NEWS AND NOTES

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 22, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 4.

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—Germany has sent 900 more men to China as re-enforcements.

—Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, has again been elected United States Senator.

—England is hastening heavy re-enforcements to General Kitchener in South Africa.

—The University of Wisconsin, at Madison, is closed “on account of a smallpox scare.”

—An oil well was recently struck near Sabine Pass, Tex., giving 15,000 barrels a day.

—Many trains are snow-bound in Russia, and 4,000 men are clearing the tracks near Odessa.

—Odessa, Russia, has just had a blizzard, which lasted 100 hours, in which 120 persons perished.

—Townsend Saxton, inventor of one of the first American bicycles, died at Babylon, L. I., the 16th inst., aged seventy.

—The city of Liège, Belgium, has taken charge of its street-car lines, “to test the advisability of municipal ownership of public utilities.”

—The price of cats has risen in Germany, because of “an order for 10,000 fur-lined coats for troops in China, and an equal number of fur-lined gloves and gaiters.”

—By means of the X-rays, Bishop Potter, of New York, recently discovered that he had been going about for the last twenty-five years with two broken bones near his right ankle.

—The United States Senate recently declared itself in favor of abolishing the army canteen, “the amendment for continuing it being tabled by a vote of thirty-four to fifteen.”

—James A. Mount died suddenly of heart-disease, at Indianapolis, January 16, just two days after he had finished his term as governor of Indiana. He was stricken while reading a newspaper.

—The Marconi system of wireless telegraphy recently “stood a successful test during a severe storm in the English Channel,” and the Belgian government has recommended its adoption.

—W. A. Clark, of Montana, was elected United States Senator, January 16, at Helena, receiving fifty-seven votes out of ninety-three cast on the first ballot. This time, Congress will be obliged to admit him.

—Mrs. Carrie Nation, the saloon-wrecker of Wichita, Kan., was released from jail the 17th inst., on $200 bonds, and all of the saloons in the town have “hired men to stand at their doors,” to guard against her attacks.

—January 15 Matthew S. Quay was elected United States Senator, at Harrisburg, Pa., receiving from the Legislature a majority of twelve votes, two from the Senate and ten from the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania.

—Professor Ross was recently dismissed from the Leland Stanford University (Cal.) because he said things that did not please Mrs. Stanford. Now Professor Howard, head of the department of history, and one of the oldest members of the faculty, has resigned, because of the dismissal of Professor Ross.

—An electric railroad is soon to be laid between Ann Arbor, Mich., and Battle Creek. When that is done, it will be possible to travel from Detroit to Kalamazoo in electric cars. Ten cars have already been ordered for the new line. They will cost $10,000 each, and are built for a maximum speed of fifty-five miles an hour.

—Dr. Michael I. Pupin, professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University, has invented an apparatus “whereby telephone communication will be established between Europe and America.” The Bell Telephone Company has paid him $500,000 for the invention, in addition to which he will also receive $15,000 a year as royalty during the life of the patents. Dr. Pupin is only thirty-five years old, and is a friend and pupil of Nikola Tesla. His invention appears a very simple thing, consisting of “putting a coil of wire around the line at short intervals.” The object of these coils is to “preserve the energy which was before wasted by being converted into heat and otherwise dissipated.” The first experiment will be made between Florida and Cuba.

—The strength of an ordinary railway engine is said to equal that of 900 horses.

—The leading shoe factories of the country have combined, with a capitalization of $3,500,000.

—A trust of thirty-one plow-manufacturing firms was recently formed at Chicago, with a capitalization of $65,000,000.

—An exchange informs us that “during the fourteen years which President McKinley served in Congress he purchased and smoked 37,000 cigars.”

—The sister of Susan B. Anthony, Rochester, N. Y., has refused to pay her taxes, except under protest, “until she is allowed the right of suffrage.”

—It is said that “the king of Saxony is one of the most approachable of European sovereigns,” and that “an audience may be had with him at almost any time.”

—Those who ought to know, state that “in a hurricane blowing at eighty miles an hour, the pressure on each square foot of surface is thirty-one and one-half pounds.”

—Andrew Carnegie has offered Seattle, Wash., $200,000 for a new library, provided that city will guarantee $50,000 yearly “for maintenance and improvement.”

—The Cramps, of Philadelphia, will erect “an immense plant at Collingwood, Ontario, to rival the Carnegie,” which will turn out pig iron, ship and bridge structural iron.”

—According to the Hebrew Standard, of New York, “the aggregate number of Jews who have served at the front in South Africa, in the different sections of the British forces, is estimated at upward of 700.”

—Hiram Stephens Maxim, born an American citizen, in a Maine village, has been made a knight by Queen Victoria. He is the inventor of the rapid-fire automatic guns which bear his name. A few years ago he became a naturalized British subject.

—It is reported from Russia that thirty-two persons were recently arrested, on the charge of high treason. Some of these were Germans and Austrians, and, “with the view to avoiding international complications, all the prisoners were sent immediately to Siberia.”

—A Jewish exchange says that “almost everywhere where a large number of Jews reside in this country, the Portuguese and Germans lead in point of social and financial standing, but numerically, religiously, and perhaps also intellectually, the Russians are at the head.”

—Dispatches state that “the steamer ‘Vera,’ which carried all the purchasing of the shah of Persia while on his European trip, foundered in the Caspian Sea. The automobiles of Serpollet, which were to be the first in the Orient, are therefore resting on the bottom of the sea.”

—Speaking of the return of Archbishop Ireland from Rome, to argue in this country for the sovereignty of the pope, the Christian Herald (Baptist), of Detroit, well says that “the reasons he brings forward for the temporal dominion of the pope over Rome, apply as well to all Italy as to Rome, and to all the world as well as to Italy. And when you look into the matter, you will find that the pope claims rule over the planet.”

—Fred Alexander, a negro accused of two crimes, was dragged from the county jail at Leavenworth, Kan., the 15th inst., lashed to an iron stake, soaked with oil, and burned alive, the father of one of the victims lighting the fire. He protested his innocence to the last breath. The dispatches state that a wild scramble was made for bits of charred flesh and other “souvenirs.” Although Governor Stanley at first decided to offer a reward for the conviction of any of the persons assisting in the burning at the stake, “deliberation on the subject induced him to change his mind.” He said: “It would be of absolutely no use to issue the offer. If the guilty persons were arrested, they would necessarily have to undergo the first trial in Leavenworth County; and on account of the present condition of public sentiment, it would be absolutely useless to attempt to prosecute anybody there for the crime.” And again: “The Chronicle, partially owned and controlled by Mayor S. F. Neely, prints a long editorial defending the mob, and setting up that the killing of Alexander was justifiable. . . . The coroner was unable to secure any witnesses the 16th, to testify about the killing of Alexander, although 5,000 persons saw it.”

—What is to be the largest pipe concern in the world will soon be erected on Lake Erie, at Conneaut Harbor, Ohio, by the Carnegie Company. The cost will be $12,000,000.

—Costa Rica has abandoned the use of silver as a money standard; for, “beginning on July 15, the government undertook to maintain the gold standard on a valuation of about 46½ cents in United States gold for each silver colon. Silver is no longer a legal tender for more than ten dollars in one payment.”

—It is interesting to note that “the czarina has the greatest difficulty in speaking her husband’s language, and the words come out slowly and laboriously, despite the many lessons given her by the czar.” It appears also that “privately the czar and czarina speak frequently in English, but their conversation is generally carried on in French.”

—It is announced that “a scientific expedition is to start from St. Petersburg, to examine the immense number of manuscripts discovered at Mukden [Manchuria] by Russian troops. In the collection are a large number of Greek and Roman documents, which are supposed to have been taken by the Mongolians on the retreat from the Occident. It is believed that the manuscripts are of great value.”

—It is about decided that Mr. Kruger will come to the United States next month, accompanied by W. T. Stead, who will “make a campaign in behalf of stopping the war” in South Africa. Mr. Stead says: “The time has come for President Kruger boldly to declare his intention to visit President McKinley, in order to plead with him the cause of the independence of the South African republics. Kruger is looked at askance in Germany and Austria, because he is president of a republic, but he thinks this will not be regarded as a disqualification for his reception by the President of the greatest republic in the world.”

—It is stated upon good authority that “the punitive expeditions of the Powers prove to have been simply looting parties. Lieutenant-Colonel Wint, of the Sixth United States cavalry, met the Germans at Tanghim, where the latter had taxed the villagers 4,000 taels ($2,760) and 100 pony loads of furs as punishment for the alleged murder of imaginary Christians. He had express orders from General Chaffee to co-operate with the Germans, but withdrew. General Chaffee has agreed to have no more military operations to exhibit the prowess of his men to the Chinese, and the representatives of the emperor have asked the commanders of the troops of other nations to take similar action.”