Trade Expansion and the Threat of War
The German Fleet Society, of which the emperor and his cabinet officials are members, is now agitating the question of a still greater increase in the German navy, especially in the number of cruisers which can be sent into foreign waters. The official circular of this society states that “Germans must make up their minds whether the business already created shall be protected and extended or permitted to languish.” This extension and artificial protection of trade is making of such nations as England, Germany, France, and the United States nations of manufacturers; and as the people turn more and more to manufactures, more protection and greater extension is required to make markets for their productions. Otherwise the occupations of the people would be taken away and a calamity ensue. This very tendency to extend and protect trade for the purpose of keeping the people employed is driving the nations nearer to war. Each is becoming more and more jealous of the extensions of the other and more insistent upon the acquisition of trading territory and the protection of the trading ground of its subjects. There is coming to be an ominous ring to the words, “We must protect our trade.” Turkey is re-arming her forces, having just ordered of the Krupp gun works 96 cannon of the latest type and 220,000 Mauser rifles. These, with the necessary wagons and ammunition, make an expenditure of nearly $4,000,000. Such an outlay at a time when Turkey seems so near collapse in her financial affairs gives color to the rumor that she is expecting trouble with Italy. The annual report of the Postmaster-General shows the total receipts of the Postal Department for the year ended June 30 to have been $121,848,047, an increase of $10,216,844 over the receipts for the previous year. The expenditures for that period, however, exceeded the receipts by nearly three million dollars. In the realm of labor.—Another strike is reported at Marseilles, France, and numerous vessels are tied up there unable either to discharge or take on cargo. Many of the vessels have been deserted by their crews, who have joined the strikers. It now seems that the town of Keswick, Cal., is doomed to depopulation as the result of a strike. The population of the town is 2,221, and most of the residents there are employees of the smelter which has been compelled to cease operations and shows no signs of resuming. The stores no longer give the miner credit, and many are moving away. The coal strike arbitration commission will now have to settle the differences of the miners and operators after all, the operators having refused to go on with the work of reaching an agreement with the miners outside of the commission. The tyranny of the labor union was shown at Fresno, Cal., on November 26, when a carpenter was denied the privilege of donating one day’s work to a church being built by union carpenters. Fourteen thousand mining men and boys are still idle at the Shamokin, Penn., coal mines. Reports received at Stockholm from the northern part of Sweden state that famine is spreading throughout the northern part of that country. It is declared that 70,000 people are starving or on the verge of starvation. Heavy rainfalls have inundated the fields and meadows and flooded many houses. Much of the live stock is isolated on the hills, which are barren of pasture, and are likely to perish. In a number of the districts the outlook is exceedingly gloomy, and it is feared that all the resources of the famine-stricken district will be exhausted before March. Contributions of food and money are being forwarded to the sufferers. A serious legal question is now being argued before Chief Justice Fuller of the United States Supreme Court, in Richmond, Va. It pertains to the matter of negro disfranchisement in Virginia, which was brought about by the new State constitution. The representative of the disfranchised negroes asks that the State Board of Canvassers be enjoined from issuing certificates of election to the congressmen recently chosen, on the ground that the constitution had been proclaimed by a convention instead of being submitted to the people. There seems to be a prospect of serious trouble in the State of Nebraska over the fencing in of government land by private parties. Colonel Mosby, who is charged with looking after the government’s interests in the matter, expresses the fear that there will be bloodshed before the fences are torn down and the land taken from those who are holding it without right. He states, nevertheless, that the work will be done. The Methodist Church of Utah has declared war against the senatorship of apostle Smoot of the Mormon Church. Mr. Smoot has not yet been elected; but as he holds the highest office but one in the Mormon Church, it is claimed that his election would be a virtual union of Church and State; and the Methodists as a denomination will do all in their power to prevent his election. Within the last two months the game of football in the United States has been the cause of 10 deaths and 70 serious accidents, with an unknown number of minor injuries. There is certainly something wrong with a system of education which carries such a dangerous prize-ring annex, in which the successful contestants outshine even the president of the college. La Soufriere, the St. Vincent volcano, was in eruption again on November 26, the fifth outbreak since the 7th of last May. So fierce was the last outburst that the inhabitants of Georgetown and Chateau Belaire are reported to have evacuated those places. The outbreak was accompanied by fierce lightnings and terrible subterranean rumblings. Advices from The Hague state that the Dutch jurist who has been arbitrating the claims of the American sealers against Russia for the seizure of their vessels has decided in favor of the American sealers, and Russia is sentenced to pay for the vessels seized, with interest. The matter has been in dispute for the past ten years. The queen of Portugal, who was acting as regent during the visit of the king to England, has imprisoned the principal generals of the Portuguese army because of their demand that the king’s cabinet be dissolved. It is stated that she will keep them in jail until they promise better behavior. Congress convened on December 1, and forecasts by the press on the matters which will claim the earliest attention of the legislators indicate that the statehood of Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, and the problems of the trust question will be the first matters to be considered. Secretary of the Navy Moody, in his annual report to the government, makes an urgent appeal for more officers for the navy and an increase in the number of warships to be built. English and German naval men are making the same appeals. The population of the self-governed provinces of India has decreased 3,500,000 during the last ten years, owing to plague and famine, while the population of those States under direct British rule has increased 7,000,000. The New York Elevated road has been leased by the Interborough Company for a period of 999 years. The directors and stockholders will hardly live to see the expiration of the lease. The London City Association has begun an agitation for the breaking up of London into towns of from 30,000 to 60,000 inhabitants. The association hopes thus to relieve the overcrowded streets of London, and reduce the many evils of life in such a large city as London is at the present time. Its other object is to build up rural communities. The evils of city life are increased in proportion to the increase and congestion of the cities, and at the present time the whole tendency seems to be to crowd into the larger cities rather than to migrate from the cities into the smaller towns. This is one of the most active causes of the increasing evils of the present day. The association sees the increasing evils, but it is questionable whether it will be able to accomplish its purpose in any degree. The flood-tide is setting strongly the other way. During the week a number of cases have been reported where persons had murdered others whose lives they had insured. In one case a mother, by committing suicide, practically admitted the poisoning of her two daughters for whose murder she had been arrested, and neither of them were insured for more than seventy-five dollars. In another case a husband and wife are held for the murder of two children under similar circumstances; while from Texas and Mexico come reports of the arrest of several men who are charged with insuring and putting to death a number of persons—so lightly is human life regarded now-a-days when it stands in the way of dollars! Reports from Macedonia indicate that the Turkish authorities are practising terrible cruelties upon the Macedonian peasants to force them to give up arms or tell where arms are concealed. The bastinado has been frequently employed until the victims were crippled for life, their feet being beaten to a pulp by the Turkish soldiers. Boiling hot eggs have been bound in the armpits of others, causing unbearable pain. The troops are reported to be openly plundering the peasants, who are driven practically to despair because of these hardships. Reports from New England state that Vermont has adopted a high license and local option law, reversing the historic policy of the State on the liquor question. The new law includes an annual referendum on the licensing of saloons, setting the minimum fee at $500 and the maximum at $1,200, with a fermented liquor license of $250 per annum. The measure prohibits treating at the bar. Its advocates call it a temperance measure; but the effort put forth by the liquor interests to get such laws enacted argues strongly to the contrary. A remarkably ingenious contrivance has been invented by a French army officer for suppressing the sound, the flash, and the smoke in the discharge of a rifle or cannon. From the description it seems more complete than a somewhat similar invention of a Frenchman reported some months ago, which was designed to accomplish practically the same purpose. Such weapons as these will be able to do terrible execution because of the inability of the enemy to locate them or be sure of hiding from them. So goes on the work of war preparations. The native constabulary in different parts of the Philippines are still kept busy suppressing the ladrones. There are frequent reports of murders by these lawless bands. The sultan of Bacolod is again sending threatening letters to the Americans, and it is expected that an expedition will be sent against him. It is reported that there is in the islands a rapid growth of secret societies unfriendly to the Americans, and that through the agency of these the natives are being armed for an insurrection. Grand Duke Sergius of Russia has paid a visit to the pope to inform him of the czar’s intention of making a visit to “his holiness.” The pope expressed great pleasure at the prospect of having the czar visit him. What the purpose is of this conference between the heads of the Greek Catholic and the Roman Catholic churches is not apparent. It may be one of the many incidents which, taken together, will finally bring about the condition of things foretold in Rev. 17:12–18. It will be of interest to those who have been students of the prophecies of Daniel to know that diplomatic relations have been resumed between Greece and Persia after 2,393 years of non-intercourse. The diplomatic relations between these two ancient nations came to a close in 491 B.C., when Darius sent heralds to Athens to demand the submission of the Greeks to his sovereignty. During all that time these nations had no diplomatic intercourse. A huge sun motor, or solar motor, has been constructed in Boston, and is in successful operation, generating sufficient steam to run a small saw-mill. By means of a large number of concave mirrors powerful heat rays are concentrated upon the boiler supported in the center of the reflector. The success of this motor has induced its inventor to enter upon the construction of others. The price of silver continues to fall, Mexican dollars being now quoted in New York at 37 cents, and this is about the ratio also in the Philippine Islands. In view of this continual decrease the Siamese Government has ordered its mints to cease immediately the free coinage of silver, and is contemplating the establishment of a gold basis for its currency. The ashes of Christopher Columbus were deposited in a special mausoleum at Seville, Spain, on November 17.