p. 13 | DOMESTIC | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 10, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 49.

DOMESTIC.

-Advices from Pierre, S. D., report heavy losses of stock as a result of severe storms.

-The North Carolina Baptist Association has adopted a resolution opposing state aid by taxation to higher education.

-The house of Samuel Henderson, near Conway, Ark., was burned on the 30th ult., and five of his children perished in the flames.

-A submarine telegraph cable has just been laid between New York City and the island of Haiti, and has been opened to the public.

-The pulpits of sixty-eight churches in St. Louis were occupied on Sunday, November 15, by delegates to the W. C. T. U. Convention.

-The Salvation Army is preparing to give a Christmas dinner to the needy in every town on the Pacific Coast where there is a branch.

-Advices from Helena, Mont., state that there is much apprehension in regard to the cattle industry this winter, on account of the severity of the weather.

-The pope has appointed Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Conaty, of Worcester, Mass., to succeed Bishop Keane as rector of the Catholic University at Washington, D. C.

-Atlanta, Ga., reports a severe snowstorm on the 2d inst. The fall of snow lasted five hours, leaving four inches on the ground, badly impeding the street-car service.

-On the 19th ult., a mob destroyed eight of the ten toll-gates leading into Versailles, Ky., and the owners were warned that they would be killed if they collected any more toll.

-The Peninsular Car Works at Detroit have again shut down, it is said, indefinitely, leaving 1,500 men out of employment. The works had been reopened but six weeks.

-In New York City, on the 30th ult., a commission merchant was held up on a street-car and robbed of $3,000. One of the robbers was captured, but the others escaped with the booty.

-The Indiana State Miners' Convention has voted to continue the strike, and an effort is being made to unite with Illinois miners in securing uniformity of prices in the two states.

-Severe earthquake shocks were experienced in southern Illinois on the 1st inst. At Cairo and Anna, buildings rocked and people fled from them in terror. The vibrations lasted ten seconds.

-The General Missionary Committee of the M. E. Church has appropriated $46,573 for work among the white people of the south, and $43,545 for "colored work." The appropriation for Japan is $48,576.

-It has been discovered that the prohibitory cigarette law of Iowa can not be enforced because it interferes with the interstate commerce law. Shipments of cigarettes are now received, and sold in the original five-cent packages.

-November 3 (election day) seems to be regarded somewhat in the light of a new era. Many events are noted with reference to that date; for instance, since November 3 there have been eighteen prominent bank failures in the United States.

-A temple dedicated to Confucius is soon to be dedicated by Chinese residents of Chicago, and a missionary campaign is to be begun against Christianity. Wong Chin Foo, a Chinese editor of that city, is to be the high priest of the temple.

-The strike of the employees of the Tudor Iron Works at St. Louis, which has been in progress for two years, has been declared off. The proprietors have acceded to the demands of the strikers for increased wages, and 800 men have been set to work.

-Bishop Keane, who was asked to resign the rectorship of the Catholic University at Washington, has been honored with a position at Rome as member of the propaganda. Papal cunning knows how to dispose of American liberalism to the best advantage.

-A secret conference of distillers is said to be in session at Chicago, and they have baffled all efforts of reporters to find out what is being contemplated. With the proverbial influence of the rum power with the press (second only to that of the Roman Church), it is presumable that the reporters are not hard to baffle in this particular case.

-With a capital of $100,000, the Circle de la Nobleza has been incorporated under the laws of New Jersey. The object is to secure wealthy American wives for impecunious titled foreigners. Notwithstanding the influences of an education in a land whose boast is Republican simplicity, human nature seems to have a penchant for the glitter of nobility.

-The Standard Oil Company is going into the iron and steel manufacturing business; so says a Chicago despatch. Land has been purchased in that city for a $10,000,000 plant. Mr. Rockefeller (who is practically the Standard Company) has mines of his own in the Mesaba region, from which the ore will be brought to the plant in his own ships. Thus there is promise of a gigantic opposition to the Carnegie works near Pittsburg.

-The Supreme Court has ruled that there is neither law nor treaty to hinder mercantile pursuits with any part of the Spanish domain; and therefore this government may not interfere with unarmed vessels carrying arms and ammunition to Cuba. On the strength of this ruling, the owners of vessels heretofore called filibusterers are now openly preparing to send out cargoes, one of them, Mr. Bans, owner of the Three Friends, even demands of the government that his vessel be protected from Spanish interference.

-The Chinese laborers at Riverside, Cal., are having trouble. On the night of the 30th ult., the Fay Packing House, in which were eight Chinese, was broken open by masked men, who ordered the laborers to pack up and leave. Their goods were piled into a wagon, and the terrified men were escorted several miles from the city and left, with orders not to return. They returned the next morning, however, and determined to remain. A notice was left at the packing house warning the proprietor not to employ any more Chinamen.

-Complete returns show the following political complexion of the House of Representatives of the next Congress: Republicans, 205; Democrats, 134; Populists, 18. Of the Republicans five favor free coinage of silver, and two Democrats are for the gold standard. On the money question the House stands for the gold standard, 202; for free silver, 155. It is supposed that there will be an extra session of the new Congress soon after Mr. McKinley's inauguration. The present Congress is composed of 252 Republicans, 92 Democrats, 10 Populists, and 2 vacancies.

-Referring to the death sentence of a boy of nineteen years, in New Jersey, for murder, the Christian Work says: "They would not have done that in Rome, in the time of Augustus. The Romans would not have inflicted capital punishment upon one of less years than twenty-five. Yet, if we mistake not, a boy of sixteen was hanged in Georgia a few years ago." If it be true that Rome under pagan rulers would not inflict the death penalty upon any one under twenty-five, there was a decided change when the Papacy gained

the ascendency; for under that system neither age nor sex was regarded when the charge of "heresy" was sustained. And hanging would have been mercy as compared with the tortures that were inflicted upon young and old alike. Yet an apostolic delegate has promised that "what the pope has done for other countries, he will do for the United States." And no doubt the promise will be fulfilled, for it is here that the "image to the beast" (Revelation 13) is to do its cruel work.

-The first Armenian Baptist Church in the United States has just been organized at the Armenian Colony in Fresno County, Cal. The pastor is Rev. A. J. Melchonian, M. D., who left Armenia, with his family, when the recent troubles with the Turks broke out, and most of the colony are Armenian refugees. A woman who saw her husband murdered by Turkish soldiers and fled from her home with three children, arrived in this city last week, and was sent on to the Fresno Colony by State Missionary Latourette, of the Baptist Church.

-Ice gorges in the Chippewa River, Wis., have caused great damage to property by flooding the country. A despatch dated December 1 says that for eighteen miles the country below Round Hill is submerged. Several families were driven from their homes by the forming of a gorge at Plum Island. Scantily dressed, they waded through the ice and water to a high place on the railroad, from which point they were rescued by a relief train. Several were badly frozen. Many thousands of cattle have been drowned. Great damage to property is reported at Chippewa Falls.