News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 10, 1912

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— This year’s cotton crop, according to statistics of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, is the largest in quantity and poorest in quality ever raised in this country.

— Cotton is being largely used in the manufacture of automobile tires. One million yards of high-grade duck were recently sold by a Georgia cotton-mill to one tire manufacturer.

— If all the trespassers who have lost their lives upon railway tracks in the United States in ten years ending June 30, 1911, could be called back to existence, they would form a city of 51,083 inhabitants.

— Chicago is now the leading post-office center in the United States. A comparative statement prepared in Washington in the office of Postmaster-General Hitchcock shows that the Chicago post-office excelled in business the New York office, its only rival, by $29,274.30 for the month of August.

— A force of 750 American marines under Col. F. J. Moses sailed from Philadelphia September 27, on the transport “Prairie,” for Santo Domingo, to compel the reopening of Dominican custom-houses along the border of Haiti, closed by revolutionists.

— The English war-office authorities are so impressed with the valuable work of the aeroplanes in the army maneuvers that they have decided, according to the Daily Mirror (London), to build and organize two fleets of aeroplanes. One fleet will consist of powerful squadrons of fast aeroplanes carrying quick-firing guns, the other of scout aeroplanes, to be used solely for scouting purposes. The guns of the new fighting fleet will be placed in front of the aeroplanes, with the propellers at the rear. Before the scouts take the air, the heavier class will be sent up in squadrons, with the object of attacking and sending the enemy’s air craft to earth.

— Floating flats for millionaires are the latest luxury in transatlantic travel, and the vessel on which, it is understood, the provision will be made is the new Cunarder “Aquitania,” which will be launched on the Clyde (Scotland), about December, and put in commission in the spring or early summer of next year. Fashion in ocean travel changes periodically, and the decision to build flats on the “Aquitania” is said to be the outcome of a growing tendency among families, especially English families, to live on board exactly as they would at home. Already there are in some of the Cunarders a series of walled-off recesses where it is possible for families to take their meals by themselves. “Flatland afloat” is simply an elaboration of this system of private suites.

— A letter written on stone in Babylon 4,000 years ago by a young man who complained of the high cost of living has just been translated by Dr. F. C. Eislen, of the University of Chicago.

— One hundred thirty-six women and children were killed or wounded September 29, when the Nicaraguan revolutionists bombarded Managua, according to mail advices just received from that city.

— The cruiser “Cincinnati,” commanded by Commodore Samuel S. Robinson, has been ordered to Foochow, China, to protect the lives and property of nearly 200 Americans from the ravages of a faction which it is reported has revolted against the government.

— Arrangements have been made by Postmaster-General Hitchcock for the engraving and manufacture of a series of twelve stamps, novel in size and design, for exclusive use in the forwarding of packages by the new parcel-post. Under the law recently enacted by Congress, ordinary stamps can not be used.

— It is a fact, perhaps not generally known, that the seigniorage, or profit, which has accrued to the government from the coinage of silver, nickel, and bronze pieces during the last forty years has amounted to $205,385,272. This is approximately four fifths of the entire cost of the construction of the Panama Canal to date.

— Lieut. L. C. Rockwell and Corporal Frank S. Scott, both stationed at the Army Aviation School, were plunged to their death on the afternoon of September 27, at the aviation field at College Park, Md., and thus two more victims were added to the long list of fatalities which have already occurred in the conquest of the air.

— Twelve thousand of the 22,000 railroad employees ordered to strike at Barcelona, Spain, quit work September 25. As fast as they left their positions, these were taken by government soldiers. Attempts were made to wreck three trains, but only one was successful. The government has ordered martial law along all divisions run by these troops.

— The Atlantic fleet, which is to mobilize for review in New York harbor, October 12-15, will comprise a grim, gray line extending from Fifty-third Street almost to Yonkers, and, including the unassigned vessels which will lie at anchor beginning opposite Twenty-fourth Street, the entire column will be more than fifteen miles long. There will be five miles of first-class battle-ships alone, drawn up in formidable double-column array.

— Hundreds are dead, tens of thousands homeless, and $20,000,000 worth of property destroyed as a result of the terrific typhoon that swept Japan from end to end on Sunday, September 22. Wires have been down, cities isolated, and communication by rail and road interrupted, so that news of the casualties is just beginning to come in. The storm, which was the worst in half a century, did the greatest damage to the cities of Nagoya, Osaka, and Nara, on Hon-shu Island, and in Gifu. A tidal wave demolished the harbor of Nagoya, while wind and rain and lightning worked havoc on shore.

— The commercial growth of Porto Rico is reflected in the annual report of Gov. George R. Colton, which shows the external commerce of the island increased approximately $14,000,000 during the past year. The aggregate for the year was about $92,500,000, or five times as much as in 1901. Eighty per cent of this trade was with the United States.

— The greatest slaughter of animals in the history of Siberia took place last year, being caused by the increased demand for furs. Con.-Gen. John H. Snodgrass reports from Moscow that 4,525,000 gray squirrels, 1,500,000 white hares, 12,250 sables, 200,000 ermines, 1,500 brown bears, 180,000 kolonki (a species of skunk), and 16,500 gray wolves were killed, besides about 100 arctic foxes.

— It is claimed by telegram that eighty Americans, six of whom are women, have been captured by Mexican rebels, and are being held for a ransom of $100,000. Madero is reported as having concentrated his forces at the city of Mexico to defend the capital from threatened assault. This leaves outlying districts much exposed. United States troops in Texas have captured Colonel Orozco, father of the rebel leader, who crossed the lines, and who is now held a prisoner.

— England has notified China that she will not recognize the new republic unless China abandons her proposed expedition into Tibet for the purpose of re-establishing Chinese sovereignty over her southwestern territory. Tibet had declared her independence, and while it does not appear that Great Britain means to govern Tibet, still it is clear that she does not mean that China shall. This move is creating some excitement among the powers, because it seems to establish a precedent of which Russia may take advantage in regard to Mongolia.

— With hundreds of soldiers held in instant readiness for an outbreak, the people of Ulster province, on September 28, registered formal protest against home rule for Ireland by signing a solemn covenant in which they declare they will not submit to political separation from the British union. By some it was regarded as the first step toward civil war, which has been threatened by the unionists of north Ireland if the liberal government at London carries out its program of granting autonomy to Ireland. At least 500,000 persons took part in the great antihome rule demonstration which marked the celebration of Ulster day.

— A London despatch for September 30 says: “The Balkan difficulties have developed with alarming rapidity to a point where only a spark is needed to set the whole of southeastern Europe aflame. Three of the Balkan States by common consent have ordered the simultaneous mobilization of their armies, and are making every preparation for immediate hostilities. Everything now seems to depend on whether the great powers will be able to bring sufficient pressure to bear to prevent the outbreak of hostilities and preserve the status quo in the Balkans. To-day’s developments appear fully to confirm the existence of a military undertaking between Bulgaria, Servia, Greece, and Montenegro, directed against Turkey.”