Items of General Interest

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 26, 1914

Items of General Interest

— The British Museum contains over 1,750,000 books, not counting parts of works that are accumulating. The shelving of the library exceeds sixty-nine miles in length.

— A disastrous hurricane swept through the province of Kuban, southern Russia, on Saturday, March 14. Aside from an enormous property loss, at least 1,500 persons were killed in the storm.

— It is estimated that the bill of the American churches for music each year is as follows: Organs built, $10,000,000; choir salaries, $30,000,000; organists' salaries, $25,000,000. Sheet music, including hymn books, is estimated at $7,500,000.

— On March 13 the engagement of the youngest daughter of President and Mrs. Wilson, Eleanor Randolph Wilson, to Hon. William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury, was announced. It is said that the wedding will take place at Easter or early in June.

— The offices of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad used last year 700,000 lead pencils, 1,000,000 pens, 23,000,000 pins, 18,000,000 envelopes, 14,000,000 sheets of carbon paper, 11,000,000 rubber bands, 570,000 blotters, and 3,300 rulers. It is believed that the proper usage of these articles will effect a reduction in cost of over 50 per cent.

— A committee of twenty-five clergymen, representing every denomination, which recently met at the call of the Religious Citizenship League in New York City, has recommended to the trustees of the churches of that city that they open their houses of worship to meet the emergency created by the demand of the poor for food and shelter. There are said to be more than 300,000 unemployed men in New York City in whose interests drastic action is necessary.

— In view of international situations, the Russian cabinet announced, on March 15, that the army of the czar will be increased by 460,000 men, making the total of the first line of defense 1,700,000 men. The extra cost to the army is estimated at $25,000,000, covering a period of three years.

— The Austin Organ Company, of Hartford, Conn., has been awarded the contract for the big organ for the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco. The organ will be the largest in America, and probably in the world, and will cost $60,000. It will be 77 feet high, 40 feet wide, and 20 feet deep.

— It is claimed that Japan and Mexico have negotiated a secret treaty that binds the two countries closely; Japanese agents have arranged for the colonization of a large section of Mexico by subjects of the mikado, and British capital is being advanced to further the aims of the Japanese in that country.

— Dr. John Bassett Moore, Counselor of the State Department at Washington for the past eleven months, has resigned his post, with the intention of resuming his duties as head of the department of international law at Columbia University. Dr. Moore is an authority on international law, having written nearly one hundred volumes on this and kindred topics.

— Col. George W. Goethals, builder of the Panama Canal, was recently presented by the New York Civic Forum with a medal for "distinguished public service." This is the first medal ever given by this institution. Colonel Goethals also received a gold medal from the National Geographic Society, the presentation being made by President Wilson.

— Owing to the recent mutilation by a militant suffragette of the famous Velasquez painting known as the Rokeby "Venus," in the National Gallery, Great Britain's art treasures have been placed under lock and key. In the coming season London visitors will be deprived of seeing much of the world's greatest art. King George has ordered Windsor Castle closed to the public for an indefinite period.

— Secretary Bryan recently informed the governing board of the Pan-American Union, composed of the representatives in Washington from all the American republics, that he had accepted the invitation of Chile, and would visit Santiago next September, at the time of the meeting there of the fifth Pan-American Conference. President Wilson has approved the plan, and Mr. Bryan expects to leave for this trip about the middle of August.

— A noted physician says that most people expend ten times the energy really necessary in almost everything they do. Many grasp a pen as if it were a crowbar, keep the muscles of the arm tense when they write, and pour out as much vital force in signing their names as an athlete would in throwing a heavyweight a great distance. Not one person in a hundred, he says, knows how to make proper use of his muscles or to relax perfectly when at rest. Yet it is chiefly through repose, or perfect rest, that we are enabled to store up energy, to stop the leaks, and to cut off all wastes.

— A movement is on foot in this country looking to the return to Great Britain of the battle flags taken in the American Revolution. It is said that about seventy-five standards were taken in various battles. A large part of these were burned in the War of 1812, when a part of the Capitol at Washington was burned. The others are now at West Point. These include some that were taken from Lord Cornwallis in the surrender of Yorktown.

— Twenty-five hundred college students are now enrolled in classes under professional leadership studying the liquor problem, with the prospect of doubling the number within the year. So reports the Intercollegiate Prohibition Association. These classes are conducted in one hundred colleges and universities, and in three fourths of these regular college credit is given for the work. At Princeton the senior class has voted to rule out beer from the class dinner.

— The election of a new president of the Swiss republic has passed almost unnoticed, for Switzerland is one of those happy countries that possess no aristocracy and no monarch, but just a chairman of a set of business men. He is changed every year, and has no uniform nor privilege as president. But Switzerland is a well-managed country, and perhaps the best democracy in the world, though few who enjoy its hospitality know who manages it from year to year. For the benefit of those who may have read of the latest Swiss election and already forgotten the president's name, it may be stated that he is Col. Dr. Arthur Hoffman, of St. Gall.

— President Yuan Shi Kai, of China, is in deep water financially, which in some respects is worse than political deep water. His arbitrary dissolution of parliament and disregard of the constitution have been strongly resented by many of the provinces, particularly in the south, where much of China's wealth lies. The provincial officers have shown their resentment by withholding revenues that in former times were sent to Peking to carry on the central government. Yuan lately issued a statement, or appeal, in which he says: "If liabilities now existing are not paid, the financial control of the country will be seized by foreigners. The ruin of Egypt and Korea should warn us that should China be partitioned through foreign intervention, all will share in the general calamity. The government actually lacks money to meet any single obligation, while the lack of funds renders it impossible to erect an efficient administration." Various expedients are being resorted to by Yuan's government to raise money. The Standard Oil Company, of New York, is reported to have received a concession for the petroleum fields of the provinces of Shen-si and Chi-li, the arrangement being a sort of partnership, under which the government is to receive a part of the profits. Chinese newspapers say that a contract has been signed in the nature of a mortgage with a Hankow Japanese syndicate for over $12,500,000 for the Tayah iron mines and allied properties. Indications are not lacking that China is to be divided up and sold piecemeal unless President Yuan changes his present policy.