News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 31, 1913

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— An official statement sent out by the Greek government from Athens states that during this present Balkan conflict their army has lost 100,000 men. They are asking for hospital help from Europe.

— Physicians are hopeful over the question of the efficacy of vaccination for typhoid fever. During the first six months of 1913 only half as many cases were reported in New York City as for the corresponding period last year.

— According to recent estimates, fifty persons were killed and many injured, a dozen mortally, in a fire which swept the four-story factory building of the Binghamton Clothing Company of Binghamton, N. Y., on the afternoon of July 22. The victims were chiefly women and girls.

— A holy war has been declared on the sultan of the independent state of Oman, in southeastern Arabia, by rebels, who have already been victorious in several encounters with the sultan's troops, and are reported to be threatening Muscat, the capital, a seaport of about 60,000 inhabitants. British war-ships have been sent to the city to protect British interests there.

— An international congress of physicians will be held in London August 6-12. It is expected that 7,000 doctors will be present from all parts of the world, including the foremost specialists engaged in medical research in universities and laboratories of every civilized country. The sessions, twenty-three in all, will be held in Albert Hall.

— Buried deep in the cellar of a Greek confectionery store at Hampden, a suburb of Baltimore, Md., the police have recently found a piece of Greek sculpture, said to be priceless in value. This sculpture mysteriously disappeared from the National Museum at Athens fifteen years ago. It is the bust of a child, supposedly a girl about five years of age, and is said to be over 3,000 years old.

— Kings are supposed to set the style in Europe, and if this is true the number of teetotalers should greatly increase; for King George and Queen Mary of England, King Victor Immanuel of Italy, King Alfonso of Spain, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria are all abstainers.

— A daily news report from India states that on account of the fact that butter spoils so rapidly in the warm climate of that country, government officials are planning to pack it in collapsible tin tubes with screw nozzles—like the tubes in which printing ink, oil-paints, and certain pastes are sold. Eventually, on the dining-tables of Indian hotels and restaurants, the guests may find “butter tubes,” from which each person can squeeze upon his plate as much butter as he may need.

— With nearly 13,000 delegates attending from all parts of the Christianized world, the twenty-sixth International Christian Endeavor Convention opened in Los Angeles, Cal., the second week in July. A chorus of 900 voices joined in the opening service of praise. Francis E. Clark, the president and founder of the organization, presided. The convention has outlined a nation-wide campaign against the liquor traffic, the motto of the crusade being “A saloonless United States by 1920.”

— Since Feb. 1, 1913, absolute prohibition of the sale of alcohol to the natives of the Kongo region has been enforced. There are heavy penalties attached to the violation of the prohibition laws made necessary on account of the ravages caused by the consumption of trade rum and gin among the natives. This liquor traffic came principally from Germany and Belgium. Other portions of the Dark Continent are sadly in need of the same prohibition. In the British colonies of southern Nigeria, the Gold Coast, and Sierra Leone, the importation of spirits rose in the six years from 1906-11 from 4,700,000 gallons to 6,800,000 gallons.

— For some little time the authorities of Rome have been troubled by the insubordination of the Swiss guards at the Vatican. For fear of mutiny among these protectors of the Pope, they were disarmed July 21. According to the Washington Post, “the Italian police are ready to intervene in case of disturbances should the Vatican authorities request their assistance in the reestablishment of order. The mutinous guards today presented to Cardinal Merry del Val, papal secretary of state, a memorial relating their grievances and the conditions on which they are disposed to remain in the service. Among the conditions are: The dismissal of the commander of the Swiss guards; an increase in the Swiss guards from 80 to 100; the abolition of the prohibition against the guards frequenting stores on the right bank of the Tiber and the granting of permission to visit wine shops; a return to the original system of military instruction, with the abolition of bayonet drill, target shooting, and the climbing of roofs to protect the Vatican from imaginary assaults.”