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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 7, 1903

— A new Texas oil field has been discovered at Harwood. The petroleum is said to be the best in the United States.

— Civil war is raging in San Domingo. In a recent battle at Juan Calvo the government forces were defeated with a loss of twenty killed.

— Clergymen of the New York Sabbath Committee are directing their energies toward the legal suppression of Sunday baseball in New York.

— An Albanian force of several thousand men was defeated on March 30 by 3,000 Turkish troops, after a two days’ battle, the loss being heavy on both sides. The sultan is alarmed, and troops are being rushed to the disturbed district.

— “Six-cent bread” is the prospect now faced by poor people in Chicago, says the Tribune of that city, on account of the continued upward tendency in prices. The higher price of both labor and material is given as the reason for this advance, which will take effect May 1.

— One result of the measures outlined for the relief of the peasants in the czar’s recent manifesto, according to a St. Petersburg dispatch, is that about $57,500,000 arrears of taxes have been cancelled, besides $15,000,000 owing to the district authorities being taken over by the central government.

— It is announced from Los Angeles, Cal., that the national government will shortly restore 1,000,000 acres in southern California to the public domain, to be subject to entry under the general land laws of the United States within sixty days after the official notification to the public.

— Bishop Spaulding (Catholic), who was a member of the strike commission appointed by President Roosevelt, says that arbitration will henceforth adjust labor difficulties in this country, and that the period of strikes has passed forever. This will be the result, he says, of the precedent established by the commission.

— A statement by Admiral Dewey to the effect that the recent demonstration by the American squadron under his command near the South American coast was a warning object lesson for Europe in general, and Germany in particular, has greatly incensed the latter country, and many bitter expressions are directed against him and against the United States in German papers.

— Merchants and business men of Honduras will, it is said, unite in an appeal to President Roosevelt to use his influence to put an end to the war in that country, by which all business there is demoralized, and which threatens to involve the surrounding countries in the strife. Should the president accept such an offer and do as requested, the act would have more significance than that of merely putting an end to the fighting.

— March 30 the London Times began what it says will be a “regular transatlantic service” between England and America by the Marconi wireless telegraph system. Two “marconigrams” of over one hundred words were printed in the Times of that date. It is stated that the rate for messages between England and America is not much in excess of that between England and France under the old system.

— The injunction issued March 3 by Judge Elmer B. Adams, of the United States District Court, at the instance of the Wabash railroad officials to restrain the brotherhoods of railway trainmen and firemen from ordering a strike on that system, was dissolved in a decision handed down April 1, by Judge Adams, at St. Louis, Mo. Thus victory has turned on the side of the labor unions, but it is hoped the threatened strike may be avoided.

— An international historical congress, attended by delegates from all nations interested in modern civilization, was opened in Rome, Italy, April 2, in the presence of the king and queen. The president of the congress, Professor Villari, made an address, the chief feature of which was his prediction that the overwhelming preponderance of the United States and Russia would compel the nations of Europe to combine for self-protection. Europe, he said, was shut in between two great powerful countries, Russia on the east and the United States on the west. The latter from a population of 30,000,000 had risen to 80,000,000, and no one knew what number its population eventually would reach. The United States also had taken the lead in all the works of progress and civilization. These two forces, acting on Europe, were likely to render necessary a union of the different European countries, which would completely change the geographical situation.

— The legal Sunday has received a backset in Philadelphia. Recently a test case was provided in that city to determine the legality of the Sunday “blue law” of 1794, by the arrest of representatives of several city newspapers, together with employees of an ice-cream company, who were charged with having violated the law. The result is thus stated in a Philadelphia dispatch dated March 31: “Magistrate James E. Gorman to-day rendered his decision in the cases against employees of several city newspapers, the Union News Company, and the Crane Ice Cream Company, who, it is alleged, had violated the Sunday blue law of 1794. In an elaborate opinion, supported by many legal authorities, he dismissed the charges. Among other things, he finds that there is a defect in the complaint by the omission to aver that the publication and sale of the newspapers on Sunday was not a ‘necessity’ and ‘charity;’ that this omission is fatal to the prosecution, and that, if for no other reason, he would be compelled to discharge the defendants. ‘If it were necessary, however,’ he says, ‘to determine this question, I should certainly be inclined to decide it as a matter of fact only in the affirmative. Perhaps no enterprise, whether we view newspapers commercially or in a literary sense, has made such rapid and marvelous strides as the public press. It has kept abreast and sometimes ahead of the wonderful development of the commonwealth in growth of population and in the various trades and business enterprises, and in a great measure has assisted in this development.’”

— The existence of a vast antarctic continent surrounding the south pole is considered to have been proved by the observations made by those on the ship “Discovery,” which recently returned from a voyage of antarctic exploration. The expedition penetrated one hundred miles farther south than any previous party had been able to do, and discovered an extensive mountainous region which is believed to stretch in a series of lofty peaks to the pole.

— The failure of modern Sunday-schools, was the theme of remarks made recently by Rev. D. W. Clark before the Methodist Preachers’ Association in Cincinnati. Mr. Clark is presiding elder of the Cincinnati district of the church. “The present object in many Sunday-schools,” he said, “seems to be to drive into the minds of children as many facts as possible. The children sit in an attitude of respectful listening, and do not become interested.” The ministers, Mr. Clark said, ought to take more interest in the schools.

— An Indianapolis telegram states that “figures just completed by Secretary Wilson, of the Mine Workers National Organization, show that the bituminous coal miners, as a result of the national and State conventions, will receive this year an aggregated increase of $19,437,000 in wages over last year. This estimate is based on the output of last year. It is probable the amount will be even more, as the production is likely to be greater. Including the advance received by the anthracite miners, the grand total will be about $35,000,000 this year.”