BY ROGER B. EAMES

The world-wide depression has persisted for some years, and it is assumed that as other depressions have come and gone, the time is ripe for better conditions and we must be on the highway to recovery. In this country the vast sums appropriated by the Federal Government for relief have encouraged confidence that a return to prosperity is at hand. It has not entered the mind of the multitude that it is possible for God to interfere in the affairs of the world and to interrupt its ungodly course:"God is not in all their thoughts." The weakness and inefficiency of every form of Gentile government is apparent, and politicians are resorting to new and untried experiments in the endeavor to discover some remedy for the world's ills. It is evident to the thoughtful observer that the present system is breaking down, and we are on the threshold of a new order.

The Jew is returning to his land. The Gentile nations are arming for a war of annihilation. The professing Church is .becoming more completely apostate.

We are not given to know how long these preliminary conditions may continue. The present day of grace and of the Spirit's restraint will close with the Rapture of the Church. Judgments, long since decreed, will follow this momentous occurrence. The last prophetic week of Daniel, a period of seven years, has yet to run its course. The trials of the past few years are only a shadow of the distress which will then overtake the world.

THE EUROPEAN SITUATION has become more complex. One reviewer says, "It has become too complicated to warrant forecast or to permit comprehension. Almost anything may happen in the coming year, but nothing is likely to happen before the Saar plebiscite." In January this vote of the 800,000 people of the Saar region will determine their choice of allegiance; whether they return to Germany, or take a permanent place under the flag of France. The population is nearly all German, and for this reason one might decide at once that it will return to Germany, but the fact that a large proportion are Catholics and Jews makes the result very uncertain. Hitler's quarrel with the Vatican together with his treatment of the Jews are too well known. If the result of the plebiscite is favorable to France it is believed Hitler's downfall will result, hence his strenuous efforts to influence the vote in favor of Germany.

Since the assassination of the Austrian Chancellor, Mussolini's sentiments toward Nazi Germany have radically changed. Italy's friendship is now with France. The French Foreign Minister, Louis Barthou, was to have visited Premier Mussolini at the end of October, when matters vital to the peace of Europe were to have been discussed. The ruthless assassin has cut him down, together with King Alexander of Yugoslavia. The death of these two leaders in this critical time may have very grave results.

The influence of France in the Balkan States has declined in the past two years, which explains her recent alliance with Russia, while the admission of Russia into the League of Nations' Council has strengthened her position in relation to Japan and Germany. Poland and Germany have drawn closer together. It has been proposed to form an "Eastern Locarno Pact," which is significant, suggesting, as it does, the grouping together in mutual understanding and purpose the nations of Eastern Europe. Russia belongs to this Eastern group although for the present she has become associated with the Western alliance, but this cannot be permanent. The League of Nations is said to have lost its power for leadership, becoming "The headquarters of an old-fashioned alliance, and not the center of a new world association." We look for its dissolution in favor of a new confederacy of the nations of Western Europe.

THE EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS. The attention of the Catholic world has been directed to the great city of Buenos Aires, where Rome has recently celebrated its thirty-second Eucharistic Congress, the first to be held in South America. "Hundreds of thousands of the faithful, representing thirty nations, thronged the great Palerno Park on the Rio De la Plata for the opening ceremony. The greeting of the crowd converging on the hundred-foot-high cross was tremendous. The vast assemblage was rapt as the Vatican's Secretary of State stressed the meaning of 'true peace' in his discourse. Four other cardinals, hundreds of bishops and priests and diplomats, joined in the opening ceremony." Full military honors were given to the Papal Legate on his arrival from Rome. A twenty-one gun salute, four welcoming cruisers, and three squadrons of airplanes accompanied the palatial vessel from Montevideo.

It is one of the signs of the times that this great religious system is enlarging its borders, reaching out to every country. A strange contrast indeed to the "Man of Sorrows" who said, "My kingdom is not of this world." This great system courts the world's favor, seeks a place of influence and power in its politics, and in its idolatrous mass denies the value and efficacy of the one true Sacrifice for sin. She is the great counterfeit of the true Bride of Christ, and says of herself, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow," but oi her, the Lord says, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partaker of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18).

GERMAN JEWS. The Jews from Germany have done much to enrich Palestine with doctors, dentists, scientists and great engineers, together with instruments and methods that are new to Palestine. There is scarcely a trade or profession into which they have not entered, so that the land now enjoys the latest in scientific achievement of which the world can boast. Other countries have also profited by the expulsion from Germany of these professional men. Large manufacturers in Britain have added some world-renowned chemists to their staffs. The folly of banishing such men from any country must be apparent to any unbiased mind, and Germany is suffering from its ill-advised policy. Its economic condition has grown steadily worse, owing to the persistent boycott of German goods by Jewish merchants abroad.

MOSUL OIL. Oil from the rich Mesopotamian deposits at Mosul was recently pumped through the new 600-mile pipe-line to Tripoli in Syria for the first time, and a French tanker was loaded with 14,500 tons of the crude product. The arrival of this cargo at Havre was hailed in military and naval circles as a first step toward freeing France from its present dependence on foreign oil. It is expected that Haifa, the terminus of the British branch of the pipe-line, will receive its first oil within a short time.

THE "DEAD" SEA NO LONGER. For many years travelers described the region of the Dead Sea as an unhealthy locality. Recently a health resort has been inaugurated on its shores, which is known as Callia. Owing to its depression of 1300 feet below the Mediterranean, the air is heavily charged with oxygen. This, it is claimed, is of value to sufferers from rheumatism, weak hearts, and other complaints. There is a complete absence of either fog or dust. Bathing has a rejuvenating effect by reason of the radio-active properties of the salts, and so buoyant is the water that anybody can bathe with safety irrespective of whether he can swim or not. Not a single case of illness has occurred among the thousands of workmen employed there the past four years.

The Potash Company have their evaporating pans located at both the north and south ends of the sea, where there are level spaces. The sea-water is pumped into these pans from a depth of 160 feet, the water nearer the surface being too dilute for their purpose. The heat of the sun evaporates the water, leaving the various salts solidified. They are marketing magnesium chloride, magnesium oxide, bromide, and potash for fertilizers. Of this latter there is said to be enough to last the world for 2,000 years. A shipment of 10,000 sacks was recently sent to England.

TIBERIAS. The cloud-burst last May which wrecked so much of this town on the Sea of Galilee has led the officials to plan their rebuilding on modern lines, laying out three new streets leading down to the sea, which will take care of a large volume of water if need be. The native residents are much disturbed that old stone structures should be torn down simply because they happen to stand in the middle of the survey for a new street. The Jews are reported to be leaving by the hundreds, and making their way to Tel-Aviv and other places where, owing to the shortage of labor, they are finding positions at good wages.