p. 119 | Secular News

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1879

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 15.

Read the full edition

Secular News.

—Peru and Bolivia have declared war against Chili.

—Burmah is on the eve of war with England.

—Gov. Tilden of New York is said to be feeble in health.

—England is agitating "the silver question" in hope to revive trade.

—The Arab slave dealers have suffered a severe defeat from the Egyptians.

—A hard frost the night of April 3 damaged the crops around Charleston, S. C.

—Trade prospects of Great Britain are represented still to be very gloomy.

—The case of Gen. Fitz John Porter, so long pending, has been decided in his favor.

—Vernet, a village of 100 houses, in France, was entirely destroyed by fire, March 18.

—China is making demands on Russia in regard to some Eastern territory which the latter claims.

—April 3, a severe tornado passed over Brown Summit, N. C. Houses were blown down.

—Hard times are affecting the Suez canal. The number of ships passing through it has greatly decreased.

—Miragoane, a town in Hayti was destroyed by fire, March 16; 5,000 or 6,000 persons were rendered homeless. Loss estimated at $1,000,000.

—The Zulu king says he did not want war, but his messengers were fired upon and a battle was thus precipitated. He asks for negotiations.

—In an attempt to arrest a man in Stephenville, Texas, March 30, six men were killed and three wounded, and the arrest was not made.

—The Licking county Court House in Newark, Ohio, burned March 29. It was but just completed, and was one of the best in the State.

—The N. Y. Herald says the Chinese government is favoring the establishing of woolen and cotton manufactures, and is determined to extinguish foreign trade.

—The Columbus, Neb., Journal, says, in a recent prairie fire in Cloud and Republican counties, Kansas, a hundred houses, with property attached, were burned.

—The negroes are on the eve of an "exodus" from the Southern States to Kansas. They have been incited by false representations. It is thought, however, they will find work and homes farther west.

—By the malicious removal of a rail on the Grand Trunk railroad, the engine, baggage car, and first coach of the express train were thrown from the track, north of Detroit, Mich., the night of March 29. Two killed.

—The discussions in Congress are very exciting. Mr. Barber, of Illinois, in the House, said, it seems probable, from the present condition of affairs, that this is the last session which the American Congress will ever hold.

—Mr. Deane, ex-President of the San Francisco Mining Exchange, recently said that three new bonanzas had been discovered on the Comstock lode, of which the stockholders are kept ignorant, the managers sharing the profits.

—Chief Joseph can talk as well as he can fight. The North American Review reports his words, among which are the following:—"When I think of our condition my heart is heavy. I see men of my race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, or shot down like animals. I know that my race must change. We cannot hold our own with the white men as we are. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men. If the Indian breaks the law, punish him by the law. If the white man breaks the law, punish him also. Let me be a free man—free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teacher, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself—and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty."

—A "strike" is in progress in San Francisco. The Chronicle of the 5th says,—"On Thursday night a dozen of men attacked a laborer named Norton, who was returning home from his work on the sea-wall, and beat him till he was insensible. A man named Murphy was also attacked and seriously injured. The strikers entered the house of one Welsh early yesterday morning, dragged him out of bed and beat him until his life was despaired of. Property of contractors and teamsters was considerably damaged, wagons taken apart, linchpins removed, traces cut, etc. During the day some of the drivers were beaten on Powell street on their way to the beach. The traces of one of the teams were cut; the horses valued at $700, were taken out and driven away, and have not been recovered. Most of the teamsters yesterday went armed, and if some of them had been stopped bloodshed would surely have followed." Section 2 of Article 19 of the New Constitution says,—"No corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, shall, after the adoption of this constitution, employ, directly, or indirectly, in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian." Why not make it a misdemeanor to transact any business except by the consent and under the direction of labor leagues?