The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1921-10-19
PRINCIPAL OF THE
NEW ZION SCHOOL
System Has Propounded A Question
Which She Believes VIII Trip
Scientists.

ZION, Illinois,, Oct. 19.---zion
schools, of which Wilbur Glenn Vol
iva, the oyerseer Of the colony, is
president, have adopted his new theo-
ries of flat world and the absence
of gravitation and the 1000 grade and
high school pupils believe them i'm,
plicitly, according 10 their teachers.
/ The public school maintained by
the State board Of education and at
tended by the children OF non-mem-
bers Of Voliva's Christian Catholic
Apostle church still teaches, however,
that the world is globe moving thru
limitless space and that the attraction
Of gravity which caused the apple to
fall on Issac Newton's head.
At the Zion schools the new course
of study teaches that:
The earth is a flat circular world,
with north pole in the exact cen
ter, no south pole, and surrounded by
wall of ice which keeps venture
some mariners from falling off the
rim.
That the earth has no motion, but
remains stationary in space.
That the sun is not millions of
miles in diameter and ninety one
million miles away, but is really lit
tie orb 80 miles across and only g.
900 miles from the earth.
That the law of grayitation is
fallacy and when objects are thrown
into the air they continue to rise un-
til the force which propelled them is
expended, and then fall back 10 the
earth because they are heavier than
air.
A standard map Of the world, on
Christopher's projection, is used in
the schools to demonstrate the flat
world theory. This map, which is
used by navigators and scientists in
making time and longitude calcula-
tions, differs from the usual Merca-
tors projection familiar in other
schools, in that it shows the earth as
it would look to an observer directly
above the north pole, with the conti-
nents and seas projected on a flat
plane. AS result the north pole is
in the center, and instead Of south
pole the Antarctic regions are indi-
Gated by a white ring about the out
err circumference Of the circle. This
ring, according to Volyia, is the ice
barrier which keeps mariners from
falling off the edge Of this flat world
The Christopher projection was
made 80 years ago, prior to the dis
covery Of the south pole and before
much was known about the Antarctic
regions, SO only bare outline of por
tions of the southern ice land is now
shown.
Miss Mary Thompson, principal OF
the Zion school system, and an ard
ent believer in the Voliva theories,
has propounded question which she
believes will trip scientists and nav
igators. Showing on her flat may |
that the tropic Of Cancer, 43 degrees
from the north pole, was much |
smaller circle than the tropic of Cap |
ricon, Al degrees farther away, Miss
Thompson says: !,
"Navigators on a globular earth |
would find il they were to said com
pIetely around either Of these tropics
that they would be identically the
same length. On flat earth, how
ever, the tropic Of Capricorn would
be much larger than the tropic OF
Cancer, and would take much longer
TO sail around, because on flat earth
Cancer would be nearer the center,
or north pole. Why don't some Of
The globular earth believers try sail
ing around the two tropics and find
mi whether they or we are correcty
The globular people certainly can not
nroye curveture Of the earth.