Adulterated Food Called Pure
According to press report, the Pure Food Commission of the State of Illinois has agreed to call all food pure which contains no more than twenty-five per cent of adulterants. If the report be true, it simply shows that the adulteration of food has come to be so generally practised as to be considered legitimate, provided it be kept below a certain proportion. The deleterious effect of adulterated foods is universally recognized, and pure-food commissions are appointed for the purpose of seeing that no adulterated foods are allowed on the market. What powerful influence has been brought to bear upon this commission to cause it to adopt such a policy can only be surmised; but the official who can call a food pure which he knows to be only three-quarters pure, is certainly not a safe person to trust in such an important calling; and they who mingle such a proportion of foreign substance with the food they sell are but illustrating the tendency of the times in the race for wealth at the expense of life and health. There never was a time when the adulteration of food was carried to such an extent as now, and it is fair to lay at the door of this dishonest business much of the premature deaths and weakened constitutions and ill-health so evident on every hand. It is another of those infallible indicators which show that we are in the last days. Reports from China still indicate tension between the powers, and a lack of that harmony necessary to a perfect settlement of the difficulty. The Japanese press accuses Russia of a desire for permanent occupation in China, to which Japan can not possibly agree. China refuses to ratify the proposed treaty with Russia, partly on her own account and partly on account of the opposition of the powers. The foreign ministers have conceded two points to the Chinese in order to secure harmony. The first point is that the walls of the Taku forts shall not be destroyed, and the second is the admission of a prominent Chinese viceroy to the Whang Po board of conservancy. England has notified the Chinese that unless the instigators of the Chuchau massacre are punished forthwith, England will refuse to withdraw her troops from China. The Russians, according to a despatch from Shanghai, are beginning the fortification of Newchwang, and are pushing their railroad to the Korean frontier. China is asking that there be a permanent settlement between Russia and the Chinese Government in regard to the occupation of Manchuria; but Russia manifests no disposition to release her hold on that province. War seems imminent between Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. According to reports Venezuela is assisting the Colombian rebels with arms and ammunition, and the troops of Ecuador are preparing to invade Colombia. War-ships of several of the powers are concentrating in the vicinity of the threatened trouble to be ready to act in case their interests are jeopardized. The United States has ordered war vessels to take up stations on both sides of the isthmus. Two invasions of Venezuela by Colombian troops have been repulsed. In view of this disturbance of the peace, the president of Venezuela has suspended the constitution. In Colombia several battles have recently been fought between government troops and the rebels, and atrocities are being committed on both sides. The rebels are said to number 28,000 men. Terrible floods are reported from the valley of the Yang-tse Kiang, in China. Reports received at Shanghai place the number of deaths at not less than 20,000, in the provinces of Kiangsi, Hunan, Hupeh, and Anhui. The floods came very suddenly, resulting from one of the heaviest rains known for centuries, so far as Chinese records go. For weeks the river has been dotted with the floating remains of men and animals. Many towns have been absolutely wiped out. In Japan the rainfall has been the heaviest that has been recorded during the thirty years that the weather bureau has been established. Evidence is accumulating that yellow fever is carried by mosquitoes. A Spaniard who had placed himself in the hands of the doctors at Havana for the purpose of experimentation, and was bitten by a mosquito which had bitten a yellow-fever patient, contracted the fever and died. Others have contracted the disease in the same way, and have developed most difficult cases. This, the doctors state, will stop further experiments, as the mosquitoes are more dangerous than had been supposed. A terrible storm is reported along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and although reports are indefinite, it seems certain that many lives have been lost. The waters of the gulf were driven before the storm like a tidal wave, which resulted in great loss of property. An engine of the Great Northern Railway has just completed 4,000,000 miles. This, it is believed, breaks all records for railway engines. A cable to the New York Sun from Manila says: “The friars have issued a circular to the public, through the Centro Catolico, in which they anathematize the United States Government in a passionate appeal to Catholics. The circular declares that the government has declared war against God, and denounces the members of the Philippine commission as four rickety brawlers. The occasion for this is said to be that, in a recent local dispute in Tarlac City, Governor Taft issued a proclamation to the effect that he neither desired nor could interfere in religious questions, and reminding the persons involved of the separation of Church and State. The pamphlet calls the government officials buffoons, talkative pygmies, vile persecutors, and pusillanimous politicians, who are seeking to overthrow the church under the guise of pernicious liberty, and are attempting to eclipse the sun of the moral world. It calls on Catholics morally to unite against this ‘impious and irreligious government.’” If Governor Taft is teaching the Filipinos and friars that the interests of both Church and State are best served when the two are separate, he is doing a good work. The great strike of steel workers is still unsettled, and neither side to the controversy seems willing to make concessions which will be acceptable to the other, while representatives of both sides claim that no further concessions can be made. Many mills remain completely closed down, and while some have been started up with non-union help, others have been forced to suspend operations. Thus both sides claim victory, and the end is not in sight. Thousands of dollars a day are lost to both employer and employee, and the great steel industry is seriously demoralized. The call for a general strike of the Amalgamated Association succeeded in bringing out only a portion of the men. There seems to be on the part of the great steel corporation a determination to break the strike on its own terms. The strikers, recognizing this, regard the outcome as a test of strength, and are determined to use every resource in their power to win. Other unions are threatening to strike, and other employers are proposing reductions in wages. Thus this bids fair to be a memorable year in the contest between these great opposing forces. Statistics recently issued at Washington show that from 1790 to the present time the government has disbursed the enormous sum of $2,763,353,033 in pensions. During recent years there has been a rapid growth in the amount paid out yearly on this account. During President Grant’s first term the yearly average of the pension disbursements was $29,034,069. During his second term the average was $28,589,839. While Mr. Hayes was president, the average was $38,330,622. During Garfield’s administration it rose to $59,456,268. During Mr. Cleveland’s first term there was a further average increase to $76,409,165. It amounted to $129,926,931 while Mr. Harrison was in office, and $139,487,602 during Mr. Cleveland’s second term. Between 1897 and 1901 the yearly average rose to $140,000,137, and during the present administration it will probably exceed that amount. This is but one of the items in the increasing cost of war. Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts has been making an investigation of conditions in the military camps at the present time, to determine whether or not there has been an increase of drunkenness and disturbances in those camps since the passage of the anti-canteen law, as the liquor element and some government officials have charged. He declares that the almost universal testimony of the soldiers is to the effect that there has been no increase either in disturbances or drunkenness. There seems to have been an increase in the number of arrests; but these are due to a change of policy intended to produce canteen arguments, such as the arresting of soldiers for very small offenses formerly passed over or punished very lightly, which are now made the occasion for multiplying court-martials. The new French cruiser Jean d’Arc, which was recently completed at a cost of $4,600,000, has proved a failure. Another cruiser, the Chateau-Renault, built at the same time at a cost of $3,200,000, has also proved a failure. The first-named vessel was designed as a commerce destroyer, and was supposed to be capable of overhauling the fast merchant vessels of the Atlantic; but with only 24 of her 36 boilers in use the heat developed in the boiler and engine rooms was so intense as to drive the men from their work. The heat produced in the machine room of the second vessel on her trial was so great as to melt some of the machinery. A special despatch from Shanghai, bearing date of August 14, states that the Russians at Newchwang, China, have proclaimed the czar’s suzerainty over that district; have abrogated the Chinese laws; and have prohibited the natives from referring their disputes to the arbitration of American or British merchants or missionaries. All disputes must be referred to the Russians for settlement. A despatch to the Pall Mall Gazette from Constantinople states that a company of 400 Kurds has been raiding the Delmisara district of Armenia, and has destroyed twelve villages, leaving nothing but smoking ruins. Only the young girls were spared, and these were carried away by the marauders. The United States transport Sheridan arrived in San Francisco Bay from Manila on the morning of August 18, with the Fourteenth Regiment of infantry and Major General Arthur MacArthur. In some parts of Europe war has been declared upon the trailing skirt. In Saxon, Switzerland, wearers of the trailing skirt are fined. At Ems, Prussia, the authorities have put up a notice that no long skirts are to be admitted within the public gardens. In Ischl, Upper Austria, some of the wearers of long skirts have been set upon by the people and their skirts riddled. Within a few days nearly 200 shingle mills of Washington, comprising the Washington Cedar Shingle Manufacturing Association, will be ordered by the executive committee of that association to close down indefinitely, for the purpose of curtailing production and maintaining prices. Mills representing an aggregate of 10,000,000 shingles a day have already voted to close. The steamer Islander, belonging to the Canadian Pacific navigation fleet, struck an iceberg in Lynn Canal on the night of August 14, while on a return trip from Alaska, and foundered. The reports indicate that about 60 persons went down with the vessel, which sank within fifteen minutes of the collision. The Islander was pronounced the finest vessel on the Alaskan route. On August 15, 30 tons of nitro-gelatin were exploded on the famous Arch Rock, of San Francisco Bay. The rock, which protruded above the waters of the bay in the very track of vessels going through the Golden Gate, was honey-combed with drills, and every hole filled with the powerful explosive. Nothing now remains of the famous obstruction. A large portion of the Russian empire is again facing famine. The population of the famine district numbers 43,000,000. The havoc has been wrought by the intense heat and the absence of rain. Afterward there were torrential downpours, accompanied with hail. The appearance of innumerable pests is completing the destruction. The charges of collusion between the police of New York City and the gamblers are to be investigated, the governor of the State taking an active interest in the matter. Assistant District Attorney Osborne has been placed in charge of the inquiry, and a thorough investigation of the charges is promised. The Mexican Government has taken a decided stand against gambling. No more licenses are to be issued to gambling houses, and all public officials found frequenting places where gambling is carried on are to be dismissed at once from the service, and turned over to the civil authorities. It is reported that the customs officials of Dawson have seized 10,000 gallons of liquor, which had been brought to that city without permit. According to the present law, the whole shipment becomes confiscate to the Canadian Government. The French press is making extraordinary claims for the new submarine torpedo boats recently constructed for the navy, claiming that these boats make the French navy now the equal, if not the superior, of any navy in the world. The English Parliament now has under discussion the expenditure of $130,000,000 for the purpose of increasing coaling facilities for English war-ships and also accommodations for docking the war vessels. Two companies of Turkish troops have occupied Kilsobair, disputed territory across the Bulgarian frontier, and the Bulgarian charge d’affaires has demanded their withdrawal within a specified time. The Union and Southern Pacific railways are adopting a plan for the consolidation of their outside offices which will enable the two concerns to carry on their business with a much smaller force. A sudden squall on the Ohio River caused the steamer City of Golconda to capsize near Paducah, Kentucky, on August 19, carrying down to death about a score of her crew and passengers. The foreign ministers in China are said to have agreed upon the final draft of a protocol. This includes the rate of tariff on imports, and a list of articles to be admitted free of duty. The remains of the Dowager-Empress Frederick of Germany were laid to rest beside those of her husband in the mausoleum at Friedenskirche, near Potsdam, on August 13. A terrible famine now exists in the province of Sian-Fu, China. Human flesh is being sold for food. Great distress is also reported from the southern part of Shansi province. The government is said to have lost millions of dollars in New York through a conspiracy between a customs official and certain large importers of silk goods. The funeral of Signor Crispi, Italy’s great statesman, was held at Naples on August 14, with imposing ceremonies. Marquis Ito, Japan’s greatest statesman, is coming to America for a short stay, on advice of his physician. General Maximo Gomez has refused the nomination for the presidency of the Cuban Republic.