The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-10-13
EDITORIAL NOTES

AU1 VAAAEAA NV = LIZ
The farst Christian missionaries IN
the Feejee or Fiji Islands were Rev.
William Cross and David Cargin, who
srrived on Lakemba, One Of the ISL
snds Of the group. seventy eight years
ago, Oct. IL, 1885. These two pioneers
were British Wesleyans, who had been
engaged in mission work on the neigh
boring Tonga islands. They were pro-
vided with letters of recommendation
from King George of Tonga to. His
Majesty the King of Lakenabay and
were kindly received by that naked
xnonarch- The Tongan tongue was
well understood by the Fee5ee island
ezz. so the missionaries were able to
converse readily with the people of
their new field. Tongan Christians
also went to Ilalzor1ba to aid the mis-
sionarles. and within a year they had
made such progress as to prevent the
massacre and eating of the crew of
the Active, which went ashore on
Lakomba- In 1888 three missionar-
les from England arrived with a print
ing press. The Gospels OF St Mat
thew and ST. Mark and the first part
OF the conference Catechism were
translated and printed Under the in
f1uence of the missionaries war, muir
der and cannabilism soon ceased, but
the natives long refused to give up
the practice OF poIygamy.
The arst day of the American fnan-
eial panic Of 1syA fell on the unluclxy
thirteenth of CSeober. On that day
all of the banks of New York city.
save one, suspended specie payments,
and their example was soon followed
by practically all of the banks of
the United states The effects of the
panic were soon felt. in Canada and
England, and the latter country was
plunged into dire comme rcial depres-
sion because OF American failures. Al
though there had been periods Of COM
TnerciaI and financial depression in the
United States previous to 1857. the
panic of that year was the first to
involve the entire country. Only three
banks in the whole United States paid
cash Throughout the panic, the most
Important OF these being the Chemical
Bank or New York, which earned the
title of 'sO1d Bullion by successfully
weathering the storm and refusing to
Iofn with the other institutions in sus-
pending payments The other banks
revenged themselves later by depriv-
ing the Chemical Bank OF Clearing
House privileges for several months.
The panic was due to excessive land
speculations and caused 5.123 CONNER
$500. ooo, ooo-
Columbus Day. the twelfth of oc-
f0ber. the anniversary of the dfscov-
cry OF America by Christopher Column
bus In 1882, Is now celebrated as a
legal holiday in more than half of the
states Of the Union, and in Brazil
and Costa Rica- A movement has
been inaugurated to make the date
general Pau-American holiday to be
observed simultaneously by all the peo-
Pies from Alaska and northern Cam
ada to Patagonia and TERRA del F~ue-
go
On this day in the years to come,
OF the western world viii unite in
honoring the memory OF Americas dis
coverer. For twenty-four hours they
viii forget boundary lines, and rejoice
In being simply Americans. True, Uncle
Sam has sought to monopoIize the
name american for his own people
to the exclusion of the other Ameri-
cans, but that is more his misfortune
than his fault. The old gentleman
with the striped suit and the goatee
has doubtless racked his brain until it
ached many a time in searching for
common and distinguished appeI1ation
FER his subjects.
II the Columbus Day project is ever
fully realized the immortal discoverer
will be celebrated by white, black, red
and yellow, and all shades between,
living under twenty-five different flags,
ana under a wide variety of forms of
government. ranging from democratic
monarchy to despotic republic
Within the last year several new
theories regarding Columbus have been
aired by historians Prof Enrique
Maria de Arribas Turul, g. noted
Spanish historian has written a small
volume, just published, in which he
attempts to prove that Columbus was
q Spanish Jew. He points out that
the discoverer always signed his name
stEhristObaI Colon which is the Span
fNh form of christopher Columbus.
The Spanish historian asserts, and
backs up his assertion with many old
documents, that Columbus was born
In the town Of Pontevedra,, SPAIN and
not in Genoa, as is generally believed
The maiden name of the discoverer's
teresa, and Prof Arribas y Turu1 has
discovered in the Pontevedra town ar
ckfves q document showing a co-part-
nership between two Jewish merchants
Colon and F-onterosa- What could be
more natural inquiries the historian,
than a subsequent nuptial partner
ship, especially since the Jews of those
days made It a point to cement their
industrial partnerships by intermar-
sriaga?' Other documents show that
the Spanish authorities executed sew
era1 of the Colon family for the
crime of being Jews. although they
had embraced the Christian faith. and
the historian suggests that fear of
sharing the same fate caused Column
bus to ever afterward claim Genoa as
his birthplace THE mere suspicion
Of his being related to the Spanish
CoIons would have been fatal to his
projects" The historian adds: IF
fhn Church, which opposed his projects
"a =sfblicaI and other grounds had
Known Colon to be a Jew, their Cath
sic sHAjesties would never have been
1ermitlted to dt out Jew to prove
Nzble geography was radically
yong
recent number of the Mercuro de
Nsmnnn eqmtalrB an aFtdciRrbx M Henri