MEN'S HEARTS FAILING by Albert H. Darrow

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 10, 1906

MEN'S HEARTS FAILING.

By Albert H. Darrow

BY ALBERT H. DARROW.

AND there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21 : 25, 26.

"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen [unbelievers], and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them" when they see them and are compelled to believe them. Jer. 10:2.

"He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." Eccl. 11:4.

"The New York Herald's estimates show about 6,000 deaths from pneumonia in that city since December 1."—Arizona Republican, April 4, 1904.

"For disasters the month of January, 1904, has broken all records. Beginning with the Chicago fire, which was followed by frightful train wrecks, storms, mine horrors, floods, and ending with street-car collisions at St. Louis, more than 2,000 lives have been lost."—Arizona Gazette, Jan. 29, 1904.

The extent to which the public mind was alarmed in June and July, 1905, may be seen by the predictions of the French writer, Carl Joubert, concerning the peasant outbreaks in Russia, that "the present Russian emperor, Nicholas II., is the last of his race. Not a Romanoff will survive this revolution. . . . Very soon there will be scenes there to which those in the French Revolution can not compare for horror. From Odessa to St. Petersburg heads will hang on trees." Another paper said in great headlines: "Within an Ace." "That Near Is the Romanoff Dynasty to Destruction."

"St. Petersburg Aflame," says another paper. "Revolution Threatening End of the Romanoffs." "The Paralysis of Russia," cries another. "Blood-red Anarchy Growing," declares a third.

"ST. PETERSBURG, OCTOBER 28.—A condition bordering upon panic prevails throughout the city to-day, business being completely suspended. Soldiers are everywhere in the streets, and bloodshed is momentarily expected."

"A Tottering Throne," is the next report we hear." St. Petersburg, October 29.—The people are extremely nervous and bordering on panic, and are easy victims to every sensational rumor.

"The Awakening of Asia," is the title of an editorial in another paper, in which sensational grounds of fear for European supremacy are set forth.

"Stricken Spain," cries another paper; "Starving Laborers Driven to Acts of Desperation."

"Bad Day Again," says still another paper in chronicling the spread of the yellow fever in Louisiana and elsewhere.

"Hungry Amid Work," is the title of an article in the New York Mail, which speaks of "the lengthening 'bread line' at the places where free food is given to hungry men."

"Serious signs of disturbance continue to appear upon the industrial horizon," says a newspaper of Aug. 3, 1905, "instead of the hoped-for clearing of the clouds. A general strike of coal miners in Pennsylvania, both in the anthracite and bituminous fields, is being arranged for."

Another paper (of July 20, 1905) speaks of "the gradual but steady spread of bubonic plague to all quarters of the world, the present vast dimensions of the scourge in Asia, and the absence of any signs of diminishing force in India, the seat of the epidemic;" and says that "bubonic plague is now prevalent at Aden, Arabia; Osaka and Tokyo, Japan; Bangkok, Siam; Amoy, China; Southeastern Russia; Leith, Scotland; Egypt; British South Africa; Cape Colony; New South Wales and Queensland, Australia; East Sumatra and the Island of Mauritius; Rio de Janeiro and the cities of Chile and Peru, South America; the Philippine Islands, and Hawaii. The disease has so far

baffled every effort to stamp it out, which is causing great alarm."

Another newspaper, of June 10, 1905, declares that "with machines that will enable men to produce ten to fifty times as much wealth as could be produced a century ago, and with that much actual wealth being produced by the workers, poverty is rampant, and every parent who has any brain development beyond the mere animal passes many sleepless nights over the problem of the future of his children. Alarmed as they are, they do not know the full truth. . . . It doesn't delight me to know that 80,000 school children in New York go to school every morning hungry, does it you?"

"The industrial panic has reached Germany," says another paper of August 19, 1905. "More goods are being made than can be sold. There is no trouble about wages, but simply a shut down. That is coming in all countries. If all the machinery of production were operated, it could supply the world demand in six months. When the Chinese and Japanese factories now building get into operation, there will be no world market for America or Europe."

"This is in truth the age of perplexity; it is the age of distress of nations; it is the age of universal dread of war; it is the age of violence; it is the age in which all these things are to culminate," says another editorial writer. "This is the most unsettled condition of the world since the crucifixion of Christ," said the late Bishop Newman. "The stability of government is no longer a fact. Change is in the atmosphere. Statesmen are at their wits' end. Philosophers speculate in vain."

Archbishop Ireland, not long ago, said: "The bonds of society are relaxed; traditional principles are losing their sacredness, and perils hitherto unknown are menacing the life of the social organization." "Doubt and uncertainty abound," says a prominent religious newspaper. "We are marching toward the unknown," says a European statesman.

"Among all the hard questions put to civilization," says another editor, "none are harder than these: 'Why is suicide increasing so fast? and why are so many women and children committing suicide?'" The Socialists are saying of the rich, "We will enter into their palaces and eat of their abundance;" and the wealthy ones are trembling with fear of them. The sincere Christian alone is undismayed amid the gathering strife.