Lightning Deaths and Other Current Events
In the year 1900 the number of deaths caused by lightning in the United States amounted to 713, and there were 973 persons injured by it. It is interesting to note that for the five years ended 1894 the number of deaths by lightning in the United States averaged only 224 per year, as against the 713 of 1900; and further that in the one month of July, 1900, nearly as many were killed by lightning as the average for the years mentioned, the number who were killed in that month being 202. The tendency toward increase in the deadly destructiveness of this agency is the same that is seen in the other warring elements of this old earth, which is ripening for the harvest, and tottering toward her dissolution. The German labor journal, Arbiter Zeitung, declares that the recent assassination of officials in Russia is the work of a secret order which exists throughout all Russia and whose members are sworn to give their lives, if required, for the cause. The recent attack on Prince Obolenski is supposed to have been made by a member of this society. The prince’s escape was due to the fact that he was wearing a waistcoat of chain armor. An expert electrician of New York comes forward with the announcement that murderers sentenced to die in the electric chair are frequently not killed by the current, and would be buried alive were it not for the autopsy which follows the electrocution. He states that every week linemen are shocked with higher voltage than that used in the electric chair. These men are not killed, but after a few days’ treatment are able to be about. Germany will now require shipments of American grains to be accompanied by certificates of origin, as that government wishes to impose a retaliatory duty of 15 per cent. on Canadian grains because of Canada’s preferential treatment of British goods. By having the certificate of origin the German customs officials will be enabled to distinguish between Canadian wheat and that grown in the United States. The price of meat in Germany continues to rise. The market prices now quoted are 26 per cent. higher than in 1900. This condition is attributed to the scarcity of domestic animals and the exclusion of foreign cattle and canned meats. Autumn rains in Minnesota and the Dakotas are reported to have damaged the grain crops to the extent of several million dollars. Much of the grain is rotting or sprouting in the shocks. Gambling.— As the matter of accumulating vast fortunes becomes the absorbing thought in the minds of the majority to-day, the methods by which it may be accomplished are becoming more questionable, and greater numbers are adopting these questionable methods and practices. Summer resorts are becoming centers for the unrestricted practise of this unlawful money-getting. The truly moral element has been shocked recently by the enormous gambling transactions of money-kings at Saratoga, in which large fortunes were lost or won on the turn of a card. A magnificent structure, gorgeously fitted up, with lavish expenditure, has just opened its doors in New York City to the devotees of the gambling mania. This institution stands next door to one of the high-class hotels of that city. To give an idea of its sumptuous fittings, it is stated that one of its staircases alone cost $30,000. This institution will be supported by those who play at its tables for their neighbors’ money. But this is but the more open manifestation of the prevalence of the covetousness which characterizes this generation. It is fostered in the homes of the people by the private or social card parties at which some prize is offered to the winner; or in which, as is very frequently the case, the guests play for each other’s money. On every steamer that crosses the Atlantic the gambling element is much in evidence, and wealthy men barter away or win fortunes in an evening. This, with the development of the trust idea, the growth of combines, the bank embezzlements, thieving of accountants, forgeries for money, passing of fraudulent checks, the transacting of fraudulent business, the traffic in chastity, and the multitudinous other ways by which men come into possession of that which is not lawfully theirs, indicate the ripening of the world’s harvest of sin. We are now in the harvest time, and soon will the great Reaper thrust in the sickle on this earth. Never before in the history of this world did wealth set such a mad pace for its worshipers. The goal is near, and the contestants are sacrificing everything to win. An organization known as the Compressed Spirits Company, with a capitalization of $1,000,000, has been organized at Binghampton, N. Y., for the purpose of manufacturing whisky and wine in tablets which can be carried in the vest pocket; so that a man can easily carry in his pocket enough whisky or wine to make him completely intoxicated. Whether these are to be swallowed as tablets or dissolved in water, the report does not state. It is another one of Satan’s inventions for the debauchery of the age. Such a discovery for such a purpose did not seem necessary, but it has come, showing that there are still unfathomed depths to be reached in the work of destroying the image of God in man, and preparing him for the undisputed possession of his wily master. British and German journals are discussing at great length the recent utterances of the President in his tour of New England, especially in reference to the Monroe doctrine. Some of the English journals see in the President’s reference to this matter at this time a threat or warning to some European powers which are thought to have their eyes on South American or Central American countries. The Germans are surprised at the strong re-assertion of the doctrine at a time when, they claim, there is no thought of interference with that doctrine. Some of them see in it a desire to prepare the public mind for an enlargement of the American navy. The North Atlantic fleet, under Rear-Admiral Higginson, has put to sea from the southern New England coast, to take part in the sham battle between the army and navy. The navy is to make an attack on some part of the southern New England coast, and the army is supposed to forestall the attack. The whole coast now is under army patrol, and troops are kept in readiness to re-enforce any threatened port, while each artillery post is manned with its quota of artillerymen, who are sleeping by their guns as if actual war were on instead of a sham battle. One of the greatest trusts yet projected is that proposed by the union of the great meat-packers of the United States. It is reported that this proposed trust will have a capitalization of $500,000,000, and will do an annual business of $1,000,000,000, with an annual net profit of $75,000,000. Such a combination will have literal control of the meat market of this country, fixing the prices of both what it buys and what it sells to make the business pay just such a profit as it may choose. The Isle of Pines has now no government, either de facto or de jure. By the terms of the agreement between the United States and Cuba, this island was not included within the boundaries of Cuba. It is not yet a part of the United States, tho it is probable that eventually it will be so. The schools have been closed for the want of revenue to continue them, and every other public function has been abandoned. The civil affairs of the island are at a standstill. There is a concerted movement among the railway operatives of the country to unite in a demand on their employers for a considerable advance in pay. The movement is said to include engineers, conductors, brakemen, firemen, carmen, and switchmen. The demands are to be made formally on certain groups of roads by the middle of September. Preparations are being made at the San Francisco mint for the coining of $250,000 per month in subsidiary silver for the Philippines. These will be distinctively Philippine coins. On August 30 a train consisting of six coaches was picked up from the track near Owatonna, Minn., by a tornado, and the coaches were rolled over and over as if they had been playthings. Three persons were killed in the wreck, four fatally injured, and about thirty less seriously hurt. The engineer was endeavoring to run away from the threatening cloud, but its speed was greater than that of his train. From the clouds of fine dust which have been obscuring the sun over the islands of the West Indies during several days of this week, it is evident that another terrible eruption of Pelee has taken place. Cable communication with the island has again been interfered with, which indicates subterranean disturbances among the islands. The members of the Lee family of Chinese in San Francisco have just imported a new idol for one of their joss houses, at a cost of $15,000. The officials of the custom-house will charge duty on this joss, not in accordance with its supposed value to its worshipers, but according to the value of the material used in its construction. The director of the United States mint announces that the amount of gold produced in the United States during the year 1901 aggregated $78,666,700, which was about half a million less than the amount produced during the previous year. The commercial value of the silver produced during 1901 amounted to $33,128,000. A movement is now on foot for a world trust in the manufacture of steel and iron. German manufacturers are planning to reach an understanding with the great American trust for the purpose of dividing the territory and eliminating competition, and thus securing greater profits from their investments. Serious strikes of laborers are occurring in a number of Italian cities. The restaurants of Florence are all closed, and the newspapers can not be published. In other cities the street cars are not running, tho many of these towns are crowded with tourists from other countries. Recent earthquakes in the island of Mindanao, Philippines, are reported to have been very severe. The shocks were sufficiently heavy to overturn cannon, throw men off their feet, and toss heavy ammunition boxes about. Twenty natives are reported to have lost their lives from falling walls. Reports from the Orient state that thousands of persons are dying of the plague in China and the island of Java. In one city of Kwansi Province, China, the disease finds so many victims that coffins can not be supplied for their burial. In Japan also the disease is finding many victims. Reports from the island of St. Vincent state that an epidemic of the plague has broken out on that island as a result of the many bodies of volcanic victims being left so long unburied. The disease is spreading all over the island, and many hundreds are suffering from it. Altho some are predicting that the strike of the anthracite coal miners will soon be over, there are no indications of its termination. Several clashes have occurred during the week between miners and the militia, and additional troops have been called out. While the British are seeking for a cotton belt in the region of the upper Nile which would make England independent of the American cotton supply, the Germans are seeking to develop cotton-growing in Togoland, West Africa, for the same purpose. Thirty thousand Navajo Indians are said to be actually at the point of starvation in Southern Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. It is feared that unless something is done for them soon, there will be a disastrous uprising. In Michigan City, Indiana, recently two infants were born who were already stricken with smallpox at the time of their birth. Both the families are said to be Dowieites, and physicians are not permitted to enter the homes. Representatives of the Boers are now seeking for the concession of a large area of agricultural and pasture land on the island of Madagascar, and it is said that the French Government is looking favorably upon the request. Fighting continues in Colombia, Venezuela, and the Republic of Hayti. It is reported also that war is probable between Nicaragua and Colombia, because of Nicaragua’s assistance to the Colombian revolutionists. Capitalists of Buenos Ayres, with the assistance of British capital, are planning a combination with the great meat trusts of America, with the purpose of controlling the meat trade of the world. King Victor Emmanuel of Italy visited the German emperor at Berlin on August 28, and was received with great enthusiasm and military demonstrations in his honor. The new battleship Maine, altho the fastest in the navy, is still one-tenth of a knot below the contract speed, she having attained 17.9 knots on her official trial trip. From the State of Nepal, India, comes a report of disastrous landslides which have resulted in the death of several hundred persons. Reports from Brazil state that there are new rumors of conspiracies against the government and of plans for a revolution.