ONE of the most interesting phases of domestic politics in New Zealand to-day is the liquor question. A well known Sydney citizen, who had lived in New Zealand for some years prior to 1897, revisited that colony of experiments recently, and was struck by the apparent pronounced change in public opinion regarding the liquor traffic.
In an interview with a Herald reporter, he said that in 1897 only one district, Clutha, had secured prohibition, and at that time it was regarded by many as a huge joke. But the districts adjoining Clutha on either side—Mataura and Bruce—have also now secured prohibition, while two districts adjoining—Invercargill and Awarua—each carried a vote for the reduction in the number of licenses, and each was within less than 100 votes of the majority required for prohibition. To secure prohibition, it is necessary to have a majority of three-fifths of the votes polled. On the other hand, when prohibition has been secured by any district, to reverse that decision it is necessary to obtain a three-fifths majority of the votes polled before any license can be restored. The effect is that the liquor party has now come to the conclusion that in no case where prohibition has been carried will they ever secure a reversion to the sale of liquor.
The other divisions of New Zealand which voted the prohibition ticket are Port Chalmers and Ashburton, in the South Island, and Newtown, a suburb of Wellington in the North Island. It is felt by elderly men fond of a regular stimulant that the law is harsh and oppressive, but young men, most of whom only drink because of example or under pressure, are frankly pleased at the opportunity denied them, and as a rule, therefore, the young men's votes are given, mostly in favor of the temperance party. This means a big potential power for the teetotalers. The carrying of prohibition in Port Chalmers was a tremendous surprise. The electorates in Sydney which most resemble it, because it is a dock and sailors' port, are Pyrmont and Balmain. The Port Chalmers people, as a body, seem to be well pleased with the change. Prohibition carried in New Zealand means that the hotels have to close entirely without compensation of any kind.
The general feeling of bankers and merchants has been steadily undergoing a change in New Zealand. At first they were inclined to treat the matter as a joke, but it is a rare thing now to find one of them actively opposed to prohibition, and the others, if not cordially in favor of it, are at any rate sympathetic, for the purely selfish reason that they find their accounts are better paid and the security is more stable in the prohibited areas.—Sydney Morning Herald.
A CHARACTER CONTRAST.
FROM an article in the Melbourne Age we take the following extract which will be of interest in view of the Titanic struggle now on in the Orient:
Japan is an example of unselfish patriotism making for national effectiveness in a supreme crisis. Russia is a house divided against itself. Its princes have schemed to amass wealth at the risk of exposing the people to untold miseries.
Corruption and malversation among Japanese officials are almost unknown; whereas, it is an acknowledged fact that the Russian officials are, as a class, almost the most untrustworthy in the world. A sample of the kind of fraud which they perpetrate on the nation is mentioned by Baron von der Bruggen in his book on ``Russia of To-day.'' Five years ago a census of the people was taken at enormous expense. The total cost of the enumeration has amounted to £4,000,000, and yet not one single page of the information collected has been published. Thousands of clerks exist for nothing but utterly useless routine duty, the creation of their positions being entirely fraudulent. In order that this staff may seem to be doing some work a system has been devised under which, when a minister makes a long journey, it is necessary that not fewer than 17,000 missives should be neatly written out and despatched to an equal number of officials all over the Russian Empire. While all grades of officials9fatten on corruption, the towns and villages of the once prosperous rural districts of Russia are fast falling into decay.
When the Christian missionaries were murdered by the Boxers in China, the Japanese government acted up to the spirit of the national sentiment of justice by joining in the European demand for reparation. But what course did Russia adopt? One of the China Bluebooks supplies the answer. The Russian government announced, in formal language, that ``the murders of the missionaries is a subject in which Russia is not interested.''
A SAD OUTLOOK.
A GENTLEMAN of the highest integrity makes grave charges against the representatives of justice in one of our large cities. He declares that there is a systematic organized agency to entrap, secrete and debauch young girls in that city; that this fact is known to the police and to the lower courts. He also says that he knows of a case in which two of the best known and most honorable ministers of the Gospel tried to have this diabolical business stopped, and here are his words:
"But the thing that is of consequence is, that when a minister of religion, and a resident in a particular neighborhood, whose calling, character, experience, and truthfulness are all alike widely and abundantly recognized, goes to the headquarters of the police in his district to appeal to them for the protection of the young, the innocent, and the defenseless against the leprous harpies who are hired as runners and touters for the lowest and most infamous dens of vice, he is met, not only with contempt and derision, but with the coarsest insult and obloquy."
Can anything be worse?—Watchword and Truth.
Church and State in Ecuador and France
A report from South America states that Ecuador is following the example of France and closing the Catholic nunneries. On the 27th of last August a law was passed by the Congress of Ecuador abolishing convents, and this law is now being put into effect. The nuns are given the option of retiring to the public hospitals, where they will be cared for at the expense of the various cities and towns, or of leaving the country. In the latter case they would be given $2,400 in gold each. The convents and other Catholic property are being confiscated by the government. It must seem strange to the Catholic hierarchy that nations that have known Catholicism so long and have been so under its guidance and teachings should take such steps against “the church.” It gives peculiar force to the statement recently made by a high Catholic official to the effect that the Catholic Church in America did not envy the condition of that church in countries where the church has been dominant in political affairs.
An animated discussion took place in the French Chamber of Deputies on October 22 over the question of the government’s action toward the Vatican. By the decisive vote of 325 to 237 the Chamber supported the course of Premier Combes in severing diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Among other things the premier said: “The separation of church and state has become inevitable. Those who advise a revision of the concordat are dupes who would condemn the government to final humiliation. I am in favor of a free church, but with the same freedom as our other institutions have. Let those who will do penance before popes. I have no taste for such practises.” The majority is larger than the premier had last season, and seems to insure the carrying out of the premier’s policy. The pope is much distressed over the stand of the French Government, and attributes it to the work of the Free Masons.
The Russian Baltic fleet, which has started on its long voyage for Port Arthur, committed an unexplainable outrage on a British fishing fleet in the North Sea on the night of October 22. These unarmed and inoffensive vessels were engaged in taking care of their catch, when the Russian vessels suddenly opened fire on them, killing two men and injuring eighteen. Two of the fisher vessels were sunk by the Russian shots, and others of the fleet were badly cut to pieces. England will insist upon an apology, and an investigation of the whole matter, with compensation for the killed and injured and for the property destroyed. The British people are much wrought up over the affair, and it would take but little to fan the flame of indignation into a popular demand for war.
There are many indications of late that Germany and Russia are drawing closer together, and that England and Germany are less cordial in their relations. Germany is evidently seeking to occupy the place which was until recently held by France in the esteem of Russia. At the same time the English public has become aware of the fact that German spies are busy in England making maps of the coast, of the harbors, and of the topography of the country. The military attachés of Germany and Russia have been specially attached to the persons respectively of the czar and emperor. This gives them the privilege of much greater intimacy with the two rulers, and insures a closer touch between the latter. These things portend a realignment of the European powers.
The condition of the Russian sick and wounded is rendered more distressing because of the system of “graft” in vogue among high military officials of Russia. Contributions to the Red Cross work are small owing to the fear of the donors that the funds will not reach the war victims in the East. There is a great deal of peculation by those through whose hands the funds must go. An association of nobles wished to equip a hospital train for the East. When it was ready to start, permission for it to do so was repeatedly and inexplicably delayed. It was finally ascertained that before the train could proceed, a highly placed Russian official must be given a substantial sum. When this sum had been provided the train was allowed to proceed.
Experiments of the Department of Agriculture in the attempt to eradicate the Texas boll weevil have proved a failure. Professor Wilson, who has been conducting the experiments, says: “Experience has demonstrated that the boll weevil has come to stay, will be as permanent a pest as obnoxious weeds and grasses, and will spread until it covers every part of the leading cotton-raising districts of the South. It has gone one-hundred miles into Louisiana this year, and the crop-pest commission has given up the fight and taken down quarantine.” It has been hoped that the ant imported from Central America would destroy the pest; but the experiment was a disappointment.
Notwithstanding Russia’s experience in the loss of great battle-ships by torpedo attacks, the Washington Navy Department has drawn plans for a 20,000-ton battle-ship, which will be about 4,000 tons larger than anything now built in this line in the world—providing Congress authorizes its construction. This giant among war-ships would have, instead of four 12-inch guns in her main batteries, as now provided in battle-ships, ten 12-inch guns placed in turrets and broadsides, and her secondary battery would be made up entirely of 3-inch quick-firers, which would number 20, and be designed principally for the repelling of torpedo-boat attacks.
The Tibetans declare their inability to pay the large indemnity of $3,750,000 which the new treaty with England calls for, and this will probably lead to a prolonged British occupation of the Chumbi Valley. China’s opposition to the ratification of the treaty is said to be increasing, as she believes that it will result in the eventual control of Tibet by England.
There have been several reports of late of political unrest on the Isthmus of Panama. There is also a report in circulation that Colombians are massing for an attack on Culebra. For the present, American marines will be maintained on the isthmus. It is part of the mission of Secretary Taft to bring about harmony among the discordant elements on the isthmus.
The situation in Italy is still unsettled. An army of about seventy thousand troops will be in readiness to take the field for the maintenance of order during the coming elections. The War Office has issued instructions to the military commanders for the distribution of troops pending the campaign.
The change gradually coming over political affairs in Europe and Asia is noticed even in far Afghanistan, whose ruler is now showing marked friendship for the British, and is sending his son on a mission to the local ruler of India, Lord Curzon.
Prince Fushimi, adopted brother of the Emperor of Japan, is now on his way to the United States to improve, if possible, the friendly relations now existing between the two countries.
The consumption of raw cotton by the mills of the United States has increased 107 per cent. since the year 1880, or from 953,049,105 pounds to 1,979,966,331 pounds.
An earthquake which was quite general over Scandinavia and Denmark occurred on October 24, and is reported to have caused much damage to property.
The defense of Port Arthur, it is said, will go down in history as the most heroic and stubborn on record in modern times.
THE RAILWAY SLAUGHTER.
The record of one day's railway accidents in this country includes the killing of twenty-seven passengers upon a Missouri Pacific World's Fair excursion train and the smothering of six men in the St. Clair tunnel at Port Huron, the latter disaster being chargeable to a Canadian corporation.
Every year in recent reckoning, except 1897, has witnessed an increase in the total number of lives sacrificed by American railroads. In spite of improvements in coupling and in road-bed, which have greatly lessened certain classes of accidents, the total rises steadily. It now approaches twenty-five every day of the entire year.
Nor is the increase due to the fatal grade-crossing or to the numerous deaths of persons struck by trains while trespassing upon tracks. Between 1895 and 1902 the number of railway passengers carried increased only 25 per cent.—trolley roads having cut into the "short-haul" business. The total of deaths increased 40 per cent. The number of passengers killed increased 103 per cent. And the present calendar year has already scored more deaths of passengers than any former year in our railroad history.
There is a general impression which will require strong evidence to dislodge, that this growing slaughter of passengers is due in part to the desire of railway companies which were over-capitalized in the reckless financial debauch of 1900–1 to make a "show of earnings" by cutting operating expenses beyond the limit of safety.—New York World.
BOUCHARD'S EXPERIMENTS.
BOUCHARD, of France, has shown that the changes which often take place in the stomach and intestines when in a state of indigestion, resulting in fermentation and putrefaction, give rise to poisonous substances which, when absorbed into the body, may produce effects similar to those produced by strychnia, opium, alcohol, and other well-known drugs. When food is retained in the stomach beyond the normal time either because of its indigestibility, the taking of too large a quantity of it, or a crippled state of the stomach, these changes are certain to take place. This fact explains a very large share of the myriad symptoms which afflict the chronic dyspeptic. The giddiness, the tingling sensations, the confusion of thought, and even partial insensibility, which are not infrequently observed a few hours after meals in chronic dyspeptics, are due to this cause. Here is the explanation of the despondency, and various other forms of mental perversity, and even moral depravity.
The total depravity which we often hear talked about is, half the time at least, nothing more nor less than total indigestion.—Australasian Good Health.
THE WAR IN THE ORIENT.
THE two great armies in Manchuria continue to face each other over a narrow space. In places they are separated by a distance of only 700 yards. For ten days the greatest battle of modern times raged, day and night, and now the exhausted armies are resting, burying their dead, bringing up reenforcements, strengthening weak positions, and preparing for a renewal of the struggle. Reports from the field state that the Japanese are drawing heavily on their Port Arthur army to fill up their depleted ranks. Recruits are being forwarded from Japan as rapidly as possible, and Japanese army men in other countries are being called home. Many in this country are already on their way in obedience to the summons of the government. Japan is calling out other classes of her reserves, and Russia is preparing to send out another large army of 200,000 men.
At Port Arthur the Japanese are said to be making some gains, capturing a few of the less important positions; but the garrison as yet is showing no signs of a readiness to capitulate. Russians estimate the Japanese loss in the various assaults on Port Arthur defenses at 50,000 in killed and wounded. The combined losses in the great battle of the Shakhe River are placed by some as high as 80,000 killed and wounded. This will go into history as one of the most stubbornly contested battles of the world. Altho the Russian advance was checked, the Japanese were unable to make any substantial headway. Both armies are entrenching, and it is probable that another great battle will begin within a few days. At the present time conditions are distressing for the participants on both sides. Many of the men are not warmly clad, the weather is bitterly cold, and fuel is scarce. The outlook is a sad one, from whatever point it may be viewed, and yet neither power is willing to accept the mediation of another power in the interests of peace.
RICHES.
By Benjamin Keech
BY BENJAMIN KEECH.
MILLIONS, my neighbor, has money and land,
Rich as a king is he;
Millions owns houses both noble and grand,
Not at all so with me.
He rides along in magnificent style,
Passes me haughtily by;
Into his coffers wealth pours all the while,
But poor, indeed, am I.
Millions, my neighbor, is poverty-poor:
I am as rich as can be!
No little children have his heart secure;
He should be envying me.
No little baby lips kiss him good-night;
Let him pass haughtily by;
I'm blest with riches, while Millions is quite
A million times poorer than I.
SELFISHNESS IN THE HOME.
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
I THINK I have said before, that the great trouble with poor, weak humanity to-day is selfishness,—but I want to repeat it with added emphasis. And another great trouble is the fact that most people can see everybody's selfishness except their own. A lady said to me one day, with a great sigh of satisfaction: "There is one thing about it, I know that I am not selfish!" Every one else?—O, yes; but not I!
But to be selfish, and then to be entirely blind to it, is a very bad case indeed. What does selfishness mean?—It means self-love, and that is natural to the human heart; but, surely, we ought to love other people as well. If we do, we will be just to them; we will be kind to them; we will be courteous to them; we will not consider our own interests before theirs;—in fact, we will not look every man on his own things, but on the things of others. If we are unselfish, we will not do anything to help ourselves up, on the downfall of others. If you are a farmer, you will not smile when you see that the wheat crop of your neighbor is thin and poor, while your own is good. If you are a dressmaker, you will not boast that your work is better than that of the little woman around the corner, who has not had the experience you have had. You will be as anxious for her to secure customers as you are to secure them for yourselves. If you are a minister of the Gospel—the blessed Gospel of good-will toward men—which is the Gospel of unselfishness—you will not behave gruffly toward your brother minister, because the people seem to take more interest in his sermons than in your own. You will feel as John did, when he said in reference to Christ: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Blessed unselfishness!
Let us be particularly unselfish toward our brethren in Christ, remembering that we are to do good to all men, "especially toward" them. But let us, above all else, banish selfishness from our own homes, toward those we love best. But alas and alas! our homes are too often the very places where selfishness in all its hideousness is most manifest.
"John, will you harness Dolly for me? I want to do a little shopping, and am not strong enough to go to the village on foot."
"Dear me, Mary; the fact is, I can't spare the horse. Let the shopping go until to-morrow."
Mary went into the house, a disappointed sigh escaping the white lips. Five minutes later, John appeared, riding the horse rapidly on his way to town to buy a fishing-rod for his next day's sport. That very evening John was reading a sketch of a brave fireman who risked his life in a terrible fire for the sake of saving a little child. It was a narrow escape. The walls of the burning building fell almost as the brave man reached the last round of the ladder with his precious burden. It was a brave act; but the poor man lost his sight. Of course, John was lost in admiration of the hero.
"Why, mother! I'd rather have been that man than General Grant or even Bonaparte. Just think how unselfish he must have been! I do so admire unselfishness!"
Poor John! how blind you must be! Suppose you begin to practise the self-denial and unselfishness you so admire, right at home.
And just here, again, the love and prayers and labors and example of a godly mother are needed. Who so able as she to teach her young sons courteous gallantry and Christian unselfishness toward their sisters? Who so well adapted as she to teach her daughters those little acts of unselfishness which go so far toward the making of a beautiful, symmetrical character?
A group of little girls are playing on the green. "Unless I can be the teacher," whined one of them, "I shall not play school,—I shall go right home this minute. I'm the oldest, and am in the highest grade, and, 'pon my word, I shall go straight home unless I can have my way."
"Seems to me Mamie ought to have that place, let her be teacher this time," remonstrates Ella.
"Very well; I will go at once into the house," and the whining, selfish child walked sulkily away.
"What's the matter, daughter?" called the unwise mother from the window.
"The girls won't play as I want them to."
"Well, Julia, if they do not appreciate you more than that, you need not play. They are very selfish, I am sure."
And yet that same mother wondered a few years afterward that her daughter has no thought for the feelings or the comfort of any one in the house. She is a constant source of trial to her parents and of mortification to her few friends.
Many years ago there lived a little boy who early developed a greedy and selfish disposition; Every year this self-love grew stronger and stronger until, after a while, he did not love any one but himself. He became wayward and hard-hearted and cruel, and, after he grew older, he became a thief, and stole money which was entrusted to his keeping, to be given to the poor and unfortunate. The years went by. Finally he had an opportunity to betray his best friend for thirty paltry pieces of silver. Well, we know the result. He could not resist the temptation. The habit of selfishness had become too strong to be broken. In an evil hour he yielded. But not for an hour did he enjoy his ill-gotten hoard. To this day, the name of Judas is a hissing and a by-word, the centuries have passed. I maintain that if the home life of Judas Iscariot had been what it ought to have been, had his mother and his father been faithful to their trust, had the youthful home been a home of prayer and unselfish love, how different might have been the outcome.
The other day I stepped into a notion store on Main Street. Close behind me followed a lady and her little boy of about five years. As soon as the child noticed the toys, the trouble began:
"Mama, mama, I want this ball!" The mother, seemingly deaf, paid no attention, and continued making her selections.
"Mama, I say, mama, I must have this pretty ball!"
Still no attention. Meanwhile the young hopeful had appropriated the toy, and stood admiring its bright colors. But the poor mother seemed as blind as she was deaf. I wondered that the clerk did not notice the child, but he was very busy.
"Mama!" this time still more imperatively." "I say I shall have this ball!"
At last madame has heard; and replies softly and absent-mindedly: "Johnny, put that down." But Johnny was feeding the little demon of selfishness, and determined to have his way.
In another moment his mother had made her purchases, and was followed into the street by her young son,—the precious toy still grasped firmly in his fingers.
"Poor little thief!" I said to myself, "and poor, poor mother! some day, unless you alter your tactics considerably, you will weep bitter tears, as you see your little Johnny behind the iron doors of a prison."
"O, I see; you are still placing the responsibility upon parents."
Am I?—well, I am placing it where Inspiration did, when the oft-quoted words were written about bringing "up a child in the way he should go."
KEEPING OUR BOYS AT HOME.
By Mrs. Anna Pelzel
BY MRS. ANNA PELZEL.
THERE is no greater duty, none fraught with greater responsibilities or possibilities than to "train up a child in the way he should go," trusting that "when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Do we as parents, and in particular as mothers, realize that upon our teaching and example depends the moral welfare of the next generation?
How then shall we proceed to make the boys love their homes better than any place else?—By making them the best places on earth, as far as lies in our power. Begin when they are tots at your knee, lisping their prayers. When childish troubles assail their little hearts, let them know you sympathize with them. As they grow older, invite their confidence, let there be a bond of love and sympathy between you; and that once established, your work is well begun. Amuse them with good stories simply told, and when they are able to read, supply them with the best reading matter. See that they read nothing to which you would object.
Make your boy's companions welcome; don't send them to the barn to play, lest they litter up your house. The time will come too soon when he will leave the home nest. So keep him while you may. If he shows talent for music help him cultivate it, whatever good tastes or inclinations he may have, try to encourage them. When he has reached the age "where the brook and river seem to meet," you will have to be more vigilant than ever. He is now brought in contact with the world, and Satan is yet "going about seeking whom he may devour." He prefers the young and innocent, holding open the gilded palace doors, to ensnare the unwary, and lead them away from the "straight and narrow way."
Acquaint yourself as far as you can with your boy's associates, that you may be able to advise him wisely, as he has not yet learned to discriminate between good and bad companionship. Be lenient with his faults, but not blind to them. Tell him the world needs good men and you see no reason why he should not take his place in the ranks, especially as the Master has endowed him with talents, for which he must give account. Speak to him of his soul's welfare. He needs your counsel more than ever now. Pray with him and for him. How often have I gone to my boy's room after he had retired, and, kneeling by his bed, talked with him of the day's temptations and victories, thereby making him stronger and braver for the next day's battle with sin.
O mothers! embrace the golden opportunity while it is yours, the jewel is in your hands to polish and make it to shine as a beacon light; or you may, by neglect, mar and destroy it. Which you will do is for you to decide. The possibility is great; the reward is eternal glory. Choose ye this day whom your boy should serve.
Harper, Kansas.
Rust Remover
The following is recommended as a rust remover: Cover the metal with sweet oil, well rubbed in, and allow to stand for forty-eight hours. Then rub with unslaked lime reduced to as fine a powder as possible. A second recipe is as follows: Immerse the article to be cleansed, for a few minutes until all dirt and rust is taken off, in a strong solution of potassium cyanide—say about one-half ounce in a wine-glassful of water. Take out and clean with a tooth-brush with some paste composed of potassium cyanide, Castile soap, whiting, and water, mixed into a paste of about the consistence of thick cream.
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A complete commentary—critical, explanatory, and practical—on the Old and New Testaments, 1380 pages. Former price, $9.00. The body of the work consists of notes that are concise, learned, free from verbiage, and easily understood, that elucidate and explain difficult passages of Scripture, or whose import is not readily apprehended. Far in advance of the older works now in use, it is also the most practical, suggestive, and scientific.
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By the Rev. W. J. Conybeare, M.A., of Cambridge, and J. S. Howson, D.D. of Liverpool. Formerly sold for $4.50. Contains 1,024 large octave pages, many fine illustrations, maps, charts, etc. There is no work that will compare with this in giving a life-like picture of the great apostle and the work which he did.
CRUDEN'S COMPLETE CONCORDANCE
By Alexander Cruden, M. A. Former price, $4.50. Contains 756 large octave pages, clearly printed and handsomely and strongly bound in cloth. Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture, and next to the Bible no volume has greater value to the Bible Student than Cruden's Concordance.
THREE THOUSAND SELECTED QUOTATIONS
By Josiah Gilbert. Introduction by Chas. S. Robinson, D. D. 681 pages. Former price, $2.00. Burning words of brilliant writers from the literature of all ages, with complete index of authors and subjects. Undenominational and evangelical. Preachers, Teachers and Bible students will be charmed with these bright utterances, which clearly and forcibly express or apply a religious truth.
TAKE NOTICE! We will take back any or all books that are not satisfactory in ten days after examination, and will return money, deducting only the return freight or express charges. This marvelous offer is limited, and money will be returned if the books are exhausted and we cannot fill your order. As to our responsibility, we refer to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, or to any commercial agency. Established 1866. Mention the SIGNS OF THE TIMES when you order.
THE S. S. SCRANTON CO., Publishers, HARTFORD, CONN.
