p. 21 | News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 28, 1911

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

—On November 10 Great Britain launched the “Centurion,” its twenty-first dreadnought, said to be the best armored ship afloat.

—Thousands of home-going foreigners, mostly bound for Mediterranean ports, have had to be left on the docks in New York City, because the ships about to sail could not hold all who applied as steerage passengers.

—The Japanese expedition for the south pole under Lieutenant Chirase, which last spring was compelled to return because the vessel proved too weak to stand the ice pressure, has started out again with a strengthened ship.

—A wireless message was flashed for 4,000 miles on November 19, the greatest distance such a message has ever traveled. It was sent from the newly opened station at Coltano, near Pisa, Italy, the most powerful station in the world, and it was received by the wireless station at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.

—Twenty-seven Bible societies are printing the Bible; one in the United States, three in Great Britain, and twenty-three on the European continent. These societies reported an output in 1910 of 12,843,196 Bibles. It is stated, conservatively, that more copies of the Bible were sold last year than of any other hundred books of the world combined.

—Prince Chun, regent of China and father of the five-year-old emperor, has abdicated. The vice-president of the privy council and a Manchu noble succeed him as guardians of the throne. Provincial delegates assembled at Wuchang to discuss a constitutional monarchy having a descendant of Confucius, or a man like Yuan Shih Kai, as a Chinese king.

—On December 16 the greater part of Mexico was shaken by an earthquake which is said to have cost twenty-one lives, and caused damage to property amounting to thousands of dollars. The volcano of Orizaba, which has been silent for more than 300 years, is smoking heavily, and belching sand and boulders, which are falling hot in all towns within a radius of 20 miles. The quake was accompanied by a cloudburst at Taxco.

—The commission appointed by the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, in 1910, to settle the long-drawn-out controversy over the boundary between Maryland and West Virginia, has completed its work and submitted its report to that tribunal for final action. The report of the commission is said to favor West Virginia on nearly every point, and should the Supreme Court approve of it, many who have been voting and paying taxes in Maryland will become citizens of West Virginia. The controversy has been waged for over 200 years, and involves about 36 square miles of land and the citizenship of several thousand persons. The question, “What are the head-waters of the Potomac River?” is at the bottom of the trouble.

—The State fisheries and game commission has decided to abandon artificial hatching of quail after having expended nearly $4,000, and getting one quail chicken, which, the commissioners assert, owes its existence to the fostering care of its feathered mother and not to an incubator. A large number of male and female quail were obtained at large expense from Western States for the experiment at the Connecticut Agricultural College.

—It is computed that in all America there are 8,000,000 children and youth between the ages of five and eighteen not attending Sunday-school. Two thirds of the children in eight of the Western States are not reported in Sunday-school. New England is said to have 800,000, and New York State 2,200,000, not yet reached. Among the colored children of the nation, there are believed to be 3,000,000 more. Narrowing the figures down to the city of New York, it is stated that over 800,000 of the boys and girls of the metropolis come directly under the influence of no church or Sunday-school or other religious organization.

—In the year 1832 a treaty between the United States and Russia was effected. This treaty fully met conditions existing at that time, and was very satisfactory to both governments. There has been a feeling, however, for some time that some of the provisions of this treaty are obsolete, or at least do not cover the proper relations which should exist between the two governments at the present time. Particular point has been given to this contention of late, from the fact that certain Jewish citizens, who were naturalized subjects of the United States, were not accorded proper recognition by the Russian government. Dec. 18, 1911, President Taft notified the Russian government, through the American ambassador at St. Petersburg, of the termination of the treaty on Jan. 1, 1912. Both branches of Congress have expressed approval of this action on the part of the President, and it is hoped that a new and more up-to-date treaty may be negotiated during the coming year.

—During the last few days, under impulse of pressure brought to bear by the United States and the powers of Europe, an earnest effort has been made by the leaders of the government and revolutionary parties in China to arrive at some understanding as to the future of the country, and thus end the disastrous civil war which has been raging for several weeks. This conference has been held at Shanghai. The revolutionary leaders have from the first earnestly contended for a republican form of government, and at last reports the government representatives had well-nigh conceded this contention, and strong hopes were entertained by both sides that the present armistice, which has been arranged to extend to the end of the year, will be extended into the permanent cessation of hostilities. Whatever may be the outcome in the present struggle, one thing is conceded by all students of the situation, and that is that China will emerge from its present revolutionary state with greater liberty than it has heretofore enjoyed.

—Sir William White, designer of the steamship “Mauretania,” received the John Fitch medal lately “for notable achievement as a naval architect.” This medal, which is awarded for “a great achievement in the applied sciences,” has been presented to six other men, Lord Kelvin, George Westinghouse, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas George Edison, Charles Porter, and Alfred Noble.

—Dr. Ira S. Wile, editor of the department of Surgical Sociology of the American Journal of Surgery, says in speaking of cancer that “statistics reveal a striking increase in the mortality from the disease. Since 1880 the death-rate from cancer in seventeen States has risen from 3.61 per 10,000 population to 7.35. The rate for the registration area rose from 74.3 in 1908 to 77 in 1909, while the average rate from this cause during the period 1901 to 1905, was 68.3.”

—The Persian government has for some time been in practically a bankrupt condition. Some months ago it requested President Taft to recommend to them some capable financier who would be able to act as treasurer and general financier for the government. Mr. W. Morgan Shuster of Washington, D. C., was recommended. The administration of Mr. Shuster has been a very vigorous one since taking charge of the Persian finances. He has sought to levy and collect taxes impartially. His earnest work has brought him into conflict with the Russian government, which now demands that Persia require his resignation and also the abrogation of certain offensive measures he has been instrumental in pushing forward. While in full sympathy with Mr. Shuster’s work and desirous of having his services continued, no doubt the Persian government will be compelled to yield in the near future to the pressure which is being brought to bear upon it.