News and Notes

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 27, 1901

— The colored people have been driven out of Marionville, Mo.

— As the steel trust imports non-union men to continue its work, clashes between them and the union men may now be expected.

— It is reported that the Colombian insurgents who came from Ecuador “have won a great battle over government troops at Pasto.”

— Dispatches state that the United States War Department is to stop “the sale of Philippine children in Mindanao and Jolo,” and that the officials are “greatly perplexed by the slavery problem.”

— The Press-Post, of Columbus, Ohio, is tied up by striking printers belonging to the International Typographical Union. The manager, however, is defiant, and is endeavoring to proceed with non-union men.

— According to Chinese papers, Russia is “trying to get China to surrender Chinese Turkestan to Russia, thus allowing Russia to concentrate troops and war munitions toward the borders of the Indian Empire.”

— The Sultan is having some trouble with France, over French claims. Three French battle-ships and a cruiser are taking on stores at Toulon “for active duty.” Violence will be used by France only as a last resort.

— On the 22d inst. a mob at Ashville, Ala., attempted to lynch a negro sentenced to be hung. The sheriff and his posse resisted, and shot three of the mob. The negro, as usual, had been accused of attacking a white woman.

— A Tuscaloosa, Ala., sheriff maintained the dignity of the law when, on the 15th inst., armed with a shotgun, he “drove off a mob of fifty men that had come to the jail to lynch a negro prisoner.” A small army of such men would soon drive Judge Lynch from the land.

— The Sentinel of Liberty reports continued activity on the part of the Sunday-law agitators of this country. Many arrests of Sunday-law breakers are being made. For more news on this important question, read the Sentinel. It is published at Chicago, and each number is of interest. Sixteen pages each week; price only one dollar a year.

— In his annual report, the United States Commissioner of Labor states that “in nearly all the trades, and especially in skilled labor, the number of hours of labor required of the wage-earner has decreased, while the rate of wages has, in the majority of instances, increased.” But what about the poor creatures who wear away their lives in the infernal sweat-shops of our large cities?

— The 20th inst. Pierce City, Mo., was reported to be “under the rule of a white mob, which had driven out all the negro inhabitants, except car porters, and murdered three negroes by lynching, besides burning to death one negro man who was too old to escape from one of the five negro dwellings to which the mob had set fire. The cause of this lawlessness was the murder of a white girl by an unknown assassin.”

— Supported by the action of Governor Longino, the sheriff at Sardis, Miss., saved a negro prisoner from being lynched the 15th inst. “At the first appearance of the mob, he appealed to the governor for troops, and warned the mob that meanwhile he would protect the prisoner with his life. Fifteen citizens volunteered to help him, and upon the arrival of troops the prisoner was safely removed to the penitentiary.”

— The Peking correspondent of the New York Sun states that “200 rifles and 20,000 cartridges have been sent to the missions in Mongolia.” Commenting upon the dispatch, the Episcopal Recorder says: “By this it appears that the Roman Catholic missionaries are pursuing the same forceful policy they adhered to before the Boxer outbreak. We hope that it will be noticed that such has not been, and is not, the plan followed by any Protestant missionaries. We do not feel called upon to criticise the methods of the Roman Catholic missionaries, but would emphasize the importance of discriminating between them and the missionaries of the Protestant churches, on account of the differences in the methods employed. There are missionaries and missionaries.”

— Russia has proclaimed her suzerainty over New Chwang, China.

— United States Minister Conger has returned to Peking, China.

— The National Negro Business League convened in Chicago the 21st inst.

— British Parliament completed its business the 19th, and was prorogued.

— General MacArthur recently arrived at San Francisco, from Manila, P. I.

— A notice has been posted at Springfield, Mo., “ordering negroes to leave the place.”

— Fifty French scouts were recently captured by the Boers, near Bethesda, South Africa.

— The Czar has accepted the invitation to visit France, “to witness the close of the grand maneuvers at Rheims.”

— Much property was damaged by the recent terrific storm which swept along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

— Because of striking employees, the Bay View (Wis.) steel works will be closed indefinitely. Only the blast furnace will run.

— Kitchener, with a large force, is advancing on Hondweni, near Zululand. General Botha is reported to be there with 4,000 Boers.

— The members of the Transvaal Council and Legislature are nearly all dead, or prisoners. This practically wipes out the Boer government organization.

— The Mississippi River steamer “City of Golconda” was struck by a squall near Paducah, Ky., the 21st inst. and upset. Number of persons drowned, thirty-five.

— Dispatches state that the Chinese in Peking are “again becoming insolent to foreigners.” They doubtless have sufficient reasons for provocation at the foreigners.

— News comes from Armenia of the destruction of twelve villages by bands of Kurds. All the inhabitants were killed, except the young women, who were carried off.

— A leading editor of the United States calls the present labor struggle “the most stupendous of strikes.” Should all the employees of the United States Steel Corporation decide to strike, the number of men involved and affected will be as follows: Carnegie Steel Company, 50,000 men; Federal Steel Company, 16,000; American Steel and Wire Company, 24,000; National Tube Company, 30,000; National Steel Company, 12,000; American Tin Plate Company, 25,000; American Steel Hoop Company, 14,000; American Sheet Steel Company, 22,000; American Bridge Company, 20,000. Total number of men employed by this great corporation of companies, 213,000. The great trust refuses to sign the wage scale proposed by the Amalgamated Association, which latter is endeavoring to induce all these men to strike. Speaking of this great industrial struggle, and of the principles involved, the Christian Advocate, of New York, well says: “If the strike be long, other iron and steel makers who have not lacked courage in competing with the United States Steel Corporation, will be greatly encouraged. The tendency of the strike, if protracted, will be to build up the business of these competitors. They will get many of the best workers now on strike. Some think that the consequence of this will be more secure trade conditions in the iron and steel industry for years to come. That, from our (perhaps partial) view of the case, is not very likely to follow. If the United States Steel Corporation was to go out of business, the same issues would soon arise among those who would succeed it. If the war is long, the United States Steel Corporation will have to train new laborers, and the labor market will be glutted in the end. When the crash comes that is likely to come if neither party gives way, a new revelation will be made, out of which may come changes not now foreseen. If some method could be devised for ‘letting down’ each party to this conflict without humiliation,—that is, by compromise on both sides,—it would be well for the time; but at any moment the very issue now being tested may rise. Whether Mr. Morgan [head of the trust] has the poise or the tact to disguise arrogance when dealing with men in inferior position, and Mr. Shaffer sound judgment, are vital questions to-day. However this may be, the ‘immovable obstacle’ and the ‘irresistible force’ are in conflict. The duty of the State government is to maintain order, the rights of property and of personal liberty—that is their only duty. In case any State fails to preserve the peace, on request of its governor the federal authorities can assist it; and if any of its property or mails are involved, the federal government may interfere.”

— Carsund, Norway, is nearly all destroyed by fire, and 1,200 of its people are homeless.

— Vice-president Zañartu, of Chile, has resigned “as a protest against further military preparations.”

— William V. B. Beach, “Father of the House of Commons,” is dead. He entered Parliament in 1859.

— Just as we go to press it is learned that the French Ambassador at Constantinople has sent an ultimatum to the Sultan, “that he would leave the place unless satisfaction is given for French grievances.”

— Dispatches from Moscow state that Russia is “on the eve of another famine. Only two provinces out of seventy have really good harvests, and a district twice the area of France will probably suffer from famine.”