News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1893

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 4.

RELIGIOUS.

—In Kansas City, Kansas, on the 3d inst., eight barbers were arrested at the Midland Hotel for violation of the Sunday law. They were bailed by the proprietor, but did not resume work.

—Father Verhaag, dean and rector of St. Francis Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon, having been transferred to a less important charge at Baker City by the archbishop, and being denied a hearing in protest, has decided to appeal to Satolli, the papal delegate at Washington.

—Congressman Wheadock, of Michigan, has denounced the American Protective Association, an anti-Catholic society, as a "treasonable organization." Inasmuch as he admits that the members of the A. P. A. are sworn to defend the government of the United States, the treason evidently consists in opposition to the Catholic Church,—and that is just what we are coming to before long.

—At a meeting of the Lehigh Valley Railroad strikers at Wilkesbarre, Pa., on the 3d inst., ex-Railroad Commissioner L. S. Coffin made an earnest plea for the observance of the sabbath among railroad men. He said that "no railroad company should insist on its employes working 365 days in a year, and the time is coming when the God-fearing people of this country will demand that railway employes be given a rest on the sabbath day."

—"The elegant glassware and magnificent dinner sets that adorn the dining room table of Mgr. Satolli's residence in Washington were the gift of his Trenton friends. One of the dinner sets consists of 200 pieces, and the other of 146. They are made specially for the apostolic delegate, and appropriately decorated in one of the Trenton potteries."—Catholic News. When the Lord was sojourning on the earth, he said of himself, "The foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." Luke 9: 58.

—A Berlin paper publishes a dispatch stating that the Russian Government recently ordered the closing of a Catholic Church at Kroschs. Hearing of the order, the members of the congregation flocked to the church and remained night and day to prevent the order being carried out. One night a force of troops, under the governor of Kovno, entered the church, and with swords attacked the people, killing twenty within the edifice and wounding over 100. A large number fled and were pursued by Cossacks, and were drowned while attempting to escape by swimming across a river.

—We had thought it time to cease being surprised at anything, but when we saw the name of H. L. Hastings, of Boston, among the active participants in the recent National Reform Convention at Pittsburg, we could not help wondering what would come next. How a man who himself suffered imprisonment but a few years ago for publicly reading the Bible on Boston Common, could be found in the councils of an association whose success means the persecution—even to disfranchisement, banishment, and death—of all opponents, is indeed surprising. However, that was just the experience and the subsequent policy of the much-lauded Puritans, and "history repeats itself."

—A recent church scene, significant of the religion of the times, is described in the New York World. It appears that Governor McKinley, of Ohio, attended the Hanson Place Methodist Church in Brooklyn, and the minister recognized him. So at the close of the sermon he notified the congregation of the distinguished politician's presence, and "quick as a flash there came a rousing cheer from over 500 men, while the women waved their handkerchiefs. The congregation then joined in singing 'America.'" By such means will the churches gain influence with the politicians, and secure advantageous legislation. But had such a scene occurred in a political meeting on Sunday, that same minister and most of the congregation would have thought it a terrible "desecration of the Sabbath."