p. 590 | SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 2, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 37.

SECULAR.

—Russia has concluded a treaty of commerce with Corea. —Eleven car loads of Mormon recruits arrived in Ogden Sept. 16. —The cholera is reported to be receding in Italy, but advancing into Spain. —A memorial statue of Tom Paine is to be erected in Lincoln Park, Chicago. —The pope has granted $200,000 for the establishment of a hospital in the vicinity of the Vatican. —Thomas Fawcett, a banker of London, Ont., is reported to have failed, with liabilities estimated at $8,000,000. —The President has appointed Judge Gresham Secretary of the Treasury, in the place of Mr. Folger, deceased. —The Grand Trunk car works at London, Ont., have been burned. Loss, $400,000. About 400 men were thrown out of employment. —The Mexican steamer, Don Hermanos, was sunk, Sept. 14, off the coast of North Carolina. The captain and four of the crew were lost. —At Shenandoah, Pa., the interior of a coal mine has been so successfully lighted by electricity that several fine photographic views of it were taken. —A dispatch from Madrid, Spain, Sept. 15, says: "Severe floods prevail around Gerona and considerable loss of life and property is reported. The railways have suspended." —A single desperado robbed the Eldred (Pa.) Bank of $2,500 in open day, Sept. 11. The cashier and teller were frightened into silence by a revolver in the hands of the thief. —In a recent speech to his constituents, Mr. Gladstone said: "In the present crisis the lords ought to study the best means to provide that the House of Lords shall not fall. This end can best be secured by their acting with moderation and prudence." —Prof. Welcker, State Superintendent of Public Schools, of California, has decided, on a test case, that Chinese children cannot become pupils of the public schools. According to the last census there are 1,250 Chinese children of school age in San Francisco. —The Christian Intelligencer thinks that the time is near at hand, in the purpose of the Japanese Government, when Christianity, if not formally adopted, will be at least recognized as on a footing with other religions, and allowed perfect freedom of operations. —A New York Chinaman sums up the difficulty between France and China in the following terse manner: "It likee this: I come to your door and lickee you, and I wantee you to pay money to me for I lickee you. You think that light? What kind a 'ligion that?" —Since the 14th ult., when over a million dollars' worth of property was destroyed by fire in Cleveland, Ohio, several attempts have been made to start similar conflagrations. A telegram dated the 27th says that twelve incendiary fires had been started within forty-eight hours.

—Another Danish polar expedition will start out next summer, proceeding by way of Franz Joseph Land. It will be under the leadership of Messrs. Hoijaard and Gamel. —A syndicate has been formed in the East, for the purpose of laying wagers on the coming Presidential election. The pool is composed chiefly of Western cattle men, and has a capital of $500,000. It is impossible to estimate the evils which will arise if such a thing is allowed to proceed. —The custom of letting out convicts to work for private companies has doubtless received a check in Kentucky, since it has been discovered they are systematically maltreated. Two convicts at work at Lexington were knocked down and kicked to death, week before last, by a brutal overseer, and many have been injured for life. —Mr. Mulhall, the English statistician, says: "The total national debt of the world, not estimating local debts of any kind, in 1713 was $595,000,000; in 1763 they had risen to $1,415,000,000; in 1793, to $2,845,000,000; in 1816, to $7,185,000,000; in 1848, to $8,245,000,000; in 1870, to $19,150,000,000; and in 1884 they had reached the appalling aggregate of $27,155,000,000." —The Mexican correspondent of the S. F. Chronicle says that Mexico is controlled by a set of conscienceless men, who plunder the treasury of every cent that comes into it that is not actually needed to keep up the efficiency of the army, and various branches of public service, so that telegraph operators on Government lines, and clerks in post-offices are often unable to get their wages. —The saloon-keepers of Iowa held a secret meeting in Council Bluffs, Sept. 17, when a State Anti-Prohibition Association was formed. It was decided to raise funds to prevent the enforcement of the present prohibitory law, and to work for its repeal. If prohibitory laws do not prevent the sale of liquor, it is not easy to see the reason for this movement on the part of the Iowa drunkard makers. —Within thirty-six hours, last week, there were in Naples 1229 cases of cholera, and 687 deaths. In consequence of the exodus from Naples, on account of the cholera, lodgings in the neighboring villages rent at fabulous prices, 500 francs a month being asked for a single room. It is said that the only sign of life in many of the streets is the hammering of rough coffins together. —The total receipts from the New York and Brooklyn bridge for the month of July were $40,545, against $12,595.42 for the corresponding period last year. The number of persons that crossed the bridge on foot was 333,800 and 625,900 on the railroad. There were 47,696 vehicles, in which 95,392 people were carried. The receipts from New York to Brooklyn on traffic were $18,490, and those from Brooklyn to New York were $22,055. The expenses for the month were $30,566.54. —A Bridgeport (Conn.) special of Sept. 20 says: "The police of Stanford have unearthed a large band of depraved youth, many under 12 years of age, known as "The Shenandoah Gang." Their exploits are of the most depraved order and reveal the existence of a miserable state of morals. The troop is under the leadership of "No. 1," 20 years old. The trouble has sprung entirely from dime-novel reading and flash literature, large quantities of which have been found in their rendezvous." —The main building for the World's Fair at New Orleans is practically finished. Machinery Hall has a total length of 1,728 feet. Two and a half miles of shafting have been received and more is to come. The capacity of boilers and engines approaches 6,000 horse-power. Twenty elevators, with safety appliances, have been ordered. Horticultural Hall is also finished. Plants from Central America and Mexico are already arriving. The building for the exhibits of the Government and the States is nearly finished, and all stables and saw-mills ready. The Art Gallery, which is being built of iron, is to be ready this month. A Mexican architect has just completed details for setting up Mexican buildings, which are to be constructed of iron, wood, and glass. In the center of the Mexican garden a Moorish octagonal building is being erected. In the inner court of the portico is to be a specimen of silver, valued at $240,000, supported on amethyst pillars. One palm tree for this garden required the work of more than 200 natives to take up and transport it. The building for the Mexican Commission, bands and troops, is said to be an imposing structure. It is 192 feet wide and 300 feet long. In the main building the space reserved for the Mexican exhibit is to be handsomely decorated, and Major Burke is justified in the belief that Mexico is to redeem its promise to "astonish the world."