plain truth 1976 (prelim no 08) sep_w

7/28/2019 Plain Truth 1976 (Prelim No 08) Sep_w

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[ P [ f f i ~ ~ UWrnurno m a g a z i n e o f unders tand in g

Vo l. XLI, NO.8 September 1976

ART ICLES

The PLAIN TRUTH - SUPPORTED BYYOUR CONTRIBUTIONSThe Plarn Trut h has no SUbSCrlpt,on or ne ....sstanprice II is supp orted through conmbcncos from oureaders and those who hav e chosen, voluntarily. tbecome co-workers Wth us In tne worldwide workThe Pla in Trurh is nonprof i t accepts no ccmmerciaadv ertising. and has nothing to sell. Contr ibutIon s argratefully welcomed and are tax-ceoccnbre In the U,SThose who ca n are encouraged to add mefi nanciasupport in the SPri t o r helping to make The Pla in Truthavailab le, w ithou t price, to ot hers ContributionShou l d be sent 10 The Plain ?asad ..naCA 91123 or to one 01 ou r c tncesnee- es t you (seeaddresses below)

British Sterling Takes a PoundingChina and Russia: War or Reconci liation?Yes Nancy, Education Is NecessaryWhy Johnny Shou ld ReadThe Sawfly Def ies All Evolutionary Log icPrediction: Earthquake ! Are You Prepared?Out of the Rat Race i nto the Real RaceCan You Swallow the Tale ofJonah and the Whale?South West Africa:Racin g Aga inst Time for Peace

FEATURESPersonal f rom Herbert W. ArmstrongWorldwatchTV-Radio LogCommentaryWhat Our Readers SayGarner Ted Armstrong Speaks Ou t!

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Ed itor-In-Ch ief: HERBERT W ARMSTRONGEd itor: GARNER TEOARMSTRONGManaging Ed itor : Arlhur A FetdlQAss islanlto the Ed ilor: acoet t.. KunnNews Editor: Gene H HogbergFeatures Ed il or: peoe r H FaulknerArl Director ; Alien MeragerASSOcate Edi tor s: Raben Ginskey, Bnan KnowiesPub l ishing Coord inator; RogerG LIPDrDSSCop y Editors: Jim E Lea. Peter MooreSeni or Edi tor s: R[lymond F, McNair, Rodenck CMeredithSenior Wr iters: Jetf Caecns. Donald 0 scnroeoer. Ke'tStumpContributors; Don AOr'aharr" Ron Be


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Personal from...

SIGNIFICANCE OF THEISRAELI "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE"SKYJACK RESCUE

Nt everyth ing pla nned for thesupe r Bicente nn ia l 4th o fJuly - the 200th birthda y ofthe United Slates - came oil asplanned. But one exciting event - a"mission impossible" - the daring.spectacular Israeli skyjack rescue.did. But its real sign ificance was notth e fac t it happened on the 4t h ofJu ly.The Vikin g I scheduled landingon M ars on the American Bicenten-nial was delayed due to the slopesand bumps on Mars' rugged surfaceat the pre-se lected landing spot.And I person ally was scheduled

10 celebrate the "Fourth" in Jerusa-lem. at a ceremony a t which MayorTeddy Kollek an d I we re to breakground for the star t of constructionuf a new public park in downtownJerusalem. The new park will becalled Liberty Bell Gorden in honorof the 200t h b irthday of the UnitedSt ates. Th e city of Ph ilad elph ia ha spresented the city of Jerusalem witha dup licate of the famed Liber tyBell - incl ud ing the famou s crac k inthe be ll. The AICF (Amb assadorInternational Cultural Foundation)is participating in the developmentof th is new park . As chairman of theA IC F. I wa s sc hed u led to joi nMayor Kollek in the ground-breaking ceremony. Actually the ceremony had been moved ahea d toJu ly 2. becau se ma ny prom inentIsraelis were going to be away onth e 4th .I had taken off from our hom ebase a irpo rt on Tuesday. J un e 29.expecting to arrive in Paris veryea rly (5 a. m. ) Wednesday - breaking th e lon g l1 igh t by spend ing th enight in Paris. th en l1ying on to BenGurion airport in Israel Thursday tobe in Je r usa le m F r iday for th egro und- brea king ceremony.My plan e took otTokay . Tuesda ymo rning . We no rma lly l1y one stopto Pa ris with a fuel stop at eitherfa r -fa r-no rt h F ro bishe r Bav orGoose Bay in Labrado r. But execssive and unusual head winds causedus to la nd a t Bangor. Maine. The reour captain advised me of a crack ina cockpit window. It was necessarythat we return at low altitude toPasadena until a new window couldbe install ed.By telephone co mmunicat io nwith Mayo r Kollek we decided onThePLAIN TRUTH September 1976

two separate ceremonies. He wouldproceed with his par t Ju ly 2. I wouldconduct a similar ceremony on mynext visit to Jerusalem in August.I took olf ag ain lat e Satu rday afternoon for Rome. where Me. Raderwas waitina for me. arriving inRome lat e Su nday morni ng. Ju ly 4.While I was in the air. the spectacular Israeli rescue of more than ahundred hostages. most of themIsra eli. took pla ce a t Entebbe ai rpor t a t Uga nda. I heard the news ofit Sunday afternoon. There were no

English- la nguage newsp ap ers ava ilab le in Rom e. But Mr. Rad er hadte lephoned his wife in Beverly Hi llsand heard the news from her.Perhap s not h ing is mor e typ ica lof today 's worldwide VIOLENCE th anthe wave of international terrorismand air piracy against innocentwomen. children. and other passengers traveling by the world's international airlines.Arab Palestinian terrorists havesought to wage waragainst Israel byskyjacking hu ge a ircra ft. incl uding707s a nd 747 jumbos. belongingusually to some other nat ion. filledwith citizens of other countries. and.in some cases. murdering hundredsof innocent passengers and blowingup mul ti-m illion-doll ar ai rcra ft in a

senseless effort to bring Israel tote rms.It is nat urall y not my pu rpose toreport details of the Israeli rescueoperation. but to explain its significance. in world events of today andof the fut u re.I think it sho uld be in terestin g to

expla in that this entire Israel-Ara bhostility is the outgrowth of th e je a lousy of two women over one man. Itda tes back to the very o rig in o f thetwo peoples thousands of years ago.So this skyjacking incident had abeg inn ing in a ntiqu ity. T he pat ria rch Abrah am had become veryrich . But he was childless with noson to be his he ir. His wife Sa ra hwas barren. In those days it wasconsidered a serious reproach for awoman to fail to have children.Sa ra h bro ught her han d m aid .Hagar, to her husban d to be hiswife . say ing. " I may obta in child renby her : ' But when Hagar had con ceived. " he r mistress [Sara h] wasde sp ised in her eye s" (G enes is16 :4).T hen Sa ra h "dea lt hardly withher" (ve rs e 6). And Haga r fled . Anangel came upon her in the wild er ness and said. "Return to your mistress. a nd submit thyse lf un der her(Continued 0 11 page 39)


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WHILEFOREIGNERSSNAP UP

BARGAINSBRITISHSTERLINGTAKESAPOUNDINGby David PricerNDON: This yea r it seemedEng la nd became ba rg a inbasement to the world. Wi ththe pou nd ste rli ng hove ring hetween $ 1.70 and $1.80 - down from$2.0 I since early March - Britishgoods have been exceptionally goodbuys to foreigners flocking in fromall over, giving the false impressionthat Britain's beleaguered economywas in boom times.Oxford Street - one of the big

gest cen ters of shop ping in theworld - has become a scene offrenetic commercial activity, condu cted in a babel of languages andaccents with Europeans and America ns predominating. In the hot, humid sunshine thi s year wi thATTRACTIVE DISPLAY at Calais tradefair advertises the wares of Deben-hams. a British chain, whose stores6n the British coast are easity accessible to French shoppers,ThePLAIN TRUTH September 1976

temperatu res up in the nineties, thevisi to r to London might question' hiswhe reabout as sna tches of Ge rman,French, Italian , and Japanese conversations waft around him.Oxford Street itse lf has been cutoff from the usual flow of traffic. Ithas been turned into a ped estrianprecinct with only buses and taxispermitted to travel in a restrictedstream along its one mile length .The broad sidewalks are thick withbustling buyers carrying off theirpurchases.Advertisers Lure Foreign MoneyOf course, British buyers are stillpresen t in la rge numbers makingth e most of the summer sales. Butwith stringent con tro ls on wages, thepro portion of the paycheck that th eaverage Briton is ab le 10 spe nd hassh run k. Those who have been ab leto make the most of the sales havebeen sk illed workers a nd selfem played salesmen who are not rest ricted by company pay policy.It is now common practice for thelarge London stores to advertiseabroad. It clearly makes good business too. Th is year Harrod's, thelarge London department store, advertised "t he biggest sale in theworld" and took space in leadingnewspapers in every Common Market coun try. They expected to take$3 .2 million in receipts on the firstday alone. In Dusseldorf, Germany,says Harrod's man agin g director,Robert Midgley, a decent shirt costs40 ($72). "Last year when we com-pared our pr ices with those of similar shops in Europe, ours were hal fas much. Today, we' re nearly threetimes cheaper!"The smell of a ba rgain is rea l tothe many Europeans who come indroves to stock up on fine ch ina,English crystal glass, gold-platedfaucets, wool-worsted suits by thearmful, an d undercloth es by thedozen. It is not unusual for prosperou s Ge rmans to spend one ortwo thousand dollars on a shoppingsp ree .Popp ing Over 10 DoverThe buying spree is by no mea nsconfined to Oxford Street. In theEnglish Channel ports, local shopsand branch sto res of the big Lon do n-based chai ns a re also being in-

vaded with Con tinentals buying up"chea p" British merchandise. Andthe English shops are doing all theycan to encourage the trade. Theyadve rtise on the Continent and giveaway free French-language newspapers inviting the Freneh to shop inEngland.Recently a fair was he ld at Calais,Fran ce, where British shops gaveaway maps and price lists to persuade French customers to cross thechannel. Mr. L. K. Lilwall, presiden t of the Dover Chamber ofCommerce this yea r, said about 3million ($5.4 million) worth ofgoods (about a third mor e tha n lastyea r) will be bought by day-trippersand visitors fromabroad.In the Marks & Speneer sto re inDover are about a dozen assistantswith foreign-language ability. Loca lschool girls taking French are encou raged by their headmistress 10take pa rt-time jobs to help out. Inall, about 27 languages are covered(grea tly helped by one very versatilelinguist) - all very necessary whenyour clientele includes Yugoslavand Czech tru ck dri vers, Swedishto urists, and visitors from Spain andItaly . "They are by and large theprovincials that come," said one assistant. "We don't have so much ofthe high fashion peo ple - they gomainly to London."The Continental customers certainly are not afra id to spend . Unde r Common Market regulations afamily of four can ' take back 300($540) worth of goods tax free each time they come. "We see thesame famili es come baek a t the

ehange of seasons. They bri ng theirfami ly over and fit them out for theseason," says one store manager.Food is another big buy, The

Fre nch come over and buy upFrench butter from No rma ndy bythe lO-pound carto n. In France itmight be twice the pr ice. "Occasiona lly you see somebody staggeringdown the road with a side of beef,"one store manager told me.In the high season it is estimatedthat per haps 40% of the non-foodbusiness is done with foreign visito rs. Wa llpaper in pa rticu lar maybe more than twice the price inFrance and Belgium. It is not un common for customers to take the(Continued on page 44)

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WGBLDWAfeRAn Overview of Major News Events and TrendsEUROPE'S"SUPER-PARLIAMENT"SET FOR'78Commo n Mark et heads of government. hoping to revive the fadi ngd ream of a uni ted Europe. have ap proved a formula a llowing the 253mi llion citizens of the EuropeanComm unity (EC) to directly elect amult ina tion al parliam ent in 1978.Th is historic move has bre athednew life int o a vision seeminglysha tt ered by nationa l an d regionalint erests.Break ing a months-long sta lemate. the hcads o f go vernmentreach ed ag reement on J uly 12. during the co urse of one of their thriceyearly summits. T heir plan ca lls fora directly elected legislature of 4 10mcmbers to replace the presentno ne lected Europea n par liamen t of198 delegat es. The enlarged parliament wou ld hold alleg ia nce to nosingle national government. but tothe EC as a whole.For the first time. the way will beopen for the European man-in-thestreet to have a direct say in theaffairs of the Continen t.

The Times of London termed thebreakthrough "clearly an even twhich cou ld have a profound effecto n the who le future developmen t ofthe Community:' The president ofth e cu rrent parliament. Geo rge Spenale of France. declared : "July 12.1976 will be a great date in the histo ry of Europe."The first elections for the new

parliament a re sched uled for Mayor J un e 1978. with elec tions everyfour yea rs thereafter. The summitagreement, which must still be ratified by the various nation al parliament s. leaves it u p to membernation s to wo rk out the details ofth e election.Under the ag reement. the four

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WILL Y BRANDT was first to declarehis candidacy for new EC Parliament.

largest EC member nations - WestGermany. Italy. Britain, and France- would have 8 1 sca ts each. T heNe therlands wou ld have 25. Belgium 24. Denmark 16. Irelan d 15,and Luxembourg 6. Of Britain's 8 1.up to 10 woul d probably come fromScotland . 5 from Wales. and 3 fromNorthern Ireland - the minimumrepresentation believed required 10sa tisfy those increa sing ly independence-minded areas.Power to Grow?Though the principle of a direclyelected parliamen t was approved atan EC summit in Rome last December. haggling over the number anddistribution of seats delayed quickact ion on the plan. Many observersbelieved the wrangli ng might scuttlethe idea a ltogether.Such bickering has been typ icalof EC relations throughou t its 18yea r ex istence. The continual de termination of national governmentsto defend their own sovere igntyaga inst encroachme nt has lo nghampered the push for strong po litica l inst itutions for the EC.That is why the Ju ly summ itag reeme n t ha s been so wide ly

hailed as a re al bre akthroughIt has been commonly believefo r some yea rs that the EC - stiprimarily an economic ent ity - wino t really count for much in thworld until it acqu ires a potittcaidentity . Until now. however. its political institutions have been givelittle real power.The present 198-member nonelected pa rliament. for example. habeen little more than a glorified debating society. Its members. who arap pointed by their home legislatu res. sit a lterna tely in StrasbourgFra nce. an d in Luxem bourg. Th eimod est power lies pr imarily in tharea of community budget control.The big question now is whethethe new parliament. once democraica lly elected. will receive add itionapowers from the EC's sovcreigntyconsciousmembergovernments.Many observers feel the parliament's powers are bound to growTh e me re fact that its mem bers wibe di rectly elected will undoub tedlgive them both the impetus and thauthority to effect changes.Asked whether he expected thnew parliament's powers to remaias limited as tho se of th e presenone . Dutch Premier Joop den Uyquickly replied : "No. cert ainly not :A look at those who have alreaddeclared their intentions to run fothe Eu ropean parliament gives aadvance indication of its potentiapower . French Socialist leadeFrancois Mitterrand . Premie r LeTindernan s of Belgium. and formeWest German Chancellor WillBrandt have al ready thrown thehats into the ring. It is a lso believethat two formerBritish primeminiters - Harold Wilson and EdwarHeath - may also become canddates.If men of th is cal iber sit dowtogether. some th ing is bound thappen . An d there will be no ignoring th eir decisions.

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Europe will not be s ud d e n lytran sformed in to on e big democraticconfederation when Euro peans goto the poll s in 1978, bu t the pro cesstowa rd tha t goa l will a t last havebeen se t in mo tion. Th e vision o f a neven tua l United States o f Europewi ll becom e a little less visionaryand a lill ie mo re of a real ity. .

SOVIET NAVAL PUSHINTO THE PACIFICExcept for such immed iat e neighbors as Fij i and Samoa . few peop lepay mu ch a ttention to the Kingdomof Tonga. a group o f 150 Islandsmidway betv..'een Hawaii a nd NewZea land in the South Pacific. Butth ese strategica lly placed " friend lyisles" may soon be tb e scene of ama j or Ru ssian naval pu sh in to thePacific Ocean .

The current go vernme nt of K ingTau fa'ahuu Tu po u IV is seek in g for-e i g n in v e s tm en t s o h is o ve rpopula ted and underindu stri a lizedco untry ca n break out of its bana naan d co pra eco nomy . T he Sovie tUnion is in a posi tion to give To ngath e fo re ign inves tm ent it needs. Th eK rem lin has offered to bu ild a n in te rnatio na l a irp ort in Tonga . a movewh ich would not on ly put many job less to wo rk . b ut a lso b ring in a ho st o fR ussia n tech nicians a nd advisers. Inad d ition, th e Ru ssian am bassad or toNev. Zea la nd recently pa id a visit toK ing T up ou to discuss th e possibilityof a j oint Russia-Tonga fishing enterprise. Th e Sovie ts a re known to bepr essing Tupou for perm ission to es tablish a fishi ng base a t ' u ku a lofa.the isla nd's capit a l.T hese recen t Soviet dip lomat ic efforts ha ve provoked fears. especiallyin New Zea land . tha t gran ting theU.S.S .R . a fishing base mi gh t lead tooccasional "cou rtesy e a l l s ~ by sbipsof Ru ssia's Pacific fleet a nd even tually to th e es tab l ishment of a fullfledged Soviet naval base in Tonga .Another " Russ ian Lak e"?T he Sovi et Un ion al ready exerts tre mendou s power in the Pacific. T herea re 750 ships o f a ll sizes in he r fa reas tern flee t (mo re sh ips tha n th eUnited Sta tes has a ltoget her) ba seda t the ice -free po rt o f Vladivo stok .The PLAIN TRUTH September 1976

On to p o f th is. the U.S.S.R. marntains a sizable I1 sh ing fleet.

Th is power has not go ne unnotice d . A ll maj or powers in th e region- Ja pan . C hina . Au st ralia , a nd NewZeal an d especia lly - a re very wor-r ic d . Th e C hin ese Co mmu nis tsregular ly exco r ia te th e Ru ssian s fo r"s ti rr ing up trouble" in the Pacific.T he Peo ple' s Republ ic has exhortedthe majo r ca p ital ist powe rs - theUnitcd Sta tes, Au stra lia. a nd NewZeala nd - to build up their nav a ldefenses in th e region to cou nte r thegr owing Sovie t pr ese nce .Sinc e new govern men ts wer e in - ta llcd in bo th New Zeala nd a ndAus t ra lia in th e past ye a r. those co un-tri es ha ve. in tu rn. been maki ng consta n t appeals fo r the United St a tes tokeep a high profile in th e Pacific a ndInd ian oceans, and , reversin g th esta nd o f previous l.abour go.....vern rnents. have a lso ca lled up on the U.S.to strength en and develop its nava lba se a t D iego Ga rcia .In Well ing ton , New Z ealand .Pr im e M in ister Robert Muldoonsta tes h is views very d irectly: " Ido n' t say. 'Ya nk go home.' I say ,'W elcome!' ..Au stra lian Prime Min ister Ma lco lm Fraser mak es no secre t o f thefa ct th a t he too is worried over th egrow ing Sovie t Pacific powe r. He recc ntly p resen ted figu res to th e Au stra lia n pa rliam ent showing tha t th eSoviet fl ee t is much mor e active inthe Pacific than the U.S. fleet.I f the Soviets succeed in ga in ingthe ir ba se in Tonza. it is cer ta in th attheir llee t will b"'ecome even moreac tive. It co u ld eve n be the first steptoward trying to turn the SouthPaci fic int o a no the r "Russia nlake.'

THE $150-BILLIONDEFAULTD uring Indi a 's crop tu ilures o f th em id -1960s, the United States ex-ten ded generous credit terms to th eNew Delhi government with whichto buy more tha n 60 million tons ofAme rica n grain. No t only was th ein te rest rat e extrem ely low - lessthan 3 pe rcent over fo rty vca rs but th e te rms of repayment wereeq uall y gen erous. Indi a cou ld pay

back the de b t in "sou ." non convertible rup ees instead of dollars orgo ld.Th e p ileu p o f U .S.-he ld ru pee seve n tually amou nted to more th anone fift h of a ll th e mon ey in Ind ia .Bu t by 19 74 , the Un ited States go ve rnmen t forgave Ind ia the entired e b t - equa l to $3 .2 billion - an dtook a loss on its inves tm en t.A wr ite-off of eve n grea ter pro

port ions may now be in the o ffing.At recen t internat iona l economicdevelopmen t confe rences. ru morswe re in the wind tha t Third Worldnation s wo u ld propo se a wo rl dmeeti ng fo r th e purpose of in sti tu ting a mor a torium - a pos tponemen t of paymen t - o n th eirfore ign debt s. These deb ts now tot alabo ut $ 150 b illion. ba sica lly loa nsfro m foreign gov ern men ts, o fficia linterna tiona l institu tion s (such asthe World Ban k), and priv ate ba nksoverseas ,

There a re repor ts tha t the Th irdWorld will propose a com ple te mora to rium on th e pu b lic (m eaningowed to a nother gov e rnmen t ) deb tsof the 29 poo rest Thi rd World co untr ies. and they will requ est tha t th edeb ts 0 1' another 40 na tions be po stpo ned un t il the end 01' th e d ecad e .They a lso would like the ir priva tedeb ts conso lida ted int o long- termloa ns, gua ra nteed bv Western aovcr nme ;ts. Th is wou ld me an tha t th etaxp ayers in these coun tr ies wou ldha ve to p ick up the ta b if there wereany default.T be sha ky finan cial fou ndation o fman y poo r nat ion s is un derscoredbv the fact tha t mo re a nd morecountries a re find in g tha t th eir debtsare gobbling up mo; e of thei r ex po rtear ni ngs. In 1967, deb t servicingtook 10 pe rcent o r mo re of the ex por t earn in gs in an i)' 15 coun tries:now it requires 10 percent or morein 25.The net imp lica tion of a ll th is isthat tax paye rs in the developedwo rld - pa rt icularly the U.S. - wi llbe for ced increas ing ly to pick up th eta b as nat ions aroun d the world reneg e on thei r commitme nts. even ifit is fo r pure ly pol itica l reasons.T he Sovi et Un io n has a lreadvsto pped paym ent on World War illen d- lease d eb ts . sett ing a preceden tfor ot he r na t ions to ge t ou t fromunder th eir finan cial ob liga tions. 0

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CHINAANDRUSSIAWAROR

RECONCILIATION?by Keith W. S tump

His health fai ling rapidly, Chairman Mao may not last throughthe year" Will the post-Mao erabring war or peace between theCh inese dragon and the Russianbear?

In February 1950. in the midst of afreezing Russian winter. MaoTse-tung stood heaming in aMoscow ra ilway s tation at the con clusion of a two-month stav in theSoviet Union . .,Bun dl ed in a heavy fur coa t and

wearing a woolen car. the Cha irma n pau sed briefly before boa rd inghis train to speak to th e onlookingcrowd . Having j ust conc luded a mutu al de fense trea ty with the Kr emlinan d having received his new nation's firs: foreign loan fo r 5300 mi llion " he co nfiden tly d ec la red th atChinese-Sovie t friendship would be6

" eve rla sti ng, indest ruct ible. and ine . ' " ~

His predict ion turned out to beone of history's wo rst .By 1963. the "e verlasting" frie nd shi p lay in rui ns. wrecked by b ille rideological rivalry. S ince then . SinoSoviet relations have been on ice.And as long as Ma o rules Ch ina .observers see little cha nce that thet h i r t ee n -y ear -o ld sp l i t w il l behealed .After Mao - Then What?"China -wa tchers" in Hong Kong.however. are becomi ng increasinglyco nvinced th at Mao's lona ru le isne a rin g its end . Th e health of the82-v ea r-old Cha irma n is dete riora ting rapidly, possibly due 10 a serieso f debilitating strokes.

Part icul ar ly revealing in th is regard wa s a ph o tograph pub lished inm i d-M a v b y .l enmin J i h Pao(People's D the official da ilynewsp aper. T he pho to. taken inMao's study during th e state visit ofPrime Minister Lee Kua n Yew ofSingapo re" sho wed the fra il Cha irman sitting slumped down with hishea d lyi ng weakly on the top of hisp laid -covered cha ir.

An alvsts be lieve th e selectio n o fthe r a ~ k photo was not acc idental.bu t design ed to sub tly co nvey a nunm istaka ble me ssa ge to the Ch ines e people: Th e Chairman is notlo ng for th e world . Sim ilar ph otos ofsubseq ue nt meetings with o the r foreig n dign ita ries leave lill ie do u bt asto his growi ng enfeeblement.T here have also been rumors thatChinese labor uni ons are alrcadvp repa ring memori al posters in antici pation ofhis death.O nce Mao has finally departedth e sce ne. a fierce power struaale iswidely expected . ....

Growi ng co ntention betweenr ival "rno...derate .. and " radical"fac tio ns of the Chinese CommunistPa rty is a lready in evi dence as eachgro up man euvers for pos it ion in thepo st -M ao era. O nce the Chairman'smoderating influence is gone. therival ry may esca la te in to a fu ll-scalepo liti cal up heaval. Its event ua l o utcome is anyone's guess at th is mom ent.

Th e ce ntra l issue in th e minds ofpo litical ana lysts . however. is cle a r:How wi ll th e post-M ao lea dersh ip

tre a t the Sov iet Unio n'? More sp eciicall y . o nce Mao is no long e r on thscene. wha t is the likelihood o freconciliation between the two Commu nis t g iants?

Th is quest ion is rece ivi ng the utmost atte n tion in Washinaton anWest Europea n capitals . tor thSino-Sovie t sp lit is viewed as thcritical variable in Asia today. If thr if t we re event ually healed. not on lwould th e Asian pic ture be dramatically al te red. but the ent ire g lobabalance of po\\e r would be radicalltransformed ." Ru ssophoblc " PropagandaBut how like ly is reconciliationAnd wha t arc the prospects fo r thopposite a lterna tive - war?T he Chinese suffe r from acutRu ssophob ia. as an y visi to r to thPeople 's Republ ic qu ickl y senseBitt er rh etor ic about th e "imperiaistic de sign s" and " evil int ents" oth e Soviet "re negade clique" is common fa re . In voki ng images of ceniur ies pa st. Peking propagan distgra ph ica lly pic tu re th e Soviet s arestless barbarians b rooding ou tsidthe G reat Wa ll o fC h ina.Local par ty officials encourag

th e Chines e citi zen ry to "d ig tunnedeep" store grai n ev erywhe re" a nprepare for wa r." In regions neath e Sino-Soviet bo rde r. ra d io comm ent at ors unceasingly prod thpeop le to "firm ly guard th e WesGate of th e mot he rland:"War, however. wou ld not appeato be as imm inen t as these slogansuggest. The constant high p itch oPe kin g's a nti-Soviet propagandaprobab ly an auempt by Chinap resent leadership to f reeze Chinafo reign policy for years to comthat is. to render future reconcil iatio n impossible for th e fresh leadership which will eventua lly assumthe helm . O th e r internal considerations may a lso p laya part.

Soviet anti-Chi nese propagandis equally in tensive. T he average Sovie t cit izen has a n in g rai n ed fea r oth e va st "ve llow ho rdes" to thsou th . (C hina has a populat ion ovethree times th a t or th e Sov ieUnion .) .Bo rder DisputeSino-S oviet tensions arc pa rtia lly aou tgrowth or th e long-standi ng C h

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upon the Soviet Union as a "papertiger." as they once termed theUnited States. The Chinese are fullyaware tha t the Kre m lin has alreadydisc usse d the possibility of a pre emptive nuclear blitz aga inst Chinaand that the Sov iets have sufficien tnuclear muscle to to ta lly devastatetheir na tion.But China is also a nuclear power- albeit a much smaller one - andwould be able to get in some nuclear blows of her own . China's mi litary leadership is currently engagedin a program of modernizing thenation's a rmed forces to increasethe ir effec tive ness. In addition.China ha s a well-planned civil de fense system of immense scope.

Moreover, the Chinese have publicly vowed to fight a 100-year war.if necessary. to achieve victory inany Sino-Soviet war wh ich mighterup t. The enemy. Peking has asserted, w o u l d ul t imately be"drowned in the ocean of a people'swar." The specter of millions of Chinese flooding across the borde r in amammoth guerrilla wa rfa re campa ign is, by itself, a strong de terrentto possible Soviet designs.A war would clearly be futi le andcounterproductive for all concerned.Reconciliation?The Sino-Sov iet dispu te. expertscontend , is not necessarily fixed in(Continued on page 42)

7

Sinkiang province. The Chinese asse rte d the helicopter was on a spymission . Th e Soviet crew futilelym aintai ned th at th ey had beenblown off cou rse by a storm, becoming lost in the T ien Shan mounta inrange. Peking branded the cl aim a"bunch of lies" and the crew wassubsequentlyj ailed.In ad ditio n to th ese pub licizedencounters. the tot a l number of minor skirmishes and fron tier violation s a long the tense. 4,500 -milelong bo rder is bel ieved to ru n intothe thousands.

U.S.S.R.

CHINA coex:.tQ.'":!

CONTINUING RIFT between the Sovie t Union and China is due . in part. to along-standing dispute over border territories.

A Preemptive Strike?The Sino-Soviet borderlands remai nheavily fortifi ed on both sides. It ises tima ted that the Soviet Uniontoday has nearly a th ird-of its en tirearmy posit ioned in th e China the ater. a rmed with modern weaponsand nuclear missiles. China hasbeen engaged in equally impressivemilitary pr eparations.

The mak ings of a big war areclearly the re . But will th e order tofire actually be given?De spite th e fact tha t a Soviet attack against China would exposeth e Soviet position in Eu rope - and. po ssi b ly enco u rage rebellio nsamong he r Eas t European satellites- .th e Chinese leadership has notruled ou t the possibility of a pre emptive Ru ssian strike.Chinese st ra teg ists do no t loo k

nese claim to some 33.000 squarekilometers ( 13.000 sq. mi.) of Sovietter r itory ceded to Czar Alexander II of Ru ssia by Ch ina's weakManchu emperors more th an a centuryago .Pek ing maintains th e 19th centu ry terr itorial agreements were" unequa l treaties" imposed onChina by a stronger Czarist Russia,a claim the Kreml in rej ects.In March 1969. the border controversy erupted int o a rme d fightingon disputed Chen Pao [Dam an sky]island in th e ice-bound Ussur i Rivernorth of Vladivostok. The bloodyclash, involving at least a battalionof men on each side . resulted in thedeaths of ove r 30 Soviet borderguards and an unknown number ofChinese - and brought the two nations close to furl-scale wa r.As would be expected. the twoaccounts of what actua lly touchedoff the confrontat ion in the bleaksnow-swept wild erness of eas ternAsia differ widely.In the wake of the fighting, theChinese government , through its official New China News Agency,warned Moscow that "hundreds ofmillions of army men and civilians"had been on a lert. Further Sovieta ttacks, wa rned the Chinese, wouldbe "crus he d to pieces by the ironfists of the 700 milli on Chinesepeople."

After emot ion s coo led, however.Ch ines e Premier Cho u En-lai andSov iet Prem ier Alexei Kosygin metin Peking in September 1969, andagreed to begi n border talks. But noprogress was ever reported , and thetalks ha ve been suspended sinceMay 1975.In November 1972. ano t he r borde r incident . thi s tim e thou sands ofmiles to the west, took the lives of atleast five Soviet soldiers and severalshepherds nea r the historic Dzungarian Gate . T he "gate ." used by G enghis Kh an when he led his a rmyinto the We st, is a natural mountainpass joining the Soviet Republic ofKazakhstan and China 's strategicSinkiang province - another areawhere territory is disputed. (Seemap .)Sixteen months later - in March1974 - a Soviet heli copter with athree-man crew was downed by theChinese in another remote a rea ofThe PLAIN TRUTH September 1976


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at ten t ion , effort, and time. Theva lue.you give to anyone of them isin relation to the values you give theothers.An ancient Greek phil osophersa id the purpose of education is topersuade you to like what you oughtto like, and to dislike what youought to dislike.Education will open up to you theoppo rtuni ty to follow the true, thebeauti ful , and the good. and it willhelp you avoid vulgarity and falsesent imen ts by providing you withstanda rds by which to judge val ues.It will enable you to decid e wha twill contribute toward your happ iness in life. Without education, howcan you discern what is good foryou, what is right or wron g, what istrue or false, or what is lovely orugly?This Changing WorldWe in Ca nada are very conscious ofour natural resources, becau se oureco nomy is founded on them . Butall the se resources are useless withou t two others: the intelligence andthe initiative of our people.

And where do we get the se personal quali ties? Through the discipline of education.We need knowledge and enterpr ise more than people ever beforeneeded them, because we are livingin a peri od o f pro found social andcultura l transition .Less than two generations ago acrisis was something that came onlyonce in ten years, and it was handled by the experts. Today, we livewith crises a t home and abroad . Noton ly a re th e cat astroph e-relie fpeople, the politician s, and the military men involved: We are a ll in it.Th erefore , we all need education sowe ca n gai n the knowledge andwisdom to cope with these 'crises.We cannot estimate with any certainty what changes may be broughtabout in the lifetime of you who ar enow youthful: changes due to medical science, nuclear energy, increasing population , exhau st ion ofcer tain natural resources. or aggression' by despotic powers. You cannotface these prospective changes withintelligence or serenity if you haveon ly the education that was ad equate a half century ago.Young people ha ve more and

life . That is exactly th e kind oflife that we wish for you. Nancy.A Sense of ValuesOne of the most frigh teningth ings in our world is igno rance ignorance of better th ings, betterways of do ing things, and a socialresponsibility to try to see .and dothese better things.

Education will help you to thinkclearly and reach good j udgmentsabout the relative import ance of theman y activities that make uphuman life. Each one clamors for

environment that is not a lways sowell disposed toward you as yourhome and yo ur schoo l ; (3) yo ucould never achieve the peace ofmind and understanding one musthave to endure the crises that cometo try us all.We believe it is very much worthwhile for you to study, and we hop ethat you will pursue your educationso successfully, that yo u will have avery happy life.You will realize, we are sure. thateveryone faces problems and difficulties at some time or other andsuffers distress and sorrow. Theseseem to be inescapable. But the boyor girl with a good education is in amuch better position to cope withlife, to solve problems, and thus inthe end to be less disturbed andgrieved by it all.An educated boy or girl is entitledto count upon life holding out pros pects of achievement and security not the kind of security that is dependent upon what someone elsedo es, but the security that c


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more to learn as our culture 'growsmore complex. Education gives usthe tool s to dea l with material forcesthat were once ou r enemies. Buteducation must also teach us how tolive and beh ave in this new society.What Is Education?Educati on should be useful. Wedon't mean useful in the sense ofmaking us adept in manipulat inggadge ts. Ever y youth reading th isletter wants some th ing better thantha t. You wish to be fit to performall the du t ies of life j ustly, skillfully.magnanimously, and with person alsa tisfacti on .Learning sheer fact is not all ofeducation. The three R's do not constitute education, any more than akni fe, fork, and spoon const itute ad inner. Some o f the greatest boresare peopl e who have memorized agrea t dea l of information and loveto ta lk about it.The aim of an educational institution is to give students a livingfund of knowledge from which they

may generate idea s. When you canbring relevant background to bearon a problem. assemble pertinentda ta, grasp relat ionships, appraisethe values invol ved , and make aju dgment, you are truly an educatedpe rson.

Th en you need not fear becomingbewildered by chan ge or throwninto a panic by misfortune , becauseyou will be able to determine threevita l th ings: where y ou are, whereyou are headed , and what you hadbetter do under the se circumstances.In seeking that education, beimaginative. The first ten or twelveyears of your life is its romanticstage . When you looked through atelescope to study the stars, you didno t see lumps of matt er floating inspace but the glory of the sky. Insecondary school you pass throughthe age of preci sion. You must learnthings correctly, exactly, and completely, because these things formthe bank account from which youwill be drawing all through yourlife. After secondary school you enter the per iod of generalization. Youwill begin to apply what you ha velea rned, transferring par t icularitiesof knowledge to the problems ofge neral living. As one peak isclimbed , farther ran ges will appear10

on the horizon, beckoning to you.You cannot climb them unti l youreach them. but there they are. eternally luring to you.But. you may say, "so -and-somade good in life without havinghad an extensive formal education."Quite true. Many men and womendid not have the opportunity that isopen to every boy and girl in Canada today. They left school andwen t to work before completinghigh school; some did not go anyfurther than public school. But theycontinu ed to learn whi le theyworked.They succeeded in spite of hand i

caps and not because of them. Theyhad a burning desire to a ttain educa tion by home study, in eveningclasses, or in other ways. Sir Winston Churchill. who contributed sogrea tly to the world in war and inpeace, once told an audience in Boston : " I have no technical and nouni versity education, and have justhad to pick up a few thin gs as I wentalong."

Young people in Canada todaygenerally need not endure hardship.People of the older generat ion havemade it possible for young people tobecome educated to the utmost extent of their capability and their desire.

Don 't expect - and don 't desire that education will be poured intoyou. You will see more interestingand usefu l things when you look forthem yourself. You can' t profit byaccepting facts without qu estioning,by accepting words instead of tryingto understand ideas. You need toexplore the many sides there may beto a question.

If you walk all around the op inion of a famous man , qu estion it,and then embrace it, the opinion isno long er his but yours . When youlearn how a danger occu rs, you maytake steps to avoid it ; if you wan t toescape being fooled , find ou t howthe fooling is done ; go beh ind thepuppet show to see with wha t skillthe little figures are manipul ated .Special Tralnlnq vs. Gen,eralKnowledg eChoosing a career tod ay is not thedocile following in your parents'footsteps tha t was common a halfcentury ago. There are attractive

professions, businesses, and cra ftsthat were not heard of or even imagined, whe n today's un iversity graduates were born.It is not de sirable tha t you shouldpursue technical education to theexclusion of general or cultural educat ion. Foremen will tell you that aworker who has had pra ctice inlearning at school usually turns outto be bette r at learn ing in a factory.He cat ches on more quickly, no tonly to the "how" of his job but tothe "why" of it. He has a quickerand surer grasp of pro blems. He ismore likely to think up time- andlabor-sa ving ideas . He has thebroad outlook and the capacity forstraight thinking tha t are essentialto promotion and advancement.

The earthworm has not only digging skill but a sense of the principles involved in digging a goodhole a t the pro pe r depth an d in theright direction . We humans, on ahigher lever, need no less. It is principles, and not mere data . we need ifwe are to find our way through themazes of tomorrow.If you are going in for commerce,do not imagine for a moment thatall you need is tra in ing in reading,wr iting, and ari thmetic. Even theaddition of bookkeeping, shorthand,and typing is not enough. You needan intelligent knowledge of the realities of modern economic life.Business men believe that moreattention sho uld be given in schoolsand colleges to the art of communicat ing ideas. There is not muchprospect for advancement in commercial firms unless you can expressyour thoughts competently. Youcannot buy or sell, give instructionsto subordinates, make a report, winfr iends or : influence people unlessyou can say clearly and appea linglywha t it is in your mind to say.

If you are going to learn a trade ,don't be satisfied to become a specialist in "know-how" rathe r than in, knowledge. The sor t of per son youare to be is more importan t in thelo ng run than the sor t of skill youacquire.Really useful trai ning in a tradewill provide you with some generalprinciples and a thorough gro unding in the ir application to cer tainconcrete de tails. It will give you abase on which you may build a big-

The PLAIN TRUTH September 1976I


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ger and better job. It will accustomyou to using you r brain instead ofjust the fragment of it that d irectsyour fingers .Should you be going on to university. you need to know that the function of high er education is two-fold :to dissemina te knowledge a lreadysto red up . and to spur you to acquire new knowledge. Wha t training there is in a university isdirected toward cond it ioning themind to think. pus hing back theba rr ier s of the pa st and extendingthe boundaries of what is known.and d iscove r ing prob lems to besolved .Seek Broad HorizonsYou nee d to cultivate your imagination . You must know the mechan ical fact s of what yo u a re de alingwith, bu t to be a rea l spark plu g youneed also to have imagination.Behind all mechan ical trainingstands libe ral educa tion , It tells uswha t peop le ha ve been and hints atwha t we may become . It helps us toformulat e responsible judgmentsabout our pro blems.A libe ral education helps us 10 bemany-sided and to take la rge views.It provides us with powerfu l tools todiscover an d handl e fac ts. Beyondthis, it ena bles us to transcend fac tsand to deal with the larger questionsof purpose and meaning.

When we a sked Dr. SidneySmith, president of the University ofToronto. for an expression of hisopinion . he wrote this: " People havesaid that training for a vocation isuseful. but that libe ra l education isno t useful. That is nonsense, Alleduca tion is useful." Huck Finn lost int erest in Moseswhen he found out tha i Moses wasdead. because ' I do n' t take no stockin dead people: Today. many 'don' tta ke no stock' in dead languages, oreven in living languages apa rt fromthei r own. Teach English , they say.Don 't teach literature - Shakespe a re and Milton are useless. Don' tteach grammar - gerunds and participles ar e only for the pedant. Justteach English!"But it is the student of uselesslan gu age s and lite ratu re who canuse his own language with precisionand imagina tion. Use less algebra,history, phi losophy and physics pro-The PLAIN TRU fH September 1976

duce usefu l powers and resilience.T he usefulness of liberal educationis to develop usefu l. independentcitizens. and in this progress thelongest way round is often the shortest wily home . Education should en-able a person to earn a living and tolive a life."Courage, Work , and DisciplineSom c people find it easy to memorize whole pages of textbo oks. Th a tmay win prizes in a quiz contest. butno t in the exciting adv enture that islife . Education is ba rren without actio n based upon it. You must putyo ur know ledge to work.To be fu lly pre pared for life youmust learn to \..ork , Someone hassai d that idleness is the nurse ofnaughtine ss; at any rate it is thedeath of progress. Life is not a thingof ease . Maybe it ought to be, andperhaps some day it will be (th oughsuch a life has no attraction for prog re ss ive-minded people) , bu t itneve r has been. and it is not now.We should not try too ha rd toma ke educa tion easy . T her e a re d ifficult things that mu st be done,whether we like it or not. Educationshould prepare us to face difficultiescourageo usly, 10 persevere steadfastly, and to work con scientiously- th ree virtues that app ly as muchto success in business and industryas to success in'science.Also in this list of requirements isdiscipline . We cannot imagine usefulth oughts o r creative idea s a risingin o ther than a disciplined mind.And what is di scipline? It includesthe habit of cheerfu lly undertaki ngimposed tasks. the obedience toru les whether made by others o r byyo u rse lf, a nd ob je c tivi ty in ap-proaching contentious matters.An other poi nt you should consider in seeking an educa tion is this:Don't scorn examinations. They areessential in our scheme of things.

They give you a check on how youare getting along. and they showyo ur teachers where you need special a ttention to strengthen yo urweak spots.Don't be discouraged if your besteffor t fails to win the highe st marks.The results of examinations may bedeceptive. If you are nerv ous. youmay do yourself less than ju stice.School examinations are not an

end-a ll. T hey a rc me rely indicato rsa long the road ,But examinations are use ful aspart of your training for living.Every day in adult life you will betaking examinations. Why not practice for th em as you do for a footballma tch . a hockey game. or a schoolplay? Hour by hour. sometimesminute by minute. a business executive find s him self a t his de sk passingexaminat ions. T he fact tha t he do esth em may be a ttribu ted to the factthat he has had practice .And After School, " ?Is it better to be ed ucated to someex tent tha n no t to be educated a tall ? You will. of course. ag ree tha t itis. Then is it not still better to have abetter than average education?No one ca n pack enough into hism ind during schoo l days to last hislifetime. No ne of us a re too old toacqui re knowledge, At 45 we arestill able to learn more than wecould before we were 14, and evenat 65 we can absorb knowledge asfast as we cou ld when we were25.Ed ucation ends only with one'slife. Wha t yo u lea rn at schoo l issome thing to which you must add.yea r by year, and pass on to o thers,"Thus." sa id Einstein , "do we mortals achieve immortality in the permanent things which we create incommon."It is astonishing how far even halfan hour a day, regularly given tosome objective. will carry one in

making him self master of it. It iseasy to fall into the habi t of dawdling away time, but it is easy, also,to acqu ire the habi t of putti ng everymoment to use.To get the greatest va lue fromeducation, set for yourself a habitual vision of exce llence . Your pursu it of educa tio n will not be easy,but it is an advantage to have something significant to do at the expense of thought and energy.

And , finally, do not be contentwith hal f measures. A writer ofsixty-five years ago sa id: "The goodis the enemy of the best." Let's notbe con ten t with a seco nd best.though it be good. 0Printed with permission of The RoyalBan k of Canada , copyright 1976.

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j o h nny can 't read! Who ' s toblame? The controversy ragesunabated .The colleges and un iversities sayth at high schools a re a t fault beca use they a re gradua ting too manystuden ts who hav e to take remedialEnglish be for e they ca n beg in co llege-leve l work.The high schools te ll us that if astu den t had a poor foundation inthe basics, it 's too late to repeatwha t he should have learned in elementary school.T he elementary schoo ls blame

phon ics. or the absence of phon ics.or too much TV watching a t hom e.or ch ildren's lax reading habits.Meanwhi le SAT (Scho lastic Apt itud e Te st) scores con tin ue to d rop.and the ch ildren of Am erica appearto be getting a lower q uality ofpreparation for life th an the generation just be fore them did .The children in quest ion are yourchild ren. You want to see them suc

ceed in life. Youwant them to havethe bes t ed ucationpossible. But there'si n cre a sin g co nfusion over why andhow to teac hJo h nny (and Susie)to read .In this art ic le weare going to basica lly ig n ore th e" how" controversya nd addre ss o u rselves to a few basicquestions and factsth at deal with the"why ." In do ing so.we will give a numbe r of bas ic rea sonsfor being ed uca tedin the first place.show why parentsneed t o be concerned and deep lyin vol ved in thei rown children's educa tion. tell in whatways Mom and Dadcan he lp. and finall y sh ow wh atbook s a nd o t h e rreading materi a lca n best contributeto children's needsand training.


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teacher from a child's infa ncy towhen he or she lea ves home ayo ung adu lt . Th e awesome importa nce of th is respon sib ility must no tbe underestimated.And how does a pa rent teach?G enerally . in two broad categor ies:by example and by direct aid.

Parental Examp leBy pa rental example . we simplyme an the way one lives. The pa rentis the model for his yo ungsters.Have you seen the cancer ad agai ns tsmoking in which a lovab le lillieboy is accompanying his father on awalk? He is imi tat ing his st ride ,sto pping 10 look a t whatever hisha nd some Dad examines. a nd flop pin g down fo r a rest ju st th e way hisfather does, ca re fully pat terning hisbeh avior after the ad ult model he isstudying. T here is pride. affection ,a nd respect for his father ev ident inevery move and expression . Thenthe father pu lls ou t a cigarette andlight s up. inhaling deep ly . Sureenoug h. the lill ie boy picks up atwi g and lights up. inha li ng deep ly.Sure en ou gh, the lillie hoy repeat seach ges tu re in pan tomime. He islearn ing to smo ke, beca use his wo nderful b ad does; it "must be" thething to do when you grow up .

Your children copy you . Unt ilthey gel into school o r among o therfamilies. you a re the only modelthey have . Th is fac t is d iscussed by apro fesso r of developmental psychology , Jerom e Kagan . in an article onch ild development : " Lower-classpa re n ts ma y ex ho rt th eir child re n towo rk hard for good grades in school.but the chi ldren do no t perceivethe ir paren ts as pe rsons who publicly engage in o r exp ress a va lue inintellectual ma stery themselves. Asa result. the child ren cannot viewmaste ry of in tellectu al skills as awa y of bei ng sim ila r to their par ent s."

Yo ur child ren want to he like you.so the best help you can give the m isthe examp le of health y inte llectua lcuri osi ty a nd ba lan ced everyday living . Dad and Mom hug and kiss atva rious times of the da y. and chi ld ren learn that marriage isParents discuss ca lmly and warmlyth eir finances a nd big famil y decisions such as major purcha ses andvacations. an d chi ldr e n learn tha tThe PLA IN TRUTH September 1976

husbands an d wives are partnersa nd tha t decision making can be aspleasant as it is importan t.If you grumble a bout routineta sks. children decide work is unpleasa n t instead of sa tisfying. Ifthey hear yo u make snide. cu tt ingrema rk s a bout n e ighb ors a n dfr iends. th ey lea rn gossip and " thepu t-down." If th ey see you planningto cheat on y our income lax or hearyo u boasting of a - s hady tical youpulled. children learn to be di shon est.If chi ldren see yo u reading anddiscussing magazines and new sp ape rs. they lea r';; 10 be aware of thewo rld outside th e hom e. They seetha t reading can be fun an d st imula ting. as well as useful. If the di nne r table is th e sce ne of a freeintercha nge of ideas and proh lem s.a source of mutual help for a ll membe rs. they lea rn to communicate, toas k for help on their own problems.Fo r if we solve problems a long theway and a nswer impor tant question s as th ey occur. there' s far lesscha nce of what some peop le ca ll" the gene ration gap."

So examine yo ur life and beha vior to see i f your exa mpl e is wha tyo u wan t to impress on yo ur child'smind . If it doesn' t honestly mea sureup . then begin to modify it. Andth e n remembe r th at we'r e allhuman . Even when we're reallytrying to do ou r best. we' re not perfee t. So if you 've made a grea t higb lu nde r tha t your chi ldren witnessed o r are aware of. do n' t beafra id to ad mit it. Tell them that,through haste, thoughtlessness, ormistaken judgment. you goofed:and let it be a learning situation forth em . Explain that yo u want to tryto save them from some of the sameerrors, if you can . Children love andrespect yo u more . not less. for hon esty. It's hypocrisy that turn s themotl. Wh en they can sec the obviousand wonde r why adults won 't ad mi tit. tha t's when we lose sta tu re intheir eyes.Par ental Hel pThe second way that paren ts tea chis by di rect ai d . Tu torin g o r help ingwith difficult parts o f homework isthe first thi ng tha t comes to mind .At times a simpler exp lanation of aco ncept in ma th. a few more exam-

pies in Eng lish grammar. or helpingth em rev iew their st udy she et for ahistory test may be a ll that's neededto help them ove r a rough spot. Perha ps a really weak area will requi rep rolon ged tu toring unti l they 'veca ug ht up.Mayb e yo u' ll find out tha t th eyd idn't ca tch some thing in class a ndwe re too shy to ask. they 'd bedowngraded by the ir classmates.Th is prob lem was brought to my

attention a few years ago by an incident in o ne of my cla sses. I hadas ked the usua l. "Are there anyquestions before we go on to thene xt pa rt?" One boy whom I knewto he a par t icu larly bright studentra ised his hand and sa id, " Yes,wou ld yo u please repeat ju st tha tlast pa rt again?" I did . trying tomake it even sim pler a nd c lea rer. AsI wa s talking. I not iced a couple ofstudents taking further notes. Th ebright hoy up 10 me after cla ssa nd sa id quietly. " I really unde rstood it the first time, Mrs. French .bUI I know Billy d id n' t, a nd he 'safraid the kids'li lau gh a t him if helets on he didn 't ge t it."T he b right ones arc secure in thei rknowledge and reputa tion . But theaverage or slow ones don ' t ha ve thesame freedom to inquire, because,un less they're unu su ally tou gh minded , they ar e reluctan t to facethe ridi cule from the ir peers .If you r child is a fra id to as k inclass, as a -lovi ng parent you'll wantto fill the gap. Then maybe you cana lso bo lste r his courage a bit. Te llhim there's no thing wro ng with asking questions a nd th at it's how weall learn . Do as much as yo u can tobolster him at home . Encouragequ estions when he's with yo u. Andnel'e,. say, "That's a dumb qu estion: ' If he doe sn't know and wantsto know. that's not dumb . Th at 'sbrigh t. He should be con gra tulatedfor his intellec tua l curiosity andthe n given the a nswe r. If you don'tknow the answe r, tell h im so : " Idon 't know the answer to that , bu t itsu re is a good question: ' Tell himwh at kind of book th e an swe r canbe found in. a nd if yo u have it onth e shelf go and look il up together.Once yo u've tau ght him how to findinforma tion. he ca n do it himself thenext time. To pu t th is kind of co nfidence and information into a

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THEENRICHINGWORLDOFAGOOD BOOKT help you in you r sea rch forgood reading. here is a brie f recounting of the kinds of books avai lab le a nd their cha rac te r is tics,beginning with the preschool andkindergarten level.1. Picture stories, for pre readers andbeginn ing readers. (Includes realistic stories. informational stories.poems, fantasy, etc .) These storiesare generally bui lt around one ortwo major themes: love or reassurance, and achievement. PeterRabbit by Beat rix Pott er, over 70years old, has both themes a nd isstill popular. Pet er survives his da ring adve ntu re, re turns sa fe a ndsou nd, and is put to bed after apunishment of chamomile tea . TheLittle Bear books, Mike Mulliganand His Steam Shovel, Madeline,and Little Tim are others in thisbeginner category.2. Mother Goose and Ballads introduce chi ldren to the fun of language . Rhyme. rhythm , humor, andthe nonsense clements de light them .Ballads appeal beca use of their dr ama tic sto ries and arc a bridge between Mo ther Goose rhym es andregular nar rati ve poetry.3 . Fo lk Stories. Cha lle nge a ndachievement are the hea rt of thefolk -tale themes. The heroes or her oines must perform stern tasks ifthey are to survive, but the fact thatthey deal competen tly with adversity and come through modestly triumphan t is both rea ssu ring a ndencouraging. Stories such as "C inderella," "The Three Little Pigs,""Three Billy-Goats Gruff," and"Snow Wh ite" dramatize the stormyconflict of good and evil. And theyreitera te the old veri ties that kindness and goodness will trium ph overevil if they are backed by wisdo m,14

wit, and courage . These are basictru ths we should like built into thede pths of the child's social col]sciou sness.4. Fantasy , Fab le s , My th s, andEpics. T he dra ma and beauty ofthese lite rary forms ap pea l to mostchi ldren , a nd the exci tement of thegrea t epics sa tisfy a chi ld's reverence for courage and high deeds.5. Humor. Children as much as wegrown-ups need the savi ng the rapyof lau gh ter. Eac h family will probably find its own favo rites, but a fewwide ly popu lar ones are the Seussbooks, Winnie the Pooh, and theChristopher Robin books of A. A.Milne, Pippi Longstocking, Char 101/e 's Web, The Borrowers, TheWind in the Willows, and C. S.Lewis' Narnia series .6. Poetry ex tends chi ldren 's imagi- .nat ions and gives the m new inwa rdvisio n and understand ing . It increases a child 's appreciation of la nguage and introduces a differen tkind of loveliness, tha t of mood ,emotion. and lyric. Nonsense andhumor in poetry teac h a child thathe can joke with words and that lifeis fun .7. Animal Stories satisfy strongly theneed to love and be loved, awakensympa thy and compassion in chil d ren's hea rts , an d teach them thatall creatu res need to be cared for." Love is the most civilizing force inlife . So let chi ldren weep ove r Kingof the Wind or Gentle Ben; theyneed the therapy of tea rs if they a rcto learn compassion: '8, Realistic Stories. Themes of loveand achievement abound in realisticstories of fam ily life. Earlier serieswhich a re still popular today a reThe Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew,and The Hardy Boys. They a rejoined by such modern tit les asLitt le Eddie, Henry Huggins, Meetthe A ustins, Cheaper by the Dozen,Blue Willow, and Roosevelt Grady .9. Adventure Tales. These inclu desea stories, mysteries. and such classics as Treasure Island. Kidnapped.and Dana's Two Years Bef ore theMast ; they sa tisfy a chi ld's longingfor vicarious adventure; they givehim a look a t the grown-up wor ldbefore he has to enter it and at other

times and places which he maynever be ab le to visit in pe rson.10 . Historical Fiction does the same ,while ma king history come a live.Two fine books in th is cla ss whichappea l to children from 8 10 15 areThe Courage of Sarah Nob le andJohnny Tremain. Two NewberryMedal winners are histor ical fictionIsland o f the Blue Dolphins ( 1961and The Bronze Bow (1962).11 . Biography reinforces histori calfiction. Good biograph ies are available a t va rio us age levels. Good auth e nt ic t rea tmen ts th at a re a s"fascina ting as fiction" have beendo ne on Paracelsus, Ga lileo, KeatsPenn , Co lumbus, William BlakeWashington , Sequ oy ah, Linco lnLee , Gandhi , a nd many others.According to Miss Ruth Rob in

son , children' s lib ra rian a t thedowntown Los Angeles Pub lic Libra ry, there are certa in titles thatare classics and constant favoritesHere are the most asked-for classicsand contempora ry books:CLASSICSThumbelina. AndersonThe Wizard of Oz, BaumWind in the Willows, GrahamSnow White and the Seven DwarfsG rimmThe Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, Lewis (the Na rnia Series)Peter Rabbit, PotterChar lotte's Web, WhiteThe Lillie House in the Big WoodsWilderBig Golden Animal ABe, WilliamsCONTEMPORARYA re You There God? I t 's M eMargaret, BlumeThe Mystery of the Singing SerpenCa reyThe Very HungI) ' Caterpillar, Ca rleThe Guinness Book of World RecordsJohn Henry , KeatsNancy Dre ....., KeeneIsland of the Bille Dolphins, O'De llThe Best Word Book Ever, ScarryWhere the Wild Things Are, SendakEncy clopedia Brown, SobolIf you r children agree with th

majority of their pee rs, there sho ulbe severa l books in those lists they'enjoy. Here's to good rea ding ansuccessfu l children .The PLAIN TRUTH September 197


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child's mind is giving him power asan ad ult.Help ing Your Johnny or Sus ie toRead Bel lerIf your child is be hind his gradelevel in read ing. you can now putbo th yo ur example and direct-aidap p roa ch to wo rk he lpi ng him rega in the lost ground.Th e help is based on the prin ciple: Take him back to his presen treading leve l, and let him enjoy success at tha t level be fore try ing tomove ahead . The defeat ing thin gfor a child is to fail a t ma teri al th a iis too hard for hi m, when he knowshis class is succeeding at it. Hethinks it' s hopeless and simply stopstry ing.So yo ur stra tegy is this. If he is inthe 6th or 8th gra de. bu t his read ingco m p re he ns ion is rea lly somegrad es back, sa y. th e 4th or 5thgra de leve l. th en go to the children'ssec tion o f you r public library andask the librarian for an assortmento f book s tha t yo ur child will enjo yin subject matt er. Ask for books a t alevel or two below where you thinkhe is. at the level, and per haps oneor two above.T hen read with hi m a little whi leeach evening, beginning with theeasiest level. Relax and read . Youread aloud , and let the child si t byyo u and ju st follow silently with hiseyes. When he sees he can read it alla nd that it's an interesting story,he'll cont inue right on. Don 't blam eor exhort him to do bett er. or pushor dema nd . Let him read his fill ofinteresting, exci ting stories at thelevel in whi ch he can comp rehendall the voca bulary. Be ready to an -svver any questions or discuss it, . ifneed be. and have a dictiona ryhan dy.When your children taste successat that level. they'll be motivated torea d othe r go od stories a t the nextlevel.It may keep you bu sy going backto the library for awhile ; but theprocess should only tak e a certaindefinite time, for they'll sooner orlat er be up to th e pr ope r level. andyour tutoring help can resume amore normal pace. And remember.every minute you spend hel p ingyour child to read is a worthwhileinvestment in his future.The PLAIN TRUTH September 1976

Mental Growth and DevelopmentThrough Read ingHow does reading contribute toyour child's cha racte r develop m en t ,we llbe ing, and ed ucat ion? Theto p ic has filled many books, and afew basic pr incip les should be mentioned .Most ad ults ten d to th ink of reading only as recreat ional. We use it toge t our minds off our problems, asan escape from the pressu res ofeveryd ay living, or as a refreshi ngchange of pace, as a ny recreat ionalac tivity is. But read ing plays a farmore important role in children'sli v e s , e s p e c i a ll y d u ri n g t h e i ryo unge r , mo re im p re ss iona b leyea rs.T hro ug h read ing we ll-ch ose nbooks, your child ren will be lea rning and improving language skills.Story content will be acqua intingthe m with life in all its aspects.Read ing will tea ch them history andin trod uce them to the peop le ofot her land s and cultures . The illu strat ions will, without their evenknowing it, create in them an awareness of color, line, mass, form, andcompos itio n. You r ch ild ren willlearn of architecture, costumes, scenery, a nd customs o f other timesand places.As you read to the m a va riety ofbooks with pictures. they will a lsobecome aware that each artist's styleis different. This not only deve lop stheir own person al tastes - for somethey will like better than others but it a lso shows them that a lthou ghev erybody is differe nt, there's stillroom for a ll. T hus begins to leranceand accepta nce of others.Equa lly im por tant is the fact th atreadin g the right kinds o f books isuseful in character training and voca tiona l guida nce. Mayb e you' re a

br ick la yer, doctor , or perso nne lmanager. But your child wants to bea teacher, architect, or storekeeper.The pa ren t as model no longer appl i es fo r voca t iona l train ing, sobook s can help supp ly the missingimage.In Children and Books. May HillArbu th not and Zena Sutherlan d,sta te that your "child 's needs a re atfirst intensely and nar rowly pe rso na l. b ut . as he ma tu res, th eyshould broad en and become more

widely socia lized . . . Struggling tosa t isfy his need s. rhe child is foreverseeking to maintain the preca riousba lan ce between persona l ha ppinessand soc ial appro val. an d tha t is noeasy task."Growing children also have sevenemo tional needs that need to he metas they d evelop into ad ults. Goodbook s can help supply a ll o f thesevital emotional needs:I. The need for physica l security(books in which the theme stronglyinvolves food, shelter. a nd clo th ing) .2. The need to lov e and be loved(family, pe ts, friends).3. The need to be long. (Th i s involves the child 's growth from 'experi en c es wh ic h are " mer e lyegocentric extensions of the chil d' sse lf-love ," to the awareness of family, neigh borhood , a nd the community a t large - ibid.. p. I I.)4. Th e need to know. (Books sa tisfy a ch ild 's insatiable cur iosity.)5. T he need to achieve . (Th e compe lling nee d for compete nce beginswith th e in fant's struggles to graspand move and "grows into the complex physica l or intellectu al per formances of the expert man orwomanathlete, mathematician, musician, orscientist" - ibid.. p. 13.)6. The need for change. (Almostany book will fill the need for play.liber at ion , fun. va riety. laughter.and even inspiration.)7. The need for beau ty and order(aesthetic sa tisfaction o f va ryingkinds and degrees, inc luding pictu res).Some books will answer severa l o fthese needs at once. For instan ce,Alcott's Little Women will deal moststrongly with fam i ly life, includingthe need for physica l security. tolove an d be loved, but will also rela te to " cha nge" by showing life inanothe r centur y. Biograp h ies andaut obiographies will acqua int thechild with how notable women andmen met life's problems and han d led its cha llenges.

Why teach Joh nny to read ? Whyencournge him to explore the richtreasure house of the printed word?Because if we don't. we' re rob binghim of one of the grea test opportunities ava ilable for life-long education and success. For if Johnnv can'tread as a chi ld, he will be ..erclyhan d ica pped as an adult. n15


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ADUL T CONIFER SAWFL Y, or Neod iprion, is a serious pest of coniferous trees.A medium-sized insect. it is common thro ughout most of Nor th America.except in the Midwest.

cess and eat on ly edible par ts - isst ill a puzzle.Questions Evol ution Can 't AnswerTh e sawfly's unique digestive system is more than ju st an oddity. Itpre sen ts a nu mbe r of thorny q uestions as fa r as the theory o f evolu tion is concerned . First of a ll. try toim agine the difficulties some ancien tva riety of sawfly la rva wou ld haveencou ntered had it tr ied to switchfrom a normal leafy d iet to one ofpine needles. Accord ing to evo lution ary th eory. the ch an ges necessa ry to ena b le it to digest the pineneedles cou ld only ha ve occurredthrough sma ll mu tation s in a ste pby-step fashion. But in the case ofthe sawfly larva. such piecemea ltransitions become to ta lly impractical . and one is immed iat ely confron ted with one of evolution 's basicproblems of logic.Th e sawfly larva could not live onpin e ne ed les until a completelydeveloped mechanism wh ich separa tedwholesome food from poisonous pineresin was working with perfect reliability . But such a mechanism , if itcame gradua lly in to ex istence bysma ll mutat ions. would ha ve deve loped only if th e food already consis ted of pine need les. Yet all thesawfly's intermed ia te transitionfo rms (which evolu t ion requires)would clearly have been unsa tisfactory because they wou ld have beenun able to adeq uately cope with thepoi sonous effects of tile pine need les.In tha t ca se th e sawfly's evolutiona ryprogress wou ld have bee n brought toa standstill,

On the o the r hand if there \vereno pin e needles around for the larva10 feed on. ther e wo uld also havebeen no stimulus for it to deve lopan y mechanism for digestive separation and protection.No mat ter how intelligibly thetheory of evolu tion may presen t thereasons for the step-by -step development of at rc. ex isting organs orparts of th e body. the difficu lties intrying to exp lain how cer tain independent a natomical-phys iolog icasystems could originate by evolu tionseem insurmoun table . Science is stillf ar f rom understanding how different organisms came into being. eventhough it sometimes seems tha t weunders ta nd " in principle." 0

head tow ard its aggressor a nd secretes a d rop of its sto red liquid .Th is foul-smelling brew is usuallye no ugh to di scourage would-bepr eda tors such as spiders. an ts. andbirds. .

This neat tric k could be comparedto a person who ea ts a sa ndwichcon ta ining poisoned sausage. butwho swallows ju st the bread whiles to ri ng th e sa usage in a cheekpou ch .But j us t how does the sawfly larvaaccomplish thi s ph enomenal fea t?Fo restalling a Ma jo r Caseof IndigestionF irst of all. for the sawfly to do this.the ed ible parts mus t somehow besepa ra ted from the inedi ble parts ;seco nd ly. each must go th e right di rection so th at th e resin s a nd oilswi ll no t ge t in to the digestive tract :and third ly. the tissue of its storagesacks must be inse nsitive to the resinac ids .

The lar va of the sawflv is able toper form these" functionsqu ite we ll.Its sto rage sac ks are covered with achit inous memh ran e and ar c thuseffectively pro tected . T he mu scle tissue of the sacks is so ex trao rdinarilystrong that one sawfly expe rt believe s it helps in the separation ofthe digest ible an d ind igestible ingredients. Exactly how the sepa ra tiontakes place - how the larva is ab leto let a ll resinou s bits disa ppear inth e sac ks during the chewing pro-

From [he German weekly. Die Zeit .No. 33. August 9. 1974. Translatedbv Werner G. Gerlach.O n the surface , few peoplewo uld sus pec t th at on esmall insect could have anunsettling effect on the basic tene tsof the theory of evo lu t ion. But th elar va of th e common sawfly doesj us t th a t.

T he sawfl v lar va. a rathe r ordi nary looking crea ture as ca terpillarsgo. has managed to carve out anecological n ich e on the fragra nt need les of th e pine tree . At first glancethi s may not see m like a pa rticularlynoteworthy accomplishment . But inthe sma ll wo rld of insects it represents a radical departu re from acce pted environmen ta l norms.To many small insect s the pinetree is a virtual no-man's land . Itsresin s and oils . which may smellswee t to us humans. are high ly toxicsubstances as far as the six leggersa re concerned ,But no t to the sawfl v larva!T his litt le cr itte r not only ca n tolera te pin e oi l and res ins. but it eve n" knows how" to chew th em up withou t hei ng poison ed.Wh ile mu nching 011 its sta ple dietof pi ne need les. the larva some howsepa rates the poison ous oils and resins from the digestihlc pulp andsto res them in two go iter-like sac ksloca ted a t the sides of its oral cavity,If provoked, it insta ntly tu rns its


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ThePLAIN TRUTH September 1976

Map reflects the intensity of past shocks. not the frequency

SEISMIC RISK

the Circum-Pacific "Ring of Fire: 'In this same peri od . temb lorshave been felt in Englan d. France .Au st r ia . a nd o t he r pa rts of Europe.All bu t forgotten to most America ns is the tremor that jo lted 23M idwes t Stat es in 1968. Ceilingsa nd wa lls cracked. windows broke,

chimn eys toppled . and tall buildingsswayed over a wide area.Earthquakes eas t of t he M ississippi River a rc much less frequen tand in most cases milder than thosein \Vestern States. Nevertheless. a

three-h undred-mile strip of the centr al M iss iss ipp i Va lley. Bost on .C ha rles to n (South Caro lina). andother East Coast areas are vulnerab le to major qu akes. say experts.Why Ear thqu akes?Th e most widely accepted theoryexplaining many. but not all. earth-

tive instrum ents. Still. about ado zen o r so "m ajor" quakes (7 to 7.9on th e Rich ter Scale ) occu r yea rly .A "great" quake. such as occurredin San Fran cisco in 1906 and inAl a ska in 1964. measu res 8 or moreon the same scale. Yet. even "moderate" quakes measuring lillie mo rt:than 6 can cause extensive dama zein areas of poor construction. e

In th e last ten yea rs major qu ak eshave wiped out whole regions andvillages in Sicily. Turkey. Paki stan .a nd Latin Ame rica a nd severelyjarred many other areas around

o Minoro NoneI I MajoroModerate

quakes is plat e tectonics. At least adozen great crustal slabs 80 or S0 .miles thi ck have been found cov ering the planet. These huge platesare float ing on the earth's sem imolt en mantle a nd a rc kep t in motion by powerful internal forceswhich are not as yet vcry well understood by geo logists.Imperceptible to human senses inmos t cases. these plates are con sta n tly in teracting a t thei r edges bumping. grinding. pulling apart orplunging beneath one another producing tremendous strains froma few 10 several

hundred m il esbelow t he surface .Th e earth -

qu ak e-p la gue dJapanese islandsare the summitsof a young ands t i ll ev o lvingmountain chainwh ich marks thebound arie s o fseveral o f the seplat es.

Frict ion fr eq ue n t ly lo c k s: sections of thesehuge plate s in I .p ace. cau sInggreat strains that~ suddenly releasethemsel ves asL.. - - - ' ea rthq uakes.

In California. two great plates aresliding past each othe r. A sliver ofCalifornia coas tal area is movingno rthwes t a few inc hes a yea r. Th efamous San Andreas Fault marksthe edges of th ese two plat es.Unfo rtuna te ly. a section of th isfault near Los Angeles (an area ind uding the " Pa lmda le Bulge" th a thas risen a foot in the last fifteen orso yea rs) and ano the r near SanFrancisco a ppe ar locked while o thersec t ions of the pla te have movedaround twen tv feet.For yea rs am ajor ea rthqua ke hasbeen forecast for Califo rnia on theo rde r o f t h e 190 6 ma g nitud e ."T here will be a big ear thqua ke inCalifo rnia sooneror later:' said oneoffic ia l o f th e U.S. Geo log ica l Survey. " It co uld be decad es aw ay . butit could occur tomorrow."(Continued on page 24)

Few Areas UntouchedOne has bu t to map t he geograp hyof large ea rth tremor s o r maj orq uakes in the last decade a lone tore alize th at very few region s of theea rth have been untouched by up setting jolt s if not some type of tra gic destruction.

The truth is th at terra firma. in anabso lute sense. is a myth . Thousa nd s or t rem ors occ ur daily. Mostar e detect a ble only with ultra-sensi-20

Kller quakes ha ve hit the head lin es with di st urbing fre'1uenc)' in recent mon ths."Gu atem ala 's 39 Second Eternityof Ter ror: ' Death Toll in Hund redsin Italy: ' "1 0.000 Left Homeless bySovietQuak e: ' a nd ot he rs in Mex ico.Bali . and New G uinea hit in rapidsuccession. Then China was devastated by the most gigantic quake of

th e decade. killin g tens of tho usa nds.Even be fo re the China disa ster.ea rthquak es in 1976 had killed over24.000. mak ing it the dead liest yea rfor quakes since 1970. according toth e U.S. Geo log ical Survey.In st in ct ivelywe don 't like tot h in k a b o u tearthquakes happenin g 10 u s .Yet hundred s ofmi ll i on s o fpeop le live inmaj or ea rt hqu ake be lt s .(Sec map .) Andot her arcas seeming ly immun e fr omqua kes - ma ynon e thel ess besu bj ect to damagin g trem orsca u s ed b ystresses bui ldingup o ve r ce nturies of time.Fa ilu re to face th e possibility ofexperiencing an earthquake crisiscan lead to uncontrolled panic. immobili zin g fear. and da ngerous rumors. as well as disregard for basicsafety precautions when a quakehits. The tragic result is many unnecessa ry injuries. deaths. and prope rty lo s se s a d d e d t o d is a ste rcolumns.


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CONSPICUOUS EDGES of two great c rustal pla tes scar asection of the famous San A nd reas Fault on the C ar ri zo Plain,west of Bakersfield. Area west of fault is moving past rocks tothe east about two inches a year , or 15 to 20 feet a century.Many seismo lo gi sts feel the sou th er n section of the San~ ~ A ~ ~ locked since 1857, is overdue for a quake of the1906 magnitude.


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WHAT ISBEING DONERIGHT - Construction to min imizequa ke da mage . Build ings such asthis one in San Francisco with steelcross girders are appreciably saferthan many lo wer buildingsconstructed withou t the guidelinesof updated earthquake building codes.ABOVE - Guatemala quake inFebruary. Striking at 2:30 a.m.,it killed over 23.000 and left over amillion h omeless. Note modernb rick structure still standingin the backgrou nd.UPPER LEFT - Laser-rangingequipment. somewhere east of MenloPark. Calif. Only one of man ysophisticated devices used to detectearth movement and changes.Seismo logy and earthquakepredic tion is greatly hampered by alack of widesp rea d instrumenta tionto detect changes and by the factthat reliable data for any gi venarea is less than 15 years old.

The PLAIN TRUTH September 1976~ ~ ~ . . u M :

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While ea rth q uakes mos t fre qu ently occ ur a long jo stling plateedges. vio lent convulsions ca n anddo occ ur fa r from the edges .In fact. one of the gr'Ca tcsl ser iesof quakes in Un ited Sta tes historyde vastated a huge area around NewMadr id . M issou ri. in 1811 an d 1812.It \\ '3 S so stro ng th a t it reversed th eM ississip pi River in some placesand created new lakes.Lucky So Far?Re cent qu a kes have killed thousa nds at a tim e. but for the mostpar t . th ey have hit relatively un populated land or ocean a reas. o r invilla ges with poor bu ilding sta ndard s. (Often these villages haveman y stick-frame dwe llings plastered over with mud tha t co lla pse ineven a mod erate qua ke.)

Modern construc tion and heavi lypopu lated a re as in highly adva ncednation s have not yet been pu t to a"great" qu ak e test. Yet ea rthquakeexperts fear hundreds of thou sandscould be injured or killed . bec a usebuildings . bu ilding co d es . an dhuma n preparati ons have beengreat ly neg lected in many area s.

The ea rthquake tha t rip ped Nicaragua in la te 1972 was a "mode rate"quake (6.3 on Rich ter scale). no bigger th an the ea rly morn ing Los Angeles qu ake (6 .5 ) o f 1971. Yet.downtown Man agu a resembledground zero a fter an atom bom bblast. Thou sands died in Managuawhile less tha n 100 died in the LosAngeles a rea.Bui lding const ruction. so il condi tions. and time of day d ifferencesprod uced a wide disparity betweenthese two disa sters. Had th e Los Angeles qu ake hit during hours of bu systreets. occupied schoo ls. a nd fact ories. cas ua lties would have beenmuch higher.At the time of th e deva sta tin gq uake of 1906. Sa n Francisco wasrelatively undeveloped comp a red tothe pr esent city. Today man y offi

cials are a la rmed a t the extensiveho usin g proj ects buil t right on ora long th e San Andreas Fau lt th atwe re not there in 1906.Earthquake Prediction : Closerto RealityIn recent yea rs. scien tis ts ha vefou nd that most big earthquakes do24

not come like a bo lt out of the blue.Tell-ta le seismic evidence will usu a lly be present to signa l the impend in g tcmbler.se ismo logists now th eorizeth at rock s in the vicinity of th e futur e ea rthquake brea k ap ar t slightlyunde r increasing pressure . As a result. the speed of so und waves passing th rou gh these frac turing rocksslows down slightly as the rocks become filled with greater am ounts ofa ir . Many scie ntists feel thatas water fills th c minute cracks. are tu rn to no rmal sound-wave me asurement occurs. In seve ra l cases.this "norma lizin g" has been th e tipoil' that a qua ke is about to strike.Changes in til tme tcrs, creep l11e te rs.elect rica l conduc tivity. a nd magnetism in the ea rth afso may be addition a l tip-offs.

Already. as a result of using detectable changes in the earth. severa l earthquakes around the worldhave been predicted accurately as toplace. approxim a te time. and magni tude . (However. it is not knownhow man y other pred ictions havefailed.)T he most s ta rt lin g success inea rthq ua ke prediction occurre d inthe Manchu rian province of Liaoning in China in la te 1974 and

early 1975. As a result of numerou sinstrument-recorded premonitorysigns (as well as signs from a larmedan im als: ca ttle behav ing fitfull y.fro gs jumping through holes in iceon frozen po nds. ra ts su rg ing fromthe ir den s) vi llages in several Ch inese cities were evac ua ted severa ldays before a devastat ing 7.3 quaketo re th e area . T he town of Haichengwas leveled . Because of the advanceord erly evacua tion. casualties werelargely amon g those who refu sed toheed th e warning.

Late last ye a r. Dr. James Whit comb of Caltech's Seism ologySchoo l success fully p redicted amoderate qua ke eas t of Riverside.Ca lifornia. He pre d icts anot he r fo rSou thern Ca lifornia in the 5.5 to 6.5magnitud e range by May nex t year.However. some public officia ls

point out ea rthquake pred ictionsco u ld be a cu rse as well as a ble ssing. "A prediction itself could insome ways be worse than a n actualearthquake: ' says Dr. Vincen t E.McKelvey. d irec to r of th e l.l.S. Geo-

logical Su rvey . "Visions of stalledeco no mic gro wth. tho usa nds ofautos strea ming over br idg es in amass evacuation are frightening indeed . Manv would rather take the irchances with no warn ing:'St ill. most seismologists feel theyha ve a mora l ob ligation no t to keepsecre ts and to a t least give a warningto responsible govern ment and public agencies.Wh at Can Be Done?The ene rgy released II I a majorea rt hquake could ac t ua lly be moreth an severa l hydrogen bombs. Itwou ld seem that governments thatsca rcely flick an ';-yebrow to spe ndad d itional mi llions or billio ns ofdo llars on mi lita ry defense shouldexpa nd their (so far us ually meager)budge ts for earth quake researchand pred iction .Next. it is vital to upgrade building codes and improve th eir enforcement. Dr. Ch arles Richter . thefam ou s seismo logist who develop edthe sca le bearing his name . says." N inety pe rce nt of the loss o f life[fro m ea rthq uakes] resu lts from theco llapse of st ruct ures th a t any engineer cou ld have established as unsound." These dea th s and ha lf ofthe p roperty losses are unnecessa ryand preventable. acco rd ing to Richter.Well-built . mod ern . stee l-framedskyscra pers are. in most cases. sa ferfrom com plete collap se th an lower.

multi-story bui ldings bu ilt beforeea rthq uake cod es were enforced .Yet equa lly as importa nt as goo dear thquake structura l en gineeringare the surface cond itions uponwhich a bu ilding rests.An a rea und erlai n by unstableground (sand. clay. volcanic ru bble.o r o ther uncon stituted materials) islikely to ex pe rie nce mu ch mo redam age than a n a rea equa lly distant or even nearer the earthquakeepicenter but underlain by fi rmground such as granite .

Apar t from these considera tions .the most the average indi vidua l ca ndo is prepare himsel f or herself toact as calm ly and sensibly as the yca n befo re. during. and a fter anea rt hqua ke.!h e following page con tains somesound ad vice from earthquake a ndsa fe ty experts. 0



27/48

SAFETYANDSURVIVAL INAN EARTHQUAKE

The Plain Truth research staff provides thefoffowing bas ic earthquake safety rules as a pub li cservice. You may wish to post or keep them forfuture reference.Few casualties come from the actual groundmovement of an earthquake. Most resull fromfalling objects and debris, fires , and uncontrolledpanic. No rules can eliminate all earthquakedangers, but the following rules can greatly reducein ju ries and damage.

BEFORE AN EARTHQUAKE1. Suppor t loca l sa fe bu ilding codeswith efficient inspection and enfor cem ent for schoo ls. offices. hom es.etc.2. Support and encourage ea rthqu ake dri ll s a nd traini ng fo rschools. work area s. a nd homes.3. As a homeowner o r ten ant : Fasten she lves to walls. Remove he avyobje cts from upper she lves unl essthey a re rest rained . Place breakab leo r va luable items in a sa fe place .Remove or secu rely fasten high .loose objects. as well as heavy obje cts a bove beds. If you ha ve defective wiring or leaky ga s connections.replace them. You could the rebysa ve yo ur home. Bolt down wate rhea ters and other gas appliances.4. Teach members of yo ur fam ilyhow to turn off electricity. gas, andwa ter at main switches and va lves.5. Ma int a in an up-to -date medica lkit. Prov ide res po nsibl e fami lymembers with ba sic first-aid instruct ion because medica l faci liti es couldbe overwhelmed immediately a ftera severe quake . Keep a flashlightand a battery-powe red rad io in thehouse.6. Conduct calm fam ily discussio nsa bou t ea rt hq ua kes an d rela tedprob lems. Do not tell frighteni ngstories abou t disasters.7. Think abou t what you would doif a n ea rthq uake struck when yo uwe re a t hom e. in a car. a t wor k. in astore. in a public hal l. or outside.Your prior planning may ena bleyo u to a ct ca lmly. sa fely an d con str uctively in an emergency and enab le yo u to help o thers.


DURING AN EARTHQUAKE1. Rem ain ca lm a; possible. Th inkthrough th e consequ ences of any action . Ca lm and reassu re others.2. If ind oor s. watch for fa lling pIaster . bric ks, light fixtu res. an d otherobjects. Stay away from windows.mirror s. chimneys. and ou ter wa lls.If in da nge r. ge t und er a ta ble. desk.bed . o r a strong doorway. Schoo lchild ren shou ld be taught to get under desks. Usua lly it is not best torun outside. The one exception maybe if you a rc in a heavy. poorlyconstructed old building .3. In a high-rise office bui lding. ge tund er a desk. Do not dash for exi ts;sta irwe lls may be jammed wi thpeople or broken . Power for elevato rs may fail.4. If outside. avoid high bui ld ings.walls. power poles. a nd objects thatcou ld fall. Do not run through thestreets. If possi ble. move away fromall hazards. If you're in an automobile. stop in the safe st plac e and sta yin your automobile (becau se you areencased in steel).5. Never be stampede d into leavingan uprigh t building merely becauseit groans ho rr ibly or cracks appearand plas ter fa lls. If col lapse is obviously imminent. you may nee d to dosomething else. (Collapse of a bui lding is gene rally ind ica ted by wallsfall ing as a unit.)

AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE1. Check for inju r ies. Do no t attempt to move seriously injured persons unless they're in immediatedan ger of fur ther injury. Wear shoesto avoid foo t inju ries from deb risa nd glass .2. Shut off a ll dam aged electricaland gas lines. Do not opera te lightswitches, use matches , or openIlame appliances if you suspect thatth er e are any gas lea ks. Do nottouch downe d power lines.3. I f water is off. emergency wa te rmay be ob ta ined from water heater s. to ile t tanks. ice cubes. ca

plain truth 1976 (prelim no 08) sep_w

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