p. 207 | News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 29, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 13.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 22.

RELIGIOUS.

—The Society of Friends recently sent $8,930 to the Salvation Army for use in its social work.

—The will of George H. Babcock, deceased, of Plainfield, N. J., leaves $200,000 to the Seventh-day Baptist Church Association.

—The Presbyterian Church is beginning to take cognizance of the politics of its members, and the Christian at Work rejoices to know that "two members of a Presbyterian Church in New Jersey have been suspended on account of their action in voting for the licensing of the Linden race track."

—Late advices from Rome announce that the Moniteur de Rome, organ of the Vatican, which was recently suspended to avoid prosecution for statements offensive to the Italian Government, is about to be revived. The editor states that it will support the policy of Satolli, apostolic delegate to the United States.

—The Talmage Tabernacle, Brooklyn N. Y., is again in trouble financially. There is now $15,000 interest due, and the trustees do not know where to get it. For four years Dr. Talmage has donated his salary to help out the great "white elephant," which his ambition was mainly instrumental in foisting upon the congregation, but the burden seems not to lighten. He has tendered his resignation as pastor.

—A Catholic paper says that, with the approval of the pope, the general of the Jesuits has written to the emperor of Germany expressing thanks for the progress of the bill for restoring his order to favor in the empire. Father Martin promises that the society will be very good, and devote its energies to Catholic education, and to the training of missionaries who shall carry the gospel (of the Jesuits, of course) to the colonies of the empire. The remarkable feature of the case is that this is just what Bismarck expelled them for.

—Although the downfall of the Italian Government, which seems to be only a question of time, may be directly traced to its long struggle under the papal load, the Papacy will no doubt be able to make it appear to European eyes that the government's embarrassment is the result of her attempted divorcement from the Vatican. There are frequent rumors of the papal outfit being removed from Rome. The latest is a probability of Spain becoming a place of refuge, and it is said that in such an event the palaces in Seville and Valencia would be placed at the pope's disposal.

—A postal card, signed "Rev. J. W. Wells," gives this information, which we pass on as a sign of the times: "A Christian Federation (evangelical) or Prohibition Church will be organized in Chicago February 3, 1894. The object shall be to furnish a church house for those whose convictions lead them in this direction, an organization that will mother every righteous reform, and, while opposing the union of Church and State, will not hesitate to assert its God-ordained authority to censure and discipline wrongdoing, following the perpetrator into corporations, where greed robs the masses; into the legislative halls, where the act of one becomes the act of the many; to the ballot box, where the citizen sets the stamp of his sovereign approval upon the acts of men and parties. It is intended to be local, State, and national. Its creed will be Christ, and its authority God's word; its work, the salvation of souls,—salvation from sin and salvation of the country. Each individual or church may move in with his or their doctrinal household goods, placing them in bond in the federation storehouse, relying upon the cohesive force of the righteousness of our cause to adjust all minor differences. Membership actual and associate, local and non-resident." Inasmuch as we are in an age of delusions, this will probably gain some footing, if it be not overwhelmed in the multiplicity of other delusions. A like effort was made in this State some months ago, but it proved abortive.

—A banquet of the Church Club, an Episcopal society of San Francisco, was held last week at the Occidental Hotel. There were present most of the Episcopal ministers of the city, Bishop Goodell (Methodist), Rabbi Voorsanger, Rev. Dr. McKenzie (Presbyterian), Rev. Horatio Stebbins (Unitarian), and others of the cloth. The subject up for discussion was "Evolution," and its two great champions—Professor Le Conte, of the State University, and President Jordan, of Stanford University—were the leading speakers. A press report notes the fact that thirty-four ministers of the gospel and as many distinguished laymen applauded the speech of Professor Le Conte, in which he asserted that "the whole array of facts which are known in biology and organic science concentrate as one grand mass of evidence proving the theory of evolution." Judging from the utterances also of prominent clergymen who were not at the banquet, it is clear that evolution is fast coming to the front in popular theology, for the reason that it is deemed scientific. In these days the man who wants to be popularly recognized as learned must not be out of harmony with what is popularly recognized as science. If there is anything that the would-be popular minister dreads, it is to be classed as a "hard-shell," a "moss-back," or as "ignorant" and "bigoted;" and we have now reached the point where a minister is all of these and more if he prefers the plain word of God to the modern evolution delusion.

SECULAR.

—U. S. Senator Walthall, of Mississippi, has resigned on account of ill health.

—It is reported that the Ohio Legislature has dispensed with the chaplain formality.

—Another large Italian bank, the Banca Generale, of Rome, has failed. It has branches at Milan and Genoa.

—A storm off Bilboa, Spain, on the 21st inst., destroyed a number of fishing boats, and twenty-five fishermen were drowned.

—Ex-President Harrison is expected in Palo Alto, Cal., in February to deliver his law lectures in Stanford University. The course will occupy six weeks.

—The formal opening of the San Francisco Midwinter Fair will take place on the 27th inst., and Governor Markham has proclaimed that day a legal holiday.

—A Vera Cruz, Mexico, dispatch of the 17th inst. reports the steamship Seguranca, from New York, in quarantine with twenty-two cases of smallpox on board.

—A farm hand near Abilene, Texas, one day last week dug up a pot of gold and silver coin amounting to $3,100. It is supposed the money had been buried by robbers.

—A recent steamer arrival in New York brings news that the president of San Domingo has taken nine political enemies, one being General Machina, and had them shot.

—A Pullman car with twelve newspaper correspondents left Chicago for San Francisco on the night of the 20th inst., to report the Midwinter Fair opening on the 27th.

—Gen. A. J. Warner, president of the National Bimetallic League, has called a convention of the silver men of the country, to be held at Des Moines, Iowa, February 22 and 23.

—The people of Riverside, Cal., have decided to secure a gravel pit in which the unemployed will be given work at seventy-five cents per day. If they refuse to work, they will have to move on.

—The Anti-vice Society of San Francisco is making a raid on the violators of the law forbidding the sale of tobacco to children under sixteen years of age, and have had sixty-seven warrants issued against offenders.

—During the past week the German police at several prominent points prevented the assembling of unemployed men. At Watter the men refused to disperse until several were seriously injured in the conflict.

—The present hero of Nevada is Johnny Crow, aged 14, who rescued six younger brothers and sister, who had broken through the ice in Carson River. He swam forty feet under the ice after a little five-year-old brother.

—All the employees of the Diamond Plate Glass Company at Kokomo and Ellwood, Ind., to the number of 1,400, went on a strike on the 17th inst., the object being to support a strike in the polishing room at Kokomo.

—A detachment of French troops pursuing a gang of pirates in Tonkin, a few weeks ago, were ambushed by the marauders. The result was that Captain De Luney and eighteen men were killed, and three lieutenants wounded.

—Fifty families of colored people in Arkansas want to go to Liberia. If they can get to New York, the American Colonization Society will take them the rest of the way. So they offer to turn over all their property to the government for means to carry them to New York.

—Late news from China, by way of London, reports a series of destructive earthquakes in the province of Urga, Mongolia. About one hundred of the native nomadic population, with their flocks, were swallowed up or otherwise destroyed.

—A Pittsburg dispatch says the national secretary of the United Mine Workers makes the statement that the miners have abandoned the idea of fighting employers in districts, and are planning for a strike in every State in the Union, which will involve about 280,000 men.

—On the 20th inst. a tornado, accompanied by thunder, lightning, and rain, struck Dallas, Texas, and demolished or damaged over 100 buildings. Of the buildings totally destroyed were the Christian and M. E. Churches, in Oak Cliff. One boy was killed, and two others severely injured.

—Late reports from Thibet give more definite accounts of the great earthquake which occurred in the district of Kada last August. It is said that 9,000 square miles of territory was devastated, and that seventy-four Laama priests and 137 Chinese and Thibetans were killed, and hundreds of others injured.

—Major Sims, a lecturer for the American Protective Association, was mobbed at Kankuana, Wis., on the night of the 17th inst., and his meeting broken up. The building was assailed by 2,000 men. Officers succeeded in getting him to his hotel, but not till after he had been knocked senseless. He was escorted to the train the next morning by an armed guard.

—From New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, comes the good news that several large factories are being placed in operation after a long idleness. These include cotton and woolen mills, silk factories, machine shops, iron and steel works, potteries, shoe factories, etc., and the employment of thousands of idle people and the relief of many needy families is the result.

—A disastrous railroad accident occurred at Chester, S. C., on the 17th inst. A collision between two passenger trains caused the instant death of twenty-five sleeping-coach passengers and the injury of many others who occupied regular cars. Many of the killed were mangled beyond recognition, the passenger coach having been struck in the center by the locomotive of a train coming on a cross track.

—Several hundred Anarchists gathered at Tarona, Italy, on the 16th inst., and compelled the people to deliver up all their arms and ammunition. Securing also a large quantity of liquors, the marauders prepared to march upon the town of Carrara. They were, however, attacked by a strong force of infantry and gendarmes, and official reports state that eight Anarchists were killed and forty or fifty wounded.

—The Honduran revolutionists have achieved considerable success of late, which by some is deemed equivalent to the overthrow of the government of President Vasquez, although at last report he occupied a strong position at Cerro de Fuerte. The success of the rebels and their allies is said to greatly encourage malcontents in adjoining States, and there is a probability of trouble throughout all Central America.

—A Berlin dispatch says that the Russian Government has applied to the Government of Greece for the keys of the naval magazine on the island of Paros, in the Grecian Archipelago. The island was formerly used by the Russians as a naval depot, and the present request is made on the plea of a desire to replenish the storehouses. A reply has not yet been given, and it is understood that Greece will consult other powers before giving an answer.

—Near Cazadero, Cal., on the North Pacific Coast Railroad, seven men lost their lives on the evening of the 14th inst. A conductor, engineer, and six others went down to Austin Creek on a locomotive to test the bridge, which it was feared had been weakened by a sudden flood. The conductor went across the bridge on foot, and the engineer attempted to follow with his engine; but the bridge gave way, precipitating the engine and seven men into the torrent.

—A reign of terror is reported at Black Rock, Ark., where there is a large number of unemployed men, and amongst them many hard characters. This class it seems have determined to drive out the colored population, who number about three hundred. Mill and factory owners have been notified to discharge all their colored employees, or their establishments will be burned, and property owners have been ordered to turn out their colored tenants. The negroes are greatly terrified, and many have left the place.

—The three colored legislators of Ohio have interviewed Governor McKinley with reference to the punishment of parties engaged in lynching one of their race at West Union, Adams County. The governor said that he expected the grand jury of Adams County to indict and prosecute all the parties implicated, and if they failed to do their duty, he would himself see that justice was done in the matter. Inasmuch as several prominent citizens are known to have been engaged in the affair, the governor's assurance creates considerable excitement.