January 22

Page Two

Since the days of the industrial revolution, big business has had an increasing impact on our lives. Undeniably it has brought many benefits. Yet many are suspicious of it, and with good reason. In some ways, it threatens our very future. The following articles discuss this and show some of the other ways that big business affects your life

Big Business and Crime 3

Big Business and Morality 5

Big Business and Warfare 6

Big Business and You 9

Big Business and Crime

BIG BUSINESS! It affects all of us. It helps us​—and it harms us. And there are things we can do about it.

A giant, or “big,” corporation may have assets worth $1,500,000,000. Many have far more. That kind of money represents power. Giant corporations have tussled with countries​—and won. No wonder so many are suspicious of them!

Yet in some ways big business has created the world we know. It builds railroads, controls oil and in many lands provides electricity, gas and transportation. Because of it, a person can wear shoes made in Brazil and clothes made in Hong Kong, drive a Japanese automobile, eat tropical food, and drink German wines. Thanks to big business, foreign travel is no longer the exclusive privilege of the rich. And if you possess an automobile, a television or a telephone, likely it is because big business mass-produced them and thus made them cheap enough to own.

But there are problems. These articles discuss a few of them.

THE problem of crime in our streets is not new. Every day we hear of muggings, knifings, murders and other indications of a general breakdown in law and order. However, were you aware that each day other crimes of almost unimaginable scope are committed? Each year a staggering sum of money is lifted from your wallet or purse without your even noticing. In the United States alone, these insidious crimes net at least 200 billion dollars a year. Who commit them? The big corporations, whose executives turn to illegal methods to make themselves or their companies richer.

Big business crime affects everyone. Often it is deadly and destructive. What kind of people commit such crimes? Often the highly respected “pillars” of society.

Big business crime is so commonplace that most officials cannot cope with it. “Corporate crime remains an obscure and seriously misunderstood phenomenon,” said Connecticut law professor Leonard Orland. If accurate figures were available, he feels, they would show that “the amount of ‘hidden’ corporate crime is vast, and that true corporate crime is substantially underprosecuted.”​—U.S.News & World Report.

When white-collar criminals are prosecuted, what happens? In contrast with the prison terms routinely handed out to muggers and burglars, this kind of criminal usually gets off lightly. For example, 25 milk companies in the New York metropolitan area admitted that they had overcharged their customers for ten years. It was impossible to determine how much they had gained from the crime, but a $6.7-million customer refund was imposed on the companies. What happened to the executives whose misdeeds had cost customers millions of dollars? They simply pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and were fined.

Another example: One of the largest drug-discount firms in the United States was discovered double-billing the state of Ohio for prescriptions filled under the Medicaid program. This corporate crime robbed the taxpayers of more than half a million dollars. Yet the guilty company was merely fined and obliged to return the stolen money.

Guilty executives may very well argue with those who maintain that crime does not pay. To them it obviously pays very well. U.S.News & World Report tells of one case where a company’s board chairman and president were found guilty in a $12 million tax-evasion case and were sentenced to perform public service in lieu of prison time. While they served this time, they continued to enjoy all the company fringe benefits, and the president drew $100 an hour as a consultant.

Sometimes the public pay with their lives. For example, in 1981 a new, low-priced cooking oil began to enter food markets in Spain. Hard-pressed working-class people began buying it as a bargain. Alas, consumers began to have strange symptoms! More than 20,000 became sick, and as of May 1983, according to government statistics, 339 had died. Why? Because businessmen were purchasing cheap industrial oil in France and processing it to sell as edible oil in Spain.

Corporate crime is also involved in the dumping of toxic chemicals. Five years ago the Love Canal section of New York State was featured in the headlines when people were driven from their homes by noxious poisons seeping out of their backyards. Where had the chemicals come from? A large chemical company had dumped hazardous wastes in the area.

Five years later the inhabitants of the town of Times Beach, Missouri, had to leave home, and barricades were put across the streets with skull-and-crossbone signs and large-lettered words: “DANGER! DO NOT ENTER.” Why? Because the town was contaminated by dioxin.

Despite these experiences, some businesses are found to be, with criminal irresponsibility, disposing of toxic wastes. Using “midnight dumping,” poisons are released into storm drains, mixed with ordinary garbage, or even mixed with heating oil for sale to landlords at bargain prices. “Midnight dumping . . . is not just another white-collar crime. It directly threatens the health of the unsuspecting​—and the unborn,” commented an editorial in The New York Times.

Yes, the average person is vulnerable when big businesses turn to crime. Often, though, they are vulnerable for other reasons. What happens when big corporations, while sticking strictly within the law, show a lack of moral sense? Then many people may suffer horribly.

[Blurb on page 4]

When white-collar criminals are prosecuted, what happens? Often very little

Big Business and Morality

HOW can people be victimized even when big business stays within the law? Because the natural goal of business is to make profits. Many businessmen do not appear to view it as their job to make moral judgments about where the profits come from.

For example, test after test has demonstrated that many people suffer lethal consequences from tobacco smoking. Nevertheless, the big tobacco corporations continue to reap huge profits from producing and marketing their dangerous product. And they continue to advertise to encourage more people to take up the habit. Seemingly, the fact that it makes money is an unanswerable argument in their mind. And when the corporations do business with other countries, they can be even more heedless of the results of their actions.

Big business can victimize people in another way. In order to sell a product that no one really needs, some corporations spend a lot of money on advertising to create a need, to make people feel that this nonessential product is somehow a necessity. An example of this surfaced in recent years in the marketing of baby formulas​—preparations for bottle-feeding young babies—​in poor countries.

All experts agree that the perfect food for a newborn baby is its own mother’s milk. Nevertheless, big corporations have been accused of aggressively marketing baby formulas in poor lands so that mothers are persuaded that their babies will be healthier if they are fed on the formula. The result? Mothers spend scarce money on this usually nonessential product. Often they cannot understand the instructions and do not appreciate the need to sterilize the baby’s bottle. Hence, the baby may end up with malnutrition or diarrhea.

It is reported that one way used to promote the sale of infant formulas was to give a free sample to a mother soon after the birth of her baby. When the free sample ran out, the mother found she could no longer nurse her baby and had to keep on using the formula (at the store price, of course). Why? Because a mother’s milk may dry up in about a week if suckling is discontinued.

It’s Legal But . . .

In fact, the big corporations have come under much criticism for their dealings with the poorer lands. For example, what happened to 2.4 million sets of children’s pajamas banned in the United States because they had been treated with a flame-retardant compound discovered to be cancer causing? They were shipped to countries not so highly regulated.

The British newspaper The Guardian recently announced: “The international drugs industry, including leading British firms, was accused by Oxfam last week of systematically exploiting the Third World poor for commercial profit.” The newspaper went on: “Its most damning indictment concerns the willingness of the major drug companies to sell highly dangerous and potentially toxic preparations to the Third World​—frequently with claims about safety and efficacy which they have been forced to withdraw in the West.”

Reports tell of drugs shipped to Third World countries by Western companies even though they are banned in the Western world because of known dangerous side effects. An antibiotic widely sold in Asia can produce a fatal form of anemia. A steroid hormone sold in Africa can cause beard growth and baldness in women and clitoral enlargement in young girls. An antidiarrhea drug sold in Indonesia was withdrawn in the United States and Japan because it may cause brain damage and blindness.

Moreover, some drug-company representatives have gone to great lengths to get these products on the shelves of the sellers. Doctors and hospital administrators have been offered bribes that included “cars or free university educations for their children.”

However, the moral problems of big business are nowhere more evident than in the biggest business of them all​—the business of selling arms.

Big Business and Warfare

THE international selling of armaments became big business in the 19th century. Steel producers like the German firm Krupp and the English firms Vickers and Armstrong began producing armaments in large quantities. When home governments could not or would not buy enough armaments, these firms developed an international trade and soon became huge multinational institutions.

From its early days, doubts were voiced about the morality of producing and exporting armaments. Alfred Nobel of Sweden discovered a form of cordite (a smokeless gunpowder called ballistite) for guns and, at the age of 60, he purchased the Swedish gun company Bofors. Yet he professed an interest in pacifism and bequeathed the famous Nobel Peace Prize, to be given to those who did the most to promote friendly relations between nations. When William Armstrong died in 1900, a British newspaper commented: “There is something that appals the imagination in the application of a cool and temperate mind like Lord Armstrong’s to the science of destruction.”

Nevertheless, any qualms were soon overcome by consideration of either patriotism or profit. By the beginning of the first world war, arms salesmen were swarming in most of the world’s capitals, vending their wares. However, that war did show up a serious moral problem with the arms trade.

During the war, weapons of British and French manufacture were used against British and French soldiers on the battlefield. Germany fought against Russians and Belgians who had been armed by Krupp. Most of the navies involved had armor plating made under a Krupp’s patent, and in the Battle of Jutland, both sides fired shells with Krupp’s fuses.

Armaments firms made huge profits from the war​—so much so that many suspected they had tried to prolong the war for their own benefit. A 1934 magazine article calculated that during that war it cost $25,000 (U.S.) to kill one soldier, “of which a great part went into the pocket of the armament maker.”​—The Arms Bazaar, by Anthony Sampson.

Since that war the arms trade has persisted, and today it flourishes as never before. Some still question the morality of dealing in weapons of death, but no one denies its profitability. “War is good business again,” said one Wall Street analyst. The New York Times, referring to modern high-technology weapons, added: “More than a miracle of technology, electronic warfare is lucrative business.”

“The arms trade is . . . booming, with the USSR having overtaken the US as the leading exporter of major weapons,” confirmed the British magazine New Scientist, adding: “And no doubt the next year or two will see an upsurge in British arms exports after the shop window provided in the Falklands.”

In fact, to the corporate heads of the companies producing modern weapons, the Falklands and Lebanese conflicts must have seemed like a godsend. The Guardian comments: “European and American companies see exciting new prospects after a war [in the Falklands] that provided a classic demonstration for their wares.”

This must also have been obvious to those who are looking for some safe place to invest their money. New investors in armaments are “coming out of the woodwork,” as it were. One defense analyst quoted in The New York Times said: “The stocks have performed well since these incidents [the Falklands and Lebanese conflicts]. Clearly this has attracted more investor attention.”

During the 1970’s, while war was raging in Southeast Asia, Protestant churches​—some of which had protested against the war and against the growing military buildup of the United States—​were among those taking advantage of the lucrative arms market. In a booklet on the subject, the National Council of Churches said: “The investments identified here are with the ‘big business’ of military production and procurement. The amount of Church investment is almost $203 million . . . These investments are big business for the churches, representing an important if not the most important portion of their holdings.”

What makes corporate heads of arms-producing companies rub their hands with special glee is that for the most part they do business with the military and not with commercial clients. Their advantages are thus many. Most large nations have already appropriated billions of dollars for defense, so money coming into the tills of the manufacturers is assured. Since these components must meet military standards, the price is four to five times higher than that of those sold to commercial clients. Generally speaking, the military will purchase products made within the country’s own borders rather than from outside sources, thus reducing the threat of outside competition. American companies in particular, in their quest for military contracts, are in the unusual position of seeing no competition from Japan. Armaments are indeed lucrative business.

Standing squarely in the middle of this big business of war are the arms salesmen who peddle the destructive wares like door-to-door vendors. “The great thing about making weapons compared to making cars,” said one, “is that they’re always getting outdated or used up: there’s infinite scope for expansion.”

Arms shows, where buyers and sellers converge to look over the latest styles in war weaponry, are popping up all over the world like fashion shows. Producers are developing what are called the third generation of weapons​—high-technology projects involving an increase in military spending for research and development. Christopher Paine, of the Federation of American Scientists, called this “a perilous ruse perpetrated by the weapons builders to keep them in business.”

The moral problems of the arms trade have not changed. For three years before the Falklands war, the British sold over 200 million dollars’ worth of warships and electronic weaponry to Argentina, much of which was fired back in their faces when the war broke out. This is the chance that both nations and big business choose to take. Voices are raised in condemnation of the international sales of arms. Yet the sales go on, usually encouraged by national governments. And meanwhile the world becomes a more and more dangerous place to live in.

[Blurb on page 8]

The British sold millions of dollars’ worth of armaments to Argentina, only to have these fired back at them in the Falklands

[Pictures on page 7]

Doubts about the morality of selling arms were soon overcome by the profits rolling in

Big Business and You

BUSINESS is a human activity, and humans are liable to make serious mistakes. Hence, big business, too, often makes serious moral errors. Big business involves huge sums of money, so it will inevitably appeal to the greedy and the power hungry. And as an integral part of this world, it will naturally reflect the thinking of the god of this world. Remember, “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.”​—1 John 5:19.

Nevertheless, those who commit the wrongs are responsible. Any who take advantage of huge financial power to cheat the man in the street should remember the warning: “He that is defrauding the lowly one has reproached his Maker.” (Proverbs 14:31) Even if the consequences of their acts are only visible in a distant country, perhaps never seen by them personally, the Bible principle holds true: “He that is defrauding the lowly one to supply many things to himself . . . is surely destined for want.” (Proverbs 22:16) Any wealth coming from such victimization will not shield the criminals from God’s final judgment.

This is especially true of the arms producers and salesmen. True, they do not actually pull the triggers or throw the bombs that take innocent lives. But in supplying the weapons, they share the guilt. The truth is, much modern warfare would be impossible without the cooperation of big business. Because businesses have cooperated, the whole globe is like the ancient land of Israel, “polluted with bloodshed.” (Psalm 106:38) Eventually, as happened in those days also, Jehovah will judge the guilty: “You will destroy those speaking a lie. A man of bloodshed and deception Jehovah detests.”​—Psalm 5:6.

But what can an individual do? Should all contact with business be avoided? Not necessarily. Business as such is not condemned in the Bible. (Proverbs 31:18; Matthew 25:14-27) Nevertheless, how business is conducted is important. “The one making unjust profit is bringing ostracism upon his own house,” warns the Bible proverb. And the moral dangers awaiting anyone whose chief goal in life is to get rich are clearly underlined in the statement: “A man of faithful acts will get many blessings, but he that is hastening to gain riches will not remain innocent.”​—Proverbs 15:27; 28:20.

A conscientious businessman should not be motivated by greed, and he should avoid doing anything to encourage greed in others. (Ephesians 5:3) He would not invest his money in things that are harmful. A Christian prays: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God the God of my salvation, that my tongue may joyfully tell about your righteousness.” (Psalm 51:14) Hence, how could he deliberately allow his money to be used for producing armaments, tobacco or anything else that causes death and disease to others? This would bring bloodguilt on him.

There is something else to be considered too. The apostle John said: “Everything in the world​—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—​does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.” (1 John 2:16) “The desire of the flesh,” “the desire of the eyes,” “the showy display” of one’s wealth​—these are the very things encouraged by big business in its remorseless quest for profits. But a balanced person will avoid being victimized by falling for subtle advertising campaigns or other forms of pressure designed to make him part with hard-earned money to buy some unnecessary item that has suddenly become fashionable.

In this way, to some extent we can avoid being deceived by the big corporations and imitating the wrongs often committed in their name. Of course, there is little we as individuals can do to redress many of the huge moral and legal crimes committed by some big businesses. The problems of political corruption, crime in the streets, world hunger, the threat of war and the other problems of this world system of things are, for the most part, out of our individual control.

However, even in this we are not without hope. God has promised that this system will soon be replaced by a new one under his Kingdom. The apostle Peter spoke about this when he said: “There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Peter 3:13) Under that righteous system, there will be no room for unscrupulous big businesses or any other kind of criminal.

“And he will certainly render judgment among many peoples, and set matters straight respecting mighty nations far away. And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it.”​—Micah 4:3, 4

[Blurb on page 9]

“A man of bloodshed and deception Jehovah detests.”​—Psalm 5:6

Can Our Forests Be Saved?

By Awake! correspondent in Canada

WHAT a refreshing pleasure it is to walk through a beautiful forest! It is awe inspiring to contemplate how these majestic trees send their spires towering into the blue vault above. Stepping on the springy cushion of moss and needles, you muse on the fact that some trees alive today were mere seedlings when the Son of God walked the earth 19 centuries ago.

Among such natural grandeur, one experiences a peace and serenity not found in the artificiality of our modern world. As one writer put it: “Perhaps the rebuilding of body and spirit is the greatest service derivable from our forests.” What a senseless waste, then, when once-forested hills and valleys are made into a wasteland of shattered trees and stumps! Yet, this is what is happening​—worldwide!

Depletion of Forests

How far has the destruction gone? In 1980, Newsweek magazine reported: “In the time it takes to read this sentence, 8 acres of forest will disappear.” It continued: “Up to half the world’s woodlands may have vanished since 1950, and annual losses now are running between 1 and 2 per cent​—25 to 50 million acres.” Environmental expert Erik Eckholm declared: “It is safe to say that a country the size of Cuba is being destroyed each year.”

Reports now indicate that two thirds of the original forested areas of Latin America have been devoured. In Africa one half of the woodlands have perished. One quarter of Thailand’s forests have been used up in just the past ten years. In the Philippines one seventh of the tree coverage was squandered during the past five years. The list could go on and on. True, wood products should continue to be used, but it is tragic to see these tremendous resources being exploited so wastefully.

Human Responsibility

Wood is used in a surprising number of ways today. Consider, for example, just one chain of fast-food restaurants. Merely in order to provide beverage and food containers, napkins and straws, this chain uses up the equivalent of 315 square miles of forest annually!

Seeing the vast potential for profit, giant multinational corporations have seized control of the greater part of the forest lands of the earth and have devastated them indiscriminately. Their policy is to “cut and run,” regardless of the consequences.

Modern power equipment has made this possible as never before. Instead of flashing axes, a modern logging operation is marked by the deafening whine of motor-driven chain saws. Huge diesel-powered machines gather up the logs, crushing underfoot any smaller trees that might be in the way. Another machine, after smashing its way into the woods, fastens massive steel bands onto a tree’s trunk and literally yanks it out by its roots, just as you would pull a beet out of your garden. Such wholesale destruction is called clear-cutting. Can you imagine what is left of a forest afterward?

Especially serious is the ongoing destruction of tropical moist forests, considered to be the most valuable ecological zones on earth. In the Amazon basin, for example, huge bulldozers with a heavy chain stretched between them advance through the lush jungle, sweeping an area clean of all trees and shrubs in a matter of hours. Why? One purpose is to prepare the land for cattle grazing. Another is logging. Loggers cut profitable commercial trees and ruin up to two thirds of what is left behind.

Cause for Alarm

Who is responsible for this destructive exploitation? In the Amazon a large measure of responsibility is borne by international meat-packing corporations that hope to raise large quantities of inexpensive beef for the tables of more developed countries. But whether it be for timber cutting or beef raising, the ravaging continues. Hence, many authoritative scientists believe that by the end of the century much of the biome of tropical moist forests will have been reduced to impoverished remnants​—if not destroyed altogether.

Voices are being raised in alarm. Because of the pillaging of the Amazon moist forest, one writer warned: “The destruction of existing ecosystems would upset all manner of delicate ecological balances and would entail the irreversible destruction of an enormous source of oxygen which is crucial for the survival of the biosphere.” The situation there has been called “the century’s greatest natural disaster in the making” and is said to be “posing an incalculable threat to humankind.”

Scientists studying the effects of forest destruction on world weather patterns are concerned. They foresee two possible results: Either an earth-wide warming trend​—which will raise average temperatures 2° F. over the next 70 years, possibly “melting the polar icecaps and raising sea levels more than 20 feet”—​or a global cooling because the present rate of deforestation could make the earth’s surface “shinier,” causing a greater reflection of sunlight.

A further effect could be a change in rainfall patterns, which might introduce persistent drought to the principal farming areas of Europe and North America. The book The Forest Killers declared: “In sum, we are killing the very thing that sustains us with air and water.”

The Forest Ecosystem

“A natural forest is an extremely complex environment,” said Jack Shepherd, author of The Forest Killers, “with hundreds of species of plants, each occupying its own niche and each providing niches for many kinds of animals.” Left to itself, a forest can, in nearly flawless cycles, care for its own needs. It has an outstandingly efficient system of recycling dead material into minerals that eventually feed the forest plants. In its natural state very few of the nutritive minerals on which a forest thrives get drained off into the rivers and creeks.

Interestingly, certain species of mosquitoes stay in the tops of the trees. Is that important? Well, it is thought that diseases carried by insects, such as yellow fever and malaria, did not become a scourge until man brought havoc to the world’s forests. How delicate is the balance of a forest’s ecosystem!

Conservation Measures

Steps are being taken to preserve forest lands. In a few countries licensing and laws are becoming more restrictive. Extensive tree-planting projects and other programs are in progress in Canada, the United States, Japan and the Philippines. Some timber companies are practicing tree farming so that they can have a sustained yield. Vast areas of cutover land are being reseeded.

Of course, trees take time to grow. Hence, rapid-growth “supertrees” are being experimented with, the hope being to help prevent further shrinkage of the world’s woodlands. These can grow as much as 50 feet in a year, can stop forest fires from spreading and can inhibit soil erosion.

In British Columbia, Canada, tree seeds are being stimulated into extremely fast growth. ‘The seed is put into the refrigerator at around freezing level for four months,’ says a Toronto Star report. “Then it is taken out and put into germination trays filled with peat and a thin layer of gravel.” In this condition seeds stay in a greenhouse for six weeks where some seeds germinate. A return to the refrigerator for another period fakes a British Columbia “high-elevation winter.” On being removed from their “cold snap” to a greenhouse, everything flourishes. In 12 months they are ready for planting in an area to be reforested. The survival rate of yellow cedars has been from 95 to 100 percent!

A further conservation measure is the emphasis being put on using what was formerly discarded. Only 43 percent of cut timber is at present being put to good use. Through modern research, mill residue is being turned into particle board. Roofing and insulating materials, filler for linoleum, tannin and medicines are being produced from bark. Short lengths and crooked logs unsuitable for lumber are being milled into squares for use in making furniture legs, as well as handles for tools or toys. As research continues it would seem, as one writer put it, “that wood can be developed to satisfy almost every requirement of human and animal existence, and thus become civilization’s most significant raw material.”

Indeed, the demand for forest products is vast. It is estimated that the annual requirements of the timber industry equal “a mile-wide raft of logs, lashed side-by-side, stretching across the Atlantic from New York City to Lisbon”! Hence, the voices of conservationists are still being drowned out by the whine of power machinery and the crash of falling trees, leaving behind denuded land. Soil is eroded, debris is washed into streams. Because of having no forest cover, streams are becoming too warm for fish to inhabit. Wildlife deserts the land. In tropical moist forest areas the ground becomes hardened by the heat of the tropical sun, unable even to support grass.

A Day of Reckoning?

Undoubtedly there will be one! Jehovah, the Creator, has promised “to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” (Revelation 11:18) We can be assured that the flagrant plunder of earth’s forests will come to a halt in the near future.

The next time you have opportunity to walk through a beautiful forest, really take time to enjoy the privilege. Breathe deeply of the clean, sweet air and drink in the healing scent of pine and balsam. Stand still and listen to the soft forest sounds. Look and marvel at the exquisite details, the flowers and the fern at your feet, the moss, the lichen, the massive boughs and gaze with awe at the very tops of the stately trees​—all the beauteous handiwork of a loving Creator.​—Psalm 69:34; Romans 1:19, 20.

And as you enjoy your walk in the woods, of this one thing you may rest assured: Jehovah God will save the forests if man will not.

[Diagram/​Map on page 12]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Disappearance of Tropical Forests Annually

In Asia and Oceania 4.9 million acresa annually

In the Americas 13.8 million acres annually

In Africa 8.9 million acres annually

An area almost four times the size of the Netherlands is destroyed each year

[Footnotes]

Survival Secrets

Natural Antifreeze

Humans have fantasized for years about the time when they would be able to deep-freeze someone and restore him to life sometime in the future. For some frogs, however, this is no fantasy. They do it every year.

Like other animals, frogs are faced with the problem of surviving winter without central heating or hearth fires. Their solution? They “just squat in the open until they freeze solid,” says a report in The Toronto Star. When spring comes around, the frog thaws out and starts croaking again.

Why doesn’t the freezing kill him? Biologist Kenneth Storey says: “We found frogs produce an anti-freeze molecule that we didn’t expect at all: glucose. People had said there was no way to use that as an anti-freeze, but frogs can.” Seemingly, because of this glucose, when the frog freezes, its tissue fluids turn to syrup instead of forming ice crystals that would expand and rupture its cells.

Anti-Antifreeze

The magazine Science Digest reports that certain creatures in Antarctica have a natural antifreeze that helps them keep moving in cold weather. However, when the temperature gets too low, they freeze and die. A tiny wingless fly​—whose name, Belgica antarctica, is much bigger than he is—​also uses the natural antifreeze to keep moving in ordinary cold weather. But when very cold weather threatens, he uses an “anti-antifreeze” chemical to survive. Long before the temperature gets dangerously low, the “anti-antifreeze” stops the action of the antifreeze. Why?

Biologist John Baust explains: “By inducing the insect to freeze at fairly warm temperatures, the special anti-antifreeze compound insures that ice forms at a slow rate. At lower temperatures, rapid freezing would remove water from its cells too quickly, and the animal would die as a result.” But since Belgica antarctica freezes gently, he survives and simply thaws out when the temperature rises again.

And the Smart Potato!

A perennial problem for farmers is controlling infestation by aphids such as the greenfly. According to a report in the Daily Mail, it seems that one type of potato has solved the problem all by itself.

Scientists in Hertfordshire, England, discovered that the potato plant Solanum berthaultii produces a chemical that is exactly the same as that given off by a dying aphid to warn other aphids. The plant is left in peace as aphids, alarmed by the chemical, give it a wide berth.

The Worldwide Impact of “Kingdom Unity”

KINGDOM UNITY! In contrast to the world’s divisive forces, what a marvelous demonstration of God-given unity took place at the 1983 district conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses! The event drew throngs of people, filling auditoriums and stadiums throughout the United States and Canada, on the continent of Europe, in the Far East and on islands of the Atlantic, Pacific and the Caribbean.

This was no ordinary uniting of people for a show of strength or for mutual pleasure. It was a series of conventions of people who are convinced that God’s Kingdom under Christ is the only solution for mankind’s mushrooming problems. All firmly believe that the Kingdom, operating since the epoch-making year of 1914, is a tremendous force for unity and harmony of action in their life.

Underscoring this, the News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington, reporting on a convention there attended by upwards of 20,000, said: “Witnesses are anticipating soon the fulfillment of the Lord’s prayer: ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’” Quoting the convention chairman, the newspaper article went on: “In the kingdom of God, government will do what human governments have never been able to do. . . . The earth will be cleaned up and made into the kind of place God has always wanted it to be.”

Wherever they attended, the conventioners were intent on widely publicizing the Kingdom. They realize how urgent it is to know that Jehovah, and he alone, can and will solve every problem and introduce a righteous government in behalf of all people who submit to his anointed King Jesus Christ.

While observers took note of the fine godly qualities displayed by the Witnesses, some also highlighted the bright future prospects that Witnesses proclaim. For example, after mentioning the honesty and moral cleanness of the Witnesses, the Brescia, Italy, Stampa Sera pinpointed the following: “The most important [truth taught by the Witnesses] . . . is that which announces ‘that shortly there will be a long period in which Jehovah will reign and the earth will again become a paradise for all. The righteous will die no more. The need for enduring oppression will end, as will the sadness and sufferings of the present, the perfidy of the devil will be defeated.’” People weary of the present woeful conditions are heartened by such a message.

Telephone Hookup With Key Cities

An exciting feature of the “Kingdom Unity” District Conventions that enhanced the spirit of being one united brotherhood was the transmission of portions of the program by telephone line from key cities to other conventions. In North America, for example, during each week from June 16–July 24, a different key city was used. For example, on July 8 and 9, portions of the program originating in St. Louis, Missouri, were heard by audiences in 26 other U.S. cities, 17 cities in Canada, 3 in Hawaii and in Hamilton, Bermuda. Total attendance for the 48 cities that week, including the large crowd in St. Louis, well exceeded 400,000.

The response of the conventioners was thrilling. One conventioner in England had this to say: “A special thank you . . . for the linkup of the convention cities. I cannot find words to express my joy and appreciation for this. My eldest son, his wife and three children attended the Dublin, Ireland, convention. So while listening to the talks here, I could also picture my family sitting along with others that I knew in Ireland, all of us listening intently to the program.” A delegate in Zurich, Switzerland, wrote: “I am writing to say thank you for the wonderful congress I have just had the privilege of enjoying. It meant so much to me to have the honor of listening via telephone from Germany. I went home filled with the wonderful feeling and knowledge that there is a worldwide unity that exists in Jehovah’s organization and that is nowhere else to be found.”

Other expressions included the following: “Being united by telephone hookup with other brothers and sisters in the United States and Canada was a real treat, as we hung on to every word.” “I appreciated the tie-line talks also. It was thrilling to be united in this manner.”

Encouragement From Visiting Missionaries

At many of these gatherings there was the added pleasure of meeting with missionaries, most of them graduates of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, who returned to their homelands to enjoy the convention with relatives and friends. Many were the scenes of happy reunion. The experiences given from the platform by those loyal servants were stimulating and held forth an excellent example to younger ones, encouraging them to set as a goal in life full-time service to the great God of Kingdom unity.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that nine missionaries with a combined total of 275 years of service shared their experiences from Micronesia and the Far East. Hearing from missionaries had a wholesome effect. One delegate stated: “To hear the experiences of the missionaries was a joy. This was an excellent provision.” Another brother wrote that the session on “the privilege of service as a foreign missionary was a real encouragement. . . . ‘As cold water upon a tired soul, so is a good report from a distant land.’ (Proverbs 25:25) And that is exactly what the missionaries gave us on this convention program.”

Another correspondent from England, where 52 missionaries were present from 19 lands, wrote: “I do believe that I have never before come away from an assembly with such a feeling of pride and great gratitude for being one of Jehovah’s people. Many others have expressed themselves to me in similar terms. I was compelled by family and personal illness to leave a special assignment in Ireland last year, and I am now more determined than ever to return as soon as possible, Jehovah willing. The exchange with missionaries privately and from the platform was a real encouragement to that end. So again, thank you for the arrangement that made it all possible.”

Baptismal Candidates From Varied Backgrounds

The public press in many cities took special notice of the baptism of thousands of new Witnesses. These candidates for water baptism had for some time been preparing to qualify for this step. In Canada and the mainland United States there were 12,059 who symbolized their dedication to Jehovah by undergoing baptism. Many of them had previously been associated with Catholicism or Judaism, or with various Protestant groups such as the Mormons, the Baptists and the Church of Christ, or even with Oriental religions. Through diligent study of the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses, they had come to realize that Jehovah God through Christ, the Fine Shepherd, is gathering people of all kinds into one organization. And at this “Kingdom Unity” District Convention they truly rejoiced to be associated with an international brotherhood that is subject to Christ in every sense.

In Italy 3,119 presented themselves for baptism. Among them were some who had to be taught how to read before qualifying. Many were youths, while others were over 90. There were also an ex-thief, a former communist and a man who had planned to serve as a lay missionary in Brazil for another religious organization.

During July and August other “Kingdom Unity” conventions were held in Europe. In the British Isles, for example, key conventions in Edinburgh, London and Sheffield were tied in by telephone with other conventions, including one in Dublin, Ireland. A total of some 127,000 heard the special talks and almost a thousand presented themselves for water baptism.

Kingdom Unity in East and West

Paris was the key city for the many conventions held in France, and with it were tied in French-speaking audiences in Brussels, Belgium, and Geneva, Switzerland. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands, too, had their jubilant throngs of conventioners. Frankfurt and Munich were key cities for conventions held in West Germany as well as Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Madrid and Valencia in Spain, Rome and Milan in Italy, Lisbon in Portugal, and Athens in Greece were key cities to which many other audiences in these as well as other lands were joined.

In Poland a number of cities were able to have one-day conventions to which visiting delegates from other lands in Europe were welcome. Though the program had to be abbreviated somewhat, the brothers were thrilled to be together and enjoy the fellowship as well as the same spiritual feast as was spread at all the “Kingdom Unity” District Conventions around the world.

During this same period the “Kingdom Unity” District Convention got under way in Japan. Fifteen different audiences in as many cities were tied in with Tokyo by telephone (or later by recordings) for the special program parts. In the following weeks conventioners assembled in South Korea (with telephone tie-ins), Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines. At all these places the same program that had been heard in Europe and America delighted the delegates. Here, too, many qualified candidates presented themselves for baptism in token of their dedication to Jehovah, the God who makes Kingdom unity possible.

No Lack of Volunteer Workers

It was good to see the willingness of many to assist in the various departments set up to care for the needs of the conventioners. At one convention a group of elderly persons wanted to share in the cleanup work at the close of the convention. That was fine. They were assigned to sweep the ground floor so they would not be required to climb upstairs to the stands. The Italian newspaper Il Resto del Carlino of Bologna of August 14, 1983, reported: “One is impressed, during the course of the entire assembly, with the perfect organization carried out by [small teams] of volunteers. For example, here is a curious episode: The internal circle of the stadium is always covered with rather risqué graffiti. To eliminate this, a group of the faithful repainted the area at the organization’s expense, covering the portions of the wall that were objectionable.”

Speaking about how clean the stadium was where the Rome assembly was held, il Giornale of August 14, 1983, said: “One sees no empty cans, litter, and not even cigarette butts; the witnesses do not smoke.”

Many were the expressions of appreciation from the managers and staffs of the various auditoriums used. Comparing our convention with a gathering of a prominent TV evangelist, one staff assistant said: “They don’t have a meeting, they have a show. You have a meeting. What you do is educational.” And the manager of one large stadium was moved to write: “It has been such a pleasure to have you and your conferees use our facilities. Of all the many types and sizes of crowds attending events at our stadium, your group has been by far the cleanest, best behaved and most cooperative of any we have been associated with. The image your group has instilled was a beautiful lesson to all of us. From the original contact through the final clean-up your group has continued to amaze us all.”

Many long-time servants of Jehovah expressed themselves to the effect that this convention was the best yet. One conventioner wrote: “I have attended district conventions for about 15 years, but not one has surpassed the blessings of this one.” A delegate from Manchester, England, said: “We have been in the truth many years​—61 in all—​have enjoyed many privileges, but now that the district conventions are over for another year in our part of the world, we must express our thanks and appreciation for all the blessings we received. We would not have missed any of them.”

Yes, the “Kingdom Unity” District Conventions in 1983 gave a mighty witness. Jehovah, the Master-Organizer, has indeed gathered a people from all nations and languages and welded them into an unbreakable unity. Their witnessing, their conduct and their daily life testify to the fact that he has united them under his Kingdom in the hands of his chosen King, Christ Jesus.

The convention program was indeed a rich spiritual banquet that satisfied, encouraged and stimulated the conventioners. It is evident that such a people, according to the divine purpose, are truly united in serving to God’s glory.​—Ephesians 4:3.

[Blurb on page 17]

“There is a worldwide unity that exists in Jehovah’s organization and that is nowhere else to be found”

[Blurb on page 18]

“Of all the many types and sizes of crowds attending events at our stadium, your group has been by far the cleanest”

[Picture on page 16]

Missionaries on program in Frankfurt, Germany, F.R.

[Picture on page 19]

Tens of thousands from widely varied religious and cultural backgrounds presented themselves for baptism

Young People Ask . . .

Should I Quit School?

“SCHOOL was boring, too strict,” said Walter, “and it took up too much of my time.” Many youths would agree with him. Walter, however, decided to drop out of high school (secondary school). And now it is with regret that he talks of this decision. “Sometimes people use words I can’t understand,” he says, “and I feel stupid. And a lot of times I’ve applied for jobs and I couldn’t get them because I didn’t have a diploma.”

Walter’s plight has been the lot of many youths. In the United States alone, there were over five million high school dropouts between 14 and 24 years of age during the year 1980. But why do so many youths go this route?

Antonia dropped out of school because she was having difficulty with her schoolwork. “How could I do the work if I didn’t understand what I was reading?” she asked. “I was just sitting there getting dumber and dumber, so I left.”

Other students, however, are discouraged by the breakdown of morality in school. Additionally, some feel that because of school violence they are being asked to learn in a climate of fear. Still others feel that classes are too large. But a teenage youth named Annie, who is 18 and attends a private school, says: “They’re teaching kids things that don’t mean anything to them. It doesn’t match up with their real-life situation, so they don’t care about it.” Little wonder, then, that one student asked, “Why do you think I should continue school and get an education?”

Perhaps you have found yourself feeling the same way. Nevertheless, what effects might dropping out have on your life later on? Are there good reasons for staying in school until you graduate?

The Value of an Education

When Michael was asked why he returned to school to get a high-school equivalency diploma, he said, “I realized that I needed an education.” But just what is an “education”? Mastering the three R’s? The ability to recite an impressive array of facts? These no more make an education than a knife, fork and spoon make a meal.

Education should prepare you for a successful adult life. Allen Austill, a school dean for 18 years, therefore spoke of “the education that teaches you how to think, to solve problems, what is rational and irrational, the fundamental capacity to think clearly, to know what data is and to know the connections between parts and whole. To make those judgments and distinctions, to learn how to learn.”

And how does school fit in? Centuries ago King Solomon wrote proverbs “to give to the inexperienced ones shrewdness, to a young man knowledge and thinking ability.” (Proverbs 1:1-4) Yes, inexperience goes with youth. School, however, can help you nurture and cultivate thinking ability. This is the ability not merely to recite facts but also to analyze them and generate productive ideas from them. Though many have criticized the way schools go about teaching, school does force you to use your mind. True, solving geometry problems or memorizing a list of historic dates may not seem relevant to your life at the time. But as Barbara Mayer writes in The High School Survival Guide: “Not everyone is going to remember all the facts and bits of knowledge which teachers like to put in tests, but the skills such as learning how to study, and how to plan, will never be forgotten.”

Three university professors who studied the long-term effects of education similarly concluded that “the better educated do have wider and deeper knowledge not merely of bookish facts but also of the contemporary world, and that they are more likely to seek out knowledge and be attuned to sources of information. . . . These differences are found to have endured despite aging and many years of removal from school or college.”​—The Enduring Effects of Education.

Getting an education, however, is a lifelong process. As an old man, the philosopher Lacydes began a study of geometry. When asked why, he said, “If I shall not be learning now, when shall I be?” Now are you thinking that if you wait until you are 25 or 30, or perhaps even 35, years old, you will be in a better position to begin learning? Actually, your youth gives you the greatest opportunity to begin taking in knowledge. And what is the basic reason given by many youths for taking in this knowledge?

School and Employment

For Yvonne the answer was quite simple. “Going to school is the means to an end,” she said, “and that end is getting a job.” Do you agree with her? Many youths do, and some have even said that they would like to have taught as a school course “How to Go About Getting a Job.” But to benefit from whatever courses are offered, you will need to stay in school and try to become skillful in every phase of your schoolwork.

Wise King Solomon said of the skillful worker: “Before kings is where he will station himself; he will not station himself before commonplace men.” (Proverbs 22:29) This is still true today. “Without skills, a lot of things in life can leave you behind,” says Ernest Green of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Understandably, the job outlook for those who quit school is poor. Joblessness for 16- to 24-year-olds who are high school dropouts “is nearly twice that of their peers who did graduate and nearly three times that of the overall unemployment rate.” “Those who do not continue their education are closing the doors to opportunity,” said author F. Philip Rice in his book The Adolescent. And why is this? Simply because someone who has dropped out has likely not mastered the basic skills needed to handle the simplest of jobs.

For example, Paul Copperman writes in the book The Literacy Hoax: “A recent study indicates that it takes approximately a seventh-grade reading level to hold a job as a cook, an eighth-grade level to hold a job as a mechanic, and a ninth- or tenth-grade level to hold a job as a supply clerk.” He continues, “I believe it is a reasonable inference that a job as a teacher, nurse, accountant, or engineer would demand a higher minimum level of reading ability.”

Obviously, then, the students who really apply themselves to learning basic skills, such as reading, will have far better job opportunities. But what is another lifelong benefit that can be derived from attending school?

A Better You

That lifelong benefit is knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Michelle, who recently took a job in the computer field, observed that her high school training​—though rigid—​certainly helped to make her a better person. She said, “In school I learned how to work under pressure, how to take a test and how to express myself.”

‘School taught me how to view failure,’ says another youth. She had the tendency to view others, and not herself, as the cause of her setbacks. Others have benefited from the disciplined school routine. Many criticize the schools because of this, claiming that this stifles young minds. Yet Solomon encouraged youths “to know wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:2) Disciplined schools have thus produced many disciplined, yet creative, minds.

So even though grade school and high school have their problems, take full advantage of your school years. Prepare for the challenges of life now! Work hard if you are still in school and seriously weigh the consequences of dropping out. Never minimize the beauty of learning.

[Blurb on page 21]

Your youth gives you the greatest opportunity to begin taking in knowledge

[Pictures on page 22]

The discipline you learn in school can benefit you for the rest of your life

[Picture on page 23]

Job prospects are dim for those who haven’t mastered the basic skills taught in school

Animal Engineers

“There are creatures on Earth that have cured our diseases, built our skyscrapers, won our wars. They did this before any of us ever existed.” So said a report in a recent issue of the magazine Science Digest. Who are these master engineers/​scientists? “They are the trees, the insects, the fish, the lowly forest weeds that make up the life on this planet,” said the magazine.

Here are a few accomplishments of animal “engineers” that were later invented by humans.

Modern space probes and weapons use chemical rocket-propulsion systems. But long before, the bombardier beetle was using a similar principle to protect itself. The beetle’s glands produce a mixture of two hydroquinone compounds and hydrogen peroxide. These are kept in storage chambers closed off by muscular valves. When the beetle is alarmed, the valves open and their contents flow into a thick-walled reaction area. At the same time, an enzyme is added that causes an explosive reaction, releasing oxygen. The increase in gas pressure forces the caustic solution out of the reactor and fires it at an aggressor. Ouch!

Before human sailors learned to tie knots or tailors learned to weave fibers, the weaverbird was stripping fibers from leaves and weaving them​—by knotting and winding—​into a hanging nest. City planners feel that a residential center has economic and communal advantages over isolated individual dwellings. Some species of the weaverbird anticipated this. They work together to build a thatched roof in the strong branches of a tree and then hang living quarters under the roof. The roof may support as many as a hundred nests.

Ahead of human engineers, the beaver was damming up waterways and altering the environment to suit its own needs. And before humans ever built canals, the beaver was doing something similar. How? Well, in order to get very large trees from the spot where he fells them to the site of the dam, he may dig an overland channel​—perhaps up to a thousand feet long—​and divert river water into it. He can then raft the trees down the channel to where they are needed.

In Chile a marine snail seems to have “invented” the crowbar. It has two strong protruding teeth on the lower rim of its solid shell. At mealtime it uses these to dislodge its dinner, a small mollusk clinging to a rock face. How? It wedges the teeth under the shell of its prey. Then, by pulling its foot in, it makes use of the crowbar principle to detach the prey.

Finally, did you ever realize how useful a tongue can be? Many mollusks have tongues that are built just like the rasps that we use to file wood. They use them to cut chunks of food into little pieces. The woodpecker’s tongue is like a harpoon or a fishhook. It is horny and has sharp barbs that pull hidden insects out of cracks in the wood. How hard are the tools of nature’s engineers? Consider some sea snails that feed on rock-clinging algae. On their tongues are found layers of magnetite, an iron oxide, that is almost as hard as quartz. Thus, Science Digest says: “Nature works with materials that do not lag far behind our strongest steel.”

Can Statistics Mislead You?

By Awake! correspondent in Australia

STATISTICS sound impressive. They seem so solid, so specific and irrefutable. Figures don’t lie, we are told. But be on guard. Honestly used, they can be very informative and useful. However, statistics can also be presented in a way that misleads you.

Mankind has used statistics for thousands of years. In the days of Moses, statistics were gathered for purposes such as taxation, military service and priestly duties. (Numbers 1:2, 3; 3:15; 31:25-41) The Roman Empire gathered statistics by conducting censuses, and one such census played a part in fulfilling an important prophecy. It was because “all people went traveling to be registered, each one to his own city,” that a young couple named Mary and Joseph were obliged to be in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.​—Luke 2:3.

Disfigured Figures

Percentages, averages, charts and proportions​—statistics may be delivered in a host of ways. And, either by accident or by design, people may use essentially accurate figures to present a biased or distorted picture.

For example, the percentage sign has a comfortable, persuasive air of respectability and finality. But percentages are not always used fairly. Consider the production figures of two home-building companies:

1981 1982 Increase

Northlakes Bldg. Co. 30 60 100%

Cottage Const. Ltd. 208 312 50%

The use of the percentage figure alone would give a wrong impression​—that the Northlakes Building Company was the more successful of the two. In fact, the increase in production by Cottage Constructions was more than three times that of Northlakes.

Beguiling also may be the sense of proportion. Although an advertisement may proudly proclaim: “Nine doctors out of every ten prefer this method,” we may reasonably wonder what the other thousand doctors in the country think who were not asked to give an opinion. And if it is true that “leading dentists recommend this brand of toothpaste,” it may also be true that they recommend most, if not all, the brands of toothpaste available today. Just as the summary of a book on its jacket cannot possibly tell the whole story, such proportional presentations of figures cannot give a totally unambiguous report.

Consider also the statement: “More people die in bed than anywhere else.” That is possibly true, but does it mean that it is dangerous to spend time in bed? Well, look a little closer and you will probably find that this is largely because people who are very sick and likely to die are put in bed. Suppose, too, that statistics told you that the outback town of Alice Springs, Australia, has less illiteracy than the major city of Sydney. Would you conclude from this that the country teachers in the outback are more capable than the city teachers in Sydney? It may sound like that, but there are just more people living in Sydney. Alice Springs also has less literacy than does Sydney!

Additionally, the actual presentation of statistics can be a means of persuasion. An unassuming 35 percent, for example, can be made to sound either good or bad, depending on how it is presented. To assert, “There were at least 35 percent present” is far more flattering than to mutter, “There were only 35 percent present.” Yet, when you think about it, both statements are saying essentially the same thing.

Sometimes statistics are given by means of graphs and charts to make them clearer. But it may be that, rather than making the matter clearer, the chart is being used to lead you to a certain conclusion. The graph below shows the accomplishments of two aspiring salesmen during a four-year period. Which one appears to be the more successful?

[Graph]

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600

500

400

300

200

100

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983

[Graph]

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260

250

240

230

220

210

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983

In fact, if you examine them closely, they are identical! The sales figures in each case are:

(1980) 220

(1981) 235

(1982) 248

(1983) 250

Some kinds of charts carry their own built-in illusions that may be used to the advantage of the unscrupulous or necessitate further guidance to the reader. Consider the following illustration:

[Diagram]

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A.

B. C. D.

Which of the two lines is the longer? If you measure them, you will find they are identical in length.

The Average Man’s Average

Most people think they understand averages, until they start to use them. There are many kinds of averages, and each is intended for a different problem. You may do a good job of sewing with a needle and a thread, but a needle used for making potato sacks would have limited value in surgery. Similarly, to use the wrong kind of average in a calculation will lead to confusion.

Consider Sam Jones the greengrocer. He was selling two grades of tomatoes, one slightly better than the other. Grade A was sold at 2 kilograms for $3. He sold 60 kilograms of these and received $90. Grade B sold at 3 kilograms for $3. He also sold 60 kilograms of these, netting $60, making a total of $150 for 120 kilograms of tomatoes.

The next week, Sam decided to combine grades A and B and sell them for seemingly the same amount, pricing them at 5 kilograms for $6. He sold the same quantity as before, 120 kilograms. But, adding up his receipts Sam found that this week there was only $144 in his till, whereas last week there had been $150. What had gone wrong? Sam did not calculate the true average, or mean. He should have calculated the price per kilogram and then taken the average of that. Thus:

2 kilograms at $3.00 = $1.50 per kilogram

3 kilograms at $3.00 = $1.00 per kilogram

Average = $1.25 per kilogram

In this way, 5 kilograms should have sold for $6.25. Sam lost money because he did not understand averages.

Statistics in Action

When handled carefully and in a professional manner, statistics are valuable. And the misuse of them by some does not detract from their value when used properly.

Statistics gathered on road accidents help authorities to determine which weekends and seasons will necessitate a greater policing of driving habits. It is because of accident statistics that some lands have introduced the compulsory wearing of seat belts in automobiles, and the testing of drivers’ breath for alcohol content. When statistics reveal that there is a big increase in crimes such as fraud, forgery and false pretenses, this helps the authorities to decide how best to deploy available police forces. Reports of a 10-percent rise in motor-vehicle thefts, or in the suicide rate, also help in their decision making.

Should we build more hospitals? If so, where? Which age group is involved in most automobile accidents and thus needs special attention? What diseases and ailments are the most widespread and thus need the most attention to handle and prevent? How successful has this or that advertising campaign been? Statistics that have been professionally gathered and honestly presented are invaluable in making decisions in areas such as these.

Statistics available for any of the world’s developed countries are almost inexhaustible. For example, in Australia the annual birth rate is around a quarter of a million, while the annual death rate is less than half of that number. Twenty-five percent of the population is under 15 years of age. Forty-one percent of all road accident fatalities are under 25 years of age. Half of all motor accidents are alcohol related. Around 70 percent of all deaths in the land are due to heart disease or cancer. Australians smoke around 28 million kilograms of tobacco in a year, and so forth.

Handled sensibly, such statistics can help you make wise decisions. But be on guard. They can also be handled deceitfully to mislead you.

[Blurb on page 27]

Some misuse statistics, but that does not detract from their value when used properly

From Our Readers

Unbiased Coverage

I would like to express my appreciation for the unbiased coverage of many articles in your magazine. For research in my studies I chose articles on drug abuse, suicide, smoking, abortion, nuclear war and moral decline. Due to the intensity of the articles, I did not need to look elsewhere for additional information. I was overjoyed when I received the highest grade, an “A,” in my “O” level sociology course. It just shows the quality of your information.

J. C., England

We appreciate this acknowledgment received. Even so, for such purpose as outlined, additional research would always be recommended, either to confirm the material or to expand on it.​—ED.

Learning Problems

I just had to write and let you know how thankful I am for your article on learning problems. (May 8, 1983) When I first got the issue I did not pay much attention to those articles. But after our daughter started school we were faced with the decision of sending her to a specialized group in this area. This morning while reading your magazine I ran across some letters thanking you for these same articles and decided to read them. After a couple of minutes I felt as if someone had turned on the light for me. Now I know we made the right decision for her. Thank you for helping us close a gap in our understanding.

B. J., Wisconsin

We can never thank you enough for the articles on learning problems, which we have read in the Portuguese edition. These are proving most useful to us since our son is partially afflicted with this problem. We showed the article to our son’s teacher and she not only read the articles right away but circulated the magazine among the other teachers.

I. J., Brazil

Thank you for the articles on children with learning difficulties. I am a widow with two children, and the younger (age nine) has these problems. I tried everything​—school psychology, child psychiatry, hospitalization—​only to learn that there was no physical defect. The psychiatrist said my child was “just a big baby.” Finally we settled down to live with it. Then came your article and so many things have been put right in our minds. I gave the magazine to my son’s teachers and they thought the articles were excellent, describing my son’s problems exactly. It is often difficult to bring up a child with learning problems, but your articles have renewed my spirit.

K. N., Denmark

Headphone Hazards

I want to thank you for publishing the item “Headphone Hazards” in your feature “Watching the World.” (April 8, 1983) I have always made use of headphones and I can now see how harmful they could be. The information will help me to be careful from now on.

M. S., Brazil

Watching the World

A Spreading Menace

● The deadly and much dreaded disease AIDS is spreading its web of terror. According to Asiaweek, the disease has been diagnosed in 16 countries around the world, and the number of cases (about 2,500 so far) is doubling every six months. Though there has been no confirmed victim of AIDS in Asia as yet, three suspected cases​—two in Thailand and one in Hong Kong—​are under investigation. Medical authorities in the Far East are keeping a close watch on homosexuals, hemophiliacs and drug addicts for any signs of the disease. Gay bathhouses in Japan are closing their doors to foreigners, but Tokyo’s 300 gay bars are continuing “business as usual.”

What Is Sin?

● At the sixth World Synod of Bishops, held in Rome last October, 211 Roman Catholic bishops gathered to discuss penance and reconciliation. “The subject was chosen because of a desire to reverse the drastic drop in the number of Catholics seeking confession,” reported The New York Times. Estimates of the decline in the past 15 years ran “as high as 70 percent.” Though some charge the decline to members’ rejection of church teachings on such matters as birth control and divorce, others put the blame on the hierarchy. Loss of a sense of sin was frequently mentioned as a key factor. The Economist of London observes that some in the church “reduce the concept of sin to a ‘social deviation, requiring no forgiveness but only therapeutical treatment’; or blame it on ‘social injustice’, so that ‘if there is any sin at all, it rests on the shoulders of those who preserve the system.’” Thus, about half of the bishops at the synod took the occasion to speak on social and political issues.

Money Crises Continue

● “How many more crises can the world’s financial system survive?” asks a New York Times editorial. Nations such as Argentina, Brazil and the Philippines, which have just been bailed out, are once again in financial trouble. Around the world, more than 40 countries are steeped in foreign debt, totaling about $700 billion (U.S.). Some countries are choked by interest payments as high as half of their export earnings, and the hope of expanding their exports is hampered by the generally sluggish world economy. Bankruptcy would be another way out, but “the human toll would be ghastly and the political consequences could be revolutionary,” says the editorial. Though past rescue efforts by the industrialized nations have prevented bankruptcy, “each new crisis casts doubt on the adequacy of what’s been done,” observes the Times, and it increases “the risks that what can be done the next time will not be enough.”

A New “Theology”?

● Whatever else the proliferation of science-fiction movies is doing, it may be changing the image of God in the minds of some of today’s youth. “The grandfather and father images of God don’t do anything for me,” explains a 17-year-old, quoted in the newspaper USA Today. “God is more of a spirit, like The Force in Star Wars and The Return of the Jedi.”

Some clergymen apparently are capitalizing on the fad. “These new movies are good because they’re symbolic of a transcendent being and the power of God in life today,” says a Baptist Church official. “We utilize these themes from these movies in our teaching.” And a rabbi, who sees the trend as “a revival of theology under a different name: E.T., Star Wars, War Games, Superman, whatever,” claims that “theology is so important it is best not left solely to churches and synagogues.” Does this mean it should be left to science-fiction movie producers?

More Smoking Warnings

● A British government survey reveals that secondary-school children, aged 11 to 16, smoke nearly £60 million ($90 million, U.S.) worth of cigarettes a year. In the first year, 1 percent of the students smoke regularly and 3 percent smoke occasionally, the survey shows. But by the fifth year, regular smokers rise to 27 percent, averaging 47 cigarettes a week, and 10 percent smoke from time to time. To deal with the problem, some schools are opening smokers’ clinics as well as urging shopkeepers to stop selling cigarettes to children. Reports indicate that single cigarettes are sold to children at about 7 pence (10c, U.S.) apiece.

A recent American study suggests that “smoking is the chief factor responsible for the gap between male and female life expectancies,” reports Science magazine. Current U.S. insurance statistics show that women outlive men by about 7.5 years. But the researchers found that life expectancies are “virtually the same” for men and women who have never been smokers. “The new study does not necessarily contradict the idea that stress may be a factor in men dying earlier,” one of the researchers said, “because it could be that stress causes men to smoke and so both contribute.” Other experts are skeptical about the findings but believe that “smoking probably accounts for about half the difference.” Whatever the case may be, the researchers feel that young women will soon lose their life-expectancy advantage because they are taking up smoking at a much higher rate than are young men today.

Education Without School

● Twelve-year-old Ruth Lawrence was admitted to Oxford University, but she has never been to public school. The same is true of Nicholas Everdell, now at King’s College, Cambridge. Their parents opted to educate them at home, at least initially. In Britain, education, rather than school, is compulsory, and 1,100 families have exploited this subtle difference. “We were not happy with the general standards of morality,” said Ruth’s parents. Others object to the lack of discipline, while some find the schools simply “disastrous,” reports The Sunday Telegraph. Officials argue, with some merit, that home schooling and correspondence courses, though legal, lack the social “mixing” and “breadth” that regular schools provide. Some parents apparently prefer to shelter their children from these very things.

Doctors’ Problems

● Of the 16,000 doctors in Ontario, an estimated “12 to 14 percent of them have had, do have or will have problems with alcohol and drugs,” reports Toronto’s Sunday Star. Drug abuse among doctors is “conservatively estimated to be one per 100 compared to one per 3,000 in the general population.” Job pressure and easy availability of drugs and alcohol are frequently cited as causes. But there are other factors. “The medical situations and training do not prepare a doctor for family life,” says Frederick Glaser, chief of psychiatry at the Addiction Research Foundation. And, according to William Henderson of Ontario’s College of Physicians, the doctor’s “God-like” image makes it difficult for him to ask for help. In one study of 36 doctors with alcohol and drug problems, 86 percent said their problems were directly related to the fact that they were doctors.

Anguished Anglicans

● In an unprecedented move, an Anglican vicar in Alsager’s Bank, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and 40 of the 42 active members left their church to become Roman Catholics, according to The Daily Telegraph of London. Citing conscience as the reason for his move, the former vicar said that “doctrinal changes in the Anglican Communion, the ordination of women, proposed changes in matrimonial discipline . . . and the increasing presence of divorced and re-married clergymen” are “the occasions” for his change. One of the defecting members, however, expressed the general feeling by saying: “We may be joining the Catholic Church, but we still want to retain part of our Anglican identity.” A Catholic spokesman described the situation as “a very delicate matter” that might “have to be presented to Rome.”

Cost of Alcoholism

● How do you count the economic, social and human cost of alcohol abuse? Besides the obvious loss in work productivity, a U.S. congressional report links alcohol abuse to half of the nation’s automobile accidents, half of the homicides, a fourth of the suicides and about 40 percent of all family-court problems. Combining such indirect costs with expenses for medical treatments, alcoholism costs society about $10,000 (U.S.) per alcoholic each year. With an estimated 10 to 15 million problem drinkers in the country, the congressional report puts the total cost of alcohol abuse at upwards of $120 billion (U.S.) a year. This, of course, does not include the price paid in anguish, pain and suffering by families and others.

Japanese Longevity

● Officially there were 1,354 centenarians in Japan as of last September, reports The Daily Yomiuri. At the top of the list is 118-year-old Shigechiyo Izumi, who is the oldest man in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records. Matsu Maeshiro and his wife Makato, living in Okinawa, became the first Japanese to turn 100 years of age as a couple. Since the Law for Welfare of Aged Persons was established in 1963, the number of centenarians in Japan has increased to nearly nine times what it was then. Japan takes great pride in its senior citizens. Each year the prime minister presents awards to individuals, including those living overseas, who reach the age of 100.

Detecting Computer Fraud

● In an official survey, a total of 172 cases of computer fraud and abuse were uncovered in 12 U.S. government agencies, according to The New York Times. One of the investigators, Richard Kusserow, however, told a Senate subcommittee that the survey “grossly underestimated” the extent of the problem as well as its cost to the government. He said that about half of the cases were discovered by accident, and in many cases the amount of money defrauded was far more than reported. “One overriding finding of this study is that we still do not know the scope,” Kusserow added, and “it implies that Federal agency computer systems either have inadequate controls or none at all.”

Dogs Beware!

● Dogs, though considered man’s best friends elsewhere, are no longer allowed as pets in Peking. According to the official newspaper Peking Daily, “in recent years more and more people have been raising dogs in the city, harming environmental sanitation and having an adverse effect on social order.” Consequently, since last November, no dogs are allowed in Peking without hard-to-get official approval, and owners without permits were told to have their pets destroyed. During the cultural revolution of 1966-76, the keeping of pets was denounced as capitalistic, and since then not many pets are seen in Peking or elsewhere in China.

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