To take possession of Pekin, depose the empress of China, and proclaim an international protectorate over the empire, is now advocated as the only course open to the “powers,” including the United States, in view of the reign of terror that has been inaugurated over a vast section of China by the “Boxers.” The latter of course will have to be put down, and as they are now said to number several millions, it may be that a war of considerable dimensions will soon be in progress in that section of Asia. The attempt to establish an international protectorate over China, should the powers decide on such a step, can hardly fail to intensify the rivalry of the powers over the prize of Chinese territory and trade; and thus with tremendous rapidity the world is being hastened toward momentous events to be revealed in connection with the breaking up of the oldest empire upon the earth.
Canada’s Sunday Law Appeal
As noticed a few weeks ago, the contest for religious freedom in Canada has reached a critical stage, and the outcome is awaited with much interest by both parties in the controversy. The question of the validity of the Sunday law passed some years since by the Ontario legislature, is to be determined by the Court of Appeals, and the decision given will vitally affect the situation in that province and exert a powerful influence for or against Sunday enforcement throughout the Dominion. Should the Ontario law be upheld, persecution of seventh-day observers, at whom the law is directly aimed, will be given a new impetus and the enemies of religious freedom will become bolder than ever before. But should the law be declared invalid, on the other hand, the whole matter of Sunday legislation will be thrown into the Dominion parliament, and the enactment of a new Sunday law by that body will have to be secured before the prosecution of seventh-day keepers can safely be proceeded with. The expected decision has already been delayed longer than was anticipated, and will probably be announced soon, though no prediction upon this point can be made with certainty.
Adventist Fined for Sunday Labor
A man belonging to the seventh-day Adventist company in Greensboro, North Carolina, has been arrested, tried, and fined one dollar and costs for working on Sunday. He refuses to pay the fine. Particulars concerning the case will be given next week.
Porto Rico’s Peculiar Legal Status
A New York City court to which appeal was taken from the action of the New York board of appraisers in assessing a duty on tobacco from Porto Rico, has rendered a decision declaring that Porto Rico is a part of the United States so far as other countries are concerned, but a foreign country so far as the United States Constitution is concerned. This is simply to say that Porto Rico is a province under an imperial government, for how else could it occupy the peculiar position here affirmed of it? Thus it appears that the courts are beginning to fall into line with the other branches of the Government in supporting the imperial policy.
Trust Cornering Great Lakes Freight
The latest exhibition by the trust octopus is a cornering of freight traffic on the great lakes. The Standard Oil combine has purchased or rented nearly all the large vessels employed in the lake freight commerce and tied them up at the docks, in order to raise freight rates on ore and other commodities to an exhorbitant figure.
The Sentinel of Liberty Notice
Any one receiving The Sentinel of Liberty without having ordered it, may know that it is sent by some friend. Those who have not ordered The Sentinel need have no fears that they will be asked to pay for it.
The Gospel and Individuality
The tendency of modern business methods as exemplified in the operations of the trusts, to eliminate individuality in employees, is a marked and baneful feature of modern industrial “progress.” As an illustration the N. Y. Independent points to the case of a young man who held a high position in one of the leading trusts, but voluntarily resigned and connected himself with a smaller business not organized on the trust system, for no other reason than that he was tired of being known as “number 396.” “Such a fact,” adds the Independent, “is a flash of illumination. Whoso cannot read political economy and American history by the light of it, is morally obtuse or scientifically cross-eyed.”
But the gospel stands, and ever has stood and will stand, for individuality, and not only for that which the individual has when he accepts the gospel, but for the highest development of individuality which he can attain in time and eternity. Individuality is the Creator’s plan and ideal for mankind, from which the race has departed by having “sought out many inventions.”
The Urgency of Present Events
No person can afford to be standing still while events are moving so rapidly as they are to-day.