Earlier text: THE MOTHER’S WORKCELESTIAL COMMUNICATIONS.
Can we communicate with the Martians, the people who inhabit our nearest planetary neighbor? They are only thirty-five millions of miles away at one point of their journey. Men have written volumes to tell how it could be done. All sorts of romances and stories have been woven around the fiery planet. Some astronomers have suggested great light triangles, or the illumination of Lake Superior, or a colossal sun-mirror, as practical signals to the Martians. But now comes Prof. Edgar L. Larkin, of Mount Lowe Observatory, and annihilates to oblivious night all these light suggestions by proving that no light-signal that earth could make could be seen from Mars. When Mars is nearest us, his day is earth’s night, and vice versa. If the great light-signal was in earth’s day, it would be rendered invisible by the greater light of the sun; if in the night, Martians could not see it “looking at the same time toward the sun.” The light-signalling solution of the problem is therefore out of the question. How about electric vibration? As to that Professor Larkin does not encourage us. Speaking of wireless telegraphy, he says:— If the men on Mars make a coherer, and have local sources of electricity, and can learn our language and code of signals, and if men on earth can by a disruptive charge of electricity more powerful than that of a flash of lightning a mile long, generate a circular wave that will move 35,000,000 miles, and can learn the language of the Martians, then it will be time to send telegrams. And then to still further show the impossibility of the huge undertaking, he tells us that— Trowbridge at Harvard, with 20,000 cells of accumulators, has made oscillations seven feet long. The coil made in Philadelphia for wireless telegraphy in Japan gave forty-inch vibrations. Chain rivers, tides, and winds of earth to dynamos, let the entire power be poured in floods of light, and Mars can not see it. Let the energy of these dynamos be sent through step-up coils until man handles the very lightning, then at present, there is no way known of sending the waves to Mars. So much for that. Qui bono? What good would it be if we could thus communicate? It would not prolong life one moment, or make the world one whit better. The stupendous results would flatter man’s vanity, and it might be learned whether the tracings on Mars were Schiaparelli’s canals, or Schaeberle’s mountain chains, or something else entirely different from either. But the world would be no better, and but little wiser. But why wait these results when celestial communication is already possible, practicable, operative? Why desire so much to communicate with the Martians, when the wondrous fact is not practically known to earth’s millions that it is possible to communicate with the Maker and Governor of Mars. Knowing the Martians would immensely increase our self-esteem. Personal communication would render a man world-famous. But what is this compared to the knowledge of God, to the holding of personal communication with the Creator and Governor of the universe? What is communication with a mere creature to converse and friendship with Him who created and upholds all the shining suns and circling spheres? It is not possible at present to know the Martians, our nearest neighbors in planetary space, unless, indeed, the moon be inhabited; but it is possible to know God. It is not only possible to know God, but it is greatly desirable to know Him. Jesus Christ, the only Begotten of the Father, expresses His earnest desire and the wonderful result which would follow such knowledge. “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” Knowing God and Christ is eternal life. It is communication with God. It is harmony with Him. It is the reception and retention by faith of His Spirit. And the privilege is greater, the honor is higher, the results are more joy-abiding, than the knowledge and possession of all the wisdom and riches and power of the world. “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” But knowing God is the privilege of every one; the humblest soul on the face of the earth is equally entitled to the privilege with the most exalted of the world. He may come into the audience chamber of God by the only proved operative wireless telegraphy in the universe. But receiver and transmitter must be in perfect harmony, keyed to the vibrant harmony of God’s living law. And thus connected with Him with whom is the fountain of life, the great Dynamo of the universe, the humblest soul can talk with God. Distance is no part of the problem to Infinite Power; day or night do not affect the problem. The soul is connected by life bonds, by living nerves, with the great Mind of the universe. O, this is celestial communication open to every soul. We may never be able in mortal life to talk with the Martians, but we may talk with God and listen to the celestial music of His messages. OUR PATTERN IN LOYALTY.
By S.
There is only one final authority in the universe, and that is God. There is only one Saviour of men, and that is Christ. There is only one standard of Christianity, and that is the Word of God, the Word made flesh. That “Word made flesh” declares of Himself: “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:7, 8. He further declares, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” John 4:34. Of His teachings He said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” John 7:16. Of the words which He spoke, He declared: “The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.” John 14:24. The works which He did He declared to be the works of the One that sent Him. His whole ministry was the ministry of reconciliation—not to reconcile God to man, but that man might be reconciled to God. This necessitated a complete, a perfect oneness between the Sender and the One sent. It necessitated also that the One sent should not set up His own way and will, nor institute laws and ordinances in opposition to the laws and ordinances of Him who sent Him. To have done so would have been to nullify His own mission, and make the breach between God and man wider than it was before, and include Himself among the number who needed to be reconciled. That is just what made the trouble in heaven in the first place. Lucifer sought to set up a kingdom of his own, laws of his own, and to make the angels his subjects; and the load of sin under which the world—nay, the universe—groans to-day is the result of that work of the one-time covering cherub who sought to rule for himself, and make laws of his own, without regard to God—in spite of God. Notwithstanding that fact, and in the plain light of the terrible consequences of that act, our Lord Jesus Christ is continually accused—and by those who profess to honor Him—of doing the same thing, of setting up a law of His own, and thus supplanting the law that God had written with His finger upon the hearts of men. And that accusation is made in the very face of Christ’s own emphatic declaration recorded in Matt. 5:18: “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled;” or as expressed in Luke 16:17, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” That was the uncompromising position which Christ Himself took. It was the only position He could take and be man’s Redeemer. He set up no law of His own in opposition to the law of the Father; He set up no will but the will of Him who sent Him; He wrought no works for His own glory, but rather emptied Himself, and became obedient unto death, that He might show forth the justice and the mercy and the undying love of God; that He might establish in the hearts of men the law which man had broken, the very law that professed Christians to-day are accusing Him of having abolished, supplanted, overthrown; the very law [His Word] which the psalmist declares is settled forever in heaven. Ps. 119:89. Nothing would have suited Satan better than for Christ to come to this earth to abolish the law of God, as professed Christians have declared He did. But He did not; He Himself declares He did not; He could not have been man’s Saviour if He had attempted to carry out such a work. The ground of man’s hope in Christ is in the fact that He was a law-keeper and not a law-abolisher. He was the great Example of loyalty to God; He could not supplant His law; He made our redemption sure because He did not try to do it. Hearken to this declaration of Holy Writ, and never again be troubled over the possibility that God’s holy law was a transient affair, a temporary expedient: “I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God doeth it that men should fear before Him.” Eccl. 3:14. The law of God certainly is included in “whatsoever God doeth”; therefore it is among those things that “shall be forever.” Christ loyally adhered to and magnified His Father’s law; and they that are His will do as He did. PRECEPTIVE VERSUS THE PRACTICAL.
By Editor
Below is a letter from one of our readers which is representative of the opinions of a large class of men. We print it, and state the position of the SIGNS relative to these great questions:— EDITOR SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.— Dear Sir: On reading this day the SIGNS OF THE TIMES of the 24th of July ult., which contains very interesting subjects in connection with Biblical lore, etc., and to which I was a subscriber for several years, and have been occasionally buying it at five cents a copy since, the spirit moves me to remark that if the Bible is opposed to the accumulation of wealth, as it evidently is, and men in deference to that opposition refrain from accumulating wealth, where is it to come from to succor the poor and needy, as the Bible commands the wealthy to do even to this day, thus virtually constituting them benevolent institutions in person, and yet opposing the acquisition of the means to support them? And then where is the incentive for men of these days to accumulate wealth, if in order to be righteous they must give it away as the Bible commands them to do, when they can be just as righteous in poverty without the trouble, fuss, and feathers attendant upon the acquisition of wealth? To my mind these are two important questions, and like all questions each has two sides, the Biblical or preceptive side and the practical side. Now, here is a contention between Precept and Practice; and as prudence is the better part of valor in this matter, I prefer to be prudent therein, and let it alone. And as to the much-discussed subject of capital and labor, if four men, for instance, build a house for a man, and he pays for all the materials used in its construction, and pays the men the wages they demand, what further claim, I ask, have they against him?—None whatever; and yet to read all the rot and nonsense published in some of the papers about the rights of labor as against capital, one would think that nothing short of an equal distribution of the house among the four men and the owner would be the proper thing to do; and so on all along that fatuous line of thought to the infamous doctrine of rank communism, existing only in minds too base and despicable to be noticed. And as to the so-called sweat-shops, factories, etc., where poor girls are made to work long hours and are paid wages which are barely sufficient to keep body and soul together, such establishments, I say, should be prohibited by law as outrageous oppressions, and the conscienceless oppressors severely punished. No men or set of men have any right to avail themselves of poverty and destitution to make worse than slaves of any portion of the population of this free country to satisfy a villainous greed for money. The vengeance of Heaven will befall them, and woe be unto them in the day of judgment. Respectfully, JOSEPH H. SCULL. San Jose, Cal., Nov. 8, 1901. P. O. Box 603. If by the accumulating of wealth our querist means its getting, the Bible does not condemn it. It is the motive in getting, it is the manner in getting it, it is the use that is made of the wealth, that brings condemnation. The getting of riches for the sake of selfish purposes is always wrong. God condemns it because of its selfishness. But the power, the ability to get wealth, is God-given, a trust from heaven for which those who have it will be held responsible. “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Deut. 8:18. “Both riches and honor come of Thee.” 1 Chron. 29:12. If man gathers wealth for himself, if he gathers it by the oppression of the poor, if he accumulates riches by fraud, injustice, or dishonesty, it will prove a curse to him forever, a weight that will sink him to perdition. Read in Luke 12:15-21 the record of the man who laid up “treasure for himself,” and was “not rich toward God.” Self must die sometime. It has in it all the seeds of destruction. If we are willing it should die, if we volunteer it shall die, that the generosity, beneficence, and unselfishness of Christ may live in us, we may live forever. But if we choose selfishness, foster selfishness, minister to selfishness, we shall perish with it. If the man to whom God has given the ability to get wealth uses his talent with all his powers to glorify God by the right getting and right use of wealth, he will be blessed and will prove a blessing. But if he gets wealth for self by evil, dishonest methods, he will die. The Biblical side is, therefore, not only preceptive, but intensely practical. In fact, it is the only truly practical solution of the wealth question in the world. Here is the Lord’s message to those to whom He has given the ability to get wealth: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Tim. 6:17-19. But only the rich man himself can obey this. It must be done voluntarily. Men can not obey it for him through law. Neither can the man to whom God has given the power to get wealth shirk his responsibility by saying, “I will make no effort to get wealth; I will live righteously poor.” He can not do it. He can not be honest with God and shirk his duty as a steward of God-lent powers. The capital-and-labor question will never be settled politically. It will never be settled satisfactorily, even to those who share the spoil, except, perhaps, temporarily, by a division of the rich man’s property. Civil power may restrain the heavy hand of oppression, in a measure; but corrupt men of wealth will find some way to evade the law or purchase exemption from its claims. Conversion in Christ Jesus would settle the question between capital and labor. The Golden Rule reduced to practice would settle it. But antagonistic trusts of capital on the one hand, and antagonistic trusts of labor on the other, will never settle the question. It may be patched up for a while, but sooner or later the smoldering fires of discontent, and envy, and hatred of the prosperous, will be manifest. So God forewarns us. Oppression, and heartless indifference, and extravagance on the part of the rich will but feed the fires of revolution. A spirit of wild coercive communism on the part of the poor will increase class hatred, settle nothing, and end in revolution. God warns us that these things will come, and lays before both rich and poor the remedies for the healing of the breach. The rich, He tells, as before shown, to distribute their means; the poor to wait patiently upon Him and leave with the Righteous One their cause. See James 5:7-8. He who does not heed the words of life, let him be rich or poor, will perish. He who heeds will reap “the long gain,” the eternal reward. There is a Biblical communism, but it can never be enforced. It is wholly voluntary, the fruit of the Spirit of God, abiding only so long as His Spirit abides in the hearts of those who are bound together in the bundle of His life. With the politics of the question we have naught to do. It is the duty of the SIGNS to give God’s warnings to individuals and to society, and also to preach the better, the only, solution of the question through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It Is not a Bad Way to Do.
“A. R. Peacock, one of the Pittsburg group of steel-made multi-millionaires, has discovered a new way of avoiding the disgrace of dying rich,” says the New York World. “He is looking up the friends of his youth whose ships failed to come in as well-laden with gold as his own, and presenting them with consolation prizes in the form of homesteads of their own selection.” Instead of giving to great public institutions, he is going to lift the burdens, and make glad the hearts, of his friends who are poor and needy. And it is not a bad thing to do, is it? It may be better for him than for them. THE SPIRIT IS THE SAME.
By S.
MR. ALEXANDER THOMSON says: “During the ‘killing time’ in Scotland, the Episcopalian or king’s party were striving to root out all those who persisted in worshiping God as their consciences taught them, and the poor Presbyterians were hunted on the hillsides and slaughtered in cold blood, or cast into prison for Jesus’ sake. There was a man of great influence whose adhesion the king’s party were very anxious to secure. One of the leading persecutors waited on him, and plainly told him that if he came over to their side, there were both honor and wealth awaiting him; but if he remained stubborn, they would take no half measures with him, but he would at once be arrested for aiding and harboring the king’s enemies. Well the man knew what that meant. It meant being set before a bench of corrupt judges, who had settled upon their verdict, and divided the spoil of the victim, before a word of evidence was heard; but in the face of it all, the man chose rather to be persecuted with the children of God than to enjoy the riches of this world for a time. So he stuck to his post, and, after many hardships and sufferings, sealed his testimony with his blood. In this end of the nineteenth century we are not threatened with the boot and the thumbscrew if we will not deny our Lord. The devil has taken more cunning, more insidious, weapons of warfare. Many a young man is practically offered increase of salary and promotion in business if he will wink at practices which he knows are wrong. O, be steadfast. Trust in God and do right, and in the end you will be victorious.” — Watchword and Truth. But it is true, nevertheless, that the spirit of persecution for Christ’s sake is a perpetual inheritance among the children of this world. The human heart is as ready now to condemn the man or woman—or even the child—whose act is not in accordance with its belief, as it ever was. Witness the recent agitation in Australia and in England to revive the use of the stocks and pillory for those who keep the Sabbath of Jehovah and work the rest of the week. Witness the present agitation in Canada for the persecution of the same class, carried to such an extent that even children, ranging in age from four to ten years, who were playing in their garden at home, were convicted of “Sabbath desecration,” and ordered to jail or to pay a fine of $15. The fine was paid. The children had been seen by a neighbor carrying some potatoes. At the same time that the criminal prosecution of these babes was being carried on, two farmers were tried and convicted for the crime of doing ordinary work on their home places on Sunday, the one drawing in wheat, the other working in his stable. This occurred in Manitoba; but the same spirit of persecution is abroad in every land. This is not all that has occurred in Manitoba; it is not all that will occur there, for the dragon is wroth. But Canada has no monopoly on this sorry business. The record in these United States is nothing that any lover of Christian liberty can point to without a blush of shame. The spirit which actuates such deeds is precisely the same spirit that drenched Scotland’s hills and dales with the blood of Christ’s followers during the “killing time.” It is true that the devil has “more insidious weapons of warfare” now than then for accomplishing his work; but he has the same old purpose in view toward the followers of Christ, and that is persecution to the end. That many professed Christians lend willing aid in the carrying out of that wicked purpose, does not make the business Christ-like, or bring anything but sorrow and shame to Him in whose name they claim to do it. S. The czar's edict abolishing exile to Siberia marks the advancement of a vast area of the world's available land surface to the position of a great factor in the industrial battle of the nations. The building of the Trans-Siberian railway and large voluntary migration of settlers from European Russia made Siberia as a land of exile an impossibility. Prisoners, political or other, hereafter will be punished by imprisonment instead of by exile, and there will disappear a sentence which carried civil as well as social death to men who still lived physically. At the end of his term of imprisonment the criminal will resume his place among human beings. On the delivery of a sentence of exile the condemned practically ceased to exist. The London Spectator says: “The property of the criminal went to his heirs; the wife or husband of the criminal was free to marry again; whatever provision he had made for the guardianship of his children came at once into effect. The sense of impassable distance lay at the root of all these provisions. Family relations imply the possibility of physical contact, and Siberia was so far off, and the means of intercourse with its inhabitants so wholly wanting, that it seemed natural to assume that the criminal had actually passed out of the world.” The system of exile has been in operation over 200 years. Avvakum, a non-conformist priest, was the first man to be banished in chains across the Urals. Nearly 2,000 persons were transported to Siberia each year during the early years of this century. In the years 1873 to 1877 the average was 18,250 a year. In 1884 there were exiled 21,104 men, followed by 1,752 women and 3,631 children, who chose to share the banishment of husbands and fathers. The total number between 1823 and 1877 was about 600,000, many of whom were buried at hard labor in the salt and coal mines. The most of the prisoners were criminals, who can measure the sea of tears shed on Siberian soil by exiles whose offense was to aim at political freedom for their country! Much of Siberia resembles in soil and climate portions of the northern United States and southern Canada. The region is capable of supporting an immense agricultural, cattle-raising, and mining population which will maintain extensive manufacturing establishments to supply its local needs. Not many years will pass until European Russia and Siberia will contain over 200,000,000 souls.—Selected. GOVERNMENT BY INJUNCTION AND ABOLITION OF JURY TRIAL.
THE following, from Judge Murray F. Tuley, of Chicago, dean of the Circuit Court Branch, spoken Nov. 30, 1901, to the Iroquois Club, in the above-named city, shows how a learned and grave judge regards the judicial drift in this country:— “Have not the United States judges from the very beginning been what Jefferson declared them to be—‘sappers and miners,’ undermining the Constitution of the United States?” “It never has been considered any part of the duty of the judiciary power to suppress riots, prevent disorder, or preserve the peace. The duty of the legislative power is to make the law, of the judiciary to interpret and expound it, and of the executive to enforce it.” “The judge, without hearing the defendant, commands—that is, decrees—what he shall or shall not do in advance, and without a hearing enforces the performance of the commands of the writ. Then he brings the defendant before him, tries him without a jury, adjudges him guilty of a violation of the commands of the writ formulated by the judge himself in the absence of the defendant, and sentences him to punishment not defined by law, but resting in the breast of such judge.” “Not only does the amount of punishment rest in the breast of the judge, but even the place where the imprisonment shall be inflicted rests in the breast of the judge.” “Is not such a proceeding by the judge government by injunction and a substitute for trial by jury?” Is the Turk alone in Desiring to Amend the Bible?
The sensitiveness of Mohammedanism to the ethics of its profession was illustrated in a peculiar way recently in the city of Constantinople. A book was published by one of the missions there; and, like all other books, was required to pass through the hands of the government censor before it could be offered to the public. In a paragraph on the sincerity of Christian esteem the author quoted this text: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” The censor erased this verse, claiming that it was an insult to Mohammedanism. He said that even in a work on Christian ethics this text might call to mind the massacres where Turks were accused of killing their Armenian brethren. The verse would teach that the Turks were liars, because they, too, claim to love God. The Turk was willing to compromise the matter if the author would make the text read: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his sister, he is a liar.” This he thought would remove the difficulty, as women were not generally slain in the massacres. But the text is true. We can not love God, and at the same time hate and destroy those whom God loves. CARDINAL GIBBONS AS POPE.
The Baltimore Sunday Herald of Dec. 15, 1901, has the following startling suggestions. This may be one of the ways in which the two-horned beast will enforce the worship of the beast. By this we do not refer to persons, but the great system of Church and State union for which the pope stands. Here is what the Herald says:— It is generally believed in France that the pope is dying, and the question of his succession is being actively discussed on all sides. There are many who believe that Cardinal James Gibbons stands a strong chance of becoming his successor—a change which would be viewed with disfavor by all French adherents to the Roman Church. The Chicago Tribune, in a recent issue, has the following to say concerning the matter:— “What is dreaded is that the American nation would sustain a pope from America with the vigor shown in every line of action, and, in consequence, would practically control Europe. “It is conceded that Italianism constitutes a danger to the church, and it has been fervently hoped in France that the next pope would not be an Italian; but now, when there is a feeling that an Italian may not be named, a still greater fear is manifested lest the successor of Leo XIII. be an American. “It is not necessary,” says the writer of the article in question, “to be an astute politician to understand that if the next pope be chosen outside of the circle of Italian cardinals, his actions would be infinitely freer, and he would also be sustained by influences far more powerful than those of to-day, which, in fact, do not exist as far as Leo XIII. is concerned. This explains why Mgr. Gibbons, of Baltimore, primate of the United States, is cited as one of the cardinals having a chance to succeed Leo XIII. “The sole fact that this prelate of the New World is considered as a ‘palpable’ indication that the church is turning toward a new orientation and new destinies. “Supposing that Cardinal Gibbons is elected,” continues the writer, “it is evident that neither the European Freemasonry nor the powerful Jews would dare treat the citizen of free America as they treat Leo XIII., who is isolated and without powerful support. “Think what the authority of this new chief of the church would be with all the profound masses of Catholic American democracy behind him! a pope who would be sustained by the moneyed aristocracy of America, where it is easy to find fortunes rivaling those of the Rothschilds. “The press informs us of the anger President Roosevelt’s action in receiving a negro at his table aroused. If Gibbons were elected pope, this same anger would change into tempests of joyous delight, into explosions of national pride, the day Cardinal Gibbons sits upon the throne of St. Peter. “This day—is it near? The President of the United States—will he be the pope of to-morrow, as people well informed on the situation are convinced?” “We can only note these affirmations; but one thing is certain, and that is that, with an American pope, a new era for the papacy and the church would begin. With an American pope even the most antagonistic would have to put a little water in the violence of their anti-clericalism; for to touch the pope would then be to have to deal with America, which would lose no time in intervening in European affairs. In reality, in fighting against the pope, the Italians have done nothing but betray the Latin race to the profit of the Anglo-Saxon race.” Leprosy Traced to Cigarette Smoking
From the newspapers of San Francisco we learn that 195 cases of leprosy have been traced by physicians to the smoking of cigarettes that were made by Chinese lepers, and an organ of the tobacco trade admits that “few things could be more hurtful to boys, growing youths, and persons of unformed constitutions, than the use of tobacco in any form.” The Union Pacific Railroad Company recently issued the following order:— It is reported that certain employees are indulging habitually in the use of intoxicating liquors, and that some are frequenters of saloons and places where such liquors are sold. It is a well-known fact that the habitual use of intoxicating liquors impairs the efficiency of a person addicted to such use. The duties of the employees of a railroad company, particularly those engaged in the transportation and mechanical departments, are most exacting, and necessarily demand clear judgment and a sound body. It is therefore deemed advisable to notify all employees that the habitual use of intoxicating liquors, or the frequenting of saloons or places where such liquors are sold, will be considered sufficient cause for dismissal from service. In these “perilous times” when railroad, steam-boat, mining, and kindred disasters are multiplying on every hand, it is wise to take cognizance of the fact that the use of intoxicants is, in no small degree, the cause of the carelessness and dullness that result in accidents. All classes of wage-earners would do well to remember that their places are more secure, and their services better appreciated, if they practise total abstinence. Even a saloon-keeper prefers a bartender who does not use strong drink. The Papacy’s Healing Wound
THERE are many evidences that the “deadly wound” received by the papacy in 1798, when the pope was taken prisoner and died in exile, is fast healing. Some optimistic Protestants think that the power of Catholicism is still on the down grade, but they are deceived. Here is just one little straw, taken from a Catholic journal: “Two thousand schismatics who went out of the Catholic fold several years ago, during the trouble at Goa, Ceylon, a fortnight ago returned to the faith in a body. It is believed a number more will follow.” We might add to this another significant straw: “On the occasion of their visit to Niagara Falls, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York were entertained to lunch by the nuns of the Loretto Convent, Niagara.” This notwithstanding that terrible anti-Catholic oath of office the crown prince’s father so recently subscribed to when he ascended the throne of Great Britain. MORTUARY statistics in the United States place pneumonia next to consumption in the number of victims which it claims. In the year 1890 pneumonia claimed 76,496 victims, while the number who went down with consumption was 102,199; but the deaths from diphtheria, scarlet fever, small-pox, and cancer added together did not equal the number who died of pneumonia. The entering wedge of pneumonia is the common, all-prevalent, lightly-regarded “cold.” A little exposure, especially when the system is “run down,” results in a cold; and it is the neglected colds that put the extra notches on the gun-barrel of pneumonia. The moral is: Don’t neglect a cold. It is wise to be vigilant toward the progress of an enemy which claims more than 75,000 victims each year from among the population of one country. Russia and China Negotiate Over Manchuria
NEGOTIATIONS have again been opened between Russia and China in regard to the Russian occupation of the Chinese province of Manchuria. The Chinese plenipotentiaries are demanding that Russia shall agree to withdraw all her troops except a railway guard at an early date. They are opposing that paragraph of the proposed treaty which makes it necessary for China to obtain Russia’s consent before increasing the number of her own troops in Manchuria. They also demand that Russia return to China the New-chwang Hai-kwan Railway, and oppose giving Russia a monopoly of mining concessions in that province. The viceroy of Hankow is urging the Chinese representatives to stand firm in opposition to the encroachments of Russia. Committee to Heal Breach Between Capital and Labor
The committee chosen for the purpose of finding a way of healing the breach between capital and labor met at New York on December 18, organized, and elected officers. M. A. Hanna was chosen chairman and Samuel Gompers first vice-chairman. The expressed purpose of this organization is to establish rightful relations between the laborers and their employers, to encourage agreements under which labor shall be performed, and to encourage the arbitration of disputes. American Citizens Threatened with Expulsion
The authorities at Beyrut, Syria, have notified naturalized American citizens that they must renounce their American naturalization within fifteen days, or be expelled from Turkey. The secretary of the American legation at Constantinople is protesting against this measure. Educational Benefactions Reach $40 Million
The amount of benefactions to educational institutions in the United States has reached enormous proportions during the year. On one day they amounted to $40,000,000. The total has not yet been reported. The Schley Inquiry and Admiral Dewey’s Dissent
ADMIRAL DEWEY has handed to the Secretary of the Navy the report of the board of inquiry sitting on the case of Rear-Admiral Schley, and the report has been approved by the secretary. Admiral Dewey submitted a minority report, in which he disagreed with the majority report in substantially every count brought against Schley. His report was not approved by the secretary. The entire board found Rear-Admiral Schley innocent of the charge of cowardice, but the majority held him guilty of dilatoriness and indecision. With this Admiral Dewey disagreed. He also gives to Rear-Admiral Schley the credit for the victory of Santiago. In approving the report of the majority, the secretary declares the case closed. President Roosevelt has asked for the removal, or resignation, of historian Maclay, who brought the charge of cowardice against Schley. But the matter is not settled, and there is strong probability that it will be taken up by Congress. Maclay refuses to resign, and declares the President has no power to remove him under civil-service rules. It is not probable that the question will ever be settled to the satisfaction of the friends of the two parties. Church and State in the Philippines
Archbishop Chapelle, who has but recently returned from the Philippines, has this to say of the prospects in the islands: “I am convinced that, under the guidance of President Roosevelt, who is a man believing that the Decalogue holds good in politics as well as in private life, we shall find a solution to these problems. The church will be reorganized according to the necessities of the new conditions, the people will become prosperous, and we will bring peace, order, and liberty to that immense archipelago, the key to the Orient.” This is a piece of the same sophistry which that organization has always employed to induce the State to do its bidding. To what extent it will succeed in this, the future will reveal—but the Word of God has already revealed it, and they who wish to know can know before the thing is accomplished. Wickedness in the Great Cities
THE Westminster Council (London) has protested to the Home Secretary against the nightly scenes of flagrant vice witnessed in many of the streets of London, and has requested him to take measures to remedy the evil. The secretary holds out no hope of being able to bring about a better condition of things. The press and religious organizations have begun a campaign against these scenes of immorality, and it is maintained that the scenes witnessed in well known streets are worse now than at any time in the history of the metropolis. And the record of London is the record of every other great city. The world is filled with wickedness of every kind, and the ways of Sodom and Gomorrah are now rife in the earth. The punishment which fell upon those wicked cities is hanging over the whole world to-day. Catholic Societies Unite to Pressure Government
The federating of the Catholic societies of America is going forward rapidly and systematically. Five hundred delegates, representing a membership of 600,000 in the various societies, met at Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 10, to carry out the purposes of federation, and organize the societies into one solid body so far as the object which they have in view is concerned. That object is to force a recognition of Catholic demands by bringing political pressure to bear upon the government. Philippine Tariff Bill Passed House
THE Philippine tariff bill passed the House on December 18 with a majority of 35. This bill imposes the Dingley tariff rates on goods coming into the United States from the Philippines, and the rates established by the Philippine commission on goods going into the Philippines from the United States. It also provides that foreign vessels may ply between the United States and the Philippine Islands as they would between the United States and any foreign country. Commissioner Rockhill’s Report on China
SPECIAL Commissioner Rockhill, who conducted negotiations with the representatives of the powers in China during the recent disturbances, has made his report to the Secretary of State. The report shows that the commissioner's work was largely in China's behalf, and resulted in a material reduction in the demands which the powers finally presented to the Chinese Government both as to punishment of Boxer leaders and indemnity to be paid the powers.