Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 5, 1907

— By the collapsing of a bridge near Cambrils, Spain, when an express-train was passing, many persons were drowned, and thirty injured.

— In order to protect women travelers, police powers have been conferred upon the Deaconess Home of Toledo, Ohio. Women with caps and badges, but without clubs, are now found at all the steam and electric railway stations.

— The occupation of Mazagan, Morocco, by 1,000 men of the forces of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz is reported. This move, which was accomplished without resistance by transporting the troops upon a British steamer, deprives the pretender, Mulai Hafid, of the last of the coast strongholds.

— The increase of crime in France has aroused a popular demand for the restoration of the death penalty, which has been virtually abolished by the systematic commutation of the sentences of criminals condemned to death. Recently juries throughout the country have recommended having recourse to the guillotine as the only means of stopping the atrocious murders which are of daily occurrence in Paris and in the provinces.

— A strenuous effort is being made in Chicago to close all the saloons on Sunday. November 24 about 200 volunteer detectives visited saloons in different parts of the city to obtain evidence that the Sunday-closing law was being violated. When, three days later, some offenders were brought to trial, those opposing Sunday closing announced that if they were defeated, they would throw all their efforts in favor of closing everything that can possibly be brought under the ban of the law. This will mean the arrest of persons in every branch of business in which the element of noise or the exchange of money enters, except what can be proved to be a work of necessity or charity. They hope by arousing popular sentiment because of the strictness of the enforcement to secure the repeal of the law. The hearing in the cases of the saloon-keepers is set for December 10.

— Great suffering and loss of life have resulted from the recent storms on the Black Sea. Numerous small craft and the steamship “Kaplan” foundered. The total loss of life was more than 200 persons.

— By the passing in London from the Russian embassy to the Japanese embassy of a check for $24,302,200, Russia wiped out her indebtedness to Japan. This sum represents the remainder due Japan for the maintenance of the Russian prisoners.

— Forty-nine cases of kidnapping within two months are reported from Mexico City. The ages of the children range from two to seventeen years. The police are without clues, but the indications are that it is the work of an organized band of kidnappers.

— The annual report of the chief of the Bureau of Manufactures places the year’s product of manufactures at $15,000,000,000. The domestic merchandise exported was $1,854,000,000, an increase of $136,000,000 over the previous year. The exports of cotton cloth to China declined more than $20,000,000.

— The Interstate Commerce Commission bulletin on accidents upon railroads of the United States during the year ended June 30 last, shows the total casualties to be 81,286, or 5,000 persons killed and 76,286 injured. This is an increase of 10,352 casualties, or 775 more killed and 9,577 more injured than the previous year. These figures include only accidents to passengers and to employees while actually on duty on or about trains.

— The investigation of an explosion in Lisbon, Portugal, by which two anarchists who were manufacturing bombs were killed, has revealed the existence of a far-reaching plot against the dictatorship. More than 700 bombs have been seized, and eighty arrests made. Public meetings have been forbidden, and practically all the newspapers of Lisbon are being prosecuted for attacks upon the king and the papal nuncio. Different political elements have joined in threatening the establishment of a republic in case parliamentary government is not restored. The crown prince, Luiz Phillipe, is reported to have been banished to Villa Vicoso, a royal residence in the forests a hundred miles from Lisbon, for remonstrating with his father, King Carlos, for continuing the administrative dictatorship, giving as his reason that it was turning Portugal into a hot-bed of anarchists and endangering the inheritance. On the other hand, the dictatorship of Franco is said to be a financial success, as it has succeeded in reducing the year’s deficit from $6,000,000 to $2,000,000, without increasing the taxation. The government has issued the following official denial of the published reports: “The fantastic rumors concerning members of the royal family, the attitude of the military forces and political leaders, as well as the stories of an outbreak against order, are absolutely without foundation.”