—By the overflowing of the river Lithos more than 100 persons were drowned in the town of Trikala, Thessaly, June 18.
—Although order has been restored in Lisbon, Portugal, the troops are still kept under arms for fear of a renewal of the rioting.
—An area of ten acres, in which were situated over 200 dwellings and some business blocks, was burned over, June 29, at Bisbee, Ariz.
—The Moroccan bandit, Raisuli, has effected the capture of General Maclean, the commander of the sultan’s bodyguard, who will be held as a hostage until the sultan agrees to pardon Raisuli on his own terms.
—The commercial telegraphers of Chicago are threatening a strike if their demands are not granted, and Labor Commissioner Neill has gone to Chicago to prevent it if possible, and will then go on to San Francisco, where the telegraphers’ strike is still on.
—The Montenegrin authorities are reported to have discovered a military plot against the government, and fifteen officers of the army were arrested July 2 on charges of high treason.
—Two of the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad’s ferry-boats collided between Jersey City and New York, July 2. Two men were knocked overboard, but both were rescued.
—Fourteen killed and several wounded is the result of a rebel attack upon the town of Quevedo, Ecuador, which was repulsed by government forces. Citizens who are suspected of sympathizing with the revolutionary movement are being imprisoned by the government.
—A new combination, of Honduras, Guatemala, and Salvador, has appeared in Central America, where President Zelaya has been maneuvering for several months, by means of revolutionary plots, to consolidate the five republics under one government. Its aim is the defeat of the consolidation proposed by Zelaya.
—The principal leaders of the revolt among the wine growers of France have been arrested, and the military are in full control. By a vote of 120 majority, Premier Clemenceau was supported by the Chamber of Deputies. In some municipalities the people refused to vote for officers to take the places of those recently resigned.
—Tornadoes are reported from Rochester and Merkel, Tex., July 2. In each place several persons were injured, and numerous houses demolished. But more serious in its consequences was the storm which swept a path over 100 miles long and from a few rods to more than a mile wide in western Wisconsin, July 3. Twenty-one persons were killed and many injured.
—Space forbids recounting at any length the deaths and injuries resulting from the fourth-of-July celebration. Suffice it to say that in New York City alone the papers the next morning reported “seven dead, six dying, and 423 persons treated at hospitals for injuries more or less serious.” There were also 116 fires. When will people take a saner method of celebrating independence day?
—The street cleaners of New York City have been on a strike, and there have been many clashes between them and strike breakers. The entire police force was ordered on reserve to protect those who were willing to work. Before the matter was adjusted, the accumulating refuse became a serious menace to the health of the tenement dwellers of the east side. At the same time the drivers of the ice wagons of the American Ice Company were on a strike.
—Sentence has been pronounced against several prominent men of Western States, convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government of public lands. Fines of $1,000 each, and three months in jail, are imposed on three men in Iowa. In Idaho four men were sentenced to fines of $1,000, or jail sentence of eight months, or both, and in one case a man was given a penitentiary sentence of eighteen months in addition. A government inquiry as to land frauds has resulted in indictments (by a Denver federal grand jury) of fifty-five men, for defrauding the government of coal and timber lands.
Sunday Observance in Alberta
By Henry Block
SUNDAY observance is now being agitated all over the so-called Christian world, and it has attained quite considerable proportions here in Alberta. Some time ago one of our brethren, a farmer, was accused before a justice of the peace of violating the Sunday laws by making hay on his farm. The magistrate said to the one who brought the charge against our brother, “I think we had better let these Seventh-day Adventist people alone, as they are a good class of people.” But the accuser was not satisfied with this, as he wished to have the farmer arrested. As he insisted on pressing the charge, the magistrate, who is also a business man, got out his books and showed the Sunday advocate how the people in the community stood on them. He pointed out the names of those who paid their bills and those who did not, and it happened that there were accounts on the books against quite a number of people who belonged to the same church the Sunday man did, some of the accounts being of long standing, while the Seventh-day Adventist people had clear records on the books, nothing standing against them. Finding that he could not influence the magistrate, the man went to his minister and induced him to write to the officer, urging him to do his duty in enforcing the Sunday laws, and in arresting the Sunday law violators, but no attention was paid to the letter.
In my home town, Leduc, the Methodist minister thought it to be his duty to watch our people very closely on Sunday. One brother, a blacksmith, was the object of his special attention. One Sunday, as he came into the blacksmith shop to see if the man was at work, the blacksmith asked him, “Are you our town policeman, Mr. —?” “Why?” “Why, if you are a policeman, you had better lay off your preaching coat and put on a red jacket, so that we shall know you when you come, because the police all have that uniform. But if you are a preacher, go and attend to your proper calling.”
This man tried after this to drive our people out of town, but while making a most vigorous campaign, he took sick and died. Since that time our people have increased in numbers to such an extent in and around Leduc that we now rent the city hall for our meetings. We are endeavoring to uphold the banner of Christ in this place, and with God’s help will continue steadfastly to obey God’s holy law.—Henry Block, in Northern Union Reaper.
The Use of Stimulants a Cause of Physical Degeneracy
By Daniel H. Kress
FEebleness and disease exist, and are gradually increasing, in all civilized lands, and from present indications there is little hope for improvement in this respect.
In the past we have been encouraged to regard disease as a natural and unavoidable providence. When the British government made an effort a few years ago to exterminate the plague in India, they met with very little encouragement from the natives. “Why,” said one, “the plague is our kismat. God is punishing us, and can man oppose his divine resolve? It is wickedness to try.” Much of the same feeling, though unexpressed, prevails everywhere, and as long as these ideas are entertained by the masses, apathy will exist, and disease will prevail. Many of the epidemic diseases which in the past have at times almost depopulated entire cities, have been partially suppressed by strict quarantine measures.
A few years ago Australia succeeded in keeping the plague from her shores by the enforcement of such measures. Quarantine protects the physically infirm who would naturally be weeded out by epidemic diseases, but quarantine measures can not afford permanent protection from germ diseases. While it is right to protect the physically degenerate, this protection will not build up the vitality of the weak nor arrest the progress of disease. This is seen from the fact that while germ diseases have decreased, deaths due to constitutional diseases and premature decay are on the increase. A nation's vitality can not be determined by her ability to keep alive for a few extra years feeble infants or degenerate adults. It must be determined by her power to fill the vacancies made by death, and to fill these with healthy and hearty stock. Here civilized nations are failing. It is a sad fact that in all civilized lands there is a steady decrease in the birth-rate, and those that are born lack vitality and die prematurely. The modern mother does not possess the vigor to nourish naturally her weakly offspring, and is consequently forced to resort to artificial feeding, and the infant has little chance of living more than a year or two at best. Quarantine measures may for a time increase the average age of life, but they can not add to racial vigor, or in reality prolong life.
Vigor and long life depend upon the correction of the physical habits which are responsible for disease and physical degeneracy. I shall be able to refer to only a few of the most common causes of the present enfeebled condition of the human race. It is estimated that in Great Britain the working classes on an average spend fully one seventh of their income on drink. It is not at all surprising therefore that one third of the men who reach the age of sixty are in need of public aid. While less distilled liquor is drunk in America, more wine and beer are consumed. The masses are unaware of the injury to health and morals caused by these beverages. The artificial stimulation, or the feverish state of the system produced by the use of stimulants, is interpreted by them as strength. The patent medicine and tobacco habits are two national evils, and stand pre-eminent as causative factors of physical degeneracy. Laws have been passed in most of our civilized lands forbidding the use of tobacco by youths. This is well; but if tobacco proves to be an injury or a curse to the boy of sixteen or twenty, how can it be an unmingled blessing to the man of twenty-five or thirty? The man of forty is in possession of the same delicate nervous mechanism that is possessed by the young man of eighteen. There can be no doubt that alcohol and tobacco are undermining national vigor, and are active causes in producing disease and physical decay.
The use of stimulants is becoming so universal, especially in civilized countries, that for the welfare of the race it seems imperative that the true nature of these drugs should be understood. The word “stimulant” is derived from a Latin word meaning to goad or to urge on. A stimulant acts as a goad or whip. It urges one on, enabling him to do that which he feels disinclined to do.
By some, alcoholic beverages are employed for this purpose, while others, who are acquainted with the injurious nature of alcohol, resort to stimulating beverages against which there exists no popular prejudice as yet,—beverages which are considered harmless,—as tea, coffee, and cocoa. But these are employed for the same purpose that leads to the use of alcoholic beverages, because of their stimulating influence upon the nervous system.
When a person feels a lack of energy or feels ambitious, a drink of wine or beer, or a cup of tea or coffee, appears to impart new life. This has naturally led to the belief that beverages that are capable of exerting such decided effects must in some way impart energy. In France, mothers who are under this deception, may be seen pressing the wine bottle to the lips of their tender, sickly infants. Beer is similarly employed in other countries, yet the food value of these beverages is practically nothing. Baron Liebig, a world-recognized authority in physiological chemistry, says: “The amount of nutriment contained in a gallon of the best beer could be represented by the amount of flour that could be held on the point of a knife.”
The beer drinker, judging from the feeling of well-being he experiences after indulging in his habitual glass, is led to think that beer must be especially nourishing and sustaining. It is, in fact, difficult to convince him to the contrary, for does not he feel stronger after taking his usual glass of beer than he does after partaking of a hearty meal?
Tea and coffee exert, apparently, the same sustaining and strengthening influence. To this any user of these beverages can testify. Yet they possess practically no nutrition. For instance, it would require all the strength-giving material contained in five hundred cups of the most nutritious tea to sustain man for a period of twenty-four hours. Tea, then, can not be reckoned as a food, and its popular use as a beverage is not due to its nutritive properties any more than is the use of beer. The wise man said, “Wine is a mocker,” not because it is wine, but because it is a poison and exerts a stimulating or deceptive influence. What is true of wine is equally true of tea and coffee; it is true of all stimulants. “He that is deceived thereby is not wise.”
The fact that stimulants are universally sought after is evidence that the vitality of the race is at a low ebb, and that men and women everywhere feel a lack of energy and a need of something to urge them on. Is it well, however, for one who lacks energy to resort to stimulants? The tired, worn-out horse, possessing little energy, attempting to draw a heavy load, may be “assisted” with a whip, and may appear greatly improved and strengthened thereby. The whip does not impart new energy; it dissipates, or draws upon, the little that nature would have wisely reserved for other and more important purposes.
The stronger the stimulant used, the more will the reserve energy be dissipated, and the more pronounced will be the resulting depression and exhaustion and the craving for more stimulants later on. During the sleeping hours the effect of the stimulants used on the preceding day wears off. This explains why users of stimulants awake in the morning feeling tired, unrefreshed, and exhausted. Many are unable to get out of bed without resorting to a cup of tea, or else they must have it immediately after rising. They feel that they could much better dispense with breakfast than with the accustomed morning cup of tea. This is due to the fact that it requires several hours for food to digest, and for the energy stored up in it to be liberated, while the stimulant affords an immediate supply of energy by drawing upon the partially depleted nerve-cells. The slave of stimulants is carrying on business on borrowed capital, and must eventually become a mental and nervous wreck, or come to physical bankruptcy; it can not be otherwise. This, no doubt, accounts in part for the many nervous diseases and the increase of insanity in modern times.
D. H. KRESS, M. D.
(To be continued)
Findings
Mrs. D. T. Harbaugh, a medical student in the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia, is assisting in the work in the Washington Sanitarium this summer.
Word received from Dr. W. C. Dunscombe and wife, who have recently gone to Japan to connect with the Kobe Sanitarium, states that they had a very pleasant and profitable voyage, having met several missionaries and others with whom they had many pleasant conversations on points of present truth.
Very gratifying news comes to hand from Dr. H. J. Williams, to the effect that he has been admitted to the final examinations in the University of Edinburgh. He is preparing for medical missionary work in some British territory, and we should pray that he may have success in qualifying for this great field.
Medical Missionary Department
Conducted by the Medical Department of the General Conference
W. A. GEORGE, M. D., - - - Chairman
W. A. RUBLE, M. D., - - - Secretary
Business Notices
BRIEF business notices will be published in this department subject to the discretion of the publishers.
Display advertising will not be accepted, nor do the publishers solicit advertising of any kind for this paper.
A charge of one dollar will be made for each insertion of forty words or less. Each additional word, initial, or group of figures, in excess of forty, will cost three cents.
No discount for several insertions.
We open no accounts for advertising, and cash must accompany each order.
All persons unknown to the managers of this paper must send with their advertisement satisfactory written recommendation. It is not enough to refer to some individual by name. Secure his recommendation in writing and send it.
WANTED.— Seventh-day Adventist pressman. Give references and state experience. Address Roscoe Printing House, Essex Junction, Vt.
FOR SALE.— I have a few copies of my tract, "Earthquake Experiences and Lessons," which can be had, while they last, at the rate of 25 copies, post-paid, for 20 cents. Get some and hand them out. Address Geo. O. States, Cedaredge, Colo.23
WANTED.— Male nurse at the Riverside Sanitarium, Montrose, Colo. For further information, address E. R. Hartman, Riverside Sanitarium, Montrose, Colo.
SPECIAL COOKER SALE.— As hot weather is coming, you will want a cooker. We have what you want. Under our special sale we will allow one dollar off list. Send stamp for leaflet. Address Rapid Steam Cooker Co., Laura, Ohio.
FOR SALE.— Fine corner lot, ⅝ acre; eight blocks from business section of Charlotte, Mich.; 8-room house, barn, well, cistern, and plenty of fruit. Near church and good church-school. Bargain if taken at once. Address A. M. Van Horn, Mitchell, S. D.
FOR SALE.— New, 10-room house, in Takoma Park, Washington, D. C., one block from Review and Herald Office, two blocks from electric car line and railroad depot. All modern conveniences. Address J. E. Sanborn, Review and Herald, Takoma Park, D. C.
WANTED AT ONCE.— A lady church-school teacher speaking German, but teaching in English, for home school of two little girls. Steady employment; good home; pay every month. Also good girl for general housework. Address Jethro Kloss, St. Peter, Minn.
RADIODESCENT THERAPEUTIC LAMPS.— Sunlight and heat. Nature's new way of curing disease without drugs. I want to help every Seventh-day Adventist to have one. We can sell you the best vibrator at lowest price. Address The Radiodescent Lamp Company, Kalamazoo, Mich.
WANTED.— A graduate gentleman nurse of experience; one who understands hydrotherapy, massage, surgical and general nursing. State qualifications, salary wanted, and give recommendations. A splendid opening for the right person. Address Lock Box 148, Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
WORK is about to begin on the new suburban home for girls in Hinsdale. Are there not a few competent carpenters who will donate all but their board and room for a few weeks, and thus rightfully earn a share in the blessed work that will be carried on in this home? Address at once Dr. David Paulson, Hinsdale, Ill.
NOTICES AND APPOINTMENTS
Camp-Meetings for 1907
ATLANTIC UNION CONFERENCE
Chesapeake, Baltimore, Md. ........ July 5-14
Maine ................ Aug. 23 to Sept. 2
New York, Herkimer ........ Sept. 5-16
Vermont, Waterbury ..... Aug. 29 to Sept. 9
Virginia, Hampton ............ Aug. 13-20
Western New York, Rochester ................. Aug. 29 to Sept. 9
West Virginia, Pennsboro ........ Sept. 5-15
CANADIAN UNION CONFERENCE
Maritime, St. John, New Brunswick ................. Aug. 22 to Sept. 2
Ontario, Niagara Falls ........ Aug. 15-25
SOUTHERN UNION CONFERENCE
Alabama, Birmingham ............ Oct. 3-13
Cumberland, Louisville, Ky. ..... July 18-28
Cumberland, Cleveland, Tenn. ........ Aug. 22 to Sept. 1
Florida, Tampa ................ Oct. 10-20
Georgia, Atlanta ........ July 25 to Aug. 4
Louisiana ................ July 19-28
Mississippi, Aberdeen .... Sept. 27 to Oct. 3
North Carolina, Lexington ...... Aug. 15-25
South Carolina, Spartanburg ...... Aug. 8-18
Tennessee River Conference, Waverly, Tenn. ......................... Aug. 2-10
LAKE UNION CONFERENCE
East Michigan, Pontiac ... Aug. 29 to Sept. 8
Northern Illinois, Aurora, Aug. 29 to Sept. 8
Northern Indiana, Lafayette ........ July 25 to Aug. 4
West Michigan ........ Aug. 22 to Sept. 1
North Mich., East Jordan, Aug. 29 to Sept. 9
Ohio, Marion ................. Aug. 9-19
Southern Illinois ................ Aug. 1-11
Wisconsin, Grand Rapids (State) ................. Aug. 21 to Sept. 2
Oklahoma, El Reno (State) ................. Aug. 22 to Sept. 2
Oklahoma, Woodward (local) ..... July 23-28
Texas, Fort Worth (State) ....... Aug. 1-11
Texas, Alazan (local) ........ July 9-15
PACIFIC UNION CONFERENCE
Southern California, Los Angeles ................. Aug. 15 to Sept. 2
Utah, Salt Lake City ........................ Oct.
NORTH PACIFIC UNION CONFERENCE
Upper Columbia, Weiser, Idaho (local) ....................... July 11-21
MEETINGS IN EUROPE
German-Union, Friedensau ....... July 18-28
British Union, Coventry, England, Aug. 2-11
Holland ........................ Aug. 15-18
The presidents of the various conferences are requested to forward any information which will enable us to publish a complete and correct list of the camp-meetings appointed for the present season. If any changes are made, of either time or place of meetings already appointed, notice should be forwarded at once.
NOTICES AND APPOINTMENTS
Northern Illinois Camp-Meeting
By Wm. Covert
OUR annual camp-meeting for the Northern Illinois Conference is to be held at Aurora this year. The date is August 29 to September 8, including the opening and closing days named. We have seldom seen a more beautiful place for a meeting. It is also easy of access, and all the neighborhood is inviting. The whole plot of eight acres or more is sodded with blue-grass, and there are some splendid trees for shade, upon the ground.
The Aurora and Elgin Electric Railroad, and also the Aurora Electrical Belt Railroad, pass the camp. The ground is high and nicely undulating. There is a good spring of water near by, and the camp will also be furnished with water from the city reservoir.
The whole situation is encouraging, and we are very anxious for a large attendance of our people. We confidently expect to have an excellent meeting. Our planning is for an old-fashioned camp-meeting, where all who are there expect to take part and do something to help some one else.
We have reached that time in our work when every member should be as constant to duty as is the sun to its rising. All will be expected to talk courage, and to labor to make the meeting a happy success.
Wholesome words of encouragement and pleasant references to things of good report will receive a hearty response from the committee of management. It is high time for Seventh-day Adventists to be making arrangements for the heavenly meeting, and our camp-meeting at Aurora this year is appointed for this very purpose. Who will attend with this object in view? WM. COVERT.
At the Jamestown Exposition
Any of our people attending the Jamestown Exposition and wishing to attend the services of our church there will find a welcome at 120 Mozart Ave., Brambleton, Norfolk.
Arkansas Conference
By V. B. Watts
The Arkansas Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists will convene July 25, 1907, at 9 A. M., at Siloam Springs, Ark., for the purpose of electing officers and doing such other business as may come before the conference. V. B. WATTS.
West Virginia Camp-Meeting
By L. E. Sufficool
The annual camp-meeting for West Virginia will be held at Pennsboro, W. Va., Sept. 5-15. Full particulars concerning railroad rates and other matters of interest will be given later in the Atlantic Union Gleaner.
L. E. SUFFICool,
Vice-President.
Georgia Conference
By GEO. W. WELLS
THE annual session of the Georgia Conference will be held in connection with the camp-meeting at Atlanta, Ga., July 25 to August 4. All business pertaining to the conference and its departments will be transacted at this time. The first meeting of the conference will be called Friday, July 26, at 9 A. M. If all are present at this time, the business can be soon closed up, and the time given to the spiritual interests of the camp.
GEO. W. WELLS, President.
Graduate Nurses Needed
Notice!
WE would be glad to correspond with any lady graduate nurses, with a view to connecting with the Nashville Sanitarium.
This institution is just entering upon its work, and there is need of good, conscientious, Christian workers who have the cause of God at heart, and wish to be of use in this needy Southern field.
It is expected that the applicant will be strong and well, and able to do the work of a full nurse.
Address all correspondence to the Nashville Sanitarium, or to the Medical Superintendent, Dr. F. A. Washburn, Nashville, Tenn.
West Virginia, Notice!
By L. E. Sufficool
The regular annual session of the West Virginia Conference will be held on the camp-ground at Pennsboro, W. Va., September 5.
The regular business of the conference, such as election of officers for conference tract Society, Sabbath-school and Educational Departments, and State Young People's Society, consideration of plans, etc., will receive due attention at this time.
Let our churches elect their delegates in due time, and send their names to the conference secretary, C. J. Foote, 1200 Seventh St., Parkersburg, W. Va. It is hoped that all the delegates will be on the grounds Thursday night, September 5, ready to enter into the business of the conference Friday morning.
We see many omens which plainly show that this gathering will be one of the most important of its kind ever held among us, therefore let us now plan to be in our place to assist in all the work of the conference. For further particulars, watch the Atlantic Union Gleaner. L. E. SUFFICool,
Vice-President,
Missouri Conference
By H. M. Stewart
THE annual session of the Missouri Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will be held on the camp-ground at Eldon, Mo., August 8-18. The regular business of the conference, such as electing officers and laying plans for the rapid advancement of the work, will come before the conference. This will be the most important gathering of our people ever held in Missouri. It is hoped that all delegates will be there at the opening of the conference. Elect your delegates at once, and send their names to Mrs. R. C. Porter, Hamilton, Mo. The first session of the conference will be held August 9, at 9 A. M.; so plan to be there at the beginning. Come praying that God may direct in all that shall be done.
H. M. STEWART, President.
Maritime Conference
By WM. GUTHRIE
It has been decided to hold the annual meeting and conference session of the Maritime Conference, at St. John, New Brunswick, August 22 to September 2. This is the sixth annual session of this conference, and as such will doubtless be the most important meeting we have ever held in this field. It is also important from the fact that it will add the closing work to a special effort that is being put forth there this summer to warn that city of its danger, and to bring to the sorrowing souls the glad tidings of free salvation through the blessed Christ.
We are very desirous that as many as possible shall attend this general gathering, and trust that all will begin now to make preparations to this end. While we are planning to attend, let us remember those who have the burden of the work there, that the Lord will be with them, and make their work prosperous in the saving of men. Then let all the people come, and so reveal the blessed Lord that a great ingathering of souls will crown the closing of the conference.
