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T
he other day our managing edi–
tor. Brian Knowles. who was in
my office to go over sorne
Plain
Trurh
copy for future art icles, asked:
"Would you mind if
I
gave you an
idea or two which 1 thought our
readers might enjoy in one of your
' Per onal' articles?"
''Shoot!''
1
said. ' ' l'm listening."
l'm a lways looking for new IDEAS.
Maybe you didn' t know
1
was once
th e " idea man" for , the country's
largest trade journal - traveling con–
stantly over the eastern two-thirds
of the United States- just looking
for IDEAS that could be worked into
a nides fo r the magazine. That was
in 19 13 and 1914.
"Well , here's
a
typed sheet full of
sugges tions." he la ughed . handing
the sheet tome.
"How the world has changed in
your lifetime" was one of them.
l.
too. thought you might like to read
that.
But you won ' t believe it! Just in
my short lifetime of
85
years. the
CHANGE in this world-and how it
has changed our lives- is almost un–
believable.
But that. as they say. is only the
tip of the iceberg!
Nearly al/
the
change- or "advancement, "
as we
like to call ü -since Adam and Eve
has taken place since the birth of my
materna l great-grandfather Elon
Hole. whom 1 well remember. And
more than
half
of all the world's
"advancement" since Adam has
been made
in my !ifetime.
Up unti l my genera tion. there was
practica lly no tra ns portation–
people weren't going anywhere.
People in England knew little or
nothing about Russians or Chinese.
There was .virtually no communica–
tion even between towns- let alone
between countries.
How did the prophet Daniel know
that until the last days (we are NOW
in the LAST DAYS) people would not
be
able to understand what he wrote
then? He said: " ... shut up the
words. and seal the book. even to
the
time ofthe end: many shal/ run to
and fro,
and
knowedge sha/1 be in–
creased"
(Dan . 12:4).
Da nie l couldn ' t wr ite. ' ' Ma ny
shall drive fast cars and fly to and
fro a round the world from country
to country at 600 miles per hour."
The railroads were invented and
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1977
Personal from ...
YouWon't Believe lt!
WhereThisWorld Has Come
Just in
My
Own Lifetime
fi rst used notlong before
1
was born .
The "dinkey" s treetcars were just re–
placing the horse-drawn cars when 1
was a boy. When 1 was eleven, we
still caUed the first crude automo–
biles "horseless carri ages." and Or–
ville Wright flew the first plane
about a city block. T here were no
paved roads between towns and
cities. Only the main downtown
streets were paved. And sorne towns
of 5,000 people or larger had no
street paving even downtown.
Radio and te levision? Send
sounds aod pictures instantaneously
through the air? "Are you CRAZY?"
one would have asked had you sug–
gested such a thing.
Beginning a t eighteen years of
age 1 was an advertising man- but
we didn' t sell "commercials.'· We
old "space" in newspapers and
magazines. Radio and television
had not come ye t. And come to
think about it, even the printing
press was inven ted only about 500
yea rs ago.
Most ofthe grea tlea ps forward in
knowledge. most inventions. and
most of what we call "progress"
carne
since the printing press.
Before
that books had to be written
bv
hand- with
pen and ink-one a t ·a
time. There weren' t many books.
People couldn' t afford them. Th ere
was no diffusion of knowledge until
about 100 years after the invention
of the printing press.
It
took about
that long to produce more pre se ,
to write a nd print more books. to
train teachers a nd organize schools.
Of course. there were schools on the
ancient Platon ic model.
Only a FEW- mostly the rich –
were "educated"- and they by prí–
vate tutors. Until knowledge began
to spread- until IDEAS could be dis–
seminated and imparted
in prim
to
the many instead of the very few–
how
could
our kind of civilization
advance?
When 1 was a boy. only a small
percentage got as far as graduation
from high school. And less than five
percent of high school graduates
went on to college. Today nearly all
graduate from hi gh school in the
United States, and in California. 95
percent of high school grads apply
for college or university admission.
We know little of the fi rst ap–
(Cominued on page 39)