—Chicago’s death rate for 1901 was 13.8 per 1,000.
—Italy declines to take part in the St. Louis exposition.
—All hopes of Admiral Sampson’s recovery are now given up.
—Niles, Ohio, will erect a life-size bronze monument of Wm. McKinley.
—A Des Moines, Iowa, metal-worker discovers the secret of welding copper.
—The British Admiralty ordered two new battleships and seven cruisers the 2d inst.
—Secretary Long asks the United States government for $100,000,000 to strengthen the navy.
—Chicago bankers express confidence in great financial prosperity in this country during 1902.
—In his annual message, Governor Hunt, of Porto Rico, reports that the island is prospering.
—Rich deposits of iron ore are found in northern England, which may help the latter’s iron industry.
—M. de Blowitz, Paris correspondent of the London Times, resigns, and is succeeded by an American.
—The Washington officials decide to give out no further information regarding attempts to release Miss Stone.
—The public debt of the United States, Dec. 31, 1901, less cash in the Treasury, amounted to $1,011,628,286.
—General Chaffee declares he will severely punish all Filipinos found guilty of violating their oath of allegiance to the United States.
—Emperor William, of Germany, invites Miss Alice Roosevelt to christen his new racing yacht now being built on Staten Island, N. Y.
—The United States Naval Register just issued shows that there are 225 ships in this country’s navy, sixty-six being under construction.
—The Russian government suppresses three Helsingfors, Finland, newspapers, and suspends seven, “for criticisms of Russian subjugation of Finland.”
—President Castro, of Venezuela, issued a decree, Dec. 31, declaring the revolutionary steamer “Libertador” a pirate, and offering $10,000 for its capture.
—France lays plans to establish a school in this country which will enable Frenchmen to study American business methods. The school will become a part of the University of Chicago.
—The year 1902 was ushered in with the usual amount of noise. In London, England, the usual watch-night services were held in all the churches except St. Paul’s, which “was closed, to prevent disorderly scenes.”
—One great reason why the United States prefers the Nicaragua Canal route to the Panama route, is that Colombia refuses to grant “a perpetual franchise or absolute sovereignty over the canal” to any foreign government.
—The birthday of Jose Rizal, the Filipino poet and patriot, who was executed by the Spanish before the occupation of the Philippines by the Americans, was celebrated at Manila the 30th ult., the spot upon which he died being decorated, and other numerous honors shown.
—A Peking, China, dispatch of the 31st ult. states that “the Russian ambassador has declared that unless the treaty was concluded by the Russian New Year, Russia would break off negotiations with China, and maintain her occupation of Manchuria.” She expects to do that anyway.
—Colonel Partridge, New York City’s new police commissioner, took his office the 1st inst., and appointed Colonel Thurston as “successor to Assistant Commissioner Devery, who reported for duty, but was told there was nothing for him to do.” Many changes are now expected in New York’s municipal government.
—The New York Legislature convened Wednesday, January 1.
—The Chinese emperor resumes his imperial duties in Peking.
—Japan has begun to erect wireless telegraph stations along the Korean coast.
—A New York syndicate negotiates for 180,000 acres of Nova Scotia timber land.
—Booker T. Washington delivered an address at the Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Dec. 29.
—The Boers under General De Wet are reported to have lost “250 men in two recent engagements.”
—Consul Brunol, at St. Etienne, France, reports the discovery of rich deposits of gold in Madagascar.
—A Chicago firm (the Crane Co.) distributes $125,000 among its employees, as a New Year’s gift.
—China’s emperor is nearing Peking. On his way he will pass “through twelve miles of kneeling troops.”
—New Zealand decides to purchase from the United States all her material for future steel bridges.
—A Springfield, Ill., street-car, carrying non-union workmen, was blown up with dynamite the 3d inst.
—Government experiments have demonstrated the practicability of raising Egyptian cotton in Arizona.
—England is afraid her interests may be disregarded in case of war between Germany and Venezuela.
—General Reyes, formerly Colombia’s Minister of War, is urged to accept the presidency, “to save the republic.”
—The earnings of the First National Bank during 1901 were $1,118,216, or 22.36 per cent on its capital stock.
—In Germany, the model beer-drinking nation, 15,000 persons annually receive treatment for delirium tremens.
—A bottle thrown into the Mackinaw River near Bloomington, Ill., was found, eighteen months later, in the Pacific Ocean.
—After being made a duke by King Edward at the coming coronation ceremonies, Lord Salisbury will retire to private life.
—Germany sent another note to Venezuela the 3d inst., “fixing a time for the government to comply with the Kaiser’s demands.”
—Denmark proposes to sell her West India possessions to the United States, in spite of the protests of the inhabitants thereof.
—Among the first problems to confront Mr. Shaw, the new Secretary of the Treasury, will be “the disposition of a surplus of $175,000,000.”
—The Atlantic steamship “St. Paul” experienced “the roughest passage in its history” on its last trip from Southampton to New York.
—A Baltimore and Ohio passenger train jumped the track near Cumberland, Md., the 1st inst. Two persons were killed, and seventeen injured.
—The greatest White House reception ever held took place the 1st inst., the total number of persons passing before President Roosevelt being 8,351.
—The Russian government has appropriated $1,000,000 to encourage “the organization of societies for the promotion of temperance habits among the people.”
—The American Steel and Wire Company decides to pension “employees who have rendered long and efficient service.” This will affect about 30,000 workmen.
—Hon. J. L. M. Curry, of Washington, will represent this government at Madrid “on the occasion of the coming to age of the young King Alphonso XIII,” May 17, 1902.
—General Matos sailed from the Island of Martinique the 2d inst. with three hundred men “to start a revolution in Venezuela.” He has an armed vessel and a supply of guns.
—The Canada Central Railway Company will apply to the Dominion parliament for “a charter to build a new transcontinental railway from French River, Lake Huron, to Vancouver, British Columbia.”
—A collision between a passenger and a freight train on the Northwestern Railway, near Malta, Ill., the 29th ult., resulted in the death of four persons and the injury of twenty-two. Cause, misplaced switch.13
—A dispatch from Tangier, Morocco, dated the 29th ult., states that “a water-spout at Saffee, Morocco, inundated the lower part of the town for twelve hours, sweeping everything into the sea. Two hundred persons are reported drowned. There are no Europeans among the dead. The damage is enormous.”
—Having now settled the Nicaragua Canal affair, Lord Pauncefote desires to secure “a settlement of the numerous controversies” between England and the United States growing out of “the Alaskan boundary, the Atlantic fisheries, war-ships on the Great Lakes, the regulation of relations along the Canadian boundary, etc.”
—The steamer “Walla Walla” was sunk in a collision with a French iron bark off Mendocino, Cal., the 3d inst. Twenty-seven passengers and crew of the former are missing. The bark was unidentified, and refused to aid the passengers of the “Walla Walla.” The latter sank in thirty-five minutes, her crew and passengers taking to life boats and rafts.
—John S. Pinover, of New York City, leaped from a Brooklyn bridge car, and, before two policemen could catch him, hurled himself into the water, the 29th ult., purely “for the notoriety,” and escaped uninjured. He was well dressed, and had on a heavy overcoat. A passing tug picked him up, and he revived in a half-hour. His income is $6,000 a year. Niagara Falls and the Brooklyn bridge evidently seem to be good experiment stations for the foolhardy.
—Andrew Carnegie’s offer of $10,000,000 to the United States government for the formation of a National University, will doubtless be accepted. Secretary of State Hay and others interested in the project took legal action on the 4th inst., to form “the Carnegie institution.” We wonder whether the new institution, being a national one, will bar out religious questions, or, if not, what will be the dominant religious body in control of the same. The Supreme Court of the nation having already decided (1892) that this is “a Christian nation,” it now remains to decide which denomination has the proper kind of Christianity—which is United States Christianity. A. J. B.
