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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 6, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 45.

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Current Events

THERE is a renewal of active opposition to American government in the island of Samar, one of the Philippine Archipelago, and plots for further massacres have been unearthed, one in which a priest and the presidente of a village were concerned. The massacre of American troops on this island has had a tendency to renew warlike demonstrations in other parts of the Philippines. This is causing some anxiety in official circles, and it is reported that no more troops will be withdrawn from the island for the present, but that 10,000 troops will be sent to the Philippines as soon as they can be despatched, and the 20,000 whose terms of enlistment expire in June next will be replaced by others before these leave the islands.
THE Church Times, the organ of the ritualists, has made a violent attack on King Edward for attending services at a Presbyterian church, whose services the queen had frequently attended. This paper declares that as the king is a Catholic prince, he ought not to be found worshiping in the company of the Presbyterians and conforming to a different religion in Scotland. This paper excuses the queen’s attendance at the Presbyterian church because of her known Jacobite sympathies, but declares that the king ought to know better than to follow her example. In this attack is again emphasized the inconsistency of a State religion.
DESPITE the reports which have gone in to the War Department from army posts urging the restoration of the army canteen, General Miles is reported to have taken strong grounds in favor of the anti-canteen law as it stands. The report states that he will oppose the restoration of the canteen.
CERES, the first discovered of the small planets occupying the space between the earth and Mars, was found by Piazzi on the first day of the nineteenth century. About one month ago the 456th one was located by an observer at Heidelberg.
REPORTS from China state that Russia has promised to return to China several districts of the province of Manchuria, withdrawing her troops from them gradually; but she does not agree to return the whole province. Eighty more Chinese mandarins have been sentenced either to death or life imprisonment for assisting the Boxers against the foreigners. China is now buying back from the powers large quantities of ammunition which the allied troops took from the Chinese during the occupation of Tientsin. The United States Government, through Secretary Hay, has asked the Chinese Government for a municipal concession in Tien-tsin, so that Americans may be on equal footing with the people of other nations in the matter of trade.
A DESPATCH from Paris states that the French Government has decided not to give the sultan more time in which to settle the Lorando claim, but to resort to all measures of coercion warranted by the circumstances. It is said that France has not heretofore pressed the claim on account of the fear that in the unsettled condition of the interior of Turkey, this pressure might result in the dismemberment of the Turkish empire. It is understood that the powers of Europe are again discussing the question of making a joint demand on the sultan for better government in the territory over which he rules.
M. SANTOS-DUMONT, who has made several unsuccessful attempts to win the prize of $20,000 offered at Paris for the first airship to leave the public park, encircle the Eiffel Tower, and return in thirty minutes, accomplished the task in his airship on October 19. The judges refused to award him the prize because he did not come down to the ground on reaching the park until forty seconds after the expiration of the time specified.
THE first exclusions under the order in relation to second class postal matter were made on October 16, when a long list of novels in periodical form were placed on the third class list, to pay one cent on each two ounces. These include such serials as “Seaside Library,” “Idle Hour Series,” “Munroe’s Library of Popular Novels,” “Sweetheart’s Series,” etc. The department announces that further lists of excluded periodicals will soon be issued.
THE great sugar trust is now accused of a scheme to have the entire tariff on sugar abolished for the purpose of destroying the American sugar-growing industry and concentrating in its own hands the entire sugar-refining and sugar-distributing business of the United States. The abolition of the tariff, it is claimed, would ruin the beet-sugar growers of the West and the cane-sugar growers of the South, and thus put an end to all competition with the trust.
A MOVEMENT has been started in Holland and Belgium for the purpose of bringing pressure to bear upon England in favor of South Africa by attempting to paralyze England’s shipping trade. The movement seems to be receiving encouragement from the Dutch and Belgian press. The idea is to issue notices to the dock laborers of Belgium, France, and Holland, calling on them to refuse to work for British ships.
A CABLE from Manila, bearing date of October 16, states that the worst typhoon in ten years has been raging there for several days. Miles of railroad have been destroyed, and large portions of North and Central Luzon have been submerged. Much damage was done to telegraph lines and government vessels also suffered. Twenty persons were killed in Manila Bay, and the town of Baler has been destroyed.
FAMINE conditions have been officially announced to prevail in a number of Russian provinces, and the government is preparing for a hard winter among the peasantry. Bread riots have occurred in several of the famine-stricken districts. In some of these riots the municipal buildings have been stormed by the hungry peasants, and in clashes between the people and the soldiers, many have been killed and injured.
IN connection with the post office frauds at Havana, Cuba, the Cuban court has returned indictments against Neely, Rathbone, and Reeves. The court recommends that each of these men be fined to the amount of $150,000, and that Rathbone be sentenced to imprisonment for twenty-five years, Neely for twenty-five years and six months, and Reeves for twenty-four years and six months.
A REPORT from Chicago states that the Morgan-Hill syndicate has purchased a controlling interest in the Burlington, Northern Pacific, and Great Northern railroads, and all will be under the operation of one management, controlling 18,000 miles of road, with a gross earning capacity of over $100,000,000 yearly.
A BOARD of officers has been appointed by the government to select a site for a fort and batteries on the coast west of San Francisco and south of the Cliff House, for the purpose of preventing an attack upon the city and forts from the rear, and to prevent vessels shelling the city from the sea.
BURGLARS entered the Chicago post office on the night of October 21 by tunneling under the building and drilling through the steel floor, and stole stamps to the amount of $74,610. The robbers left no clue.
SECRETARY HAY has declined the invitation of the New York prison officials to have a representative of the government present at the execution of Czolgosz.
A SHIPMENT of silver ore valued at $3,500,000 was recently landed at Galveston, Texas, from Chile and shipped to the Pueblo, Colo., smelter. It required 215 cars to transport the ore to Pueblo, the freight bill on the railroad alone amounting to $60,000. The shipment consisted of 4,800 tons.
THERE seems now to be a disposition on the part of both Venezuela and Colombia to accept the good offices of the United States in the settlement of their difficulty. Residents of the city of Panama are still in hourly expectation of attack from the rebels, who are within a few miles of the city.
ON account of riots in Seville, Spain, martial law has been proclaimed, and as the rioting is extending to other cities, it is expected that these also will be proclaimed under martial law. The queen regent has called an extraordinary meeting of the cabinet to deal with the disturbances.
A GRANITE monument was recently unveiled in Dundee, Scotland, to James Bowman Lindsay, the pioneer in wireless telegraphy, and the one who foretold in 1834 the general use to which electricity would be applied as a mechanical and lighting agent.
THE president of the Panama Canal Company has arrived in New York for the purpose of disposing of the Panama Canal to the American Government. Friends of the Nicaragua Canal see in this incident a scheme for the defeat of the latter project.
A REPORT from Washington states that the Isthmian Canal Commission will soon hand its final report to President Roosevelt, and that the estimate of cost of the Nicaragua Canal, according to the figures of that commission, will be $200,000,000.
ACCORDING to reports from London, Lord Kitchener has sent an urgent request for more trained mounted men for the South African campaign. Twelve more captured Boer leaders have been permanently banished from South Africa.
THE British Admiralty has ordered the construction of a battle-ship larger than any now existing. Her displacement will be 16,500 tons, and her length 425 feet. She will be the first vessel of what will be known as the King Edward class.
A DESPERATE fight occurred at Columbia University, New York, on October 15, between the sophomores and freshmen, in which many of the young men were badly injured. No reason was given for the fight except class spirit.
AN experienced mining engineer is reported to have discovered in Eastern Egypt the long-deserted mines of the ancient Pharaohs. This part of Egypt is reported also to be rich in other precious metals and stones.
CHICAGO labor unions are preparing to fight the court injunction against picketing non-union shops. They propose to go on with picketing and submit to arrest, for the purpose of testing the injunction.
YALE UNIVERSITY celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of its establishment on October 21. Hundreds of distinguished guests and members of the alumni were present at the ceremonies.
THE threatened strike of French miners is assuming a serious aspect. The miners are furnishing themselves with arms and ammunition, in anticipation of a collision with the soldiers.
ACCORDING to recently published statistics of Parliament, 6,566 British ships have been wrecked during the past 24 years, carrying down with them to death 40,797 persons.
A STORM on the Mediterranean compelled the French aeronauts to abandon their attempt to cross that sea in a balloon. They were in the air forty-two hours.
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER has given to the Barnard College, in New York, the sum of $200,000, on condition that that institution raise a similar amount.
ACCORDING to a despatch from Cuba, a movement of considerable proportion is now on foot there for annexation to the United States.
THE NAVY DEPARTMENT has prepared its estimate of the funds needed by that department for the ensuing year. The total amount is $98,910,084.
DURING the last year the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company has paid out the enormous sum of $971,867 to satisfy claims for personal injuries.
THE British Government continues to purchase thousands of horses in the American Northwest for the use of its army in South Africa.
THE NEW ENGLAND building at the Pan-American Exposition was destroyed by fire on October 19. The loss is placed at $100,000.
A RECENT report from the leper settlement on Molokai, H. I., states that the disease is slightly on the decrease in the islands.
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY is preparing to give a course in the languages and dialects of the Philippine Islands.
CHINA, through the agency of Li Hung Chang, is pressing Russia for the recession of the province of Manchuria.
A REPORT from Florida states that that State this year will market 1,200,000 boxes of oranges.
MARQUIS ITO, premier of Japan, was entertained by President Roosevelt at Washington on October 21.