News and Miscellany by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 9, 1913

News and Miscellany

By Editor

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— Five hundred thousand schoolchildren in California have signed petitions asking that the Liberty Bell be taken to San Francisco to be displayed at the coming Panama Exposition.

— Exports from the United States to Canada are now averaging $1,000,000 a day. Three years ago they averaged a half million dollars a day, and a dozen years ago they averaged a quarter of a million dollars a day.

— The battle-ship "Pennsylvania," for the building of which bids will be opened February 18, will be the largest and most formidable ship afloat. Fully equipped for service, her total cost will be between $11,000,000 and $12,000,000.

— New York City is to have one of the largest municipal dock systems in the world. For more than three miles along the Brooklyn water-front the city will take its pick of the choicest property. The approximate cost of this enterprise will be $150,000,000.

— Abdul Baha, head of the Babist religion, who has been in this country since April, has returned to Persia. A crowd of the disciples he has made accompanied him to the steamer, and were almost fanatical in their signs of devotion. He claims to have made thousands of converts.

— Spain, with a population of 19,000,000, is feeding 32,000 priests, 1,700 monks, and 14,600 nuns, and keeping in repairs 65 cathedrals, 18,564 churches, and 11,202 chapels. The parish clergy, including the bishops, has a fixed income of $20,000,000, which comfortable sum is doubled by the various perquisites.

— Neither the high cost of living nor continued increase in the price of gems has had any effect on the demand of the American public for diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones. The November shipments of gems to the port of New York amounted to $3,415,529. These figures swell the total for gems received here thus far this year, so that the year's total will be $41,000,000.

— Russia has refused to remove her troops from Mongolia, and the Chinese are preparing for war. The six companies in San Francisco have appealed to every Chinaman to give at least ten dollars for the war fund. The Chinese consul in San Francisco says that contributions have been pouring into his office for several days. Many were sent by telegraph from various parts of the country, and range in amount from $100 to $1,000.

— Lieut. S. B. Edwards, retired, United States Navy, has patented a mattress which will not sink and which can be used as a raft. It is being tested by the naval board, and so far has stood the tests well. It is so light that one person can carry it, and it can be fitted to any bunk. If it proves to be all that is claimed, and it seems now it will, it is a great boon to the race. All steamers and war-ships will have these mattresses, and many lives will be saved.

— The British schooners "Gartegena" and "Georgiana" foundered between Jamaica and Cayman Islands during a recent hurricane. Twenty-two lives were lost.

— The new British white slave law became effective last week. It is comprehensive in its provisions, including public flogging as well as imprisonment as a penalty for men engaged in this unlawful business.

— Will Carleton, newspaper man, lecturer, and poet, died recently at his home in Brooklyn, N. Y. His first book of poems appeared in 1871. Among the most popular of his poems is "Over the Hill to the Poorhouse."

— A serious Negro antigovernment conspiracy has just been discovered in Cuba. Within forty-eight hours 2,000 Negroes were arrested. Great quantities of hidden arms and ammunition have been found. The government is taking every precaution against an uprising.

— The long-threatened strike of every branch of the garment-making industry in New York City began on the morning of December 30, when 70,000 workers, men and women, refused to take up their duties. It is expected that fully 30,000 more will join the ranks of the strikers.

— The public appears to have forsaken the government's sober postal card for the gaudier production of the souvenir shop. The report of Public Printer Donnelly shows that only 770,253,399 cards were printed in 1912, while in the preceding year 1,280,895,840 were turned out.

— The Jesuit question is agitating Germany, and Catholics threaten a campaign which may overthrow the Bethmann-Hollweg government. Prussian diplomatic relations with the Holy See, the German chancellor has affirmed, will be absolutely broken off the next time the Pope attempts to interfere with the sovereign rights of the state, as he was charged with doing recently in the encyclical relating to trade-unions.

— In the battle of electricity against steam an important victory for the former agency is the announced intention of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad to electrify its main line in the near future. This, says the Electrical Review, will be the largest experiment of the kind which has yet been undertaken in this country.

— A general investigation into the illicit sale of morphin in Paris has been ordered by the authorities of that city. They report an apparently growing craze for the drug. The vice is said to be at its worst among the young women frequenters of night cafés and dance-halls, and in the collegiate circles of the Latin quarter.

— The Nobel peace prize will not be awarded this year. This is the first time since the first award was made in 1901 that the committee of the Norwegian parliament has found no person worthy of the award. The committee, in explanation of its action, merely states that it has decided that there has been "no work deserving of the prize." It has been recommended that the prize, approximately $40,000, shall be retained for the benefit of the foundation fund.