OUR General Conference, consisting of delegates from all parts of the world, is convening in Washington, D. C., on Thursday, May 15. This will be one of the largest as well as one of the most important meetings ever held by our people, and questions of great import for the advancement of this work will be considered. On Tuesday, May 6, our Pacific Coast delegation started,—four car-loads in all. Two cars went over the Washington-Sunset route, by the way of New Orleans. One of these was filled with delegates and visitors to the conference from the territory around San Francisco Bay. The other car was loaded largely by delegates in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the southern part of the state. Two of the cars went over the Santa Fe; and we notice in the list of those who were to occupy these cars, quite a number of our college men, as well as some of our conference presidents, our union conference president, E. E. Andross, and W. C. White, who is well known to our readers, and some of the leaders in the publishing work.
Those attending the conference from this office are: C. H. Jones, our president and general manager; H. G. Childs, our secretary and treasurer; M. C. Wilcox, the senior editor of this paper; H. H. Hall, the well-known manager of our book work; and J. R. Ferren, Pacific Union missionary secretary. Mrs. H. H. Hall and Mrs. J. R. Ferren accompany their husbands.
Sham Universities
An editorial in the Independent of New York for April 10 points out that there are a large number of sham universities in the United States, many of which have their headquarters in Washington, D. C. It gives us one instance of this,—the Oriental University, the president of which claims the degrees of Ph.D., S.T.D., S.O.D., and LL.D., and is also dean and professor in a multitude of departments in its Orientalistic Seminary, West Asian, Indian, African, Oceanic, and Amerindian, and is the head of a multitude of other departments, as diverse as religion, classics, theomonistic theology, the civil service, professor of literature, journalism and drama, international law and diplomacy, and offers degrees in anything, even to aeronautics. The Independent asks what “S.O.D.” is. That may cover professorship in all these other things. One of these “universities” has certified to property of $272.50 value, another to $700, and the whole object of the fake universities seems to be the granting of degrees at a very cheap rate to those who care more for the magic letters after their names than they do for real education.
The Pacific Limited Train
One of the excellent trains which the Southern Pacific sends across the continent is the Pacific limited, which begins in April, 1913, and runs daily between San Francisco and Chicago over the Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul railways. It is of all steel equipment of the latest model, embracing every device of proved efficiency, looking to strength, easy running, and safety. The train is made up of a dynamo baggage car; 14-section Pullman tourist sleeping-car, San Francisco to Chicago; dining-car; drawing-room 2-compartment, 10-section standard Pullman sleeping-car, San Francisco to Chicago; drawing-room 12-section standard Pullman sleeping-car, San Francisco to Salt Lake City; and 10-section Pullman observation sleeping-car, with ladies' parlor and library, San Francisco to Chicago. There are telephone connections to the last minute before the train leaves; and if there are telephone calls received for passengers before their arrival at a station, such a fact will be noted on a bulletin-board at the gate. Sleeping berths are lighted with individual electric lamps. In fact, everything that can make a traveling hotel what it ought to be, is in operation on this train. It leaves San Francisco at 10:20 A.M. This train stands in its class just where the overland limited train de luxe, mentioned last week, does in its class. There are no trains in the East that can compare with them.
Hearst’s Newspaper Empire
W. R. Hearst, proprietor of the San Francisco Examiner, and of numerous other papers in various parts of the country, has just launched another one in Atlanta, Georgia, to be called the American. This makes the tenth paper of which he is proprietor, in as many different leading cities in the United States. He spends about six million dollars a year for paper alone. Mr. Bryce, we believe it was, in giving his observations on American life, mentioned, among other things, the attempt to rule through newspapers. This seems to be one of the ambitions of Mr. Hearst.
