansdowne Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Maritime Tract Society, Can. Pub. Assn., Oshawa, Ont., Canada.

Maryland (See Chesapeake Tract Society).

Massachusetts Tract Society, 607 Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass.

Michigan Tract Society, East, 426 Trumbull Ave., Detroit, Mich.

Michigan Tract Society, North, 510 Petoskey St., Petoskey, Mich.

Michigan Tract Society, West, 1214 Madison Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Minnesota Tract Society, 336 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, Minn.

Mississippi Tract Society, 932 Union St., Jackson, Miss.

Missouri Tract Society, 203 Franklin St., Clinton, Mo.

Montana Tract Society, 411 S. Black Ave., Bozeman, Mont.

Nebraska Bible Supply House, 905 N. California Ave., Hastings, Neb.

Nevada (See California-Nevada Missionary Society).

New England Tract Society, Northern, 136 N. Main St., Concord, N. H.

New England Tract Society, Southern (Rhode Island and Connecticut), 51 Whitmore St., Hartford, Conn.

Newfoundland Tract Society, Box 217, St. Johns, Newfoundland.

New Hampshire (See Northern New England).

New Jersey Tract Society, 200 Columbus Ave., Trenton, N. J.

New Mexico Tract Society, Box 727, Clovis, New Mex.

New York Tract Society (Greater), Room 902, 32 Union Square, New York, N. Y.

New York Tract Society, Eastern, 317 W. Bloomfield St., Rome, N. Y.

New York Tract Society, Western, 527 Garson Ave., Rochester, N. Y.

North Carolina Tract Society, 234 Summit Ave., Greensboro, N. C.

North Dakota Tract Society, Drawer N, Jamestown, N. Dak.

Ohio Tract Society, Box 8, Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Oklahoma Tract Society, Box 644, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Ontario Tract Society, Box 308, Oshawa, Ont., Canada.

Oregon Missionary Society, Western, 508 E. Everett St., Portland, Ore.

Oregon Missionary Society, Southern, 1164 Military St., Roseburg, Ore.

Pennsylvania Tract Society, Eastern, 4910 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Pennsylvania Tract Society, Western, 7155 Mt. Vernon St., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Rhode Island (See New England, Southern).

Saskatchewan Tract Society, Room 103, Willoughby-Summer Block, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.

South Carolina Tract Society, 1208 Calhoun St., Columbia, S. C.

South Dakota Tract Society, Drawer 586, Watertown, S. Dak.

Tennessee, Eastern (See Cumberland Tract Society).

Tennessee River Tract Society (Western Tennessee), 509 Cole Bldg., Nashville, Tenn.

Texas Tract Society, North, Box 15, Keene, Texas.

Texas Tract Society, South, Box 755, San Antonio, Texas.

Texas Tract Society, West, Amarillo, Texas.

Upper Columbia Tract Society, College Place, Wash.

Utah Tract and Bible Society, 776 E. 6th South, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Vermont (See Northern New England).

Virginia Tract Society, 2705 W. Main St., Richmond, Va.

Washington Missionary Society, Western, 228 S. Brannan St., Auburn, Wash.

West Virginia Tract Society, 124 Marion St., Fairmont, W. Va.

Wisconsin Tract Society, 305 Ruh Bldg., Fond du Lac, Wis.

Wyoming Tract Society, Crawford, Neb.

Above is a list of our authorized agencies and depositories, and we invite you to communicate with them if you wish to secure any books or periodicals advertised in this journal.

Our foreign tracts are put up in envelopes, price 25c each. They are obtainable in Arabic, Armenian, Bohemian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and many other languages. Address your Tract Society.

The Vaudeville Parson

SOME time ago, a pastor of one of the churches in Los Angeles, in order to attract a crowd, advertised an “umbrella sermon.” He came into the pulpit dressed in rain clothes, with an umbrella over his head. He undertook to draw lessons for his congregation from the umbrella, and then at the conclusion the umbrella was to be presented to some individual in the congregation.

And now Portland, Oregon, presents another kind of pulpit freak in the person of a preacher who goes on the vaudeville stage as a part of his regular work. He conducts his services in his church on Sundays, and between times sings “sacred songs” in the vaudeville shows. He seems to be a drawing card on the stage; and his congregation is divided, according to the reports, over what they should do with him. And let it be said to the honor of many of the members of his church, that they are strongly opposed to such work.

The conception a man has of the gospel and its great soul-saving work is not only confused but entirely gone when he thinks that the eternal themes of salvation can be blended with such vaudeville performances as that of either Los Angeles or Portland. True Christians will ever resent such manifestations of folly when perpetrated in the sacred pulpit and under the name of being a part of the blessed work of calling men and women to eternal salvation. There is no concord between the follies of this world and the pure, elevating joys of the eternal salvation of Christ.

They Had No Appendicitis

THE Christian Herald quotes Dr. Wilson as saying: “Out of fifty thousand patients [among the Orientals, principally Koreans] treated by me personally, there was only one case of appendicitis. The Koreans eat rice. Out of every eight families among the missionaries, there were five cases of appendicitis. We Americans eat meat.”

The doctor doubtless would not seek to convey the idea that meat eating is the one cause of appendicitis; but without any question, the so-called rich diet of the American, in which meat is one of the principal articles, is responsible in a large measure, not alone for appendicitis, but for many of our other ills. A diet in which meat is the leading article carries along with it many rich gravies and other side dishes which clog the system, and throw an immense amount of work upon the eliminative organs; and the result is innumerable diseases.

We may sometimes pity the Koreans and other like nations because conditions compel them to subsist on the simple diet of rice and a few similar things; but after all, their diet is better and more scientifically correct, in many instances, than that of our more favored peoples.

Keeping the Divine Law

IN a paragraph that is well worthy of the most careful reading and reflection, the editor of the Sunday School Times tells of “the only ones that can keep the law.” His words are the following:

“Those who are not under the law are the only ones that can keep the law. Christians are intended to be the great law keepers. It is notable that the New Testament, as well as the Old, is full of commandments of all sorts. . . . Some one has said that for the Christian the commandments have been reduced to two: Believe and love. 1 John 3: 23. But these two—rather, this one—include all the rest. And it is impossible for any man to keep them. It is James, a New Testament writer, who gives this uncompromising and difficult word: ‘Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all.’ James 2: 10. But it is James, too, who adds the gospel secret in the same passage: ‘So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty.’ James 2: 12. We have been set free from the bondage of the law, that we might be at liberty to keep the law. Those under the law have the law. Those whom Christ has set free have the Law-keeper. Our new obligation then is not to look at the law and try to put that on, but to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and let Him keep the law in us.”

New Battle Plane of Great Destructiveness

It is said that Secretary of the Navy Daniels has placed an order at the Washington Navy Yard for the construction of the largest aeroplane yet built. It will be propelled by two 160-horse-power motors, which will be expected to give it a speed of from fifty to eighty miles an hour. Its carrying capacity will not be less than six thousand pounds.

It is “designed to carry and discharge the secret explosive bombs recently tested successfully at Pensacola.” It is said that experts in the navy department claim for it that a fleet of such airships equipped with these new bombs would be able to destroy any of the great cities of the world that it could reach. It would also be able to go one hundred and fifty miles out to sea to meet and bombard battleships.

This country has its full share of the most ingenious men of the age; and with some of the very brightest of these inventive spirits called to devote special attention to devising destructive implements, we may not be surprised at almost any kind of startling developments. And how sad it is that the genius of man, that could be used so effectively in bringing blessings to our world, is used, instead, in the barbarous activities of devising means for destroying his fellows on a wholesale plan!

Canada’s New Transcontinental Railroad

By R.

In Canada, there is a new transcontinental railroad. It opens up some of the richest and most fertile parts of Canada, and will bring within reach of the tourist some of the most picturesque regions in North America. It is said that from one end of the road to the other, the line runs through fine and productive country. It taps the great clay belt of northern Ontario, and runs through a fine timber and mineral country. On the prairie, the wheat-producing areas are second to none. The company's grade through the Rockies is so easy that only one engine is required to haul the average train, while the scenery through the mountains from the great Mount Robson, at the entrance of the Yellowhead Pass, all down across British Columbia to the Fraser River Cañon, is declared to be equal to anything on the continent.

Salt Solutions for Wounds

We read that anciently the wounds of the martyrs were often covered with salt to render them more painful. It is now discovered that a solution of salt to wounds is beneficial. The medical commission of the British army makes this official recommendation: “In place of antiseptics, then, this commission has recommended as of great value the application, to the deep and ugly wounds, of what is called a hypertonic solution of salt and water, to promote the outflow of lymph. This sets a current flowing from the tissues, and saves absorption and retention, and cleanses by elimination.” But they think the best application is a five per cent solution of common salt. Sea water has two and one half per cent of salt, and this may be employed to advantage when a stronger solution cannot be obtained.

The Power of Machinery

SPEAKING of machinery, Carlyle has said that “without tools man is nothing; with tools, he is everything.” In the manufacture of pins, for example, to make twelve packages of one pound each by hand takes 140 hours, while a machine does the same amount of work in one hour and a half. To make a hundred pairs of shoes of a certain grade by hand takes 1,800 hours; by machine, 200 hours; while the cost of the machine-made shoes is one fifth that of the hand-made. When gingham cloth was made by hand, to make 800 yards took 5,800 hours. It now takes seventy-two hours by machine. A good man with a scythe could formerly reap one acre a day. A good reaper and binder can do it in twenty minutes.

France Faces a Wheat Shortage

ALTHOUGH the soil of France has been plowed and harrowed by shell and shrapnel, scant seed has been planted in the north and elsewhere. Of workers there has been a dearth. The American commercial attaché at Paris advises Washington that the wheat crop of France will probably fall nearly 100,000,000 bushels short of the need — 312,000,000 bushels — Belgian refugees keeping up the demand, which would otherwise have decreased because of war conditions; and imports must be relied on, the estimated value of which is about $185,000,000.

War’s Effect on Missions

The first year of the war has been a time of anxiety for missionary boards. The American Board now says, however, that its receipts during the first year of the world war exceeded the receipts for the previous year by $20,000. In places like Albania and Turkey, places directly affected by the war, missions have been seriously interfered with.

Steel Industry and Concentration of Wealth

THERE are now three great steel companies operating — three independent concerns. They are making the steel industry one of the biggest things in the country. But is it not possible for these large companies to combine into one still larger corporation, and the menace of concentration of wealth be just as great as before, or greater?

Codfish Dyed to Resemble Salmon

INSPECTORS of the Health department of New York City recently discovered a codfish dyeing industry in full blast under the arches of Brooklyn Bridge. They dyed the codfish to the color of good red salmon, and increased the price from ten cents a cod to forty cents and more for salmon.

“Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee.” Job 12:8.