News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 8, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 48.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 1.

RELIGIOUS.

—Montreal, the rendezvous of American financial fugitives, is agitating the question of closed liquor saloons on Sundays.

—The pope has informed the young Duc d'Orleans that "his holiness" does not desire any Legitimate agitation in France.

—The burning of St. Mary's College in this city exposed a goodly pile of rifles used in drilling the students. A well-stocked wine cellar was also brought to view. Here is one prominent institution where the much-boasted Catholic temperance sentiment has not yet taken hold.

—Another effort is to be made by the Retail Clerks' Association of Chicago to secure a Sunday-closing ordinance in that city. Such an ordinance was passed last winter, but it was vetoed by the mayor. It is hoped to secure a sufficient vote next time to carry the ordinance in spite of a veto.

—A new celibate order of laymen has been established in the Protestant Episcopal Church. It is called the Community of the Brothers of the Church, was instituted by Bishop Potter, of New York, on the 28th ult., and will follow the methods of the Catholic Franciscans, taking the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

—At the Bishops' Conference at Buda Pesth, last week, the Primate of Hungary read a letter from the pope directing the episcopate to use its efforts with the magnates to obtain a modification of the bill dealing with the religion of children of mixed marriages. But he adds that "the agitation must not take an illegal form."

—An instance of political religion is thus referred to in Christian Work: "At the morning session of the Kentucky Methodist Conference at Frankfort, Ky., on the 14th inst., the subject of the Congress election was warmly discussed. Bishop Duncan said he was a great believer in the efficacy of prayer, and he believed the prayers of just people were answered. He asked that all good people join in heart while Rev. Dr. J. Ditzle led in prayer for the purity of the Ashland district. The prayer was offered, amid amens resounding and filling the whole room with feeling for the defeat of Colonel Breckenridge. Such a scene is said never to have occurred before in conference."

—An Anarchist under sentence of death at Barcelona, Spain, has been induced by his sister, who is a nun, to accept "religious ministrations." And this is advanced by a Catholic journal as proof that "religion [Catholic, of course] is the only influence that will put an end to the Anarchist outrages that have been so frequent in Europe of late." This is the point that Rome has been endeavoring for some time to impress upon the governments of Europe, and it is probably the argument that will win in the end. It is, however, a virtual acknowledgment that Anarchists are of that class that would naturally take to the Catholic religion, if to any, on account of their early training.

—A writer in the Baptist Sentinel boldly accuses his denomination of "drifting into looseness in doctrine, principles, and practice." He quotes a missionary at Chefoo, China, as saying that the missionaries there are "mixing up in conference with all denominations with which they come in contact, to a greater or less extent of intimacy, and open communion is becoming quite common." They even "wrote to the committee in America requesting the privilege of practicing open communion." And, "to cap the climax, this committee replied to the effect that, as the missionaries were better informed as to what would be most expedient on the field, they were at liberty to act in this respect in accordance with what they deemed best."

SECULAR.

—The United States Government has personal descriptions of over 500 French Anarchists.

—A Calumet, Mich., dispatch of the 30th ult. reports a terrific windstorm in that vicinity and on Lake Superior.

—The Crown Point Printing Works, at Leeds, England, were destroyed by fire on the 30th ult., entailing a loss of $500,000.

—A cable dispatch announces the destruction of half the city of San Domingo by a cyclone, but gives no further particulars.

—It is said that the Chinese army in Corea has mutinied, having become discouraged because they were out of ammunition and their supplies cut off.

—The first rainfall of the season visited California on the 29th ult., being quite generally distributed and in some parts unusually heavy for the time of year.

—An army of 30,000 Japanese troops embarked at Hiroshima, on the 25th inst., for China, and rumor said they were to operate directly against Pekin by land.

—At Nanaimo, B. C., on the 28th ult., fire destroyed property to the extent of $100,000. Two men were burned to death, and three other persons were seriously injured.

—The Dominion Trades and Labor Council, recently held in Ottawa, resolved to petition the Ontario Legislature for such a modification of the Sunday law as would permit the running of cars.

—President Iglesias, of Costa Rica, has declared the country under martial law. The threatened uprising is supposed to be in the interest of the proposed federation of Central American republics.

—The New England Coast has also had its windstorm, which extended as far south as New Jersey. The surf in many places was dangerously high, and telegraph and telephone poles were prostrated for long distances.

—In Blasseki, Russian Poland, where the cholera is epidemic, sixty houses were set on fire recently in order to arrest the progress of the disease, and a number of victims, unable to save themselves, were burned to death.

—It is estimated that 150,000,000 of the Chinese are opium smokers. No wonder they are unable to hold their own in the contest for national supremacy, with nearly one-half of the population given to such an enervating habit.

—The timely warnings of the Weather Bureau at Washington concerning the recent windstorms north and south were the cause of saving much property, especially in shipping, that otherwise would have been extensively damaged.

—It is said that the health of Czar Alexander is so precarious that he is likely to die at any time. The heir to the throne is very friendly to Germany, and the presumption is he would favor alliance with Germany rather than with France.

—The Japanese are said to be conveying 15,000 Chinese prisoners from Corea to Japan. The movement is designed to create a feeling in China against the Pekin Government for permitting such a desecration of the traditional dignity of Chinamen.

—General Ezeta, of Salvadorian fame, has reached the City of Mexico, and informs President Diaz that he will settle in that country and engage in coffee raising. One of his old victims is said to be on his trail with the intention of having revenge.

—In Santa Cruz County, Cal., at the coming State election, the people will vote also upon the propositions, "For the Saloon" and "Against the Saloon." This is a square temperance issue; there is no specious Sunday-closing dogma in a temperance mask.

—The officers of a schooner which went up to Bering Sea last spring report having passed through sixty miles of frozen fish, which extended on either side as far as the eye could reach. They had been thawed on the outside, but on being cut open they still contained ice inside.

—The town of Mission San Jose, Cal., was almost entirely destroyed by fire on the night of the 27th ult., on account of a lack of water supply to extinguish what otherwise would have been a small blaze. This is one of the oldest settlements in the State, and was once before reduced to ashes.

—Japan is decidedly sanguine of success, and her "great expectations," if rumor is correct, comprise absolute dictation in the Orient. It is said to be the ambitious design of the mikado's government to divide the Chinese Empire into three independent kingdoms. We doubt they will find in many parts of China a hearty response to the scheme. But the other powers will have something to say before all that is accomplished.

—It is expected that France will soon annex the island of Madagascar, although the Hovas, the leading tribe of the island, are being urged to resist the invasion unto death. If they do undertake to carry on a war, the subjection of the interior will be no light undertaking, owing to its naturally rugged topography.

—Foreigners in Pekin, China, are said to be in constant dread of outrage from the excited populace, so superstitious are the natives in regard to the reverses of their army and navy. Soldiers insult and annoy foreigners on the street, and officers do not interfere. In Tientsin, also, foreigners are said to be forming a volunteer corps for their own protection.

—It is said that the Tong Haks, a powerful religious sect of Corean rebels, who ascribe all manner of trouble to the presence of foreigners in the country, have arisen against the Japanese as well as all others. Last year these fanatics incited a large number of Coreans to an attempt to expel foreigners from the country, but their movement was suppressed.

—President Cleveland has issued a proclamation granting full amnesty to all Mormons who are now under the ban of the law on account of polygamy, excepting such as have not complied with the conditions of President Harrison's conditional amnesty proclamation. This is done in the belief that the Mormon Church has abandoned polygamy and its members are now obeying the law.

—It is reported by way of Montevideo that extensive rioting occurred in Rio Janeiro last week, continuing several days. The wrath of the rioters is said to have been directed against foreigners, especially Portuguese, who were suspected of being favorable to a restoration of the monarchy. It is stated that some 300 persons were killed and 200 wounded. The damage to property is estimated at $1,500,000.

—The Toledo, Ohio, Blade says that the writing of the original Declaration of Independence has become almost totally obliterated by neglect and exposure to the light. Strange as this may seem, it is not so strange as that the principles set forth in the once valuable document should become well-nigh inoperative because of neglect—a lack of apprehension on the part of the masses of the dangers that beset their liberties on every hand.

—Ping Yang, the scene of the recent land battle between the Japanese and Chinese armies, is said to be a very old city. A missionary who visited the place not long ago states that it is all sacred ground to the Coreans, having been the home of their patron Sitja at the time King David reigned in Jerusalem. It is laid out in the form of a boat, and no one is allowed to dig a well inside the walls, as that would be making a hole in the bottom of the boat. Consequently all the water used has to be carried from the river to the remotest parts of the city.

—According to previous warning of the government weather bureau, the looked-for storm came upon the Florida peninsula on the 26th inst. At Jacksonville the streets were flooded, and the new Union Depot was blown down; also a large hotel was unroofed and flooded, and other houses blown down. Railroad travel was stopped. The town of Mayport was also flooded. At Savannah, Ga., the storm raged all day and all night, doing considerable damage. From Orangeburg, S. C., come reports of great damage to corn and cotton crops. Even as far north as Wilmington, N. C., serious damage to property is reported.

—The Carnegie Company intimate that another reduction of wages will take place at their Edgar Thomas Steel Works, Pittsburg, after October 30. The relation of politics and wages is a much discussed question; but it seems to be an established fact that no party administration can keep wages up when the great monopolies want to put them down. Carnegie lowered wages under a high tariff, and he lowered them again when the tariff is lowered. Wage workers ought to learn sometime that party politics has little of practical importance to them. At the polls they are simply stepping-stones upon which politicians ascend to lucrative positions.

—Anent a note in this column a week ago Elder H. A. St. John writes substantially as follows:—

MY DEAR BROTHER, I have just noticed in last number of SIGNS, page 751, a note relating to the evangelist S. M. Martin, of this city. Some criticisms are made on his purported discourse last Sunday, on "The American Sunday." I noticed substantially the same sentiments reported in the Chronicle. Now I was present and heard the discourse referred to, and I certainly did not hear him use the illustration of the man living over the saloon, and do not believe that he used it; and, further, Mr. Martin was studiously particular throughout his discourse to never call Sunday the Sabbath—or Sabbath, but always Sunday, or the first day of the week; nor do I believe he spoke otherwise in a single instance. Hence I think in the two points criticised he is misrepresented.

We are glad to be informed that our criticism was a mistake, as we do not desire to misrepresent anyone. The note referred to by our brother was based upon the Chronicle's report of Mr. Martin's discourse. It is a common thing for newspaper reports to be unreliable as to facts, but we seldom find them so wide of the mark when purporting to give the utterances of a speaker.