severely tested
under the pressure of reactionary forces on one hand and of an insidious
and persistent radicalism on the other. From the heart of Asia distant
rumblings, ominous and insistent, portend the steady onslaught of a creed
which, by its negation of God, His Laws and Principles, threatens to
disrupt the foundations of human society. The clamor of a nascent
nationalism, coupled with a recrudescence of skepticism and unbelief, come
as added misfortunes to a continent hitherto regarded as the symbol of
age-long stability and undisturbed resignation. From darkest Africa the
first stirrings of a conscious and determined revolt against the aims and
methods of political and economic imperialism can be increasingly
discerned, adding their share to the growing vicissitudes of a troubled
age. Not even America, which until very recently prided itself on its
traditional policy of aloofness and the self-contained character of its
economy, the invulnerability of its institutions and the evidences of its
growing prosperity and prestige, has been able to resist the impelling
forces that have swept her into the vortex of an economic hurricane that
now threatens to impair the basis of her own industrial and economic life.
Even far-away Australia, which, owing to its remoteness from the
storm-centers of Europe, would have been expected to be immune from the
trials and torments of an ailing continent, has been caught in this
whirlpool of passion and strife, impotent to extricate herself from their
ensnaring influence.

The Signs of Impending Chaos

Never indeed have there been such widespread and basic upheavals, whether
in the social, economic or political spheres of human activity as those
now going on in different parts of the world. Never have there been so
many and varied sources of danger as those that now threaten the structure
of society. The following words of Baha'u'llah are indeed significant as
we pause to reflect upon the present state of a strangely disordered
world: "How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will
injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men?
How long will discord agitate the face of society? The winds of despair
are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and
afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending
convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing
order appears to be lame