p. 17 | News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 28, 1914

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— The population of Cuba is 2,387,000, according to the new census. The secretary of the interior submitted a report to this effect to President Menocal. The population in 1907 was 2,048,980.

— The report of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce shows that in the last fiscal year more than 118,000,000 pounds of American prunes were shipped to foreign lands. More than sixty countries were purchasers of our prunes. Germany was the chief customer, having purchased 49,000,000 pounds. The total value of the year's prune export trade was about $7,000,000.

— In the Dachstein Mountain of Austria there are numerous caverns, among them being one which is 6,500 feet long, containing huge ice masses and said to be the largest ice cave in the world. Though a scorching sun may be blazing outside on the bare mountain rock, the Scientific American states that there is always a wind blowing through this underworld, freezing everything within its reach.

— Harvard reports that the total enrollment of students in that school numbers 35,000. Of these 15,000 are Massachusetts men; New York claims 5,759, of whom New York City gave 3,634 and Brooklyn 274; nearly 2,000 came from other countries. Law seems to be the favorite profession among Harvard students, the law course having been chosen by 6,000 of them. Teaching comes next with 4,296, and physicians with 3,375.

— Excavations of the old Roman city of Uriconium, England, are adding greatly to the knowledge of Britain's occupation by the Romans. This center of ancient civilization was situated at the junction of the principal Roman roads, one from London in the southeast and another passing through the legendary borders of Carleon, in South Wales. The circle of the city measured about three miles, and inclosed an area of 170 acres, which is about twenty acres larger than Pompeii.

— The world's navies number 2,291 war vessels.

— Charles W. Post, millionaire cereal food manufacturer of Battle Creek, Mich., shot himself to death on May 9, at his home in Southern California, during a period of temporary insanity.

— About 5,000 ardent advocates of woman's suffrage marched from the White House to the national Capitol on Saturday, May 9, and there demanded of Congress the passage of the Bristow-Mondell resolution favoring equal suffrage.

— The government has decided to issue stamps of five new denominations—seven, nine, twelve, twenty, thirty cents,—colored, respectively, black, pink, maroon, light blue, vermilion. These are intended for convenience in mailing parcels, but will be good for regular letter postage.

— On the morning of May 5, a dynamite magazine in the government of Panama exploded, resulting in the death of eight persons and the serious injury of nineteen others. The concussion shook Panama, and in addition to obliterating the magazine, caused considerable damage in the neighborhood.

— Mme. Lillian Nordica, the famous American prima donna, died at Batavia, Java, on May 10, 1914. Mme. Nordica had been ill since the steamer “Tasman,” on which she was a passenger, went ashore on Bramble Cay, in the Gulf of Papua, December 28 last. Nervous prostration was followed by pneumonia.

— Two hundred and fifty Mohammedan Albanians were captured by the Epirote invaders at Hormova, Albania, on May 5. They were crucified in the Orthodox church at Kodra, according to information received by the Albanian government. The Epirotes are said to have set fire to the church afterward, and allowed the bodies to burn.

— Another step toward the complete preparedness of the American forces in Mexico to meet any emergency was taken on May 6, when the fleet received 5,000 khaki uniforms for the bluejackets, in case they should be called upon for service ashore. The conspicuousness of the white uniforms of the landing parties cost many lives during the first days of the occupation of Vera Cruz.

— Resumption of work in many of the mines, and quiet in all the Colorado strike districts, were reported recently from the cavalry commanders in charge of the United States troops stationed there. In the various districts forty-nine shotguns, seventeen revolvers, seventeen rifles, and another machine gun were surrendered. In the Trinidad district most of the sixty mines are working.

— An earthquake bringing disaster to many towns and villages near Mt. Etna, Sicily, is reported to have occurred May 9. The dead and wounded number hundreds, and the property loss is enormous. The seismic phenomenon was unprecedented in violence. The extension of the earthquake zone makes prompt aid to the sufferers practically impossible, although the authorities have dispatched thousands of soldiers in special trains for the scene of disaster.

— There are 38,325 women school-teachers in Japan, and 3,000,000 girls in the public schools.

— It is stated that throughout Sweden there are 500,000 total abstainers, or about ten per cent of the population.

— A board of army officers has recommended to Secretary Garrison that this government purchase the Bull Run battle field and convert it into a national park.

— The published report of Trinity Church Corporation, New York City, shows that aside from church buildings, chapels, and cemeteries, the church's property is valued as $16,204,512. Of this amount $15,812,400 is productive property.

— A Japanese tea garden six acres in extent is being moved on automobile trucks from Pasadena to Oak Knoll, Cal., where the owner of the garden has a new estate. The moving of the garden has now been in progress for more than a month, and it is estimated that it will be months more before the work is completed. There are more than $100,000 worth of rare trees, shrubs, and ornaments in the garden.

— According to figures just made public by experts in Paris, persons suffering from alcoholism form a quarter of the army of the insane in the municipality. Out of a total of 89,000 admitted to the asylums in the department where the tests have been made, it was found that 27,315 were victims of the drink habit, and the experts claim to have traced their insanity to alcohol. In the figures given out, the mental deficiency traceable to the drink habit is matter for serious thought, and should be pondered by the governments of all civilized countries.

— Two Chinese official experts are now in Europe studying the decimal or metric system, with a view to its adoption in China, where the advisory council in Peking has recently passed the first reading of a law which aims at establishing it. Japan has already adopted the metric system for its customs, and has it taught in schools and elsewhere. Sian, too, is about to do the same. The Russian minister of commerce and industry has announced that he is in favor of it, but owing to the huge size and vast and various population of Russia, some delay must occur before its establishment can be arranged.

— Mr. Henry Ford, of automobile fame, is insisting on decent, clean living for the men in his employ. Unless they conform to this, they will not benefit by the profit-sharing plan which has been established. Mr. Ford contends that he pays his men sufficient salaries to warrant their living in clean, comfortable homes, under conditions which make for good manhood and good citizenship. The married men are not allowed to have boarders in their families, but must keep their homes for themselves and their families. Forty-five investigators are inquiring into the home surroundings of each individual man, and many of them are found in deplorable environments. These will be warned not to disobey this rule. Another innovation of Mr. Ford's is an English school for the benefit of his foreign employees.