Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 18, 1909

— China has ordered a complete census of the empire, this to include Chinese abroad as well as in the home land. The returns for families are to be completed by 1910 and for individuals by 1912.

— The steamer “Empress of China,” which arrived at Vancouver, B. C., on March 13, brought the news that three villages were destroyed recently in Java by the top of Mount Kedtj ana falling off.

— After eight years of cruising, the battle-ship “Illinois” has been ordered into the naval station at Charlestown, Mass., for extensive repairs, the cost for which will be about two million dollars.

— Coal operators and the representatives of the hard-coal miners met at Philadelphia on March 11, when the demands of the coal-miners were presented to the operators. The latter refused absolutely to yield to the demands of the men.

— Complete arrangements have been made for the construction of a railway in Chile, twelve hundred miles long, from Arica to La Ligua, near Santiago. The projector of this enterprise is Judge E. P. Coyn, of New York, but the funds are subscribed principally by English and German financial houses.

— In urging before the New York Assembly the creation of a commission to investigate the question of the unemployed, it was declared that in New York City alone there were two hundred thousand men and women out of employment. Seventy per cent of these were farm laborers who had drifted in from the country.

— The first step toward effecting a change in the date of presidential inaugurations was taken in Congress on March 6, when Senator Depew introduced a resolution providing for the submission of a Constitutional amendment to the various States, fixing the date of future inaugurations as the last Wednesday in April.

— A tornado practically wrecked the city of Brinkley, Ark., on the night of March 8. Thirty persons were killed, and sixty injured, and property to the extent of about one million dollars was destroyed. On the night of March 9 a tornado visited the town of Cuthbert, Ga., wrecking many houses, and killing seven persons.

— The two steamers, “H. F. Dimock,” of New York, and “Horatio Hall,” of Maine, collided off Cape Cod, Mass., on March 10. The “Hall” went down within half an hour, and the “Dimock,” with the “Hall’s” passengers on board, was beached when it was seen that she could not keep afloat. No lives were lost.

— As a result of the work of the Russian parliament, the government has decided to abate as far as possible the trial of cases by martial law in ordinary times. By the orders now issued all cases that can be tried in the civil courts will be turned over to them by the military courts, and the death penalty will be inflicted in the most serious cases only and after careful consideration of all the evidence.

— More than one hundred persons were poisoned by meat eaten at a banquet at Vincennes, Ind., last week.

— President Taft has called Congress to convene in extra session on March 15. It is understood that this extra session is called for the purpose of revising the tariff.

— There is to be erected in Washington, D. C., a tower six hundred feet high, for the sending and receiving of wireless telegraph messages. The contract for its construction requires that the apparatus with which the tower is to be equipped must be able to send messages three thousand miles. The tower and apparatus will cost the government one hundred eighty-two thousand six hundred dollars.

— In spite of denials from the presidents of Nicaragua and Salvador that a state of war exists between those countries, reports from Mexico City state that a battle has taken place on the sea between a Salvadoran gunboat and three gunboats belonging to Nicaragua. In case it is determined that a state of war exists, both Mexico and the United States will intervene, in harmony with the provisions of the treaty of peace signed in Washington by the representatives of the Central American governments.

— There are continued developments in the line of flying-machines. At Baddeck, Nova Scotia, the aerodrome “Silver Dart” is making successful flights over a frozen lake. The Wright brothers are still making successful flights in France. Mr. W. J. Richardson, of Dayton, Ohio, the home of the Wright brothers, has constructed a flying-machine, which, on its first trial, mounted from the ground to a height of about three hundred feet, and remained in the air for thirty-eight minutes. The inventor of this new flying-machine claims that it is structurally perfect, and that he can remain in the air with it twenty-four hours. Count Zeppelin’s great dirigible balloon is making successful flights at Friedrichshafen, Germany.

— The Standard Oil Company has won in the famous twenty-nine-million-dollar fine case, which was finally decided in the Federal Court at Chicago, on March 10. Because of the ruling of Judge Anderson in this case, the government has decided to drop five other suits of a similar nature against the oil company. It is the opinion of the federal attorneys that the decision will render it impossible to convict shippers for violation of class tariff regulations. This decision does not indicate that the oil company did not do the thing it was charged with doing, that is, accepting from the railroad companies on oil shipments the rebate of a portion of the freight charges while other shippers were compelled to pay the common rate. The purpose of the Elkins law was to prohibit transactions of that kind; but through legal technicalities the purpose of the lawmakers has been frustrated, and the law which was designed to guarantee equality of service to all has been rendered null and void. Concerning this decision a prominent law officer of the government says: “An attorney who could not protect a client from the charge of rebating if those decisions are sustained, would not be worthy of his hire.” In this view of the matter the Elkins law is practically nil.