Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1898 — BITS OF INFORMATION. [ARTICLE]

BITS OF INFORMATION.

The lowa state fair has been abandoned for 1898 on account of the trans-Mlsalsslppl exposition at Omaha. The Swiss national council has aiiKgcstcd that the bundesrath consider whether ft eould not -offer to mediate between the United States and Spain. At aTmeetHig of the board of regents of the University of California, Mrs. Phoebe Hearst offered to construct and equip nt her own expense a building for the col,ego of mines. , The coast survey steamers Patterson,

HCArtnur ar.a ueaney Mu we nsn cummission steamer Albatross have been turned over to the navy department for service in case of need. The afternoon newspapers of London unanimously express the opinion that both the United States and Spain are heading straight for war. There is also a disposition to blame President McKinley for his alleged indecision. The Spanish premier, Senor Segasta, in an InterviewTVednesday morning said, according to a special dispatch from Madrid, that he thought the net do —mere- than they • had..already. cLqm, in the. way of intervention. The navy department has decided to buy the trans-Atlantic liners St. Paul and St Louis. The vessels at present belong to the American line. and under the terms of the subsidy q.ct are at the disposal of the government in times of emergency. A special dispatch from Rome announces that the pope has again telegraphed to Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, begging him to use his influence wjth the other sovereigns in behalf of peace between the United States and Spain. The Spanish government is making extraordinary efforts to obtain all the munitions of war possible. She recently gave to one of the most prominent English firms unlimited orders for all the munitions of war it could deliver up to the Ist of May. Bishop Satteriee, of the Episcopal church, has issued an address to the members c.f his diocese, calling attention to the threatened war with Spain and requesting all to pray God to give wisdom to congress and those in power that the right thing may he done. The British steamer Arcadia, which has arrived in New York from St. John and other ports in Puerto Rico, reports that there were five Spanish warships at anchor at St. John, the Vizcaya, the Admirar.te Oquendo, two gunboats and one disnatch boat