GIDEONS PRESENT
2^00 BIBLES HERE
Books to Be Placed in Ho
tels—Gifts Made at
White House.
With the Bibles presented to Presi
dent Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt
yesterday, and left for the White
Rouse guest rooms, the Gideons cal
culate that more than 1.300,000 copies
of the "Good Book" have been placed
•'where Christian travelers away from
home can have the comforting word
of the Lord close at hand.”
The presentation, one of the fea
tures of the National Capital Gideon
rally here yesterday and today, was
made by Samuel A. Pulton, the na
tional chaplain, who has served six
terms as national president. Like the
other member* of the organization,
he Is a successful business man. head
ing a manufacturing concern in Mil
waukee, Wis.
The distribution of 1.300,000 Bibles
In hotel rooms throughout the world,
In Pulton's opinion. Is a pretty big
oak to come from the acom of In
spiration implanted at a meeting of
the Gideon cabinet 38 years ago. The
society was organised In July. 1899,
but not until nine years later was the
work by which the Gideons are beat
jkxiuwu ur^uxi.
Idea of Two Men.
“As I recall, two men are really
responsible for the idea of distribut
ing the Bibles as a practical way of
carrying out the purpose of our or
ganisation, personal evangelism among
traveling men,” Pulton explained.
"One of our members, Nathan Den
nett, a leather merchant of Boston,
had been on a business trip to Eng
land, and there became acquainted
with the custom of the Commercial
Travelers' Christian Association ol
England, Ireland and Scotland of plac
ing a Bible in the lobby of hotels.
"He brought back the idea and with
the late William C. Crisslnger of Chi
cago. a trustee in that year, 1908,
presented the resolution which set
our goal at the placing of a Bible
in every hotel room in the United
States and Canada.
"That same year, 5,774 Bibles were
distributed, but the next year we dis
tributed more than 33.000. and in two
years, 1925 and 1926, we placed more
than 100.000 each year. The need
now is largely for replacements, and
during the past few years, we have
distributed between 40.000 to 50,000
a year.
Work Has Spread.
The work has spread far beyond the
United States and Canada, as was
originally Intended, and travelers In
hotels In Sweden, Germany, China,
Japan. India, Ceylon, Java, Korea
Egypt, Palestine and Centsal and
South America, will And the familiar
Bible with its brief inscription. "Placed
in this room by The Gideons." The
average cost of distribution throughout
the world is about tl each.
That the Bibles All a genuine need,
the Gideons have ample evidence.
Hotel managers not infrequently re
ceive calls from guests complaining
tha-t.there is no Bible In their room.
One is immediately sent up. Frequently
. guests, who have become interested
and "borrow" the Bibles to take with
them on their journey, return them
with apotygies for havipg removed
them from their intended place.
"Not long ago,” Fulton pointed out,
**I received a letter from a man In
Oregon, who had borrowed a Bible
from an Eastern hotel during a busi
ness trip. He asked if he could keep
it 'a little longer,’ until he had fin
ished it. We can’t afford to distribute
Bibles to the public at large, but we
told him not to return it when he was
through.”
win rresent z.ooo Bioies.
To replace Bibles lost, strayed or
•borrowed." the Gideons this afternoon
will present to the Washington Hotel
Men's Association 2.000 Bibles for dis
tribution to rooms in 47 local hotels.
Secretary of Commerce Roper will
speak at the ceremony, which will be
held this afternoon at 3 o'clock in the
Willard Hotel.
Edward W. Martin, president of the
association, will accept the gift on
behalf of the hotel men. Dr. Robert
W. Howard, president of the District
Camp of the Gideons, is in charge of
arrangements. Ira T. Champion is
District secretary-treasurer. Minis
ters of the city were guests at a din
ner in the Washington Hotel last
night and members of the organization
will fill the pulpits of many churches
throughout the city at the regular
morning services today.
The Gideon Association was the re
sult of an accidental meeting of S. E.
Hill of Beloit. Wis.. and John H. Nich
olson of Janesville. Wis., in a hotel
room at Boscobel, Wis., in the Autumn
of 1898. Meeting again the following
May in Beaver Dam, Wis.. they de
eded to form an organization of Chris
tian commercial travelers for mutual
recognition and united service for the
Master and called a meeting at Janes
ville, July 1, 1899. Nicholson and Hill
met in the Y. M. C. A. with W. J.
Knight, and formed the organization,
which at the suggestion of Knight,
was called The Gideons.
-•
Testiniog Toy Railway in North
Wales, known as the Faery Line, has
just celebrated its centenary.
PALESTINE YIELDS
GATEOFMEGIDDO
King Solomon Built Barrier for
Stronghold of Arma
geddon. k
By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO. June 27.—The ancient
gate that King Solomon built for the
city of Megidtjo—the stronghold ot
Armageddon battlefield for 2.500 years
—has been uncovered in Palestine.
Its discovery was announced today
by the Oriental Institute of the Uni
versity of Chicago.
The gateway to the Biblical metro
polis was cleared by archeologists cl
the institute, who previously had found
the stables where Solomon kept the
blooded horses he bought from the
Egyptians and sold to the Hittites.
A ramp leading up to the gate wras
paved with lime. It appeared to have
been laid 1.100 years before Christ.
A stairway and other masonry be
long to the later period of Solomon.
The gate was historically Impor
tant because it was the main entrance
to Megiddo. which controlled the pass
over the Carmel ridge.
23 German Boys Instruct
Y. M. C. A. Groups—Play
Pitcherless Base Ball.
Base ball minus a pitcher and hand
ball played with a soccer ball are
topay-turvy sports that have taken
Camp Letts by storm since the arrival
there of 23 sport-loving Germ a r? boys,
sent to America on a good will
mission..
The German boys, with faltering
English gained by two years of study
in German schools, are teaching the
Washington boys at the Y. M. C. A.
Rhode River Camp all about Teu
tonic games, while the Americans
reciprocate with demonstrations of
all-American sports, according to J.
C. Ingram, camp director.
The pitcherless base ball of the
German youths, who range from .15
to 18 years, is played with a regulation
base ball bat, but instead of waiting
for a ball to be thrown at him by
a hurler, the German batter tosses
the ball with his left hand and hits
it with the bat in his right hand.
The players circle the bases when
they make a home run, much as in
the American game—but elimination
of the pitcher also makes superfluous
a masked, chest-protected and mltted
catcher.
The "hand ball" of the German
boys Is an odd mixture of basket
ball, volley ball, lacrosse without the
racquets and, to a minor degree, hand 1
ball. It la played with a ball about
the size and shape bf a soccer ball,
which is thrown, butted with the head
or shoulders or struck with the hands
by team members endeavoring to de
posit It in a 10-foot 'basket' at the
end of the field.
The German hand ball Is a rough
and tumble game with plenty of fast
action for the spectators as well as
the players.^ The American boys have
evidenced keen interest in the new
sport, which may become a permanent
part of the camp athletic program.
The German youths will remain in
camp until next Friday, completing
a two-week vacation arranged under
the world friendship program of the
International Committee of the Y. M.
C. A. It is planned next year to send
a delegation of American boys to Ger- j
many for a similar visit at a German
camp.
FORMER MANAGER
AT LORTON IS DEAD
Heart Failure Is Fatal to J. E. C.
Bischoff—Cleared in Re
formatory Probe.
J. E. C. Bischoff. who resigned two
years ago as business manager for,
the District Reformatory at Lorton, j
Va.. died yesterday in Michigan, ac- j
cording to word received by officials
of the Board of Public Welfare. Death |
was said to be due to heart failure.
Bischoff. highly rated as a man
ager of the prison industries, was
involved In an investigation of Lorton j
business management shortly be fere
he resigned. He was absolved of all j
charges, but he quit the service, say-;
ing he knew his chance for advance
ment had gone because of the no
toriety he had received. Bischoff was \
the divorced husband of Vivian Gor
don, a figure in New York night life, 1
who was mysteriously slain several
years ago.
•He was a native of South Caro- j
lina and came to the District service'
in August of 1928. He left here In
March of 1934.
May Wed Commoner*.
Swedish princes will be able to
marry daughters of foreign common
ers, if a bill which the government
has submitted to the Riksdag becomes
a law-.
China Counts Unemployed.)!
CANTON. China (/P).—According! to
government statistic*, there are 2,565.
813 men and women without work in '
14 leading cities of China. Canton
heads the list, with 630.230: Shanghai
he* 610.710. Peiping 500,935 and
Nanking 161.476.
•" "-• - ■ -
Nickel Deposits Worked.
A Brazilian-German group is work
ing the nickel deposits recently un
covered in Sao Jose do Tocantins,
Brazil, believed one of the largest in
the world.
_
Sea Claims $40,000 Home
-:
A 25-room home, which cost $40,000. finally collapsed after having been battered by the
Atlantic breakers at Gallalee, N. J., for 10 years. —Wide World Photo.
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