News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 22, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 51.

Domestic.—A syndicate with a capital of $25,000,000 has secured control of the electric light, heat, and power franchises of New York City......The proposed Nicaragua Canal is receiving much attention in Congress......Senator Vest made a speech in the Senate against territorial expansion of the United States. Petitions of citizens from various localities have been presented against it, through their representatives in Congress. Col. Henry Waterson made a speech in favor of territorial expansion in New York City, on December 9......The women of the United States, to the extent of many thousand are organizing to prevent Mr. Roberts, of Utah, from taking a seat in the House of Representatives, because of his polygamy......This country is about to try in Porto Rico its first experiment in the government ownership of telegraphs......Col. W. J. Bryan has resigned his position in the army, and his resignation has been accepted......The New York Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Board of Trade has voted in favor of territorial expansion and the retention of the Philippines......Helen Gould has donated $310,000 to the New York University library......The battle-ship Massachusetts struck a reef near Governor’s Island, New York Harbor, on December 11, and was considerably damaged......The American Federation of Labor met in Kansas City, December 12......Witchcraft is being practised among the superstitious Indians of Alaska, and the courts have ordered its suppression......The treaty of peace between Spain and the United States was signed in Paris December 10, at 8:45 P.M. Steps are now being taken to renew diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Spaniards, however, express dissatisfaction over the terms of the treaty, saying that they yielded only because forced to do so......Charles W. Miller, who has just beaten all records in bicycle riding, did it on a vegetarian diet......A milk trust with a capital of $10,000,000 is being formed in Chicago......The American Navy is again being painted white, its color during peace......Articles of incorporation of a tobacco trust with a capital stock of $75,000,000, have been filed with the Secretary of State in New Jersey......Severe storms in the Southwest have done great damage to crops......The union of Hebrew Congregations in session in Richmond, Va., December 7, voted against the “Zionist” movement in the following terms: “While we are aware of and deplore the abject condition to which many of our brethren are subjected in foreign lands, and that have naturally but unfortunately aroused in some of them a yearning for a re-establishment of Zion, yet we, the delegates of the union, are unalterably opposed to political Zionism. The Jews are not a nation, but a religious community. Zion was a precious possession of the past, the early home of our faith, where our prophets uttered their world-subduing thoughts and our psalmists sang their world-enchanting hymns. As such it is a holy memory, but it is not a hope of the future. America is our Zion, and Washington our Jerusalem. Here is the home of religious liberty. We have aided in founding this new Zion—the fruition of the beginning laid in the old. The mission of Judaism is spiritual, not political. Its aim is not to create a state, but to spread the truths of religion and humanity throughout the world.”

International.—In a recent trial the lord mayor of London was found to be guilty of gross abuse of his office by arranging contracts for the city’s lighting for his own personal profit, and also for using his position in promoting other companies for his private gains. A number of his relatives were implicated with him......Fighting still continues in the Swat Valley, India......Great Britain is seeking to gain joint control with the United States of the Nicaragua Canal. With this in view she has just completed negotiations for the purchase of Greek Pond, at the western extremity of Kingston, Jamaica, and will at once begin the construction there of the most extensive dock-yards in the British dominions......The kaiser’s recent trip to the Holy Land was very disappointing to him, on account of the “squalid decay he found at Jerusalem.”......Chinese papers state that a reign of terror exists within the walls of the imperial palace because the empress dowager has determined to weed out all the followers of the emperor......The ashes of Columbus are now on their way from Havana, Cuba, to Spain......Joseph Chamberlain, British secretary of state of the colonies, has made another speech in which he favors a friendly understanding with the United States. Upon the same subject the London Times, editorially says: “We believe that the far Eastern interests of the United States and England will be brought into line, and will be jointly safeguarded by a combination so strong and imposing that no other power nor powers could venture to defy it”......Two members of the French Chamber of Deputies headed an anti-Dreyfus demonstration in Paris on December 12. They were disbanded by a cordon of police. In the Chamber, fist fights and abuse are indulged in over the case of Dreyfus......England is still pressing the French for a settlement of their differences......The Turkish cavalry is reported to be increased by 25,000 troops, upon the advice of Emperor William......General Kitchener has gone to Khartoum to check the Khalifa and route his army of Dervishes......Colonel Knight, of England, has built a thermometer seventy feet long. He has had it placed in the ground its full length, for the purpose of scientific investigation.

Cuba.—General Calixto Garcia, the great Cuban leader, died in Washington, D. C., on December 11, of pneumonia. He was there on government business. He will be buried in Cuba......The Cuban generals Jose Sanguilly and Jose Lancret are accused of a plot to cause an uprising in the city of Havana before the U. S. troops reach there in sufficient numbers to enforce order. They have been placed under arrest......Three Cubans were killed in Havana December 12, in a riot resulting from an attempt to close the theaters out of respect to Garcia......There is great destitution among the laboring classes in Havana. Thirty thousand are said to be in need......As the result of American control of Cuba the value of all stocks has materially advanced.

Philippines.—There are nearly 2,000 United States troops sick at Manila. The Kansas, Wyoming, Nevada, and California Artillery has just reached there......The insurgents at Batangos refused to allow the officers from the U. S. cruiser Raleigh to land until they had conferred with Aguinaldo......The Philippine insurgents have violated their pledges to refrain from plunder, and are now torturing bishops, friars, and brothers, looting churches, robbing public officials, and committing gross crimes generally—a natural reciprocity......There is a report that Japan has offered $200,000,000 for the Philippines......Admiral Dewey reports that Aguinaldo’s actions are the occasion of much uneasiness.