News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jul 11, 1912

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— The submarine cables of the world now number 397, with a total mileage of 215,684 miles.

— The world's largest bird of prey is the bearded vulture. From tip to tip of wings it measures nine or ten feet.

— Chevalier Marconi is introducing an apparatus which will enable aviators to send and receive messages over a radius of 100 miles.

— There is a persistent, but so far unsuccessful, effort to obtain from the present session of Congress an appropriation of about $20,000,000 to build two more big battle-ships.

— The Indian tribesmen of Oklahoma are rejoicing. By a decision of the Supreme Court, land that is valued at $60,000,000 is exempted from taxation for fourteen years, and it seems probable that the State will not merely lose some $2,000,000 a year in taxes, but be compelled to refund $800,000 in taxes that have been collected.

— Patent documents on file in the United States Patent Office would stretch three times around the world, or would form a mass fifteen feet square, as high as the Washington Monument. The quantity of the material, however, is not the only feature that troubles the department. The dust accumulates faster than it can be cleaned off, and the great quantity of paper and wooden shelves makes the danger of a disastrous fire always imminent. An average of 800 patents are granted each week.

— Canada has appropriated $38,000,000 for improving and extending her railroad and canal systems.

— During the practise maneuvers of the French navy a war-ship struck a submarine boat, cutting it in two and drowning twenty-four men, nearly the entire crew. This is the fourth accident of similar nature in the French navy within a few years.

— The Pennsylvania Railroad has 2,040 employees on its active list who have been with the road for forty years or more; 489 (some of these are pensioned) who have been fifty years in the service of the company; and one who has been on the rolls since July, 1846—nearly sixty-six years!

— Eighty-five persons were killed and between 400 and 500 injured by an earthquake and ensuing volcanic eruption in the interior of Costa Rica, June 22. A heavy midsummer snow-storm accompanied the earthquake. It was the first time that such a phenomenon had been witnessed in the country.

— At the annual meeting of the Suez Canal Company, it was reported that the operations for the year 1911 had been "brilliantly successful," with total receipts of $26,870,516, an increase of $843,656 over the previous year. This record has been more than maintained during the first half of 1912.

— Business men of Honolulu, Hawaii, are preparing to build a modern hotel on the reef off Diamond Head, where the naval station is located. The most interesting feature of the hotel will be a glass-walled shaft extending down into the sea, allowing the guests to descend and observe the wonderful sea life in that locality.

— Fire in Quebec, on the afternoon of June 24, destroyed between 100 and 125 buildings, including the Chateau Saguenay, the Cathedral, the town hall, the Chicoutimi Hotel, in the district of Saguenay. Several blocks of stores and private residences were within the fire-swept area. About 1,000 persons were made homeless.

— A photograph has recently been taken of what has been called by explorers "the tenth wonder of the world,"—the falls on the Hamilton River, in Labrador. This grand work of nature has been seen by few white men, and consequently reliable reports concerning it have been scarce up to recent times. It is said that the fall is nearly twice the height of that of Niagara, which is 160 feet.

— According to the New York Observer, there are 10,000,000 persons in the United States who do not possess a copy of the Bible. "In Colorado there are said to be 100 villages of from 150 to 1,000 in population entirely without any sort of a religious service. Similar conditions are found in a dozen other States. By the census of 1910, there were 12,817,360 foreign-born people in the United States; many of them Italians, Slavs, and Jews. Many of the Roman Catholics and Jews are turning their backs on all religion. A multitude of the Protestants are no more faithful. New York City has more than 1,000,000 persons who, though declaring themselves Protestant in faith, never go to church. It is estimated that half the population of the United States do not regularly attend any place of worship."