SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 47.

SECULAR.

—Senator Dawes has introduced a bill to confer citizenship on Indians.

—The postal service of the United States cost the Government $46,225,000 this year.

—The Italian Government has prepared a bill devoting £400,000 to sanitary work in Naples.

—"Science Hall," of Wisconsin University, was destroyed by fire on the night of the 1st. Loss about $250,000.

—It is estimated that the wool clip in the United States this year will amount to 300,000,000 pounds, and be worth $85,000,000.

—Between 800 and 900 men have been discharged from the Central Pacific Railroad shops at Sacramento, within the last two months.

—South Carolina negroes are said to be leaving in large numbers for Arkansas, while no less than 700 have been consigned to California.

—Since last May there have been 8,000 cases of measles in Cleveland, O. In the last two months there have been 110 deaths from the epidemic.

—In his late message, the President gives as a reason for restoring our navy to a high state of efficiency, that "the long peace that has lulled us into a sense of fancied security may at any time be disturbed."

—Joseph Hatton, the Christian Union's London correspondent, writes: "We are living in 'strange, eventful times.' Trade is bad; it gets worse. The people are discontented; they become more so every day. Parliament is discredited; it is losing its prestige and its power. Everything looks as if we were on the eve of great changes, social and political."

—It has been discovered that the vessels at the London dock which were supposed to be taking on board cargoes of provisions are really loading munitions of war for China.

—An explosion of dynamite and gunpowder in a dwelling-house in Stafford, N. H., Dec. 4, caused the death of four persons and the injury of four more. The house and contents were totally destroyed.

—The outlook now is that Congress will, as recommended by the Postmaster-General, reduce the local postage to one cent, and enact that the two-cent stamp carry one ounce instead of one-half ounce, as at present.

—A clock is being introduced in Europe, warranted to run five years without winding or regulation. The Belgian Government placed one in a railway station in 1881, and it has kept perfect time ever since without winding.

—A 130-ton gun has been cast at the Krupp works, for the Italian Government. If the experiments with this monster gun are successful, others on the same model, to serve for coast defense, will be cast at the royal foundry near Spezia.

—The London Telegraph has recently bought a large tract of railroad land in southern California known as the "Mojave Desert." The land is covered with the yucca plant, or "Spanish bayonet" which the company proposes to convert into paper.

—The Utah Commission report that although the law disfranchising all polygamists has been successfully administered, it has not had the desired effect. The report says: "During the present year there seems to have been a polygamic revival. The institution is boldly and defiantly defended and commended by its spiritual teachers, and plural marriages are reported to have increased in number."

—By the prompt and vigorous action of Chief Justice Howard, of Arizona, polygamy has received a severe check in that Territory. Sentence has now been passed upon five Mormons. The three most prominent ones stood trial and were convicted; these were each sentenced to three years and six months' imprisonment in the Detroit House of Correction, and to pay a fine of $500. The other two pleaded guilty, in defiance of the positive orders of Bishop Udall, who was present; they were sentenced to pay a fine of $500 each, and be imprisoned for six months. Long live Chief-Justice Howard.

—An international exhibition of inventions will be held in London in 1885, and an official announcement to that effect has been made through the British Consulates. The exhibition will be under the patronage of the queen, and the Prince of Wales will be its president. It will be opened in May, at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, South Kensington, and will remain open until the end of the year. The exhibition will be so classified and arranged as to show the progress that has been made during the last twenty-five years in the application of scientific discoveries to the purposes of daily life.

—A charity mission has been recently started in New York which promises to yield beneficial results to discharged convicts. The plan of operation is as follows: A broom factory has been established where ex-convicts are employed to operate the machines and peddle the manufactures. Each peddler is given, to begin with, three brooms of the cheapest quality, which he is expected to sell at a fair price, return and pay for, and with the profits of the transaction buy a second supply. It is considered quite remarkable that among the 1,200 men employed in this way by the society in the last ten months, only one failed to come back for a second supply of brooms.

—A desperate state of affairs exists in Letcher Co., Kentucky. Judge Finley has refrained from holding court in Whitesburg for two years past, owing to the threat of a desperado to murder him whenever he dared set foot in the town. Lately the desperado died of the plague, and the Judge proceeded thither to perform his official duties. At this term of court a murderer was to be tried who was out on bail. His friends, all of the same desperate stripe as himself, determined that he should not be punished, and so came to town armed with shot-guns and revolvers. Another band, composed of citizens determined to maintain law and order, followed, armed to the teeth. The belligerent parties, at last account, were watching each other's movements closely, and a pitched battle was imminent. Whitesburg is a remote town far from telegraph lines, and what the demonstrations have resulted in has not yet been learned. It is feared that serious trouble will occur before the close of the court session.