Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 22, 1909

— The government revenue collectors have seized a distillery at Baltimore, Md., containing 8,000 barrels of whisky, for alleged fraud in the matter of revenue payments.

— Damage estimated at one million dollars has been caused by ice jams in the Niagara River at the Falls, which have backed up the water of the river to an extent never before known.

— There being many American teachers and missionaries in Persia, the State Department at Washington has notified the Persian government that the United States would hold Persia responsible for the protection of these persons.

— Wheat in the Chicago exchange continues to increase in price, and the one chiefly responsible for the high price declares that it will go still higher. Because of the high price of flour incident to this rise in the price of wheat, bakers are threatening to raise the price of bread, and some are predicting bread riots unless conditions can be altered.

— The Japanese government is said to be negotiating with an American builder of submarine boats for the purchase of plans for a new kind of submarine boat of smaller size than the type now in use, but of double speed.

— A severe earthquake shock, accompanied by subterranean rumblings, was experienced at Lima, Peru, April 12. Two days previous the seismograph at Albany, N. Y., recorded a severe earthquake at a probable distance of 6,000 miles, but its exact whereabouts have not been definitely located as yet.

— A report from St. Petersburg states that the negotiations between Bulgaria and Turkey looking to the settlement of the dispute between those countries are now taking an unsatisfactory course, and have reached a practical deadlock. There is talk of mobilizing the Bulgarian army unless Turkey shows a more conciliatory spirit.

— Because of the tariff on manufactured silk brought into this country, a combination of French silk manufacturers in southern France have decided to move their $10,000,000 silk manufacturing plant to the United States. The largest field for their product has been in the United States, and the removal of their plant will enable them to reach the same market without paying the heavy duty.

— The final ceremony in the beatification of Joan of Arc, at St. Peter’s, Rome, was appointed for April 18. Following the service, the pope was to descend to the basilica “to venerate the portrait of the Maid.” After that date Joan of Arc may be venerated by Catholics everywhere, and altars may be erected to her in all Catholic churches. The pope will soon publish a decree proclaiming the Maid protectress of France. Sixty French bishops and 40,000 pilgrims are expected in Rome to take part in or view the ceremony.

— At the examination of candidates for ministerial license in the New York Presbytery on April 12, the majority of the candidates examined were refused license for the time being because of their extremely “modern” views regarding theology, Christ and his work, and the sacrament. It was stated by some of the examiners that the answers given by some of these theological graduates would have delighted infidels, and they expressed their determination to go back of the graduates to the professors who are responsible for the views held by these young men.

— Dr. Clay, of the University of Pennsylvania, has been bringing to light interesting discoveries from the unearthed library of Nippur. This ancient Babylonian city has been identified as the Calneh of Genesis. It is shown from the unearthed records which are now being translated, that business transactions very much like our own were carried on in those far-off centuries. There are copies of bills of sale, leases, ejectment proceedings, receipts for taxes, notes, and transfers of property. One contract has been translated in which a slave girl is given as the security for a debt. It is therein stipulated that during this contract no interest shall be paid on the debt, and there shall be no price on the service of the slave, but she was to be returned when the debt was cancelled.

— Since acquiring the island of Formosa in 1895, the Japanese have increased the railroad mileage of the island from 62 miles to 334. This railway extension was built under government supervision at nearly $2,000,000 less than the estimates.

— The present temperance wave is not restricted to America. In Germany a strong indictment against the liquor traffic has been drawn up by leading scientists and college professors. Physicians of Denmark have issued a statement to the effect that one death in every seven in that country is caused by the drinking of liquor. Switzerland has banished absinthe, though the country loses a large revenue by the act. It is said that England is showing less interest than are these continental countries in measures for the eradication of the intemperance evil.

— Recent discoveries in regard to the nature of soil fertility have suggested the employment of various novel fertilizers. Manganese has been applied with success, and now magnesia is being employed as a fertilizer for cereals, potatoes, beets, and leguminous crops. The magnesia was applied in the form of kainit, or Stassfurt potash salt, which contains fourteen per cent of magnesium sulphate. In the experiments the yield of sugar-beets was increased 4,500 pounds an acre; with grains the increase varied from one seventh to one fifth of the total crop; the crop of potatoes was increased by 6,000 pounds an acre, and was rendered immune to the attacks of mildew fungus; and the yield of hay from natural meadow land was increased 1,150 pounds an acre.

— On April 13 the Turkish troops at Constantinople made a violent demonstration before the parliament building, arrested all the members of the committee of union and progress, and demanded a change in the government. Rioting during the day resulted in the death of seventeen and the wounding of thirty persons. The resignation of the grand vizier was accepted by the sultan, and the following day Tewfik Pasha was appointed to that position. The committee of union and progress knew of the agitation against the new régime, but knew that they could rely upon the officers of the army. It is now stated that the sultan has been working, by means of secret emissaries, among the rank and file of the troops. These have rebelled against their officers and brought about the present conditions. On April 15 mutinous marines captured the commander of one of the Turkish war-ships, and hanged him at the sultan’s gate. This is the commander who had trained the guns of his ship on the sultan’s palace at the time when the sultan was forced to grant the new constitution. It is now charged that his execution was carried out on the sultan’s order. The Young Turks are depending upon the third army corps, which is now marching on Constantinople; but the situation has many complications, and no one can foresee what will take place. It is reported that the Albanians are in revolt, and that the Moslems are killing Armenians and Christians in a number of places, pillaging their property, and burning their homes. The European powers are undecided as yet whether to take action or not.