News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 21, 1912

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— The Spanish government is beginning a system of irrigating canals, and also 20,000 miles of railroads and highways.

— Another arctic expedition is getting ready to sail. This is not to hunt for the north pole, but to map Crocker Island, the only part of North America which has not been mapped.

— The liberals of Nicaragua, Central America, are reported to have placed fifteen mines under the track over which the train conveying Secretary of State Philander C. Knox was to pass. For some unaccountable reason none of the mines exploded. Fifty liberals have already been arrested on the charge of conspiracy.

— On March 10, in the new foreign office at Peking, Yuan Shi Kai was formally inaugurated provisional president of the republic of China. The constitution of the new republic of China places the supreme power in the hands of the national assembly. A notable feature is that all the acts of the president require the approval of the assembly, and this body also has complete control of the cabinet. The assembly elects the president and the vice-president, and may pass any law over the executive's veto at its pleasure. The mutiny among the troops continues to spread. Official reports state that 1,000 decapitations took place at Peking and Tientsin within one week.

— A world-wide coal strike is feared. In Great Britain all mines are closed. Approximately 1,000,000 miners are striking, and at least as many workers in other industries are idle because of lack of fuel. Food prices are steadily rising; ocean liners are unable to get coal, and shipping is seriously interfered with. In Germany 175,000 miners are on strike in one district, and others are only waiting the word to stop work. France has experienced a twenty-four-hour miners' strike; and if the demands of the miners are not met, the strike will probably be renewed soon. The anthracite-coal miners in the United States are also demanding increased pay, and it is quite probable that they will go on strike on April 1.

— Highly interesting discoveries have been made in connection with the excavations in the ruins of Pompeii. A street leading to the forum, which was closed at both ends by stone pillars for the purpose of excluding carriages, now proves to have been one of the chief thoroughfares of the city. It is lined with shops, the walls of which show inscriptions and marble tablets, which are well preserved. A great quantity of archeological treasures of great historic value has been found, and the investigators have gathered up a quantity of petrified fruit and meat. In one shop a large terra-cotta kitchen range was discovered, on the top of which rested an oval copper boiler in perfect condition, containing water, which the scientists say has been there since the time of the eruption, nearly 2,000 years ago.

— Plans for a sixteen-inch naval gun that will hurl a 2,000-pound shell and penetrate armor at fourteen miles, the most gigantic and most powerful weapon yet contrived, are now complete in the office of Rear-Admiral N. C. Twining, chief of the United States Bureau of Ordnance.

— The Catholic Colonization Society of the United States, recently organized at the Catholic University, near Washington, D. C., has received the approval of the entire American hierarchy. The society is national in its scope, and aims to protect and promote the interests of Catholic colonists. Archbishop Messmer, of Milwaukee, who is deeply interested in this new society, says: "Many immigrants come to America from Europe every year looking for work and homes. Some, crowded into our great commercial centers, are pushed toward the confines of the 'underworld,' away from the influence of religion. We hope to relieve their misery and suffering by taking them to colonies that promise sufficient support and religious advantages." This scheme is one which is expected by the Catholic Church to assist her greatly in gaining control of America.