Deaths of Noted Men by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 3, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 47.

Deaths of Noted Men

By Editor

Deaths of Noted Men.—The office of vice-president of the United States is left vacant by the death of the Hon. James S. Sherman, whose death came almost synchronously with the shooting of Mr. Roosevelt. . . . Another noted death of recent date was that of General Homer Lee, in Los Angeles. Mr. Lee is the author of the volume which has received quite a large circulation, “The Valor of Ignorance,” a warning to America against Japan. He was a graduate of Stanford University, California, and one of the chief advisers of Sun Yat Sen in the liberation of China. Altho only thirty-six years of age, he had achieved very much in life. He grew to be only five feet three inches in height, and was a hunchback. . . . There has been an immense loss to Spain, and also to the progress of the world, in the assassination of her premier, Jose Canalejas Y Mendes. The man who shot him killed himself without revealing any motive for the crime. It has been said—and this was to be expected—that some zealous Roman Catholic had taken his life on account of the action that the premier had taken regarding the union of church and state in Spain. Great honor was done him at his funeral, and he was considered to be one of the greatest of Spaniards, one who really put forth earnest effort for the liberation of the Spanish people and the progress of his nation and the relief of the poor.

In the trials going on in Indianapolis, the well-known McManigal of dynamite-criminal fame has given to the court his stories of how he carried dynamite in suit cases, checked it on trains without any thought of danger to others, how he blew up buildings, and how from every city where he did a job he sent a souvenir spoon home to his wife; told of the password that he used when meeting with labor leaders in the various cities—"Ping"—so that they would know that he was the man sent to do a job; and named several who knew that he was a dynamiter. He claims that he was driven to do the work that he did do by the secretary of the union, Hockin, who declared that if McManigal would not do it he would be boycotted against getting a job anywhere.

From extensive experiments made by V. Gerlach, of Wiesbaden, it is declared that benzoic acid and sodium benzoate are practically harmless as preservatives for food. Professor Gerlach experimented upon himself, and took as much as ten grams of benzoic acid within three and a half hours, without producing any noticeable effects upon respiration, body temperature, digestion, or general condition. This amount would preserve thirty pounds of meat or other food. Nor did these tests alter the strength of the gastric juice, or interfere with the digestive process. And the editorial in the Independent of November 7, from which this fact is taken, indicates that benzoic acid is a safe, cheap, and tasteless preservative.

It is a strange sort of ruling that the Board of Police Commissioners made in Pasadena, and that is that the Police Department are not laborers. Other men may have, under the law of the state, one day of rest in every seven, but not the policemen. It will evidently be carried to the supreme court of the state. The law is a good one. It does not have any religious phase about it at all, but it does give to every man the right of one day's rest in seven, that to be agreed between the employer and the employee, and it would seem as if the city of Pasadena ought to agree with its guardians of peace.

Cuba's new president is John Mario Menocal, and her vice-president, Enrique Jose Verona.