Evening star., 1925-10-01

Humorous skepticism Is the prevail.
ing reaction to Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's announcement that he has re-
ceived spirit messages warning the
world of great catastrophe. The
forecast of impending disasters. which
the author of Sherlock Holmes says
will cause suffering and destruction
as a Christening for the evils of the
day, doesn't seem to worry the Amer
lean public a bit.
The complete unbelief Of the Prov
idence Journal is expressed thus: "Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle says he Is in.
formed by spirits that a great catas-
trophe hangs over the world. Our
spirits, especially on a fine Autumn
day, give us no such information"
The haziness of the warnings causes
the Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph to
suggest that Sir Arthur would prob
ably explain that they may possess
value II humanity will only heed the
message they convey and turn over
a new leaf" But the Chronicle Tele-
century, as sensible preachers are
aware, It is harder than ever to
frighten people into being good: most
Of them don't scare worth a cent"
Either the spirits in another world
like to tantalize us and therefore neg
lect to satisfy our curiosity" says the
Great Falls Tribune as to lack of
specific details, ''or they have lost
sight of the Importance Of a bill of
particulars attached to such extraor-
dinary communications. THE. Trib-
une also calls attention to the fact
that ''if Sir Arthur should wish to In
crease his cash income, there is about
$4,000 posted as rewards by various
scientific organizations for any one
that can show conclusive evidence
that he has had communication with
the spirits of the dead through any
medium"
The prophet of evil is rebuked by
the Springfield Union, with the com.
ment: 1--WE are distressed by the ad-
mission of Sir Arthur that he has
known about the impending calamity
for the last three years and has been
keeping the secret to himself. Only
lately, when the spirit warnings be-
came pressing, did he feel that it was
necessary to make the facts public.
Thus three valuable years in which
the world might have been shaking off
it's materialism and teaching itself that
life has a spiritual purpose have been
lost, irrevocably lost, and only Sir
Arthur's spirit friends know how much
time there is left, II any. But there
Is one ray of light and hope. They
have told him that England will escape
from the catastrophe more lightly than
almost any other nation. There may
still be time for the wise and provident
to book passage for England"
What might be adequate retribution
Is the problem that impresses the
Knoxville Sentinel, which believes: If
the impending world catastrophe
should take on the destructive dimen-
sions adequate to Christening and
eradicating the evils of today, 1t might
make a clean sweep, preparatory to
creating a new earth. For 1t must be
confessed, in view of the aftermath
of the World War. which was thought
to be a catastrophe that would bring
us all to our knees and cause us to
mend our ways, it will require tidal
wave Of well nigh universal extermina-
ton to effect the salvation of the
world" Meanwhile, the Morgantown
New Dominion thinks, at least. that
"a change of heart in the direction OF
more loving kindness toward ones
neighbor would not be bad thing for
the world. whether or not a catastro.
phe impends.''
although Sir Arthur got all this
startling information straight from the
spirits" remarks the Anaconda Stand.
ard. the inhabitants of the earth
continue to go their several ways as If
nothing had happened or was going to
happen. Instead of being stricken
with terror they laugh him to scorn.
Sir Arthur has the satisfaction. how
ever, of knowing that at all events he
has done what he could to put the
scoffers wise." The reasonable char.
acter Of the warning 10 conceded by