NEWS AND NOTES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 9, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 23.

Progress of the War

On May 25, President McKinley issued a second call for volunteers, placing the number desired at 75,000. This makes the entire number of volunteers now called out 200,000, while the regular army is being recruited to 62,000...... On May 26 the three transports, City of Peking, City of Sydney, and the Australia, sailed from San Francisco with about three thousand troops for the reinforcement of Admiral Dewey at Manila. Other transports are being concentrated for the second expedition, which leaves within a few days, and which will be accompanied by General Merritt, the military governor of the Philippines, who is now in San Francisco. It is stated that the entire force which will be sent to the Philippines will amount to 20,000 men. General Miles has reported to the President that he now has at his command a force of 160,000 ready to move wherever they may be called to go......A cablegram has been received from Admiral Dewey, stating that the blockade of Manila is being effectively maintained, and that food is becoming scarce in the city. The Spanish cruiser Callao, which arrived at Manila recently from the Caroline Islands, was immediately captured by one of Admiral Dewey’s vessels. The captain of the Callao was not aware that war had been declared......The priests of Manila have given the governor $1,000,000 with which to pay off the Spanish troops and supply immediate needs. This was necessary, as the soldiers were ready for rioting......Rebellion has broken out in another province of the Philippines, and the insurgents are reported to be pillaging the houses and murdering the Spaniards. It is also reported from Manila that the natives of the Caroline Islands are in open revolt against the Spanish officials, and are engaged in all kinds of violence and depredations. To conciliate the Philippine insurgents the governor of the Philippines is offering every inducement short of absolute independence......A letter has been stolen from the house occupied by the two members of the Spanish legation at Washington who are now in Canada. It is reported that the letter contains a complete list of all Spanish spies now operating in the United States, and that this letter is now in the hands of United States officials. The Spaniards are very much exercised over the matter and are doing their best to recover the letter......Commodore Schley is now blockading the harbor of Santiago, Cuba, and has reported to headquarters that he has seen the fleet of Spain at anchor within the harbor fortifications. The location of this fleet being definitely ascertained, and it being impossible for it to get to sea again without meeting a superior fleet under Schley, the War Department has begun active operations for the occupation of Cuba. It is reported that transports loaded with troops and siege guns have already sailed, but whether for Cuba or Porto Rico is not known......General Miles and staff have left Washington for Tampa, to take the immediate supervision of the embarkation of troops......An expedition consisting of 380 Cubans left Florida on May 16, and made a successful landing in Cuba, with supplies of arms and ammunition......The British steamer Restormel was brought into Key West by the cruiser St. Paul, which captured her while attempting to run the blockade at Santiago and supply the Spanish admiral with coal. The captured vessel had on board 2,400 tons of Welsh coal, and had been following the fleet from port to port.

International

The Korean Government has decided to open three more ports to the trade of the world, and also to make Ping Yang an open market......Mexico is breathing in the universal war spirit, and her Congress has amended the national constitution so as to make military service compulsory. Universal conscription is not contemplated in the new law, but the aim is to make forced service legal, in order that preparation may be made for any great emergency, such as an invasion. A despatch from Vienna states that fresh disturbances are breaking out in the Balkan provinces, which it is believed portend a complete revolution there......It is proposed to hold an anti-tobacco congress in Paris at the time of the great exposition of 1900......The protocol recently signed between Chile and Peru provides for the return to Peru of the two provinces, Tacna and Arica, which were taken from her by Chile, and the payment of $10,000,000 indemnity to Chile by Peru......The terrible burden of taxation which the people of Italy are carrying is said to be the direct cause of the recent bloody riots in that country. The taxes which the government exacts at the present time amount to from fifty to sixty per cent. of the incomes of the tax-payers......An anti-European riot took place recently at Sha Shi, China. The British consul was severely beaten, the consulate destroyed, and the European residents forced to take refuge in the tea and silk hulks on the river. Several European stores and the custom-house were also destroyed by fire......Serious rioting took place at Erfurt, Prussian Saxony, on May 26, as a result of a local grievance. Soldiers charged the mob with drawn sabers, wounding a large number......Representatives of the Canadian Government have been recently in consultation with the State Department at Washington, and have agreed upon the appointment of a commission to which certain matters of dispute between the two countries shall be submitted......A reciprocity treaty has been signed between the United States and France, making important changes in the tariff rates on a number of articles constituting the chief trade between America and France. The products of each country will be admitted to the other at lower rates than now obtaining......The British Government has sent a friendly protest to Spain against the latter’s strengthening of the fortifications opposite Gibraltar, while Spain, on the other hand, claims that Great Britain has violated her neutrality by allowing American ships to coal at Jamaica, and by large shipments of coal from Vancouver, B. C., to ports of the United States. It is also reported from Hongkong that the English port authorities there have allowed the American supply ship Zafiro to take on supplies for Admiral Dewey......The press of Russia, seemingly inspired by the government, is warning the United States against an alliance with England. In Germany only the Socialist press is friendly to America, or believes in her sincerity in the present war......Much distress is reported from several of the provinces of Spain; bread is scarce, and the hard times are causing many to be thrown out of employment.

Casualties and Calamities

Four section men were killed near Cripple Creek, Colorado, on May 26, in a collision between the hand-car upon which they were riding and the regular passenger train......A large body of water was struck in the coal mine near Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on May 27, and six miners were caught and drowned by the in-rushing current......One hundred small children who were to take part in the Memorial day exercises at Denver, Colorado, were severely injured by the collapse of the improvised grand stand upon which they were rehearsing. Some of the children injured were mere babies......Three peace officers who were trailing train robbers in New Mexico were killed by the desperadoes near Magdalena, on May 25. The latter escaped......Two English steamers, the Mecca and Lindula, collided near Calcutta, India, on May 17. The Mecca was sunk, and her captain and 50 of her passengers were drowned......The governor of Sierra Leone has cabled to London that the Rev. and Mrs. McGrew, American missionaries, were killed by natives at Taima about May 8. It is known that several other missionaries were murdered at the same time......Two desperadoes robbed the bank of Springville, Utah, on May 28. A posse of citizens at once organized, captured one of the robbers and killed the other.

Cuba

A Spanish writer says that the concentration of Spanish troops in the filthy seaports of Cuba has caused the spread of yellow fever, which is making havoc in the Spanish ranks. He says: “Those ignorant, sickly peasants brought here from Spain to defend the Spanish flag are dying by hundreds every day. It is something awful to see. If the present situation lasts two months longer, Cuba will be a vast cemetery.” There is said to be food enough at Havana and Cienfuegos to last the army four months; but no provision whatever is made for the noncombatants, and the mortality is consequently increasing among them. In Havana the electric plant is shut down, and all factories which have been using coal have stopped work, in order to save fuel. The scarcity of fuel has reduced the effectiveness of the water works, and consequently water is scarce. Hundreds of Spaniards who would gladly leave Havana are prevented from doing so by the exorbitant rates charged for passage.

National

The United States Minister to Turkey, James B. Angell, of Michigan, has resigned, and his place will be filled by Oscar Straus, of New York. The latter has before held the position of Minister to that country......The rumor of the purchase of the Danish West Indies by the United States is again absorbing more or less interest. The persistency with which this rumor is held before the public would seem to indicate that such an action by this government might be expected not far in the future.

Miscellaneous

The United States cruiser Columbia collided with the English ship Foscolia on May 29 during a dense fog. The Foscolia was sunk, and the cruiser was considerably damaged, the bow of the Foscolia having cut into the hull of the cruiser, making a hole two feet by six. The crew of the sunken vessel were rescued by the cruiser......The port of Dyea, Alaska, has been made a sub port of entry by the Treasury Department......The Typographical Union of San Francisco has passed a resolution condemning President McKinley for the appointment of editor H. G. Otis, of the Los Angeles Times, as a brigadier-general, because of the fact that he does not favor the methods of that body......Considerable complaint has arisen in Hawaii over the exportation of many native Hawaiians to Mormon settlements in Utah after their conversion by Mormon missionaries in the islands. It is claimed that in almost every case the results of such action have been disastrous.

Educational

The late Dr. Elizabeth H. Bates, of Port Chester, N. Y., has bequeathed to the University of Michigan an estate valued at $125,000. A chair is to be established in the medical department, to be known as the Bates professorship, the subject to be the diseases of women and children. This bequest is the largest in the history of the institution......Prof. James E. Keeler, one of the most eminent astronomers of this country, has been chosen by the regents of the California University to be director of the Lick Observatory at Mt. Hamilton, to succeed director E. S. Holden. Professor Keeler has the distinction of having made the first observations through the great Lick telescope.

Fires

A fire broke out in the business portion of Dallas, Texas, on May 27, resulting in a loss of $350,000......The Pacific Union and Columbia Canneries, near Astoria, Oregon, were destroyed by fire on May 25, entailing a loss of about $65,000......A $200,000 fire visited the city of Los Angeles, California, on May 28, completely destroying a number of large establishments.