—A recent fire at Witebsk, Russia, destroyed 100 lives and 1,000 houses.
—A negro was burned at the stake the 10th inst., near Ways Station, Ga.
—Germany will send four cruisers to Panama, to protect her interests there.
—Some are proposing that Andrew Carnegie be elected mayor of New York City.
—Many of the German soldiers at Tientsin, China, are dying from malignant typhoid fever.
—The Colombian troops which invaded Venezuela have been defeated, and are in full retreat.
—The women in the government printing office at Washington have organized a labor union.
—In a recent report to the State Department, Consul General Long declared that slavery in Egypt had practically ended.
—Francesco Crispi, the Italian statesman, died in Naples, the 11th inst., aged eighty-two years. He was known as “the Bismarck of Italy;” born Oct. 4, 1819.
—Pernod’s absinthe factory (Pontarlier, France), one of the largest in the country, was recently struck by lightning and entirely destroyed. Loss, about $2,000,000.
—The Attorney-General of the United States has rendered an opinion that “the government is responsible for mail matter lost through negligence or dishonesty of postal employees.”
—It is now reported that Archbishop Chapelle, who was sent to Manilla to “reform church abuses in the Philippines,” is to return to this country “because unsuccessful in his mission.”
—Mayor Hinchliffe, of Patterson, N. Y., has announced that the anarchists of that city will “not be permitted to give the play illustrating the assassination of King Humbert,” of Italy, as they had planned to do.
—Dispatches state that Lord Kitchener has issued a proclamation to the effect that unless the Boers cease fighting by September 15, they shall “be permanently banished from South Africa, and the cost of maintenance of the families of burghers in the field shall be recoverable from such burghers, and shall be a charge upon their property, moveable and immovable.”
—Traces of oil have been discovered near Lawton, O. T.
—The attendance at Chicago University last year was 3,722.
—A recent fire at Farsund, Norway, rendered 1,200 people homeless.
—Some plumbers recently found $2,000 hidden in a house at Oshkosh, Wis.
—According to the new census, the present population of France is 38,641,333.
—The Czar has conferred the Andreas Order upon Count von Waldersee, of Germany.
—The business portion of Rantoul, Ill., was recently destroyed by fire. Loss, $100,000.
—The statue of Queen Victoria, at Malta, was recently mutilated by unknown persons.
—A conference of the national association of dentists is in progress at Milwaukee, Wis.
—A bomb was recently exploded in the church of St. Nizier, at Troyes, France, but no one was injured.
—The Philippine friars have issued a circular, requesting Catholics to “unite against the American government.”
—There was stolen, the 6th inst., $280,000 worth of gold bullion from the Selby Smelting Works at Vallejo, Cal.
—A gasoline locomobile recently exploded at the corner of Broadway and 62d Street, New York, and was ruined by fire.
—Italy is experiencing a terrible heat wave, and dispatches state that “vineyards in whole districts have been ruined.”
—Mrs. Carrie Nation was recently slapped in the face by a man from whose mouth she was endeavoring to snatch a cigar.
—The shortage in the French wheat crop will result in “a large increase in American exports, with a consequent advance in price.”
—Four delegates, representing 100,000 British workmen, recently left London, for America, to study the labor unions of this country.
—Professor Pupin’s house, at Yonkers, N. Y., was recently broken into and ransacked “to discover the secrets of his ocean telephone invention.”
—Peter Van Schaack, just returned from his twelfth trip to Holland, states that Kruger is “still hopeful of the outcome of the war in the Transvaal.”
—A syndicate of Americans is planning to build a new line of ocean liners, “to break the Atlantic records.” The charter for the new company was recently read for the second time, in the British House of Lords.
—American capitalists are negotiating for the purchase of the Charleroi Glass Works, in Belgium, the only large factories in Europe, in order to form “an international combination to control the world’s supply of window glass.”
—The Chicago fire department has compelled Montgomery Ward and Company to take out of their store a quantity of smokeless powder, which they kept for sale, threatening otherwise to refuse any assistance whatever in case of fire.
—Dr. William A. Newell, originator of the government life-saving service, died in Allentown, N. J., the 8th inst.; born Sept. 5, 1817. He was the first Republican governor of New Jersey (1857–60), and at another time governor of Washington Territory.
—Chicago dispatches state that the iron founders of that city, “in beginning a fight for the extermination of the machinists’ and iron molders’ unions, decide to pay non-union workmen $4.50 and $4.75 a day; the union men ask $3.00.” Evidently some do not favor labor unions.
—The report of General MacArthur to the United States War Department shows that from May 5, 1900 to June 30, 1901, there were 245 Americans killed in the Philippines, 490 wounded, and 118 captured. The Filipino losses were 2,854 killed, 1,193 wounded, 6,572 captured, and 23,095 surrendered.
—The evening of the 15th inst., after a stormy meeting of six and one-half hours, the Joliet employees of the Illinois Steel Company decided to strike, beginning with the 16th. The number of men thus involved is 6,000, counting the 3,000 affected employees of the wire company. The old men desired to continue work, but the younger employees won the day. The steel works at Bay View, Wis., will next be heard from. So far, however, there are enough strikers to seriously cripple a great number of factories throughout the country, which depend upon the product of the steel trust.13
—The gold output of the Dawson district, Alaska, for the present year, is estimated at $20,000,000.
—The British consul at Marseilles, France, reports that “American coal threatens to oust British coal at that port.”
—It is reported that in the famine-stricken province of Sian-fu, China, human flesh is on sale for food at three cents a pound.
—One of the men connected with the great robbery at the Selby Smelting Works, has confessed, and $130,000 bullion has been recovered.
—The greater part of the plant of the Indiana Pulp and Paper Company, Marion, Ind., was recently destroyed by fire. Damage, $175,000.
—It now develops that an anarchist under arrest at Milan, Gianotti by name, “confesses that he accompanied Bresci from America, and was his accomplice in the assassination of King Humbert.”
—The mosquito pest is being destroyed in various parts of the country by pouring kerosene upon stagnant bodies of water, rain-barrels, cesspools, and other breeding places. But very little oil is required.
—President Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, has pledged “the moral and financial support of the federation to the Amalgamated Association in its strike against the United States Steel Corporation.”
—Because of “ruinous discrimination in insurance rates,” the Northwestern Steamship Company, of Chicago, has decided to “withdraw its steamships from the transatlantic route, unless satisfactory rates can be secured.”
—According to the Literary Digest, what is called the higher criticism of the Bible is “gaining adherents in all Christian denominations.” Even the Catholics are “more than coquetting with higher views of the Old Testament.”
—According to dispatches, Miguel Malavar, recognized as the successor of Aguinaldo, “has issued a proclamation giving assurances to the natives of the continuation of an active campaign, and expressing hope for its successful issue.”
—Owing to the overflowing of the Yangtze River, China, many thousands of people have perished. “The river has risen forty feet, and for hundreds of miles the country is a great lake, with only tops of trees and an occasional roof showing.”
—The Illinois Pure Food Commission has decided that hereafter ice dealers selling to the trade “must specify whether the ice is to be used for drinking purposes or only for cooling. Impure ice, taken from stagnant ponds, and unfit for use, is frequently sold for drinking, and the commissioners intend that the practice shall stop.”
—The Catholics and Protestants of Manitoba are about to settle their long dispute over the public-school question. The government will hereafter operate the Catholic schools, upon certain conditions. The dispute began in 1890, when the Catholics demanded that their children be taught by Catholic teachers, and that the public funds be used to defray expenses.
—John Arbuckle, of New York City, has contrived a new method whereby people may be able to escape from the hot nights of the city. He has “changed a merchant vessel, the ‘Jacob A. Stamler,’ into the semblance of a modern hotel. The ‘Stamler’ is towed down New York Bay before sunset, and is brought back to her pier early enough in the morning to permit the guests to reach their places of business at the usual hour.”
—According to a report now being prepared at the geological survey, Washington, D. C., treating of precious stones in this country, “diamonds are found in the United States in three distinct districts: (1) Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, in the vicinity of the Green Bay lobe of the continental glacier; (2) in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky; (3) in California, adjacent to the water-sheds of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, where they were first found in the United States.”
—According to New York dailies, there is to be held, in the early fall, “a national federation of the Roman Catholic societies of the country, for the purpose of influencing legislation, both State and national, favorably to the Church, and a conference is soon to be held, at Cincinnati, to consider the methods of procedure. The Catholics claim to have many grounds for grievance, one being that they are entitled to more chaplains than they now have in the navy. There are twenty-two chaplains altogether in the navy, and of these, three are Roman Catholics.” But the government has no business to support any chaplains at all. No Christian minister can consistently ask God’s blessing to attend any man-of-war in its work of bloody carnage and destruction.
—It is reported that “the financial and industrial crisis in Germany is spreading.” A Cologne bank has been declared insolvent.
—Mr. Somers Clarke, the architect in charge of St. Paul cathedral, London, states that “the great weight of the dome of that structure has caused the foundations under the dome to sink. A serious cracking of walls and arches and ceilings has resulted. Mr. Clarke, after mentioning the unequal distribution of weight as a cause of the settlement, expresses the opinion that the two underground railways and the large sewers have affected the foundations. He lays particular stress upon the vibrations resulting from the passing trains.”
—Nikola Tesla, the great electrician, has just closed the contract for “the erection of a building and plant at Wardenclyffe, on Long Island Sound, nine miles east of Port Jefferson, L. I., for the principal station of his wireless telegraph system. The purchase includes 200 acres of land, and Mr. Tesla says he will put up the largest building of its kind in the world for his experiments. The main building will be 100 feet square. A 350 horse-power electrical plant will be located in the building, and the total cost of the plant and furnishing will be about $150,000.”
