News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 16, 1911

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— It costs the government approximately $15,000 to graduate an officer from West Point.

— In an explosion, February 6, ten men met instant death in the plant of the Pluto Powder Company, in the outskirts of Ishpeming, Mich.

— There is considerable agitation in Jamaica over the holding of an exhibition in Kingston in 1915, coincident with the formal opening of the Panama Canal.

— There has been a serious outbreak among the Chinese on the island of Billiton, west of Borneo. The capital was looted and burned, and the chief minister murdered.

— The United States Congress has authorized an expenditure of $113,542,900 for public buildings since 1902. The government has expended for public buildings and sites the enormous total of $217,390,453.

— It is reported that an Indian pigmy tribe, known as Kurutou, has recently been discovered in Brazil. This is the first known pigmy tribe on the South American continent. The tallest individual was found to be only four feet six inches in height.

— It is reported from Helsingfors, Finland, that an entire village of 253 men, which has been established on the ice south of Bjorko Sound, was carried out to sea in a gale, February 3. Relief boats rescued about one half of the company, the others perishing.

— After a ten years’ struggle, the House, February 7, passed a bill providing for the purchase and construction of American embassy, legation, and consular buildings abroad. The measure was passed by a vote of 141 to 39. The bill limits the cost of buildings to $150,000 each.

— It is reported that the recent revolt in Haiti is rapidly spreading into new districts. The government is taking energetic measures to meet the situation.

— The people of Cleveland, Ohio, have subscribed $250,000, and petitioned Congress in a bill presented by Representative Howland to contribute a like sum, for the purpose of bringing the Olympic games to the United States in 1916. The city of Cleveland has agreed to erect a stadium. The $500,000 fund is for prizes and entertainment of the visiting athletes.

— The importance of the physical examination of school-children is shown by the results of such work in Chicago during the last three months of 1910. Out of 31,088 school-children examined, 13,248 were found defective, and medical treatment was advised. During the three years that this work has been done in Chicago, almost one half of the children examined were found physically defective. Most of these defects consist in enlarged glands, defective vision, and bad teeth.

— The executive committees of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific lines have decided to complete double-tracking the lines from the Missouri River to San Francisco; also to double-track the Oregon Short Line from the junction with the Union Pacific main line at Granger, Wyo., to Huntington, Ore.; also the line along the Columbia River in Oregon to Portland, a total of 1,673 miles. The cost of the double-tracking of the lines will aggregate upward of $75,000,000, which will be distributed over a period of five years.

— A Grand Rapids, Mich., police judge has initiated a novel plan in dealing with those brought before him charged with intoxication. He sentences the erring ones to attend the local rescue mission every night, for terms ranging from thirty to sixty days. The officers of the mission are provided with commitment papers, the same as a jailer, and all who are sentenced to attend the services are warned that if they do not put in an appearance at the mission every night, they will be taken to jail. Needless to say, all prefer the alternative of attending the mission.

— January 31 the House of Representatives, by a vote of 188 to 159, decided in favor of San Francisco, and against New Orleans, as the city in which an exposition to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915 shall be held. This vote was taken on a roll-call to determine whether the San Francisco resolution or the New Orleans bill should have consideration in the House. On a final vote the San Francisco resolution was passed by a vote of 259 to 43. The advocates of San Francisco are claiming that their fight is won, and that the Senate will ratify the action of the House. San Francisco won by capturing the Republican vote in the House. New Orleans’s support came from the Democrats. Only thirty Republicans voted for New Orleans. Thirty-six Democrats voted for San Francisco. The San Francisco resolution does not ask for government aid in any form. It simply authorizes the President of the United States to invite foreign nations to participate in the fair by sending exhibits, encouraging attendance, etc.