Rumanian Jews and Babylonian Discoveries
Secretary Hay has made a strong appeal to the powers of Europe in behalf of the oppressed Jews of Rumania. He does this on the ground that the oppression which is visited upon the Rumanian Jews is throwing upon America a class of undesirable immigrants—not that he objects to them as a race, but the oppression which they suffer there renders it impossible for them to become the best class of citizens. The law of Rumania prohibits the Jews living in the country or tilling the soil; it limits the number of Jews that any one may employ to a ratio of one Jew to two Rumanians; there are occupations in which Jews are not allowed to engage. There is much comment throughout the European press regarding this protest from the United States to the powers concerning one of their protégés. Some resent it and others hold that America is within her rights. Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in Babylon, which is being unearthed by the German archeologist Koldenberg, is said to be proving the richest storehouse of ancient art ever discovered. The encaustic tiling with which the great court of the palace was decorated surpasses in the fineness of its glaze and the luster and beauty of its coloring anything that modern art ever attained. The explorers are finding many carved figures of real or mythical beasts revealing such an advanced stage of art that Dr. Koldenberg is convinced he will find other specimens proving that even in the time of Abraham art had achieved a high point of development on the plains of Mesopotamia. In a battle recently between Boxers and Chinese soldiers near Chengtu 400 of the Boxers are reported to have been killed. They attacked the troops with spears in the frenzied belief that they were immune from the bullets of the soldiers. The account states that the Boxers fight absolutely without fear, marching straight up to the troops who are armed with rifles, endeavoring to kill them with the most primitive weapons. In northern Siam the Shans are reported to have rebelled, captured the city of Muang Pre, and slaughtered the government officials. A number of Americans and other foreigners were in the city, but were left unharmed. How the rising generation is imbibing the education of strife as taught in the national school of our strikes and boycotts is well illustrated in the recent strike at Hanover, Penn. It was not a strike for higher wages; for the strikers were not laboring men. It was not a strike for less hours; for the time served by the strikers was but six hours a day. It was not a strike to have a grievance redressed; for the strikers had no grievance. They were a company of 200 school boys, and they struck against attending school, because four of their schoolmates were children of non-union men. In China, which many Americans consider a land of darkness and heathenism, it is customary to punish the relatives of a criminal if the real criminal cannot be found. He may have committed an offense in America or some other country against some other Chinaman. His relatives in China must suffer for it. But China’s course is a reasonable one when compared with that above referred to. In the case of the Chinaman a real wrong has been done, and the law gets as close to the original perpetrator as it can. In this case no crime has been committed either by the children against whom the strike is aimed or by their parents, and yet they are subjected to a most vicious punishment. There is no need to draw the comparison further. America has nothing to brag of as long as these things continue. That the children are but following the example and influence of their elders is shown in the fact that in other districts previously teachers related to non-union men have been dismissed, simply because of that relationship; strikers have refused to attend church if non-union men were received within its doors; they have refused to employ physicians who have attended non-union men; they have refused to employ undertakers who have been employed to bury non-union men. Such a course is unchristian and malicious, and there are millions in the country who will denounce it as the acme of cruelty, a persecution of a bitter and malignant type. They are persecuted because they demand the liberty which the Constitution guarantees to every citizen of this republic. But the ones who have done this have had examples in high places. They have been taught in this very country by so-called Christian men, who have persecuted other Christian men who would not yield principle to the dictates of the majority. If it is right to throw men into prison for a difference in religious belief, it is right to persecute and browbeat other men because they will not join the union. The responsibility does not rest wholly upon these blinded persecutors of their fellow workmen. It must be shared by the pulpits, the press, the courts, and the State Legislatures that have sanctioned such things in the persecution of Christians for matters of conscience. That is the seed sown, and this is some of the fruit which it bears. The famous Arctic exploring ship Fram, Captain Sverdrup, has returned from a voyage of exploration in the Arctic regions. From his winter quarters at Ellesmere Land scientific expeditions were sent out over the surrounding country, mapping out regions hitherto unmapped. The leader of the Baldwin-Zeigler expedition from New York has reached London on his way back to the United States. He reports that the existence of an open Polar sea is a myth, and asserts that the pole can be reached only by a quick trip over the ice. His parties have established stores of food in a line toward the pole, and another attempt will be made to reach that destination. On that island of the Samoan group which is now under the jurisdiction of the United States the American commandant has issued an order proclaiming the free right of every citizen to adopt his own form of religious worship and belief, and prohibiting any chief or missionary from punishing or molesting any native for exercising that right. In former years when the London Missionary Society in Tutuila and Manua had induced all the inhabitants of a town to adopt their religion, the natives enacted a local law making it a penal offense for any person to introduce any new form of worship in that town. Many of the natives were punished for the infraction of this law. The Navy department has decided to rearrange entirely the disposition of the various war vessels making up the American navy. One squadron of considerable proportions will be assigned to the duty of looking after American interests in the waters of the Caribbean Sea. The European station is to be filled with a highly efficient squadron of cruisers, and a number of powerful battle-ships are to be placed on the Asiatic station. The rôle which America is now playing in the affairs of the world has made this step seem necessary to those having the arrangements in charge. America is forcing herself into recognition as a world power. For two years the University of Chicago has been seeking permission of the Sultan of Turkey to excavate historic ruins in the district of Bagdad. After promises that the concession would be granted, the sultan has given the concession to a company of German archeologists, and the American minister at Constantinople has shown his displeasure by taking his departure from the city. It is claimed that German influence was brought to bear upon the sultan in opposition to the requests of the American university. England is engaged in strengthening her fortifications on the island of Jamaica in anticipation of the opening of the Panama canal, putting in new batteries in commanding locations. During the year ending June 30, 1902, 22,000 Americans have migrated to the Canadian Northwest to take up land. The Canadian Government is giving 160 acres of land to each immigrant and to each of his sons over eighteen years of age. It is said that much valuable land remains to be portioned out to incoming settlers. The government is giving the land to settlers, but does not allow corporations or syndicates to take up large tracts. A severe earthquake shock was experienced over South Australia on September 20, causing a panic in Adelaide, where many buildings, including churches, were more or less damaged, and a number of narrow escapes from death are reported. Many of the northern towns of Australia also experienced earthquake shocks on the same day. No portion of this old earth is immune from these increasing phenomena. Stanley Spencer, an English aeronaut, who has been at work for some time on an airship, made an ascension in London on September 19, and sailed his ship over London, a distance of nearly thirty miles. He claims that during all this time his airship was under the most perfect control. This flight, or voyage in the air, exceeds the distance covered by Santos Dumont in his airship by about twenty miles. On September 19, at the African M. E. Conference at Birmingham, Alabama, a panic occurred in which 116 persons lost their lives. A disturbance arose in the rear of the church in which the convention was being held. Someone shouted a word which was misunderstood for “fire,” and the entire audience arose and rushed for the doors. The victims were crushed and trampled to death. A dispatch from Colombia states that that government is protesting against the use of American marines on the isthmus, who are now engaged in keeping the road open to the passenger and freight traffic. The Navy Department, however, is planning to add to the number of marines who are now engaged in this work. Robert E. Peary, the Arctic explorer, has returned from a four years’ expedition in the Arctic. He did not reach the pole, but he went nearly a degree higher than on his former expedition, having reached 84 degrees, 17 minutes north latitude. His record is still surpassed by both Nansen and the Duke of Abruzzi. The submarine cable to connect San Francisco and the Hawaiian islands is now completed, and the vessel which is to lay the cable has sailed with it from London for San Francisco. A London firm has the contract for manufacturing the whole of the cable which is to connect America with the Philippines. Great quantities of fish are taken every year by the fishermen of Norway. One way in which they are utilized is through an invention by which the flesh of the fresh fish is quickly dried and ground into flour. This is called fish flour, can readily be transported any distance, and is said to be of great nutritive value. Reports from Washington indicate a strong sentiment in official circles toward the abandonment of the entire subtreasury system and the substitution of the national banks as government depositories, with discretion vested in the Secretary of the Treasury to determine the kind of securities to be accepted. Through fear that America might intervene in Hayti to quell the disturbance there, the provisional government is taking more active measures to stop the insurrection. The rebels also appear to be more active, and have defeated the government troops in one engagement. Venezuela and Great Britain are both claiming sovereignty over the island of Patos. England has raised her flag over the island, and unless Venezuela presents a very strong claim, it will probably remain there. The island lies in the vicinity of Trinidad, W. I. A dispatch from Philadelphia states that the work of replacing Spanish friars in the Philippines with American Catholic priests has already begun. American Catholic priests will no doubt go to the islands; but it is not so certain that the friars will leave. Because of the continued interruptions of the submarine cable to the island of Martinique, the French Government has decided to install a wireless telegraph apparatus on that island to communicate with a station on Guadeloupe. An attempt is now being made to combine the American and English tobacco trusts, in order to stop the war which has been going on between them since the invasion of England by the American trust. The Viceroy of India telegraphs that the agricultural prospects in that country have been improved by general rains, and that the gratuitous relief is less now than at any time since last February. The anniversary of the entry of the Roman soldiers into Rome, Sept. 20, 1870, was celebrated throughout Italy with much enthusiasm. That event terminated the temporal power of the pope. The new outbreak of Boxerism in certain parts of China is looked upon as a very serious matter by those who have given attention to Chinese affairs. During the 100 years beginning July 31, 1790, the patent office of the United States has issued 428,621 patents.