Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 15, 1909

— At Chicago, on April 7, 10,000 lake sailors went on strike because of the refusal of the owners of the vessels to recognize the union.

— According to the latest report on the coast defenses of the United States, there are now mounted 376 12-inch mortars; 105 12-inch, 126 10-inch, and 94 8-inch breech-loading guns; besides 406 rapid-fire guns in position.

— While passing through the Straits of Magellan on April 4, the British steamer “Oak Branch” was wrecked, and her captain and twenty others are missing. The remainder of the passengers and crew were landed safely.

— By a recent edict of the Chinese government, local self-government is to be established in all the cities of China. Voters must be Chinese citizens twenty-five years of age and taxpayers; but no opium-smoker, soldier, policeman, priest, or government employee will have the right to vote.

— On April 7 the American Sugar Refining Company paid to the United States collector of customs at New York the sum of $871,806 as a result of the lawsuit brought against the company for alleged fraudulent weighing of the sugar at the piers. There is still about $300,000 due to satisfy the judgment.

— Wheat in the Chicago pit, on April 8, was quoted at $1.26⅜ a bushel, with the prospect that it would go still higher. The one who has profited most by this price, and who is regarded as being largely responsible for it, is reported to have “cleaned up” $5,000,000 within the past few days.

— King Victor Emmanuel of Italy visited Messina on April 7, and reports the conditions there as being worse than immediately after the earthquake. Nothing is being done to clear away the ruins, and only the sea front is available for traffic, nor are there any sanitary arrangements whatever.

— One of the largest business deals in the history of the country was consummated on April 1, when the immense coal field owned by J. V. Thompson, of Uniontown, Pa., comprising 100,000 acres, was sold to a combination of independent steel manufacturing concerns. The amount of money involved in the transfer is $50,000,000.

— The International Reform Bureau began, at Washington, on April 4, the celebration of the first hearing on the Blair Sunday-Rest Bill, which took place twenty-one years ago. Ex-Senator Blair, who is now president of the International Reform Bureau, gave an address upon this occasion on the church’s duty to lead out in such “reform” work.

— A Denver inventor has perfected a phonographic lock for safes, which he claims can be unlocked only by the owner of the safe, who must speak into the phonographic apparatus. In the test a dozen men spoke into the apparatus the word which the inventor used, but it would respond only to his voice. The one who speaks the word on which the safe is locked must himself speak that word to unlock it.

— At the request of the State Department at Washington, the British government refused former President Castro, of Venezuela, permission to land on the island of Trinidad. The Venezuelan government still refuses him permission to land at any Venezuelan port. He was allowed by France to land on the island of Martinique; but France, on request from the State Department at Washington, has compelled him to reembark for Europe.

— A despatch from Teheran, Persia, states that a tragedy is impending at Tabriz. The city is occupied by the revolutionaries, and is surrounded by government troops. The capture of the city seems certain, and it is declared that the inhabitants are almost sure to be put to death. Thousands are staring death in the face with the knowledge that there is no escape. The shah’s commander-in-chief has been killed by a bomb thrown by a revolutionary, and it is reported that 10,000 government troops have determined to join the rebels.

— Ninety-five of Kentucky’s 119 counties have now voted out the saloons. Two measures which are now before the Texas Legislature and which have been reported favorably by the committee to which they were referred, will, if passed, practically eliminate the barroom from Texas. Under the first measure, liquor can not be sold in less quantities than one quart, nor be drunk upon the premises where sold, and dealers in malt liquors must pay the same license as dealers in whisky. Under the second measure, any violation of the local option law is made a felony. A despatch from Detroit, Mich., states that in the local option election just held, in which twenty-seven counties participated, nineteen have voted against the continuance of the saloon.

— Five men and a fishing schooner were lost on Lake Erie, on April 7, in the heavy gale that swept over the lake and its vicinity on that day.

— The steamship “Indiana,” plying between Panama and San Francisco, ran upon the rocks in Magdalena Bay, Lower California, on April 4, and was wrecked. Her passengers were safely transferred to other vessels. The vessel was valued at $600,000.

— The annual report of the Telephone and Telegraph Company (The Bell Company) shows that the company has in operation over nine million eight hundred thousand miles of wire and over four million stations. The calls average about six billion a year. The balance sheet of the company shows total assets of $680,044,200.

— The Payne tariff bill passed the House of Representatives on April 9. The effort to put lumber on the free list was lost, while hides and tea and coffee are to come in free. Petroleum, both crude and refined, is also on the free list, and by an oversight the products of petroleum were left free of duty. It is the general expectation that the bill will be considerably remodeled in the Senate. The bill provides that 300,000 tons of sugar may be admitted duty free from the Philippines each year.

— The agitation in England over the question of building more battle-ships in order to insure the protection of the British empire against possible German aggression has been echoed around the world. The Canadian press and people have been agitating the question of building battle-ships to add to the British navy, and Australia and New Zealand have taken definite action to the same end. The colonies, especially Australia and New Zealand, feel that they are menaced by the growing power of the German navy. Now Austria has decided to build three of the most effective pattern of battle-ships. It is believed that this action on Austria’s part has been inspired by Germany to offset the action of England’s colonies. As Germany’s course made it possible for Austria to carry out her program of annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria would be expected to assist Germany in case of a conflict with England. The British people are thoroughly aroused, and an earnest, set purpose has been developed not to permit Germany to rise above England in naval strength. Concerning the race for naval supremacy now on between England and Germany, the Washington Post of April 7 says, editorially: “The German army is the most formidable in the world, and that accounts for the insolence with which Berlin deals with Paris and St. Petersburg. And now Germany has challenged England, and the stake is Australia, New Zealand, and other British dependencies. Less things have made great wars, and this may make the biggest war of the world’s history. The blood of both nations is up, and one or the other must retire from the rivalry or fight.” England has also been recently aroused to the fact that she is far behind in the matter of navigating the air, while Germany is now building a dozen dirigible air-ships. This matter likewise is to be taken up with energy by the British government.