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IF LOVE AND AGREEMENT are manifest in a single family, that family will advance, become illumined and spiritual; but if enmity and hatred exist within it destruction and dispersion are inevitable. This is likewise true of a city. If those who dwell within it manifest a spirit of accord and fellowship it will progress steadily and human conditions become brighter, whereas through enmity and strife it will be degraded and its inhabitants scattered. In the same way the people of a nation develop and advance toward civilization and enlightenment through love and accord, and are disintegrated by war and strife. Finally, this is true of humanity itself in the aggregate. When love is realized and the ideal spiritual bonds unite the hearts of men, the whole human race will be uplifted, the world will continually grow more spiritual and radiant and the happiness and tranquillity of mankind be immeasurably increased. Warfare and strife will be uprooted, disagreement and dissension pass away and Universal Peace unite the nations and peoples of the world.
--PHOTO--
Dr. and Mrs. K. M. Foujdar of Bombay, who were married Feb. 2, 1925. Mrs. Foujdar was Miss Shirin M. Irani. She holds a unique position as the first Eastern woman to be able to speak in public in the East.
Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Cause, in a recent letter, said of her: "The pioneer work undertaken by our dear friend, Shirin, for the emancipation of her Indian sisters, is highly praiseworthy, and will in time yield abundant fruit.
| VOL. 16 | June, 1925 | NO. 3 |
A WORLD STATE based on broad principles of brotherhood, cooperation, and equity, is the aim of the Bahá’í Movement. The great world problems, such as those of the inherent struggle between nations, between classes, and between sexes, are met by solutions as striking as they are simple. In fact, there are no human needs of the present day which Bahá’u’lláh has not provided for in his illumined message. Of all these needs the most imperative, perhaps, is the economic one, since it is the underlying cause of most of the unrest and turbulence which fills the world today. Indeed, it is a theory held by one school of thinkers that economic causes underlie all wars, and that an empty stomach, or the dread of one, is the only ill that man will risk his life to remedy. Whether this be so or not, it is at any rate true that if the primary economic needs of man, of whatever race or class, are satisfactorily provided for, harmony and peace within the nation and throughout the world, will be the more speedily forthcoming.
A SPIRITUAL MESSAGE, therefore, in this age of practical and scientific tendencies, is of little avail does it not include or imply within its teachings a solution to the economic ills. Has not the time arrived for a more definite, detailed message, laying the foundations for the future organization of human society,—that more perfect organization which dreamers have called Utopia, and which Christ called the Kingdom of God? It is no reflection upon the greatness of Christ's message, upon the divinity of its authorship, to suggest that because of the undeveloped condition of humanity in His day, no definite details for the organization of society could be given. Even the question of slavery was left in abeyance, to such an extent that earnest Christians but two generations ago could find in the Bible a justification for the institution of slavery, provided that slaves were humanely treated.
The Christian apostles concentrated on certain spiritual principles which would suffice to guide humanity under all conditions and under any form of organization. They taught their followers how to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” and yet maintain the straight and narrow path of justice, love, and charity along which the sons of God must travel if they are to attain the Eternal City.
Thus, while the Christian church has blossomed out into many merciful institutions of brotherhood and charity, its chief effort has been devoted to the spiritual development of the individual. To such an extent has the church as such, refrained from participation in the outer problems of humanity that to this very day warfare, either between nations or between classes, has found the church divided in its allegiance, and giving its attention rather to binding up the wounds of those who fall than to any attempt at adjudication in the name of Christ.
THE BAHÁ'Í MOVEMENT, while preserving all the spiritual principles laid down by Christ, establishes a definite program of organization without which the world could hardly be brought to its destined goal of brotherhood and peace. Bahá’u’lláh's program for the abolition of
war and the establishment of universal peace has been frequently dealt with in the pages of the Bahá’í Magazine; this number is devoted in large part to his program for economic justice and prosperity. How to abolish poverty and industrial slavery, how to inspire the workman with a willing and energetic cooperation with the capitalist in the manufacturing of the world's wealth of goods, are problems fully treated in this Movement which has as its goal the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. The offered solutions to these problems will be found described in several articles in this issue. No subject could be more important in this day and generation.
IT MAY BE URGED that the world does not need or seek in a religion a too definite treatment of those matters which have been called secular. That this idea of the mutual exclusion of religion and the daily life, one from the other, is fallacious, the desperate straits into which the religious world has fallen will bear witness. There is in reality no secular life as distinct from the spiritual life. As long as such an opposition exists, just so long will the coming of the Kingdom be postponed. Every act of the daily life must be inspired and directed by the spirit before that prerequisite of the Kingdom is established,—that the will of God should be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
For without divine guidance humanity is at sea, tossed about on diverse waves of human theory. One solution and another is offered, and none agreed upon. The world is in the condition of an army without a Captain, of a ship without a Helmsman. The time has come when all must go one way, the right way, the Divine way.
The great glory, to Bahá’ís, of the Movement to which they adhere, is that it directs their way into the promised land; that it establishes for them, individually and collectively, principles and lines of conduct which will ultimately cause every difficulty and ill of humanity to disappear. Collective action and thought, in this age of individualism and disparity, stands not in approval. But it will eventually come into its own. Men, like tired children, will turn from their restless searching and experimentation to the Teacher who holds for them all truth.
PROPHECY is being remarkably fulfilled in the return of the Jew to the Holy Land, and the swift development which that country, tragically abandoned for centuries to the reign of barbarism, is undergoing at the hands of the repatriated exiles. It is not empty-handed that they return, but richly laden with the wealth, the arts, the science and culture of the Occident.
It is a strange design of Destiny, that this race of Orientals, for such they are, should have been so interspersed throughout the world as to have acquired the benefits of its leading cultures. Not only are they now able to carry back these benefits to Palestine, but they are also able, by liaison with the wealth and skill and knowledge of their own groups in Occidental nations, and particularly in America, to achieve for Palestine a physical development such as only modern capitalistic enterprise and scientific industrial skill can facilitate.
THE NEW UNIVERSITY on Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, will be one of the main channels through which Western science and progress will not only flow into Palestine, but, let us hope, will percolate into other sections of the Near East. Its founders have for it this broad humanitarian aim. Herbert Sidebotham assures us that “under the influence of this new culture center Jerusalem will become the clearing-house of modern ideas in the East, the center of a new oriental culture in intimate touch with the West, and an inspiration and an example to all the countries round.”
What with modern scientific direction thus locally available, and the financial means that the Zionists of England and America stand ready to pour into Palestine, the words of Isaiah will literally be
fulfilled, that the desert shall blossom like the rose. For Palestine has a rich soil, a climate as favorable as Southern California, and an abundance of water near at hand for irrigation purposes. All that this soil needs is water and scientific agriculture and horticulture to become one of the green gardens of the earth.
As one follows the shore of the Mediterranean in that beautiful and romantic, automobile ride from Haifa to Beyreuth, one cannot but be impressed by the remarkable contrast between the forlorn, arid, and uncultivated aspect of the Palestine region as contrasted with the orange groves and well-cultivated fields which mark the entrance into Syria. There is no other cause distinguishing wilderness of the Holy Land from the rich horticulture of its northern neighbor than the application to the land, on the one hand, of science and capital, and on the other hand, the absence of such application. There is every indication that within a generation the Zionists will make of Palestine a country as fair and fructiferous as is Southern California.
ENGLAND, a land where freedom and justice have so long been established principles, is making earnest contributions to the theory and science of collective welfare. The Bahá’í Magazine wishes here to give recognition to the sincere service of that great writer and philosopher (yes, he deserves the latter name), H. G. Wells, who has for years been presenting in the form of novels his dreams and visions for a better humanity. He has in his successive pages presented, unknown to himself, many of the great principles of Bahá’u’lláh for human welfare—the abolition of racial prejudice and war, the remedies for industrial slavery, the establishment of justice and brotherhood as between men of good will. In his latest work, “Sargon, King of Kings," he dreams again, in the person of his hero, of “healing the swarming world’s disorders.”
It is to be hoped with all his wonderful vision of a perfected humanity Mr. Wells will likewise want to explore the spiritual realms. With the light of religion, his expositions would be greater. Could he but realize God as Bahá’ís have been taught to realize Him, and understand the nature of Divine Teachers and their influence upon humanity as explained by ’Abdu’l-Bahá in “Answered Questions,” he would perhaps find religion not so unreasonable or illogical as he now seems to find it. For he is a great and deeply earnest soul, of the stature of an ardent apostle, did he but attain to such a vision as that of a confrere, Sir Oliver Lodge, who in his latter years has reached a golden serenity of thought uniting truth as science knows it with the truth the spirit knows.
“The Holy Manifestations of God are the centers of the Light of Reality, of the source of mysteries, and of the bounties of love. They are resplendent in the world of hearts and thoughts, and shower eternal graces upon the world of spirits; they give spiritual life, and are shining with the light of realities and meanings. The enlightenment of the world of thought comes from these centers of light and sources of mysteries. Without the bounty of the splendor and the instructions of these Holy Beings, the world of souls and thoughts would be opaque darkness. Without the irrefutable teachings of those Sources of mysteries, the human world would become the pasture of animal appetites and qualities, the existence of everything would be unreal, and there would be no true life. . . . At the time of the appearance of each Manifestation of God, extraordinary progress has occurred in the world of minds, thoughts, and spirits.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
“MAN was born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” announced Jean-Jacques Rousseau at the commencement of “The Social Contract,” written over one hundred and fifty years ago. Today man is still enchained. The shackles of industrial slavery remain unbroken. In the words of Professor George D. Herron: “Mankind is caught today between two equally fatal reactions—that of an international Tory capitalism on the one side, and that of an international materialistic bolshevism on the other. These, alike super-tyranneous, alike destructive of essential socialism or industrial democracy, are also alike full of death for society and the soul. On the triumph of either of these waits the spiritual end of our present humanity.”
The false peace that followed the world war produced a deluge of industrial strikes, national upheavals and international financial crises. Indeed, as that noble writer, Victor Hugo, has termed the sixteenth century the age of painting, the seventeenth the age of “belle-lettres,” the eighteenth the age of philosophy, he might well have proclaimed the forepart of the twentieth century the age of revolutions. The recent history of the European debacles, bloodless and otherwise, in Russia, England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China and the present renewed disturbances in the Balkan States bear more than mute testimony to this fact. In the Orient the struggle goes on for racial democracy and greater religious freedom. In our own country the farmer still works under unfair financial conditions, while the grain speculator gambles a fortune on his wheat on the stock market. Sweatshops still exist and the federal child labor law is defeated. Unemployment continues. Strikes remain the chief means of settling disputes between capital and labor. Unrest is everywhere.
Labor Unionism, which was founded to protect the rights of the workingman, has become a self-centered and self-seeking power, and appears to many an economic menace. On the other hand, there are those who would abolish capitalism.*
But the new social order will not be attained by any class solution of the economic problems of production, distribution or control. The interest of one man, one class, one institution, cannot be dealt with apart from the interests of all mankind, for, as Professor Herron further points out: “Mankind must henceforth act together as one economic body, one spiritual entity, one planetary family and household, else mankind will perish from the earth.”
This is the basic principle of the New Social Contract as outlined by ’Abdu’l-Bahá, namely, the Oneness of the World of Humanity. It is indeed evident that peace, industrial or political, cannot be accomplished through material means alone. Racial differences and patriotic prejudices prevent the realization of unity and agreement; political interests are divergent; in industry self-interest is predominant. Therefore, the promotion of the oneness of the kingdom of humanity, which is the essence of all spiritual teachings, becomes an application of the Golden Rule in the dealings between nations, races, religions and individuals. Herbert Spencer made it clear that by no political alchemy was it possible to get golden conduct out of leaden instincts.
* A former labor leader in the Northwest now makes the following interesting defense of Capitalism: “Capitalism is the only economic system with which a representative, republican form of government can safeguard each individual’s rights and enforce his duties, permitting him to attain the measure of his full growth. There is nothing inherent in capitalism that demands of a man that he be irreligious, unmoral, or mediocre. On the contrary, its discipline builds strong characters, makes for trained intellects and minds and hurries man's spiritual development . . . . . Capitalism needs no apologists. The welfare and the continued progress of mankind demands, however, that it be defended—frankly and openly, under its own name, that it may come to be known for what it is—a proven and workable economic system for every day and for every man who will obey its laws. A people cannot thrive half socialistic and half capitalistic."
Edwin Markham keenly analyzed the situation when he said: “I believe the industrial question is a religious question. I believe that everything that has to do with the welfare of man in politics, in industry, is a religious question. Everything shows our relation to one another, and our relation to the Father of Life. We have committed the Golden Rule to memory, now let us commit it to life.” John J. Walsh, commissioner of the United States Department of Labor, gives further expression to this thought by saying: “Take your troubles to your Lord. . . . We must get back to God's teachings and must have brotherly love in our hearts to make the world's great undertakings go forward.” Roger W. Babson, the well-known statistician, adds his testimony that “if statistics have taught us any one thing in the past twenty years, it is that the spiritual factor is the greatest factor in the growth of communities and nations. It is well enough to talk about land, labor and capital. They all have their uses and functions, but of themselves they are helpless in bringing about prosperity. Land, labor and capital existed long before there was even civilization. Many great nations, such as Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Rome and even Spain, have possessed land, labor and capital in abundance, but fell for lack of this far more important quality—the spiritual factor.” Completing the testimony of the scientist, the poet-philosopher, the worker and financial statistician, ’Abdu'l-Bahá, the spiritual physician, gives his diagnosis: “The disease which afflicts the body politic is lack of love and absence of altruism. In the hearts of men no real love is found, and the condition is such that unless their susceptibilities are quickened by some power, so that unity and accord may develop within them, there can be no healing, no agreement among mankind. Love and unity are the needs of the body politic today.”
Therefore, two important factors are necessary for the alleviation of the present-day world's ailments, a new sytsem of rules and laws and a new consciousness to govern human actions. The latter is the more important, for at bottom the secrets of the entire economic question are concerned with the world of the heart and the spirit, and the first step to avert the social revolution is the substitution of spiritual evolution, the fraternity of universal brotherhood and the fellowship of good-will.
A revaluation of labor in human thought is most important. In the past much odium has been attached to manual labor, the trades and the soil. In the body politic there is a difference in the degree of capacity of each individual. Perfect equality does not exist. The Bahá’í plan recognizes the fact that the community is in need of a mayor, judge, merchant, farmer, banker, tradesman, worker, etc., to complete its existence and demands that each occupation be respected and wholeheartedly engaged in by each one. The standard is equal opportunity in place of an equality of poverty and suffering. Work is exalted, for “it is incumbent on everyone to engage in some one occupation, such as arts, crafts, trades and the like. This, the occupation, is identical with the worship of God. Waste no time in idleness and indolence, but occupy yourselves with that which will profit yourselves and others beside yourself. The most despised of men before God is he who sits and begs. Every soul who is occupied in an art or trade, this will be accounted an act of worship before God.” The body politic, recognizing this principle, will then find its soul.
Wealth, its acquisition and distribution, is a theme dealt with by all economic thinkers and writers. The evil lies in the monopoly and control by a limited few, while the masses are exploited and are barely able to acquire the necessities of life. A new relationship is required between capital and labor, for, as Abraham Lincoln clearly pointed out: “Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital and
deserves much the highest consideration.” However, the acquisition of wealth is not a crime provided it is not obtained at the expense and deprivation of another. Mr. Ernest J. P. Benn, the English representative of the Industrial League and Council, states that “profits are a commission on economy.” ’Abdu'l-Bahá says: “Economy is the foundation of human prosperity. The spendthrift is always in trouble. Prodigality on the part of any person is an unpardonable sin. The fewer the habits the better the man. It is a divine virtue to be satisfied with very few things. Contentment is the antidote for the cure of all the social diseases. We must live an independent life and never live on others, like a parasitic plant. Every person, whether literary or manual, must have a profession and live a clean, manly, honest life, an example of purity to be imitated by others. Contentment is the master key to all successes.” Thus he concludes that “riches earned by personal effort, with divine assistance, in various trades, agriculture and the arts, and rightly administered, are justly deserving of praise (for) if a wise and discerning man acquires them, they become a ready means of benefit to the state.”
In order to provide for the distribution of the large monopolies of wealth, the Bahá’í plan offers a method of distribution of estates through inheritance. Seven divisions are provided for: Children, husband or wife, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and teachers. It a person dies without heirs, his estate goes to the House of justice for the good of the commonwealth. If one dies without any heirs excepting children, two-thirds goes to them and one-third to the House of Justice, and similar equitable arrangements are provided for in the case of the various heirs. A House of Partnership is provided for to act as trustee for children until they become of age. However, there is no attempt to make this a compulsory law that will affect the perfect freedom of man in disposing of his property, such as the “rule of the dead hand” in England. The application of this law, together with all other Bahá’í principles, is based on the predication that “the laws of God are not impositions of will, or of power, or of pleasure, but the resolutions of truth, reason and justice.” However, the carrying out of such a plan of distribution would bring about great changes in the large fortunes in a few generations.
The year 1865 sounded the death-knell for chattel slavery. Today the call is for industrial emancipation. Industrial slavery must go. Strikes as a system of protection and aggression will go and arbitration will be substituted, for every array of labor against capital produces hatred and retaliation, culminating in class warfare. If the spirit of certain present-day revolutionary movements gains control everything will become chaotic. The world of humanity will come to a standstill. Hunger and deprivation will be everywhere and absolutism in government will return. Fortunately the spirit of conciliation is in the air. An arbitration week has been declared. Voluntary sacrifice on the part of capital is evident. In the Bahá’í spirit “there are no extortionate, mercenary and unjust practices, no rebellious demands, no revolutionary uprisings against existing governments.” In the future it will be impossible to amass great fortunes. The rich, through their own volition, will divide willingly with the poor. Reason will transplant force. Instead of mankind being exploited to make wealth, money will be used to develop the character of men and women.
Mr. Arthur Nash, president of the Nash Company of Cincinnati, perhaps the largest garment manufacturing plant in the world, makes some very interesting comments on the question of wages. He states that “we are not living the Golden Rule when we make a slave of a man, even for an agreed price,” and continues, “when industrial economists tell us that the fundamental thing is to regulate hours, wages and production on a basis that will enable us to meet competition
they are building on a foundation of sand” A number of years ago, long before ’Abdu’l-Bahá had contacted with western material civilization, he pointed out that the capitalist must realize that he is not the master, but the manager, of man’s labor for the benefit of man, not the master. All industry must be reorganized on a profit-sharing basis, a vast partnership of all connected with the industry. “The owners of properties, mines and factories should share their incomes with their employees and give a fair and definite percentage of their profits to the workingmen in order that the employees may receive, besides their wages, some of the general income of the factory, so that the employee may strive with soul in the work.” For example: Every factory that has ten thousand shares will give two thousand shares of these ten thousand to its employees and will write the shares in their names, so that they may have them, and the rest, will belong to the capitalists. Then at the end of the month or year, whatever the profit may be after the expenses and wages are paid, should be divided among both, according to the number of shares.”
The A. Nash Company adopted a plan of profit-sharing in 1920 by the unanimous vote of the workers. According to this plan the profits were to be divided among them on the basis of salaries earned, twice a year. The principle upon which Mr. Nash had established his company was that “The golden rule is the divine law governing human relationships, accepted by all religions and proclaimed by all prophets and teachers of every creed. It is the only infallible, workable, industrial and economic law in the universe today.” The golden rule was already in the hearts of the workers when the profit-sharing plan was suggested, and a few days later the skilled workers of the institution, those who drew a weekly wage of over sixty dollars, sent a signed petition to the president stating that as the lion’s share of the profits would go to a small group of the highest paid workers, they wished the profits to be distributed on the basis of time worked instead of on the basis of wages drawn. This meant that the poorest paid would receive the same dividend as the highest, truly an epoch-making event in modern industrial relationships. Another interesting event in the history of this company and its practice of the golden rule happened in November of 1920, when the unemployment in the clothing and textile industries was at its height and were running at less than twenty-five per cent production. The workers adopted unanimously the following resolution:
RESOLVED: That the A. Nash Company shall make a special effort to procure business enough to employ all clothing workers in Cincinnati who are in danger of suffering because of non-employment. And if such business can be secured that employment be furnished all needing work, regardless of creed, nationality, union or non-union affiliation. And if in carrying out this resolution it is found necessary to reduce the price of garments so that wages must be reduced, we recommend that the first reduction affect only those making over five dollars per day. It is further
RESOLVED AND RECOMMENDED: That if the Company finds it impossible to procure sufficient volume of business to furnish employment, as per previous resolution, and if suffering becomes acute, that the employees of the A. Nash Company voluntarily take a vacation of four weeks during the month of January or February, as the best judgment of the management may dictate, and that the needy clothing workers out of employment be employed during those four weeks in their places, so as to prevent severe suffering.
It is needless to add that there are no such things as strikes in this establishment and that the customers receive the same. treatment as the workers. This institution
has a soul. The workers are represented in the business councils and determine costs, hours of work, etc., so that now they are on a five-day week scale in order that the many mothers who are employed in the factory may have Saturday with their children. Profanity has practically been eliminated through the brotherhood influence. One final illustration will show the extent of the character of this company. In 1922 the cashier of the company was held up on his return from the bank and robbed of the payroll, amounting to $8,056.00. The robber was later apprehended and sentenced to twenty-five years in the penitentiary. When the condition of the sick wife and four children of this man was brought to the attention of the workers, they called a meeting, the result of which was reported in the Cincinnati Post of September 9, 1922, as follows:
“The Golden Rule is all right, says everybody. But how are you going to use it on the man who does you dirt? No, it can’t be done, says nearly everybody. One must have an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But this is the story of a man whose firm is supporting the family of the bandit who robbed it of an $8,000 payroll. He put the bandit’s wife on the payroll at a wage of $20 a week—and requires no work of her. He has made only one condition: That she keep the children together and send them to church and school, to the end that they may grow up to be worthy men and women, who, by honorable living, will make recompense to society for the sins of their father.”
Here is a practical, demonstrable example of the new social order and its method of application. It proves that the secrets of the whole economic system are divine in nature, concerns of the heart and spirit of man. Science has been unable to cure the illness of the body politic, for it does not create amity and fellowship in human hearts. Patriotism and racial prejudice have not produced a remedy. Class distinctions have aggravated the condition. Laws and regulations have bettered but not cured the ailments. However, the spirit of the Bahá’í plan permeates the world with hope, but not through corruption or sedition or force. The standard is:
“Not warfare, but perfect welfare.”
Agriculture is the basic industry of the world. The farmer is the first active agent in the body politic. The prosperity of all other business depends upon the labor and success of the farmer. Therefore, his economic problem must be solved and for this purpose the institution of the Store-house is created by the Bahá’í plan. In the language of religion it is called the House of Finance. The solution begins in the village, or center of a farming district, where a board of control is chosen from the wise members of the local community. This store-house is to have seven chief revenues:
1. Tithes. Money is obtained at a low rate of interest from the bank and loaned to the farmer. Any farmer in need of implements is supplied from the store-house, and when his crop is harvested it is the first income of the store-house. If the farmer, owing to poor weather and poor crops; is unable to earn sufficient to meet his needs, then the deficit is supplied by the store-house. If he is successful then he turns over a certain percentage of his crops. For instance, if his income amounts to two thousand kilos of grain and only one thousand are needed to meet his expenses, then one-tenth is given to the store-house. If the ratio is ten thousand to two thousand for expenses, then two-tenths are required, and so on—the greater the income, the greater is the ratio of taxation.
2. Taxes on animals. The same rule applies as with farm produce. In lieu of money the percentage may be given in animals or farm products.
3. Wealth left without inheritors.
4. Revenues from mines. One-third or one-fourth the income is required, according to the nature of the mine.
5. Hidden Treasure. In case a person finds treasure buried in the earth, one-half is turned over to the store-house.
6. Lost Treasure. In case the owner cannot be found, one-half is required from the finder.
7. Voluntary Contributions. Of their own free-will, the people will give and contribute willingly.
The seven main expenditures are as follows:
1. Tithes to the general government. One-tenth is given to the public treasury for the administration expenses, salaries, the administration of public safety, etc.
2. The Poor. The deficiencies of needy, owing to sickness, fire, crop failure, etc., are supplied from the storehouse, but not the idle and indolent ones. Charity has a new meaning.
3. The Infirm. Cripples and incurables.
4. Support of Orphanages.
5. Education. This is most essential in the Bahá’í plan. Woman must have equal opportunity to acquire all the benefits of the highest education, for she becomes the first teacher of the next generation.
6. Institutions for the deaf and blind.
7. Public Health.
The tie that binds the store-house to the House of Justice is the surplus at the end of the year, which may be turned over to the House of Justice. When such a system is established, each individual member of the body-politic will live in the utmost comfort and happiness, and the degrees will be preserved. Co-operation and consultation replace compulsion and dissension. There is a place in society for each individual, the banker, judge, merchant, craftsman and farmer, and with the adoption of the store-house and village community, comes the realization that the country is the home of the soul.
The new social contract under the Bahá’í program is completed with the establishment of the House of Justice. In the political realm two things are necessary: the Legislative Power and the Executive Power. The House of Justice is the great legislative body. All the civic affairs and the legislation of material laws for the increasing needs of enlightened humanity belong to the House of Justice. It is not only a body for the legislation of laws, but likewise a board of arbitration for the settlement of disputes arising between peoples.
The requisites for membership include an accurate knowledge of the Divine commandments; a knowledge of the sciences and arts necessary to civilization; a knowledge of the most important fundamental matters and of the rules of loosing and binding of domestic affairs and foreign relations; and the members must be God-fearing, high-minded and followers of the law.
There are three stages of the House of Justice, local, national and international. The local ones are established, not in each village, but one in each large community, such as one for each county in England or one for each state in our own country. The people elect a large committee, and this committee appoints or elects the members of the local House. Once each year representatives of each local House convene at some designated place and elect directly the members of the national House of Justice, either from their own members or from others. The national House directs the affairs of the country. Then the members of the various Houses of Justice, for example, from Washington, Paris, London, Rome and so on, will convene in some prearranged international city, and there elect in the same manner the international House of Justice. The international House of Justice is somewhat like the League of Nations, with one main difference, the League is not representative of all the nations of the world, while the House of Justice will be. It will also have the necessary power and authority to maintain its integrity, enforce its laws and insure to the world permanent peace.
Justice becomes then the chief concern of every government, of every institution,
of every citizen. It is the light of progress and must be held sacred from the highest to the lowest. Man has the free-will to choose between justice and injustice. A workingman who commits an injustice is blameworthy even as a tyrant. The sovereign, the minister of state, the spiritual leader, the merchant, the artisan, all must live by the rule—“do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” This is the essence of the new social compact with mankind, it is the divine decree. Each individual, irrespective of race, color, creed, caste or position, must respect the rights of all men, and, above all, consider the rights of others before their own. The greatest happiness lies in the happiness of others. If the Golden Rule becomes the standard of living, specific laws will not be necessary.
'Abdu’l-Bahá’í can well be termed the Social Prophet of the twentieth century. He spent the greater part of a lifetime in prison that his teachings for the welfare of mankind might live. He set a living example of practical idealism. He connected waning and limited human ability to the power of the Holy Spirit, the one power that can disperse hatred, rancor, war and poverty and cement the rapidly crumbling pillars of society into a new unity of concord. His ultimate plea for the salvation of the body politic is:
“The supreme concern of any government must be the establishment of equal justice and equal opportunity amongst the people. Justice is the light of the nation, the lamp burning amongst the people. Justice is the sun through the light of which progress is secured and peace obtained. Through justice commerce thrives, industries are developed, morals refined, honesty is established, international comity fostered and education popularized. That nation is honored and respected above all others which practices strict justice and mercy in all its dealings with the outside world. By justice a nation is exalted, attaining to the pinnacle of eternal glory. The path of justice is the golden path of universal salvation.”
BAHÁ’U‘LLÁH set forth principles of guidance and teaching for economic readjustment. Regulations were revealed by Him which insure the welfare of the commonwealth. . . . This readjustment of the social economic is of the greatest importance inasmuch as it insures the stability of the world of humanity; and until it is effected, happiness and prosperity
are impossible.—’Abdu'l-Bahá.
note is the struggle for existence—the result of which is the survival of the fittest. The law of the survival of the fittest is the origin of all difficulties. It is the cause of war and strife, hatred and animosity between human beings. In the world of nature there is tyranny, egoism, aggression, overbearance, usurpation of the rights of others and other blameworthy attributes which are the defects of the animal world. Therefore, so long as the requirements of the natural world play paramount part among the children of men, success and prosperity are impossible. For the success and prosperity of the human world depend upon the qualities and virtues with which the reality of humanity is adorned; while the exigencies of the natural world work against the realization of this object.
The nobility and glory of man consist in the fact that, amidst the beings, he is the dawning place of righteousness. Can any greater blessing be imagined by man than the consciousness that by Divine assistance the means of comfort, peace and prosperity of the human race are in his hands? How noble and excellent is man if he only attain to this state for which he was designed. And how mean and contemptible if he close his eyes to the public weal, and spend his precious capacities on personal and selfish ends. The greatest happiness lies in the happiness of others. He who urges the matchless steed. of endeavor on the race-course of justice and civilization alone is capable of comprehending the wonderful signs of the natural and spiritual world.
IN THE ESTIMATION of historians this radiant century is equivalent to one hundred centuries of the past. If comparisons be made with the sum total of all former human achievements it will be found that the discoveries, scientific advancement and material civilization of this present century have equaled, yea far exceeded the progress and outcome of one hundred former centuries. The production of books and compilations of literature alone bear witness that the output of the human mind in this century has been greater and more enlightening than all the past centuries together. It is evident therefore that this century is of paramount importance. Reflect upon the miracles of accomplishment which have already characterized it, the discoveries in every realm of human research, inventions, scientific knowledge, ethical reforms and regulations established for the welfare of humanity, mysteries of nature explored, invisible forces brought into visibility and subjection, a veritable wonder-world of new phenomena and conditions heretofore unknown to man now open to his uses and further investigation. The east and west can communicate instantly. A human being can soar in the skies or speed in submarine depths. The power of steam has linked the continents. Trains cross the deserts and pierce the barriers of mountains; ships find unerring pathways upon the trackless oceans. Day by day discoveries are increasing. What a wonderful century this is! It is an age of universal reformation. Laws and statutes of governments, civil and federal, are in process of change and transformation. Sciences and arts are being moulded anew. Thoughts are metamorphosed. The foundations of human society are changing and strengthening. Today sciences of the past are useless. The ptolemaic system of astronomy, numberless other systems and theories of scientific and philosophical explanation are discarded, known to be false and worthless. Ethical precedents and principles cannot be applied to the needs of the modern world. Thoughts and theories of past ages are fruitless now. Thrones and governments are crumbling and falling. All conditions and requisites of the past unfitted and inadequate for the present time, are undergoing radical reform. It is evident therefore that counterfeit and spurious religious teaching, antiquated forms of belief and ancestral imitations which are at variance with the foundation of divine reality must also pass away and be reformed. They must be abandoned and new conditions be recognized. The morals of humanity must undergo change. New remedy and solution for human problems must be adopted. Human intellects themselves must change and be subject to the universal reformation. Just as the thoughts and hypotheses of past ages are rfruitless today; likewise dogmas and codes of human invention are obsolete and barren of product in religion. . . . Therefore it is our duty in this radiant century to investigate the essentials of divine religion, seek the realities underlying the oneness of the world of humanity and discover the source of fellowship and agreement which will unite mankind in the heavenly bond of love. (Pro. of U. P., p. 135.)
CONSIDER: what is this material civilization of the day giving forth? Has it not produced the instruments of warfare and destruction? . . . Instruments and means of human destruction have enormously multiplied in this era of material civilization. But, if material civilization shall become organized in conjunction with divine civilization, if
the man of moral integrity and intellectual acumen shall unite for human betterment and uplift with the man of spiritual capacity, the happiness and progress of the human race will be assured. . . .
It is the province of man to confer life not death. It behooves him to be the cause of human welfare, but inasmuch as he glories in the savagery of animalism, it is an evidence that divine civilization has not been established in human society. Material civilization has advanced unmistakably but because it is not associated with divine civilization, evil and wickedness abound. . . . The cause is the absence of divine civilization. (Pro. of U P. p. 98.)
THE FOURTH principle or teaching of Bahá’u’lláh concerns the equality of humankind; the readjustment of or equalization of the economic standards of the time, to the livelihood of humankind. For the poor are in abject distress, in the greatest need, and in the greatest misfortune; and that is not right, that some individual should be enthroned in luxury, in the greatest wealth, more than necessary, and some in the lowest degree of want. This is not worthy of the world of humanity.
There is need for an equalization so that all may have an apportionment in the comforts of life. For example, the wealthy man, whose table is adorned with all kinds of delicacies, must allow the poor to have at least his necessities. It is not right that one should have all the delicacies and all foods on his table when another is in want of the necessities of life. The rich must be merciful to the poor, and out of their own willing hearts should they uplift them, they should not be forced. There must be a readjustment and legislation which shall equalize conditions until humanity may have composure and rest with the utmost ease. (Star of the West, Vol. 3-6, p. 3.)
AMONG THE results of the manifestation of spiritual forces will be that the human world will take on a new social form; the justice of God will become manifest. . . . For the poor there will be a great bestowal and for the rich eternal happiness. For although just now the rich enjoy the greatest luxury and all comfort, yet they are deprived of eternal happiness, for eternal happiness is contingent upon giving, and the poor are in a state of abject poverty. Through the manifestation of God's great equity, the poor of the world will be rewarded fully, and there shall be a readjustment in human affairs, so that in the future there will not be the abnormally rich nor the abject poor. The rich will enjoy comfort as well as the poor, for in the future. owing to certain restrictions, the rich will not accumulate so much as to be beyond management, and the poor will not retain this state of absolute want and misery. The rich will enjoy his palace, and the poor will have his comfortable cottage. The purpose is this: that divine justice will be manifest and all human kind will find comfort. I do not mean that all will be equal, for inequality in degree is a property of nature. There will of necessity be rich people and those who will be in want of their livlihood, but there will be an equalization and readjustment. There will be in the future no very rich people, not extremely poor people. There will be an equilibrium, and a condition will be established which will make both the rich and the poor comfortable. This shall be an eternal and blessed outcome of this glorious century which in the future will become realized. The purpose is this: that all the promises of the prophets, all the glad-tidings given in the Holy Books will be fulfilled. Await ye for that manifestation! (Star of the West, Vol. 3-9, p. 7.)
DIFFERENCE OF capacity in human individuals is fundamental. It is impossible for all to be alike, all to be equal, all to be wise. Bahá’u’lláh has revealed principles and laws which will accomplish the adjustment of varying human capacities. He has said that whatsoever
is possible of accomplishment in human government will be effected through these principles. When the laws he has instituted are carried out, there will be no millionaires possible in the community and likewise no extremely poor. This will be effected and regulated by adjusting the different degrees of human capacity. The fundamental basis of the community is agriculture, tillage of the soil. All must be producers. Each person in the community whose income is equal to his individual producing capacity shall be exempt from taxation. But if his income is greater than his needs he must pay a tax until an adjustment is effected. That is to say, a man’s capacity for production and his needs will be equalized and reconciled through taxation. If his production exceeds he will pay no tax; if his necessities exceed his production he shall receive an amount sufficient to equalize or adjust. Therefore taxation will be proportionate to capacity and production, and there will be no poor in the community. (Pro. of U. P., p. 212.)
WHAT could be better before God than thinking of the poor? For the poor are beloved by our heavenly father. When His Holiness Christ came upon the earth those who believed in him and followed him were the poor and lowly, showing the poor were near to God. When a rich man believes and follows the manifestation of God it is a proof that his wealth is not an obstacle and does not prevent him from attaining the pathway of salvation. After he has been tested and tried it will be seen whether his possessions are a hindrance in his religious life. But the poor are especially beloved of God. Their lives are full of difficulties, their trials continual, their hopes are in God alone. Therefore you must assist the poor as much as possible, even by sacrifice of yourself. No deed of man is greater before God than helping the poor. Spiritual conditions are not dependent upon the possession of worldly treasures or the absence of them. When physically destitute, spiritual thoughts are more likely. Poverty is stimulus toward God. Each one of you must have great consideration for the poor and render them assistance. Organize in an effort to help them and prevent increase of poverty. The greatest means for prevention is that whereby the laws of the community will be so framed and enacted that it will not be possible for a few to be millionaires and many destitute. One of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings is the adjustment of means of livelihood in human society. Under this adjustment there can be no extremes in human conditions as regards wealth and sustenance. For the community needs financier, farmer, merchant and laborer just as an army must be composed of commander, officers and privates. All cannot be commanders; all cannot be officers or privates. Each in his station in the social fabric must be competent; each in his function according to ability; but justness of opportunity for all. (Pro. of U. P., p. 211.)
THE SOLUTION of this problem (the question of capital and labor) is one of the fundamental principles of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh. But it must be solved with justice and not with force. If this problem is not solved lovingly it will result in war. Perfect communism and equality are an impossibility because they would upset the affairs and the order of the world. But there is a fair method which will not leave the poor in such need, nor the rich in such wealth. The poor and the rich, according to their degrees, can live happily, with ease and tranquillity. . . .
The rich should be merciful to the poor, but with their free-will, not with force. Should it be with force it would be useless. It should be according to law and not by violence, so that through a general law everyone might know his duty. . . .
The question of socialization is very important. It will not be solved by strikes for wages. All the governments of the world must be united and organize an assembly, the members of which
should be elected from the parliaments and the nobles of the nations. These must plan, with utmost wisdom and power, so that neither the capitalists suffer from enormous losses, nor the laborers become needy. In the utmost moderation they should make the law, then announce to the public that the rights of the working people are to be strongly preserved. Also the right of the capitalists are to be protected. When such a general plan is adopted by the will of both sides, should a strike occur, all the governments of the world collectively should resist it. . . .
It is impossible for a country to live easily without laws. To solve this problem strong laws must be made, so that all the governments of the world be protectors thereof.
The essence of this matter is that strikes are conducive to destruction, but laws are the cause of life. Laws must be framed. Demands should be according to the laws, and not with strikes, force and harshness. . . Happiness and force are impossible. What is meant by happiness? It means that the people should live according to the most perfect virtues of the world of humanity, and the power of the divine kingdom. (Star of the West, Vol. 7-9, p. 82.)
AND AMONG the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is voluntary sharing of one’s property with others among mankind. This voluntary sharing is greater than equality and consists in this: that man should not prefer himself to others, but rather should sacrifice his life and property for others. But this should not be introduced by coercion so that it becomes a law and man is compelled to follow it. Nay, rather, man should voluntarily and of his own choice sacrifice his property and life for others, and spend willingly for the poor just as is done in Persia among the Bahá’ís.
And among the teachings of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh is justice and right. Until these are realized on the plane of existence, all things shall be in disorder and remain imperfect. . . . (The Hague Tablet.)
YOU HAVE QUESTIONED me about strikes. This question is and will be for a long time the subject of great difficulties. Strikes are due to two causes. One is the extreme sharpness and rapacity of the capitalists and manufacturers; the other, the excesses, the avidity and ill-will of the workmen and artisans. It is therefore necessary to remedy these two causes.
But the principal cause of these difficulties lies in the laws of the present civilization; for they lead to a small number of individuals accumulating incomparable fortunes, beyond their needs, whilst the greater number remains destitute, stripped and in the greatest misery. This is contrary to justice, to humanity, to equity; it is the height of iniquity, the opposite to what causes divine satisfaction. (From Chapter on "Strikes” in Answered Ques.)
ECONOMICS must commence with the farmer and thence reach out and embrace the other classes, inasmuch as the number of farmers is greater than that of other groups. Therefore it is becoming that the economic problem be solved for the farmer first, for the farmer is the first active agent in the body politic. . . . The body politic is like an army. An army needs a commander-in-chief, colonel, captain, lieutenant, and private. It is impossible for all to enjoy the same rank; preservation of degrees is necessary, but each member of that army must live in the utmost comfort and ease. Likewise a City is in need of a mayor, judge, merchant, banker, artisan, and farmers. Undoubtedly these degrees should be preserved, otherwise the public order would be disturbed.
The government of a country should
make laws which conform to the divine law. (Bahá’í Scrip., v. 831.)
TO THE ORPHANS be ye kind fathers, and to the unfortunate a refuge and shelter. To the poor be a treasure of wealth, and to the sick a remedy and healing. Be a helper of every oppressed one, the protector of every destitute one, be ye ever mindful to serve any soul of mankind. Attach no importance to self-seeking, rejection, arrogance, oppression and enmity. Heed them not. Deal in the contrary way. Be kind in truth, not only in appearance and outwardly. (Hague Tablet, p. 12.)
BAHÁ’ÍS consider it more blessed and a greater privilege to bestow than to gain and receive. They believe that bestowing good upon one another is the greatest means of help to both. . . . (Bahá’í Scrip., v. 813.)
THE SECRETS of the whole economic question are divine in nature, and are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. In the Bahá’í Teachings this is most completely explained, and without the consideration of the Bahá’í Teachings it is impossible to bring about a better state. (Bahá’í Scrip., v. 812.)
THE PROPHETS have not come to cause discord and enmity. For God has wished all good for His servants, and he who wishes the servants of God evil is against God; he has not obeyed the will and emulated the example of God; he has followed satanic leadings and footprints. The attributes of God are love and mercy; the attribute of satan is hate. Therefore, he who is merciful and kind to his fellowmen is manifesting the divine attribute, and he who is hating and hostile toward a fellow creature is satanic. God is absolute love, even as his holiness Jesus Christ has declared, and satan is utter hatred. Wherever love is witnessed, know there is a manifestation of God’s mercy; whenever you meet hatred and enmity, know that these are the evidences and attributes of satan. The prophets have appeared in this world with the mission that human souls may become the expressions of the Merciful, that they may be educated and developed, attain to love and amity and establish peace and agreement.
EACH PROPHET deals with the world as he finds it. His advent is like that of a physician who prescribes for the illness from which his patient is suffering—not for the illness that he may have years later. When Moses appeared he could not give the teaching which Christ gave centuries later. The world was not ready for that, and had first to be prepared by more elementary lessons. When Christ appeared he could not deal in detail with questions such as world-government, a universal league of nations, a world-language, world-organization of industry, etc. These questions had not arisen in his day. People in Palestine had no idea that America, Australia or Japan existed. To talk of such things would have been premature. But today these questions are of urgent importance, and because we are failing to solve them aright we have such horrors as the great war and the tangled mass of national and international difficulties with which our politicians and social reformers, our governments and congresses, our religious and educational leaders are struggling, often at cross purposes and with no agreed policy.
In view of these considerations, can we still maintain that Christianity has no need of a new prophet? If some one appears claiming to bring a message of Divine Guidance, showing how the baffling modern problems of both social and individual life can best be solved, surely we ought to welcome the news and set to work eagerly and earnestly to find out whether the claim is true or false. If true, it is of the utmost importance. If false, the sooner it is exposed the better.
THE MORE we study the lives and teachings of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and the progress of the Movement they founded, the more impossible does it seem to find any explanation of their greatness, except the one put forward by themselves, namely, Divine Inspiration. They were reared in an atmosphere of fanaticism and bigotry. They had only the most elementary education. They had no contact with Western culture; no political or financial power to back them. The great ones of earth ignored or opposed them. They were shut up in prisons, and the publication of their books banned. They had no help, but that of God, yet already their triumph is manifest and magnificent. (“Bahá’u’lláh
and His Message”)
A WRITER has stated that “a careful study of the race will disclose the fact that human progress has consisted of a series of tidal impulses, each followed by a period of stagnation, and, usually, of decay.” That “a closer scrutiny will prove each successive advance in civilization to have been the ultimate effect of the establishment of a new religion or a widespread revival of one already weakened.” That this new tidal impulse of today “is leading humanity into and through the next stage of progress toward a God-like civilization.” And, that, “today the heart of the human race is awakening to its need for a world-wide peace and unity, founded upon a social order whose keynote is absolute justice from all to all; this need of the age only to be satisfied by that which will appeal and apply to the good men and women of all nations, races and religions.”
We read, we hear these words. They draw a keen response from every thinking human being, whether scientist, materialist or religionist! The world is hungering for a more exalted conception of life, put into deeds. A new civilization is forming out of the present chaos—and, indeed, because of it! The world-wide vortex of troubles, through the lack of the true, fundamental understanding of progress, is the cause of the great urge of humankind to search for a permanent cure; for some remedy for the sickness of the present age. From all quarters of the globe we hear of this search through formations of groups of investigators and of thoughtful people. The essential foundation of such groups, trends ceaselessly toward the international, the universal solution. Some form of world democracy is the goal of these various and varied communities of thought. The new age is to be based upon that which will be productive of world peace. Such a progress must be cooperative in character, protecting the interests upon every plane of every human being, to bring individual peace to all. Involved in this new ideal there must always be the employer and the employed; always the educator and the one educated; always the activities of life must exist. Also, in the present ideals, there must be equality of education; there must be scientifically established an international auxiliary language to be acquired by every person; there must be included in the new education the highest intellectual, moral and spiritual developments; there must be established the equality between men and women; there must be liberation from every form of prejudice—racial, national, religious; there must be the recognition of science as “the hand maid of religion”; there must be established an international court of arbitration, far above politics, in which every existing nation, great and small shall have its just participation, a council of the nations. which will make war against war.
This world is but the spiritual kindergarten in the life of the race, and we must make good our world work just this nobly, if we are to be lifted out of the present gloom in which we are submerged.
True and permanent progress cannot be made through force. This has for ages been tried in vain. Not revolution, but evolution, must be the slogan of this age. Intellectual law will never fully establish present world ideals of progress, for mental concepts are limited largely to material civilization, and cannot eradicate the complex disturbances between nations and peoples.
There must be a Spiritual Wave to
assuage the thirst of the hearts of humanity, sensitizing all to the higher Divine Law. This will create the ultimate foundation which, instead of dividing, will lift the denizens of this world to the standard of that reality which will forever discard all that separates! For separateness belongs to impermanent phases of material civilization, while the effulgence of and from God, shining in the hearts, burns away every barrier in that universal, divine establishment which will make of this world another world and convey enduring happiness to all of humankind. It must be the institution of the Kingdom of God upon earth, that Kingdom means unselfish love! This is true “Religion” for religion is one. It cannot be made a plurality. It is not capable of being divided!
One has said, “Fellowship is the cause of unity, and unity is the source of order in the world. Blessed are those who are kind and serve with love.”
Nothing less will bring about the Most Great Peace. Nothing less is the sane solution. This is the only path to Progress.
IS there a child whose mind has not been impressed by the story in Genesis of the Tower of Babel? When we read of the children of Noah arrogantly building for themselves a Tower whose spirit should reach to Heaven, and when we read of the wrath of God confusing their speech and nullifying all their impious efforts, were we not impressed with the justice, almost the obviousness, of the punishment meted out to the sons of Noah?
Whether or not the story is a myth or a fable does not matter in the slightest; the fact remains that it is a parable applicable to all the activities of mankind since history, as we know it, began. History is a long and pitiful record of Man’s doing what he could; true Progress would be an inspiring record of Man’s doing what he should.
The great stretch of country between the Nile and the Indus is considered to be the cradle of the human race, or at least of that portion of the human race which spread westward and today dominates the world and its activities. And this same stretch of country is to-day a land of ruin, desert and decay, yielding little more than the record of Kingdoms, Empires and Principalities gone forever, of Pomp and Power evaporated into thin air, and of Personages and Monuments returned to the dust from whence they came. Birth, growth and decay from these records would seem as inevitable in the affairs of nations and empires as we know it to be in the matter of our human tenement, the body.
In what way are we wiser than our remote ancestors? What have we done, or what are we doing, to profit by the innumerable examples left to us by those who lived and erred during countless generations before us? Have we not Towers of Babel of our own contriving? Are we not treading the same old circular path of futility and destruction?
We talk glibly of progress and bettered conditions with one breath, and bemoan the existing state of sociological unrest with the next. We still have with us War, Revolution and Industrial Problems; the uttermost bounds of history show us exactly these same factors in the oft-repeated process of disintegration, resulting in oblivion. Our security is no more demonstrable than that of the Babylonians
in their pride and power, because we still are faced with the problems which left Babylon nothing but a name, and we still pin our faith to the same shibboleths.
The modern workman who enjoys the facilities of electric lighting, the telephone, a bathroom of his own, and ease of transportation (perhaps in the shape of a personally-owned motor car of modest proportions) lives in a state of physical comfort beyond the wildest imaginings of the greatest potentates of antiquity. But, hand in hand with comfort or physical ease has gone a multiplicity of what we have been content to call problems, and history teaches us that these same problems are not to be solved by violence.
In this present age, when in the matter of ease of communication the whole civilized world is as much an entity as were the Grecian States, mankind is beginning to realize that unity is not so much a philosophic ideal as a vital necessity if the species is to continue. And no thinker can avoid the conclusion that inevitably and infallibly there must come about a change of heart. There is little speculation about this; it is all very much more obvious now than it was a short twelve years ago, and should the world again be visited by such an unutterable calamity as blasted it from 1914 to 1918, the obviousness of the need of a change of heart would be still more apparent (perhaps convincingly so) to the haggard survivors.
What stands between man and his change of heart are his Towers of Babel. They lead him not to Heaven, but, exactly as in the days of antiquity, keep him further from it. But, also as in the days of antiquity, man is proud of his Towers of Babel and bends his best efforts in their construction, although in these present times his belief in their efficacy is becoming shaken. He is gradually becoming aware that he must either utilize his towers for a better purpose or see them go tumbling into ruins by Hate and Discord.
The aim and glorious purpose of the Bahá’í Cause is the unity of man. Nothing less worthy is discernible in the teachings or possible as the result of adherence to them, and if the question be asked, “What are our Towers of Babel?” the answer is “Anything and everything that obstructs the fulfillment of any one of the great principles on which this pure and divine cause of Universal Brotherhood is based.”
Man will, as heretofore, lose his Towers of Babel;—but in the light of this great Message he can decide, while there is yet time, when and how.
“In this century of illumination, hearts are inclined toward agreement and fellowship, and minds are thoughtful upon the question of the unification of mankind. There is an emanation of the universal consciousness today which clearly indicates the dawn of a great unity. . . . What incalculable benefits and blessings would descend upon the great human family if unity and brotherhood were established!”
“A LAND of wild spaces, of blue mountains which are purple in the dawn and rose red when the swift southern evening is falling, a land of promise and of rich fulfilment; a land of clear skies, of flower-strewn stretches, of forest, of open veld, green vineyards, and rich orchards of grim grey, rocks, too, of wild winds."—(Dorothea Fairbridge.)
Cape Town on the Peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa is called The Tavern of the Seas. Travelers from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans foregather here. The sea voyage to South Africa is the fair weather voyage of the World. Situated five weeks by boat from New York and seventeen days from London, its silent mountains, called Table Mountain and Lion’s Head and the Twelve Apostles, lift up a majestic welcome. The Kopjes, the spacious veldt in the distance, the wonderful sunsets and clear silent nights, the glorious morning sunshine and the intense white heat of the noon-day all allure the world traveler in search of health and pleasure.
The historic associations of this Cape Peninsula may be insignificant compared to Rome, the mountains small beside the Alps, the society less distinguished than that of Egypt in winter, the functions less brilliant than on the Riviera. But Rome has not the climate, Switzerland the Southern luxuriance, Egypt the mountains, or the Riviera the romantic past of this Cape Peninsula. The scenery, climate, social and historic attractions of Cape Town taken singly may be surpassed, but taken together they form a charm which is unlike anything in any other city in the world. There is also nothing like it elsewhere in South Africa, nothing so vividly beautiful in itself or so unimpaired by climate.
Cape Town, this Mother City, is famous for its flower markets. The natives roam over the mountains and gather the wonderful wild flowers, bringing them each morning to the curbs in Adderley Street. It is said that in an area smaller than the Isle of Wight there are two hundred more species of flowers than in the whole of England. The variety and the vivid beauty of the orchids and heaths make one wish never to miss the walk past the flower stalls.
Cape Town is noted for its drives too. The principal of these is along the circular mountain road, skirting the sea, from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope, a distance of one hundred and ten miles for the round trip. In the course of this ride one travels along the edge of the Atlantic, and then along the edge of the Indian Ocean, in surroundings more unique and impressive, probably, than will be found anywhere else in a similar area. Indeed, many travelers acquainted with the world show-places have declared this is the finest of all marine drives.
Do you remember your history of Cape Town? Do you recall that when the “Grand Trade” of the World went round the Cape of Good Hope, before the Suez and Panama Canals were constructed. Table Mountain was the principal sign-post on this, earth’s greatest highway? At its foot in Table Bay, the voyagers, after three months at sea, went ashore with delight. Whatever their nationality, or the extent of their travels, few writing from the Cape in those days omitted to record their admiration for the beauty of the flora, the charm of the mountain setting, the climate, and the attractiveness of life here.
Cape Town was then the worlds halfway house, a remote outpost of civilization
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Adderly Street, the Principal Street in Cape Town
and hospitality. To-day it is one of the world’s fairest cities. In profile Cape Town is not unlike Naples.
As the South African Railway and Harbours’ authorities emphasize properly to appreciate South Africa—what it stands for and may develop into—one should know something of Africa as a whole. Africa was the last continent to be explored, but the first to figure in history. Nine-tenths of it has no authentic record, and until modern times was little affected by civilizing influences. But the tenth part, the Northern fringe of the Continent,—what other portion of the world has so diverse and so wonderful a past! This was the Africa of Hannibal, all-conquering in its day; the monumental Africa of the Pharaohs, socially and architecturally spectacular beyond anything before or since; the Africa of the Ptolemies, boasting a rule almost modern in its enlightenment; the literary brilliant Africa at Augustine; the Africa of Anthony and Cleopatra, steeped in romance.
But even in that Northern area, the ancient grandeur is gone, solitude and decay have taken its place. The very languages in which its history is recorded, the illustrious civilizations of old, are dead. Carthage. “To which three hundred cities paid homage,” has been wiped from the face of the Earth. Thebes, the hundred-gated, is fallen. Alexandria, that seat of ancient learning and luxury,—how different its world status to-day! The Africans of old—orators, legislators. soldiers—who, Othello-like, gave lustre to the society of even Greece and Rome, have gone to their rest and left no successors. In the march of civilization Africa somehow lost step, and from the van fell to the rear.
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Cape Town from the Pier, Showing Table Mountain and Lion's Head
Though known through the ages, Africa is to-day really less known than the more modern discoveries, North America and Australia.
Even in Asia, successive tides of invasion have left their mark on the manners, habits, laws, beliefs and complexions of the people. In Africa, invasion, whether Phoenician or Greek, Roman or Persian, established regimes splendid in their day, but they did not last. Instead of setting their stamp on Africa, slowly but surely it set its stamp upon them. They were absorbed, they have left no clearly recognizable descendants, their works lie buried in ruin. and Africa is again much as originally it was, a Continent with problems and possibilities still almost virgin.
Though the second in size and in possibilities, perhaps the largest of the Continents, Africa has contributed much towards the edification but little to the support of mankind. Though fruitable with large areas under the best of climates, it has on the whole proved impervious to colonization. This will not always be so. Already more than one-half of the gold of the world comes from South Africa.
The population of South Africa is nine million natives and one and one-half million whites. The English and the Dutch have their problems with each other. The “coloured” (by that term they mean mixed blood) and the native each presents a problem. Prejudices between the white races and between the white and blacks and between the white and the orientals, prejudices also in religions, in politics, in economic questions are in the noon-day of their strength.
The writer, when talking to one of the women editors of the Cape Town
papers, said: “What is your solution for all these big problems of your South Africa?” She replied: “I don't know unless maybe it is this Bahá’í world religion with its basic principles you are lecturing so much about. I don't think anything else will ever solve them.”
That is it! The Teaching of Bahá’u’lláh, World Educator, IS the only power that will make South Africa the Garden of God, a reflection of that Kingdom of Heaven which the people for two thousand years have been praying might come upon the Earth. The true reason why this beautiful continent of South Africa, once in the advance guard of civilization, is now at the rear is because her people have not had a Divine Messenger since the days of Enoch. She needs the dynamic impulse of a great World Teacher in this day—and Bahá’u’lláh has come with his Universal Message to the whole world.
South Africa has had this soil prepared for some pure spiritual seeds. 'Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Bahá’u’lláh, saw Mr. F. of Cape Town when the two were in New York. Mr. F. is famous in his study of color. ’Abdu’l-Bahá corroborated his colour principles and told him new laws of colour.
’Abdu’l-Bahá also asked him regarding the life and conditions of the people of South Africa. He told him that when the two great races—the English and the Dutch—threw aside their hatreds and prejudices, and began to live in peace, love and amity, and worked in full cooperation, then would a great development take place.
A sweet spirited Bahá’í in Cape Town is Mrs. H., who was formerly Miss B. She saw ’Abdu’l-Bahá several years ago in a vision and glimpsed His Teaching cosmically. Then when she heard ’Abdu’l-Bahá was in London she sent him flowers (Chincherinchees from this far away Cape Town). He received them in perfect condition and sent her a bouquet of His Spirit: “Convey to her my spiritual greeting. Announce to her my loving kindness. I will pray for her that God may surround her with His Confirmations and Assistance and the means of happiness and well-being be prepared for her.”
Mr. and Mrs. C. heard of the Message from an American and started Bahá’í meetings.
Sir Frederick S., former mayor of Cape Town, helped the meetings in every way during the writer's visit.
The first Bahá’í Teacher to come to South Africa has been Miss Fanny Knobloch of Washington, D. C. Moffatt, David Livingstone, Cecil Rhodes made great contributions to this fair land of South Africa, but Fanny Knobloch is doing a work equally important. Had all these pioneers stayed quietly at home in ease in their own countries, would not South Africa have been indeed the “Darkest Africa,” notwithstanding her brilliant physical atmosphere and her vitalizing breezes!
Miss Knobloch came in 1920 and for one year gave the Bahá’í Message up and down South Africa. Then after two years she came back, in 1923, to settle here for life. She has that same spiritual ideal and faith which in those far remote ages sent Abraham from his fathers; he went forth! So has she. Spiritual movements are great, perhaps not in appearance or in inception, but great in the possibilities initiated. Miss Knobloch’s life will not be measured by what she begins and actually accomplishes in South Africa—beautiful as that already is—but her career, and in truth all humanity’s career, must be tested by what that life has made possible for the future to achieve.
’Abdu’l-Bahá's vision for South Africa is like that of the eagle soaring far above the mists and clouds of this fair land. He, like the earlier Moses, is leading his people to the brink of this New Promised Land. Now from the loftiest pinnacle of another Nebo, He is telling the people: “To the North, to the North, there is your Promised Land!"
The people of South Africa are catching these vast visions of the Bahá’í Cause.
HEAD and shoulders above all efforts to establish world-peace is the power of the Bahá’í Movement. For over seventy years the idea of Universal Peace has emanated from the Bahá’í Movement.
"Bahá’í” means “light.” The Bahá’í Movement brings to light and illumines the ideals of the world. It is like a great searchlight that towers from the middle of the ocean and sweeping the shores from coast to coast reveals the identity, the usefulness, the beauty of all the numerous streams that contribute their different waters to the ocean of progress.
The contact and unity between all parts of creation comes to life under the love-searching eyes of the Bahá’í Movement. The Bahá’í viewpoint discovers the “beauty in diversity.” It becomes aware of the fundamental harmony that underlies all creation. It recognizes all efforts for progress as worthwhile and necessary. A sincere student of the Bahá’í Teachings searches for the Beauty of God in the face of every human being. He sees the world as an exquisite flower garden,—each race,—the red, the brown, the yellow, the white, the black; each nationality,—the French, the English, the German, the Italian, etc.—as being representative of the different species of flowers in the garden of life. While the individual members of the human race stand for the single flowers of each specie.
The Bahá’í Movement sees all the people in the world as brothers and sisters, the children of One Divine Creator, who is seeking to express, through His Creation, the Perfections of a Supreme Intelligence. The Bahá’í Movement destroys only to make room for expansion. Its only warfare is on ignorance, prejudice and difference.
It may be interesting to consider the Bahá’í Movement from an analytical standpoint, and find out how it produces its results—for you know it does produce results.
People of different races, various nations, antagonistic religious faiths, people who have been at sword’s point before they understood the Bahá’í Teachings, later become the best of friends. The very strength and variety of diversity seems to enhance the beauty of union, seems to make the mutual understanding established more permanent and full of meaning.
For example, during his forty years’ imprisonment in the penal colony of Aqá, Palestine, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of this World-Wide Movement for Universal Peace, received visits from people from all over the world. Jews and Christians, Muhammadans and Buddhists, Parsees and Hindus, Zoroastrians and Confuscianists sat side by side at his table, in perfect harmony and agreement.
When we consider the radical antagonism that has existed between these religionists for centuries we wonder how such a thing is possible.
Roy C. Wilhelm of New York City has told of his experience when visiting the Temple at Jerusalem about the year 1900. The church is divided into sections for the different religionists to come to worship. The day Mr. Welhelm was there a sect of Muhammadans and a group of Jews were attending church. The floor was slippery with blood as a result of their meeting. Mr. Wilhelm was informed that these religionists always used to go to church armed, and that actual combat usually resulted.
Another story that Mr. Welhelm tells is of seeing a Muhammadan picnic. As he drew near he saw one of the picnickers draw a piece of fish from the inside of his filthy blouse and begin to eat it. At just about that moment Mr. Wilhelm passed between the picnickers and the sun. His
shadow fell upon some of the food. Immediately great excitement ensued, the food was hurriedly thrown away as unclean—because the shadow of a Christian had polluted it.
It was in the very land of such antagonistic fanaticism as this that Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Movement, and ’Abdu’l-Bahá, His son and Servant, effected the miraculous union of divergent human elements that I have described. Persians, Indians and Turks mingled with Englishmen, Frenchmen and Germans; Chinese, Africans and Americans sat side by side at his table.
This world movement for peace is so universal, so all-inclusive, that every race, every religion, every human individual, can find in it a remedy for differences.
The secret of this accomplishment is very simple and very wonderful. It can be expressed by one magic word, “contact.” A true Bahá’í seeks the subtle “point of contact” with every race, with every nationality, with every religion, with every individual. He recognizes no divisions, he refuses to discuss differences. If a man has ten good qualities and one bad one, a Bahá’í student thinks and talks of the ten good qualities and forgets the one bad one. And if a man has ten bad qualities and only one good one, a true Bahá’í strives to bring into greater activity that one perfect quality. Ignorance, prejudice and difference lose their identity in the atmosphere of the Bahá’í teachings.
If a Bahá’í Student discusses religion with a Protestant, a Catholic, a Jew, a Muhammadan, a Buddhist, a Zoarastrian, with any religionist in fact, he talks of four main points:
1. The fatherhood of God.
2. The brotherhood of man.
3. Love.
4. Service to humanity.
All religions teach the law of love, all religionists believe in One Supreme Creator, and all religions teach the Golden Rule of service.
A student of the Bahá’í Movement searches for points of contact, and using CONSTRUCTIVE CONTACT as a base, he builds on this foundation a structure of friendship, cooperation, harmony and mutual understanding that is slowly but surely establishing the Kingdom of God on earth, and peace in the hearts of men.
“If one looks for praiseworthy results and wishes to produce eternal effects, let him make an exceeding effort that Green Acre may become an Assemblage of the Word of God, and a gathering place for the spiritual ones of the heavenly World.” . . . “Every year a number of the beloved ones and maid-servants of the Merciful must go to Green Acre and raise the divine call there. The more who go, the better!”
IN the heart of the jungle, some forty or fifty miles from Rangoon, lies a little Burmese village—Kunjangun. Of so little importance is it to natives and Europeans alike that no one seems to have heard of it, and yet one feels confident to say that this small corner of Burma holds so dynamic a force that before long it must make itself felt at a great distance.
This dynamo of spirit is created by eight hundred Bahá’ís living and working as a unit—a thing thrilling to the heart
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Jinabi Mustafa, the selfless server, who brought the Light to Kunjangun; the American visitors, Mrs. Haggerty, Mrs. Cook and daughters and a group of villagers
and imagination. Picture this, if you can, in a country so steeped in the religious superstitions of the past, and whose people in this quarter still remain so primitive, that it would appear almost futile to even carry the great Bahá’í Message of this age to them. To see this is to behold a miracle—for has not ’Abdu’l-Bahá called it His village?
Seventeen years ago the first seed was planted by Jinabi Syed Mustafa Roumie, that selfless servant of ’Abdu'l-Bahá, who has seen this wonderful work grow through submitting himself entirely to the Master and reflecting His love to these people.
It is worth while to repeat the story as it was heard, of how the first step was taken, for it shows that if the desire be strong enough to serve the Cause—in no matter how small a degree—we can make no estimate of its ultimate goal.
One day in the streets of Rangoon a man from the jungle was seen running breathlessly along, looking utterly desperate and at the point of exhaustion. A
Bahá’í happened to be passing at this moment and was attentive at once to this poor man's condition. Asking if he might help, and to hear something of the cause of his distress, he was told that the man was in search of a legal adviser and had come in a great hurry to the city—only to find himself at an utter loss.
The jungle-man had been accused of a criminal offense by his sister-in-law, in a passion of jealousy, and shortly afterward convicted by the magistrate, who had received a bribe of two hundred rupees
from the sister-in-law. The Bahá’í said that he would lead the man to one who would advise him (Syed Mustafa) and help in any way possible.
On hearing the story Syed Mustafa said that he knew this magistrate and they would return together at once to the jungle. By chance on the river-boat they met the magistrate, who was indebted to Syed Mustafa for past favors, and when asked why he had convicted this man he said: “But the courts are at your disposal, do with them as you will.” Syed Mustafa assured him that only justice was desired and that he himself would plead this man’s case at another trial. This was done and the accused one freed.
After that several families of Kunjangun came to the city at various times, and were always entertained by Syed Mustafa. For two years he was at this service, never during this time mentioning the Cause. Finally they asked why he took so much trouble for them, saying that they had never met anyone like this before. Then he told them that he was a Bahá’í, and they asked to be taught, so that they might become as he was.
There were ten to be taught at first—and these ten instructed others, and so on. Syed Mustafa visited them regularly and helped with all their affairs. A school was started, then a Mashriqu’l-Adhkar, and later ground was given them for community cultivation—the proceeds to be used for the Cause. There are sixty-five acres in all and last year the rice sold for this netted almost one hundred pounds sterling.
We had a great desire to see this Bahá’í village and decided to make the trip, in spite of all the discouragement we received from the English residents of Rangoon. They told us of all the hardships of the trip, which must be made in one day, and assured us that we probably would not return from the jungle alive and they knew nothing of the Bahá’ís and thought we were a lot of quite mad Americans bent on sight-seeing.
Syed Mustafa sent a man to Kunjangun a day ahead of us bearing food, cooking utensils, etc., as these friends are unprepared for visitors or to do our sort of cooking.
We were up before daybreak and on the river by sunrise. The life of the East begins early, so already the little ferry was crowded with natives taking the river journey. They made a picturesque group-squatting amongst their gaily colored robes that rival the sunrise in crimson and blues.
In our tiny, first-class compartment there were already two men, a Burman and an American missionary who had been in the East twenty-one years. Syed Mustafa lost no time in giving them the Bahá’í Message, and we wondered how he had contained himself for two years when getting to know and understand the people of Kunjangun!
Mr. Jones, the missionary, was to meet a co-worker at our stop, Twante, and then proceed to another village by the same boat. But we think ’Abdu’l-Bahá had this trip in hand, and other things had been planned for this day.
When we landed, the second missionary (Mr. Spear) rushed on board and told Mr. Jones that plans had changed and they were both to go to Kunjangun. We had met Mr. Spear in one of the shops a few days before, and when he saw us in this out-of-the-way place his amazement was ridiculous. “What,” he said, “are you American ladies doing in this jungle place—it is too curious!”
We asked them to follow in their car and have luncheon with us and see our eight hundred Bahá’ís—a still more unexpected sight.
We were met in a Ford car by two of the friends and driven to the village—twenty-six miles away. What a marvelous sight to see all our Bahá’í sisters and brothers awaiting us, dressed in holiday attire of most colorful materials. Lined up on both sides of the road as we approached, their joyous welcome of “Allah-o-Abha” rang forth. Such shining faces and eager curiosity combined would be difficult to picture.
There were four in our party, and before
this the only Western Bahá’í they had ever seen was Mrs. Schopflocher. Everyone seemed anxious to be of some service to us, the only one for the moment being to reach for our wraps and parasols. They led us to the school-house (of course, this was a holiday for the one hundred and fourteen children who attend), and grouped themselves about us on the floor—the men and old Bahá’ís taking precedence in front and the women and children in the rear. Then they sang Bahá’í hymns to welcome us—taught them in Persian by Syetl Mustafa. The rafters sang with the pure joy afloat; and where the chorus was caught up by all the men one could almost see the volume of sound floating through the open doors, on through the sun-baked air to the nearby houses—just as one sees heat vibrations. Or was it just the tumult of my heart, and the mist in my eyes, that made the air seem vibrant?
Mr. Jones and his friend arrived in time for luncheon and seemed astonished to find things just as we had pictured them. They could not believe until they saw it themselves that this work had been accomplished right in their territory—where years of effort had brought them so little reward by comparison. They appeared to be as interested in taking snapshots of the group as we did, but for what purpose they did not say. However, they left with promises to come again and give talks to our friends, which will be most useful, as the Bahá’ís are diligently studying the Bible.
After luncheon we were shown the village proper—which boasts a court, jail and hospital. Most astonishing of all in this progressive community, they have now a jitney service of Ford cars between Kunjangun and Twante, twenty-six miles distant. One cannot imagine what this must mean to the villagers, who have had heretofore bullock carts as their only means of transportation.
Then we made our farewells and left, with regret, for the long trip home. It had been made possible to remain this long only by the generous loan of a private steam launch by one of the Bahá’ís of Rangoon, as the last ferry left Twante long before our arrival there.
Mingled with our joy of this day was an undercurrent of sadness which came as we talked to Syed Mustafa. on the homeward trip. To quote his words as nearly as possible will give the best idea: “I am an old man now and who will carry on my work? Any day I may be called and who will educate these beautiful children? It breaks my heart to come and see them and to be able to do so little—we need teachers and money to help them now. When you leave don’t forget my people of Kunjangun.”
And who, having seen Kunjangun, could forget it!
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ARBITRATION is becoming the advanced practice of this age. Besides saving time and money, it preserves contractural relations. And, what is better, it maintains the friendly spirit by aiming to reach the point of absolute justice for the weak as well as for the strong. There are now eight organizations in the United States for the promotion of arbitration.
The Arbitration Society of America is a national organization which devotes its, whole time to this cause. Its officers and members comprise many of the leading men of the country—bankers, merchants, transportation officials, judges, lawyers, etc., who give liberally of their time and energy for the promotion of this high principle. . . .
It is believed that the Green Coffee Trade is the first, or among the first, to generally adopt this wise means for the settlement of trade differences. Contracts based upon arbitration have been in effect since 1857, and there is even ground for belief that they were in use prior to 1850.
The recent passage of the Federal Arbitration Law, signed by President Coolidge February 12th, to become effective January 1st, 1926, may prove to be of inestimable benefit, as it is the first law applicable alike to interstate and international contracts.
If, therefore, arbitration, a friendly means of adjudication, can be so successfully employed by a single trade it could be extended to all trades. Not only is this true of commercial affairs in this country, but with time it could be extended to all countries, even to international relations, so that gradually misunderstandings could be replaced by a friendly sense of, fairness which eventually would bring about, both commercially and politically, understanding, friendsihp and world cooperation.—(R. C. Wilhelm in The Spice Mill for May.)
"AT THIS PERIOD in the world's history can any mother—can any woman realizing her potential motherhood—look out on the world without being possessed by an overwhelming sense of pity and yearning to gather up all the suffering, sorrowful, bereaved war-worn peoples of the earth in the arms of an enveloping motherhood to soothe away all their fears of one another and of an unknown future, even as the childish fears and griefs of our little ones in the nursery are quieted into peace and confidence?
“And that is just what we have to do, dear sisters of all lands.
“How can we of the I. C. W. give effect to the longing which possesses us to mother the world into peace and confidence?
“WE are debarred by our constitution from interfering with controversial questions of a political and religious nature affecting the relations between two or more countries.
“And in that prohibition lies our truest strength, for it forces us to go back to the root of things—and to realize that our special powers as women, as mothers, teachers, heads of households, lies in the formation of that public opinion in favor of mutual aid and international cooperation based on fuller knowledge and intercourse between the nations and their component parts. It is in our power to seek this knowledge and intercourse ourselves, to promote it amongst the children, amongst the students, between the homes, and we have a great instrument for fostering all this intercourse and good-will in our international and national councils and the societies of which they are composed.” (Lady Aberdeen in her address at the Quinquennial Convention, International Council of Women, Washington, D. C.)
