BY ROGER B.EAMES

The year 1934 has been an eventful one. Many | and varied were the prophecies of what it would bring. These have been largely disappointed, while some unexpected things have happened. The "Menace of Lawlessness" in this country is said to be apparently increasing. The Attorney-General has called for a National Conference to meet in Washington this month. "The conference will be addressed by the President in Constitution Hall. Governors of all the states have been invited to attend, and invitations have been extended to legal, medical, sociological, scientific, religious, educational, civic, criminological, police, patriotic, and welfare organizations, and to the press." -"Literary Digest," Oct. 20.

One might suppose the combined wisdom of so august an assembly would augur well for a solution of the baffling problem. It should not be forgotten that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

We believe Mussolini has set a good precedent in requiring that the school-leaders in Italy use the New Testament. He directs that, "All professors and teachers shall read the New Testament, shall explain this divine book to the children, and see to it that they memorize the best passages. This Book shall not be missing in any school library, for it is ever new through all the centuries. It is the greatest of all books, the most necessary of all books, because it is divine. The National Government desires by it to capture the children, and through them the soul of the Italian people, for the discovery of the sure way which will lead the Fatherland to the worthiest and truest greatness."

This was the secret of Britain's greatness during the Victorian period, and a recommendation such as Mussolini's from the Leader of this nation would do much to reduce the crime conditions which have become so grave a menace to life and property. "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." It is asserted that "60,000,000 in America are un-reached by the Gospel; 6,000,000 young men never enter the doors of a church; 37,000,000 boys and girls are without Sunday School instruction." Here indeed, is a vast missionary field.

GERMANY. "The formal installation of Dr. Mueller as Reich Bishop took place in the cathedral at Berlin on Sunday, Sept 23rd.. .In the square before the cathedral where loud speakers had been placed to reach a promised crowd of 60,000 persons, a straggling assembly of hardly 5,000 had gathered." It is reported that the Evangelical Lutheran churches were crowded to capacity at the same hour. Hitler has since interviewed three of the Bishops of the Church who have been foremost in resisting the demands of Dr. Mueller, and he is understood to have declared that the State will have nothing further to do with the Church dispute. This is believed to indicate the abandonment of the attempt to force the churches into submission to the Nazi program.

THE ASSYRIAN PROBLEM. "After nearly a year's unsuccessful search for a haven in which to settle Iraq's unwanted Assyrian minority, the League of Nations has at last found a solution of the problem, which had apparently reached an impassse when the Brazilian offer to receive them was withdrawn some months ago. The Council of the League has been informed that Great Britain would permit Assyrians to settle in British Guiana, and that France would offer similar hospitality in French West Africa. About 20,000 Assyrians will be transplanted to those colonies under League supervision and with League aid.-"Current History."

The Inspired Word promises restoration and blessing to the Assyrian in their old territory during the Millennial kingdom, so that even though the League of Nations carries out its present purpose to remove them to Africa and South America, some nucleus of the nation will be left to fulfil the prophecy.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. Is it simply a coincidence that just at the time when it is proposed to deport to foreign soil the poverty-stricken remnant of a once proud and powerful nation there should be unearthed in Mesopotamia the ancient ruins of a city which was built by a great king of Assyria? The excavations of the past season have uncovered portions of Khorsabad, which was built by Sargon, one of her kings.

"During the last few years, the workers of the Oriental Institute have unearthed many interesting portions of the ruins, and last year, they found a tablet engraved with the names of Assyrian kings from about 2400 to 750 B.C. -a truly remarkable find, because it provided for the first time, a chronology of the rulers of that important and interesting people.

"This year… a new portion of that marvelous ancient city has been revealed. The outstanding discovery was a citadel surrounding a portion of the palace… In it were found the remains of elaborately decorated gates, guarded by human-headed winged bulls, characteristic of the Assyrian culture. Thirteen feet high, and thirteen feet long, and weighing twenty tons each, these stone bulls were found in an excellent state of preservation. Adjoining them were carvings of two huge winged genii, sculptured in the act of anointing the bulls''-"Literary Digest."

Although buried for many centuries, photographs show the very pleasant expression carved on the human faces of these "winged bulls."

The history of Israel and Judah is interwoven with much of that of Assyria, inasmuch as the two peoples were repeatedly at war. It was during the reigns of Shalmaneser and Sargon that the ten tribes of Israel were deported to Assyria (2 Kings 17). Several kings of Assyria have prominent mention in Scripture in relation to Israel. Among these are Pul, Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. Sargon's name is mentioned but once (Isaiah 20:1). Fausset says, "Isaiah was the sole witness to Sargon's existence for twenty-five centuries, till the discovery of the Assyrian monuments confirmed his statement."

PALESTINE’S IMMIGRATION PROBLEM. "Among both Jews and Arabs in Palestine animosity has for several months been rife over the question of illegal immigration. Spokesmen for the Arabs have always objected to any Jewish immigration whatsoever, and sometime ago they began to focus their protests to Sir Arthur Wauchope, the British High Commissioner, on the large number of Jewish laborers who, they declared, were illegally entering and settling in the country.

"The Jews were even more deeply incensed because, while their own immigration was rigorously supervised, the Palestine Government made no effective effort to curb the influx of Arabs from across the Jordan, and of Syrians and Egyptians from over the northern and southern borders. The stiffening of British policy on Jewish immigration seemed to them, therefore, partial to Arabs.

"The British administration is, as usual, between two fires. Its policy on Jewish immigration, however distasteful it may be to Zionists, is based on expert studies of Palestine's capacity to absorb new settlers with Jewish standards of living. The Jewish accusation that the Authorities are partial to the Arabs, because of their lax supervision of Arab immigration, appears to bear some weight, but it would be physically impossible to police the inland frontiers without enormously increasing the forces of the country, and the British desire to avoid giving their rule in Palestine a military character."

-"Current History."

JAPAN AND RUSSIA. After many months of negotiations Japan and Russia have finally agreed that Manchukuo should pay about $56,000,000 for the Chinese Eastern Railway. This transaction between the two Governments should do much toward more friendly relations between them. There are other matters still unsettled, as that of the Siberian fisheries, and of the oil in the northern portion of Saghalin Island, which the Japanese naval authorities would like to acquire.

A great telescope, The largest glass casting ever attempted has been recently removed from its mould at Corning, N.Y. It is nearly eighteen feet in diameter by 27 inches thick, and weighs twenty tons. If this great telescope lens proves to be flawless, it will become the vital part of the greatest optical instrument ever constructed, and will bring distant objects four times nearer than any now in use. The telescope, with its observatory, mounting and equipment, will be erected in California at a cost of nearly $6,000,000.

It was about the year 1608 that a spectacle-maker in Holland accidentally discovered that by looking through two optical lenses held a distance apart, remote objects appeared much nearer. Accordingly, he fitted the lenses in a tube, to preserve their relative distance, and thus constructed the first telescope. Galileo, the renewed Italian astronomer, made great improvements on the first instruments.

The ancients studied the stars, giving names to many groups and constellations, and it is remarkable what they were able to discover with the naked eye. David says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handywork." Job speaks of the Pleiades and of Orion, Mazzaroth and Arcturus. An old astronomer who believed the movements of the stars in their orbits produce melody, says, "Were our hearing .sensitive enough we could hear not only the separate key-notes, but the infinite swelling harmony of these myriad stars of the sky as they pour their mighty tide of united anthems in the ear of God."

"In reason's ear they all rejoice
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
The Hand that made us is divine."