NEWS AND NOTES by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 22, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 12.

NEWS AND NOTES

By Editor

Foreign.—The Peace Conference, or the conference of representatives of the powers for the purpose of discussing the possibility of limiting the amount expended in the future for navies and armies, will meet at The Hague, on May 18. . . . It is reported that the rebellion in Venezuela has been practically killed. . . . Recent developments in Germany tend to show that the power of the Centrists (Catholics) in the Reichstag is rapidly increasing, and that now they are really the ruling party. . . . A report from South America to the State Department at Washington states that 600 were killed in the battle which closed the rebellion in Ecuador, and that several hundred more were mortally wounded. . . . Severe fighting has taken place between the Turkish troops and Arab tribesmen at Shalil, Arabia, in which the former lost 160 and the latter about 300. An insurrection against Turkish authority has been in progress there for the last ten months.

England's immense expenditures for military and naval affairs have occasioned a deficit of $20,000,000, which will have to be met with additional taxation. . . . The English Government is planning to send a sufficient force to the Soudan to effectually dispose of the Khalifa, and operations to this end have already begun. . . . Germany is introducing a new experiment in the field of taxation. She proposes to create a discriminating tax upon stores. The larger stores dealing in several lines of merchandise will be compelled to pay a larger tax than the smaller ones. Rent, the number of employees, and the number of different lines of trade engaged in, will determine the amount of this tax. In some cases it will go as high as twenty-five per cent. of the profits of an establishment. . . . The strike of Russian students is assuming alarming proportions. The most influential universities, academies, medical schools, art and mining schools, and institutes of engineering are in the strike, and are upheld by their teachers. The disturbance is spreading to the provinces, and so serious is the strike considered by the Russian Government that a council of ministers has been held to consider what steps should be taken. . . . It having been reported that the Japanese Government has planned to adopt Christianity as the State religion, Japanese officials are taking pains to state that Japan contemplates nothing of the kind, but that all religions shall be on an equal footing in Japan so far as the government is concerned.

Italy has decided to send three more war ships to influence the Chinese in reference to her demand for San Mun Bay. This will make eight war vessels despatched for that purpose. The Italian minister has renewed the demand of Italy, presenting it virtually in the shape of an ultimatum. Italy has recalled her minister, evidently on account of dissatisfaction for the way in which he conducted these negotiations. . . . The British minister at Peking has warned China that Great Britain will not permit her to repudiate her railroad contract with English subjects, and at the same time assures China of England's support in the event that another power should attempt to compel her to repudiate such contract. . . . Reports from the northern part of India state that Russia is pouring troops into her posts on the Murghabi River, between Chinese Turkestan and Afghanistan, for the purpose of seizing a large portion of territory which has not been closely delineated in boundary settlements. It is expected that the seizure will bring about complications between Germany and Russia. . . . The Russian Government is continuing to pour troops into the Liatong peninsula, stationing them at Port Arthur, Talien-wan, and in the adjoining districts, which is supposed to be the prelude to a further seizure of Chinese territory. . . . The Italian minister of foreign affairs has announced that Italy's course in China is supported by England and Japan. . . . Professor Falb, a well-known Austrian scientist, whose predictions in regard to earthquakes, tidal waves, and heavy storms, have had remarkable fulfillments, predicts for the last of the present month earthquakes and destroying hailstorms; for July and August, a tidal wave, destroying the eastern coast of the United States, and that Florida and California will at that time become islands, from a submarine earthquake. He predicts that on November 13 the earth will come in contact with a comet, and will be partially if not wholly destroyed.

Domestic.—The heaviest storm in the history of the snow belt was reported from Michigan on March 12. Eight feet had fallen, and all trains were blocked. . . . . Damage claims have been filed against the State Department at Washington amounting to $21,000,000, on the score of losses sustained by American citizens in Cuba during the war. Such of these as are legitimate will be paid by the United States Government as provided in the Paris peace treaty. The United States transport Meade sailed for Cuba on March 11, having on board the $3,000,000 to be paid the Cuban troops. The weight of the metal is forty-eight tons. . . . Two miners near Denver, Colorado, were imprisoned by a slide in the Bon Air Mine on March 9. Food, water, and an electric light were lowered to them through a ten-inch water pipe, and a shaft through 400 feet of solid granite is being sunk to release them. The work will take two weeks. . . . A new rifle has been tested by the government representatives at Washington, and is said to have given entire satisfaction. It is a magazine rifle, and is so arranged that the whole magazine can be emptied by one pull of the trigger, or it can be fired as slowly as desired. . . . Dr. G. K. Huber, of Ann Arbor University, Michigan, has made the important discovery that the blood-vessels of the brain, as well as of the rest of the body, are controlled by the nerves, and he has discovered the nerves which control the brain's blood supply. It is expected that this discovery can be made of practical use in preventing headaches. . . . Five Indian "sisters" of the American Catholic order of Sacred Heart have been ordered from Cuba by Archbishop Chapelle, the papal representative recently appointed by the pope to investigate Catholic affairs in Cuba. The expulsion of these women is declared to be due to the fact that they belong to an order which is purely American in its ideas and management. . . . The village of Henson, Colorado, is being terrorized by a mob of Italians who have broken into the National Guard armory and appropriated the arms and ammunition. Six of their number were being held prisoners without bonds for blowing up a schoolhouse, in the attempt to kill the teacher, who had jilted one of them. . . . The United States Government has announced its intention of maintaining a "disinterested neutrality" in reference to Italy's course in China.

Casualties and Calamities.—Five persons were killed and forty injured in a railway collision between two excursion trains near Rakaia, New Zealand, on March 12. . . . A terrific hurricane recently swept the Northeast coast of Queensland, Australia, and reports bearing date of March 13 state that 400 colored persons and 11 whites lost their lives. . . . The new Atlantic steamer Castilian, from Portland, Maine, for Halifax, N. S., was totally wrecked off Yarmouth, N. S., on March 12. Her crew and passengers were rescued. . . . The following statement has been issued at Washington, showing the total number of deaths reported to the War Department from May 1, 1898, to February 28, 1899: "Killed in action, 329; died of wounds, 125; died of disease, 5,277; total, 5,731." . . . . A storm and tidal wave which recently swept the coast of Corea, entailed the loss, it is reported, of fully 2,000 lives and an immense amount of property. . . . A mass of rock overhanging the village of Rucuerja, Spain, fell on March 9, destroying many houses and killing eleven persons. . . . Evidence has been found to show that the terrible explosion at Toulon, France, reported last week, was the deliberate work of unknown assassins. Dynamite cartridges of a foreign make have also been found in close proximity to other large magazines. . . . The tug-boat Bowen was lost off the coast of Virginia on March 8, with a crew of twelve men. . . . Nine persons were drowned by the capsizing of a pleasure yacht at Brest, France, on March 8. The party included five French military officers. . . . In the recent storms on the Atlantic it is believed that ten freight steamers have gone down. They have been practically given up as lost, with their crews, amounting to over 300 persons. These vessels and cargoes are valued at $2,500,000.

New Trusts.—Strong efforts are being made to effect a combination of the big boot and shoe manufacturers of the country, and also a combination of the shoe leather interests. . . . The cast-iron trust, foreshadowed some time ago in these notes, is now an actuality, the biggest concern of the country in that line having pooled their interests. The capital employed is $30,000,000. . . . Several of the large railroad companies have formed a kind of trust in order to free themselves from the domination of the car-building trust, and are planning to build their own cars hereafter.

Cuba.—It is reported at the War Department that the deaths for the month of February in Havana are fifty-one per cent. less than for the same month last year. . . . There is considerable trouble in Havana, occasioned by the course taken by the Cuban Assembly in repudiating General Gomez and declaring him a traitor for accepting the payment of $3,000,000 from the United States for the Cuban soldiers, and agreeing to disband the army. The people, disgusted with their Assembly, are indulging in loud demonstrations favorable to General Gomez.

The Philippines.—The transport Grant has reached Manila, having on board General Lawton, with one regiment and one battalion of regulars. . . . The American soldiers were received with friendly demonstrations by the inhabitants of the island of Negros, when they landed and took possession of that island on March 4 . . . . An advance move was made by General Wheaton's division against the Filipinos on March 13, in which the latter were driven back upon the village of Pasig, which was captured by the Americans on the following day, with the loss of three men killed and fourteen wounded. The Filipinos lost thirty killed . . . General Otis has forbidden the Spanish in Manila to continue negotiations with the Filipinos for the release of the Spanish prisoners. Aguinaldo demanded $7,000,000 for their release, and the Spaniards were planning to pay a large sum for this purpose. General Otis's reason for stopping the negotiations was that this money would be used by the Filipinos to strengthen their opposition to the Americans. . . . The town of Pateros was taken by the Americans on March 14, and destroyed. There was considerable fighting, and some loss on both sides.