News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 9, 1911

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— Portugal has decided to pay King Manuel $3,300 a month for his support.

— The second anniversary of the second Cuban republic was celebrated January 28.

— One hundred women enter the police service in Barcelona, Spain, this week for the purpose of aiding the department in stamping out anarchy in that city.

— The latest reports from Manila confirm the previous report of the eruption of Mount Taal, in which 650 persons lost their lives. Five villages were obliterated.

— Congress recently passed a bill providing that no penal institution should be erected within ten miles of the Mount Vernon estate, the old home of the Washingtons.

— Forty-five of the men engaged in the recent mutiny in Brazil are reported by the government to have come to an untimely end in prison, from sunstroke, suffocation, or gangrene.

— The chief topic of interest in England at the present time is the coronation of King Edward, to occur during the coming summer. It is planned to make the coronation a grand pageant.

— There were 14,820,200 head of live stock shipped into Chicago during 1910, an increase of 141,000 cattle, 90,000 calves, and 792,000 sheep, but a decrease of 617,700 hogs and 82,000 horses as compared with the previous year. It took 256,700 cars to haul the live stock, which was valued at $350,000,000.

— Spain is reported to be much concerned over the extent of emigration from that country. It is estimated that 200,000 persons leave annually for new homes in North and South America. It is proposed to begin large public works, in order to give employment to those who might otherwise seek work abroad.

— The Pan American Commercial Conference will be held in Washington, D. C., February 13-18.

— By an explosion of dynamite in Jersey City, February 1, thirty persons were killed, and scores injured, besides the destruction of a large amount of property.

— It is officially announced that the duke of Connaught will succeed Earl Grey in September as governor-general of Canada. The appointment has been made for two years, but the period may be extended.

— As indicating the stability of business conditions through the United States, many railroads are beginning to place long-deferred contracts for rails, for the purpose of repairs and the extension of their lines.

— A London promoter proposes to harness up nitrogen for commercial uses as a substitute for gasoline. He claims that pure nitrogen gas can be extracted from the smoke of ordinary chimneys, and bottled up in metal cylinders, under pressure of three thousand pounds to the square inch, for use in running vehicles. The elaboration of his plan will be watched with interest.

— According to Congressman J. A. Tawney, the United States has spent in preparation for war during the last ten years over $2,000,000,000, more than enough to build five Panama canals, and four times the cost of the war with Spain. The country's naval expenditure is more than that of Germany, and stands next to that of England. The navy costs four times as much as that of Japan.

— Deposits in national banks in the United States during the month of December decreased by $191,566,488. Of this amount more than $158,000,000 was withdrawn from thirty-nine national banks in New York City. Eleven Chicago banks report a loss of $9,509,177 in individual deposits. Bankers are at a loss to account for this withdrawal of money, but it is to be hoped that it is withdrawn to be invested in profitable business enterprises.

— The oft-repeated gossip that King George, while a cadet in the royal navy, made a morganatic alliance with the daughter of Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, was given complete official denial in the highest court of England February 1. Edward F. Mylius, the local agent and distributor of the Liberator, a republican paper published in Paris, which revived the tale last November, was tried on a charge of seditious libel, promptly convicted, and given a maximum penalty of twelve months' imprisonment.

— The annual pension appropriation bill, which passed the present Congress, provides for the payment of $53,680,000. This is $2,000,000 less than the appropriation for 1909. Thirty years ago General Garfield, in reporting a bill appropriating less than $30,000,000 for this cause, declared that this sum would be the maximum, and that it would gradually decrease until the Pension Bureau should send out its last check and close up its business. Instead of diminishing and expiring, the pension bill since that promise was made has multiplied itself by five, and goes on multiplying.