News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 12, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 15.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 5.

RELIGIOUS.

—A late Rome dispatch says the pope has approved the decree forbidding the clergy to attend bullfights in Spain. He orders that the priests must refuse absolution to a dying matador.

—Trinity Church, Boston, has taken a new departure in establishing a "Christian pawnshop," where the rate will not exceed four per cent., and where the business will be conducted on humane principles.

—Professor Harper, of the great Chicago University, is reported to have stated in a recent lecture that the story of Cain and Abel is a myth, and some of his brethren in the Baptist ministry take decided exception.

—Because the Midwinter Fair is opened on Sundays, the Methodist Preachers' Meeting of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Christian Endeavor, and the State Sunday School Association, have taken action and decided to "have nothing to do with it."

—A Sprague, Wash., correspondent of the Harbinger says that the matter of church members attending the dance is becoming quite a serious matter in the Christian Church in that place, and fears that if the practice is not stopped it will disrupt the church.

—Following is a recent obituary of a Church of England clergyman: "Rev. John Saxton, Vicar of Bondleigh, died at Bondleigh yesterday. He was renowned as an angler; he was an excellent shot, and a perfect horseman, being a well-known member of the Eggerford Hunt. He was also formerly well known and respected in cricketing circles. He had been vicar of Bondleigh forty years."

—The Protestant ministers of Shepparton, Province of Victoria, Australia, have notified the Minister of Railways that they are "totally opposed to the running of the Sunday train," and they regard it as "a direct assault on the sacredness of the day which the colony acknowledges the people's rest." The design of this special train was to enable the people to attend a service for the benefit of a hospital institution.

—It is coming to be deemed a serious public offense not to acquiesce in the wishes of the ministers. They have the same right to petition that other citizens have, but the idea that every interest and every enterprise must be limited by their dictum or come under their anathema is getting entirely too common. To admit their right to be heard in public affairs does not carry the doctrine that it is sacrilege to go contrary to their wishes. When they come to publicly urging the boycott on legitimate business that does not happen to be conducted to their liking, they step outside their proper places as ministers of the gospel.

—The tendency of the church toward the world was well illustrated last week in the First Baptist Church of this city, when some new candidates for membership were being examined. One official asked the candidates if they considered dancing a proper thing for professing Christians, and the question so confused one of the young ladies that her father, who is superintendent of the Sunday school, objected to its being put to his daughter. The issue is causing quite a commotion, and seems to have drawn a line between the "Puritans" and the "Progressives" in the church. It is noticeable, however, that all modern "progression" in the churches means, practically, progression toward the world.

—Evidently the name "Christian" is not a synonym of morality in Greece. An Athens dispatch of the 3d inst. says: "The execution of four Christians, sentenced to death for various crimes, in the island of Crete, has incensed the Christians of the island against the governor. Their indignation is increased by the fact that several Mussulmans, convicted of capital charges, have been reprieved. Two Mussulmans were found hanging to trees near Canea recently, and it was thought they were lynched by Christians. The lynching led to wholesale arrests, and the fanaticism of both sects has been aroused. All the foreign consuls in Canea, except the Russian representative, have protested against the execution of the Christians."

SECULAR.

—Anarchist Vaillant was beheaded in Paris on the 5th inst.

—The notorious Spanish bandit, Barillas, "scourge of the Province of Valencia," was surprised and killed on the 4th inst.

—A recent dispatch from Lisbon states that the government has sent a fleet of war ships to Oporto to suppress an insurrection.

—The Chinese in this State are beginning to stir themselves in the matter of registering, seeming suddenly to realize the fact that the six months' extension of time is fast passing away.

—On account of Italy's weak condition, the German Government is becoming anxious for friendly relations with Russia, and a Russo-German treaty is now a first-class political question.

—The great Niagara Falls water power is now being utilized to move the machinery of the greatest paper manufactory in the world, and also in running extensive machinery for generating electricity.

—The pupils of San Francisco public schools continue to send noon lunches to the hundreds of poor laborers who are working in Golden Gate Park on the charity fund. They are greeted with cheers and tears.

—Serious riots, resulting from efforts to collect revenues on the Assam frontiers, are reported from Calcutta. Fifteen persons who resisted the officers had been killed, and the police were calling for reënforcements.

—Mr. George W. Childs, proprietor of the Philadelphia Ledger, died on the 2d inst. Deceased had a more than national reputation as an upright business man, a philanthropist, and friend of honest toilers of every grade.

—The decision of Judge Stein, of Chicago, imposing fines on Director General Davis and other World's Fair officials for closing the Fair on a Sunday after his order to keep it open, has been reversed by the Appellate Court.

—It is announced that the shah of Persia is to make another tour of European capitals this year. It is further stated that all civilized royalty is shocked at the prospect of another infliction of his Persian manners upon decent society.

—The Chinese Government has settled for the murder of the two Swedish missionaries of Sung Pu. Some of the Chinese are to be put to death, others degraded, and an indemnity of $40,000 is to be paid to the families of the missionaries.

—Ex-Premier Samuel Parker, of Hawaii, has issued an address to the people of the United States, in which he says the people of the islands, if given an opportunity, would soon decide in favor of the constitutional monarchy that has been overthrown.

—A heavy windstorm blew down a Congregational Church in Gate City, Ala., on the night of the 3d inst., and about thirty women and children were buried beneath the ruins. They were all more or less injured, three fatally. A Christian Endeavor meeting was being held.

—The Southern California Woman's Parliament convened in its fourth annual session at Pomona last week. At one of the sessions there was an audience of 2,000 people, and all the meetings were largely attended. Educational and labor topics received principal attention.

—The French Chamber of Deputies has approved the Franco-Siamese treaty. It is reported from London that an agreement has been reached between England, France, and China to respect the integrity of Siam, holding that country under the joint protectorate of the three powers.

—On the 28th ult., in Zurich, Switzerland, Anarchists marched to the Italian Legation building, and fastened red and black flags over the door. The police interfered, when a riot ensued, and a large number of combatants on both sides were wounded. Sixteen prominent rioters were arrested.

—A flag that has been prepared for adoption by the Provisional Government at Hawaii is soon to be unfurled at the Hawaiian village, Midwinter Fair grounds, San Francisco. Its field of blue represents the Pacific Ocean, and in the center is an eight-pointed star, symbolical of the eight islands of the Hawaiian group.

—The richest woman in America is Mrs. Hetty Green, of New York, and she is so afraid of being robbed or kidnapped that she takes lodgings in obscure places, and changes her domicile quite frequently. It is said that she tries to keep her place of residence a secret from even her relatives. So much for laying up treasures on earth.

—A dispatch of January 30 from Bogota, U. S. of Colombia, says that serious riots have broken out in that city. They are a protest against the monopoly in tobacco. A mob of over seven thousand men attacked the government offices in spite of the efforts of the police. The troops were called out, charged the mob, and many persons were killed.

—The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia has refused the application of the Knights of Labor for an injunction restraining Secretary Carlisle from issuing government bonds. Judge Cox said the Knights, as an organization, had no standing in court. There is talk of carrying the case to the Court of Appeals, and possibly to the U. S. Supreme Court.

—A great meteor is reported to have fallen between Candelaria and Belleville, Nevada, on the night of the 1st inst. Its brilliant lights and the noise of its explosion were plainly seen and heard at Carson, a distance of 140 miles. It struck on a knoll of sand and rock, tearing up the ground for a considerable distance and causing the earth to quake for several miles. It is described as having the appearance of a great ball of fire, with a tail like a comet, and it exploded just before striking the earth.

—The Equal Suffrage Association of Hiawatha, Kansas, raised the association flag in commemoration of Kansas day, January 29. Its design was the national colors, but instead of forty-four stars it showed only two, representing Colorado and Wyoming, where woman suffrage prevails, and one just rising into view, supposed to mean Kansas. Some of the G. A. R. men took offense at the innovation and tore it down. The ideas of liberty and loyalty are becoming more and more varied in this "Christian nation."

—The public has been wondering what had become of the new Brazilian fleet purchased in New York and London, and which was to have annihilated the rebel fleet in Rio harbor long before this. It is now reported that treacherous persons among the crew tampered with the machinery of three of the vessels to such an extent that extensive repairs were necessary, which has caused a delay of the vessels at Bahia. This might have been expected, inasmuch as most of the crews were said to have been pressed into service.

—It looks as if the rebel admiral at Rio Janeiro was anxious to surrender to some foreign power, for fear of being obliged to surrender to the government. He has fired upon United States and German vessels, and when the former promptly replied, it is said De Gama wanted to surrender, but his fellow officers would not submit to such a course. The action of Admiral Benham, of the American fleet, has had the effect of freeing American shipping from annoyance by the rebels, and that commerce will no longer be interfered with.

—U. S. Minister Willis, at Honolulu, declined to order the naval vessel in the harbor to fire a salute on the 17th of January in honor of the anniversary of the establishment of the Provisional Government. The officials and sympathizers of the new government are very indignant at what they call an insult on the part of the Minister, inasmuch as two former Ministers and President Cleveland "have given the amplest recognition" to the changed order of affairs; and even Mr. Willis himself had presented his credentials to President Dole for acceptance.

—The stockholders of the World's Fair corporation and the city of Chicago get a return of about ten cents on the dollar of the capital invested in the enterprise. The statements that the receipts were a little over $1,000,000 more than the expenditures do not include the original capital of the stockholders and the gift by the city, which amounted to $10,666,495. It is probable that the city did or will get even indirectly, and the same may be said of some or even all of the stockholders, but the business of the enterprise itself did not pay them.

—Officers who went to the mining village of Woodville, Pa., last week, to arrest persons connected with a riot of striking miners, report almost unparalleled scenes of degradation and want. The homes of some of the rioters were in a horrible condition, and in two of them the carcasses of dogs were found, which had been killed for family food. Over forty men were arrested. One man picked up his little child and dared the officers to shoot, saying he would rather die with his family than to be taken away, for if he were arrested, they would have "no one to steal bread for them." But he was arrested. The president of the United Mine Workers says the riots in the Pittsburg coal district were due to starvation, the wages having been reduced so low that miners could not earn enough to keep their families in food.

—It is very rarely that anyone can get a government, State, or municipal appointment unless he belongs to some fraternal society. The biographical notices of political appointees almost invariably include the order or orders of which the subject is a member. A few years ago a young man in this State sought an appointment as railway postal agent. He had good recommendations, but after two years of waiting on promises, he was plainly told that he must become an Odd Fellow before he could secure the appointment. He joined the order, and was immediately appointed. The postmaster whose recommendation was necessary, the County Committeeman of the party in power who held that portion of the perquisites in his hand, and the Congressman through whom the appointment must come, were all Odd Fellows, and the rest was a matter of course.