p. 14 | SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Feb 4, 1886

SECULAR.

—Twenty-three Nihilist conspirators were arrested in St. Petersburg, January 29.

—A fire in St. Paul, Minn., January 29, destroyed property to the value of $255,000.

—The Cologne Gazette says that in Germany 10,000 persons die of delirium tremens every year.

—The increase in the production of cotton since the slaves were emancipated, is said to be 1,000,000 bales per year.

—The latest returns of the British army show that the regular forces number about 201,000 effective soldiers of all ranks.

—The value of the building improvements of the City of Mexico for the year 1885 is estimated to be between $7,000,000 and $8,000,000.

—This is proving the severest winter Scotland has known for twenty years. Many sheep are perishing. Trains move with difficulty.

—The Mississippi River is blockaded by a solid mass of ice from the mouth of the Illinois River as far south as St. Genevieve, a distance of sixty-five miles.

—Lord Salisbury, the British Premier, and his associate Ministers, have tendered their resignation to the Queen. Gladstone has been called upon to form a new Cabinet.

—A dispatch from Merced, Cal., January 26, reports the drowning of six persons during the recent storm. Two young girls, school children, were drowned near Red Bluff.

—The Chicago express on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, ran into a freight train on the morning of January 29. Four persons were killed, and others were seriously, if not fatally, injured.

—A company of American soldiers under command of Captain Crawford, while in pursuit of hostile Indians, were fired upon by a large party of Mexicans. Captain Crawford was killed.

—From a chart in the Forestry Division of the Agricultural Department at Washington, it appears that there are in the United States 455,000,000 acres of forest, which are disappearing at the rate of 25,000,000 acres a year.

—Five men, with their teams, were buried under the snow by an avalanche near Park City, U. T. Near Dodge City, Kan., a man and his wife and three children were frozen to death in their wagon during the recent blizzard.

—Krupp's famous works in Essen Germany, turned out a larger number of guns during the last three months of 1885 than are usually produced in a whole year. Turkey took the largest number, and Greece and Servia came next.

—The agreement between Turkey and Bulgaria provides that in case they are needed, Bulgaria will contribute 80,000 men to the Turkish army. The Porte will bestow upon Prince Alexander the title of Governor-General of Eastern Roumelia.

—The practice of writing political sentiments on walls and other available public places is common in Paris. These popular utterances used to be directed mainly against aristocrats; but now the burden of denunciation is, "Down with the wealthy."

—It is stated on the authority of Payson of Illinois, that the Committee of Ways and Means will shortly direct the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a call for $50,000,000 in bonds, to be paid for with any money in the treasury. It is believed that the amount of money now lying idle in the United States treasury cannot be much less than $500,000,000, and a large portion of this could be very advantageously devoted to paying off the public debt.

—Now that Wm. H. Vanderbilt is dead, Jay Gould is accounted the richest man in America, his estate being valued at over $300,000,000. But his great wealth does not insure happiness and peace of mind. There are miles and miles of railroad governed by Mr. Gould over which he could not be tempted to ride; for he knows, through the detectives constantly in his employ, that his life would be in danger. He never takes a journey, even the shortest, without sending his detectives ahead of him.

—Germany is much agitated over the question of the expulsion of the Poles from that empire. The number who have been driven from their homes, or are to be driven out, is not far from 40,000; and their removal is attended with great loss and suffering to the unfortunate exiles. Prince Bismarck made a remarkable speech in the Prussian Landtag, January 28, in which he took strong ground in favor of the expulsion of the Poles, alleging, as a reason, that they are disloyal to the German crown, and are constantly engaged in intrigues against the Government.

—A few days ago there was a rumor that Greece would comply with the demand of Europe, and place her army on a peace footing. But dispatches of the 29th state that the Greek Cabinet has not changed its attitude, but is still resolved on war. Turkey has issued a circular to the Powers, protesting that the present strained political situation is unbearable. There are rumors of a skirmish between Turkish and Greek troops on the frontier of Epirus. The commander of the British squadron in the Mediterranean has been instructed to use force against the Greeks wherever they attack Turkey.