p. 751 | News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 1, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 47.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 24.

RELIGIOUS.

—The Mormons dedicated a missionary schooner, the Evanelia, at San Francisco, on the 23d inst. The vessel will convey missionaries to Tahiti and other South Sea islands, and also engage in island trade.

—A Catholic priest in Santa Rosa, Cal., in a recent conversation in regard to the change of the Sabbath, said: 'If you take the Bible alone, the Seventh-day Adventists are right. The other Protestant churches are Protestant six days in the week, but on Sunday they are Roman Catholic.'

—In reference to Premier Crispi's recent advances toward reconciliation with the papal hierarchy on the part of the Italian Government, Leo XIII. recognizes the good intention, but insists that a solution of the question of Church and State in Italy is impossible without a restoration of the temporal power of the pope.

—The California Prohibitionist accredits Bishop Fitzgerald, of the M. E. Church, with the statement that no Christian can vote to grant a license for a saloon without committing sin, and that as the Methodist discipline declares against license, any member who would vote to grant license would put himself outside of the pale of the church.

—The Presbyterian Journal tells of a ruling elder who states that at a seaside resort hotel, where were many church members, he was the only one who went to church on a certain Sunday. 'He is convinced that large numbers of professing Christians, when they go off on their vacations, do not take their Bibles with them, and leave behind their church-going and other devotional habits.'

—In Burmah there are 100,000 nominal Christians; in China, 50,000; in Japan, 40,000; in the Friendly Islands, 30,000; in the Fiji Islands, over 100,000; in the New Hebrides it is claimed that 'there is not a heathen;' in Polynesia there are reported 750,000 professors. The discouraging feature of these figures is that the great majority of those enumerated have no experimental knowledge of Christ.

—It was the prime aim of the representatives of heathen religions in the World's Fair Parliament of Religions to belittle Christian missionary work in foreign lands. Especially was this done by those who came from India. But Bishop Thoburn calls attention to the fact that these representatives were not qualified to report on the merits of Christian missionary work, for 'that class know absolutely nothing of the native Christians, having no association with them whatever.'

—According to Sadler's Catholic Directory for 1894, the archdiocese of Baltimore, Cardinal Gibbons' diocese, includes the counties of Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay, together with the district of Columbia. Within this diocese there is a Catholic population of 235,000, with 150 churches, 47 chapels, 60 stations, 22 orphan asylums, 90 parochial schools, 6 hospitals, 4 ecclesiastical seminaries, 8 colleges, 19 academies for young ladies, 2 foundling asylums, and 2 asylums for colored children.

—Here is another specimen of Roman Catholic temperance sentiment, taken from the Christian Statesman: 'Rev. Father Joseph Costa, of Galesburg, Ill., has threatened to withhold the sacrament from Catholic saloon keepers who do not obey the sabbath-closing law.' It is not the saloon evil at which the priest aims, it is reverence for Sunday which he would inculcate. And Protestants are masquerading in the same hollow temperance pretense, while closed saloons on Sunday is the extent of their burden.

—A Madrid dispatch of the 23d inst. says: 'With all the imposing ceremony of the church, the Most Rev. Lord Plunkett, archbishop of Dublin, to-day consecrated the Protestant church in this city, and also consecrated the Rev. Señor Cabrera as the first Protestant bishop of Madrid. It is expected that the elevation of Señor Cabrera will cause a sensation in the Catholic world.' The terms and titles employed in this situation would indicate that the Protestantism of the new institution is merely nominal.

—It is startling to note some of the proposals advanced by people who think they are Protestants for remedying the Papacy evil now prevalent in the United States. The A. P. A. proposes that no Catholic shall be elected to office, which is flagrantly out of harmony with the Constitution or the Golden Rule. And the Protestant Associated Press proposes that Congress shall expel the Jesuits from the country, which means the expulsion of the leading force of the Roman Church. Such propositions manifest the most ultra spirit of Rome herself. Even if the execution of these proposals were in anywise probable or possible, what would be the profit if in Rome's stead were installed a Protestantism imbued with the leading characteristics of Rome? Surely our country is in a strait place, with the alternative of Rome or such a Protestantism for monitor of the government.

—The Methodist Church of California is quite well committed to prohibition in the present political campaign. The Prohibition candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are Methodists. And the Prohibition party organ says of the recent M. E. conference that 'it was unquestionably a Prohibition conference, and its hosts of sturdy, faithful, and conscientious workers will go to their different posts of duty filled anew with fire and zeal, to work for the election of Henry French and Chauncey H. Dunn, those two staunch Methodists, the entire Prohibition ticket, and the cause of prohibition, every allusion to which met more applause than any other matter that occupied the attention of the conference.'

—The Protestant Associated Press is an institution that has been established in Washington, D. C., for the purpose of furnishing information concerning the status and movements of the papists in and about the capital. The mistake of the association, and some Protestant ministers in Washington, is that there is to be a great 'battle with the Papacy,' whereas the Papacy has already won the victory, and is even now developing its advantage. Rome insidiously crept in and occupied the fort while credulous Protestants slept. When the latter wake up, if they ever do, they will realize that it is too late to battle for that which is lost. All they can do now is to seek refuge in true Protestant principles, and sound the note of warning to the world against receiving the 'mark of the beast.'

—Evangelist S. M. Martin (Disciple), who is holding forth in a tent in San Francisco, discoursed recently on the subject of 'The American Sunday.' He is not in favor of a religious law, but believes there ought to be a civil law which would close all places of business, except those necessary for the comfort and necessity of the commonweal. But here is his curious illustration of his position: 'For instance, a man who lives over a saloon and wants to have family prayers should not be disturbed by the gathering of a crowd of drunken roisters, who by ribald song and oaths prevent him from keeping the sabbath as he desires.' But he does not explain why a man should be exempt from having his prayers disturbed on Sunday any more than on other days. This illustration rather indicates that his ideal Sunday law has a religious rather than a civil purpose. By the way, how does he come to call Sunday 'the Sabbath'? It is not very long since he (in common with his denomination) was declaiming against the propriety of calling any day of the week the Sabbath. In this city he declared that the Sabbath was abolished, and the 'Lord's day' had taken its place. It is very clear that were it not for the religious idea of the Sunday law neither Mr. Martin nor any other advocates would have any burden in that direction.

SECULAR.

—President Nunez, of the Colombia Republic, South America, died on the 18th inst., of gastric fever.

—Dr. Burrus, of Lincoln, Neb., has patented an aluminum burial casket, and is about to establish a plant for its manufacture.

—Dr. Palitschek, Austrian Consul General to the United States, has been dismissed in disgrace for embezzling $15,000 of a charitable bequest intrusted to his care.

—At a political meeting held in a Baptist Church at Gatlingburg, Tenn., on the night of the 22d inst., a fight resulted in the injury of several persons, two fatally.

—Galveston, Texas, has its turn at official scandal. The mayor asserts that the city has been systematically robbed for many years, and a general expert in the books is to follow.

—The free trade sentiment, which was reported to be gaining foothold in the Australian provinces, seems to have received a setback in the province of Victoria by the recent elections.

—The people of Lindle and Caseyville, in Union County, Ky., are aiming to resist the collection of railroad taxes. The collector declares his intention to do his duty, if it takes the power of the military.

—The Hebrew shirt makers of New York City, to the number of 3,000, went out on a strike on the 23d inst. They demand a raise of wages, and a deposit from employers in the hands of the union as security against reduction for six months.

—The miners in the region of Massillon, Ohio, having gone out on a strike, it is said that several hundred colored men will be brought from Alabama to take their places. This proposition is said to cause much excitement among the strikers.

—A late report from Topeka, Kansas, says that about 100 suffrage women have agreed to come out in reform dress. The dress consists of Turkish trousers covered by a skirt reaching to the fold, a close or loose waist, as the wearer may prefer, and cloth leggings to match the trousers. It is the intention to organize into relief squads, so that a number of them may be on the street all day, and thus accustom the community to the reform.

—A sensation is said to be aroused in London by the publication of alleged discoveries in regard to the traffic in girls between the great city and the Continent. The Purity Society claims to have evidence that a systematic business is conducted, and that it extends to India and China.

—Don Pio Pico, the last governor of California under Mexican rule, died at Los Angeles on the 11th inst., aged 94 years. At one time one of the wealthiest men in the State, he passed the last dozen years of his life as an object of charity among his friends. Such is the fame and the wealth of this world.

—In this city, on the 23d inst., fire destroyed the two upper stories of St. Mary's (Catholic) College. The building is of brick, comparatively new, somewhat isolated, of approved modern architecture, and about the last place in the city where fire would have been expected. The fire was of internal origin, and the loss is probably $150,000.

—Generals Antonio Ezeta and Leon Bolanos, and Captain Florencio Bustamante, the Salvadoran refugees for whose extradition the new government of that troubled country had made application, were all released by Judge Morrow, of the U. S. District Court of San Francisco, on the 22d inst. Colonel Cienfuegos was held for extradition, subject to the approval of President Cleveland.

—Portland, Oregon, had a great fire on the 23d inst. The loss included the Pacific Coast Wheat Elevator, warehouse and contents, the railroad coal bunkers and contents, a long stretch of wharves, sixty or more freight cars and contents, four miles of railroad track, and a river steamboat. Total loss, over $1,000,000. It is also stated that three men are missing, supposed to have been lost in the flames.

—A destructive storm passed through Northwestern Iowa and Southern Minnesota on the 22d inst. The towns that suffered most were Cylinder, Forest City, and Manley Junction, in Iowa; and Leroy, Spring Valley, Dodge Center, Holmes, and Lowther, in Minnesota. The town of Marshland, Wis., also suffered much damage. In all fifty-two deaths are reported, and the injured are said to number more than 100.

—The Japanese, according to the best reports obtainable, have won two great victories, one on land and one on the sea. The former was at Ping Yang, Corea, and it is claimed that the Chinese lost 2,000 killed and 14,500 in wounded and prisoners. In the naval engagement off the mouth of the Yalu River, on the Corean Yellow Sea Coast, the Chinese lost four ships, three foundered and one burned. The Japs report small loss in the land engagement, and no very serious damage in the naval contest. Japan is endeavoring to put 80,000 fresh troops in the field.

—Louisiana sugar planters propose to bring suit against the U. S. Treasury Department for the bounty allowed under the McKinley tariff law, which was repealed by the new law at the recent session of Congress. The plea is that the McKinley law provided for a bounty until 1905, and that a repealing act could not properly take effect until that time. The withholding of the bounty, on the assurance of which large investments were made, is held to be an act of bad faith on the part of the government. Secretary Carlisle pleads inability to pay the bounty because Congress made no appropriation for that purpose.