SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 25, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 8.

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SECULAR.

—A bill to amend the naturalization laws has been favorably reported in the House of Representatives.

—The New York News says that New York has but 450 labor unions out of 600 in existence a year ago.

—The tension between the police and the people in Ireland is becoming more dangerous from day to day.

—It is alleged that the Ameer of Afghanistan is beheading 300 people daily for interfering with frontier traffic.

—February 15 one of the public-school buildings in Woodland, this State, was destroyed by fire. The loss was $12,000.

—It is said that General Boulanger, in a recent interview, expresses great liking for the Constitution of the United States.

—The United States wear out annually 160,000,000 pairs of shoes, of which New England makes and sells 100,000,000.

—A boot and shoe manufacturing company, with a capital stock of $100,000, was organized in Los Angeles, on the 15th inst.

—There is no truth in the rumor that seventeen men were drowned by teams breaking through the ice on the Scandago River, N. Y.

—A petition praying for the enactment of a Sunday law "in Oakland" was presented to the California State Senate on the 14th inst.

—February 12, the eightieth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln was very generally celebrated throughout the country by the Grand Army Posts.

—Klein, the Samoa correspondent of the San Francisco Examiner, arrived in San Francisco on the 16th inst., having been compelled to leave Samoa to avoid arrest and court-martial by the Germans.

—News has been received at Winnipeg, Manitoba, of the breaking out of an epidemic of a most virulent character among the Indians of Cold Lake. The complete extermination of the tribe is feared.

—It now seems certain that work on the Panama Canal will be entirely suspended soon. Whether the canal is ever to be finished or not is a question nobody seems to be able to answer at present.

—There are 17,000 men on the pay-roll of the Pacific system of the Southern Pacific, not including the Oregon and California employees. This is a large number of employees, but it is less than for any time during the past year.

—A special agent of the Government who has been investigating the Indian training school at Genoa, Neb., has reported to Washington that gross irregularities have been discovered in the accounts of Horace R. Chase, superintendent.

—February 14 the French ministry was defeated in the Chambers, on a vote to indefinitely postpone the debate on the revision of the Constitution, and immediately resigned. General Boulanger regards this as a great victory for his party.

—The bill for the creation of a new executive department, to be called the Department of Agriculture, has passed both branches of Congress and been approved by the President. Simultaneously with his approval, the President sent to the Senate the name of Norman J. Colman as Secretary of Agriculture.

—It is announced that the U. S. postal authorities have made arrangements to have mail matter carried on the vestibule train, now running weekly between San Francisco and Council Bluffs. The train will carry two letter pouches, one for Chicago and one for New York, and by this arrangement letters will be carried once a week from San Francisco to New York in 113 hours.

—The National Prohibition Conference met at Louisville, Ky., on the 13th inst. About 300 delegates from abroad were present, including ex-Governor St. John, Rev. D. Brooks, lately the party nominee for Vice-President, Miss Frances Willard, and other party leaders. After a long discussion it was voted to retain the woman suffrage plank of the Indianapolis platform.

—Whole provinces in China are suffering from famine, and half a million people are said to be on the verge of starvation. The Chinese Government is doing all that it can to afford relief, but the famine is of such magnitude that an appeal has been made to the whole civilized world. Already a committee has been appointed in New York to take charge of the work of securing and forwarding supplies for the suffering people.

—Severe fighting is reported from Hayti. A battle occurred January 25. Confederate Prophete was driven back with a loss of 150 killed and 300 wounded. The dead were put in a heap and burned, as the defeated had no time to bury the bodies. Every battle the Minister of War has taken part in has resulted disastrously to the cause of Legitime. The Minister of Finance states publicly that the treasury is empty. Money is getting scarce, and the premium on gold is going up daily. The premium now is 29 per cent.

—California is now threatened with a dry season, something especially dreaded in this State. During the late fall and early winter, the rainfall was unusually heavy, but for a number of weeks there has been practically no rain in this State, and very little on the Pacific Coast, and fears are expressed that crops of all kinds will be seriously affected. Usually at this season there is in the mountains of Northern California over six feet of snow; this year, however, there has been scarcely any snow. This of itself is a serious matter in a mining country.

—Judge Redmond, of Chicago, lost his little girl a little over a year ago, and in his fruitless search for her, became insane. The other day the little girl was found in the Home for the Friendless, where she had been taken by an officer of the Humane Society, to whom the neighbors of the child's abductors made complaint. The father was brought from the asylum to see his child, in the hope that it would affect his mind for good. Says the report: "When he discovered his child, he was overcome with joy, lifting her in his arms, kissing her a hundred times; and his sanity was restored."

—The Mikado has granted Japan a constitution. This constitution establishes a House of Peers, the members of which are to be partly hereditary, partly elective, and partly nominated by the Mikado, and a House of Commons of 300 members. The right of suffrage is given to all men of the age of 25 years and over, who pay taxes to the amount of $25 yearly. Liberty of religion, freedom of speech, and right of public meetings are established. Parliament will possess legislative functions and control of the finances under limitations. Judges cannot be removed except by special legislation.

—The details of the recent earthquakes in Costa Rica, as published in the Costa Rican papers, corroborate the reports sent out in the Associated Press dispatches several weeks ago. San Jose and other cities were terribly damaged. Whole streets are blocked with ruins, railroads blockaded, churches closed, etc. For weeks people living in the cities have camped in the streets and public squares, fearing to enter their shattered houses on account of the constantly recurring shocks. The monetary loss in the city of San Jose alone is over $2,000,000. The loss of life is not yet accurately estimated, but is believed to be great.