Your chairman has anticipated me somewhat this morning. I rather thought he would talk on the commercial side of this institution, and I would talk on the missionary side; but he has turned it around. I cannot do better, I think, than to cover some of the ground he has so briefly referred to.
As I understand it, this institution was started solely for the purpose of helping to give this message to the world. It is designed to be a mighty factor in the proclamation of the Third Angel's Message, God's last call to humanity; and I would be glad if all our work were so adjusted, and all our efforts, in the Office and in the field abroad, everywhere, were so directed that the entire strength of this plant might be spent in this one thing.
I do not say it is wrong to do commercial work; but I do believe that it would be a great deal better if we were able to give our whole time to our denominational work. And I believe that this is the end we ought to keep continually in view, and that there ought to be the strongest and warmest and heartiest co-operation all the time between the institution itself and the masses of our people abroad.
All of our denominational organizations—our Conferences, our schools, our mission fields, our workers everywhere—ought to be in close touch with the publishing house, and bend their energies toward creating such a great demand for literature that it would tax the resources of this institution to meet that demand. It is not so at the present time; but we must work to that end the very best we can.
I believe that before this work closes up, there will be a great deal more for this Office to do in the denominational work than it is doing to-day. I believe this message is going to the world with such power, and we are going to scatter the literature of this denomination so thoroughly and generally over the world, that this Office will be called upon to do a great deal more than it is now doing in this direction. We shall have less commercial work, and a great deal more of our own work to do.
I wish the institution were not so large as it is. I wish it had grown just as the demands of the field called for enlargement. But still, I cannot help feeling that there is yet before us an important work, and a great future, for this publishing house.
Now, conceding that the institution is here for the one great purpose of giving this message of salvation to the world, we all see at once that it is essentially different from a worldly publishing institution. It is not like some worldly, commercial institution in its character. It has a different mission, and it must have a different atmosphere. It must have a different standard of character and discipline. It must be governed by different and higher principles all the way through. It should be a spiritual institution. The managers of it should be men that are in touch with the great Leader of the work for which the institution has been called into existence.
The Bible says, “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” We know very well that an unclean man, a worldly-minded man, an unconverted man, is not in a fit condition to carry on a spiritual work, a gospel work. The Bible declares that he is out of harmony with God. He does not see things as God sees them. The things that God sees to be right and proper, appear to that man as foolishness. The Bible says it, and it is so. The worldly man does not see it so; but God says it is so. The man who is in harmony with God can see that it is so.
The character of this institution, its real life, is just what the character of the managers is—just what the character of the people that are in it is. And I understand that when we speak of it as being a spiritual institution, a clean institution morally, we do not refer to the mortar and the bricks, nor to the desks and machinery; we refer to the men and women who are connected with it. They should be converted people. They should have good morals; they should be spiritual people; they should be in touch with God, so that they can see light in His light, so that they can understand this spiritual work as God looks at it. And unless they are in that condition, they are no better prepared to carry on the publishing work, to meet the purpose for which it exists, to meet the mind of God, than an unconverted man would be who should attempt to take hold of the ministry of the gospel.
Therefore I believe that we should aim continually to have managers who know and fear God. And in taking in apprentices, we should continually aim to get young men and women who are converted, who are Christians, and who are clean in every way. Then, in our control, our discipline, our management of these apprentices, we should ever aim to keep them converted, and to have them grow in grace, and become broad Christians. And while they become more skilful, and better operatives, they should, as men and women, be growing better all the time. So we may keep the whole moral atmosphere of the institution what we know it ought to be, and something that we can be glad of, and that the world can scrutinize.
There ought to be in our publishing house an atmosphere that would impress a business man, or any one coming there, as a divine atmosphere; and in his association with the men in charge, from the time he enters the door, and as he goes through all the departments, there ought to be something there that would impress that man that there is a divine power in that institution.
When our young men and women come here from their homes to become apprentices, they should be impressed at the very beginning with the thought that there is something here that challenges their admiration, something that is worthy of their emulation; and they should never be disappointed.
With that thought in view, I believe that the management should continually aim to keep the moral tone of the institution up on the plane that the gospel demands. They should endeavor to keep out all immoral and vicious employees. I believe that these ought to be kept out of the Office just as far as possible.
Let us aim at honesty, at purity, at sobriety, industry, Christian character, and whenever we see one not in harmony with that, we will endeavor to remove such a person. First seek to reform, to reconstruct, and save the individual that comes. We are to do all that we can by prayer, by education, by solicitation and moral suasion. But when an individual refuses to yield to these influences, tell him that he has missed his place, that he has got into the wrong place; that this is not the place he was looking for at all, and he is not the one we are looking for. Excuse such a one, and get some one else that is seeking for that sort of help, and that sort of influence.
I am indeed glad that steps are being taken to provide a home for apprentices, for young men and women to be under good influences and under good discipline. That step is in the right direction, and it has my prayers. I want to see it succeed. As I travel over the States, and meet with young men and women, I should like to see the flower of our young people who have a mechanical turn of mind brought to this publishing house to learn a trade. I should like to see them placed, at the very beginning, under good influences, with a good father and mother. They have all their lives been under the direction of good parents. They leave home for the first time to come here. How essential that they have a good home to go into, with some one to take an interest in them, some one to be a father and mother to them, to counsel with them, to see that they keep right hours, to help them study the Scriptures, get their Sabbath-school lessons, and seek that which is noble. This is a great deal better than to turn them loose, and let them do as they please.
I am glad that the school is being conducted. It seems to me that this is right; that an effort should be made to give young people a training and an education. As they acquire skill in the different branches that they are taking, let them build on a broad foundation, so that they will know more than the mere twist of the wrist, or the mechanical, or the art part of the work.
Then, again, I believe that this Office ought to be a missionary institution as well as educational. From the very start it was designed that this institution should establish branches and depositories in different parts of the world. In South America there are thirty-eight million people. They must have this message. Why is it not a very proper thing for the Review and Herald publishing house to establish a small, inexpensive branch there? And when they do, why is it not proper to man it with skilled laborers that they have trained here, persons whom they can send abroad, whom they can have confidence in, knowing that they can really depend upon them to take any branch of the work that is given them, and carry it through successfully? It is perfectly right that they should do this. I hope they will be blessed in moving out in that way. Instead of gathering all their profits to increase their capital, to enlarge their institution, and increase the number of their presses, they should reach out, plant institutions in other places, and thus build up the work. Then, as these branch institutions become organized by self-government and self-support, let the Office turn over to those parts all that it possibly can.
I have been made happy the past summer to see the liberality of the Review and Herald toward the needy parts of the field. We know the South is a needy field. I certainly believe that they need help there, and they need something in the way of printing. The Review and Herald Company, as has been said, gave the Southern field about $9,000 this year. I consider that a liberal gift, and it should encourage our people abroad, that this institution that they have been fostering all these years by their labor and their toil, their prayers and their means, is ready to lend a helping hand to needy parts of the field.
In Canada we have recently organized a Canadian Union Conference. That Conference has taken over the entire field and the management of the work; and the Review and Herald Company have turned over their Toronto Branch to them. The real gift to Canada was something like $8,000. While this was not a direct cash contribution, perhaps, on the part of the Review and Herald (that is, an investment of $6,000), it is a gift of $6,000, which is as good as though it had been an actual cash investment by the Board. So the Canadian Union Conference takes that printing business with all the stock, amounting to $5,300, and $292 worth of furniture, and $3,500 in accounts receivable, without any indebtedness. I believe that is right. Canada is a large field, covering thousands and thousands of miles, and including thousands of people. It is a promising field, and the new Union Conference can take this property unencumbered, and invest it wisely, and manage it wisely, to carry on and build up the work; and I am very glad of this action.
So far as I have been able to observe, it has seemed to me, as I have watched the efforts of the Board, that there was a strong disposition in all this management to move under the direction of God. Hence, my confidence in it. And I have confidence that there are many as truly devout, consecrated Seventh-day Adventists in this institution as can be found anywhere in the denomination.
During the week of prayer we made some efforts at reform. The Lord blessed us. On Christmas day my heart was filled with joy to overflowing at the spectacle I saw. We thought we would omit the meeting on Christmas day, and so we made no appointment. But just before the employees left the building on the evening before, two or three of them felt as though it was a mistake to drop out Christmas, and they thought they ought to have a volunteer service announced, and let anybody come who had a disposition to do so. I did not expect that there would be a dozen persons at the meeting, but to my astonishment, there were almost a hundred employees there, who had volunteered to come to meeting for a consecration service. The Lord blessed us abundantly. I could tell from the words that were spoken, and from the spirit that was manifested, that there were a hundred men and women who are as true to this message, as far as they understand it, as we have anywhere in the world.
I want to see the Review and Herald prosper. I want to see such a strong spiritual influence there that pulsations will go out from the Review and Herald to the very extremities of this important work. It can be done. And as a member of this body, a believer in this message, a worker in this cause, I want to join you in effecting that condition.108
I believe we are on the road to it, and I feel encouraged. I can say, God bless every one of you, managers and employees, and hasten this work until it is all done, and we are gathered to a better place.
Remarks of Prof. W. W. Prescott.
By Uriah Smith
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
I would like to be able to look right through bricks and mortar and machines and all appliances, and see plainly righteous principles. I would rather have righteous principles without a brick or a machine or any appliance,—I have more confidence in that than in all the outward without that inward power.
Our danger—it is a constant danger, it is an old danger, it is a danger as old as sin—is that we should fix our confidence upon the outward things, and deal with the outward, and lose sight of that which is really involved.
The only reason for which any person exists is that he may be a witness for truth, a witness for right principles. When you have two persons working together, the only reason is the same; when you have three, it is the same; and when you have three hundred, it is the same.
Now this institution, and every institution among us, ought to stand not simply for an investment, and not simply for what people can see with the outward eye, but it ought to stand as a mighty witness for the righteous principles God has given in the earth. That is the main thing; that is the real thing.
You and I know—and we will speak plainly with each other—you and I know that for some years there has been a sort of feeling more or less prevalent throughout the denomination, perhaps centering here, and then extending more or less outside, that there is something wrong about the Review and Herald, until there has come to be almost a kind of slur connected with the name, as though the name “Review and Herald” stood for something wrong. Oftentimes it is very difficult to find out just what is wrong, but some are morally certain that something is wrong. Now I believe that thing ought to come to an end.
I believe that as a company of men and women who believe in righteous principles, and are willing to stand for them, there ought to be such a stand made by managers and employees and all who are interested here in this thing, that there shall be a different atmosphere and a different name from this time.
Now I say we ought to band together on right grounds for this thing; that local stockholders, local believers, local workers, local managers, ought to band together here, that we will put our shoulders under this thing, and put an end to this slur on the Review and Herald. I would like to know what there is to prevent its being done.
It has almost seemed to me as though it was thought that somewhere around the institution, in some dark corner, hidden somewhere, was a great bugaboo that people were seeking to bring out into the light. Now I say, Let us clean out all the dark corners, and let the sunlight in, and let it be known that this institution stands for God and right,—for right principles.
There ought to be on the part of managers, associates, and workers a banding together, not to stand for wrong principles, but a banding together that every one, from the janitor of the building to the manager of the institution, so far as his responsibility extends, shall stand continually for right principles, and shall be an example of them in his work.
I do not have sympathy—I will say it plainly—with the view that this is a commercial institution from which every one is to get all he can. I do not think it ought to be any more so than in the General Conference. I think there ought to be the same view of the work.
Now it is not wicked to do commercial work; but it is wicked to do commercial work on a wicked basis. I am in sympathy with the thought that this institution was established to do the work of the denomination. I hope to see the time when that shall be the case.
But now we face a situation—whether we brought it or not, no matter. Here is a large institution, large capital invested, large interests at stake. We cannot turn that over in a day. It is here. If others have made mistakes in the past, it is here. I do not believe we ought to blow up a cyclone, and throw it all into the air. I think we ought to protect what is here, on right principles, and use it to the best advantage, and develop our own work as far as possible, that this institution may be occupied in doing that as much as possible. But we have a situation to face. So let us make what we have turn for the right purpose, and for the best thing we can under the circumstances; and if the best thing we can under the circumstances is to do commercial work, let us do clean commercial work on the right principles, on the right basis, and let us all contribute to the success of the business. And then let us work for a better basis just as fast as we can.
It seems to me consistent that with such a company as are gathered here, and the different institutions located here, Battle Creek ought to be a center of spiritual power for this work. It is wrong that it should be any other way. There ought to go forth from Battle Creek a spiritual power that should be felt in this work everywhere. And every one who is here is responsible if that thing is not so. I believe that, and I think we ought to face our responsibility. I think these employees ought to face the responsibility with us. Every one here ought to sense that this is a different situation than it would be if we simply stepped in here to run a business, to do a mechanical work. If we are in earnest about this thing, if we believe what this thing stands for, let us stand up like men and women, and take our places. I think this is just as applicable to every employee in the institution as to the manager.
There ought to be in these institutions such a powerful sentiment for right principles as will frown down anything wrong in the institution. So if there is a wrong tendency in the institution, the managers can depend upon every right-minded person in the institution to stand up against it, just as much as the manager, so far as his influence extends. I believe that we ought to take that attitude. Let us not be drifting into the idea that we are here simply to make a living, to get what we can out of this work, and that this institution is here simply to run a business. We are here to represent the truth, and we are here to do earnest, consecrated work, whether in the Review Office, or the Sanitarium, or the church; we are here to see that right influences prevail; that street rumor, and gossip, and talk are put to one side, and that we come up like believers in the truth, and stand for right principles, and that we will not agree or consent with anything that is not just and righteous; but as long as we hold back, and do not undertake this, and half encourage the wrong thing, and wink at it back and forth, we will have this situation to face in Battle Creek. It seems to me that we ought to live to see the day when this sort of slur that rests on these institutions, and on this place, should be wiped out, and this place be looked upon as a center of good influences for the truth.
Now, brethren,—every one of us, workers, managers, all,—let us stand on that basis squarely together, and I believe we can change this thing, and have a different atmosphere and a different order of things. It seems to me we should have confidence in God, and confidence in one another as workers together with God, and we should put aside so much of the suspicion, the rumor, the catching up of a report against a brother, and let us come out in the sunlight, and stand squarely with one another and with God. I believe, with God's blessing, there can be a different order brought in.
The meeting was then adjourned till 7 P. M., Thursday, Feb. 13, 1902. The rest of the proceedings will appear next week. U. S.
REPORT FROM NORWAY.
By O. A. Johnson
While the enemy of all righteousness is neither bound nor dead, and while he is doing all he can to hinder the work of God, yet we see evidence of divine guidance in the work, and therefore have reason to take courage, ever trusting Him who will never leave nor forsake. We are also truly thankful for the progress the work is making amid the difficulties surrounding us here.
The financial difficulties that came over the work here had a discouraging effect upon many, and as a consequence some drew back. Of course it would naturally take some time for these to develop. We are glad that some are coming back, like the prodigal son, and asking to be received into the confidence of the church again. Others have left the truth entirely, and have had to be dropped from our church records. These dismissals, together with the large per cent of our brethren who go to America, reduce our numbers so that our increase is not large either in numbers or in finances, although quite a number may be yearly added to our church.
Although an unusually heavy snowstorm, followed by rain and hard wind, kept many of our brethren from attending the services during the week of prayer, yet we hear reports of excellent meetings in various places. We are unable to report at this writing the amount of collections received at this time. Besides the yearly collections at the week of prayer, we have had three general collections in our Conference during the last year to raise money to pay the Conference and tract society debts to the publishing house here, and we are glad to say that our brethren have responded nobly, notwithstanding the hard times. We hope to liquidate these two debts by Conference time next May or June. We also hope to reduce the debt of the Book Mission to the publishing house, and in a year or two we hope to liquidate all Conference obligations.
Elder H. Hansen is having an excellent interest at Stavanger, and some are deciding for the truth. Elder Nelson and Brother Iversen have been laboring at Porsgrund, and also at Skien, with encouraging results. Brother Nelson leaves Brother Iversen to carry on the work, while he goes to Christiansand to begin a series of public meetings.
At Christiania, where I am now laboring, we have had, since Christmas, our large hall full of attentive listeners every Sunday evening. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings I conduct a Bible school, using printed lessons, which is also well attended by our brethren and by others. Our church here holds district prayer-meetings, and several will now begin holding family Bible readings. We expect to have baptism soon.
Last Sunday evening I talked with a man who has lately moved into this city. He and his wife have kept the Sabbath for years, without the knowledge of us as a people. He told me that he learned to keep the Sabbath from reading the Bible. It is evident that there are many honest people in Norway searching for light; for in our travels we see persons reading the Bible, and in talking with some of them we soon perceive that the Spirit of God has been troubling their minds about the Sabbath, the coming of Christ, baptism, and kindred truths.
Brother Sherrig has just closed a very successful canvassers’ institute. Our present canvassing force now numbers twenty-six, and will doubtless be increased by spring. The sales for 1899 amounted to 21,547.83 kroner, about $5,823.73; for 1900, 26,904.31 kroner, or $7,271.43; for 1901, 32,708.45 kroner, or $8,840.12. From this it may be readily seen that this branch of the work is progressing, although the finances are getting worse all the time in the country as well as in the city. The canvassers related many interesting experiences, and presented earnest calls from various places for the living preacher. Up to the present time the country people have been, and are still, more under the direct influence of the clergy than the people in the cities are, and therefore we have labored more in the cities. We hope before long to be able to enter these openings, and work in the country. In one place in northern Norway there are some Finnish families who have observed the Sabbath for some time, but with whom we have not yet come in direct contact.
The health work is onward; for about two years two sisters have run a health home in Bergen, giving various treatments to the sick, and teaching health principles. They have had, and still have, the support of some of the leading physicians, and have been able to labor for a good class of people. They are making their work a success financially on the self-supporting plan. A brother began the same kind of work about a year ago, and is also doing well on the self-supporting plan. He is also reaching a good class with the health principles, and winning their confidence. In Christiania the same kind of work is carried on under the direction of Brother O. I. Olsen. An old building, which has been empty for years, and which belongs to the publishing house here, has been remodeled, and fitted up for a small sanitarium, with rooms for patients and rooms for various kinds of treatment for both sexes. This work is now progressing quite well.
The basement of our large office building has been remodeled, and fitted up for a type room, as well as for a press room. Two presses have been traded for a new one, better fitted for our work. This new press does most excellent work. We have also an old English press, which does good work. So we are able to do good work, and we are glad to report that up to date we have been quite busy. Brother John Lorentz has rented the first floor of the large building for his bindery. As the work is now arranged, all rooms, both in the old and in the new building, are bringing us some rent. We can truly say that it seems clear to us that the hand of the Lord has been with us in carrying on our work in harmony with the counsel of the brethren sent here to direct in these matters.
We are feeling the hand of the law in this country. Elder Sewaldsen was imprisoned for four days, on bread and water, for baptizing a lady under fifteen years, because she could not get a letter of dismissal from the pastor of the State church. A young brother has been imprisoned in the fort here for ten days for refusing to do military duties upon the Sabbath. The elder of the church was called into court to explain our views on the Sabbath question. This brother appealed his case till it reached the highest court in Norway; but there was no escape from prison. Elder O. I. Olsen, while working in the old building here, fitting it up for a small sanitarium, was twice called into police court, and has once since then been before the higher court to answer for Sunday desecration. He has appealed his case, and will appeal to the highest court. But109the probability is he will have to go to prison a few days, on bread and water. A brother in the country was fined for selling goods on Sunday; he also appealed to the highest court, but in vain. It is really astonishing that laws thus punish common, innocent work, while street cars and railroads under State control continue to run on Sunday as well as on other days. Many times street cleaning is done on Sunday as well as on other days of the week, and no fine or imprisonment awaits those who thus desecrate Sunday. While Norway has many excellent laws, yet she has a Sunday law and a few other religious laws, which work hardships upon those who refuse to comply with them.
We are truly grateful to God for His mercy and blessings to us in the midst of various obstacles and trials. The brethren are of good courage, and work with a heart and will to advance the cause of God.
The brethren of Norway are indeed thankful to our brethren in the United States and in other lands who have come to the rescue of the cause here by giving so liberally of their means. One must be here to understand how the hearts are touched by the liberal gifts sent to save the work here from disgrace. We are glad to know that the Lord will abundantly reward His faithful, sacrificing servants. Sweet will be the rest and peace when the struggle is over, the victory gained, and we are saved in the kingdom of God.
O. A. JOHNSON.
Leading Events, Feb. 9-15.
By A. J. B.
— The Colombian rebels are repulsed in an effort to capture Barranquilla.
— Fire insurance rates go up, as the result of the great Paterson, N. J., fire.
— The smallpox scare in London, England, develops a “perfect mania for insurance.”
— The German Kaiser decrees that his brother Henry shall speak the English language while in America.
— The American reconcentration campaign in Batangas Province, Philippines, causes many Filipinos to surrender.
— King Edward of England held a levee at the St. James palace, the 11th inst., permitting favored ones to kiss his hand.
— The Empire Hotel, St. Louis, Mo., was destroyed by fire the 9th inst., eleven persons being killed and eight hurt.
— M. Santos-Dumont, the famous aéronaut, caused his balloon to fall into the Bay of Monaco, the 14th inst., to prevent a gas explosion. He was rescued by launches.
— The great steel trust has a rival in the Lackawanna Steel Company, a $40,000,000 combine just organized at Albany, N. Y. Its headquarters will be at West Seneca, Erie Co., N. Y.
— England and Japan signed a five years’ treaty the 11th inst., intended to check Russia in Manchuria and Korea. The United States approves of the treaty. The Liberal party in England fear this will plunge England into a war with Russia.
— Mr. J. M. Miller, a New York writer, states that in a recent audience granted him by Pope Leo XIII, the latter informed him that the Catholic Church in the United States was “progressive in a high degree, and that the United States had now become the fourth Catholic country in the world. It has 20,000,000 of the faithful.”
— The plague is causing 1,000 deaths a day in the Punjab, India.
— There are in the city of Berlin, Germany, 75,000 persons out of work.
— Emperor William’s yacht “Hohenzollern” arrived at New York the 12th inst.
— Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was celebrated throughout the country the 12th inst.
— The Nebraska University seniors object to Booker T. Washington as their class-day orator.
— The Marquis of Dufferin died the 12th inst., at his Irish seat, Clandeboye, of “worry over financial matters.”
— General De Wet again breaks through the British lines after being completely surrounded by Kitchener’s forces.
— The net earnings of the Northwestern Railway for 1901 were $16,798,968, or twenty-three per cent on the common stock.
— Prince Henry sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany, on the liner “Kronprinz Wilhelm,” for the United States, the 15th inst.
— In a speech at Liverpool the 14th inst., Lord Rosebery declared that “England can never grant a separate parliament to Ireland.”
— There is talk of England’s leasing her Wei-Hai-Wei, China, naval station to Germany, and establishing another station at the mouth of the Yang-tse River.
— The city council of Des Moines, Iowa, decided the 13th inst. to “close all churches, theaters, and to prohibit all public gatherings until the smallpox epidemic has abated.”
— Great Britain will increase her navy still more. On April 1 work will be begun on thirteen new battle-ships, twenty-two armored cruisers, and twenty-eight other war-ships.
— The shortage of $1,592,000 ruins the City Savings Bank of Detroit, Mich. Frank C. Andrews, vice-president, is accused of robbing the bank of over $1,000,000, and has been arrested.
— Dispatches state that Russia is “pleased with the Anglo-Japanese treaty” to prevent the partition of either China or Korea, and that it is the Czar’s ambition “to help maintain the integrity of China.” But, wait.
— Senator Teller introduced an amendment to the Philippine tariff bill, the 10th inst., declaring that “the United States has no intention of permanently retaining the islands, but intends to establish a protectorate.”
— Christian Science and Spiritualism continue to grow in Germany, in spite of the Kaiser’s opposition. The Emperor has directed “that inquiry be made among prominent scholars regarding their views of Spiritualism,” and it is likely that public séances will be prohibited.
— Representative Wheeler, a Kentucky Democrat, made a sensational speech in Congress the 14th inst. He attacked the policy of the administration toward royalties, Lord Pauncefote, the British Ambassador to this country, and Prince Henry, and “demanded the dismissal of the British Ambassador, and called the Americans a nation of flunkers.” The United States government cabled an explanation to Berlin as soon as possible.
— Germany publishes official dispatches proving that England desired to interfere in the war between this country and Spain in 1898, and that the Kaiser vetoed the scheme. England will now retaliate by publishing an account of the Dewey-Diederichs incident in Manila bay, showing that in that case England stood by the United States. Meanwhile, Prince Henry, the Kaiser’s brother, is on his way to this country, and Germany is sending war-ships to Venezuelan waters to collect her indemnity. She hopes that, while she is thus engaged, the United States will look the other way, and not mention the Monroe Doctrine.
— A terrible fire swept Paterson, N. J., the 9th inst., destroying twenty-six blocks (five hundred buildings), which included “practically every important public structure in the city.” One thousand families were made homeless, and the property loss is estimated to be between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000. Among the buildings destroyed were the city hall, public library, old city hall, police station, engine-house, patrol stables, high school, school No. 1. The churches destroyed were the First Baptist, Second Presbyterian, Park Avenue Baptist, St. Mark’s Episcopal, and St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic. Six banks were destroyed, five clubhouses, a great number of office buildings, stores, etc. Martial law was immediately proclaimed. A. J. B.
