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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 14, 1903

— A new cure for opium poisoning by serum treatment is announced by a prominent surgeon of Rio de Janeiro.

— Reports from California state that the citrus crop this year in that State bids fair to be larger than any on record.

— An American war-ship has been ordered to Venezuela to release five American steamers held by the revolutionary forces there.

— Twenty persons were killed in a railway collision on the Virginia Midland division of the Southern Railway at Rockfish, Va., July 7.

— Fire destroyed the main building of the mammoth plant of the Hammond Packing Company at St. Joseph, Mo., July 5, causing a loss of $1,500,000.

— The United States is assembling a formidable fleet in Chinese waters, acting on the advice of Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans, who believes serious trouble is imminent in that quarter.

— Bubonic plague is believed to exist at Valparaiso, Chile, although the sanitary board of that city declares there are no cases at present, and that all precautions against it are being taken.

— Two men, Messrs. Hammond and Whitman, of Pasadena, Cal., have started to cross the continent in an automobile, carrying a message from the mayor of San Francisco to the mayor of New York City.

— Restrictions imposed by the United States on Chinese who may wish to visit the St. Louis fair are greatly resented at Peking, and intended Chinese exhibits will not be sent unless the restrictions are modified.

— The wealth of Pope Leo is reported to amount to $20,000,000 in ready cash, besides jewels which exceed in value those of any European sovereign. A large part of this wealth is deposited in the Bank of England.

— Near Cincinnati, Ohio, July 9, four persons were killed and three others fatally injured by a railway train while attempting to cross the track in a carriage. The carriage was drawn by mules, and the mules balked on the track.

— A Manchester, England, dispatch reports that King Oscar of Sweden is suffering from an incurable internal complaint, and that a surgical operation of a critical nature will probably occur in the near future.

— War between Russia and Japan is again believed to be imminent. Russia has been buying heavy guns from the Krupp factory in Germany, for the forts at Port Arthur, and has erected a military building in the public square at New Chwang.

— The report of the secretary of the Christian Endeavor Society, given at the recent convention in Denver, shows the society’s present membership to be 3,822,300. An effort is to be made to increase the membership in each State ten per cent each year for the next ten years.

— Four companies of United States artillery troops were recently ordered withdrawn from Cuba, and on their departure four companies will be left on the island, which will constitute a permanent garrison for the two coaling stations in the possession of the United States government.

— Fourth-of-July accidents in the United States, as given by reports, reached the total of 52 deaths and 3,665 persons injured; fireworks maimed or burned 1,170; the financial loss from fires amounted to $400,625.

— The last census of British India, says the Pittsburg Christian Advocate, shows that heathen religions in that country, notwithstanding what is said about their decadence, are still virile enough to more than counterbalance the increase of Christianity among the native people. “In the ten years ending with 1901, the number of Mohammedans increased from 57,330,000 to 62,500,000, and of Buddhists from 7,131,000 to 9,476,000. During the same period the Christian population showed an increase of 638,861.”

— The Italian cardinals are reported to be hopelessly divided over the question of a successor to Pope Leo, and the strife which always marks the election of a new pope is already in progress, and seems likely to be more than usually acute. Added to the opposition any candidate may have in the college of cardinals, is the veto power possessed by several of the European monarchies, on account of which Cardinal Rampolla, it is stated, has no chance of election, he being objectionable to Austria and Germany. For a like reason Cardinal Gotti is ineligible, being opposed by France, which regards him as Emperor William’s candidate. The political influence of the triple alliance and other counterbalancing political influences must be considered, and the successful candidate must be one to whose election the contending factions will consent. The whole procedure reveals a system ruled by politics within and without, and in sharp contrast with the religious system established by Him who said, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

— Stories of negro peonage in Alabama and other Southern States continue to be published in leading papers of the North. What the New York Times calls a “shocking peonage story” was told by a negro named Helms, in a Montgomery, Ala., court, July 8. He said that he with two other negroes had been arrested on a charge of vagrancy, and brought before the mayor of Goodwater, Ala., who fined them each five dollars and costs, equivalent to four and a half months’ imprisonment. They were taken next day into another county, and sold to a farmer, who put them to work on his farm. Helms was whipped every other day on an average, sometimes lying on the ground with a man sitting on his head. He was worked every day under guard, and locked up at night. Once he escaped from the guard, but was caught and returned to his farmer owner, who offered a reward for his apprehension. Finally his father learned of his whereabouts, and secured his release on payment of forty-eight dollars. It will be seen that “peonage” in such a case is only another name for slavery. A point in this matter which should not be overlooked is that all efforts to suppress this peonage system are made by the United States courts, the State authorities doing nothing.

— Some trouble between Indiana mine owners and miners, which began with the discharge of three workmen by one of the mining companies

for refusing to work, has been settled by an offer to reemploy the discharged man with the understanding that hereafter men may be discharged for refusing to do necessary repair work on Sundays.

— The first fruits of the Assuan dam, says a dispatch from Cairo, Egypt, justify the expense involved in its construction. The reservoir has been emptied of its winter store of water for the first time, and report states that “the results are most satisfactory. The area of cotton is largely increased, and the success of the summer crops is assured in the entire area tributary to the dam.”

— The first of a series of experiments begun last December by the secretary of agriculture at Washington to determine the effects of common food adulterants on the human system, was concluded June 30, the experiments thus far having been confined to borax and boracic acid. It is reported that the experiments show that the use of these substances as food preservatives, is practically harmless.

— The Johnstown, Pa., flood was duplicated on a small scale at Oakford Park, Pa., July 5. A forty-foot dam which backed up the water forming an artificial lake went out, and in the rush of water that followed, many lives were lost. Thirty-six bodies of the victims have been recovered. The property loss amounts to $1,500,000. Some thousands of dollars are needed for the relief of the destitute.

— A Cincinnati telegram announces a coming convention of the American Federation of Catholic societies, to be held in Atlantic City, August 1. This will be the third national convention held since the organization of the society. The call for the convention says that the federation is carrying out the mission laid down in the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII, whose blessing has been bestowed upon this Catholic movement. Over fifty dioceses will be represented, and the presidents of the leading Catholic colleges will be in attendance.

— Farmers in some sections of Kansas, principally those living near Larned, Kinsley, Stafford, Kingman, Sterling, Great Bend, Russell, Hays City, Ellsworth, Lacrosse, Lincoln, and Osborne, are in great straits to secure help to harvest their wheat, which is already overripe. A Topeka dispatch says that over 5,000 men are needed in the harvest fields, and farmers are in some instances holding up trains in the endeavor to secure help. No tramps are reported in that vicinity, and few are seen throughout the West, but large numbers are reported to be sojourning in New England.

— What was perhaps the worst of all the lynching tragedies that have happened in this country took place at Evansville, Ind., July 6. An officer had been killed by a negro, and a mob went to the jail to lynch the murderer, who had been secretly taken out of town. Failing to find the object of their search, the mob caught and hung another negro who was innocent of any crime. Meanwhile the militia had been called out, and failing to stop the mob by other means, at last fired upon it, killing seven, and wounding twenty others. Among the killed was the young daughter of a man named Allman.