DOMESTIC by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 29, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 43.

DOMESTIC.

By Editor

—President Clark, of the Y. P. S. C. E., has appointed the second week in November as a season of prayer for Armenia.

—Hon. Charles F. Crisp, of Georgia, ex-speaker of the House of Representatives of Congress, died at Atlanta on the 23d inst.

—A thirteen-year-old son of George Sontag, now in Folsom state prison for train robbing, was run over by a freight train at Sacramento, on the 21st inst., and killed.

—One indictment for murder has resulted from the recent attack of strikers on the Coronado Mine at Leadville, Colo., in which a fireman named O'Keefe was killed.

—Two thousand miners at Springfield, Illinois, employed at 25 mines in that county, have struck for an advance in wages to 32 and 37½ cents per ton, gross weight, for mining coal.

—On the evening of the 19th inst., fire in Woodburn, Ore., destroyed property valued at $20,000. The fire was caused by a drug clerk striking a match while he was drawing benzine.

—On discharging the freight of the sunken steamer Umatilla, at the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, it was found that about fifty barrels of sugar consigned to Alaska contained demijohns of whisky.

—A disastrous fire occurred in Brooklyn, N. Y., on the night of the 22d inst., which resulted in the death of a brave fireman, the injury of several other persons, and the destruction of property of the estimated value of $250,000.

—A race war is reported in Le Flore County, Miss. On the 21st inst. a white man named Rook was shot and killed by a negro near Sunnyside, when a posse turned out and hanged the murderer. In consequence there were threats of revenge, and great excitement.

—After eluding the U. S. cruisers and revenue cutters for several weeks, and carrying three cargoes of arms and ammunition to the Cuban insurgents, the steamer Dauntless was at last captured off the Florida coast, on the 21st inst., by the government steamer Raleigh.

—The Salvation Army has established a farm in Contra Costa County, Cal., for the benefit and reclamation of ex-convicts. The colony will be opened November 1, and dedicatory exercises will be held on the 15th. The place is to be known as Knights of Hope Farm.

—During the past few weeks there has been quite a flurry in wheat speculation. There was a rise of some 20 cents a bushel. If the rise had continued, it would have meant a profit of $90,000,000 on the estimated crop of 450,000,000 bushels in the United States. But it was all an uncertain flurry, going down as it went up, and during such speculative spurts farmers seldom sell; they generally hold on, hoping for further rise, which often means further fall. The buying and selling under such circumstances are mostly gambling speculations on the part of dealers. A New York despatch, referring to the sudden collapse in the market, says: "The natural conditions are favorable for higher prices for American wheat in the future, but the sudden attempt to work the corner has been a signal failure."

—A Leadville, Colo., despatch of the 19th inst. says: "About 125 miners brought from Missouri to work in the Bison Mine, arrived this afternoon. Over 1,000 people about the depot jeered the newcomers. General Brooks had a large force of troops on hand to escort the men to the mine, and prevent an attack on them."

—The Pacific Coast records another steamboat disaster; this time, however, it is not only the steamer and cargo that are damaged, but five passengers and nine of the crew are drowned. The disaster fell upon the steamer Arago, which went ashore in a dense fog on the Oregon coast, north of the entrance to Coos Bay.

—There were 180 Armenian steerage passengers on the Hamburg-American line steamer California, which arrived in New York on the 22d inst., from Hamburg and Havre. They were shipped in Havre and are booked for various destinations. The captain states that all have some means, and some have as much as $50. He does not anticipate any difficulty about landing them, as he says they are not likely to become a public charge. There are only a few women and children among them.

—The Medical Record says that at the recent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Dawson Tucker stated that the ordinary glow-worm emits x-rays which will pass through solid bodies, even a thin sheet of aluminum. It is probably not the visible light from the insect which does this, for Dr. Dawson Tucker in his experiments had a good deal of difficulty in getting the worms to glow, but he found that even when not visibly glowing, they gave off a radiation which affected the photographic plate.

—The British steamer Linlithgow left San Francisco, July 31, for Leith, England. On reaching lat. 6° 12' north, lon. 138° 27', the steamer's shaft was broken. The captain reckoned that Acapulco, nearly 1,000 miles distant, was the nearest point where relief could be obtained; and as the steamer's sails were not sufficient of themselves to carry her, the first officer and five sailors volunteered the journey in a life-boat. By sailing and rowing, they made the trip in eighteen days, and telegraphed to the owners the steamer's condition. Arrangements were made to have the vessel taken in tow, and the first officer and his sailors went on to New York by way of Panama.

—A Washington despatch says that Uncle Sam's treasury is still running behind in receipts. The last month or more has shown a deficit growing at a more rapid rate than in 1895. At the rate the deficit has been growing the present fiscal year, it will amount to $75,000,000 for the entire year. Evidently with the resources of a great country like the United States, in a time of bountiful production and peace with the world, the spectacle of hard times among the masses, and the government treasury running behind, shows that there is something wrong somewhere. It is explained in a number of ways by the politicians, and the political sages prescribe various remedies; but the accumulation of colossal fortunes at the expense of the government and of the producing classes seems to account for a large part of the trouble. Will reformation come through politics? Hardly, for the political motto is always, "To the victors belong the spoils." Governmental expenses, through whatever channel, must eventually come out of the masses of the people, the middle and poorer classes paying more than their share; and great overgrown fortunes are in most cases built up at the expense of corresponding want and suffering. The men who invest in political campaigns, as in other investments, expect remunerative returns. The prophetic word and the signs of the times augur no better times, but rather "worse and worse." The only sure investment today is to "lay up treasure in heaven."