St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-01-02
EVENTS IN 1900.

ber-SCOr1ns1 O1SdSCcFS, rlre5 ana
shipwrecks - Political, Sporting,
Miscellaneous and Personal Items.
The last year Of the nineteenth cen
+nry has been one of unusual interest
IN International affairs. Great Britain
hogan the year with a succession of
military disasters in South Africa. For
a time it seemed possible for the Beers
to maintain their independence in
spite of the heavy odds against them,
Int toward the close of February the
capture of General Cronje with his
army turned the tide, and from that
time on the British gained steadily
upon their clever foe until the union
lack was raised over Johannesburg
and Pretoria. President Kruger's flight
from point to point in the Transvaal
and his final departure for Europe
were taken as indicating that the Boer
resistance was at an end. But the
burghers of the Orange Free State and
the Transvaal Dutch continued to dis
pute British supremacy by armed re-
sistance. Before completing her con-
0uests Great Britain announced the
annexation of the territory of the Boer
republics without eliciting a protest
from other nations, although the people
of many countries, especially France,
had expressed strong sympathy with
the Boer cause. The progress Of the
war in South Africa, owing to its pc
culiar character, was closely studied
by military men.
The assassination of King Humbert
of Italy gave ground for fear that that
country was on the eve Of a social revo-
luton, but the event passed without
local disturbance.
In September the miners of the an
thracte coal fields in Pennsylvania
struck for higher rates and the modi-
fication of certain rules imposed by the
operators. The struggle promised to
become one of the bitterest in the his
tory Of labor troubles in America, but
ended after 80 days duration in a vic
tory for the miners.
i ut uGSLl uNllOu NY ulc Vi luS ulSIOl-
lc Theatre Francois was loss to dra-
matte art felt by the whole world. A
marine disaster of an unusually DIS
tTeSsing character was the burning at
their docks of the North German
Lloyd's ocean steamers Saale, Bremen
and Main and the loss of 302 persons
by fire and drowning. In mine ex-
plOson at Schofeld, Utah, 400 lives
were lost, and in an explosion of chem
4 lcals followed by fire, in down town
n New York 43 were killed and over 100
injured. The record of fires and great
N calamities during the year was not
a large.
Among the notable deaths of the year
N to be recounted are Count Muravieff,
n the foremost statesman of Russia; John
"A Sherman, formerly a powerful party
~ leader; Professor Max Muller, the dis
81 tipguished English philologist; r. D.
Blackmore, the English novelist;
q Charles Dudley Warner, a noted Amer
historian; Frank Bicknell Carpenter
an artist who won distinction as
NJ painter Of portraits, notably that Of
Lincoln, and Munkacsy, the Hungarian
# painter.
The total eclipse of the sun in May
n was an unusual astronomical event
and attracted the attention of scien-
II fists the world over.
The year 1900 closed the twelfth cen
sus period, and the returns were made
4 to cover the date of June 1,
The population of the 40 states of the
4 Union, Alaska, Hawaii and the Indians
on reservations is 1925, 900 as against
4 $1,000, 756 in $780, The total increase
q In inhabitants in the last decade is 49,
Il 225 AGA.
n The census bulletin for cities gives
n the population of the 159 cities having
N $4,000 inhabitants or more in 1900.
The 159 cities combined have popu-
lation in 1900 of 19,694,625 as compar-
ed with a population for the same cit
N les of 1855, 4S9 in 1890 and of $685.
# 427 in 1880.
The absolute increase in the popula-
ton of these cities from 1890 to 1900
was 1889, 1876, or S2,426 less than the
absolute increase from 1880 to 1890,
when 1t was 4,921,562. The percent
age Of increase in population of the
l50 cities from 1890 to 1900 was 325 as
against 49.5 from 1880 to 1890. A tritie
less than one-fourth of the population
# of the whole country dwell in 1853 cit
A les having $4,000 inhabitants or over.
There are In round numbers $780,
M DO0 separate farms In the United States
Z and territories and about 100000 man
ufacturing institutions. an increase in
ten years of 10000 plants. The in
crease of manufactures in the west
and south has been remarkable.
The census shows that in Rhode Is
land there are less than two acres of
"a area to each inhabitant and in New
"a York and Pennsylvania about four
acres to each inhabitant. Nevada,
with an area more than twice as large
as New York or Pennsylvania, has
1000 acres to one inhabitant.
Early in the year the missionaries in
" China began to report local disturb
ances. In May the antiforeign society
known as the Boxers marched toward
Peking. The legation guard was in
creased, and in June an international
III force sent from TalII tO the relief of