NEWS AND NOTES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 12, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 49.

SINCE OUR LAST ISSUE.

FOREIGN.

—England, it is stated, has sent in the past five years 672 women missionaries to China.

—In Scotland the Roman Catholics have 177 schools, with imperial grants of $347,940. The Episcopalians have 74 schools, with grants of $86,000.

—One result of the Japanese-Chinese war has been to open up four important treaty ports to the commercial world. Their names are Chung-King, Hang-Chow, Soo-Chow, and Sha-Hi.

—It is charged that twenty-five per cent of the children insured in the child life insurance companies among the poor classes in England are murdered for the insurance money.

—The expedition or war force to invade Ashantee and bring its king to the terms of the treaty that he has violated, has been despatched from England. It is said that not more than 1,500 men will be forwarded.

—The Canadian Government has let a contract for carrying mail between Juneau and Forty-mile Creek, Alaska. This is in the disputed territory, and the move is ahead of the United States, which has no mail route in that part.

—At the general convention of German Catholics held in Munich recently a resolution was passed urging Catholic young men to adopt academic and learned careers, in order that the Catholic Church may exercise an influence on public thought and life in proportion to her numerical strength.

—Don Carlos, king of Portugal, has been making a trip through Europe. On the schedule was a visit to his relative, King Humbert, of Italy. But on whom should he call first, Humbert or the pope, the self-styled prisoner of the Vatican? The question was about decided in favor of the former, when an intimation came from the pope that he refused to be second choice, consequently Don Carlos evaded the matter by passing by Italy entirely.

—As a mere incident, Russia is at present trying its hand in a series of persecutions on some fifteen thousand people in the Caucasus provinces. These people are likened to the Quakers, as they conscientiously refuse to carry arms. The government looks upon this as furnishing a precedent for millions if permitted to continue, and has resorted to the most severe and barbarous treatment of the sect, driving them from their homes and scattering them amongst the Georgians.

—Contrary to reported intentions, the extra war ships of the powers have not yet passed the Dardanelles, but from all appearances this move is delayed only a few days. Added to the insistence of the powers for additional representation of vessels is the troubled condition in the sultan's ranks, due to this proposed action. The sultan himself is said to be fearful of insurrections, and has gone so far as to order the arrest of Said Pasha, probably the most popular minister he has. This gentleman has taken refuge with the British embassy. The situation is critical, but, while the end can be seen, it is impossible to predict with any certainty the time, whether days or months.

DOMESTIC.

—The Salvation Army has a membership of 8,662 in this country.

—Five hundred railroad men have been discharged at Sacramento, as a matter of economy.

—The coroner's jury in the recent Cleveland drawbridge disaster has held the conductor of the car responsible for the loss of life.

—The builders have tried twice to give the battle ship Texas a speed test, but on both occasions the machinery has broken. Try again.

—A fire on December 3 destroyed property valued at half a million dollars in the wholesale district of Indianapolis. The buildings were all of brick.

—Two persons near Ash Springs, A. T., were murdered on December 3 by six renegade Indians from the San Carlos reservation. Troops have been ordered to overhaul the culprits.

—The President has nominated Rufus W. Peckham, of New York, to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the place made vacant by the death of Justice Jackson.

—Judge Murphy, of the Superior Court of San Francisco, has refused a new trial in the case of Durrant, and has given sentence,—death by hanging. And now the case will go to the Supreme Court, which has three months or more to render decision.

—The Federation of Women's Clubs in the United States comprises nearly six hundred individual clubs, with a membership of nearly a million. The work of these clubs extends to almost every branch of learning, and to the various subjects agitating the present public.

—A report comes from Chicago that 60,000 persons have signed a petition to be presented to the Board of Education asking that the reading of the Bible be restored in the public schools. The petition is indorsed by Archbishop Satolli and other Catholics, by Protestants and Jews; but all this is explained when we learn that not the entire Bible, but only select passages, unobjectionable to any of the petitioners, are to be used.

—Lord Salisbury's reply to Mr. Olney's note defining the position of this country in the Venezuela boundary line dispute, has been received at Washington, but has not been made public. Indeed, the reports have it that attempts were made to keep from the public the fact of its reception. That the reply is unsatisfactory to this government, and expresses the determination of Great Britain to adhere to her original refusal to submit the matter to arbitration, has been rumored ever since the announcement that the British Premier had despatched a reply. The matter was merely mentioned in the President's message to Congress, awaiting the reception of the note. The reply will probably be made known shortly.

—The fifty-fourth Congress assembled on December 2. In the Senate the Populist party will hold the balance of power, in conjunction with either of the old parties. In the House the Republicans are largely in the majority, consequently Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, speaker four years ago, was elected speaker. On December 3 the usual long message of the President was sent to Congress, fully half of which was a dissertation on the financial condition of the country, advising the retirement of greenbacks, and urging the issuance of bonds. Any remedial legislation is urged excepting the free coinage of silver, which of course touches the great point of difference among financiers. Recommendation is made that our ambassadors abroad be placed in a position more befitting representatives of a leading nation, by the purchase of embassy residences. Concerning foreign affairs, reference is made to the Chinese and Turkish riots, treaties, seal fisheries, Alaskan boundary, the case of Waller, and the sentences passed on American citizens in Hawaii. Some definite word has been awaited from the President on Cuban affairs, but, beyond touching upon the conflict being waged on that island, no hint is given concerning the recognition by this government of the Cubans as belligerents. The Monroe Doctrine is strongly upheld as applying to England's attempted land grab in Venezuela.