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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 2, 1983
PAGE 9
I'm a Baptist, but I just love you guys. I teach a Bible class
and use lots of your literature in teaching my classes--! tell
them who it's from, tool
I'm a deacon and the head of finances and know how much these
pamphlets and things can cost, so I've been sending you dona
tions.
Mr. Armstrong speaks the truth and makes it easy for everyone to
understand and that's important. He also doesn't ask for money-
that's another great thing. He makes it possible for everyone to
receive the literature and that's spreading the Gospel for surel
Mr. Armstrong is doing a great job and he'll be rewarded one day.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
(Orlando, FL)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
THE "BIG DROUGHT" DEEPENS; THE THREAT OF FAMINE TO MODERN SOCIETY The heat
now beating down hard across much of America's heartland continues to be
severe, causing cities to swelter and farms to fail.
So much damage has
been done to croplands that already this year's drought has surpassed pre
vious dry spells such as in 1980 and 1974 and even the drought of the mid
'50s. It is without a doubt the most serious drought since the 1931-1936
"Dust Bowl" days of the Great Depression. And, who knows, this might be
only the first year of a prolonged dry spelll
One of the most ironic twists of the current drought, which descended so
quickly in the country--as if the "heavenly faucets" were abruptly turned
off--is that it follows the most favorable soil moisture conditions in 50
years!
Our first article, entitled "1983 Drought Second Only to Dust Bowl Years,"
moved across our UPI teletype on August 29:
As this summer's sizzling heat drags on and crops wither for lack
of rain, the drought has officially become the second worst in
this century.
With even hardy mesquite trees dying in West
Texas, where it is drier than at any time since records were be
g � n in 1892, the drought of 1983 is taking its place as the worst
since the great Depression1 s "Dust Bowl" years.
Henry Thornton, 60, of Potomac, Ill., drove through devastated
southeast Illinois last week as part of a statewide project to
estimate crops and reported field after field destroyed by lack
of rain. "We've had some dry years in the past--'54, '59, '66,
'74, and '80," Thornton said, "but as far as being widespread,
you have to go back to '36 to see it this bad."
The drought is especially bad because it has hit so hard in Iowa
and Illinois, the No. 1 and No. 2 corn-producing states. They
often escape droughts that more frequently hit the Great Plains.
In Washington, Norton Strommen, Chief Meteorologist for the Agri
culture Department, concluded this year's crop moisture index