News and Notes

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 26, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 26.

Read the full edition

—Secretary Gage is ill, of malarial fever, in Washington.

—Admiral Remey has cabled for more marines for the Philippines.

—The census of Porto Rico, taken last October, is given as 953,243.

—The wife of Senator Beveridge, of Indiana, died, in a New York sanitarium, June 20.

—The Italian cabinet has resigned, on account of a deadlock on the question of procedure.

—Electricity will hereafter take the place of steam power in the Carnegie mills at Homestead, Pa.

—The United States Circuit Court has dissolved the quarantine against Chinatown, San Francisco.

—Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, is in St. Louis, trying to settle the strike there.

—In the libraries of American colleges, there are 6,750,000 books. Harvard has 500,000, and Chicago University 350,000.

—British prisoners at Waterval and Pretoria, to the number of 3,187, have been delivered by the British, and given Boer arms.

—The Republican National Convention opened at Philadelphia, June 19, Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, being temporary chairman.

—A monument to mark the site of General Israel Putnam’s daring escape from the British, Feb. 26, 1777, has been dedicated at Greenwich, Conn.

—The North German Lloyd Steamship Company will have the two largest steamships in the world constructed for them, at Stettin, Germany.

—Horse cars are, at last, to be abandoned in New York City. It is announced that electric cars operated by accumulators, will be put on the cross town-lines.

—Indians on the Pima reservation, Arizona, to the number of 8,000 are reported to be starving, because of water being diverted from their lands by white settlers.

—The Astor syndicate has secured concessions from the Honduras government, for building a railroad 200 miles long, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

—Merchandise exports for May show a balance of $40,000,000 in favor of the United States. There was an increase of $2,000,000 in dutiable merchandise, over 1899.

—General Macabulos, an important Filipino insurgent leader in Tarlac and Pangasinan, has surrendered to the Americans, together with 132 officers and men.

—It is reported that “the young king of Spain will make his first official trip abroad this month, when he will visit Paris, as the guest of the French government.”

—Secretary of Navy Long will name the five new United States battle-ships as follows: “Pennsylvania,” “New Jersey,” “Georgia,” “Virginia,” and “Washington.”

—The United States gunboat “Concord” has sailed from Manila, under sealed orders, presumably for China. Also the Ninth Regiment has been ordered to Manila, whence it will proceed to China.

—June 18 a $1,500,000 fire occurred in Bloomington, Ill., destroying five blocks, or sixty buildings, among which were the courthouse and library building, valued at $250,000. The fire lasted seven hours.

—Referring to the Chinese situation, the Shanghai correspondent of the London Daily Express says that “he is officially informed that Japan is mobilizing 25,000 men for immediate transport.”

—The national party has elected its entire ticket in Havana, Cuba. General Alejandro Rodriguez was elected mayor. Reports from all parts of the island indicate that perfect order prevailed at the polls.

—The son of United States Senator Scott, who was recently married in San Francisco, received $20,000 by telegraph, from his father, as a wedding present, with the statement that the senator began life with twenty cents.

—A summary of this year’s census statistics, furnished by 3,000 persons in different parts of the United States, has been published by the Chicago Tribune, showing a total estimated population of nearly 79,000,000. Of course, this is only a guess.

—Li Hung Chang, China’s “Grand Old Man,” has been summoned to Peking, to take charge of the negotiations for peace. “This act, it is thought, ‘foreshadows the early submission of the dowager empress to the dictates of the powers.’”

—Students from Fairmount and from the colleges of southwestern Kansas are working in the harvest fields in that State, some of the young women running binders.

—I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation has a right to intermeddle in the national concerns of another; that every one has a right to form and adopt whatever government they like best to live under themselves.—George Washington.

—June 14 Judge Townsend, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, handed down a decision upholding the Treaty of Paris, and declaring that, while Porto Rico is now United States territory, the inhabitants of the island are foreigners to the Constitution and laws of this country until their status is determined by Congress.

—After much fighting with the Chinese, and an arduous march, Vice-Admiral Seymour, with the international column, arrived at Peking, Sunday, June 17. He was attacked five times by the Chinese, whose losses are estimated at 500 killed, the losses of the foreigners being but trifling. Nothing is known of the state of affairs inside Peking. However, it is supposed that the foreign legations are safe so far.

—A Washington dispatch dated June 19 says that “the military information bureau of the War Department has been fairly overrun with visitors who wish maps of the scene of trouble in China. They have all gone away empty handed; for the War Department has no such maps. The bureau is now busy getting some ready. . . . Anything about China just now is eagerly snapped up, but there is not much to be had.”

—Reports from Shanghai say that “the effect of the bombardment of the Taku forts was gory in the extreme—nothing less than rivers of blood, and mutilated corpses piled up inside the forts.” Another report says that “the Russians guarding Tien-tsin, fired artillery and rifles, June 15, at a range of fifty yards, into dense crowds of attacking Boxers, and killed 300.” According to a dispatch from Yokohama, Japan “intends to land an expedition at Foo-Chow.”

—In an address given by Joseph Chamberlain, secretary of state for the colonies of Great Britain, to the Women’s Liberal-Unionist Association, June 19, he took occasion to refer to the Continental criticism of England in her African war. After remarking that England always expected Continental criticism, he said: “But there are quarters whence even a note of disapproval would be a matter of serious concern. I refer to our colonies and to the United States. I think we are happy in that we have their good opinion and approval.”

—A dispatch from Shanghai, via London, dated June 20, states that “the United States transport ‘Thomas,’ with troops for Manila, was diverted at Nagasaki, and has arrived at Taku, with 1,200 men.” Other dispatches from London, under same date, say that “the British flag is reported to have been flying yesterday over the south gate of Peking. This is presumed to indicate the arrival of Admiral Seymour.” Also, “The Russian relieving force arrived outside of Peking this morning, and immediately began to attack the city on two sides, employing numerous artillery. The force apparently arrived in the nick of time; for the Chinese assert that the attack upon the legations had been successfully renewed.”

—A dispatch from Philadelphia, dated June 21, states that “William McKinley was nominated for president of the United States, at the third day’s session of the twelfth Republican national convention, held at Philadelphia.” He received “all of the 926 votes of the convention.” “Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for vice-president on the first roll call, receiving 925 of the 926 votes represented in the convention.” Governor Roosevelt, being himself a delegate at large from New York, refrained, of course, from voting for himself. That is said to be the first time that the Republican party, or any other party in the United States, “has chosen both its candidates for president and vice-president without a dissenting voice.”

—The facts in regard to what is called “standard time” and its establishment in this country, are as follows: “Primarily, for the convenience of the railroads, a standard of time was established by mutual agreement in 1883, by which trains are run, and local time regulated. According to this system, the United States, extending from 65 degrees to 125 degrees west longitude, is divided into four time sections, each of fifteen degrees of longitude, exactly equivalent to one hour, beginning with the seventy-fifth meridian. The first (eastern) section includes all territory between the Atlantic coast and an irregular line drawn from Detroit, Mich., to Charleston, S. C., the latter being its most southern point. The second (central) section includes all the territory between the last-named line and an irregular line from Bismarck, N. D., to the mouth of the Rio Grande. The third (mountain) section includes all territory between the last-named line and nearly the western borders of Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. The fourth (Pacific) section covers the rest of the country to the Pacific coast. Standard time is uniform inside each of these sections, and the time of each section differs from that next to it by exactly one hour. Thus, at noon in New York City (eastern time), the time at Chicago (central time) is 11 A. M.; at Denver (mountain time), 10 A. M.; and at San Francisco (Pacific time), 9 A. M. Standard time is 16 minutes slower at Boston than true local time; 4 minutes slower at New York; 8 minutes faster at Washington; 19 minutes faster at Charleston, S. C.; 28 minutes slower at Detroit; 18 minutes faster at Kansas City, Mo.; 10 minutes slower at Chicago; one minute faster at St. Louis, Mo.; 28 minutes faster at Salt Lake City; and 10 minutes faster at San Francisco.”

—Miss Helen Gould has discharged her private secretary for telling newspaperdom too much of her employer’s private affairs. It seems that this young lady, who was hired to attend to Miss Gould’s correspondence, had previously been a newspaper woman.

—A 3,100-pound steer, raised in Keg Creek township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, has been purchased by a Minneapolis stock food company, and will be exhibited at fairs and stock shows, for advertising purposes. The animal is over six feet in height, is three years old, and during the last year gained 1,000 pounds.

—Railway service is now operating smoothly between Cape Town and Pretoria, and the British are forwarding supplies in large quantities. General Methuen has again defeated the Free State forces, under General De Wet. General Kitchener narrowly escaped capture by the Boers. The Boer ammunition factory has been removed to Lydenburg.

—The famous author, Count Tolstoi, has been excommunicated from the Orthodox Russian Church, because of passages in his recent work, “Resurrection,” in which he openly attacked that church. It is said that “the three Russian metropolitans—those of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kieff—desired a public proclamation of the count’s heresy, but that the synod feared the wrath of the Russian masses, with whom Tolstoi is very popular.”

—The empress dowager of China, who is at present defying all Europe, is about sixty years old, and “for the last forty years has exerted a controlling influence in directing the affairs of China. She is the second wife of the emperor, and because she bore him a son, and the first wife did not, she takes precedence. As to education, she has received the best China can give, but her native wit and cleverness supply what she may lack in book knowledge. She is a Manchu woman, the prevailing dynasty in China, and, therefore, most secure in her position. She has always been opposed to the presence of foreigners in China.”