DOMESTIC | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · May 13, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 19.

DOMESTIC.

—A French Canadian couple living at St. Paul, recently celebrated the eightieth anniversary of their marriage.

—The "amended scientific temperance law" of Illinois has been reported upon favorably, and is expected soon to become a law.

—The loss to the fruit crops in Virginia and the eastern Carolinas as a result of the recent frosts, is estimated at $1,000,000.

—The new transatlantic cable to be laid between Brest and New York will be the longest yet submerged, the total length being 3,250 nautical miles.

—Dr. H. S. Tanner, the famous faster, is being backed by a well-known sporting man in a challenge to fast to a finish with any man in the world for a purse of $10,000.

—In Birmingham, Alabama, a strike is threatened which will involve 10,000 men employed by the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company, in consequence of a one-eighth reduction in wages.

—Every saloon in Winneshiek Co., Iowa, has been closed, by the decision of Judge Hobson that there was not the necessary per cent. of signers to the mulct petition to prevent the operation of the law.

—The Moore temperance law, which permits a city council to prohibit saloons operating in residence portions of a city, has been sustained by the Supreme Court of Indiana, and is causing much alarm to the liquor men of the State.

—Funds are now being raised in San Francisco by the Union League Club, the Daughters of Liberty, the Martha Washington Council, and other organizations, for the purpose of building a grand memorial monument to Abraham Lincoln.

—In the United States Circuit Court, at Denver, Colo., on May 4, an order was issued authorizing the sale of the entire property of the Colorado Midland Railway, to satisfy an indebtedness of $2,000,000 to the Central Trust Company of New York.

—On May 4 a new law went into effect regarding the importation of cheap or deleterious teas. Teas not coming up to the standard of the law will be rejected at all ports of the United States, and if not returned to point of shipment within six months from date of arrival, will be destroyed by the authorities.

—The annual report of the Immigration Bureau for the fiscal year 1896 gives the following percentages of illiteracy among the immigrants arriving in this country: from Portugal, 77 per cent.; from Italy, 54 per cent.; from Austria-Hungary, 39 per cent.; from Germany, 3 per cent., and from Sweden, 1.16 per cent.

—The Oklahoma flood of April 29 has left 1,000 people homeless. Five hundred homes were completely swept away, and scores of others ruined. The damage to property is placed at $100,000, but the damage to crops is said to be incalculable. The loss of life was not as large as at first supposed, probably not over twenty.

—At the Tennessee exposition, which opened on May 1, one of the chief attractions will be a gigantic seesaw, which will balance over a tower seventy-five feet high, and carry a car at either end. The elevation reached by these cars will be 150 feet. Electricity will be used both for lighting and operating the structure.

—Prof. Henry C. Bryant, of Philadelphia, is organizing an expedition for the scientific exploration of Mount St. Elias, in Alaska. He expects to start very soon, and intends also to explore carefully the country in the immediate vicinity of the big mountain. Prince Luis, of Savoy, nephew of the king of Italy, will also conduct an expedition to this mountain at about the same time.

—At Dallas, Texas, on the morning of April 29, the Daughters of the Confederacy unveiled a monument to the memory of Jefferson Davis. On the top of the granite column stands a private, while at the base, on four pedestals, are life-size statues of Jefferson Davis, R. E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Albert Sidney Johnston. Jefferson Davis pulled the cord which unveiled the form of his grandfather.

—The government dry dock at Port Orchard, on Puget Sound, which was but recently completed, at a cost of nearly $1,000,000, is now reported to be completely unfit for the work for which it was intended. The battle-ship Oregon, which went there a short time ago for overhauling, was compelled to be floated off the dock, fearing a collapse of the structure. The foundation is said to be built on mud and quick-sand instead of hard-pan.

—On May 5 Congress refused to ratify the General Arbitration Treaty between United States and Great Britain. Four votes were lacking to make the necessary two-thirds majority, and it was reported that many senators who were personally opposed to its ratification voted for it on account of public opinion. The chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee attributes the defeat to the course which England has taken in the affairs of Crete, Armenia, and the Transvaal.

—The Universal Postal Congress met at Washington, D. C., on May 5, in the great hall of the Art Gallery. About sixty countries were represented. Korea, China, and the Orange Free State, which are outside the Postal Union, had delegates present. It is expected that the work of the congress will continue for six weeks. Among other questions to be submitted to the congress will be the free transmission of official mails in all countries belonging to the Postal Union, and raising the weight to be carried by a five-cent stamp from one-half to three-fourths of an ounce. The feasibility of a universal stamp is also to be considered.