p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 24. (6/13/1916)

Earlier text: The World's Preparedness Passion

"ADVANCE GUARD" REDUCED

By Editor

The officers of the Young People's Society of Missionary Volunteers have selected ADVANCE GUARD as one of the books to be used in their Reading Course for the year beginning October, 1916. No doubt there are hundreds of people, both young and old, who would be glad to read this excellent series of missionary biographies, even though they do not belong to this society. Therefore we are making the same price to all during the year, which is seventy-five cents for the regular one dollar cloth bound book. A partial list of missionaries whose lives are sketched in this volume is as follows:

John Eliot The Mayhews David Brainerd Marcus Whitman Bartholomew Ziegenbalg Hans Egede Count Nicholas Ludwig Zinzendorf The Wesleys Christian Frederick Schwartz William Carey Henry Martyn Robert Morrison Adoniram Judson and Ann Judson Gordon Hall Dr. John Scudder William Butler Robert Moffat and Mary Moffat David Livingstone William Taylor John Williams John Gibson Paton Allen Gardiner Guido F. Verbeck J. Hudson Taylor Alexander Duff William Miller

Each chapter has an engraved heading, which in nearly every instance gives a portrait of the subject of the sketch. This gives a feeling of acquaintance with the person described that will be greatly appreciated by the reader. The author, Prof. C. G. Howell, has been particularly fortunate in selecting such incidents in the lives of these men and women as combine the deepest interest with the greatest profit, and he has presented them with rare power and pathos.

The book contains nearly 350 pages. Remember that this Reading Course edition is identical with the regular dollar cloth bound style. Orders are now being filled at the reduced rate. Address your tract society

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, Mountain View, California PORTLAND, OREGON CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Yosemite---

More Beautiful This Year than Ever Its Waterfalls Are Magnificent Its Laughing Streams Foam Joyously

Reduced

Round Trip Excursion Fares

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FOR TRAIN SERVICE ASK AGENT # Southern Pacific

Hygienic Cooking Oil

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Write for prices and descriptive circulars Address Dr. O. C. Godsmark, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Olive Oil and Dried Fruit

By A. E. Crist

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CHOICE DRIED FRUIT.—Muir peaches, 5½¢; prunes, 8½¢; pears, 8¢; apricots, 11¢; ripe olives, full quart cans, $2.25 a dozen; full gallon cans, small size, 55c. Quality excellent. Will keep 12 months. Hydrated or evaporated olives, 60c a gal. Only a small part of store prices. A. E. Crist, Chico, California.

Will Preparedness Insure Peace?

MR. W. M. HUGHES, prime minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, in visiting London recently, made a speech in which he said:

“The least that we can say of the navy is that it has saved Britain. But the truth is that it has saved the civilized world. Behind that impregnable wall of triple steel, we have had opportunity to remedy, in some fashion, our lack of preparation. But is there a man among us who does not pale as he looks back and sees the awful gulf which he has missed by a hair’s breadth? Who does not rejoice that there are men among us who shut their ears to the cries for a smaller navy? Think of the hundreds of millions we are spending to-day on this awful war. Think of the spectacle of the civilized world wallowing in blood, straining every energy in this awful work of mutual destruction. Think of the holocaust of lives, the fearful sufferings; and then think that had Britain taken heed of Lord Roberts’s warning voice, had we been as well prepared on land as we were on the sea, the peace of the world would have been, in all probability, unbroken.”

It was arguments of that character that led the world, in the face of the enlightenment and civilization of the twentieth century, to build up the awful war preparations that are used so destructively to-day. Arguments of that character will cause men to continue these mad theories of building engines of destruction, for we are in the days

EXPENSES

of a Millionaire

Master John Jacob Astor, four years old, who is unable to live on less than $75.60 a day.

Since his birth he has been allowed $20,000 a year out of the income of the estate of his father, John Jacob Astor II, who died in the Titanic disaster. He has petitioned the New York Surrogates' Court, through his mother, Mrs. Madeline Force Astor, for an additional allowance. Mrs. Astor showed that in addition to her son's allowance of $20,000, she had to spend $7,590 of her own funds on her child's behalf last year.

Since the little millionaire's birth, he has been receiving his allowance from the $150,000 a year income of the $3,000,000 trust fund left him by his father. Such conditions were graphically pictured 1900 years ago, by the apostle James (James 5:1-9), when he declared that in "the last days," fortunes would be "heaped" together by kings of finance. And the wanton pleasure attending opulence is vividly portrayed in the words, "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts."

The characteristics of the last days are in bold evidence, when the demons are making the nations of earth mad, preparatory to the great Armageddon that lies ahead. It is folly to think that the thousands of floating fortresses in the form of battleships, and millions of men under arms, will keep the world at peace. The only hope for permanent peace is in permitting the Prince of peace to change the hearts of men, not that men should build more battleships and create larger armies.

National Citizenship Sunday

By Editor

THE United States Department of Labor has announced Sunday, July 2, as "National Citizenship Sunday." The department is putting forth a strong organized effort to educate the foreign element in the United States in the principles of American citizenship. Among other things, they desire to teach them to read and write the English language. This is certainly a very commendable work, and the pastors of all churches of all denominations are requested to give citizenship sermons on that day.

The Department of Labor, Washington, D. C., will furnish literature to pastors or others who may desire information that will help them in preparing sermons and programs for the day.

America, without any question, stands at the head of the list as one of the best nations that has ever existed within the whole range of the history of mankind. This nation's foundation principles of liberty, justice, and equal rights for all, have never been excelled in the constitution and practice of any nation or state anywhere. It is always a pleasure for any lover of liberty or right to do anything within his power to help out the good work of this great government.

But while making these statements, we could not be true to conviction unless we pointed out the dangerous tendency at this time to confuse the separate realms of the church and the state.

The church has its specific work to do; it is the great work of preaching the gospel and of saving the souls of men for eternity. And this work, when it is properly done, will always result in the betterment of all citizens who receive the great principles of the divine Christ.

But, on the other hand, when the church, as an organized body, begins the work of assisting and guiding the state, there is always a tendency for it to become more and more a political body, until finally the minds of men become confused, and they are unable to recognize the great difference in the spheres of these two separate bodies.

The state has its public schools and its other organizations for the training of its citizens. Then why call upon the church to assist it? If the work went no farther than the preaching of a citizenship sermon on Sunday, July 2, there might be no occasion for alarm. But history is one continued succession of experiments in church-and-state movements. There is a large part of mankind that believe that church and state must in some way be interlocked in order to uphold and strengthen society. But every experiment has shown itself a miserable failure. Yet notwithstanding these manifest failures, the evidences all point clearly toward the fact that the twentieth century is preparing throughout the world to try again in the same line. This twentieth century experiment will, without doubt, in many respects, be different from any of former times; but it will end in as great a failure as any of the others.

Enlightenment and civilization cannot save us when we violate the fundamental principles of righteousness.

Habit-Forming Drugs

By Editor

A DOCTOR was recently placed under arrest in New York City for administering drugs to a "drug fiend." It was said that a detective from the "narcotic squad" made the arrest.

Quacks who pose as physicians, find a sufficient demand for their services in some of the cities, so that they may devote their time and energies quite fully to prescribing narcotic drugs to those who have the drug habit and who cannot secure them except by a "physician's prescription"; and the city governments, in order to break up these evil practices, are required to have their "narcotic squads."

This country is grappling heroically with the drink evil. The prospect seems good that we may be able to secure an amendment to our national constitution that will prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. But when this is accomplished, there are still left the habit-forming drugs to which the nation is addicted, not the least among which are coffee and tea.

As will be pointed out in an early number, in an article by a leading physician, these drugs and narcotics which fix upon men and women strong habits that demand their continual use, present a menace to our civilization and to our sanity that is even more forbidding than the liquor evil itself.

In some of the foreign nations that have prohibited the use of alcoholic drinks since the war broke out, coffee has been used so freely that other perplexities are arising which present a very difficult situation. Leading physicians have raised the danger signal; and thoughtful people will not only abandon these habits themselves, but will use their influence as strongly as possible to have others join them.

DURING the month of February, 1916, $49,398,036 worth of war materials left United States ports for the warring nations of Europe. The amount shipped in the month of August, 1914, the first month of the war, was only $405,881; the amount shipped for the first four months of the war was only $6,034,814. In other words, during one short month of this year, more than eight times as much war material was shipped to the Old World as was sent during the first four months of the war. Practically three quarters of these tremendous shipments for February were labeled "Explosives other than gunpowder." These "explosives other than gunpowder" are usually what are denominated high explosives. The greed of this time is interested in a business way in prolonging the European war. These figures show one of the greatest impediments to the acquiring of peace.

ON the same day that New York was having her great demonstration in favor of preparedness, Glasgow, Scotland, had a demonstration in the way of a procession of thirty thousand women who marched through the streets of that great city, "as a protest against the manufacture and sale of liquor during the war." The procession was headed by bands, and speeches were made demanding prohibition.

THE meeting of the League to Enforce Peace, of which William Howard Taft is president, and before whom President Wilson delivered his much discussed address of May 27, will be discussed in a strong forthcoming article by M. Ellsworth Olsen, our Washington correspondent.