Plain Truth 1970 (Prelim No 06-07) Jun-Jul_w

7/28/2019 Plain Truth 1970 (Prelim No 06-07) Jun-Jul_w

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t;Iuz,P l A ~ N l ~ U l ~a mag a z in e o f under s tanding

Ju ne-July, 1970VOL. XXXV NO. 6-7

Leonard K. H .,G reat Lakes, Ill.

Mrs. G . 5.,Park Ridge, N . J.

ED ITORHERBERT W . ARMSTRONGEXECUTIVE EDITORGarner Ted ArmstrongSENIO R EDITORSHerman L. HoehRoderick C. Meredith

MANAG ING EDITORAr thur A. FerdigAssociate EditorsWilliam Dankenbring Gene H. HogbergVern L. Farrow Paul W , KrollDavid Jon Hill Eugene M. Wal ter

Regional Edi tors: U. K.: Raymond P. McNair;Aust. : C. \'{I'ayne Cole: S. Africa: Ro bert E.Fah ey ; Germany: Frank Schnee: Philippines:Arthur Docken; Sw itze rland: Co lin Wilk ins:Latin America: Enrique Ruiz.Con tributing Ed itors: Gary L. Alexander. DibarK. Apar tian , Robert C. Borake r, Charles V.Doroth y. Jack R. Elliott, Gunar Freibergs, Robcrt E. Genter, Ernest L. Martin. Gerhard O.Marx. L. Leroy Neff , Richard F. Plache. Richa rd H. Sed tiacik , Lynn E. Torrance, Basil\{I'olverton, Cl int C. Zimmerman.James W. Robinson . Copy EditorTerry \'(larren.A rt Edi torResearch Staff: Dexter H. Faulkner. Donald D.Schroede r. Coord inators; Karl Karlov, Paul O.Kn edel, Clifford Marcussen . Dav id Price . Rodney A. Repp , W. R. Whikehart.Ph otography: Norm an A. Smith, Director;Joseph Clayton. Assistant Director; Lyle Chrs-toph erson, Howard A. Clark. Frank Clarke.David Conn , Jerry J. Gentry. Ian Henderson .John G. Kilburn . Salam I. Maidani,Al'l D epartmen t: Ted Herlnfson, Director; Donaid R. Faast, Thomas Haworth , Roy Lepeska,William S. Schuler, John Sus co, Ronald Taylor,Herbert A. Vierra, Ir., Monte Wolverton. RobbWoods.

Albert J. Portune, Busin ess A/atlagel'Circulation M ,magerJ: U. S.A.: John H. Wilson ; U. K.: Charles F. Hunting; Canada : DeanWilson ; Austra lia: Gene R. Hugh es; Philip rines : Guy L. Am es; South Alrica: Gordon R.I'erblanche: Latin America: Louis Gutie rrez.YOUR SUB SCRIPTION has been paid byothers. Bulk copies lor distribution not given orso ld.ADDRESS COMMUNICATIONS to the Ed itor at thenearest address below :United States: P. O. Box I l l . Pasadena . Californ ia 91109.Canada: P. O. Box 44, Station A. VancouverI , B. C.Mexi co: Institucion Ambassador, ApartadoPosul 5-595 , Mexico 5, D. F.Unit ed Ki ngdom and Europe: P. O. Box 111,St. Albans, Herts., England.Soutb A frica: P. O. Box 1060 . Johannesburg.Aldtralia : P. O. Box 345, North Sydney, NSW2060, Australia.N ew Z ea la nd a nd S01l1he1li1 A sia: 'P. O. Box2709. Au ckland 1. New Zea land.T he Philippi lJ


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In This Issue:What Our Readers

Say Inside Front CoverPersonal from the Editor . . . .

Ambassador Coll eg e Photo

Advance News 15

1970 - a Year of Disaster . . 21

2

OU R COVERDanish freigh ter SINALOA unl oading W estern European goods at thePor t of Los Angeles. In the background is the Japanese ship KINKASAN MARU.Trade re lations between the UnitedStates and Japan are worsening asthe U. S. faces a crisis over imports .Foreign confidence in the doll a r andthe inflation-ridden American economy is fad ing. You need to und erstan d the cris is that is shaping up inwo rld trade. Read the art ic le beginning on page 2.

Radio Log . . . . . 45TV Log 42

What YOU Can Do 33Our Environmental Crisis . . . . 29

At Las t -the Missing Link - Found 35

Sick Soi l - a Basic Causeof Poor Health 9

The Solution to a No Deposit,No Return Society . . . . . . . . 24

The Ba tt le forEconomic Surv ival

The Family that Eats Togeth erStays Together 17

"You could also purchase 2 loaves ofbread, 4 quarts of milk, and a dozeneggs. This would leave you with 2 centsfor candy.

"In 1968, the $5 bought you just 2pounds and 13 ounces of round steakand 2 pounds of cheese. And nothingleft over."The good old days?"In 1913 it took a factory worker

more than 22 hours to earn those fivedollars. Last year he had only to work 1hour and 40 minutes" (Christiall ScienceMonitor, Nov. 5, 1969 ).Remember the "mill"? I don' t mean

a flour mill or paper mill. A "mill" wasa United States coin - a tenth of apenny. A copper 1 piece was a prettyrespectable coin in those days. Yet Isuppose most people today never heardof the "mill."A dollar today is worth less than 8

was when I was a boy.Yet, believe it or not - incrediblethough it sounds - I'm going to tell

you the amazing story of how - andwhere - a single dollar today goesFARTHER than the 1902 dollar !Many people write me asking : "H ow

can you publi sh and mail out such ahigh-class quality magazine as Th ePLAIN TRUTH, without any advertisingrevenue, and not charge the subscriber asubscription price?

Well, a part of the answer to thatquestion is found in this amazing storyof how - and where - a single dollartoday goes farther than the 1902 dollar!

It is the story of the founding, andthe growth, of this magazine and theworldwide opera tions now associatedwith it.Most of our readers know that I had

chosen journalism and advertising as alife profession. My uncle, Frank Armstrong, younger brother of my father,was then the leading advertising man in

( Continued on page 47 )

W HEN I WAS a boy, age 12,10 worth of steak fed ourfamily of six. How well Iremember my mother saying, "Go tothe meat shop and get a dime's worthof round-steak. An d tell the butcherto put in plenty of suet."Of course that didn't, even then, pro

vide a 12-ounce steak for each person.But it did provide a small piece of meatfor each of us, plus plenty of gravy forthe potatoes. In 1900, round steak was13 per pound. In 1970, it is $1.25and more.Remember when milk was 5 per

quart in cities? Remember when youcould enjoy lunch at the lunch counterfor 15 ?Remember when you could buy a pair

of men's shoes - high top coveringankles at that - for $1.50 to $1.95?Boy's shoes, $1.15 to $1.60? (Everymother pay attention l) Men's all-woolsuits, $4 .50 and 0$5? Men's stiff Der byhats, $1.50, $2., 0$2 .25?

When I travelled over the UnitedStates as the "Idea Man" in the editorial department of America's largesttrade journal, 1912-1914, hotel roomswere 50 to $1.50. The same graderooms today would be $11 to $35. Iremember, earlier as a boy, when 50was the price of a complete luncheon ordinner at leading hotels and the mostexpensive restaurants, in many cities. Thesame lunch or dinner today would cost$7 to $10."What's happened through the years

to the purchasing power of the dollar?"The Labor Depar tment's New Hand

book of Labor Statistics cites thisexample:

" In 1913, $5 bougbt: 3 pounds ofround steak, pIllS 2 of cheese, 10 offlour, 3 of rice, 5 of chuck roast, 2 ofbacon, 1 of butter, 15 of potatoes, 5 ofsugar, and 1 of coffee - just as astarter.


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by Gene H. Hogberg and Ga rner Ted A rmst rong

Beset by crime, campus riots, strikes, inflation , recession ,and the agony of nine years of Vietnam , most Americansare utterly unaware of a global battle now under wayw hich they could be losing by default.

W ith in and w ~ t h o u t , thesome American economy ISfacing serious challenges.Internally, the "inflationary recession"

continues - a lthough leading economists assure us that the recession is s ti llrelatively mild and will not developinto a major downturn. Measures tocombat inflation, they say, are finallybeginning to take hold .

Externally, foreign bankers and economists are expressing doubts aboutAmerica's economic fu ture. Contin uedinflation and balance-of-payments deficits, year after year, are eroding confidence in the power of the dollar asthe pivotal international currency.

To some worried West Europeans,

the major U. S. "export" today is inflation - and an inflationary psychology .

W here is the Un ited States going or d rifting? Americans don' t know.Foreigners don't know. Said one European delegate to a recent Organizationfor Economic Cooperation and Developmen t mee ting :

"Frankly, we don 't know where theU. S. is heading. . . . They [governmental leaders] haven't done what hadto be done when it had to be done, andthe situation has been dragging for along time."

And Now - Trade WarOn top of all th is is the growing

threat of worldwide trade war.

'In fact, the first warning shots of avast, three-cornered trade battle havealready been fired . The trouble is, fewhave heard the volley of shots.

Charges and countercharges of pro-tectionism, discrimination and bad faithare hurtling back and forth across boththe Atlantic and the Pacific.

The United States is growing increasingly impatient with Japanese restrictions on U. S. investments, and CommonMarket barriers to profitable U. S. farmexports. In turn, officials in Tokyo andBrussels (Common Market headquar-ters) warn of severe reprisals ifWashington attempts, through newlaws, to curb the rising tide of import sinto the Uni ted States.

Sin ce early 1955, The PLAIN TRUTHhas repeatedly warned of the specter ofworldwide trade war. Backed up withfacts and predictions from leading newssources, we have showed time and againwhat was bound to happen to theUnited States and Great Britain if ourlargely apathetic peoples didn't face up


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to the growing challenge of economicsurvival.Now, lamentably, those predictionsare coming to pass.The United States is slowly but surely

pricing itself out of one internationalmarket after another. Inflation - clipping along now at a 6.2% annual rate- has robbed the country of its traditional export-aver-import surplus. Wagesettlements, far out of line with production increases, add to the growing crisisof U. S. trade.Abroad, former enemies, now chief

trade partners - Japan and Germany- continue their rapid industrial andeconomic growth. At the same time,they and other major trading nationsare alarmed by the continual lack ofeconomic discipline in the U. S. Theyare losing confidence in the ability ofthe world's leading banker nation tomanage its own affairs.

"Grand Design" Finished?Largely because of America's eco

nomic difficulties, the whole fabric of

international trade and economic cooperation, so carefully and painstakinglyworked out in Washington and otherleading world capitals, is threatenedwith dissolution.Ever since the conclusion of the Ken

nedy Round tariff talks in 1967, forexample, it has been fairly clear thatAmerican public opinion is turningincreasingly sour toward one chief tradeally - the European Common Market.But it was not always this way.On July 4, 1962, President John F.

Kennedy said:"We do not regard a strong andunited Europe as a rival but a partner . . . capable of playing a greater rolein the common defense, of respondingmore generously to the needs of poorernations, of joining with the UnitedStates and others in lowering trade barriers, resolving problems. of commerceand commodities and currency, anddeveloping coordinated policies in alleconomic and diplomatic areas. . . . TheUnited States will be ready for a declar-

Imports are flooding into theUnited States from Japan andWestern Europe, left, while Americans fight among themselves inwhat has been cal led "The Yearof the St rike." Ruhr, above right,symbolizes Europe's prosper ityand economic stability.

Top Lelt 10 Right, Sony Corp.,Ambassador College Photo,Wide World, Wolter Moog

ation of interdependence . . . . We willbe prepared to discuss with a unitedEurope the ways and means of forminga concrete Atlantic partnership."That was eight years ago.Now, according to one trade expert

"The bloom is off the rose." The talk inofficial circles in the U. S. is more otrade war than partnership.Senator Jacob K. Javits (N.Y.), long

a leading exponent of free trade and achampion of close U. S. cooperationwith Europe, .expressed the new moodof pessimism succinctly in a recenspeech: "I regret that the EuropeanCommon Market is increasingly taking


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FEBRUARY.MARCH,

is so great aseonearly asph It -rate a dly of ren million, fBuilding here in la pan seems evenmore fe:veish, more j"' tn l_ dan in rbeRuhr In (;cormany, where post-war

growrh hu been SO pbencmenal.n d G ~ s are working here lilerally daya Olght-buildings bd ng consrracredeverywbere , old houses bdng ru ed

s e < : ~ 01 single-story shops .ndC"5 be:lOg moved back from the old

S U ~ t borders to accommodate [h ew idemng of ma.n arteries.Japan's post-war boom has been solarge rhar she now stands, b_iet'e it or

" 01, as ( he world's FOVRTH LARGESTINDUSTRIAL POWEll!Think of il!Wi th a complerely feudalist ic stlr eonly about yea. s in th(! paSt and the

; ~ ~ ~ Ih4mb/rl of ,Wor ld War JI bard yg on the horizon, Japan today hasreached the status of world indUStriapower number four!

Political D.nger in Jap,.n, In walking from a leading advenis109.gency comy bceel. I passed in frontof the American Embassyhere in Tokyo,JUSt to the l eft of irs main entrance....re several rrucks .nd squad cars, with

n w m ~ o u s J.PJOCSC policemen, someC'V(!n 10 their can , in alert readiness!"The s:e ' ;1)1 police" my J.1pancsccompamon informed me. He went onto how these police al....a ys have toon the alen for noesand demonsrranons i n f rom of the Amecican Embusy , Ricrs arc:commonplace here righton schedule with each renewedtCSt, a n ~ r n : c m t of fla re u p in rhe

CtlSIS, or almoSt,'''} move of any11gnlf ia nce on rbe pan of Unck SamI commeered on the belid of Wes l

tha t ttv:sc riolS are Commu niS!Insplced-a sking his opinion. He simply didn'r believe it! He adrmned tharperhaps rber e . .. .as lome "Communisr

in

b, Gortlltf'" T.d ArmltrOtl8'US. bombs during World War I t.roday a v-:sr spn. ...ling. noisy, fright ..Iy .busy, CIty, rearing steel and glllSsbuddmgs IOta the sky above wh u 110o n c ; o ~ coI!e aion of shops andyo IS presently having a serious

,mog p r o b l ~ However, the smog isaUfrom Indust ry atone! Much of itIS by the dllll bting stirred con:ra ndy IOtO rhe .i r by the rumblingof the hundreds of thous.ands ofvehicles bustlingback . nd fonh throug h

sneecs o f ( his spn.wling ciry. Such .high p:rc(!nr age of Tokyos sneers arcprcscndy torn up because of b"iL!inth i[ t he dust from new road

by G arner l ed Armstrong19 '$6 alone, Wes t German exportSn ipled in value.Great Britain was OUSteo!h om fHstplace in trade:with South America byWest Germany. leads aUnations in trade wilh South America.~ r m a n y up o rts more chemicals thandoes Britain!

Th, PLAIN TRlITH

JAP ~ : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ p o c ~ , l ! , P . ~ ~ q,!fJnf !obs ervers worried' He I o ~ , " g apparent haye W esternREAL MEANINGe, / om ", fhand i, fheo prese nt tr ends In Japan .

Tokyo. J apan

T HS mose DRAMATIC of (he newlooks among nations iJ rhar ofJ.pan! Here . gain after een years: ~ ; ~ I am II"","J at fanwdcMy from the airport rc the ultra~ Horel Okura in the heart ofyo came a f r ~ r mtdnight. I was

a r n a z to see doze", of consrrucnon crews throughout rbe entir etyof long ride in to t he h eart o f rheworld s . largen city, busily workinunde r lights l it " ight.' gJapan is BOOMING!Tokyo, a ciry rremendously damaged

WORLD WARHERE-NOW!

VOl- xx.NUJI8D. 1

World War III is be ing fought-nowl But the start lingfads show th e present battlefields to be ECONOMIC no t ye t militaryl It's t ime you begin to rea lize how thisimminent struggle fo r world can uest i. d .

bP

TradeWar This V.ear?"W oke up, or be 'walled ouf' I" screamed ?n artIcle ," one 01America ' s leading la rm maga,in es . You wIll be ,hockedau really KNOW what the Camm?n Market mean , t o YO .y Here', what WILL happen ,n the near luture!

CJh(JPlAINTRUlHcAmagazine of undercStandino-

DUSSELDORf .Wti,l Germany.H ERE inWest Germanyagain. Larnonce mOCsobered with the impact of seeing me burgeoningmight of a modern ne...- industdal nationrising f rom the N inof total d e f ~ t ~- ~ - - " " ' ~ o . ! ! ~ : : : : : ' : : ~ i J l i ! ! l ! . - - ~ ~ ~ = ~l ' "j1


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Ju ne-Ju ly, 1970on the appearance of a narrow, inwardlooking protectionist bloc, whose tradepolicies . . . increasingly discriminateagainst non-members."And Edwin 1. Dale, Jr., the respected

international economic analyst of Th eN eUJ Y ork T imes and once an arden tproponent of the Common Market,wrote recently I n Th e Times ofLondon:"W e bought a pig In a poke. We

have been taken . . . . The girl lookedgorgeous for awhile. But now she is allwarts. It is all very human, but the timehas come to cut our losses."This is the increasingly bitt er U. S.

viewpoint. Europeans, on the otherhand, are crying that the U. S., via itsannual balance-of-payments deficit, isexporting inflation to Europe . And withthese inflated dollars, they point out,American businesses have been buyingup huge segments of Western Europeanindustry. The massive "Eurodollar"market - surplus dollars in circulationin Europe - now totals approximately$43,000,000,000.

Agriculture the Big ObstacleOverall , the United States ' profited

economically from the formation of theCommon Market in its first decade.This fact cannot be denied. U. S.exports to the Six rose by 153 percentcompared to an 84 percent increase tonon-Community countries .Agriculture, however, is the big

obstacle. Over the last three years theU. S. has watched its positi on of keyagricultural supplier to the Six gradually erode away. The drop in U. S. farmexports to the EEC in 1969 was 21 percent over the previous year.At the same time, rising subsidies to

Common Market farmers have produceda glut of many commodities within Europe. Brussels offic ials, for example, arepondering over what to do with a steadily growing "but terberg" - a mountainous oversupply of butter.Some of these surpluses, according to

U. S. officials, are being "dumped" intoSince earl y 1955, in-depth articles in The PLAIN TRUTH haverepeatedly warned the Americanpublic of the growing tra de challenge from the Common Marketa nd Jap an .

The PLAIN TRUTHtraditional American expor t marketsbelow U. S. export price levels. J. Robert Shaetzel, American ambassador tothe Common Market, cites, as examples,sales of wheat to Taiwan, lard to Britain, and feed grains to Japan.Sh aetze l recent ly a d d r essed an

audience in Bonn, West Germany. Hesaid that original American hopes forcooperatio n with the Common Markethave "largely evaporated and beenreplaced by irri tation, frustration, and abroodi ng sense of apprehe nsion as towhat the future will hold."W est German Chance llor W i ll y

Brandt has even gone so far as to propose a new American-European liaisonoffice to discuss mounting trade problems between U. S. and the CommonMarke t.Thus the "gra nd design" of a poli ti

cally unified Western Europe and theUnited States waltzing harmoniously inan "Atlant ic partne rship" del irium isvirtually dead.

Co-Prosperity Sphere - Act IIWashington's hopes in the early

1950's for a revitalized Japan, able toshare the burden of leadership in thePacific region, has worked out well all too well.Given massive transfusions of economic assistance after the war (a sort of

"Asian Marshall Plan") , protected bythe U. S. nuclear umbrella (savingbillions of dollars in defense), Japanhas become an economic giant of the firstmagni tude. In staging the first world'sfair in Asian history, Japan this year isshowing the world just how far up theeconomic ladder she has risen.Japan has become an economic giant- far surpassing the dreams of the

military "Greater East Asia Co-ProsperitySphere" planners of the 1930's.Japanese indust ry, in octopus-likefashion, reaches around the earth . I t

devours voluminous supplies of rawmaterials. The ubiqu itous "Made InJapan" label - no longer an epithetfor cheapness - is affixed to everyproduct under the Rising Sun .Japa n has climbed to third place

among industr ial powers, outranked byonly the United States and the closedindustrial society of the Soviet Union.Japan's annual gross nationa l product

stands at between one fourth and onfifth that of the U. S. - $200,000,000,000, compared to $952,000,000,000But Japan's yearly rate of growth haaveraged three times that of the U. Sover the last decade.And very important - despite

japan 's phenomenal rate of growth, hereconomy is the most disciplined andcontrolled of all major nations. There ino runaway inflation in Japan!By 1975, Japan's GN P could reach ahigh as $440,000,000,000. That awe

some figure would be greater thantoday's combined gross incomes of Britain, West Germany and France.

Competition De luxejapan's unstoppable growth ha

meant competition deluxe for the inflation-ridden United States.For years the U. S. held the advan

tage on the massive trade betweenthe two nations. Th is is no longethe case. In 1969, the U. S. tradedeficit with Japan reached approximately$1,500,000,000.In January of this year, Senator Jacob

Javits told a trade meeting in Tokyothat Japan's refusal to compromise ontrade problems - particularly textileexports to the U. S. - and open hemarkets to the United States threatennot only U. S.-Japanese relations but thetrade stru cture of the entire world ."I warn you that protectionists are

out in force in my country," the NewYork Senator told a luncheon meetingof the Japan-America Society and theAmerican Chamber of Commerce inJapan.Two months later , one of America'stop business leaders warned that Japan'delay in easing its present trade andeconomic restrictions could be the firsstep in an all-out global ' trade warDonald M. Kendall, Chairman of the

Emergency Committee on AmericanTrade (ECAT) and President of PepsCola, Inc., expressed concern that it waalready almost too late to act. "If whave a trade war we will be right bacin the 1930's," he said.Kendall told newsmen, at a breakf as

meeting in Tokyo, that the pressure bthe American textile industry for congressional restriction of synthetic andwool impor ts from Japan is matched b


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demands of the automobile, shoe andelectronics industries .

A Flood of ImportsWhy the mounting cry to do something about imports?Basic statistics tell the story.Imports into the United States haverisen 90% since 1964. Six years ago,before the U. S. inflation rate began toworsen, the U. S. enjoyed a record$6,400,000,000 worth of exports overimports . Now the advantage has virtually disappeared.Yet, to make up for foreign militaryand economic assistance, plus the Indo china War, the U. S. needs a heftytrade surplus.The percentages of certain productsthat come to the U. S. from foreignsources is staggering . Here's a list of keyitems: steel, 13 percent ; footwear, 33percent ; autos, 12 percent; woolen textiles, 26 percent; fish products, 50percent; radios, 20 percent; televisionsets, 30 percent; bicycles 28 percent;sweaters, 42 percent; home magnetictapes, 88 percent.Textile Industry ExertingPressureThe White House is under increas

ingly bitter criticism from the textileindustry. Pressure is building to writerestrictive legislation that would reversethe long-time American trend towardinternational free trade .In 1969, a year that sawall importsinto the United States rise by 8% , theflow of cotton, wool and man-made tex

tiles rose by almost 18% .

"Two out of every five men's woolsuits sold last year were made fromcloth manufactured in Japan," reportsStanley Nehmer, U. S. deputy assistantsecretary of Commerce. The CommerceDepartment claims that from January,1969, to January, 1970, a total of 50"00 0 jobs disappeared in the Americantextile and apparel' industries. The losswas blamed primarily on imports.Attempts to get the Japanese textileindustry to agree to voluntarily limittheir exports to the United States havemet a stone wall of resistance.According to the spokesman for the

Japan Textile Federation, its group is"fully prepared for a protracted warwith the U. S." over the matter ofrestricting exports of textile goods toAmerica. The Japanese textile menblame the inflating U. S. economy ratherthan their own economic success for thetextile impasse.Commerce Department officials whohave been exerting pressure on theJapanese accuse them of displaying"arrogance" and "rudeness" in negotiations. Japanese trade negotiators arealmost unanimously described as beingrough and unyielding .Shoe Industry Feeling the PinchThe impasse over textiles is threatening to spill over into other industries.The New England footwear industry,once the largest and most important inthe nation, is being decimated. In placeslike Haverhill, or Brockton, in Mas

sachusetts, or Manchester, New Hampshire, factories are closing and workersare being laid off.

Ambassador Coll ege PhotoExpensive ca mera eq uipment ond isplay in W est Ge rman store.Powerful deutsche mark, one ofthe world's strongest curr encies,has be en revalued - not de valued - twice in last ten year s.

American shoe manufacturers insistthat imports are responsible for theirplight. Like the textile men, they aredemanding some type of quota arrangement to protect them from the risingflood of overseas merchandise. So farCongress and the administration havebeen impervious to their pleas, but theshouts are getting louder and more desperate every day.According to one shoe company official in Haverhill, there were 23 foot

wear plants in that city a decade ago"Only seven are left," he says, "andtwo of these are going out of businessin the next 30 to 60 days. It 's become aghost town - I've got nobody to talk toanymore."

Imported Living ColorEvery U. S. company which makes

and sells color television sets sufferedfinancially the first quarter of this year.Two factors are responsible: the generaleconomic slowdown - and the risingtide of imports.Joseph Wright, chairman of Zenith,charges that Japanese sets are being"dumped into the U. S. market at pricesfar below the Japanese home marketprice."In 1968, color sets imported fromabroad totaled 243,000. In 1969, theyrose to 447,000.This year they are coming in so fast


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June-Ju ly, 1970 The PLAIN TRUTH 7

Source: Federol Reserve hlletinCharts above show the rap idly deteriora ting condition of the U. S. dolla r andmonetary gold reserve. A little over twenty years ago America owned almostthree fourths of the world's gold stock. Go ld outnumbered foreign-held dollars- potential claims - by fou r to one . Today that ratio is reversed. Overhalf of the world's monetary go ld is in the hands of Western Europeanna tions.

Billion

ForeignClaimsAgainstDollar44.9

U. S. GoldSupply11.9BillionD

1970FirstQua rter

Survival at Stake - W ho Cares?Americans still have time to act - toact unitedly in their individual and

the financially disastrous war in Asia.Says Jelle Zijls tra, board chairman ofthe Bank of International Settlements :"The ultimate discipline for theinternational payments system as a

whole is the degree of stability achievedby the U. S. dollar as the anchorcurrency."That the United States should strive

towards a major improvement in itsexternal current account," he argued, "isnot only in its interests but also in thatof the entire Western world."

6Billion

ForeignClaimsAgainstDollar

1949

U. S. GoldSupply24.7Billion

POTENTIAL CLAIMS AGAINSTUNITED STATES GOLD

ling in 1967 - the timetable could bestepped up.None of America's trading par tners,

however jealous they may be of ourabundant affluence, or however muchthey may want to improve their owntrade account with the U. S., want tosee an economic collapse in the UnitedStates. It is in virtually every nation'sself-interest to see the shaky U. S. economy improved. No nation or bloc ofnations eagerly anticipates assuming theburden of a world banker.But the United States must show

some reassuring sign it is willing totackle its mounting fiscal and economicproblems - and this includes resolving

they may reach the one million mark !"Nearly all the imports come from

Japan," reports San Francisco newsmanMilton Moskowitz. "They seem to bedoing to the TV set manufacturers whatVolkswagen and other foreign cars havedone to the automotive industry."On and on it goes.And the big lesson of it all is - ifthe United States had been living

within its means, checking inflation,curbing excessive wage increases, andcontrolling government spending, theimport problem would virtually ceaseto exist.

How Long Can It Continue?In the light of all this, there are sev

eral important questions that needanswering.How long can America's rapidlydeteriorating export-import situation

continue?More important , how long canAmerica's annual balance-of-payments

hemorrh age - a record $7,000,000,000in 1969 alone - continue? How longwill Europeans be willing to hold ontoover 43,000,000,000 inflated "Eurodollars" backed up by a mere $12,000,000,000 in U. S. gold ? How longwill the strained foreign confidence inthe undisciplined American economycontinue?For a little while longer, at least.I f there were a heavy run on the U. S.

gold supply, the Treasury would simplystop sell ing gold . The last link betweenthe dollar and gold would be cut. Thiswould leave foreign banks holding over30,000,000,000 totally unbacked dollars.The fact is, there simply is no otherinternational reserve currency on thescene to replace the dollar - yet.But the seed has been planted forjust such an alternate unit, should it

become necessary .The six nations of the Common Mar

ket have already agreed to move towardthe establishment of a Common Marketreserve fund, and eventually a commoncurrency. The current thinking is that itwould take from five to nine yearsbefore such a currency unit couldbecomea reality.But should there be another international currency crisis - such as the

devaluation of the British pound ster-


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8 The PLAIN TRUTH Ju ne-July, 197

Ambassador College PhotoIntercity trucks stand idle in Los Angeles, victim s of early 1970 strike . Manyeconomists claim wage settlements are fa r out of line with job output.

national interests. Yet, instead of gearing up for the fight for economic survival, Americans are seemingly moreinterested in battling themselves.

1970 may go down in U. S. history asthe Year of the Strike.

All that matters for the averageworking man, it seems, is a fatter paycheck every year. Whether the increaseis tied to an increase in productivity isof little consequence to him.

President Nixon and Labor SecretaryShultz suggested last winter that unionsshould moderate their demands in coming bargaining talks. Otherwise theywould run the risk of pricing theiremployers right out of the marketplace.

One powerful labor boss retorted thatno union leader would think of scalingdown hisdemands. "If he does, he isn'tgoing to be in the head of that unionvery long," he reasoned.

Another top union leader, looking ahead to a major contract negotiation later this year, said: "We're goingto the bargaining table in 1970 to getour equity, and we don't care what business' attitude may be or the attitude ofthe Nixon Administration may be."

But who is going to act in thenational interest?

Where do we find sacrifice for thegood of the nation - which in the endis for the good of every individualwithin the nation?

In his new book, The End of the

American Era, author Andrew Hackerlaments that "a willingness to sacrificeis no longer in the American character."What was once a nation, writes

Hacker, "has become simply an agglomeration of self-concerned individuals"- 200 million egos, as he captions onechapter.

Americans are in "a stage of moralenervation," and "we lack the will" tocontinue being a great nation .What kills a nation? Lack ofnational spirit, purpose and unity - and

an unwillingness to sacrifice for thecommon good.

How Can We Compete?"Both the Japanese and the Germans

are determined to be outstanding in theworld," said Philip H. Abelson of theCarnegie Institute. "How can theUnited States, which is in some senselethargic and without a sense of direction, compete with such energeticpeople, especially when we do not recognize that we are in a contest?"

The Japanese have such a team spirit.The nation is determined to be lchiban- Number One.

Japanese industry, government andthe public as a whole are concerted inthe national efforts.The average Japanese has been will

ing to sacrifice for the good of his country, even to the point of acceptingovercrowded living conditions, housing

shortages, an d o ther privationThe average Japanese workman "soc

away" 18% of his take-home pinto savings. In West Germany, the fiure is 11%. The Unite d States? A me6% - with much of this diluted by thexploding growth of consumer credit.

The Japanese have a sense of nationpurpose and will. Wes tern Europeanare determined to overcome their hitoric differences to create a UniteEurope.

And the Uni ted States? It's cominapart at the seams in all directions!

Listen to the words of John WGardner, former U. S. Secretary oHealth, Education and Welfare:

"While each of us pursues his selfiinterest and comforts himself by blaming others, the nation disintegrates .used the phrase soberly: The natiodisintegrates.

"This is a time for the highest ordeof patriotism. This is a time to ask 'whit is we stand for as a people . . . ."We face two overriding tasks. W

must move vigorously to solve our mocrucial problems. And we must heal thspirit of the nation. The two tasks ainseparable . I f either is neglected, thother becomes impossible."

Time Is ShortIt's time Americans wake up

the facts - and act before it's too latThere is still time for all American

- governmental bodies, industry, labounions and every individual - to aresponsibly and do their part to steinflation, and help put the nation's ecnomic house back in order.

But who will be the first labor unioleader, for example, to tell his men honestly and frankly that the company anthe nation can't afford them a pay raithis year.

What about honest cuts II I governmental spending?

All that is needed are some gooexamples and forthright, unselfisleadership.

There is still time left. There is stitime left to rescue the dollar on thinternational front. Our creditors amore than willing - in their owinterest - to give the U. S. time to puits economic house in order.

But time is running out. D


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Ambassador College Photo

by Eugene M. W alter and Dale L. Schurter

What difference does it make to you what kind of soil yourfood is grown on? Far more than you may realize! Here

is WHY.

TODAY, Earth's farmlands are tired,overworked, depleted - sick.Quality of food is suffering and so is your health.

Few realize why, or what can be doneabout it.Almost everyone takes for granted

that it is natural to be sick from time totime. Not so. It is natural to be inhealth. Sickness is an unnatural state the result of something gone wrong!

What's Wrong withBeing Healthy?

Robust human health depends onwholesome food. And wholesome food

can come only from fertile and productive land.

Today such rich and healthy land isscarce. And so is good physical andmental health for an increasing percentage of the earth's teeming billions.

As population soars, productive landsshrink. Hunger and starvation are everpresent threa ts for many. Even in developed nations, many doctors and socialworkers are finding that millions sufferfrom "hidden hunger" - malnutrition.An alarming array of new degenerative,debilitating diseases are on the rise. In"fa t" America, for example, many areoverfed in food volume, yet under-

nourished , and in poor health . Hospitacan't be built fast enough to care fand treat the physical, emotional anmental effects of malnutrition.Why malnutrition?It all begins with the soil.

You Are What You EatThe soil is the foundation of healt

It is the soil that is the basis for eithgood health or poor health . No mattwho you are or where you live, yofood comes directly or indirectly frothe ground. The soil makes available'plants the essential elements needed ftheir growth . In turn, man and the anmals man eats depend on these planfor their nutrients.

In other words, you are, in a senphysically, emotionally and mentalwhat you eat. I f you eat foods whilack nutritional value, your body anemotions pay the penalty. Plants a


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10

animals raised on weak, unbalancedsoil are infe rior food products. Suchfoods result in weak, degenerate anddisease-prone human beings.Deficient soils produce deficient men .

It' s just that simple - and that SIIre.Add to this soil deficiency the dailystress of modern life, highly processedand refined foods, smoking, pill popping,drug taking, etc., consequently theshameful state of our collective healthisn't surprising.But just what IS this miracle we call

soil ? How does it work? What is itsfunction in the cycle of life ? This isbasic knowledge we all ought topossess.

What Soil ISFert ile topsoil is by far man's most

val uab le and indispensable naturalresource. It lies at an average depth ofseven or eight inches over the face ofthe land. In some few areas, this lifesustaining layer of earth may be severalfeet deep; in many other areas it is considerably less than even seven or eightinches.

"If th at layer of topsoil could be represented on a 24-inch globe it would beas a film three-millionths of one inchthick. That thin film is all tha t standsbetween man and extinct ion" (Mickey,Man and the Soil, pages 17-18) .

This thin layer of earth sustains ALLPLANT, ANIMAL AND HUMAN LIFE!The soil is not, as many suppose , a

dead, inert substance which merely supplies mineral elements to plants andgives them a place to anchor their roots.A healthy soil is vibrantly "alive" anddynamic. It teems with bacteria, fungi,molds, yeasts, pro tozoa, algae, worms,insects and other minu te organismswhich live mostly in its top few inches.This hive of living creatures in the

soil, the eaters and the eaten, adds up toincredible numbers. The bacteria alonemay range from a compa rative few upto three or four billion in a single gramof soil. In good soil the bacterialmatter, living and dead, may weigh asmuch as 5,600 pounds per acre.The fungi in a gram of soil may

weigh over 1,000 pounds to the acre.I t is estimated that about 95 percentof the roughly one mill ion insect species

The PLAIN TRUTHspend part of their lives in the soil.And then there is the humble earth

worm. He is nature's plow, chemist, cultivator, maker and distr ibutor of plantfood. Rich soil easily supports a wormpopulation of 26,000 per acre. Theearthworm is so important to the soilthat we have an entire article about"The Worm and You ." A free copy isavailable upon request.All this teeming soil life plays a vital

role in keeping the soil healthy andbuilding it up.The soil is not solid . I t is actually

composed of billions of grain s or soilparticles . These range in size fromsmaller than 1/2000 of an inch up to1/1 2 of an inch in diameter. Each ofthese tiny soil particles is covered with atight-fitting film of oxides, water andbits of organic matter, which provides ahabitation for the teeming soil life.The surface area of these particles is

staggering. One ounce of soil can easilyhave surfaces adding up to 250,000square feet - about six acres!Of what, then, is soil composed? I t is

composed of 1) minerals, dirt or disintegrated rock part icles; 2) organic matter - dead remains of plants andanimal wastes; and 3) a vast commun ity of living organisms.When organic matter is decaying bythe action of soil life upon it, it isa most important substance, known asbumas.

Why Humus Vital to SoilOrganic matter is obtained from liv

ing and dead plants and animals, plantroots, green manure crops! animalmanures, crop residues, fungi, bacteria,worms, insects, etc. Th is organic matteris the raw material that is spoken of ashumus whi le it is being broken downand decaying through the action of thecomplex mass of soil microorganismsand earthworms upon it. This digestiveaction produces hum ic acids which makeminerals soluble. The end result of thisblended mixture is true plant food.The importance of humus cannot be

stressed too strongly. Th e more humus asoil contains, the healthier it is. Hereare a few reasons why:When it rains, soils with humus soakup the water. Humus is so porous it can

June-July, 1970hold at least its own volume in water. Afour-inch rain on humus-rich soil causeslittle or no runoff; one-half inch onhumus-poor land will cause erosion andsome flooding in lower areas.Humus improves the physical condi

tion of the soil, supports the soil'sorganisms, inc reases permeability,improves aeration and stabilizes thesoil's temperature.Yet to do all this, humus need not be

more than five percent of the topsoil inmost instances.

Why Soil "Wears Out"When minerals, organic matter and

soil microorganisms are present inbalance for a particular type of soil,that soil is fertile and healthy. But alltoo often this balance is upset. How ?By the serious depletion of humus, dueto improper cultivation practices, unchecked erosion, continued monocultureand failure to restore to the soil whatthe preceding harvests have taken fromit.Modern agriculture practices the sub

stitution of synthetic fertilizers fo rhumus that is not being replenished inthe soil. The "replacing" of humusby artificial means does stimulate plantgrowth, but it also continues to upsetthe vitally needed balance and blendedmixture of minerals, organic matter andsoil life found only in humus.Chemical fertilizers add only a part of

the mineral portion of the criticallyimportant soil mixtur e essential to goodhealth.But an unbalanced soil is not normally

caused by a lack of minerals, as manybelieve. Even in relat ively poor soilsthere is normally a large reserve ofminerals.Noted soil scientist Eric Ewesonstates that the supply of major mine ralssuch as calcium, phosphorus and potassium is normally a hund red to a thousand times more than the seasonalrequirements of most crops. The supp lyof the vital trace minerals - boron,iron, copper, nickel, fluorine, manganese, iodine, etc. - is also generallymore than adequate.What is most often missing is suf

ficient organic matter and the soil lifewhich is necessary to break down the


13/52

Abo ve - Typical fa rm scene du ring planti ng season. Recent f ind ings showthat ma ny of ou r "p rofitab le " pra ctices have an unp ro fitable kickback.Right - A double han dfu l of well-made com po st. N o te the abunda nce ofhealthy pin k ea rthwo rms.

dirt materials into food forms theplants can assimilate and use. Evenmineral-rich soil usually lacks enoughnutrients in available form for vigorousplant growth. Humus, then, is a key tosoil balance and fertility.

T ypes of FertilizersTrue fert ilization is the addit ion to

the soil of that wh ich is conducive toincreasing soil life. Fert ilizers aregenerally recognized in two groups organic and inorga nic. The organic aremade up of organic matter and microbes .

Inorganic fert ilizers are basicallycomprised of minerals and are availablein two major types. One type is madeup simply of ground-up minerals suchas rock phosphate, rock potash, limestone and rock salt as they are found intheir natural state. This type of fertilizeris not gene rally dissolved by water, butis gradually changed into plant food bythe action of microbes, earthworms andorganic acids that are formed by thedecomposition of organic matter.

The other type of inorganic fertilizersconsists of chemical fertilizers. T heseare easily soluble in water and causecorrosive action. Chemical fert ilizers are

manufactured products and are commonly advertised and sold on the marketfor quick results. Most farmers andgardeners use them, and feel they couldnot get along without them.

When Nature Is UnspoiledIn nature there is no need for special

fertilizers. Plants and animals live together and their lit te r accumulates on thesurface to compost and decay, thus making a health-sustaining, humus-rich soil.Th e whole life cycle in the soil becomesa self -regulating system as long as it isundi sturbed by outside forces.

When man enters the picture, how-. ever, it becomes a different sto ry. Heplows up virg in land to grow crops.The increased oxygen made available byplowing st imulates the bacteria intobreaking down the organic matter morerapidly. Th en man removes his cropsfrom the soil, thus fur ther taking fromits reserves. When he has thus "mined"the soil until it can no longer produceprofitably, he moves on - or at least hedid un til thi s century. But now there areno new lands to exploit.

Since 1880, it is estimated that abouthalf of the humus in the Midwest hasbeen lost - the loss greatly intensifying

Top: Bob Taylor PhotoIn,et: Ambassador College Photo

In recent years. The situation is probably equally bad or worse in manother heavily farmed regions of thworld .

I t doesn't have to be this wayWith a little more effor t and a lot lesgreed, man could return organic matteto the soil and build humus . But hseems to be hopelessly greedy and shortsighted. He would rather borrow fromthe soil's cap ital and ignore repayinthis debt until necessity demands iNecessity is now banging on the door

Desperately, man is looking to chemical fertilizers to bail him out and trepay his debt to the soil. But is thpossible? Can chemical fertilizers trulrestore soil fertility ?

No! Such was never intended.How Chemical Fertilizers

Became PopularIn the 1840's, von Liebig in German

noticed the regular presence of certaimineral elements - especially nitrogenphosphorus and potash - in the asheof burnt plants. Since these had to bdrawn f rom the soil, he concluded thsoil fertili ty depended primari ly on th


14/52

12presence of these elements in the soil.H e further suggested that fertility couldbe maintained or imp roved by addingthese elements in suitable forms to thesoil. About the same time an Englishman, Lawes, was experimenting alongsimil ar lines.

I t was found that when nitrogen,phosphoru s and potash were added todepleted soil, in the form of watersoluble chemicals, production was increased like magic! Soon farmers theworld over were adopting this methodas a shortcut to soil fer tility - or at leastso they thought .It should be noted that the early

advocates of chemical fertilizers onlyin tended that these fertilizers supple-ment the use of orga nic matter. Fora time th is continued to be the case.For example, Lord Ha nkey, in a

speech in the House of Lord s when soilfer tility was debated said : "There ismore common ground to beg in with inthis matter than is generally realized . . . T here is common ground as tothe great importance of humus in thesoil. There is common ground also that,whethe r you have artificials or not, youmust have an adequate supply oforganic ferti lizers. Again , compost isadmitted by the supporters of chemicalsto be a very valuable form of organicfertilizer. . . ."In Lord Hankey's th inking - andthe think ing of many others - chemicals were not inten ded to replace thefunction of organic matter, but to com-plement it - to help it feed crops.But were these chemicals really neces-

sary? Were they really needed to complement the organic matte r ?

There is no question whatsoeverabout the fact that humus-rich soil canprovide everything needed to maintainand build soil fertility - includingnitrogen, phosphoru s and potash (a bbreviated NPK ) . But because of changing social and economic conditions, menfound it much more expedient toprovide plant nutrients by organicmatter and chemical fertilizers insteadof just by organic matter alone.In tensive specialized farming became

more and more popu lar . This methodof farming, for the most par t, does notallow for crop rotation and periodicalplantin g of soil-building legumes . By

The PLAIN TRUTHth is time, also, the internal combustionengine was gradually replacing thehorse. There were labor problems withmass migr ation to the cities. Farm sizewas increasing along with economicpressures on the farmer.And then there was industry. Astutely

sensing big business, industry didnot wait to be asked to provide artificial fertilizers to the farmer. Th roughintensive advertising it urged and "educated" the fa rmer into believing thatartificial fertilizers was his panacea.Under these conditi ons, the use of

chemical fertilizers skyrocketed! Soonmany farmers forg ot all about organicmatter !As a result, our husbandry has been

invaded by pests, parasites and diseases;but industry, unashamed, has providedan arsenal of more than 50,000 chemical formulations to fight them.

Wh a t Chemical Fertilizers D oChemical fertilizers are like shots in

the arm to the soil. They stimul ate amuch greater plan t grow th . Th is growthmeans a speeded-up consumption oforgan ic matter.But, and never forge t this, chemical

ferti lizers can neither add to the bnmuscontent nor replace it .They do much more than just speed

up the consumption of humus, however.They also destroy the physical properties of the soil and its life.W hen they are pu t into the soil, they

dissolve and seek natural combinationswith other minerals already in the soil.Some of these new combinations glutthe plants, causing them to becomeunbalanced . Others remain in the soil,many in the form of poisons.For example, when sulphate of

ammonia is used as a fertilizer , theammonia is taken into the plant, whilethe sulphate, left free, joins itself tohydrogen in the soil and becomes sulphuric acid, a combina tion that isdeadly to the natural organisms in thesoil. Oth er chemicals used as fer tilizersfollow the same pattern in adding various pollutants to the soil.Further, manufactured fertilizers alone

cannot supply what the soil needs toproduce abund ant, healthy crops. Plantsneed much more than NPK! They needmany other secondary and trace elements

June-July, 1970- all in the proper balance. And theyneed the teeming microbial life thathelps them absorb the minerals.Th e margin between too much and

too littl e is often very slight. Mi neralexcesses in plants - now common - areoften more dangerous than deficiencies.Too much nitrogen weakens the

plant. It grows lush and wate ry tissue,becomes more susceptible to disease,and the protein quality suffers.There is no art ificial fert il izer on

earth that can supply a completely balanced diet for plants in the way thathumus-ri ch soil can. Chemical fer tilizercompanies blend and formulate mixtures,but they simp ly cannot mechanicallyformulate humus.Plants were not designed to get their

nutrients by being force-fed. Quotingsoil scientist Eric Eweson:"Even if we possessed sufficientknowledge and it were practical to provide chemical fertilizers containingsome 20 or 30 elements in the infinitelyvarying propo rtions requi red by plan ts- instead of just NPK - th is wouldnot solve our soil problem. Forcingupon the plants immediately availablefood in the form of water -soluble chemicals, which they cannot reject but mustabsorb, constitutes a by-passing of th esoil's extremely important functions inrelation to plant life and all other life ,in the same manner as intravenousinjections of sugar or protein by-passthe digestive system of the human body.Neither can contribute to normal , vigorous life."

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in humusrich soil supply nitrogen to the plants asneeded; they don' t force-feed the plan tlike chemicals do. To force a plan t togrow more bulk will cause the plan t tochange its inner biochemistry. As Professor Albrecht of the Missouri Experimen tal Station has shown, morecarbohydrates and less proteins willdevelop in such plants. Insects are outfor unbalanced plants and find thesea well-prepared table and a suitablediet.As explained in the article on pesti

cides in the last issue of The PLAINTRUTH, the purpose of insects is toremove weak and sickly plants so th atquality can be maint ained. Th e alarming


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Ju ne-July, 1970 The PLAIN TRUTH

ECOLOGY of aBalanced Soil

AIR WATER

Ambassador Colleg

Documents

Plain Truth 1970 (Prelim No 06-07) Jun-Jul_w