p. 20 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 26, 1907

Current Mention

— An explosion in the military magazine at Palermo, Italy, December 18, killed twenty-five persons and injured one hundred others.

— The Jews have been ordered to depart from Vladivostok, Russia, within four days. Jewish property holders are given eighteen days in which to liquidate.

— The troops of Mulai Hafid, the rival sultan of Morocco, have met with some reverses in engagements, and the “Sultan of the South” has retired to Morocco city.

— An encounter between a company of French troops and Moorish tribesmen occurred near Ain-Sfa, Algeria, December 16, in which the French were victorious, although twelve men were wounded. The Moors were driven from Ain-Sfa and two other villages, which were then destroyed.

— The Supreme Court of Illinois on December 18 decided that the anti-cigarette law recently passed by the legislature does not really prohibit the sale of cigarettes. The court holds that the legislature had the power to prohibit the sale of pure tobacco cigarettes, but it has not exercised that power.

— It is reported that the construction of a telegraph line into Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, has been sanctioned by the throne. Also other modern conveniences, as hospitals, schools, and a mail service, will be given to the city. It is also reported that request has been made to publish a newspaper.

— The trial of forty-nine members of the second Russian Douma and some soldiers, which has been secretly conducted, has found all but ten guilty, and sentences of four and five years’ labor in the mines, to be followed by deportation to Siberia, have been imposed, while ten deputies have been sentenced to perpetual exile in Siberia.

— Unusually severe weather is reported from all the transatlantic steamers which were due to reach New York the last of the week ending December 14. The velocity of the wind was greater than some of the instruments could register, and is thought to have been seventy-five or eighty miles an hour. All the vessels were from one to two days late in reaching port.

— Another mine disaster caused by an explosion of some sort occurred near Virginia City, Ala., December 16, in which sixty-one lives were lost. The reports of the recovery of the bodies had not been published before the papers told of an explosion of gas in a coal-mine at Jacobs Creek, Pa., on the nineteenth. No hope is entertained for those within the mine at the time, who probably number about 250.

— The American fleet of sixteen battle-ships, under command of Admiral Evans, left Hampton Roads, Va., December 16, on the cruise of about 14,000 miles to San Francisco, Cal. President Roosevelt reviewed the fleet from the yacht “Mayflower.” The beginning of this long cruise has provoked varying comment in the press of European nations. While it is generally favorable, some profess to see therein the portent of war between the United States and Japan.

— It was announced from Copenhagen, Denmark, December 18, that wireless telephone messages had been transmitted successfully between that city and Berlin, Germany, a distance of 200 miles. Two days later it was reported that the German ministry of war had bought the rights of the inventor, Professor Poulson. The battle-ship fleet now on its way to the Pacific is conducting a series of experiments in wireless telephony between the vessels of the fleet.

— During the week word came through the American consul at Iquique, Chile, that serious trouble was threatened at that place, as 4,000 strikers from the nitrate mines in the vicinity had taken possession of the port, and more were coming. Later reports confirm his fears, as one man was killed, and several injured, in an encounter with the authorities. There are reported to be fully 30,000 men on strike, and on the twenty-first seven men were killed and sixteen wounded at Lagunas in an encounter between troops and strikers.

— The report of the Commissioner General of Immigration and Naturalization for the year ending June 30, 1907, shows the total immigration to have been the largest ever recorded, amounting to 1,285,349, which is an increase of more than seventeen per cent over the previous year, and more than twenty-five per cent larger than in 1905. The immigration of Chinese has practically stopped, but that of the Japanese has nearly doubled, without including those that secretly crossed the borders from Canada and Mexico. The report shows a large increase in the number of immigrants landed at Southern ports.

— The Central American Peace Conference, which has been in session in Washington the past month, closed the twentieth. The members have signed eight distinct conventions which are embodied in formal treaties to be presented to each of the five republics for ratification. Its great achievement is the agreement for a permanent international court, to be known as the Central American Court of Justice, whose sessions are to be held in Costa Rica. Each of the five republics is to appoint one judge. The jurisdiction of the court extends over practically all international disputes that can arise in Central America, and the findings of the court are to be final.

— The Persian Parliament has issued a manifesto to the nations of the world, explaining the present constitutional difficulties and appealing for assistance. It sets forth that the late shah granted a constitution, and that the reigning shah confirmed it. But that persons who were formerly accustomed to opposing the people have misled the present ruler into the belief that the constitution is the cause of the present difficulties. The nation wants nothing but peace, but in view of the attack of the reactionary members of the government, it will defend the constitution to the last. Both parties barricaded themselves in the vicinity of the palaces and the parliament buildings. On the twentieth a quick change in the situation was reported to have been brought about by the priests, who had induced the opposing factions to disperse for the second time, promising that a satisfactory solution of the crisis would be found.