News and Notes

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 14, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 20.

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—The Japanese cabinet has resigned.

—Outbreaks against Turkish rule recently occurred in Macedonia.

—Hawaii has decided to give ex-queen Liliuokalani $25,000 a year.

—The New York University’s Hall of Fame will be dedicated the 30th inst.

—By the breaking up of the St. Clair River ice jam, 200 vessels are released.

—The National Council of Mothers will convene in Columbus, Ohio, May 21–24.

—Governor Dietrich, of Nebraska, has resigned, and is succeeded by Ezra P. Savage.

—The convention of the American Anti-Saloon League will be held in Washington, D. C., December 3–5.

—The discovery of some springs of lubricating oil in western Wyoming, is causing considerable excitement.

—Five large shipbuilding concerns of New York City are about to build in that city the largest dry dock in the world.

—A steel combine, formed by Philadelphia capitalists, is to be located at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Capitalization, $117,000,000.

—Rear-Admiral Cromwell has relieved Rear-Admiral Schley of the command of the South Atlantic squadron of the United States navy.

—Mrs. Mary Sankey, mother of the famous gospel singer, Ira D. Sankey, died at her home in New Castle, Pa., the 3d inst., aged ninety years.

—The British ambassador at Washington has received from Secretary Hay “the draft of a new canal treaty, having neutrality as a basic principle.”

—Recent dispatches state that “the friendliness between Russia and France has caused closer relations between Germany and England, with a possible alliance of the latter against Russia.”

—On the 9th inst. a French syndicate loaned Russia 425,000,000 francs, or $85,000,000. The syndicate is backed by the Bank of France, the Credit Lyonnais, the Rothschilds, and other French banks.

—Because of a strike, the street cars of Albany, Troy, Cohoes, Watervliet, and Rensselaer, N. Y., are not running. Among some of the demands of the strikers is one requesting the company to discharge seven non-union men.

—Bessarabia, Russia, is suffering from starvation and typhus, dispatches stating that “seventy per cent of the people in the district have lost all their horses, and are without seed for spring sowing.”

—The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N. Y., opened its gates the 1st inst. However, not over 1,000 paid admissions were sold on that day. The formal opening will take place the 20th inst.

—From India it is reported that “300 troops have been dispatched to the Sialkot district, to suppress plague riots. Twenty-five villages are in revolt, and several hospital assistants have been killed or wounded.”

—J. Pierpont Morgan and his associates have purchased “a controlling interest in the Leyland steamship line, which owns sixty-five vessels employed in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and West Indian trade.” Mr. Morgan paid a very high rate for these vessels—at least so say the English.

—General Waldersee has informed the ministers of the Powers in China that 6,000 men should garrison the Tien-tsin district. Of this force England, France, Germany, and Japan are to contribute 1,400 each, Italy furnishing 400 men. In order to garrison Shang-Hai-Kwan, France, Russia, Great Britain, and Germany “are to contribute 300 men each, and Italy one company until the forts are razed. So long as any forces occupy Chinese territory, the foreign military commanders must exercise the full authority of a civil administration, according to the principles established at The Hague in 1899. War-ships in the Pei-ho will preserve communication with the international fleet at Taku.” This does not look like early peace in China.

—On the 7th and 8th inst. there passed through St. Paul, Minn., 7,500 west-bound home-seekers.

—A $30,000 shortage has been discovered in the accounts of the treasurer of Colorado Springs, Colo.

—The Cuban Commission returned to Havana the 5th inst. It will be interesting to note what their report will be.

—Over 760,000 English coal miners threaten to strike “unless the coal-tax resolution in the House of Commons is withdrawn.”

—The number of Italian emigrants already booked to leave their country for the United States during this month, is 40,000.

—The United States has received an apology from Venezuela “for the arrest and fining of Consular Agent Ignacio Baiz, of Barcelona, and restitution will be made to him.”

—John D. Rockefeller, the oil magnate, recently told his son’s Bible class (in the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, New York) that he paid $23,000,000 a year to laboring men. But how much did the laboring men pay him?

—A syndicate composed of J. Pierpont Morgan & Co., Baring, Magoun, & Co., the National City Bank, the New York Life Insurance Co., and the Mutual Life Insurance Co., has subscribed for $50,000,000 of the new British war loan of $300,000,000.

—The mayor of Jacksonville, Fla., is appealing for help for the 10,000 persons made homeless by the recent fire. The fire burned to the ground 148 blocks, and not a church is left in the city. The mayor says that “money remittances should be made to A. M. Ives, treasurer.”

—The corn market has been “cornered” by a speculator on the Chicago Board of Trade who “has the gamblers in that cereal at his mercy, and fixes prices as he pleases.” Many have lost heavily, and, “driven to despair by their losses, May 4 two young men attempted to commit suicide.”

—The Clerical Union of the city of Buffalo, N. Y., is putting forth every effort to close the Pan-American Exposition on Sunday. They recently threatened to “take the matter of Sunday opening, even on a limited scale [the Midway amusements], to the courts.”

—The “committee on indemnity” at Peking, China, have asked China to pay $273,000,000. France, Germany, Japan, and Russia agree that China should secure this amount by raising her customs duties. On the other hand, England and the United States object to this plan, the aim of the latter being to “open all China to trade, not merely the treaty ports.”

—In a recent issue of the Turkish sultan’s official organ, the Sabah, is found the following: “The Christian missionaries are anarchists who are undermining the foundations of the Ottoman Empire. They are giaours, who presume to advocate a heathen’s belief in opposition to Mohammedanism. In the future, missionaries will not be allowed to open schools. The government will retard their activity wherever possible.”

—Recent dispatches from Berlin announce the discovery of “a gigantic conspiracy in Russian Poland, which has been followed by a large number of arrests. Six hundred persons who were suspected of being anarchists were imprisoned in the citadel at Warsaw. These included all the passengers on a train, numbering 200. The districts of Sosnovice, Siedlce, and Dombrova have been occupied by Cossacks.”

—Anticipating the rush of visitors to the Pan-American Exposition, certain capitalists built “the mammoth Statler Hotel, with nine acres of sleeping-rooms, three miles of halls, and a dining-room to feed 5,000 persons.” May 3 there were 286 hotel employees on duty, and but “one guest, Mr. Wilson, of New York, who humorously complained, to the officers, of inattention on the part of the servants, and announced that he would leave the next day. The management began at once looking for some one to take his place.”

—An exchange states that last week, at Columbia University, “instead of the regular lecture in the department of English, the members of the sophomore and freshmen classes were subjected to spelling tests. The instructors are seeking practical proof or disproof of the charge that college men can not spell correctly. The department will not announce the actual results of the tests up to date, but it is known that the percentage of errors in spelling comparatively simple words was surprisingly large. The tests will probably result in the establishment of a college class in spelling as an adjunct to the department of English.” Such a spelling class is sorely needed in most colleges and universities of this country.

—Forest fires are the cause of much damage in Wexford County, this State.

—Australia has vast coal fields, which have so far been practically untouched.

—Ex-Governor Hogg, of Texas, has been offered $3,000,000 for his interests in the Texas oil fields.

—The anti-imperialists recently objected strenuously to Harvard University’s giving to President McKinley the degree of doctor of laws.

—A State coal-mine is soon to be opened in New Zealand “to supply the government railways with coal, and to keep down the prices.”

—Germany will forbid the employment of saccharine, “except when it is recommended for therapeutic purposes,” as its use is very injurious.

—The Standard Oil Company has just declared a dividend of $12 a share, making a total of $32 per share thus far this year. Last year the total dividends, per share, were $48.

—Civil government was established in the city of Manila, Philippine Islands, the 3d inst., “preliminary to the inauguration of a general civil government.”

—The present population of London, including the city itself and “twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs, forming what is termed the administrative county of London,” is 4,536,934, an increase of 308,717 since the previous census.

—“A strange phenomenon was recently witnessed in southern Italy and Sicily,” says the Scientific American. “This was a heavy red cloud which extended over this territory, and the rain resembled drops of coagulated blood. This phenomenon, which is called ‘bloody rain,’ is attributed to dust from the African deserts transported by heavy south winds.”