News and Notes

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 13, 1900

For Week Ending February 10, 1900.

—Representatives of the British army are in St. Louis, Mo., buying 1,000 additional mules and several thousand cavalry horses, for use in South Africa.

—The Bohemian coal strike is seriously felt in Berlin and in Dresden, and the Japanese are shipping coal to Germany, hoping thus to gain a foothold in the German market.

—Regarding the seizure of American flour by Britain, in Delagoa Bay, the British government has acknowledged that “it does not hold foodstuffs to be contraband of war,” and that “neutral vessels bound for neutral ports, and carrying goods plainly marked, and not destined for the enemy, will not be subject to seizure.” This was Lord Salisbury’s reply to United States Ambassador Choate’s note of protest.

—In a speech in the United States House of Representatives, February 5, a member laid down the following sound propositions: “A man is not a traitor because he is opposed to doing those things which jeopardize the life of the republic. An American is not a pessimist because he is unwilling to see his country adopt as a settled policy the political principles of Alexander, Cæsar, and Napoleon. I think more, far more, of the liberties of my children than of all the trade of all the earth.”

—A Cincinnati paper says that the proper designation of the present year in Roman numerals is MCM. It says: “In Roman notation, whenever a letter precedes another of greater value, the value of the two is that of their difference instead of their sum;” as, XL is 40, XC is 90, XIV is 14, and CM is 900. Continuing, it states that “in the original system it was customary to repeat the letters, as IIII for 4, VIIII for 9, LXXXX for 90, and MCCCC for 1400, but that cumbersome method was early abandoned. Isn’t it much better to use MCM than MDCCCC?”

—A Russian consulate is soon to be established in Canada.

—The mother of Empress Augusta Victoria, of Germany, died January 26.

—Russia has loaned the bank of Persia 22,500,000 rubles, or about $17,325,000.

—Mr. Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, is seriously ill, at Akron, Ohio, from an attack of acute influenza.

—It will be possible to travel around the world in forty days when the trans-Siberian railroad is completed.

—The output of the Bay City (Mich.) beet-sugar factory from last season’s crop, will be 7,000,000 pounds of white granulated sugar.

—The Chinese emperor appointed the nine-year-old son of Prince Tuan, as his successor. The young emperor ascended the throne the last day of January.

—On January 29 occurred the 57th birthday of President McKinley. The only foreign cablegram received by him on that day was from Chulalongkorn I, emperor of Siam.

—A firm of rope manufacturers at Mülheim-on-the-Rhine manufacture steel wire towing ropes 5½ inches in circumference, in one continuous length of nearly nineteen miles, and weighing 210 tons.

—It is reported from London that Sir Edmund J. Monson, the British ambassador to France, “left Paris for the south, on leave of absence,” mainly because of the strong anti-British feeling now running high in that city.

—And now the report is that Captain Leary, governor of Guam, has “abolished the Spanish system of peonage, amounting to slavery, and has deported all the Spanish priests from the island.” Several weeks ago it was reported that he was obliged to deport all the friars but one.

—The new navy bill for Germany “provides for a total expenditure of 769,000,000 marks, to be covered by an imperial loan.” The recent seizures of German vessels by Great Britain are materially helping the German emperor in his schemes to get his people to build a great navy.

—A dispatch from Stockholm, Sweden, says that King Oscar asks that his army be supplied with “forty-six new batteries of artillery by the end of 1903. One hundred thousand new Mauser rifles are to be manufactured, and 50,000,000 cartridges, to be in store within four years.” And thus the peace movement proceeds.

—Cecil Rhodes evidently does not intend to fall into the hands of the Boers, even if Kimberley be taken. He has a first-class balloon at hand, and, should Kimberley fall, the balloon will be seen ascending with four occupants, and sailing away. Those passengers would be Rhodes, Mr. and Mrs. Maguire, and an expert aeronaut.

—The Hamburg-American line are about to make use of a new kind of fuel on their new freight steamers. It will consist of a semifluid petroleum, which is imported from Borneo in large quantities. This material does not ignite spontaneously at a high temperature, will require fewer firemen to handle it, and will economize much space.

—The Lutheran Witness, in a recent editorial upon public schools, says that the only way to train Christian students in the “correct and Biblical way” is by “the establishment of Christian church schools.” Continuing, it says, “The fact that so many people are waking up to the utter failure of the non-religious training of our public schools and the danger threatening our country from this source, is already a hopeful sign.”

—A dispatch from Washington, D. C., dated February 5, says that “one of the most important chapters in the history of American diplomacy was written at the State Department at eleven o’clock to-day. Secretary Hay and Lord Pauncefote, the British ambassador, attached their signatures and seals to a convention by which the celebrated Clayton-Bulwer treaty was so modified as to permit the United States to exercise sole and exclusive control over any isthmian canal that may be built.” However, the United States “agrees that the canal shall be ever neutral water, free to the ships of all nations in time of war as well as peace, and that it shall never be fortified.” Thus, if the Senate ratifies the convention, and the Nicaragua Canal is built at the expense of this country, “that water will be open to the war-ships and merchant marine of the enemies of the United States.”

—The following are a few interesting facts about the Nicaragua Canal, which the United States may cut through the Isthmus of Darien, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans: Of the total distance of 170 miles from coast to coast, only twenty-seven miles of channel need be made by man. Use will be made of Lake Nicaragua and its rivers. Total estimated cost of canal, $125,000,000. Money already spent by Maritime Canal Company, $5,136,428. Length of natural water way, 142 miles. Proposed width of canal, 300 feet. Proposed depth of canal, thirty feet. Quantity of earth to be excavated and dredged, 152,781,270 cubic yards. Excavation proper, 29,907,996 cubic yards. Highest elevation of canal from level of sea, 110 feet. Distance saved for ships going from coast to coast, 8,000 miles. Time saved (at war-ship “Oregon’s” rate of sailing), forty-two days. Distance from New York, 2,000 miles. Distance from San Francisco, 2,700 miles. Distance from Philippine Islands, 9,000. Distance from Honolulu, 4,210 miles. Time required for construction, six years.

—Five thousand men employed on the Paris exposition buildings are on a strike.

—The Commercial Cable Company announces that all private telegrams for South Africa have been stopped.

—General Otis recently shipped to Madrid 1,142 Spanish prisoners, released from the Filipinos by the Americans.

—Japan is greatly excited over the abdication of the Chinese emperor, fearing the hand of Russia in the appointment of the young emperor.

—Mr. Wu, the Chinese minister at Washington, D. C., has purchased an automobile, which he uses for official and social visits and for pleasure riding about the city.

—For the first time in years business of every description was closed in Baltimore, Md., Sunday, January 28. Even drug stores sold nothing without a written prescription.

—Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis is authority for the statement that “to-day there are 13,000,000 children in the United States who never crossed the doorstep of a church of Christ, Catholic or Protestant.”

—Dispatches say that the Boers have received photographs of the principal British generals, and that copies have been made and distributed so that the sharpshooters can single them out in action, even when they are carrying rifles.

—The Utah Gospel Mission has been incorporated, for the purpose of fighting Mormonism all over the country. Anti-Mormon literature will be circulated in abundance and the plan is to send out 2,000 missionaries to counteract the efforts of Mormon missionaries, who have become numerous and active.

—The frigate “Constitution,” so well known for its exploits early in the present century, is to be put into condition for service again, at a cost of $500,000. In this connection the American Sentinel significantly remarks: “But it will cost much more than that to put the Constitution itself again into serviceable condition.”

—Father Cyprian, in his book, “Inner Mission Work of the Protestants in Germany,” says: “We lose, every year, about 100,000 children to the Protestants. Even in Bavaria the Protestant numbers are constantly growing, while Catholics are becoming fewer. In this century one million Catholics have been lost to the church in Germany.”

—And now it is said that “the czar has issued a rescript in which he announces that it is Russia’s intention to rule the Pacific, or at least that portion of it in proximity to the coast of Asia.” On the other hand, a prominent American recently said, in Congress, that “the Pacific is our ocean.” Quite a similarity in these claims, indeed.

—Some time ago the British Admiralty ordered 450 big guns, to be made of 12-inch caliber, and constructed of steel wire. It is said that “one of these guns, if mounted at Dover Castle, in England, would be able to throw a shell across the Straits of Dover, to Calais, in France, a distance of twenty-one and a half miles.” Each gun cost $50,000.

—Col. Richard W. Thompson, Indiana’s “old man eloquent,” died the 9th inst., in his ninety-second year. He was the oldest living ex-member of Congress, and was Secretary of the Navy in President Hayes’s cabinet. He saw, and was on intimate terms with, every president this nation has had, except George Washington. John Adams, second president, died in his arms.

—Mr. Goebel, democratic governor of Kentucky, died of his gunshot wound, February 3. Immediately thereafter the democratic Lieutenant-Governor Beckham was sworn in as governor of Kentucky by his party. Thus Kentucky still has two governors. It appears that the man who shot Mr. Goebel was avenging the death of a friend of his who had been shot by Goebel.

—The United States Senate, according to latest dispatches, will refuse to ratify the recent Hay-Pauncefote Nicaragua Canal agreement. It is said that “when the proposition was made that the United States surrender all advantages in the Nicaragua Canal for the glorious privilege of bearing the expense and responsibility alone, a storm of opposition was aroused in Washington. This storm appears to be gathering force with each passing day.” Naval officers especially are opposed to the pact.

—A dispatch from Buenos Ayres, Argentina, dated February 7, says that “the terrible heat continues. There were 267 sunstrokes on Monday, and 187 yesterday. The temperature was 120° in the shade. The fatal cases show a diminution, but numerous bodies are decomposing at the cemetery, owing to the strike of the grave diggers for higher wages. The maize crops are scorched, and promise only a small yield.” Numerous sunstrokes are also reported from Montevideo, many proving fatal. The maize crop there is “almost totally lost.”

—A bill in the present Congress provides that February 12, the birthday of Lincoln, and April 2, the birthday of Jefferson, be made holidays. As it is, there are twenty-nine holidays in the United States. Counting the holidays in each State, there are ninety in all—practically one fourth of the year. Commenting upon this, a writer in the Saturday Evening Post wisely remarks: “It may be well not to rush toward the conditions that exist in Russia and some other countries, where there are so many holidays that the people who want to work have scarcely time or the opportunity to get up in the world.”

—General Buller has begun his third attempt to go to the relief of Ladysmith. By making several simultaneous attacks upon the Boers, he has succeeded in gaining a footing once more on the plateau north of the Tugela River. The British are trying to turn the Boer flank. General Gatacre is being attacked by the Boers. So far, General Buller has taken one hill, repulsed a Boer counter-attack, and is holding his position “against an enfilading fire from Spion Kop and Doorn Kloof. His losses in this instance are only 250. He is only fifteen miles distant from Ladysmith.