p. 15 | News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 5, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 14.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 29.

RELIGIOUS.

—The Methodists of Kansas are reported to have instituted a boycott on Baker University because it tolerates football.

—Rev. William Reany (Catholic), chaplain with the U. S. fleet at Rio Janeiro, has organized among the sailors a Society of the Holy Name.

—A correspondent of the New York Observer says "it is not true that polygamy has been given up in Utah,—it prevails extensively all over the Territory."

—A High Church Episcopal minister of Philadelphia, named Manifold, an assistant at St. Clements, has resigned his position to unite with the Catholic Church.

—The Christian-nation theorist will claim Florida as a Christian State; but the people, even to the courts, have gone against the governor in his efforts to prevent a prize fight.

—Rev. Mr. Bechger, one of Dr. McGlynn's old assistants in St. Stephen's, in New York, has renounced Roman Catholicism, and is now engaged in mission work among Catholics.

—The Boards of Home and Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church have purchased a lot at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twentieth Street, New York City, on which they are to erect a building at a cost of $1,000,000.

—About thirty Catholic students at the University of Minnesota have recently "followed the example of Catholic students at other non-Catholic colleges," and formed themselves into a club, to meet every two weeks, and purpose to secure a course of lectures by distinguished Catholic speakers.

—New York City now has two Orthodox Greek Churches, a second having been instituted on the 7th inst. It was organized by a minister who came direct from Constantinople. The Judson Memorial Baptist Church was used for the purpose, and the new congregation is said to number 400.

—At the dedication of a new chapel at Dandridge, England, a short time ago, Rev. Father Hamilton is reported to have stated that there are 1,735 Roman Catholic Churches in Great Britain, and that 1,500 of these have been built during the last fifty years. This is certainly a remarkable increase in the face of a State church,—a rate of thirty per annum.

—There has been considerable query as to why certain nations are called "Christian nations." Perhaps this item from the California Prohibitionist gives the true reason: "Did you ever think of it, friend, the legalized saloon is a distinctly Christian institution, indigenous only to Christian countries, and found nowhere else?" Inasmuch as we know of no other reason for calling them "Christian nations," we are inclined to accept this as the origin of the delusive idea.

—The Jewish Church seems to have fallen a victim, to a limited extent, at least, of the church society epidemic. We read of a meeting recently held in New York to organize a society for securing a better observance of the Jewish Sabbath. About forty prominent rabbis and laymen manifested a desire to move in some special manner for a better Sabbath observance, which has become sadly neglected. The question arises, For what do they maintain a Jewish Church organization, if a separate society is necessary in order to encourage Sabbath observance? Or has the church as a body given up the Sabbath?

—The Catholic Mirror credits the following to "a Protestant paper:" "The Rev. H. R. Haweis, who has hitherto adhered to the black gown in the pulpit, has announced his intention of adopting the surplice in the future. 'Twenty years ago,' he remarks, 'the surplice of the pulpit was the badge of popery, and the black gown of orthodoxy. Now the black gown is the badge of Nonconformity and the surplice is the sign of orthodoxy.' This seems to mean that what was popery twenty years ago is orthodoxy now in the Church of England. In other words, that church has abjured Protestantism, which is now branded as Nonconformity, and gone in for Catholicism as far as the law allows."

—The new Catholic bishop of Dallas, Texas, was recently installed with elaborate ceremony. He was a Chicago priest prior to his elevation, and proceeded to his new field in company with seventeen other Chicago priests. There was a very large congregation, "made up of all denominations, and included a large number of business men." The address of welcome included an apology for the smallness of the "pro cathedral," as the church was called, and a comparison with the humble surroundings in Bethlehem, which was "made glorious by the possession of the King of all riches." Said the speaker, "This little church, though poor in appearance, is already rich by the real presence of God Almighty."

SECULAR.

—Report says a very rich vein of gold ore has been discovered near Gila City, Arizona.

—The Province of Ontario, Canada, has cast a large majority vote in favor of the prohibition of the liquor traffic.

—It is reported that every business place in Courtland, Ala., was recently raided by burglars, and the plunder carried off in wagons.

—The woolen mills at Oregon City, Ore., have been shut down because the employees refused to accept a ten per cent. cut in wages.

—Murderer John McNulty, for whom the gallows have been made ready five times in Sacramento, has had his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life.

—A bill is now pending in the U. S. Senate which provides for the exemption from taxation of property belonging to the Y. M. C. A. in the District of Columbia.

—It is announced from Washington, D. C., that the Secretary of the Interior has ordered that there shall be no more smoking in that department during office hours.

—Bullfighting is to be revived in the City of Mexico, under the authority of the government, and the city council will contract for its conduct for a percentage of the profit.

—The German revenue returns for 1893 show that the expenditures exceed the grants by 40,000,000 marks (about $10,000,000). The excess is mostly for military expenditures.

—A snowslide in White Bird Gulch, Idaho County, Idaho, last week, destroyed the house of a man named Thompson, and killed four of his daughters. The parents and an infant escaped.

—The Old Dominion silver mine, at Colville, Wash., which has run continuously for about nine years, paying to employees an average of $10,000 a month, has been closed on account of the low price of silver.

—Bismarck and Emperor William have become at least outwardly reconciled, and the old "Iron Chancellor" last week paid a visit to Berlin, where he was received with great enthusiasm and made the guest of the royal family.

—The Provincial Parliament of British Columbia has resolved to memorialize the Dominion Government, asking that the present Chinese poll tax of $50 be raised to $100, three-fourths of the amount to be retained by the province.

—Gunpowder and alcohol are the most prominent agents used in the celebration of Christmas by this so-called "Christian nation." Statistics foot up ten violent deaths as California's record for the last celebration of the bogus anniversary.

—Advices from Shanghai announce that Russian agents are seeking permission to settle a colony of 100 families in Corea. The Chinese minister in Corea opposes the concession, as the region desired by the Russians is deemed of strategic importance.

—St. Agnes' Church (Catholic) at South Omaha was recently entered at night by some unknown enemy, who smashed a fine piano, destroyed the altar rail, tore up the vestments, and stole the sacred vessels. The whole damage is said to be $3,000.

—A receiver has discovered that the Guarantee Investment Company, of Chicago, which has outstanding bonds to the amount of $35,000,000, has just $449 with which to redeem its paper. Many workingmen, women, and girls lose their savings through the gigantic fraud.

—Two murderers and four other prisoners escaped from the county jail at Santa Rosa, Cal., on the 23d inst., this being the second escape of murderer Bruggy. As in the case of Chris. Evans' escape from Fresno jail, Bruggy's wife had paid him a prolonged visit just previous to the break.

—The San Francisco Midwinter Fair was formally opened on the 27th inst. If an immense crowd of people, which even the intrepid newspaper reporters hardly presumed to estimate, means success, then the opening was a success. The number admitted through the gates was reported at 72,000.

—A bill has been introduced in the Kentucky Legislature prohibiting the organization or continuance of societies whose object is to discriminate between Christians on account of their religion. The bill is supposed to be specially aimed at the American Protective Association, an anti-Catholic society.

—At midnight of January 23, although the coldest night of the winter, 1,000 citizens of Pueblo, Colo., swarmed around the Colorado Smelting Company's works to catch the glimpse of a ghost that superstitious workmen had reported as making periodical appearances. But it didn't make its appearance.

—A seven-year-old boy named Lenox died at Muncie, Ind., last week, and a post-mortem examination showed that an insect had eaten into his heart. About a year ago, it is said, the boy drank water from a brook and swallowed a bug, and the insect, having eaten its way through the stomach, had reached the heart.

—A dynamite explosion in the harbor works of Barcelona, Spain, on the 25th ult., resulted in the death of two persons and the serious injury of several others. On the same day the civil governor was wounded by a pistol shot as he was entering his carriage. The governor's secretary seized the assailant, who loudly proclaimed himself to be an Anarchist. An accomplice escaped.

—Cremation as a means of disposing of the dead is fast gaining favor. The Alameda County Cremation Society has just been incorporated in this city, and it is expected that 1,000 people will take stock. The city health officer is one of the incorporators. A movement is also said to be on foot for the erection of a crematory at Mountain View Cemetery.

—The world's great educational institutions seem to be descending in the scale of moral dignity, as well as the rest of our much-lauded civilization. The latest illustration is the spectacle of 500 Yale students chasing a painted and greased pig on the college campus. The most appropriate feature of the game was that the pig was labeled "Yale" in large letters.

—A Chinese Sunday school in Trinity M. E. Church, Denver, Colo., was attacked by highbinders on the 23d inst., and a free fight ensued. The interpreter and his brother were the main objects of attack, and were roughly handled. A leader of the highbinders had asked and was granted permission to address the school in Chinese, and during his remarks suddenly precipitated the fight.

—A correspondent writing from the Bahama Islands says of the times there that the highest wages paid are 75 cents per day, and 30 cents are the regular wages. Flour is 5 cents a pound, oatmeal 12 cents, soda crackers 12 to 15 cents, butter 40 cents, meat 20 cents, and milk 20 cents a quart. So that people in this country who work half time on the lowest wages are as well off as the average full workers there.

—A Yokohama dispatch says the Government of Japan will resist all anti-foreign bills presented by any diet that may be chosen. It is further alleged that the streets of Tokio are still unsafe for foreigners, especially ladies and children. The police have closed the headquarters of all political and foreign societies. It is evident that the people of Japan and their representatives have not advanced as rapidly in the adoption of foreign progressive ideas as the government would fain have them.

—On the Pacific Ocean side of Marin County, Cal., on the night of the 20th ult., a series of landslides occurred as a result of the prolonged rainstorms. The little town of Bolinas, situated on a picturesque promontory, was almost entirely destroyed, but a few vestiges being left. Several ranches in the adjacent valleys were also seriously damaged. Strange as it may seem, no lives were lost, but there was much suffering amongst the families suddenly thrown out in the night's storm of water and mud.

—The Methodist ministers of San Francisco undertook to stop the theatrical performance of Evans and Sontag, in which Mrs. Evans and family hold up the noted bandits bearing those names as exemplary heroes. Sontag being dead, and Evans having escaped from jail after his conviction, the latter comes in for the greater share of heroism. But the district attorney announces that there is no law to stop the play, not even to keep the babies off the stage. In the meantime crowds patronize the play. In this "Christian nation" the man who beats the law—be he financier, prize fighter, or bandit—is deemed the hero of the hour.

—There is great difficulty in the matter of getting a jury to try Dr. West, in a San Francisco court, charged with the murder of a young woman named Ada Gilmore. The trouble is that men who have sense enough to read a newspaper and have opinions of their own are not competent as jurors. According to the usual practice, the quickest and surest way to secure a "competent" jury would be to draw upon the insane asylums. The curious feature of the subject is that a judge who decides a case tried without a jury is expected to be a wise and well-informed individual; but if the case be given to a jury to decide, that body must be composed of ignoramuses.