SUNDAY ENFORCEMENT NOTES AND COMMENT.
By Editor
At Chester, Pa., August 14, a man was fined $25 and costs for fishing on Sunday. The official who caused the arrest declares a determination to break up the practise of Sunday fishing. But the real motive may lie in the fact that half of the fines imposed go to the prosecutor. A committee to investigate and report on the violation of the Sunday and moral laws has been commissioned by the ministerial association of Augusta, Ga., where there has been some agitation over the Sunday question this summer. The report of this committee was to have been the feature of the August meeting of the organization, but it was postponed until the September meeting, when a larger attendance of ministers can be had. It is said that the committee have gotten up quite a strong report on the matter, and that it is "very plain spoken about the violations." The report is awaited with interest by the public generally. At a special meeting of the city council called for the purpose, the Sunday-closing ordinance of Pendleton, Ore., was repealed by unanimous vote of the members present on August 11. The ordinance had been made obnoxious by its rigid enforcement on the preceding Sunday, and the action of the council was in response to a petition asking for the repeal of the ordinance signed by several hundred tax-payers and business men. It is said that the repeal of the ordinance meets with general approval. All over the country, as will be seen by our Sunday enforcement items, the church having lost the power of moral suasion, is endeavoring to compel people by law to act as tho they were religious. Our Canadian neighbors are joining in the same work. In Nova Scotia the Lord's Day Alliance is determined to enforce Sunday laws, but instead of having its designed effect it aroused the spirit of defiance; and the news item in the Patriot, from Glace Bay, June 11, said that all drug stores, restaurants, and candy stores were open to-day as an expression of defiance against the Lord's Day Alliance. In response to complaints of ministers the police authorities of Lincoln, Neb., began a strict enforcement of the Sunday-closing ordinance of that city on July 30. Under the heading, "Lincoln stores Must Be Closed on Sunday," the Lincoln Star reported on the previous day: "Merchants who keep their stores open to-morrow may be arrested. So declare the police. The complaints of ministers have caused the officers to watch for offenders. It is claimed that the storekeepers in many sections of the city do not observe the Sunday-closing ordinance, and the shops remain open almost the entire day. Fruit stands, hotels, restaurants, cigar stores, news stands, drug stores, and dealers in goods of a perishable nature may keep open on Sunday. Butcher shops have a right to make deliveries up to eight o-clock from May until November. All other business houses must be kept closed." Rebellion is still rife in the region of the Caucasus, and Russian troops sent to the scene of the conflict seem unable to control the situation. The Tartars in that section are said to have declared a "holy war" against the Christians. The reports state that they are massacring the Armenians without distinction of age or sex. Many thousands of these roving bands of marauders have crossed the frontier from Persia, and are assisting in the terrible work. At the village of Minkend, 300 Armenians were slaughtered, and acts of terrible atrocity were committed. Rioting and incendiarism in the Baku oil regions continue. At Tiflis, also, there is much disorder. Twenty-three persons were killed and fifty wounded in an encounter between Social Democrats and the police. China's special treaty commissioner to this country, Dr. F. F. Tong, in a speech at San Francisco on September 10, said: "China is thoroughly awakened to her needs, and she is doing everything in her power to safeguard her interests. The time for bulldozing China is rapidly passing away. Big changes are taking place in the empire. The army is being re-organized, and a new plan is being put into effect that will give China a standing army of 800,000 men." The yellow fever scourge continues practically unabated in southern Louisiana. At the village of Leeville near New Orleans the disease has broken out with virulence, and the people are said to be dying faster than coffins can be provided for them. There has been an increase of cases in New Orleans, the total number of those who have died there since the beginning of the plague is now 329. Japan has, through her ambassador to this country, signed a permit for the landing of the Pacific cable at the port of Yokohama. China has already given permission for the landing of the cable at Shanghai, and the work of laying the cable will be undertaken without delay. Part of the route has already been covered by the cable which connects San Francisco with Honolulu and Manila. News of the contents of the peace treaty has at last reached the Japanese soldiers in the field, and there is said to be much indignation among officers and men over the conditions of the treaty. The dissatisfaction in Japan seems not to have subsided, and it is openly declared that Baron Komura will be killed on his return to Japan. The Japanese battle-ship Mikasa, flagship of Admiral Togo, was destroyed at Sasebo, Japan, on September 11, by fire and the explosion of at least one of her magazines. The first reports indicated that a great many lives had been lost, but later reports seem to minimize the extent of the disaster in this regard. In Canada hereafter no clergyman of the Church of England will be allowed to celebrate the marriage of persons who have been divorced, so long as the other party to the divorce is living. This was the decision reached by the General Synod of the Dominion of Canada, sitting at Quebec on September 11. As a mark of appreciation of the efforts made by President Roosevelt in bringing about peace between Japan and Russia, the Russian Government has ordered the discontinuance of the discriminating duties which some years ago it placed on certain American importations. The great bridge over the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls in South Central Africa has now been completed. This is the completion of one of the links in the Cape-to-Cairo Railway. This bridge is the highest in the world, and crosses the river at the greatest falls in the world. Greece and Rumania have recalled their ministers, owing to the state of feeling between the two countries over the question of indemnity for outrages committed on Greeks in Rumania and the desecration of the Greek flag. An armistice is now in effect between the two armies now camped in Manchuria. The proposal was forwarded by the Japanese commander on September 9, and signed by the Russian commander. Emperor Francis Joseph has finally decided to refuse the demand of the Hungarians for universal suffrage. It is expected that the cabinet will resign as a protest against the emperor's decision. A car of the elevated railroad in New York City was hurled from the track to the street below, on September 11. Twelve persons were killed and more than forty were injured. The existence of the Samoan Island of Savii is said to be threatened by the simultaneous activity of three volcanoes. Great boulders and much lava are being thrown out of the craters. Reports from Norway and Sweden indicate that there is still danger of war. England is using her influence to avert such a turn in the Norwegian controversy. Powerful tribes in Morocco are at war, and the country is now declared unsafe for foreigners.