TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12961, 14 November 1907, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

One of the most interestHow Not ing addressee delivered at to tho recent Church ConPreach, gress at Yarmouth was that of Sir Squire Bancroft on "The Art of Reading and Preaching." Tho famous actor's address drew the largest gathering of the Congress, and his severe criticisms of clerical elocution were received with loud applause. Hβ said that when ho called to mind the care and money spent on the splendid choral services in cathedrals, and the pains taken to acquire the skill to chant the Litany melodiously, ho asked, in wonder, why the eamo labour and money were notspent in teaching young clergymen how to read. He had been struck with amazement at glaring instances of false emphasis in tho dull recital of tho Order for Morning Prayer, a sublime monument of learning and piety which should be spared such treatment. Ho had listened to the tales of tho death of Absalom, the deatli of Jezebel, Daniel in tho lion's den, and the Prodigal's return, told as if theso moving stories were little .more dramatic than so many stale problems in Euclid. "I havo heard the death chapter from tho Corinthians so droned and mouthed, oven in tho warning presence of the King of Terrors, as to make the hallowed bones of tho Apostlo who queathed it to humanity turn in their resting-place." "Why were so many clergy apparently • ignorant of the power of naturalness? Why were they simple, unaffected, and delightful companions six days in the week, and artificial on the seventh, inviting, " it might be, their congregations to attend some meeting or harmless amusement in a sing-song voice, with mournful intonation, well calculated to keep everyone away. Good sermons were forgotten simply because they were badly delivered. Every curate should pass an examination bofore he was allowed to mount a pulpit, for a bad preacher would empty a church more easily than a good preacher would fill one. "Oh, there be' preachers I have heard preach—and heard others praise, and that highly— not to speak it profanely, who neither had the accent of Christian, pagan, nor man, they imitated humanity so abominably." The amusing feature of the address was that parts of it could not be heard. The actor spoke of tho need of the clergy making themselves clearly hoard, and forgot to speak up himeelf. Needless to say, hie hearers enjoyed the joke immensely. Mr Winston Churchill Wineton is said to have planned Churchill's am absolutely ideal Tour. winter tour for hie trip through the Mediterranean to East Africa. Malta— Cyprus—Aden — Mombasa — Nairobi —•Uganda—-the Upper Nile—Khartoum r-Oairo—Malta, is the itinerary, and to Mombam bo will travel in a warship. Cyprus, where Mr Churchill had to decline a .request for annexation to Greece, ie out of the tourist track, for communication is irregular, and accommodation i» not of the best. But, in the opinion of the "Daily Mail," there is no more delightful place for a holiday. "Nowhere can one find eudh superb remains of medievalism; nowhere, eavo, perhaps, un parts of Greece, can one encounter such delicate instances of refusal to move with the times." As England pays an annual deficit on the islamd budget, any ideas which Mr Churchill may bring; back about development, will be very welcome • In East Africa the impetuous young Under-Secretary will find plenty of - problems. The country is governed on the Indian legal system, wihich is said to be quite unsuited to it. There ii a. land question', a game question, a railway freights question, and an acute Asiatic question. The whites object to the Hindus, who \rore originally imported for railway construction amd transport work, and are fighting for tho reservation to Europeans of those tracts of land specially suitable for white settlement. The abolition of slavery requires tactful handling. The ihope is expressed that Mr Churchill will not allow himeelf to be influenced entirely by official views, but will hold councils of the whitee Bind of the natives. Mr Churchill will see the ravages of the sleeping sickness and the fight that is being niade against it, and, further north, whether the Belgians are active commercially on the Upper Nile. Khartoum and its neighbourhood will not be new to him, for he fought there with Kitchener. And iso through' Efcypt back to Malta, where the natives ore entirely dissatisfied with the Constitution we have given them. The number of countries with troubles included in tho tour should exempt him from the charge that the tour is a picnic. It is likely to give him all the pro-occupation ho may need. Perhaps it will eober him a little, and his colleagues will not be so sorry to have him baok, as the "Punch" cartoon suggested. Lord Elgin was depicted bidding him an affectionate farewell and enjoining him not to hurry back. Standard Oil is encomStandard passed by law suit*. BoOil, sides the case in which Judge Landis imposed his famous fine of 29,000,000 dollars, cases have been set on foot in the Federal Court, and in tho State Courts of Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, Missouri, Louisiana, and Tennessee. About GOOO indictments are involved, says the New York correspondent of the Sydney "Daily Telegraph," and it has been estimated that if the company should be found guilty on all counts, and penalties should be imposed on the scale of the Chicago fine, tho aggregate of fines would bo over 126,000,000 dollars. Tho enquiry instituted by the Federal Government has elicited some remarkable facts. In tho 24 years from 1882 to 1906, Mr J. l>. Kockefeller received from his Standard Oil shares 143,500,000 dollars. At one time his holdings of oil stock were valued at 243,000,000 dollars. Theso figures are quite exclusive of his vast investments in railway, mining, and other enterprises. Tho earnings of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana, against which Judge Landie gave his decision; are shown to have been over 1000 per cont. on a capitalisation ot 1,000,000 dollars. In tho period 1899----1906, the profits of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which controls the subsidiary companies in other States, amounted to 490,315,931 dol-

lars, of. which 308,359,403 dolftws were distributed to stockholders. %* enquiry also revealed the fact, ihitherto carefully concealed, that the Trust controlled by stock ownership ovor 70 companies engaged in the refining and transportation, of oil. A we!l4cnown paper advises the attorneys of the Federal Government to note an inci-. dent that occurred recently in Massachusetts. Three men wero convicted of stealing apples worth 45 cent* from the grounds of 3lr H. H. Rogors, the actual head of the Trust. In tho aggregate the fines amounted to 45 dollars, exactly 10,000 per cent, of the value of the apples. "Tho amount involved in tho rebating cases in which the Standard Oil Company was convicted bears something liko c relation in values to tho apples taken from Mr Rogcrs's orchard, when tho fines imposed are considered as a basis. The fines inflicted in each instance of these offences against tho law are about 10,000 per cent, on the amounts involved in the offonoos. Now, if the Landis fine of 29,240,000 dollars is excessive, tho fine of 45 dollars inflicted for stealing 4o crnts' worth of apples must bo. Por contra, if the fino of 45 dollars is reasonable, the fino of 29,240,000 dolare must bo. It would, therefore, appear that Mr Rogers has been most indiscreet in permitting the prosecntion of tliis combination of apple stealors."