Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 16, 1908

— With hundreds of militiamen present and martial law in force at Muncie, Ind., the cars were run about all day, January 5, manned by imported strike-breakers. Aside from the throwing of a few missiles, there was no disturbance.

— It is reported from Vancouver, British Columbia, that hundreds of Japanese ex-soldiers there have been ordered by the mikado to return at once to Japan. The French press has made much of this and other incidents, declaring that war between Japan and the United States is imminent.

— Victor Emanuel, king of Italy, was forcibly reminded of the hard times existing among his subjects, when driving January 7 to inspect a monument being erected to the memory of his grandfather. A great crowd of unemployed rushed for his carriage, shouting: “Give us bread or give us work.” The police dispersed the crowd.

— News has been received of heavy loss by storm and tidal waves on the Japanese coast. Nine steamers and forty sailing craft are reported to have foundered, with considerable loss of life. Nearly 600 fishing vessels were wrecked or carried away, and over one thousand buildings were flooded by tidal waves in which many were drowned.

— The first electric train was operated through the Hudson River tunnel between Hoboken, N. J., and Christopher Street, Manhattan, January 4, carrying a company of officials and other interested ones. The tunnel will probably be opened to the public the latter part of the month. On January 9 the regular passenger service was opened.

— For some days a “rent strike” has been in progress among the tenement dwellers on the East Side of New York. Because of the refusal of the renters to pay the rents charged, and the refusal of the landlords to reduce them, the courts were unable to meet the demand for dispossess papers. Many landlords were flooded by threats of having their houses visited by the fire department if the tenants are dispossessed.

— George A. Pettibone, accused of conspiring with Charles H. Moyer and William D. Haywood, the president and secretary of the Western Federation of Miners, to murder the former governor of Idaho, Frank Steunenberg, was acquitted January 4. At the same time the case against Moyer was dropped. Haywood was acquitted last summer.

— The annual report of Police Commissioner Bingham, of New York City, made public January 4, shows that there were more than double the number of arrests for felonies in 1907 than in the preceding year, and double the number of convictions. At the same time there were four times as many arrests and convictions for misdemeanors as in 1906.