Domestic | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 8, 1899

Domestic.

The court-martial ordered to try Gen. C. P. Eagan for his attack upon General Miles has found General Eagan guilty of "conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman." The penalty pronounced by martial law upon such an offender is dismissal from the service, and this will be the punishment of General Eagan unless the President shall declare some lighter punishment... Two well-known scientists are now putting forth the theory that the earth, instead of being an oblate spheroid, as it has been so long considered, is more nearly tetrahedral in shape, or somewhat four-sided... It is reported that the government intends to send three detachments of soldiers into the Copper River district of Alaska the coming spring, for the purpose of laying out an all-American route into the Yukon country. This will be from the mouth of the Copper River to Eagle City, sixty miles below Dawson... The attorney for Mrs. John W. Keeley, widow of the motor man, has given out a statement admitting that the so-called motor was a fraud. Keeley had secured large sums of money from wealthy people to "perfect" his discoveries... A strike of phenomenally rich gold ore has recently been made at the Isabella mine, in the Cripple Creek mining district of Colorado. A vein of solid gold has been struck measuring six feet in width, and about three inches thick. Altho about $5,000,000 worth of gold is in sight, the end of the vein has not been reached. Much other ore of great richness has also been found in the mine... Club women of Illinois have undertaken a crusade against the use of women's face or figure for advertising purposes. The crusade was begun on account of the marvelous increase of the use of immoral pictures in so much of the advertising of the present day... Preparations are being made for the twelfth census of the United States. The work is to be begun in June, 1900, and will be complete, so far as taking the data is concerned, in thirty days... A treaty has just been concluded between the United States and the Cherokee Indians, in which it is provided that all schools shall be open to the children of both whites and Indians, but that separate schools must be maintained for colored children... There seems to be a growing sentiment in Congress favorable to the ratification of the peace treaty with Spain, which is to be voted upon February 6... Seven regiments of regulars are now under orders to sail for Manila... The bill to reorganize and increase the standing army passed the House on January 31. It provides for a standing army of 100,000 men, but places in the hands of the President the authority to reduce the number in time of peace to 50,000... The cruiser Philadelphia sailed from San Diego, Cal., for the Samoan Islands on January 31, where she is expected to arrive on March 1.

International.

The big strike of dock men and railway employees at Colon, Colombia, continues, and the conditions are growing worse instead of better. Business is at a standstill, and there are grave fears that the strikers will set the city on fire... The Russians are displaying great activity in Syria and Palestine, the instrument for their activity being a missionary society which is inspired, controlled, and assisted by the Russian Government. Schools are being established throughout the Holy Land in which Russian alone is taught... A deplorable state of affairs has been discovered in the free hospitals of Vienna, where the patients are experimented upon by injecting the bacilli of infectious diseases into their system, that the physicians may watch the progress of the deadly diseases. Young men on the road to recovery have been inoculated with these poisons and died from the resulting disease. The principal victims are newly-born children, scores of whom have been furnished the physicians by certain foundling hospitals. The excuse of the physicians is that this class of "subjects" is cheaper than animals for experimental purposes... The Chinese imperial troops, while attempting to recapture Kuyan from the rebels, were defeated with a loss of 2,000 men. Ten thousand of the latter are now besieging Shuchau, the third most important city in the province of Nganhwi. With the fall of this city the rebels will be in possession of all the northern and central portions of that province... King Oscar, ruler of Norway and Sweden, has temporarily retired from public service, leaving the reins of government in the hands of the crown prince, Gustaf. Ill health is the cause of the king's retirement... Owing to the recent development of the Carlist agitation in Spain, the government has decided to retain the state of siege and the suspension of the constitutional guarantees... The rebellion in Bolivia is still unsuppressed. It is reported that the government troops have abandoned the siege of La Paz, and are being pursued by the insurgents... Colonel Kitchener, brother of General Lord Kitchener, has given up the pursuit of Khalifa Abdullah into Kordofan, where the latter was making war upon local tribesmen... England is now building 119 war vessels, the figures being 16 battle-ships, 36 cruisers, 14 sloops and gunboats, and 53 torpedo-boat destroyers. The number now building exceeds the present number of Russian battle-ships by two. The whole of these vessels will be added to the British navy by 1903, and the lord of the admiralty will within two months ask the House of Commons for credits to further strengthen the British fleet.

New Trusts.

The banking firms of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and Spencer, Trask & Co. have formed a trust under the name of the American Beet Company. The new corporation designs to purchase all the beet sugar plants west of the Mississippi. It has a capital stock of $20,000,000... The Rubber Goods Manufacturing Company, a trust, filed articles of incorporation on January 26. Its capitalization is $50,000,000. On the same day articles of incorporation were filed by the National Tin Plate Company, the United States Tin Plate Company, and the National Tin Plate and Stamped Ware Company, trusts, the two former having each a capital of $125,000, and the latter an authorized capitalization of $20,000,000... The manufacturers of the lower-priced derby hats have effected a combination to go into force February 1. In this trust there will be no combination of capital by the different firms interested, but the manufacture and output will be under the direction of one New York firm... All the whisky distilleries in Kentucky have turned their stock over to a trust, which is capitalized at $32,000,000... A plan is on foot for the consolidation of all the window-glass factories in America, much after the plan of the Standard Oil Company. J. Pierpont Morgan and Brown Brothers of New York will be the moving spirits in the new organization.

Casualties and Calamities.

Appeals are being made to England and other countries for help in the famine-stricken districts of Palestine. Flour has advanced seventy per cent. in price; the crops have been a failure on account of drought; and the poor people are flocking into Jerusalem for food... Bad water is causing terrible mortality among the Russian troops at Port Arthur, China. Two hundred fifteen died during November and December, and the death rate continues high... The steamer Chateau Lafite, from Cienfuegos, Cuba, arrived at Barcelona, Spain, on January 30, with 1,250 repatriated Spanish troops, 350 of whom were seriously ill. There were 56 deaths during the voyage... On January 29 fourteen persons were killed by an explosion of gas in the Palia mine, near Cartagena, Spain... Smallpox is epidemic at Ponce, Porto Rico, and the military governor has ordered compulsory vaccination... Seven persons lost their lives by an avalanche at Rogers' Pass, on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, January 31.

Philippines.

Agoncillo, the Philippine representative who is seeking recognition at the State Department at Washington, has presented another legal document to the department, protesting against the annexation of the Philippines, declaring that this government has no jurisdiction, natural or acquired, through any of its agencies, to adjudicate in any manner upon the rights of the Philippine country and its people... Señor Meliza has been elected president of the Visayan States by the insurgents at Iloilo for the period of two years, and has acknowledged allegiance to Aguinaldo... It is reported that the Filipino Congress has given Aguinaldo authority to declare war upon the Americans whenever he may deem it expedient so to do. The Congress has passed resolutions that the Spanish clerical prisoners should be released; but they still remain prisoners, as do all the other prisoners whom the Filipinos have held.

Cuba.

The War Department has decided not to allow the Bank of Spain in Cuba to collect the taxes, as it was planned, and provision has been made for their collection through American and Cuban officers... The Catholic bishop of Santander has refused to permit any Protestant clergy to take part in the ceremonies over the graves of the Maine victims in the Catholic cemetery at Havana, declaring that he has no option in the matter... Two hundred men who were engaged in road making in Santiago Province have struck for higher wages.