p. 399 | News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 24, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 25.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 17.

RELIGIOUS.

—The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States will meet in Washington City, May 18.

—The American Tract Society intends to have at the World's Fair the portable pulpit used by Whitefield in his open-air preaching.

—Rev. Walter Elliott, who resigned the editorship of the Catholic World a few months ago, will next September engage in missionary work among non-Catholics in the West. He begins in Detroit, and will have the coöperation of the bishop of that diocese and the priests of the city.

—After a zealous Sunday-closing campaign in our neighboring city of Alameda, the popular vote was against the measure. Many good temperance people are awakening to the fact that Sunday closing of saloons is not a temperance measure, but is merely a Sunday movement. A vote to stop the traffic for one day virtually expresses a willingness that it shall continue the other six days.

—About a year ago Bishop Wigger, of the Roman Catholic diocese of Newark, N. J., issued an order that all Catholic parents within his diocese should withdraw their children from the public schools, under a threat of excommunication. Now, under the direction of Monsignor Satolli, he has recalled it, although under no circumstances are children to be allowed in schools where there are Protestant services or the reading of the generally accepted versions of the Scriptures.

—A minister in Adair, Iowa, recently made the assertion that the prosperity of England and the United States was due to their recognition of the Christian sabbath. But there are millions of people in both countries to whom the suggestion of "prosperity" comes like irony. And there are other countries where the so-called Christian sabbath is recognized,—Russia, for instance; how about prosperity there? and the almost bankrupt nations of Europe all recognize the counterfeit institution, being under the religious control of the very church whose special mark it is.

—The Tribune of this city has this significant editorial item: "The pope is evidently pursuing a fixed policy of supervision of foreign countries. He recently deputed Monsignor Lasagna, the bishop of Tripoli, to proceed to South America, virtually as an apostolic delegate. He has no special designation or title, nor a fixed residence, but is accredited to the various South American governments, to visit and promote the development of the numerous mission stations of the Order of St. Francis of Sales. Great activity pervades the church in every direction, in all countries, and among all peoples, and its impetus is felt even on this coast, where the old missions are being reoccupied by the Benedictine Brotherhood."

SECULAR.

—The government will send seven war ships to Bering Sea this season to protect the seal interests.

—Baron Fava, Italian Minister at Washington, has added to the public gossip by kissing the hand of Mrs. President Cleveland.

—The great banking institution known as the English, Scottish, and Australian Chartered Bank has failed for about $40,000,000.

—Lightning struck a barn near Gallatin, Tennessee, on the 12th inst., and twenty-five valuable horses were killed. The loss is said to be over $100,000.

—Secretary of the Treasury Carlisle has revoked the order of the department requiring Chinese who register in this country to also file their photographs.

—Michigan's cyclone came on the night of the 12th inst. There are press reports of great destruction of property at Ypsilanti, Saline, Milan, Clarksville, Rea, Dundee, and in the vicinity of Detroit. Also, several deaths are reported.

—A press dispatch says that a forest fire in Warren County, North Carolina, last week, swept over four miles of country, destroying many farm buildings and much other property. Of the buildings burned, ten were dwellings, two public schools, one church, and one flouring mill. Considerable live stock was also burned to death.

—The complications in Belgium are growing more and more intricate. The demand of the people for universal suffrage has led to labor strikes, riots, conflicts with the police, in fact, to such general disorder that revolution and the overthrow of the government is generally anticipated. Should the government prove unable to cope with the situation, a contest over the spoils between France and Germany is thought to be inevitable.

—Dr. Haffkine has written to the Russian papers that he has conquered cholera in India by his inoculation process. He says he has inoculated hundreds of persons, with positive results, and promises to give his method to the world.

—Baron Houghton, lord lieutenant of Ireland, has issued an order limiting the importation of firearms and ammunition to Ireland. They can be brought in only at certain ports, and all consignees must first obtain permits.

—In Brooklyn, N. Y., internal revenue officers have recently discovered a large and well-equipped illicit distillery in an old and supposed tenantless building. While the officers were breaking in the doors, the operators escaped.

—A Moscow dispatch of the 10th inst. reports that the famine in the European part of the government of Perm is worse than ever before. The poor are dying by hundreds. In some villages many of the dead are not buried, but are left on the roofs of the houses.

—Severe earthquake shocks are reported to have occurred in Servia on the 10th inst. Great fissures were torn in the earth, and hot streams of water and mud flowed out. Thousands of houses were wrecked, and in some districts people were afraid to remain in the villages.

—U. S. Commissioner Blount has ordered the United States flag removed from the State House in Honolulu, and sent the marine guards back to their ship. This withdraws the United States protectorate, and leaves the provisional government on its own resources.

—There arrived in San Francisco last week, by the Australian steamer, a South Sea Island exhibit for the World's Fair at Chicago. There were nineteen men, several native houses, boats, war implements, etc. The next steamer is to bring other natives, including some women.

—Late reports from Chile state that quiet has been restored at Santiago. U. S. Minister Egan has again given refuge to enemies of the government; this time they are escaped political prisoners. He asked safe conduct for them out of the country, which was refused by President Montt.

—The Brazilian Minister to Bolivia has published a letter denying the charge that the Brazilians have captured Indians and sold them into slavery. He charges that Brazilians on the border of Bolivia have been frequently flogged by citizens of that country and that many have been assassinated.

—Henry M. Stanley appeals to the nations of Europe to stop the African traffic in firearms and ammunition. He says these goods are mostly sold to slave traders, and unless the trade is prevented, all efforts to suppress the slave trade will be in vain. Stanley especially inculpates the Germans and the Portuguese.

—The citizens of Sacramento have begun their contest against the removal of the capital of California from that city to San Jose. A petition for a restraining order against the Secretary of State and Public Printer has been filed in the Superior Court. The petition avers various flaws in the proceedings which culminated in the passage of the act for removal.

—The people of the Pacific Coast are coming in for a benefit on account of the freight war between the overland railroads and the Panama railroad and steamship lines. The cuts so far show a reduction of $20 to $220 a car load, according to the class of freight, and there is a prospect of even lower rates. These cuts show that former rates were little short of robbery.

—Here is a significant item from a San Francisco paper: "There were six small boys in a tiny room, with a bottle of whisky and a pack of cards. The youngsters were playing poker and having a good time generally with the game and its accompanying cigarettes and glasses. At the sight of the policemen they became panic-stricken. Some pleaded for mercy, and others slipped under a bed to hide."

—There are reports of excessive lawlessness in various parts of Peru. The disturbances are not wholly due to attacks upon the government, because the houses of many private citizens were sacked and robbed. The attack on the Masonic lodge in Mollendo, in which the American Consular Agent was wounded, appears to have been a part of the general lawlessness which now prevails in the country.

—The most extensive and disastrous cyclone yet reported occurred on the 12th inst. Eastern Kansas, Missouri, Southern Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are all included in the reports of damage. Much town and country property was destroyed, and the deaths reported in different places foot up to about sixty, while hundreds were seriously injured. The town of Robinsville, Miss., 300 inhabitants, was utterly demolished by the wind, and the wreckage took fire, causing several deaths and much suffering. At Conday, Missouri, 300 inhabitants, only three houses were left standing.

—The Pittsburg, Pa., police have discovered and routed a rendezvous of over 100 Russian Anarchists, whose purpose evidently was to make war on the police. The organizers of the band were recently sent to the penitentiary as accomplices in an attempted murder.

—A late Constantinople dispatch says the condition of affairs in Armenia is becoming more serious daily. Constant arrests of Armenians are reported in private letters. It is estimated that between 1,800 and 2,000 Christians are now in Turkish dungeons. The recent announcement that the sultan had proclaimed the general pardon of Armenian prisoners is mere humbug. Only a few will be released, and they only because no pretext to sustain their alleged connection with sedition could be obtained.