Science Stories 04 1954-04.pdf

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CONTENTS
PAGE
APRIL 1954
2
4
6
71
80
88
102
107
108
117
118
THE PEOPLE W H O WRITE SCIENCE STORIES......................Virgil Finlay
E D IT O R IA L ................................................................. Ray Palmer
THE O C E A N S ARE W IDE (27,200).......................... Frank M. Robinson
TIGER'S CA G E (3200).................................................... Roger Dee
SCH O O L DAYS (2 4 0 0 )..............................................James Causey
O N E TH O U SAN D MILES UP (5 5 0 0 ).......................... Robert Courtney
INFERIORITY (2000)........ . • • • • • • . . . . • ....... ..............James Causey
INVITATION TO THE W ORLD C O N V E N T IO N .................. Ester D. Cole
PROBLEM IN GEOMETRY (3000).................................. T. P. Caravan
FIFTH IN D IA N LAKE CO NFERENCE..................................... Don Ford
THE SECRET OF PIERRE COTREAU (5400).........................Frank Patton
Issue No. 4
EDITORS
Ray
Palmer
Bea Mahaffey
Cover Painting by Robert Gibson Jones
Illustrations by Virgil Finlay
Cartoons by Kenneth O. Gill
Science Stories is published bi-monthly by Palmer Publications, Inc., 1144 Ashland Avenue,
Evanston, Illinois. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Evanston, Illinois. Addi­
tional entry at Chicago, Illinois. Printed in U.S.A. by the W. F. Hall Printing Company of
Chicago, Illinois. Additional entry applied for at Amherst, Wisconsin. No'responsibility is under­
taken for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork. Return envelope and sufficient return
postage is required. Advertising rateB at request. Subscriptions: 12 issues, $3.00; 24 issues, $6.00.
Printed in U.S.A. Copyright 1954, Palmer Publications, Inc.
ART DIRECTOR
Alfred Bernard
3
HE year 1953 was supposed
to be the year of doom. All
the prophecies said that
year would bring us everything
from complete annihilation to go­
ing flat broke. Even the Lord’s
Kingdom was supposed to come to
Earth. And during prior years,
prophets gained great attention
(and not a few dollars) foretelling
everything gloomy they could
think of. They quoted from the
Great Pyramid, Mother Shipton,
and Nostradamus.
And do you know what hap­
pened?
NOTHING.
Well, almost nothing. At least,
by comparison with the horrors
that were to come, it was nothing.
Even your editor went into the
forecasting
game. His
M AN
FRO M TO M O R R O W created a
lot of discussion among his readers.
And quite proudly he can point to
a lot of his predictions which came
true. His predictions were better
than those of Nostradamus, for in­
stance. They were better than
Mother Shipton. They were only
a
trifle less short of lousy than the
rest! But
some
did come true. The
ones you’d least expect.
Well, the prophets have switch­
ed to 1966 now. So we want to
make a prediction about it. The
T
same thing will happen in 1966 as
happened in 1953. NOTHING.
That is, nothing in comparison
with the horrors that are being
predicted.
You might think we are scoffing
at predictions, but you are far
wrong. In a subtle way, all the pre-.
dictions were right. The prophets
were right, but they were too
VIVID . They let their desire for
excitement lead them astray. They
had LE G ITIM A TE hunches and
feelings and premonitions. But
that’s the way with predictions.
W e
know
something is going to
happen, but we can’t tell
specifical­
ly
what it will be, until it happens,
then we say: “That’s
just
what I.
expected to happen!” We yell out:
“I
knew
it!” if we didn’t happen to
have said it beforehand, and if we
said something, and it didn’t exact­
ly fit, we said: “I had the back­
ground right, but not the
details”
Or “I was off on the
timing”
But a man named Rhine has
proved we
can
foretell the future.
He says we can even
influence
it..
He proves it with dice.
Your editor wants to say the
same thing, but say it more em­
phatically. W e CAN predict TO ­
M ORROW .
What really D ID happen in
1953? Well, basically, lacking the
EDITORIAL
actual detailed events, everything
the prophets foretold. But it’s all in
the background, in our own minds.
And there is a good chance that
1966 will bring the actuality. Be­
cause we are in a mood today to
bring it to pass. And what we
think,
we ARE!
Let’s explain that: First, our
civilization (what a misunderstood
word!) is a product of our minds.
It is what we
think
it to be. It was
created by our thoughts. And to­
day we are faced with a situation
which has built up in our minds to
a great FEAR. It is an axiom that
what we fear, will eventually track
us down and HAPPEN to us. M ay­
be you won’t believe that, but just
watch it happen. W e have feared
from the beginning there will be no
peace. We have created, in our
minds, a condition of war which
we have called a “cold” war. Our
own fearful minds have created it,
and maintain it. And if we go on
thinking of how it will eventually
become a “hot” war, it will! TH A T
is why the prophets foretell a war.
The mental atmosphere is about
them, pressing in on their con­
sciousness, cloaking them in a
black pall which they can actually
feel. The predictions they make are
an expression of that oppressive
feeling they have.
Today we live in a civilization
which has been created by Man’s
thoughts. And Man’s thoughts,
more today than ever, are directed
by a few well-publicized persons’
thinking — and we mean, without
5
any “pointing with pride,” the
science fiction magazines and
writers. The printed word today is
an accent on mechanical gadgets,
principally for the purpose of mak­
ing war. And today we have, as a
result, a mistaken interpretation of
the word “civilization.” T o us, civi­
lization has become a collection of
gadgets! W e point to our washing
machines (when we wish to defend
our civilization) and say: “Isn’t
that wonderful!” And we sneer and
tack an opprobrium on anyone who
points to the tanks and planes and
bombs (when they wish to decry
our civilization). W e call them
variously: cowards, unpatriotic, ob­
structionists, fanatics, crackpots
and vegetarians.
But the fact of the matter is the
basic fault with our civilization is
that we TH IN K it consists of gadg­
ets. It DOES, and that is the trou­
ble. W e have failed to build any­
thing else into it! W e have a mad
collection of washing machines, air­
p la n es, automobiles, cyclotrons,
atom bombs, jet motors, television,
radio, freezers, mechanical toys
and chemical fertilizers. W e call it
“civilization.”
The dictionary says to civilize is
“to bring out of a savage state, to
enlighten, to refine.”
Today we are the world’s
worst
savages! We are almost completely
unenlightened— we live in a mad,
total darkness of culture! W e are
the exact opposite of refined— we
are crude, raw, dirty, mean, foul-
( Continued on page 70)

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