"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord harkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name." Mal. 3:16.
DEAR FRIENDS OF THE SIGNS: I was brought up by parents belonging to the Church of Christ; and supposing that they believed and taught all Christ's Word, I was contented with that teaching till I was twenty-five years old. In 1884 I was born anew. Like Naaman, I always wished for a mule's burden of earth from that heavenly spot where the light of divine glory filled my soul's as well as my natural vision. Altho the night was pitch dark, I could have seen a pin in the room. We had been attending a Methodist meeting which caused me to begin to search the Scriptures, and also to examine my own life. After two years I joined the M. E. Church, and for twelve years taught in her Sunday-schools.
During this time I had received a good measure of the Holy Spirit to guide me in the truth, learning the true and only connection with Christ from John 3, which puzzled Nicodemus the master of Israel; and began to realize the nearness of the end of time. In 1898 I heard of the Third Angel's Message, which forever convinced me that we had been following an apostate power instead of Holy Writ. Here I made a vow to follow the Lamb whithersoever He leads, and in accepting it, I found the voice from heaven in Rev. 18:1-4 to be in perfect harmony with John 3. So we do not need the arm of flesh to lean on, but only to walk in the light of God's word, guided by the blessed Spirit. I want to be one of that blessed hundred forty-four thousand, with this earnest desire, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
Yours in the fellowship of the Spirit,
Gross, Neb. P. G. COX.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I am so glad that I, too, can have place in your good paper to tell of a Saviour's love. A few short years ago I accepted the Bible Sabbath with all its kindred truths. Not by the voice of man, but by the inward working of the Holy Spirit did I seek to know the Lord's will. And to-day I feel that I am standing upon that Rock which is Christ, and underneath me are the everlasting arms. O for the Christian's hope and faith that will not fail when the storms of life fall heavily upon us! The way grows brighter and brighter to me as I journey on, and my determination is to go on in the good way, holding up the standard of truth before a dying world till my work is done.
Yours in Christian love,
Cincinnatus, N. Y. MARTHA J. GATES.
EDITOR SIGNS—Dear Brother: I saw an article on the use of tobacco (reply to inquiry, "Is It a Sin?"). I have been in the same boat myself, but when I decided to quit everything that was a hindrance, I found that my Saviour not only could, but actually did, save me from the habit, and now I have no desire for it. I realize that it is the working of His creative power that has done this for me. See Eph. 3:20. It seems to me that it is Satan's scheme to get us to question, Is it a sin? His plan in the Garden of Eden was to ask, Has God said? and then to follow up the vantage by pointing out the benefits they would receive by disobedience,—they would become as gods, knowing good and evil. The sum of the matter is, Christ will not dwell in a polluted house, and as we can do nothing without Him, Satan makes an easy conquest on something that is unquestionably sin.
Yours sincerely,
THOS. GROOME.
I HAVE kept the Sabbath for over two years. I was baptized last December, and I thank God that I have come into the light to keep His commandments. Glory to His name.
San Francisco. MRS. ANNA COOK.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I am very thankful I can testify for Christ and His dear love for me. Eight years ago last September I was buried with Him in baptism, and rose unspeakably happy, because I had obeyed His commandment. Ever since, I have walked in newness of life, and am always happy in Him. With His assisting grace, I will serve Him while I live. I read that if we confess Jesus before men, He will confess us before our Father in heaven. I can say that a continual flow of rich blessings from Jesus is with me, to comfort me on every side. Tho I have been an unprofitable servant, I claim the promises He left in His Word, and am ever ready to witness for Him. I deem it a blessed privilege to speak in His behalf. His Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. What comfort and peace do I find in all His teachings!
I am isolated, as it were, yet I am not alone; for Jesus is always near to comfort me. He is my Rock and my Fortress, and ever sure Portion. In Him do I trust, and am ever looking to Him who is the Author and Finisher of my faith. I rejoice in the hope of His coming.
Meeteetse, Wyo. MRS. O. G. PENSE.
News and Notes
By Editor
The baptistry of the Baptist church was kindly loaned for the occasion. Two other candidates were obliged to defer the ordinance till a future occasion.
THE new organ of the Northern Union Conference—Northern Union Reaper—is at hand, and presents a neat appearance. It contains 16 pages, size of our Pacific Union Recorder, and is devoted to reports of labor and intercommunication between the brethren of the Union Conference. Published weekly, at 337 E. Lake Street, Minneapolis, Minn. 50 cents a year.
FROM the Australian Signs of the Times we learn that the plant of the Echo Publishing Company has been moved to its new country home at Warburton, Victoria. We hope that the arduous task and heavy expense of moving a large publishing plant will be more than compensated by the freedom from city contraction and the growing evils of city association. We wish our sister institution much success and prosperity in her new situation, and a greatly extended influence.
THE loss sustained by Union College in particular, and the cause in general, by the death of Prof. August Kunze, mentioned last week, is partially shown in the statement that he was "a teacher of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, and English, and had a working knowledge of French and Spanish."
In addition to teaching in Battle Creek (Mich.) College, Keene (Texas) Academy, and Union College (College View, Neb.), he edited our German paper, and did much translating for several years. He was studying for the Baptist ministry when his attention was called to the Seventh-day Adventist faith, which he accepted after careful investigation. He began to labor as a teacher in Battle Creek in 1880, and had therefore spent twenty-five years in the service, laying down his work and his life at the age of 54 years and 8 months.
THE remainder of the printing plant of the old Review and Herald Publishing Company at Battle Creek, Mich., has been removed to Washington, D. C., which completes the absorption of that corporation by the new Review and Herald Publishing Association. Thus has been completed a very important, tho arduous, move. Nothing in the history of our work in the United States has given it more conspicuous notice, or a more uplifting and far-reaching influence. The headquarters, with the able corps of laborers in various lines, were providentially planted at the national capital at a time of urgent need. The church-and-state spirit of so-called National Reform had been having an unprecedented run of influence for several years, almost unopposed, until its votaries began to feel secure in making extreme demands of Congress for religious legislation. "While men slept," the seeds of religious-political domination were about to bear fruit. It was a time when strong advocates of religious liberty were needed to check, for a season, the fast-ripening harvest of religious tyranny; and, by a train of remarkable circumstances which few, if any, could understand as they occurred, the needed force of Christian patriots were prepared to occupy the field and champion the truth. Only through events that were deemed great calamities was this important move accomplished. "O, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!" Ps. 31:19.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
AT Keene, Texas, March 28, six candidates were baptized by Brother C. Sorenson. Four of these were students of the academy.
THE headquarters of North Pacific Union Conference are at College Place, Wash. This is announced as a temporary arrangement.
SISTER BERTHA E. RUGG, of Campbell, Cal., desires to thank the parties who have been sending her papers for missionary work.
AT Ponsford, Minn., where Brethren Geo. L. Budd and E. M. Chapman have been laboring, ten persons have taken their stand for "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
A NEW building is being erected within sight of the SIGNS office, to be used as offices of the Pacific Union and California Conferences. Both the presidents are now residents of Mountain View.
THE brethren of Northern Illinois Conference have decided to change the name of Sheridan Industrial School to Fox River Academy. However, the industrial feature of the school will be continued and extended.
IN our home town, on the 2d inst., five young people were baptized by the editor of the SIGNS. They were all employees of the publishing house.
UPPER COLUMBIA CONFERENCE.
THE next annual session of the Upper Columbia Conference will be held in connection with the camp-meeting to be held at Milton, Oregon, May 17-27, 1906. A workers' meeting will precede this, commencing May 10. At the last annual session of the conference held at Spokane, Wash., Feb. 16-21, 1905, the following recommendation was passed:
Whereas, The Annual Conference is now held at a time unfavorable for the best representation and attendance of our people,
We recommend, (a) That the annual conference be held at such time and place as will favor the largest attendance of our people.
(b) That the business of the conference as far as possible be transacted during a workers' meeting to immediately peecede a general camp-meeting.
(c) That the conference year remain the calendar year, and that the Auditing Committee meet soon after the close of the year and audit all accounts.
(d) That the incoming Conference Committee provide for holding at least one general camp-meeting this year, and as many local meetings as may be thought best.
T. L. COPELAND, Secretary. A. J. BREED, President.
HOMES IN THE SOUTH.
By E. H. Rees
To THOSE who think of finding a home in the South, we wish to speak a word of warning, Do not put much dependence in the word of Real Estate dealers, and do not purchase any land without either seeing it yourself or having some friend do so for you. Many are being badly swindled, hence this note of caution.
Those who contemplate locating in the middle South would do well to write to W. W. Williams, president of the Cumberland S. D. A. Conference, as he is well posted as to desirable locations and real values of lands.
E. H. REES, Secretary S. U. Conference.
EXCURSION TO THE GRAND CANYON.
On April 25th the Santa Fe Railway will run a special excursion to the Grand Canyon of ARIZONA. Round trip rate of $30.00 will be made and party will be personally conducted to the Canyon. Those who are desirous of seeing this great wonder should make their reservations early. Full information of F. W. Prince, City Ticket Agent, 649 Market Street, San Francisco, Cal.
THE LAW OF GOD.
In these days of peril, when men and fiends are railing out their tirades of abuse, laboring to show the abolition of God's law, what would be more pleasing in His sight, than a beautiful copy of his law hanging on your wall.
Mounted on rollers, neatly printed on heavy enameled paper 18 x 25 inches, post-paid 20 cents. Unmounted, per dozen, 75 cents. One fourth proceeds to Cuba Mission field.
Address,
D. P. Ziegler, Celt, Dallas Co., Mo.
A LICENSE ARGUMENT REFUTED.
THE pre-eminent pretext for maintaining saloons in towns is the revenue to be obtained from the licenses. The liquor dealers and their supporters always hold up before the people the menace of higher taxes if the saloons are abolished, and with many people this is a veritable scarecrow. They do not stop to consider the various ways in which the saloon curse costs more than it ever could make up in the mere matter of license money. But on this one point alone we have an official comparison of two small cities of about equal population—Riverside and Santa Barbara, Cal.
These cities are each accredited with about 11,000 inhabitants. Riverside has no saloons; Santa Barbara has twenty-five, from which the treasury received $7,500 in 1904. Yet Santa Barbara with this amount of saloon revenue, has a city tax rate of $1.30; while Riverside, with no saloon license money, has a city tax rate of only $1.10. The city of Riverside has three more grocery stores, three more meat markets, and three more clothing stores than Santa Barbara. The people of Riverside have $78,000 more in the savings banks than those of Santa Barbara. In Riverside there are over four hundred more children in the public schools than in Santa Barbara; while Santa Barbara had 554 more arrests for crime in 1904 than Riverside.
People should never allow the license money delusion to lure them into harboring the saloon viper in their midst. It is not only a financial delusion, but it is a social and moral delusion the cost of which can never be estimated.
OPIUM IN THE PHILIPPINES TO BE PROHIBITED BY CONGRESS AFTER 1908.
[From the Associated Prohibition Press.]
WASHINGTON, March 16.—This week brings a favorable settlement of the opium tangle which so disturbed the people of the United States and the Philippine Islands nearly three years ago. The Philippine Commission has just passed a bill making the traffic in opium a government monopoly for two years, after which absolute prohibition of the importation and sale is to be the law, except for medicinal purposes. During the pending of the monopoly, the stuff is to be sold to licensed smokers only who have become habitues and who are disfranchised and disqualified from holding office during the time they hold such license. The law is almost precisely the law which the Japanese Government adopted for Formosa after the Japanese acquired that island from China.
Yielding to Public Sentiment.
Early in 1907, the Philippine Commission proposed, and was about to pass, a law providing for farming out the opium traffic so far as the sale to Chinamen was concerned. The bill was along the same lines as the notorious British policy in India which has been a scandal of half a century standing upon the British Government, the modifying of which was one of the proposals on which the new ministry has recently assumed power. The people of the Philippines revolted against the proposed infamy, the revolt being led by the Chinese themselves. The agitation against the proposed law was led by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Manila. The discussion became so warm that the Philippine Commission held up its bill and sent a committee to visit the opium countries and make a report. This committee reported adversely to the Commission's bill. Thereupon the Commission drafted a new bill embodying most of the recommendations of the committee, which has just become a law. After March 1, 1908, absolute prohibition of the importation and sale will prevail, except for legitimate purposes.
Extract of Secretary Taft's Letter to the President.
The following is the letter of Secretary Taft transmitting the report of the Committee to Congress:
Washington, D. C., March 9, 1906.
MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have the honor to enclose herewith, for transmission to Congress, the report of the committee appointed by the Philippine Commission to investigate the use of opium and the traffic therein, and the rules, ordinances, and laws regulating such use and traffic in Japan, Formosa, Shanghai, Hongkong, Saigon, Singapore, Burmah, Java, and the Philippine Islands.
The law in force in the Philippine Islands under the government of Spain made it unlawful for any Filipino to smoke, or use opium in any way. It permitted, however, a license to issue for the maintenance of opium-smoking resorts, to be patronized only by the Chinese, and police supervision was exercised over these resorts, and any Filipino found there was arrested and punished. The owner of the resort was also punished for conniving at the Filipino's violation of the law.
Americans Annul Prohibition with Bad Results.
"It is generally thought that the law was fairly well enforced, and that the spread of the use of the drug among the Filipinos was much retarded by its enforcement. The right to sell opium for smoking and other purposes was farmed out in the various provinces to a wholesale dealer, who purchased the privilege at public auction. When the American troops entered Manila and took possession of the islands, the Spanish opium law was not continued in force.
"A duty was imposed on opium, and towns were enjoined to pass ordinances forbidding the establishment of opium dives. Such information as the commission could obtain indicated that the suspension of the Spanish law had led to an increase of the use of the drug among the Filipinos.
The Opium Commission.
"Early in 1903 there was introduced in the Philippine Commission for enactment into a law a bill following in some respects the Spanish law, especially in the main feature, that the sale of opium to Filipinos and its use by them was absolutely prohibited and made a penal offense. It abolished licensed opium-smoking resorts, and provided that no opium could be sold to any one to be smoked upon the premises. It contained the feature of farming out the right to sell opium to Chinese persons twenty-one years of age. The bill was advertised for three months, and when it came before the commission in open session it was discussed by members of the public with great vigor. It was very vigorously opposed by the clergymen of the city of Manila. Indeed, so strong was their opposition that it led the commission to table the bill and to appoint a committee, consisting of Major E. C. Carter, surgeon United States Army, chief sanitary officer of the Islands; Dr. Jose Albert, a prominent Filipino physician of Manila, and the Rt. Rev. Charles H. Brent, Episcopal Bishop of the Philippines, who were authorized to visit the various Oriental countries to investigate the measures taken by the different governments for the purpose of suppressing the use of opium. This committee made its report to the Philippine Commission in June, 1904. The report was not transmitted by the Philippine Commission to this department until last August."
There has since been passed by the Philippine Commission a law providing for the suppression of opium smoking, which penalizes the sale of opium to Filipinos or its use by them; secondly, it prohibits the sale of opium to any Chinaman unless he is an habitual user of the drug. License taxes are imposed on wholesale and retail dealers who are subject to close regulation and scrutiny. This law will cease to have effect in April, 1908, and at that time all importations of opium into the islands will cease, except for medicinal purposes, and the importation for that purpose will be made by the government only.
WESTERN "REFORM" IN CHINA.
By G.
SOME of the American journals are complimenting China on her effort at reform on the lines adopted in this country; namely, that of making crime legal and legitimate by licensing it. The particular reference is to a movement in Peking for "regulating" the opium dens. Opium, as is generally known, was forced upon China by Great Britain in order to make a market for English opium cultivated in India. The drug is now such a curse to the country as the liquor traffic is to the so-called "Christian" nations. And now Chinese prohibitionists have to fight the poppy and its consequences under more difficult conditions than they originally fought its introduction. But the government has imbibed the Western "reform" idea of "regulation" by license. The board of health has issued the following order:
"Opium-smoking is extremely harmful to the health and the shops where opium is smoked are the retreats of loafers. Such places should really be altogether prohibited, so that people might enjoy prosperity,15and dens of thieves would thus be done away with. But as opium-smoking has become such a habit, it can not be got rid of entirely and at once. The evil can only be removed gradually. There are in the outer city of Peking many opium shops, and it is evident that the smokers are increasing every day, which is very bad. This department has taken into consideration the matter, and arrangements have been made for those who will abandon the habit. In addition, the opium shops in the outer city have been divided into four classes and are to be taxed after certain regulations. They are to register themselves according to their classes and the number of lamps, for the payment of taxes, so that inspection can easily be effected. If any one dares to make a false declaration, or opens shop without a license, or refuses tax, the building will be confiscated and the owners strictly fined. All must respect this order and not disobey."
But as the licensing of the liquor traffic has given it such a political hold in this country that its domination is felt in every grade of public affairs, a like result can hardly fail to follow the licensing of the opium traffic in China. It is the placing such business on a level with respectable, legitimate enterprise that gives it prestige and opportunity to magnify its prerogative as a recognized business. And China will find such a result arising from its license scheme. As prohibition is the only measure that in any degree lessens the quantity of alcoholic beverages used in "civilized" or "Christian" communities, or reduces the degree of evil consequence of its use, so it must be with the opium curse.
But poor China can not abolish opium while she is unable to cope with the army and navy of Great Britain, unless a spirit of sacrifice comes over the mind of the great opium promoter and monopolist. And if the evil is to be licensed and legitimized by the Chinese state and municipal authorities, its political power will soon become so potent that it will be a strong ally of British commercialism. Prohibition will find an opposition in cultivated appetite and home politics far more difficult to overcome than even the commercial and military forces of any foreign power. It would be far better for China to stand for the principle of prohibition, altho success be for a time apparently out of sight, than to handicap her opposition to the opium evil by making it a legal traffic. G.
WOMEN AND DRINKING.
In discussing this subject the New York Sun says: It is true that of recent years the practise of drinking by women at public restaurants has much increased. Formerly it cast a reproach on women and raised a doubt of their respectability, but now if a woman orders a cocktail, whisky, champagne, or any other alcoholic beverage, it attracts no special attention in restaurants.
Now the New York Sun is a long way from a religious paper, nor is it a sensational paper. This is its plain editorial opinion. The New York Christian Advocate, in commenting upon these words, says: 'This is certainly the case, and many of them are of the class of which fifteen years ago most of the members would not have thought of doing such a thing.' The Advocate thinks it is possible to deduce too much from this conclusion, in thinking the world is not going to be converted after all, one of the inconsistent opinions to which the Advocate holds; and yet on the other hand it admits that it is easy to underestimate the conclusion. It tells us that 'bridge whist parties' have much to do with the increase of it, that 'young society women,' imitating those who are older, find themselves incapable of resisting these evil ways. One coterie of such women includes fourteen, 'all of whom drink wine freely, and only three reject stronger liquors. They are all members of the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches except one, who is an ex-Methodist.'
Such testimony as this certainly ought to stir the souls of the thoughtful, considerate men and women who have nothing higher in view than their country's good; not simply that the women of high grade and their imitators drink in this way, but that such drinking has become so common that it excites no remark, arouses little censure, and is taken as a matter of course.
A despatch from New York under date of February 28 states that at a recent luncheon in that city 'twenty-four very young women drank thirty-six bottles of champagne, and fifteen of them smoked seven dozen cigarets.' The authority for this statement is Rev. Madison C. Peters, of the Baptist Church. He further is recorded as saying, 'The alarming increase of the drink habit among women of America, especially in New York, is one of the greatest perils, both to the home and to the public. It is a common sight in this city to see women, and often girls in their 'teens,' drink in public, and as frequently and as hard as the men, and often with men old enough to be their fathers.'
"THE NEW ARISTOCRACY."
Drinking among Women.
It is a well-known fact that the elite society of New York City, the "400," is the pole star to which all of the aspirants to social distinction in this country turn their eyes. That charmed circle they long to, or hope to, enter, sometime. The society women of New York are imitated, and their example is followed in morals as well as manners. Of a branch of this class Gertrude Atherton thus speaks in the current issue of the Cosmopolitan:
"The prevalence of gambling among rich women all over the world has been so much commented on that the subject is trite; but it is well to insist on the fact that the historic nervousness of American women of all classes is largely due to the constant use of alcohol in small doses. The wealthier women who have come to believe that they are above all laws, do not hesitate to order it any hour in the public restaurants. I took 'tea' with five of them one afternoon at the Waldorf, and those that did not order whisky revived themselves with absinthe. Then they abused every one whose name came up, composing as they chattered, and no doubt forgetting as quickly. But for a moment not a woman they assaulted had a grandmother above the grade of a washerwoman, or a rag of morals to save her from the divorce court."
In referring to the accredited novelists of New York society, all of whom have written "from the inside" she says that "not one of them seems to have found a single redeeming feature in the world in which they are, or were, a part. The characters lie, steal, blackmail, murder, commit adultery as a matter of course, gamble, drink, oppress, plot to ruin innocent reputations, throw compromising letters into waste-paper baskets, are frivolous, foolish, vain, and brutal; and, according to Mrs. Wharton, are even destitute of the ordinary virtues of loyalty and friendship."
And this is the cynosure toward which the eyes of the ambitious-to-shine-in-society are turned. When the leaders in society, the aristocracy of plutocracy, become so corrupt, when the badge of entrance is the $, when the greater part of those who possess wealth are ambitious of equality with the "highest circles," what can we expect of future generations? Read Isa. 59:1-19.
News of the Week
The fury of the mob was vividly illustrated at Springfield, Mo., on April 14. Two negroes had been accused of assaulting a white girl, and had been placed in jail to await trial. A mob estimated at 5,000, after hooting at and insulting the sheriff and assaulting the jailer, literally demolished the jail, took the accused men out and hanged them to an electric light tower in the center of the public square, building a fire under their victims while they dangled from the ropes. Besides wrecking the jail, the mob attacked the sheriff's house, demolished the furniture, and rendered the sheriff's wife unconscious by threats and violence; and all this without giving the accused an opportunity to prove their innocence, or the state an opportunity to prove them guilty.
The volcano of Mount Vesuvius is now thought to have spent its force, tho the eruption still continues, and ashes continue to fall over a very wide area. It is estimated that 2,000 persons have lost their lives as a result of this catastrophe. While more persons lost their lives in the eruption of 79 and 1631, it is believed that neither of these exceeded this in intensity and the amount of material thrown out upon the surrounding country. Some of the villages nearest the volcano have been practically buried. The railway up the mountain has been destroyed; railway tracks and tram tracks in the vicinity have been buried under several feet of sand and ashes, and 50,000 persons have been rendered homeless. The property loss is placed at $20,000,000.
A religious war is now going on in certain districts of Russian Poland between the Catholics and a sect known as the Mariavits (formerly Catholics). Numerous encounters have taken place between the two bodies, in which several lives have been lost and many on both sides have been injured.
Another great earthquake is reported from the island of Formosa, in which upwards of 1,000 persons are said to have lost their lives. The financial loss due to the Formosan earthquake of last month is now placed at $45,000,000.
M. Sleptzoff, governor of the province of Tver, Russia, was blown to pieces by a bomb while passing along the street of the capital of that province. The assassin was arrested.
Famine is rampant in the Russian provinces of Riazan, Kazan, Simbirsk, and Tula, and hunger typhus has broken out among the peasantry.
An explosion occurred on the United States battleship Kearsarge, on April 13, killing seven officers and men, and injuring fourteen.
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HOTELS AND THE LIQUOR BUSINESS.
It is too commonly believed that a bar is an essential to a successful hotel. In referring to the experience of Pasadena, Cal., the Los Angeles Express says:
In attempting to resist the passage of the prohibition ordinance, the liquor dealers made much of the argument that the passage of such alleged, suicidal legislation would drive out hotels and ruin all business. There were few hotels to drive out, and but little more business to cripple in those days. Under the prohibition law the hotels have multiplied and their business has increased. The Hotel Green, the Hotel Maryland, and the Raymond, three of the largest and most magnificent hostelries in southern California, if not in the world, have all been built under a prohibition government, and these, as well as a half dozen more of almost equal importance, are making money for their owners. And this is not all. Plans are being drawn for another hotel, which is to be erected on South Grand Avenue during the summer. The bare buildings without any extras, will cost a quarter of a million dollars. While this building is going up, the management of the other local hotels will be spending nearly as much more in making their various hotels more attractive to the tourists who will be here next winter.
SMOKING AMONG WOMEN.
By Editor
It was not an uncommon thing to find women in the Eastern and Middle states in our great-grandmothers' days who smoked. They were rarer in our grandmothers' days, and were considered in the community where the writer was reared, in the old "Empire State," somewhat below par. It was the "old ladies," and nearly always the unlettered and ignorant, who smoked. No respectable young woman did it, and if, perchance, she thought of doing it, she knew she would lose standing if she mentioned it. Such sentiments were, we believe, largely general in the North and East.
But a great change is taking place. European customs are possessing society more and more. Says the New York World:
On the continent it is a common sight to see women smoking in the cafés and other public places. No up-to-date American novelist would think for a moment of admitting to his exclusive pages a Russian or Spanish beauty who did not puff at a cigaret over her card-table. The moral American audience is apt to gasp for breath if an actress adds piquancy to a scene of flirtation by nonchalantly trying to blow rings in the air. It feels that she has had only due punishment if she comes near choking in the attempt.
It is getting to be quite a common thing, we are told, in woman's clubs. And in England one of the main railway lines between London and Liverpool has "installed a smoking car for ladies." It seems almost incredible, yet it is evidently so.
Now we suppose that tobacco-using is no worse in women than in men. It is bad enough in either; but it seems worse in the sex of finer fiber. It coarsens, and cheapens, and sensualizes; it tends to strong drink and lower, baser vices. It is a mighty help on toward the demi monde and lower. When women yield to degrading or debasing practises, they are much more likely to go lower, and that more rapidly than men. "Wo worth the day!"
Grand Canyon Excursion
$30.00
To the GRAND CANYON OF ARIZONA and return. Special excursion party will leave San Francisco April 25th. This is an especially low rate and those who wish to see this wonder of wonders should secure reservations early. Full information of Fred W. Prince, City Ticket Agent, 649 Market Street, San Francisco.
THE NORTHWESTERN LINE
RUSSIA-JAPAN ATLAS.
Send ten cents in stamps to R. R. Ritchie, No. 617 Market Street, San Francisco, for Russo-Japanese War Atlas, issued by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, three fine colored maps each 14x20, bound in convenient form for reference. The Eastern Situation shown in detail with tables showing relative military and naval strength and financial resources of Russia and Japan.
WANTED.
An Adventist girl or woman to do kitchen and dining-room work in family where several County patients are kept; also to assist with family washing. Good home. For wages and further information, address at once,
Mrs. Julia H. Miller,
Fallon, Nevada.
News and Notes
By Editor
Our next issue's Home department will be for the benefit of the mothers.
The Belgian Senate, by a vote of 50 to 21, has finally agreed to the resolution of the House prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, and sale of absinthe. As it was supported by the government, it will, of course, receive royal assent. The temperance organ, Le Bien Social, an outspoken prohibition organ, has already begun agitating for further legislation to curtail the traffic.
The Dowie Movement is nearing its end as we predicted. "So will end" all work built around men. Priests asked John the Baptist, "Art thou that prophet?" "Art thou Elijah?" And in both instances John answered in the negative. John was content to be only a voice crying in the wilderness. But Alexander Dowie came declaring himself to be Elijah, and, with his conglomerate system of Mormonism, Catholicism, Dowieism, Adventism, and faith-healing, attempting to reform the world by his self-exaltation. Men worshiped him. The idol has fallen. How many will learn the lesson?
The Great Burning Gas Well, near Caney, Kansas, of which Mr. Ketring wrote us so interestingly in last week's issue, has been confined, and the fire extinguished. After repeated effort a great steel hood, weighing over thirty-six tons, was made. This hood had a pipe twelve inches at the top with a valve in it which could be closed. From the side of the hood ran another twelve-inch pipe 300 feet long. When the hood was dropped over the well, the gas and air soon burned out within the hood and carried the flame above it; then the valve was gradually closed, and the gas forced through the other pipe beyond the reach of fire. Soon shovelers covered the bottom of the hood and the mighty giant was chained. It reached a height of 280 feet, and its hourly consumption is estimated at 75,000,000 cubic feet. During the five weeks of its burning the temperature within a radius of a mile of the well was changed to almost summer. Vegetation grew, trees budded and bloomed, birds built their nests, and butterflies came forth as in the Spring. It was a good illustration of the pent-up force of nature in the old earth.
