News and Notes by Editor

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

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 27.

RELIGIOUS.

—While the New York Independent maintains that the action of the World's Fair directors in the matter of Sunday opening "cannot be too strongly reprimanded," yet it deplores the disposition to look upon the murder of Mayor Harrison as a judgment of God on that account. "God does not instigate a crime to punish a sin."

—Commenting on the Chinese Exclusion Act, the New York Independent incidentally indicates its hope of eventual church ascendancy in the political affairs of this country. It says: "It is the churches that send the missionaries to China who are fighting the battles of the Chinese in this country. The demagogues are, for the time, in the ascendancy. Sooner or later, we are confident they will find themselves without a constituency, and the humane Christian sentiment of the country will again be uppermost in this as in most other matters."

—A Raleigh, N. C., dispatch of the 26th inst. says: "Sixteen young girls left Guilford County, N. C., yesterday for Utah, having been converted to the Mormon faith by several elders now operating in North and South Carolina and Virginia. It is stated that nearly 100 girls have been persuaded to leave their homes by these men. Some of the citizens of Cabarrus County this week met three of the elders and requested them to cease their missionary work in North Carolina. They agreed to leave if shown that the citizens generally desired them to do so. Friday meetings of citizens were held in the various townships of Cabarrus County and resolutions requesting the Mormons to depart were adopted. Committees were appointed to notify them."

—Cardinal Gibbons expresses the opinion that Pope Leo XIII. "is greatly respected by those who are outside of the Catholic Church." He mentions three things to which the American people are much attached and with which Leo is in accord: (1) The principles of self-government; (2) the honor and rights of labor; (3) a thirst for knowledge. Again the cardinal says: "I know that the great mass of the people have respect for the church, with its religious services and a moral code capable of gratifying every need of the human heart." Yet he is conscious that in the mind of some there is a "lurking suspicion" that they have some profound secret that will sometime be sprung unawares. He implores his brethren to "help to tear off this mask of suspicion."

—A Mrs. Williams, a noted Christian Scientist of Portland, Oregon, is teaching that in order to be saved everyone must "go through the wilderness" by fasting forty days. On the 25th inst. a family of her dupes were taken into court. The husband and wife stated that they had lived on crackers and wine for thirty-one days, and for six days had taken nothing. The three children, aged 7, 5, and 3 years, had been for thirty-one days on crackers and water. The father had formerly earned $80 per month, but when he embraced the Williams faith some months ago he quit work. The court gave the children to the Boys' and Girls' Aid Society, but the superintendent returned the youngest to the parents, with the understanding that it should receive proper nourishment.

—The Harbinger, of San Francisco, states, "on what seems to be good authority," that the Catholics "have been organizing their young men into military companies, until it is said that they now have in this country a trained army of 700,000 men. All this they have been doing while Protestants have been calmly sleeping and trusting in some good providence to protect them." Now what would the Harbinger have the Protestants do, arm themselves also, and stop "trusting in some good providence"? If they are really trusting in a good providence, they do well. But the trouble is, they have trusted so long to the influence of this "Christian nation" to convert Catholicism, that they themselves have been drawn into making a Church and State image to the papal structure.

—The Freeman's Journal (Catholic) is assailing the Cleveland Administration because of a lack of consideration of the Catholic Indian schools. Under Mr. Cleveland's former administration the matter of government assistance to sectarian Indian schools received unprecedented encouragement, but the Catholics received considerably more money than all other denominations. This aroused the ire of the Protestants, and they suddenly discovered that the principle was wrong, decided to cease asking for government help, and to oppose further appropriations to the Catholics. The Harrison administration attempted to carry out the new idea, but was not altogether successful, and this attempt is openly alleged to have been an effective cause of Mr. Harrison's defeat. Now, however, the Catholics seem to be dissatisfied because they do not receive what they deem their full share of the spoils. Although the assistant commissioner and the chief clerk of the Indian Bureau are Catholics, the Journal is complaining that Catholics are not receiving fair play. It is the old story of the camel with its head in the tent trying to force in its whole body.

SECULAR.

—Six Anarchists have been arrested at Buenos Ayres for plotting against the lives of public officials.

—A great fire occurred in Hannibal, Mo., on the 25th inst., sweeping several blocks. The estimated loss is $350,000.

—Three Anarchists were arrested near Grenada, Spain, for exploding a petard against the house of a government official.

—A Boise, Idaho, dispatch says that the general of the army has recommended that the barracks at that place be abandoned.

—A point near Nanaimo, B. C., has been selected by a representative of the British Government for a fortified coaling station.

—Louis Kossuth, the once famous Hungarian patriot and exile, is still living; he is now old and an invalid, residing at Turin.

—California has just enjoyed its first general rain of the season, and there is general appreciation, especially in the agricultural and mining regions.

—In the autumn maneuvers of the armies of Europe 1,200,000 men were brought into the field, the expenditure being $10,000,000,—all for display.

—U. S. engineers announce the feasibility of making the Colorado River navigable from its mouth to the Grand Canyon, Arizona, a distance of 700 miles.

—It is said that a young man from Cincinnati is being held as a hostage somewhere in the vicinity of Chicago, and that $5,000 ransom is demanded of his father.

—If the Spanish troops at Melilla do not soon quell the Morocco Riffians that are besieging the town and fort, there is a threat that the ministry will resign.

—A London dispatch of the 23d inst. says: "Terrific snows prevail in the Highlands of Scotland, and a number of railroad trains are imbedded in great drifts."

—Fresno County, Cal., shipped its first car load of oranges to San Francisco last week. A large number of trees in that county are bearing their first crop this season.

—Regarding the sentiment that England is losing her prestige as a naval power, Premier Gladstone assures the people that there need be no apprehension on that score.

—A new controlling steel rail pool has been organized by the largest concerns in the country, including the Carnegie Company, and have fixed the price at $24 per ton.

—Secretary Morton, of the Department of Agriculture, has been censured by the National Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, because of his alleged condemnation of the order.

—Large quantities of broken lumber at the World's Fair grounds, Chicago, are to be given to the poor. It is said there is enough to supply the winter's fuel to 1,000 families.

—The General Assembly of the Knights of Labor, in session at Philadelphia, again chose T. V. Powderly as general master workman, but he tendered his resignation the following day.

—The Servian Cabinet is said to have resigned. The alleged reason is that the radical party refused to support the government, which is accused of being under the influence of ex-King Milan.

—The U. S. Supreme Court has recently decided that the great lakes are high seas. The decision was rendered in a suit under the act of Congress for the punishment of offenders on the high seas.

—A Teheran, Persia, dispatch of the 26th inst. says that 12,000 people perished in the recent earthquake at Kuchan. Fifty thousand cattle were also destroyed. Shocks continued at short intervals.

—Near the city of Gablonz, Bohemia, on the 23d inst., a dynamite bomb was exploded in the machinery of a factory, doing great damage to the establishment, but fortunately no persons were injured.

—A press dispatch says that on the night of the 22d inst. the house of the Ecuadorian Minister in Lima, Peru, was attacked by a mob, and most of the windows broken before the police could disperse the rioters.

—It has been discovered that the national banks of Cleveland, Ohio, fell off in value over $1,000,000 in one day, and yet were not perceptibly embarrassed. The depreciation was on this wise: One day the report of valuation was given to the controller of the treasury, and the next day's report was to the assessor of taxes.

—A report from Deming, N. M., states that the Mexican revolutionists and government troops have had another battle, between Ascencion and Palomas, resulting in the defeat of the government forces with heavy loss.

—A late Guthrie, Oklahoma, dispatch says that the chief of the Osage Indians has issued an edict ordering all negroes to leave the reservation, stating that after thirty days any of that race found within his jurisdiction will be given fifty lashes.

—Judge Pritchard, of Los Angeles, Cal., in a recent decision of a libel case, held that a newspaper may denounce a candidate for election in most unmeasured terms, provided the denunciation is accompanied by reasonable proof of its truth.

—The Italian minister of foreign affairs is said to have advised that there be no further emigration to the United States on account of the economic conditions prevailing here. This advice is based on reports of Italian consuls at San Francisco and New York.

—The new premier of Austria has announced the intention of the government to bring about extensive electoral reforms, conferring the franchise upon classes hitherto deprived of it, especially upon working men. A similar move was inaugurated by the cabinet that recently retired.

—The police of Algiers recently raided a number of houses in the European quarter, and found a large quantity of Anarchist pamphlets and documents, which revealed a plot to blow up the French Law Court and the new mosque. A quantity of bombs and other explosives were also seized.

—At Springfield, Mass., on the night of the 21st inst., fire destroyed property to the value of $800,000. The same night, at St. Louis, a fire on North Main Street caused a loss of $150,000. At the same time $50,000 worth of property was burned in Newbern, Tenn., and in this disaster three men were burned to death.

—Thirty unemployed men were arrested on the 24th inst., at Cajon, San Bernardino County, Cal., while endeavoring to compel the trainmen of a freight train to carry them free. They had beaten their way from Los Angeles to Colton, walked to San Bernardino, failed to get on a freight train there, and walked on to Cajon. They were endeavoring to get into Arizona, where they expected to get work on the Prescott and Santa Fe Railroad.

—The Red Cross Society has undertaken the task of supplying the necessities of the inhabitants of the islands adjacent to Port Royal, S. C., who were left destitute by the great storm a few weeks past. There are about 20,000 of these people whose houses and crops were utterly destroyed, and they must be assisted until another crop can be raised. Congress, at the late special session, was asked for an appropriation to aid in the work, but no action was taken.

—A party of hunters, composed of the son of General Carlin, U. S. A., and three others, who have been hemmed in by snow in the Bitter Root Mountains, Mont., for two months, were found last week by a rescue party, in a most forlorn condition. They were 150 miles from any habitation, and almost crazed with cold and hunger. They were without horses, and almost barefoot. One of the party had given out and was supposed to be dead, as all the others would have been in another day or two at most.

—The police of Barcelona, Spain, have at last discovered the headquarters of the Anarchists in that city, from which all the movements of that element in the country have been directed. Large quantities of chemicals used in making bombs, besides loaded and unloaded bombs, firearms, and Anarchistic literature, were secured, also documents incriminating persons in Spain, France, and Italy. A dispatch of the 22d inst. says over 200 hundred arrests have been made, and many other implicated parties are endeavoring to flee from the country.

—It has been denied that the Brazilian rebels contemplate the restoration of the monarchy. The latest reports are that fighting continues between the insurgent fleet and the bay forts which guard the harbor of Rio Janeiro, and that one of the best ships in the rebel service had been sunk. The remaining two that are at all formidable are separated, one being outside and the other inside the harbor forts. It is expected that when the government's new fleet, recently fitted out at New York, arrives at Rio, the rebellion will be soon ended.

—Henry S. Cochran, late chief weigher at the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia, has been convicted of the theft of $158,000 worth of gold bullion. He had been a trusted employe for forty-three years, and when a shortage was discovered in a lot of bullion which had not been molested for many years, he displayed so much zeal in the investigation that he drew suspicion to himself. When he saw that he was suspected, he confessed. His peculations had covered a period of about eight years, but about $100,000 worth had been taken within a few days of the discovery, in September last, and was all recovered.