Election Gains and Other News
Complete returns of the general elections in Germany show that the Socialists have made a great gain, and their prospects are for still further gains in the reballoting. The emperor has expressed great disappointment at the results of the election, for he had hoped that the people would give him a Reichstag that would enable him to carry out his policy for armament. His conflicts with the Socialists are throwing the emperor more and more closely with the Center or Catholic party. These movements may yet result in reviving the sentiments of the Middle Ages, when the emperor of Germany was also chosen as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and the power of the Papacy be invoked to crush the rising tide of Socialism. The fire losses in the United States amounted in 1911 to $250,000,000. Much of this loss is due to carelessness. It is said that if a fire should sweep away the buildings embraced in the eight square miles between the Battery and Forty-second Street, New York, it "would be a national disaster, carrying financial panic and ruin in its wake." A president of a great fire-insurance company said, "After such a conflagration there would not be a fire-insurance company left in the world." It is said that New York has the greatest fire hazard of any city in the country. The Department of Agriculture in California is planning to harvest about four tons of ladybugs in the mountains of the Sierras. There are certain sections there where they may be found in colonies of millions, and they are dug from beneath the snow while in a dormant state, and kept in cold storage until demanded by the fruit grower in fighting the pests, particularly the aphis, that destroys his fruit. Melon growers will demand large numbers of the little bugs to protect their crops. A large deposit of mineral unlike any heretofore seen has recently been discovered near Grand Valley, Colo. It has many of the characteristics of hard rubber, being a non-conductor of electricity, and suitable for making anything where rubber is now used in electrical appliances, as well as for making combs and the like. If the hopes of the finders are realized it will help to overcome the shortage in the rubber supply, and greatly reduce the price of that commodity. A bomb was thrown at Yuan Shi Kai, the premier of the Manchu government, in the streets of Peking, on January 15, and, while he escaped, two soldiers and the horses attached to his carriage were killed. He has been frequently warned that an attempt would be made on his life, and has been urged to surrender in consequence. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company is planning to build four 36,000 ton vessels to ply between New York, San Francisco, Hongkong, and other oriental points by way of the new Panama Canal. Plans for these new vessels are already completed, and it is expected that they will be ready for the opening of the canal. Postmaster-General Hitchcock has given out that he will urge Congress to insist upon the Government ownership of the telegraph-lines. President Taft is not in harmony with his suggestions, and there may be a break in the cabinet as the result. The report of the massacre of 10,000 Manchus in the Shensi district is confirmed, and it is reported that on December 8 a messenger came from the Sianfu district with the report that 8,000 had been slain in that province up to that time. An unconfirmed despatch dated January 14 states that Russia has invaded Mongolia. She had threatened to do this some days ago, and this is probably the carrying out of her threat. The despatches say that on January 15 the inauguration of the Republic of China was quietly celebrated by a reception held at the residence of President Sun Yat Sen. The Democratic National Convention will convene in Baltimore on June 25, one week after the Republican Convention meets in Chicago. Spain is to have a Spanish-American exposition in 1914.