<h2 class="label">CHAPTER IV</h2>
<h2 class="main">Historical Events of the 20th Century</h2></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The senior class of the Diana Seminary were
assembled in the auditorium, listening in a trance of respectful
attention to Professor Cielo Allenson. He had just begun his review of
the historical events of the 20th Century, now and then giving his
individual comments upon the subjects presented.</p>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1900</h3>
<h3 class="main">An Era of False Prosperity</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">With the beginning of the 20th Century was
inaugurated an era of false prosperity. The Census Bureau at that time
furnishes statistics and comments upon the wonderfully perceptible
decrease of the criminal classes, called foot-pads, sneak thieves and
highwaymen, which was attributed chiefly to the existing national
prosperity. It overlooks the fact, however, that a new species of
miscreants, <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb39" href="#pb39" name=
"pb39">39</SPAN>]</span>comparatively more dangerous, had begun to thrive
like mushrooms in prolific numbers,—that of so-called
<i>commercial brigands</i> or <i>financial buccaneers</i> who, under
fascinating and attractive names, such as mining syndicates with their
fabulous deposits of gold, offering bucketfuls of shares for a dime;
banking and building loan associations, with palatial homes thrown in
gratis to every subscriber; promoters of illusionary inventions,
seeking shareholders, which would make them millionaires in the
twinkling of an eye.</p>
<p class="par">Alchemists who, with their artful empyrics of
legerdemain, transmuted base metals into gold, and were willing to
dispose of their precious wares for pennies; Wall Street and race-track
spiders posing as benevolent philanthropists, scattering fortunes right
and left to every applicant, sapped the avaricious, sottish public of
its dearly bought earnings. Strange to say, despite many colossal
exposures and failures, as these adroit swindlers grew more subtle and
audacious, the more the gambling-crazed public rushed to their
destruction.</p>
<p class="par">The effect was appalling. In consequence <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb40" href="#pb40" name="pb40">40</SPAN>]</span>of the
depredations of these pirates of industries, the reputable business and
financial firms were the greatest sufferers. Their legitimate
transactions were paralyzed to such a tremendous degree that they were
compelled to devise ways and means to counteract its evils. In 1908,
after mature deliberation at a general convention in Washington, it was
decided to raise ample funds and create a bureau under the auspices of
the Federal Government called the <i>Bureau of Frauds and Swindles</i>.
The duties imposed upon its officers were the ferreting out and
prosecuting of the wild-cat schemes and to warn the public against
them.</p>
<p class="par">The measure, being approved by the National Government,
had the desired effect of freeing to a great degree the financial world
from its parasites of industrial malefactors, and to some extent
established again the stability and integrity of honorable financiers,
in the meanwhile safeguarding foolish persons from being fleeced out of
their savings.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1902</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Cataclysm at Martinique</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">St. Pierre, Martinique, was destroyed by a
volcanic eruption of Mount Peleé, on the <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb41" href="#pb41" name="pb41">41</SPAN>]</span>eighth
day of May. In a few minutes more than thirty thousand human beings
were hurled into eternity.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1908</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Mormon Question</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The anti-plural wives laws were enforced to the
letter. Its emphatic application to all members of the sect was brought
about principally by the Women’s Clubs, whose persistent and
overwhelming aggressiveness played an important factor in the stamping
out of this demoralizing and materialistic religion. In this era of
civilization the existence of a religious organization of this
character, like a cancerous growth, was threatening to debase womanhood
and lead the communities to unbridled licentiousness.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1909</h3>
<h3 class="main">Capital and Labor</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Every new movement, be it religious, political or
economic, has its birth like a volcano, and unionism was no exception
to this rule. The labor unions at first had their violent agitators
who, possessing greater physical than mental calibre, laid the crude
foundation of a <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb42" href="#pb42" name=
"pb42">42</SPAN>]</span>force in an arbitrary manner that consequently had
its gradual evolution of development.</p>
<p class="par">Their constant conflicts with capital were characterized
by an unreasonable amount of physical argument which resulted in more
or less disastrous denouements, but these very acts of lawlessness and
disturbances awakened a third party, the consumers in general, who were
equally affected by the disturbances between capital and labor and
brought about a realization of the true relative positions.</p>
<p class="par">Labor certainly has its unalienable rights and was
entitled to due consideration and justice. However, like the negative
and positive poles of electricity, which are both essential in order
that a circuit of effective force be generated, capital and labor
likewise had their dual relative values of importance, without which
there could be no constancy of harmonious production.</p>
<p class="par">By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to
their true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more
intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time the
violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this onward
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb43" href="#pb43" name=
"pb43">43</SPAN>]</span>development by more intelligent organizers. These
latter were merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the
efficient medium of the ballot box, into national representatives.
Consequently, the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became,
the more the workers became entitled to the benefits of their
labor.</p>
<p class="par">A Department of Capital and Labor which, so far, had
been merely probationary now became a permanent institution at the
Capitol and in every State of the Union as well.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1910</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Expense of Living</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">It is one of the strangest inconsistencies of
social problems, that although political economists and scholars have
preached the doctrine, that inventions and improved methods in
mechanical lines contribute to the blessings of mankind by cheapening
the necessities of life, yet in spite of their plausible declarations,
the cost of living year by year grew higher and higher, entailing
untold suffering and despair among the poorer classes.</p>
<p class="par">The cause of this lamentable perversion was <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb44" href="#pb44" name="pb44">44</SPAN>]</span>due to a
certain clique of unscrupulous progeny of Mammon, called trusts and
corporations, who, being blinded with an insatiable desire for pelf and
lust, and stupefied with a frenzied avarice, monopolized all the
necessities of life. The vast occidental domain of our country was of
unlimited resources and was capable of producing in abundance the
products which they “cornered.” The <i lang="la">modus
operandi</i> of their rapacious operations were manifold. They limited
the output of Nature’s bounty in order to keep them at
prohibitive values, and at the same time deprived hosts of sons of toil
of earning their livelihood. They kept at their inoperative
mercy—by their abominable tactics of purchase—the producer
from receiving his just share, and they also mulcted the helpless
consumer by the unlimited inflation of their capital stock and
fictitious expenses until at length the burden of their avarice became
unendurable.</p>
<p class="par">Although attempts have repeatedly been made by sincere
executives of the Nation, by the advocation of measures for curbing the
rapacity of these trusts, their endeavors met with failure on account
of the vague and flexible <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb45" href="#pb45" name="pb45">45</SPAN>]</span>laws already in existence, and by the
array of sycophantic traitors in high circles who prevented any
legislation which was conducive to the tranquility and welfare of the
masses. At last, only after a series of sanguinary demonstrations by
the people which almost endangered the stability of the republic, they
were compelled to yield.</p>
<p class="par">By the passage of clearly defined laws the career of
their nefarious system of spoliation was brought to an end. One of the
most efficacious laws passed was the creation of a body of competent
men of supreme power who appraised approximately the capitalization of
these concerns and licensed them as such under oath. The States in the
meantime assumed the power of fixing a maximum value for which their
commodities might be placed on the market. By the above legislations
the inflation of their capital and extortion from the consumer were
made securely impossible.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1911</h3>
<h3 class="main">Death of an Eminent Scholar</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Professor Henry Richfield, a profound scholar, and
the author of “How to Get Rich”—a <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb46" href="#pb46" name=
"pb46">46</SPAN>]</span>ponderous work in twelve octavo
volumes—passed away in an attic, in abject penury and
squalor.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1912</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Annihilation of Mosquitoes</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Although the mortality statistics in the United
States for last year reached the round number of two million persons
from various diseases, among them chiefly from consumption, pneumonia,
typhoid fever and epidemics of smallpox and diphtheria, a few sporadic
cases of death were recorded resulting from mosquito bites, which gave
grave concern to the medical fraternity.</p>
<p class="par">The outcome of this alarm was the calling of a general
conference of bacteriological experts. The mosquito, that had hitherto
enjoyed unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now
looked upon as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist,
interested in oil wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable
crude petroleum, donated a large sum for research in order to discover
ways and means of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which
threatened the annihilation of the human race. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb47" href="#pb47" name="pb47">47</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p class="par">It was decided by the savants, that the distribution of
crude petroleum in stagnant pools and humid marshes, was the only
effective method for the extermination of mosquito life. The
distribution of greenbacks for their valuable services,
(notwithstanding the fact that under the microscope they were found to
contain two hundred and fifty-seven diseases and thirty-eight million
microbes to the square inch), were grabbed with unprecedented avidity
by these same specialists.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1913</h3>
<h3 class="main">Child Labor</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The dwarfing and crippling of the mental, moral
and physical growth of tender children, by the avaricious employers,
and its baleful consequence of peopling the community with moral and
bodily degenerates, devoid of the desirable elements of good
citizenship, had become so appallingly flagrant that a general
sentiment of the people was aroused in a mighty protest to the Federal
authorities.</p>
<p class="par">Thanks to the aggressive and strenuous legislative
warfare of Labor Unions in every State, aided by the persistent moral
agitation <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb48" href="#pb48" name=
"pb48">48</SPAN>]</span>of Women’s Clubs all over the country, child
labor was entirely abolished in many channels of industries, such as
mills, factories, collieries and plantations. In more gentle
occupations the employment of minors, was placed on a healthier and
more humane basis than had ever before been the case.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1914</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Great Radium Swindle</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The fabulously high price of this metal had
awakened the cupidity of a coterie of adroit schemers who, had palmed
off on unsuspecting men of science, a rank substitute which cost only a
trifle to manufacture.</p>
<p class="par">After securing an enormous sum of money, the schemers
had decamped to parts unknown.</p>
<p class="par">It was discovered that the spurious metal thus disposed
was nothing more than a highly compressed form of phosphorous.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1915</h3>
<h3 class="main">Death of an Eminent Physician</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Dr. Wisehardt, the brilliant young physician and
surgeon who discovered the electro-magnetic germ-cells of life, and
invented methods to prolong life itself by the cultivation of these
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb49" href="#pb49" name=
"pb49">49</SPAN>]</span>cells, died in the 27th year of his age from
premature senility.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1916</h3>
<h3 class="main">A Tidal Wave</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The most memorable event of this year was a
gigantic tidal wave of tremendous height, which swept over the lower
coast of Florida. In a few minutes it inundated and destroyed a vast
area of the coast, doing incalculable damage to shipping. It was
estimated that nearly fifteen thousand persons lost their lives in this
cataclysm.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1917</h3>
<h3 class="main">War Between United States and Columbia</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The stubborn attitude of the Central American
Republic, Columbia, towards the United States, by her menacing
antagonism to the construction of the interoceanic canal, gradually
created a breach of the peace that led ultimately to a forcible
demonstration by the United States, and precipitated the invasion by
the latter of the Republic of Panama.</p>
<p class="par">Peace was re-established after a crushing defeat of the
Columbians. The famous waterway, <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb50"
href="#pb50" name="pb50">50</SPAN>]</span>the Republic of Panama, then
became United States territory, by annexation.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1918</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Women’s Clubs</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The Women’s Clubs which, during their first
inception, were the subject of much ridicule, and the proceedings of
their meetings a theme for ribald jokes in the secular press, gradually
developed into such gigantic proportions that their influence became a
powerful factor in every public question of the day, and in fact so
continues unabated unto this day.</p>
<p class="par">The last Federal statistics show more than two thousand
Institutions in the form of sanitariums, refuges, technical schools of
practical utility, entirely under the auspices of Club Women. The
constitutions of these laudable organizations “invariably stand
for something which is ennobling” and their achievements are
monumental tributes to the upward trend of womanhood.</p>
<p class="par">There was, however, a crucial period in their affairs
worth mentioning. Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that
period, in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman’s rights,
forgetting <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb51" href="#pb51" name=
"pb51">51</SPAN>]</span>the limitations of their sex,—considered by
the greatest thinkers of the past ages to be the sphere of
Home,—agitated a propaganda of political equality or suffrage
and, from time to time, created a stir among their organizations until
at last, in 1918, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs
decided to hold a conclave in order to decide the following momentous
question: “Should Women Enter Politics?”</p>
<p class="par">More than four thousand five hundred delegates from all
over the Union assembled at Madison Square Garden, in New York City.
Sympathizers of the suffragists with their eloquence tried to railroad
through a measure in their behalf, but equally able leaders of the
opposition—benefitted by the warning of Sages—succeeded in
counterbalancing the efforts of their fair antagonists.</p>
<p class="par">After a heated symposium the question was put to a vote,
which resulted decisively in a victory for those who opposed the
movement. It was further voted, that they should confine all their
energies to civic, educational and humanitarian channels and things
pertaining to Home. This was a most happy and wise decision,
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb52" href="#pb52" name=
"pb52">52</SPAN>]</span>for the world at large needs mothers who will
beget and nurse a Florence Nightingale, a Clara Barton, a Washington or
a Lincoln, rather than mothers who would become a Jezebel, a Delilah or
a Cleopatra.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1919</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Tornado</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">A cyclonic tornado of intense velocity and
destructive force struck New York City, demolishing in its path, in the
shape of a semi-circle from the Battery to Twenty-third Street, West,
two hundred and seventy-five buildings. Fortunately, the day being a
holiday, the loss of life was comparatively small.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1920</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Power of the Press</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Through emancipation from its shackles of
monarchic censorship and subserviency to despotic masters, the upward
rise of the Press to usefulness and power was without a
parallel—a power to which even Napoleon Bonaparte was sensible
when he said, “I fear three newspapers more than a hundred
thousand bayonets.” But like everything else in the universe, the
Press also had its dual potentiality. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name=
"pb53" href="#pb53" name="pb53">53</SPAN>]</span>Like a two-edged sword,
it could be wielded for good or evil. In the bands of an unscrupulous
politician it was a treacherous weapon, while in the control of the
righteous citizen a tremendous power for good.</p>
<p class="par">Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the
traitorous capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to
the evil designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the
people through the independent press at last understood their
hypocrisy.</p>
<p class="par">The independent press, however, attained its highest
degree of efficiency by the establishment of the College of Journalism.
Its foundation slogan, <i>publicity</i> on all political and economic
questions, had created a force of trained journalists—a force
“mightier than the sword” and in a manner far more
penetrating than the X-ray—pledged to defend the rights of the
citizens. By an educational propaganda it taught the masses how to
eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise of their unalienable
right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government “of the people, for
the people and by the people,” resort to force or revolution was
absolutely unnecessary, while these two <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name=
"pb54" href="#pb54" name="pb54">54</SPAN>]</span>most effectual weapons
the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press, were at
their command.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1921</h3>
<h3 class="main">Balloons and Airships</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">Strange to say, from the time of Archytas of
Tarantum to Otto Lilienthal, and from <span class="corr" id="xd22e850"
title="Source: Montgoflier">Montgolfier</span> Bros. to Santos Dumont,
Bell, Maxim and Langley, very little or no progress had been made in
practical and safe aerial navigation.</p>
<p class="par">Though all these inventors, whether cranks with a
smattering of mechanical knowledge, or veritable savants and
scientists, efficient in physics according to their own accounts, had
studied the subject of aerial flight from the fowls of the air, the
failure of their experiments showed that they were far from grasping
the mysteries of that subtle sagacity and subconsciousness of the
birds, by which they balanced themselves against the currents and
velocity of the winds, and by their intuitive sensitiveness, utilized
to the fullest extent their vast number of muscles and feathers with
such marvelous subtlety. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb55" href="#pb55" name="pb55">55</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p class="par">Like the Italian alchemist in the middle ages, who had
constructed the wings of his flying machine with feathers gathered from
a dunghill, and who, when attempting to fly, had found himself dumped,
by a strange sympathetic affinity, on the very dunghill from which he
had gathered the feathers, the efforts likewise, of these illustrious
experimenters were crowned by successful failures, by a similar force
of attraction, their apparatus either alighting on the branches of
trees, or diving into the waters like ducks.</p>
<p class="par">At the beginning of the 20th Century, the consensus of
scientific opinion had reached the conclusion, that the successful
flying machine of the future would be one, which would be heavier than
air and with either a very small balloon or none at all. The various
forms of balloons and flying craft, exhibited at the St. Louis
exposition became an incentive for renewed efforts by scientists to
solve the problem of aerial flight and continued with unremitting zest
for nearly a quarter of a century.</p>
<p class="par">It was in the early part of 1919 that the science of
aeronautics was radically improved by the discovery of a process for
hardening <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb56" href="#pb56" name=
"pb56">56</SPAN>]</span>and soldering of Aluminum, by which comparatively
light but strong framework and machinery were constructed, and thus
gradually the elimination of inflated balloons had become possible.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1922</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Flood in Mississippi Valley</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">In the spring of this year the Mississippi Valley
was flooded and submerged by terrible cloudbursts which, combined with
melting of snows on the mountains, and subsequent bursting of dams and
levees, devastated a vast area. According to records the lives lost in
the inundated districts reached the total of sixty thousand.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1923</h3>
<h3 class="main">Uniform Divorce Laws</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The unprecedented increase of divorces all over
the United States and the attendant scandalous proceedings at the
courts had reached such a maximum, and its baneful influence on the
public morals had developed into such a point of danger that, a great
awakening among the clergy and lawmakers of the nation was <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb57" href="#pb57" name="pb57">57</SPAN>]</span>the
result. At a conclave of representatives of the legal profession from
every State in the Union, was promulgated a uniform divorce law for the
United States of America.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1924</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Zionist Movement<br/> or<br/> The Bursting of the Zion Bubble</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The Zionist movement which for thirty years past
gained more than two million converts and within that period had
collected more than fifteen million dollars, was declared impracticable
and illusionary!</p>
<p class="par">The estimable originators of this sentimental movement,
<span class="corr" id="xd22e893" title="Source: Herzle">Herzl</span>,
Nordau, Zangwill and others, although beyond the shadow of a doubt
sincere and well-meaning, through the intensity of their zeal for the
amelioration of their less fortunate brethren, were entirely
blindfolded to the intricacies of politics and the eventful history of
the Jewish race, from an ethnological and psychological point of
view.</p>
<p class="par">Some of these true yet misguided philanthropists had
passed away and other leaders, less impressed with the object of the
society, had <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb58" href="#pb58" name=
"pb58">58</SPAN>]</span>taken their places. As the Jews are not a pioneer
race, the magnanimous scheme of the British government to place them
upon a tract of virgin soil at Uganda, in Central Africa, for the
purpose of colonization proved chaotic failure, on account of both
sociological and economic reasons.</p>
<p class="par">The idea also of establishing a Jewish principality in
Palestine, under an absolutely despotic and semi-barbarous
government—which butchered her subjects <i lang="la">ad
libitum</i>—was so ridiculous in the extreme, that the questions
had become the laughing stock at the political <i lang="la">sanctus
sanctorums</i> of various governments.</p>
<p class="par">In 1923 a tremendous agitation was brought about by the
leaders of the opposition, and those in power of the movement were
challenged to public debate. The question grew to such proportions that
it became a subject for discussion in every orthodox and gentile pulpit
In the press, sociologists, ethnologists and anthropologists took part
in the ephemeral arena and analyzed every phase of the subject,
relating to the Hebrew race and the Zionist movement, laying bare every
fact without reserve. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb59" href="#pb59"
name="pb59">59</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p class="par">It was stated by the opposition that though a stream of
money had been pouring in from every quarter of the globe year after
year, for the cause, no result as yet had been obtained, that great
sums had been spent in salaries of the officials and at the
dilly-dallying, corrupt courts of the Turkish Sultan.</p>
<p class="par">A learned sociologist likened the Hebrews to a parasitic
plant, which derived its existence from the living sap of another.
“An Israelite” he declared, “can only exist favorably
amongst civilized centres of Christian and gentile communities; that
whenever a colony of Hebrews were isolated by themselves, they would
inevitably and gradually retrograde, impoverish and at last form a
ghetto of misery and squalor.”</p>
<p class="par">Another ethnologist of repute expounded the fact, that
the Jews were the life and essence of commercial activity and
consequently formed an integral part of a prosperous <span class="corr" id="xd22e917" title="Source: common-wealth">commonwealth</span>.
Sublimely industrious, instinctively provident and economical by
nature, the Jews were persecuted because of their inherent virtues. He
proved by clever historical documents, that their expulsion from
Babylon, Egypt, Spain, Russia or wherever their rights <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb60" href="#pb60" name="pb60">60</SPAN>]</span>were
abrogated, were the fundamental causes of the decadence of these
countries from which they were expelled.</p>
<p class="par">Others accused the Hebrews of perverting the Golden
Rule, of taking advantage of others by their inborn instinct of
commercial sagacity, which well nigh approached unscrupulousness and
that, being a mere commercial people, their patriotism could well be
challenged. Many others advised, however, a propaganda of judicious
assimilation of the Israelite with the Christians, contending that the
sum total of their virtues and faults was the same as that of their
Christian brethren. Meanwhile they advised the Jews that
“wherever they lived they ought to make there, their Zions and
temples.”</p>
<p class="par">After much heated argument and discussion which occupied
several days, they at last arrived at the conclusion that the Zionist
movement was chimerical! The balance of the funds amounting to many
million dollars were voted for the establishment of technical and
commercial schools for Israelites and for a fund to aid the judicious
emigration of the Jews from ill-favored and congested districts to more
favorable localities. <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb61" href="#pb61"
name="pb61">61</SPAN>]</span></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main">1925–26</h3>
<h3 class="main">The Anglo-American Alliance</h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">The Anglo-American Alliance, by which these two
foremost nations of the earth were brought into a happy, fraternal
union, and for the achievement of which for nearly a quarter of a
century there had been a great effort, in this year had become an
accomplished fact!</p>
<p class="par">It was celebrated in a manner unprecedented in the
annals of the World’s history. Having a profound and far reaching
effect, it became an ultimatum for other nations to keep the peace, and
goaded them toward the adoption of similar laws, in order to secure the
same reciprocal blessings of universal brotherhood.</p>
<p class="par">Much credit was due to that eminent English statesman,
now Lord Cunningham, through whose tactful diplomacy this long-sought
commercial, social, offensive and defensive alliance became a reality.
“I am restrained,” said the Professor, looking in the
direction of Aurora Cunningham, “to avoid eulogizing him as he
justly deserves, for obvious reasons.”</p>
<p class="par">At this sentence the students, under the impulse of a
sudden admiration, arose to their <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb62"
href="#pb62" name="pb62">62</SPAN>]</span>feet en masse, and, glancing
smilingly at Aurora, began rapturously to clap their hands.</p>
<p class="par">This interruption of sympathetic appreciation was
brought to a close, by a ringing cry of the Seminary yell: “Dee,
Dee, Ya, Ya, Na, Na, Diana. Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!”</p>
<p class="par">Aurora, blushing deeply, gracefully bowed her
acknowledgement and in due form the class was dismissed for the day.
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="pb63" href="#pb63" name=
"pb63">63</SPAN>]</span></p>
</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div id="ch5" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#xd22e226">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
<div class="divHead">
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.