News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 28, 1916

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— The annual fire loss in New York City is $6,000,000, caused mostly by carelessness.

— A miniature automobile horn blown by pressing an electric button, has been invented to replace doorbells.

— The Indian who gained great wealth from discovering the Klondike gold fields, recently died in poverty.

— An inventor living at Troy, N. Y., has patented a laundry machine that irons an entire skirt over a conical roller at a single operation.

— It is stated that there are 10,000 towns west of the Missouri River, each having over 300 population, where the gospel is not preached by any one.

— Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for missions was a recent gift from Mrs. D. Willard James, of New York, to the Methodist Board. She has already given $7,000,000 to various funds for retired ministers.

— Dr. Percival Lowell, founder and director of the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Ariz., and an astronomer of international reputation, died November 12, from a stroke of apoplexy. Dr. Lowell was best known as the principal exponent of the theory that Mars is inhabited. He was the brother of A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard University, and a cousin of James Russell Lowell.

— The United States cruiser “Boston,” considered at one time the fastest and best ship in the United States Navy, will soon be relegated to the scrap heap. Some years ago the ship ran aground. It was found that the cost of repairing her practically amounted to reconstruction, so the Navy Department advised dismantling her. She was launched at Chester, Pa., in 1886, and took an active part in the Spanish-American War.

— The white potato crop is the smallest since 1911, says the Department of Agriculture’s latest monthly report. The outlook for corn is more favorable, though it is still about 300,000,000 bushels less than was harvested a year ago. Wheat also has taken a drop, the estimated production being about 400,000,000 bushels under last year’s crop. Oats, barley, buckwheat, and apples show smaller yields than were estimated in September.

— Henryk Sienkiewicz, the most widely read Polish author of his time, died at Vevey, Switzerland, on the shore of Lake Geneva, November 18. He was distinguished for his patriotism as well as for his literary productions. He was born in 1845, and a considerable part of his life was spent in exile. He was a prolific writer, but the work which brought him greatest reputation and financial profit was “Quo Vadis,” a novel which, with fascinating vividness, purports to describe Roman life in the days of Nero. It has been translated into thirty different languages.

— “To be useful in the world needs preparation. Everything really useful must be shaped to fit some place or task. Youth is the time to follow the advice of the old Persian proverb, ‘Square thyself for use; a stone that may fit in the wall is not left in the road.’”

— To soar over the north pole in a hydroaeroplane is the ambition of Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who a few years ago attained the south pole. Captain Amundsen arrived in New York recently from Copenhagen to purchase two hydroaeroplanes for that purpose. Starting in the summer of 1918, he said, he expects to be in the far north from three to five years. The main object of his flight, Captain Amundsen declared, would be to study the air currents around the pole.

— According to a report received by the National Geographic Society, the United States now owns exactly 8,000 islands, supporting a population of 10,000,000. The commerce of these islands exceeds $300,000,000, or more than that of the United States in any year prior to 1850. American capital invested in the islands aggregates approximately $400,000,000, and from them there is shipped to the United States $100,000,000 worth of products every year, and they take in exchange products of about equal value.

— President Wilson gave the wireless flash which bathed the Statue of Liberty in light at six o’clock on the night of December 2. Bartholdi’s famous symbol of American freedom, which has been for thirty years a token of welcome to the United States to millions of immigrants from every land, will be illuminated every night hereafter from top to bottom. Funds to install the permanent lighting system for the statue, the gift to the United States of 400,000 citizens of France, were provided by public subscription.

— The Japanese, like the Chinese, have no alphabet, in the ordinary sense, every word in their written language being represented by a separate character. In telegraphing in those languages, therefore, about 10,000 words are selected, and figures ranging from 1 to 9,999 are allotted to each word. Each word of a message to be transmitted by telegraph is first given its proper number by the telegraph clerk, by means of a dictionary which has been prepared under the authority of the government. These numbers are then transmitted by the Morse alphabet, and when received, the message is translated back into the Chinese or Japanese characters by reference to a corresponding dictionary.

— Yale University began its work as an academy at Saybrook, Conn. Two hundred years ago the academic foundation was transplanted to New Haven, Conn., and that removal was celebrated this year. The most picturesque feature of the celebration was a historical pageant. This was participated in by more than 7,000 persons. The Yale ‘Bowl,’ with its accommodations for nearly 60,000 persons, was the setting, while upon the green turf were depicted the episodes and incidents of college life. The interludes were allegorical, and many hundreds of children and their elders took part in the groupings and dances. The pageant had been arranged at a cost of about $60,000, and drew Yale alumni from far and near.

— Dr. Thomas D. Wood, of Columbia University, announces some astounding facts in relation to the 20,000,000 children in the public schools. He says that there are 1,000,000 with defective hearing, 5,000,000 with defective vision, 6,000,000 suffering from malnutrition, 10,000,000 have defective teeth, and 6,000,000 have adenoids and enlarged tonsils needing attention.

— Some relief in the present tense news-print paper situation is likely to be afforded by the fact that several additional mills will be put into operation within the next few months in the United States and Canada. The output of these new mills, in the opinion of officials of the Department of Commerce, will go a long way toward increasing the supply of news-print paper to meet the demands, which are said by the manufacturers and jobbers to be responsible for the prevailing exorbitant prices. While, in time, the increased output from the additional mills is expected to have its effect, officials of the Federal Trade Commission doubt if there will be any immediate reduction in the market price as a result of the present government inquiry. This is a time, they understand, when publishers make their contracts for the next year’s supply. Under the present circumstances the officials would not be surprised if the paper manufacturers and jobbers undertook to increase the prices, which at present are shown to be out of all proportion to the cost of manufacture.

— Buddhism is credited with a revived life in Japan. It is imitating Christian missions in some phases of their propaganda. It is characterized by aggressiveness and adaptability. One of the forms of activity shown is the ‘Sunday school.’ The work was inaugurated at the time of the emperor’s coronation a year ago. In six months, it is stated, there were 800 schools, with 120,000 children. The Buddhist sect best known for its imitation of Christianity is the Nishi Hongwana-ji, which has a board which acts for all Japan. This board gives a banner to the best school, and confers medals for special merit. The child having the best record in each school is given the privilege of visiting the far-famed building and treasures of the West Hongwana-ji temples. In every detail the schools imitate the Christian schools — the same officers and committees; the same classification of departments. They have gone so far as to organize mothers’ meetings, young men’s associations, and special meetings for children, corresponding to our children’s day, rally day, etc. In literature for children it is difficult to tell which is Christian and which is Buddhist, so closely do the text cards, ‘Life of Buddha’ series, attendance cards, etc., conform to those used in Christian Sabbath schools. But the climax of imitation is reached in the music. Christian hymns — words, tunes, and all — have been appropriated. Such songs as ‘O for a thousand tongues to sing,’ ‘Jesus loves me! this I know,’ ‘Bringing in the sheaves,’ ‘God is love,’ are being used by the Buddhists, practically the only change being the substitution of the name of Buddha for that of Jesus. Many fundamental truths of the Christian religion have been brought into their stories and songs. Buddha is referred to again and again as ‘heavenly Father.’