p. 5 | Strange Inconsistencies by G. B. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 21, 1916

Strange Inconsistencies

By G. B. T.

As we study the situation existing in the world, some very remarkable inconsistencies are seen. One of these is suggested by the following from the pen of an editorial paragrapher in a great daily newspaper:—

“The ratification of a treaty between Canada and this country for the protection of migratory birds at the time of the world’s greatest sacrifice of human life wantonly, has a curious interest.”

Earnest study given as to how to preserve the lives of birds, while human beings, made in God’s image, and endowed with a mind capable of reasoning and of setting in operation great plans and enterprises, are being fed to the cannon by the million! Care taken of a migratory bird, lest the little birdlets in some nest be deprived of a mother’s care, and be left with none to feed them, and at the same time the noble sons and fathers of the human race sent into battle, so that the rivers run red with their blood, and the mothers and sisters, the widows and orphans, weep and call in vain for their return! Truly sin has produced a strange and incongruous state of things in this sin-cursed world.

The same paragrapher observes further:—

“With a record of forty-eight killed in the city within a month by vehicles, it would seem that New York would suffer less by an occasional visit of Zeppelins than from its own headlong speed enthusiasts. Of the forty-eight persons killed in New York City last month by vehicles, thirty-eight were victims of automobiles, and only four were killed by wagons.”

It is the strange and uncommon thing that fixes the attention. A Zeppelin flying some thousands of feet in the air, dropping bombs and killing defenseless women and children, is heralded over the world, and the cold-bloodedness of the thing held up to public execration. But while this diabolical work is going on, about us the morgues contain the bodies of those killed by rapidly and carelessly driven automobiles, far in excess of those killed by bombs dropped from the sky by Zeppelins! This is a more tragic way to mete out death, and we have not become so accustomed to it. But men everywhere have grown careless, and notwithstanding all the “safety first” advice, the dead, maimed, and mutilated are increasing. Like those on the battle field, we are becoming so accustomed to these things that the frightful chronicle of accidents and calamities by land and sea can be read with but passing attention.

Much has been said in the public press of late about infantile paralysis. Public benefactors have come forth with the offers of reward for those who can suggest a remedy to stop its ravages, and this is laudable. But the deaths reported from this plague are far fewer than those annually reported from typhoid fever, and from some other maladies which are claiming victims by the thousands. Yet comparatively little is said concerning these things, while much is said concerning infantile paralysis. It is because it is not so common. We dread it more for this reason. By and by it will take its place among the other fatal and terrible disorders with which we are endangered, and less will be said, even though its victims increase, while some new disease will spread alarm everywhere.

The world seems to be entranced by sin, and at the same time benumbed. We seem to be almost insensible to the terrible condition of the world about us. War, labor troubles, strikes, floods, cyclones, fires, and calamities hitherto unknown follow in rapid succession, telling us in clear tones that sin’s harvest is almost ripe, and the day of God is at the door; yet these tremendous events make but little impression on the heart. I fear we shall fall asleep in the midst of it all, and the day of God take us unawares. Even God’s people are not free from this danger. Truly we should heed the Master’s admonition, “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

G. B. T.