News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 6, 1913

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— Statistics show that fifty-two persons were lynched in the United States during 1912, one for each week of the year.

— A severe blizzard gripped the northwestern section of the United States on February 22 and 23, delaying trains and interrupting telegraphic service.

— Congress has passed the bill for a memorial building to President Lincoln to be placed in Potomac Park, Washington, D. C. The design is architecturally most beautiful, and it is to cost $2,000,000.

— Last week the militant suffragettes of England destroyed the country home of Chancellor Lloyd-George with dynamite. Their latest plan is to kidnap the cabinet ministers, and the police are taking every precaution to protect these gentlemen.

— Five new publications came into existence every day of 1912, according to census figures compiled for the 1913 American Newspaper Annual and Directory. But while 1,686 new publications were born, during the same period 1,650 died, making the net increase but 36. There are 2,633 dailies published in the country, 17,285 weeklies, and 3,069 monthlies.

— Announcement was recently made in St. Louis that department stores in many large cities of the United States have organized the American Department Stores Corporation to consolidate their purchases and thereby get low prices from manufacturers. The wholesaler is to be eliminated as far as the stores in the corporation are concerned. The stores in the new company have an aggregate purchasing power of more than $75,000,000 annually.

— A religious census of the Imperial University of Tokio, Japan, has been taken. There were 8 Shintoists, 50 Buddhists, 60 Christians, 1,500 atheists, and 3,000 agnostics.

— The Atlantic Cotton Compress Plant, located at Columbus, Ga., was practically destroyed by fire February 22. The loss is estimated to be over one million dollars.

— President Taft's record as a judge maker is unsurpassed in our history. Of the 195 federal judges, he will have named 114 when his term of office ends. These include five members of the Supreme Court.

— The United States imports five times as many bananas as any other country. In 1912 it imported 44,520,539 bunches of this most easily consumed fruit—say 50 bananas per capita. Of the countries contributing these, Jamaica led all the rest, with 15,000,000 bunches.

— The first demonstration in this country of the Pollak-Virag telegraph system, by which 40,000 words can be despatched in one hour, was given in New York City on January 31. A remarkable feature of the invention is that the message, sent at such great speed, is recorded directly in writing as with the hand—in long hand—at the receiving end. The system has been successfully tested in Germany.

— A train that left Bolivar, in South America, for a neighboring town three years ago has just arrived. The distance covered was 120 kilometers, and the reason for the delay was a storm which derailed the train, killed most of the passengers, and ripped up such a goodly portion of the railroad line that the company owning it was forced into bankruptcy. About six months ago an American engineer undertook the reconstruction of the road, and brought the long-delayed train to the point for which it originally started.

— Vincent Astor, who is reputed to be the richest young man in the world,—made such by the death of his father in the “Titanic” disaster,—has chosen scientific agriculture as his life-work, according to an announcement made a few days ago by Governor Sulzer, of New York. The governor is given credit for having diverted the mind of the young multimillionaire from idleness and pleasure to a channel of great usefulness through the development of the Astor farm at Rhinecliff on the Hudson along new and experimental lines.

— With her old conservatism broken down, there seems to be nothing new that China is not ready to adopt. President Yuan Shi Kai, on the suggestion of his French military adviser, has decided upon the organization of an aerial fleet of most modern and efficient character. All Chinese staff-officers will be required to pass through the aviation school, either as pilots or observers, and a series of competitions is being arranged for 1914, to which all aeroplane constructors will be invited to send machines. The despatch making report of the plan, says that in times of peace this new arm of the military service will be employed in police duty throughout the empire—a distinct innovation with the Chinese, and one capable of very practical development.