News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 19, 1916

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reports that America has so far contributed nearly $29,000,000 for the succoring of war-stricken Europe through the sixty relief societies that are now operating.

— The Illinois Central Railroad is to build a new terminal structure at Chicago, at a cost which may reach $20,000,000. It is hoped to make the building a notable part of the civic landscape, as was done with the station at Washington, D. C.

— It is said to be the intention of Japan, as soon as the war in Europe is over, to reopen the question of the status of her citizens in this country. The Japanese did not regard the matter as settled when the negotiations conducted about two years ago came to a deadlock.

— While steaming along the coast from Marshfield, Oregon, to Seattle, Wash., the large steamer “Congress,” owned by the Pacific Coast Company, was destroyed by fire a few days ago. In response to wireless calls for help, boats in the vicinity went to the assistance of the “Congress,” and succeeded in saving all the passengers and crew, numbering about 420 persons. The loss of the ship is estimated at $1,250,000.

— Nearly 1,500 acres of onions in the vicinity of McGuffey, Ohio, have been burning for a number of days. As the fire gained headway, troops from the Ohio National Guard were ordered out to aid in subduing it, but their efforts availed little. It is predicted by onion growers that the fire will continue to burn most of the winter, as the soil to a depth of three feet consists mainly of onion-top peat. The crop of this year has been totally destroyed.

— Tasmania, formerly known as Van Diemen’s Land, with an area of 26,000 square miles and a population of 300,000, is considered an extremely fine body of land. It was once a penal colony, but it is now a great sanitarium, having an unusually healthful climate. It has an extensive sheep-raising industry, for which it is well adapted. Practically every kind of precious stone known and every mineral is found in its mines. The harbor at Hobart, the capital, is said to be the finest natural harbor in the world, having a depth of seventy feet of water.

— New York City faces a milk famine. The farmers have struck. The big distributors of milk in the city have in the past had contracts with the dairymen, but these expired September 30. The Dairymen’s League, with a membership of about 15,000 farmers, and controlling 300,000 out of 350,000 cows in New York State, has decided to raise the price of milk during the next six months, rendered necessary, they contend, by the increased cost of production. City dealers refuse to recognize the league or to have any dealings with it, and much suffering is reported from the more crowded sections of the city on account of the shortage in supply.

— Following the recent resignation of Premier Okuma of Japan, the emperor has requested Lieut. Gen. Count Seiki Terauchi, former minister of war and also former resident general in Korea, to organize a cabinet in succession to the ministry of Marquis Okuma. This in the minds of many marks the end of a long and intense struggle between the bureaucratic forces and the advocates of a representative government for Japan, bringing defeat to the conservative faction.

— Great simplicity marked the opening of the Chinese Parliament under Li Yuan-hung, the new president, who succeeded Yuan Shi-kai. Li, members of his cabinet, foreign advisers, and important officials attended without bodyguard. It is significant that the president and other prominent Chinese wore conventional European morning suits and top hats, which have been recognized as the proper garb for state functions. The president’s address, after taking the oath of office, promising strictly to observe the constitution of the republic, drew attention to the importance of reconstructive work which must be introduced at once. He expressed the hope that the legislators in performing their sacred duties, would manifest “perfect impartiality and nonpartisanship,” so as to make “China a country ruled by laws.”

— The members of the Naval Consulting Board, twenty-four in number, and representing the foremost scientific societies of the country, became a legalized branch of the general government and a part of the navy last week when the oath of office under the provisions of a recently enacted law was taken. Thomas A. Edison is chairman of the board. These scientists, chosen by the membership of the various societies, become officers of the government. They receive no salaries, and Congress has limited the appropriation for actual expenses to $25,000, regarded as barely sufficient to maintain a secretariat. The organization of these scientists into an official body is designed to provide a direct link between the navy and the engineering resources of the nation in a manner that will place the industrial forces directly behind the navy in time of war.

— The annual meeting of the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A. was held at Atlantic City last week. Large plans were made for next year’s work. They contemplate an expenditure aggregating $4,500,000. The plans are of world-wide scope. The Y. M. C. A. has founded schools and missions along the Texas border, where American troops are stationed, and $500,000 is laid out for the work there. Already there are nearly forty schools, with 155 secretaries as instructors in Spanish, electricity, science, and many other branches of study, for the benefit of the soldiers. The work along the border costs approximately $1,000 a day. In Europe, where there are 10,000 workers, the budget calls for nearly $2,000,000, or four times the amount spent in the war zone last year. From the eastern border of Switzerland to central Russia there are about 250 Y. M. C. A. graded schools and colleges. Their enrolment is nearly 3,250,000 men. More than $1,000,000 will be spent in the industrial department in this country. It is reported that the erection of more than one hundred new buildings is contemplated.

— Unless the tide of immigration should again set in before long, the Southland bids fair to be brought face to face with serious economic conditions. The shortage in the Northern labor market, due to the sharp falling off in the number of immigrants, is resulting in strong appeals being made to colored men of the South by large employers of labor in the North. Thousands of Negroes are being brought North, and the South is beginning to feel it. The shift that is taking place is drawing attention with no little force to the large place that the Negro fills in the life of the South.