News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 12, 1916

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— Emperor William of Germany about six years ago said, over his own signature: "During my reign of twenty-two years nine tenths of the criminal cases submitted to me for adjudication are traceable to the consequences of alcohol."

— It was unofficially estimated at the War Department that the Mexican expedition and the assembling of the National Guard at the border has cost the government $15,000,000 a month. This average cost per month, it was stated, began immediately after the Columbus raid last March.

— As a result of complaints against the billposters' trust, charging it with a monopoly of nearly every billboard in the United States and Canada, the trust has been dissolved by the Federal court in Chicago. Now any persons are allowed to post bills on any public billboard in the country, by complying with the rules.

— Hon. Seth Low, former mayor of New York, and for eleven years president of Columbia University, died recently at Bedford Hills, N. Y., his country home, aged sixty-six years. He was distinguished in many lines, and in none more than in his devotion to civic affairs, in which he stood for the best interests of the people.

— With the passing of the Federal revenue bill, the stamp tax on documents, telephone calls, and proprietaries has disappeared. It is figured that the munitions tax and the increased income tax will cover the deficit created by removing the stamp tax. This tax brought millions into the treasury, the district of Massachusetts alone raising $1,831,130 during the year ending June 30.

— Last month as the central span (640 feet long and weighing 5,000 tons) of the railway bridge at Point Levins, near Quebec, was being hoisted into position between the cantilevers, it suddenly collapsed and fell, disappearing in 200 feet of water. Of the ninety workmen who were on the span when it was being lifted thirteen were killed and many others were seriously injured. The bridge when completed was to have been 3,239 feet from shore to shore, and the cost of it was estimated at $17,000,000. The loss of material in the collapsed span is about $600,000.

— Nearly 1,000,000 people have been made homeless by one of the greatest floods on record in that section of China where the American Red Cross already has spent $600,000 for flood protection, and where the $30,000,000 loan for reclamation work which was postponed by the war, was to have been spent. Reports to the State Department from the American consul at Nanking, say that the Hwai River has inundated an area of about 7,000 square miles in Anhwei Province. Appeals for aid have been sent out for the homeless, who virtually are entirely dependent on charity, as all the autumn crops were destroyed.

— By order of the War Department, 15,000 soldiers have been mustered out of the United States ranks to be sent home as soon as practicable. Orders for the mustering out of additional units are expected to follow soon. The next regiment to leave the Federal service will be the Fourteenth New York Infantry, now in camp at Fishkill, N. Y. They will go as soon as its members are freed from danger of paratyphoid contagion, of which a number of cases have been reported.

— The government has been authorized to establish an armor plate plant at a cost of $11,000,000. Secretary Daniels of the Navy Department has received tenders from 115 cities for the location of the plant, and hearings were held last week at Washington on the relative advantages of the places that are contending for the prize. A selection probably will not be made for two months. All possibility of purchasing a ready-built plant was disposed of during the hearings. Of the factories making armor or engaged in similar activities, only two were mentioned as possible purchases, and the general board considers neither satisfactory. The law provides that the factory, which will have an annual capacity of not less than 20,000 tons of armor, shall be located with especial reference to safety in time of war.

— A gigantic sympathetic strike has been expected to take place in New York City in connection with the electric railroad strike now in progress in that city. The situation at this writing is still critical. Several riots have taken place, and much harm and inconvenience have been experienced by the general public. The following are the trades upon which the labor chiefs have made an urgent call for a sympathetic strike:— Clothing workers ............ 100,000 Building trades ............. 100,000 Butchers and bakers ......... 10,000 Electrical workers .......... 3,000 Printing trades ............. 15,000 Cigar makers ................. 10,000 Brewery workers .............. 7,500 Longshoremen ................ 35,000 Stationary firemen ........... 4,000 Stationary engineers ......... 4,500 Teamsters .................... 10,000 Clerks ....................... 1,500 Workers in other boroughs ... 450,000 Total ....................... 750,500