p. 11 | In the Great World

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 20, 1909

In the Great World.

Among the Nations.—December 1 the United States Government made public an agreement between Japan and the United States containing five articles, encouraging free and peaceful development of commerce on the Pacific Ocean, maintaining the existing conditions in the Pacific respecting the territorial possessions of each other, preserving the common interest of all powers in China, communicating with each other if any difficulty arises. This is hailed with joy in China and England. As indicating the friendship existing between the two powers, millions of cartridges and thousands of revolvers and other arms have been shipped to Manila by a Japanese steamer.—Conditions in India are still serious. The indications are that there has been conspiracy and plotting for a long time on the part of the people in East Bengal. England has taken hold of it with a strong hand.—In Turkey the Sultan has opened the Parliament. The Turks cheered him heartily along the five miles of his route to the meeting-place. The populace generally throughout the Turkish realms have gone wild so to speak over the new regime. Now is the time for missionaries to do their work.—In Rome, Italian Catholics are striving to obtain from the pope a permission to form an Italian Catholic Parliamentary party, fashioned more or less on the Catholic center in Germany, but as Leo XIII absolutely prohibited this, the present pope intends to continue the policy of his predecessor. The Vatican does not wish to admit that they recognize a united Italy with Rome as capital.—The preparation for war among the nations still continues. This is especially manifest in the race between England and Germany. England’s last big ship is the “Collingwood,” keel plates of which were laid in February of last year; and the vessel launched nine months later, a record in battle-ship building. When completed, it will have cost $10,000,000. Her displacement is 19,250 tons, heavier than the “Dreadnaught” by 2,000 tons. Of the 45 battle-ships or battle-ship cruisers of the new type which have been, or are being built for the world’s navies, 19 have been launched, and 11 of them fly the British flag. As between the present North Sea fleets of Germany and England, the advantage is with the English in both speed and production. One of the most terrible guns in existence has been recently built by Great Britain, which is able to sink the largest battle-ship afloat with a single shot. The “Collingwood” and her sister ships, “St. Vincent” and “Vanguard,” will be armed with the new gun, 51½ feet long, weighing nearly 66 tons, the projectile of which will weigh 850 pounds, with a muzzle velocity of 3,010 foot seconds, and a muzzle energy of 534,000 foot tons. It will penetrate 33 inches of wrought iron at a distance of 3,000 yards, while the most powerful gun possessed by any other navy will be able to go through only 16 inches of iron. It is very rapid fire also for such a large gun. In the meantime, these preparations for war are increasing the burden of debt, and making the great mass of people more and more unsatisfied.—Matters have quieted down between Germany and England on account of the published interview in the London Telegraph of October 28, and it has recently been said that the German Emperor is not really responsible for his utterances; one eminent physician declaring that he is suffering from a disease in his head which will eventually dethrone reason, and for which there is absolutely no help. In connection with this an Italian statesman relates a conversation which he had with the Kaiser in which the Kaiser declared that he had been entrusted with a divine mission, that of saving humanity from the horrors of war, and he looked at the triple alliance as a means of help to him “to execute the will of God.” All of which shows upon how slender a thread hangs the peace of the world.

Financial and Industrial.—According to the former deputy controller of New York City, Editor J. Levy, we are told that New York City owes now eight hundred million dollars. This is beyond comprehension.—Speaking of the power of the trusts, Attorney-general Bonaparte at a recent banquet in New York showed the conditions necessitating the anti-trust laws. The free American citizen, he tells us, must get out of business because the trust wanted his trade. If he bought of another, he dared not sell to him because the trust forbade it. The little dealer found himself charged twice or three times what the railroads ask of the trust, and when his goods reached the market the trust undersold him by half of its rebate. In short, Americans found their liberties were endangered. In fact, the trusts were controlling the entire business. Doubtless the anti-trust laws were needed, but what is equally needed is the enforcement of those laws.—December 10 there was held in New York what is called “The Billion-Dollar Banquet,” that is, the men who sat down at that banquet represented more than a billion dollars in private fortunes. Some of the men who there sat down, it is said, would quickly exhaust their fingers in counting their millions. Thirty-four men alone represented corporate interests which are capitalized at $1,508,241,770. Ex-Judge E. H. Greeley, the chairman of the United States Steel Corporation, made a speech which was thoroly appreciated, in which he justified the existence of the trusts. It is such banquets as these in the face of hard times which stir up class hatred. In London there are thousands and thousands of men out of work who parade the street daily with their ragged clothes, unkempt appearance, bearing banners and crying out, “Give us work.” In the city of Berlin alone it is said that 60,000 are out of work, 20,000 thrown out in six weeks.—Professor

Johnson, Dean of the School of Commerce and Finance of New York University, and professor of Economics in the University of Pennsylvania, tells us that the cost of living, which has risen 44 per cent in the past nine years, is going to keep on going up for nine years more. He says that in 1918 we shall see the average prices of the necessaries of life advance to 80 per cent of the rates quoted in 1897; but he further says that the wages of the working man will not rise in the same proportion. Last year the shrinkage in wages, measured by the price of commodities, amounted to one half of one per cent, or five dollars in a thousand. What wonder is it that thousands of people are willing to try Socialism, while knowing very little about it? They feel that the outlook under the present regime is bad and only bad, and that any change that may come will not make it worse.