BY ROGER B. EAMES
Pacific Coast shipping has been paralyzed for two months by the strike of longshoremen, causing a loss of many millions of dollars and deflecting the shipping to other ports. Sympathetic strikes have been launched in other parts of the country which have involved many thousands, notwithstanding the fact that other millions are unemployed and destitute. The labor unions, goaded to drastic action by the powers behind them, have determined to disrupt the normal course of business activity and to seize for the proletariat the control of industry. The Governor of California in a scathing denunciation of the Red agitators says:"Among us is a horde of irresponsible professional agitators, mostly aliens, who are. trafficking shamelessly in the agonies of these stressful times. They are seeking revolution, not reform, to make conditions worse, not better. To a degree unsuspected by the great body of our earnest, hard-working and law-abiding citizens, the commerce, industry and agriculture are being obstructed and retarded by the subversive activities of avowed communists. These public enemies deliberately provoke demonstrations and incite alarms at a time when peace and tranquillity are the supreme requisites."
"The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt" (Isa. 57:20).
"INDIGNATION AT IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS. Palestine Jewry… is in a ferment following the official announcement of the issue of 5,600 immigration certificates for the next six months' period…. The Jewish Agency applied for 20,100 certificates, so that the 5,600 granted practically "amount to only a quarter of what was asked for."
This extreme limitation of immigration for the next six months, in the face of the distress of many thousands of Jews in Europe who desire to enter the land, arouses the resentment of the Jews throughout the world. On the opposite side of the controversy is the following from India.
"INDIAN MOSLEMS AND PALESTINE IMMIGRATION. The council of the All-India Moslem League, at its recent annual sessions in New Delhi, adopted a resolution… to wait on the Viceroy and lay before him the grievances of the original settlers of Palestine, the Moslems and Christian Arabs… 'who have been deprived of their means of livelihood, and whose position has been undermined as a consequence of the policy promulgated by the Balfour Declaration, which favored Jewish immigration and land purchase, and ruined the peace of the sacred land.' The meeting further resolved to sympathize whole-heartedly with the Arabs of Palestine, and assured them of their 'heartfelt sympathies and support.' "
These items indicate the tension that has been aroused over the question of the possession of the "land of Canaan" (Num. 34:2). The settlement of this controversy would also settle the ownership of the temple-site, now occupied by the Mosque of Omar, a Mohammedan shrine.
"LEBANON OPEN TO JEWISH SETTLEMENT. The President of the Lebanese Republic has made an official public declaration to the Press that every Jew who wishes to immigrate lawfully to Lebanon is welcome to settle there and to acquire property to any amount he wishes. 'We in Lebanon make no distinction between people and races,' he said, 'and we shall respect every immigrant who observes our laws.' "
This opportunity to settle in Syria, just north of the British jurisdiction, may be acceptable to many Jews as it is a part of the "land of promise" (Gen. 15:18; Zech. 10:10).
"HUGE JEWISH INVESTMENT. Over six million pounds ($30,000,000) were invested by Jews in Palestine during 1933. This sum… .is largely responsible for the growing prosperity of the country. The amount is twice as large as that which was invested in Palestine during the previous year."-(The above quotations are from "The Jewish Chronicle.")
TEL-AVIV, the flourishing all-Jewish city on the sea-coast just north of Jaffa, celebrated its 25th anniversary on May 3rd, when the great Levant Fair was opened by the High Commissioner. Tel-Aviv now has a population of 80,000, ranking next to Jerusalem, and is a modern city in every respect.
CLOUD-BURST. "The ancient city of Tiberias on the Lake of Galilee, famous for its Biblical associations, was visited by terrific floods caused by cloud-bursts on two successive days, May 14, 15, in which twenty-four people, mostly children, lost their lives…A huge wall of water, caused by torrential rains, carried down from the hills masses of mud and boulders. We have received from a resident at Haifa a vivid account of the scene at Tiberias. Having related how they decided to motor to Tiberias… she continues, 'Having passed the village of Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle at the marriage feast, we are nearing Tiberias. Suddenly we have the Lake of Gennesaret in front of us, lying there like a precious stone, always changing in color… .The silver shining mountains of Trans-Jordania form its background-one of the most wonderful spots on earth. On its shores lies Tiberias.. .The town had been struck by two violent cloud-bursts. The first and worst lasted forty-five minutes, during which 53 m m. of water fell, about a third of the whole annual rain-fall. The big public garden which was the pride of the town is entirely demolished, and its high railing was thrown several meters from its original position.' "-"Illustrated London News."
ANTI-SEMITISM is increasing throughout the world. There are 3,000,000 Jews in Poland, one-third of whom are reported to be destitute. "The Jews caught in the German maelstrom number half a million. The helpless Polish Jews driven to public assistance are twice that number. They are faced with a major calamity of the most menacing character-a portent of the increasing gravity of the world-Jewish crisis."
"THE DRIFT IN GERMANY. The evidence is indubitable that Germany is losing ground economically and financially.. Trade with Russia is disappearing… and the standard of living is steadily sinking. There can be no doubt that this fact, together with the slackness of trade and discrimination against Germany in the world market, has come as a disagreeable surprise to the great capitalists who control Hitler… The small mercantile establishments are not gaining, despite the disappearance of many Jewish owned enterprises… The number of daily newspapers which have disappeared since the Nazis took over the Government is somewhere between six and eight hundred, and is steadily increasing. Those that remain are finding it harder and harder to live… Since the bulk of the daily newspapers are mere mouthpieces of the Government, the German people are losing touch with the outside world to an amazing degree."-"The Nation."
Germany is learning what other nations have learned to their cost, that the persecution of the Jews does not bring them the material prosperity of which they dream. In the first century all Jews were commanded to "depart from Rome" (Acts 18:2). At a later period Britain banished them, Spain also, and other nations. Those who have been favorable to them, giving them equal privileges with their own people, have prospered according to the promise to Abraham:"I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee."
BULGARIA has changed its form of government, having become a Fascist State. This brings the nation under Dictatorship, with the King's role similar to that of the Italian monarch. A disturbing factor in the situation is Macedonia, which wants its independence. Macedonia is divided among three countries-Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia. Half a million Macedonians live in Bulgaria, and they all sympathize with the dreaded "Imro" Secret Revolutionary Society. – From "The Literary Digest."