News and Notes | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 2, 1882

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 9.

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News and Notes.

—The whole number of newspapers and periodicals published throgout the world is reckoned at 37,274.

—Rev. Samuel Johnson, a co-laborer with Garrison and Phillips in their anti-slavery work, died on the 21st inst.

—The boiler of a portable saw-mill at New Carlisle, O., exploded Feb. 22, killing five men, and wounding four.

—It is reported that both Germany and Austria have given orders for the strengthening of their Eastern fortresses.

—The Russian steamer Vielaben sunk, February 25, in a collision on the Black Sea. It is said all on board perished.

—An offer to give lands to the Jewish refugees who have arrived in Philadelphia has come from the State, of North Carolina.

—The schooners Edith, Paul Loomis, and Paul Revere, of Gloucester, Mass., are believed to be lost with their crews of fifty men.

—A portion of the Kings County (N. Y.) Insane Asylum was burned, the 21st inst. Loss, $15,000. One patient was burned to death.

—The House Committee on Naval Affairs has agreed to recommend the immediate appropriation of $10,000,-000 to begin the construction of a new navy.

—The President has nominated Ex-Senator Conkling to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Ex-Senator A. A. Sargent, of California, as Minister to Germany.

—February 25, during the course of a trial in San Francisco, in which much personal abuse was being indulged in, the prosecuting attorney while addressing the jury, was shot by the policeman who had made the complaint.

—A road locomotive for war purposes was lately tried before Count Moltke. It weighed 28¾ tons, and drew easily forty tons's weight of guns mounted on their carriages, fully equipped. Its maximum traction power is 150 tons, and its cost of maintenance is about 50 cents an hour.

—After the opening of Parliament, Bradlaugh appeared in the House and took the oath which he refused to take last year. He took his seat, contrary to the order of the chair, and by a vote of 291 to 93 was expelled for contempt. A new election was ordered for Northcote, and Bradlaugh is announced as a candidate.

—In one of the Oakland schools the pupils were allowed to send valentines to one another, for the purpose, as the principal said, of exercising them in composition. They were not, however, examined by the teachers, and a chance examination of one led to the development of facts anything but creditable to the reputation of the school for morality.

—Delegate Cannon confessed before the Judiciary Committee that there are no laws in Utah for the suppression of immorality. He attempted to evade the force of this admission by saying that in Utah all acts are subject to the absolute veto of the Governor, but admitted that the Utah Legislature had never passed any law whatever against the gross forms of immorality.

—All the classes of Princeton College have voluntarily signed a pledge that during their college course they will abstain from hazing, and will discourage it in every way. That college has been particularly disgraced by the lawlessness of students, and the recent heavy fines imposed upon some of the students, by the criminal courts, may have influenced them in making their voluntary pledge.

—The Captain of the British ship Milton, together with his wife and two children, and two sailors, was picked up Feb. 8, by a schooner, off the coast of Lower California. They had been in an open boat, with very little food, for forty-six days, and were at the point of death by starvation. One sailor and one child had died. Another boat load of the crew was picked up after floating for twenty-three days, but the third boat has not yet been heard from.

—Chinese capitalists have recently bought several thousand acres of timber land in San Mateo County, Cal., and are about to enter into competition with American manufacturers. The Alta predicts that since with their cheap labor they can undersell other manufacturers, they will soon monopolize the business. It advises the retail dealers to strenuously refuse to have anything to do with any lumber introduced by the Chinese, and to shun any yard offering it for sale.

—The distress caused by the Mississippi floods is beyond calculation. The river was eight inches higher than in the flood of 1876. Arkansas City was completely submerged. Many merchants were driven from their stores in Cincinnati, on account of the rise of the Ohio. The worst of the flood is probably over, but on account of the wholesale destruction of property, the suffering will be great for some time. Congress has appropriated $100,000 to be used by the Secretary of War for the relief of the destitute. The number of laborers left destitute is thought to be from 50,000 to 75,000.

—A method of making fire-proof printing and writing paper has been invented in Germany. It is described as follows: Asbestos fibre of the best quality is washed in a solution of permanganate of potash, and then bleached with sulphurous acid. Five parts of ground or finely divided wood fibre, such as is used for paper-making is mixed with ninety-five of the asbestos. The two are then mixed with glue water and borax, and worked over into a paper pulp, which yields a fine paper with smooth surface, and can be calendered for writing. It is claimed that this paper will resist a white heat.

—The Mormons have gotten up a memorial to Congress, begging that body not to interfere with their beastly practices. This memorial sets forth that the young people of Utah are fully in accord with the doctrine of polygamy, and that they consider the practice of the same by their parents has been uniformly pure and ennobling. All the schools were canvassed, and every boy and girl old enough to write was required to sign it. The teachers or bishops signed for those who were unable to write. Every house in the Territory has been visited. In spite of the pressure brought to bear, many Mormon women refused to sign the petition. Several prominent Mormons have gone to Washington. It is significant of the power of the present anti-polygamy movement, that, whereas a few years ago the Mormons dictated terms, they are now begging to be let alone.