War, Famine, and Poverty
By Editor
THE transport Meade sailed from San Francisco on August 1, with over 1,000 soldiers who are destined to join the forces of the other powers in China. THE London Standard's India correspondent states that there is no improvement in the famine situation there. Cholera still rages in the stricken district. The number at the relief camps is increasing in spite of the terrible death rate. The water famine becomes more acute each week. Springs and small streams have long ago dried up. Wells have been sunk deeper, but they can not reach water, and large rivers have diminished to trickling rills, and the scant rain has sunk into the ground with no appreciable effect. News has just reached the railway stations that in the country of the Bhils, about which we have previously heard nothing, the people have been dying by thousands of starvation since last Christmas. They are practically without help, being far removed from the larger centers. So great has been the drought that plow cattle have died by the hundred thousand; and should the rains come now, the people have neither oxen to plow the ground nor seed to put into it. The shadow of death hangs heavy over stricken India. THE poor of England are doomed to feel the pinch of poverty more than ever during the coming year, and people of moderate means are looking forward to an exceptionally hard winter. There is a tightening of the money market on account of war expenses. The price of coal is rising rapidly, and no one is able to tell when the rise will stop. Gas bills have already risen twenty-five per cent., and the prices of provisions of all kinds are going up, owing to a shortage in the food supply. Scarcity of vessels, owing to the use of so many in transporting soldiers and war munitions, has increased the cost of freight, and the rise in the price of coal has already increased the cost of manufactured articles. The prospect is certainly anything but reassuring for the poor. WHILE the greed for gold is piling up millions upon millions of dollars in the hands of single individuals, and while the poverty of the poor grows more desperate in consequence, we hear of magnificent banquets in the great cities costing a thousand or more dollars a plate. This extravagance, in addition to being a sign of the last days, is a direct factor in bringing about the perilous times into which the world is about to plunge. The growing discontent of the masses is heightened by the knowledge of such prodigality in the very face of poverty and destitution. THERE has been much activity among Filipino bands during the week, and several skirmishes or ambushes of American troops have occurred. Fifteen Americans were captured in the province of Ecija, and other small companies in other places. On September 1 the civil commission, headed by Judge Taft, will become the legislative body of the Philippines, with power to appropriate moneys, establish judicial and educational systems, and make laws. IT is a fact worthy of note that in the reciprocity treaty recently concluded between Italy and the United States, as also in the more recent treaty concluded between Germany and the United States, the first thing considered, and the one to which, apparently, the most importance was attached, was the tariff on the importation of spirituous liquors. Thus we have an incidental indication of the volume and power of the liquor business. ON August 1 over 3,000 Boers surrendered to Generals Bruce and Hunter, with their horses and three guns, and other commands are expected to lay down their arms within a few days. Commandant Oliver has escaped to the hills, determined to continue the war. A train bearing United States Consul Stowe, and flying the Stars and Stripes, was derailed and burned by a Boer patrol near Honingspruit, on August 4. AN air ship 407 feet long and 39 feet in diameter was recently started from a float in Lake Constance, Switzerland. The ship went two miles against the wind, turned about and went five miles with the wind, turned again and after sailing one mile descended safely to the surface of the lake, tho an accident to its steering gear made it necessary for the ship to descend sooner than the aeronaut had intended. FIFTY-TWO suspected Anarchists have been arrested in Italy since the killing of King Humbert. These include the brother and brother-in-law of the assassin. IN view of the massacres of Christians now going on in China, the Vatican has issued an authoritative statement of the Roman Catholic missions in China. According to this statement, there are in China 759 European priests, 409 Chinese priests, and 532,448 native converts, 3,930 churches and chapels, 49 seminaries, and 2,913 schools. THE British forces in the Ashantee country, Africa, encountered several thousand warriors on July 27, and defeated them after a stubborn resistance. The English had thirty wounded, including the commander. The Ashantees are not conquered, and the commander is calling for more troops to enable him to finish the campaign. AN Anarchist riot occurred at Chicago on the afternoon of August 5. The riot followed an attempt of the Anarchists to hold a jubilee service over the killing of the king of Italy. Forty-five policemen were necessary to disperse the rioters, and in the struggle twenty-five persons were injured, and five arrests made. A SUDDEN rise in temperature has been experienced throughout the central States during the week. For several days the heat has been unbearable, especially in the crowded tenements of large cities, and many have died, some have been driven insane, and hundreds have been prostrated. A FURIOUS anti-Jewish riot occurred at Odessa, Russia, on August 1. A soldier accused a Jew of picking his pocket, whereupon an attack was at once begun by the soldiers upon every Jew in sight. Five of the latter were killed, and 120 had to be taken to the hospitals. THE total amount of fire losses in the United States during the year 1899 was $153,000,000, while the loss for the first half of the present year is placed at $103,000,000. The enormous increase is said to be due to the rapid spread of electrical appliances improperly protected. MUZAFFER-ED-DIN, shah of Persia, a visitor at the Paris Exposition, narrowly escaped assassination on the morning of August 2, at the hand of an Anarchist. The shah's companion caught the wrist of the would-be murderer in time to prevent the discharge of the revolver. THE Russian Government is seeking to restrict the almost universal use of liquor among the peasantry. The average peasant, not content with remaining in a saloon until he has spent all his money, often pawns his clothes, furniture, and future crops. THE United States Charge d'Affairs at Constantinople continues to press the sultan for settlement of America's demand for indemnity for property destroyed during the Armenian massacres. The Porte has given no reply to the Charge's last demand. SEVERAL thousand men and women at Cape Nome are reported to have petitioned the government for transportation back to civilization, having no means for paying their own transportation or maintaining themselves during the coming winter. ON August 2, North Carolina held its State election, and by 30,000 majority adopted an amendment to the State constitution which practically eliminates the negro vote in that State, by disfranchising the majority of colored inhabitants. THE native Samoan chiefs of the islands which have been assimilated by the United States in the Samoan group, have signed an instrument of cession, by which they transfer all their lands to the United States Government. THE cost to England of the South African war is piling up at a fearful rate. From present estimates, the total cost will not be under $400,000,000, or about $15,000 for the subjugation of each Boer in South Africa. THE British Government has declared its intention of making the South African republics crown colonies, whose government will be supported by military force, ultimately extending into representative self-government. THE last public school in Hawaii in which the native language was taught, has now been closed, and all court proceedings and legal documents and notices must be printed in the English language. FIERCE fighting is reported to have been going on for several days between Mexican troops and the Yucatan Indians, with considerable losses on both sides, and no decided advantage for either. THE grand staff of the Russian army at St. Petersburg estimates the total number of Chinese troops, on the strength of information from their military agents in China, at 1,752,000 men. A NEW telegram cable has just been completed between Portugal and the United States, opening direct communication for the first time between these two countries. FOUR cases of the bubonic plague have been discovered in London, England, two of which have proved fatal.