SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Aug 23, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 33.

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SECULAR NEWS.

—Cholera has appeared in several ports along the coast of China.

—There is more trouble on the Texas border, caused by raiding Mexicans.

—About 500 Chinamen have taken passage on the City of New York for Honolulu.

—Turkish iron-clads have sunk a Greek vessel, cruising off the Island of Cirigo.

—General Grant laid the first stone of an American church at Geneva, Switzerland, July 27.

—Great destitution is said to prevail among the white and colored workingmen of the District of Columbia.

—Fearful floods are reported from Buenos Ayres, destroying millions of sheep and cattle, and rendering hundreds of families homeless.

—The London Financier says, according to private advices from Lyons, several failures have occurred in the silk trade, including one for $1,000,000.

—Mr. Vanderbilt has ordered $100,000 to be distributed among the employees of the New York Central, in recognition of their firmness during the strike, and promises an increase of pay when business justifies it. The disbursement will be made at the end of the month when the pay-rolls are made out.

—The Prohibition State Convention at Utica, N. Y., has nominated a State ticket and resolved that it is the duty of all to extirpate the crime of selling intoxicating drinks.

—It is estimated that there are at present about 2,000,000 able-bodied men in this country out of employment. If the price of a day's labor is worth $1.50, we have an actual loss to the country of $3,000,000 per day.

—The cotton report of the Department of Agriculture for August shows no material decline from July. The general average for August is ninety-three. No State averages higher than 1876 except Louisiana and Florida. The States of the greatest production, especially those west of the Mississippi, are those reporting the highest condition.

—It is stated that the present population of Kansas is over half a million. The total grain crop of this year is expected to amount to 120,000,000 bushels, of which 80,000,000 will be corn, nearly 20,000,000 wheat and the remainder oats, barley, rye, and other small grains. The value of the agricultural product in 1875 was over $60,000,000.

—A recapitulation of the freight forwarded overland by the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the month of July shows the following figures: From San Francisco, 10,461,318 lbs.; from Sacramento, 1,364,140; from San Jose, 94,960; from Marysville, 21,920; from Stockton, 5,360; from Oakland, 550. Total, July, 1877, 11,948,248 lbs.; total, July, 1876, 8,431,157 lbs.

—The Chinese custom of feeding the dead at the cemetery resulted in the burning up of all the wooden railings, fences, etc., in the city cemetery at Yreka, Aug. 16, damaging tombstones and monuments, as the trees and shrubbery were very dry and burned fiercely. The firemen went to the cemetery, but no water being near, could only stop the fire by pulling down fences to prevent the Odd Fellows' and Masonic cemeteries from catching. The citizens were much incensed against the Chinamen, and insist on their having a burying ground of their own, this being the second time the Chinese have burned up the city cemetery.

—Aug. 14, the Directors and stockholders of the Texas Pacific Railroad met. The annual report showed that 480 miles of track have been completed. Receipts, $2,381,976; profits, $318,985. Under the adjustment of indebtedness of the California and Texas Railway Construction Company, $8,474,911 had been satisfied by July 2, 1877, and on June 1, the liabilities of the road were but $18,556,578, with 444 miles in operation, 50 locomotives and 1050 cars of all kinds. The balance of floating indebtedness was but $705,264, against $935,257 in June, 1875, and the company has on hand to pay their debts $394,000 of its first and consolidated mortgage bonds.

—An official report made to the Bureau of Statistics shows that during the month ending July 31, 1877, there arrived at the port of New York, 9,559 passengers, of whom 6,713 were immigrants, 2,242 citizens of the United States and 604 sojourners. Of the total number of immigrants 3,925 were males and 2,788 females. There were from England, 1,238; Scotland, 237; Wales, 17; Ireland, 946; Germany, 1,522; Austria, 412; Sweden, 530; Norway, 302; Denmark, 324; France, 190; Switzerland, 159; Spain, 22; Italy, 242; Holland, 40; Belgium, 9; Russia, 370; Poland, 48; Hungary, 18; Cuba, 24; Bermuda, 9; Mexico, 7; Turkey and Nova Scotia, 5 each; Finland, Ontario, Island of St. Vincent, and born at sea, 4 each; St. Croix and Ceylon, 3 each; Jamaica, 2; Greece, China, Guatemala, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, British Guiana, Porto Rico, Hayti, Guadalupe, Martinique, Gibraltar, and Australia, 1 each.