SECULAR | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 4, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 43.

SECULAR.

—Governor Boies, of Iowa, has been nominated by the Democrats for a third term.

—A large packing house in Kansas City was closed last week on account of a butchers' strike.

—The employes of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company have been notified that pay day for June wages has again been postponed until September 15.

—A Bangkok dispatch says that the French have already violated the Franco-Siamese treaty by occupying the town of Chantibrun without any pretext whatever.

—The San Francisco Midwinter Fair is to be opened January 1. On the 24th inst. 500 men began the work of excavating for the various buildings, roadways, etc.

—The Board of Health of Wilmington, N. C., has declared a quarantine against Atlanta and Columbus, Ga., because of the number of refugees at those places from fever-infested ports.

—In Chicago a committee of twenty-five labor leaders and twenty-five prominent business men has been organized for the purpose of trying to secure bread and work for the suffering poor.

—A Denver, Colo., dispatch of the 22d inst. says that a mob of unemployed laborers drove seventy-five laborers from work on a sewer in that city because they accepted work at less wages than is usually paid.

—On the 26th inst. more rioting by otherwise idle men was the order in Chicago. Several participants were badly injured before the police could restore order. The mayor has ordered that there shall be no more parades.

—At an Anarchist meeting in New York City, on the 23d inst., one of the speakers worked himself into a frenzy and shouted, "The police dare not come in here!" Then the police did go in and cleared the hall in two minutes.

—Last week tramps threatened to destroy the property of Mr. Hume, an orchardist residing near Los Gatos, Cal., because he declined to discharge his Japanese help and hire white men. Mr. Hume appealed to the sheriff for protection.

—The Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, falls heir to the throne of the German State of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, thus adding to the complex condition of European royalty. The duke is uncle of the German emperor, and his wife is sister of the czar of Russia.

—Last week the city of Naples was the scene of extensive riots which the police could not manage, and the troops were called to quell the disturbances. The trouble was partly owing to the strife of cabmen, and partly to the anti-French feeling that has recently been aroused by collisions in France between French and Italian laborers.

—Further reports from the local political difficulties in the State of Coahuila, Mexico, state that two of the factions met one day last week and engaged in a pitched battle. About thirty men were killed on one side, and fifty on the other. The battle was near Nadadoris.

—In Newport City striking longshoremen have assumed a hostile attitude toward the Italians who came to take their places. On the 23d inst. a party of six Italians were attacked by a mob of strikers and roughly handled. The strike was against a reduction of wages.

—A Naples dispatch of the 23d inst. says: "The cab drivers of this city to-day went on a strike and considerable rioting followed their attempts to induce drivers of other vehicles to join. A number of kiosks and cars were burned. Five strikers and four policemen were seriously injured."

—The woolen mills and flour mills, which constituted about all that was left of Merced Falls, one of the oldest towns in California, were entirely destroyed by fire on the 23d inst. Loss, about $200,000. The 150 inhabitants of the village were about all dependent on the mills for support.

—The employes of the Evansville and Terre Haute (Ind.) Railroad were paid off in checks instead of money, and when they went to get the checks cashed or to pay bills, neither banks nor merchants would take them. The result was a strike and a temporary stoppage of trains.

—One hundred Japanese left a hop ranch in Sacramento County, this State, because the proprietor would pay them but ninety cents per hundred pounds for picking. As soon as they had departed, $1.00 was offered to white pickers. The Japs had been waiting some time for the hops to ripen.

—A Topeka dispatch of the 25th inst. says: "Potato bugs are swarming in several counties of southern Kansas. Near Parsons, where the Methodist revival is being held, services were broken up last night by a tremendous swarm of these bugs that came in through the doors and open windows of the church."

—The trustees of the town of Vacaville, Cal., recently proposed to fix saloon licenses at $100 per quarter. But the next day they were confronted with a petition, signed by many citizens and every saloon man doing business in the place, asking that the license be fixed at either $15 or $500 per quarter. So they fixed it at $500.

—A severe storm raged along the Nova Scotia Coast on the 22d inst. At Halifax much damage to shipping, as well as to parks, gardens, and light buildings, is reported. A steam tug with a coal barge in tow was wrecked forty miles from Halifax and twelve men were drowned. The barge had come all the way from Sydney, and was almost to its destination.

—New York City is having trouble with its hordes of unemployed men, and not only with its own but with hundreds congregating there from other places. Many appeals are being made to the mayor that the authorities improvise work in the way of public improvements. It is alleged that many Anarchists are mingling with the crowds, and covert threats of violence are heard.

—The telegraph credits Milwaukee with two demonstrations by unemployed laborers last week. On Tuesday several hundred Polish and German laborers marched through the streets looting fruit stands, fish stands, and other places where edibles were exposed. The next day another demonstration was attempted, but the leaders were dispersed before a large crowd was collected.

—The trouble between French and Italian miners at Aigues-Mortes, mentioned last week, seems to have led to serious complications. At first it was inferred that the Frenchmen were entirely to blame, but later reports indicate that there was considerable provocation on the part of the Italians. Furthermore, the retaliatory treatment of French citizens in Italy by Italian mobs rather puts the onus of apology on that government instead of on France. It is claimed by the French that secret agents of Germany are inciting the Italians to bring about trouble with France; and it is further claimed that the Italians are very forward to provoke hostilities, because, owing to the "triple alliance," they have the support of Germany and Austria.

—On Wednesday of last week a destructive storm raged along the North Atlantic Coast. The gale is said to have attained a speed in New York City of thirty-eight miles an hour, on the coast of forty-five miles an hour, and out at sea of 100 miles an hour. At the fashionable watering places along the coast great damage was done. At Elizabethport, N. J., the water in the streets was two to three feet deep. Over a large section of country extensive damage is reported to shipping, buildings, railroads, telegraph wires, parks, fields, etc. There was nearly four inches of rainfall within twelve hours. The latest reports put the deaths at sixty, but it was expected that further news from the sea would add to the list. The storm was characterized as an "atmospheric terror."

—A fire in South Chicago, on the 24th inst., destroyed about 150 dwellings, which were occupied by about 300 families. South Chicago is a manufacturing district, and the sufferers were largely of the wage-earning class and small merchants. Including heavy damage to a large lumber company, and also to a coal company, the damage is estimated at nearly half a million dollars. To make matters worse for the sufferers, the mills in which most of them were employed have since been closed.

—Our government has been obliged to "explain" and to "express regrets" to Italy again on account of some of her citizens being hurt by a mob in this country. This time it was because of some Italian miners being driven from their work at Cripple Creek, Colo., where they were laboring at reduced wages. Perhaps the frequency of the apologies and restitutions necessary for violent onslaught on foreigners in our midst might be adduced as evidence in the claim that "this is a Christian nation." But here the case would have to rest.

—The contest now going on between this city and the Southern Pacific Company, which began in a dispute as to the ownership of Broadway wharf in particular and the water front in general, is likely to end in cutting off the free travel on the company's Seventh Street local line, which the people have enjoyed for over twenty years. This line, which is a feeder for the company's ferry to San Francisco, extends about five miles through the city, and has been deemed a fixture to such an extent that business has been established and many residences built with reference to its continuance. Fortunately, electric lines now parallel the S. P. line on adjacent streets, but they do not take the place of a free line in the matter of cheapness of travel.