Article December 5, 1964 Issue

Signs of the Times

W. W. Reid

Zions Herald

W. W. Reid, Columnist in "War Toys for the Prince of Peace" Zions Herald, Methodist magazine Boston, Massachusetts

We are fast approaching that season of the year when, allegedly in the name of and for the sake of the Babe born in Bethlehem, we enter into a frantic spree of buying and selling, giving and receiving, vying and contending. Much of this, alas, is from motives that cannot be ascribed to our joyous appropriation of the Good News received by men from God that night 2,000 years ago.

The trade magazines, for example, tell us that the toy industry is embarked on a multimillion-dollar campaign to flood the market with "modern war equipment"—toys that will make children familiar with rockets, anti-rockets, airplane carriers, battle-ships, machine guns, tanks, and all the horrendous machinery that man has devised for the destruction of brother man. We remember campaigns of yesteryear to keep toy guns, tin soldiers, and bows and arrows out of the hands of our sons and daughters. ...

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