News and Notes

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 1, 1900

—Three hundred cases of typhoid fever are reported at Cape Nome, with thirty deaths from the disease.

—The American exhibits at the Paris Exhibition are said to be three times the number of those of any other country.

—The United States Supreme Court has decided that the shipper, and not the express companies, must pay the war-tax stamp.

—The Mafeking correspondent of the London Times “gives a gloomy account of the depression due to the probability of the siege’s lasting until the end of May.”

—Sienkiewicz, the Polish novelist, when asked to sign an appeal for intervention in the South African war, declined on the ground that Russia’s treatment of the Poles calls more loudly for intervention.

—The oldest teetotaler in Great Britain is said to be Mrs. Sampson, aged ninety-seven. She was born at King’s Lynn, and signed the temperance pledge in January, 1820. She had ten daughters, and the eight still living are teetotalers.

—A painting by Sisley, “The Flood,” which was sold by the artist in 1876 for eight dollars, and resold at a public sale in Bordeaux, France, in 1880, for eighteen dollars, was recently sold in Paris, for $8,600. It is needless to say that Sisley is dead, and, hence, famous.

—An attack by union strikers upon a non-union man in Chicago, April 25, resulted in the death of one union man by shooting, and in the injury of many others. It seems that it is a very risky thing for any man to take the place of a striking union man, as he is likely to be attacked either while at work or while on his way home.

—President McKinley and other influential members of the Republican party are trying very hard to induce Governor Roosevelt to accept the nomination for vice-president of the United States in the coming campaign. His friends think that this is simply a political move to rid New York State of his presence and to spoil for him a brilliant future.

—The headquarters of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union have been transferred from the Temple, Chicago, to Rest Cottage, Evanston, Ill., the former home of Miss Frances Willard. The removal from the Temple came only “after a long struggle to redeem the building from debt. When it was found that the rent of the Union’s offices was becoming a serious drag to the organization, it was decided to seek cheaper quarters.”

—The report of the Naval Committee of the House of Representatives recommends the construction of two battleships, three armored cruisers, and three protected cruisers. This is an enlargement of the construction program suggested originally by the Secretary of the Navy. The cost is estimated at $61,219,916. By comparison with the navies of the world, it is stated that the United States is “not clearly entitled to a better place than seventh among the powers, so far as efficient vessels of the fighting navy are concerned.” The following list in the order given, shows the rating of the powers of earth as to strength of navies: Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, United States. In practical warfare, however, the United States might do far better than seventh.

—King Leopold, of Belgium, has presented all his real estate to the nation.

—General Gatacre has been ordered home from South Africa, presumably because of his reverses.

—It is reported that the British have armed 3,000 native Basutos, to resist Boer encroachments.

—Lord Roberts has suggested the recall of General Buller and General Warren from South Africa.

—Five hundred United States soldiers have been ordered to Croton Dam, N. Y., to quiet the Italian strikers.

—The President and Fellows of Harvard have voted to guarantee $70,000 to welcome 1,450 Cuban teachers.

—Hon. John Addison Porter, secretary to President McKinley, has resigned, and will be succeeded by George B. Cortelyou, the present assistant secretary.

—President McKinley has signed a proclamation opening to settlement, on October 10, the northern half of the Colville Indian Reservation, in Washington.

—The British correspondent, Winston Churchill, telegraphs from Bloemfontein that 250,000 men and thousands of horses will be needed in South Africa before England can win.

—The highest price ever paid for a seat on the New York exchange, was given by J. F. Shera to Daniel Manning, who had held the seat but one year. The price paid was $41,500.

—Chicago is to have a municipal telephone system. Its immediate use will be confined to the Police and Fire Departments, but it is expected to become a rival of the independent companies.

—Cronwright Schreiner, of Cape Town, who has arrived in England, originally bore the name of Cronwright, but took the name of his wife, Olive Schreiner, authoress. He is of pure English descent.

—The United States Senate rejected M. S. Quay, April 24, by a majority of one vote. Senator Vest, bosom friend of Mr. Quay, laid aside his personal feelings and, for the sake of principle, voted against him.

—The United States government has made a contract with the Holland Torpedo Boat Company, to pay $150,000 for each boat purchased, the company agreeing to protect the government against claims for infringement of patents.

—The Paris exposition was opened April 14, with magnificent inaugural ceremonies in the Salle des Fêtes, by President Loubet and his cabinet. However, it will be six weeks before the exposition structures receive the finishing touches and the exhibits are all installed.

—The Carnegie Steel Company cleared a profit of over $20,000,000 last year. These profits were “more than double the actual capital of the company, and eighty-two per cent of its nominal capital. For this year of 1900 Mr. Carnegie estimates the profits at four times the actual capital.”

—It is said that “the czar of Russia has more Mohammedan subjects than the Turkish sultan, and that two thirds of the Jews of the world live in Russia—mainly in Poland. The number there is nearly 7,000,000. Their language is German, much modified by Polish and Hebrew, and is called ‘Yiddish,’ which is the German for ‘jüdisch.’”

—It is asserted that “a movement is on foot for the formation of an international agricultural trust to restrict production and thereby increase the prices of agricultural products. Most of the prominent farmers’ federations in this country are promoting the plan. They hope to have it adopted at the international agricultural conference in Paris, in July.”

—Speaking of the relations of the United States with Turkey, and of the proposed American naval demonstration, the Tagblatt, a Berlin paper, says: “We do not believe the European powers would apply the Monroe doctrine to Turkey. Nevertheless, a large American naval demonstration in European waters would be a fact which Continental powers could not regard without serious attention.”

—It is said that “the commander of the Salvation Army, Booth Tucker, is at present engaged in organizing a Salvation Army Corps for work among the colored race in the South. It is his purpose to avoid street parades and all open demonstrations, since he has learned something from his experience with the caste system in India. Nevertheless, he fears opposition to his work on the part of the white population in the Southern States.”

—Australia’s Federation scheme seems to hang fire. The delegates from that country now in London, find difficulty in persuading the home government to accept their terms, and send to Parliament a bill which shall give Australian courts finality of decision in all cases. The English government desires that final power of decision should rest with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. To this the Australians will not consent, one of them asserting that refusal of the Imperial Parliament to pass the Commonwealth bill without amendment would result in independent United States of Australia. On the other hand, it is said that the consideration of whether Australia, as an independent power, can protect itself, or whether she will “welcome the assistance of the mother country and of the other self-governing colonies,” is one that “neutralizes much of the centrifugal force of separation.”

—Rich gold deposits have been found in Luzon.

—The Canadian government has doubled its duty on wood pulp.

—A Boer force has started to intercept General Carrington’s expedition through Rhodesia.

—The State of Ohio will contribute a large number of settlers to the Canadian Northwest this spring.

—A special dispatch from Pretoria, dated April 24, says that “the Boers have reoccupied Boshof, the British retiring.”

—General Schalk-Burger was chosen vice-president of the South African Republic, April 20, in place of the late General Joubert.

—Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews has resigned the superintendency of the Chicago schools, and has accepted the chancellorship of the University of Nebraska.

—Owing to unfavorable conditions for keeping Boer prisoners at Simonstown, British authorities have decided to ship them all to St. Helena without delay.

—The Chinese government has sent 7,000 troops to Shan-tung to suppress the “Boxers,” but it is notorious that the majority of the troops are members of the same society.

—The American Steel and Wire Company closed twelve of its mills, April 16, thus throwing over 4,000 men and boys out of employment. The mills which are closed had a daily capacity of 4,000 tons.

—The supreme court of Illinois has declared the flag law adopted in 1899 unconstitutional. The test case was that of two Chicago men who were fined ten dollars for using the American flag for advertising purposes.

—According to a dispatch to the London Daily Mail, from Lorenzo Marques, nearly half the members of the Chicago Ambulance Corps, when offered Mauser rifles on their arrival at Pretoria, tore off their Red Cross badges and joined the Boer army.

—James Francis Smith, a messenger boy of sixteen years, sailed from New York, April 12, with a message from 28,854 schoolboys of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, to be delivered personally to President Kruger. He was also accompanied by a Philadelphia reporter.

—The military commission, which tried three Filipinos at Leal-lamba, Philippine Islands, for guerrilla warfare, found all three guilty and sentenced two of them to life imprisonment and one to thirty years’ imprisonment. General Otis approved the findings, but reduced the sentences to fifteen years.

—The Manila paper, the American, of March 14, tells a terrible tale of burning at the stake and other tortures inflicted upon three Americans in the hands of the insurgents of Panay Island. Privates Dugan, Tracey, and Hayes, of Company F, 26th infantry, fell out of the ranks during an expedition into the interior of Panay, and started on a search for “tuba,” the native wine.

—Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, is to be temporary chairman of the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia, and Senator Lodge is to be permanent chairman of the same gathering. And the delegates will all solemnly cast their votes accordingly; because, this being a government of the people, the people send delegates to national conventions to express the mind of the people.

—It seems that the centrist party of Germany has adopted for itself, in practice at least, the maxim of Louis XIV: “I am the state.” It is again opposing the emperor’s famous navy bill. Now it appears that “the prospects for the navy bill are more unfavorable than they were before Easter.” It is likely that this Catholic party is desirous of securing some further concessions from the government, before voting for the bill.

—Dispatches from London, dated April 26, state that “General Roberts’s extended movement for the clearance of his eastern flank has been directed from Bloemfontein over a front seventy miles long, from Karee Siding to Wepener. The principal changes effected yesterday were the release of Wepener and the occupation of De Wet’s Dorp by Chermside’s division, without opposition. There are no signs that the Boers have been entrapped.”

—The Duke of Arcos, the Spanish minister at Washington, recently received an invitation from the mayor of Chicago to attend a celebration in honor of Admiral Dewey. The Spanish minister was indignant that he should be invited to honor a man who had done so much to injure and humiliate Spain. Now it appears that Bellamy Storer, the United States minister at Madrid, Spain, has apologized to Premier Silvela, for the action of the mayor of Chicago, explaining that it “was the result of an error committed by a municipal clerk,” and he promised that “it should not be repeated.”

—Mr. Phelps Whitmarsh, the Outlook’s special correspondent in the Philippines, writes: “The provinces generally supposed to be pacified, such as Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, La Union, the Ilocos, and the central provinces, are again in a disturbed and dangerous state. . . . With the exception of a mere handful, too insignificant to be considered, every Filipino in his heart is an insurrecto and wishes to drive the Americans from the islands. . . . Let those who think that the Philippine War is over visit the islands and judge for themselves. . . . Unless more stringent measures are taken at once, it will be a question of years, not months, before peaceful conditions obtain.”