The seismographs of the world report on October 16 what they declare to be the greatest earthquake since the Valparaiso disaster. As yet it is not located, probably occurring out in the waters of the Pacific Ocean somewhere. It was reported at Berkeley at 6:45 occurring whether due north or south, it is impossible to tell. The two government seismographs, one at Cheltenham, Md., and the other in the Weather Bureau at Washington, D. C., recorded it at 9:30 A. M. The motion of the instrument was so great as to carry the recording lever far beyond the margin of the sheet. Its amplitude seemed to be as great as four-tenths of an inch in Washington. In Albany, N. Y., the vibrations were traceable for an hour and the record shows that the disturbance originated about three thousand miles from Albany, and the vibrations of one of the instruments were so violent as to exceed its limit for registering. The direction seemed to be to the south and southwest. The official bulletin declares, "The only disturbance comparable in violence that has been recorded this year is the earthquake of April 14th which was so destructively felt in Mexico." At John Hopkins University the shock was the strongest recorded since the Valparaiso shock. Professor Reid declares that it was of remarkable strength. It was also reported at Isle of Wight, England, and at Labaich, Austria, it lasted two hours and a half.
"Unity."
Dr. John Wright, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of St. Paul, Minn., believes that the crowning glory of the 20th century should be the visible unity of Christendom, which could be brought about by five great church dignitaries. These are the pope, the metropolitan of Russia, the supreme patriarch of Armenia, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the presiding bishop of the American Episcopal Church. Two-thirds of all the Christians of the world, he declares, are under the guidance of these dignitaries. They represent churches that are somewhat akin, and he believes that if they would get together, all the lesser sects would follow; but desirable as such a thing would be, certainly that is not the thing to seek. The true thing to seek is not a mere union of the masses but union with the Lord Jesus Christ in truth; all other unions will care for themselves if that is truly effected.
The Drink Bill.
One of the most conservative of New York papers, the New York Tribune, says that the drink bill of the United States is $1,410,236,702. This is a little less than our estimate in our Missions Number, and yet a whisky man declared that ours was too low rather than too high. It says, "All the corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, and potatoes put together will not pay that bill. The liquor traffic costs more each year than our whole civil service, our army, navy, and Congress, the river, harbor, and pension bills; all we pay for local government; all national, state, and county debts; and all the schools in the country. In fact, this government pays more for liquor than for every function of every kind of government." Think of it!