Current Events

Media

Part of The Little Apostle of the Mountain Province

Title: Current Events
Language: Spanish
Year: 1924
Rights
Fulltext: r~·~=ll!!!IE:a:~"<'Ol11!!!Pl~---·,_;lllll-=:=-..aamJ11mmJU~;.:,m---'!ill~-~eilciJ'f:!«IO:l·•-a6.&, I + CuRRt:NT EVENTS + I L + caesM ....,..... ~....-m;m..-4iE!if•us ?M: a.aJ Philippines \Vif h f he Legislature. Most of the bills presented arp petitions by rer;reFenl at ives for insular aid in their rP~Te<'! i ,.e c1 isl ric1 !'. A higher tax on money lenders may he voted. A report on the illeg-alit~-. <•f 1\ llditor Wright, wi1.hhol<'. :ng 1.he t'l,000.0(]0 for the Indepf'ndence Commission, was approved of. The calamity fund, previously vetoed by the Governor General, was again voted for. Much time was spent in the Senate to censure the f\ecretary of the Interior, Hon. Mr .• .\7oncillo, and the tight between the Le!!islature and the Secretary has n<·t rr1rr:e to an er.d ~-n. More taxes may be imposed on h1x11ries, such as automobiles ar.d jewelries (up to .July 30th. 13,563 motor vehicles have \Y.:-en registered in the Philippines). Senator l<'on;wier would cut fiye per. cent all Goverment salaries above !"I,·!OO a year to save Pl,000,000a ~·t-ar. A plan is under consideration to extend primary instruction, bt:t would cut the allowances for high school!". 30 representatives asked an investigation of the insular penitentiary and its administration of the penal colonies in Zamboanga and Palawan. Fonacier says f'l,000,000 or more are wasted by the Government Bureaus. Additional funds were asked to reinforce the insular personnel, which lias to wateh .the increal'ing number of ~ecret societie!". Lt>gal age for both meniand women to marry would be 18 yearf. B£f<•re t.hat ag-P. the consent of the parents or tuturi" would be required, but marria[!e would he absolutely forbiddu1 to bo~·s under 14 yea ff <•f age and tr• girls t:nder 12. Nobody would be allowed to marry. excert after havirg obtained from a judge a due license and after the proposed contract has been made public for a certain number of da~ s, in the places where the candidates live a11d ha,·e Ji\·ed. More changes mar be added but, seeing the oP[oFition of the lol\'er house to. certain measures rendering di rnrce easier, the discussion may last so long that the legislature has no time during the pr(f€1lt ses>i.on lo vote the tinal bill. ~enattir Alejandrino having beendeprivfd I y the i:'enate of his emolumons for one year, appealed to the Supreme Court which deem€d she had no power to interfere in this. senate's decision. wherefore Alejandrino will an:eal to the Supreme Court of the U. S. A morn to reduce the number of representatives in the Legislature was defeated. The reduction would have made an economy for the taxpa~·ers of more than P200,000 a year. A bill will be introduced ai:;king for compulsory teaching of religion in the public schools, the parents and pupils having the right to ask for religious instruction if they prefer. Are better times for the Philip. pines in view? The famine in Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya has ended: these provinces had an abundant crop of corn. Northern Luzon has besides an excellent crop of tobacco which sells at good prices. A great increase of sugar production is foreseen fm the collling year and sugar prices are going up. The Governmeilt will inspect more closely the copra for exportation: this will restore the confidence of the buyers in this Filipino product. The anthrax epidemy which killed thousands of labor animals these last months in Central Luzon has been wiped out. The Anta.mok (Benguet) goldmine made a net. profit of about half a million pesos during the first six months of the yeitr. The Government economized P2i, 000,000 from January to .Tuly. The railroad made a profit of 1'1,300,000 during 1923. The Philippine National Bank made 1'2,i00,000 in sugar but ends 1923 with a deficit of 1'600,000. The firSt big shipment of Cebu cement has l!lft for the U.:S. If the foreign sources of fresh beef are eliminated, as intended by Congress, the livestock 97 industry will increase rapidly. (The total number of cattle excluding carabaos in the P. I. was only 810,000 in 1922, while the number ofthoseslaughtered during the same year in Manila alone was 24,888). Agriculture should be more developed: of the 55% agricultural land in the P.I. only 15% is cultivated. The 60,000 unemployed actually in the most important cities of the country could easily find a goo'1 Ii ving in agriculture, and contribute to the welfare of the Islands. Last July the import exceeded exports to the amount of 1'7,000,000. If 1'500,000 loss was ca.used by the. last typhoon, the earthquakes, which lasted several days since the end of August on the eastern coast of Mindanao, caused much more damage. JI from here and there. Senators Quezon and Osmella were received by the League of Nations at Geneva on the 25th of August. Senator Osmefia visited the Holv Father in Rome. • Young ladies of Manila ha,·e organized a crusade to teach every Saturday afternoon Catholic Doctrine to poor children. May their example spread over all the towns in the Philippines. foreign The most important interlilational event this last month has been ·the agreement betweea the former Worldwar-allies and Germany upon the Dawes' plan of payment by Germany to the Allies. The German and French premiers had some difficulties in having the agreement approved by their respectiYe legislatures, but the universal desire for some deli.nit conditions of peace gained the upperhand. So even the legislatures of the countries 98 concerned in the new treaty approved the London conference. As a consequence France and Belgium evacuated a few .towns of the occupied Ruhr. At a certain moment peace seemed to be endangered by the threat of the German chancellor to proclaim. to the world that the responsibility of the world-war was not on Germany's side. A well directed note of England and France drove away the thunderbolt. Germany according to the Dawes' plan wrote out a 40,000,000 gold mark loan, and even France promised to subscribe for a part of it. If Germany has won in the deal, the Allies have won in this way that they stick now closer together to enforce upon Get·many the faithful execution of the London conference, a thing which was not done to enforce the Treaty ofVersai.lles and which was the cause of the long delay of Germany to pay her debts to the Allies. As a consequence of the London conference, it may be said, France and England through the mouth of their premiers, pledged their willingness and invited other countries of Europe, before the League of Nations at Geneva, to submit to forced arbitration in case of a dispute between the different nations who adhere to the League; but the question was left unsolved, as no agreement could be arrived at about. the forces to be sent by each nation, member of the League of Nations, in case one of the disputants refused to abide by the decision of the arbiter. This is perhaps the beginning of the establishment of a kind of United States of Europe and a security for a more lasting European peace. ~ For weeks many of the Filipino laborers at Hawai have gone on strike, Of course much misery exists among the strikers. Lately some Hawaiian policemen were sent by the local authorities to deliver from a camp of strikers some laborers willing to return to work. A row followea in which 4 policemen and 19 Filipinos were killed. It has often been seen that aftersome bloodshed, strikes came to a sudden end. Let us hope that the Filipino laborers too will soon get satisfactory conditions, enabling them to return to their work and lessening their hardships. Morocco has been a thorn in the foot of Spain for a long time. These last days Moroccan rebels again and again have attacked the Spanish forces and at the beginning of September killed 70 Spanish soldiers. J' China is again in the grip of civil war. In China, although there is a central Government at Peking, each province is more or less indeuendent in proportion to the ambition of the provincial Governors, who of course may clash with their neighboring Governors. This happened between the Governors of Chekiang and Kiangsu. Since t,he last half of August these two provinces are up in arms against each other. Shang-hai being near the battlefield, the foreign powers gathered a few battleships and landed a few hundred marines to defend the interests and the Ii ves of their subjects in that town and around it. The Central Government would help the Kiangsu Gov.ern. or, but the governor of Manchuria threatens the Peking Government with his armies in case the Central Government aids Kiangsu. Up to the 15th of Sept. little real fighting has been done, but nobody can foretell the future consequences, if the foreigners be attacked. This civil war will have at least this immediate effect that most of the bandits, who are legions all over the celestial empire, will enroll as soldiers with the belligerents, hoping for some free abundant looting and a general pardon of their crimes in the past as bandits. Once the civil war is over, most of the soldiers dismissed will become bandits to plunder the innocent citizens and some missions. If, however, the foreigners intervene, the consequences for foreigners in China might be terrible for some time. 99 The re\"Olution in Honduras seems to have come to an end, thru lack of ammunition among the rebels. Nevertheless the U. S. has landed 100 marines to protect American lives and properties. In the mean time, the revolution in Georgia and Arzubijan (two former independent states in south eastern Russia, taken possession of by the Soviet Government) seems to have won an almost complete victory against the Soviets. Is It Myself or Sombody l:lse ? In a certain hotel, an Irishman, as gay as a lark, and as witty as Irishmen alone can be, passed a great deal of the evening telling stories and cracking jokes to his cosmopolitan aud~ence teeming with laughter. The hotel was about a mile from the town where he had to take an early t.rain next morning. On going to bed he beckoned to one of the servants to call him early in the morning. All right, said the servant. Then the servant thought a plan. A nigger as black as a chimney lodged in the same hotel. At midnight - the golden hour for sleep, and when Mr. Pat was sleeping the sleep of the just, snoring like a rhinoceros with a cold in his head, the servant stole in noiselessly with a pot of black lead and brush in hand. She well knew how to paint and polish her stoves, so she did the same trick on Paddy, painting his face and hands, leaving only the white of his eyes and pink of his lips untouched. At 3 o'clock a. m., a very dark and early hour for Irish people·, she knocked violently at Pat's bedroom door, saying, "Quick! quick, Sir, it is past time." No doubt, Pat jumped up, seized his clothes, jumped into them, took his suit-case, and off he went without even washing himself so as to be in time for the train. Passing by a glazier's fabric he was tempted to look at himself to see if he were up to the mark before getting into the train. "How unfortunate I am ! cried he." "That crazy servant instead of awaking me, awoke the nigger." Faith comes by hearing, says the apostle: not, therefore, by sight. Faith comes first, then understanding. The Catholic Church makes her children chaste by giving them the Bread of Angels for their food and Mary for their nursing Mother.