SECULAR | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 27, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 42.

SECULAR.

—Treasury notes may now be taxed the same as any other money, according to a recent act of Congress.

—The U. S. cruiser Charleston, now at Mare Island Navy Yard, has been ordered to Corea, and it is said the Bennington will shortly follow.

—Japan is said to be raising a large war loan amongst the people at home, and great enthusiasm is manifested in taking subscription.

—The news from the seat of war in Corea is not very definite. It is becoming evident that both China and Japan rushed into war unprepared.

—The State Convention of the Y. M. C. A. will meet in this city September 15. One of the prominent features of the occasion will be an athletic exhibition.

—It is said that China is negotiating a large loan in London, much of which will be taken in silver, and that it is expected silver will materially rise in consequence.

—The London News says that the passage of the new Tariff Bill by the United States Congress has been followed by renewed activity in many branches of the English market.

—The American Railway Union having failed as a labor organization, being unable either to support or procure work for its members, they are endeavoring to get back into their old orders.

—A Pretoria, South Africa, dispatch says that the Kaffirs have risen in rebellion, and are not only murdering farmers, and destroying property, but are besieging the government buildings at Agatha.

—An Omaha dispatch of the 15th inst. says: "The strike of the South Omaha packing house employees is off. After being out three weeks, the men lose all and are trying to get back on the old terms."

—A London Times correspondent sends news from Managua that a protocol has been signed uniting Guatemala, Nicaragua, Salvador, and Honduras under one government, to be known as the Central American Republic.

—It is rumored in Los Angeles, Cal., that an unknown agent is seeking recruits for the Japanese army, offering $25 per month and transportation. The penalty for such action is quite heavy, hence the secrecy of the movement.

—A Topeka, Kansas, dispatch says there is a general movement by strikers along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to recover their old places, but the general manager remains firm in his determination not to take them back.

—The Samoan Chief Malietoa has asked the British admiral of that station to proclaim the islands under the protectorate of the British Government. Owing to the prolonged rebellion, crops have been neglected and famine is threatened.

—It is a significant fact, stated on the authority of an employe of the Pension Office, that of all the dismissals from that department of government since the accession of the present head, not one Roman Catholic has been dismissed.

—Congress has declined to advance $1,800,000 due the Southern Pacific Company for carrying the mails, on the ground that the company is simply the agent of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, which is debtor to the government about $77,000,000.

—Owing to the enactment of new laws and the revival of old ones against Anarchists in France, Germany, and Italy, that class of citizens are fleeing to England, and it is surmised to the United States also. In one day recently about 400 of them arrived in London.

—The steamer which arrived at Victoria, B. C., on the 15th inst., brings news of the death of the king of Siam. The king was the most enterprising man that had ever ruled in that country. Although still under 40 years of age, he had reigned about twenty-six years, and had instituted many reforms in the government.

—The Chinese Government offers the following rewards as inducements to activity in the matter of depredations against the Japanese during the war: For destruction of a large war ship, $10,000; for destruction of a small war ship, $6,000; for the head of a Japanese officer, 200 taels (about $333); for the head of a Japanese private, 100 taels.

—The Commissioner of the General Land Office has been directed to prepare instructions immediately looking to the restoration of 900,000 acres of forfeited railroad lands to settlement under the Homestead Laws. The lands are within the conflicting limits of the Atlantic and Pacific and Southern Pacific Companies, and lie in Southern California.

—Now comes another scientist, Professor Campbell, of Lick Observatory, and says that Mars is not inhabited,—that there is not an atmosphere of sufficient density to sustain human life. But Professor Wiggins' decision that Mars is inhabited by man is based on the "best scientific evidence." So much for the science which is often held up as conclusively refuting the word of God.

—Nearly 400 American Railway Union men who engaged in the late strike, have left this city to look for work. Destitution among their families has been somewhat lessened by contributions, but the local secretary says there is still considerable suffering. Some are selling their household goods for means of support, and just now such goods bring but a small per cent of their original cost.

—A Buffalo, N. Y., dispatch of the 16th inst. reports a wonderful mirage, in which the people of that city were treated to a view of Toronto, Canada, and surrounding country pictured in the heavens. It was what is known as a mirage of the third order, that is, the panorama was not inverted, as in ordinary mirage. Toronto is fifty-six miles from Buffalo, yet so distinct was the picture that the church spires were visible. There was also an extensive view of Lake Ontario, and numerous vessels plying upon its waters.

—Fifteen hundred miners of Spring Valley, Ill., held a meeting on the 16th inst., to listen to a proposition from General Manager Dalzell, of the Spring Valley Coal Company. Mr. Dalzell said he would not victimize any man for any connection he may have had in inaugurating the strike, and that rents and coal would be reduced in proportion to the reduction the miners suffered under the Columbus scale. The proposition was accepted, and this ends the big strike that has kept these mines in idleness for nearly four months. All of which might as well have been done in the first place.

—Trouble has arisen in the Kongo Free State because of the impressment of certain natives into the service of State officials. A strong force of indignant natives recently attacked the government post of Loba, killing two soldiers and taking three prisoners.

—The Constitutional Convention of New York has decided against woman suffrage, and has adopted a registration provision that voters must be registered four weeks before an election; also that a voter must be a citizen of the State sixty days before voting.

—A press dispatch from Omaha, Neb., says that farmers who have lost their corn crops in the western part of the State have, to a large extent, left their farms, and are emigrating overland for eastern points. Several of Omaha's poor have applied for transportation to points where they will be kept over winter by relatives.

—An immense meteor burst over the town of Coffeyville, Miss., on the night of the 15th inst., with a loud report that shook the earth for miles around. Those who witnessed the phenomenon say it resembled a ball of fire passing through the air until it burst to fragments. Pieces of the rock, which have the appearance of volcanic substance, were picked up in the streets of the town the next day.

—It is said that the Japanese Government has decided to revise its treaties with other governments, principally in regard to trials. It proposes to rescind the provisions giving foreigners the right of trial before their own consular courts. In exchange for this, however, certain property rights will be granted not heretofore enjoyed. The object seems to be to make foreigners more directly subject to the government of the country.

—The difference between the recognized prerogatives of erring man and erring woman is well illustrated in the cases of Congressman Breckinridge and his victim, Madeline Pollard. While he is patronized by large audiences of both men and women, she is so far ostracised that even theatrical performers are shocked at the suggestion of her appearance on the stage, and theater owners hardly dare to venture the use of their houses.

—A St. Paul dispatch says a large number of railroad men of that city, who were engaged in the recent strike, are making arrangements to leave the country. Some are trying to go to South Africa, and others to Brazil. Transportation to nearly all foreign countries is now unusually low, and the men, realizing that they have no present chance for work here on account of being blacklisted, will make every possible effort to reach other fields of labor.

—As a result of the great railroad strike, over 2,000 men have been discharged from the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad, and other men are taking their places as fast as needed. Some trouble is expected when it comes to evicting the families of discharged strikers who live in the company's houses, but they will all have to go as fast as the houses are wanted for others, and what help can they hope for from the men who deluded them into the strike?