News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 19, 1914

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— A recent count of the automobiles of Berlin discloses the fact that the German kaiser owns twenty-six cars, all reserved for his exclusive and private use. Twenty are kept in Berlin or Potsdam and six at Corfu. In addition, one fitted as a kitchen accompanies him in the army maneuvers.

— England is offering $25,000 for the aviator who makes the best time around that island's rim of 1,540 miles, driving an English make of engine; also $50,000 for the first to cross to the United States. Between England and France alone the total amount to be won this year in cash prizes and business awards for aviation is not far short of $500,000.

— A campaign, nation-wide in its scope, was launched recently in New York by Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt against the use of cocaine, morphine, heroin, and other drugs. It was stated in this connection by Dr. Jackson R. Campbell, who for twenty-seven years has been a physician in the New York Department of Correction, that there are fully 15,000 cocaine and morphine victims in the city of New York alone. One third of the crimes committed can be traced to the state of mind and body produced by the use of cocaine and morphine.

— Andrew Carnegie, on February 10, gave $2,000,000, to be used through the churches, for the promotion of international peace. The income of the fund, about $100,000 a year, will be expended by a board of twenty-nine trustees, representing all the leading religious denominations in the United States. This gift is, in addition to the $10,000,000 foundation established by Mr. Carnegie on Dec. 14, 1910, "to hasten the abolition of international war." The announcement was made at the close of a luncheon at Mr. Carnegie's home, attended by the trustees of the new foundation. The trustees organized The Church Peace Union, which will be incorporated under the laws of New York State.

— The Swedish cabinet resigned February 10, and King Gustave summoned Baron Gerard Luis de Geer to form a new cabinet. Baron de Geer is governor of Kristianstad, and is a senator belonging to the moderate liberal party. The resignation of the cabinet was the result of acute differences of opinion between its members and the king as to the sovereign's right to give free expression publicly to his opinion in political matters without previously consulting the ministers. The cabinet held that as a constitutional monarch the king should not make political speeches without ascertaining beforehand if the cabinet approved the substance of them, and the king refused to submit to such restraint.

— Persian landowners, mostly partisans of the deposed shah, have been bribed by the czar's agents to cede their land to Russian colonists. Large land transactions have taken place on the northeastern frontier, near Mero, where a colony of retired Russian soldiers is being rapidly established. Russian immigrants

are streaming in, and land is being bought for seventy-five cents an acre with funds mainly supplied by the government in St. Petersburg. Russia has responded to the world's protest against Muscovite aggression in Persia by withdrawing a part of the army of occupation, but she has adopted a more subtle and fundamental method of colonization for the establishment of Russian ascendancy in Persia.

— Heroin, a drug with effects as baleful as cocaine or morphine, has come under the ban of the federal postal authorities, who are endeavoring to stop the sale by mail of habit-forming preparations.

— The Brazilian government authorities, on March 5, proclaimed a state of siege in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Nictheroy, and Petropolis. This is to remain in force until March 31. The government's action is taken as a preventive measure against any possible troubles. Disturbances were feared from certain elements of the population as a result of the recent insurrection in the province of Ceara. A strict censorship was immediately established by the government on telegraphic communications, and all the troops were confined to barracks, in readiness for any eventualities.

— Hailed as the greatest living engineer, Col. George Washington Goethals, U. S. A., builder of the Panama Canal, was accorded an honor on March 4, at the ninth annual banquet of the National Geographic Society, that has been achieved by few men — the honor of receiving at the hands of the President of the United States a gold medal in recognition of his services to his country and the world. Gathered at the tables in the banquet hall of the New Willard hotel was one of the most distinguished assemblages ever seen in Washington, D. C. Colonel Goethals, as the guest of honor, was surrounded by the President and his Cabinet, members of the diplomatic corps, statesmen of Congress, army and navy officials, jurists, scientists, and many other notables of the national capital. Secretary of State Bryan was toastmaster.

— Printed books weighing in excess of eight ounces will be acceptable by parcel post after March 16. The term "book" is construed by the postal department as covering printed books of all kinds, including catalogues, check books, receipt books, and music books. Zone weights will apply as well as zone rates. The present third-class rate of one cent each two ounces or any fraction thereof applies to books weighing less than eight ounces. Much interest has been manifested in the application of the parcel post to mailing books. After the announcement that books would be acceptable it was discovered that a "book" is printed matter that is bound, while a pamphlet is not bound. That ruling would have kept from parcel post large catalogues, etc., while admitting small booklets, for catalogues, being unbound, would have to be classified as pamphlets. But the Post Office Department comes to the rescue with the explanation that when a pamphlet weighs eight ounces or more, it is a book; and, conversely, if a book weighs less than eight ounces it is not a book, but is third-class matter.

— What is expected to be one of the most momentous sessions ever held by the parliament of Great Britain began on February 10. There are not only the Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment Bills, which come up for third passage and then become law despite anything the lords may do, but there is a great mass of other business which will compel the government to fight continuously to hold the confidence of the House of Commons. Threats of civil war were made openly on the floor of the House of Commons, which convened immediately after the king had read his "speech from the throne." In his address His Majesty emphasized the grave seriousness of the situation in Ulster growing out of the fight for the Home Rule Bill, and expressed his regret that the efforts to solve the Irish problem so far had proved unsuccessful. The Liberal Government, supported by a coalition of Liberal Labor members and Irish Nationalists, stands pledged to carry through this bill, which twice has been passed by the House of Commons only to be rejected by the House of Lords. The government possesses a sufficient majority to secure its passage a third time. Then when it is signed by the king it automatically becomes a law without the consent of the House of Lords. Until three years ago every attempt to carry through this measure was frustrated by the House of Lords, whose hereditary members are the mainstay of the conservative Unionist or Tory party. Lloyd-George's famous budget of 1909, which was bitterly fought by the upper house, marked the great turning point in modern English politics, and the parliament act forever broke the power of the reactionary lords by abolishing their absolute veto and thus opening the way to real democratic reforms.

— The acute Mexican situation created by General Villa's failure to account for the death of Benton, a British subject, in a manner satisfactory to this government, and his supercilious attitude toward our State Department's efforts to investigate the case, has been relieved by the Mexican general's more recent concession to Secretary Bryan's demands. Moreover, representations have been made to the Huerta government demanding reparation for the death of Vergara, an American citizen whose ranch was sacked and who himself was hanged by the federal troops. This demand being apparently ignored, on March 8 a troop of Texas rangers crossed the border, and recovered the body of the ranchman. This action may participate a crisis, but our government is seeking to make both factions feel that their security does not lie in its attitude toward either the federals or the constitutionalists. What the future may bring forth we do not know, but it must be conceded that thus far the President's idealistic policy of noninterference has been the only course that could have saved us from war and bloodshed. If persisted in, it may even yet win out against the sinister forces that have long sought intervention and would now welcome war. It is to be earnestly hoped that the peace policy thus begun can be carried to a successful conclusion, notwithstanding the general feeling that Mexico deserves to be rather severely chastised.