‘The Rafter in Her Own Eye’

● In the New York Daily News, November 4, 1955, the following dispatch appeared: “Brothels Warm, So Prices Go Up 4 Cents. Rome, Nov. 3, 1955.—Under the law, Italian hotels and apartment houses do not have to turn on central heating until December 1. But brothels must turn on the heat November 1. Because of this year’s unseasonably cold weather, this quirk in the law has made the 800 legalized houses practically the only warm places in the country, and business has boomed. Today the madames boosted their prices 10 per cent throughout the country and in the northern provinces they slapped on a general admission charge of 25 lire (four cents) to discourage those who drop in just to thaw out. The prices are regulated by the government,” and now range from $.33 to $1.65.

● In the United States and other Protestant lands such as Great Britain, the Roman Catholic Church poses as the guardian of public morals and lashes out against planned parenthood, indecent literature and vulgar movies. However, in view of this situation in a country 99.7-percent Roman Catholic for more than a millennium, the words of Jesus are appropriate: “How can you say to your brother: ‘Allow me to extract the straw from your eye’; when, look! a rafter is in your own eye? Hypocrite! first extract the rafter from your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to extract the straw from your brother’s eye.”—Matt. 7:4, 5, NW.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of Jehovah; and on his law doth he meditate day and night. For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the wicked shall perish.—Ps. 1:1, 2, 6, AS.