Watching the World
Confirmation of Atrocities
◆ In recent months, Jehovah’s witnesses in the African country of Malawi have suffered horrible atrocities. These atrocities are not just a charge fabricated by Jehovah’s witnesses. Not only have they been verified by thousands of eyewitnesses among them, but, in addition, the respected London Observer of December 7 states: “Detailed evidence of this new reign of terror . . . is also independently corroborated by reports coming out of the villages.” The Observer notes that Jehovah’s witnesses are “willing to pay taxes or to buy identification documents of citizenship, but they refuse to subscribe to any political party.” When they have refused because of their Bible-based neutral stand, then organized mob violence, condoned and promoted by the rulers, has resulted in shocking brutality, even depravity.
Banda: ‘Deal with Devil’
◆ The Official Associated Press Almanac for 1974, on page 575, reports concerning Malawi’s president H. K. Banda: “He has said that ‘I would do business with the Devil himself to help Malawian development.’” His actions in fomenting atrocities against peaceful Christians, Jehovah’s witnesses, indicate he is doing just that. Also, in a contradictory statement published in the Malawi News, Banda, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, declared that he ‘believes in the freedom of worship,’ but then stated that this does not apply to Jehovah’s witnesses.
Benefit of Parental Tutoring
◆ Parents who teach their children individually, before they start school, play a role in producing children with above-average intelligence. A University of Washington psychologist, after making a study of the matter, said that the most “gifted” or “genius-level” children are raised by parents who carry on a one-to-one tutoring situation with the child in the years before it begins school.
Thievery a “Growth Industry”
◆ In addition to more customers stealing from business concerns, employee theft is growing at such a rate that one publication called it a “growth Industry.” In the United States thefts against business, especially by employees, totaled about $24 billion in 1975. That figure was more than the combined sales of the nation’s three largest retail chain stores. A security expert stated that honesty is fast disappearing, and added: “Twenty years ago I figured that three out of every 10 employees were stealing from the company. Today I figure it’s seven out of 10.”
“Smoked” Children
◆ The smoking of tobacco products has already been extensively documented as being harmful, causing or aggravating a number of diseases such as lung cancer. Now, evidence from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine implicates cigarettes as the cause of pneumonia and bronchitis in young children whose parents smoke. A five-year study indicated that the children of parents who smoked had bronchitis or pneumonia during their first year of life twice as often as did the children of parents who did not smoke.
Living Off the Garbage
◆ Two Norwegian school students spent a vacation on bicycles, traveling several hundred miles. Their food? They took along their fishing rods, intending to live off the fish they caught and wild berries, buying only strict essentials. By “just a coincidence,” they say, when they threw some rubbish into a “dustbin” (garbage can) along a roadside, they discovered in it four eggs, four ham sandwiches, a tin of mackerel, two liters of skimmed milk, three different cheeses, one kilo of strawberries, an unopened can of fruit salad, a tube of sausage, a jar of jam and several loaves of bread. The boys then decided to see how many trash cans could provide food on their vacation. To their amazement they sustained themselves well, even collecting deposits on empty bottles to buy themselves other things. They made it a practice not to touch food that was not well wrapped, and submitted everything “to a strict smelling-test.” Many Norwegians have been shocked to see how much good food is wasted.
Japan’s Consumer Goods Boom
◆ A household survey in Japan shows that in the past five years, carpets, hot-water systems, air-conditioners, golf clubs and color television sets had the largest sales. Rugs are replacing the traditional straw mats. In spite of the recent recession, it is reported that 99 percent of all Japanese homes have refrigerators; 98 percent have washing machines; 91 percent, color TV’s; 89 percent, sewing machines, and 84 percent, telephones. Although Japan is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers, car density is relatively low, with less than 50 percent of households owning one.
Paddling Schoolchildren
◆ The United States Supreme Court has decided that schoolteachers may discipline their students-including the use of a paddling, or spanking. This may be done even over the objections of the parents. It let stand a lower court’s decision that turned down a mother’s complaint over the paddling of her son, a sixth grader. This court’s ruling declared corporal punishment an acceptable form of discipline, provided it was not used for slight offenses or without prior warning.
Troubled Banks
◆ American banks are beset with a broad array of problems. Most of them are linked to bad loans, aggravated by the recession of the last two years. The New York Times states that the nation’s banks “find themselves in their most troublesome period since the Depression. Not for 35 years has the near-term outlook appeared so glum.” One estimate is that bad-loan write-offs for 1975 exceeded $3 billion. Another worry is the loans—about $25 billion—made to less-developed countries, a problem said to be more serious than all the other loan problems combined.
New Sailing Ship
◆ For twenty years a Hamburg, Germany, engineer has been applying modern technology to the square-rigged sailing ships of olden times. Now, a prototype of a highly automated, six-masted sailing ship is to be built. It is a 17,000-ton bulk-cargo freighter, twice the size of the largest freighter ever under sail. Under favorable wind conditions, the ship is designed to make twenty knots. But in case of calm, an auxiliary engine will keep the ship moving. The enormous amount of diesel fuel saved, plus the very small crew required, is thought to make the ship relatively inexpensive to operate.
Evidence of Babylonian Siege
◆ Archaeologists digging in the walled old city of Jerusalem claim to have unearthed evidence of its siege by ancient Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar about 2,500 years ago. Four arrowheads of two different types, believed to be from that period, were found amid charred wood and ash near an Israelite defensive tower.
Unruly Musicians
◆ The publication L’Espresso of Rome noted that famous orchestra conductors and soloists “come to Italy these days with increasing reluctance.” The heart of the problem, it claimed, was the deportment of orchestras. One prominent conductor stated: The last time I conducted in Italy I spent half my time and energy asking the orchestra to be quiet. I felt more like a nursery school teacher than a conductor. It was a degrading and humiliating experience. How could we rehearse . . . when the musicians discussed soccer during the slightest pause?” Similarly, a composer wrote of occasions “when we could hear transistor radios broadcasting soccer games right in the concert hall.” However, a musician responded that, while there was some truth to such charges, still, “when we play an instrument we put our souls into it.”
Benefit of Energy Crisis
◆ Statistics reveal that traffic deaths were lower in California during the winter of 1974-75 because of reduced speeds due to the energy crisis. Some researchers also believe less driving and less automobile pollution were factors in lower heart-attack and pollution death rates. Heart attacks in San Francisco decreased by 16.7 percent in that period, and a medical authority listed as a factor “less stress from driving.” Deaths due to pulmonary diseases decreased by 33 percent.
Pregnant Children
◆ A wave of teen-age pregnancies is sweeping the United States, authorities told a convention of the Planned Parenthood Federation. One official called it “a new epidemic.” Doctors report that now girls 9, 10 and 11 years of age regularly ask for birth-control devices. It was also observed that “a lot of them are brought in by their parents.”
Fewer U.S. Catholic Missionaries
◆ The U.S. Catholic Mission Council released statistics that show a drop in the number of U.S. Catholic missionaries serving abroad. This is the seventh consecutive year the number has declined. The number of these missionaries in 1975 was 7,148, down 2,507 (26 percent) from the 1968 peak of 9,655.
High French Bankruptcies
◆ The recent recession took its toll in Europe as well as in America. During the first half of 1975, bankruptcies in Europe’s Common Market countries zoomed. In total numbers, France had the most, followed by Great Britain, West Germany and Italy.
Deeper into Debt
◆ Many city, state and federal governments are going deeper into debt to try to combat recessions and create jobs. For instance, while cities such as New York experience grave difficulties paying their bills and then resort to ever more borrowing, the same has been true of the federal government. U.S. News & World Report states: “Washington has shown a budget surplus only once in the last 16 years—in 1969. Outlays have soared more than 300 per cent in that period, income only 225 per cent. Result is a cumulative deficit of nearly 240 billion dollars” in that sixteen-year period. Now the total government debt nears 600 billion dollars, with the deficits of the last and present fiscal years expected to be by far the largest in the country’s peacetime history.
Begging “Pays”
◆ A beggar in Diisseldorf, West Germany, was arrested for begging under false pretenses. He was found to have nearly $30,000 in a savings account, police said. He admitted that for years he told people he was “just out of prison” and did not have enough money.
Costly Calls
◆ Saudi Arabian students attending Ohio’s Findlay College regularly call home—halfway around the world. But since telephone credit cards are issued only to phone subscribers and Arabian operators refuse to accept collect calls, the students have had to punch at least 40 coins into pay phones for a 3-minute call ($9.65). An average 20-minute chat takes more than 250 coins ($64.05), and an hour’s talking fills the phone’s collection box. Former monthly coin pickups from the clogged boxes obviously had to be stepped up.
Having Fewer Children
◆ Of all American women under 30 who have been married, one third (33 percent) are now childless. Only one fourth (24 percent) were childless in 1970, and in 1960 only a fifth (20 percent) were. The trend toward postponing childbirth, and having fewer children when families are started, has caused the nation’s birth rate to drop sharply. The high cost of living due to inflation, the exploding world population, more women committed to careers instead of families, the desire to be free from caring for children, legal abortion, and world problems are listed as being responsible.