News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 8, 1915

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— Plans for a $2,000,000 army post for the Panama Canal have now been completed, and a site has been selected near the canal town of Corozal. The new post will bring all the isthmian troops from the west side of the canal to the east bank, and thus make the forces much more mobile in case of need. It will be located on the direct trans-isthmian railway line and within a short march from either Miraflores or Pedro Miguel locks and from the terminals at Balboa. The construction of the post is expected to begin some time this month.

— The labor situation in the coal mining districts of England has become critical. The men demand an immediate national conference between workers and employers regarding their demand for a straight twenty-per-cent war bonus. The government could not under any circumstances allow even a temporary tie-up of work in the coal-producing sections, as production is barely keeping up with consumption at present, and coal, of course, is essential not only for the army and navy, but also for virtually all the important manufactures of war munitions.

— It is interesting to note that General Gorgas, under whose wise direction the Panama Canal Zone was transformed from a breeding place of deadly fevers into a healthful region, has been asked by the Rockefeller Foundation to go to Serbia and aid in the work of conquering the typhus plague. General Gorgas has consented to undertake the work. He will be supplied with the most complete facilities for stamping out the plague, and will be paid a salary of $50,000 a year. He is also assured a generous pension for life. This means the giving up of his office of surgeon-general in the army.

— Peril of American settlers in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora State, Mexico, brought orders recently for the dispatch of three cruisers for the west coast of Mexico, and authorization to Admiral Thomas B. Howard to land an expeditionary force if necessary. The flagship “Colorado,” sailed first, under orders from Washington, carrying three companies of the Fourth Regiment, United States Marine Corps. The trouble has been caused by the Yaqui Indians, who have declared their independence, and are trying to drive settlers from land which is said to have been taken from the Yaquis under the administration of Porfirio Diaz.

— Camphor, which has become an extremely valuable article of commerce, has been produced almost wholly in Japan, which has had in previous years a practical monopoly of this trade. Camphor grows readily in warm climates, and several years ago it was suggested that there might be places in this country where it could be profitably cultivated. A short time afterwards groves of camphor trees were set out in Florida. They have been successful beyond expectation. The best-known grove is one at Satsuma, and during the last year no less than 10,000 pounds of camphor was produced from this grove, only a few years old.

— According to the Tribune, England has laid down a new battleship which will be by far the most powerful craft afloat. It will mark a change in battleship construction, exceeding that which came when the first dreadnought was built. It is stated that this great new ship will be 800 feet in length, will carry six fifteen-inch guns, and have the wonderful speed of forty knots. At present the “Queen Elizabeth,” now at the Dardanelles, is the most powerful engine of war afloat. She is, however, only 650 feet in length, but carries eight fifteen-inch guns. She is oil driven, as the new ship will be. In the craft now planned, armament is sacrificed for increased speed.

— According to a writer in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat there is nothing in the “Arabian Nights” more wonderful than the big liners now constructed for the Atlantic ferry. One 881 feet long, and a maze of ideas for luxurious travel, serves as a preface for an announcement that work has been begun on a vessel 950 feet in length, with 80,000 horsepower. Twenty years ago but two vessels were provided with 30,000 horsepower, and the quickest passage was twenty-five per cent slower than today. The centennial of the first steamship passage across the ocean will not come until 1919. In 1819 the steamer “Savannah,” a craft of only 350 tons, built in New York, crossed from Savannah to Liverpool in twenty-six days, during eighteen of which she used her paddles. A British cruiser off Cape Clear thought she was on fire, and hurried to reach what was expected to be a scene of calamity. The first steam voyage between London and Calcutta, in 1825, occupied 113 days, which was regarded as an extraordinary feat.