News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 25, 1913

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

—On December 14 the island of Crete was formally annexed to Greece, with imposing ceremonies.

—Montgomery Ward, of Chicago, Ill., who rose from a day laborer to the presidency of one of the largest mail-order houses in the United States, died early in December, at the age of seventy years. He was essentially a self-made man, and his wealth is reliably estimated at $15,000,000.

—The famous painting “Mona Lisa,” which disappeared from the Louvre, in Paris, several years ago, has at last been found in Florence, Italy. It was turned over to the authorities by the original thief, one Vincenzo Perugia, who asserts that he committed the crime in order to avenge the removal of many famous pieces of Italian art from Florence. The “Mona Lisa” is valued at $5,000,000.

—Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels has received a Christmas present costing $10,000. It is a model of the battle-ship “New York,” the latest and greatest of the dreadnoughts which fly the stars and stripes. Such careful attention has been given to detail and accuracy that the tiny gun turrets of the model can be moved at will, and the miniatures of the fourteen-inch guns can be trained on any object. The life-boats are in place, and every detail of their mechanism is exactly shown.

—Here are some facts about immigrants: They contribute eighty-nine per cent of all the labor in the iron-mines and steel-mills; refine nineteen twentieths of the sugar; build and keep in repair the railroad tracks; build four fifths of the furniture; do nine tenths of all the work in the cotton-mills; make nineteen twentieths of all the clothing; mine ninety per cent of the coal; own eighty-one per cent of the farms they operate.

—Ambassadors of the triple entente—Great Britain, France, and Russia—with a view to further action in support of Russia’s objection to the powers which the Porte proposes to confer on the German military mission, have held separate conferences with the grand vizier and demanded that he put in writing the precise details of the rôle to be assumed by the mission. The German military mission, which is headed by one of the younger generals, will take under its charge reorganization of the Ottoman army.

—Two Nobel prizes, for 1912 and 1913, were awarded on December 10,—one to United States Senator Elihu Root, of New York, the other to Senator La Fontaine, of the Belgian parliament. The award was made at Christiana, Norway. As no Nobel peace prize was awarded last year, there were two for disposal this year, each worth $40,000. The selection committee, in its report, highly praised Senator Root for the part he played in the pacification of Cuba and the Philippines and for his diplomatic handling of American-Japanese affairs.

—The mayor of Indianapolis, Ind., Samuel Lewis Shank, one of the most novel figures in modern political life, resigned recently rather than face impeachment proceedings growing out of the position that he took in the recent street-car strike. Mr. Shank forbade at that time all police officers from riding on cars manned by strike breakers. This resulted in the resignation of the superintendent of police and the demoralization of the police force. Mayor Shank attained notoriety first in his attempt to fight the high cost of living in 1911, when, finding that potatoes were retailing at $1.40 a bushel, he imported sixteen car-loads, which he retailed at seventy-five cents. He also sold fruits, vegetables, and poultry in competition with the city markets. He made a spectacular fight on insurance rates in Indianapolis, which resulted in a reduction totaling $200,000. He used a firm hand in the enforcement of the liquor laws, suspending licenses for periods varying from a few hours to sixty days for infractions.